Non Potes Officium Vatis Contemnere Vates: Germanicus, Ovid's Fasti, and the Aratea

Ovid’s rededication of the Fasti to Germanicus, and its possible connection with Germanicus’ Latin ‘translation’ of Aratus’ Phaenomena, is worth further consideration. This thorny issue is important to our understanding of Germanicus’ presentation in Ovid’s poetry. If a connection can be made, it adds a more personal dimension to his panegyrical passages, and to his choice of Germanicus as a potential patron, even if this was not in itself Ovid’s primary reason for composing his calendrical, astrological confection. Furthermore, our understanding of Germanicus’ reputation during his lifetime would be altered significantly, particularly in terms of his political and poetic identity, independent of his role in the schematic tableaux of the domus Augusta. The astrological elements of Ovid’s treatment of Germanicus in his exilic poetry may have been included partly to draw attention to Ovid’s consciousness of Germanicus’ apparent personal interest in astrology, as well as being part of a wider trend of Callimachean astral panegyric which was applied to the entire domus