972 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters . 
in sympathy. There is undoubtedly much in Ovid that is to 
be condemned, he says, but there is also much that is good and 
for that reason Ovid ought to be read by the educated. 1 His 
quotations from Ovid are taken from all of the better known 
works of the poet. Though those from Metamorphoses and 
the Fasti are longer and more numerous, the Ars Amatoria, 
Pemedia Amoris, Tristia, Heroides, Amores and the Epistulae 
ex Ponto are by no means neglected. The line from the Amores 
“Hitimur in vetitum semper”—is an especial favorite. Al¬ 
though John made use of Ovid as a moralist, he was not blind 
to his immorality. He condemns Ovid as the poet who filled 
not only the City but the whole world with his lascivious 
amours and taught the bashful and troubled suitor how to ap¬ 
proach his maiden. 2 He also characterizes Ovid as the poet who 
excelled 3 all others in “levitatem versificandi.” John’s criti¬ 
cism of Ovid was very modern. 
There are poets, however, who are thought of essentially as 
moralists. Of these, that great favorite, Horace, deserves first 
attention. For him John has great respect: “Consonat ei, si 
Lyricum conticenti lyra dignaris audire, Flaccus, aut si mavis, 
Horatius.” 4 He speaks of Horace as the poet who excelled in 
the varieties of metres but his usual title is “Ethicus.” 5 The 
Epistles, especially the Ars Poetica, are most frequently quoted 
though John’s familiarity with the Satires is equally extensive. 
In several places he has adapted whole satires, as for instance 
in his description of the feast of “Hasidienus.” 6 John’s de¬ 
scription of Horace as the lyrical poet has led Manitius to 
credit him with a knowledge of the Odes also. True, in one 
or two places he seems to echo them as in his use of “atavis 
editus” and “dulce est desipere in loco.” Furthermore, the 
Odes were known in John’s day in northern France; but it 
would seem that John probably would have quoted them more 
often had he really known them at first hand. These expres- 
1 Migne, pp. 714-5. 
2 Migne, p. 498. 
3 Ibid, p. 484. 
4 Ibid, p. 656. 
5 Ibid, p. 484. 
6 Ibid, pp. 736-8. 
