Rates/rates: Another Gamma-Telestich in Ovid’s Ars Amatoria or an Acrogram Among Anagrams

Abstract

The gamma-telestich AMOR-ROMA detected by Hanses at III 507‒510 is by no means the only significant example of such a device in the Ars Amatoria. Another noteworthy case (RATES-RATES) can be found at I 172‒176. The author goes well beyond mere “gamma-reinforcement” by showing how the telestich partakes in a complex wordplay involving its immediate context that lends itself to a subversive anagrammatic reading. He also presents a terminological proposal with regard to the systemic classification of acroand telestichs, suggesting to subordinate both of these terms to a higher category of “acrogram” in the neutral sense of “edge lettering”. Incidentally, he cites a couple of hitherto unnoticed acrostics (I 712–718 C-I-A-S; II 738‒744 A-C-V-I) and telestichs (I 720‒724 RATE ATER).