In the opening couplet of his poetic work Amores, Ovid tells us that what were once five books have now become three: Qui modo Nasonis fueramus quinque libelli/tres sumus (Amores 1.1–2). The same is true of this commentary on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, originally published in Italian. Between 2005 and 2015 it appeared under the auspices of the Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, and it is now available in a revised English version. (The Italian edition also included a sixth volume containing an Italian translation of Ovid’s poem by Ludovica Koch and Gioachino Chiarini, as well as an essay by Charles Segal.)

The Metamorphoses is a work of many voices, and it is therefore fitting that several distinguished Ovidian scholars have collaborated on this monumental commentary: Alessandro Barchiesi, the general editor, Gianpiero Rosati, E. J. Kenney, J. D. Reed and Philip Hardie. Each of the five has contributed commentary on three books. One might have expected the three volumes of the English edition to be organised as pentads, with five books per volume, but instead the division follows the allocation of labour among the commentators. Barchiesi and Rosati are responsible for the first volume, Kenney and Reed for the second, while the third contains Hardie’s commentary together with the index. The first volume thus comprises Books 1–6, with Barchiesi commenting on Books 1–3 and Rosati on Books 4–6. The Latin text itself is not included, but the base text is Richard Tarrant’s OCT critical edition (2004). In a few cases the commentators suggest different readings; these departures are presented in the ‘Note on the Latin Text’.

The first volume opens with a ‘Bibliographical Note’, offering readers guidance to secondary literature on Ovid. This section is impressively comprehensive, drawing on scholarship in multiple languages and clearly aiming for breadth as well as depth. B. also provides a substantial introduction to the work, which is nothing less than a long and brilliant essay seeking to capture both the originality of the Metamorphoses and its unifying thread. It offers an extraordinarily rich overview, addressing virtually every conceivable aspect of this carmen perpetuum: Ovid’s relationship to epic as a genre, his literary influences and the reception of the poem. Experts on Ovid will recognise much of the material, yet it is presented with such wit and elegance that it remains consistently engaging. At the same time, the introduction offers genuinely fresh perspectives — at least for this reader, who was not previously aware of the connections drawn to Ennius or to the Greek hymn tradition. The attention paid to the many materials and crafts mentioned in the poem further demonstrates the editors’ determination to illuminate the work from as many angles as possible. B.’s desire to understand the poem in depth is evident throughout, and he offers generous and thoughtful reflections, for example when commenting on Ovid’s choice of myths: ‘the poet is interested above all in situations in which human existence is pushed to its limits and one must live in extremis, driven by passion, violence or suffering’ (9).

Each book is preceded by a brief summary — provided by B. for Books 1–3 and by R. for Books 4–6 — a pedagogically effective device that gives the reader a clear overview. What follows are the detailed commentaries on the text itself, and these are no less impressive. The commentary on the opening words in nova … is almost an article in its own right: the very first distich alone receives more than seven pages of discussion. Given the central importance of these words, as well as of primus amor at the beginning of the Apollo and Daphne episode later in Book 1, it is particularly welcome to see decades of scholarly debate on these phrases carefully presented in a way that takes both Ovid and the reader seriously. And this level of attention continues throughout. Especially valuable is the ease and clarity with which intratextual connections between the narratives are explored.

B. and R. provide analyses of the stories without ever being didactic. The commentary is so learned, elegant and beautifully written that it is a pleasure to read. It is encyclopaedic without being dry; on the contrary, it is consistently lively and intellectually engaging, maintaining a reader-friendly tone throughout. When the commentary refers to other ancient literature, the quotation is translated into English. This pedagogical approach makes the work accessible even to readers without advanced knowledge of the classical languages, extending its appeal to a broader, literarily interested audience. If one were to express a wish at all, it might be — purely on typographical grounds — that the individual myths had been more clearly demarcated, as in Bömer’s commentary or, more recently, in Thea Selliaas Thorsen’s Norwegian translation and commentary on the Metamorphoses (2024). But this is such a minor point that it almost feels presumptuous to mention it.

The fact that we now have a comprehensive, carefully conceived, and high-quality commentary on the Metamorphoses in English is a gift to all readers of Ovid and a genuine cultural achievement. B. and R. have succeeded in bringing together every conceivable aspect of Books 1–6, producing a learned work that does full justice to Ovid’s extraordinary poem — a book from which all lovers of classical literature will benefit.