In addition to the headings (in capitals) for major episodes, Anderson now inserts subheadings (in italics) for individual scenes, which help to articulate what he takes to be the structural units within each book.

The format of the new commentary is more reader-friendly than the old. Finally, the volume is equipped with a ten-page index. Yet if one compares Anderson’s ratio of commentary to text with that of other commentaries on individual books of the Metamorphoses, there is little significant difference (Bömer is the exception!). This may seem a lot at first sight, especially given the compact format of the pages. The average of one page of commentary per ten lines of poetry equals the rate of the earlier volume. After the text come the notes, which run to 420 pages. Teubner, 1993), which, incidentally, incorporates illa instead of illas at 1.2. Now Anderson reprints, without critical apparatus, the sixth edition of his Ovidius, Metamorphoses (Stuttgart and Leipzig: B. The Latin text is, of course, different too. But the contents of each section are updated, and exemplary discussions are recast to reflect the material of books 1–5. The introduction follows the same basic framework as its predecessor in surveying Ovid’s career, subsequent reception of the Metamorphoses, plan and tone of the poem, poet at work, manuscript tradition, and selected bibliography. The new edition, covering books 1–5, resembles its older sibling in format and conception but also benefits from developments in Ovidian scholarship since 1972. The first volume-introduction, text, and commentary to books 6–10-appeared hysteron proteron in 1972.

One of the year’s most notable releases is Anderson’s second installment to his Oklahoma text and commentary. For those who labor in the vineyard of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the vintage of 1997 should be a memorable one.

Ovid metamorphoses book 1