The Italian-born French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully and the French poet Philippe Quinault, both of whom worked at the court of King Louis XIV of France, wrote several operas ( tragédies lyriques) together. Except for the late period of their collaboration, they often employed mythical motifs as the subject of their operas. The plot of six of them is derived from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The present discussion briefly presents the beginnings of French opera and Lully’s and Quinault’s contributions to it, whereas the main concern is the influence of Ovid’s Metamorphoses on their six operas: Cadmus et Hermione ( LWV 49), Thésée ( LWV 51), Isis ( LWV 54), Proserpine ( LWV 58), Persée ( LWV 60) and Phaëton ( LWV 61). The main difference between Ovid’s text and the operas’ librettos lies in the even stronger emphasis on the theme of love, which complicates the stories.

An essay comparing Jan Kochanowski’s epigram Do Anny simultaneously with Sappho’s famous fr. 31 Voigt, which is preserved in Pseudo-Longinus’ De sublimitate, and Catullus 51 ( Ille mi par esse). An attempt is made to ascertain the exact debt of Kochanowski’s epigram to both poems.

Although for many years Plutarch has not been particularly valued for his philosophy, there is a growing interest today in his “practical ethics” and in particular in his writings on human emotions. This paper analyses Plutarch’s views on envy, its causes and effects, as well as the similarities and differences between envy on the one hand and ambition as well as hate on the other. His ideas for “healing” these negative emotions are also presented, ranging from total suppression to replacing the object of envy with another.