2012 Ovatio: Barbara Pavlock

for Barbara Pavlock (Lehigh University), presented by Frank Romer (East Carolina University)

Ovidius noster, laudans coniugem suam carissimam, scripsit illam suos casus levare, quod praestaret amorem impositumque firmam tueri onus.* Honoramus feminam quoque firmissimam atque carissimam, quae non solum scripsit opera docta laudataque de carminibus Ovidii nostri sed etiam diu levavit onera Societatis Nostrae optime scribendo. Vera filia huius excelsioris civitatis, adepta gradum Baccalaureae Artium apud universitatem sequentem rationis viam (post adepta gradum Magistrae Artium apud universitatem studiosam lucis veritatisque) Doctor Philosophiae fiebat apud universitatem conantem docere omnes homines omnes res.** Multos annos ornavit universitatem in alia civitate, illustri propter amorem virtutis libertatisque, quae homines ministros et interpretes naturae colit, praecipienda amore litterarum Latinarum Graecarumque Britannicarumque.*** Causa artium aluit scientiam, memorans res gestas Societatis Nostrae verbis dignissimis carmine vacuissimisque errore.**** Plaudamus igitur Barbara Pavlock.

When praising his deeply cherished wife, the Roman poet Ovid wrote that she lightened his difficulties because of the love that she displayed for him and the steadfastness with which she assumed responsibility for the burden imposed upon her. We honor a woman, no less steadfast and cherished, who has not only written learned and critically praised words about Ovid’s own poetry but also long lightened the burdens of our organization by writing most expertly. A true daughter of New York State, after she had received her B.A. degree from Barnard College (and her M.A. from Yale University), she earned her PhD at Cornell University. She has for many years brought distinction to Lehigh University, across the river in Pennsylvania, as Professor of Classics in the Department of English. She has strengthened the fiber of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States as our devoted secretary, preparing minutes in words worthy of a poem and totally free from error. Let us therefore applaud Barbara Pavlock.

Judith P. Hallett
University of Maryland, College Park

* Ovid, Tristia 3.4.60-62 illa meos casus…levat/…levat hoc: quod praestat amorem/ impositumque sibi firma tuetur onus.

** Excelsior, state motto of New York; Hepomene toi logismoi, “following the way of Reason”, Greek motto of Barnard College; Lux et Veritas, Latin motto of Yale University; “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study,” English motto of Cornell University.

*** “Virtue, Liberty and Independence,” state motto of Pennsylvania; Homo minister et interpres naturae, Latin motto of Lehigh University; Ovid refers to himself as praeceptor amoris at Ars Amatoria 1.17.

**** Causa Artium Alit Scientiam, motto of CAAS; Ovid, Tristia 2. 207 perdiderint cum me duo crimina, carmen et error.