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Book 15: The Apotheosis of Julius Caesar
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Metamorphoses, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Metamorphosis
Humanity vs. Nature
Love and Destruction
Gods and Humans
Time, Fate, and Poetry
Summary
Analysis
Ovid concludes his poem, saying that nothing—not Jupiter’s anger, war, or time—can destroy his writing. One day, his body will die, but “the finer part” of him will live for eternity higher than the stars. Ovid knows that his name will never be forgotten, no matter how far Rome expands. As long as poets are seen as the prophets of truth, he will live on in his fame.
In concluding his work on the constant transformation of all things, Ovid asserts that his writing cannot be transformed, whether by the gods, time, or nature. Ovid then draws a connection between poetry and the “finer part” of himself, by which he means his “winged soul.” This “winged soul,” or his poetry, will leave his body when he dies and perhaps take on new forms, but it will never pass away.
Themes
