To be honest, I doubt these are really my five favorite lines from Ovid's Metamorphoses. There are just far too many spectacular moments for me to easily pick out my five favorite without taking a few days out of my schedule to analyze the entire piece of work. The lines I did pick out, however, are pretty good. They come from Book III, Narcissus and Echo, on page 93.
Her voice and bones are all that's left; and then
her voice alone: her bones, they say, were turned
to stone. So she is hidden in the woods
and never can be seen on mountain slopes,
though everywhere she can be heard; the power
of sound still lives in her.
The story of Narcissus and Echo, like most of the stories in the Metamorphoses, is a interesting tale. I found that these lines were especially visual and very beautifully written. From now on anytime I hear an echo, I will also hear Ovid telling me where it came from.
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