Thou Shalt Not Cuddle: Amores 1.4 and the Law

Abstract

The future imperative is not the language of Roman elegy. No other Roman elegy contains three future imperatives. There are six future imperatives in all of Tibullus, five in Propertius, and five future imperatives in Amores 1 .4. Amores 1.4 is a poem in which Ovid is trying to explain to his current lover how she is to behave at a party, which she is attending with someone other than himmaybe her husband—maybe not. (In any case, she is certainly not Ovid's wife.) In