Close reading of Ovid 's ecphrastic depiction of two Centaur lovers at met. 12, 393-428 reveals that Ovid uses allusions to Lucretius 2, 700-702 ; 4, 739-744 ; and 5, 878-898, as well as to his own work (ars 3, 133-198) to explore both hybridity itself and the possible combinations of a number of conceptual opposites : « natura » and « cultus », human and animal, male and female, love and war, and the contrasting values of lyric-elegiac and epic poetry.
The issues explored within this digression reflect a concern with similar issues in the wider context of Book 12 and of the « Metamorphoses » as a whole.
