The Last Poems of Ovid

It is a pleasure to present to the public this digital edition, with commentary, of _Ex Ponto_ IV, the final poems written by the Roman poet Ovid, published after his death as a...

Two of Ovid's correspondents were orators. Gallio, the addressee of the eleventh poem, is frequently quoted by the elder Seneca. He was a senator; both Tacitus and Dio give acco...

_G_ is written in uncial script, with no division between words but with indentation of the pentameters. Its one contribution to the establishment of the text is at ix 103, wher...

W. E. Weber's text of _Ex Ponto_ IV in his 1833 _Corpus Poetarum Latinorum_ is in effect a reprint of the Heinsius-Burman vulgate, except that at viii 59 he prints the manuscrip...

incipit liber quartus _B2_ incipit quartus sexto pompeio _M_ liber ·iiii· sexto pompeio _F_ incipit ·iiii· sexto pompeio _H2(?)_ ad pompeium lib ·iiii· _I2_ hanc epistulam mitti...

bruto _B2H2_ bruto amico suo _M_ ad brutum _FI2_ || 1 illis] ipsis _T_ || 3 tu quod] tu qui _Lac, ut uid_ quod tu _IT_ || 4 ei _edd_ hei _Barberinus lat. 26, saec xiii (Lenz)_ e...

nunc pro Caesaribus superis decernere grates, albaue opimorum colla ferire boum. 50 atque utinam, cum iam fueris potiora precatus, ut mihi placetur principis ira roges; surgat a...

saepe ego correxi sub te censore libellos, 25 saepe tibi admonitu facta litura meo est, dignam Maeoniis Phaeacida condere chartis cum te Pieriae perdocuere deae. hic tenor, haec...

et qui Maeoniam Phaeacida uertit, et une Pindaricae fidicen tu quoque, Rufe, lyrae, Musaque Turrani tragicis innixa coturnis, et tua cum socco Musa, Melisse, leuis; 30 cum Variu...

Heinsius' note is something of an oddity. He begins by reading AVREA for the AENEA of most manuscripts, taking _uel eburna uel aurea custos_ to refer to the chryselephantine sta...

=43. QVOD CVPEREM.= At _EP_ I viii 39-62 Ovid, having detailed the urban pleasures he has lost, speaks of his agricultural pursuits in Italy, and laments that this diversion is...

=38. NEMPE TAMEN VITAM CAPTVS AB HOSTE TVLIT.= 'Even so, it is undeniable that he became a prisoner, and received his life as a gift from his enemy'. _Vitam ferre_ also at _EP_...

For _atria_ compare _Her_ XVI 185-86 'occurrent denso tibi Troades agmine matres, / nec capient Phrygias _atria_ nostra nurus'. _Penetralia_, although poorly attested, is in its...

=46. SIC FVERIT VESTRAE CAVSA PERACTA VIAE.= 'So you will have carried out the reason for your journey'. The same sense of _causa_ at _Met_ VI 449-50 'coeperat aduentus causam,...

=44. LEVASTIS= _Barberinus lat. 26, saec xiii_ LEVATIS _BCMFHILT_. If 44 were taken in isolation, _leuatis_, which most editors print, would be acceptable enough; compare _Tr_ I...

=1. STVDIIS EXCVLTE.= 'Refined'. _Studiis_ adds little to the force of _exculte_: the same idiom at Quintilian XII ii 1 'mores ante omnia oratori _studiis_ erunt _excolendi_' an...

=61-62. SIC VICTOR LAVDEM SVPERATIS LIBER AB INDIS ... TRAXIT.= Bacchus' conquest of India is also mentioned by Ovid at _Fast_ III 465-66 'interea Liber depexos crinibus Indos /...

=25. QVOQVE MAGIS NORIS.= 'Listen: this will make you understand better'. Ovid is very fond of _quoque magis_ and the corresponding _quoque minus_, particularly at line-beginnin...

=78. ENSE.= The _gladius_, typical weapon of the Roman legionary. For the precise equivalence of the two terms, see Quintilian X i 11. In Ovid's poetry, the proportion of instan...

At the time this poem was written, Albinovanus was engaged on a _Theseid_ (71). Quintilian perhaps had this poem in mind when he included a rather slighting mention of Albinovan...

=40. PERPETVVM= _M2ul_ PRAECIPVVM _BCM1FHILT_. _Praecipuum_ could be defended by _EP_ III i 13-14 (to the Pontus) 'nec tibi pampineas autumnus porrigit uuas, / cuncta sed immodi...

=1. EXCVSABILE.= The word is extremely rare, and is not found in verse outside the _Ex Ponto_: compare I vii 41-42 'quod nisi delicti pars _excusabilis_ esset, / parua relegari...

=14. PORRECTA= is equivalent to _longa_, and belongs to _secunda_ (_sc_ syllaba) by hypallage. Compare Quintilian I vi 32 'aut correptis aut _porrectis_ ... litteris syllabisue'...

=4. STRVCTVRA.= This passage is the first instance cited by _OLD_ _structura_ 1b of _structura_ in this transferred sense, which becomes common in Silver prose, particularly Qui...

In his first poem to Tuticanus, Ovid had promised that other poems would follow: 'teque canam quacumque nota, _tibi carmina mittam_' (xii 19). The present poem was written quite...

Professor E. Fantham suggests to me, however, that _munera legis_ is a reference to civic duties, or liturgies, that Greek cities imposed on certain of their citizens, and Ovid...

Gronovius seems to have realized that difficulties remained, and proposed to read NOVIT in 42 and make 41-42 a relative clause dependent on _tellus_ in 38, so that the concludin...

Gracchus (Bardon 48-49) is mentioned by Priscian, Nonius, and the author of the _De dubiis nominibus_, who among them preserve four fragments and three titles (Ribbeck 266). One...

manuscripts of _Ex Ponto_ IV, 23-34 Antuerpiensis Musei Plantiniani Denucé 68 (_M_), 28-30 fragmentum Guelferbytanum, Cod. Guelf. 13.11 Aug. 4° (_G_), 23-24 Francofurtanus Barth...