Chapter 51

'Cepimus et tenerae primos aetatis honores, deque viris quondam pars tribus una fui.'

_Fast._ iv. 384,

'Inter bis quinos usus honore viros.'

In virtue of this second office he sat in the centumviral court;[67] and he also acted as an arbitrator. _Tr._ ii. 93,

'Nec male commissa est nobis fortuna reorum lisque decem deciens inspicienda viris. Res quoque privatas statui sine crimine iudex.'

He sought no higher office, having neither strength nor inclination for the Senate; he assumed the narrow stripe of the _eques_, and devoted himself to poetry and pleasure. _Tr._ iv. 10, 35,

'Curia restabat: clavi mensura coacta est: maius erat nostris viribus illud onus. Nec patiens corpus, nec mens fuit apta labori, sollicitaeque fugax ambitionis eram. Et petere Aoniae suadebant tuta sorores otia, iudicio semper amata meo.'

He made a tour in Asia (including Troy) and Sicily in the company of the poet Pompeius Macer: the date of this journey is unknown, but he was almost a year in Sicily. _Pont._ ii. 10, 21-29 (to Macer),

'Te duce magnificas Asiae perspeximus urbes, Trinacris est oculis te duce nota meis, ... Hic mihi labentis pars anni magna peracta est.'

_Fast._ vi. 423,

'Cura videre fuit: vidi templumque locumque,'

(of the temple of Pallas at Troy).

Towards the end of A.D. 8, Ovid was banished by imperial edict to Tomi, on the Black Sea, near the mouth of the Danube, the cause alleged being the publication of the _Ars Amatoria_. Ovid mentions this edict, but also hints at another reason, connected with the imperial family. _Tr._ ii. 207,

'Perdiderint cum me duo crimina, carmen et error, alterius facti culpa silenda mihi; nam non sum tanti renovem ut tua vulnera, Caesar, quem nimio plus est indoluisse semel. Altera pars superest, qua turpi carmine factus arguor obscaeni doctor adulterii.'

He was guilty of no crime of his own, but was banished for witnessing the crime of another. Cf. _Tr._ iii. 5, 49,

'Inscia quod crimen viderunt lumina, plector, peccatumque oculos est habuisse meum.'

It is probable that the real reason[68] of Ovid's banishment was that he was privy to a guilty intrigue between D. Silanus and Julia, the grand-daughter of Augustus. Julia was banished in A.D. 9, and Tacitus (_Ann._ iii. 24) tells us of the intrigue, for which Silanus (like Ovid) suffered _relegatio_. His knowledge of the offence was betrayed by friends and domestics. Cf. _Tr._ iv. 10, 101,

'Quid referam comitumque nefas famulosque nocentes?'

The date of his banishment is given _Tr._ iv. 10, 95,

'Postque meos ortus Pisaea vinctus oliva abstulerat decies praemia victor equus, cum maris Euxini positos ad laeva Tomitas quaerere me laesi principis ira iubet.'

[Here an Olympiad is reckoned as five years.] His punishment was _relegatio_, involving banishment to a fixed spot, but not confiscation of property; _Tr._ ii. 135,

'Adde quod edictum, quamvis immite minaxque, attamen in poenae nomine lene fuit; quippe relegatus, non exul, dicor in illo, privaque fortunae sunt ibi verba meae.'

In Tomi he spent the remaining years of his life, far from friends and books; _Tr._ v. 12, 53,

'Non liber hic ullus, non qui mihi commodet aurem, verbaque significent quid mea norit, adest';

suffering from illness (_Tr._ iii. 3) and the climate, and fighting against the barbarians; _Tr._ iv. 1, 71,

'Aspera militiae iuvenis certamina fugi, nec nisi lusura movimus arma manu: nunc senior gladioque latus scutoque sinistram, canitiem galeae subicioque meam.'

On the other hand he learned the language of the people, and actually wrote poems in it; _Tr._ v. 12, 57,

'Ipse mihi videor iam dedidicisse Latine: nam didici Getice Sarmaticeque loqui.'

_Pont._ iv. 13, 19,

'A! pudet, et Getico scripsi sermone libellum, structaque sunt nostris barbara verba modis, et placui--gratare mihi--coepique poetae inter inhumanos nomen habere Getas! materiam quaeris? laudes de Caesare dixi.'

For his popularity with the natives cf. _Pont._ iv. 14, 53,

'Solus adhuc ego sum vestris immunis in oris, exceptis si qui munera legis habent. Tempora sacrata mea sunt velata corona, publicus invito quam favor imposuit';

also _Pont._ iv. 9, 101.

Ovid's death took place in A.D. 18: Jerome yr. Abr. 2033, 'Ovidius poeta in exilio diem obiit et iuxta oppidum Tomos sepelitur.' He was thrice married; _Tr._ iv. 10, 69,

'Paene mihi puero nec digna nec utilis uxor est data, quae tempus per breve nupta fuit; illi successit quamvis sine crimine coniunx, non tamen in nostro firma futura toro; ultima, quae mecum seros permansit in annos, sustinuit coniunx exulis esse viri.'

His third wife belonged to the _gens Fabia_. Cf. _Pont._ i. 2, 138 (to Fabius Maximus),

'Ille ego, de vestra cui data nupta domo est.'

The _filia_ mentioned _Tr._ iv. 10, 75, may have been either a daughter or step-daughter of Ovid's. Some think that she is the Perilla of _Tr._ iii. 7.

Ovid's social position was of the highest, as may be inferred from his relations with the palace. He was intimate with Messalla, the patron of Tibullus, and wrote an elegy on him (now lost). Cf. _Pont._ i. 7, 27 (to Messalinus),

'Nec tuus est genitor nos infitiatus amicos, hortator studii causaque faxque mei: cui nos et lacrimas, supremum in funere munus, et dedimus medio scripta canenda foro.'

Among the friends to whom the _Epp. ex Ponto_ are written may be mentioned Albinovanus, Carus, Rufus, Severus, Fabius Maximus Cotta, Tuticanus, the younger Macer, all poets; and other literary men of distinction, _e.g._ Graecinus, Atticus, Brutus, Sex. Pompeius, Gallio. For his intimacy with the learned Hyginus cf. Sueton. _Gramm._ 20, 'fuit familiarissimus Ovidio poetae.'

He was old enough to have seen Virgil, and hear Aemilius Macer and Horace recite; with Propertius, Tibullus, Ponticus, and Bassus he was on terms of close intimacy (_Am._ iii. 9 is a lament for Tibullus), _Tr._ iv. 10, 41-52,

'Temporis illius colui fovique poetas, quotque aderant vates, rebar adesse deos. Saepe suas volucres legit mihi grandior aevo, quaeque necet serpens, quae iuvet herba, Macer. Saepe suos solitus recitare Propertius ignes, iure sodalicii qui mihi iunctus erat. Ponticus heroo, Bassus quoque clarus iambis dulcia convictus membra fuere mei. Detinuit nostras numerosus Horatius aures, dum ferit Ausonia carmina culta lyra. Vergilium vidi tantum; nec amara Tibullo tempus amicitiae fata dedere meae.'

Besides the _rura paterna_ at Sulmo, Ovid possessed an estate on the _via Clodia_, near Rome; _Pont._ i. 8, 41,

'Non meus amissos animus desiderat agros ruraque Paeligno conspicienda solo, nec quos piniferis positos in collibus hortos spectat Flaminiae Clodia iuncta viae.'

He cannot have been poor, in spite of his complaints, _e.g._ _Pont._ iv. 8, 32,

'Carpsit opes illa ruina meas.'

(2) WORKS.

1. _Amores_, at first in five Books, but in a second edition reduced to three; cf. the motto prefixed to the Book,

'Qui modo Nasonis fueramus quinque libelli, Tres sumus.'

The poems are nearly all on Corinna, a name which probably does not stand for any real person, but merely for an abstraction around which Ovid groups his own fancies. To suppose, as Sidonius Apollinaris did (23, 157)[69] that Augustus' daughter Julia was meant, is absurd, for Corinna is a _meretrix_. The identity of Corinna was unknown; _Am._