The Last Poems of Ovid | Page 5

40.]
_Ex Ponto_ IV
The fourth book of the _Ex Ponto_ constitutes a work separate from the three books composed in AD 12. The earliest datable poem in the book is the fourth, written shortly before Sextus Pompeius' consulship in AD 14; the latest is the ninth, written in honour of Graecinus' becoming suffect consul in AD 16. Of the books of Ovid's verse which are collections of individual poems, the fourth book of the _Ex Ponto_ is the longest, being some 926 lines in length (excluding the probably spurious distichs xv 25-26 and xvi 51-52). The mean average length of such books is 764 lines; and the next longest after _Ex Ponto_ IV is _Am_ III, with 824 lines (excluding the spurious fifth poem). I take the length of the book as an indication that in its present form it is probably a posthumous collection: Ovid's editor either gathered the individual poems to form a single book that was unusually long, or added a few later poems to a book previously assembled by Ovid[3].
[Footnote 3: Professor Tarrant notes however that unlike I-III the fourth book was not written within a very short time; if Ovid had collected what he thought worth publishing of his output over several years, it would not be surprising to find it longer than the preceding collections.]
Syme (_HO_ 156) argues that the order of the poems indicates that Ovid survived to publish or at least to arrange the book: the fact that the first and penultimate poems are addressed to Sextus Pompeius indicates that Ovid dedicated the book to him. Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me correspondences of structure between _EP_ IV and some of Ovid's earlier books. If the sixteenth and final poem of _EP_ IV is considered a _sphragis_-poem, as is indicated by _Nasonis_ in the opening line, we are left with a fifteen-poem book of which the first and last poems are addressed to Sextus Pompeius, and in which the middle poem is addressed to Germanicus through his client Suillius[4]. The same structural outline of 1-8-15 appears in _Amores_ I and III--the opening and closing poems of both books are concerned with Ovid's verse, while the eighth poem of each book stands somewhat apart from the other poems: _Am_ I viii is about the procuress Dipsas, while III ix (the eighth poem in the book after the removal of the spurious fifth poem) is the elegy on the death of Tibullus.
[Footnote 4: Professor E. Fantham notes as well the central placement of poem ix, with its _laudes Augusti_.]
Ovid's addressees in _Ex Ponto_ IV
Sextus Pompeius, _consul ordinarius_ in 14, and himself a relative of Augustus, is the recipient of no less than four letters in _EP_ IV[5]. It is significant that he is not the recipient of any of Ovid's earlier letters from exile; this is discussed in the next section.
[Footnote 5: Full information on what is known of each of the addressees will be found in the introductions to the poems in the commentary.]
In the attention Ovid gives Sextus Pompeius there can be seen, according to Syme (_HO_ 156), a deliberate attempt to gain the favour of Germanicus, who is mentioned in connection with Sextus Pompeius at v 25. It is interesting that in viii Ovid addresses Germanicus' quaestor Suillius (and in the course of the poem addresses Germanicus), and that the recipient of xiii is Carus, the tutor of Germanicus' sons. But it is only natural that Ovid, when at last permitted, should address so influential a man as his benefactor Sextus Pompeius; and it does not seem strange that he should address his fellow poet Carus, still less that he should send a letter to Suillius, husband of his stepdaughter Perilla.
C. Pomponius Graecinus, the recipient of ix, must have had some political influence, since the poem is in celebration of his becoming suffect consul in 16. But he probably owed this influence to his brother Flaccus, a close friend of Tiberius who succeeded Graecinus as _consul ordinarius_ for 17, and whom Ovid gives prominent mention at ix 57 ff. Graecinus must have been an old associate of Ovid, since he has the rare distinction of being mentioned by name in a poem written by Ovid before his exile (_Am_ II x 1).
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 accounts of how he fell into disfavour with Tiberius for proposing that ex-members of the Praetorian guard be granted the privilege of using the theatre seats reserved for members of the equestrian order (_Ann_ VI 3; LVIII 18 4). Brutus, the recipient of the sixth poem and dedicatee of the first three books of the _Ex Ponto_, is not mentioned