The Last Poems of Ovid | Page 5

opening poem of the first book and the closing poem of the
last are addressed to Brutus, who was therefore the dedicatee of the
collection; both poems are apologies for Ovid's verse. No such framing

poems are found at the start of books II or III, or at the end of books I
and II, although the addressees of II i and III i, Germanicus and Ovid's
wife, were clearly chosen for their respective importance and closeness
to Ovid.
[Footnote 2: For these references I am indebted to page xxxv of A. L.
Wheeler's excellent introduction to the Loeb edition of the _Tristia_
and _Ex Ponto_. For the date of Tiberius' triumph, see Syme _History
in Ovid_ 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