The Last Poems of Ovid | Page 8

of the event and
raise the tone of the poem. Ovid had earlier used Fama as the formal
addressee of _EP_ II i, which described his reaction to the news of
Germanicus' triumph. In the fifth poem Ovid achieves a similar effect
through the device of addressing the poem itself, giving it directions on
where it will find Pompeius and what consular duties he might be

performing[6]. Only in the concluding distich does Ovid direct the
poem to ask for his assistance.
[Footnote 6: Ovid had used a similar technique in _Tr_ I i, where he
gives his book instructions for its voyage to Rome, including directions
on how it should approach Augustus.]
The fifteenth poem contains Ovid's most forceful appeal for Pompeius'
assistance. It is interesting to observe the techniques Ovid uses to avoid
offending Pompeius. The first part of the poem is a metaphorical
description of how Ovid is as much Pompeius' property as his many
estates or his house in Rome. This leads to Ovid's request:
atque utinam possis, et detur amicius aruum,
remque tuam ponas in
meliore loco!
quod quoniam in dis est, tempta lenire precando

numina perpetua quae pietate colis.
(21-24)
He then attempts to compensate for the boldness of his request. First he
says that his appeal is unnecessary:
nec dubitans oro; sed flumine saepe secundo
augetur remis cursus
euntis aquae.
(27-38)
Then he apologizes for making such constant requests:
et pudet et metuo semperque eademque precari
ne subeant animo
taedia iusta tuo
(29-30)
He ends the poem with a return to the topic of the benefits Pompeius
has already rendered him.
The letter to Suillius addressing Germanicus

No poem in the fourth book of the _Ex Ponto_ is addressed to a
member of the imperial family, but the greater part of IV viii,
nominally addressed to Suillius, is in fact directed to his patron
Germanicus. Suillius' family ties with Ovid and his influential position
would have made it natural for Ovid to address him in the earlier books
of the _Ex Ponto_ or even in the _Tristia_; and it is clear from the
opening of the poem that Suillius must have distanced himself from
Ovid:
Littera sera quidem, studiis exculte Suilli,
huc tua peruenit, sed mihi
grata tamen
In the section that follows, Ovid asks for Suillius' assistance, rather
strangely setting forth his own impeccable family background and
moral purity; then he moves to the topic of Suillius' piety towards
Germanicus, and in line 31 begins to address Germanicus with a direct
request for his assistance. In the fifty-eight lines that follow he
develops the argument that Germanicus should accept the verse Ovid
offers him for two reasons: poetry grants immortality to the subjects it
describes; and Germanicus is himself a poet. In this passage Ovid
allows himself a very high level of diction; as the topic was congenial
to him, the result is perhaps the finest extended passage of verse in the
book[7].
[Footnote 7: Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me in particular that
lines 63-64 on the apotheosis of Augustus being in part accomplished
through poetry are one of the few instances in the poetry of exile of
Ovid's earlier mischievous irony towards Augustus--a sign of a return
on Ovid's part to his earlier form.]
Ovid ends his address to Germanicus by asking for his assistance; only
in the final distich of the poem does he return to Suillius.
The letters to Brutus and Graecinus
Only two of the ten addressees named by Ovid in _EP_ IV were
recipients of earlier letters from him. Brutus, to whom IV vi is
addressed, was also the addressee of _EP_ I i and III ix, while

Graecinus, to whom IV ix is addressed, was the recipient of _EP_ I vi
and II vi.
There is some difference between Ovid's treatment of Brutus and
Graecinus in _EP_ IV and in the earlier poems. _EP_ IV vi is highly
personal, being mostly devoted to a lengthy description of Brutus'
apparently conflicting but in fact complementary qualities of tenacity
as a prosecuting advocate and of kindness towards those in need; no
poem in the fourth book of the _Ex Ponto_ is more completely
concerned with the addressee as a person. In contrast, nothing is said of
Brutus in _EP_ I i, where he acts as the mere recipient of the plea that
he protect Ovid's poems, or in III ix, where Brutus is the reporter of
another's remarks on the monotony of Ovid's subject-matter. The
address to Graecinus in IV ix, on the other hand, is much less personal
than in I vi and II vi. The part of _EP_ IV ix concerned with Graecinus
describes his elevation to the consulship, and was clearly written (in
some haste) to celebrate the event. The earlier poems are more
concerned with Graecinus as an individual: in