(41-42)

nec liber ut fieret, sed uti sua cuique daretur littera, propositum curaque nostra fuit.

postmodo collectas utcumque sine ordine iunxi: hoc opus electum ne mihi forte putes.

da ueniam scriptis, quorum non gloria nobis causa, sed utilitas officiumque fuit.

(51-56)

Ovid's explanation is reasonable enough, and is confirmed by the speed with which he composed the first three books of the _Ex Ponto_ once he knew that it was safe to name people in his verse. The first three books of the _Ex Ponto_, like the _Tristia_, were written with the single objective of securing Ovid's recall, and this naturally caused a certain repetition of subject-matter.

By the time Ovid wrote the poems that would form the fourth book of the _Ex Ponto_, he had lived in Tomis for six or more years, and it must have been clear to him that his chances of recall were slight. The result of this is a diminished use of his personal situation as a theme for his verse. Often he introduces his plight in only one or two distichs of a poem, subordinating the topic to the poem's main theme.

The result of this technique can be seen in such extended passages as the descriptions of the investiture of the new consul (iv & ix), the address to Germanicus on the power of poetry (viii), or the catalogue of poets that concludes the book. In all of these passages Ovid's desire for recall is only a secondary theme.

The mixing of levels of diction

As well as variety of subject, the fourth book of the _Ex Ponto_ shows a variation in style that is typical of Ovid's letters from exile. The poems use the metre and language of elegiac verse. But at the same time they are _letters_, and are strongly influenced by the structure and vocabulary of prose epistles. This influence is naturally more obvious at some points than at others; and even within a single poem there can be a surprising degree of variation in the different sections of the poem.

Some poems tend more to one extreme than the other. The eleventh poem, a letter of commiseration to Gallio on the death of his wife, is extensively indebted to the genre of the prose letter of consolation; this prose influence is evident in such passages as:

finitumque tuum, si non ratione, dolorem ipsa iam pridem suspicor esse mora

(13-14)

At the opposite extreme is the final poem of the book, a defence of Ovid's poetry; as this was a traditional poetic subject, the level of diction throughout the poem is extremely high, particularly in the catalogue of poets that forms the main body of the poem.

An interesting result of the mixture of styles is the presence in the poems of exile of words and expressions which belong essentially to prose, being otherwise rarely or never found in verse. Some instances from _Ex Ponto_ IV are _ad summam_ (i 15), _conuictor_ (iii 15), _abunde_ (viii 37), _ex toto_ (viii 72), _di faciant_ (ix 3), _secreto_ (ix 31), _respectu_ (ix 100), _quominus_ (xii 1), _praefrigidus_ (xii 35), and _tantummodo_ (xvi 49).

Both in subject and style the sixteen poems of _Ex Ponto_ IV show a wide variety, worthy of the creator of the _Metamorphoses_. The following section examines the special characteristics of each of the poems.

The letters to Sextus Pompeius

Sextus Pompeius is the recipient of poems i, iv, v, and xv; only Cotta Maximus and Ovid's wife have more letters from exile addressed to them.

It is clear from the opening of IV i that Pompeius had himself prohibited Ovid from addressing him; and Ovid is careful to present himself as a client rather than a friend; the tone is of almost abject humility, and he shows circumspection in his requests for assistance.

In the opening of the first poem, Ovid describes how difficult it had been to prevent himself from naming Pompeius in his verse; in the climactic ten lines he declares that he is entirely Pompeius' creation.

Only in the transition between the topics does he refer to future help from Pompeius, linking it with the assistance he is already providing:

nunc quoque nil subitis clementia territa fatis auxilium uitae fertque feretque meae.

(25-26)

The fourth poem is a description of how Fama came to Ovid and told him of Pompeius' election to the consulship; Ovid then pictures the joyous scene of the accession. At the end of the poem he indirectly asks for Pompeius' assistance, praying that at some point he may remember him in exile. The device of having Fama report Pompeius' accession to the consulship serves to emphasize the importance 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 _EP_ I vi Ovid describes at length Graecinus' kindliness of spirit and his closeness to his exiled friend, while in II vi Ovid admits the justice of the criticism Graecinus makes of the conduct which led to his exile, but thanks him for his support and asks for its continuance.

The letters to Tuticanus

The two letters to Tuticanus show a similar dichotomy.

Of the two poems, xii is more personal and more concerned with poetry.

The first eighteen lines are a witty demonstration of the impossibility of using Tuticanus' name in elegiac verse, while the twelve verses that follow recall their poetic apprenticeship together. In the final twelve lines, referring to Tuticanus' senatorial career, Ovid asks him to help his cause in any way possible.