Ebook: Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto, Book I

In AD 8 Ovid - at that time indisputably the premier poet of Rome - was suddenly banished to Tomis on the Black Sea. Ovid's reaction to his situation in exile is expressed in the epistolary elegies of the Tristia and the Epistulae ex Ponto. The present edition of the first book of the Epistulae ex Ponto gives a revised text with a new translation, an extended introduction, and the first full-scale commentary of this work in English. The introduction explores the arrangement of the poems, the historical context in Rome and in Tomis, and Ovid's verbal and metrical style. The commentary offers a fresh examination of the text of the Epistulae ex Ponto. Readings different from those adopted in the current standard edition by Richmond are favoured on various occasions, and new conjectures as well as deletions are proposed. The commentary demonstrates that the Epistulae ex Ponto exploit more colloquialisms of diction and style than Ovid's earlier poetry without, however, sacrificing artistic quality. At the same time there are considerable stylistic differences between and even within the epistles. Ovid adjusts the diction to suit the addressees and the respective subject matter. In general the epistles display a rich literary texture and a considerable amount of playfulness. The poet not only draws from love elegy and other works of Latin poetry, but also exploits rhetorical theory and consolatory literature as well as various Greek poetic genres.