TRISTIA AND EPISTULAE EX PONTO [There remains the poetic product of the third period of our author's life, the nine years spent in exile on the dreary shores of the Euxine Sea, far removed from everything that had been a source of joyous inspiration to him in his former life. Here was no gay capitol with its constant round of pleasures to stimulate his poetic fancy; no circle of literary friends to call forth his best endeavors by their admiring applause, and sing his latest songs about the streets; no soft Italian skies and rich country scenery of wood and hill and ruin to provide that background and atmosphere of beauty so necessary to a poet of Ovid's luxurious temperament. Instead, he found a rude colonial town almost without the pale of civilization, inhabited by churlish barbarians, subject to constant alarms of war from more savage tribes without; he found a treeless, dreary land with frowning skies and bleak winds almost the year around. It would be surprising if such an absolute change of environment did not produce a corresponding change in the character of Ovid's poetry during this period; if he who wrote so frankly of the joys of his youth should not now record the sorrows of his age. And this we find to be the case. The two important works of this period are five books of short poems in the elegiac measure, appropriately entitled Tristia, and four books of letters in the same measure, which are named Ex Ponto, from the place of writing. These two works are alike as to subjectmatter, spirit and form of expression. They are both books of letters written from the poet's place of banishment to friends at Rome, fondly recalling former joys and complaining of present hardships. Both give vivid descriptions of the poet's surroundings and every-day life, and both abound in frantic appeals from Ovid to his friends at Rome that they use their good offices with the Emperor to soothe his anger and secure the exiled man's return, or at least a mitigation of his hard sentence. The chief difference between these two works is that in the first the names of the friends to whom the letters are addressed are withheld, while in the second the names are given; this for the reason that, during the first part of the poet's banishment, when the anger of the Emperor was fresh, his friends feared to be involved in his misfortunes. But this fear seems to have disappeared by the end of the third year of his exile. In one of the early numbers of the Tristia (I, III) the poet gives us a vivid and very human description of his last sad night at Rome, before parting forever from all that he held dear.] ΙΟ Cum subit illius tristissima noctis imago, Nec spatium fuerat, nec mens satis apta parandi. Non mihi servorum, comites non cura legendi, Non aliter stupui, quam qui Iovis ignibus ictus Ut tamen hanc animi nubem dolor ipse removit, 15 Adloquor extremum maestos abiturus amicos, 20 Quocumque aspiceres, luctus gemitusque sonaban、, Femina virque meo, pueri quoque funere maerent, Inque domo lacrimas angulus omnis habet : 25 Si licet exemplis in parvis grandibus uti, 30 Haec facies Troiae, cum caperetur, erat. Iamque quiescebant voces hominumque canumque, Lunaque nocturnos alta regebat equos. Hanc ego suspiciens et ab hac Capitolia cernens, Quae nostro frustra iuncta fuere lari, 'Numina vicinis habitantia sedibus,' inquam 'Iamque oculis numquam templa videnda meis, Dique relinquendi, quos urbs habet alta Quirini, Este salutati tempus in omne mihi! 35 Et quamquam sero clipeum post vulnera sumo, Ut quod vos scitis, poenae quoque sentiat auctor : 40 Placato possum non miser esse deo.' Hac prece adoravi superos ego, pluribus uxor, Illa etiam ante lares passis astrata capillis 50 Iamque morae spatium nox praecipitata negabat, A! Quotiens aliquo dixi properante 'Quid urgues? 55 Ter limen tetigi, ter sum revocatus, et ipse 60 Indulgens animo pes mihi tardus erat. Saepe vale dicto rursus sum multa locutus, Et quasi discedens oscula summa dedi. Saepe eadem mandata dedi meque ipse fefelli, Denique Quid propero? Scythia est, quo mittimur,"`. inquam 'Roma relinquenda est. Utraque iusta mora est. Uxor in aeternum vivo mihi viva negatur, Et domus et fidae dulcia membra domus, 65 Quosque ego dilexi fraterno more sodales; O mihi Thesea pectora iuncta fide! 70 Dum licet, amplectar. Numquam fortasse licebit Stella gravis nobis, Lucifer ortus erat. Dividor haud aliter, quam si mea membra relinquam, Et pars abrumpi corpore visa suo est. 75 Sic doluit Mettus tunc, cum in contraria versos Ultores habuit proditionis equos. 80 Tum vero exoritur clamor gemitusque meorum, 'Non potes avelli. Simul hinc, simul ibimus' inquit: 85 Te iubet a patria discedere Caesaris ira, Me pietas. Pietas haec mihi Caesar erit.' Talia temptabat, sicut temptaverat ante, 90 Vixque dedit victas utilitate manus. ΙΟΟ Nec gemuisse minus, quam si nataeque meumque Et voluisse mori, moriendo ponere sensus, Respectuque tamen non periisse mei. Vivat! Et absentem quoniam sic fata tulerunt — Vivat ut auxilio sublevet usque suo. [The following letter to his wife (Tristia, III, III) is even more sad than usual, for it is written from the poet's sick chamber. He pathetically describes the utter loneliness of his life, with no friend near to lighten the tedium of the slowly moving days; while every delicacy of food and care that should sustain him in his sickness is lacking. He looks forward to his death, and hopes that his wife will grieve for him and rescue his bones at least from the exile's lot.] ΙΟ Haec mea, si casu miraris, epistula quare Non qui soletur, non qui labentia tarde. |