The Last Poems of Ovid

by 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].

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.

Poem xiv is far less personal than the earlier epistle. The only mention of Tuticanus is at the poem's beginning: