Naiadas Satyris caneret Fontanus amatas,35
clauderet imparibus uerba Capella modis,
cumque forent alii, quorum mihi cuncta referre
nomina longa mora est, carmina uulgus habet,
essent et iuuenes quorum, quod inedita cura est,
appellandorum nil mihi iuris adest40
(te tamen in turba non ausim, Cotta, silere,
Pieridum lumen praesidiumque fori,

35 Naiadas C. P. Jones naiadas a HLI2 nayades a MT naidas a BCFI2 || Fontanus] fontusanus M montanus H, ut uid || 38 longa mora] mora longa L || uulgus habet] uulgus habent HIac fama tenet T || 39-40 spurios putat Williams || 39 essent et iuuenes] quid pro essent C, incertum et iuuenes essent H || iuuenes quorum, quod interpunxi iuuenes, quorum quod edd || cura unus Thuaneus Heinsii (=Parisinus lat. 8256 uel 8462) causa BCMFHILT || 41 tamen in] tanta in M1L tamen e Heinsius || 42 lumen] numen 'editi aliquot'—Burman || praesidiumque fori] praesidiumque meum H1; uide Hor Carm I i 2

maternos Cottas cui Messallasque paternos,
Maxime, nobilitas ingeminata dedit),
dicere si fas est, claro mea nomine Musa45
atque inter tantos quae legeretur erat.
ergo summotum patria proscindere, Liuor,
desine neu cineres sparge, cruente, meos.
omnia perdidimus; tantummodo uita relicta est,
praebeat ut sensum materiamque mali.50
[quid iuuat extinctos ferrum demittere in artus?
non habet in nobis iam noua plaga locum.]

43 maternos] fraternos B1CH || Cottas] coctas L || cui om FIL || Messallasque BCM messalosque IL messalinosque HT messalanosque F || 44 Maxime B1CMpc, sicut coni Burman maxima MacFHILTB2 || ingeminata] cui geminata F || 46 legeretur] regeretur BCpc regaretur Cac || 47 proscindere] procindere Fac praescindere T discindere I || 48 neu] nec IF ne H || 49 relicta] retenta T, ut uid (retn̅ta) || 50 ut] ut ca Tac || 51-52 spurios puto || 51 demittere Berolinensis Diez. B. Sant. 1, saec xiii (Lenz), Laurentianus 36 2, saec xv (Lenz), editio princeps Bononiensis (Lenz) dimittere BCMFHILT || artus] albis C (astus Lenz; André dubitanter) || explicit liber ouidii de ponto fe li ci ter sint bona scribenti sint uita salusque legenti B explicit liber ouidii de ponto C explicit liber publii·o·n·de ponto M explicit ouidius de ponto uade sed incultus qualem decet exulis esse F explicit o de ponto H hic liber explicit gratia christo detur L

COMMENTARY

EPISTVLARVM EX PONTO LIBER QVARTVS. The precise title of these poems is uncertain. The one mention Ovid makes of the poems' title is of little assistance: 'inuenies, quamuis non est miserabilis index, / non minus hoc illo triste quod ante dedi' (EP I i 15-16). The earliest manuscript of the poems, the ninth-century Hamburgensis scrin. 52 F (extant to III ii 67), gives no title at the start of the poems, but has 'EX PONTO LIBER ·II· EXPLICIT' at the end of the second book. Later manuscripts generally call the poems the De Ponto or Epistulae de Ponto. The original name was probably not present in the archetype; these titles were perhaps invented with the aid of the first distich of the first poem: 'Naso Tomitanae iam non nouus incola terrae / hoc tibi de Getico litore mittit opus'. Heinsius strongly preferred Ex Ponto to De Ponto ('nihil magis inscitum aut barbarum hac inscriptione'), citing in its support the first line of Tr V ii 'Ecquid, ut e Ponto noua uenit epistula, palles'. In reality ex and de are equally acceptable Latin (Cic Att XV xxvi 5; Fam XIV xx), but Ex Ponto is the title found in the oldest manuscript of the poems and has become usual since Heinsius' time; in the absence of further evidence it may be allowed to stand.

Heinsius made two other suggestions for the poems' title. The first, Pontica, seems best suited for a poem describing the geography of the area around Tomis or the characteristics of its inhabitants. His second suggestion, Epistulae Ponticae, is attractive, but without any particular probability.