Ovidtristia

Grief at parting:
Ovid Tristia 1.3.1

84 (abridged)
OCR Latin
Anthology
Click here for the complete text
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A modern poem about Ovid in
exile
N B neither the questions nor the answers here are
definitive in any way; they merely try to get you to think
about the sorts of things that you may get asked questions
on; hopefully they will along the way help you appreciate
just what a clever poet Ovid is!
G Evans September 2010
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Grief at parting: Ovid Tristia 1.3.1 84 (abridged)

Why was this night so significant to Ovid?
This was the night by the end of which he had to leave Rome, his home, his family
and go far away to the edge of the Empire, with no certainty that he would return.
He had been exiled for, in his words, a carmen and an error; it is thought the
carmen was the Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) which was not supportive of the
moral regeneration that the emperor Augustus wanted to see and that the error was
possibly that Ovid had seen or knew of some scandalous behaviour concerning the
emperors daughter Julia; we will never know.
Comment on the choice and position of tristissima
The word put into the superlative expresses the depth of
Ovids sadness at what is going to happen.
The position, immediately after the caesura, is emphatic;
read aloud, the sibilance of the preceding s sounds
emphasises further the sibilance of tristissima.
Julia,
daughter of
Augustus
1.cum subit illius tristissima noctis imago,
2. quae mihi supremum tempus in Urbe fuit,
3. cum repeto noctem, qua tot mihi cara reliqui,
4. labitur ex oculis nunc quoque gutta meis.
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Comment on the position of supremum tempus in the line.
Discuss the phrase in Urbe; what does it tell us about Ovids feelings?
cum subit ... cum repeto ~ what is the effect of the repetition of cum?
The words are either side of the caesura which makes
them very emphatic; that this is Ovids last time in Rome
gives the phrase great pathos and resonance.
The City is of course Rome; rather like people talk of going to London as going to Town.
For Ovid and people of his set Rome really was the centre of the universe; with its
entertainments and leisure activities it was the only place he wanted to be; the people for
whom he is writing would know that he was talking about Rome.
The cumulation of cum clause + relative clause, cum clause + relative clause before the
main clause makes us wait three lines before finding out what happens which emphasises
that Ovid can still (nunc quoque) cry about the events; the repetition also further emphasises
to us that it was his last night in the city and also the night when he had to leave so many
things that were dear to him.
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cum subit ... cum repeto discuss the significance of the difference between subit and repeto
subit expresses that situation when images or events seem to just pop into our minds
without any action on our part; repeto suggests a more active recall of events. Ovid is
saying that one way or another the memory of that night is constantly with him.
What is the effect of the verb tenses in the first three lines?
There are two pairs of present tense and perfect tense: subit and fuit, repeto and reliqui. The
contrast in each case powerfully conveys how Ovid still constantly thinks about events
which are final and finished and cannot be brought back the leaving of the city and the
leaving of his family and city life.
How does Ovid build up the emotion in these four lines?
He reminds us that it was a very sad night in his life; he then builds on that by saying that it
was his last night in the city (for Ovid, a living death to be deprived of Rome); he then
reminds us of what he has lost tot cara includes family, friends, his social life, the cultural
environment of the city. For a Roman reader certainly there would be huge resonance in the
thought of leaving the city and leaving the family.
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3.cum repeto noctem, qua tot mihi cara reliqui,
5.iam prope lux aderat, qua me discedere Caesar
6. finibus extremae iusserat Ausoniae.

qua is repeated in line 3 and line 5: comment on the position and
the sound.
In both cases it comes in a strong position immediately after the
caesura, introducing a clause about Ovids loss and one about the
reason for that loss and thereby emphasising both those points.
It is a long a and read aloud could have the effect of almost a
groan, to increase the pathos that Ovid wants us to feel.
Comment on Ovids choices of word positions in line 4.
nunc quoque gutta is sandwiched inside oculis meis so there is a
clever picture of the tears being squeezed from his eyes; nunc
quoque comes in the strong position immediately after the caesura
this emphasises that even now he cries when he thinks back to the
night of his departure from Rome.
Statue of Ovid in Constanza in
Romania (the ancient Tomis) ~
the place to which Ovid was
exiled
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3.cum repeto noctem, qua tot mihi cara reliqui,
5.iam prope lux aderat, qua me discedere Caesar

Translate lines 5 and 6: iam prope .... Ausoniae.
Who is Caesar? Why had he given this order to Ovid?
Now the dawn was almost come on which Caesar had ordered me
to leave the borders of the furthest part of Italy.
Caesar is the emperor Augustus. He had given this order to Ovid
because of, in Ovids words, a carmen and an error; the carmen
was probably the Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love), a poem which
did not support Augustus project to morally regenerate Rome;
his error, it is speculated, had something to do with Augustus
rather wild daughter, Julia.
Comment on the position of the word Caesar.
The end of the line is always an emphatic position and Ovid
wants to emphasise that it was Caesar who had banished him
(to be fair Augustus had treated him relatively leniently see
further in the annotations)
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5. iam prope lux aderat, qua me discedere Caesar

Comment on the choice and position of the words finibus and extremae.
Both words on their own give the idea of outer limits, the back of beyond; put next to each
other gives them even more power and underlines even more strongly just what a total loss of
everything he loves Ovid is now facing I am going to fall off the edge of the known
world!
Why do you think Ovid uses Ausoniae rather than the more usual Italiae?
Ausonia is an ancient word for Italy; Vergil also uses it
often. It has an epic quality about it and although
Ovids poetry here is intensely personal and about his
misfortune, he is still a poet and is perhaps trying to
make us feel that there was something epic about what
had happened to him; just a bit later he draws some
comparison between his situation and the capture of
Troy, the ultimate epic event.
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5. iam prope lux aderat, qua me discedere Caesar

How effective are these lines in setting the scene for the poem and making us sympathetic to
Ovid? In your answer comment on: choice of words
position of words
stylistic features
There are a number of words, each with great resonance for someone
being forced to leave the city he loves: tristissima, supremum tempus, in
Urbe, tot cara, reliqui, gutta, finibus, extremae; the use of these words sets
the scene for the emotions to follow and from most of Ovids readers
there would probably be much sympathy created by this picture.
tristissima, supremum and tempus are all in strong positions in their lines around the
caesura, as are nunc and quoque; all of them help to underline just how emotional was and
still is the experience that Ovid suffered.
The repetitions (anaphora) of cum and of qua serve to tie together this build up of emotion
and, from Ovids point of view, disaster.
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7. nec spatium nec mens fuerat satis apta parandi:
8. torpuerant longa pectora nostra mora.
9. non mihi servorum, comitis non cura legendi,
10. non aptae profugo vestis opisve fuit.

Translate lines 7 and 8
There had not been time or desire sufficiently suitable for getting ready; my heart had
become sluggish through the long delay.
What is the effect of the repetition of nec?
The repetition emphasises that it was not lack of time that meant Ovid was not really
prepared for leaving; he wants to remind us that there was also his state of mind to consider
he had not been able to summon up the energy or interest to make proper preparations
Comment on the order of the words in line 8.
torpuerant (had become sluggish) starts the line and sums up what Ovid has said in the
previous line; his heart, his feelings (pectora nostra) were restricted, confined by the long
delay (longa mora) and the order of the words graphically represents that idea of his heart
fenced in by the long delay.
What is the effect of finishing the first line of each couplet with a gerundive parandi/legendi?
Having these two words which look and sound very similar, and putting them in the
emphatic position at the ends of the lines helps tie together these four lines which describe
how Ovid behaved and felt in the period leading up to the event described in the poem.
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11. non aliter stupui, quam qui Iovis ignibus ictus
12. vivit et est vitae nescius ipse suae.

How in these lines does Ovid use rhetorical devices to arouse pity for his plight?
In the first two lines he emphasises how unable he
was to put together the essentials for a reasonably
civilised life slaves, a companion, clothes and
money; he underlines what he says by repetition
(anaphora) of the non and by giving three examples
of what he did not/ could not do, employing the
powerful device of the tricolon; he emphasises the
idea even more by placing servorum and comitis
either side of the caesura in line 9, thus highlighting
them.
Comment on the position and power of the word profugo in line 10.
The position before the caesura is emphatic; Ovid is underscoring the core of what is
happening to him, that he is being banished from Italy; because he was subject to relegatio
rather than exilium he was not deprived of citizenship and retained citizen rights, except the
right to return to Rome. However for a city boy like Ovid it is still like a living death and
the position of profugo underlines that.
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11. non aliter stupui, quam qui Iovis ignibus ictus
12. vivit et est vitae nescius ipse suae.

Comment on the simile in lines 11 and 12: what points of similarity
exist?
In the simile the person struck by lightning is alive and is ignorant of
his own life (this could mean unconscious or out of it); Ovid has
said he was the same: he was alive but his situation and the depression it
had created had slowed him right down and made it impossible for him
to get on with anything.
The person struck by lightning is alive and yet not alive; Ovid, being
sent away from everything he loves, also sees himself as condemned to
a living death.
In the simile the cause of the persons problem is that Jupiter, supreme
leader of the gods, has hurled his thunderbolt. In Ovids case, the
supreme leader of the Romans, the emperor Augustus, has hurled a
metaphorical thunderbolt in the shape of the decree of banishment.
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13. ut tamen hanc animi nubem dolor ipse removit,
14. et tandem sensus convaluere mei,
15. adloquor extremum maestos abiturus amicos,
16. qui modo de multis unus et alter erant.

What is the nubem to which Ovid refers?
This is the cloud of depression which has hung over him since he learned that he was to be
banished from Rome.
Comment on the positions of extremum and abiturus.
How does Ovids language convey how abandoned he felt at this point?
The last line (friends) who now were (only) one or two from many shows Ovid thinking I
used to be so popular and knew anybody who was anybody but they were all fair weather
friends and as soon as I fell out of favour with the emperor they were off.
Comment on the tense of adloquor.
All the other verbs are in the perfect tense but in order to highlight and make immediate the
pathos of the final farewell and the few remaining friends, Ovid comes back to the present
tense. You could say locutus sum would not scan but hey! Ovid is a very clever poet.
extremum (for the last time) is in the strong position immediately before the caesura and
also placed next to maestos to convey even more strongly the pathos of the situation.
abiturus (on the point of leaving) is surrounded by maestos amicos (the sad friends): thus
the word order reflects the situation of Ovid surrounded by his grieving friends.
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17. uxor amans flentem flens acrius ipsa tenebat,
18. imbre per indignas usque cadente genas.

Comment on the word order in line 17 with particular reference to
flentem.
The juxtaposition of flentem with flens and their placements either
side of the caesura is very powerful in conveying the emotion of this
moment when Ovid has turned from describing his own emotions to
describing the emotions of his wife and their mutual crying; the
uxor amans .. flens surrounding the flentem husband graphically
conveys through the word order the picture we have of the wife
holding on to the husband.
How else here does Ovid convey the pathos of the situation he
describes?
He uses the word imbre (a shower) to describe the volume of tears
shed by his wife; he describes her cheeks as undeserving he thinks
his banishment is unfair and therefore the grief it causes his wife is
unnecessary and undeserved.
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19. nata procul Libycis aberat diversa sub oris,
20. nec poterat fati certior esse mei.

Who is the nata referred to in line 19.
This is his only child, a daughter with his second wife. The uxor is his third wife.
Why was she Lybicis ... sub oris?
She was married to a senator, Cornelius Fidus, who had gone as governor of the province of
Africa.
Comment on the choices of words to start lines
17 and 19.
Here Ovid highlights the two most important
people in his personal life and gives them
both prominence by placing them as first
words in the two lines.
What are the words that Ovid uses to emphasise
just how far away his daughter is?
procul (far away) and diversa (apart, separated).
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19. nata procul Libycis aberat diversa sub oris,
20. nec poterat fati certior esse mei.

Identify words that convey just how upset Ovids wife was.
flens ~ crying; imbre ~ with a shower (of tears); acrius ~ rather
fiercely.
How does the mention of his daughter being overseas in Libya add to
the pathos of the situation?
There is pathos in the different circumstances for them both.
Ovid is going overseas against his will; his daughter went (presumably) willingly as the
wife of the new governor of the province.
Ovid is going somewhere off on the edge of the empire where he does not see that he will
have any of the trappings of a really civilised life; his daughter, as the wife of the governor,
will have all the items for a civilised life that she can want.
Ovid is leaving Rome in shame, having offended the emperor, even if he was let off lightly;
his daughter, we can assume, left Rome with excitement that she was going to a high status
position in an important and long standing province of the empire.
There is huge pathos in the fact that all this is happening to Ovid and
his daughter, the apple of his eye, is too far away to even know
about it.
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21. quocumque aspiceres, luctus gemitusque sonabant,
22. formaque non taciti funeris intus erat.
23. femina virque meo, pueri quoque funere maerent,
24. inque domo lacrimas angulus omnis habet.
Mourning - Statue from a
grave site. Attica. About 360
BCE. - Glyptothek (Munich)
How effective is line 21 in conveying the situation it describes?
There are several long syllables and oo sounds in this line if it is read
aloud; these mirror the sounds of lamentation which fill the house.
Explain why the funeris is described as non taciti.
In the Roman view, and in the view of many cultures, noise drives
away evil spirits; therefore at a funeral, the more noise the better to
drive away ghosts and other spirits and, in a sense, the more genuine
is the grief. Plenty of noise also usually means that the family have
been able to afford plenty of professional mourners, so that big noise
equals big status. Ovid seems to be implying not only that the grief
at his departure was huge and genuine but that the noise was
appropriate for someone of his status.
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What is the word Ovid uses to describe his situation? Why?
funere ~ funeral; in the previous line he has likened what is happening to a noisy funeral;
he sees it as a funeral because what is going to happen to him is for him a living death,
the end of everything that gives his life meaning and enjoyment.
21. quocumque aspiceres, luctus gemitusque sonabant,
22. formaque non taciti funeris intus erat.
23. femina virque meo, pueri quoque funere maerent,
24. inque domo lacrimas angulus omnis habet.
What is the effect of the singular nouns femina and vir in line 23?
He is using the part for the whole ~ there were probably a number of women and men
involved, just as there were a number of slaves (pueri), but by making them singular he can
again convey the feeling expressed earlier that almost everybody had deserted him.
Comment on the word order of line 24.
The tears (lacrimas) are closed within the house (domo) and all the corners (angulus omnis);
this graphically describes how the house is full of lamentation.
Comment on the effect of the tenses of maerent and habet.
After many lines with verbs in the past tense, Ovid deploys two verbs in the present
tense; these are historic presents, used to emphasise and make more immediate the
mourning and lamentation he is describing.
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25. si licet exemplis in parvo grandibus uti,
26. haec facies Troiae, cum caperetur, erat.
27. iamque quiescebant voces hominumque canumque
28. Lunaque nocturnos alta regebat equos.
Fresco from Pompeii showing
Aeneas carrying his father,
Anchises, with his son Ascanias
by his side after the fall of Troy.
Translate lines 25 and 26
If I am allowed to use a great
example for a small thing, this
was the appearance of Troy
when it was captured.
What is the effect of the
juxtaposition of parvo and
grandibus?
By juxtaposing the destruction
of Troy and his own banishment
from Rome, Ovid, by
association, makes his own
predicament more grandis than
perhaps it really is. Is there an
implied similarity to Aeneas?
That would be very arrogant!
Make comparisons between the
capture of Troy and Ovids leaving
Rome.
Here are a few:
It was the end of everything the
Trojans had known; Ovid feels the
same about what is going to
happen to him.
The Trojans had to go into an
uncertain exile; so does Ovid.
Aeneas took his family; Ovid
cannot take anyone.
Troy was burnt to the ground; Ovid
thinks that (metaphorically) his
household is also being destroyed.
Troy was full of lamentation; so is
Ovids household.
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25. si licet exemplis in parvo grandibus uti,
26. haec facies Troiae, cum caperetur, erat.
27. iamque quiescebant voces hominumque canumque
28. Lunaque nocturnos alta regebat equos.
Selene steps from her chariot to meet Endymion.
Getty Museum
Roman sacrophagus, marble, 210 CE
Selene the moon
Antikensammlung, Berlin
Attic red figure kylix, attrib Brygos
Painter 500 450 BCE
Explain line 28.
Luna is the goddess of the moon; in
Greek and Roman popular belief
she rode high (alta) across the sky
each night in a two horse chariot
(nocturnos equos); she is
visualised simultaneously as a
young female and as a yellow orb.
Why does Ovid do his description of the moonlit night in this
roundabout way?
Ovid here clicks into epic mode; he has mentioned the fall of Troy, the subject of the Iliad, the
greatest of epic poems, and the start point for the Roman epic, Virgils Aeneid; he continues
with phraseology which would be appropriate in epic the voices of men and dogs being silent
has an epic (or mock epic?) ring; the image of Luna and her chariot goes back certainly as far as
the Homeric and Orphic Hymns of classical Greece and has a good epic pedigree. The epic
flavour continues as Ovid looks at the Capitol and makes his elaborate prayer to the gods.
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29. hanc ego suspiciens et ab hac Capitolia cernens,
30. quae nostro frustra iuncta fuere Lari,
31. 'numina vicinis habitantia sedibus', inquam,
32. 'iamque oculis numquam templa videnda meis,
33. dique relinquendi, quos Urbs habet alta Quirini,
34. este salutati tempus in omne mihi.
Translate lines 29 and 30.
I looking up at her and seeing by her light the Capitol which
was in vain facing our house.
Who or what is referred to by hanc?
Luna, the moon.
Why frustra?
The Capitolium was the citadel of Rome and in early times
had been where Romans retreated when under attack; since
the Capitol faces Ovids house, Ovid thinks that that power
of protection should be protecting his house and household
but it clearly is not.
Explain Lari
A Lar was a mix of household spirit, a boundary protector,
an ancestor spirit; Ovid is using it to convey the idea of his
household; it is an example of synecdoche where a part (the
Lar) is used to describe the whole (the house)
The Capitoline Hill with the temple of Jupiter Optimus
Maximus (reconstruction by Alan Sorrel)
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29. hanc ego suspiciens et ab hac Capitolia cernens,
30. quae nostro frustra iuncta fuere Lari,
31. 'numina vicinis habitantia sedibus', inquam,
32. 'iamque oculis numquam templa videnda meis,
33. dique relinquendi, quos Urbs habet alta Quirini,
34. este salutati tempus in omne mihi.
Panorama of the Forum with the Capitoline beyond (a
reconstruction by Alan Sorrel)
Urbs alta Quirini ~ discuss Ovids use of this phrase
The city is Rome; it is described as lofty, both in a literal
sense because of the Capitoline Hill and the other hills of
Rome, but also in a metaphorical sense of magnificent, great
(gods are described sometimes as alti). Romulus, along
with Remus was the mythical founder of Rome; when he
died he became the god Quirinus.
In lines 31 to 34 Ovid makes a very formal sounding prayer; what is his purpose?
He invokes the spirits, the temples, the gods of Rome and says he will always hail them
(este salutati tempus in omne); he is saying that wherever he ends up in the world in his
exile he will always look back and think of these gods and temples; for him they will
always be the most important.
In a literary sense, he uses very formal language and the reference to Quirinus to give some
epic feel to this part of the story; he has just mentioned Troy and he wants us to think of his
departure from Rome as echoing Aeneas departure from Troy and being similarly
significant: is he being playful or does he mean it?
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35. hac prece adoravi superos ego, pluribus uxor,
36. singultu medios impediente sonos.
37. illa etiam ante Lares passis adstrata capillis
38. contigit extinctos ore tremente focos,
39. multaque in adversos effudit verba Penates
40. pro deplorato non valitura viro.
Comment on the effects created in lines 35 and 36: discuss significant:
positions of words, contrasts, word order

Positions of words: uxor at the end of the line in a strong, emphatic position to
signpost the next five lines where his wife is the focus; singultu is emphatic at the
start of the line, with its three long syllables echoing her lamentation.
Contrasts: ego and uxor close together makes a powerful contrast; is Ovid contrasting
his formal restrained prayer to the gods and his wifes rather more hysterical
behaviour?
Word order: postponing ego to the end of its clause gives it emphasis and puts it close to uxor;
impediente interrupting the medios sonos (choking her half-heard cries, as Tony Kline translates it)
makes the word order echo the sense.
Ovid referred to the Lares earlier; there is now a repeated focus on the Lares and the Penates. Why?
The Lares and the Penates are the literal, concrete shrines in front of which his wife is praying; they
are also metaphorically the essence of his household and family and make a good shorthand to focus
the reader/ listeners attention on the fact that his household/family is being torn apart. They also
provide a contrast between the public gods of Rome, to which Ovid has prayed, and the more intimate
household gods to which his wife is praying both sets of gods, as Ovid sees it, have abandoned him.
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35. hac prece adoravi superos ego, pluribus uxor,
36. singultu medios impediente sonos.
37. illa etiam ante Lares passis adstrata capillis
38. contigit extinctos ore tremente focos,
39. multaque in adversos effudit verba Penates
40. pro deplorato non valitura viro.
Lar statuette
Early 1
st
cent CE
National Archaeological
Museum, Madrid
Comment on the position of exstinctos
This is a word of great power and pathos and its position just before the caesura
reflects that; in the Roman house, the hearth fire had a sacred significance and like
the eternal flame in Vestas temple it never normally went out or was exstinguished.
Now that Ovids house is being torn apart, losing its paterfamilias, the fire has
literally (?) and symbolically been exstinguished. Ovids wife blows on/ kisses the
cold ashes in a pathetic symbolic attempt to revive the good luck of the house.
Comment on the position of adversos
Like exstinctos in an emphatic position before the caesura; emphasised because
the Penates have become unfavourable, hostile and are not listening to the pleas of
Ovids wife.
What are the different ways in which Ovid tells us about his wifes behaviour and
emotions?
She makes many prayers, she sobs while praying, she undoes her hair to show her grief, she lies in
front of the Lares, she tries to relight the hearth fire, she poured out many words to the Penates, she
tried to intercede for her husband
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so re
41. iamque morae spatium nox praecipitata negabat,
42. ter limen tetigi, ter sum revocatus, et ipse
43. indulgens animo pes mihi tardus erat.
The limen of a town house
in Pompeii
Translate these lines
And already hurtling night was
denying any space for delay, I
touched the threshold three times,
three times I was called back, even
my actual foot being kind to my
mind was slow.
What word tells us how little time
he now had left?
praecipitata
What is the effect of the lack of
connections (asyndeton) in lines 41 and
42?
It makes the action jerky and gives a
picture of Ovid endlessly going
towards the door and flinching back
from crossing the threshold.
Discuss the repetition of ter in line 42
Combined with the lack of
connection, six actions in one short
line gives a strong feeling of Ovid
moving erratically back and forth,
unable or unwilling to make up his
mind about what to do.
What effect does Ovid achieve by making his foot an
active subject?
With how he personifies the foot he is emphasising that
his whole being, not just his conscious mind, is so
reluctant to take the step that his rational mind knows
he has to: this is an illustration of the expression
dragging his feet.
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FERIMUS
LATIN
44. saepe 'vale' dicto rursus sum multa locutus,
45. et quasi discedens oscula summa dedi.
46. saepe eadem mandata dedi meque ipse fefelli,
47. respiciens oculis pignora cara meis.
How in these lines does Ovid communicate his emotions. Comment on the actions he describes and the
repetitions he includes.
He emphasises how up in the air he is: he keeps on saying goodbye then talking some more; he
keeps on giving the final kisses; he keeps on giving the same orders and looking back at the members
of his family.
He emphasises how he drags out his departure by the repetition of saepe at the beginning of each
couplet
What is the effect of Ovid using 1
st
person singular verbs throughout these lines?
The poem alternates between a focus on his wife and on himself. Following from this section the poem
goes back to describing the emotions of his wife; the relentless 1
st
person verbs here help to bring the
focus narrowly onto Ovid and his emotions; that makes what follows, - the pathos of his wifes
emotions, - all the more moving.
What are the cara pignora?
pledges of love: they are his close relatives and in particular his wife.
Comment on the word order of oculis pignora cara meis.
Ovid paints a moving word picture of his dear relatives being embraced by his eyes as he looks on them
for the last time.
you are studying
IUGLANTES VITAI
FERIMUS
LATIN
48. dividor haud aliter, quam si mea membra relinquam,
49. et pars abrumpi corpore visa suo est.
50. sic doluit Mettus tum cum in contraria versos
51. ultores habuit proditionis equos.
The martyrdom of St Hippolytus
Dieric Bouts (b cir 1410, d 1475)
Groenigemuseum, Bruges
Discuss the position and the voice (active or passive) of dividor.
It is in an emphatic position at the beginning of the line. It is passive and
expresses that Ovid is being torn apart by having to leave his family and
Rome and at the same time he is suffering this, it is being done to him, rather
than being something he is doing.
Why does Ovid in lines 48 and 49 use this very graphic and violent simile?
How else to express the huge pain of leaving everything you love wife,
relatives, house, Rome, friends ....? Metaphorically all these things are part
of him, part of what he is, and comparing their loss to losing parts of his
body is very apposite.
Who was Mettus?
Mettus was the king of Alba Longa, a town near Rome. Having betrayed the Romans in a battle against
Fidenae, Tullus Hostilius, the king of Rome, directed that he be punished by being torn apart. The story of
Mettus is probably a commonplace it also appears in Virgil Book 8 where he describes the pictures on
Aeneas shield.
What points of comparison can you see between the story of Mettus and Ovids situation.
They are both being torn apart, Mettus literally and Ovid metaphorically. Mettus had been clearly
guilty of treachery/betrayal (proditionis); Ovid, in his own view, was guilty of stupidity but not of a
crime deserving the death penalty
you are studying
IUGLANTES VITAI
FERIMUS
LATIN

52. tum vero exoritur clamor gemitusque meorum,
53. et feriunt maestae pectora nuda manus.
54. tum vero coniunx umeris abeuntis inhaerens
55. miscuit haec lacrimis tristia verba suis:
What is the effect of the repetition of the phrase tum vero at the beginning of both
couplets?
At this point Ovid turns from describing his emotions to describing what his
relatives and his wife in particular is feeling. The repetition helps to emphasise
these changes of viewpoint, firstly to the relatives and then to his wife.
Comment on the effect of the present tenses used in lines 52 and 53.
In the previous lines Ovid used a present tense, dividor, to describe himself; using
the present tense in past time (the historic present) is a way of making an action
more immediate, and Ovid continues that graphic use of the present into the
description of what his relatives did, in order to emphasise just how upset everyone
was at his departure.
Translate lines 54 and 55 and comment on the word order of line 55
Then indeed my wife clinging to the shoulders of her departing husband mixed
these sad words with her tears.
By the order of verb Acc Abl Acc Acc Abl Ovid paints a picture in words of his
wifes words mixed with and interrupted by her tears.
you are studying
IUGLANTES VITAI
FERIMUS
LATIN
54. tum vero coniunx umeris abeuntis inhaerens
55. miscuit haec lacrimis tristia verba suis:
56. 'non potes avelli: simul ah! simul ibimus', inquit,
57. 'te sequar et coniunx exulis exul ero.
58. et mihi facta via est, et me capit ultima tellus:
59. accedam profugae sarcina parva rati.
Comment on the repetition of simul.
It comes immediately after the caesura so in an emphatic place; the repetition underlines how much
Ovids wife wants to accompany him.
Discuss Ovids use of words in line 57.
coniunx usually means wife; Ovid here uses it in the sense of partner while still reminding us that it
is his wife he is talking about.
He uses the word exul to describe himself; he overstates it since
strictly speaking he is relegatus. However it allows him to create the
nice juxtaposition of exulis and exul.
What is the effect of the repetition of et in line 58
Read aloud for the full effect; it helps to emphasise the mihi and the
me and strengthen the build up of emotion towards the last line.
Discuss the pathos of the last line
I will board your ship of exile as a small cargo; in the previous line
she has described his destination as ultima tellus (the furthest land);
now she adds a reminder that the ship will take her husband into exile
and finally includes herself but as a little thing who will be no bother.
you are studying

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Grief at parting:

Ovid Tristia 1.3.1

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