Tristia 1

3Tristia 1. Lecture 1

Tristia 1. Lecture 1

Letters from exile. Autobiographical fictions and literary models

1. Letters and poetry books Tr. 1.11.1-2 Littera quaecumque est toto tibi lecta libello, | est mihi sollicito tempore facta uiae; 35 candide lector; 43-4 uincat hiems hominem! sed eodem tempore, quaeso, | ipse modum statuam carminis, illa sui.

Letters without named addressees: Oliensis (1997) exile 'has jammed the working of amicitia'.

2. The Horatian epistolary precedent: Horace Epistles 1.20.1-13, 19-28

Vortumnum Ianumque, liber, spectare uideris,

scilicet ut prostes Sosiorum pumice mundus.

Odisti clauis et grata sigilla pudico,

paucis ostendi gemis et communia laudas,

non ita nutritus. Fuge quo descendere gestis; 5

non erit emisso reditus tibi; 'Quid miser egi?

Quid uolui?' dices, ubi quid te laeserit; et scis

in breue te cogi, cum plenus languet amator.

Quodsi non odio peccantis desipit augur,

carus eris Romae donec te deserat aetas; 10

contrectatus ubi manibus sordescere uolgi

coeperis, aut tineas pasces taciturnus inertis

aut fugies Vticam aut uinctus mitteris Ilerdam.

........

Cum tibi sol tepidus pluris admouerit auris,

me libertino natum patre et in tenui re 20

maiores pinnas nido extendisse loqueris,

ut quantum generi demas, uirtutibus addas;

me primis urbis belli placuisse domique,

corporis exigui, praecanum, solibus aptum,

irasci celerem, tamen ut placabilis essem. 25

Forte meum siquis te percontabitur aeuum,

me quater undenos sciat impleuisse Decembris

collegam Lepidum quo duxit Lollius anno.

Tristia 1.1: journey to, not away from, the city, by an incultus liber (3). The immediate readership the populus (17; 88 plebs). The book in mourning like its master/author: 12 hirsutus sparsis ... comis, cf. 1.3.90 (Ovid) squalidus immissis hirta per ora comis; 13-14 stained with the poet's own body fluids. 16 contingam certe quo licet illa pede: Ovid's hallmark 'foot' joke (cf. Am. 1.1.4). 57-8 tu tamen i pro me, tu, cui licet, aspice Romam; | di facerent, possem nunc meus esse liber! pro me, but 1 sine me: --

3. Epistolary clichs: letter as eijkw;n th'" yuvch"; and as colloquia absentium, or even uisiones absentium: cf. e.g. Ex Ponto 4.4.43-6 me miserum, turba quod non ego cernar in illa | nec poterunt istis lumina nostra frui! | quod licet, absentem qua possum mente uidebo; | aspiciet uultus consulis illa sui.

4. Tristia and Ovid's earlier works. Less than Ovidian: Tr. 1.1.35-6 ut peragas mandata, liber, culpabere forsan | ingeniique minor laude ferere mei; unmistakably Ovidian: 59-62 nec te, quod uenias magnam pergrinus in urbem, | ignotum populo posse uenire puta. | ut titulo careas, ipso noscere colore: | dissimulare uelis, te liquet esse meum.

incultus: Catullus 1:

Cui dono lepidum novum libellum

arida modo pumice expolitum? Tr. 1.1.11 nec fragili poliantur pumice frontes.

Corneli, tibi: namque tu solebas

meas esse aliquid putare nugas

iam tum, cum ausus es unus Italorum

omne aevum tribus explicare cartis,

doctis, Iuppiter, et laboriosis.

quare habe tibi quidquid hoc libelli,

qualecumque: quod, o patrona virgo

plus uno maneat perenne saeclo.

To whom inscribe my charming new book--just out and with ashen pumice polished? Cornelius, to you! for you used to deem my triflings of account, and at a time when you alone of Italians dared unfold the ages' abstract in three chronicles--learned, by Jupiter!--and most laboriously written. Therefore take this booklet, such as it is, and, O Virgin Patroness, may it outlive generations more than one.

Condtions of production (a) unconducive to high quality; (b) lead to closer connection between life and poetry: cf. esp. Tr. 5.1; ibid. 27-8 non haec ingenio, non haec componimus arte: | materia est propriis ingeniosa malis: cf. Prop. 2.1.3-4 non haec Calliope, non haec mihi cantat Apollo.| ingenium nobis ipsa puella facit.

Fit between life and poetry as a matter of decorum: Tr. 1.1.3, 10 decet; 6 non est conueniens luctibus ille color; cf. 3.1.9-10 inspice quid portem: nihil hic nisi triste uidebis, | carmine temporibus conueniente suis: cf. Am. 1.1.1-2 Arma gravi numero violentaque bella parabam | edere, materia conveniente modis.

5. Exile poetry and elegy. Elegy as flebile Carmen, Tr. 5.1.5; Am. 3.9.1-6 Memnona si mater, mater ploravit Achillem, |et tangunt magnas tristia fata deas, | flebilis indignos, Elegia, solve capillos! |a, nimis ex vero nunc tibi nomen erit! -- | ille tui vates operis, tua fama, Tibullus | ardet in extructo, corpus inane, rogo.

Exclusus amator, exclusus liber: Tr. 1.1.2 ei mihi, quod domino non licet ire tuo! - cf. Am. 3.8.5-6 cum pulchrae dominae nostri placuere libelli, | quo licuit libris, non licet ire mihi.

Tr. 1.1.58 di facerent, possem nunc meus esse liber: cf. Am. 2.15.7-10 felix, a domina tractaberis, anule, nostra; |invideo donis iam miser ipse meis. | o utinam fieri subito mea munera possem | artibus Aeaeae Carpathiive senis!

Exilic deficiency and the recusatio: cf. esp. Cat. 68.3 image of shipwreck (Tr. 1.5.36; 1.6.8); grief gets in the way of (good) poetry, ibid. 31-2 ignosces igitur si, quae mihi luctus ademit, | haec tibi non tribuo munera, cum nequeo.

6. Exile poetry and Heroides. With the tear-stained smudges of Tr. 1.1.13-14 cf. Her. 3.1-4 Quam legis, a rapta Briseide littera venit, | vix bene barbarica Graeca notata manu, | quascumque adspicies, lacrimae fecere lituras; | sed tamen et lacrimae pondera vocis habent (and Prop. 4.3.1-4 haec Arethusa suo mittit mandata Lycotae, | cum totiens absis, si potes esse meus. | si qua tamen tibi lecturo pars oblita derit, | haec erit e lacrimis facta litura meis.

Tr. 1.6.33 (to his wife) prima locum sancta heroidas inter haberes (see Hinds (1999)).

7. Exile poetry and Metamorphoses. Hinds (1985) on Tr. 1.7, on carmina maior imago: the Met. recast in funereal exilic mode.

Ovid's exile as an episode from the Met.: Tr. 1.1.117-20 sunt quoque mutatae, ter quinque uolumina, formae, | nuper ab exequiis carmina rapta meis. | his mando dicas, inter mutata referri |fortunae uultum corpora posse meae. | namque ea dissimilis subito est effecta priori, | flendaque nunc, aliquo tempore laeta fuit.

8. Virgilian (and Homeric) models.

Book-burning at the poet's death: Tr. 1.7.15-20 haec ego discedens, sicut bene multa meorum, | ipse mea posui maestus in igne manu. | utque cremasse suum fertur sub stipite natum | Thestias et melior matre fuisse soror, | sic ego non meritos mecum peritura libellos | imposui rapidis uiscera nostra rogis.

Epic paradigms: Tr. 1.2.5-12 Mulciber in Troiam, pro Troia stabat Apollo; |aequa Venus Teucris, Pallas iniqua fuit. | oderat Aenean propior Saturnia Turno; |ille tamen Veneris numine tutus erat. | saepe ferox cautum petiit Neptunus Vlixem; | eripuit patruo saepe Minerua suo. | et nobis aliquod, quamuis distamus ab illis. The epic storm in 1.2 reworking storm in Aen. 1, and Ovid's reworking of the Virgilian storm in the Ceyx and Alcyone episode in Met. 11 (separation from a wife).

Tr. 1.3 and the Sack of Troy, 25-6 si licet exemplis in paruis grandibus uti, | haec facies Troiae, cum caperetur, erat. Tearfully remembering the past: 1-4 Cum subit illius tristissima noctis imago, | quae mihi supremum tempus in urbe fuit, | cum repeto noctem, qua tot mihi cara reliqui, | labitur ex oculis nunc quoque gutta meis: cf Aen. 2.3-8 cum subit illius tristissima noctis imago, | quae mihi supremum tempus in urbe fuit, | cum repeto noctem, qua tot mihi cara reliqui, |labitur ex oculis nunc quoque gutta meis.

The Ciceronian model: De domo sua 97-8 accepi, pontifices, magnum atque incredibilem dolorem: non nego, neque istam mihi adscisco sapientiam quam non nulli in me requirebant, qui me animo nimis fracto esse atque adflicto loquebantur. an ego poteram, cum a tot rerum tanta varietate divellerer, quas idcirco praetereo quod ne nunc quidem sine fletu commemorare possum, infitiari me esse hominem et communem naturae sensum repudiare? tum vero neque illud meum factum laudabile nec beneficium ullum a me in rem publicam profectum dicerem, si quidem ea rei publicae causa reliquissem quibus aequo animo carerem, eamque animi duritiam, sicut corporis, quod cum uritur non sentit, stuporem potius quam virtutem putarem. [98] suscipere tantos animi dolores, atque ea quae capta urbe accidunt victis stante urbe unum perpeti, et iam se videre distrahi a complexu suorum, disturbari tecta, diripi fortunas, patriae denique causa patriam ipsam amittere, spoliari populi Romani beneficiis amplissimis, praecipitari ex altissimo dignitatis gradu, videre praetextatos inimicos nondum morte complorata arbitria petentis funeris.

I felt indeed, O priests, a great and incredible pain; I do not deny it; nor do I pretend to that wisdom which some expected of me, who said that I was too much dispirited and cast down. Could I, when I was torn from such a number and variety of enjoyments, (which I pass over, because even now I cannot speak of them without tears,) deny that I was a human being, and repudiate the common feelings of our nature? But in that case I should neither call that action of mine praise-worthy, nor should I say that any service had been done to the republic by me, if I had only given up, for the sake of the republic, those things which I could bear the loss of with calmness; and that firmness of the mind, resembling that hardness of body, which, even when it is burnt, does not feel it, I should consider insensibility rather than virtue. To encounter voluntarily such great grief of mind, and by oneself to endure, while the city is standing, those things which, when a city is taken, befall the conquered citizens; to see oneself torn from the embrace of one's friends, one's houses destroyed, one's property plundered; above all for the sake of one's country, to lose one's country itself to be stripped of the most honourable favours of the Roman people, to be precipitated from the highest rank of dignity, to see one's enemies in their robes of office demanding to conduct one's funeral before one's death has been properly mourned.