Letters from the Black Sea

Ovid: Tristia. Ponto. Wheeler, Arthur Leslie, editor. Cambridge, MA; London, UK: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd., 1939 (printing).

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This work is a collection of epistolary poems in elegiac couplets sent by the exiled poet Ovid from Tomis, a harsh frontier on the Black Sea, to his wife, friends, and influential patrons in Rome. Throughout the letters, he vividly depicts the miserable reality of his exile—characterized by freezing temperatures, constant threats from hostile tribes, and physical decline—while expressing an agonizing nostalgia for his beloved homeland. The poet repeatedly begs his correspondents to intercede with Emperor Augustus and his family, pleading not for a full pardon, but at least for a transfer to a safer and less hostile location. As the books progress, however, the deaths of his key patrons and the demise of the emperor shatter his hopes of return, leading him gradually toward a state of resignation and acceptance of his fate. Ultimately, the collection closes with a poignant self-defense against "Envy," as the poet recalls his past literary glory while declaring that, through his exile, he has already been spiritually destroyed.