Of the Tristia, iv. 5 and v. 9 are to Cotta. In the former Ovid addresses the friend who is chief among his friends, who has not feared to stand by him in his misfortune, and who loves him with a love like that which Castor bore to Pollux; in the latter he speaks in affectionate language to his gentle-natured patron1.

(4) The person on whose influence with the Emperor the poet mainly relied to ensure his recall was Paullus Fabius Maximus, to whom are addressed P. i. 2, iii. 3, and probably iii. 82. He was the son of Quintus Fabius Maximus, who as a young man (in 698/56) was praised by Cicero as the worthy scion of a noble line, and who distinguished himself in the war against Pompey in Spain, 709/45, and as a reward was made by Caesar Consul Suffectus, and allowed a triumph in that year.

It is conjectured that Fabius, the son, was born about 709/45. He is celebrated when a young man by Horace, as

'nobilis et decens

et pro sollicitis non tacitus reis

et centum puer artium '.'

Early in life, apparently between the ages of eighteen and

'te praesens mitem nosset, te serior aetas.'

1 1. 7: See Graeber, i. p. xxi.

2 None of the Tristia can be shown to be to him (Graeber, i. p. xi) though iii. 6 is assigned to him by Lorentz, and v. 2 by Koch and Lorentz (Koch, p. 8, Lorentz, pp. 28-30). Of these v. 2. 1-44 is to the poet's wife, as is shown by the words, 1. 39:

me miserum quid agam, si proxima quaeque relinquunt? subtrahis effracto tu quoque colla iugo?'

and the opening of the letter:

ecquid, ubi e Ponto nova venit epistula, palles,

et tibi sollicita solvitur illa manu?'

both which passages sound far more natural when addressed to the frightened wife than to anyone else. v. 2. 45 to the end, is a distinct poem addressed to Augustus, the 'arbiter imperii,' 1. 47. See Graeber, i. p. xi. and ii. p. 7; iii. 6, in which he speaks to a bosom-friend from whom he had no secrets (11. 9 and 11), must be referred to a sodalis of equal station (Celsus), not to the powerful Fabius.-(Graeber, ii. 4.)

3 Cic. in Vatin. xi. 28.

4 Hor, c. iv. 1. 13. This ode was composed about 739/15, when Fabius was about thirty years old, when he might still be playfully spoken of

'twenty-one, he held some office, otherwise unknown to us, with the title of 'legatus imperatoris Caesaris' under Octavian in Hispania Tarraconensis1. He was praetor probably 739/15, and then proceeded as proconsul to the praetorian province of Cyprus, as is shown by an inscription set up by the inhabitants of Paphos to his wife Marcia 2. Two inscriptions in his honour have been found at Athens 3. He was consul in 743/11, and subsequently, as proconsul of Asia (749/5-750/4), established the observance of the birthday of Augustus throughout the cities of Asia Minor; a decree, conferring a crown upon him on this account, has been discovered at Eumenia in Phrygia. The rest of his life was passed at Rome in the duties of a senator and the practice of the bar. Tacitus relates that shortly before his death Augustus, accompanied by Fabius Maximus, paid a secret visit to his grandson, Agrippa Postumus, at Planasia (now Pianosa), whither he had been banished; that both Augustus and Agrippa were deeply affected by the meeting, which gave rise to hopes that the sentence would be revoked; that this was divulged by Maximus to his wife Marcia, and by her to Livia; and that shortly afterwards Maximus died, as some suspected, by forced suicide". Whatever the historical truth of this story, it establishes two points: firstly, the date of the death of Fabius, which must have been shortly before that of Augustus (who died August 19), probably at some time in May or June in 767/14°;

as puer by the poet who was twenty years his senior (cp. Cic. ad Fam. x: 7 and x. 28). He could hardly before the age of thirty have been 'pro sollicitis non tacitus reis.'

1

1 C. I. L. ii. 2581. '[Imp.] Caesari [Paullus Fabius] Maximus legat. Caesaris.'

2 C.I. G. 2629.

C. I..A. I. 587 and 588.

C. I. G. 3902 b. Three coins bearing his head as proconsul of Asia have been discovered, which show how highly he was esteemed by Augustus; since the power of impressing their heads upon coins was granted, as far as we know, to only five provincial governors at this time; Graeber, i. p. xiii. 5 Tac. A. i. 5.

• Fabius is last mentioned in the 'Acta fratrum Arvalium' (anno 14) as having been present at a meeting 'pridie Id. Maias' of that year; Lorentz, p. 26.

and secondly, his familiarity with Augustus, which is attested also by the rebuke of the emperor to Cn. Cornelius Cinna, when he was discovered to be plotting a revolution, 'Am I the only obstacle to your hopes? Will Paullus and Fabius Maximus and the Cossi and Servilius tolerate you?' and by a jest of Fabius recorded at the expense of the emperor's parsimony". This intimacy with the emperor was due, no doubt, partly to his connexion through his wife with the imperial family. Marcia was a cousin of Augustus, for she was daughter of the younger Atia, who was sister of the elder Atia, Augustus' mother 3.

The language of Ovid towards Fabius Maximus is that of respectful reverence. He relies on his own connexion with Fabius through his third wife, who belonged to the gens Fabia*, to procure the intercession on his behalf of that sweet tongue that is ever ready to defend the trembling culprit". He reminds Fabius that he had once formed one of his attendant throng, that he had even been admitted to his table, and had composed

1 Sen. de Clem., i. 9, § 8, Cedo, si spes tuas solus impedio: Paullusne te et [Qy, omit et] Fabius Maximus et Cossi et Servili ferent?'

* Quintil. vi. 3. 52, 'Fabius Maximus, incusans Augusti congiariorum, quae amicis dabantur, exiguitatem, heminaria esse dixit.'

See F. vi. 801 ff.; P. i. 2. 139 ff.; Lorentz, p. 24. The following 'pedigree may be useful:

M. Atius Balbus = Julia (sister of Dictator Caesar)

P. i. 2. 138, 'ille ego, de vestra cui data nupta domo est.' Cp. intr.

to El. vi.

an epithalamium on his nuptials'.

The death of Fabius

deprived him of his most powerful intercessor 2.

(5) Two brothers, of the noble gens Pomponia, C. Pomponius Graecinus and L. Pomponius Flaccus, must next be considered among the patrons of the poet; though from the four Pontic Epistles addressed to them, three to Graecinus (i. 6, ii. 6, iv. 9), and one to Flaccus (i. 10), Ovid seems to have had little hopes that they would be helpful towards procuring his recall.

Graecinus was a man of culture who had seen some 'military service, and is congratulated by Ovid, in P. iv. 9, on his appointment by Tiberius to be Consul Suffectus in 769/16, and on that of his brother Flaccus to be Consul Ordinarius in 770/17. If, as is probable, he is the Graecinus of Am. ii. 10, his intimacy with Ovid was of long duration. He was absent from Rome at the time of the poet's banishment; and though he is always addressed with much warmth, it is clear that he was not one of the most intimate circle of friends, and that Ovid expected little from his intercession; for, though he does occasionally pray for his advocacy, the tone in which they are couched shows that such prayers are inserted rather to flatter Graecinus than because anything was really looked for from him*.

Graecinus was co-opted into the college of Arval Brothers, May 30, 774/21, and as he is not mentioned as present at the meeting of November 16, 788/35, he must have died before that date.

(6) His brother, L. Pomponius Flaccus, was a little younger than Graecinus and Ovid, and was probably born about 735/19. During the three years that intervened between his praetorship and consulship he held some command in Moesia, and soon after

1 P. i. 2. 131.

* P. iv. 6.9. It is not probable, as Merkel conjectures, prolus. ad Ibin, p. 392, that the pleading of Fabius on behalf of Ovid had anything to do with causing his sudden death. The words of Ovid,

'occidis ante preces: causamque ego, Maxime, mortis— nec fuero tanti-me reor esse tuae,'

are merely the language of poetical exaggeration

3.P. i. 6. 7 ff.

Koch, p. 11. P. iv. 9. 75, 'praefuit his, Graecine, locis modo Flaccus.'

his consulship, in 770/17, was sent back again to administer that province as 'legatus pro praetore,' and to reduce to submission Rhescuporis, king of Thrace, who, after killing his nephew Cotys, had appropriated his dominions. This he successfully effected, for he captured Rhescuporis by enticing him within the Roman camp, and sent him to Rome1. Subsequently he was appointed 'legatus' of Syria in 785/32, and died there in the following year. Tacitus speaks of Flaccus as an experienced soldier", and there is no reason why we should mistrust the high praise bestowed by Velleius on his character and ability*.

Though not so intimate with the poet as his brother Graecinus, Flaccus seems to have been a good friend to Ovid, and to have done what was in his power to alleviate the discomforts of his exile ".

(7) Last of the patrons of Ovid stands Sextus Pompeius, the last scion of the house of Pompey the Great. He was most probably the great-grandson of Sextus Pompeius, the elder brother of Cn. Pompeius Strabo, father of Pompey the Great, and through his mother, who was probably a Marcia, younger sister of Marcia, the daughter of L. Marcius Philippus and the younger Atia, the aunt of Augustus, was connected with the Imperial family.

In 761/8, the year of Ovid's banishment, Pompeius held some

1 Tac. A. ii. 67.

Tac. A. vi. 27. A Syrian coin of Flaccus, struck shortly before his death, has been discovered. Borghesi, Oeuvr. Epigr. iii. 85.

3 veterem stipendiis,' A. ii. 66.

Vellei. ij. 116, 'singulari in eo negotio usus [i. e. Tiberius] opera Flacci Pomponi, consularis viri, nati ad omnia quae recte faciunda sunt, simplicique virtute merentis quam captantis gloriam.' The story that Tiberius spent thirty-six hours in a continuous drinking-bout with Pomponius Flaccus and Lucius Piso, and rewarded Flaccus with the province of Syria, and Piso with the praefecture of the city, for their good companionship (Suet. Tib. 42; Senec. Ep. 83; Plin. H. N. xiv. 22. 145), is probably a mere piece of court gossip intentionally rejected by Tacitus. See Furneaux, Tacitus, p. 24.

P. i. 10. 37, ff.

• Dio Ivi. 29, ἐκεῖνοί (the consuls of 769/14) τε γὰρ συγγενείς πῃ τοῦ