The poem was written shortly after Pompeius' accession to the consulship (compare 4 'tectaque brumali sub niue terra latet' and 24 'deque _parum noto_ consulet officio'). It takes the form of a set of instructions to the poem on what it should do when it reaches Rome. Ovid tells the poem it should look for Pompeius, and includes a short description of some of the consular functions Pompeius might be carrying out (1-26). He then instructs the poem in what it is to say to Pompeius: it should describe to him Ovid's gratitude for past and present services, and promise (using several _adynata_ as illustrations) that this gratitude will be eternal (27-46). A close parallel to this poem is furnished by _Tr_ III vii, in which Ovid tells the poem where it is to seek his stepdaughter Perilla and what it is to say to her. Similar personifications are found in _Tr_ I i, in which Ovid gives instructions to his book on what it should do when it reaches Rome and the prudence it should show, in _Tr_ III i, where the book describes its arrival in Rome, in _Tr_ V iv, where the letter tells of Ovid's misery and his loyalty to his friend, and in Ovid's exhortation to his _elegi_ at _Fast_ II 3-6. The device is not unique to Ovid, being found at Catullus XXXV, Hor _Ep_ I xx, and Statius _Sil_ IV iv. =1. LEVES ELEGI.= The same phrase at Am II i 21 'blanditias _elegosque leues_, mea tela, resumpsi'. =1. DOCTAS AD CONSVLIS AVRES.= 'To the ears of a consul who appreciates poetry'. Compare Hor _Ep_ I xiii 17-18 'carmina quae possint oculos _aurisque_ morari / Caesaris' and Prop II xiii 11-12. =2. HONORATO ... VIRO.= Dative of agent with _legenda_. =2. HONORATO= refers specifically to Pompeius' consulship. _Honor_ is often used with the restricted sense of 'magistracy'. =3. LONGA VIA EST.= Compare _Tr_ I i 127-28 (the end of Ovid's instructions to his book) 'longa uia est, propera! nobis habitabitur orbis / ultimus, a terra terra remota mea'. =3. LONGA VIA EST, NEC VOS PEDIBVS PROCEDITIS AEQVIS.= The _uia longa_ is seen as a possible cause of the metre's lameness at _Tr_ III i 11-12. =3. NEC ... PEDIBVS ... AEQVIS.= Ovid often mentions the alternating pattern of elegiac verse: compare xvi 11 _numeris ... imparibus ... uel aequis_ and the passages there cited, _Am_ III i 8 (of Elegy) 'et, puto, pes illi _longior alter_ erat', and _EP_ III iv 85-86 'ferre etiam molles elegi tam uasta triumphi / pondera _disparibus_ non potuere _rotis_'.