=EPISTVLARVM EX PONTO LIBER QVARTVS.= The precise title of these poems is uncertain. The one mention Ovid makes of the poems' title is of little assistance: 'inuenies, quamuis non est miserabilis index, / non minus hoc illo triste quod ante dedi' (_EP_ I i 15-16). The earliest manuscript of the poems, the ninth-century _Hamburgensis scrin. 52 F_ (extant to III ii 67), gives no title at the start of the poems, but has 'EX PONTO LIBER ·II· EXPLICIT' at the end of the second book. Later manuscripts generally call the poems the _De Ponto_ or _Epistulae de Ponto_. The original name was probably not present in the archetype; these titles were perhaps invented with the aid of the first distich of the first poem: 'Naso Tomitanae iam non nouus incola terrae / hoc tibi _de Getico litore_ mittit opus'. Heinsius strongly preferred _Ex Ponto_ to _De Ponto_ ('nihil magis inscitum aut barbarum hac inscriptione'), citing in its support the first line of _Tr_ V ii 'Ecquid, ut _e Ponto_ noua uenit epistula, palles'. In reality _ex_ and _de_ are equally acceptable Latin (Cic _Att_ XV xxvi 5; _Fam_ XIV xx), but _Ex Ponto_ is the title found in the oldest manuscript of the poems and has become usual since Heinsius' time; in the absence of further evidence it may be allowed to stand. Heinsius made two other suggestions for the poems' title. The first, _Pontica_, seems best suited for a poem describing the geography of the area around Tomis or the characteristics of its inhabitants. His second suggestion, _Epistulae Ponticae_, is attractive, but without any particular probability. I. To Sextus Pompeius Sextus Pompeius, _consul ordinarius_ in AD 14, is the most illustrious of Ovid's correspondents in the _Ex Ponto_; patron of Valerius Maximus, he was related to Pompey the Great (Sen _Ben_ IV 30 2) and to Augustus (Dio LVI 29 5). For discussions of his career, see Syme _HO_ 156-62, Pauly-Wissowa XXI,2 2265 61, and Dessau _PIR_ P 450. He is the recipient of four poems in the fourth book, but is nowhere mentioned in the first three books of the _Ex Ponto_. Since Pompeius helped Ovid during his journey to exile (v 31-38), their relationship must have been of long standing; clearly Pompeius had indicated to Ovid his preference not to be mentioned in his verse, even after it had become clear to most of Ovid's friends that being named by him would carry no penalty. In _EP_ III vi, Ovid exhorts a timid friend to allow him to name him; there is no indication, however, that the poem was addressed to Pompeius.