The _Fasti_ had been written side by side with the _Metam._ and
interrupted at the sixth Book by Ovid's banishment. During his exile
he added some passages, but found that his Muse was fit only for
melancholy themes; iv. 81,
'Sulmonis gelidi--patriae, Germanice, nostrae--
me miserum, Scythico quam procul illa solo est!'
i. 540,
'Felix, exilium cui locus ille fuit!'
The design is stated at the outset, i. 1-8,
'Tempora cum causis Latium digesta per annum
lapsaque sub terras ortaque signa canam ...
Sacra recognosces annalibus eruta priscis,
et quo sit merito quaeque notata dies.'
The work is thus a medley of religion, history, and astrology, and in
its explanations of customs may be compared to the Αἴτια of
Callimachus. For information about religious rites, and for
derivations of names (_e.g._ _Agnalia_, i. 317-332), he would have
recourse to Varro; for history, to Livy (cf. ii. 193-242, the story of
the Fabii, from Livy, ii. 49, and vi. 587, etc., the story of Tullia,
from Livy, i. 48); for astronomy, to Clodius Tuscus.
It was begun some time after Augustus regulated the Julian calendar in
B.C. 8, and was originally addressed to Augustus, as Ovid himself says
(_Tr._ ii. 552 above); 'Caesar' is addressed ii. 15, vi. 763, and
elsewhere. After the death of Augustus, Ovid began to remodel it and
dedicate it to Germanicus. Cf. i. 3,
'Excipe pacato, Caesar Germanice, voltu
hoc opus et timidae dirige navis iter.'
But the task was stopped by his death; and while Book i. has the
remodelled form, Books ii.-vi. remain as first written.
_Poems written in exile._--9. _Tristia_, five Books of letters to
Augustus, to Ovid's wife and friends (who, however, are not named),
praying for pardon or for a place of exile nearer Rome. Book i. was
written on the journey to Tomi, the other books not after A.D. 11 or
12, Cf. v. 10, 1,
'Ut sumus in Ponto, ter frigore constitit Hister.'
10. The _Ibis_ was written at the beginning of his exile. Cf. l. 1,
'Tempus ad hoc, lustris bis iam mihi quinque peractis.'
The title was taken from the poem in which Callimachus attacked
Apollonius Rhodius under the name of Ibis. Cf. l. 55,
'Nunc, quo Battiades inimicum devovet Ibin,
hoc ego devoveo teque tuosque modo.'
Ovid studiously conceals the identity of the enemy whom he attacks; l.
61,
'Et quoniam, qui sis, nondum quaerentibus edo,
Ibidis interea tu quoque nomen habe.'
He had once been a friend of the poet, but had proved false to him,
doubtless in connexion with the circumstances which caused his
banishment; cf. l. 85, 'capiti male fido,' l. 130, 'perfide.' He
persecuted Ovid's wife, and tried to get possession of his property.