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Ovid · Letters from the Black Sea §3.8.1-3.8.24

Sending Scythian Arrows and Verses to Maximus

Passage 34 of 52 · Latin

Summary

The poet searches for a worthy gift to send to his friend Maximus from the barren land of Tomis, but finding nothing of value, he sends Scythian arrows and his own poetry instead.

§3.8.1Quae tibi quaerebam memorem testantia curam §3.8.2dona Tomitanus mittere posset ager.
I was seeking what gifts, bearing witness to my mindful care for you, the land of Tomis could send.
§3.8.3dignus es argento, fulvo quoque dignior auro, §3.8.4sed te, cum donas, ista iuvare solent.
You are worthy of silver, and more worthy of yellow gold, but when you give presents, those things are accustomed to please you.
§3.8.5nec tamen haec loca sunt ullo pretiosa metallo: §3.8.6hostis ab agricola vix sinit illa fodi.
Yet these places are not precious with any metal: the enemy scarcely allows them to be dug by the farmer.
§3.8.7purpura saepe tuos fulgens praetexit amictus. §3.8.8sed non Sarmatico tingitur illa mari.
Shining purple has often bordered your garments, but it is not dyed in the Sarmatian sea.
§3.8.9vellera dura ferunt pecudes, et Palladis uti §3.8.10arte Tomitanae non didicere nurus,
The flocks bear coarse fleeces, and the young women of Tomis have not learned to use the art of Pallas.
§3.8.11femina pro lana Cerealia munera frangit, §3.8.12suppositoque gravem vertice portat aquam.
The woman, instead of wool, crushes the gifts of Ceres, and carries heavy water with her head placed beneath.
§3.8.13non hic pampineis amicitur vitibus ulmus, §3.8.14nulla premunt ramos pondere poma suo.
Here the elm is not clothed with leafy vines, no fruits weigh down the branches with their own weight.
§3.8.15tristia deformes pariunt absinthia campi, §3.8.16terraque de fructu quam sit amara docet.
Ugly fields produce bitter wormwood, and the land teaches by its fruit how bitter it is.
§3.8.17nil igitur tota Ponti regione sinistri, §3.8.18quod mea sedulitas mittere posset, erat.
Therefore, in the whole region of the ill-omened Pontus, there was nothing which my diligence could send.
§3.8.19clausa tamen misi Scythica tibi tela pharetra: §3.8.20hoste precor fiant illa cruenta tuo.
Yet I have sent you arrows enclosed in a Scythian quiver: I pray they may become stained with the blood of your enemy.
§3.8.21hos habet haec calamos, hos haec habet ora libellos, §3.8.22haec viget in nostris. Maxime, Musa locis!
This shore has these reeds, this coast has these books, this is what flourishes in our places, Maximus, the Muse!
§3.8.23quae quamquam misisse pudet, quia parva videntur, §3.8.24tu tamen haec, quaeso, consule missa boni.
Although I am ashamed to have sent these, because they seem small, yet you, I pray, take these sent things in good part.

Notes

  1. §3.8.1Quae ... dona ... posset — Quae is an interrogative adjective modifying dona in line 2. The entire clause Quae dona ... Tomitanus mittere posset ager forms an indirect question which is the object of the main verb quaerebam. posset is in the imperfect subjunctive due to sequence of tenses after the past main verb and the indirect question.
  2. §3.8.17sinistri — Genitive of the adjective sinister (left, ill-omened). It forms a hyperbaton across lines and modifies Ponti in the phrase tota Ponti regione ("of the ill-omened Pontus"). Alternatively, it could be taken as a partive genitive with nil ("nothing of ill omen"), but the former is more standard to emphasize the harshness of Pontus.
  3. §3.8.24consule ... boni — Imperative of the idiomatic expression boni consulere (to take in good part, interpret favorably). boni originates from the genitive of quality or value.

Cite this passage

Ovid, Letters from the Black Sea §3.8.1-3.8.24. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi009.humanitext-lat2:3.8.1-3.8.24

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