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Ovid · Letters from the Black Sea §4.5.1-4.5.46

Sending Poems to Convey Gratitude to Pompeius

Passage 40 of 52 · Latin

Summary

The poet sends his elegiac poems to the consul Pompeius, instructing them to praise him and convey his enduring gratitude for past favors.

§4.5.1Ite, leves elegi, doctas ad consulis aures, §4.5.2verbaque honorato ferte legenda viro.
Go, light elegies, to the learned ears of the consul, and bear words to be read by the honored man.
§4.5.3longa via est, nec vos pedibus proceditis aequis, §4.5.4tectaque brumali sub nive terra latet.
The way is long, nor do you proceed with equal feet, and the covered earth lies hidden beneath winter snow.
§4.5.5cum gelidam Thracen et opertum nubibus Haemum §4.5.6et maris Ionii transieritis aquas, §4.5.7luce minus decima dominam venietis in urbem, §4.5.8ut festinatum non faciatis iter.
When you shall have crossed icy Thrace and cloud-covered Haemus, and the waters of the Ionian Sea, you will come to the mistress city in less than ten days, though you do not make a hastened journey.
§4.5.9protinus inde domus vobis Pompeia petatur: §4.5.10non est Augusto iunctior ulla foro.
Straightway from there let the Pompeian house be sought by you: no other is closer to the Augustan Forum.
§4.5.11siquis, ut in populo, qui sitis et unde requiret, §4.5.12nomina decepta quaelibet aure ferat.
If anyone, as is common in a crowd, shall ask who you are and from where, let him carry away whatever names with a deceived ear.
§4.5.13ut sit enim tutum, sicut reor esse, fateri, §4.5.14verba minus certe ficta timoris habent.
For granted that it is safe to confess, as I believe it is, surely feigned words have less of fear.
§4.5.15copia nec vobis nullo prohibente videndi §4.5.16consulis, ut limen contigeritis, erit.
Nor, with no one forbidding, will there lack for you the opportunity of seeing the consul, once you have touched the threshold.
§4.5.17aut reget ille suos dicendo iura Quirites, §4.5.18conspicuum signis cum premet altus ebur: §4.5.19aut populi reditus positam componet ad hastam, §4.5.20et minui magnae non sinet urbis opes. §4.5.21aut, ubi erunt patres in Iulia templa vocati, §4.5.22de tanto dignis consule rebus aget. §4.5.23aut feret Augusto solitam natoque salutem, §4.5.24deque parum noto consulet officio.
Either he will rule his Quirites by pronouncing judgments, when, raised high, he sits upon the ivory seat conspicuous with carvings; or he will settle the public revenues by the set-up spear, and will not permit the wealth of the great city to be diminished; or, when the fathers shall have been summoned into the Julian temple, he will treat of matters worthy of so great a consul; or he will offer the customary greeting to Augustus and his son, and consult concerning some little-known duty.
§4.5.25tempus ab his vacuum Caesar Germanicus omne §4.5.26auferet. a magnis hunc colit ille deis.
All the time free from these duties Germanicus Caesar will take away; he worships him next to the great gods.
§4.5.27cum tamen a turba rerum requieverit harum, §4.5.28ad vos mansuetas porriget ille manus, §4.5.29quidque parens ego vester agam fortasse requiret.
Yet when he shall have rested from the crowd of these affairs, he will stretch out his gentle hands to you, and will perhaps ask how I, your parent, am doing.
§4.5.30talia vos illi reddere verba volo: §4.5.31‘vivit adhuc vitamque tibi debere fatetur, §4.5.32quam prius a miti Caesare munus habet, §4.5.33te sibi, cum fugeret, memori solet ore referre §4.5.34barbariae tutas exhibuisse vias: §4.5.35sanguine Bistonium quod non tepefecerit ensem, §4.5.36effectum cura pectoris esse tui: §4.5.37addita praeterea vitae quoque multa tuendae §4.5.38munera, ne proprias attenuaret opes.
I wish you to return such words to him: 'He still lives and confesses that he owes his life to you, which life he first received as a gift from the gentle Caesar; he is accustomed to relate with mindful mouth that you, when he fled, provided safe ways through the barbarian lands; that it was due to the care of your heart that he did not warm the Bistonian sword with his blood; that furthermore, many gifts were added to preserve his life, lest he should diminish his own wealth.
§4.5.39pro quibus ut meritis referatur gratia, iurat §4.5.40se fore mancipii tempus in omne tui.
In return for which deserving services, he swears that he will be your servant for all time.
§4.5.41nam prius umbrosa carituros arbore montes, §4.5.42et freta velivolas non habitura rates, §4.5.43fluminaque in fontes cursu reditura supino, §4.5.44gratia quam meriti possit abire tui. §4.5.45haec ubi dixeritis, servet sua dona rogate, §4.5.46sic fuerit vestrae causa peracta viae. ’
For sooner will the mountains lack shady trees, and the seas have no sail-winged ships, and the rivers return to their sources in a backward course, than that the gratitude for your kindness could fade away.' When you have said these things, ask that he preserve his own gifts, thus the cause of your journey will have been fulfilled.'

Notes

  1. 4.5.3pedibus proceditis aequis — A wordplay on the elegiac couplet (hexameter and pentameter), where the 'feet' (pedibus) of the verses are of unequal length, hence 'not proceeding with equal feet.'
  2. 4.5.8ut — The conjunction 'ut' here introduces a concessive clause ('even though', 'granted that'), taking the subjunctive 'faciatis'.
  3. 4.5.12ferat — ferat is a jussive/optative subjunctive. The subject is understood as siquis from the previous line ('let him carry away whatever names with a deceived ear', i.e., let him believe any fake name). The poet is instructing the poems to use pseudonyms for safety.
  4. 4.5.26a magnis... deis — The preposition a (ab) here indicates the point of departure in ranking or order, meaning 'after the great gods' or 'next to the great gods.'
  5. 4.5.33-36referre — The subject of referre (line 33, 'to relate') is the poet himself (implied from vivit in line 31). It governs two accusative-with-infinitives: te... exhibuisse (lines 33-34) and effectum... esse (line 36). Furthermore, the quod-clause in line 35 ('that he did not warm the sword with blood') acts as the subject of the passive infinitive effectum... esse in line 36.
  6. 4.5.41-44prius... quam — A construction of prius... quam ('sooner... than'), where the copula esse is omitted in the three future active infinitives (carituros, habitura, reditura). By listing natural impossibilities (adynaton), the poet emphasizes that his gratitude to Pompeius will never fade.

Cite this passage

Ovid, Letters from the Black Sea §4.5.1-4.5.46. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi009.humanitext-lat2:4.5.1-4.5.46

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