The Augustan Revolution
torialfamilieswhichnotonlymadetheirpeacewiththenewregime,but
playedacentralpartinconstructinganadulatoryideologyforit.Secondly,
whilehedidindeedstepasidefromthesenatorialcareerwhichhisyounger
contemporary,VelleiusPaterculus,followed,heremainedhighupinRoman
society.What is more, the poetry of his last ten years in Rome might be
seen as the most ‘‘Augustan’’ of all, as the only large body of verse to de-
voteitselfovertlytothecelebrationofthenewregime.Butitisprecisely,
I wish to suggest, this previous role as an indefatigable and poetically re-
sourcefulloyalistwhichprovidesthebackgroundagainstwhichweshould
readthe‘‘late-Augustan,’’or‘‘post-Augustan,’’poetryofOvid’sexile.Forcir-
cumstancesforcedhimtodevotehisextraordinarytalentstoaconstruction
or representation of Rome, its public life, the role of the leading senators,
andtheplacewithinitoftheimperialfamily,whichisallthemoreimpor-
tantforbeingbothwellinformedandyetalmostwholly‘‘imagined.’’There
is,ofcourse,farmoretothisevocationthantheisolatedexamplesputfor-
wardhere.
Ovid,writingfromTomoi,wasthussimultaneouslytherejectedloyalist
‘‘insider’’andtheprovincial‘‘outsider,’’catchingthedistantechoesofpoliti-
calchange.Hemakeshimself,ofcourse,rathermoredistant,inatruesense,
than he really was. ForalthoughTomoi was indeed a frontiercity,outside
whichtheterritoryofbarbarianpeoplesbegan,itwasitselfaGreekcitylike
anyother,^48 afactwhichachievesonlyabriefreflectioninthepoetrywhich
hewrotethere(Ex P.,,–).
Seeninadifferentlight,therefore,asthewitnesswritingfrom‘‘outside,’’
Ovidreflectsthecloseattentiontothechangingshapeoftheimperialhouse,
andtheanxietiesastohowtoreactafterthedeathofAugustus,whichmight
be felt in any Greek city. How those distant realities were construed and
expressedmustitselfbefundamentaltothenatureoftheimmediately‘‘post-
Augustan’’Empireasunderstoodbyus.Themostvividparalleltotheexiled
Ovid’sinsistentloyalismistheratherneglectedoathofloyaltyfromPalaipa-
phosinCyprus.^49 TheinhabitantsofthissmallGreekcityalsohadtodowhat
theycouldin...TheydidnotneedtofeelsomarginaltotheEmpireas
thepeopleofTomoi,andwerenotexposedtothebittercoldoftheBlackSea
coast,ortheraidsofbarbarians;andwhatismore,theycould(anddid)claim
. Seeesp.D.M.Pippidi,‘‘Tomis,citégéto-grecqueàl’époqued’Ovide?,’’Athenaeum
():Parerga: écrits de Philologie, d’epigraphie et d’histoire ancienne(),.Forthe
inscriptions,seeInscriptiones Scythiae Minoris Graecae et LatinaeII:Tomisetterritorium().
. T.B.Mitford,‘‘ACypriotOathofAllegiancetoTiberius,’’JRS():;SEG
XVIII,no.;AE,no..SeeP.Herrmann,Der römische Kaisereid(),esp.–.