Distant Mores, Distant Mores: Persuading the Reader from the Margins in Tristia 2

Abstract:The problem of free speech in relation to political power is a major issue of Ovid’s Tristia and ex Ponto collections. A complex blending of literary and rhetorical features allows the poet in exile to associate his self-representation in Tomis with a comprehensive review of his poetic career. From some programmatic statements in Tristia 2, I revisit Ovid’s manipulation of speech in exile. The poet’s persuasive goal about his exilic situation involves the emperor but also a wider audience, which is invited to reconsider Ovid’s poetic status on the margins of the empire and in the margins, or at least between the lines, of his text.