famaque cum domino fugit ab urbe suo: aspects of fama in Ovid's exile poetry

Abstract

Throughout his pre-exilic poetry Ovid shows a keen interest in Fama/fama in all its meanings and functions: personal reputation, literary fame, literary and mythological tradition, rumour, hearsay. Ovid is obsessed with his own reputation as a poet, while he also employs Fama/fama as a source of inspiration and as a source of information on a wide variety of themes and topics. His great interest in Fama/fama culminates in his famous description of her abode in the 12th book of the Metamorphoses. The object of this paper is to discuss the use and the role of Fama/fama in Ovid's exilic poetry, written at a time when the circumstances of the poet's life changed dramatically. The poet finds himself in barbaric and uncivilized surroundings, away from the beautiful and comfortable life of the capital. The discussion of selected poems from the Tristia and the Epistulae ex Ponto will hopefully illustrate Ovid's relationship with Fama/fama.