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An Ovid's epicedion for Tibullus (Amores 3.9), he pays tribute to his predecessor by incorporating into his poem several allusions to the epicedion that Tibullus wrote for himself (Tibullus 1.3).1 The allusions themselves form a fitting memorial in the literal sense that they recall memories of Tibullus's poetry.2 Many have commented on the allusive relationship between these two poems,3 with recent discussions concentrating on the multi-layered complexity that arises with the recognition that Ovid is alluding not only to Tibullus but to Tibullus's models.4 If such complex allusions exist in Amores 3.9, then it is all the more likely that they will be found in Ovid's epicedion for himself in exile, Tristia 3.3.
In Tristia 3.3, Ovid revisits Tibullus 1.3, apparently finding cold comfort in sharing similar circumstances with Tibullus.5 Both poets complain that they face death alone in a distant, unknown land.6 Yet in his earlier poem, Amores 3.9, Ovid explained that Tibullus's worst fears were never realized: he returned to Rome, where, eventually, his family and loved ones attended his funeral.7 This dichotomy between Tibullus's imagination and Ovid's reality is not made explicit in Tristia 3.3 but rather becomes evident only when Tristia 3.3 and Amores 3.9 converge in alluding to the same passage in Tibullus 1.3. Tibullus's poem, then, functions as a kind of linchpin that joins two divergent Ovidian interpretations of the same poem.8 In each instance, a remembrance of Amores 3.9 reveals the comparison between Ovid and Tibullus in Tristia 3.3 to be specious, suggesting that Ovid deserves special sympathy for suffering what Tibullus only feared.9
TOMIS: A LONG WAY FROM PHAEACIA
In the first few lines of Tristia 3.3, Ovid complains that he has fallen ill-so ill, in fact, that he has been forced to dictate his poem to someone else: "Haec mea si casu miraris epistula quare / alterius digitis scripta sit, aeger eram," Tristia 3.3.1-2 ("If you happen to wonder why this letter of mine was written by another hand, I was ill").10 Of course, we must overlook Ovid's complaints elsewhere about the dearth of Latin speakers in Tomis.11 In the next couplet, Ovid reiterates the gravity of his position (Tristia 3.3.3-4):
I was sick in the furthest regions of the unknown world, and I was...