A few years after the celebrations for the bimillennial of Ovid's death, which have rekindled the spotlight (if ever there was a need) and given new impetus to research on the poet of Sulmona, with conferences and publications of all kinds, the long wave of that enthusiasm still makes itself felt and produces positive effects, like this volume by D.G.

The aim of this volume is to investigate Ovid's poetry of exile (Tristia, Epistulae ex Ponto and Ibis) in search of metaphors and mythological paradigms that Ovid used to give substance to his lament and the request for reduction (if not a revocation) of the punishment, also analysing the vocabulary used. The volume is divided into six chapters, preceded by a preface (by A.M. Morelli), a premise and prolegomena, and followed by an appendix, bibliography and indexes.

Each chapter deals with a metaphor used by Ovid to describe his misfortune: he represents himself as ‘fallen’, ‘wounded’, ‘thunderstruck, ‘castaway’, ‘sick’ and, finally, as ‘dead’. D.G. reviews these metaphors, especially taking into account the lexicon used and frequently resorting to bibliographic citations taken from linguistic repertoires and studies: in the first chapter, for example, that on the image of ‘fallen’, the reference often is to the fallen in combat, who lie on the ground (iacens) and even risk being trampled (pedem imponere) by the enemy, as a gesture of contempt and submission. In relation to the second metaphor (‘wounded’) the vulnus, which in previous works (by Ovid, but also other elegiac poets) represented the wound of love, is now the symbol of relegatio: the enemies try to reopen this wound (retractare), which is already hard to heal (coire / cicatricem ducere); the poet compares himself to two famous wounded individuals from myth, Telephus and Philoctetes, compared to whom, however, he proclaims himself to be more unfortunate, as his wound cannot be healed by anyone. The third theme is that of the ‘thunderstruck’, already partially introduced in the chapter on the ‘wounded’: Ovid was struck by the thunderbolt thrown by Jupiter/Augustus, which left him attonitus (interesting and pertinent is D.G.'s analysis of the Jupiter/Augustus parallelism and of Ovid's comparison with other mythological characters struck by lightning, but in some way ‘compensated’ by divination, unlike the poet). The metaphor of the ‘castaway’, clinging with all his strength to the few wooden boards of the destroyed boat, is the fourth analysed by D.G., and it is the one with the greatest grip on reality: Ovid uses the noun naufragium (ten times in the works from Pontus) to indicate not only the upheaval following the edict of Augustus but also the perilous journey that led him to Tomi. The survey concludes with two metaphors in some way linked to each other: that of the ‘sick person’ (already present in the elegiac poems to indicate one who is affected by the sickness of love) and that of the ‘dead’, to be interpreted as ‘living dead’, since for Ovid the relegatio amounted to a civil death, which anticipated by about ten years his physical death, perceived in any case as not too far away.

In the appendix three mythological figures are examined, defined by D.G. as ‘doubles’ of Ovid: Ulysses, Jason and Actaeon. In particular, D.G. focuses on the last of these, noting various parallels between the mythical and the real story of the poet (in particular the role played by the eyes, as they are the element that led to the downfall for both of them).

The bibliography is rich; it lists both editions, translations and commentaries of Ovid's poetry (starting from the Heinsian edition of 1661) and studies since the last century on the works from Pontus (with some small gaps, which, however, do not invalidate D.G.'s research). A precious tool are the two indexes, one of quoted passages, the other concerning names, words and notable features.

What emerges most clearly from this study is that there is no break in continuity between the great masterpieces of the mature Ovid (Metamorphoses and Fasti) and the works from exile: in fact, the mythological examples used by the poet to describe his condition of relegatus create a direct link with his previous works (even the youthful ones with love themes, like the Heroides), presenting the poet as a sort of incarnation of the characters of the myth (in particular Telephus, Philoctetes, Ulysses, Jason and Actaeon), although Ovid is keen to reiterate constantly that the punishment imposed on him is far more serious and painful than those inflicted on his mythical alter egos (as these had the opportunity of availing themselves of the assistance of some divinity, help denied to the poet).

The strengths of D.G.'s volume are the richness of the notes and the bibliographic citations, the accuracy with which he examines the metaphors and the lexicon used by the Sulmonese poet and the continuous references to the rest of Ovid's works (and to other authors of Greek and Latin literature as well), also through specific comparisons and precise references to loci (all listed in the index).

One aspect on which I do not agree with D.G. is his conviction that the carmen that, together with the error, led to Ovid's exile in Tomi, is without a shadow of a doubt the Ars amatoria, when there are other studies that seriously doubt what until some time ago was a certainty (see e.g. G.P. Goold, ‘The Cause of Ovid's Exile’, ICS 8 [1983], 94–107; and, more recently, A. Maiuri, ‘Mai dire Maia. Un'ipotesi sulla causa dell'esilio di Ovidio e sul nome segreto di Roma’, ARF 19 [2017], 19–30). As pointed out by Goold, the Ars had already been circulating for some time, and it is not clear why Augustus waited so long to get rid of an uncomfortable element like Ovid: ‘Clearly this something was not the publication of the Ars Amatoria’ (p. 99).

In summary, this is a good work that helps to grasp the fil rouge that unites all of Ovid's works, starting from the first phase, of the so-called works of love (with the mythological themes of the Heroides), passing through the masterpieces of the mature age, up to the works from Pontus, alternatively considered as a superfluous exercise in erudition or a futile attempt to ‘recommend’ himself to the clemency of Augustus, in the hope of obtaining an annulment, or at least a lightening, of his punishment. However, ignoring Ovid's exilic output and its links with his earlier works means having an incomplete image of Ovid, especially since many motifs, not only those present in the mythological poems but also the ones in the love elegy, return with different significance in the works composed at Tomi.