THE FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS OF OVID’S THIRD WIFE: A RECONSIDERATION* Abstract: An analysis of the paternal, maternal, and prior marital rela- tionships of Ovid’s third wife, which are mentioned in Ovid’s exilic poems, supports the hypothesis that Ovid’s third wife was the daugh- ter of Paullus Fabius Maximus, the niece of Ser. Sulpicius Rufus the poet, and the former wife of Pompeius Macer. Through marriage to his third wife, Ovid reinforced his connections to important literary, social, and political figures in Rome. These connections ultimately failed him when he tried to employ them in his efforts to ameliorate the conditions of his relegatio. Ovid has left to posterity more information about his life and those around him, especially in his exilic elegies, the Tristia and the Epistulae ex Ponto, than any other poet writing during the lifetime of Augustus (22 September 63 BC–19 August AD 14)1. Ovid is also responsible, however, for our limited knowledge of these family relationships because, by his own admission, he was unable or unwilling to identify fully members of his immediate and extended family2. As the poems he wrote from Tomis indicate, Ovid’s relationship with his third wife was the most important family relationship he had after his relegatio, and the view he provides of his marriage is one of the most extensive found in Roman literature. Yet, in comparison with recent investigations that have been undertaken for the famed female figures of Roman elegy such as Ovid’s Corinna, Propertius’ Cynthia, and Catullus’ Lesbia, or histori- cal women of the Late Republic and Early Empire such as Terentia, Tullia, Publilia, Livia, Cleopatra, and Julia Augusti, little work has been * I would like to thank especially my husband, Prof. Roger S. Fisher, Dept. of Human- ities,York University, for his many helpful suggestions and comments on this article. 1 Millar (1993) 1 distinguishes between Augustan literature, which would postdate 16 January 27 BC when Octavian (as Augustus is commonly known before this date) was granted the title Augustus, and Triumviral literature, which would precede this date. By Millar’s definition, Ovid is the only true Augustan poet, not only in terms of chro- nology but also in terms of sentiment. The prose letters Ovid sent from Tomis, to which he refers in a poem addressed to Severus (Pont. 4.2.5-8), are not extant. 2 Ovid mentions his parents, daughter, and three wives but does not give their names (Tr. 4.10.69-82), and he mentions his brother, without his name (Tr. 4.10.9-32). While most of the recipients of poems in the Tristia are deliberately unnamed, most of the recipients of poems in the Epistulae ex Ponto are named. In Tr. 3.4b.71-72, Ovid notes that his verse provides no hints about the identities of his unnamed recipients although in some poems (Tr. 1.5.1-8, Tr. 3.6.1, and Tr. 3.5.17-18) he does appear to provide hints for possible identities. Ancient Society 43, 151-189. doi: 10.2143/AS.43.0.2992608 © 2013 by Ancient Society. All rights reserved. 996421_AncientSociety_43_05.indd6421_AncientSociety_43_05.indd 151151 33/10/13/10/13 113:013:01 152 A.-M. LEWIS done to investigate the identity of Ovid’s third wife3. A few scholars have considered portions of her lineage, but no one has brought together in a comprehensive way what might reasonably be said about her mater- nal, paternal, and prior marital relationship. Ovid’s poems from exile are, to be sure, literary creations of the imagination, but they must be seen and evaluated not only as elegiac poems that Ovid sent back to Rome to demonstrate his full and continu- ing capacity as a poet but also as poems that Ovid wrote in order to keep himself in the memory of those left behind, to maintain lines of com- munication between Rome and Tomis, and to encourage his third wife (and other correspondents) to secure a change in his place of relegatio4. To borrow from a statement made by the historian Cornelius Nepos (Att. 18.4), there is nothing more delightful (and, one might add, more instructive) than learning about others5. To establish the family relation- ships of Ovid’s third wife more securely would, therefore, be reward enough. But another benefit could be derived from such an investigation. By exploring the family relationships of Ovid’s third wife, we are able to situate Ovid more precisely within the wider family associations that drew him into the complex political and social maneuverings of his day. THE PATERNAL RELATIONSHIP: MAXIMUS If one is alert to what Ovid tells his reader openly and what he implies in the poems from exile, it is possible to suggest a much fuller view of the family relationships of Ovid’s third wife than has heretofore been 3 Apuleius suggests that Cynthia is a pseudonym for Hostia and Lesbia for Clodia (Apol. 10.3); see also Green (1982) 33. For Corinna as the first wife, perhaps, of Ovid, see Green (1982) 22-25. For an analysis of the women of elegiac poetry, see Wyke (2002). For Clodia Metelli, see Skinner (2010); for Terentia, Tullia, and Publilia, see Treggiari (2007); for Livia, see Barrett (2002); for Cleopatra, see Roller (2010) and Schiff (2010); for Julia Augusti, see Fantham (2006). Ovid’s third wife is absent from Vidén (1993). 4 Ovid exaggerates both the geographical and the cultural distance from Rome. See Millar (1993) 16, who notes that Tomis, although a frontier city, was a Greek city nonethe- less. For the minority view that Ovid was not relegated to Tomis, see Fitton Brown (1985) 18-22. Following Green (2005) x and Green (1982) 44-48, I accept the reality of Ovid’s relegatio to Tomis, on which see Ovid himself (Tr. 1.3.89-90 and Pont. 3.1.49-58). 5 Syme (1982) 69, n. 44 comments that the honesta cupido noted by Nepos “abated in the long sequel, with dire consequences for the understanding of Roman history”. 996421_AncientSociety_43_05.indd6421_AncientSociety_43_05.indd 152152 33/10/13/10/13 113:013:01 THE FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS OF OVID’S THIRD WIFE 153 presented6. In several poems from the Epistulae ex Ponto, Ovid men- tions, by their cognomina, three men of prominence in Roman society who are related in some way to his third wife: Maximus, Rufus, and Macer. Because Ovid provides the most information about his third wife’s connections to Maximus, more scholarly attention has been paid to this relationship. Maximus is likely Paullus Fabius Maximus, a friend and confidant of Augustus. The family of Paullus Fabius Maximus had patrician origins but a history notable, at times, for its variable fortunes7. Syme observed also that the Fabii, although prominent in the early Republic, were generally peculiar in all sorts of ways8. Such peculiarity is evident from the names of Paullus Fabius Maximus and his brother Africanus Fabius Maximus — their “exorbitant praenomina” advertised their descent from Aemilii (a solid claim) and Scipiones (a fraudulent claim)9. In the Late Republic, the father of Paullus Fabius Maximus, Q. Fabius Maximus, had successfully rebuilt the family’s fame. The father achieved a suffect consulship in 45 BC, and his two sons gained ordinary consulships in 11 BC (Paullus Fabius Maximus) and 10 BC (Africanus Fabius Maximus). Their sister Fabia Paullina married M. Titius (suff. 31 BC), who had been an admiral in the fleet of Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) in 32 BC before deserting Antony for Octavian. The elder brother, Paullus Fabius Maximus, was the more prominent of the two brothers10. He was notable for his eloquence, his military experi- ence, and his achievements (which included being a consul, a proconsul, 6 Fredericks (1976) 141, following Pascal (1960) 3-11, notes that autobiography is a shaping of the past and a collusion between past and present. On acknowledging the autobiographical element in Ovid’s exilic poems see Syme (1978) and Green (2005) xix-lv and notes; see also Green (1982) 60-65. See Tissol (2005) 97-112 for an analysis of Ovid’s autobiographical mode in Tr. 1.7. For a brief discussion of literary biography, see Wimsatt & Beardsley (1946) 477. On not separating author from persona in ancient literature, which accords with ancient practice, see Clay (1998) 32 and 33-34; Mayer (2003) 66 and 68-70 on Ovid; Korenjak (2003); Volk (2005) 87 and 92, n. 29; and Davis (2006) 20. For opposition to viewing Ovid’s poems from exile as autobiographical, see Holzberg (1997), who suggests that Ovid is merely playing games. 7 See Syme (1986) 403-420 and Syme (1978) 135-155. Two patrician houses rescued the family when it risked extinction — the Aemilii and the Servilii. See also Barchiesi (1997) 144-152. 8 Syme (1986) 419. 9 Syme (1986) 419. Manil. Astron. 1.790-792 mentions his ancestors Fabius Maximus and Scipio Aemilianus. 10 Syme (1978) 136: the historical record for Africanus Fabius Maximus is sparse. He was consul in 10 BC, proconsul of Africa, and the holder of a priesthood. No wife or children are attested for him. See Syme (1986) Genealogical Table XXVII. 996421_AncientSociety_43_05.indd6421_AncientSociety_43_05.indd 153153 33/10/13/10/13 113:013:01 154 A.-M. LEWIS a pontifex, and a frater arvalis)11. Syme points out, however, that Paullus Fabius Maximus “remains a curiously isolated figure, his loyalties concentrated on devotion to the ruler [Augustus]. Friends and allies among his own class are not easy to discover”12. This bond of Paullus Fabius Maximus with Augustus is somewhat remarkable because Augus- tus, born in 63 BC, appeared to be most trusting of those close in age to himself, especially those who had been with him when he emerged on the political scene in 44 BC.