Centering from the Periphery in the Augustan Roman World: Ovid's Autobiography in Tristia 4.10 and Cornelius Nepo's Biography of Atticus

My paper explores the intertextual relationship between Ovid's autobiographical Tristia 4.10 and the biography of Titus Pomponius Atticus by Cornelius Nepos, arguing that Ovid seeks to recall and identify with Atticus, who, like himself, had spent several years in "exile" from Rome. Augustus enjoyed close personal ties with Atticus, and such an identification presumably appealed to Augustus's mercy. There are, however, other reasons why Ovid might have associated himself with Atticus: his fellow elegist Propertius had done so previously and Atticus was also kindred by marriage to the future emperor Tiberius, with whom Ovid shared literary interests.