Vita P. Ovidii Nasonis

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Publius Ovidius Naso was born at Sulmo on March 20, 43 B.C. His family was wealthy and owned land, and thus his father did not lose property during the civil war. Ovid and his older brother were taken to Rome by their father to study with the best teachers. During his studies, Ovid found that he had a love and talent for verse composition. Having held several public offices, he found himself involved in the upper-class society of Rome. He wrote the Ars Amatoria about Augustus' banishing of Julia, after she had openly conducted an affair with Iulus Antonius, the son of Augustus' old enemy Mark Antony. The Ars Amatoria angered Augustus, and Ovid's attempt at apology, Remedy of Love, went in vain and Augustus banished him in A.D. 8. During his banishment, which was to a small town called Tomi, he became depressed and wrote the Tristia, as well as the Epistulae ex Ponta, a series of letters to influential people in Rome. His efforts at reconciliation failed and he remained in banishment when Tiberius succeeded Augustus as emperor. Ovid died in A.D. 17.