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The aim of this paper is to answer Cotta Maximus’ question Cur igitur scribam miraris ? which the poet himself does not directly answer : Miror et ipse / et tecum quaero saepe quid inde petam (Pont. I, 5, 29-30). The traditional purposes of the epistolary communication and more generally of the oratorical speech (probare, delectare, flectere) can’t be enough to justify the writing of Ovid’s Epistulae Ex Ponto. Ovid, by writing versified epistles in exile, seems to reveal a new purpose : sibi superstes uiuere.

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