Tomitae, / Quos ego, cum loca sim vestra perosus, amo” (Wheeler 1939) (But I
have committed no crime, I am not at fault, Tomitae, for you I esteem, though I
detest your land).
Nowadays, Ovid is no longer just the guest of the Tomitae, but he became one of
them. Nowadays, poet Ovid is present in the Tomitan consciousness, which is
confirmed both by the presence of the poet’s statue in the city of Pontus Euxin –
solemnly inaugurated on 18th/30th August 1887 (Lascu 1970, 1978), in the Square
that bears his name – and by the fact that, since 1991, the first university from the
former Roman province of Scythia Minor (today’s Romanian Dobrogea) also bears
his name. Moreover, not only the students and the teaching staff of this university
utter the poet’s name with legitimate pride, but also all the inhabitants of Tomis,
former metropolis of the Roman province “Scythia Minor”, currently, the capital of
the Romanian province, “Dobrogea”.
Among others, in homage and remembrance, at the semi-centenary of Ovidius
University (Dura ˘ 2010b), from the city where Ovid had lived and worked, a bust of
the poet was inaugurated. Moreover, on ten stone slabs, there were engraved verses
from his poems, selected and translated from Latin by the author of this paper.
Poet Publius Ovidius Naso – exiled at Tomis in 8 p. Chr. n., where he lived until
his death (17 p. Chr. n.) – has continued therefore to be at home, among the Tomitae
of that time and of today (i.e. Constanta inhabitants, Dobrogea), and his poetry is
part of the cultural and spiritual patrimony of the entire Romanian people.
Aware of this reality, this year (2017), both the citizens of Tomis and the
teaching staff and the students of our “Alma Mater” – which bears his name –
bring him a natural and well deserved posthumous tribute on the occasion of the
anniversary of 1900 years from his passage into eternity.
4.5 Instead of Conclusions
Instead of concluding these lines dedicated to the memory of Publius Ovidius Naso
({ 17 p. Chr. n.), the first Latin poet who wrote poems in the Proto-Romanians’
language, and, ipso facto, in the Romanians’ language (and whose remains lay in
his adoptive country, Scythia Minor, i.e. today’s Romania), we urge the lovers of
Latin poetry to read or to recite his verses. Their message uncovers Ovid not only as
a “Roman poet”, but also as one of the world’s greatest poets, who was endowed
with the “Muses’ inspiration” in order to write poems in the Geto-Dacians’ language (the Romanians’ ancestors). Thus, his work of Latin expression was able to
face the “passage of time” also in the Thracian-Geto-Dacian area from the
Danubian-Pontic-Carpathian space.
4 About “Publius Ovidius Naso” ({ 17 p. Chr. n.) and His. . .
77
have committed no crime, I am not at fault, Tomitae, for you I esteem, though I
detest your land).
Nowadays, Ovid is no longer just the guest of the Tomitae, but he became one of
them. Nowadays, poet Ovid is present in the Tomitan consciousness, which is
confirmed both by the presence of the poet’s statue in the city of Pontus Euxin –
solemnly inaugurated on 18th/30th August 1887 (Lascu 1970, 1978), in the Square
that bears his name – and by the fact that, since 1991, the first university from the
former Roman province of Scythia Minor (today’s Romanian Dobrogea) also bears
his name. Moreover, not only the students and the teaching staff of this university
utter the poet’s name with legitimate pride, but also all the inhabitants of Tomis,
former metropolis of the Roman province “Scythia Minor”, currently, the capital of
the Romanian province, “Dobrogea”.
Among others, in homage and remembrance, at the semi-centenary of Ovidius
University (Dura ˘ 2010b), from the city where Ovid had lived and worked, a bust of
the poet was inaugurated. Moreover, on ten stone slabs, there were engraved verses
from his poems, selected and translated from Latin by the author of this paper.
Poet Publius Ovidius Naso – exiled at Tomis in 8 p. Chr. n., where he lived until
his death (17 p. Chr. n.) – has continued therefore to be at home, among the Tomitae
of that time and of today (i.e. Constanta inhabitants, Dobrogea), and his poetry is
part of the cultural and spiritual patrimony of the entire Romanian people.
Aware of this reality, this year (2017), both the citizens of Tomis and the
teaching staff and the students of our “Alma Mater” – which bears his name –
bring him a natural and well deserved posthumous tribute on the occasion of the
anniversary of 1900 years from his passage into eternity.
4.5 Instead of Conclusions
Instead of concluding these lines dedicated to the memory of Publius Ovidius Naso
({ 17 p. Chr. n.), the first Latin poet who wrote poems in the Proto-Romanians’
language, and, ipso facto, in the Romanians’ language (and whose remains lay in
his adoptive country, Scythia Minor, i.e. today’s Romania), we urge the lovers of
Latin poetry to read or to recite his verses. Their message uncovers Ovid not only as
a “Roman poet”, but also as one of the world’s greatest poets, who was endowed
with the “Muses’ inspiration” in order to write poems in the Geto-Dacians’ language (the Romanians’ ancestors). Thus, his work of Latin expression was able to
face the “passage of time” also in the Thracian-Geto-Dacian area from the
Danubian-Pontic-Carpathian space.
4 About “Publius Ovidius Naso” ({ 17 p. Chr. n.) and His. . .
77