OVID, or Publius Ovidius Naso, a celebrated La-
tin poet of the Augustan age, was a Roman knight,
born at Sulmo, in the 43d year before the Christian
era. He studied rhetoric under Arelius Fuscus, and
for some time frequented the bar; but was afterwards
disgusted with that study, and applied himself entirely
to poetry. Ovid, after having obtained the esteem of
Augustus, incurred his displeasure; and was banished
to Tomos, a city on the Pontus Euxinus, near the mouth of the Danube, when he was 50 years of age. Several writers have said that he was banished for being one of the lovers of Julia the daughter of Augustus, whom, according to them, he mentions under the name of Corinna; but Aldus Minutius has plainly refuted this notion. Ovid himself says, that his being sent into exile was occasioned by the licentiousness of his verses, and his having been by accident and involuntarily something which he ought not to have seen. He in vain made use of all the turns of his wit to appease the emperor; but not all his address could procure his being again received into favour. He died in the country of the Getæ, aged 57, after having spent seven years in his banishment. His works and their character are well known.