HKB
Sextus Pompeius ... The tardy tribute may perhaps be interpreted as a veiled reproach' (HO 128). But arguments from silence are dangerous; and Ovid's mention of Cotta seems flattering enough.
It is perhaps safer to postulate a change in Ovid's feelings towards his wife. She is never mentioned in EP IV, although she had been the recipient of some eight earlier letters from exile (Tr I vi, III iii, IV iii, V ii, xi, xiv, EP I iv, III i; Tr V v was written in honour of her birthday). At EP III vii 11-12 Ovid indicates that his wife's efforts on his behalf had not matched his hopes:
nec grauis uxori dicar, quae scilicet in me quam proba tam timida est experiensque parum.
The fact that Ovid chose not to address any verse epistle to his wife during his final years at Tomis may well reflect a cooling in his attitude towards her.
Differences between Ex Ponto IV and the earlier poetry from exile
The criticism most often made of Ovid's poems from exile is that they are repetitive and therefore monotonous. EP III ix 1-4 shows that the same criticism was made while Ovid was still alive:
Quod sit in his eadem sententia, Brute, libellis, carmina nescio quem carpere nostra refers: nil nisi me terra fruar ut propiore rogare, et quam sim denso cinctus ab hoste loqui.
Ovid does not attempt to deny the criticism, but explains that he wished to obtain the assistance of as many people as possible:
et tamen haec eadem cum sint, non scripsimus isdem, unaque per plures uox mea temptat opem.
(41-42)
nec liber ut fieret, sed uti sua cuique daretur littera, propositum curaque nostra fuit. postmodo collectas utcumque sine ordine iunxi: hoc opus electum ne mihi forte putes. da ueniam scriptis, quorum non gloria nobis causa, sed utilitas officiumque fuit.
(51-56)
Ovid's explanation is reasonable enough, and is confirmed by the speed with which he composed the first three books of the Ex Ponto once he knew that it was safe to name people in his verse. The first three books of the Ex Ponto, like the Tristia, were written with the single objective of securing Ovid's recall, and this naturally caused a certain repetition of subject-matter.
By the time Ovid wrote the poems that would form the fourth book of the Ex Ponto, he had lived in Tomis for six or more years, and it must have been clear to him that his chances of recall were slight. The result of this is a diminished use of his personal situation as a theme for his verse. Often he introduces his plight in only one or two distichs of a poem, subordinating the topic to the poem's main theme. The result of this technique can be seen in such extended passages as the descriptions of the investiture of the new consul (iv & ix), the address to Germanicus on the power of poetry (viii), or the catalogue of poets that concludes the book. In all of these passages Ovid's desire for recall is only a secondary theme.
The mixing of levels of diction
As well as variety of subject, the fourth book of the Ex Ponto shows a variation in style that is typical of Ovid's letters from exile. The poems use the metre and language of elegiac verse. But at the same time they are letters, and are strongly influenced by the structure and vocabulary of prose epistles. This influence is naturally more obvious at some points than at others; and even within a single poem there can be a surprising degree of variation in the different sections of the poem.
Some poems tend more to one extreme than the other. The eleventh poem, a letter of commiseration to Gallio on the death of his wife, is extensively indebted to the genre of the prose letter of consolation; this prose influence is evident in such passages as:
finitumque tuum, si non ratione, dolorem ipsa iam pridem suspicor esse mora
(13-14)