, in spite of his father's remonstrances, Ovid preferred poetry to
public life. _Tr._ iv. 10, 19,

'At mihi iam parvo caelestia sacra placebant,
inque suum furtim Musa trahebat opus.
Saepe pater dixit, "studium quid inutile temptas?
Maeonides nullas ipse reliquit opes."
Motus eram dictis totoque Helicone relicto
scribere conabar verba soluta modis:
sponte sua carmen numeros veniebat ad aptos;
quicquid temptabam dicere, versus erat.'

In due time he assumed the _toga virilis_, and with it the broad
purple stripe worn by prospective senators. He also held two of the
minor offices of the _vigintiviratus_, the preliminary to a senatorial
career, being (1) triumvir capitalis or else triumvir monetalis, (2)
decemvir stlitibus iudicandis. _Tr._ iv. 10, 28,

'Liberior fratri sumpta mihique toga est,
induiturque umeris cum lato purpura clavo';

l. 33,

'Cepimus et tenerae primos aetatis honores,
deque viris quondam pars tribus una fui.'

_Fast._ iv. 384,

'Inter bis quinos usus honore viros.'

In virtue of this second office he sat in the centumviral court;[67]
and he also acted as an arbitrator. _Tr._ ii. 93,

'Nec male commissa est nobis fortuna reorum
lisque decem deciens inspicienda viris.
Res quoque privatas statui sine crimine iudex.'

He sought no higher office, having neither strength nor inclination
for the Senate; he assumed the narrow stripe of the _eques_, and
devoted himself to poetry and pleasure. _Tr._ iv. 10, 35,

'Curia restabat: clavi mensura coacta est:
maius erat nostris viribus illud onus.
Nec patiens corpus, nec mens fuit apta labori,
sollicitaeque fugax ambitionis eram.
Et petere Aoniae suadebant tuta sorores
otia, iudicio semper amata meo.'

He made a tour in Asia (including Troy) and Sicily in the company of
the poet Pompeius Macer: the date of this journey is unknown, but he
was almost a year in Sicily. _Pont._ ii. 10, 21-29 (to Macer),

'Te duce magnificas Asiae perspeximus urbes,
Trinacris est oculis te duce nota meis, ...
Hic mihi labentis pars anni magna peracta est.'

_Fast._ vi. 423,

'Cura videre fuit: vidi templumque locumque,'

(of the temple of Pallas at Troy).

Towards the end of A.D. 8, Ovid was banished by imperial edict to
Tomi, on the Black Sea, near the mouth of the Danube, the cause
alleged being the publication of the _Ars Amatoria_. Ovid mentions
this edict, but also hints at another