40. The nine books of Poetical Epistles which Ovid composed
during the seven first years of his melancholy exile,
possess, besides the merit of elegance, a double value. They
exhibit a picture of the human mind under very singular
circumstances; and they contain many curious observations,
which no Roman, except Ovid, could have an opportunity of
making. Every circumstance which tends to illustrate the
history of the barbarians has been drawn together by the
very accurate Count de Buat, Hist. Ancienne des Peuples de
l'Europe, tom. iv. c. xvi. p. 286-317.