Note 040 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.

---

Note to Chapter 18 of DECLINE & FALL by Gibbon