Note 9 — PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION OF OVID'S EPISTLES.[2]
Reading edition
Dryden speaks inaccurately, from a general recollection of the passage; for Ovid says distinctly, that the Fates did not give him time to cultivate the acquaintance of Tibullus, any more than of Virgil. The entire passage runs thus:
Temporis illius colui, fovique poetas: Quotque aderant vates, rebar adesse deos. Sæpe suas volucres legit mihi grandior ævo, Quæque nocet serpens, quæ juvat herba, Macer. Sæpe suos solitus recitare Propertius ignes, Jure sodalitii qui mihi junctus erat. Ponticus Heroo, Battus quoque clarus Iambo, Dulcia convictus membra fuere mei. Et tenuit nostras numerosus Horatius aures Dum ferit Ausonia carmina culta lyra Virgilium vidi tantum; nec avara Tibullo Tempus amicitiæ fata dedere meæ.
Trist. Lib. IV. Eleg. 9.