In this article I propose to explore the disposition which the reader must bring to bear to Ovid's exilic works. More specifically, I want to begin by considering the way in which Ovid himself shapes or represents the attitude of his reader; that is, the way in which the text explicitly or implicitly shapes his ideal reader, and gives him indications as to how to read the new works which gradually reach Rome from Pontus. We start at the beginning: Tr. 1.1.