Ovid banished once again

In 8 AD, the Latin poet Ovid was exiled by the emperor Augustus from Rome, the cultural center of the world at that time, to Tomis, a tiny settlement on the Black Sea near the Danube, essentially to the ends of the earth. Ovid continued to write poetry in exile, including the Tristia, a collection of letters bemoaning his fate and lobbying for a pardon. In the Tristia, the poet states that the reason for his banishment was "carmen et error," that is, "I wrote a poem and made a mistake." According to Wikipedia:

Most believe that the "carmen", that is, the "poem" that Ovid refers to is the Ars Amatoria. Many believe that Augustus — who presented himself as the restorer of Roman public morality — could not fail to punish the author of a work who presented himself as a master of adultery and obscenity.

2000 years later, Ovid has once again been banished on moral grounds from the cultural center of the world, this time, New York City. As WSJ reports:

With school out for the summer, Columbia [University in NYC] is making changes to next year’s required reading that reflect some student concerns. Ovid’s Metamorphoses — a book students said was potentially offensive because of its sexual violence — is out, and a Toni Morrison novel was added.

In spite of Augustus' banishment of Ovid 2000 years ago, the poet's works have been disseminated around the world and have served as an inspiration for many of the greatest masters of Western art, including the poets Chaucer, Dante, Boccaccio and Shakespeare (see the table of contents in the collection of essays Reception of Ovid, edited by John Miller and Carole Newlands), the painter Titian (see here), and the sculptor Bernini (see here and here). In spite of Columbia's priggish new banishment of Ovid this summer, the poet will continue to serve as an inspiration for artists and for students of the psychology of (sometimes violent) passion and love.