Rutilius' departure from Rome is patterned on Ovid's account of the night of his departure into Exile in Tristia 1.3.  What are the similarities and differences in the two passages?  Here is a portion of Tristia 1.3:

iamque quiescebant uoces hominumque canumque

     Lunaque nocturnos alta regebat equos.

hanc ego suspiciens et ad hanc Capitolia cernens,

     quae nostro frustra iuncta fuere Lari,

'numina uicinis habitantia sedibus,' inquam,

     'iamque oculis numquam templa uidenda meis,

dique relinquendi, quos urbs habet alta Quirini,

     este salutati tempus in omne mihi.

et quamquam sero clipeum post uulnera sumo,

     attamen hanc odiis exonerate fugam,

caelestique uiro, quis me deceperit error,

     dicite, pro culpa ne scelus esse putet.

ut quod uos scitis, poenae quoque sentiat auctor:

     placato possum non miser esse deo.'

hac prece adoraui superos ego, pluribus uxor,

     singultu medios impediente sonos.

illa etiam ante Lares passis adstrata capillis

     contigit extinctos ore tremente focos,

multaque in auersos effudit uerba Penates

     pro deplorato non ualitura uiro.

iamque morae spatium nox praecipitata negabat,

     uersaque ab axe suo Parrhasis Arctos erat.

quid facerem? blando patriae retinebar amore,

     ultima sed iussae nox erat illa fugae.

a! quotiens aliquo dixi properante 'quid urges?

     uel quo festinas ire, uel unde, uide.'

a! quotiens certam me sum mentitus habere

     horam, propositae quae foret apta uiae.

ter limen tetigi, ter sum reuocatus, et ipse

     indulgens animo pes mihi tardus erat.

saepe 'uale' dicto rursus sum multa locutus,

     et quasi discedens oscula summa dedi.

Now the cries of men and dogs grew silent:

the Moon on high steered her midnight horses.

Gazing at her, and, by her light, the Capitol,

close to my house, though that was no use to me,

I prayed: ‘You powers that own these sites nearby,

you temples my eyes will never see again,

gods who possess this great city of Quirinus,

I relinquish, receive my salutation, for all time.

And though I take up the shield too late, wounded,

free this banishment from the burden of hate,

and explain to that man-god what error misled me,

so that he doesn’t think my fault a crime,

so my pain’s author knows what you know, too.

If the god is content I can’t be wretched.’

I spoke to the gods in prayer like this,

my wife more so, sobs choking her half-heard cries.

She threw herself before the Lares, hair unbound,

touching the cold hearth with trembling lips,

poured out words to the Penates, before her,

not destined to help the husband she mourned.

Now vanishing night denied me more delay,

and the Arcadian Bear had turned about her axle.

What could I do? Sweet love of country held me,

but this was the last night before my decreed exile.

Ah! How often I spoke as someone hastened by:

‘Why hurry? Think where and whence you’re hurrying.’

Ah! How often I said, deceptively, I’d a set time,

an appropriate one for my intended journey.

I touched the threshold three times, was called back

three times, even my feet slow to match my intent.

Often, having said ‘Farewell’, I spoke again at length,

and, as if I was going, I gave the last kisses.

(Tr. A.S. Klein)