Part 10

Compare as well _Her_ X 3-4 '_Quae legis_ ex illo, Theseu, tibi litore mitto / unde tuam sine me uela tulere ratem'. This poem has suffered from two separate interpolations at its beginning. Certain manuscripts start the poem with the distich 'Illa relicta feris etiam nunc, improbe Theseu, / uiuit et haec aequa mente tulisse uelis', which is universally condemned; but the formulaic nature of 3-4 suggests that 1-2 'Mitius inueni quam te genus omne ferarum, / credita non ulli quam tibi peius eram', found in all manuscripts, is a second interpolation. Micyllus was the first to see this; a recent discussion at Kirfel 69-70.

=1. VATES MAGNORVM MAXIME REGVM.= Severus apparently wrote a poem dealing with pre-Republican Rome, to judge from xvi 9 his most famous work: 'quique dedit Latio carmen regale, Seuerus'. Heinsius took the two passages as meaning that Severus was a writer of tragedy, citing _Tr_ II 553 'et dedimus tragicis scriptum regale cothurnis'; compare as well Hor _Sat_ I x 42-43 'Pollio regum / facta canit pede ter percusso ['in iambic trimeter']'. Heinsius' suggestion is possible enough, but since Seneca and Quintilian speak of Severus as an epic poet and there is no mention of the stage in this poem, it should be rejected.

Similar language is used of epic poetry at _Ecl_ VI 3 'cum canerem _reges_ et proelia' and Prop III iii 1-4 'Visus eram ... reges, Alba, tuos et _regum facta_ tuorum, / tantum operis, neruis hiscere posse meis'.

=1. REGVM.= VATVM (_M1FIL_) is a conscious or unconscious attempt to extend the etymological figure seen in _magnorum maxime_.

=5-6. ORBA TAMEN NVMERIS CESSAVIT EPISTVLA NVMQVAM / IRE PER ALTERNAS OFFICIOSA VICES.= Other mentions of what was clearly an extensive prose correspondence between Ovid and his friends at _Tr_ V xii 1-2 and _EP_ I ix 1-2.

=6. OFFICIOSA.= 'Attentive'. The preface to Martial XII gives a good illustration of the sense: 'consequimur ut molesti potius quam ut officiosi esse uideamur'.

_Officiosus_ occurs five times in the _Ex Ponto_, but only four times in the rest of Ovid's poetry.

=9-10.= Aristaeus was famous for his beekeeping (Virgil _G_ IV 315-558). Bacchus was the god of wine, and Triptolemus had disseminated the knowledge of grain-farming (_Met_ V 646-61). Alcinous might seem a strange companion to these three, but evidently Homer's description of Alcinous' orchard (_Od_ VII 112-31) made a strong impression on the Latin poets. From Ovid compare _Am_ I x 56 'praebeat Alcinoi poma benignus ager' and _Met_ XIII 719-20 'proxima Phaeacum felicibus obsita pomis / rura petunt', from Propertius III ii 13 'nec mea Phaeacas aequant pomaria siluas', and from Virgil _G_ II 87 'pomaque et Alcinoi siluae' 'the fruit-trees of Alcinous'.

=9. BACCHO VINA FALERNA.= Heinsius preferred _M_'s BACCHO VINA FALERNO. But the passage he cited in its support, Silius III 369-70 'Tarraco ... uitifera, et Latio tantum cessura Lyaeo' is not in fact parallel: _Lyaeo_ there stands for _uino_, and the passage means 'Tarraco, rich in vines, conceding priority to Latin wine alone'. Ovid wished to balance the hexameter with the pentameter, and used a standard epithet to fill out the metre.

=10. ALCINOO.= Note the quadrisyllable ending, and compare _EP_ II ix 41-42 'quis non Antiphaten Laestrygona deuouet? aut quis / munifici mores improbet _Alcinoi_?'. In his later poetry Ovid shows a steadily increasing willingness to allow his pentameters to end with words other than disyllables. Every pentameter of the amatory poems and the first fifteen _Heroides_ ends in a disyllable. Two quadrisyllabic endings occur in the later books of the _Fasti_: V 582 _fluminibus_ and VI 660 _funeribus_. In the first five books of the _Tristia_ there are eight such endings, in the first three books of the _Ex Ponto_ there are seven, while in the fourth book there are no less than fourteen instances of quadrisyllabic endings: nearly as many as in all the rest of Ovid's corpus put together.[18] 'Sermo magis etiam quam illic [_sc_ in the _Tristia_] ... neglectus est et degenerauit' Riese remarked, but it can reasonably be doubted that a poet of Ovid's facility would break the rule of the disyllabic ending except by choice. A moderation of the rule became general: the author of _Her_ XVI-XXI (whom I do not believe to have been Ovid) allowed _pudicitiae_ (XVI 290), _superciliis_ (XVII 16), and _deseruit_ (XIX 202) (Platnauer 17); a count of pentameters in Martial V shows the proportion of non-disyllabic endings at 20%--the shorter the poem, the more freely they are admitted. Quadrisyllable endings are frequent in the metrically strict Claudian.

[Footnote 18: These figures are taken from Platnauer 17 and from page vii of Riese's preface to his edition.]

Ovid admitted quadrisyllable endings more freely if they were proper names. Of the twenty-one quadrisyllable verse-endings in the _Ex Ponto_, six involve proper nouns: II ii 76 _Dalmatiae_, ix 42 _Alcinoi_, the present passage, IV iii 54 _Anticyra_, viii 62 _Oechalia_, and ix 80 _Danuuium_. Professor E. Fantham points out to me that Ovid follows Propertius' similar practice: 42 of the 166 quadrisyllable pentameter endings in Propertius are proper names (Platnauer 17).

The fifteen other instances in the _Ex Ponto_ of quadrisyllabic pentameter-endings are II ii 6 _perlegere_, ii 70 _imperium_, iii 18 _articulis_, v 26 _ingenium_, III i 166 _aspiciant_, IV v 24 _officio_, vi 6 _alterius_, vi 14 _auxilium_, ix 48 _utilitas_, xiii 28 _imperii_, xiii 46 _ingeniis_, xiv 4 _inuenies_, xiv 18 _ingenio_, xiv 56 _imposuit_, and xv 26 _auxilium_.

For Ovid's use of trisyllabic and pentasyllabic endings, see at ix 26 _tegeret_ (page 294) and iii 12 _amicitia_ (p 181).

=11. FERTILE PECTVS HABES.= Compare _Tr_ V xii 37-38 'denique non paruas animo dat gloria uires, / et _fecunda_ facit _pectora_ laudis amor'.

=11. INTERQVE HELICONA COLENTES.= Poets are also described as being on Parnassus at _Tr_ IV i 50, x 23 & x 120. Helicon is the goal of poets at Hor _Ep_ II i 218 (cited at 36).

=12. PROVENIT= continues the agricultural metaphor of _fertile pectus_. For _prouenire_ = 'grow', see _AA_ III 101-2 'ordior a cultu: cultis bene Liber ab uuis / prouenit', _Fast_ IV 617 'largaque prouenit cessatis messis in aruis', and _Nux_ 10; for the metaphorical sense see _Am_ I iii 19-20 'te mihi materiem _felicem_ in carmina praebe-- / _prouenient_ causa carmina digna sua' and _Her_ XV 13-14 'nec mihi dispositis quae iungam carmina neruis / _proueniunt_'.

For _uberius ... prouenit_ compare Caesar _BG_ V 24 'eo anno frumentum in Gallia propter siccitates _angustius prouenerat_'.

=13. MITTERE AD HVNC CARMEN.= Burman printed without comment MITTERE CARMEN AD HVNC, the reading of Heinsius' _fragmentum Louaniense_. It seems to be a mere normalization of the hyperbaton; the elimination of the elision (_mittere ad_) may have been a factor as well.

=13. AD HVNC= indicates that Ovid cannot have addressed these words in the first instance directly to Severus, but must here be recollecting his earlier thoughts. I have therefore placed the line in quotation marks.

=15. NEC TAMEN.= 'This was the principal reason; a second reason, however, was that ...'

=15. INGENIVM= = 'poetic talent', as often. Compare viii 66, xvi 2, _Tr_ III vii 47, _EP_ II ii 103, _EP_ II v 21 (quoted at 20 _uena pauperiore_), _EP_ II v 26, and _EP_ III iv 11.

=15. RESPONDET= introduces the agricultural image of 18 'sed siccum sterili uomere litus aro', for the word here means 'yield'. _OLD_ _respondeo_ 8c cites for the literal sense Virgil _G_ II 63-64 'truncis oleae melius, propagine uites / respondent', Columella II 1 3 'humus ... magno faenore ... colono respondet', Col III 3 4; for a transferred use see Sen _Ep_ LXXXI 1 'non respondeant [_sc_ beneficia] potius quam non dentur'.

=16. SICCVM ... LITVS ARO.= Proverbial for a useless activity. See Otto _harena_ 4 and compare _Tr_ V iv 47-48 'plena tot ac tantis referetur gratia factis, / nec sinet ille [Ovid] litus arare boues'.

_Sterili_ is transferred by hypallage from _litus_; _siccum_ serves no purpose beyond providing a balancing epithet.

=17. VENAS EXCAECAT=, the reading of most codices, is obviously correct as against the VENAS CVM CAECAT of _BCHL_. Ovid uses _excaecare_ again at _Met_ XV 270-72 'hic fontes natura nouos emisit, at illic / clausit ... flumina prosiliunt aut _excaecata_ [_uar_ exsiccata] residunt'.

=17. IN VNDIS= is probably corrupt; if it is retained, from the context it must mean 'in the water of springs' (Professor A. Dalzell). Williams suggests 'in the case of water', marking the analogy with _pectora sic mea sunt limo uitiata malorum_ in 19.

For _undis_ as a corrupt hexameter ending, compare _Met_ XV 276 'redditur Argolicis ingens Erasinus in aruis [_codd_: in undis _Sen_ NQ _III 26 4_]', _Met_ VIII 162 'liquidus Phrygiis Maeandros in aruis [_uar_ liquidis Phrygius ... in undis]', and _Met_ XIV 155 'sedibus Euboicam Stygiis emergit in urbem [_uar_ sedibus euboicis stigiis emersus ab undis]'.

The line seems to have passed without comment until Merkel's second edition: '_in undis_ minus bene positum uidetur; temptabam _hiulcas,_ quod expressisset Statius Theb. VIIII 450 _hiulcis flumina uenis Suggerit_ ['he (the river Asopos) opens his springs wide and adds his streams']'. There seems no obvious reason, however, for Ovid to define the springs as 'gaping'.

Madvig conjectured INVNDANS, the corruption of which would be easy; but _uenas_ seems more in need of a modifier than _limus_--Professor R. J. Tarrant suggests APERTAS or AQVARVM, Professor A. Dalzell IN ARVIS.

Professor Tarrant also suggests to me that _in undis_ could well have originated as a gloss on _uenas_.

=18. LAESAQVE.= There seems no reason to replace this with Merkel's LAPSAQVE ('flowing back'?), which even seems to contradict the sense of _resistit_.

The same sense of _laesus_ at _Am_ III vii 32 'deficiunt laesi carmine ['spell'] fontis aquae'.

=20. VENA PAVPERIORE.= The same image of Ovid's poetic talent at _Tr_ III xiv 33-34 'ingenium fregere meum mala, cuius et ante / fons infecundus _paruaque uena_ fuit' and _EP_ II v 21-22 'ingenioque meo, _uena_ quod _paupere_ manat, / plaudis, et e riuo flumina magna facis'.

=23. DA VENIAM FASSO.= As a poet himself, Severus would be particularly shocked at Ovid's admission he has virtually ceased to write poetry. Similar phrasing at III ix 45-46 'confesso ignoscite, docti: / uilior est operis fama salute mea'.

=23. FRENA REMISI.= 'I have let go of the reins' = 'I have stopped writing poetry'; for the sense, compare _Aen_ VII 599-600 (of Latinus) 'nec plura locutus / saepsit se tectis rerumque reliquit habenas'.

The metaphor of the poet as driver is found as early as Bacchylides (V 176-78) and Pindar (_Ol_ VI 22 ff). A full list of Greek and Latin passages is included in Henderson's note on _RA_ 397-98; the image is particularly frequent in Roman didactic poetry, being found even at Columella X 215-16. See as well Kenney _Nequitiae Poeta_ 206. In Ovid the image is found at _AA_ I 39-40 & 264, II 426, III 467-68 & 809-10, _RA_ 397-98, _Fast_ I 25-26, II 360, IV 10, and VI 586. The only instances I have found that are not from Ovid's didactic verse are the present passage and xii 23-24 'tu bonus hortator, tu duxque comesque fuisti, / cum regerem tenera frena nouella manu'.

=24. DVCITVR.= 'Is formed, written'. The same sense at _Met_ I 649 (of Io) '_littera_ ... quam pes in puluere _duxit_' and _Met_ X 215-16 'AI AI / flos habet inscriptum, funestaque _littera ducta_ est'.

=25. IMPETVS ILLE SACER.= 'The famous divine impulse'. Similar phrasing at _Fast_ VI 5-6 'est deus in nobis; agitante calescimus illo: / impetus hic sacrae semina mentis habet'.

=25. VATVM PECTORA NVTRIT.= _Nutrit_ here seems to mean 'sustain'. Its usual transferred sense is 'cause to grow', as at III iv 26 (the only other passage I have found where the verb is used of poetry) and Hor _C_ IV iv 26.

=27. VIX VENIT AD PARTES ... MVSA.= 'My Muse with difficulty performs her functions'. _Partes_ in the sense of 'theatrical role' (Ter _Ph_ 27) early acquired the extended sense of 'role', 'function', or 'duty'. Burman cites as parallels _Am_ I viii 87 'seruus et _ad partes_ sollers ancilla parentur' and _Nux_ 68; compare as well _AA_ II 546 'cum, tener, _ad partes_ tu quoque, somne, uenis' and _EP_ III i 41-42 'utque iuuent alii, tu debes uincere amicos, / uxor, et _ad partes_ prima uenire tuas'.

=27. SVMPTAE ... TABELLAE.= Compare _Met_ IX 523-25 'scribit damnatque _tabellas_ ... inque uicem _sumptas_ ponit positasque _resumit_'.

=29. NE DICAM.= I have found no other instance of the expression in verse, but it is common in Cicero (Kühner-Stegmann II i 825).

=30. NVMERIS NECTERE VERBA.= 'Bind words to metre'. I take _numeris_ as a dative; no close parallel presents itself, but compare _Aen_ IV 239-40 'pedibus talaria nectit / aurea'.

=33. NVMEROSOS ... GESTVS.= Compare _Am_ II iv 29 'illa placet _gestu numerosaque bracchia_ ducit', _AA_ II 305 '_bracchia_ saltantis, uocem mirare canentis', and Prop II xxii 5-6 'siue aliquis molli diducit candida _gestu_ / bracchia, seu uarios incinit ore modos'. Heinsius thought GRESSVS (_I1PF3ul_) possible as well, citing Varro _LL_ IX 5 '_pedes_ male _ponere_ atque imitari uatias ['bow-legged men'] coeperit', Martianus Capella IX 909 'licet pulchris rosea numeris ac libratis _passibus_ moueretur', and Maximianus (6th century) _El_ III 27 'suspensos ponere _gressus_'. But the strong manuscript authority for _gestus_ and the parallels in Ovid mark it as clearly preferable to _gressus_.

=33. PONERE.= The verb seems strange, but Burman cited in its support Val Max VIII vii 7 'Roscius ... nullum umquam spectante populo _gestum_, nisi quem domi meditatus fuerat, _ponere_ [_codd_: promere _E. Schulze_] ausus est'.

=35-36. LAVDATAQVE VIRTVS / CRESCIT.= For this commonplace of ancient literature see _Otto_ _ars_ 3 and compare _RA_ 393 'nam iuuat et studium famae mihi creuit honore', _Tr_ V xii 37-38 'denique non paruas animo dat gloria uires, / et fecunda facit pectora laudis amor', _EP_ III ix 21 'scribentem iuuat ipse fauor minuitque laborem', Prop IV x 3, and Cic _Tusc_ I 4.

=36. IMMENSVM GLORIA CALCAR HABET.= The same metaphor at _Tr_ V i 75-76 'denique nulla mihi captatur gloria, quaeque / ingeniis _stimulos subdere_ fama solet', _EP_ I v 57-58 'gloria uos _acuat_; uos, ut recitata probentur / carmina, Pieriis inuigilate choris', and Hor _Ep_ II i 217-18 'uatibus addere _calcar_ / ut studio maiore petant Helicona uirentem'.

_Immensum_ seems rather strange; I have found no good parallel for it.

=37. HIC MEA CVI RECITEM ... CARMINA.= A constant complaint of Ovid in exile. Compare _Tr_ III xiv 39-40 'nullus in hac terra, recitem si carmina, cuius / intellecturis auribus utar, adest', _Tr_ IV i 89-90, and _Tr_ V xii 53 'non liber hic ullus, non qui mihi commodet aurem'. Perhaps it is significant that Ovid does not complain in the present passage that he has no books available: certainly he must have had a substantial library at hand when he composed the _Ibis_.

=38. BARBARVS HISTER.= The same phrase in the same position (leaving space for the disyllable) at _EP_ III iii 26 'et coit astrictis _barbarus Hister_ aquis'.

_Hister_ was the name of the lower course of the Danube (Pliny _NH_ IV 79). Ovid uses the metrically convenient _Hister_ fifteen times in the _Ex Ponto_, as against two instances only of _Danuuius_ (IV ix 80 & x 58).

=38. OBIT= _Damsté_ HABET _codd_. In support of _obit_ Damsté cited x 22 'gentibus obliqua quas _obit_ Hister aqua' (_Mnemosyne_ XLVI 32). As Professor R. J. Tarrant points out, the only meaning that can be attached to _quasque alias gentes barbarus Hister habet_ is 'the other people that live in the Danube'; he compares _Her_ VI 135-36 'prodidit illa patrem; rapui de clade Thoanta. / deseruit Colchos; me mea Lemnos habet' and _Aen_ VI 362 (Palinurus speaking) 'nunc me fluctus habet'. _EP_ III ii 43-44 'nos ... quos procul a uobis Pontus et [_uar_ barbarus] Hister habet', cited by Lenz in support of _habet_, is not a good parallel in view of the different subject (_Pontus et Hister_ instead of _Hister_ alone).

Lenz cited _Tr_ II 230 'bellaque pro magno Caesare Caesar obit' for a variant _habet_; Professor Tarrant cites another instance of the corruption at _Met_ I 551-52 'pes modo tam uelox pigris radicibus haeret, / ora cacumen obit'.

=39. MATERIA= = 'means' (_OLD materia_ 8).

=41. NEC VINVM NEC ME TENET ALEA FALLAX.= The same statement at _EP_ I v 45-46 'nec iuuat in lucem nimio marcescere uino, / nec tenet incertas alea blanda manus'. For Ovid's temperance, compare _EP_ I x 30 'scis mihi quam solae paene bibantur aquae'.

_Me tenet_ in the present passage should perhaps be translated 'holds my attention' (_OLD teneo_ 22) rather than 'attracts' (Wheeler).

=41. VINVM.= For wine as a diversion from sorrow, compare Tib I ii 1 'Adde merum uinoque nouos compesce dolores' (with Smith's note) and Tib I v 37 'saepe ego temptaui curas depellere uino'.

=42. TACITVM TEMPVS.= Similar phrases at _AA_ II 670 'iam ueniet _tacito_ curua senecta pede', _Fast_ VI 771 '_tacitis_ ... senescimus annis', _Tr_ III vii 35-36 'senectus / quae _strepitus passu non faciente_ uenit', _Tr_ IV vi 17 '_tacito_ pede lapsa uetustas' and _Tr_ IV x 27 '_tacito_ passu labentibus annis'.

=43. QVOD CVPEREM.= At _EP_ I viii 39-62 Ovid, having detailed the urban pleasures he has lost, speaks of his agricultural pursuits in Italy, and laments that this diversion is not available to him at Tomis. The two passages add personal meaning to his description at _Met_ XIV 623-34 of Pomona's gardening and his prescription at _RA_ 169-98 of agriculture as a diversion from an unhappy love-affair.

=43. SI PER FERA BELLA LICERET.= Compare _EP_ II vii 69-70 'tempus in agrorum cultu consumere dulce est: / non patitur uerti barbarus hostis humum' and _EP_ III viii 6 'hostis ab agricola uix sinit illa [_sc_ loca] fodi'. At _Tr_ III x 57-66 Ovid gives a vivid description of what could happen to the farmers of Tomis in a raid.

=44. NOVATA= = 'restored to fertility through ploughing'. Ovid more commonly uses _renouare_, as at _Tr_ V xii 23-24 'fertilis, assiduo si non renouetur aratro, / nil nisi cum spinis gramen habebit ager', _Am_ I iii 9, _Met_ I 110 & XV 125, _Fast_ I 159, and _Tr_ IV vi 13.

=45. RESTANT= is not strictly logical, but a similar attraction of number is confirmed by metre at _Tr_ I ii 1 'Di maris et caeli--quid enim nisi uota _supersunt_?'; RESTAT (_IP_) must therefore be rejected.

Similar confusions occur in the manuscripts at _Met_ XIV 396 'nec quicquam antiqui [_Berolinensis Heinsii_: antiquum _codd plerique_] Pico nisi nomina _restant_' and _Tr_ IV x 85 'si tamen extinctis aliquid nisi nomina _restant_'.

=47. TV, CVI BIBITVR FELICIVS AONIVS FONS.= For the image of the poet drinking from Hippocrene see Prop III iii 5-6 'paruaque tam magnis admoram fontibus ora, / unde pater sitiens Ennius ante bibit'. Both here and at II x 25 Propertius speaks of Hippocrene as the spring of epic poetry specifically.

=47. FELICIVS.= 'With happier result'; compare _Ibis_ 559 'nec tibi, si quid amas, felicius Haemone [=_quam Haemoni_] cedat'.

=47. AONIVS FONS.= Platnauer (13) cites only four instances from the elegiac poets of hexameters ending in monosyllables: Prop II xxv 17 'amor, qui', _Am_ II ix 47 'Cupido, est', the present passage, and _EP_ IV ix 101 'quibus nos'. Ehwald and Levy compare _Met_ V 573 'quae tibi causa fugae, cur sis, Arethusa, sacer _fons_'. The coincidence suggests that in both passages Ovid was recalling a line-ending from an earlier poet. Alternatively, Professor E. Fantham suggests to me that Ovid may here have deliberately created an awkward line-ending so as to mock himself and bear out his claim of waning inspiration.

=47-50.= Ovid returns to the subject of his poem's opening, Severus' poetry.

=48. VTILITER ... CEDIT.= Similar phrasing at _EP_ II vii 19 '[iam liquet ...] obseruare deos ne quid mihi _cedat amice_'.

=49. MERITO.= 'With justification'; Severus' previous service to the Muses has brought him fame and not, as in Ovid's case, disaster.

=50. HVC ALIQVOD CVRAE MITTE RECENTIS OPVS.= A similar request at _EP_ III v 29-30 (to Cotta Maximus) 'quod licet, ut uidear tecum magis esse, legenda [_Burman_: legendo _uel_ loquendo _codd_] / saepe precor studii pignora mitte tui'.

=50. CVRAE= = 'poetic toil', as at _Tr_ II 11-12 'hoc pretium _curae_ [_fragmentum Treuirense (saec x)_: uitae _codd plerique_] uigilatorumque laborum / cepimus', _EP_ I v 61 'cur ego sollicita poliam mea carmina _cura_?', and _EP_ III ix 29. At xvi 39 and _Tr_ II 1 the word means 'product of poetic toil'.

III. To An Unfaithful Friend

By the time Ovid wrote this poem, the letter of reproach was a genre familiar to him: each book of the _Tristia_ (with the obvious exception of II) contains such a poem (I viii; III xi; IV ix; V viii), and in the _Ibis_ Ovid had, by the extended treatment of a number of standard topics within the subject, created a poem of over six hundred lines.

Ovid begins the poem by stating that he has heard about his friend's faithlessness; he asks what possible excuse there might be for this behaviour (1-28). He then warns his friend that Fortune is changeable, and gives four examples of famous men who fell from prosperity (29-48). He ends the poem by stating once again that Fortune is undependable, and gives his own catastrophe as an instance; his friend should remember this, and moderate his behaviour accordingly (49-58).

The poem has points of contact with the earlier poems of reproach. _Tr_ I viii is addressed to a friend who failed to visit Ovid after his disaster: he can scarcely believe his friend is human. In _Tr_ III xi, Ovid asks his enemy why through his actions he makes his punishment even worse. _Tr_ IV ix is a warning that if Ovid's enemy does not cease attacking him, he will through his poetry make his enemy's name infamous throughout the world. _Tr_ V viii, the poem closest in theme to the present one, is a warning to his enemy that Fortune is changeable and Augustus merciful, so he and Ovid might one day change situations.

The _Ibis_, being primarily a catalogue of literary curses, stands somewhat apart from the other poems of reproach in structure as in size; yet the opening of the poem, in which Ovid describes his enemy's conduct and the ways he might respond, offers a number of parallels to the present poem.

=1. CONQVERAR AN TACEAM.= Kenney (_Nequitiae Poeta_ 204-5), commenting on _AA_ I 739 'conquerar an moneam', cites other instances of the same rhetorical device at _Aen_ III 39 ' eloquar an sileam?' and _Met_ IX 147 'conquerar an sileam?', as well as the present passage.

=1. CONQVERAR.= The choice of verb is significant: this poem is a rhetorical _conquestio_ transferred to verse. Kenney cites Cicero's definition of _conquestio_ at _Inu_ I 106: 'conquestio est oratio auditorum misericordiam captans ... id locis communibus efficere oportebit, per quos Fortunae uis in omnes et hominum infirmitas ostenditur; qua oratione ... animus hominum ... ad misericordiam comparatur, cum in alieno malo suam infirmitatem considerabit'.

=1. PONAM SINE NOMINE CRIMEN.= 'Shall I put my accusation in my poem without naming you?'. The same sense of _ponere_ at _Tr_ I v 7 '_positis_ pro nomine signis', _Tr_ IV iv 7, and _EP_ III vi 1-2 'Naso suo (_posuit_ nomen quam paene!) sodali / mittit ab Euxinis hoc breue carmen aquis'.