Part 12

=48. MVLTA PVDENDA.= The entire sequence of events during Marius' flight to Africa.

=50. FACIT= _R. J. Tarrant_. For _fidem facere_ ('induce belief') compare _Met_ VI 565-66 'dat gemitus fictos commentaque funera narrat, / et lacrimae _fecere fidem_' and Caesar _BC_ II 37 1 'nuntiabantur haec eadem Curioni, sed aliquamdiu _fides fieri_ non poterat: tantam habebat suarum rerum fiduciam'. Ehwald (_KB_ 63) defends FERET (_BC_), quoting _Aen_ X 792 'si qua _fidem_ tanto est operi _latura_ uetustas', but the true meaning of this line is 'if antiquity can ever win belief for a deed so grand' (Jackson Knight); the idiom cannot be fitted into the present passage with acceptable meaning. HABET, the reading of most manuscripts, does not account for FERET, but is in itself acceptable enough; compare _Her_ XVI 59-60 'ecce pedum pulsu uisa est mihi terra moueri-- / uera loquar ueri [_Heinsius_: uero _codd_] uix _habitura fidem_' and Cic _Flac_ 21 'sed fuerint incorruptae litterae domi; nunc uero quam _habere_ auctoritatem aut quam _fidem_ possunt?'.

=51. SI QVIS MIHI DICERET.= Compare _Tr_ IV viii 43-44 'hoc mihi si Delphi Dodonaque diceret ipsa, / esse uideretur uanus uterque locus'.

=52. GETE= is read from the manuscripts by Heinsius; the form is the same as at _Met_ X 608 'Hippomene uicto', _Fast_ IV 593 'uictore Gyge', _EP_ II iv 22 'in Aeacide Nestorideque', and _EP_ I viii 6 'dura pharetrato bella mouente Gete [_uar_ Geta]'. All editors but Heinsius print GETAE, but this is contrary to Ovid's usage: compare (to take only a few instances) _Ibis_ 637 '_Sarmaticas_ inter _Geticasque sagittas_', _EP_ I i 79 'inque locum _Scythico_ uacuum mutabor ab _arcu_', and _EP_ III v 45 'ipse quidem _Getico_ peream uiolatus ab _arcu_'. The only apparent exceptions to the rule I have found are _Tr_ IV i 21 'Sinti [_Ehwald_: inter _codd_ Sintae _Iac. Gronouius_] nec militis ensem', where the compound expression alters matters somewhat, and _Fast_ V 580 '_Parthi_ [_uar_ Parthis] signa retenta _manu_', where _Partha_ should probably be read; compare _Fast_ VI 244 '_Mauras_ pertimuere _manus_ [_codd_: minas _Alton_]' and _EP_ I iii 59-60 'altera Bistonias pars est sensura sarisas, / altera _Sarmatica_ spicula missa _manu_'.

_Getes_ is also used as an adjective at xiii 18 'paene poeta Getes'.

=53. I BIBE ... ANTICYRA.= A hendiadys for 'Go drink all the mind-purging hellebore that grows in Anticyra'.

=53. PVRGANTES ... SVCOS.= For discussions of _elleborus_ see Theophrastus _HP_ IX 10, Pliny _NH_ XXV 47-61, and Aulus Gellius XVII xv. There were two varieties of the plant, black and white (from the colour of their roots): the former was a laxative, the latter induced vomiting and was thought to sharpen the intellect; compare Val Max VIII vii ext 5, Pliny _NH_ XXV 52, Martianus Capella IV 327, and the other passages cited by Brink at Hor _AP_ 300.

=54. ANTICYRA.= Three places of this name are known from ancient sources; it is not known which of them Ovid had in mind. One was a city in Locris on the north side of the entrance to the Corinthian Gulf; the second was a city near Mount Oeta (Strabo IX v 10), and the third an island of uncertain location (Pliny _NH_ XXV 52). It is possible that Hor _AP_ 300 'tribus Anticyris caput insanabile' should be taken to mean that all three places were famous for hellebore, but ps-Acron glosses _tribus Anticyris_ as 'tribus ... potionibus [_Keller_: potus _codd_] ... aut multo elleboro', which Brink accepts, citing Hor _Sat_ II iii 82-83 'danda est ellebori multo pars maxima auaris; / nescio an Anticyram ratio illis destinet omnem' and Persius IV 16 'Anticyras ... sorbere meracas' for the metonymy, and Petronius 88 4 'Chrysippus, ut ad inuentionem sufficeret, ter elleboro animum detersit' for the number. The last two places at least seem to have been known for their hellebore; compare Pliny _NH_ XXV 49 'plurimum autem nascitur in Oete monte et optimum uno eius loco circa Pyram' and XXV 52 'Drusum quoque apud nos ... constat hoc medicamento liberatum comitiali morbo ['epilepsy'] in Anticyra insula'.

=57. TV QVOQVE FAC TIMEAS.= That is, his friend should start to behave better towards him. For a similar exhortation at the end of a poem of reproach, see _Tr_ I viii 49-50 'effice peccati ne sim memor huius, et illo / officium laudem quo queror ore tuum'; even in the _Ibis_ there is a veiled offer of reconciliation: 'et neque nomen in hoc nec dicam facta libello, / teque breui qui sis dissimulare sinam. / postmodo, _si perges_, in te mihi liber iambus / tincta Lycambeo sanguine tela dabit' (51-54).

=58. DVM LOQVERIS.= Compare _Am_ I xi 15 'dum loquor, hora fugit' and Hor _Carm_ I xi 7-8 'dum loquimur, fugerit inuida / aetas'; Nisbet and Hubbard cite _ad loc_ Persius V 153 and Petronius 99 3, noting that the _sententia_ is not found before Horace.

IV. To Sextus Pompeius

In this second poem addressed to Sextus Pompeius, Ovid celebrates the news that Pompeius is to be _consul ordinarius_ in the following year. As Pompeius was consul in 14, Ovid probably wrote the poem shortly after the election of magistrates in 13.

Poems iv and v form a pair, the first being an account of Ovid's reaction on learning of Pompeius' election, the second being a letter to the new consul. Both poems have points of contact with poem ix, a letter of congratulation sent to Graecinus on his becoming suffect consul.

The poem begins with general reflections that no sadness is absolute, which prepare for the description of how the news came to Ovid of Pompeius' election (1-20). He pictures to himself the ceremonies that will take place (21-42), and ends with the hope that in the midst of the festivities Pompeius will still be able to remember him (43-50).

=1-6.= In these lines Ovid reverses the usual ancient sentiment that no pleasure is unalloyed. Compare Hor _Carm_ II x 17-18 'non, si male nunc, et olim / sic erit'. For the more usual thought, see _Met_ VII 453-54 'nulla est sincera uoluptas, / sollicitique aliquid laetis interuenit' and _Fast_ VI 463 'interdum miscentur tristia laetis'.

=1. AVSTRALIBVS VMIDA NIMBIS.= An image used elsewhere by Ovid as a metaphor of his unhappiness: see _Tr_ I iii 13 'hanc animo nubem dolor ipse remouit', _Tr_ V v 22 'pars uitae tristi cetera nube uacet', and _EP_ II i 5-6 'tandem aliquid pulsa curarum nube serenum ['cloudless'] uidi'.

=1. VMIDA.= For the dampness of the south wind, compare _Met_ I 65-66 'contraria tellus / nubibus assiduis pluuiaque madescit ab Austro'.

=2. NON INTERMISSIS ... AQVIS.= _Non intermissis_ in the same metrical position at _EP_ I iv 16 'non intermissis cursibus ibit equus'; _intermissus_ used of bad weather at _Tr_ II 149-51 'uentis agitantibus aera [_uar_ aequora] non est / aequalis rabies continuusque furor, / sed modo subsidunt _intermissique_ silescunt'.

=7. DOMO PATRIAQVE CARENS OCVLISQVE MEORVM.= Similar phrasing at _Tr_ III vii 45 'cum caream patria uobisque domoque', _Tr_ III xi 15-16 'quod coniuge cara, / quod patria careo pignoribusque meis', _Tr_ V v 19 (of his wife) 'illa domo nataque sua patriaque fruatur', _Tr_ I v 83, _Tr_ IV vi 19, _Tr_ IV ix 12, _Tr_ V x 47, _EP_ I iii 47, and _EP_ II ix 79.

=7. OCVLISQVE MEORVM.= Compare _Tr_ V iv 27-30 'nec patriam magis ille suam desiderat ... quam uultus _oculosque_ tuos, o dulcior illo / melle quod in ceris Attica ponit apis'. _Oculisque meorum_ seems to mean 'regards des miens' (André) rather than 'the sight of my own' (Wheeler); compare _Aen_ XI 800-1 'oculosque tulere / cuncti ad reginam', _Met_ VII 256 'et monet arcanis oculos remouere profanos', Persius V 33 'permisit sparsisse oculos ['to look where I chose']', and from prose Cic _Fam_ IX ii 2 'ut uitemus oculos hominum'.

=9. VVLTVM DIFFVNDERE.= The action opposite to _trahis uultus_ (i 5); compare _Met_ XIV 272 'diffudit uultus' and from prose Sen _Ep_ 106 5 'nisi dubitas an uultum nobis mutent, an frontem astringant, an _faciem diffundant_'. It is probably from this expression that _diffundere_ acquired the extended sense of 'mentally relax' (_OLD diffundo_ 5), for which compare _Met_ IV 766 'diffudere animos', _Met_ III 318 'Iouem ... diffusum nectare', and _AA_ I 218 'diffundetque animos omnibus ista dies'.

=9. CAVSAM.= CAVSA (_BCT_) is grammatical enough, but corruption from _qua ... causam_ to _qua ... causa_ is more likely than the inverse.

The construction of the sentence is rather complex: Ovid's normal practice would be to employ an objective genitive with _causa_.

=10. POSSIM= _BCMHIT_ POSSEM _L_ POSSVM _F_. The clause is in primary tense sequence following the true perfect _inueni_, which represents the present result of a past action. Compare _fecit ... minuant_ in 5-6.

=10. NEC MEMINISSE= = _et obliuisci_. _Nec (non) meminisse_ is metrically useful for filling the second hemistich of the pentameter up to the disyllable; so used at vi 50 'arguat ingratum non meminisse sui', _Tr_ IV iv 40 & V xiii 18, and _EP_ II iv 6.

=11. SOLVS= _BC_. TRISTIS, the reading of the other six manuscripts, is tempting, as being the less neutral of the two adjectives, and was accepted without question by Heinsius and Burman. If it is accepted, one could argue that Ovid refers back to the word at 21 'dilapsis ... curis'. But _solus_ is shown to be correct by the passage Ovid is here imitating, Virgil _G_ I 388-89 'tum cornix plena pluuiam uocat improba uoce / et _sola_ in sicca secum _spatiatur harena_'. _Solus_ was lost through haplography ('fulua solus': the elongated 's' form common in manuscripts would have facilitated the error) and _tristis_ interpolated to restore the metre. Ehwald believed (_KB_ 63) that the error arose from _tristis_ having been written above _solus_ in the archetype, but there is no reason to accept this, since the one could not stand as a gloss for the other.

=11. SPATIARER HARENA.= The phrase is taken from Virgil _G_ I 388-89 (quoted in the previous note); Ovid imitates the passage again at _Met_ II 572-73 'lentis / passibus, ut soleo, summa _spatiarer harena_'.

=12. VISA EST A TERGO PENNA DEDISSE SONVM.= 'I thought I heard a wing rustle behind me'. A similar advent of an unseen deity at _Met_ III 96-98 'uox subito audita est; neque erat cognoscere promptum / unde, sed audita est: "quid, Agenore nate, peremptum / serpentem spectas? et tu spectabere serpens"'. Compare as well _Met_ V 294-98 'Musa loquebatur: pennae sonuere per auras, / uoxque salutantum ramis ueniebat ab altis. / suspicit et linguae quaerit tam certa loquentes / unde sonent hominemque putat Ioue nata locutum; / ales erat'.

=12. PENNA= _BMFHILT_ PINNA _C_. _Pinna_ and _penna_, perhaps from different roots, were confused even in antiquity. The ancient manuscripts of Virgil offer _pinna_ as the spelling even for the meaning 'wing', but Quintilian clearly took _penna_ as the correct spelling for this sense: 'quare ['therefore'] discat puer ... quae cum quibus cognatio; nec miretur cur ... a pinno quod est acutum [_sc_ fiat] securis utrimque habens aciem _bipennis_, ne illorum sequatur errorem qui, quia a pennis duabus hoc esse nomen existimant, pennas auium dici uolunt'. (I iv 12).

=13. NEQVE ERAT= _CMHL_ NEC ERAT _BFIT_. Virgil had a very strong preference for _neque_ before words starting with a vowel, but Ovid did not follow this rule: compare _Met_ I 101 'nec ullis', 132 'nec adhuc', 223 'nec erit', 306 'nec ablato', and 322 'nec amantior'. However, it seems better to accept _neque_ as the true reading in view of the good manuscript support and the parallel at _Met_ III 96-97 'uox subita audita est (neque [_uar_ nec] erat cognoscere promptum / unde, sed audita est)'.

=13. NEQVE ERAT CORPVS.= 'But there was no body'. _Neque_ (_nec_) represents _sed ... non_ as well as _et ... non_.

It is one of Ovid's favourite devices to describe the aspect of gods when they appear to him, as at _Am_ III i 7-14 (Elegy and Tragedy), _Fast_ I 95-100 (Janus), _Fast_ III 171-72 (Mars), _Fast_ V 194 (Flora), _Fast_ V 637-38 (Tiber), and _EP_ III iii 13-20 (Amor). The only other passage where Ovid says he did not see the god is _Fast_ VI 251-54, but Vesta had no traditional appearance that Ovid could make use of: compare _Fast_ VI 298 'effigiem nullam Vesta ... habet'.

The reason that Ovid did not describe Fama was that the picture of Fama as a winged monster which Virgil had made standard (_Aen_ IV 174-88) could not easily be integrated into the poem. The only description of Fama in Ovid is at _Met_ IX 137-39 'Fama loquax praecessit ad aures, / Deianira, tuas, quae ueris addere falsa / gaudet, et e minima sua per mendacia crescit'. At _Met_ XII 39-63 there is a memorable description of Fama's dwelling-place. Fama is also personified (but with no descriptions) at _EP_ II i 19-20 & II ix 3.

=16. PER IMMENSAS AERE LAPSA VIAS.= Similar phrasing at _EP_ III iii 77-78 (Amor speaking) 'ut tamen aspicerem consolarerque iacentem, / _lapsa per immensas est mea penna uias_'.

=17. QVO NON TIBI CARIOR ALTER.= Compare _Tr_ III vi 3 'nec te mihi carior alter', _Tr_ IV vi 46 'qua nulla mihi carior, uxor', and _EP_ II viii 27 'per patriae nomen, quae te tibi carior ipso est'.

=18. CANDIDVS ET FELIX PROXIMVS ANNVS ERIT.= Compare _Fast_ I 63-64 'ecce tibi _faustum_, Germanice, nuntiat _annum_ / inque meo primus carmine Ianus adest'. No doubt both passages echo the phrasing of a New Year wish or prayer.

=18. CANDIDVS.= 'Favourable'. Compare _Tr_ V v 13-14 (on his wife's birthday) 'optime natalis! quamuis procul absumus, opto / _candidus_ huc uenias', Prop IV i 67-68 'Roma, faue, tibi surgit opus, date _candida_ ciues / omina, et inceptis dextera cantet auis!', and _Fast_ I 79-80 'uestibus intactis Tarpeias itur in arces, / et populus _festo concolor_ ipse suo est'.

=19. DIXIT ET= has a definite epic flavour, being found in Virgil at _Aen_ I 402 & 736, II 376, III 258, IV 659, V 477, VI 677, VIII 366 & 615, IX 14, X 867, XI 561 & 858, XII 266 & 681, and _G_ IV 499; from Ovid compare _Met_ I 466-67 'dixit et eliso percussis aere pennis / impiger umbrosa Parnasi constitit arce', I 762 'dixit et implicuit materno bracchia collo', III 474, IV 162 & 576, V 230 & 419, VIII 101, and VIII 757. A close parallel at _EP_ III iii 93-94 (Amor has been speaking with Ovid) 'dixit et aut ille est tenues dilapsus in auras, / coeperunt sensus aut uigilare mei'.

=22. EXCIDIT.= 'I forgot'; the opposite of _subit_ 'I remember'. The idiom is standard Latin (_OLD excido1_ 9b); Ovidian instances at _Her_ XII 71, _Am_ II i 18, _Met_ VIII 449-50 'excidit omnis / luctus et a lacrimis in poenae uersus amorem est', _Met_ XIV 139, _Fast_ V 315, _Tr_ I v 14, _EP_ II iv 24, and _EP_ II x 8 'exciderit tantum ne tibi cura mei'.

=23. VBI ... RESERAVERIS ANNVM.= 'When you have unlocked the year'. Compare Ovid's descriptions of Janus at _Fast_ I 99 'tenens baculum dextra _clauemque_ sinistra' and _Fast_ I 253-54 '"nil mihi cum bello: pacem postesque tuebar / et" _clauem_ ostendens "haec" ait "arma gero"'.

=23. LONGVM ANNVM.= André translates, 'l'année longue à venir', citing Cic _Phil_ V 1 'Nihil umquam longius his Kalendiis Ianuariis mihi uisum est', to which _OLD longus_ 14a adds (among other passages) Caesar _BG_ I 40 13 'in longiorem diem collaturus' and Sen _Ep_ 63 3 'non differo in _longius_ tempus'; but the meaning 'far off' seems unsuited to the present context. _Longum_ should be taken in its usual sense; it perhaps emphasizes that the whole year is still ahead.

=24. SACRO MENSE.= _Sacer_ because of the religious ceremonies marking the New Year.

=25-28.= The first action of the new consul was to take auspices at his home and to assume the consular toga: compare Livy XXI 63 10 (217 BC; Flaminius has entered his consulship while absent from Rome) 'magis pro maiestate uidelicet imperii Arimini quam Romae magistratum initurum et in deuersorio hospitali quam apud penates suos praetextam sumpturum' (Mommsen _Staatsrecht_ I3 615-17).

=26. NE TITVLIS QVICQVAM DEBEAT ILLE SVIS.= There are two possible ways of understanding this line.

One way is to take _titulis_ as referring to Pompeius' earlier magistracies, 'as if the series of offices were a score which Pompey would pay in full when he became consul' (Wheeler). A similar use at _Her_ IX 1 'Gratulor Oechaliam titulis accedere nostris'.

_Titulis_ does not have to be taken as a strict reference to the offices Pompeius had already held, but can have the wider sense of 'reputation, honour'. Compare the opening line of _Her_ IX quoted above; Professor R. J. Tarrant cites _Met_ XV 855 'sic magnus cedit _titulis_ Agamemnonis Atreus' and Juvenal VIII 241.

The second way to take the passage is, with Némethy, to understand _titulis ... suis_ as being equivalent to _maioribus suis, qui magnos titulos habent_, the _tituli_ being the inscriptions below the _imagines_ of Pompeius' ancestors. A parallel for the sense at _EP_ III i 75-76 'hoc domui _debes_ de qua censeris, ut illam / non magis officiis quam probitate colas'. Professor E. Fantham suggests a refinement: _titulis ... suis_ should be taken in the sense 'achievements of his ancestors'. Compare Prop IV xi 32 'et domus est titulis utraque fulta suis'.

=27. PAENE ATRIA.= Heinsius preferred PENETRALIA, the reading of _I_ and _F2_ ('sed ne sic quidem locus mihi uidetur plane in integrum restitutus'), apparently objecting to _paene_. The word seems weak enough, especially in view of Virgil _G_ I 49 'illius immensae _ruperunt_ horrea messes', but Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me a similarly weak _paene_ at _Tr_ III xi 13-14 'sic ego belligeris a gentibus undique saeptus / terreor, hoste meum paene premente latus'. Burman conjectured LAETA and PLENA; neither seems very convincing.

For _atria_ compare _Her_ XVI 185-86 'occurrent denso tibi Troades agmine matres, / nec capient Phrygias _atria_ nostra nurus'. _Penetralia_, although poorly attested, is in itself appropriate enough, since the new consul began his magistracy in front of his _penates_: Festus (Mueller 208; Lindsay 231) defined the _penetralia_ as the 'penatium deorum sacraria'.

=28. ET POPVLVM LAEDI DEFICIENTE LOCO.= The jostling of a crowd similarly described at _Am_ III ii 21-22 'tu tamen a dextra, quicumque es, parce puellae; / contactu lateris laeditur ista tui'.

=29-34.= The new consul, accompanied by lictors, left his house and went in solemn procession to the Capitoline, where he took his place on the curule chair, and then sacrificed to Iuppiter Optimus Maximus. A meeting of the Senate followed, held in the temple of Jupiter.

At ix 17-32 Ovid gives a similar description of the consul's entering on his office.

=29. TARPEIAE ... SEDIS.= _Capitolinus_ is metrically awkward; hence the synecdoche from the _Tarpeia rupes_, the part of the Capitoline from which criminals were hurled. Similar tropes at viii 42 'uictima Tarpeios inficit icta focos', ix 29 'at cum Tarpeias esses deductus in arces', and commonly in the poets.

=30. FACILES IN TVA VOTA.= 'Receptive to your prayers'; for this frequent sense of _facilis_ compare _Her_ XII 84 'sed mihi tam _faciles_ unde meosque deos?', _Met_ V 559 'optastis _facilesque_ deos habuistis', _Tr_ IV i 53 'sint precor hae [the Muses] saltem _faciles_ mihi', _EP_ II ii 19-20 'esse ... fateor ... _difficilem_ precibus te quoque iure meis', _Her_ XVI 282 'sic habeas _faciles in tua uota deos_', and Grattius 426.

=31-32.= The asyndeton in this distich is odd, given the preceding series of connectives. If the text is unsound, however, alteration of _certae_ to _certant_ (Damsté) or _cerno_ (Owen) is not the cure. By using _certae_ Ovid is indicating that there will be a clean blow with the axe, a good omen for the coming year. For the opposite omen, see _Aen_ II 222-24 (describing Laocoon) 'clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit: / qualis mugitus, fugit cum saucius aram / taurus et _incertam_ excussit ceruice securim'.

=31-32. BOVES NIVEOS ... QVOS ALVIT CAMPIS HERBA FALISCA SVIS.= Compare _Am_ III xiii 13-14 'ducuntur _niueae_ populo plaudente _iuuencae_, / _quas aluit campis herba Falisca suis_' and _Fast_ I 83-84 (a description of the sacrifices on January 1st) '_colla_ rudes operum _praebent_ ferienda iuuenci, / _quos aluit campis herba Falisca suis_'.

=33-34. CVMQVE DEOS OMNES, TVM QVOS IMPENSIVS AEQVOS / ESSE TIBI CVPIAS, CVM IOVE CAESAR ERVNT.= _Cupias_ must be supplied with _deos omnes_--'You will wish the favour of all the gods; those gods whose favour you will particularly wish will be Caesar and Jupiter'. The omission of the verb from the _cum_-clause seems very strange, however, and Ehwald (_KB_ 63-64) is possibly correct in supposing a distich to have fallen from the text after 32; in this case, _cumque deos omnes_ is probably far removed from its original form.

=33. OMNES, TVM QVOS.= Ehwald wished to read OMNES, TVNC HOS (_P_ reads TVNC HOS ORES), _hos_ referring to the gods of the Capitol who had been named in the distich missing after 32; but this would leave _cum Ioue Caesar erunt_ without a predicate.

=33. AEQVOS.= 'Favourable'; compare _Her_ I 23 'sed bene consuluit casto deus _aequus_ amori'; _Tr_ I ii 6 '_aequa_ Venus Teucris, Pallas _iniqua_ fuit', _Tr_ III xiv 29 '_aequus_ erit scriptis', and _Tr_ IV i 25.

=35. E MORE VOCATI.= 'Convened, as is traditional'. After the sacrifice on the Capitoline, the new consul addressed the assembled Senate; compare Livy XXVI 26 5 'M. Marcellus cum idibus Martiis consulatum inisset, senatum eo die _moris modo causa_ habuit ['held a session of the Senate simply because it was traditional to do so']' and Livy XXI 63 8 'ne die initi magistratus Iouis optimi maximi templum adiret, ne senatum inuisus ipse et sibi uni inuisum uideret consuleretque'.

=36. INTENDENT AVRES.= The expression is not found elsewhere in Ovid, or in Virgil; but compare Manilius II 511 'at nudus Geminis _intendit_ Aquarius _aurem_'. The expression is presumably an extension of _oculos (aciem) intendere_, for which see Cic _Tusc_ IV 38, _Ac_ II 80, and Tac _Ann_ IV 70.

=37. FACVNDO TVA VOX ... ORE.= For Pompeius' eloquence, Némethy cites Val Max II vi 8 '_facundissimo_ ... sermone, qui ore eius quasi e beato quodam eloquentiae fonte manabat' and IV vii ext 2 'clarissimi ac _disertissimi_ uiri'.

=37. HILARAVERIT.= The verb is rare and elevated in tone. Compare Cic _Brut_ 44 (of Pericles' oratory) 'huius suauitate maxime hilaratae Athenae sunt', Catullus LXIII 18, and _Ecl_ V 69.

=38. VTQVE SOLET, TVLERIT PROSPERA VERBA DIES.= Compare _Fast_ I 175-76 (Ovid to Janus) '"at cur _laeta_ tuis dicuntur _uerba_ Kalendis, / et damus alternas accipimusque preces?"'.

=40.= Riese's punctuation 'facias cur ita, saepe dabit' seems preferable to the alternate 'facias cur ita saepe, dabit', as placing more emphasis on Augustus and being perhaps an echo of _Tr_ IV ii 12 'munera det meritis, _saepe datura_, deis'.

=42. OFFICIVM POPVLI= = _populum officium facientem_; the same metonymy at _Met_ XV 691-93 (of Aesculapius) 'restitit hic agmenque suum _turbaeque sequentis_ / _officium_ placido uisus dimittere uultu / corpus in Ausonia posuit rate'.

=44. NEC POTERVNT ISTIS LVMINA NOSTRA FRVI.= Other non-personal subjects at Cic _Am_ 45 (_animus_) and ps-Quint _Decl_ VII 10 'uulneribus illis non fruentur _oculi_'. In all of these passages the transition from an expressed personal subject to a faculty or part of the personality seems fairly natural.

=45. QVAMLIBET= is a correction by Heinsius: 'far away as you might be ...'. The QVOD (QVA) LICET of most manuscripts anticipates the following _qua possum_, contrary to Ovid's practice.