Part 13

=45. QVA POSSVM, MENTE.= A commonplace of the poems of exile: compare ix 41-42 'mente tamen, quae sola domo non exulat, usus / praetextam fasces aspiciamque tuos', _Tr_ III iv 56, _Tr_ IV ii 57 'haec ego summotus _qua possum mente uidebo_', _EP_ I viii 34 'cunctaque mens oculis peruidet usa suis', _EP_ II iv 8, _EP_ II x 47, and _EP_ III v 47-48.

=47. SVBEAT TIBI.= See at xv 30 _subeant animo_ (p 440).

V. To Sextus Pompeius

The poem was written shortly after Pompeius' accession to the consulship (compare 4 'tectaque brumali sub niue terra latet' and 24 'deque _parum noto_ consulet officio'). It takes the form of a set of instructions to the poem on what it should do when it reaches Rome. Ovid tells the poem it should look for Pompeius, and includes a short description of some of the consular functions Pompeius might be carrying out (1-26). He then instructs the poem in what it is to say to Pompeius: it should describe to him Ovid's gratitude for past and present services, and promise (using several _adynata_ as illustrations) that this gratitude will be eternal (27-46).

A close parallel to this poem is furnished by _Tr_ III vii, in which Ovid tells the poem where it is to seek his stepdaughter Perilla and what it is to say to her. Similar personifications are found in _Tr_ I i, in which Ovid gives instructions to his book on what it should do when it reaches Rome and the prudence it should show, in _Tr_ III i, where the book describes its arrival in Rome, in _Tr_ V iv, where the letter tells of Ovid's misery and his loyalty to his friend, and in Ovid's exhortation to his _elegi_ at _Fast_ II 3-6. The device is not unique to Ovid, being found at Catullus XXXV, Hor _Ep_ I xx, and Statius _Sil_ IV iv.

=1. LEVES ELEGI.= The same phrase at Am II i 21 'blanditias _elegosque leues_, mea tela, resumpsi'.

=1. DOCTAS AD CONSVLIS AVRES.= 'To the ears of a consul who appreciates poetry'. Compare Hor _Ep_ I xiii 17-18 'carmina quae possint oculos _aurisque_ morari / Caesaris' and Prop II xiii 11-12.

=2. HONORATO ... VIRO.= Dative of agent with _legenda_.

=2. HONORATO= refers specifically to Pompeius' consulship. _Honor_ is often used with the restricted sense of 'magistracy'.

=3. LONGA VIA EST.= Compare _Tr_ I i 127-28 (the end of Ovid's instructions to his book) 'longa uia est, propera! nobis habitabitur orbis / ultimus, a terra terra remota mea'.

=3. LONGA VIA EST, NEC VOS PEDIBVS PROCEDITIS AEQVIS.= The _uia longa_ is seen as a possible cause of the metre's lameness at _Tr_ III i 11-12.

=3. NEC ... PEDIBVS ... AEQVIS.= Ovid often mentions the alternating pattern of elegiac verse: compare xvi 11 _numeris ... imparibus ... uel aequis_ and the passages there cited, _Am_ III i 8 (of Elegy) 'et, puto, pes illi _longior alter_ erat', and _EP_ III iv 85-86 'ferre etiam molles elegi tam uasta triumphi / pondera _disparibus_ non potuere _rotis_'.

=5. HAEMON= _Laurentianus 38 39 (saec xv), Ven. Marcianus XII 106 (saec xv), editio princeps Bononiensis_ HAEMVM _BCMFHILT_. I follow Heinsius and Burman in printing _Haemon_, in consideration of the preceding _Thracen_: it seems neater to have both place-names in their Greek forms. _Haemum_ is similarly the transmitted reading at _Met_ VI 87 (of the tapestry created by Minerva) 'Threiciam Rhodopen habet angulus unus et _Haemon_' and _Met_ X 76-77 (of Orpheus) 'in altam / se recipit Rhodopen pulsumque Aquilonibus _Haemon_', the preferable _Haemon_ being found only in certain late manuscripts.

=6. TRANSIERITIS.= In early Latin this would necessarily have been a perfect subjunctive, the future perfect indicative being _transieritis_ with the second 'i' short; but after Ennius and Plautus the forms (like _-erIs_ and _-eris)_) are used indifferently, according to metrical necessity. See Platnauer 56 and Kühner-Stegmann I 115-16.

=7. LVCE MINVS DECIMA DOMINAM VENIETIS IN VRBEM.= '[Starting from Brundisium] you will arrive in Rome before the tenth day'. The same idiom at _Fast_ V 379 'nocte minus quarta promet sua sidera Chiron'.

=8. VT FESTINATVM NON FACIATIS ITER.= The trip would probably be not much shorter than ten days. André cites Livy XXXVI 21 and Plutarch _Cato maior_ 14 3 for Cato's five-day journey from Hydruntum (Livy; Hydruntum is about seventy-five kilometres southeast of Brundisium) or Brundisium (Plutarch) in 191 to announce the victory over Antiochus III at Thermopylae; both authors mention the journey for its speed. The more leisurely journey from Rome to Brundisium described in Hor _Sat_ I v seems to have taken about fifteen days; see Palmer on I v 103.

=9.= Either =PETETVR= (_FT_) or PETATVR (_BCMHIL_) is possible enough. _Petetur_ seems the better reading in view of _uenietis_ (7) and _erit_ (16), the corruption perhaps having been induced by _faciatis_ in the preceding line. But the jussive _petatur_ could be continuing from _ite_ in the first line; compare Statius _Sil_ IV iv 4-5 'atque ubi Romuleas uelox penetraueris arces, / continuo dextras flaui _pete_ Thybridis oras'.

=10. NON EST AVGVSTO IVNCTIOR VLLA FORO.= Compare xv 16 'quam domus [_sc_ tua] Augusto continuata foro'.

=11. SI QVIS VT IN POPULO.= 'If someone in the crowd'. This seems to be the sense of _ut in populo_; Wheeler's translation 'as may happen in the crowd' will work here and at _Tr_ I i 17-18 'si quis _ut in populo_ nostri non immemor illi [=_illic_], / si quis qui quid agam forte requirat, erit', but not at _Tr_ II 157-58 'per patriam, quae te tuta et secura parente est, / cuius _ut in populo_ pars ego nuper eram' or at Hor _Sat_ I vi 78-80 (Horace describes his schooldays) 'uestem seruosque sequentis / _in magno ut populo_ si qui uidisset, auita / ex re praeberi sumptus mihi crederet illos'.

A similar idiom appears at _Tr_ II 231-32 'denique _ut in tanto_ quantum non extitit umquam / _corpore_ pars nulla est quae labet imperii'

=11. QVI SITIS ET VNDE.= Similar phrasing at _Ilias Lat_ 554-55 'nomen genusque roganti, / _qui sit et unde'_.

=12. NOMINA ... QVAELIBET ... FERAT.= _Ferat_ = 'receive as answer'. Compare Livy V 32 8 '[M. Furius Camillus] cum accitis domum tribulibus clientibusque ... percontatus animos eorum _responsum tulisset_ se conlaturos quanti damnatus esset, absoluere eum non posse, in exilium abiit' and XXI 19 11.

=12. DECEPTA ... AVRE.= Compare _Met_ VII 821-23 'uocibus ambiguis _deceptam_ praebuit _aurem_ / nescio quis nomenque aurae tam saepe uocatum / esse putat nymphae'.

=14. VERA, MINVS= _Hilberg_ VERBA MINVS _codd_. For the phrase _uera fateri_ Hilberg (35-36) cited as parallels _Met_ VII 728 & IX 53, _Tr_ I ix 16, _EP_ III i 79 'si uis _uera fateri_', _EP_ III ix 19 'quid enim dubitem tibi _uera fateri_?', to which add _EP_ II iii 7. For the contrast of _uera_ and _ficta_ Hilberg cited _EP_ III iv 105-6 'oppida turritis cingantur eburnea muris, / _fictaque_ res _uero_ [_codd_: uerae _Riese_] more putetur agi'; see as well _Tr_ I ix 15-16 'haec precor ut semper possint tibi _falsa_ uideri; / sunt tamen euentu _uera fatenda_ meo'. For the corruption of _uera_ to _uerba_ he cited _Fast_ I 332, _Tr_ III vi 36, III xi 33 & IV iii 58, and Prop III xxiv 12 'naufragus Aegaea uera [_Passerat_: uerba _codd_] fatebar [_uar_ fatebor] aqua'; for the position of _uera_ he cited _EP_ III i 46 & IV xiii 26. The corruption was no doubt assisted by the isolated position of _uera_ at the start of the pentameter.

=15-16. COPIA NEC VOBIS NVLLO PROHIBENTE VIDENDI / CONSULIS ... ERIT.= 'Even if no one stops you, you will not be able to see the consul [because he will be busy]'. Heinsius preferred to read VLLO (_P_), but this does not yield sense: it would have to mean 'you will be able to see the consul if no one prevents you' or 'you will be unable to see the consul if anyone prevents you'; neither of these meanings would cohere with what follows.

=15. COPIA.= 'Opportunity'; compare _Met_ XI 278 '_copia_ ... facta est adeundi tecta tyranni', _EP_ III i 135-37 'cum domus Augusti ... laeta ... plenaque pacis erit, / tum tibi di faciant adeundi _copia_ fiat', and _Aen_ I 520 'coram data _copia_ fandi', XI 248 (=I 520) & XI 378.

=16. CONTIGERITIS.= See on 6 _transierItis_.

=17. DICENDO IVRA.= The plural is poetic, the standard phrase being _ius dicere_: _OLD ius2_ 4b cites Livy III 52 6 alone for the plural.

=17-26.= Ovid lists in order of ascending importance some of the activities Pompeius as consul might be engaged in, starting with the hearing of lawsuits and ending with visits to the imperial family. For a shorter instance of the device of listing the recipient's possible activities, see _Tr_ III vii 3-4 (Ovid tells his letter to seek Perilla) 'aut illam inuenies dulci cum matre sedentem, / aut inter libros Pieridasque suas'.

=18. CONSPICVVM ... SIGNIS EBVR.= _Signis_ = 'bas-relief'; the sense is confined to verse (_OLD signum_ 12b). Compare ix 27 'signa ... in sella ... formata curuli', _Met_ V 80-82 'altis / extantem signis ... cratera', _Met_ XII 235-36 'signis extantibus asper / antiquus crater', _Met_ XIII 700, Lucr V 1427-28 'ueste ... purpurea atque auro signisque ingentibus apta', _Aen_ V 267, V 536 & IX 263, Prop IV v 24, Statius _Theb_ I 540, and Silius II 432.

=18. CVM PREMET ALTVS EBUR.= 'When he sits tall on the curule chair'. The same situation similarly described at _Fast_ I 81-82 'iamque noui praeeunt fasces, noua purpura fulget, / et noua conspicuum pondera sentit ebur'; compare as well _Med Fac_ 13 'matrona _premens altum_ rubicunda sedile' and _Met_ V 317 'factaque de uiuo _pressere_ sedilia saxo'.

=19. REDITVS ... COMPONET.= 'Will be arranging the [state's] income'. For _reditus_ compare _Am_ I x 41 'turpe tori _reditu_ census augere paternos' and _EP_ II iii 17-18 'at _reditus_ iam quisque suos amat, et sibi quid sit / utile sollicitis supputat ['calculates'] articulis'. For _componet_ compare Cic _II Verr_ IV 36 '_compone_ hoc quod postulo de argento' and Tac _Ann_ VI 16 5.

=19. POSITAM ... AD HASTAM.= A spear placed in the ground was a symbol of magisterial authority, and as such was always present at the letting of tax contracts. For the language compare Cic _Leg Agr_ II 53 'ponite ante oculos uobis Rullum ... _hasta posita_ ... auctionantem'. For _hasta_ with the specific meaning of 'contract-letting', see Livy XXIV 18 11 'conuenere ad eos frequentes qui _hastae huius generis_ adsueuerant'. The practice is recalled in the modern Italian term for 'auction', _uendita all'asta_.

=20. MINVI MAGNAE.= A word play on _minus_ and _magis_ at least; but Professor E. Fantham points out to me that Ovid probably had in mind the phrase _maiestatem populi Romani minuere_ (Cic _Inu_ II 53 & _Phil_ I 21); Pompeius will not allow the interests of the state to be damaged.

=21. IN IVLIA TEMPLA= = _in curiam Iuliam_. Caesar had started the construction of a new senate-house in 44; it was opened by Augustus in 29. The building, as restored by Diocletian, survives substantially intact: see Nash I 301.

=22. TANTO DIGNIS CONSVLE REBVS.= Note the separation of the epithets from the nouns, and the high level of diction produced by the hyperbaton.

=23. AVT FERET ... SOLITAM ... SALVTEM= = _aut, ut solet, salutabit_.

=23. NATOQVE.= Tiberius, son of Ti. Claudius Nero, had been adopted by Augustus in AD 4.

=24. DEQVE PARVM NOTO CONSVLET OFFICIO.= 'Will be asking advice about his unfamiliar office'. It still being winter, Pompeius would not have been very long in office, and so would not yet have been very familiar with his duties. Burman objected to this notion ('nec Ovidium tam adulandi imperitum fuisse puto, ut ignorantiam aut seruitutem tam imprudenter obiiceret Pompeio') and conjectured DEQVE PATRVM TOTO CONSVLET OFFICIO, that is, 'consulet Caesares, _quale uelint esse officium_ totius senatus'. But the conjecture is unattractive, and the problem not as great as Burman thought: both Ovid and Pompeius would wish to emphasize the importance of the Caesars.

=25. AB HIS VACVVM.= A prose usage, paralleled in Ovid by _EP_ I i 79 alone 'inque locum Scythico _uacuum_ mutabor _ab arcu_'. Elsewhere Ovid has nine instances of _uacuus_ with the simple ablative and two instances of _uacuus_ with the genitive, while Virgil never has _uacuus_ with a complement. ET HIS VACVVM, given by _B_ and _C_, is perhaps an attempt to restore normal poetic idiom.

=26. A MAGNIS ... DEIS.= 'After the great gods'--Augustus and Tiberius. Dio says that it was remarked after Augustus' death that both of the consuls for the year were related to the emperor (LVI 29 5); it is strange that Ovid nowhere mentions Pompeius' link with the imperial family.

For the sense of _ab_, compare for example _Ecl_ V 48-49 'nec calamis solum aequiperas, sed uoce magistrum: / fortunate puer, tu nunc eris alter _ab illo_' and Statius _Theb_ IV 842.

=27. CVM TAMEN ... REQVIEVERIT.= After it has arrived in Rome, the poem should not vex Pompeius by approaching him when he is busy. At _Tr_ I i 93-96 Ovid in the same way advises his book when it should approach Augustus, and at _EP_ III i 135-40 gives similar directions to his wife. Compare as well _Met_ IX 572-73 (a messenger carries Byblis' declaration of love to her brother) 'apta minister / tempora nactus adit traditque fatentia [_H. A. Koch_: latentia _codd_] uerba' and _Met_ IX 610-12 (Byblis' explanation of the failure of her suit) 'forsitan et missi sit quaedam culpa ministri: / non adiit apte, nec legit idonea, credo, / tempora, nec petiit _horam animumque uacantem_'.

=27. A TVRBA RERVM.= 'De ces multiples affaires' (André). Heinsius conjectured CVRA, citing ix 71 (addressed to Graecinus as consul) 'cum tamen _a rerum cura_ propiore uacabit'. The conjecture is elegant enough, but the manuscript reading seems sufficiently supported by _Her_ II 75-76 (Phyllis to Demophoon) 'de tanta _rerum turba_ factisque parentis / sedit in ingenio Cressa relicta tuo' and _EP_ III i 144 'per _rerum turbam_ tu quoque oportet eas'; compare as well Columella XI 2 25.

=28. MANSVETAS ... MANVS.= The same phrase in the same position at Prop III xvi 9-10 'peccaram semel, et totum sum pulsus in annum: / in me _mansuetas_ non habet illa _manus_'. _Mansuetus_ is foreign to poetic vocabulary, not being found in Virgil or Horace, and only three times in Propertius (I ix 12, I xvii 28, III xvi 10): in Ovid it occurs elsewhere only at _Tr_ III vi 23 'numinis ut laesi fiat mansuetior ira' and _Ibis_ 26.

=28. PORRIGET ILLE MANVS.= _Manus_ = _manum_; for the latter, compare _Her_ XVIII 15-16 'protinus haec scribens "felix i littera" dixi, / "iam tibi formosam _porriget illa manum_"'. Alternatively, the phrase could be taken to indicate Pompeius' gesture of welcoming to a suppliant: at _Met_ III 458 Narcissus, saying how he wished to embrace his reflection, says 'cumque ego _porrexi tibi bracchia_, porrigis ultro'.

=31-32. VIVIT ADHVC VITAMQVE TIBI DEBERE FATETVR, / QVAM PRIVS A MITI CAESARE MVNVS HABET.= See on i 2 _debitor ... uitae_, and compare _Tr_ V ix 11-14 'Caesaris est primum munus, quod ducimus auras; / gratia post magnos est tibi habenda deos. / ille dedit uitam; tu quam dedit ille tueris, / et facis accepto munere posse frui': the similarity of phrasing makes it all but certain that the poem was addressed to Pompeius.

=33. MEMORI ... ORE.= The phrase belongs to high poetic diction: compare _Met_ VI 508 'absentes pro se _memori_ rogat _ore_ salutent', _Met_ X 204 (Apollo to the dead Hyacinthus) 'semper eris mecum _memorique_ haerebis in _ore_', and _AA_ III 700 'auditos _memori_ detulit _ore_ sonos'.

=35. SANGVINE BISTONIVM QVOD NON TEPEFECERIT ENSEM.= Another instance of high poetic diction: compare _Her_ I 19 'sanguine Tlepolemus Lyciam _tepefecerat_ hastam', _Aen_ IX 333-34 'atro _tepefacta_ cruore / terra', _Aen_ IX 418-19 'hasta ... traiecto ... haesit _tepefacta_ cerebro', and Hor _Sat_ II iii 136.

=37-38. ADDITA PRAETEREA VITAE QVOQVE MVLTA TVENDAE / MVNERA.= The dative expresses purpose. For the sense of _tueri_ 'sustain', compare _Tr_ V ix 13 'uitam ... quam dedit ille _tueris_', Cic _Deiot_ 22 'atque antea quidem maiores copias alere poterat; nunc exiguas uix _tueri_ potest', Livy V 4 5, XXIII 38 12 & XXXIX 9 5, and Pliny _NH_ XXXIII 134 'M. Crassus negabat locupletem esse nisi qui reditu annuo legionem _tueri_ posset'.

=38. NE PROPRIAS ATTENVARET OPES.= This may be a reference to the financial burden of living in exile, but more probably refers to the actual financial loss Ovid suffered in exile: 'ditata est spoliis perfida turba meis' (_EP_ II vii 62). It is clear from _Tr_ I vi 7-8 that Ovid had feared such losses from the beginning of his exile.

_Attenuare_ is a very strong verb: compare _Met_ VIII 843-45 (of Erysichthon) 'iamque fame patrias altique uoragine uentris / _attenuarat_ ['had exhausted'--Miller] opes, sed inattenuata manebat / tum quoque dira fames'.

=39. PRO QVIBVS VT MERITIS REFERATVR GRATIA.= Similar language to Pompeius at i 21 'et leuis haec _meritis referatur gratia_ tantis'.

=40. MANCIPII ... TVI= (_CB2_) 'belonging to your property' seems a much more elegant construction than the other manuscripts' MANCIPIVM ... TVVM 'your slave', and was conjectured by Heinsius; in support of _mancipium ... tuum_ Burman cited viii 65-66 'si quid adhuc igitur uiui, Germanice, nostro / restat in ingenio, _seruiet_ omne tibi'.

=41-44.= Ovid uses the common device of listing _adynata_; the second version of the device at _Tr_ I viii 1-10, where Ovid says that now his friend has betrayed him he expects to see the _adynata_ occur. Comprehensive listings of _adynata_ in ancient literature given by Smith on Tib I iv 65-66, Shackleton Bailey on Prop I xv 29, Nisbet and Hubbard on Hor _Carm_ I ii 9, xxix 10 & xxxiii 7, and by Gow on Theocritus I 132-36.

=42. VELIVOLAS= occurs once more at xvi 21 'ueliuolique maris uates', and nowhere else in Ovid's poetry. It is found at Lucretius V 1442 and _Aen_ I 224 'mare ueliuolum', and was from old Latin poetry: Macrobius (_Sat_ VI v 10) cites instances from Livius Andronicus (Morel 58) and Ennius (_Ann_ 380 Vahlen3; _Andromache_ 74 Ribbeck3).

=43. SVPINO.= 'Backwards'; almost the reverse of _praeceps_. The same sense at _Med Fac_ 40 'nec redit in fontes unda _supina_ suos'.

=45. DIXERITIS.= See on 6 _transieritis_.

=45. SVA DONA.= Compare _Her_ XII 203 (Medea to Jason) 'dos mea tu sospes' and Sen _Med_ 142 'muneri parcat meo [=_uitae suae_]' & 228-30.

=46. SIC FVERIT VESTRAE CAVSA PERACTA VIAE.= 'So you will have carried out the reason for your journey'. The same sense of _causa_ at _Met_ VI 449-50 'coeperat aduentus causam, mandata referre / coniugis' and of _peragere_ (always with _mandata_ as object) at _Met_ VII 502, XI 629 & XIV 460, _Fast_ III 687, and _Tr_ I i 35-36 'ut _peragas mandata_, liber, culpabere forsan / ingeniique minor laude ferere mei'.

Professor E. Fantham points out to me that Ovid may here be playing on a second sense of _causam peragere_, 'end a speech [in court]', for which see _Met_ XV 36-37 'spretarumque agitur legum reus ... _peracta_ est / causa prior ['the case for the prosecution'--Miller], crimenque patet' and _Her_ XXI 152.

VI. To Brutus

Of the Brutus to whom this poem is addressed nothing is known beyond what Ovid here tells us. He was an advocate, by Ovid's testimony an eminent one (29-38), and had been among the few who stood by Ovid at the time of his exile (23-26). The collection of _Ex Ponto_ I-III was apparently dedicated to him, since the first poem of the first book and the last poem of the third book are addressed to him, but the two poems fail to give any further information on him or on his relationship to Ovid.

Ovid starts the poem with the reflection that he has now spent five years at Tomis (1-6). Fortune has tricked him: Fabius Maximus died before he could appeal to Augustus, Augustus before he could pardon Ovid (7-16). He hopes that the poem he has written on the apotheosis of Augustus will win him pardon; Brutus' fine qualities guarantee that he shares Ovid's wishes (17-22). The poem ends with a eulogy of Brutus' character and an assurance of Ovid's eternal gratitude to those friends who stood by him (23-50).

=1. QVAM LEGIS.= See at ii 1 _quod legis_ (p 162).

=3-4. SED TV QVOD NOLLES, VOLVIT MISERABILE FATVM; / EI MIHI, PLVS ILLVD QVAM TVA VOTA VALET.= For the play on _nolle_/_uelle_ and the thought of 4, compare _Met_ IX 757-58 'quodque ego, _uult_ genitor, _uult_ ipsa socerque futurus, / at _non uult_ natura, potentior omnibus istis'.

=5. QVINQVENNIS.= Ovid often mentions the time he has spent in exile: see _Tr_ IV vi 19-20 (AD 10) 'ut patria careo, _bis_ frugibus area trita est, / dissiluit nudo pressa _bis_ uua pede', _Tr_ IV vii 1-2 '_Bis_ me sol adiit gelidae post frigora brumae, / _bisque_ suum tacto Pisce peregit iter', _Tr_ V x 1-2 (AD 11-12) 'Vt sumus in Ponto, _ter_ frigore constitit Hister, / facta est Euxini dura _ter_ unda maris', _EP_ I ii 25-26 (AD 12-13) 'hic me pugnantem cum frigore cumque sagittis / cumque meo fato _quarta_ fatigat hiemps', _EP_ I viii 27-28 'ut careo uobis, Stygias detrusus in oras, / _quattuor_ autumnos Pleias orta facit', _EP_ IV x 1 (AD 14) 'Haec mihi Cimmerio _bis tertia_ ducitur aestas', and _EP_ IV xiii 39-40 'sed me iam, Care, niuali / _sexta_ relegatum bruma sub axe uidet'.

Ovid's first full year of exile was AD 9; since Augustus died on 19 August 14, this poem can be securely dated to the final few months of that year.

=5. OLYMPIAS= in Latin can mean a period of four or of five years; Ovid may have used _quinquennis_ to remove the ambiguity. _Olympias_ elsewhere in classical poetry apparently only at Manilius III 596, where it also denotes a five-year period.

=5-6. OLYMPIAS ACTA / IAM= _Housman_ OLYMPIAS ACTA EST. / IAM _edd_. The subject of _transit_ must be _Olympias_, since otherwise the pentameter is without a subject. Wheeler offers 'the time is now passing to a second lustrum', which does not account for the genitive _lustri ... alterius_ (a second _tempus_, in the accusative, would have to be understood), while André gives 'et déjà j'entre dans un second lustre', which does not explain the person of _transit_. The editors' reading could be retained, and _Olympias_ understood as the subject of the pentameter; but it seems simpler to follow Housman in omitting _est_ (with _L_ and _T_) and joining the two lines in a single sentence.

_Transit_ is in strict terms illogical, since an Olympiad once completed (_acta_) cannot pass into a second period of time, but the idiom seems natural enough in view of Ovid's use of _transire_ with seasons at _Met_ XV 206 '_transit in aestatem_ post uer robustior annus'; compare as well _Fast_ V 185 (to Flora) 'incipis Aprili, _transis in tempora Maii_'.

=7. PERSTAT ENIM FORTVNA TENAX.= In Ovid's case, Fortune does not show her typical inconstancy.

=8. OPPONIT NOSTRIS INSIDIOSA PEDEM.= Otto _pes_ 7 cites this passage and Petronius 57 10 'et habebam in domo qui mihi _pedem opponerent_ hac illac'.

=9-10. CERTVS ERAS ... LOQVI.= 'You had made up your mind to speak'. The same idiom at _Her_ IV 151-52, _Her_ VII 9 'certus es, Aenea, cum foedere soluere naues ...?', _Met_ IX 43, X 394 & XI 440; the impersonal construction at _Met_ V 533, IX 53 'certum est mihi uera fateri' & X 38-39.