Part 14

=9. FABIAE LAVS, MAXIME, GENTIS.= Similar phrasing at _EP_ III iii 2 'o sidus Fabiae, Maxime, gentis, ades'. This passage seems to be the earliest instance of _laus_ 'object of praise; reason for praise' used of a person: _TLL_ VII.2 1064 73 ff. cites from classical Latin only _Eleg Maec_ 17-18 'Pallade cum docta Phoebus donauerat artes; / tu decus et _laudes_ huius et huius eras', Valerius Flaccus II 243-44 'decus et patriae _laus_ una ruentis, / Hypsipyle', Silius XIII 824, and Martial I xlix 2-3 'nostraeque _laus_ Hispaniae ... Liciniane'. LVX (_F2_), printed by Burman, is acceptable enough (compare Cic _Cat_ IV 11 'hanc urbem, _lucem_ orbis terrarum'), but is clearly a guess based on _F1_'s DVX.

For a full discussion of the career of Paullus Fabius Maximus, _consul ordinarius_ in 11 BC, see Syme _HO_ 135-55. He is the recipient of _EP_ I ii, a request to plead for Ovid with Augustus, and _EP_ III iii, an account of Ovid's vision of Amor which ends with a plea for Fabius' assistance. He is prominently mentioned at Hor _Carm_ IV i 9-12 as a suitable prey for Venus, and it appears from Juvenal VII 94-95 that he was a famous patron of literature: Ovid mentions his _scripta_ at _EP_ I ii 135. We learn from the same poem that Ovid's wife was a member of Fabius' family: 'ille ego de uestra cui data nupta domo est' (136).

=10. SVPPLICE VOCE LOQVI.= Similar phrasing at _Met_ VI 33 '_supplice uoce_ roga: ueniam dabit illa roganti'. The adjectival use of _supplex_ is not confined to verse; _OLD supplex_ 2 cites instances from Caesar and Suetonius.

=11. OCCIDIS ANTE PRECES.= 'You died before making your request'. Since Fabius is named in an inscription (_CIL_ VI 2023a, line 17; cited by Froesch 209) as having participated in the election of Drusus to the Arval Brotherhood on 15 May AD 14, he must have died very shortly before Augustus.

=11-12. CAVSAMQVE EGO, MAXIME, MORTIS ... ME REOR ESSE TVAE.= The death of Fabius, so soon before that of Augustus, seems to have raised popular suspicions. Tacitus (_Ann_ I 5 1-2) mentions a rumour that Fabius had secretly accompanied Augustus to Planasia to visit Agrippa Postumus and that his wife had warned Livia of this; Augustus heard of this, and at Fabius' funeral she was heard blaming herself for his death. If Fabius' death occurred under strange circumstances, Ovid's accusation against himself of having been its cause may have special point.

For a full discussion of the circumstances of Fabius' death, see Syme _HO_ 149-51.

=12. NEC FVERAM TANTI.= 'But I was not worth this much'. _Fueram_ has the sense of the imperfect, as at _AA_ I 103-4 'tunc neque marmoreo _pendebant_ uela theatro, / nec _fuerant_ liquido pulpita rubra croco'; other instances at _Her_ V 69, _AA_ II 137, _AA_ III 429 & 618, and _Tr_ III xi 25. A full discussion at Platnauer 112-14: he cites thirteen instances from Propertius, who seems to have been fondest of the idiom, and only one certain instance from Tibullus, II v 79 'haec fuerant olim'.

FVERO (_BC_) gives the sense 'but I will be discovered not to have been worth this much'; the tense seems difficult to fit to the context.

FVERIM (_British Library Burney 220, saec xii-xiii_) 'but I hope I was not worth so much' is quite possibly correct, and would account for the corruption to _fuero_.

=12. NEC ... TANTI.= Similar phrasing at _Met_ X 613 (Atalanta ponders Hippomenes' willingness to risk death to gain her hand) '_non_ sum me iudice _tanti_'.

=13. MANDARE.= 'Consign'; a legal term for charging others with carrying out business on one's behalf, which carried certain obligations with it. See Gaius III 155-62, Just _Inst_ III 26, and the discussion at Buckland 514-21.

=15. DETECTAE ... CVLPAE= _scripsi_ DECEPTAE ... CVLPAE _codd_. _Me decipit error_ is a phrase used by Ovid to mean 'I am making a mistake'; see _EP_ III ix 9-12 'auctor opus laudat ... iudicium tamen hic non _decipit error_ ['I do not make this error of judgment'], / nec quicquid genui protinus illud amo'. Ovid uses the expression very often for the "mistake" which led to his exile: see _Tr_ I iii 37-38 (Ovid to his friends on the night of his exile) 'caelestique uiro quis me _deceperit error_ / dicite pro culpa ne scelus esse putet', _Tr_ IV i 23 'scit quoque [_sc_ Musa] cum perii quis me _deceperit error_', and _EP_ II ii 61 'quasi me nullus _deceperit error_'. He uses _decipere_ once when speaking of the other cause of his exile: 'o puer [_sc_ Amor], exilii _decepto_ causa magistro' (_EP_ III iii 23). Wheeler took _deceptae_ to refer to Ovid: 'Augustus had begun to pardon the fault I committed in error'. This kind of extreme hypallage, with the true modified noun not expressed, does not however seem to be Ovid's practice, although found in the Silver poets: Statius _Theb_ IX 425 'deceptaque fulmina' means 'the thunderbolts thrown by Jupiter at the request of Semele, who had been _deceived_ by Juno'. Professor J. N. Grant suggests DECEPTI to me; but the genitive of the first person is rare in Ovid, and the perfect participle without expressed noun seems difficult. Owen saw the difficulty with _deceptae_, and in his second edition referred to Livy XXII 4 4 'id tantum hostium quod ex aduerso erat conspexit; ab tergo ac super caput _deceptae_ insidiae'. But _deceptae_ (which has been variously emended) there means _occultae_, as explained by Housman (521-22), who cited Prop II xxiv 35-36 'Phrygio fallax Maeandria campo / errat et ipsa suas _decipit_ unda uias' and Sen _HF_ 155 for the same sense; and _occultae_ is clearly not the meaning here required, since Ovid's misdemeanour was all too visible.

Being unable to explain _deceptae_, I have conjectured _detectae_. Ovid seems to have committed his _error_ in two stages. First he committed the original misdemeanour; then he kept silent about it when it might have been better for him to speak. Compare _Tr_ III vi 11-13 'cuique ego narrabam secreti quicquid habebam, / excepto quod me perdidit, unus eras. / id quoque si scisses, saluo fruerere sodali'. Later this misdemeanour was discovered: for the arrival of the news of this discovery when Ovid was visiting Elba with Cotta Maximus, see _EP_ II iii 83-90. It is to this discovery that _detectae_ refers: 'Augustus had begun to forgive the misdemeanour that had been revealed'. For this use of _detegere_ compare _Met_ II 544-47 'ales / sensit adulterium Phoebeius [_coruus_, the raven], utque latentem / _detegeret culpam_, non exorabilis index, / ad dominum tendebat iter' and Livy XXII 28 8 'necubi ... motus alicuius ... aut fulgor armorum fraudem ... detegeret'.

Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me the parallel problem at _Met_ IX 711 'indecepta pia mendacia fraude latebant', where context requires _indecepta_ to have the meaning 'undetected'. _Indecepta_ might be taken to support _deceptae_ in the present passage, but I am more inclined to read _indetecta_ for _indecepta_: of the various conjectures made, Zingerle's _inde incepta_ is most commonly accepted.

At _Her_ IX 101-2 'tolle procul, _decepte_, faces, Hymenaee, maritas / et fuge turbato tecta nefanda pede!', _detecte_ should similarly be read. _Detecte_ better explains why Hymenaeus should flee; also, Hymenaeus has not been deceived, for it appears from 61-62 'spes bona det uires; fratris [_Palmer_: fratri _codd_] nam nupta futura es; / illius de quo mater, et uxor eris' that Macareus had fully intended to marry Canace.

=16. SPEM NOSTRAM TERRAS DESERVITQVE SIMVL.= The _-que_ should of course be taken with _terras_.

This is a typical instance of Ovid's love of _syllepsis_, of giving a single verb two objects (or more), each of which uses a different meaning of the verb. Compare, from many instances, ix 90 'nec cum fortuna mens quoque uersa mea est', _Her_ VII 9 'certus es, Aenea, cum foedere soluere naues', _Met_ II 601-2 'et pariter uultusque deo plectrumque colorque / excidit', _Met_ VIII 177, _Fast_ III 225, _Fast_ III 857 'hic [the messenger of Ino] ... corruptus cum semine', _Fast_ V 652 'montibus his ponunt spemque laremque suum', and _EP_ II vii 84 'meque simul serua iudiciumque tuum'.

=16. DESERVITQVE.= Ovid does not use _deserere_ with things as object until his poetry of exile: compare _Tr_ I ix 65 'nec amici _desere_ causam'. Instances in the later _Heroides_ at XV 155 'Sappho _desertos_ cantat amores' and XVI 260 'orantis medias _deseruere_ preces'; in both cases the objects are virtually equivalent to persons.

=17. TAMEN.= 'In spite of my dejection'.

=17-18. DE CAELITE ... RECENTI ... CARMEN.= The poem does not survive. At xiii 25-32 Ovid describes a similar poem on the apotheosis of Augustus, written in Getic.

=17. RECENTI.= 'New, freshly created'. Used in similar contexts at _Met_ IV 434-35 'umbraeque _recentes_ ... simulacraque functa sepulcris', VIII 488 'fraterni manes animaeque _recentes_', X 48-49 'Eurydicenque uocant: umbras erat illa _recentes_ / inter', and especially XV 844-46 'Venus ... Caesaris eripuit membris nec in aera solui / passa _recentem_ animam caelestibus intulit astris'.

=18. VESTRA= = 'of you [plural] at Rome'.

=18. CARMEN IN ORA DEDI.= 'I sent a poem for you to recite from and speak of'. _Dare_ meaning 'send' is usually restricted to use with _litteras_ (_OLD do_ 10; compare Cic _Att_ II i 12 & IX viiB 1, Livy XXVII 16 13).

For _in ora_, compare Catullus XL 5 'an ut peruenias _in ora_ uulgi [_sc_ hoc facis]?', Hor _Ep_ I iii 9 ' ... Titius, Romana breui uenturus _in ora_', Prop III ix 32 (to Maecenas) 'et uenies tu quoque _in ora_ uirum', _Tr_ V vii 29-30 'non tamen ingratum est quodcumque obliuia nostri / impedit et profugi nomen _in ora_ refert', and Livy II 36 3. The only instance I have found of the expression being used of a thing rather than a person other than this passage is also from Ovid: 'illud opus ... nunc incorrectum populi peruenit _in ora_, / in populi quicquam si tamen ore mei est' (_Tr_ III xiv 21-24). Neither passage would have seemed strange to the Romans, given the close identification between poet and work: compare Ennius' famous 'uolito uiuo' per ora uirum' and _Met_ XV 878 'ore legar populi'.

=19. QVAE PIETAS.= 'This demonstration of loyalty'.

=20. SACRAE ... DOMVS.= Augustus' house called 'magni ... Iouis ... domum' at _Tr_ III i 38; compare as well _EP_ III i 135 'domus Augusti, Capitoli more colenda'.

=20. MITIOR IRA.= Compare _EP_ III iii 83 'pone metus igitur: _mitescet_ Caesaris _ira_'.

=21. LIQVIDO POSSVM IVRARE.= 'I can swear unambiguously'. The only other instance of this sense in verse apparently III iii 49-50 'scis tamen et _liquido_ iuratus dicere possis / non me legitimos sollicitasse toros'. From prose compare Cic _II Verr_ IV 124 'confirmare hoc _liquido_, iudices, possum, ualuas magnificentiores ... nullas umquam ullo in templo fuisse', _II Verr_ III 136, _Fam_ XI 27 7 'alia sunt quae _liquido_ negare soleam', and Sen _Ben_ VII 9 5.

=22. NON DVBIA ... NOTA.= The phrase logically belongs with the preceding line: on the firm evidence of Brutus' past behaviour (described in 23-42), Ovid can confidently state that Brutus prays for his restoration. _Non dubia_ by litotes for _certa_ (for which see _Her_ XX 207 'te ... nimium miror, _nota certa_ furoris'); _nota_ 'tangible sign, evidence' similarly used at _Met_ I 761 (_generis_). FIDE (_LTM2ulF2ul_) is an obvious gloss for _nota_.

=23. VERVM ... AMOREM.= 'Sincere love' (Wheeler); compare _Met_ V 61 '_ueri_ non dissimulator _amoris'_ and _Tr_ IV iv 71 'et comes exemplum _ueri_ Phoceus _amoris_'.

=25. TVAS ... LACRIMAS NOSTRASQVE.= The tears of Ovid's friends at his departure described at _Tr_ III iv 39-40, _EP_ I ix 17-18, and _EP_ II xi 9-10 (to Rufus) 'grande uoco lacrimas meritum quibus ora rigabas, / cum mea concreto sicca dolore forent'.

=26. PASSVROS POENAM CREDERET ESSE DVOS.= Compare _Tr_ V iv 37-38 (Ovid's letter speaking) 'quamuis attonitus, sensit tamen omnia, _nec te / se minus aduersis indoluisse suis_'.

=27. LENEM TE MISERIS GENVIT NATURA.= Compare Cic _Tusc_ II 11 'te _natura_ excelsum quendam uidelicet et altum et humana despicientem _genuit_' and Ennius _Ann_ 112 Vahlen3 (of Romulus) 'qualem te patriae custodem di _genuerunt_'.

=29. MARTE FORENSI.= Similar metaphor for the lawcourts at _Fast_ IV 188 'et fora _Marte suo_ litigiosa uacent', _Tr_ III xii 17-18 'ludis / cedunt uerbosi garrula _bella_ fori' and _Tr_ IV x 17-18 'frater ... fortia uerbosi natus ad _arma_ fori'. According to Ovid real wounds were suffered in the forum at Tomis: 'adde quod iniustum rigido ius dicitur ense, / dantur et in medio uulnera saepe foro' (_Tr_ V x 43-44).

=30. POSSE TVO PERAGI VIX PVTET ORE REOS.= Similar language at _Tr_ I i 23-24 'protinus admonitus repetet mea crimina lector, / _et peragar populi publicus ore reus_'. _Peragere_ refers to the prosecution of a defendant carried to its end, but does not imply success for the prosecutor: see Pliny _Ep_ III ix 30 and Ulpian _Dig_ XLVIII v 2 1 'non alias ad mulierem possit peruenire, nisi reum peregerit [_sc_ adulterii]; peregisse autem non alias quis uidetur, _nisi et condemnauerit_'.

=31. QVAMVIS PVGNARE VIDENTVR= _BMFH_. Given the dependent _pugnare_, it seems hardly possible to read the VIDETVR given by the other manuscripts. The same problem arises at _Met_ VIII 463-64 '_pugnant_ materque sororque, / et diuersa trahunt unum duo nomina pectus', where the manuscripts divide between _pugnant_ and _pugnat_; for an unambiguous parallel, see _Her_ XIX 173 'nunc, male res iunctae, calor et reuerentia _pugnant_'.

Heinsius further suggested deleting _est_ from the preceding _scilicet eiusdem est_ 'cum tribus libris', but the change in number does not seem unduly harsh.

=32. SVPPLICIBVS FACILEM.= See on iv 30 _faciles in tua uota_, and compare _Am_ II iii 5-6 (to his girl's eunuch) 'mollis in obsequium _facilisque rogantibus_ esses, / si tuus in quauis praetepuisset amor' and _Her_ XVI 197-98 'da modo te _facilem_, nec dedignare maritum ... Phrygem'.

Ovid is here indirectly referring to his own situation: compare _EP_ III iii 107-8 'at tua _supplicibus_ domus est adsueta _iuuandis_, / _in quorum numero me precor esse uelis_'.

=33. LEGIS VINDICTA.= 'The exacting of punishment on behalf of the law'. The law has been broken, and therefore demands retribution; Brutus acts on its behalf. For the sense of the genitive compare Val Max I 1 ext 3: (Dionysius of Syracuse committed many acts of sacrilege, but punishment was visited on him after his death in the form of his son's ignominious career) 'lento enim gradu ad _uindictam sui_ diuina procedit ira tarditatemque supplicii grauitate pensat'.

=33. LEGIS ... SEVERAE.= _Seuerae_ here serves as a standard epithet and has no such special force as at _EP_ III iii 57-58 'uetiti ... _lege seuera_ / credor adulterii composuisse notas'.

=34. VERBA VELVT TAETRVM SINGVLA VIRVS HABENT.= The same image at _EP_ III iii 105-6 'ergo alii noceant miseris optentque timeri, / _tinctaque mordaci spicula felle gerant_'.

=34. TAETRVM= _R. J. Tarrant_ TINCTV _Ehwald_ TINCTVM _codd_. _Tinctum_ is impossible: if the word were used, it would have to go with _uerba_. Compare _Ibis_ 53-54 'liber iambus / _tincta_ Lycambeo sanguine _tela_ dabit', _Ibis_ 491 '[tamque cadas domitus ...] quam qui _dona_ tulit Nesseo _tincta_ ueneno', _EP_ III i 26 _'tinctaque_ mortifera tabe _sagitta_ madet', and _EP_ III iii 106 _'tinctaque_ mordaci _spicula_ felle gerant'. Ehwald's _tinctu_ is linguistically and palaeographically somewhat better than Merkel's _tinguat_: for similar corruptions compare _Fast_ III 612 'flet tamen _admonitu_ motus, Elissa, tui', where many manuscripts read _admonitus_, and _Tr_ I iv 9 'pinea texta sonant pulsu [_Rothmaler_: pulsi _codd_], stridore rudentes'. Even so, 'Each of your words carries poison, as though it had been dipped in it' seems awkward. For Professor Tarrant's _taetrum_ compare Lucretius I 936 'absinthia taetra', _Dirae_ 23 'taetra uenena', and _Hal_ 131 'nigrum ... uirus'.

=34. VIRVS HABENT.= Compare _Tr_ IV i 84 'aut telo _uirus habente_ perit' & III x 64 'nam uolucri ferro tinctile _uirus inest_'.

=35-36. HOSTIBVS EVENIAT QUAM SIS VIOLENTVS IN ARMIS / SENTIRE.= _Hostibus eueniat_ is a common phrase in Ovid: compare _Am_ II x 16-17 '_hostibus eueniat_ uita seuera meis! / _hostibus eueniat_ uiduo dormire cubili', _Am_ III xi 16, _AA_ III 247, _Fast_ III 493-94 'at, puto, praeposita est fuscae mihi Candida paelex! / _eueniat nostris hostibus_ ille dolor [_recc quidam_: color _codd plerique_]!', and _Her_ XVI 219-20 (Paris to Helen) '_hostibus eueniant_ conuiuia talia nostris, / experior posito qualia saepe mero!'.

=37. QVAE TIBI TAM TENVI CVRA LIMANTVR.= 'Which are sharpened by you with such painstaking care'. For this meaning of _limare_ compare Pliny _NH_ VIII 71 'cornu ad saxa _limato_' and Cic _Brut_ 236 '[M. Piso ...] habuit a natura genus quoddam _acuminis_, quod etiam arte _limauerat_'.

=37-38. VT OMNES / ISTIVS INGENVI PECTORIS ESSE NEGENT.= 'So that all would deny that they are the product of your kindly spirit'; for this sense of _ingenuus_ compare Catullus LXVIII 37-38 'quod cum ita sit, nolim statuas nos mente maligna / id facere aut _animo_ non satis _ingenuo_'. _Ingenui pectoris_ is my correction for the manuscripts' INGENIVM CORPORIS, which could only mean 'so that all would deny that the talent of your body exists'; Ovid can hardly be identifying the _tela_ of 36 with Brutus' _ingenium_. Wheeler translates 'On these [the missiles of your tongue] you use the file with such extreme care that none would recognize in them your real nature', and André 'que personne ne croirait qu'un tel esprit habite ton corps'; neither translation fits the Latin. Shackleton Bailey's INGENIVM NOMINIS still leaves unsolved the problem of _ingenium_.

The corruption of _ingenui_ to _ingenium_ (or rather, _ingeniU_) is simple enough; and the interchange of _pectus_ and _corpus_ is a common error.

=42. NOTITIAM ... INFITIATA.= _Infitiari_ used similarly at _EP_ I vii 27 'nec tuus est genitor nos _infitiatus_ amicos'.

=43. IMMEMOR ... IMMEMOR.= Professor R. J. Tarrant points out the similar epanalepsis at Hor _Ep_ I xi 9 '_oblitusque_ meorum, _obliuiscendus_ et illis'.

=44. SOLLICITI= _BCM2ul_ SOLLICITE _M1FHILT_. The adjective with adverbial meaning would be especially liable to corruption. The same construction at _Am_ II iv 25 'dulce canit flectitque _facillima_ uocem'.

=44. LEVASTIS= _Barberinus lat. 26, saec xiii_ LEVATIS _BCMFHILT_. If 44 were taken in isolation, _leuatis_, which most editors print, would be acceptable enough; compare _Tr_ IV i 49 ' iure deas igitur ueneror mala nostra _leuantes_' and _EP_ III vi 13-14 'nec scelus admittas si consoleris amicum, / mollibus et uerbis aspera fata _leues_'. But it is clear from 42 'est infitiata' and 49 'doluistis' that Ovid is speaking of the time of his banishment, and so _leuastis_ must be read. Compare _Tr_ I v 75 'me deus oppressit, nullo _mala nostra leuante_', _EP_ II vii 61-62 'recta fides comitum poterat _mala nostra leuare_: / ditata est spoliis perfida turba meis', and _EP_ III ii 25-26 'pars estis pauci melior, qui rebus in artis / ferre mihi nullam turpe putastis [_uar_ putatis] opem'.

=45-50.= Compare the listing of _adynata_ at the end of v (41-44), which again illustrates Ovid's eternal gratitude (to Sextus Pompeius). Here the personal detail (_hic nimium nobis conterminus Hister_) makes the _adynaton_ reflect Ovid's own circumstances.

=46. DE MARE.= The same form of the ablative at _Tr_ V ii 20 'pleno de mare'. Compare Ovid's frequent use of the metrically convenient ablative in _-e_ of third-declension adjectives.

=47-48.= Thyestes' feast cited as a proverbial example at _Met_ XV 62 (Pythagoras is urging a vegetarian diet) 'neue Thyesteis cumulemus uiscera mensis', _Tr_ II 391-92 'si non Aeropen [_Politianus_: Meropen _uel_ Europen _codd_] frater sceleratus amasset, / auersos Solis non legeremus equos', Lucan I 534-44, and Martial III xlv 1-2 'Fugerit an Phoebus mensas cenamque Thyestae / ignoro: fugimus nos, Ligurine, tuam'.

=47. VTQVE ... SI= = _et, quasi_. All of the instances of the idiom cited by Lewis & Short _ut_ II A 2e and _OLD ut_ 8d are from prose, except for Ter _Eun_ 117 and Lucilius 330 Marx. In none of these passages is _ut_ separated from _si_: the hyperbaton elevates the phrase and makes more natural its use in verse.

=49. QVI ME DOLVISTIS ADEMPTVM.= 'Who mourned my exile' is the meaning imposed by context, but the phrase would usually mean 'who mourned my death': compare _EP_ I ix 41 'iure igitur lacrimas Celso libamus _adempto_', and the similar use of _raptus_ for the exiled Ovid at xi 5 and xvi 1. For Ovid's considering his exile as his death, see xvi 1-4, _Tr_ III iii 53 'cum patriam amisi, tunc me periisse putato', and _EP_ I ix 56 'et nos extinctis adnumerare potest'.

VII. To Vestalis

Vestalis, a younger son of Cottius, monarch of a small kingdom in the Alps (see at 29 [p 253]), was _primipilaris_ of the legion of the area (perhaps the _V Macedonica_). He had just been named administrator of the region around Tomis (see at 1); as an important local official, he was a natural choice as recipient of one of Ovid's letters.

The poem starts with a description of the harsh climate of Tomis, to which Vestalis along with Ovid can now testify, and of the savagery of the inhabitants (1-12). This serves as a bridge to a compliment to Vestalis on being named _primipilaris_ (13-18), and to the main body of the poem, a long and rather conventional description of how Vestalis led the final attack in the recovery of Aegissos (19-52). In the concluding distich Ovid declares that he has rendered immortal the deeds of Vestalis.

=1. ORAS= (_CI_) seems more suited to the nature of Vestalis' command than VNDAS, the reading of the other manuscripts. After _Euxinas_, corruption from _oras_ to _undas_ would be very easy, the inverse less so. Ovid does not elsewhere use _Euxinae orae_, the usual substantives with _Euxinus_ being _aquae_, _mare_, _fretum_, and, closest in meaning, _litus_, for which see iii 51 'litus ad Euxinum ... ibis', _Tr_ V ii 63-64 'iussus ad Euxini deformia litora ueni / aequoris', and _Tr_ V iv 1.

=2. POSITIS ... SVB AXE= in effect acts as a single adjective meaning 'northern'; _axe_ plays a subordinate role and so does not require an epithet. The phrasing may be based on Accius 566-67 Ribbeck2 '[ora ...] _sub axe posita_ ad Stellas septem, unde horrifer / Aquilonis stridor gelidas molitur niues'. _Lycaonio ... sub axe_ at _Tr_ III ii 2.

=3. ASPICIS EN PRAESENS.= Compare ix 81-86, where Ovid invites Graecinus to ask his brother Flaccus, recently stationed in the Pontus, about conditions of life in the area.

=3. IACEAMVS.= 'Lie suffering': similarly used at _EP_ I iii 49 'orbis in extremi _iaceo_ desertus harenis', I vii 5, II ix 4 & III i 85 'ut minus infesta _iaceam_ regione labora'.

=4. FALSA ... QVERI.= Perhaps a common phrase: Professor R. J. Tarrant cites Sallust _Iug_ 1 '_Falso queritur_ de natura sua genus humanum'.

=5-6. ACCEDET ... FIDES.= 'People will believe'. Compare Cic _Diu_ I 5 'Cratippusque ... isdem rebus _fidem tribuit_, reliqua diuinationis genera reiecit' and Tac _Germ_ 3 4 'ex ingenio quisque _demat uel addat fidem_' 'each can believe or disbelieve this according to his disposition'.

=5-6. NON IRRITA ... FIDES= = _rata fides_, a phrase meaning 'trustworthiness', _rata_ having no special force. Compare _Met_ III 341 'prima _fide_ [genitive] ... _ratae_ temptamina', _Tr_ I v 49-50 'multa credibili tulimus _ratamque_, / quamuis acciderint, non habitura _fidem_', and _Tr_ III x 35-36 'cum sint praemia falsi / nulla, _ratam_ debet testis habere _fidem_'. Note the hyperbaton in all these passages.

=6. ALPINIS IVVENIS REGIBVS ORTE.= See at 29 _progenies alti fortissima Donni_ (p 253). For the language, compare Hor _Carm_ I i 1 'Maecenas atauis edite regibus'.

=7. IPSE VIDES CERTE GLACIE CONCRESCERE PONTVM.= At ix 85-86 Ovid tells Graecinus to ask his brother Flaccus 'mentiar, an coeat duratus frigore Pontus, / et teneat glacies iugera multa freti'.