Part 15

Similar language at _Tr_ III x 37-38 'uidimus ingentem glacie consistere pontum, / lubricaque [_codd_: lubrica cum _fort scribendum_] immotas testa premebat aquas'.

=8. IPSE VIDES RIGIDO STANTIA VINA GELV.= The same picture more explicitly given at _Tr_ III x 23-24 'nudaque consistunt, formam seruantia testae, / uina, nec hausta meri, sed data frusta bibunt'.

=9-10. IPSE VIDES ONERATA FEROX VT DVCAT IAZYX / PER MEDIAS HISTRI PLAVSTRA BVBVLCVS AQVAS.= Similar descriptions at _Tr_ III x 33-34 'perque nouos pontes, subterlabentibus undis, / _ducunt Sarmatici barbara plaustra boues_' and _Tr_ III xii 29-30 'nec mare concrescit glacie, nec ut ante per Histrum / stridula Sauromates _plaustra bubulcus_ agit'.

=9. IAZYX.= The _Iazyges Sarmatae_ are mentioned by Pliny (_NH_ IV 80) and by Strabo (VII 3 17), who describes them as one of several tribes living between the Borysthenes (Dnepr) and the Danube. They are also listed by Pompey, under the name of 'Iazyges Metanastae', the Wandering Iazyges (_Geog_ III 7); the 'Iazyges' he describes as living along the shore of the Maeotis (III 5 19). Tacitus mentions the nation at _Ann_ XII 29 4 (Vannius, king of the Suebi, is under attack) 'ipsi manus propria pedites, eques e Sarmaticis Iazygibus erat' and at _Hist_ III 5 (the _principes Sarmatarum Iazygum_ are enlisted to ensure the defence of Moesia in the absence of the regular troops; their offer to raise infantry as well as supplying their usual force of cavalry is rejected because of the fear of future treachery).

The name of the tribe was difficult metrically, so here Ovid calls them _Iazyges_, while at _Tr_ III xii 30 (cited in the previous note) he calls them _Sauromatae_. At _EP_ I ii 77 he solves the difficulty through hendiadys: 'quid _Sauromatae_ faciant, quid _Iazyges_ acres'.

=11. ASPICIS.= Ovid here uses verbs of seeing in an interesting way. At 7 and 9 he has _uides_; then _aspicis_ suggests continuity but at the same time movement toward a new subject, and with a military detail introduced so as to introduce Vestalis' experience of war; then in 13-14 the emphasis is changed by the contrary-to-fact past optative _utinam ... spectata fuisset_.

=11. ASPICIS ET MITTI SVB ADVNCO TOXICA FERRO.= 'You behold how poison is hurled on the barbed steel' (Wheeler). The _telum_ of 12 should be taken to be a spear, since _mittere_ never seems to be used of arrows. At _Ibis_ 135 the _hasta_ is mentioned as the special weapon of the Iazyges.

=11. ADVNCO.= The spear had hooks. Compare _Met_ VI 252-53 'quod [_sc_ ferrum] simul eductum est, pars et pulmonis _in hamis_ / eruta cumque anima cruor est effusus in auras', where Bömer cites among other passages Curtius IX 5 23 'corpore ... nudato animaduertunt _hamos inesse telo_ nec aliter id sine pernicie corporis extrahi posse quam ut secando uulnus augerent' and Prop II xii 9 'et merito _hamatis_ manus est armata sagittis'.

=13-14. ATQVE VTINAM PARS HAEC TANTUM SPECTATA FVISSET, / NON ETIAM PROPRIO COGNITA MARTE TIBI.= A similar opposition at _Met_ III 247-48 (of Actaeon) _'uelletque uidere, / non etiam sentire_ canum fera facta suorum'.

=15. TENDITVR= _Owen_ TENDITIS _codd_. The number of _tenditis_ is inappropriate to the context. Owen's _tenditur_, independently conjectured two years later by Ehwald (_KB_ 84), seems a somewhat more elegant solution to the problem than Merkel's TENDISTI. It puts the weight of the line on _ad primum ... pilum_ rather than on Vestalis himself; the pentameter, with its emphasis on the _honor_, suggests that this is right.

=15. PRIMVM PILVM.= Compare _Am_ III viii 27-28 'proque bono uersu _primum_ deducite _pilum_! / nox [_A. Y. Campbell_: hoc _uel_ hic _codd_] tibi, si belles [_Madvig_: uelles _codd_], possit, Homere, dari'. The _primipilaris_ was the commander of the first century of the first cohort of the Roman legion, and hence first in rank among the legion's centurions.

=17. PLENIS= is the reading of all but two of the manuscripts collated. For this sense of _plenus_ ('abundant'), compare _Am_ I viii 56 '_plena_ uenit canis de grege praeda lupis', _Nux_ 91-92 'illa [the tree that is not near a road] suo quaecumque tulit dare dona colono / et _plenos_ fructus adnumerare potest', Hor _Sat_ I i 57, and Cic _Sex Rosc_ 6 'alienam pecuniam tam _plenam_ atque praeclaram'. Ehwald read PLENVS (_FacI_), joining _ingens_ with _uirtus_ in the following line, arguing that the honour would not seem a great one to a member of a royal family. But Ovid devoted four lines to describing Vestalis' new rank: he must have believed that Vestalis would consider it a very great honour indeed. As well, if _ingens_ is connected with _titulus_, _uirtus ... maior_ gains point.

=17. PLENIS ... FRVCTIBVS.= For the wealth of the _primipilaris_, see _Am_ III viii 9-10 'ecce recens diues parto per uulnera censu / praefertur nobis sanguine pastus eques'. In that poem the newly-rich _primipilaris_, Ovid's rival in love, is given a character very different from that of Vestalis.

=17. INGENS= is used at ix 65 of another office, the consulship.

=18. IPSA TAMEN VIRTVS ORDINE MAIOR ERIT.= A similar sentiment at _EP_ II ix 11-14 (to king Cotys) 'regia, crede mihi, res est succurrere lapsis ... fortunam decet hoc istam ['this befits your position'], _quae maxima cum sit, / esse potest animo uix tamen aequa tuo_'.

=19. NON NEGAT HOC HISTER.= For the device of calling to witness the scenes of military exploits compare Catullus LXIV 357 'testis erit magnis uirtutibus unda Scamandri' and the passages there cited by Fordyce. For _non negat_ Professor A. Dalzell cites Catullus IV 6-7 'negat ... negare'.

=20. PVNICEAM GETICO SANGVINE FECIT AQVAM.= Similar language at ix 79-80 (of Flaccus) 'hic raptam Troesmin celeri uirtute recepit, / _infecitque fero sanguine Danuuium_'.

=21. AEGISSOS.= The city, the modern Tulcea, is situated about 110 kilometres directly north of Tomis (Constanta) on the southernmost branch of the Danube, 60 kilometres from the mouth of the river. At _EP_ I viii 11-20 Ovid describes the recapture of the city from the Getes; evidently the city had been lost once again.

_Aegissos_ is the spelling certified by three of the five sources cited by Mommsen (_CIL_ III page 1009), namely Hierocles _Synecdemus_ 637 14, _Notitia dignitatum_ 99, and Procopius _Aed_ IV 7 20. The _Itinerarium Antoninianum_ (226 2) offers _Aegiso_ (ablative); Ehwald (_KB_ 41), citing Mommsen, took this as sufficient justification for retaining the single _s_ of the _Ex Ponto_ manuscripts, although the now lost Strasbourg manuscript had _egissus_ at I viii 13 (and an indication of an alternative ending in _-os_). The _Ravenna Cosmography_ (4 5), Mommsen's final source, reads _Aegypsum_.

=27. TE SVBEVNTE RECEPTA.= 'Recaptured on your attack'. Intransitive _subire_ in this sense belongs to military vocabulary: compare Caesar _BG_ VII 85 'alii tela coniciunt, alii testudine facta _subeunt_' and Curtius IV 2 23. For instances from military prose of _subire_ with a direct object see Caesar _BG_ II 27 '_subire_ iniquissimum locum', Hirtius _BG_ VIII 15, _Bell Alex_ 76 2 '_subierant_ iniquum locum', and _Bell Hisp_ 24 2.

=22. INGENIO ... LOCI.= 'The nature (i.e. difficulty) of its terrain'. The same standard phrase at Tac _Ann_ VI 41 'locorumque ingenio', _Hist_ I 51 'diu infructuosam et asperam militiam tolerauerant _ingenio loci_ caelique ['climate']', and from Ovid _Tr_ V x 17-18 'tumulus defenditur ipse / moenibus exiguis ingenioque loci' and _EP_ II i 52 '[oppida ...] nec satis _ingenio_ tuta fuisse _loci_'.

=22. NIL OPIS.= The expression is rather prosaic: compare Cic _Fam_ IV i 1 '_aliquid opis_ rei publicae tulissemus'.

=23. DVBIVM= _BMFHIT_ DVBIVM EST _CL_. The same variant in many manuscripts at _EP_ III i 17-18 (Ovid is addressing Tomis) 'nec tibi sunt fontes laticis nisi paene marini, / qui potus _dubium_ sistat alatne sitim'.

=24. NVBIBVS AEQVA.= 'As high as the clouds'. For this use of _aequus_ compare _Aen_ IX 674 'abietibus iuuenes patriis in [_Heyne_: et _codd_; _cf Il XII 132_ '[Greek: hestasan hôs hote te dryes ouresin hypsikarênoi]'] montibus aequos', Statius _Ach_ I 173 'aequus uertice matri', Sen _Ep_ 94 61 'aequum arcibus aggerem ... et muros in miram altitudinem eductos', and _Aen_ IV 89 '_aequataque_ machina caelo'.

=25. SITHONIO= = _Thracio_.

=25. INTERCEPERAT.= _Intercipere_ 'capture' common in Livy (IX 43 3, XXI 1 5, XXVI 51 12, XXXVI 31 10); compare Ammianus XX 7 17 & XX 10 3 'locis ... recuperatis quae olim barbari intercepta retinebant ut propria'.

=26. EREPTAS VICTOR HABEBAT OPES.= Similar phrasing at _Fast_ III 49-51 'hoc ubi cognouit contemptor Amulius aequi / (nam _raptas_ fratri _uictor habebat opes_), / amne iubet mergi geminos'.

=27. FLVMINEA ... VNDA.= _Flumineus_ does not occur elsewhere in the _Tristia_ or _Ex Ponto_; _fluminea ... aqua_ at _Fast_ II 46 & 596.

=27. VITELLIVS.= This Vitellius is presumably one of the four sons of Publius Vitellius, grandfather of the emperor. Suetonius wrote of the sons, Aulus, Quintus, Publius, and Lucius, that they were 'quattuor filios amplissimae dignitatis cognomines ac tantum praenominibus distinctos' (_Vit_ 2 2). Heinsius suggested Aulus (_cos_ AD 32) was the one here meant, 'nisi ad L. Vitellium patrem [_sc_ principis] referre mauis'. 'On the general and reasonable assumption', wrote Syme (_HO_ 90), 'this is P. Vitellius'. But Suetonius calls P. Vitellius 'Germanici comes', and he is heard of in 15 assisting Germanicus in a campaign (Tac _Ann_ I 70 1): it is perhaps more likely that Publius would have been with Germanicus at the time of the capture of Aegissos, and that another of the brothers is meant. Certainty is in any case not attainable.

=29. PROGENIES ALTI FORTISSIMA DONNI.= For the phrasing, compare _EP_ II ix 1-2 'Regia _progenies_, cui nobilitatis origo / nomen in Eumolpi peruenit usque ['goes back to'], Coty'.

The Donnus here referred to is Vestalis' grandfather (_CIL_ V 7817), or possibly a more distant ancestor. Vestalis' father, Cottius, became a client of Augustus; at XV 10 7 Ammianus mentions the worship still accorded Cottius 'quod iusto moderamine rexerat suos, et ascitus in societatem rei Romanae quietem genti praestitit sempiternam'. At _Nero_ 18 Suetonius mentions as one of the few additions to the empire under Nero the 'regnum ... Alpium defuncto Cottio'. This Cottius would probably have been Vestalis' older brother; André is therefore right to infer that Vestalis 'n'était pas l'héritier du trône, ce qu'Ovide n'aurait pas manqué de signaler'.

=30. IMPETVS.= _Impetus_ + infinitive usually indicates a mad impulse: the only other exception in Ovid is _Met_ V 287-88 (one of the Muses speaking) '_impetus ire fuit_; claudit sua tecta Pyreneus / uimque parat, quam nos sumptis effugimus alis'.

=31. CONSPICVVS LONGE FVLGENTIBVS ARMIS.= Modelled on _Aen_ XI 769 '_insignis longe_ Phrygiis _fulgebat_ in _armis_'.

=32. FORTIA NE POSSINT FACTA LATERE CAVES.= Vestalis would in any case have fought bravely; so that his deeds would not pass unnoticed, he led the attack.

=33. INGENTIQVE GRADV.= When Ovid elsewhere use _ingens gradus_ (_passus_) he gives the phrase a humorous tone: see _Am_ III i 11 'uenit et _ingenti_ uiolenta Tragoedia _passu_', _AA_ III 303-4 'illa uelut coniunx Vmbri rubicunda mariti / ambulat _ingentes_ uarica fertque _gradus'_, and _Met_ XIII 776-77 (of Polyphemus) 'gradiens _ingenti_ litora _passu_ / degrauat'. The straightforwardness of this passage is of a piece with the rest of the poem.

For an example of the normal epic use of this detail, see _Aen_ X 572 'longe gradientem'.

=33. FERRVM LOCVMQVE= reflects 23 'dubium _positu_ melius defensa _manune_'.

=34. SAXAQVE ... GRANDINE PLVRA.= The same phrase in the same metrical position at _Ibis_ 467-68 'aut te deuoueat certis Abdera diebus, / _saxaque_ deuotum _grandine plura_ petant'.

=35. MISSA SVPER IACVLORVM TVRBA.= 'The crowding missiles hurled from above' (Wheeler).

=38. FERE.= Heinsius' FERO would involve the repetition of _fero_ in 44; and _fero uulnere_ would be rather feeble when applied to a shield.

Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me that Ovid's description of Vestalis' exploit may have served as a distant model for Lucan's account of how a centurion named Scaeua rallied Caesar's forces and led an attack against Pompey's encampment (VI 140-262). Scaeua was made _primipilaris_ in reward for his bravery (Caesar _BC_ III 53 5).

=40. SED MINOR EST ACRI LAVDIS AMORE DOLOR.= Similar language of a similar exploit at _Met_ XI 525-28 'ut miles, numero praestantior omni, / cum saepe adsiluit defensae moenibus urbis, / spe potitur tandem _laudisque accensus amore_ / inter mille uiros murum tamen occupat unus'. Ovid's description of Vestalis' exploit is little more than a string of conventional phrases.

=40. ACRI.= 'Sharp'. Compare ii 36 'immensum gloria _calcar_ habet'.

=41-42. TALIS APVD TROIAM DANAIS PRO NAVIBVS AIAX / DICITVR HECTOREAS SVSTINVISSE FACES.= Compare _Met_ XIII 7-8 (Ajax speaking of Ulysses) 'at non Hectoreis dubitauit cedere flammis, / quas ego sustinui, quas hac a classe fugaui' and _Met_ XIII 384-85 (the death of Ajax) 'Hectora qui solus, qui ferrum ignesque Iouemque / sustinuit totiens, unam non sustinet iram'. All three passages are drawn from _Il_ XV 674-746, the description of how Ajax repulsed Hector's attempt to set the Greek ships afire, and in particular from 730-31 '[Greek: enth ar' ho g' hestêkei dedokêmenos, encheï d' aiei / Trôas amyne neôn, hos tis pheroi akamaton pyr]'.

=41. PRO NAVIBVS.= 'In front of the ships'; a reminiscence of _Il_ XV 746 (the final line of the book) '[Greek: dôdeka de proparoithe neôn autoschedon outa]'.

=43. DEXTERA DEXTRAE.= Ovid used syncope in _dextera_ where metrically convenient. Elsewhere when he employs the two forms he is usually describing the joining of hands in pledge or friendship. See _Her_ II 31 'commissaque _dextera dextrae_', _Her_ XII 90 '_dextrae dextera_ iuncta meae', and _Met_ VI 447-48 '_dextera dextrae_ / iungitur'. For a different use, see _Met_ III 640-41 '_dextera_ [_uar_ dextra] Naxos erat: _dextra_ mihi lintea danti / "quid facis, o demens? quis te furor," inquit "Acoete?"'.

=45-46. DICERE DIFFICILE EST QVID MARS TVVS EGERIT ILLIC, / QVOTQVE NECI DEDERIS QVOSQVE QVIBVSQVE MODIS.= As Professor E. Fantham points out to me, this _praeteritio_ takes the place of a full _aristeia_ detailing Vestalis' exploits.

=46. QVOSQVE QVIBVSQVE MODIS.= Compare _quotque quibusque modis_ in an erotic context at _Am_ II viii 28, and _Tr_ III xii 33-34 'sedulus occurram nautae, dictaque salute, / quid ueniat quaeram _quisue quibusue locis_'.

=47. ENSE TVO FACTOS CALCABAS VICTOR ACERVOS.= Compare _Met_ V 88 (of Perseus) 'extructos morientum _calcat aceruos_'.

=50. MVLTAQVE FERT MILES VVLNERA, MVLTA FACIT.= A similar conjunction of verbs at _Fast_ II 233-34 'non moriuntur inulti, / _uulneraque_ alterna _dantque feruntque_ manu'.

=52. IBAT.= IBIT (_BP_) is printed by all modern editors except André, and is possibly correct: compare _Am_ II iv 31-32 'ut taceam de me, qui causa tangor ab omni, / illic Hippolytum pone, Priapus _erit_' for the future tense used of a mythological character, and _EP_ II xi 21-22 'acer et ad palmae per se cursurus honores, / si tamen horteris, fortius _ibit_ [_uar_ ibat] equus' for the corruption of future to imperfect.

=53. TEMPVS IN OMNE.= Similar promises of immortality at _Tr_ I vi 36 (to his wife) 'carminibus uiues _tempus in omne_ meis', _EP_ II vi 33-34 (to Graecinus) 'crede mihi, nostrum si non mortale futurum est / carmen, in ore frequens posteritatis eris', and _EP_ III i 93 (to his wife) 'nota tua est probitas testataque _tempus in omne_'.

Vestalis is known to us only through this poem.

VIII. To Suillius

This poem, nominally addressed to Suillius, husband of Ovid's stepdaughter, is in fact directed to Germanicus, of whose staff Suillius was a member (see at 23 [pp 264-65]).

Ovid begins the poem by expressing his pleasure at receiving, at last, a letter from Suillius, saying he hopes that Suillius does not feel ashamed of being related to him by marriage (1-20). He then asks him to address Germanicus on his behalf (21-26). In 27-30 he says how grateful he will be if Germanicus assists him; at 31 he begins to address Germanicus directly in a tripartite defence of poetry. The first part (31-42) builds on 34 'Naso suis opibus, _carmine_, gratus erit': Ovid is now poor, but can still offer Germanicus his poetry. The second section (43-66) builds on 43-44 'nec tamen officio uatum per _carmina_ facto / principibus res est aptior ulla uiris', and explains how verse brings immortality to great men and their deeds. The third section (67-78) offers culminating evidence for the value of poetry: Germanicus is himself a poet. Ovid moves from this to a final plea that Germanicus help his fellow-poet: once removed from Tomis, he will praise him in verse (79-88). In the final distich of the poem, he asks Suillius to assist his prayer.

The structure of the poem is similar to that of _Tr_ V ii. In that poem Ovid addresses his wife for the first thirty-eight lines, telling her of his misery and asking her to approach Augustus on his behalf. In the six lines that follow, he asks himself what he will do if she fails him; he answers that he will make his own direct approach to Augustus. The final thirty-four lines are his prayer to Augustus, in which he describes the hardships he endures at Tomis and begs for a mitigation of his punishment. It is remarkable that in both poems direct addresses to members of the imperial family should be disguised in this way: it seems probable that _Tr_ II, Ovid's long defence of his conduct, had been received by Augustus with hostility, and that he was thenceforth more circumspect.

=1-2. SERA QVIDEM ... GRATA TAMEN.= _Tamen_ goes with _grata_, balancing _quidem_. For instances of the separate _serus tamen_ idiom ('it is late in happening, but it does in fact happen') see Nisbet and Hubbard at Hor _Carm_ I xv 19.

=1. SERA QVIDEM.= It seems that in spite of his being a close relative of Ovid, Suillius, like Sextus Pompeius (see the introduction to i), had been reluctant to be openly associated with him.

=1. STVDIIS EXCVLTE.= 'Refined'. _Studiis_ adds little to the force of _exculte_: the same idiom at Quintilian XII ii 1 'mores ante omnia oratori _studiis_ erunt _excolendi_' and Cic _Tusc_ I 4 'ergo in Graecia musici floruerunt, discebantque id omnes, nec qui nesciebat satis _excultus doctrina_ putabatur'.

=1. SVILLI.= P. Suillius Rufus (_PW_ IV A,l 719-22; _PIR1_ S 700) is otherwise chiefly known to us from three passages of Tacitus: Suillius is presented as 'strong, savage, and unbridled' (Syme _Tacitus_ 332). At _Ann_ IV 31, Tacitus describes how, in 24, Tiberius insisted that Suillius, convicted of accepting a bribe, be relegated to an island rather than merely be exiled from Italy; what seemed cruelty at the time later seemed wisdom in view of his later behaviour as a favourite of Claudius. At _Ann_ XI 1-7 Tacitus describes how Suillius' excesses resulted in a proposal in the Senate to revive the _lex Cincia_ of 204 BC, by which advocates had been forbidden remuneration: the proposal was modified by Claudius at the instance of Suillius and others affected so as to establish a maximum fee of ten thousand sesterces. At _Ann_ XIII 42-43 (AD 58) Tacitus tells how Suillius, 'imperitante Claudio terribilis ac uenalis', was charged with extortion as proconsul of Asia and with laying malicious charges under Claudius. Banished to the Balearic islands, he led a luxurious existence, remaining unrepentant.

=3-4. PIA SI POSSIT SVPEROS LENIRE ROGANDO / GRATIA.= Compare 21 'si quid agi sperabis posse _precando_'.

=5-6. ANIMI SVM FACTVS AMICI / DEBITOR.= 'Your friendly purpose has placed me in your debt' (Wheeler). The genitive similarly used for the cause of indebtedness at i 2 _'debitor_ est _uitae_ qui tibi, Sexte, suae' and _Tr_ I v 10 'perpetuusque _animae debitor huius_ ero'.

=6. MERITVM VELLE IVVARE VOCO.= 'I call the desire to help a favour already given'. Otto _uelle_ 2 cites _EP_ III iv 79 'ut desint uires, _tamen est laudanda uoluntas_', Prop II x 5-6 'quod si deficient uires, audacia certe / laus erit: in magnis _et uoluisse sat est_', _Pan Mess_ 3-7, _Laus Pisonis_ 214; the same proverb at Sen _Ben_ V 2 2 'uoluntas ipsa rectum petens laudanda est'.

=7. IMPETVS ISTE TVVS LONGVM MODO DVRET IN AEVVM.= Similar phrasing at _EP_ II vi 35-36 (Graecinus has been rendering Ovid assistance) 'fac modo permaneas lasso, Graecine, fidelis, / _duret et in longas impetus iste moras_'.

=9. IVS ALIQVOD.= 'A certain claim on each other'. The same phrase for a similar situation at _EP_ I vii 60 (to Messalinus, elder brother of Cotta Maximus) '_ius aliquod_ tecum fratris amicus habet'.

=9. ADFINIA.= The _adfinis_ was a relative by marriage, commonly, as here, a son-in-law; a relative by common descent was a _cognatus_.

=9. ADFINIA VINCVLA.= _Vinculum_ used of family relationships at _Met_ IX 550 (Byblis wishes to marry her brother) 'expetit ... _uinclo_ tecum propiore ligari' and Cic _Planc_ 27 'cum illo maximis _uinclis_ et propinquitatis et _adfinitatis_ coniunctus'.

=10. INLABEFACTA.= The word elsewhere in Latin only at xii 29-30 'haec ... concordia ... uenit ad albentes _inlabefacta_ comas'. Ovid is fond of using negative participles of this type.

=11-12. NAM TIBI QVAE CONIVNX, EADEM MIHI FILIA PAENE EST, / ET QVAE TE GENERVM, ME VOCAT ILLA VIRVM.= The same type of circumlocution at _Her_ III 45-48 (Briseis to Achilles) "diruta Marte tuo Lyrnesia moenia uidi; ... uidi ... tres cecidisse _quibus_ [_Bentley_: tribus _codd_] _quae mihi, mater erat_'.

=11. EADEM MIHI FILIA PAENE EST.= This is presumably Perilla, the recipient of _Tr_ III vii, whom Ovid there speaks of in terms appropriate to a stepfather.

=13-14. EI MIHI, SI LECTIS VVLTVM TV VERSIBVS ISTIS / DVCIS, ET ADFINEM TE PVDET ESSE MEVM.= A similar lament at _EP_ II ii 5-6 '_ei mihi, si lecto uultus_ tibi nomine non est / qui fuit, et dubitas cetera perlegere!'; both passages are followed by defences of Ovid's character.

For _uultum ... ducis_ see at i 5 _trahis uultus_ (p 149).

=15. NIHIL= _BCMFHLT_ NIL _I_. Copyists were more prone to alter _nil_ to _nihil_ than the inverse; but in 1919 Housman demonstrated that _nihil_ was Ovid's invariable form for the latter half of the first foot by pointing out that in all of the twenty-odd passages where the manuscripts offer _nihil_ or _nil_ at that position the following word invariably begins with a vowel (_Collected Papers_ 1000-1003). There would be no reason for such an avoidance of consonants if Ovid had allowed _nil_ in this position; he must therefore have used _nihil_ alone.

=16. FORTVNAM, QVAE MIHI CAECA FVIT.= The image of Fortune being blind to a single individual seems very strange. Professor R. J. Tarrant suggests that _caeca_ could mean 'unforeseeing', and by _fortunam_ Ovid could be referring to his own previous circumstances; alternatively, _caeca_ might be a corruption induced by the familiar image of the blind goddess, replacing an original SAEVA (Riese) or LAEVA, for which compare Silius III 93-94 'si promissum uertat _Fortuna_ fauorem, / _laeuaque sit coeptis_'.

=17-18. SEV GENVS EXCVTIAS, EQVITES AB ORIGINE PRIMA / VSQVE PER INNVMEROS INVENIEMVR AVOS.= A similar claim at _Tr_ IV x 7-8 'usque a proauis uetus ordinis heres, / non modo fortunae munere factus eques'. The status of _eques_ was not hereditary except in the case of a senator's son. The Paeligni did not receive the citizenship until after the Social War; to be born to equestrian status, and to assume that he could have had a senatorial career (_Tr_ IV x 35), Ovid must have belonged to one of the dominant families of the region.

=17. EXCVTIAS.= 'Examine'. Ovid plays on the primary meaning of the word, 'shake out', at _Am_ I viii 45-46 'has quoque quae frontis rugas in uertice portant [_Burman_: quas ... portas _codd_] / _excute_; de rugis crimina multa cadent'. The transferred meaning had lost any sense of metaphor by Ovid's time, however; see especially _Tr_ II 224 '_excutiasque_ oculis otia nostra ['the product of my leisure hours'--Wheeler] tuis'.