Part 21

=50. TYRAS.= The modern Dnestr flows into the Black Sea about fifty miles south of Odessa; near its mouth is the city of Ovidiopol. The river is briefly mentioned at Pliny _NH_ IV 82 & 93, and at Mela II 7, where it is called the 'Tyra'; this however seems to be a scribal error induced by the following _separat_.

=51. THERMODON.= The modern Terme flows into the Black Sea about 100 kilometres southeast of the mouth of the Kizil Irmak (Halys). It was conventional to mention the Amazons in connection with the river (_Met_ XII 611, _Aen_ XI 659-60, Prop III xiv 13-14, Ammianus Marcellinus XXII 8 17). Professor E. Fantham suggests to me that Ovid may here be providing Albinovanus with material for the part of his _Theseid_ dealing with Theseus' expedition against the Amazons.

Ovid also mentions the Thermodon at _Met_ I 248-49 (the story of Phaethon) 'arsit et Euphrates Babylonius, arsit Orontes / Thermodonque citus Gangesque et Phasis et Hister'. As in the present distich, the Thermodon and Phasis, both prominent in mythology, are mentioned together.

=51. TVRMAE= _BCM_ TVRBAE _FHILT_. There is a similar variation among the manuscripts at _AA_ III l-2 'Arma dedi Danais in Amazonas; arma supersunt / quae tibi dem et _turmae_, Penthesilea, tuae'. From other descriptions of the Amazons, the Auctor Electorum Etonensium aptly compares Val Fl IV 603 (_cateruas_) and 607 (_turma_); compare as well Statius _Sil_ I vi 56 (_turmas_). It is possible that _turma_ should be read at Prop III xiv 13-14 'qualis Amazonidum nudatis bellica mammis / Thermodontiacis _turba_ lauatur aquis'; but this would make _bellica_ redundant.

=53. BORYSTHENIO ... AMNE= = _BorYsthenE_. The river is the modern Dnepr, which flows into the Black Sea about 120 kilometres east of Odessa, about 50 kilometres east of the mouth of the Bug (Hypanis). For the metrical device here employed, compare Prop II vii 17-18 'hinc etenim tantum meruit mea gloria nomen, / gloria ad hibernos lata _Borysthenidas_', Avienus _Descr Orb_ 448 'inde _Borysthenii_ uis sese _fluminis_ effert' & 721 'ora _Borysthenii_ qua _fluminis_ in mare uergunt'.

=53. LIQVIDISSIMVS= is not found elsewhere in Ovid.

=53. DIRAPSES.= The river is not mentioned elsewhere.

=54. MELANTHVS.= The modern Melet Irmak flows into the Black Sea about 25 kilometres west of Trabzon (Trapezus). It is mentioned in passing at Pliny _NH_ VI 11.

=55-56. QVIQVE DVAS TERRAS, ASIAM CADMIQVE SOROREM, / SEPARAT ET CVRSVS INTER VTRAMQVE FACIT.= The Tanais (Don) is named as the border between Europe and Asia by Pliny (_NH_ IV 78) and Avienus (_Descr Orb_ 28 & 861). Compare as well Lucan III 272-76 'qua uertice lapsus / Riphaeo Tanais diuersi nomina mundi / imposuit ripis Asiaeque et terminus idem / Europae, mediae dirimens confinia terrae, / nunc hunc, nunc illum, qua flectitur, ampliat orbem'.

Vibius Sequester (_Geog Lat min_ [Riese] p. 212) has an entry 'Hypanis Scythiae qui, ut ait Gallus "uno tellures diuidit amne duas": Asiam enim ab Europa separat'. The Hypanis cannot be the river Ovid is here referring to, for it has already been mentioned in 47; but, as Lenz saw, the line from Gallus could well have been in Ovid's mind as he wrote this passage. Professor R. J. Tarrant notes that the extraordinary _Cadmique sororem_ could well be a borrowing from the earlier poet.

=57-58. INTER MAXIMVS OMNES / CEDERE DANVVIVS SE TIBI, NILE, NEGAT.= A similar conjunction at _Tr_ III x 27-28 'ipse, papyrifero qui non angustior amne, / miscetur uasto multa per ora freto'. Herodotus compares the courses of the Nile and the Danube, concluding '[Greek: houtô ton Neilon dokeô dia pasês tês Libyês diexionta exisousthai tôi Istrôi]' (II 34), referring to the length of the rivers, however, rather than their volume of discharge. At _NQ_ III 22 Seneca mentions the belief of some that because of their large size and the fact that their sources were both unknown the Nile and the Danube must both have been formed at the creation of the world, unlike other rivers. At IV 1 1-2 he argues against those who equated the two rivers, pointing out that the source of the Danube was known to be in Germany, and that the two rivers flood at different times of the year.

=59. COPIA TOT LATICVM QVAS AVGET ADVLTERAT AQVAS.= The comparative freshness of the waters of the Black Sea was well known in antiquity. Besides the passages cited at 37-38, see Polybius IV 42 3 and Philostratus _Imag_ I 13 7.

=61-62. QVIN ETIAM, STAGNO SIMILIS PIGRAEQVE PALVDI, / CAERVLEVS VIX EST DILVITVRQVE COLOR.= Ovid's drinking water was, on the other hand, rather brackish: 'est in aqua dulci non inuidiosa uoluptas: / aequoreo bibitur cum sale mixta palus' (_EP_ II vii 73-74).

=63. INNATAT VNDA FRETO DVLCIS.= Similar wording at Macrobius _Sat_ VII 12 32 'superficies maris, cui dulces aquae _innatant_, congelascit'.

=64. PONDVS= _B1CMFHT_ NOMEN _ILB2_. Wakefield conjectured MOMEN on the basis of Lucretius VI 473-74 'quo magis ad nubis augendas multa uidentur / posse quoque e salso consurgere momine ponti'. But _pondus_ seems appropriate to the context in a way that _momen_ 'heaving' does not. _Nomen habe(n)t_ is a frequent line-ending in Ovid, occurring some twenty-five times (once in _Her_ XVI). _Proprium nomen_ occurs in Ovid at _Fast_ V 191-92 (Ovid is addressing Flora) 'ipsa doce quae sis. hominum sententia fallax: / optima tu _proprii nominis_ auctor eris' and _EP_ I viii 13-14 'Caspius Aegissos, de se si credimus ipsis, / condidit et _proprio nomine_ dixit opus'. The phrase would have been very familiar to the scribes from grammatical treatises ('proper noun'). A combination of these circumstances no doubt induced the error.

Professor A. Dalzell suggests to me that _momen_ is perhaps correct, the notion being that the salt water keeps moving, and so does not freeze. _Pondus_ would then be a (mistaken) gloss that has displaced _momen_ from the text; _nomen_ would be a simple misreading of _momen_.

=66. CERTIS ... MODIS.= 'Metre'; compare _Fast_ III 388 'ad _certos_ uerba canenda _modos_', Tib II i 51-52 'agricola ... primum ... cantauit _certo_ rustica uerba _pede_' and Manilius III 35 '_pedibus_ ... iungere _certis_'.

=67. DETINVI ... TEMPVS, CVRASQVE FEFELLI= _excerpta Politiani_ DETINVI ... TEMPVS CVRAMQVE FEFELLI _LT_ DETINVI ... CVRAS TEMPVSQVE FEFELLI _BCMFHI_. _Tempus fallere_ 'make time pass unnoticed' is perfectly acceptable Latin; compare _Tr_ III iii 11-12 'non qui labentia tarde / _tempora_ narrando _fallat_ amicus adest', _Her_ I 9-10 'nec mihi quaerenti spatiosam _fallere noctem_ / lassaret uiduas pendula tela manus', _Met_ VIII 651 'interea medias _fallunt_ sermonibus _horas_', _Tr_ IV x 112-14 'tristia ... carmine fata leuo. / quod quamuis nemo est cuius referatur ad aures, / sic tamen absumo _decipioque diem_', and _Her_ XIX 37-38 'tortaque uersato ducentes stamina fuso / feminea tardas _fallimus_ arte _moras_'. The difficulty with the manuscript reading in the present passage is that _detinui curas_ is without parallel. Heinsius therefore accepted Politian's reading, citing in its support _Met_ I 682-83 'sedit Atlantiades et euntem multa loquendo / _detinuit_ sermone _diem_'. The Auctor Electorum Etonensium objected that _detinui tempus_ was inappropriate: 'poeta tempus detinere noluit, quod scilicet per se morari atque haerere uidebatur inuisum'. He conjectured DISTINVI CVRAS and Burman DIMINVI CVRAS, which he later found in one of his manuscripts. But _detinere_ here can have the same meaning 'occupy, keep busy' as it has at the _Metamorphoses_ passage, where A. G. Lee cites the present passage (with Politian's reading) and _Tr_ V vii 39 '_detineo studiis animum_ falloque dolores'.

The interchange of adjoining metrically and grammatically equivalent substantives is very common.

=67-68. "DETINVI" DICAM "TEMPVS, CVRASQVE FEFELLI; / HVNC FRVCTVM PRAESENS ATTVLIT HORA MIHI".= The thought of the passage also at ii 39-40 & 45 'quid nisi Pierides, solacia frigida, restant', _Tr_ V i 33-34 'tot mala pertulimus, quorum medicina quiesque / nulla nisi in studio est Pieridumque mora', and _EP_ I v 53-55 'magis utile nil est / artibus his, quae nil utilitatis habent. / consequor ex illis casus obliuia nostri'.

=69. ABFVIMVS SOLITO ... DOLORE.= Compare Cic _Fam_ IV iii 2 'a multis et magnis molestiis abes'; I have found no parallel from verse.

=71. CVM THESEA CARMINE LAVDES.= See at 4 _Albinouane_ (p 327).

=71. THESEA.= For Theseus as the type of loyalty, compare _Tr_ I iii 66 'o mihi Thesea pectora iuncta fide