_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.
=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.