17 'nihil est nisi mortale et _caducum_ praeter animos' and _Phil_ IV
13. Elsewhere in Ovid the usual sense of the word is 'ineffectual': see
_Fast_ I 181-82 'nec lingua _caducas_ / concipit ulla preces, dictaque
pondus habent' and _Ibis_ 88 'et sit pars uoti nulla caduca mei'.
Similar uses at _Her_ XV 208 & XVI 169.
=47. CARMINE FIT VIVAX VIRTVS, EXPERSQVE SEPULCRI / NOTITIAM SERAE
POSTERITATIS HABET.= For the immortality given by verse, compare from
Ovid _Tr_ V xiv 5 (to his wife) 'dumque legar, mecum pariter tua fama
legetur' and _EP_ III ii 35-36 (to those friends who assisted him) 'uos
etiam seri laudabunt saepe nepotes, / claraque erit scriptis gloria
uestra meis'. The topic is closely related to that of the poet's own
immortality, for which, in Ovid, see xvi 2-3 'non solet ingeniis summa
nocere dies, / famaque post cineres maior uenit' and _Met_ XV 871-79.
For other poets' treatment of the immortality given by verse, see Prop
III ii 17-26, Hor _Carm_ IV ix, Pindar _Nem_ VII 11-16, Gow on
Theocritus XVI 30, and Murgatroyd on Tib I iv 63-66.
=47. VIVAX VIRTVS.= Compare Hor _AP_ 68-69 'mortalia facta peribunt, /
nedum sermonum stet honos et gratia _uiuax_'.
=47. EXPERSQVE SEPVLCRI.= The diction of this line is very elevated:
Professor R. J. Tarrant compares _Met_ IX 252-53 (Jupiter speaking of
Hercules) 'aeternum est a me quod traxit, et _expers_ / atque immune
_necis_' and _Cons Liu_ 59-60 'Caesaris adde domum, quae certe _funeris
expers_ / debuit humanis altior esse malis'. The following line's
_notitiam ... habet_ is in comparison an anticlimax.
=49. TABIDA CONSVMIT FERRVM LAPIDEMQVE VETVSTAS.= Iron and flint were
proverbial for hardness: compare x 3-4 'ecquos tu silices, ecquod,
carissime, ferrum / duritiae confers, Albinouane, meae?', _Her_ X
109-10, _AA_ I 473-76, _Met_ XIV 712-13, _Fast_ V 131-32, _Tr_ IV vi
13-14, and _EP_ II vii 39-40; other passages are cited by Smith at Tib I
iv 18 'longa dies molli saxa peredit aqua'. At I 313-16, Lucretius,
discussing the invisible wearing away of substances, says 'stilicidi
casus _lapidem_ cauat, uncus aratri / _ferreus_ occulte decrescit uomer
in aruis, / strataque iam uolgi pedibus detrita uiarum / saxea
conspicimus'.
=51. SCRIPTA FERVNT ANNOS.= The phrase completes the sentence begun in the
previous distich, as is shown by the parallel passages _Am_ I x 61-62
'scindentur uestes, gemmae frangentur et aurum; / _carmina quam
tribuent, fama perennis erit_' and _Am_ I xv 31-32 'ergo cum silices,
cum dens patientis aratri / depereant aeuo, _carmina morte carent_'.
=51. FERVNT.= 'Withstand'; the same sense at _Tr_ V ix 8 'scripta
_uetustatem_ si modo nostra _ferunt_', Cic _Am_ 67 'ea uina quae
_uetustatem ferunt_', Silius IV 399-400 'si modo _ferre diem_ ... carmina
nostra ualent', and Quintilian II 4 9 'sic et _annos ferent_ et
uetustate proficient'.
=51-53. AGAMEMNONA ... THEBAS.= The two great cycles of Greek heroic
mythology. The same conjunction at _Am_ III xii 15-16 'cum _Thebae_, cum
_Troia_ foret, cum Caesaris acta, / ingenium mouit sola Corinna meum'
and _Tr_ II 317-20 'cur non Argolicis potius quae concidit armis /
uexata est iterum carmine _Troia_ meo? / cur tacui _Thebas_ et uulnera
mutua fratrum / et septem portas sub duce quamque suo'; compare as well
Prop II i 21 '[canerem ...] nec ueteres _Thebas_ nec _Pergama_, nomen
Homeri'. Lucretius, arguing that the world was created at a definite
moment, wrote 'cur supera ['before'] bellum _Thebanum_ et funera
_Troiae_ / non alias alii quoque res cecinere poetae?' (V 326-27).
=52. QVISQVIS CONTRA VEL SIMVL ARMA TVLIT.= The leaders of the Greeks and
Trojans.
The line's structure parallels 54 'quicquid post haec, quicquid et ante
fuit'. Both are conspicuous by their lack of adornment.
=55. DI QVOQVE CARMINIBVS, SI FAS EST DICERE, FIVNT.= This is possibly a
reference to Herodotus II 53, where Herodotus says that Homer and Hesiod
established the Greek pantheon; for Ovid's borrowings from Herodotus,
see at iii 37 _opulentia Croesi_ (p 189). The same idea previously in
Xenophanes (fr. 11 Diels).
The line looks ahead to 63-64 'et modo, Caesar, auum, quem uirtus
addidit astris, / sacrarunt aliqua carmina parte tuum'.
=55. SI FAS EST DICERE.= Ovid here apologizes for the shocking statement
he is making. Up to this point poetry has helped give lasting fame to
what was already a fact, but here poetry is actually making something
happen (or appear to happen). At _Am_ III xii 21-40 Ovid similarly
describes how poets created the myths.
=57-64.= Ovid follows the same sequence in the _Metamorphoses_, describing
the separation of Chaos at I 5-31, the attack of the Giants at I 151-55,
Bacchus' conquest of India at IV 20-21 & 605-6, and Hercules' capture of
Oechalia at IX 136; he foretells Augustus' apotheosis at XV 868-70.
Professor R. J. Tarrant points out that these lines may well be
referring specifically to the earlier poem.
=57-58. SIC CHAOS EX ILLA NATVRAE MOLE PRIORIS / DIGESTVM PARTES SCIMVS
HABERE SVAS.= 'Thus we know Chaos now has its divisions after having been
arranged in order from the famous mass that was its previous nature'.
Ovid describes the separation of the elements at _Met_ I 25-31 and
_Fast_ I 103-10; see also _Ecl_ VI 31-36.
I take _illa_ ('famous') to refer to the familiarity through the poets
and philosophers of the notion of the separation of Chaos into the four
elements. Alternatively, Professor A. Dalzell points out to me that
_illa_ could have a pejorative sense.
=58. DIGESTVM.= 'Separated'. At _Met_ I 7 Ovid calls Chaos 'rudis
_indigestaque_ moles'.
=59. ADFECTANTES CAELESTIA REGNA GIGANTAS.= At _Am_ III xii 27 Ovid,
speaking of false legends created by the poets, says 'fecimus Enceladon
iaculantem mille lacertis'.
In his youth, Ovid had attempted but later abandoned a poem on the
battle of the Giants against Jupiter 'designed to glorify Augustus under
the guise of Jupiter' (Owen _Tristia II_ p. 77): the language he uses
at _Tr_ II 333-40 seems too explicit to be a mere instance of the
love-poet's defence of his subject-matter: 'at si me iubeas domitos
Iouis igne Gigantas [_Heinsius_: Gigantes _codd_] / dicere, conantem
debilitabit onus. / diuitis ingenii est immania Caesaris acta / condere,
materia ne superetur opus. / _et tamen ausus eram_; sed detrectare
uidebar, / quodque nefas, damno uiribus esse tuis.[20] / ad leue rursus
opus, iuuenalia carmina, ueni, / et falso moui pectus amore meum'. He
refers to the same poem again at _Am_ II i 11-18 'ausus eram, memini,
_caelestia_ dicere bella / centimanumque Gyen--et satis oris erat-- / cum
male se Tellus ulta est, ingestaque Olympo / ardua deuexum Pelion Ossa
tulit. / in manibus nimbos et cum Ioue fulmen habebam, / quod bene pro
caelo mitteret ille suo-- / clausit amica fores! ego cum Ioue fulmen
omisi; / excidit ingenio Iuppiter ipse meo'.
[Footnote 20: Compare Suet _Aug_ 89 3 'componi tamen aliquid de se nisi
et serio et a praestantissimis offendebatur, admonebatque praetores ne
paterentur nomen suum commissionibus obsolefieri ['be cheapened in prize
declamations'--Rolfe]'.]
The actual descriptions of the Giants' rebellion in Ovid's surviving
poems are brief (_Met_ I 151-62 & 182-86, _Fast_ V 35-42), but
references to the rebellion are frequent (_Met_ X 150-51, _Fast_ I
307-8, _Fast_ IV 593-94, _Fast_ V 555, _Tr_ II 71, _Tr_ IV vii 17, _EP_
II ii 9-12). The accounts at _Met_ V 319-31 of the flight of some of the
gods to Egypt and at _Fast_ II 459-74 of Venus' flight to the Euphrates
are no doubt derived from Ovid's earlier researches.
=59. ADFECTANTES.= 'Unlawfully seeking to obtain'; compare _Met_ I 151-52
'neue foret terris securior arduus aether, / _adfectasse_ ferunt _regnum
caeleste Gigantas_' and _Fast_ III 439 'ausos _caelum adfectare
Gigantas_'. This sense is found in prose: compare Livy I 50 4 'cui enim
non apparere _adfectare_ eum imperium in Latinos?'. At Livy I 46 2 the
word is used without the conative sense: 'neque ea res Tarquinio spem
_adfectandi_ regni minuit'.
=59. GIGANTAS= _Heinsius_. The manuscripts have GIGANTES, which Lenz,
Wheeler, and André print. In classical Latin poetry, Greek nouns of the
third declension with plural nominatives in _[Greek:-es]_ and plural
accusatives in _[Greek:-as]_ retained these endings. Housman 836-39
gives many instances where metre demonstrates an accusative in
_[Greek:-as]_. In Ovid when such an ending occurs, some manuscripts
commonly offer the normalized _-es_; at _Tr_ II 333, as here, all
manuscripts offer _Gigantes_, again corrected by Heinsius.
Such apparent violations of the rule as _Fast_ I 717 'horreat
AeneadAs et primus et ultimus orbis', _Fast_ III 105-6 'quis tunc aut
HyadAs aut Pliadas Atlanteas / senserat' and Virgil _G_ I 137-38
'nauita tum stellis numeros et nomina fecit, / PleiadAs, HyadAs,
claramque Lycaonis Arcton' are of course no real exceptions, the
lengthening of short closed vowels at the ictus being permitted
(Platnauer 59-62).
=60. AD STYGA NIMBIFERI VINDICIS IGNE DATOS.= 'Hurled to the underworld by
the lightning-bolt of cloud-gathering Jupiter'. This was Jupiter's
first use of the weapon: see _Fast_ III 439-40 'fulmina post ausos
caelum adfectare Gigantas / sumpta Ioui: _primo tempore inermis erat_'.
=60. NIMBIFERI VINDICIS IGNE= is my correction of the manuscripts'
NIMBIFERO and NVBIFERO. The unmodified _uindicis_ and modified _igne_ of
the manuscript readings might be defended by _EP_ II ix 77 'quicquid id
est [whatever Ovid has committed], habuit moderatam uindicis iram', but
_uindicis_ is there defined by the following 'qui nisi natalem nil mihi
dempsit humum', and _moderatam_ is a more suitable epithet for _iram_
than is _nimbifero_ for _igne_ in the present passage., At _Tr_ II
143-44 'uidi ego pampineis oneratam uitibus ulmum, / quae fuerat _saeuo
fulmine_ tacta Iouis', the manuscripts divide between _saeuo_ and
_saeui_, which has a good claim to be considered the true reading; in
any case, _Iouis_ is less in need of a defining adjective than
_uindicis_ in the present passage. Finally, the genitive here is
strongly supported by _Ibis_ 475-76 'ut Macedo rapidis icta est cum
coniuge flammis, / sic precor _aetherii uindicis_ igne cadas'.
The corruption may have been induced by a wish to introduce interlocking
word order: for a similar instance see at ii 9 _Baccho uina Falerna_ (p
164). But in fact substantive and epithet are constantly found linked at
the caesura of the pentameter: the strong break in the metre at that
point no doubt made the construction more readily acceptable there than
in other positions.
I have printed _nimbiferi_ in preference to _nubiferi_ because Jupiter
is linked with _nimbi_ at two other passages. The first of these is
_Am_ II i 15-16 'in manibus _nimbos et cum Ioue fulmen_ habebam, / quod
bene pro caelo mitteret ille suo', and the second _Met_ III 299-301,
where Ovid describes Jupiter's preparations to descend on Semele:
'aethera conscendit uultuque sequentia traxit / nubila, quis _nimbos_
immixtaque fulgura uentis / addidit et tonitrus et ineuitabile fulmen'.
=61-62. SIC VICTOR LAVDEM SVPERATIS LIBER AB INDIS ... TRAXIT.= Bacchus'
conquest of India is also mentioned by Ovid at _Fast_ III 465-66
'interea Liber depexos crinibus Indos / uicit et Eoo diues ab orbe
redit', _Fast_ III 719-20, and _Tr_ V iii 23-24.
=61-62. VICTOR= should be taken both with _Liber_ and _Alcides_.
=61-62. LIBER ... ALCIDES.= The same pairing (both times in the context of
Augustan panegyric) at _Aen_ VI 801-5 'nec uero _Alcides_ tantum
telluris obiuit, / fixerit aeripedem ceruam licet, aut Erymanthi /
pacarit nemora et Lernam tremefecerit arcu; / nec qui pampineis uictor
iuga flectit habenis / _Liber_, agens celso Nysae de uertice tigris' and
Hor _Carm_ III iii 9-15. Ovid may have made similar mention of Bacchus
and Hercules in his panegyric of Augustus.
=61-62. SIC ... LAVDEM ... ALCIDES CAPTA TRAXIT AB OECHALIA.= Hercules
attacked and captured Oechalia in order to carry off Iole, the king's
daughter. This was his last exploit, for it led to Deianira's sending
him the poisoned robe which caused his death. The capture of Oechalia is
also mentioned at _Her_ IX _passim_ (the poem perhaps not by Ovid) and
_Met_ IX 136-40.
=62. OECHALIA.= For the quadrisyllable ending to the pentameter, see at ii
10 _Alcinoo_ (p 164).
=63. AVVM.= Augustus. In AD 4 Augustus adopted Tiberius (son of Livia's
first husband, Ti. Claudius Nero), and Tiberius adopted Germanicus, son
of his brother Drusus.
=63. QVEM VIRTVS ADDIDIT ASTRIS.= Compare _Aen_ VIII 301 (of Hercules)
'salue, uera Iouis proles, decus _addite diuis_'.
Augustus died on 19 August AD 14; on 17 September the Senate decreed
_caelestes religiones_ for him (Tac _Ann_ I 10 8; _Fasti Amiternini,
Antiates, & Oppiani_, at Ehrenberg-Jones 52). Augustus' apotheosis is
also mentioned at ix 127-32 and xiii 23-26.
=64. ALIQVA ... PARTE.= The same phrase in the same metrical position at
_Fast_ I 133-34 (Janus speaking) 'uis mea narrata est. causam nunc disce
figurae: / iam tamen hanc _aliqua_ tu quoque _parte_ uides'.
=64. CARMINA.= Ovid is referring to his own poems (in Latin and Getic) on
Augustus' apotheosis, also mentioned at vi 17-18 'de caelite ... recenti
... carmen', ix 131-32 'carmina ... de te ... caelite ... nouo', and xiii
25-26.
=65-66. SI QVID ADHVC IGITVR VIVI, GERMANICE, NOSTRO / RESTAT IN INGENIO,
SERVIET OMNE TIBI.= Compare Prop IV i 59-60 'sed tamen exiguo
_quodcumque_ e pectore _riui_ / fluxerit, hoc patriae _seruiet omne
meae_', which Ovid is clearly imitating. Hertzberg _ad loc_ conjectured
RIVI for our passage, which may well be right; but _uiui_ seems to agree
better with _restat_.
=67. VATIS ... VATES.= For an extreme instance of Ovid's favourite figure
of _polyptoton_ (Quintilian IX 3 36-37), see the account at _Met_ IX
43-45 of Achelous' wrestling-match with Hercules: 'inque gradu stetimus,
certi non cedere, eratque / cum _pede pes_ iunctus, totoque ego pectore
pronus / et _digitos digitis_ et _frontem fronte_ premebam'. Other
instances of polyptoton with _uates_ at _Fast_ I 25 (to Germanicus) 'si
licet et fas est, _uates_ rege _uatis_ habenas' and _EP_ II ix 65 (to
Cotys, king of Thrace, apparently a writer of poetry) 'ad _uatem uates_
orantia bracchia tendo',
=67. VATES.= Approximately nine hundred lines survive of a version of
Aratus generally attributed to Germanicus, who might have been composing
the poem at the time Ovid was writing: Augustus' apotheosis is mentioned
at 558-60. It is possible however that Tiberius was the poem's author:
he is known to have written a _Conquestio de morte L. Caesaris_ and to
have composed Greek verse (Suet _Tib_ 70). For a full discussion see the
introduction to Gain's edition of the _Aratus_.
=69-70. QVOD NISI TE NOMEN TANTVM AD MAIORA VOCASSET, / GLORIA PIERIDVM
SVMMA FVTVRVS ERAS.= Compare _Met_ V 269-70 (the Muses to Minerva) 'o
nisi te uirtus opera ad maiora tulisset, / in partem uentura chori
Tritonia nostri'.
There is a striking parallel to this passage in Quintilian's address to
Domitian in his catalogue of poets: 'hos nominamus quia Germanicum
Augustum ab institutis studiis deflexit cura terrarum, parumque dis
uisum est esse eum maximum poetarum' (X i 91-92).
=70. GLORIA PIERIDVM SVMMA.= _Gloria_ similarly used at _EP_ II xi 28
'maxima Fundani _gloria_, Rufe, soli', _Aen_ VI 767 'proximus ille
Procas, Troianae _gloria_ gentis', and Val Max IV iii 3 'Drusum
... Germanicum, eximiam Claudiae familiae _gloriam_'. The term was used
in particular of fine cattle: see _AA_ I 290 'candidus, armenti gloria,
taurus', _Pan Mess_ (_Corp Tib_ III vii) 208 'tardi pecoris ... _gloria_
taurus' and _Aetna_ 597 '_gloria_ uiua Myronis' (on Myron's _Cow_ see at
i 34 _ut similis uerae uacca Myronis opus_ [p 158]).
=71. SI DARE= _R. J. Tarrant._ The manuscripts' SED DARE is a possible
reading; but Professor Tarrant's slight change removes the awkwardness
of _nec tamen_ following immediately upon _sed_.
=71. MAVIS= _IF2ul_ MAIVS _BF1_. Either of the two variants could be read
from _CMHLT_. The preferable reading is _mauis_, since it links more
closely to _potes_ in the pentameter, and would be especially liable to
corruption after _maiora_ two lines previous. I have found no good
parallel for singular _maius_ 'a more important thing': for the plural
_OLD maior_ 5 cites from verse _Fast_ IV 3 'certe maiora canebas' and
its model, _Ecl_ IV 1 'paulo maiora canamus'.
=72. NEC TAMEN EX TOTO DESERERE ILLA POTES.= Graecinus was another of
Ovid's addressees who, while a soldier, kept up his other pursuits:
'artibus ingenuis [=_lIberAlibus_], quarum tibi maxima cura
est, / pectora mollescunt asperitasque fugit. / nec quisquam meliore
fide complectitur illas, / qua sinit officium militiaeque labor' (_EP_ I
vi 7-10).
=72. EX TOTO.= 'Altogether'. Compare _EP_ I vi 27-28 'spes igitur menti
poenae, Graecine, leuandae / non est _ex toto_ nulla relicta meae'. The
idiom was probably subliterary: the only instances from the time of Ovid
cited by _OLD totum_ 2 are Celsus III 3 71b 'neque _ex toto_ in
remissionem desistit' and Columella V 6 17 'antequam _ex toto_ arbor
praeualescat'.
=73. NVMERIS ... VERBA COERCES.= 'You arrange words in metrical patterns'.
Similar wording at Cic _Or_ 64 'mollis est enim oratio philosophorum
... nec _uincta numeris_ ['not in rhythmic prose'], sed soluta liberius'.
Professor E. Fantham points out to me that Ovid may also be playing on
_numerus_ 'military contingent' (_OLD numerus_ 9): 'you draft words in
squads'.
=75-76. NEC AD CITHARAM NEC AD ARCVM SEGNIS APOLLO, / SED VENIT AD SACRAS
NERVVS VTERQVE MANVS.= Apollo is similarly described at _Met_ X 107-8 (of
Cyparissus) 'nunc arbor, puer ante deo dilectus ab illo / _qui citharam
neruis et neruis temperat arcum_'.
=76. VENIT= = _conuenit_. In Latin verse a simple verb can carry the sense
of any of its compounds, even when this sense is quite different from
the usual meaning of the simple verb. Compare Catullus LXIV 21 'tum
Thetidi pater ipse _iugandum_ Pelea _sensit_', "where it is plain that
iugandum is for coniugandum, and this leads the reader to the conclusion
that sensit is for consensit, where the omission decidedly affects the
sense" (Bell 330).
The line should not be taken as an instance of the expression _uenire ad
manum_ (_OLD uenio_ 7c), since the idiom's sense 'be convenient' does
not fit the context here: for the sense compare Livy XXXVIII 21 6 'quod
[_sc_ saxum] cuique temere trepidanti _ad manum uenisset_' and
Quintilian II xi 6 'abrupta quaedam, ut forte _ad manum uenere_,
iaculantur'. _Venire in manus_ offers a somewhat more satisfactory
meaning, almost equivalent to 'have, hold' (compare Cic _Q Fr_ II xv
[xiv] i 'quicumque calamus _in manus meas uenerit_' and Persius III 11
'_inque manus_ chartae nodosaque _uenit_ harundo'), but seems to be a
separate idiom.
=79. QVAE QVONIAM NEC NOS.= 'Since she continues to give poetic
inspiration to myself as well as to you'. _Quae quoniam_ seems very
prosaic, but Ovid uses the phrase again at _Tr_ I ix 53-54 '_quae_ [_sc_
coniectura] _quoniam_ uera est ... gratulor ingenium non latuisse tuum'.
=79-80. VNDA ... VNGVLA GORGONEI QUAM CAVA FECIT EQVI.= Hippocrene, the
spring of the Muses, said to have been created by the hoof-beat of
Pegasus. Similarly described at _Met_ V 264 'factas pedis ictibus
undas', _Fast_ V 7-8 'fontes Aganippidos Hippocrenes, / grata Medusaei
signa ... equi' and Persius prol 1 'fonte ... caballino'.
=80. VNGVLA ... CAVA.= Professor J. N. Grant points out to me the possible
borrowing from Ennius _Ann_ 439 Vahlen3 'it eques et plausu _caua_
concutit _ungula_ terram'.
=80. GORGONEI ... EQVI.= The same phrase in the same metrical position at
_Fast_ III 450 'suspice [_sc_ caelum]: _Gorgonei_ colla uidebis _equi_'.
For the birth of Pegasus from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa, see _Met_
IV 784-86,
=81. COMMVNIA SACRA TVERI.= _Sacra_ similarly used of poetry at _Tr_ IV i
87, _Tr_ IV x 19 'at mihi iam puero caelestia _sacra_ placebant', _EP_
II x 17 'sunt tamen inter se _communia sacra_ poetis', and _EP_ III iv
67 'sunt mihi uobiscum _communia sacra_, poetae'. For _tueri_ 'observe,
maintain' compare Cic _Tusc_ I 2 'mores et instituta uitae resque
domesticas ac familiaris nos profecto et melius _tuemur_ et lautius'.
=82. ISDEM STVDIIS IMPOSVUISSE MANVM.= Similar phrasing at _Tr_ IV i 27-28
'non equidem uellem ... _Pieridum sacris imposuisse manum_'.
=82. IMPOSVISSE= has the sense of the present infinitive, as is shown by
_tueri_ in the previous line; compare as well ii 27-28 'uix sumptae Musa
tabellae / _imponit_ pigras, paene coacta, _manus_'. For the idiom, see
Platnauer 109-12. It is particularly frequent in the latter half of the
pentameter, immediately before the disyllable: compare, from many
instances, _AA_ III 431-32 '_ire_ solutis / crinibus et fletus non
_tenuisse_ decet' and _Tr_ IV viii 5-12 'nunc erat ut posito deberem
fine laborum / _uiuere_, me nullo sollicitante metu, / quaeque meae
semper placuerunt otia menti / _carpere_ et in studiis molliter _esse_
meis, / et paruam _celebrare_ domum ueteresque Penates ... inque sinu
dominae carisque sodalibus inque / securus patria _consenuisse_ mea'.
The idiom, although more common in elegiac verse, is also found in epic:
compare _Aen_ X 14 'tum _certare_ odiis, tum res _rapuisse_ licebit'.
=83. LITORA PELLITIS NIMIVM SVBIECTA CORALLIS.= Compare ii 37 'hic mea cui
recitem nisi flauis scripta Corallis'. Strabo mentions the Coralli as
inhabiting the region near Haemus (VII 5 12); they are rather obscurely
described at Val Fl VI 89-94 'densique leuant uexilla Coralli, /
barbaricae quis signa rotae, ferrataque dorso / forma suum ['of pigs'],
truncaeque Iouis simulacra columnae; / proelia nec rauco curant
incendere cornu, / indigenas sed rite duces et prisca suorum / facta
canunt ueterumque, uiris hortamina, laudes'.
Nothing else is known of the tribe.
=83. PELLITIS.= Elsewhere in Ovid only at x 2 'pellitos ... Getas'.
=83. NIMIVM SVBIECTA.= Compare vi 45 'nimium nobis conterminus Hister'.
=85. VLLO= _M_ ILLO _BCFHILT_. _Illo_ is not a possible reading, since of
course most parts of the empire would have been less isolated than
Tomis. Ovid does not specify a preferred place of exile at either _Tr_
IV iv 49 'nunc precor hinc alio iubeat discedere' or _EP_ III i 29-30
'non igitur mirum ... altera si nobis usque rogatur humus', nor in any of
the passages listed in the next two notes.
=86. QVI MINVS ... DISTET.= For this constant prayer of the exiled Ovid,
see _Tr_ II 575-78 (the concluding lines) 'non ut in Ausoniam redeam,
nisi forsitan olim, / cum longo poenae tempore uictus eris; / tutius
exilium pauloque quietius oro, / ut par delicto sit mea poena suo',
_Ibis_ 28, _EP_ III i 4 & 85, _EP_ III iii 64, _EP_ III vii 30, _EP_ III
ix 38, and _EP_ III ix 1-4 'Quod sit in his eadem sententia, Brute,
libellis, / carmina nescio quem carpere nostra refers, / _nil nisi me
terra fruar ut propiore rogare_, / et quam sim denso cinctus ab hoste
loqui'.
=86. DISTET= _FHILM2c_. Lenz and André print DISTAT (_BCT_); however, the
defining subjunctive seems to be required, and is supported by _EP_ II
viii 36 'daque procul Scythico _qui sit_ ab hoste locum'.
=87. LAVDES.= See at 45 _laudum_ (p 268).
=88. MAGNAQVE QVAM MINIMA FACTA REFERRE MORA.= At _EP_ III iv 53-60 Ovid
speaks of how a poem of his on a recent triumph has been late in being
written, and will be late in reaching Rome: 'cetera certatim de magno
scripta triumpho / iam pridem populi suspicor ore legi. / illa bibit
sitiens lector, mea pocula plenus; / illa recens pota est, nostra
tepebit aqua. / non ego cessaui, nec fecit inertia serum: / ultima me
uasti distinet [_scripsi_: sustinet _codd_] ora freti. / dum uenit huc
rumor properataque carmina fiunt / factaque eunt ad uos, annus abisse
potest'.
=90. SOCERO PAENE ... TVO.= See at 11 _eadem mihi filia paene est_ (p
262).
IX. To Graecinus