CONDICIONE TVI.= A constant problem for the Latin poets was the
impossibility of using words with cretic patterns (a long syllable,
followed by a short syllable, followed by another long syllable) in
hexameter or elegiac verse. The fact played an important part in
determining Latin poetic vocabulary; for instance, such an ordinary word
as _femina_, cretic in its oblique cases, is usually represented through
metonymy by such words as _nurus_ and _mater_. Proper names presented a
special problem, which could however occasionally be solved through the
use of special forms or circumlocutions; hence such lines as 'cumque
_Borysthenio_ liquidissimus _amne_ [=BorYsthenE] Dirapses' (x
53) and '_Scipiadas_ [=ScIpiOnes], belli fulmen, Carthaginis
horror' (Lucretius III 1034). Sometimes, as in the present passage, such
avenues were not available, and the poet was simply unable to use the
name he wanted. From Greek authors Marx, commenting on Lucilius 228-29,
cites Critias fr. 5 '[Greek: ou gar pôs ên tounoma epharmozein
elegeiôi]' Archestratus fr. 29 (Brandt) '[Greek: ichthyos auxêthentos
hon en metrôi ou themis eipein]' and _Ep Gr_ 616 (Kaibel) '[Greek: ou
gar en hexametroisin hêrmosen tounom' emon]' In Latin, the best-known
reference to this difficulty is Hor _Sat_ I v 86-87 'quattuor hinc
rapimur uiginti et milia raedis, / mansuri oppidulo, quod uersu dicere
non est'. On the passage Porphyrion comments 'Aequum Tuticum significat
[this is disputed by modern commentators, since the town's known
location does not fit with Horace's indication; no certain candidate has
been proposed], cuius nomen hexametro uersu compleri [_codd_: contineri
_fort legendum_] non potest. hoc autem sub exemplo Lucili posuit. nam
ille in sexto Saturarum [228-29 Marx] sic ait: "seruorum est festus dies
hic, / quem plane hexametro uersu non dicere possis"'. In his comment on
the passage from Horace, Lejay cites Martial IX xi 10-17 (Martial wanted
to mention Flavius Earinus, whose name starts with three
consecutive short vowels) 'nomen nobile, molle, delicatum / uersu dicere
non rudi uolebam: / sed tu, syllaba contumax, rebellas. / dicunt
Eiarinon tamen poetae, / sed Graeci, quibus est nihil negatum, / et quos
[Greek: Âres Ares] decet sonare: / nobis non licet esse tam disertis /
qui Musas colimus seueriores', Rutilius Namatianus 419-22 (of
Volusianus [short 'o', 'u', and 'i'] Rufius) 'optarem uerum
complecti carmine nomen, / sed quosdam refugit regula dura pedes. /
cognomen uersu ueheris [_Préchac_: ueneris _uel_ uenens _codd_],
carissime Rufi; / illo te dudum pagina nostra canit', and Apollinaris
Sidonius _Carm_ XXIII 485-86 'horum nomina cum referre uersu / affectus
cupiat, metrum recusat'.
Professor C. P. Jones cites the discussion at Pliny _Ep_ VIII iv 3-4.
Pliny, writing to Caninius, who is composing a poem in Greek on the
Dacian war, discusses the difficulty of using _barbara et fera nomina_
in the poem: 'sed ... si datur Homero et mollia uocabula et Graeca ad
leuitatem uersus contrahere extendere inflectere, cur tibi similis
audentia, praesertim non delicata sed necessaria, non detur?'.
For a further discussion of the topic, see L. Radermacher, "Das Epigramm
des Didius", _SAWW_ 170,9 [1912] 1-31.
=1. QVOMINVS= is rare in Augustan verse; but compare _AA_ II 720 'non
obstet tangas quominus illa [_sc_ loca] pudor'.
=3. AVT= _BC_ AST _MFHILT_. The false reading was probably induced by a
failure to understand the meaning of _aut_ 'otherwise', for which
compare iii 21 '_aut_ age, dic aliquam quae te mutauerit iram', _Met_
VII 699, _Met_ X 50-52 'hanc [_sc_ Eurydicen] simul et legem Rhodopeius
accipit heros, / ne flectat retro sua lumina donec Auernas / exierit
ualles; _aut_ inrita dona futura', and _Tr_ I viii 43-45 'quaeque tibi
... dedit nutrix ubera, tigris erat. / _aut_ mala nostra minus quam nunc
aliena putares'.
=2. CONDICIONE.= 'Nature'. Compare Lucretius II 300-1 'et quae consuerint
gigni gignentur eadem / _condicione_ et erunt et crescent uique
ualebunt'.
=4. SI MODO.= 'If, that is ...' Compare 43-44 'quid mandem quaeris?
peream nisi dicere uix est, / _si modo_ qui periit ille perire potest'.
=5. LEX PEDIS.= 'The rules of metre'. _Lex_ used similarly at Hor _Carm_
IV ii 10-12 'per audaces noua dithyrambos / uerba deuoluit numerisque
fertur / _lege_ solutis', Cic _Or_ 58 'uersibus est certa quaedam et
definita _lex_', and Columella XI 1 1.
=5. FORTVNAQVE.= The sense of the word is difficult. It seems, as
Professor R. J. Tarrant notes, to combine the idea of 'condition, state'
(compare for example _Aen_ II 350 'quae sit rebus _fortuna_ uidetis')
with that of 'unfortunate circumstances', giving the general sense 'the
fact that you have the bad luck to possess a metrically impossible
name'. Three lines before, Ovid used _nominis ... condicione tui_; and in
the present line he seems to have been influenced by the common phrase
_condicio et fortuna_, 'allotted circumstances of life', for which
compare Cic _Off_ I 41 'est autem infima _condicio et fortuna_
seruorum', _Mil_ 92 'in infimi generis hominum _condicione atque
fortuna_'. At _II Verr_ I 81 Cicero similarly adapts the expression to
suit his context: 'Lampsacenis ... populi Romani _condicione_ sociis,
_fortuna_ seruis, uoluntate supplicibus'.
=7. NOMEN SCINDERE.= That is, split the name so that the hexameter
(_uersus prior_) would end in _TUti-_ and the following pentameter
(_uersus minor_) begin with _-cAnus_. Such word-divisions are not
permissible in Augustan verse; from earlier poetry Professor C. P. Jones
cites Ennius _Ann_ 609 Vahlen3 'saxo _cere_ comminuit _brum_'.
=8. HOC= = _nomine tuo_.
=9-14.= Ovid lists the three possible ways of scanning the name so as to
remove the cretic: _TUticanus_, _TuticAnus_, and _TUtIcAnus_.
=9. MORATVR= = _longa est_. The _TLL_ cites Velius Longus VII 55 5 Keil
'hanc ... naturam esse quarundam litterarum, ut _morentur_ et
enuntiatione sonum detineant'.
=11. ET= _BCHIacLT_ NON _M_ NEC _FIpc_. _Nec_, printed by some editors,
cannot by itself be correct, for there is no negative with the
corresponding _producatur_ in the following distich. A negative is
implicitly supplied for _potes ... uenire_ and _producatur_ by 15-16 'his
ego si uitiis ...', but Professor R. J. Tarrant is possibly right to
suggest that _nec_ should be read both here and (replacing _aut_) at the
beginning of 13.
W. A. Camps (_CQ_ n.s. IV [1954] 206-7) has pointed out that it is
somewhat odd that 'The first two possibilities are introduced, in lines
7 and 9, in terms that disclaim them at once' and that 'the third and
fourth possibilities are added without disclaimer ... in terms that would
be quite appropriate to serious suggestions'. He suggests reading _at_,
so that 11-12 represent an imaginary rejoinder to Ovid's rejection of
the possibilities already suggested; Ovid's rejoinder is given at 15
'his ego si uitiis ...'. But _at potes_ is difficult: Ovid could have
written 'at, puto, potes', speaking in his own person to raise an
objection he would then counter, or he could have represented Tuticanus
as saying 'at ... possum'; but it is hard to see how he could have
written 'at potes'.
=13. PRODVCATVR= _MHI_ VT DVCATVR _LTB2F2ul_ VT DICATVR _B1CF1_.
_Producere_ is the correct technical term for 'lengthen'; compare
Quintilian VII ix 13 '_productio_ quoque in scripto et correptio in
dubio relicta causa est ambiguitatis' & IX iii 69 'uoces ['words']
... _productione_ tantum uel correptione mutatae'. _Vt ducatur_ is
unlikely to be right. _Ducatur_ could certainly stand for _producatur_
(although this would destroy the balance with the following
_correptius_), but the verb is clearly indicated as a potential
subjunctive by the preceding _potes ... uenire_; and _ut_ (which would in
any case be taken as correlative with _ut_ in line 12) cannot stand with
this construction. _Vt dicatur_, Ehwald's preferred reading ('dicatur et
sit secunda [syllaba] productâ morâ longa'--_KB_ 68), is even less
likely to be right, since _dicere_ in this context could only mean
'pronounce', as at Cic _Or_ 159 '"inclitus" dicimus breui prima littera,
"insanus" producta'.
=13. EXIT.= _Exire_ similarly used of words being uttered at _Her_ VIII
115-16 (Hermione speaking) 'saepe Neoptolemi pro nomine nomen Orestae /
_exit_, et errorem uocis ut omen amo'. _OLD exeo_ 2d gives other
instances from Cicero (_Brutus_ 265), Seneca (_Ben_ V 19 4), and
Quintilian (XI iii 33), but from verse outside Ovid only Martial XII xi
3, where the word has a somewhat different meaning: 'cuius Pimpleo lyra
clarior exit ab antro?'.
=14. PORRECTA= is equivalent to _longa_, and belongs to _secunda_ (_sc_
syllaba) by hypallage. Compare Quintilian I vi 32 'aut correptis aut
_porrectis_ ... litteris syllabisue' & I vii 14 'usque ad Accium et ultra
_porrectas_ syllabas geminis, ut dixi, uocalibus scripserunt [that is,
they wrote _uiita_ for _uita_ and so on; such spellings occur sometimes
in inscriptions]', and Rutilius Lupus I 3.
=15. VITIIS.= _Vitium_ similarly used for faults of diction at _AA_ III
295-96 'in _uitio_ decor est: quaerunt male reddere uerba; / discunt
posse minus quam potuere loqui', Cic _de Or_ I 116, and Quintilian I v
17, a discussion of the shortening and lengthening of vowels; this he
includes among the 'quae accidunt in dicendo _uitia_'. Ovid is probably
combining this sense with that of 'poetic weakness', for which compare
_Tr_ I vii 39-40 'quicquid in his igitur _uitii_ rude carmen habebit, /
emendaturus, si licuisset, eram' and the use of _uitiosus_ at xiii 17
and _Tr_ IV i 1 and IV x 61.
=16. MERITO PECTVS HABERE NEGER.= 'People would quite rightly say that I
was ignorant'. Compare _Met_ XIII 290-91 & 295 (Ulysses is speaking of
Ajax's claim to the arms of Achilles) 'artis opus tantae rudis et _sine
pectore_ miles / indueret? neque enim clipei caelamina nouit ... postulat
ut capiat _quae non intellegit_ arma!'.
=17-18. MVNERIS ... QVOD MEVS ADIECTO FAENORE REDDET AMOR.= _Adiecto
faenore_ = 'with interest added on'; Ovid will make up for his past
negligence by sending Tuticanus more than one poem ('tibi _carmina_
mittam'). It is clear from the opening distich of poem xiv that Ovid
sent the poem to Tuticanus very soon after the composition of xii: 'Haec
tibi mittuntur quem sum _modo_ carmine questus / non aptum numeris nomen
habere meis'.
A similar use of _faenus_ at _EP_ III i 79-81 'nec ... debetur meritis
gratia nulla meis. / redditur illa quidem grandi cum _faenore_ nobis'.
The variant AGER (_TM2I2_) for _amor_ was clearly induced by such
passages as Tib II vi 21-22 'spes sulcis credit aratis / semina quae
magno _faenore_ reddat _ager_', _RA_ 173-74 'obrue uersata Cerealia
semina terra, / quae tibi cum multo _faenore_ reddat _ager_', and _EP_ I
v 25-26 'at, puto ... sata cum multo _faenore_ reddit _ager_': these
passages refer to the original meaning of _faenus_ ('faenum appellatur
naturalis terrae fetus; ob quam causam et nummorum fetus _faenus_ est
uocatum'--Festus 94 Muller, 83 Lindsay).
=18. REDDET= _GCMIT_ REDDIT _BFHL_. Numerous instances of similar
corruptions in Lucan and Juvenal given by Willis (166-67), who remarks
'The general trend seems to be from other tenses to the present, and
from other persons and numbers to the third person singular'.
=19. QVACVMQVE NOTA.= 'With whatever method of indicating your name is
possible'. For the collocation of _nota_ and _nomen_, see _Aen_ III
443-44 'insanam uatem aspicies, quae rupe sub ima / fata canit foliisque
_notas et nomina_ mandat'.
Luck joins the phrase with the following _tibi carmina mittam_, but the
construction seems somewhat cumbersome; it is probably better to retain
the comma after _nota_ and take the phrase with _teque canam_.
=20-22. PVERO ... PVER ... FRATRI FRATER.= For Ovid's use of polyptoton,
see at viii 67 _uatis ... uates_ (p 278).
=23. DVXQVE COMESQVE.= The same phrase at _Tr_ III vii 18 (to his
stepdaughter Perilla) 'utque pater natae _duxque comesque_ fui' and _Tr_
IV x 119-20 (to his Muse) 'tu _dux et comes_ es, tu nos abducis ab
Histro, / in medioque mihi das Helicone locum'.
=24. FRENA NOVELLA.= For the image, see at ii 23 _frena remisi_ (p 169).
_Nouellus_ is a rare word in poetry. In prose, the word is often used of
young plants or farm animals; and here _frena nouella_ may well be a
metonymy for _frena nouellorum equorum_. Alternatively, the word could
be equivalent to _noua_ 'new, unfamiliar', as at _Fast_ III 455 'iamque
indignanti _noua frena_ receperat ore'. In either case, Ovid is clearly
referring to the beginning of his poetic career.
=25. SAEPE EGO CORREXI SVB TE CENSORE LIBELLOS.= Compare _Tr_ III vii
23-24 (to Perilla) 'dum licuit, tua saepe mihi, tibi nostra legebam; /
saepe tui _iudex_, saepe magister eram'. _Censore_ was probably still
felt as a metaphor; the only precedent given at _OLD censor_ 2b is Hor
_Ep_ II ii 109-10 'at qui legitimum cupiet fecisse poema / cum tabulis
_animum censoris_ sumet _honesti_', which is virtually a simile.
=26. SAEPE TIBI ADMONITV FACTA LITVRA MEO EST.= Similar phrasing in a
similar context at _EP_ II iv 17-18 (to Atticus) 'utque meus lima rasus
liber esset amici, / _non semel admonitu facta litura tuo est_'.
=27. DIGNAM MAEONIIS PHAEACIDA ... CHARTIS.= 'A Phaeacid worthy of the
Homeric original you were translating'. It is clear from xvi 27 that
Tuticanus produced a translation rather than a new work in imitation of
Homer: 'et qui Maeoniam Phaeacida _uertit_'.
=27. MAEONIIS= = 'Homeric', Homer being considered a native of Maeonia
(Lydia). The same use at _RA_ 373 'Maeonio ... pede', _EP_ III iii 31-32
'Maeonio ... carmine', and Prop II xxviii 29 'Maeonias ... heroidas'; the
word in this sense perhaps brought into standard poetic vocabulary by
Horace (_Carm_ I vi 2 'Maeonii carminis', _Carm_ IV ix 5-6 'Maeonius
... Homerus').
=27. CHARTIS= = _carminibus_. Compare _AA_ II 746 'uos eritis _chartae_
proxima cura meae'. The metonymy is not found in Virgil or Propertius,
but compare Lucretius IV 970 'patriis ... _chartis_' = 'Latinis uersibus'
(I 137) and Hor _Carm_ IV ix 30-31 'non ego te meis / _chartis_
inornatum silebo' (where Kiessling-Heinze point out that _chartis_
refers to the poem in its published state being transmitted to others,
rather than to the poem at its moment of composition).
=28. CVM TE PIERIAE PERDOCVERE DEAE.= For the poet's being divinely
taught, compare Prop II x 10 & IV i 133, _Her_ XV 27-28 'at mihi
Pegasides blandissima carmina dictant; / iam canitur toto nomen in orbe
meum', and the disclaimers at Prop II i 3 and _AA_ I 25-28 'non ego,
Phoebe, datas a te mihi mentiar artes, / nec nos aeriae uoce monemur
auis, / nec mihi sunt uisae Clio Cliusque sorores / seruanti pecudes
uallibus, Ascra, tuis'. The topic is an important one in ancient
literature, the most influential passages being the opening of Hesiod's
_Theogony_ (referred to in the passage just cited) and the beginning of
Callimachus' _Aetia_.
=29. TENOR.= 'Course'; the same use at _Her_ VII 111-12 (Dido speaking)
'durat in extremum uitaeque nouissima nostrae / prosequitur fati qui
fuit ante _tenor_'.
=29. VIRIDI ... IVVENTA.= Ovid is perhaps imitating _Aen_ V 295 'Euryalus
forma insignis _uiridique iuuenta_'. Similar phrasing at _AA_ III 557
'uiridemque iuuentam', _Tr_ IV x 17 'frater ad eloquium _uiridi_
tendebat ab aeuo', and _Tr_ III i 7-8 'id quoque quod _uiridi_ quondam
male lusit in aeuo / heu nimium sero damnat et odit opus'; at the last
passage Luck aptly cites _Met_ XV 201-3 'nam tener et lactens puerique
simillimus aeuo / uere nouo [_sc_ annus] est; tunc _herba nitens_ et
roboris expers turget'.
=30. ALBENTES ... COMAS.= For the synecdoche compare Callimachus _Ep_ LXIV
(=_Anth Pal_ V xxiii) 5-6 '[Greek: hê poliê de / autik' anamnêsei tauta
se panta komê]'.
Ovid would have been about sixty years of age at the time of this poem,
old by Roman standards; but his father lived to ninety, and was survived
by his wife (_Tr_ IV x 77-80).
=30. INLABEFACTA= occurs in classical Latin only here and at viii 9-10
'ius aliquod faciunt adfinia uincula nobis / (quae semper maneant
_inlabefacta_ precor)'.
=31-32. QVAE NISI TE MOVEANT, DVRO TIBI PECTORA FERRO / ESSE VEL INVICTO
CLAVSA ADAMANTE PVTEM.= Compare _Her_ II 137 'duritia _ferrum_ ut superes
_adamantaque_ teque', _Her_ X 109-10, and _Met_ IX 614-15 (Byblis on her
brother) 'nec rigidas silices solidumue in pectore _ferrum_ / aut
_adamanta_ gerit'.
Professor R. J. Tarrant notes the unexpected shift in the thought of the
poem: earlier it was Ovid who was guilty of delaying in sending
Tuticanus any sign of his friendship. Ovid might be postponing the real
point of the letter for reasons of tact: Tuticanus has acted as though
his long association with Ovid meant nothing to him, but Ovid does not
want to complain of this openly, and so stresses his own failure to send
Tuticanus a letter.
=33-36.= The set of _adynata_ is remarkable for the way Ovid makes each of
them relate to his own hardships; even Boreas and Notus have a specific
connection, since Ovid complains so often of the climate of Tomis.
=35. TEPIDVS BOREAS ... SIT.= A comparable inversion of nature described at
_Ibis_ 34 'et tepidus gelido flabit ab axe Notus' (before Ovid will
forgive his enemy).
=35. PRAEFRIGIDVS= appears here for the first time in Latin; it occurs
later in Celsus and the elder Pliny. _Praegelidus_, however, is found at
Livy XXI 54 7.
=36. ET POSSIT FATVM MOLLIVS ESSE MEVM.= The personal reference in the
last element of the series of _adynata_ is a clear break with the
conventions of the topic. The last (and therefore greatest) curse in the
_Ibis_ has a similar personal reference: 'denique Sarmaticas inter
Geticasque sagittas / his precor ut uiuas et moriare locis'.
=37. LAPSO= _FHILT_ LASSO _BCM_. _Lapso ... sodali_ seems to me the
preferable reading, since it contrasts Ovid's former life in Rome with
his disgrace and exile; but _lasso_ is well attested and can be
construed easily enough. Unfortunately, parallels from the poems of
exile are of little use, since in most of them the one word could easily
be read for the other: 'tu quoque magnorum laudes admitte uirorum, / ut
facis, et lapso [_uar_ lasso] quam potes adfer opem' (_EP_ II iii
47-48), 'fac modo permaneas lasso [_uar_ lapso], Graecine, fidelis, /
duret et in longas impetus iste moras' (_EP_ II vi 35-36), 'regia, crede
mihi, res est succurrere lapsis [_uar_ lassis], / conuenit et tanto,
quantus es ipse, uiro' (_EP_ II ix 11-12), 'digne uir hac serie, lapso
[_uar_ lasso] succurrere amico / conueniens istis moribus esse puta'
(_EP_ III ii 109). Professor R. J. Tarrant cites similar variants in the
text of Seneca at _HF_ 646 & 803 and _Thy_ 616 & 658.
A clear decision can be made, however, for the phrase _res lassae_; it
is certified as the correct term by the parallel phrase _res fessae_,
for which see _Aen_ III 145 'quam _fessis_ finem _rebus_ ferat' and
_Aen_ XI 335 'consulite in medium et _rebus_ succurrite _fessis_', cited
by Luck at _Tr_ I v 35. For _res lassae_ in Ovid, compare _Tr_ I v 35
'quo magis, o pauci, _rebus_ succurrite _lassis_', _Tr_ V ii 41 'unde
petam _lassis_ solacia _rebus_?', _EP_ II ii 47 'nunc tua pro _lassis_
nitatur gratia _rebus'_, and _EP_ II iii 93 'respicis antiquum _lassis_
in _rebus_ amicum'; in each of these passages _lapsis_ is found as a
variant for _lassis_. Similarly, the sixth-century _codex Romanus_ reads
_lapsis_ at Virgil _G_ IV 449 'uenimus hinc _lassis_ quaesitum oracula
rebus'.
=38. HIC CVMVLVS NOSTRIS ABSIT ABESTQVE MALIS.= Festus defines _cumulus_
as a heap added to an already full measure (s.u. _auctarium_, 14 Muller,
14 Lindsay). The transferred sense is common in Cicero (_Prou Cons_ 26,
_S Rosc_ 8, _Att_ XVI iii 3), and is found elsewhere in Ovid at _EP_ II
v 35-36 'hoc tibi facturo uel si non ipse rogarem / accedat cumulus
gratia nostra leuis' and _Met_ XI 205-6 'stabat opus: pretium rex
infitiatur et addit, / perfidiae _cumulum_, falsis periuria uerbis'.
=38. ABSIT ABESTQVE.= The more natural _abest absitque_ cannot be placed
in a pentameter.
=39. PER SVPEROS, QVORVM CERTISSIMVS ILLE EST.= Similar line-endings at
_Ibis_ 23-24 'di melius! _quorum longe mihi maximus ille est_, / qui
nostras inopes noluit esse uias' and _EP_ I ii 97-98 'di faciant igitur,
_quorum iustissimus ipse est_, / alma nihil maius Caesare terra ferat'.
=40. QVO ... PRINCIPE.= Professor R. J. Tarrant points out that Augustus
must here be meant, since it appears from 20 that Ovid and Tuticanus
were contemporaries: Tuticanus must by the time of the poem's writing
have been in later middle age, rather late to be prospering only under
Tiberius. T. P. Wiseman (268) has suggested that Ovid's Tuticanus might
be the son of a Tuticanus Callus known to have been senator before 48
BC.
=41-42. EFFICE ... NE SPERATA MEAM DESERAT AVRA RATEM.= 'See to it that the
breeze I hope for does not fail to come to my ship'. _Deserere_
generally refers to something failing one that was originally operative:
compare Cic _Att_ VII vii 7 'nisi me lucerna desereret' ('if the lamp
were not going out'--Shackleton Bailey), Plautus _Mer_ 123 'genua hunc
cursorem deserunt' and the other passages cited at _OLD desero_ 2b. But
_sperata_ indicates that the breeze cannot yet be present; other
instances of the same metaphor at viii 27-28 'quamlibet exigua si nos ea
_iuuerit_ aura, / obruta de mediis cumba resurget aquis', ix 73 'et si
quae _dabit_ aura sinum, laxate rudentes', and _Tr_ IV v 19-20 'utque
facis, remis ad opem luctare ferendam, / _dum ueniat_ placido mollior
aura deo',
=43. QVID MANDEM QVAERIS.= Similar wording at _EP_ III i 33-34 (to his
wife) '_quid facias quaeris?_ quaeras hoc scilicet ipsa [_Riese_: ipsum
_codd_]: / inuenies, uere si reperire uoles'.
Ovid's pretense of not knowing what to tell Tuticanus to do was an
ingenious solution to his friends' complaint that he was constantly
repeating the same instructions to them (_EP_ III vii 1-6). Professor
R. J. Tarrant points out the balance with the poem's start, where Ovid
pretends not to know how to address Tuticanus.
=43. PEREAM NISI DICERE VIX EST.= Similar doubt expressed at _Tr_ IV iii
31-32 'quid tamen ipse precer dubito, nec dicere possum / affectum quem
te mentis habere uelim'. _Peream nisi_, which Ovid plays on in the next
line, is colloquial and foreign to poetic diction: instances at _OLD
pereo_ 3b.
=44. SI MODO QVI PERIIT ILLE PERIRE POTEST.= Similar phrasing at _Tr_ I iv
27-28 'uos animam saeuae fessam subducite morti, / _si modo qui periit
non periisse potest_'.
=45. NEC QVID NOLIMVE VELIMVE.= Compare _Met_ XI 492-93 '_nec_ se
... fatetur / scire ratis [_codd_: satis _fort scribendum_] rector
... _quid iubeatue uetetue_' and _Tr_ I ii 31-32 'rector in incerto est
_nec quid fugiatue petatue_ / inuenit'.
=46. NEC SATIS VTILITAS EST MIHI NOTA MEA.= 'And I am at a loss to know
what is to my advantage'. _Satis_ strengthens the sentence: compare Ter
_Hec_ 877 'ego istuc sati' scio', 'I know that very well'. For
_utilitas_, see at ix 48 _publica ... utilitas_ (p 300).
=48. SENSVS= here means 'judgement' or 'good sense', as at Prop II xii 3
'is primum uidit sine _sensu_ uiuere amantes' and Val Max I vi ext 1 'si
quod uestigium in uecordi pectore _sensus_ fuisset'. Elsewhere in Ovid
_sensus_ carries the meaning 'awareness, consciousness'.
=48. CVM RE= _codd_ CVM SPE _Heinsius_. _Cum re_, 'along with my fortune',
seems somewhat out of place; but Burman pointed out that _consilium et
res_ seems to have been a Latin phrase, citing Sallust _Iug_ 74 'neque
illi _res neque consilium_ aut quisquam hominum satis placebat' and Ter
_Eun_ 240-41 'itan parasti te ut spes nulla relicua in te siet tibi? /
simul _consilium cum re_ amisti?'.
=50. QVAQVE VIA VENIAS AD MEA VOTA, VIDE.= This is a provisional
restoration of the line. The manuscript reading which most closely
approaches this text is that of _L_ and _F3_, QVAQVE VIAM FACIAS AD MEA
VOTA, VIDE; the other manuscripts have the same text, except that QVOQVE
is found in some for _quaque_, while for _uide_ there are the variants
MODO, VADO, and VALE.
My restoration is based on 6 '_quaque_ meos _adeas_ est _uia_ nulla
modos' and _Fast_ I 431-32 (Priapus approaches the sleeping nymph Lotis)
'a pedibus tracto uelamine _uota_ / _ad sua felici coeperat ire uia_'.