†ipsa locum per se littera nostra rogat.†
seu tamen effectus habitura est gratia, seu me35
dura iubet gelido Parca sub axe mori,
semper inoblita repetam tua munera mente,
et mea me tellus audiet esse tuum;
audiet et caelo posita est quaecumque sub ullo
(transit nostra feros si modo Musa Getas),40
33 aliud cupiens] uolens aliud I || delabor] dilabor L || 34 uix sanus; seclusit Merkel (1884) || 34 ipsa locum ... rogat] inque locum ... redit temptauit Tarrant || per se littera ... rogat] pro se tristia ... rogant [uel petunt] temptaui || per se ... rogat] per se ... petit unus Heinsii per se ... facit unus Heinsii pro se ... facit Heinsius || 35 me] nos M2ul || 37 munera] carmina F1 munere F2ul nomina F3ul, ut uid || 38 mea] tua H || me] te (F1) || audiet FHIT audiat BCML || 39 audiet] audiat L || est om M || ullo] illo Mac, sicut coni Bentley || 40 transit nostra feros] transierit seuos T
meque tuum libra norit et aere magis.
41 seruatoremque] seruṭatoremque M seruataremque L || 42 meque] neque C || tuum libra norit et aere magis Barberinus lat. 262ul (Lenz), F3? (m̅ = magis) tuum libra norit et aere minus BCMHILT (libra ex liba I) tuum libra norit et aere datum F1 || suum [libra norit et aere] minus F2ul [tellus ... quaecumque ...] meque, tuum libra, nouit, et aere, minus Gronouius, Obs. II i meque tuum libra norit et aere tuum Heinsius tuae libra norit et aere manus Rappold (Owen 1915) tuae libra norit et aere domus temptaui; cf Suet Aug 61 1
XVI
non solet ingeniis summa nocere dies,
famaque post cineres maior uenit. at mihi nomen
tum quoque, cum uiuis adnumerarer, erat.
cum foret et Marsus magnique Rabirius oris5
Iliacusque Macer sidereusque Pedo,
et, qui Iunonem laesisset in Hercule, Carus,
Iunonis si iam non gener ille foret,
quique dedit Latio carmen regale, Seuerus,
et cum subtili Priscus uterque Numa,10
ad inuidum B2MI2 ad inimicum H2 || 1 carmina] carmia M || 3 uenit. at scripsi uenit et BCMFILT ueniet H || nomen] uoto H (noto?) || 4 tum] tunc F || uiuis] uiuus H || erat] eat Cac || 5 cum foret et FHT cumque foret BCMIL || Rabirius MFI sabirius BC rabarius T rabirtius H rabilinus L Sabellius Barth, Adu. xxxvii 10 (Burman) || 6 Iliacusque] iliacus H || sidereusque] sidere/usque B Cecropiusque Bentley; cf x 71 'cum Thesea carmine laudes' || pedo M2c || 7 Iunonem laesisset] iunonem lesissent Bac, ut uid lesisset iunonem M || Carus] karus B || 8 Iunonis] iunonisque H || si iam] siam C1 || gener ... foret BCMFHT (foret M1c) neger foret L foret genus I
sufficis, et gemino carmine nomen habes,
et qui Penelopae rescribere iussit Vlixem
errantem saeuo per duo lustra mari,
quique suam †Trisomen† imperfectumque dierum15
deseruit celeri morte Sabinus opus,
ingeniique sui dictus cognomine Largus,
Gallica qui Phrygium duxit in arua senem,
11 imparibus numeris] imparibus [spatium septem litterarum] his H || 12 sufficis, et] sufficis Mac || 13 Penelopae] penelopi H penolope CI || 13 solinus H2(gl) in marg || 15 Trisomen C (trisom̅) trisomem B1 trosenē L trionē F troinē I trozenen M troezen T tr****m H troilem B2 Troezena quidam apud Micyllum Tymelen temptauit Heinsius Thressen [=Hero] M. Hertz (Lenz) Chrysen Roeper (Riese) Troesmin Ehwald Troesmen Owen Sinatroncen ['Parthorum regis nomen'] Bergk, Opusc. I 664 pro suam t. || imperfectumque] imperfectamque H imperfectum I1 interruptumque Bergk || 16 deseruit] destituit Bergk || Sabinus] salinus (M1)T solius F2ul || 17 dictus] dignus I || 18 Gallica] gallia M1 || duxit] dixit M1 || arua] arma B1?ulHI
quique sua nomen Phyllide Tuscus habet,20
ueliuolique maris uates, cui credere posses
carmina caeruleos composuisse deos,
quique acies Libycas Romanaque proelia dixit,
et Marius scripti dexter in omne genus,
Trinacriusque suae Perseidos auctor, et auctor25
Tantalidae reducis Tyndaridosque Lupus,
19 domito ... ab Hectore] domitam ... ab hectore FM2ul domitam ... ab hercule Gothanus II 121, saec xiii (André), probante Korn || Camerinus] cam̅inus T caminus F || 20 sua nomen Phyllide Tuscus] fata nomen pillide tuscus C sua tuscus phillide nomen L sua nomen Phyllide Fuscus Heinsius ('nomen magis Romanum') || 21 ueliuolique] ueiiuolique C || uates] nomen Merkel ad Ibin p. 377 (Owen) || posses BCMHILT possis F, fort recte || 23 quique] cuique C || proelia] pretia C || dixit] salustius M2gl || 24 Marius scripti] marius scriptor C scriptor marius B || 24 dexter] promptus M, fort in ras P || 25 Trinacriusque BCFL tinacriusque IT tenar*sque H eticiusque M || Perseidos] perseidis BCI Peneidos Ehwald (=Daphnes) || auctor ... auctor] auctor ... actor H actor ... actor F || et] set F2 || Tyndaridosque] tyndaridisque MI
Pindaricae fidicen tu quoque, Rufe, lyrae,
Musaque Turrani tragicis innixa coturnis,
et tua cum socco Musa, Melisse, leuis;30
cum Varius Gracchusque darent fera dicta tyrannis,
Callimachi Proculus molle teneret iter,
27 Maeoniam] meonidē H || Pheacida L pheacida M2c pheatida I pheicida H ecaeida B1 aeacida C hetaterā F hecateida T ecateida B2 || et une HLB2 et une M2c et una IT et uni B1C in anguem F; 'latet aliquid'—Burman || 28 lyrae] l*rȩ Cac || 29 Musaque] uisaque C || 29 Turrani BCMLT turani FI tiranni H Thorani Heinsius || tragicis] gtragicis T || innixa] innexa T || 30 (in ras?) add C2 || 30 et tua] ipseque C2 || socco] socio C2, ut uid || Melisse MFB2 mel isse B1 molisse IL molasse T melose H molesse C2 (malesse legunt Lenz, André) || leuis] leui H Othob. lat. 1469, saec xv (Tarrant), sicut coni Heinsius || 31 Varius LTB2ul uariis C uarus B1MFHI || Gracchusque edd olim graccusque T, probante Ehwald gra*ccusque B gracusque HIL gratusque CMF || 31 darent] daret F parent (B1)C || tyrannis BC, sicut coni Heinsius tyranni MFHILT || 32 Proculus] proculuus M pro cuius B2c prochius C
aptaque uenanti Grattius arma daret,
33 locus desperatus. 'haec nec Latina sunt, nec satis intelligo quid sibi uelint'—Heinsius
Tityron antiquas Passerque rediret ad herbas B1C (Passerque ex passerque Riese)
titirus antiquas et erat qui pasceret herbas HILT (titirus: tiarus Iac) (pasceret: diceret L)
[tityron antiquas] et erat qui gigneret [herbas] B3ul
titirus eternas caneret qui procreet herbas F (procreet: pasceret F2ul)
titirum et antiquas recuṣbasse referret ad umbras M
[tityron antiquas] recubasse refertur [ad herbas] B2
Tityron aprica recubantem pangeret umbra Heinsius (Korn)
Tityron aprica recubasse referret in umbra Heinsius (Korn)
Tityron apricus recubasse referret ad umbras [uel undas] Heinsius (Korn)
Tityrus antiquis armentaque pasceret herbis Withof (Korn)
Tityrus antiquas pastorque rediret ad herbas Korn
Tityrus antiquas rursus reuocaret ad herbas Madvig (Adu. crit. II praef)
Tityrus antiquas capras ubi pasceret herbas Madvig (Adu. crit. II 105)
Tityrus apricans, ut erat, qui pasceret, herbas Bergk (Opusc. I 667)
Tityron Andinasque esset qui diceret herbas Roeper (Korn)
Tityron antiquas pastorem exciret ad herbas Owen (1915)
Tityron antiquas carmenque referret ad herbas Schneiderhan (Lenz)
Tityron antiquas Passer reuocaret ad herbas Luck
33 antiquas] eternas F intactas uel ac uacuas uel ac uirides Riese || 34 aptaque ... arma] altaque ... arma M armaque ... apta I || uenanti] uenati C uenandi F2ul || Grattius Buecheler e cod illius poetae (RhM 35 [1880] 407) gratius CFLT gracius BMHI
clauderet imparibus uerba Capella modis,
cumque forent alii, quorum mihi cuncta referre
nomina longa mora est, carmina uulgus habet,
essent et iuuenes quorum, quod inedita cura est,
appellandorum nil mihi iuris adest40
(te tamen in turba non ausim, Cotta, silere,
Pieridum lumen praesidiumque fori,
35 Naiadas C. P. Jones naiadas a HLI2 nayades a MT naidas a BCFI2 || Fontanus] fontusanus M montanus H, ut uid || 38 longa mora] mora longa L || uulgus habet] uulgus habent HIac fama tenet T || 39-40 spurios putat Williams || 39 essent et iuuenes] quid pro essent C, incertum et iuuenes essent H || iuuenes quorum, quod interpunxi iuuenes, quorum quod edd || cura unus Thuaneus Heinsii (=Parisinus lat. 8256 uel 8462) causa BCMFHILT || 41 tamen in] tanta in M1L tamen e Heinsius || 42 lumen] numen 'editi aliquot'—Burman || praesidiumque fori] praesidiumque meum H1; uide Hor Carm I i 2
Maxime, nobilitas ingeminata dedit),
dicere si fas est, claro mea nomine Musa45
atque inter tantos quae legeretur erat.
ergo summotum patria proscindere, Liuor,
desine neu cineres sparge, cruente, meos.
omnia perdidimus; tantummodo uita relicta est,
praebeat ut sensum materiamque mali.50
[quid iuuat extinctos ferrum demittere in artus?
non habet in nobis iam noua plaga locum.]
43 maternos] fraternos B1CH || Cottas] coctas L || cui om FIL || Messallasque BCM messalosque IL messalinosque HT messalanosque F || 44 Maxime B1CMpc, sicut coni Burman maxima MacFHILTB2 || ingeminata] cui geminata F || 46 legeretur] regeretur BCpc regaretur Cac || 47 proscindere] procindere Fac praescindere T discindere I || 48 neu] nec IF ne H || 49 relicta] retenta T, ut uid (retn̅ta) || 50 ut] ut ca Tac || 51-52 spurios puto || 51 demittere Berolinensis Diez. B. Sant. 1, saec xiii (Lenz), Laurentianus 36 2, saec xv (Lenz), editio princeps Bononiensis (Lenz) dimittere BCMFHILT || artus] albis C (astus Lenz; André dubitanter) || explicit liber ouidii de ponto fe li ci ter sint bona scribenti sint uita salusque legenti B explicit liber ouidii de ponto C explicit liber publii·o·n·de ponto M explicit ouidius de ponto uade sed incultus qualem decet exulis esse F explicit o de ponto H hic liber explicit gratia christo detur L
COMMENTARY
EPISTVLARVM EX PONTO LIBER QVARTVS. The precise title of these poems is uncertain. The one mention Ovid makes of the poems' title is of little assistance: 'inuenies, quamuis non est miserabilis index, / non minus hoc illo triste quod ante dedi' (EP I i 15-16). The earliest manuscript of the poems, the ninth-century Hamburgensis scrin. 52 F (extant to III ii 67), gives no title at the start of the poems, but has 'EX PONTO LIBER ·II· EXPLICIT' at the end of the second book. Later manuscripts generally call the poems the De Ponto or Epistulae de Ponto. The original name was probably not present in the archetype; these titles were perhaps invented with the aid of the first distich of the first poem: 'Naso Tomitanae iam non nouus incola terrae / hoc tibi de Getico litore mittit opus'. Heinsius strongly preferred Ex Ponto to De Ponto ('nihil magis inscitum aut barbarum hac inscriptione'), citing in its support the first line of Tr V ii 'Ecquid, ut e Ponto noua uenit epistula, palles'. In reality ex and de are equally acceptable Latin (Cic Att XV xxvi 5; Fam XIV xx), but Ex Ponto is the title found in the oldest manuscript of the poems and has become usual since Heinsius' time; in the absence of further evidence it may be allowed to stand.
Heinsius made two other suggestions for the poems' title. The first, Pontica, seems best suited for a poem describing the geography of the area around Tomis or the characteristics of its inhabitants. His second suggestion, Epistulae Ponticae, is attractive, but without any particular probability.
I. To Sextus Pompeius
Sextus Pompeius, consul ordinarius in AD 14, is the most illustrious of Ovid's correspondents in the Ex Ponto; patron of Valerius Maximus, he was related to Pompey the Great (Sen Ben IV 30 2) and to Augustus (Dio LVI 29 5). For discussions of his career, see Syme HO 156-62, Pauly-Wissowa XXI,2 2265 61, and Dessau PIR P 450. He is the recipient of four poems in the fourth book, but is nowhere mentioned in the first three books of the Ex Ponto. Since Pompeius helped Ovid during his journey to exile (v 31-38), their relationship must have been of long standing; clearly Pompeius had indicated to Ovid his preference not to be mentioned in his verse, even after it had become clear to most of Ovid's friends that being named by him would carry no penalty. In EP III vi, Ovid exhorts a timid friend to allow him to name him; there is no indication, however, that the poem was addressed to Pompeius.
Ovid seems to have been best served in exile by those of his friends who were of no particular eminence. In Tr III iv 3-8 & 43-44 he complains not only of the treatment he has received from Augustus, but also of the lack of assistance from those of his friends most in a position to help. Once Sextus Pompeius had indicated he was willing to be named publicly, Ovid could not ignore the influence that a man of such position could bring to bear; hence the number of poems addressed to him in the fourth book.
Ovid starts the poem with an elaborate assertion of his past and present desire to mention Pompeius in his verse (1-22), and then briefly recounts the services Pompeius has rendered to him, and will continue to render (23-26). The reason he is confident that Pompeius will continue to assist him is that Pompeius' past assistance has been such that he is now, in effect, Pompeius' creation, and brings glory to him in the way that great works of art do for their creators (27-36).
1. DEDVCTVM. 'Composed'. Deducere is often used in reference to the drawing of fibres from the wool on the distaff and the shaping of the thread (Catullus LXIV 311-14). From this meaning derive the two senses the word can have when referring to poetry, 'composed' and 'finely spun, delicate'. The first sense is seen here and at Tr I i 39, EP I v 13, and at Tr V i 71 'ipse nec emendo, sed ut hic deducta legantur', and the second at Ecl VI 4-5 'pastorem, Tityre, pinguis / pascere oportet ouis, deductum dicere carmen', where deductum ... carmen represents the Μοῦσαν ... λεπταλέην of Callimachus Aetia I 24; Servius comments on the metaphor from spinning. It has been suggested that Met I 4 'ad mea perpetuum deducite tempora carmen' shows this meaning as well; see Kenney Ouidius Prooemians 51-52.
Hor Ep II i 225 'tenui deducta poemata filo' stands somewhere between the two senses.
2. DEBITOR ... VITAE. See v 33-36 (Ovid's letter speaking to Pompeius) 'te sibi, cum fugeret, memori solet ore referre / barbariae tutas exhibuisse uias, / sanguine Bistonium quod non tepefecerit ensem, / effectum cura pectoris esse tui'. The passage suggests that Pompeius supplied Ovid with a bodyguard for his journey overland from Tempyra to Tomis, either in an official capacity—Dessau suggests (PIR P 450) that Pompeius might have been proconsul of Macedonia—or, more probably, from his Macedonian estates, for which Dessau and Syme (HO 157) cite xv 15.
3. QVI. Williams' CVI is possibly correct; the line would then refer to the titulus of the poem in a published text.
3. SEV NON PROHIBES. 'If you do not try to prevent'. The context makes it clear that Pompeius will not in fact prevent Ovid from mentioning Pompeius in his poem. This conative sense is much more commonly found with the imperfect than with the present; the only way it can be dispensed with in this passage is if cui is read and, as Professor R. J. Tarrant suggests, prohibes taken to refer to the later inclusion of the poem in a published collection.
4. ACCEDET MERITIS. Pompeius' even allowing Ovid to name him would count as a favour. Nowhere in the poem does Ovid specify why Pompeius might prefer not to be named.
4. ACCEDET MERITIS HAEC QVOQVE SVMMA TVIS. 'This sum will be added to the favours you have done me'. Professor J. N. Grant points out to me the technical terms of finance used in the passage: debitor ... accedet ... summa. I once thought that summa was equivalent in sense to cumulus ('addition') at EP II v 35-36 'hoc tibi facturo, uel si non ipse rogarem, / accedat cumulus gratia nostra leuis', but have found no parallel for this sense of summa.
5. TRAHIS VVLTVS. 'Frown'—compare iii 7 'contraxit uultum Fortuna', viii 13-14 'ei mihi, si lectis uultum tu uersibus istis / ducis', Am II ii 33 'bene uir traxit uultum rugasque coegit', and Met II 774 'ingemuit uultumque una ac [Housman: ima ad codd] suspiria duxit'.
5-6. EQVIDEM PECCASSE FATEBOR, / DELICTI TAMEN EST CAVSA PROBANDA MEI. 'Yes, I shall certainly confess my guilt, but the reason for my offence is one that necessarily wins approval'. Ovid uses the correct legal terminology; compare Cic Mur 62 'fatetur aliquis se peccasse et sui [Halm: cui uel eius codd] delicti ueniam petit'. Other instances in Ovid of peccasse fateri at hexameter-ends are Am III xiv 37, Met III 718, VII 748 & XI 134, and EP II iii 33.
For Ovid's close acquaintance with the law see at xv 12 (pp 434-35).
7. NON POTVIT MEA MENS. Compare Tr V ix 25-26 'nunc quoque se, quamuis est iussa quiescere, quin te / nominet inuitum, uix mea Musa tenet'.
8. OFFICIO. Used again of Ovid's writing of verse-epistles at Tr V ix 33-34 'ne tamen officio memoris laedaris amici, / parebo iussis—parce timere—tuis'.
8. OFFICIO ... PIO. The words similarly combined at Tr III iii 84 and Tr V vi 4 'officiique pium ... onus'. The adjective ('loyal') is a favourite term of commendation in the poems of exile, applied to fides (Tr V xiv 20, EP III ii 98), coupled with memor (Tr IV v 18, V iv 43), or used to characterize the inseparable friends of myth such as Theseus and Pirithous (Tr I ix 31) or Castor and Pollux (Tr IV v 30).
9. IN. B's AB is possibly correct, ab istis meaning 'to judge by them, on the basis of their evidence'. Professor R. J. Tarrant cites Prop III iii 38 'ut reor a facie, Calliopea fuit'.
11. ALII VELLEM CVM SCRIBERE. The line confirms that Ovid was not at liberty to name Sextus Pompeius in his poems even after he had begun the composition of the first three books of the Ex Ponto.
Ovid similarly indicates his frustrated desire to name his correspondent at Tr IV v 10 'excidit heu nomen quam mihi paene tuum' and at EP III vi 1-2 'Naso suo (posuit nomen quam paene!) sodali / mittit ... hoc breue carmen'.
11. VELLEM CVM. B offers CVM VELLEM, which I take to be a simple corruption to prose word-order. It is however the reading printed by Owen; and it could be argued that cum uellem is the correct reading, and was altered to uellem cum for metrical reasons. Lucretius and Catullus were fond of placing a spondaic word in the fourth foot of the hexameter; in the Augustan age practice altered, and the pattern was generally avoided; compare Aen I 1 'Arma uirumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris'. It was, however, permitted occasionally, especially when the previous foot ended in a long monosyllable (Platnauer 20-22). Scribes quite often alter such lines so as to remove the spondaic word from coinciding with the fourth foot; an instance of this can be seen at line 7 'non potuit mea mens quin esset grata teneri', where H offers the scribal alteration esset quin. For a full discussion see Housman 269.
13. MENDIS. This is probably a form of mendum rather than of menda; compare Cic II Ver II 104 'quid fuit istic antea scriptum? quod mendum ista litura correxit?' and Att XIII xxiii 2 ' tantum librariorum menda tolluntur'. I have found no earlier instance in verse of mendum meaning 'error' in this sense; Ovid in his poems of exile uses the terms of his craft more readily than any of his predecessors.
14. VIX INVITA FACTA LITVRA MANV EST. Vix goes with facta; André seems to take it with inuita ('ma main l'effaçait presque à regret').
15. VIDERIT is a complete sentence meaning 'let him look to himself'. Compare the following examples: 'nona terebatur miserae uia; "uiderit [sc Demophoon]" inquit / et spectat zonam pallida facta suam' (RA 601-2), '"uiderit! insanos" inquit "fateamur amores"' (Met IX 519), 'cur tamen est mihi cura tui tot iam ante peremptis? / uiderit! intereat, quoniam tot caede procorum / admonitus non est' (Met X 623-25), 'uiderit! audentes forsque deusque iuuat' (Fast II 782), 'uideris! [cod Ambrosianus G 37 sup (saec xiv), sicut coni Heinsius: uiderit codd plerique] audebo tibi me scripsisse fateri' (EP I ii 9). The idiom is found with an expressed subject at AA II 371 'uiderit Atrides: Helenen ego crimine soluo' and AA III 671-72 'uiderit utilitas: ego coepta fideliter edam: / Lemniasin gladios in mea fata dabo'. It is clearly derived from the use of uiderit 'look after, take care of' with an expressed object, as at Her XII 209-11 'quo feret ira sequar! facti fortasse pigebit— / et piget infido consuluisse uiro. / uiderit ista deus qui nunc mea pectora uersat!'. Although uiderit in these passages clearly has a jussive sense, it is probably future perfect in origin, since uidero 'I shall look after' is quite frequent in Terence and Cicero: see Martin on Ter Ad 437 'de istoc ipse uiderit' and OLD uideo 18b.
15. AD SVMMAM means 'in short' or 'to sum up', and is used to introduce a recapitulation of what has just been expressed or concluded. The line should therefore be taken as the end of a debate which Ovid has had with himself. For the idiom, Ehwald (KB 45) cites Cic Att VII vii 7, XIV i 1, Hor Ep I i 106 'ad summam, sapiens uno minor est Ioue, Petronius Sat 37 5 'ad summam, mero meridie si dixerit illi tenebras esse, credet', 37 10, 57 3 & 9, 58 8 (in all these passages the narrator's neighbour at table is the speaker) and 71 1 (Trimalchio speaking). Professor R. J. Tarrant cites Sen Apoc 11 3 'ad summam, tria uerba cito dicat et seruum me ducat'.
AD SVMMVM is the reading of L and T and is printed by Burman (who punctuates uiderit ad summum) and Merkel (ad summum dixi). OLD summus 8b gives only one instance of ad summum, where it means 'at most' (Scribonius Largus 122). The phrase does not seem appropriate to the present context.
15. IPSE (FTP) is so much better in sense ('although he may object') than the ILLE of most manuscripts that I have followed all previous editors in accepting it.
16. HANC. This, the reading of H and I (perhaps recovered by conjecture), must be preferred to HA (AH, A), the reading of the other manuscripts, since without it licet ipse queratur would have to be linked to uiderit, which seems awkward. The corruption of hāc to ha is not difficult, especially in view of the following pudet; compare Met IX 531 'pudet, a pudet edere nomen'.
17. SI QVID EA EST. 'If it really exists'. The affirmation would be 'est aliquid Lethe'; compare Prop IV vii 1 'Sunt aliquid Manes: letum non omnia finit'.
17. HEBETANTEM PECTORA. I have found no other instance in Ovid of this transferred sense of hebetare, but compare Aen II 604-6 'omnem quae nunc obducta tuenti / mortalis hebetat uisus tibi ... nubem eripiam' and Aen VI 731-32. The transferred sense is found at Celsus II i 11 'Auster aures hebetat ... omnis calor ... mentem hebetat'; compare as well Pliny NH XVIII 118 '[faba ...] hebetare sensus existimata' and Suet Cl 2 'animo simul et corpore hebetato'.
Oblitus in 18 indicates that pectus is virtually equivalent to 'mind' or even 'memory'. In Ovid it often has the sense 'poetic feeling', as at xii 16 'pectus habere neger'.
17. LETHEN. Compare Tr IV i 47-48 'utque soporiferae biberem si pocula Lethes, / temporis aduersi sic mihi sensus abest'.
21. ET can be construed, as connecting with the preceding nec; compare Fast VI 325 'nec licet et longum est epulas narrare deorum'. SED should however possibly be read, the word contrasting with the preceding nec as at ii 15-16 'nec tamen ingenium nobis respondet ut ante, / sed siccum sterili uomere litus aro'. The error could easily be induced by the final s of the preceding putes; compare Med 55-56 'par erui mensura decem madefiat ab ouis / (sed [uar et] cumulent libras hordea nuda duas)'.
21. LEVIS HAEC ... GRATIA. 'This unimportant expression of gratitude'. The same use of leuis at EP II v 35-36 'hoc tibi facturo, uel si non ipse rogarem, / accedat cumulus gratia nostra leuis'.
21. HAEC MERITIS REFERATVR GRATIA. Similar phrasing at Met V 14-15 'meritisne haec gratia tantis / redditur?', Tr V iv 47 'plena tot ac tantis referetur gratia factis', EP I vii 61 'emeritis referenda est gratia semper', and EP III i 79-80 'nec ... debetur meritis gratia nulla meis'.
23. NVMQVAM PIGRA FVIT NOSTRIS TVA GRATIA REBVS. Wheeler rightly points out Ovid's play in 21-23 on the varying senses of gratia (thanks), gratus (grateful), and gratia (favour, kindness).
26. FERETQVE is Heinsius' correction for the REFERTQVE of the manuscripts (REFERT B1, REFERTA C); it is made necessary by the following fiducia tanta futuri. Owen, Lenz, and André report feretque as the reading of the thirteenth-century Canonicianus lat 1, but Professor R. J. Tarrant, who has examined the manuscript, informs me that it in fact reads refertque.
For the pattern compare Tr III viii 12 'quae non ulla tibi fertque feretque dies' and Tr II 155-56 'per superos ... qui dant tibi longa dabuntque / tempora'.
The corruption was natural enough, particularly in view of such passages as Fast VI 334 'errantes fertque refertque pedes', Tr I vii 5-6 (to a friend who owned a ring with Ovid's portrait) 'hoc tibi ... senti ... dici, / in digito qui me fersque refersque [codd: ferasque Heinsius] tuo', and Tr V xiii 29 'sic ferat ac referat tacitas nunc littera uoces'.
28. QVOD FECIT QVISQVE TVETVR OPVS. 'Everyone protects the work he has created'. This is hardly a commonplace of ancient poetry, and the catalogue which follows of famous works of art does not serve to illustrate it.
29-34. Ovid's description of the works of Apelles, Phidias, Calamis, and Myron was influenced by Propertius' catalogue of artists at III ix 9-16; in particular, he imitates 10-12 'exactis Calamis se mihi iactat equis; / in Veneris tabula summam sibi poscit Apelles; / Parrhasius parua uindicat arte locum', and 15 'Phidiacus signo se Iuppiter ornat eburno'. Professor E. Fantham points out to me the inclusion of Apelles, Calamis, and Myron as canonical figures in a catalogue of artists at Cic Brut 70 and of all four in a similar catalogue at Quint XII x 6-9.
29. VENVS. Ovid is speaking of the famous Aphrodite Anadyomene painted by Apelles (fourth century BC) in Cos; hence the epithet Coi later in the line—Apelles was in fact from Colophon. Ovid had probably seen the picture in Rome, for Augustus brought it there from Cos (Strabo XIV 2 19; Pliny NH XXXV 91).
Ovid refers to the painting at Am I xiv 33-34 and Tr II 527-28. At AA III 223-24 (quoted in the next note) Ovid seems to be describing a cut gem copied from the painting.
30. AEQVOREO MADIDAS QVAE PREMIT IMBRE COMAS. Imbre depends on madidas. Premit is equivalent to exprimit, as is shown by AA III 224 'nuda Venus madidas exprimit imbre comas'. For exprimere taking as object that out of which something is pressed or squeezed see Celsus IV 24 and Pliny NH XXIX 31.
The Romans would not have found aequoreo ... imbre strange. Although the primary transferred sense of imber would be rain-water, it is used of sea-water as early as Ennius Ann 497-98 Vahlen 'ratibusque fremebat / imber Neptuni', and without defining qualifier at Aen I 123.
31. ACTAEAE = the metrically difficult Atheniensis. The word is generally confined to high poetry (Ecl II 24, Met II 554 & 720, VI 711, VII 681 & VIII 170), but its first occurrence is in prose, at Nepos Thras 2 1 'hoc initium fuit salutis Actaeorum'; some manuscripts read Atticorum, which may be right.
31. VEL EBVRNA VEL AEREA CVSTOS. There were at Athens two famous statues of Athena sculpted by Phidias: 'Phidias ... fecit ex ebore auroque [Mayhoff: aeque codd] Mineruam Athenis quae est in Parthenone stans, ex aere uero ... Mineruam tam eximiae pulchritudinis ut formae cognomen acceperit ['was named the Minerva Formosa']' (Pliny NH XXXIV 54); the second, less famous statue is described at Pausanias I 28 2.
Heinsius' note is something of an oddity. He begins by reading AVREA for the AENEA of most manuscripts, taking uel eburna uel aurea custos to refer to the chryselephantine statue in the Parthenon, 'sed altius consideranti locum apparet de duplici statua Mineruae agi, altera eburnea, altera aenea'. Aenea therefore continued to be the accepted reading until 1873, when Haupt (Opuscula 584) pointed out that it was unmetrical, and restored aerea, found in some manuscripts.
The inverse error occurs at Her VI 32, where most manuscripts have the unmetrical aeripedes for aenipedes. But Merkel, followed by Palmer, considered 31-38 an interpolation; and aeripedes may have been what the interpolator wrote.
32. PHIDIACA ... MANV. Ovid is recalling Prop III ix 15 'Phidiacus ... Iuppiter'. For the Latin poets' use of a personal adjective for the genitive of the noun, see Austin's interesting note on Aen II 543 Hectoreum.
33. VINDICAT VT CALAMIS LAVDEM QVOS FECIT EQVORVM. 'As Calamis lays claim to the praise given his horses'. Calamis, a sculptor of the fifth century BC, was particularly famous for his statues of horses; see Pliny NH XXXIV 71 'habet simulacrum et benignitas eius ['Praxiteles' generosity is seen in one of his statues']; Calamidis enim quadrigae aurigam suum imposuit, ne melior in equorum effigie defecisse in homine crederetur. ipse Calamis et alias quadrigas bigasque fecit equis sine aemulo expressis'.
33. QVOS FECIT EQVORVM. Similar instances of hyperbaton at 28 'quod fecit quisque tuetur opus', Met IV 803 'pectore in aduerso quos fecit sustinet angues', and Fast VI 20 'tum dea quos fecit sustulit ipsa metus'.
34. VT SIMILIS VERAE VACCA MYRONIS OPVS. The Cow of Myron (late fifth century BC) was his most famous work. Praise of the statue's lifelike appearance was a stock theme of Hellenistic writers of epigram; it appears from Pliny NH XXXIV 57 that the poetry written about the statue was as notable as the statue itself. Thirty-six poems of the Palatine Anthology deal with the theme (IX 713-42 & 793-98). Ausonius wrote eight epigrams on the same subject (Ep LXVIII-LXXV), of which I quote LXVIII as a typical example of what both the Greek and Latin epigrams are like:
aerea: nec factam me puto, sed genitam,
sic me taurus init, sic proxima bucula mugit,
sic uitulus sitiens ubera nostra petit.
miraris quod fallo gregem? gregis ipse magister
inter pascentes me numerare solet.
The statue was in Athens during Cicero's lifetime (II Verr IV 135); Ovid is likely to have seen it during his visit to the city (Tr I ii 77). He would certainly have seen the four statues of cattle sculpted by Myron which Augustus placed in his temple of Apollo, and which Propertius described: 'atque aram circum steterant armenta Myronis, / quattuor artificis, uiuida signa, boues' (II xxxi 7-8).
35. VLTIMA. 'Smallest, least important'. For this rare sense compare Hor Ep I xvii 35 'principibus placuisse uiris non ultima laus est', Cons ad Liuiam 44 'ultima sit laudes inter ut illa tuas', Vell Pat I 11 1, and the other instances cited by OLD ultimus 9.
35. SVM ('I am not the least of your possessions') seems unobjectionable enough; most editors have, however, accepted PARS from the excerpta Politiani.
36. MVNVS OPVSQVE is a Latin phrase with the general meaning of 'creation'. It is used in this sense at Cic Tusc I 70 'haec igitur et alia innumerabilia cum cernimus, possumusne dubitare quin iis praesit aliquis uel effector ... uel ... moderator tanti operis et muneris?', ND II 90, Off III 4 'nulla enim eius ingenii [sc Africani] monumenta mandata litteris, nullum opus otii, nullum solitudinis munus extat', and Met VII 435-36 (to Theseus) 'quodque suis securus arat Cromyona colonus, / munus opusque tuum est'.
II. To Cornelius Severus
Cornelius Severus (Schanz-Hosius 268-69 [§ 317]) was one of the most famous poets contemporary with Ovid; of him Quintilian said 'etiam si uersificator quam poeta melior ['even if his facility outruns his inspiration'], si tamen (ut est dictum) ad exemplar primi libri bellum Siculum perscripsisset, uindicaret sibi iure secundum locum [sc after Virgil]' (X i 89). The elder Seneca quoted with approval Severus' lines on the death of Cicero, as the finest lament produced on the subject (Suas VI 26: Winterbottom ad loc refers to a commentary by H. Homeyer, Annales univ. Saraviensis [phil. Fak.] 10 [1961], 327-34). EP I viii was addressed to a different Severus: in the third and fourth lines of the present poem, Ovid expresses his embarrassment at having addressed no poem to Severus previously, and in the earlier poem no mention is made of the addressee's poetry.
The poem is an apology to Severus for Ovid's not having sent a poem to him before; he offers two excuses for the omission. In the first fourteen lines, he flatters Severus by saying that so good a poet hardly needs to receive verse from someone else; in the twenty-four lines that follow he describes how his poetry, because of the conditions at Tomis, is now less abundant and of poorer quality than before. The subject is one Ovid had employed before: Tr III xiv, a request for indulgence to Ovid's verse, and Tr V xii, a reply to a friend who had urged him to write more poetry, treat the same topic in much the same way. The theme is similar to that of Catullus LXVIII 1-40, where the poet explains that his brother's death has caused his lack of interest in poetry.
In 39-46 Ovid moves to the somewhat discordant topic (which serves however to re-emphasize his misery at Tomis) of how he continues to write poetry to take his mind off present evils, a theme he had used several times before, most notably in EP I v. He ends the poem with a request that Severus send him some of his recent work (47-50).
1. QVOD LEGIS. Similar beginnings to verse-epistles at Her III 1 'Quam legis a rapta Briseide littera uenit', Tr V vii 1, EP I vii 1-2 'Littera pro uerbis tibi, Messaline, salutem / quam legis a saeuis attulit usque Getis', and EP III v 1 'Quam legis unde tibi mittatur epistula quaeris?'.
Compare as well Her X 3-4 'Quae legis ex illo, Theseu, tibi litore mitto / unde tuam sine me uela tulere ratem'. This poem has suffered from two separate interpolations at its beginning. Certain manuscripts start the poem with the distich 'Illa relicta feris etiam nunc, improbe Theseu, / uiuit et haec aequa mente tulisse uelis', which is universally condemned; but the formulaic nature of 3-4 suggests that 1-2 'Mitius inueni quam te genus omne ferarum, / credita non ulli quam tibi peius eram', found in all manuscripts, is a second interpolation. Micyllus was the first to see this; a recent discussion at Kirfel 69-70.
1. VATES MAGNORVM MAXIME REGVM. Severus apparently wrote a poem dealing with pre-Republican Rome, to judge from xvi 9 his most famous work: 'quique dedit Latio carmen regale, Seuerus'. Heinsius took the two passages as meaning that Severus was a writer of tragedy, citing Tr II 553 'et dedimus tragicis scriptum regale cothurnis'; compare as well Hor Sat I x 42-43 'Pollio regum / facta canit pede ter percusso ['in iambic trimeter']'. Heinsius' suggestion is possible enough, but since Seneca and Quintilian speak of Severus as an epic poet and there is no mention of the stage in this poem, it should be rejected.
Similar language is used of epic poetry at Ecl VI 3 'cum canerem reges et proelia' and Prop III iii 1-4 'Visus eram ... reges, Alba, tuos et regum facta tuorum, / tantum operis, neruis hiscere posse meis'.
1. REGVM. VATVM (M1FIL) is a conscious or unconscious attempt to extend the etymological figure seen in magnorum maxime.
5-6. ORBA TAMEN NVMERIS CESSAVIT EPISTVLA NVMQVAM / IRE PER ALTERNAS OFFICIOSA VICES. Other mentions of what was clearly an extensive prose correspondence between Ovid and his friends at Tr V xii 1-2 and EP I ix 1-2.
6. OFFICIOSA. 'Attentive'. The preface to Martial XII gives a good illustration of the sense: 'consequimur ut molesti potius quam ut officiosi esse uideamur'.
Officiosus occurs five times in the Ex Ponto, but only four times in the rest of Ovid's poetry.
9-10. Aristaeus was famous for his beekeeping (Virgil G IV 315-558). Bacchus was the god of wine, and Triptolemus had disseminated the knowledge of grain-farming (Met V 646-61). Alcinous might seem a strange companion to these three, but evidently Homer's description of Alcinous' orchard (Od VII 112-31) made a strong impression on the Latin poets. From Ovid compare Am I x 56 'praebeat Alcinoi poma benignus ager' and Met XIII 719-20 'proxima Phaeacum felicibus obsita pomis / rura petunt', from Propertius III ii 13 'nec mea Phaeacas aequant pomaria siluas', and from Virgil G II 87 'pomaque et Alcinoi siluae' 'the fruit-trees of Alcinous'.
9. BACCHO VINA FALERNA. Heinsius preferred M's BACCHO VINA FALERNO. But the passage he cited in its support, Silius III 369-70 'Tarraco ... uitifera, et Latio tantum cessura Lyaeo' is not in fact parallel: Lyaeo there stands for uino, and the passage means 'Tarraco, rich in vines, conceding priority to Latin wine alone'. Ovid wished to balance the hexameter with the pentameter, and used a standard epithet to fill out the metre.
10. ALCINOO. Note the quadrisyllable ending, and compare EP II ix 41-42 'quis non Antiphaten Laestrygona deuouet? aut quis / munifici mores improbet Alcinoi?'. In his later poetry Ovid shows a steadily increasing willingness to allow his pentameters to end with words other than disyllables. Every pentameter of the amatory poems and the first fifteen Heroides ends in a disyllable. Two quadrisyllabic endings occur in the later books of the Fasti: V 582 fluminibus and VI 660 funeribus. In the first five books of the Tristia there are eight such endings, in the first three books of the Ex Ponto there are seven, while in the fourth book there are no less than fourteen instances of quadrisyllabic endings: nearly as many as in all the rest of Ovid's corpus put together.[18] 'Sermo magis etiam quam illic [sc in the Tristia] ... neglectus est et degenerauit' Riese remarked, but it can reasonably be doubted that a poet of Ovid's facility would break the rule of the disyllabic ending except by choice. A moderation of the rule became general: the author of Her XVI-XXI (whom I do not believe to have been Ovid) allowed pudicitiae (XVI 290), superciliis (XVII 16), and deseruit (XIX 202) (Platnauer 17); a count of pentameters in Martial V shows the proportion of non-disyllabic endings at 20%—the shorter the poem, the more freely they are admitted. Quadrisyllable endings are frequent in the metrically strict Claudian.
Ovid admitted quadrisyllable endings more freely if they were proper names. Of the twenty-one quadrisyllable verse-endings in the Ex Ponto, six involve proper nouns: II ii 76 Dalmatiae, ix 42 Alcinoi, the present passage, IV iii 54 Anticyra, viii 62 Oechalia, and ix 80 Danuuium. Professor E. Fantham points out to me that Ovid follows Propertius' similar practice: 42 of the 166 quadrisyllable pentameter endings in Propertius are proper names (Platnauer 17).
The fifteen other instances in the Ex Ponto of quadrisyllabic pentameter-endings are II ii 6 perlegere, ii 70 imperium, iii 18 articulis, v 26 ingenium, III i 166 aspiciant, IV v 24 officio, vi 6 alterius, vi 14 auxilium, ix 48 utilitas, xiii 28 imperii, xiii 46 ingeniis, xiv 4 inuenies, xiv 18 ingenio, xiv 56 imposuit, and xv 26 auxilium.
For Ovid's use of trisyllabic and pentasyllabic endings, see at ix 26 tegeret (page 294) and iii 12 amicitia (p 181).
11. FERTILE PECTVS HABES. Compare Tr V xii 37-38 'denique non paruas animo dat gloria uires, / et fecunda facit pectora laudis amor'.
11. INTERQVE HELICONA COLENTES. Poets are also described as being on Parnassus at Tr IV i 50, x 23 & x 120. Helicon is the goal of poets at Hor Ep II i 218 (cited at 36).
12. PROVENIT continues the agricultural metaphor of fertile pectus. For prouenire = 'grow', see AA III 101-2 'ordior a cultu: cultis bene Liber ab uuis / prouenit', Fast IV 617 'largaque prouenit cessatis messis in aruis', and Nux 10; for the metaphorical sense see Am I iii 19-20 'te mihi materiem felicem in carmina praebe— / prouenient causa carmina digna sua' and Her XV 13-14 'nec mihi dispositis quae iungam carmina neruis / proueniunt'.
For uberius ... prouenit compare Caesar BG V 24 'eo anno frumentum in Gallia propter siccitates angustius prouenerat'.
13. MITTERE AD HVNC CARMEN. Burman printed without comment MITTERE CARMEN AD HVNC, the reading of Heinsius' fragmentum Louaniense. It seems to be a mere normalization of the hyperbaton; the elimination of the elision (mittere ad) may have been a factor as well.
13. AD HVNC indicates that Ovid cannot have addressed these words in the first instance directly to Severus, but must here be recollecting his earlier thoughts. I have therefore placed the line in quotation marks.
15. NEC TAMEN. 'This was the principal reason; a second reason, however, was that ...'
15. INGENIVM = 'poetic talent', as often. Compare viii 66, xvi 2, Tr III vii 47, EP II ii 103, EP II v 21 (quoted at 20 uena pauperiore), EP II v 26, and EP III iv 11.
15. RESPONDET introduces the agricultural image of 18 'sed siccum sterili uomere litus aro', for the word here means 'yield'. OLD respondeo 8c cites for the literal sense Virgil G II 63-64 'truncis oleae melius, propagine uites / respondent', Columella II 1 3 'humus ... magno faenore ... colono respondet', Col III 3 4; for a transferred use see Sen Ep LXXXI 1 'non respondeant [sc beneficia] potius quam non dentur'.
16. SICCVM ... LITVS ARO. Proverbial for a useless activity. See Otto harena 4 and compare Tr V iv 47-48 'plena tot ac tantis referetur gratia factis, / nec sinet ille [Ovid] litus arare boues'.
Sterili is transferred by hypallage from litus; siccum serves no purpose beyond providing a balancing epithet.
17. VENAS EXCAECAT, the reading of most codices, is obviously correct as against the VENAS CVM CAECAT of BCHL. Ovid uses excaecare again at Met XV 270-72 'hic fontes natura nouos emisit, at illic / clausit ... flumina prosiliunt aut excaecata [uar exsiccata] residunt'.
17. IN VNDIS is probably corrupt; if it is retained, from the context it must mean 'in the water of springs' (Professor A. Dalzell). Williams suggests 'in the case of water', marking the analogy with pectora sic mea sunt limo uitiata malorum in 19.
For undis as a corrupt hexameter ending, compare Met XV 276 'redditur Argolicis ingens Erasinus in aruis [codd: in undis Sen NQ III 26 4]', Met VIII 162 'liquidus Phrygiis Maeandros in aruis [uar liquidis Phrygius ... in undis]', and Met XIV 155 'sedibus Euboicam Stygiis emergit in urbem [uar sedibus euboicis stigiis emersus ab undis]'.
The line seems to have passed without comment until Merkel's second edition: 'in undis minus bene positum uidetur; temptabam hiulcas, quod expressisset Statius Theb. VIIII 450 hiulcis flumina uenis Suggerit ['he (the river Asopos) opens his springs wide and adds his streams']'. There seems no obvious reason, however, for Ovid to define the springs as 'gaping'.
Madvig conjectured INVNDANS, the corruption of which would be easy; but uenas seems more in need of a modifier than limus—Professor R. J. Tarrant suggests APERTAS or AQVARVM, Professor A. Dalzell IN ARVIS.
Professor Tarrant also suggests to me that in undis could well have originated as a gloss on uenas.
18. LAESAQVE. There seems no reason to replace this with Merkel's LAPSAQVE ('flowing back'?), which even seems to contradict the sense of resistit.
The same sense of laesus at Am III vii 32 'deficiunt laesi carmine ['spell'] fontis aquae'.
20. VENA PAVPERIORE. The same image of Ovid's poetic talent at Tr III xiv 33-34 'ingenium fregere meum mala, cuius et ante / fons infecundus paruaque uena fuit' and EP II v 21-22 'ingenioque meo, uena quod paupere manat, / plaudis, et e riuo flumina magna facis'.
23. DA VENIAM FASSO. As a poet himself, Severus would be particularly shocked at Ovid's admission he has virtually ceased to write poetry. Similar phrasing at III ix 45-46 'confesso ignoscite, docti: / uilior est operis fama salute mea'.
23. FRENA REMISI. 'I have let go of the reins' = 'I have stopped writing poetry'; for the sense, compare Aen VII 599-600 (of Latinus) 'nec plura locutus / saepsit se tectis rerumque reliquit habenas'.
The metaphor of the poet as driver is found as early as Bacchylides (V 176-78) and Pindar (Ol VI 22 ff). A full list of Greek and Latin passages is included in Henderson's note on RA 397-98; the image is particularly frequent in Roman didactic poetry, being found even at Columella X 215-16. See as well Kenney Nequitiae Poeta 206. In Ovid the image is found at AA I 39-40 & 264, II 426, III 467-68 & 809-10, RA 397-98, Fast I 25-26, II 360, IV 10, and VI 586. The only instances I have found that are not from Ovid's didactic verse are the present passage and xii 23-24 'tu bonus hortator, tu duxque comesque fuisti, / cum regerem tenera frena nouella manu'.
24. DVCITVR. 'Is formed, written'. The same sense at Met I 649 (of Io) 'littera ... quam pes in puluere duxit' and Met X 215-16 'AI AI / flos habet inscriptum, funestaque littera ducta est'.
25. IMPETVS ILLE SACER. 'The famous divine impulse'. Similar phrasing at Fast VI 5-6 'est deus in nobis; agitante calescimus illo: / impetus hic sacrae semina mentis habet'.
25. VATVM PECTORA NVTRIT. Nutrit here seems to mean 'sustain'. Its usual transferred sense is 'cause to grow', as at III iv 26 (the only other passage I have found where the verb is used of poetry) and Hor C IV iv 26.
27. VIX VENIT AD PARTES ... MVSA. 'My Muse with difficulty performs her functions'. Partes in the sense of 'theatrical role' (Ter Ph 27) early acquired the extended sense of 'role', 'function', or 'duty'. Burman cites as parallels Am I viii 87 'seruus et ad partes sollers ancilla parentur' and Nux 68; compare as well AA II 546 'cum, tener, ad partes tu quoque, somne, uenis' and EP III i 41-42 'utque iuuent alii, tu debes uincere amicos, / uxor, et ad partes prima uenire tuas'.
27. SVMPTAE ... TABELLAE. Compare Met IX 523-25 'scribit damnatque tabellas ... inque uicem sumptas ponit positasque resumit'.
29. NE DICAM. I have found no other instance of the expression in verse, but it is common in Cicero (Kühner-Stegmann II i 825).
30. NVMERIS NECTERE VERBA. 'Bind words to metre'. I take numeris as a dative; no close parallel presents itself, but compare Aen IV 239-40 'pedibus talaria nectit / aurea'.
33. NVMEROSOS ... GESTVS. Compare Am II iv 29 'illa placet gestu numerosaque bracchia ducit', AA II 305 'bracchia saltantis, uocem mirare canentis', and Prop II xxii 5-6 'siue aliquis molli diducit candida gestu / bracchia, seu uarios incinit ore modos'. Heinsius thought GRESSVS (I1PF3ul) possible as well, citing Varro LL IX 5 'pedes male ponere atque imitari uatias ['bow-legged men'] coeperit', Martianus Capella IX 909 'licet pulchris rosea numeris ac libratis passibus moueretur', and Maximianus (6th century) El III 27 'suspensos ponere gressus'. But the strong manuscript authority for gestus and the parallels in Ovid mark it as clearly preferable to gressus.
33. PONERE. The verb seems strange, but Burman cited in its support Val Max VIII vii 7 'Roscius ... nullum umquam spectante populo gestum, nisi quem domi meditatus fuerat, ponere [codd: promere E. Schulze] ausus est'.
35-36. LAVDATAQVE VIRTVS / CRESCIT. For this commonplace of ancient literature see Otto ars 3 and compare RA 393 'nam iuuat et studium famae mihi creuit honore', Tr V xii 37-38 'denique non paruas animo dat gloria uires, / et fecunda facit pectora laudis amor', EP III ix 21 'scribentem iuuat ipse fauor minuitque laborem', Prop IV x 3, and Cic Tusc I 4.
36. IMMENSVM GLORIA CALCAR HABET. The same metaphor at Tr V i 75-76 'denique nulla mihi captatur gloria, quaeque / ingeniis stimulos subdere fama solet', EP I v 57-58 'gloria uos acuat; uos, ut recitata probentur / carmina, Pieriis inuigilate choris', and Hor Ep II i 217-18 'uatibus addere calcar / ut studio maiore petant Helicona uirentem'.
Immensum seems rather strange; I have found no good parallel for it.
37. HIC MEA CVI RECITEM ... CARMINA. A constant complaint of Ovid in exile. Compare Tr III xiv 39-40 'nullus in hac terra, recitem si carmina, cuius / intellecturis auribus utar, adest', Tr IV i 89-90, and Tr V xii 53 'non liber hic ullus, non qui mihi commodet aurem'. Perhaps it is significant that Ovid does not complain in the present passage that he has no books available: certainly he must have had a substantial library at hand when he composed the Ibis.
38. BARBARVS HISTER. The same phrase in the same position (leaving space for the disyllable) at EP III iii 26 'et coit astrictis barbarus Hister aquis'.
Hister was the name of the lower course of the Danube (Pliny NH IV 79). Ovid uses the metrically convenient Hister fifteen times in the Ex Ponto, as against two instances only of Danuuius (IV ix 80 & x 58).
38. OBIT Damsté HABET codd. In support of obit Damsté cited x 22 'gentibus obliqua quas obit Hister aqua' (Mnemosyne XLVI 32). As Professor R. J. Tarrant points out, the only meaning that can be attached to quasque alias gentes barbarus Hister habet is 'the other people that live in the Danube'; he compares Her VI 135-36 'prodidit illa patrem; rapui de clade Thoanta. / deseruit Colchos; me mea Lemnos habet' and Aen VI 362 (Palinurus speaking) 'nunc me fluctus habet'. EP III ii 43-44 'nos ... quos procul a uobis Pontus et [uar barbarus] Hister habet', cited by Lenz in support of habet, is not a good parallel in view of the different subject (Pontus et Hister instead of Hister alone).
Lenz cited Tr II 230 'bellaque pro magno Caesare Caesar obit' for a variant habet; Professor Tarrant cites another instance of the corruption at Met I 551-52 'pes modo tam uelox pigris radicibus haeret, / ora cacumen obit'.
39. MATERIA = 'means' (OLD materia 8).
41. NEC VINVM NEC ME TENET ALEA FALLAX. The same statement at EP I v 45-46 'nec iuuat in lucem nimio marcescere uino, / nec tenet incertas alea blanda manus'. For Ovid's temperance, compare EP I x 30 'scis mihi quam solae paene bibantur aquae'.
Me tenet in the present passage should perhaps be translated 'holds my attention' (OLD teneo 22) rather than 'attracts' (Wheeler).
41. VINVM. For wine as a diversion from sorrow, compare Tib I ii 1 'Adde merum uinoque nouos compesce dolores' (with Smith's note) and Tib I v 37 'saepe ego temptaui curas depellere uino'.
42. TACITVM TEMPVS. Similar phrases at AA II 670 'iam ueniet tacito curua senecta pede', Fast VI 771 'tacitis ... senescimus annis', Tr III vii 35-36 'senectus / quae strepitus passu non faciente uenit', Tr IV vi 17 'tacito pede lapsa uetustas' and Tr IV x 27 'tacito passu labentibus annis'.
43. QVOD CVPEREM. At EP I viii 39-62 Ovid, having detailed the urban pleasures he has lost, speaks of his agricultural pursuits in Italy, and laments that this diversion is not available to him at Tomis. The two passages add personal meaning to his description at Met XIV 623-34 of Pomona's gardening and his prescription at RA 169-98 of agriculture as a diversion from an unhappy love-affair.
43. SI PER FERA BELLA LICERET. Compare EP II vii 69-70 'tempus in agrorum cultu consumere dulce est: / non patitur uerti barbarus hostis humum' and EP III viii 6 'hostis ab agricola uix sinit illa [sc loca] fodi'. At Tr III x 57-66 Ovid gives a vivid description of what could happen to the farmers of Tomis in a raid.
44. NOVATA = 'restored to fertility through ploughing'. Ovid more commonly uses renouare, as at Tr V xii 23-24 'fertilis, assiduo si non renouetur aratro, / nil nisi cum spinis gramen habebit ager', Am I iii 9, Met I 110 & XV 125, Fast I 159, and Tr IV vi 13.
45. RESTANT is not strictly logical, but a similar attraction of number is confirmed by metre at Tr I ii 1 'Di maris et caeli—quid enim nisi uota supersunt?'; RESTAT (IP) must therefore be rejected.
Similar confusions occur in the manuscripts at Met XIV 396 'nec quicquam antiqui [Berolinensis Heinsii: antiquum codd plerique] Pico nisi nomina restant' and Tr IV x 85 'si tamen extinctis aliquid nisi nomina restant'.
47. TV, CVI BIBITVR FELICIVS AONIVS FONS. For the image of the poet drinking from Hippocrene see Prop III iii 5-6 'paruaque tam magnis admoram fontibus ora, / unde pater sitiens Ennius ante bibit'. Both here and at II x 25 Propertius speaks of Hippocrene as the spring of epic poetry specifically.
47. FELICIVS. 'With happier result'; compare Ibis 559 'nec tibi, si quid amas, felicius Haemone [=quam Haemoni] cedat'.
47. AONIVS FONS. Platnauer (13) cites only four instances from the elegiac poets of hexameters ending in monosyllables: Prop II xxv 17 'amor, qui', Am II ix 47 'Cupido, est', the present passage, and EP IV ix 101 'quibus nos'. Ehwald and Levy compare Met V 573 'quae tibi causa fugae, cur sis, Arethusa, sacer fons'. The coincidence suggests that in both passages Ovid was recalling a line-ending from an earlier poet. Alternatively, Professor E. Fantham suggests to me that Ovid may here have deliberately created an awkward line-ending so as to mock himself and bear out his claim of waning inspiration.
47-50. Ovid returns to the subject of his poem's opening, Severus' poetry.
48. VTILITER ... CEDIT. Similar phrasing at EP II vii 19 '[iam liquet ...] obseruare deos ne quid mihi cedat amice'.
49. MERITO. 'With justification'; Severus' previous service to the Muses has brought him fame and not, as in Ovid's case, disaster.
50. HVC ALIQVOD CVRAE MITTE RECENTIS OPVS. A similar request at EP III v 29-30 (to Cotta Maximus) 'quod licet, ut uidear tecum magis esse, legenda [Burman: legendo uel loquendo codd] / saepe precor studii pignora mitte tui'.
50. CVRAE = 'poetic toil', as at Tr II 11-12 'hoc pretium curae [fragmentum Treuirense (saec x): uitae codd plerique] uigilatorumque laborum / cepimus', EP I v 61 'cur ego sollicita poliam mea carmina cura?', and EP III ix 29. At xvi 39 and Tr II 1 the word means 'product of poetic toil'.