=27. LENEM TE MISERIS GENVIT NATURA.= Compare Cic _Tusc_ II 11 'te _natura_ excelsum quendam uidelicet et altum et humana despicientem _genuit_' and Ennius _Ann_ 112 Vahlen3 (of Romulus) 'qualem te patriae custodem di _genuerunt_'.

=29. MARTE FORENSI.= Similar metaphor for the lawcourts at _Fast_ IV 188 'et fora _Marte suo_ litigiosa uacent', _Tr_ III xii 17-18 'ludis / cedunt uerbosi garrula _bella_ fori' and _Tr_ IV x 17-18 'frater ... fortia uerbosi natus ad _arma_ fori'. According to Ovid real wounds were suffered in the forum at Tomis: 'adde quod iniustum rigido ius dicitur ense, / dantur et in medio uulnera saepe foro' (_Tr_ V x 43-44).

=30. POSSE TVO PERAGI VIX PVTET ORE REOS.= Similar language at _Tr_ I i 23-24 'protinus admonitus repetet mea crimina lector, / _et peragar populi publicus ore reus_'. _Peragere_ refers to the prosecution of a defendant carried to its end, but does not imply success for the prosecutor: see Pliny _Ep_ III ix 30 and Ulpian _Dig_ XLVIII v 2 1 'non alias ad mulierem possit peruenire, nisi reum peregerit [_sc_ adulterii]; peregisse autem non alias quis uidetur, _nisi et condemnauerit_'.

=31. QVAMVIS PVGNARE VIDENTVR= _BMFH_. Given the dependent _pugnare_, it seems hardly possible to read the VIDETVR given by the other manuscripts. The same problem arises at _Met_ VIII 463-64 '_pugnant_ materque sororque, / et diuersa trahunt unum duo nomina pectus', where the manuscripts divide between _pugnant_ and _pugnat_; for an unambiguous parallel, see _Her_ XIX 173 'nunc, male res iunctae, calor et reuerentia _pugnant_'.

Heinsius further suggested deleting _est_ from the preceding _scilicet eiusdem est_ 'cum tribus libris', but the change in number does not seem unduly harsh.

=32. SVPPLICIBVS FACILEM.= See on iv 30 _faciles in tua uota_, and compare _Am_ II iii 5-6 (to his girl's eunuch) 'mollis in obsequium _facilisque rogantibus_ esses, / si tuus in quauis praetepuisset amor' and _Her_ XVI 197-98 'da modo te _facilem_, nec dedignare maritum ... Phrygem'.

Ovid is here indirectly referring to his own situation: compare _EP_ III iii 107-8 'at tua _supplicibus_ domus est adsueta _iuuandis_, / _in quorum numero me precor esse uelis_'.

=33. LEGIS VINDICTA.= 'The exacting of punishment on behalf of the law'.

The law has been broken, and therefore demands retribution; Brutus acts on its behalf. For the sense of the genitive compare Val Max I 1 ext 3: (Dionysius of Syracuse committed many acts of sacrilege, but punishment was visited on him after his death in the form of his son's ignominious career) 'lento enim gradu ad _uindictam sui_ diuina procedit ira tarditatemque supplicii grauitate pensat'.

=33. LEGIS ... SEVERAE.= _Seuerae_ here serves as a standard epithet and has no such special force as at _EP_ III iii 57-58 'uetiti ... _lege seuera_ / credor adulterii composuisse notas'.

=34. VERBA VELVT TAETRVM SINGVLA VIRVS HABENT.= The same image at _EP_ III iii 105-6 'ergo alii noceant miseris optentque timeri, / _tinctaque mordaci spicula felle gerant_'.

=34. TAETRVM= _R. J. Tarrant_ TINCTV _Ehwald_ TINCTVM _codd_. _Tinctum_ is impossible: if the word were used, it would have to go with _uerba_.

Compare _Ibis_ 53-54 'liber iambus / _tincta_ Lycambeo sanguine _tela_ dabit', _Ibis_ 491 '[tamque cadas domitus ...] quam qui _dona_ tulit Nesseo _tincta_ ueneno', _EP_ III i 26 _'tinctaque_ mortifera tabe _sagitta_ madet', and _EP_ III iii 106 _'tinctaque_ mordaci _spicula_ felle gerant'. Ehwald's _tinctu_ is linguistically and palaeographically somewhat better than Merkel's _tinguat_: for similar corruptions compare _Fast_ III 612 'flet tamen _admonitu_ motus, Elissa, tui', where many manuscripts read _admonitus_, and _Tr_ I iv 9 'pinea texta sonant pulsu [_Rothmaler_: pulsi _codd_], stridore rudentes'. Even so, 'Each of your words carries poison, as though it had been dipped in it' seems awkward.

For Professor Tarrant's _taetrum_ compare Lucretius I 936 'absinthia taetra', _Dirae_ 23 'taetra uenena', and _Hal_ 131 'nigrum ... uirus'.

=34. VIRVS HABENT.= Compare _Tr_ IV i 84 'aut telo _uirus habente_ perit'

& III x 64 'nam uolucri ferro tinctile _uirus inest_'.

=35-36. HOSTIBVS EVENIAT QUAM SIS VIOLENTVS IN ARMIS / SENTIRE.= _Hostibus eueniat_ is a common phrase in Ovid: compare _Am_ II x 16-17 '_hostibus eueniat_ uita seuera meis! / _hostibus eueniat_ uiduo dormire cubili', _Am_ III xi 16, _AA_ III 247, _Fast_ III 493-94 'at, puto, praeposita est fuscae mihi Candida paelex! / _eueniat nostris hostibus_ ille dolor [_recc quidam_: color _codd plerique_]!', and _Her_ XVI 219-20 (Paris to Helen) '_hostibus eueniant_ conuiuia talia nostris, / experior posito qualia saepe mero!'.

=37. QVAE TIBI TAM TENVI CVRA LIMANTVR.= 'Which are sharpened by you with such painstaking care'. For this meaning of _limare_ compare Pliny _NH_ VIII 71 'cornu ad saxa _limato_' and Cic _Brut_ 236 '[M. Piso ...]

habuit a natura genus quoddam _acuminis_, quod etiam arte _limauerat_'.

=37-38. VT OMNES / ISTIVS INGENVI PECTORIS ESSE NEGENT.= 'So that all would deny that they are the product of your kindly spirit'; for this sense of _ingenuus_ compare Catullus LXVIII 37-38 'quod cum ita sit, nolim statuas nos mente maligna / id facere aut _animo_ non satis _ingenuo_'. _Ingenui pectoris_ is my correction for the manuscripts'

INGENIVM CORPORIS, which could only mean 'so that all would deny that the talent of your body exists'; Ovid can hardly be identifying the _tela_ of 36 with Brutus' _ingenium_. Wheeler translates 'On these [the missiles of your tongue] you use the file with such extreme care that none would recognize in them your real nature', and Andre 'que personne ne croirait qu'un tel esprit habite ton corps'; neither translation fits the Latin. Shackleton Bailey's INGENIVM NOMINIS still leaves unsolved the problem of _ingenium_.

The corruption of _ingenui_ to _ingenium_ (or rather, _ingeniU_) is simple enough; and the interchange of _pectus_ and _corpus_ is a common error.

=42. NOTITIAM ... INFITIATA.= _Infitiari_ used similarly at _EP_ I vii 27 'nec tuus est genitor nos _infitiatus_ amicos'.

=43. IMMEMOR ... IMMEMOR.= Professor R. J. Tarrant points out the similar epanalepsis at Hor _Ep_ I xi 9 '_oblitusque_ meorum, _obliuiscendus_ et illis'.

=44. SOLLICITI= _BCM2ul_ SOLLICITE _M1FHILT_. The adjective with adverbial meaning would be especially liable to corruption. The same construction at _Am_ II iv 25 'dulce canit flectitque _facillima_ uocem'.

=44. LEVASTIS= _Barberinus lat. 26, saec xiii_ LEVATIS _BCMFHILT_. If 44 were taken in isolation, _leuatis_, which most editors print, would be acceptable enough; compare _Tr_ IV i 49 ' iure deas igitur ueneror mala nostra _leuantes_' and _EP_ III vi 13-14 'nec scelus admittas si consoleris amicum, / mollibus et uerbis aspera fata _leues_'. But it is clear from 42 'est infitiata' and 49 'doluistis' that Ovid is speaking of the time of his banishment, and so _leuastis_ must be read. Compare _Tr_ I v 75 'me deus oppressit, nullo _mala nostra leuante_', _EP_ II vii 61-62 'recta fides comitum poterat _mala nostra leuare_: / ditata est spoliis perfida turba meis', and _EP_ III ii 25-26 'pars estis pauci melior, qui rebus in artis / ferre mihi nullam turpe putastis [_uar_ putatis] opem'.

=45-50.= Compare the listing of _adynata_ at the end of v (41-44), which again illustrates Ovid's eternal gratitude (to Sextus Pompeius). Here the personal detail (_hic nimium nobis conterminus Hister_) makes the _adynaton_ reflect Ovid's own circumstances.

=46. DE MARE.= The same form of the ablative at _Tr_ V ii 20 'pleno de mare'. Compare Ovid's frequent use of the metrically convenient ablative in _-e_ of third-declension adjectives.

=47-48.= Thyestes' feast cited as a proverbial example at _Met_ XV 62 (Pythagoras is urging a vegetarian diet) 'neue Thyesteis cumulemus uiscera mensis', _Tr_ II 391-92 'si non Aeropen [_Politianus_: Meropen _uel_ Europen _codd_] frater sceleratus amasset, / auersos Solis non legeremus equos', Lucan I 534-44, and Martial III xlv 1-2 'Fugerit an Phoebus mensas cenamque Thyestae / ignoro: fugimus nos, Ligurine, tuam'.

=47. VTQVE ... SI= = _et, quasi_. All of the instances of the idiom cited by Lewis & Short _ut_ II A 2e and _OLD ut_ 8d are from prose, except for Ter _Eun_ 117 and Lucilius 330 Marx. In none of these passages is _ut_ separated from _si_: the hyperbaton elevates the phrase and makes more natural its use in verse.

=49. QVI ME DOLVISTIS ADEMPTVM.= 'Who mourned my exile' is the meaning imposed by context, but the phrase would usually mean 'who mourned my death': compare _EP_ I ix 41 'iure igitur lacrimas Celso libamus _adempto_', and the similar use of _raptus_ for the exiled Ovid at xi 5 and xvi 1. For Ovid's considering his exile as his death, see xvi 1-4, _Tr_ III iii 53 'cum patriam amisi, tunc me periisse putato', and _EP_ I ix 56 'et nos extinctis adnumerare potest'.

VII. To Vestalis

Vestalis, a younger son of Cottius, monarch of a small kingdom in the Alps (see at 29 [p 253]), was _primipilaris_ of the legion of the area (perhaps the _V Macedonica_). He had just been named administrator of the region around Tomis (see at 1); as an important local official, he was a natural choice as recipient of one of Ovid's letters.

The poem starts with a description of the harsh climate of Tomis, to which Vestalis along with Ovid can now testify, and of the savagery of the inhabitants (1-12). This serves as a bridge to a compliment to Vestalis on being named _primipilaris_ (13-18), and to the main body of the poem, a long and rather conventional description of how Vestalis led the final attack in the recovery of Aegissos (19-52). In the concluding distich Ovid declares that he has rendered immortal the deeds of Vestalis.

=1. ORAS= (_CI_) seems more suited to the nature of Vestalis' command than VNDAS, the reading of the other manuscripts. After _Euxinas_, corruption from _oras_ to _undas_ would be very easy, the inverse less so. Ovid does not elsewhere use _Euxinae orae_, the usual substantives with _Euxinus_ being _aquae_, _mare_, _fretum_, and, closest in meaning, _litus_, for which see iii 51 'litus ad Euxinum ... ibis', _Tr_ V ii 63-64 'iussus ad Euxini deformia litora ueni / aequoris', and _Tr_ V iv 1.

=2. POSITIS ... SVB AXE= in effect acts as a single adjective meaning 'northern'; _axe_ plays a subordinate role and so does not require an epithet. The phrasing may be based on Accius 566-67 Ribbeck2 '[ora ...]

_sub axe posita_ ad Stellas septem, unde horrifer / Aquilonis stridor gelidas molitur niues'. _Lycaonio ... sub axe_ at _Tr_ III ii 2.

=3. ASPICIS EN PRAESENS.= Compare ix 81-86, where Ovid invites Graecinus to ask his brother Flaccus, recently stationed in the Pontus, about conditions of life in the area.

=3. IACEAMVS.= 'Lie suffering': similarly used at _EP_ I iii 49 'orbis in extremi _iaceo_ desertus harenis', I vii 5, II ix 4 & III i 85 'ut minus infesta _iaceam_ regione labora'.

=4. FALSA ... QVERI.= Perhaps a common phrase: Professor R. J. Tarrant cites Sallust _Iug_ 1 '_Falso queritur_ de natura sua genus humanum'.

=5-6. ACCEDET ... FIDES.= 'People will believe'. Compare Cic _Diu_ I 5 'Cratippusque ... isdem rebus _fidem tribuit_, reliqua diuinationis genera reiecit' and Tac _Germ_ 3 4 'ex ingenio quisque _demat uel addat fidem_' 'each can believe or disbelieve this according to his disposition'.

=5-6. NON IRRITA ... FIDES= = _rata fides_, a phrase meaning 'trustworthiness', _rata_ having no special force. Compare _Met_ III 341 'prima _fide_ [genitive] ... _ratae_ temptamina', _Tr_ I v 49-50 'multa credibili tulimus _ratamque_, / quamuis acciderint, non habitura _fidem_', and _Tr_ III x 35-36 'cum sint praemia falsi / nulla, _ratam_ debet testis habere _fidem_'. Note the hyperbaton in all these passages.

=6. ALPINIS IVVENIS REGIBVS ORTE.= See at 29 _progenies alti fortissima Donni_ (p 253). For the language, compare Hor _Carm_ I i 1 'Maecenas atauis edite regibus'.

=7. IPSE VIDES CERTE GLACIE CONCRESCERE PONTVM.= At ix 85-86 Ovid tells Graecinus to ask his brother Flaccus 'mentiar, an coeat duratus frigore Pontus, / et teneat glacies iugera multa freti'.

Similar language at _Tr_ III x 37-38 'uidimus ingentem glacie consistere pontum, / lubricaque [_codd_: lubrica cum _fort scribendum_] immotas testa premebat aquas'.

=8. IPSE VIDES RIGIDO STANTIA VINA GELV.= The same picture more explicitly given at _Tr_ III x 23-24 'nudaque consistunt, formam seruantia testae, / uina, nec hausta meri, sed data frusta bibunt'.

=9-10. IPSE VIDES ONERATA FEROX VT DVCAT IAZYX / PER MEDIAS HISTRI PLAVSTRA BVBVLCVS AQVAS.= Similar descriptions at _Tr_ III x 33-34 'perque nouos pontes, subterlabentibus undis, / _ducunt Sarmatici barbara plaustra boues_' and _Tr_ III xii 29-30 'nec mare concrescit glacie, nec ut ante per Histrum / stridula Sauromates _plaustra bubulcus_ agit'.

=9. IAZYX.= The _Iazyges Sarmatae_ are mentioned by Pliny (_NH_ IV 80) and by Strabo (VII 3 17), who describes them as one of several tribes living between the Borysthenes (Dnepr) and the Danube. They are also listed by Pompey, under the name of 'Iazyges Metanastae', the Wandering Iazyges (_Geog_ III 7); the 'Iazyges' he describes as living along the shore of the Maeotis (III 5 19). Tacitus mentions the nation at _Ann_ XII 29 4 (Vannius, king of the Suebi, is under attack) 'ipsi manus propria pedites, eques e Sarmaticis Iazygibus erat' and at _Hist_ III 5 (the _principes Sarmatarum Iazygum_ are enlisted to ensure the defence of Moesia in the absence of the regular troops; their offer to raise infantry as well as supplying their usual force of cavalry is rejected because of the fear of future treachery).

The name of the tribe was difficult metrically, so here Ovid calls them _Iazyges_, while at _Tr_ III xii 30 (cited in the previous note) he calls them _Sauromatae_. At _EP_ I ii 77 he solves the difficulty through hendiadys: 'quid _Sauromatae_ faciant, quid _Iazyges_ acres'.

=11. ASPICIS.= Ovid here uses verbs of seeing in an interesting way. At 7 and 9 he has _uides_; then _aspicis_ suggests continuity but at the same time movement toward a new subject, and with a military detail introduced so as to introduce Vestalis' experience of war; then in 13-14 the emphasis is changed by the contrary-to-fact past optative _utinam ... spectata fuisset_.

=11. ASPICIS ET MITTI SVB ADVNCO TOXICA FERRO.= 'You behold how poison is hurled on the barbed steel' (Wheeler). The _telum_ of 12 should be taken to be a spear, since _mittere_ never seems to be used of arrows. At _Ibis_ 135 the _hasta_ is mentioned as the special weapon of the Iazyges.

=11. ADVNCO.= The spear had hooks. Compare _Met_ VI 252-53 'quod [_sc_ ferrum] simul eductum est, pars et pulmonis _in hamis_ / eruta cumque anima cruor est effusus in auras', where Bomer cites among other passages Curtius IX 5 23 'corpore ... nudato animaduertunt _hamos inesse telo_ nec aliter id sine pernicie corporis extrahi posse quam ut secando uulnus augerent' and Prop II xii 9 'et merito _hamatis_ manus est armata sagittis'.