The Last Poems Of Ovid - The Last Poems of Ovid Part 28
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The Last Poems of Ovid Part 28

=20. HABVISSE= is equivalent to _habere_, as is shown by _esse_ in the preceding line. For the idiom, see at viii 82 _imposuisse_ (p 282) and xi 2 _habuisse_ (p 361).

=21. TVRBA QVAMVIS ELIDERER.= _Elidere_ similarly used of a crowd's jostling at Sen _Clem_ I 6 1; an extended description at Juvenal III 243-48.

=23. PROSPICEREM.= Owen in his second edition, Wheeler, and Lenz follow Ehwald (_KB_ 64) in printing _B_'s ASPICEREM. Ehwald argued that _prospicerem_, 'survey from a distance', was inappropriate in view of the preceding _turba quamuis eliderer_. But the verb should be taken not with the pentameter that precedes, but with the one that follows, 'densaque quam longum turba teneret iter': _prospicerem_ seems very appropriate. Riese conjectured RESPICEREM 'look back at', but emendation seems unnecessary.

Compounds of _specere_ (the simple verb is used by Plautus and Ennius) are peculiarly liable to confusion: _prospicere_ is similarly corrupted to _aspicere_ in some manuscripts at _Met_ III 603-4 'ipse quid aura mihi tumulo promittat ab alto / _prospicio_' and _Met_ XI 715-16 'notata locis reminiscitur acta fretumque / _prospicit_', and other instances of variation of prefix will be found at _Met_ II 405, VI 343, XI 150, XIV 179, XV 577, 660 & 842, _Fast_ I 139 & 461, V 393 & 561, and _Her_ XIX 21.

=25-26.= Heinsius and Bentley questioned the authenticity of these lines, but the distich does not seem lame enough to warrant excision, and _tegeret_ (see below) is paralleled elsewhere.

=25. QVOQVE MAGIS NORIS.= 'Listen: this will make you understand better'.

Ovid is very fond of _quoque magis_ and the corresponding _quoque minus_, particularly at line-beginnings. He generally uses the formula to denote the emotion which information he then gives should induce.

Compare _Met_ I 757-58 '"quo"que "magis doleas, genetrix" ait, "ille ego liber, / ille ferox tacui"', _Met_ III 448-50 (Narcissus to his reflection) 'quoque magis doleam, nec nos mare separat ingens ... exigua prohibemur aqua', _Met_ XIV 695-97 'quoque magis timeas ... referam tota notissima Cypro / facta', _Tr_ I vii 37-38, and _EP_ I viii 9-10 'quoque magis nostros uenia dignere libellos, / haec in procinctu carmina facta leges'; similar instances of _quoque minus_ at _Met_ II 44, VIII 579, 620 & 866, and _EP_ III ii 52. The present passage shows the same idiom, but with the difference that a subordinate clause (_quam me uulgaria tangant_) depends on the verb (_noris_) introduced by the _quoque magis_ clause.

The same formula is used with a different sense, the _quoque_ being an ablative of degree of difference, at _Am_ III ii 28 and _Met_ IV 64 'quoque magis tegitur, tectus magis aestuat ignis'.

_EP_ II v 15-16 'quoque magis moueare malis, doctissime, nostris, / credibile est fieri condicione loci' reads oddly; something has probably been lost from the text after the hexameter.

=25. VVLGARIA.= 'Commonplace, ordinary'. Compare Hor _Sat_ II ii 38 and Cic _De or_ II 347 'neque enim paruae [_sc_ res] neque usitatae neque uulgares admiratione aut omnino laude dignae uideri solent'.

=25. TANGANT.= 'Impress'; compare _Her_ V 81 'non ego miror opes, nec me tua regia tangit', _Her_ VI 113, _Her_ VII 11, _Met_ IV 639, _Met_ X 614-15 'nec forma _tangor_ (poteram tamen hac quoque tangi), / sed quod adhuc puer est: non me mouet ipse, sed aetas', and _Fast_ V 489, as well as _Her_ XVI 83. For _tangere_ with a neuter plural subject see _Aen_ I 462 'mentem mortalia _tangunt_'.

=26. TEGERET.= There are twenty trisyllabic pentameter endings in Tibullus, thirty in Propertius, but only five in Ovid, all in the _Ex Ponto_: I i 66 _faciet_, I vi 26 _scelus est_, I viii 40 _liceat_, III vi 46 _uideor_, and this passage (Platnauer 15-16). Quadrisyllabic endings are similarly frequent in the poetry of exile: see at ii 10 _Alcinoo_ (p 164).

=27. SIGNA ... IN SELLA ... FORMATA CVRVLI.= For _signum_ 'bas-relief' see at v 18 _conspicuum signis ... ebur_ (the phrase also of the curule chair).

=28. NVMIDAE SCVLPTILE DENTIS OPVS.= Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me the clear imitation of Prop II xxxi 12 'ualuae, Llbyci nobile dentis opus'.

=28. NVMIDAE ... DENTIS= _edd_ NVMIDI ... DENTIS _codd_. The masculine first declension substantive _Numida_ is occasionally used as an adjective: compare _AA_ II 183 'Numidasque leones' (some manuscripts read _Numidosque_) and Juvenal IV 99-100 'ursos ... Numidas'. Andre prints _Numidi_, citing a nominative _Numidus_ at _CIL_ VIII 17328, the variant at _AA_ II 183, and Apicius VI 8 4 'pullum Numidum' (where there is a variant _Numidicum_, which Andre printed in his 1974 edition of Apicius). But given the support for the first-declension form offered by the Juvenal passage and the better manuscripts of the _Ars Amatoria_, the danger in adducing a doubtful passage of Apicius and a single inscription to determine poetic usage, and the ease of corruption to the second declension, it seems better to assume that Ovid here used the first declension form.

_Numidae ... dentis_ is high poetic diction: compare _Met_ XI 167-68 'instructam ... fidem gemmis et _dentibus Indis_', Catullus LXIV 47-48 'puluinar ... _Indo_ ... _dente_ politum', Prop II xxxi 12 (quoted above), and Statius _Sil_ III iii 94-95 'Indi / dentis honos'.

=28. SCVLPTILE.= The word does not seem to occur again in Latin until Prudentius _Steph_ X 266.

=29. TARPEIAS ... IN ARCES.= See at iv 29 _Tarpeiae ... sedis_ (p 208).

=30. DVM= expresses purpose; if it were temporal, the verb would be _cadit_ instead of _caderet_: compare 17-18 '_dumque_ latus sancti _cingit_ tibi turba senatus, / consulis ante pedes ire iuberer eques'.

=31. SECRETO= represents Ovid's response to the bidding _fauete linguis_.

The word is frequent in comedy, but is very rare in verse, being virtually confined to satire (Hor _Sat_ I ix 67, Juvenal I 95).

=31-32. MAGNVS ... DEVS= = Iuppiter Optimus _Maximus_. Compare _AA_ II 540 'eris _magni_ uictor in arce _Iouis_'.

=33. TVRAQVE MENTE MAGIS PLENA QVAM LANCE DEDISSEM.= The same notion of sincerity of feeling being more important than size of gifts at viii 35-40.

=34. TER QVATER ... LAETVS.= 'Infinitely happy'; compare Prop III xii 15 '_ter quater_ in casta felix, o Postume, Galla!', _Aen_ I 94 'o _terque quaterque_ beati', _AA_ II 447-48, and _Tr_ III xii 25-26 'o _quater_ et _quotiens non est numerare beatum_ / non interdicta cui licet urbe frui!'. The phrase is common in Ovid, but he generally uses it to mean 'several times': compare _Am_ III i 31-32 'mouit ... _terque quaterque_ caput', _Met_ II 49, _Met_ IV 734 '_ter quater_ exegit repetita per ilia ferrum', _Met_ VI 133, _Met_ IX 217, _Met_ XII 288, _Fast_ I 576, and _Fast_ I 657 '_ter quater_ euolui signantes tempora fastos'.

=35. HIC.= 'Hier auf dem Kapitol'--Ehwald (_KB_ 65). The idiom is somewhat strange, but seems well enough supported by _Met_ XIV 372-73 '"per o, tua lumina" dixit / "quae mea ceperunt, perque _hanc_, pulcherrime, formam"' and _Her_ XVI 137, passages cited by R, J. Tarrant at Sen _Ag_ 971 'dummodo _hac_ ['your'] moriar manu'. Compare as well Prop I xi 17-18 'non quia perspecta non es mihi cognita fama, / sed quod in _hac_ omnis _parte_ ['at Baiae'] timetur [_codd_: ueretur _Lachmann_] amor'

and Fedeli _ad loc_.

=36. MITIA ... SI ... FATA DARENT.= 'If the Fates had been kind, and given'.

=36. VRBIS= _editio Aldina 1502_ VERBIS _codd_. _Ius urbis_ = _ius urbis habitandae_; compare _Met_ XIII 471-72 'genetrici corpus inemptum / reddite, neue auro redimat ius triste sepulcri [=_sepeliendi_]'.

=37-38. MENTE ... OCVLIS.= Similarly contrasted at _Met_ XV 62-64 'isque, licet caeli regione remotos, / _mente_ deos adiit et, quae natura negarat [_'Medic. rectius' (Heinsius)_: negabat _codd_] / uisibus humanis, _oculis_ ea _pectoris_ hausit'.

=38. NON ITA CAELITIBVS VISVM EST.= 'The gods decided otherwise'. Compare xi 7 'non ita dis placuit', _Met_ VII 699, _Tr_ IV viii 15-16 (Ovid had hoped for a peaceful and happy old age) 'non ita dis uisum est, qui me terraque marique / actum Sarmaticis exposuere locis'. These passages are probably all echoes of _Aen_ II 426 'dis aliter uisum'.

=40. IVVET= _BpcCMFHILT_ FORET _Bac 'unde uerum eliciendum'--Riese_. But the correction is by the original hand (Owen suggested that the error was induced by _foret_ at the end of the preceding distich), and _iuuet_ is unobjectionable: Ovid is explaining his admission in the previous line that the gods were perhaps just in his case--claiming he was innocent, that is, that the gods had been unjust, would be of no assistance to him.

=41. MENTE TAMEN, QVAE SOLA DOMO NON EXVLAT, VSVS.= See at iv 45 _qua possum, mente_ (p 211).

=41. QVAE SOLA DOMO NON EXVLAT.= Similar wording at _Tr_ III iv 45-46 'Nasonisque tui _quod adhuc non exulat unum_ / nomen ama'.

=41. DOMO NON EXVLAT.= _Domo_ is my conjecture for the transmitted LOCO, which is strange and difficult to construe. FOCO is also possible; but the singular would be unusual. For _domo_ compare Ter _Eun_ 610 'domo exulo nunc'.

=42. PRAETEXTAM FASCES ASPICIAMQVE.= The _-que_ logically belongs with _fasces_, joining it with _praetextam_: such dislocations are common in the pentameter because of its strict metrical requirements.

According to the manuscripts the preceding line ends with VTAR; I have printed Heinsius' VSVS, since there would otherwise be an asyndeton between _utar_ and _aspiciam_. There are similar errors at 57 and xi 15 (_cedet_ for _cedens_; _peruenit_ for _perueniens_): here we may have a deliberate alteration by a scribe who did not understand the force of the delayed enclitic and sought a verb to couple _aspiciam_ with.

=44. DECRETIS= _Korn_ SECRETIS _codd_ SECRETO _Wheeler_. Korn's conjecture makes the pentameter an amplification of the hexameter, a common pattern in Ovid; its corruption to _secretis_ would be easy. Ehwald (_KB_ 39-40) retained _secretis_, citing Tac _Ann_ III 37 '_secreta_ ['solitary designs'--Grant] patris mitigari' and Pliny _Pan_ 53 6 (we should rejoice in our present good fortune under Trajan, and weep at the tribulations endured under previous emperors) 'hoc _secreta_ nostra ['our private thoughts'], hoc sermones, hoc ipsae gratiarum actiones agant'. But in a list of the consul's public functions such a deviation of subject seems inappropriate. Wheeler's _secreto_ is a little forced: 'my mind ... shall fancy itself present unseen at your actions'. Ehwald objected that Korn did not explain what his conjecture meant; but _decernere_ was used of the consuls' judicial decisions (Cic _Att_ XVI xvi a 4(6) 'consulum decretum').

=45. LONGI ... LVSTRI.= The epithet seems to have no special force: compare iv 23 'longum ... annum'.

=45. REDITVS HASTAE SVPPONERE.= See at v 19 _reditus ... componet_ (p 219).

=46. CERNET= _PM2c, Gothanus membr. II 121 (saec xiii)_ CREDET _BCFHILT_.

_Cernet_ seems preferable to _credet_ as continuing the image of _uidebit_ in 43.

=46. EXACTA CVNCTA LOCARE FIDE.= Graecinus will be careful and incorruptible in assigning taxation contracts. For _fide_ compare v 20 'et minui magnae non sinet urbis opes'; for _exacta_ compare Suet _Tib_ 18 'cum animaduerteret Varianam cladem temeritate et neglegentia ducis accidisse ... curam ... solita [_scripsi; confer Liu XXVII 47 1 'multitudo ... maior solita_' solito _codd_] _exactiorem_ praestitit'.

=48. PVBLICA QVAERENTEM QVID PETAT VTILITAS.= The consul acted as chairman of the Senate, proposing the order of the day, and asking the senators in order of seniority for their _sententiae_ on the appropriate action for the question under discussion.

=48. PVBLICA ... VTILITAS.= 'The people's interest'. For _utilitas_ compare _Met_ XIII 191 'utilitas populi', Cic _Part Or_ 89 'persaepe euenit ut _utilitas_ cum honestate certet', Cic _Sul_ 25 '_populi utilitati_ magis consulere quam uoluntati', and Livy VI 40 5 & VIII 34 2 'posthabita filii caritas _publicae utilitati_'.

=49. PRO CAESARIBVS= = _pro Caesarum factis_. Compare _Res Gestae_ 4 'ob res a me aut per legatos meos auspicis [=_auspiciis_] meis terra marique prospere gestas quinquagiens et quinquiens _decreuit senatus_ supplicandum esse dis immortalibus. dies autem per quos _ex senatus consulto_ supplicatum est fuere DCCCLXXXX'.

=49. CAESARIBVS.= Tiberius, Germanicus, and Drusus. Similarly used at _EP_ II vi 18 (to Graecinus) 'omnia _Caesaribus_ [Augustus and Tiberius] sic tua facta probes'.

=49. DECERNERE GRATES.= 'Propose (in the Senate) the decreeing of thanks'.

The sense of _decernere_ is common in prose: see Cic _Prou Cons_ 1, _Att_ VII i 7, and the other passages at _OLD decerno_ 6.

=49. GRATES= appears occasionally in prose (Tarrant at Sen _Ag_ 380 _reddunt grates_ cites Livy XXIII 11 12, Curtius IX 6 17, and Vell Pat II 25 4), but in hexameter and elegiac verse is the necessary representative for _grAtiAs_.

=51. CVM IAM FVERIS POTIORA PRECATVS.= For _potior_ 'more important'

compare Caesar _BC_ I 8 (a reported remark of Pompey) 'semper se rei publicae commoda priuatis necessitudinibus habuisse _potiora_', Livy VIII 29 2, and the many passages at _OLD potior2_ 4. The usage belongs to prose: Ovid elsewhere and Virgil always use _potior_ to mean either 'more powerful' or 'preferable'.

=53-54. SVRGAT ... DETQVE.= The apodosis of an implied condition: 'If you prayed for me, the fire would rise'.