=53. SVRGAT AD HANC VOCEM PLENA PIVS IGNIS AB ARA.= The same favourable omen at _Met_ X 278-79 (Pygmalion has finished his prayer to Venus) 'amici numinis omen, / flamma ter accensa est apicemque per aera duxit'.

=53. PLENA ... AB ARA.= Another indication of Graecinus' devotion to the Caesars.

=53. PIVS.= 'Holy'; compare _pia tura_ at _Am_ III iii 33, _Met_ XI 577, and _Tr_ II 59, _pia sacra_ at _Tr_ V v 2, and _pio ... igne_ at _Tr_ V v 12.

=54. LVCIDVS.= Proleptic: 'The flame-tips would become bright and furnish a good omen for your prayer'.

=55. NE CVNCTA QVERAMVR.= 'So that not everything I say will be a complaint'.

=57. LAETITAE EST= _LT_. Most manuscripts have LAETITIA EST. Similarly at _Met_ VIII 430 'illi _laetitiae est_ cum munere muneris auctor' most codices read _laetitia est_. Heinsius thought LAETITIAE possibly correct here, as might be the case also in the _Metamorphoses_: _laetitiae_ could easily have been misread as _laetitia E_ [=_est_], with _laetitiae est_ as a later correction.

=58. FRATER.= L. Pomponius Flaccus (_PIR1_ P 538), _consul ordinarius_ for 17. As the greater honour would indicate (Graecinus was _consul suffectus_), Flaccus was more prominent than his brother and, unlike Graecinus, is several times mentioned in literary sources outside Ovid.

At II 129 Velleius Paterculus speaks of Flaccus' ability and modesty, and Suetonius (_Tib_ 42 1) names him as a drinking-companion of the emperor, made propraetor of Syria by Tiberius. Tacitus says that Flaccus proposed the _supplicationum dies_ following the discovery in 16 of Libo's plot against Tiberius (_Ann_ II 32 3); at _Ann_ II 41 2 he names Flaccus as consul at the time of Germanicus' great triumph in 17, and at VI 27 3 mentions Flaccus' death in 34 while propraetor of Syria. For Flaccus' special mission to Thrace shortly after the time this poem was written, see at 75 (p 308).

_EP_ I x is addressed to Flaccus, but gives little information except that Flaccus had, like Graecinus, given help to Ovid (37-40). Ovid's relations with Flaccus were clearly not as intimate as those with his brother.

=59-60.= The distich may be an interpolation, or at least deeply corrupted in its present form. Professor E. Fantham points out to me that the construction of _die_ with both _summo ... Decembri_ and _Iani_ is awkward, and that _dies Iani_ does not seem to be used elsewhere in Latin literature. The tense of _suspicit_ is strange as well: a future would normally be expected here.

=61. QVAEQVE EST IN VOBIS PIETAS.= 'Your family-feeling is so great that ...' The same idiom at _Met_ V 373 'quae iam patientia nostra est', _EP_ I vii 59, _EP_ II ii 21-22 'quaeque tua est pietas in totum nomen Iuli, / te laedi cum quis laeditur inde [=_ex illis_] putas', and Hor _Sat_ I ix 54-55 'quae tua uirtus, / expugnabis'. The sense is frequent in prose (_OLD qui1_ A 12).

The expression is used as a simple relative with the implication of size only from context at _Tr_ III v 29 'quaeque tibi linguae est facundia, confer in illud' and _Tr_ III vi 7-8 'quique est in caris animi [_codd_: animo _fort legendum; uide ad 91_] tibi candor amicis-- / cognitus est illi quem colis ipse uiro'.

=61-62. ALTERNA ... GAVDIA.= Flaccus will first rejoice to see Graecinus become consul; then Graecinus will have the pleasure of seeing Flaccus consul.

=64. BINVS= seems sufficiently confirmed, as Ehwald points out (_KB_ 51-52) by _bis ... bis_ in the preceding line; BIMVS, conjectured by Heinsius and found in certain late manuscripts, seems ingenious but unnecessary. Ehwald compares _Ecl_ III 30 '_bis_ uenit ad mulctram, _binos_ alit ubere fetus'.

=64-65. HONOR ... INGENS.= At vii 17 Ovid calls the rank of _primipilaris_ 'titulus ... ingens'.

=65-66. MARTIA ... ROMA.= The same phrase at _Tr_ III vii 52 and _EP_ I viii 24; compare as well _Aen_ I 276-77 'Romulus ... Mauortia condet / moenia'. Mars, father of Romulus and Remus, was peculiarly the god of Rome: compare _Fast_ I 39-40 & III 85-86 'Mars Latio uenerandus erat, quia praesidet armis: / arma ferae genti remque decusque dabant'.

The reference to Mars is very apt in view of the primarily military nature of the republican consul's office.

=67. MVLTIPLICAT TAMEN HVNC GRAVITAS AVCTORIS HONOREM.= Flaccus had been nominated for the consulship by Tiberius.

For language and sentiment compare _Met_ VIII 430 'illi laetitiae est cum munere muneris _auctor_'.

=67. GRAVITAS= is linked with Hercules at _Met_ IX 270, with Jupiter at _Met_ I 207 (considered suspect by Merkel) and II 847, with all the Olympian gods at _Met_ VI 73, and with Augustus at _Tr_ II 512.

Underneath the ostensible connection to Jupiter at _Met_ II 846-47 'non bene conueniunt nec in una sede morantur / maiestas et amor' Professor R. J. Tarrant sees an allusion to Augustus.

=69-70. IVDICIIS IGITVR LICEAT FLACCOQVE TIBIQVE / TALIBVS AVGVSTI TEMPVS IN OMNE FRVI.= Compare _EP_ II vi 17-18 (to Graecinus) 'quodque soles animo _semper_, quod uoce precari, / omnia Caesaribus sic _tua facta probes_'.

=70. AVGVSTI= = _Tiberii_; his name in inscriptions is TICAESARAVG (Sandys 235).

=71. CVM= _FILT_ QVOD _BC_ VT _MH_ QVVM _Weise_. The archetype was illegible at this point, and the manuscripts offer various supplements.

Of these _cum_ seems the most appropriate. Ehwald favoured _quod_ (_KB_ 48), but all except one of the passages he cited are instances of _quod superest_ or _quod reliquum est_. The one relevant passage he cited was _Fast_ II 17-18 (to Augustus) 'ergo ades et placido paulum mea munera uultu / respice, pacando _si quid_ ab hoste _uacat_'. Many manuscripts however offer _uacas_ (for which compare Prop II xxxii 7 'quodcumque uacabis'), and the corruption to the third person seems an easy one.

_Vacare_ in general does not seem to occur with an expressed impersonal subject.

=71. CVRA PROPIORE.= The same phrase at _Met_ XIII 578-79 '_cura_ deam _propior_ luctusque domesticus angit / Memnonis amissi'.

=73. SI QVAE DABIT AVRA SINVM.= 'If some wind should give the opportunity of filling my sails'. _Quae_ is my correction for QVA (_CMFHIL_), which would make the sentence mean 'If the wind should in some way ...'. The difficulty here is with the apparently already existing _aura_: what breeze is Ovid referring to? QVEM (_BT_) presents the same difficulty ('If the breeze should offer any opportunity ...') and in any case looks like a scribal correction. I take _qua_ to be an unmetrical form corrupted from the rare form _quae_ of the indefinite adjective. For the form, compare Ter _Heaut_ 44 'si _quae_ [_Bembinus (saec iv-v)_: qua _recc_] [_sc_ fabula] laboriosast, ad me curritur', Hor _Sat_ I iv 93-95 'mentio si _quae_ [_uar_ qua] ... te coram fuerit, defendas, ut tuus est mos', Hor _Sat_ II vi 10 'o si urnam argenti fors _quae_ mihi monstret', and _CIL_ I 583 37 'SEIQVAE CAVSA ERIT'. _Quae_ in the present passage offers the same notion of a fresh breeze rising as is found at viii 27-28 'quamlibet exigua si nos ea [_sc_ ara] iuuerit _aura_, / obruta de mediis cumba resurget aquis' and _Tr_ IV v 19-20 'remis ad opem luctare ferendam / _dum ueniat_ placido mollior _aura_ deo'.

_Quae_ should possibly be written at _Met_ VI 231-33 'praescius imbris ... rector / carbasa deducit ne _qua_ leuis effluat aura', but Professor R. J. Tarrant points out that _qua_ can be defended by taking _leuis_ to mean 'nimble', a sense supported here by _effluat_. A strong case could be made for reading _quae_ at Hor _Carm_ III xiv 19-20 'Spartacum si _qua_ potuit uagantem / fallere testa'.

=73. SINVM.= _Sinus_ in the sense of 'sail' is common enough (_Am_ II xi 38, _AA_ III 500, _Fast_ V 609, and _Aen_ III 455 & V 16; the origin of the metonymy seen at Prop III ix 30 'uelorum plenos ... sinus'); but the brachylogy here 'opportunity of filling my sails' is remarkable.

=73. LAXATE= _editio princeps Romana_ IACTATE _codd_. Korn, Lenz, and Andre print the manuscript reading, and Korn offers three parallel passages in its defence, none of which stands up to examination. The first is _EP_ III ii 5-6 'cumque labent alii _iactataque_ uela relinquant, / tu lacerae remanes ancora sola rati', where _iactata_ means 'storm-whipped'; compare Statius _Theb_ VII 139-41 'uento / incipiente ... laxi _iactantur_ ubique rudentes'. At Cic _Tusc_ V 40 (a Spartan to a wealthy sea-merchant) 'non sane optabilis quidem ista ... rudentibus apta fortuna', 'Well, your fortune depends on your cables, and I don't think it something to be sought for', _iactare_ does not appear. The third passage, Virgil _G_ II 354-55 'seminibus positis superest diducere terram / saepius ad capita ['roots'] et duros _iactare_ bidentis', hardly seems relevant.

For _laxate rudentes_ 'let out the sails' Heinsius cited _Aen_ III 266-67 'tum litore funem / deripere excussosque iubet _laxare_ rudentis'

'Next he commanded us to fling hawsers from moorings and uncoil and ease the sheets' (Jackson Knight), _Aen_ VIII 707-8 'uentis ... uela dare et _laxos_ iamiamque immittere funis', Cic _Diu_ I 127, Lucan V 426-27 'pariter soluere rates, totosque rudentes / _laxauere_ sinus', and Lucan IX 1004.

=74. E STYGIIS ... AQVIS.= Similar phrasing at _Met_ X 697 'Stygia ... unda, _Met_ XI 500 'Stygia ... unda', _Aen_ VI 374 'Stygias ... aquas', _Aen_ XII 91 'Stygia ... unda', and _Cons Liu_ 410 'Stygia ... aqua'.

Ovid often uses the phrasing of his exile: see _Tr_ I ii 65-66 'mittere me _Stygias_ si iam uoluisset in _undas_ / Caesar, in hoc uestro non eguisset ope', _Tr_ IV v 22, _EP_ I viii 27 'careo uobis, _Stygias_ detrusus in _oras_', and _EP_ II iii 44 'a _Stygia_ quantum mors [_codd_: sors _Heinsius_] mea distat aqua?'. For Ovid's exile as the equivalent of death, see at vi 49 _qui me doluistis ademptum_ (p 243).

=75. PRAEFVIT HIS ... LOCIS MODO FLACCVS.= At _Ann_ II 64-67 Tacitus reports how, following the death of Augustus, Rhescuporis attacked and imprisoned his brother Cotys (addressee of _EP_ II ix), alleging a plot against himself; on their father's death, the kingdom of Thrace had been divided between them, Cotys receiving the better regions. Tiberius insisted that Rhescuporis release his brother and come to Rome to explain the situation; Rhescuporis then killed his brother, claiming it was a suicide. 'nec tamen Caesar placitas semel artes mutauit, sed defuncto Pandusa, quem sibi infensum Rhescuporis arguerat [_scripsi_: arguebat _M_], Pomponium Flaccum, _ueterem stipendiis_ et arta cum rege amicitia eoque accommodatiorem ad fallendum ob id maxime Moesiae praefecit'; the previous service mentioned by Tacitus is no doubt the command Ovid is here referring to.

Flaccus succeeded in trapping Rhescuporis and bringing him to Rome; he was found guilty and sent in exile to Alexandria, where he died.

Velleius Paterculus placed the episode first in his list of memorable events of Tiberius' reign (II 129); it is briefly mentioned at Suet _Tib_ 37 4.

=75. FLACCVS.= 'Ab hoc Flacco uolunt quidam Valachiam ['Wallachia'] fuisse dictam olim _Flacciam_, quod nomen sensim corruptela sermonis transiit in Valachiam. Vide Georgii a ['von'] Reychersdorff Chorographiam Transyluaniae. pag. 33 [first published in 1595; see _British Museum Gen Cat_ 200 383] qui addit hinc [_sic_] adhuc Romanum ibi sermonem durare, licet admodum corruptum. sed hae fabulae'--Burman. Clearly the existence of Rumanian was not widely known in Western Europe at the time Burman wrote.

=77. MYSAS GENTES= = _Moesos_. Strabo (VII 3 10; cited by Andre) claims a common origin for the [Greek: Moisoi] of Europe and the [Greek: Mysoi]

of Asia. For the Greek form, compare Ovid's use of _Getes_ for _Geta_ and _Sauromates_ for _Sarmata_.

=78. ARCV FISOS ... GETAS.= For the bow as the typical Getic weapon, see iii 52 'arcu ... Gete", _EP_ III v 45 'Getico ... arcu' and _Ibis_ 635 'Geticasque sagittas'.

=78. ENSE.= The _gladius_, typical weapon of the Roman legionary. For the precise equivalence of the two terms, see Quintilian X i 11. In Ovid's poetry, the proportion of instances of _ensis_ to instances of _gladius_ is about 90:30; in the poetry of exile, it is 21:3. For a discussion of _ensis_/_gladius_, with statistics, see Axelson 51; the only poets to admit _gladius_ more freely than Ovid are Lucan and Juvenal.

=79. TROESMIN= _Heinsius_ TROESMEN _C_ TROESENEN _B1_ TROEZEN _uel similia codd plerique_. Troesmis, the modern Galati, is located on the north bank of the Danube, about 160 kilometres inland from Aegissos (Tulcea).

Heinsius did not have the assistance of _CIL_ V 6183-88 & 6195, but seems nonetheless to have conjectured that _Troesmin_ was a possible reading ('sed legendum, [Greek: Troismis] uel [Greek: Trosmis]'). Korn was the first to place _Troesmin_ in the text.

=79. CELERI VIRTVTE.= 'With a bold surprise attack'.

=80. INFECITQVE FERO SANGVINE DANVVIVM.= Compare the similar description of Vestalis' recapture of Aegissos: 'non negat hoc _Hister_, cuius tua dextera quondam / _puniceam Getico sanguine fecit aquam_' (vii 19-20).

=80. DANVVIVM.= According to Owen at _Tr_ II 192 this, and not DANVBIVM (the reading of the manuscripts), is the spelling certified by the inscriptions. Manuscripts divide between the two spellings at Hor _Carm_ IV xv 21 and Tac _Germ_ I 1.

=81-86.= Ovid similarly calls Vestalis as his witness at vii 3-4 'aspicis en praesens quali iaceamus in aruo, / nec me testis eris falsa solere queri'.

=81. INCOMMODA.= The word is not found elsewhere in Ovid, and is not used in verse, except for satire (Hor _AP_ 169; Juvenal XIII 21). It is particularly common in Caesar.

=81. CAELI= = 'climate', as commonly (_Tr_ III iii 7, Prop II xxviii 5, Cic _Att_ XI xxii 2).

=82. QVAM VICINO TERREAR HOSTE ROGA.= An imitation of Tib I i 3 'quem labor assiduus _uicino terreat hoste_'.

=83. SINTNE LITAE TENVES SERPENTIS FELLE SAGITTAE.= Similar descriptions of poisoned arrows at _Tr_ IV i 77 'imbuta ... tela uenenis', _Tr_ IV i 84, _Tr_ III x 64, _Tr_ V vii 16 'tela ... uipereo lurida felle', _EP_ I ii 16 'omnia uipereo spicula felle linunt', _EP_ III i 26, and _EP_ III iii 106.

=84. FIAT AN HVMANVM VICTIMA DIRA CAPVT.= Human sacrifice similarly mentioned at _Tr_ IV iv 61-62 'illi quos audis hominum gaudere cruore, / paene sub eiusdem sideris axe iacent'.