=127-29. TV ... TV.= For the anaphora of _tu_ in hymns or solemn prayer, see the passages collected by Nisbet and Hubbard at Hor _Carm_ I x 9 and by Tarrant at Sen _Ag_ 311.

=127. SVPERIS ASCITE.= _Asciscere_ is generally used of admission to the citizenship or to the Senate: for parallels to the metaphorical use here, see Tarrant at Sen _Ag_ 812-13 'tuus ille bis seno meruit labore / _adlegi caelo_ magnus Alcides'.

=128.= Causal =VT= [_'ex ueteribus' Naugerius_] seems an appropriate correction for the manuscripts' lame ET.

=129-30. NOSTRAS ... PRECES.= The hyperbaton adds elevation and dignity to the prayer.

=129-30. INTER CONVEXA ... SIDERA= = _inter sidera conuexi caeli_; the hypallage adds further to the elevation of the passage. For _conuexa_ compare Festus (58 Muller; 51 Lindsay) 'conuexum est ex omni parte declinatum, _qualis est natura caeli_, quod ex omni parte ad terram uersum declinatum est', _Met_ I 26 'ignes _conuexi_ uis et sine pondere _caeli_', _Ecl_ IV 50, and Cic _Arat_ 560 (314). In particular compare _Aen_ I 607-8, which Ovid is clearly imitating: 'dum montibus umbrae / lustrabunt, _conuexa_ polus dum _sidera_ pascet'. There is some question as to whether _conuexa_ should there be taken with _sidera_, or as the object of _lustrabunt_: Ovid clearly took it with _sidera_.

=130. SOLLICITO QVAS DAMVS ORE PRECES.= For the general wording compare _Tr_ III viii 20 'tum quoque _sollicita mente rogandus_ erit' and _EP_ III i 148 'nil nisi _sollicitae_ sint tua uerba _preces_': for _sollicito ... ore_ compare _sollicita uoce_ at _Met_ X 639 & XIV 706.

=131. PERVENIANT ISTVC.= Compare _EP_ II ii 95 'si tamen haec audis et uox mea _peruenit istuc_ [=_Romam_]'.

=131-32. CARMINA ... QVAE DE TE MISI CAELITE FACTA NOVO.= Ovid also mentions his poems on Augustus' apotheosis at vi 17-18, viii 63-64 & xiii 25-26.

=133-34. NEC TV / IMMERITO NOMEN MITE PARENTIS HABES.= 'Et ce n'est pas sans raison que tu portes le doux nom de Pere' (Andre) must be correct as against Wheeler's 'for not undeservedly hast thou the gracious name of "Father"', since _nec_, although it can mean _et ... non_ or _sed ... non_, cannot mean _nam ... non_; the proof of this is the frequent occurrence of _neque enim_.

The litotes _non (haud, nec) immerito_ is common enough in Latin: see the many examples at _TLL_ VII.1 457 26 ff. But in the four instances given of _nec immerito_, it never serves to introduce a new phrase as here. At Plautus _St_ 28 'decet _neque_ id _immerito_ eueniet'

it introduces a second verb which amplifies the preceding one, while it modifies preceding verbs at Ter _Ad_ 615 'tanta nunc suspicio de me incidit _neque_ ea immerito', Val Max IV vii 1 'inimicus patriae fuisse Ti. Gracchus existimatus est, _nec immerito_, quia potentiam suam saluti eius praetulerat', and Quintilian X i 104 'habet amatores--_nec immerito_--Cremuti libertas'. One would expect a clause of causation to follow _auguror his igitur flecti tua numina_, and I think it possible that Ovid wrote NAM TV / E MERITO (Professor C. P. Jones suggests EX MERITO). Both the corruption from _e merito_ and the subsequent interpolation of _nec_ would be easy enough. For _e(x) merito_, compare vii 16 'contigit _ex merito_ qui tibi nuper honor'.

=133. NEC TV.= The elegiac poets admitted a monosyllabic ending to the hexameter if it was preceded by another monosyllable closely linked to it in sense: see Platnauer 13. For true monosyllabic endings, see at ii 47 _Aonius fons_.

=134. NOMEN MITE PARENTIS= = _nomen parentis, quod significat te mitem esse_. At _Tr_ I i 73 and _EP_ II viii 51 members of the imperial family are called _mitissima numina_. There is another instance of hypallage with _nomen mite_ (a different sense of _mitis_ being used) at _Fast_ V 64 '_nomen_ et aetatis _mite_ [_codd_: rite _Riese_] senatus erat', 'the very name of senate signified a ripe old age' (Frazer).

=134. PARENTIS= = _patris patriae_. For the title compare _Res Gestae_ 35 (the final achievement listed by Augustus) 'tertium decimum consulatum cum gerebam, senatus et equester ordo populusque Romanus uniuersus appellauit me _patrem patriae_, idque in uestibulo aedium mearum inscribendum esse et in curia et in foro Aug. sub quadrigis quae mihi ex s.c. positae sunt decreuit'. Suetonius describes the conferring of the title at _Aug_ 58.

X. To Albinovanus Pedo

The poem is the only one in the _Ex Ponto_ addressed to Albinovanus.

Considering the elder Seneca's express testimony that Albinovanus was a close friend of Ovid (see at 4 [pp 327-28]), this is rather surprising; perhaps Albinovanus, an associate of Germanicus (Tac _Ann_ I 60 2), had, like some of Ovid's other friends, asked not to be mentioned in his verse.

The poem begins with the statement that Ovid is now in his sixth year of exile; unlike flint and iron, he is not touched by the passing of time (1-8). He says that his tribulations are like those of Ulysses, but more severe; there follows a comparison of his experiences with those of Ulysses (9-30). He then describes the bleakness of the climate, and how the sea freezes over in winter (31-34). He has heard that his accounts are not believed at Rome, and will therefore explain the reasons for the sea's freezing over (35-38). At Tomis the north wind prevails, and the salinity of the sea is reduced by the influx of many large rivers (which are listed in a catalogue); the sea's freezing is caused by these two factors (39-64). He is telling all this to Albinovanus to pass the time; Albinovanus is writing poetry as well, about Theseus, who is an example for him to follow (65-82). Ovid does not wish to imply that Albinovanus is not already doing everything possible to assist him (83-84).

The poem combines with remarkable ease a number of quite disparate subjects, and is in this sense reminiscent of Tibullus. Most of the subjects had been used previously in the poetry of exile; in particular, see _Tr_ I v 57-84 for an extended comparison of the trials of Ulysses and those of Ovid. The disquisition on the reasons for the Euxine's freezing over is, however, new. It seems to have been drawn from a geographical or physical treatise which has left its mark elsewhere in Latin literature: see at 37-38 (p 340-42).

=1. CIMMERIO= _British Library Harley 2607 (Tarrant)_ CVMERIO _M1_ IN ETIAM MEMORI _C_ IN ********** _B1_ IN HEMONIO _HITP_ IN EVXINO _F_ IN exino _B2c_ BISTONIO _LM2ul_ Many centuries had passed since the Cimmerians had inhabited Scythia; even Herodotus, who tells the story of their departure, seems to regard the event as belonging to the distant past (IV 11-12). Homer was vaguely aware of the nation: at _Od_ XI 13-19 (imitated at _Pan Mess_ 64-66), he speaks of the '[Greek: Kimmerion andron ... polis]' by the stream of Ocean, which never receives sunlight.

For _Cimmerio_ Burman compared Claudian _Cons Stil_ I 129 'nunc prope Cimmerii tendebat litora _Ponti_'; see as well _In Eutr_ I 249 'extra _Cimmerias_, Taurorum claustra, paludes'.

=1. BIS TERTIA ... AESTAS.= The poem is therefore dated to the summer of 14. For Ovid's mentions of the length of his exile, see at vi 5 _quinquennis_ (p 227).

=3. ECQVOS ... ECQVOD= _Laurentianus 36 2, saec xv_ ET QVOS ... ET QVOD _BCMFHILT_. The same corruption is found in certain manuscripts at _Met_ III 442-45 (Narcissus speaking) '"_ecquis_, io siluae, crudelius"

inquit "amauit? ... _ecquem_ ... qui sic tabuerit longo meministis in aeuo?"' and commonly. Other instances of _ecquis_ in emotionally heightened questions at _Fast_ IV 488, _Tr_ I vi 11, _EP_ III i 3, and _Her_ XXI 106.

=3. SILICES ... FERRVM.= See at viii 49 _tabida consumit ferrum lapidemque uetustas_ (p 270).

=4. ALBINOVANE.= Albinovanus Pedo[21] and Ovid seem to have been close friends. Ovid mentions him again at xvi 6 'sidereusque Pedo', and he was the source of the famous anecdote in the elder Seneca (_Cont_ II 2 12) of how Ovid chose as the three lines in his poems he most wished to retain the same three verses a group of his friends most wished to remove.

[Footnote 21: _PIR_1 A 343; _PIR_2 A 479; PW 1,1 1314 21-40; Schanz-Hosius II 266 (--315); Bardon 69-73.]

He was a famous raconteur: the younger Seneca calls Pedo _fabulator elegantissimus_ at _Ep_ CXXII 15-16 when repeating one of his anecdotes.

At the time this poem was written, Albinovanus was engaged on a _Theseid_ (71). Quintilian perhaps had this poem in mind when he included a rather slighting mention of Albinovanus in his catalogue of epic poets at X i 90: 'Rabirius ac Pedo non indigni cognitione, si uacet'. He may, however, have been thinking of Albinovanus' poem on Germanicus' campaigns, of which the elder Seneca preserves some twenty-three hexameters (_Suas_ I 15; commentary by V. Bongi, _Istituto Lombardo di scienze e lett. Rendiconti [Classe di Lettere]_ ser. 3 13 [1949], 28-48. Norden and others have attributed Morel _Incert_ 46 'ingenia immansueta suoque simillima caelo' to the same poem). Martial several times mentions Albinovanus as a writer of epigrams (II lxxvii 5, V v 5 & X xx (xix) 10); this fits well with the younger Seneca's description of Albinovanus as _fabulator elegantissimus_.

At _Ann_ I 60 2, Tacitus mentions Pedo as 'praefectus finibus Frisiorum'

in Germanicus' campaign of 15.

=5-6. LAPIDEM ... ANVLVS ... VOMER.= See at viii 49 _tabida consumit ferrum lapidemque uetustas_ (p 270), and compare _AA_ I 473-76 'ferreus assiduo consumitur _anulus_ usu, / interit assidua _uomer_ aduncus humo. / quid magis est saxo durum, quid mollius unda? / dura tamen molli saxa cauantur aqua'.

=6. ATTERITVR= _Heinsius_. Korn and Riese printed the manuscripts' ET TERITVR, for which Riese cited _Tr_ I iv 9-10 'pinea texta sonant pulsu [_Rothmaler_: pulsi _codd_], stridore rudentes, / ingemit _et_ nostris ipsa carina malis' and _Tr_ III iv 57-58 'ante oculos errant domus, urbsque et forma locorum, / accedunt_que_ suis singula facta locis', but these are extended descriptions of single events, not lists of separate examples.

Elsewhere in Ovid, the only form found of _atterere_ is _attritus_: this circumstance perhaps contributed to the corruption of the present passage.

=6. ATTERITVR PRESSA VOMER ADVNCVS HVMO.= Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me the hypallage in this passage. _Pressus_ is to be taken twice, with _uomer_ and with _humo_: the earth is _pressed down_ as the plough is _pressed_ into it.

=7. TEMPVS EDAX.= The same phrase at _Met_ XV 234; compare as well _edax ... uetustas_ at _Met_ XV 872.

=7. PRAETER NOS.= At _EP_ II vii 39-45, Ovid (with a series of images parallel to that of the present passage) says that he is in fact being worn away by the hardships he is enduring: 'ut ... caducis / percussu crebro _saxa_ cauantur aquis, / sic ego continuo Fortunae uulneror ictu ... nec magis assiduo _uomer_ tenuatur ab usu, / nec magis est curuis Appia trita rotis, / pectora quam mea sunt serie calcata malorum'.

=8. PERDIT= _I_ PERDET _BCMFHLT_. The tense is made probable by the preceding _cauat ... consumitur ... atteritur_ and the following _cessat_; compare as well _Tr_ IV vi 17-18 'cuncta pot_est_ ... uetustas / praeter quam curas attenuare meas'. Third conjugation verbs in the third person are for obvious reasons peculiarly apt to corruption of tense and mood.

The alteration from present to future is rather less common than the inverse corruption, for an instance of which see at xii 18 _reddet_ (p 378).

=8. CESSAT DVRITIA MORS QVOQVE VICTA MEA.= Death does not conquer Ovid, but is conquered by him. Professor E. Fantham points out to me the baroque inversion in the phrase, citing as a parallel Sen _Tr_ 1171-75, where Hecuba says that death fears her and flees her.

Riese placed a question mark at the end of the line, but since in 7 Ovid asserts unambiguously that time does not affect him, there seems no reason to make the following line a question. In his poems from exile Ovid often expresses his wish to die; see _Tr_ III viii 39-40 'tantus amor necis est querar ut cum Caesaris ira / quod non offensas uindicet ense suas', _Tr_ III xiii 5-6, IV vi 49-50, and V ix 37-38.

=9. EXEMPLVM EST ANIMI NIMIVM PATIENTIS VLIXES.= Ovid frequently compares his trials in exile to those undergone by Ulysses. The longest instance of this is _Tr_ I v 57-84; compare as well _Tr_ III xi 61-62 'crede mihi, si sit nobis collatus Vlixes, / Neptuni minor est quam Iouis ira fuit', _Tr_ V v 1-4, and _EP_ I iii 33-34, II vii 59-60 & III vi 19-20.

Ulysses' voyage was a favourite subject of the Latin poets. For a surviving example, see Prop III xii 23-36. An indication of the subject's popularity is the fact that _Pan Mess_ 45-49 'nam seu diuersi fremat inconstantia uulgi, / non alius sedare queat; seu iudicis ira / sit placanda, tuis poterit mitescere uerbis. / non Pylos aut Ithace tantos genuisse feruntur / Nestora uel paruae magnum decus urbis Vlixem'

is followed not by a description of Ulysses' eloquence, as would have been appropriate, but by a narrative of his travels (52-81): this illogical sequence was no doubt induced by the poet's familiarity with similar descriptions of Ulysses' voyage in the poetry of his time.

Professor E. Fantham cites Seneca's use of Ulysses as an _exemplum patientiae_ at Sen _Dial_ II 2 1, where Hercules is compared to Ulysses.

=9. EXEMPLVM EST.= Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me the unusual baldness of the phrase. In Ovid's earlier verse _exemplum_ has an instructional or minatory overtone (_AA_ III 686, _Met_ IX 454). The flatter use of _exemplum_ seems to be typical of the poetry of exile: compare _EP_ III i 44 'coniugis exemplum diceris esse bonae', and _Tr_ I v 21, IV iii 72 & IV iv 71.

=9. NIMIVM PATIENTIS= = [Greek: polytlas] (_Il_ VIII 97, _Od_ V 171, et saep.). The sense of _nimium_ seen here is not generally found in poetry, or even in literary prose; the instances cited by _OLD nimium2_ 2 are all from comedy, Cato, and the letters of Cicero.

=10. DVO LVSTRA.= Compare xvi 13-14 'Vlixem / errantem saeuo per _duo lustra_ mari' and _AA_ III 15-16 'est pia Penelope _lustris_ errante _duobus_ / et totidem lustris bella gerente uiro'.

=11. SOLLICITI ... FATI= is based on such phrases as _sollicita uita_ (Prop II vii 1) and _sollicitissima aetas_ (Sen _Breu Vit_ 16 1). Similar phrasing at _Tr_ IV x 116 'nec me _sollicitae_ taedia _lucis_ habent'.

=11. PLACIDAE SAEPE FVERE MORAE.= Compare Prop III xii 23-24 'Postumus alter erit miranda coniuge Vlixes: / non illi _longae_ tot nocuere _morae_'.

=13. SEX ANNIS.= According to Homer (_Od_ VII 261), Ulysses left Calypso in the eighth year of his stay on her island. Andre points out that Hyginus _Fab_ CXXV 16 has Ulysses on the island for one year only; for other estimates of the length of Ulysses' stay, see Roscher III 627.