=42. PRAESIDIVMQVE FORI= = 'defender of the law'. Compare vi 33-34 'cum tibi suscepta est _legis uindicta seuerae_, / uerba uelut taetrum singula uirus habent'.

=43. MATERNOS COTTAS.= This passage should be taken in conjunction with _EP_ III ii 103-8 (to Cotta) 'adde quod est animus semper tibi mitis, et altae / indicium mores nobilitatis habent, / quos Volesus patrii cognoscat nominis auctor, / quos Numa maternus non neget esse suos, / adiectique probent genetiua ad nomina Cottae, / si tu non esses, interitura domus'. The simplest explanation of these two passages is that Cotta had been adopted by a maternal uncle, the last surviving Aurelius Cotta.

The question of Cotta's maternal ancestry is a vexed one; for a full discussion see Syme _HO_ 119-21.

The present passage was written with Prop IV xi 31-32 in mind: 'altera _maternos_ exaequat turba _Libones_, / et domus est titulis utraque fulta suis'.

=44. NOBILITAS INGEMINATA.= In a famous study (_Kleine Schriften_ I 1 ff.; trans. _The Roman Nobility_ [1969]), Matthias Gelzer demonstrated that the usual meaning of _nobilis_ was 'descended from a consul'. Cotta was descended from a consul on both sides.

At _Met_ XIII 144-47 Ovid uses _nobilitas_ to mean 'descent from a god': (Ulysses speaking) 'mihi Laertes pater est, Arcesius illi, / Iuppiter huic ... est quoque _per matrem_ Cyllenius _addita_ nobis / _altera nobilitas_: deus est in utroque parente!'.

=44. INGEMINATA.= A verbal echo of _EP_ I ii 1-2 (to Fabius Maximus) 'Maxime, qui tanti mensuram nominis imples, / et _geminas_ animi _nobilitate_ genus'.

=46. ATQVE INTER TANTOS QVAE LEGERETVR ERAT.= This is the end of the sentence that began at 5.

=46. INTER TANTOS.= Compare _EP_ III i 55-56 (Ovid has just compared himself to Capaneus, Amphiaraus, Ulysses, and Philoctetes) 'si locus est aliquis _tanta inter nomina_ paruis, / nos quoque conspicuos nostra ruina facit'.

=47. SVMMOTVM= _codd_ SVBMOTVM _edd_. The assimilated _summ-_ is standard in the manuscripts of Virgil and Lucretius, and should not be altered.

=47. PROSCINDERE= = 'revile, defame'. This seems to be the first instance of the word in this sense; the other examples cited by _OLD_ _proscindo_ 3 are Val Max V iii 3, Val Max VIII 5 2 'C. Flauium eadem lege accusatum testis _proscidit_', Pliny _NH_ XXXIII 6, and Suet _Cal_ 30 2 'equestrem ordinem ut scaenae harenaeque deuotum assidue _proscidit_'. The word connects with _laceras_ in the first line of the poem, and with _neu cineres sparge, cruente, meos_ in 48.

=49. OMNIA PERDIDIMVS.= The same phrase at _Met_ XIII 527-28 (Hecuba speaking) '_omnia perdidimus_: superest cur uiuere tempus / in breue sustineam proles gratissima matri'.

=49. TANTVMMODO= is a prose word. It occurs elsewhere in Ovid only at _Fast_ III 361 'ortus erat summo _tantummodo_ margine Phoebus' and at _Tr_ III vii 29-30 'pone, Perilla, metum; _tantummodo_ femina nulla / neue uir a scriptis discat amare tuis'. Being a colloquial term, it is found in satire (Hor _Sat_ I ix 54) and comedy (Ter _Ph_ 109).

=50. SENSVM MATERIAMQVE MALI.= 'An occasion for pain, and the ability to feel it'. For _sensum_ compare _EP_ I ii 29-30 'felicem Nioben ... quae posuit _sensum_ saxea facta _mali_ [_uar_ malis]' and _EP_ I ii 37 'uiuimus ut numquam _sensu_ careamus amaro'. For _materiam_ compare _Her_ VII 34 'materiam curae praebeat ille meae!', _Met_ X 133-34 'ut leuiter pro materiaque doleret / admonuit' and _EP_ I x 23-24 'dolores, / quorum materiam dat locus ipse mihi'.

=51-52. QVID IVVAT EXTINCTOS FERRVM DEMITTERE IN ARTVS? / NON HABET IN NOBIS IAM NOVA PLAGA LOCVM.= I believe this distich is an interpolation for the following reasons:

(1) Lines 49-50 form an effective ending, which 51-52 weaken. In 49-50 Ovid says that life is all that is left to him; and in 52 it is stated that he is already wounded in every place possible. These statements are contradictory.

(2) The use of a weapon in 51 is at odds with the rending metaphor of _laceras_ (1) and _proscindere_ (47).

(3) There seems something peculiar about _ferrum demittere in artus_; the examples of _demittere_ with this sense in the _Metamorphoses_ involve _ilia_ (IV 119, XII 441), _armi_ (XII 491), and _iugulum_ (XIII 436; similar phrasing at _Her_ XIV 5).

The distich's fabrication was assisted by _EP_ II vii 41-42 'sic ego continue Fortunae uulneror ictu, / _uixque habet in nobis iam noua plaga locum_'.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

_1. Editions and commentaries_

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F. W. Lenz, _P. Ovidi Nasonis Epistulae ex Ponto_. Turin, 1938.

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_2. Works cited_

Austin, R. G., ed. _P. Vergili Maronis Aeneidos Liber Secundus_. Oxford, 1964; reprinted 1966.