Chapter 12

=38. NEMPE TAMEN VITAM CAPTVS AB HOSTE TVLIT.= 'Even so, it is undeniable that he became a prisoner, and received his life as a gift from his enemy'. _Vitam ferre_ also at _EP_ II i 45 (from a description of Germanicus' triumph of AD 12) 'maxima pars horum _uitam_ ueniamque _tulerunt_'.

=39. ILLE ... FORMIDATVS.= Equivalent to _ille_ with a defining _qui_-clause: 'The famous man who had once been feared ...'. Ovid is referring to Dionysius II, the student of Plato, who was expelled from Syracuse in 344 and became a schoolmaster in Corinth. Valerius Maximus (VI ix ext 6) also gives Dionysius as an example of unexpected disaster, and Plutarch (_Timoleon_ 14) cites him as an example of the operations of Fortune. For an account of Dionysius' life at Corinth, see Justinus XXI v. There was a Greek proverb '[Greek: Dionysios en Korinthôi]' (Cic _Att_ IX ix 1; Quintilian VIII vi 52), apparently referring to his continued lust for power: 'Dionysius ... Syracusis expulsus Corinthi pueros docebat: usque eo imperio carere non poterat' (Cic _Tusc_ III 27). Discussions of the proverb at Otto _Dionysius_ and Shackleton Bailey on _Att_ IX ix 1.

=39. SYRACOSIA ... IN VRBE.= Restored by Heinsius from the manuscripts' unmetrical SYRACVSIA, as at _Fast_ VI 277. The same confusion between [Greek: Syrakosios] and [Greek: Syrakousios] is found in the manuscripts of Pindar (_Ol_ I 23), the Attic form supplanting the original Doric. The same corruption is found in some ninth-century manuscripts of Virgil at _Ecl_ VI 1 'Prima Syracosio dignata est ludere uersu' and in the Veronese scholia, and in the manuscripts of Claudian _carm min_ LI 6 (Housman 1273).

=40. HVMILI ... ARTE.= For the low social position of the schoolmaster in antiquity, see Bonner 146-62, and compare especially Juvenal VII 197-98 'si Fortuna uolet, fies de rhetore consul; / si uolet haec eadem, fiet de consule rhetor' and Pliny _Ep_ IV xi 1 'nunc eo decidit ut exul de senatore, rhetor de oratore fieret'.

=41. MAGNO MAIVS.= 'Greater than (Pompey) the Great'. Even in the letters of Cicero, Pompey is occasionally called _Magnus_ without further identification (_Att_ I xvi 12). Other plays on the name at _Fast_ I 603-4 'Magne, tuum nomen rerum est mensura tuarum; / sed qui te uicit nomine maior erat' and Lucan I 135 'stat magni nominis umbra', where Getty cites Velleius II 1 4 'Pompeium magni nominis uirum'.

=42. CLIENTIS OPEM.= After the final defeat at Pharsalus, Pompey fled to Egypt and sought the protection of Ptolemy XIII (Caesar _BC_ III 103, Plutarch _Pomp_ 77).

Pompey similarly treated as the victim of Fortune at Cic _Tusc_ I 86 and through much of Lucan VII-VIII; compare as well _Anth Lat_ Riese 401 'Quam late uestros duxit Fortuna triumphos, / tam late sparsit funera, Magne, tua'.

Compare as well _Anth Lat_ 415 39-40 'spes Magnum profugum toto discurrere in orbe / iusserat et pueri regis adire pedes'; the distich follows a description of the hardships undergone by Marius.

=44.= The line is omitted by _B1_ and _C_; other manuscripts offer (with minor variations) INDIGVS EFFECTVS OMNIBVS IPSE MAGIS or ACHILLAS PHARIVS ABSTVLIT ENSE CAPVT, a line apparently devised with the aid of Juvenal X 285-86 'Fortuna ... uicto _caput abstulit_' and Lucan VIII 545-46 'ullusne in cladibus istis / est locus Aegypto _Phariusque_ admittitur _ensis_?', both passages concerned with Pompey's murder by Achillas. Clearly a line of the poem was lost in transmission.

Heinsius and Bentley felt that the entire distich should be deleted; but 43 seems acceptable enough, and it is appropriate that the description of Pompey's downfall be balanced with the four-line mention of Marius that follows. It would be strange if Pompey's sensational murder were overlooked, as this was regarded by the poets as the ultimate reversal of his fortunes: compare Manilius IV 50-55, Juvenal X 283-86 (which is joined to a mention of Marius' reversal) and _Anth Lat_ 401-3 Riese.

=45. ILLE= goes with Marius two lines on--'the famous Marius'.

=45. IVGVRTHINO ... CIMBROQVE TRIVMPHO.= Marius rose to prominence in the Jugurthine war, celebrating his triumph in 104; in 101 his defeat in the Po valley of the Cimbri, a Germanic tribe originally from Jutland, ended a twelve-year military threat to Rome.

=47. IN CAENO LATVIT MARIVS.= In 88 Sulla, whose command against Mithridates had been transferred to Marius by a special law, marched on Rome and induced the Senate to name Marius an outlaw; Marius was forced to escape to Africa, at one point on the route hiding in the marshes of Minturnae. This ordeal is mentioned by the poets who deal with Marius, but they consider that he reached the low point of his fortunes when he arrived at Carthage. Compare Manilius IV 47-49, Juvenal X 276-77 'exilium et carcer Minturnarumque paludes / et mendicatus uicta Carthagine panis' and _Anth Lat_ 415 33-38 Riese.

=47. LATVIT MARIVS= _M_ IACVIT MARIVS _H_ MARIVS LATVIT _L_ MARIVS IACVIT _BCFIT_. _Iacere_ and _latere_ could each be corrupted to the other with ease: such corruptions occur in certain manuscripts at _Met_ I 338 and _Fast_ II 244 (_iacere_ corrupted to _latere_) and _Fast_ II 467, II 587 & III 265 (_latere_ corrupted to _iacere_). Although it is weakly attested, _latuit_ should be read here in view of the use of _abdere_ at Velleius II xix 2 'paludem Maricae, in quam se fugiens consectantis Sullae equites _abdiderat_' and Lucan II 70 'exul limosa Marius caput _abdidit_ ulua', and of [Greek: kryptein] at Plutarch _Marius_ 37 5: _latere_ is often virtually a passive form of _abdere_.

_Marius latuit_ looks like a normalization of word order from the emphatic _latuit Marius_.

=47. CANNAQVE PALVSTRI.= _Canna palustris_ is a standard feature of Ovid's marshes; see _AA_ I 554, _RA_ 142, and _Met_ IV 298 & VIII 337. At _RA_ 142 Henderson comments 'Ovid probably means the plant called in this country [Scotland] Reed (_Phragmites communis_, a grass), which the Italians call _canna di palude_; smaller than _harundo_ (_Arundo donax_, the Greek [Greek: kanna] and Italian canna), it nevertheless often reaches a height of 6 or 7 feet'.

=48. MVLTA PVDENDA.= The entire sequence of events during Marius' flight to Africa.

=50. FACIT= _R. J. Tarrant_. For _fidem facere_ ('induce belief') compare _Met_ VI 565-66 'dat gemitus fictos commentaque funera narrat, / et lacrimae _fecere fidem_' and Caesar _BC_ II 37 1 'nuntiabantur haec eadem Curioni, sed aliquamdiu _fides fieri_ non poterat: tantam habebat suarum rerum fiduciam'. Ehwald (_KB_ 63) defends FERET (_BC_), quoting _Aen_ X 792 'si qua _fidem_ tanto est operi _latura_ uetustas', but the true meaning of this line is 'if antiquity can ever win belief for a deed so grand' (Jackson Knight); the idiom cannot be fitted into the present passage with acceptable meaning. HABET, the reading of most manuscripts, does not account for FERET, but is in itself acceptable enough; compare _Her_ XVI 59-60 'ecce pedum pulsu uisa est mihi terra moueri-- / uera loquar ueri [_Heinsius_: uero _codd_] uix _habitura fidem_' and Cic _Flac_ 21 'sed fuerint incorruptae litterae domi; nunc uero quam _habere_ auctoritatem aut quam _fidem_ possunt?'.

=51. SI QVIS MIHI DICERET.= Compare _Tr_ IV viii 43-44 'hoc mihi si Delphi Dodonaque diceret ipsa, / esse uideretur uanus uterque locus'.

=52. GETE= is read from the manuscripts by Heinsius; the form is the same as at _Met_ X 608 'Hippomene uicto', _Fast_ IV 593 'uictore Gyge', _EP_ II iv 22 'in Aeacide Nestorideque', and _EP_ I viii 6 'dura pharetrato bella mouente Gete [_uar_ Geta]'. All editors but Heinsius print GETAE, but this is contrary to Ovid's usage: compare (to take only a few instances) _Ibis_ 637 '_Sarmaticas_ inter _Geticasque sagittas_', _EP_ I i 79 'inque locum _Scythico_ uacuum mutabor ab _arcu_', and _EP_ III v 45 'ipse quidem _Getico_ peream uiolatus ab _arcu_'. The only apparent exceptions to the rule I have found are _Tr_ IV i 21 'Sinti [_Ehwald_: inter _codd_ Sintae _Iac. Gronouius_] nec militis ensem', where the compound expression alters matters somewhat, and _Fast_ V 580 '_Parthi_ [_uar_ Parthis] signa retenta _manu_', where _Partha_ should probably be read; compare _Fast_ VI 244 '_Mauras_ pertimuere _manus_ [_codd_: minas _Alton_]' and _EP_ I iii 59-60 'altera Bistonias pars est sensura sarisas, / altera _Sarmatica_ spicula missa _manu_'.

_Getes_ is also used as an adjective at xiii 18 'paene poeta Getes'.

=53. I BIBE ... ANTICYRA.= A hendiadys for 'Go drink all the mind-purging hellebore that grows in Anticyra'.

=53. PVRGANTES ... SVCOS.= For discussions of _elleborus_ see Theophrastus _HP_ IX 10, Pliny _NH_ XXV 47-61, and Aulus Gellius XVII xv. There were two varieties of the plant, black and white (from the colour of their roots): the former was a laxative, the latter induced vomiting and was thought to sharpen the intellect; compare Val Max VIII vii ext 5, Pliny _NH_ XXV 52, Martianus Capella IV 327, and the other passages cited by Brink at Hor _AP_ 300.

=54. ANTICYRA.= Three places of this name are known from ancient sources; it is not known which of them Ovid had in mind. One was a city in Locris on the north side of the entrance to the Corinthian Gulf; the second was a city near Mount Oeta (Strabo IX v 10), and the third an island of uncertain location (Pliny _NH_ XXV 52). It is possible that Hor _AP_ 300 'tribus Anticyris caput insanabile' should be taken to mean that all three places were famous for hellebore, but ps-Acron glosses _tribus Anticyris_ as 'tribus ... potionibus [_Keller_: potus _codd_] ... aut multo elleboro', which Brink accepts, citing Hor _Sat_ II iii 82-83 'danda est ellebori multo pars maxima auaris; / nescio an Anticyram ratio illis destinet omnem' and Persius IV 16 'Anticyras ... sorbere meracas' for the metonymy, and Petronius 88 4 'Chrysippus, ut ad inuentionem sufficeret, ter elleboro animum detersit' for the number. The last two places at least seem to have been known for their hellebore; compare Pliny _NH_ XXV 49 'plurimum autem nascitur in Oete monte et optimum uno eius loco circa Pyram' and XXV 52 'Drusum quoque apud nos ... constat hoc medicamento liberatum comitiali morbo ['epilepsy'] in Anticyra insula'.

=57. TV QVOQVE FAC TIMEAS.= That is, his friend should start to behave better towards him. For a similar exhortation at the end of a poem of reproach, see _Tr_ I viii 49-50 'effice peccati ne sim memor huius, et illo / officium laudem quo queror ore tuum'; even in the _Ibis_ there is a veiled offer of reconciliation: 'et neque nomen in hoc nec dicam facta libello, / teque breui qui sis dissimulare sinam. / postmodo, _si perges_, in te mihi liber iambus / tincta Lycambeo sanguine tela dabit' (51-54).

=58. DVM LOQVERIS.= Compare _Am_ I xi 15 'dum loquor, hora fugit' and Hor _Carm_ I xi 7-8 'dum loquimur, fugerit inuida / aetas'; Nisbet and Hubbard cite _ad loc_ Persius V 153 and Petronius 99 3, noting that the _sententia_ is not found before Horace.

IV. To Sextus Pompeius

In this second poem addressed to Sextus Pompeius, Ovid celebrates the news that Pompeius is to be _consul ordinarius_ in the following year. As Pompeius was consul in 14, Ovid probably wrote the poem shortly after the election of magistrates in 13.

Poems iv and v form a pair, the first being an account of Ovid's reaction on learning of Pompeius' election, the second being a letter to the new consul. Both poems have points of contact with poem ix, a letter of congratulation sent to Graecinus on his becoming suffect consul.

The poem begins with general reflections that no sadness is absolute, which prepare for the description of how the news came to Ovid of Pompeius' election (1-20). He pictures to himself the ceremonies that will take place (21-42), and ends with the hope that in the midst of the festivities Pompeius will still be able to remember him (43-50).

=1-6.= In these lines Ovid reverses the usual ancient sentiment that no pleasure is unalloyed. Compare Hor _Carm_ II x 17-18 'non, si male nunc, et olim / sic erit'. For the more usual thought, see _Met_ VII 453-54 'nulla est sincera uoluptas, / sollicitique aliquid laetis interuenit' and _Fast_ VI 463 'interdum miscentur tristia laetis'.

=1. AVSTRALIBVS VMIDA NIMBIS.= An image used elsewhere by Ovid as a metaphor of his unhappiness: see _Tr_ I iii 13 'hanc animo nubem dolor ipse remouit', _Tr_ V v 22 'pars uitae tristi cetera nube uacet', and _EP_ II i 5-6 'tandem aliquid pulsa curarum nube serenum ['cloudless'] uidi'.

=1. VMIDA.= For the dampness of the south wind, compare _Met_ I 65-66 'contraria tellus / nubibus assiduis pluuiaque madescit ab Austro'.

=2. NON INTERMISSIS ... AQVIS.= _Non intermissis_ in the same metrical position at _EP_ I iv 16 'non intermissis cursibus ibit equus'; _intermissus_ used of bad weather at _Tr_ II 149-51 'uentis agitantibus aera [_uar_ aequora] non est / aequalis rabies continuusque furor, / sed modo subsidunt _intermissique_ silescunt'.

=7. DOMO PATRIAQVE CARENS OCVLISQVE MEORVM.= Similar phrasing at _Tr_ III vii 45 'cum caream patria uobisque domoque', _Tr_ III xi 15-16 'quod coniuge cara, / quod patria careo pignoribusque meis', _Tr_ V v 19 (of his wife) 'illa domo nataque sua patriaque fruatur', _Tr_ I v 83, _Tr_ IV vi 19, _Tr_ IV ix 12, _Tr_ V x 47, _EP_ I iii 47, and _EP_ II ix 79.

=7. OCVLISQVE MEORVM.= Compare _Tr_ V iv 27-30 'nec patriam magis ille suam desiderat ... quam uultus _oculosque_ tuos, o dulcior illo / melle quod in ceris Attica ponit apis'. _Oculisque meorum_ seems to mean 'regards des miens' (André) rather than 'the sight of my own' (Wheeler); compare _Aen_ XI 800-1 'oculosque tulere / cuncti ad reginam', _Met_ VII 256 'et monet arcanis oculos remouere profanos', Persius V 33 'permisit sparsisse oculos ['to look where I chose']', and from prose Cic _Fam_ IX ii 2 'ut uitemus oculos hominum'.

=9. VVLTVM DIFFVNDERE.= The action opposite to _trahis uultus_ (i 5); compare _Met_ XIV 272 'diffudit uultus' and from prose Sen _Ep_ 106 5 'nisi dubitas an uultum nobis mutent, an frontem astringant, an _faciem diffundant_'. It is probably from this expression that _diffundere_ acquired the extended sense of 'mentally relax' (_OLD diffundo_ 5), for which compare _Met_ IV 766 'diffudere animos', _Met_ III 318 'Iouem ... diffusum nectare', and _AA_ I 218 'diffundetque animos omnibus ista dies'.

=9. CAVSAM.= CAVSA (_BCT_) is grammatical enough, but corruption from _qua ... causam_ to _qua ... causa_ is more likely than the inverse.

The construction of the sentence is rather complex: Ovid's normal practice would be to employ an objective genitive with _causa_.

=10. POSSIM= _BCMHIT_ POSSEM _L_ POSSVM _F_. The clause is in primary tense sequence following the true perfect _inueni_, which represents the present result of a past action. Compare _fecit ... minuant_ in 5-6.

=10. NEC MEMINISSE= = _et obliuisci_. _Nec (non) meminisse_ is metrically useful for filling the second hemistich of the pentameter up to the disyllable; so used at vi 50 'arguat ingratum non meminisse sui', _Tr_ IV iv 40 & V xiii 18, and _EP_ II iv 6.

=11. SOLVS= _BC_. TRISTIS, the reading of the other six manuscripts, is tempting, as being the less neutral of the two adjectives, and was accepted without question by Heinsius and Burman. If it is accepted, one could argue that Ovid refers back to the word at 21 'dilapsis ... curis'. But _solus_ is shown to be correct by the passage Ovid is here imitating, Virgil _G_ I 388-89 'tum cornix plena pluuiam uocat improba uoce / et _sola_ in sicca secum _spatiatur harena_'. _Solus_ was lost through haplography ('fulua solus': the elongated 's' form common in manuscripts would have facilitated the error) and _tristis_ interpolated to restore the metre. Ehwald believed (_KB_ 63) that the error arose from _tristis_ having been written above _solus_ in the archetype, but there is no reason to accept this, since the one could not stand as a gloss for the other.

=11. SPATIARER HARENA.= The phrase is taken from Virgil _G_ I 388-89 (quoted in the previous note); Ovid imitates the passage again at _Met_ II 572-73 'lentis / passibus, ut soleo, summa _spatiarer harena_'.

=12. VISA EST A TERGO PENNA DEDISSE SONVM.= 'I thought I heard a wing rustle behind me'. A similar advent of an unseen deity at _Met_ III 96-98 'uox subito audita est; neque erat cognoscere promptum / unde, sed audita est: "quid, Agenore nate, peremptum / serpentem spectas? et tu spectabere serpens"'. Compare as well _Met_ V 294-98 'Musa loquebatur: pennae sonuere per auras, / uoxque salutantum ramis ueniebat ab altis. / suspicit et linguae quaerit tam certa loquentes / unde sonent hominemque putat Ioue nata locutum; / ales erat'.

=12. PENNA= _BMFHILT_ PINNA _C_. _Pinna_ and _penna_, perhaps from different roots, were confused even in antiquity. The ancient manuscripts of Virgil offer _pinna_ as the spelling even for the meaning 'wing', but Quintilian clearly took _penna_ as the correct spelling for this sense: 'quare ['therefore'] discat puer ... quae cum quibus cognatio; nec miretur cur ... a pinno quod est acutum [_sc_ fiat] securis utrimque habens aciem _bipennis_, ne illorum sequatur errorem qui, quia a pennis duabus hoc esse nomen existimant, pennas auium dici uolunt'. (I iv 12).

=13. NEQVE ERAT= _CMHL_ NEC ERAT _BFIT_. Virgil had a very strong preference for _neque_ before words starting with a vowel, but Ovid did not follow this rule: compare _Met_ I 101 'nec ullis', 132 'nec adhuc', 223 'nec erit', 306 'nec ablato', and 322 'nec amantior'. However, it seems better to accept _neque_ as the true reading in view of the good manuscript support and the parallel at _Met_ III 96-97 'uox subita audita est (neque [_uar_ nec] erat cognoscere promptum / unde, sed audita est)'.

=13. NEQVE ERAT CORPVS.= 'But there was no body'. _Neque_ (_nec_) represents _sed ... non_ as well as _et ... non_.

It is one of Ovid's favourite devices to describe the aspect of gods when they appear to him, as at _Am_ III i 7-14 (Elegy and Tragedy), _Fast_ I 95-100 (Janus), _Fast_ III 171-72 (Mars), _Fast_ V 194 (Flora), _Fast_ V 637-38 (Tiber), and _EP_ III iii 13-20 (Amor). The only other passage where Ovid says he did not see the god is _Fast_ VI 251-54, but Vesta had no traditional appearance that Ovid could make use of: compare _Fast_ VI 298 'effigiem nullam Vesta ... habet'.

The reason that Ovid did not describe Fama was that the picture of Fama as a winged monster which Virgil had made standard (_Aen_ IV 174-88) could not easily be integrated into the poem. The only description of Fama in Ovid is at _Met_ IX 137-39 'Fama loquax praecessit ad aures, / Deianira, tuas, quae ueris addere falsa / gaudet, et e minima sua per mendacia crescit'. At _Met_ XII 39-63 there is a memorable description of Fama's dwelling-place. Fama is also personified (but with no descriptions) at _EP_ II i 19-20 & II ix 3.

=16. PER IMMENSAS AERE LAPSA VIAS.= Similar phrasing at _EP_ III iii 77-78 (Amor speaking) 'ut tamen aspicerem consolarerque iacentem, / _lapsa per immensas est mea penna uias_'.

=17. QVO NON TIBI CARIOR ALTER.= Compare _Tr_ III vi 3 'nec te mihi carior alter', _Tr_ IV vi 46 'qua nulla mihi carior, uxor', and _EP_ II viii 27 'per patriae nomen, quae te tibi carior ipso est'.

=18. CANDIDVS ET FELIX PROXIMVS ANNVS ERIT.= Compare _Fast_ I 63-64 'ecce tibi _faustum_, Germanice, nuntiat _annum_ / inque meo primus carmine Ianus adest'. No doubt both passages echo the phrasing of a New Year wish or prayer.

=18. CANDIDVS.= 'Favourable'. Compare _Tr_ V v 13-14 (on his wife's birthday) 'optime natalis! quamuis procul absumus, opto / _candidus_ huc uenias', Prop IV i 67-68 'Roma, faue, tibi surgit opus, date _candida_ ciues / omina, et inceptis dextera cantet auis!', and _Fast_ I 79-80 'uestibus intactis Tarpeias itur in arces, / et populus _festo concolor_ ipse suo est'.

=19. DIXIT ET= has a definite epic flavour, being found in Virgil at _Aen_ I 402 & 736, II 376, III 258, IV 659, V 477, VI 677, VIII 366 & 615, IX 14, X 867, XI 561 & 858, XII 266 & 681, and _G_ IV 499; from Ovid compare _Met_ I 466-67 'dixit et eliso percussis aere pennis / impiger umbrosa Parnasi constitit arce', I 762 'dixit et implicuit materno bracchia collo', III 474, IV 162 & 576, V 230 & 419, VIII 101, and VIII 757. A close parallel at _EP_ III iii 93-94 (Amor has been speaking with Ovid) 'dixit et aut ille est tenues dilapsus in auras, / coeperunt sensus aut uigilare mei'.

=22. EXCIDIT.= 'I forgot'; the opposite of _subit_ 'I remember'. The idiom is standard Latin (_OLD excido1_ 9b); Ovidian instances at _Her_ XII 71, _Am_ II i 18, _Met_ VIII 449-50 'excidit omnis / luctus et a lacrimis in poenae uersus amorem est', _Met_ XIV 139, _Fast_ V 315, _Tr_ I v 14, _EP_ II iv 24, and _EP_ II x 8 'exciderit tantum ne tibi cura mei'.

=23. VBI ... RESERAVERIS ANNVM.= 'When you have unlocked the year'. Compare Ovid's descriptions of Janus at _Fast_ I 99 'tenens baculum dextra _clauemque_ sinistra' and _Fast_ I 253-54 '"nil mihi cum bello: pacem postesque tuebar / et" _clauem_ ostendens "haec" ait "arma gero"'.

=23. LONGVM ANNVM.= André translates, 'l'année longue à venir', citing Cic _Phil_ V 1 'Nihil umquam longius his Kalendiis Ianuariis mihi uisum est', to which _OLD longus_ 14a adds (among other passages) Caesar _BG_ I 40 13 'in longiorem diem collaturus' and Sen _Ep_ 63 3 'non differo in _longius_ tempus'; but the meaning 'far off' seems unsuited to the present context. _Longum_ should be taken in its usual sense; it perhaps emphasizes that the whole year is still ahead.

=24. SACRO MENSE.= _Sacer_ because of the religious ceremonies marking the New Year.

=25-28.= The first action of the new consul was to take auspices at his home and to assume the consular toga: compare Livy XXI 63 10 (217 BC; Flaminius has entered his consulship while absent from Rome) 'magis pro maiestate uidelicet imperii Arimini quam Romae magistratum initurum et in deuersorio hospitali quam apud penates suos praetextam sumpturum' (Mommsen _Staatsrecht_ I3 615-17).

=26. NE TITVLIS QVICQVAM DEBEAT ILLE SVIS.= There are two possible ways of understanding this line.

One way is to take _titulis_ as referring to Pompeius' earlier magistracies, 'as if the series of offices were a score which Pompey would pay in full when he became consul' (Wheeler). A similar use at _Her_ IX 1 'Gratulor Oechaliam titulis accedere nostris'.

_Titulis_ does not have to be taken as a strict reference to the offices Pompeius had already held, but can have the wider sense of 'reputation, honour'. Compare the opening line of _Her_ IX quoted above; Professor R. J. Tarrant cites _Met_ XV 855 'sic magnus cedit _titulis_ Agamemnonis Atreus' and Juvenal VIII 241.

The second way to take the passage is, with Némethy, to understand _titulis ... suis_ as being equivalent to _maioribus suis, qui magnos titulos habent_, the _tituli_ being the inscriptions below the _imagines_ of Pompeius' ancestors. A parallel for the sense at _EP_ III i 75-76 'hoc domui _debes_ de qua censeris, ut illam / non magis officiis quam probitate colas'. Professor E. Fantham suggests a refinement: _titulis ... suis_ should be taken in the sense 'achievements of his ancestors'. Compare Prop IV xi 32 'et domus est titulis utraque fulta suis'.

=27. PAENE ATRIA.= Heinsius preferred PENETRALIA, the reading of _I_ and _F2_ ('sed ne sic quidem locus mihi uidetur plane in integrum restitutus'), apparently objecting to _paene_. The word seems weak enough, especially in view of Virgil _G_ I 49 'illius immensae _ruperunt_ horrea messes', but Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me a similarly weak _paene_ at _Tr_ III xi 13-14 'sic ego belligeris a gentibus undique saeptus / terreor, hoste meum paene premente latus'. Burman conjectured LAETA and PLENA; neither seems very convincing.