Chapter 16

=1. STVDIIS EXCVLTE.= 'Refined'. _Studiis_ adds little to the force of _exculte_: the same idiom at Quintilian XII ii 1 'mores ante omnia oratori _studiis_ erunt _excolendi_' and Cic _Tusc_ I 4 'ergo in Graecia musici floruerunt, discebantque id omnes, nec qui nesciebat satis _excultus doctrina_ putabatur'.

=1. SVILLI.= P. Suillius Rufus (_PW_ IV A,l 719-22; _PIR1_ S 700) is otherwise chiefly known to us from three passages of Tacitus: Suillius is presented as 'strong, savage, and unbridled' (Syme _Tacitus_ 332). At _Ann_ IV 31, Tacitus describes how, in 24, Tiberius insisted that Suillius, convicted of accepting a bribe, be relegated to an island rather than merely be exiled from Italy; what seemed cruelty at the time later seemed wisdom in view of his later behaviour as a favourite of Claudius. At _Ann_ XI 1-7 Tacitus describes how Suillius' excesses resulted in a proposal in the Senate to revive the _lex Cincia_ of 204 BC, by which advocates had been forbidden remuneration: the proposal was modified by Claudius at the instance of Suillius and others affected so as to establish a maximum fee of ten thousand sesterces. At _Ann_ XIII 42-43 (AD 58) Tacitus tells how Suillius, 'imperitante Claudio terribilis ac uenalis', was charged with extortion as proconsul of Asia and with laying malicious charges under Claudius. Banished to the Balearic islands, he led a luxurious existence, remaining unrepentant.

=3-4. PIA SI POSSIT SVPEROS LENIRE ROGANDO / GRATIA.= Compare 21 'si quid agi sperabis posse _precando_'.

=5-6. ANIMI SVM FACTVS AMICI / DEBITOR.= 'Your friendly purpose has placed me in your debt' (Wheeler). The genitive similarly used for the cause of indebtedness at i 2 _'debitor_ est _uitae_ qui tibi, Sexte, suae' and _Tr_ I v 10 'perpetuusque _animae debitor huius_ ero'.

=6. MERITVM VELLE IVVARE VOCO.= 'I call the desire to help a favour already given'. Otto _uelle_ 2 cites _EP_ III iv 79 'ut desint uires, _tamen est laudanda uoluntas_', Prop II x 5-6 'quod si deficient uires, audacia certe / laus erit: in magnis _et uoluisse sat est_', _Pan Mess_ 3-7, _Laus Pisonis_ 214; the same proverb at Sen _Ben_ V 2 2 'uoluntas ipsa rectum petens laudanda est'.

=7. IMPETVS ISTE TVVS LONGVM MODO DVRET IN AEVVM.= Similar phrasing at _EP_ II vi 35-36 (Graecinus has been rendering Ovid assistance) 'fac modo permaneas lasso, Graecine, fidelis, / _duret et in longas impetus iste moras_'.

=9. IVS ALIQVOD.= 'A certain claim on each other'. The same phrase for a similar situation at _EP_ I vii 60 (to Messalinus, elder brother of Cotta Maximus) '_ius aliquod_ tecum fratris amicus habet'.

=9. ADFINIA.= The _adfinis_ was a relative by marriage, commonly, as here, a son-in-law; a relative by common descent was a _cognatus_.

=9. ADFINIA VINCVLA.= _Vinculum_ used of family relationships at _Met_ IX 550 (Byblis wishes to marry her brother) 'expetit ... _uinclo_ tecum propiore ligari' and Cic _Planc_ 27 'cum illo maximis _uinclis_ et propinquitatis et _adfinitatis_ coniunctus'.

=10. INLABEFACTA.= The word elsewhere in Latin only at xii 29-30 'haec ... concordia ... uenit ad albentes _inlabefacta_ comas'. Ovid is fond of using negative participles of this type.

=11-12. NAM TIBI QVAE CONIVNX, EADEM MIHI FILIA PAENE EST, / ET QVAE TE GENERVM, ME VOCAT ILLA VIRVM.= The same type of circumlocution at _Her_ III 45-48 (Briseis to Achilles) "diruta Marte tuo Lyrnesia moenia uidi; ... uidi ... tres cecidisse _quibus_ [_Bentley_: tribus _codd_] _quae mihi, mater erat_'.

=11. EADEM MIHI FILIA PAENE EST.= This is presumably Perilla, the recipient of _Tr_ III vii, whom Ovid there speaks of in terms appropriate to a stepfather.

=13-14. EI MIHI, SI LECTIS VVLTVM TV VERSIBVS ISTIS / DVCIS, ET ADFINEM TE PVDET ESSE MEVM.= A similar lament at _EP_ II ii 5-6 '_ei mihi, si lecto uultus_ tibi nomine non est / qui fuit, et dubitas cetera perlegere!'; both passages are followed by defences of Ovid's character.

For _uultum ... ducis_ see at i 5 _trahis uultus_ (p 149).

=15. NIHIL= _BCMFHLT_ NIL _I_. Copyists were more prone to alter _nil_ to _nihil_ than the inverse; but in 1919 Housman demonstrated that _nihil_ was Ovid's invariable form for the latter half of the first foot by pointing out that in all of the twenty-odd passages where the manuscripts offer _nihil_ or _nil_ at that position the following word invariably begins with a vowel (_Collected Papers_ 1000-1003). There would be no reason for such an avoidance of consonants if Ovid had allowed _nil_ in this position; he must therefore have used _nihil_ alone.

=16. FORTVNAM, QVAE MIHI CAECA FVIT.= The image of Fortune being blind to a single individual seems very strange. Professor R. J. Tarrant suggests that _caeca_ could mean 'unforeseeing', and by _fortunam_ Ovid could be referring to his own previous circumstances; alternatively, _caeca_ might be a corruption induced by the familiar image of the blind goddess, replacing an original SAEVA (Riese) or LAEVA, for which compare Silius III 93-94 'si promissum uertat _Fortuna_ fauorem, / _laeuaque sit coeptis_'.

=17-18. SEV GENVS EXCVTIAS, EQVITES AB ORIGINE PRIMA / VSQVE PER INNVMEROS INVENIEMVR AVOS.= A similar claim at _Tr_ IV x 7-8 'usque a proauis uetus ordinis heres, / non modo fortunae munere factus eques'. The status of _eques_ was not hereditary except in the case of a senator's son. The Paeligni did not receive the citizenship until after the Social War; to be born to equestrian status, and to assume that he could have had a senatorial career (_Tr_ IV x 35), Ovid must have belonged to one of the dominant families of the region.

=17. EXCVTIAS.= 'Examine'. Ovid plays on the primary meaning of the word, 'shake out', at _Am_ I viii 45-46 'has quoque quae frontis rugas in uertice portant [_Burman_: quas ... portas _codd_] / _excute_; de rugis crimina multa cadent'. The transferred meaning had lost any sense of metaphor by Ovid's time, however; see especially _Tr_ II 224 '_excutiasque_ oculis otia nostra ['the product of my leisure hours'--Wheeler] tuis'.

=19-20. SIVE VELIS QVI SINT MORES INQVIRERE NOSTRI, / ERROREM MISERO DETRAHE, LABE CARENT.= A similar claim of no fault beyond his _error_ at _EP_ II ii 15-16 'est mea culpa grauis, sed quae me perdere solum / ausa sit, et _nullum maius adorta nefas_'.

=20. ERROREM ... DETRAHE.= At _Met_ II 38-39 the same phrase with a different meaning: (Phaethon to his father) 'pignora da, genitor, per quae tu uera propago / credar, et hunc animis _errorem_ ['doubt'] _detrahe_ nostris*.

=20. LABE CARENT.= The same sense of _labes_ at _Tr_ I ix 43 'uitae _labe carentis_' and Prop IV xi 41-42 'neque ulla _labe_ mea nostros erubuisse focos'; compare as well the phrase _sine labe_ at _Tr_ II 110 (_domus_), _Tr_ IV viii 33 (_decem lustris ... peractis_), _EP_ I ii 143 (_praeteriti anni_), _EP_ II vii 49 (_uita prior_), _Her_ XVII 14 (_tenor uitae_), and _Her_ XVII 69 (_fama_).

=22. QVOS COLIS ... DEOS.= A similar definition of the imperial family at _EP_ II ii 123 '_quos colis ad superos_ haec fer mandata sacerdos'.

=23. DI TIBI SVNT CAESAR IVVENIS.= _BCFM2ul_ read SINT; but the indicative seems to be required by the preceding 'quos _colis_ ... deos' and the following '_tua numina_ placa' and 'hac certe nulla est notior _ara_ tibi'.

=23. CAESAR IVVENIS.= Germanicus; he would have acquired the cognomen _Caesar_ on his adoption by Tiberius in AD 4. _Iuuenis_ probably refers to Germanicus' title of _princeps iuuentutis_, which _EP_ II v 41-42 indicates he must have held: 'te _iuuenum princeps_, cui dat Germania nomen, / participem studii Caesar habere solet'. Germanicus' holding of the title is not elsewhere attested.

At _Ann_ IV 31 5, Tacitus identifies Suillius as 'quaestorem quondam Germanici'; at _Ann_ XIII 42 4, he represents Suillius as saying of himself and Seneca 'se quaestorem Germanici, illum domus eius adulterum fuisse'. His service under Germanicus was clearly a principal fact of his life.

=25-26. ANTISTITIS ... PRECES.= Here _antistes_ is virtually equivalent to _cultor_, as at _Tr_ III xiv 1 '_Cultor et antistes_ doctorum sancte uirorum'; compare as well _Met_ XIII 632-33 'Anius, quo ... _antistite_ Phoebus / rite _colebatur_'.

=27-28. QVAMLIBET EXIGVA SI NOS EA IVVERIT AVRA, / OBRVTA DE MEDIIS CVMBA RESVRGET AQVIS.= Ovid here mixes two nautical metaphors: if a ship is overwhelmed by high seas, a favouring breeze will not be of great assistance.

=28. OBRVTA DE MEDIIS CVMBA RESVRGET AQVIS.= Similar wording at [Sen] _Oct_ 345-48 '[cumba ...] _obruta_ ... ruit in pelagus rursumque salo / pressa _resurgit_'.

=29. TVNC EGO TVRA FERAM RAPIDIS SOLLEMNIA FLAMMIS.= Perhaps a verbal reminiscence of _Aen_ IX 625-26 'Iuppiter omnipotens, audacibus adnue coeptis. / ipse tibi ad tua templa _feram sollemnia_ dona'.

=29. TVRA ... SOLLEMNIA.= The phrase does not occur elsewhere in Ovid; but compare the passage from _Aen_ IX quoted above, as well as the conjunction of words at _Tr_ III xiii 16 'micaque _sollemni turis_ in igne sonet'.

=29. RAPIDIS= is here used as a standard epithet; its full force ('destructive') at _Met_ II 122-23 'tum pater ora sui sacro medicamine nati / contigit et _rapidae_ fecit patientia _flammae_', _Met_ XII 274-75 'correpti _rapida_, ueluti seges arida, _flamma_ / arserunt crines', and _EP_ III iii 60 (to Amor) 'sic numquam _rapido_ lampades _igne_ uacent'.

=31-32. NEC TIBI DE PARIO STATVAM, GERMANICE, TEMPLVM / MARMORE.= Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me the reference to Virgil _G_ III 13-16 'et uiridi in campo _templum de marmore_ ponam ... in medio mihi Caesar erit templumque tenebit'; _Parii lapides_ are mentioned at III 34. Here Ovid makes the temple literal, and conducts his _recusatio_ in the terms used by love-poets.

=32. CARPSIT OPES ... MEAS.= 'Has destroyed my wealth'. This is not strictly true, since Ovid at v 38 says that Pompeius give him gifts (Ovid's letter speaking) 'ne proprias attenuaret opes'.

The same use of _carpere_ at ix 121-22 'fortuna est impar animo, talique libenter / exiguas _carpo_ munere pauper opes' and _Am_ I viii 91 'et soror et mater, nutrix quoque _carpat_ amantem'.

=34. NASO SVIS OPIBVS, CARMINE, GRATVS ERIT.= Compare _Am_ II xvii 27 'sunt mihi pro magno felicia carmina censu' and _Am_ I iii entire.

=37. QVAM POTVIT ... MAXIMA.= For the idiom compare Cic _Fam_ XIII vi 5 '_quam maximas_ ... gratias agat' and _ND_ II 129 'gallinae ['hens'] ... cubilia sibi nidosque construunt eosque _quam possunt mollissime_ substernunt'.

=37. GRATVS ABVNDE EST.= Apparently the only instance in classical poetry of _abunde_ modifying an adjective. The prose authors cited by the lexica are Sallust, Livy, Valerius Maximus, Curtius, the elder Pliny, and Quintilian. _Abunde_ elsewhere in Ovid only at _Met_ XV 759 'humano generi, superi, fauistis abunde!' and _Tr_ I vii 31 'laudatus abunde'.

=38. FINEM PIETAS CONTIGIT ILLA SVVM.= 'That act of piety has reached its objective', that is, has made the giver _gratus_.

=39-42.= For the sentiment compare _EP_ III iv 81-82 'haec [_sc_ laudanda uoluntas] facit ut ueniat pauper quoque gratus ad aras, / et placeat caeso non minus agna boue'.

=41-42. GRAMINE PASTA FALISCO / VICTIMA TARPEIOS INFICIT ICTA FOCOS.= Compare iv 29-32 'templaque Tarpeiae primum tibi sedis adiri ... colla boues niueos certae praebere securi, / quos aluit campis _herba Falisca_ suis'.

=42. INFICIT.= 'Stain'. _Inficere_ in the context of a sacrifice also at _Met_ XV 134-35 '[uictima ...] percussa ... sanguine cultros / inficit' and Hor _Carm_ III xiii 6.

=44. PRINCIPIBVS ... VIRIS.= A fixed colloquial idiom: _OLD princeps1_ 5 cites Plautus _Amphitruo_ 204 'delegit _uiros_ primorum _principes_' and Hor _Ep_ I xvii 35 '_principibus_ placuisse _uiris_ non ultima laus est'. There was a parallel expression _principes feminae_: see Pliny _NH_ VIII 119 and Tac _Ann_ XIII 42 (Suillius compares himself to Seneca) 'an grauius aestimandum sponte litigatoris praemium honestae operae adsequi quam corrumpere cubicula principum feminarum?'.

=45. CARMINA VESTRARVM PERAGVNT PRAECONIA LAVDVM.= _Praeconia_ in a similar context at _Tr_ II 65 'inuenies uestri _praeconia_ nominis illic [in the _Metamorphoses_]'; used with _peragere_ at _Tr_ V i 9 'ut cecidi, subiti _perago praeconia_ casus'.

=45. LAVDVM.= 'Deeds meriting praise'; compare 87 'tuas ... laudes ... recentes'. The meaning is found even in prose: see Caesar _BC_ II 39 4 'haec tamen ab ipsis inflatius commemorabantur, ut de suis homines _laudibus_ libenter praedicant' and the other passages cited at _OLD_ _laus1_ 3b.

=46. ACTORVM.= AVCTORVM (_BCHL_) is possible enough; but _actorum_ accords better with the preceding _laudum_.

=46. CADVCA.= 'Impermanent'. The sense is frequent in Cicero: see _Rep_ VI 17 'nihil est nisi mortale et _caducum_ praeter animos' and _Phil_ IV 13. Elsewhere in Ovid the usual sense of the word is 'ineffectual': see _Fast_ I 181-82 'nec lingua _caducas_ / concipit ulla preces, dictaque pondus habent' and _Ibis_ 88 'et sit pars uoti nulla caduca mei'. Similar uses at _Her_ XV 208 & XVI 169.

=47. CARMINE FIT VIVAX VIRTVS, EXPERSQVE SEPULCRI / NOTITIAM SERAE POSTERITATIS HABET.= For the immortality given by verse, compare from Ovid _Tr_ V xiv 5 (to his wife) 'dumque legar, mecum pariter tua fama legetur' and _EP_ III ii 35-36 (to those friends who assisted him) 'uos etiam seri laudabunt saepe nepotes, / claraque erit scriptis gloria uestra meis'. The topic is closely related to that of the poet's own immortality, for which, in Ovid, see xvi 2-3 'non solet ingeniis summa nocere dies, / famaque post cineres maior uenit' and _Met_ XV 871-79.

For other poets' treatment of the immortality given by verse, see Prop III ii 17-26, Hor _Carm_ IV ix, Pindar _Nem_ VII 11-16, Gow on Theocritus XVI 30, and Murgatroyd on Tib I iv 63-66.

=47. VIVAX VIRTVS.= Compare Hor _AP_ 68-69 'mortalia facta peribunt, / nedum sermonum stet honos et gratia _uiuax_'.

=47. EXPERSQVE SEPVLCRI.= The diction of this line is very elevated: Professor R. J. Tarrant compares _Met_ IX 252-53 (Jupiter speaking of Hercules) 'aeternum est a me quod traxit, et _expers_ / atque immune _necis_' and _Cons Liu_ 59-60 'Caesaris adde domum, quae certe _funeris expers_ / debuit humanis altior esse malis'. The following line's _notitiam ... habet_ is in comparison an anticlimax.

=49. TABIDA CONSVMIT FERRVM LAPIDEMQVE VETVSTAS.= Iron and flint were proverbial for hardness: compare x 3-4 'ecquos tu silices, ecquod, carissime, ferrum / duritiae confers, Albinouane, meae?', _Her_ X 109-10, _AA_ I 473-76, _Met_ XIV 712-13, _Fast_ V 131-32, _Tr_ IV vi 13-14, and _EP_ II vii 39-40; other passages are cited by Smith at Tib I iv 18 'longa dies molli saxa peredit aqua'. At I 313-16, Lucretius, discussing the invisible wearing away of substances, says 'stilicidi casus _lapidem_ cauat, uncus aratri / _ferreus_ occulte decrescit uomer in aruis, / strataque iam uolgi pedibus detrita uiarum / saxea conspicimus'.

=51. SCRIPTA FERVNT ANNOS.= The phrase completes the sentence begun in the previous distich, as is shown by the parallel passages _Am_ I x 61-62 'scindentur uestes, gemmae frangentur et aurum; / _carmina quam tribuent, fama perennis erit_' and _Am_ I xv 31-32 'ergo cum silices, cum dens patientis aratri / depereant aeuo, _carmina morte carent_'.

=51. FERVNT.= 'Withstand'; the same sense at _Tr_ V ix 8 'scripta _uetustatem_ si modo nostra _ferunt_', Cic _Am_ 67 'ea uina quae _uetustatem ferunt_', Silius IV 399-400 'si modo _ferre diem_ ... carmina nostra ualent', and Quintilian II 4 9 'sic et _annos ferent_ et uetustate proficient'.

=51-53. AGAMEMNONA ... THEBAS.= The two great cycles of Greek heroic mythology. The same conjunction at _Am_ III xii 15-16 'cum _Thebae_, cum _Troia_ foret, cum Caesaris acta, / ingenium mouit sola Corinna meum' and _Tr_ II 317-20 'cur non Argolicis potius quae concidit armis / uexata est iterum carmine _Troia_ meo? / cur tacui _Thebas_ et uulnera mutua fratrum / et septem portas sub duce quamque suo'; compare as well Prop II i 21 '[canerem ...] nec ueteres _Thebas_ nec _Pergama_, nomen Homeri'. Lucretius, arguing that the world was created at a definite moment, wrote 'cur supera ['before'] bellum _Thebanum_ et funera _Troiae_ / non alias alii quoque res cecinere poetae?' (V 326-27).

=52. QVISQVIS CONTRA VEL SIMVL ARMA TVLIT.= The leaders of the Greeks and Trojans.

The line's structure parallels 54 'quicquid post haec, quicquid et ante fuit'. Both are conspicuous by their lack of adornment.

=55. DI QVOQVE CARMINIBVS, SI FAS EST DICERE, FIVNT.= This is possibly a reference to Herodotus II 53, where Herodotus says that Homer and Hesiod established the Greek pantheon; for Ovid's borrowings from Herodotus, see at iii 37 _opulentia Croesi_ (p 189). The same idea previously in Xenophanes (fr. 11 Diels).

The line looks ahead to 63-64 'et modo, Caesar, auum, quem uirtus addidit astris, / sacrarunt aliqua carmina parte tuum'.

=55. SI FAS EST DICERE.= Ovid here apologizes for the shocking statement he is making. Up to this point poetry has helped give lasting fame to what was already a fact, but here poetry is actually making something happen (or appear to happen). At _Am_ III xii 21-40 Ovid similarly describes how poets created the myths.

=57-64.= Ovid follows the same sequence in the _Metamorphoses_, describing the separation of Chaos at I 5-31, the attack of the Giants at I 151-55, Bacchus' conquest of India at IV 20-21 & 605-6, and Hercules' capture of Oechalia at IX 136; he foretells Augustus' apotheosis at XV 868-70. Professor R. J. Tarrant points out that these lines may well be referring specifically to the earlier poem.

=57-58. SIC CHAOS EX ILLA NATVRAE MOLE PRIORIS / DIGESTVM PARTES SCIMVS HABERE SVAS.= 'Thus we know Chaos now has its divisions after having been arranged in order from the famous mass that was its previous nature'. Ovid describes the separation of the elements at _Met_ I 25-31 and _Fast_ I 103-10; see also _Ecl_ VI 31-36.

I take _illa_ ('famous') to refer to the familiarity through the poets and philosophers of the notion of the separation of Chaos into the four elements. Alternatively, Professor A. Dalzell points out to me that _illa_ could have a pejorative sense.

=58. DIGESTVM.= 'Separated'. At _Met_ I 7 Ovid calls Chaos 'rudis _indigestaque_ moles'.

=59. ADFECTANTES CAELESTIA REGNA GIGANTAS.= At _Am_ III xii 27 Ovid, speaking of false legends created by the poets, says 'fecimus Enceladon iaculantem mille lacertis'.

In his youth, Ovid had attempted but later abandoned a poem on the battle of the Giants against Jupiter 'designed to glorify Augustus under the guise of Jupiter' (Owen _Tristia II_ p. 77): the language he uses at _Tr_ II 333-40 seems too explicit to be a mere instance of the love-poet's defence of his subject-matter: 'at si me iubeas domitos Iouis igne Gigantas [_Heinsius_: Gigantes _codd_] / dicere, conantem debilitabit onus. / diuitis ingenii est immania Caesaris acta / condere, materia ne superetur opus. / _et tamen ausus eram_; sed detrectare uidebar, / quodque nefas, damno uiribus esse tuis.[20] / ad leue rursus opus, iuuenalia carmina, ueni, / et falso moui pectus amore meum'. He refers to the same poem again at _Am_ II i 11-18 'ausus eram, memini, _caelestia_ dicere bella / centimanumque Gyen--et satis oris erat-- / cum male se Tellus ulta est, ingestaque Olympo / ardua deuexum Pelion Ossa tulit. / in manibus nimbos et cum Ioue fulmen habebam, / quod bene pro caelo mitteret ille suo-- / clausit amica fores! ego cum Ioue fulmen omisi; / excidit ingenio Iuppiter ipse meo'.

[Footnote 20: Compare Suet _Aug_ 89 3 'componi tamen aliquid de se nisi et serio et a praestantissimis offendebatur, admonebatque praetores ne paterentur nomen suum commissionibus obsolefieri ['be cheapened in prize declamations'--Rolfe]'.]

The actual descriptions of the Giants' rebellion in Ovid's surviving poems are brief (_Met_ I 151-62 & 182-86, _Fast_ V 35-42), but references to the rebellion are frequent (_Met_ X 150-51, _Fast_ I 307-8, _Fast_ IV 593-94, _Fast_ V 555, _Tr_ II 71, _Tr_ IV vii 17, _EP_ II ii 9-12). The accounts at _Met_ V 319-31 of the flight of some of the gods to Egypt and at _Fast_ II 459-74 of Venus' flight to the Euphrates are no doubt derived from Ovid's earlier researches.

=59. ADFECTANTES.= 'Unlawfully seeking to obtain'; compare _Met_ I 151-52 'neue foret terris securior arduus aether, / _adfectasse_ ferunt _regnum caeleste Gigantas_' and _Fast_ III 439 'ausos _caelum adfectare Gigantas_'. This sense is found in prose: compare Livy I 50 4 'cui enim non apparere _adfectare_ eum imperium in Latinos?'. At Livy I 46 2 the word is used without the conative sense: 'neque ea res Tarquinio spem _adfectandi_ regni minuit'.

=59. GIGANTAS= _Heinsius_. The manuscripts have GIGANTES, which Lenz, Wheeler, and André print. In classical Latin poetry, Greek nouns of the third declension with plural nominatives in _[Greek:-es]_ and plural accusatives in _[Greek:-as]_ retained these endings. Housman 836-39 gives many instances where metre demonstrates an accusative in _[Greek:-as]_. In Ovid when such an ending occurs, some manuscripts commonly offer the normalized _-es_; at _Tr_ II 333, as here, all manuscripts offer _Gigantes_, again corrected by Heinsius.

Such apparent violations of the rule as _Fast_ I 717 'horreat AeneadAs et primus et ultimus orbis', _Fast_ III 105-6 'quis tunc aut HyadAs aut Pliadas Atlanteas / senserat' and Virgil _G_ I 137-38 'nauita tum stellis numeros et nomina fecit, / PleiadAs, HyadAs, claramque Lycaonis Arcton' are of course no real exceptions, the lengthening of short closed vowels at the ictus being permitted (Platnauer 59-62).

=60. AD STYGA NIMBIFERI VINDICIS IGNE DATOS.= 'Hurled to the underworld by the lightning-bolt of cloud-gathering Jupiter'. This was Jupiter's first use of the weapon: see _Fast_ III 439-40 'fulmina post ausos caelum adfectare Gigantas / sumpta Ioui: _primo tempore inermis erat_'.

=60. NIMBIFERI VINDICIS IGNE= is my correction of the manuscripts' NIMBIFERO and NVBIFERO. The unmodified _uindicis_ and modified _igne_ of the manuscript readings might be defended by _EP_ II ix 77 'quicquid id est [whatever Ovid has committed], habuit moderatam uindicis iram', but _uindicis_ is there defined by the following 'qui nisi natalem nil mihi dempsit humum', and _moderatam_ is a more suitable epithet for _iram_ than is _nimbifero_ for _igne_ in the present passage., At _Tr_ II 143-44 'uidi ego pampineis oneratam uitibus ulmum, / quae fuerat _saeuo fulmine_ tacta Iouis', the manuscripts divide between _saeuo_ and _saeui_, which has a good claim to be considered the true reading; in any case, _Iouis_ is less in need of a defining adjective than _uindicis_ in the present passage. Finally, the genitive here is strongly supported by _Ibis_ 475-76 'ut Macedo rapidis icta est cum coniuge flammis, / sic precor _aetherii uindicis_ igne cadas'.

The corruption may have been induced by a wish to introduce interlocking word order: for a similar instance see at ii 9 _Baccho uina Falerna_ (p 164). But in fact substantive and epithet are constantly found linked at the caesura of the pentameter: the strong break in the metre at that point no doubt made the construction more readily acceptable there than in other positions.

I have printed _nimbiferi_ in preference to _nubiferi_ because Jupiter is linked with _nimbi_ at two other passages. The first of these is _Am_ II i 15-16 'in manibus _nimbos et cum Ioue fulmen_ habebam, / quod bene pro caelo mitteret ille suo', and the second _Met_ III 299-301, where Ovid describes Jupiter's preparations to descend on Semele: 'aethera conscendit uultuque sequentia traxit / nubila, quis _nimbos_ immixtaque fulgura uentis / addidit et tonitrus et ineuitabile fulmen'.