Ovid uses the somewhat more common gustare in a similar context at Tr IV i 31-32 'sic noua Dulichio lotos gustata palato / illo quo nocuit grata sapore fuit'.
21. VRBEM LAESTRYGONOS = 'Λάμου αἰπὺ πτολίεθρον, / Τηλέπυλον Λαιστρυγονίην' (Od X 81-82) or 'Lami ueterem Laestrygonos ... urbem' (Met XIV 233), where the crews of all the ships but Ulysses' own were killed and eaten; accounts of this at Od X 76-132 and Met XIV 233-42. Ovid refers again to the episode at EP II ix 41 'quis non Antiphaten Laestrygona deuouet?'.
21. LAESTRYGONOS BC LE(-I-)STRYGONIS MFHILT. Laestrygonos = Λαιστρυγόνος (Od X 106). At Met XIV 233 (cited above) all manuscripts offer Laestrygonis; the Greek genitive should probably be read as here.
22. GENTIBVS OBLIQVA QVAS OBIT HISTER AQVA. Similar wording at ii 37-38 'hic mea cui recitem nisi flauis scripta Corallis, / quasque alias gentes barbarus Hister obit?'.
22. OBLIQVA apparently refers to the swirling of a river's eddies. The sense 'winding' generally given the word would fit at Met IX 17-18 (Achelous to the father of Deianira) 'dominum me cernis aquarum / cursibus obliquis inter tua regna fluentum', but not at Met VIII 550-53 (Achelous to Theseus) '"succede meis" ait "Inclite, tectis, / Cecropide, nec te committe rapacibus undis: / ferre trabes solidas obliquaque uoluere magno / murmure saxa solent"' or Her VI 87 'illa refrenat aquas obliquaque flumina sistit'. At Met I 39 'fluminaque obliquis cinxit decliuia ripis', obliquis should be taken with flumina, and decliuia with ripis; or possibly both adjectives should be taken with both nouns.
23. VINCET. Like superare, uincere has the twin meanings of 'surpass' and 'defeat'.
23. CYCLOPS. The same pairing of the Laestrygonians and Polyphemus at EP II ii 113-114 (to Messalinus; he should address Augustus on Ovid's behalf) 'nec tamen Aetnaeus uasto Polyphemus in antro / accipiet uoces Antiphatesue tuas'.
23. FERITATE goes with uincet: 'will surpass in savagery'. I once thought PIETATE (BCIac) was the correct reading, connecting the word with saeuum and taking it as a reference to human sacrifice; but this seems strained and obscure. Pietate may be an intrusion from ecclesiastical Latin; Professor R. J. Tarrant suggests that it is possibly an anticipation of the following Piacchen.
23. PIACCHEN B PIAECHEN C. See the critical apparatus for the other forms offered by the manuscripts. As the king's name is not elsewhere recorded, its true form must remain in doubt.
24. QVI QVOTA TERRORIS PARS SOLET ESSE MEI. With Burman, Weber, and Wheeler I take the line as a statement: compare EP II x 31 'et quota pars haec sunt rerum quas uidimus ambo' (cited by Williams), where quota, as here, takes the meaning 'how small' from context. Most editors take it as a question, for which compare Am II xii 9-10 'Pergama cum caderent bello superata bilustri, / ex tot in Atridis pars quota laudis erat?'.