The Last Poems of Ovid

by Ovid

39. PLAVSTRI PRAEBENTIA FORMAM ... SIDERA. The Great Bear. Other mentions of the constellation at Met X 446-47 'inter ... triones / flexerat obliquo plaustrum temone Bootes', Tr III iv b 1-2 (47-48), III x 3-4 & V iii 7-8, and EP I v 73-74. Compare as well Germanicus Aratea 24-26 'axem Cretaeae dextra laeuaque tuentur / siue Arctoe seu Romani cognominis Vrsae / Plaustraue [Grotius:-que codd], quae facie [scripsi (datiuum)[23]: facies codd] stellarum proxima uerae [Barth: uera uel uero codd]', Her XVIII 152, Sen Ag 66-68, and Lucan V 23 'Hyperboreae plaustrum glaciale sub Vrsae'.

Praebentia formam is elevated diction: Professor R. J. Tarrant cites Lucretius V 581-83 'luna ... claram speciem certamque figuram / praebet'.

40. PERPETVVM M^2ul PRAECIPVVM BCM¹FHILT. Praecipuum could be defended by EP III i 13-14 (to the Pontus) 'nec tibi pampineas autumnus porrigit uuas, / cuncta sed immodicum tempora frigus habet', but praecipuus in fact always seems to have the notion of 'outstanding' or 'superior', which does not seem appropriate to the present passage. For perpetuum compare Tr III ii 7-8 'plurima sed pelago terraque pericula passum / ustus ab assiduo frigore Pontus habet', Tr III x 14 '[niuem ...] indurat Boreas perpetuamque facit', Tr V ii 65-66 'me ... cruciat numquam sine frigore caelum, / glaebaque canenti semper obusta gelu', EP I iii 49-50 'orbis in extremi iaceo desertus harenis, / fert ubi perpetuas obruta terra niues', and EP II vii 72 'frigore perpetuo Sarmatis ora riget'.

41. HINC ORITVR BOREAS. Compare Tr III xi 7-8 'barbara me tellus et inhospita litora Ponti / cumque suo Borea Maenalis ursa uidet' and Ibis 11-12 'ille relegatum gelidos Aquilonis ad ortus / non sinit exilio delituisse meo'.

41. DOMESTICVS. The word is rare in verse; Ovid uses it as a substantive at iii 15 'ille ego conuictor densoque domesticus usu'. Here Ovid may be recalling the language of Met VI 685-86 (of Boreas) 'ira, / quae solita est illi nimiumque domestica uento'.

42. VIRES. Merkel proposed MORES, citing Virgil G I 50-52 'at prius ignotum ferro quam scindimus aequor, / uentos et uarium caeli praediscere morem / cura sit' and Statius Sil III ii 87 'quos tibi currenti praeceps gerat Hadria mores'. The second passage is not to the point, since it means 'what sort of obedience to your wishes do you expect from the Adriatic as you make your voyage'. In any case, Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me the poor logic of Merkel's proposed text: Ovid is deriving the natura loci from its surroundings; he should not now be saying that Boreas gets his mores from the area. The reading of the manuscripts seems acceptable enough if one accepts Meynke's polo for loco ('he gathers strength from the nearby North Pole'). For sumit uires compare Met VIII 882 (Achelous speaking) 'armenti modo dux uires in cornua sumo', Met XI 510-11 'ut ... solent sumptis incursu uiribus ire ... feri ... leones' and Hor Ep I xviii 85 'neglecta solent incendia sumere uires'. Professor R. J. Tarrant compares such phrases as sumere iras (Met II 175), animos (Met III 544-45), and cornua (AA I 239, Tr IV ix 27).

42. POLO Meynke LOCO codd. The pointlessness of loco is made clear enough by Wheeler's 'and he takes on strength from a place nearer to him'. Meynke's polo removes the difficulty, answers well to the following 'at Notus, aduerso tepidum qui spirat ab axe', and is supported by the language of Met II 173 'quaeque polo posita est glaciali proxima Serpens', and Fast IV 575-76 (of Ceres) 'errat et in caelo liquidique immunia ponti / adloquitur gelido proxima signa polo'. For the corruption, compare the common misreading of locum for solum.

43. ADVERSO ... AB AXE. Ovid here seeks a contrast with polo in the previous line; but clearly he means only that the south wind comes from the opposite direction, not that it originates at the South Pole.

Bentley conjectured AVERSO for aduerso, and the two words are obviously prone to interchange: compare Tr I iii 45 (of Ovid's wife, after his departure) 'multaque in auersos [Heinsius: aduersos codd] effudit uerba Penates' and the variations among the manuscripts at Virgil G I 218 'auerso ... astro', Aen XII 647 'auersa uoluntas', and Sen Tr 1123 'auersa cingit campus' (on which see Housman 1076). But aduerso 'opposite' seems to have the sense required here.

43. TEPIDVM QVI SPIRAT. For the construction compare Met IX 661 'sub aduentu spirantis lene Fauoni' and Avienus Descr Orb 847 'uel qua lene Notus spirat'. The trivialized TEPIDVS QVI SPIRAT is found in MH^2c. Tepidus Notus occurs four times in Ovid (Am I iv 12, I vii 56 & II viii 20, and Tr III xii [xiii] 42).