The poem begins with a pun on the meaning of Carus' name (1-2). This opening will in itself demonstrate to Carus who his correspondent is (3-6). Carus can himself be recognized through his style (7-12). Ovid does not claim that his poetry is excellent, only that it is individual; if his poetry is poor, it is because he is almost a Getic poet now (13-18). He has written a poem in Getic, which was well received (19-22). It was a description of the apotheosis of Augustus and a laudation of the members of the imperial family (23-32). When he finished reciting the poem, he was applauded; one person even suggested that his piety merited a recall (33-38). But it is now the sixth year of his exile, and poems will not assist him, since in the past they have done him harm. Carus should use his influence to secure Ovid's recall (39-50).
Certain elements of the poem, such as the flattering references to Carus' poetry and the request for his help, are commonplaces of the poetry of exile; the list of the members of the imperial family is similarly paralleled in Ovid's other poems (see at 25-32 [p 400]). Ovid nowhere else explicitly describes any of his Getic poems.
1. MEMORANDE BMFHILT NVMERANDE C. For memorande compare Tr I v 1 'O mihi post nullos umquam memorande sodales'. Numerande is in itself acceptable enough: see ix 35 'hic ego praesentes inter numerarer amicos'.
2. QVI QVOD ES, ID BCFI QVI QVOD ID ES MH QVIQVE QVOD ES LT. For the use of id, Ehwald (KB 47) cited Fast II 23-24 'quaeque capit lictor domibus purgamina uersis ['swept out'] / torrida cum mica farra, uocantur idem [sc februa]', Hor Sat II iii 139-41 (of Orestes) 'non Pyladen ferro uiolare aususue sororem / Electram, tantum male dicit utrique uocando / hanc Furiam, hunc aliud', Sen Ben I 3 10 'id quemque uocari iubent', and Tac Germ 6 'definitur et numerus: centeni ex singulis pagis sunt, idque ipsum inter suos uocantur' ['they are called "The Hundred"']'.
Quique quod es is, however, an attractive reading: compare Tr I v 1-2 'O mihi post nullos umquam memorande sodales, / et cui praecipue sors mea uisa sua est'. Quique quod is obviously prone to haplography; on the other hand, it could be a rewriting of qui quod id es, which is itself presumably a simple corruption through interchange of qui quod es id. I therefore print qui quod es id, although with some hesitation.
2. VERE. 'Justly'. For the same adverb used once again of names "properly" applied, see Tr V x 13-14 'quem tenet Euxini mendax cognomine litus, / et Scythici uere terra sinistra freti'.
2. CARE. Luck among others believes that Carus is also addressed at Tr III v 17-18 'sum quoque, care, tuis defensus uiribus absens / (scis "carum" ueri nominis esse loco)'; but it seems excessively ingenious to make Ovid say 'I call you carus instead of your real name, Carus'. Still, as Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me, the passage is odd, in that Ovid elsewhere uses care only in conjunction with another vocative (compare viii 89 'care Suilli' and Tr III iv 1-2 'care quidem ... sed tempore duro / cognite'); care may have been used as a metrical equivalent to the suppressed name, in the way the "cover names" in elegy correspond to the shape of the alleged actual names of the women. Unlike care, carissime is often found by itself (Tr I v 3, III iii 27, III vi 1, IV vii 19 & V vii 5; EP II iv 21 & IV x 3).
2. AVE occurs in Ovid only here and at RA 639-40 'nec ueniat seruus, nec flens ancillula fictum / suppliciter dominae nomine dicat "aue!"', and is not common in writing. It was, however, frequent in everyday speech, as is clear from Sen Ben VI 34 3 'uulgare et publicum uerbum et promiscuum ignotis "aue"'.
3. SALVTERIS MFT SALVTARIS BCHIL. Ovid usually employs the subjunctive in indirect questions; this is demonstrated by metre at such passages as Fast VI 385-86 'increpat illos / Iuppiter et sacro quid uelit ore docet', Tr II 294 'sustulerit quare quaeret Ericthonium', Tr II 297-98 'Isidis aede sedens cur hanc Saturnia quaeret / egerit Ionio Bosphorioque mari', Tr V xiv 1-2 'Quanta tibi dederim nostris monumenta libellis ... uides', EP I i 55-56 'talia caelestes fieri praeconia gaudent, / ut sua quid ualeant numina teste probent' and EP II vii 3 'subsequitur quid agas audire uoluntas'.
I have found two passages where metre demonstrates that Ovid used the indicative in an indirect question, Met X 637 'quid facit [codd plerique: quod facit recc quidque agat Heinsius quid factum Merkel quid uelit Nick quid facti Rappold dissidet Korn quid sciat Slater] ignorans amat et non sentit amorem' and EP I viii 25-26 'sed memor unde abii queror, o iucunde sodalis, / accedant nostris saeua quod arma malis'. But in the first passage faciat would have an ambiguous meaning, since it could represent either quid facio or quid faciam, and in the second ăbĭĕrim with its short 'a', 'i', and 'e', would be metrically intractable.