24. ADIVTA EST NOVITAS NVMINE NOSTRA DEI. Nouitas nostra could mean either 'my novel attempt' (Wheeler, Lewis and Short) or 'my inexperience'; if the latter, adiuta would bear the uncommon but quite valid meaning 'compensated for'; OLD adiuuo 7 cites passages from Cicero (Fam V xiii 5 'ea quibus secundae res ornantur, aduersae adiuuantur'), Livy, and Ulpian.
25-32. Similar catalogues of the imperial family occur at Met XV 834-47, Tr II 161-68, Tr IV ii 7-12, EP II ii 69-74, and EP II viii 29-34; these passages are quoted from below.
25-26. NAM PATRIS AVGVSTI DOCVI MORTALE FVISSE / CORPUS, IN AETHERIAS NVMEN ABISSE DOMOS. Other mentions of the deified Augustus at vi 15-16 'coeperat Augustus detectae ignoscere culpae; / spem nostram terras deseruitque simul' and viii 63-64 'et modo, Caesar, auum, quem uirtus addidit astris, / sacrarunt aliqua carmina parte tuum'. Ovid had predicted Augustus' apotheosis: see Met XV 838-39 'nec nisi cum senior Pylios aequauerit annos, / aetherias sedes cognataque sidera tanget', Tr II 57-58 'optaui peteres caelestia sidera tarde, / parsque fui turbae parua precantis idem', and Tr V ii 51-52, V v 61-62, V viii 29-30 & V xi 25-26.
Augustus' apotheosis was similar to those of Hercules, Aeneas, Romulus, and Julius Caesar: compare the descriptions at Met IX 262-72 'interea quodcumque fuit populabile flammae / Mulciber abstulerat, nec ... quicquam ab imagine ductum / matris habet, tantumque Iouis uestigia seruat ... maiorque uideri / coepit et augusta fieri grauitate uerendus. / quem pater omnipotens inter caua nubila raptum / quadriiugo curru radiantibus intulit astris', Met XIV 603-4 'quicquid in Aenea fuerat mortale, repurgat [sc Numicius] / et respersit aquis; pars optima restitit illi', Met XIV 824-28 'abstulit [sc Mars] Iliaden: corpus mortale per auras / dilapsum tenues ... pulchra subit facies et puluinaribus altis / dignior', and Met XV 844-46 'Venus ... Caesaris eripuit membris neque in aera solui / passa recentem animam caelestibus intulit astris'.
25. PATRIS AVGVSTI. Patris to make it clear that Ovid is not speaking of Tiberius Caesar Augustus.
26. CORPVS ... NVMEN. Precisely the same distinction is found in Velleius' description of Augustus' apotheosis and the start of Tiberius' reign: 'post redditum caelo patrem et corpus eius humanis honoribus, numen diuinis honoratum, primum principalium eius operum fuit ordinatio comitiorum' (II 124 3).
27. PAREM VIRTVTE PATRI. Compare EP II viii 31-32 (to Augustus, about Tiberius) 'perque tibi similem uirtutis imagine natum, / moribus agnosci qui tuus esse potest'.
27-28. FRENA ... IMPERII. The same metaphor at Tr II 41-42 'nec te quisquam moderatius umquam / imperii potuit frena tenere sui', EP II ix 33 'Caesar ut imperii moderetur frena precamur', and EP II v 75 (of Germanicus) 'succedatque suis orbis moderator habenis'.
At Fast I 531-34 Ovid uses the same metaphor, as here, of Tiberius' accession to power: (Carmenta is prophesying Rome's future) 'et penes Augustos patriae tutela manebit: / hanc fas imperii frena tenere domum. / inde nepos natusque dei [Tiberius was the adopted son of Augustus, and therefore the grandson of Julius Caesar], licet ipse recuset, / pondera caelesti mente paterna feret'. In all of these passages Ovid may have had in mind Aen VII 600 (of Latinus) 'saepsit se tectis rerumque reliquit habenas'.
27-28. FRENA ... SAEPE RECVSATI ... IMPERII. At Tr V iv 15-16 Ovid had used frena recusare of a horse: 'fert tamen, ut debet, casus patienter amaros, / more nec indomiti frena recusat equi'. This perhaps influenced his choice of words here.