36. DOCTA (B; C has DOCTVS) seems clearly preferable to DICTA, offered by most of the manuscripts, which cannot be construed with hoc ... indice. The difficulty with docta is that the passive of docere seems in general to have been used of the person taught, not the thing; this is no doubt what induced Riese to print NOTA, found in certain of Heinsius' manuscripts. Still, the construction seems logical enough in view of the double accusative construction of the verb in the active.
38. SCEPSIVS. Metrodorus[28] of Scepsis (a town on the Scamander, about 60 kilometres upstream from Troy) was famous for his hatred of Rome; see Pliny NH XXXIV 34 'signa quoque Tuscanica per terras dispersa quin [Detlefsen: quae codd] in Etruria factitata sint non est dubium. deorum tantum putarem ea fuisse, ni Metrodorus Scepsius, cui cognomen [Professor R. J. Tarrant suggests that 'Μισορωμαῖος' has fallen out of the text around this point] a Romani nominis odio inditum est, propter MM statuarum Volsinios expugnatos obiceret'. According to Plutarch (Lucullus 22) and Strabo (Geog XIII 1 55), he was a close confidant of Mithridates; apparently, when on a mission to Tigranes, he privately advised him not to give Mithridates the requested assistance against Rome. Tigranes reported this to Mithridates; Metrodorus was either executed by Mithridates, or died of natural causes while being sent back to him. Cicero mentions Metrodorus and his phenomenal memory at de Or II 360.
The present passage is more specific than any other surviving reference to Metrodorus' anti-Roman sentiments; Ovid had perhaps read the scripta in question.
As both Cicero and Pliny use the epithet 'Scepsius', Ovid's reference would have been immediately understood: Mētrŏdōrus could not be used in elegiac verse.
38. ACTAQVE ROMA REA EST. Similar verse-endings at RA 387-88 'si mea materiae respondet Musa iocosae, / uicimus, et falsi criminis acta rea est', Fast IV 307-8 'casta quidem, sed non et credita: rumor iniquus / laeserat, et falsi criminis acta rea est', and Tr IV i 26 'cum mecum iuncti criminis acta [sc Musa] rea est'; other instances of reus agi at Her XIV 120, Met XV 36, Tr I i 24, Tr I viii 46, and Her XX 91. See at xv 12 nil opus est legum uiribus, ipse loquor ([p 434]) for a full discussion of Ovid's use of legal terminology.
39. FALSA ... CONVICIA has a place in the rhetoric of Ovid's argument, balancing uerissima crimina at 29.
40. OBFVIT AVCTORI NEC FERA LINGVA SVO. Obesse is used of Ovid's own situation at Tr I i 55-56 'carmina nunc si non studiumque quod obfuit odi, / sit satis', IV i 25 'scilicet hoc ipso nunc aequa [sc Musa], quod obfuit ante', IV iv 39 'aut timor aut error nobis, prius obfuit error' & V i 65-68. Compare as well Tr II 443-44 'uertit Aristiden Sisenna, nec obfuit illi / historiae turpis inseruisse iocos'.
41. MALVS = malignus.
41. INTERPRES. The word probably combines the senses of 'translator' and 'interpreter'; that is, the person intentionally misconstrued the meaning of certain passages.
As André points out, Ovid's statement here that his Latin poems have caused him difficulty in Tomis indicates that Latin was not as completely unknown in the city as Ovid claims at, for example, Tr III xiv 47-48, V vii 53-54 'unus in hoc nemo est populo qui forte Latine / quamlibet [Heinsius: quaelibet codd] e medio reddere uerba queat' & V xii 53-54 'non liber hic ullus, non qui mihi commodet aurem, / uerbaque significent quid mea norit, adest'; compare as well Tr III xiv 39-40.