For signare used without an object, compare Suet Cl 9 2 'etiam cognitio falsi testamenti recepta est, in quo et ipse signauerat' & Nero 17 'cautum ut testamentis primae duae cerae testatorum modo nomine inscripto uacuae signaturis ostenderentur'.
Ovid uses testis and signare in a similarly metaphorical sense at EP III ii 23-24 (he forgives those friends who deserted him in his disaster) 'sint hac [M (Heinsius): hi codd] contenti uenia, signentque [uarr sientque; fugiantque] licebit / purgari factum me quoque teste suum'
12. NIL OPVS EST LEGVM VIRIBVS, IPSE LOQVOR. Ehwald (KB 52) aptly cites Quintilian V vii 9 'duo genera sunt testium, aut uoluntariorum aut eorum quibus in [in add editio Aldina] iudiciis publicis lege denuntiari solet ['or those who are summoned sub poena in trials']'.
The reference in this passage to a legal procedure is rather curious, as is the connected reference in 41-42. But it is clear from Ovid's verse that he had a solid practical expertise and interest in law. In his youth he had been one of the tresuiri monetales or capitales (Tr IV x 33-34), and had also served in the centumviral court (Tr II 93-94; EP III v 23-24). He must have been known for his knowledge of law as well as for his fairness in order to be selected as arbitrator in private cases: 'res quoque priuatas statui sine crimine iudex, / deque mea fassa est pars quoque uicta fide' (Tr II 95-96). E. J. Kenney has presented some interesting statistics concerning the frequent occurrence of legal terms in Ovid's poetry ("Ovid and the Law", Yale Classical Studies XXI [1969] 241-63) comparing the number of occurrences of certain legal terms in Ovid and in Lucretius, Catullus, Virgil, Propertius, Tibullus, and the Odes of Horace. Ius and lex are not much more common in Ovid than in the other poets (the proportions being 134:59 and 74:60 respectively for Ovid and the other poets combined); this is not surprising, since these common words could hardly be considered technical terms. Arbiter (7:4) and lis (23:10) are not much more common in Ovid than in the other poets. But it will be seen from the following list how fond Ovid was of legal terminology: legitimus (16:0), iudex (47:12), iudicium (39:7), index (26:1), indicium (36:8), arbitrium (23:6), reus (23:5), uindex (26:5), uindicare (16:6), uindicta (11:0), asserere (3:0), assertor (1:0). Compare as well the play on legal terminology at AA I 83-86 (with Hollis's notes), and the use of such terms as addicere (Met I 617), fallere depositum (Met V 480 & IX 120), usus communis (Met VI 349), transcribere (Met VII 173), primus heres (Met XIII 154), rescindere (Met XIV 784), accensere (Met XV 546), subscribere (Tr I ii 3), sub condicione (Tr I ii 109), and acceptum referre (Tr II 10).
13. OPES ... PATERNAS. Pompeius appears to have been very wealthy. Seneca speaks of the wealth of a Pompeius (presumably the son of Ovid's patron—so Syme Ten Studies 82, HO 162), who was murdered by Gaius Caligula (Tranq 11 10).
13. REM PARVAM MHIT PARVAM REM BCFL. Either reading is possible enough. On balance, I believe paruam rem to be an intentional scribal alteration to avoid the incidence of a spondaic word in the fourth foot of the hexameter; for a discussion of the phenomenon, see at i 11 uellem cum ([p 150]).
In an older poet, the alliteration of paruam pone paternas would be a strong argument for the reading (see page 15 of Munro's introduction to his commentary on Lucretius), but Ovid did not use the device in his poetry.
15. TRINACRIA = Sĭcĭlĭa, unusable because it begins with three consecutive short vowels; compare Met V 474-76 (of Ceres) 'terras tamen increpat omnes / ingratasque uocat nec frugum munere dignas, / Trinacriam ante alias'.
André avoids the literal meaning of the passage, joining terra with Trinacria as well as with regnataque ... Philippo and taking it to mean 'estate': 'ta terre de Trinacrie et celle où régna Philippe'. But this sense of terra is rare in Latin (Martial IX xx 2, Apuleius Met IX 35), it is difficult to see how regnataque ... Philippo could stand as an epithet in such a case, and it is clear enough that Ovid is imitating Aen III 13-14 'terra ... acri quondam regnata Lycurgo', as he does at Her X 69 'tellus iusto regnata parenti', Met VIII 623 'arua suo quondam regnata parenti', and Met XIII 720-21 'regnataque uati / Buthrotos Phrygio'. In these lines Ovid states that Pompeius owns Sicily, Macedonia, and Campania, and by the hyperbole indicates the size of Pompeius' holdings. Seneca similarly mentions how the Pompeius murdered by Gaius Caligula possessed 'tot flumina ... in suo orientia, in suo cadentia'.
16. QVAM DOMVS AVGVSTO CONTINVATA FORO. Compare v 9-10 'protinus inde domus uobis Pompeia petetur: / non est Augusto iunctior ulla foro'.