37. INOBLITA = memori. Apparently the only instance of the word in classical Latin.

39. CAELO ... SVB VLLO. Bentley oddly conjectured ILLO, the reading of Mac, which gives the sense 'under the Tomitan sky'. This obviously contradicts the following transit nostra feros si modo Musa Getas.

41. SERVATOREM occurs in Ovid only here and at Met IV 737-38 (of Perseus) 'auxiliumque domus seruatoremque fatentur / Cassiope Cepheusque pater'. In prose it is several times used in a civic context (Cic Pis 34, Planc 102, Livy VI 20 16 & XLV 44 20; CIL IX 4852 in a dedication to Ioui optimo maximo seruatori conseruatori ... ex uoto suscepto). The solemn overtones of seruatorem must be part of what Ovid means for his own land and for the rest of the world to hear and know; the poem thus ends with an implied pronouncement to balance the public statement of the opening.

42. MEQVE TVVM LIBRA NORIT ET AERE MAGIS. This line clearly refers to mancipatio, the receiving of property (including slaves), which is described by Gaius as follows: 'adhibitis non minus quam [Boeth.: quod cod] quinque testibus ciuibus Romanis puberibus, et praeterea alio eiusdem condicionis qui libram aeneam teneat, qui appellatur libripens ['scale-holder'—de Zulueta], is qui mancipio accipit, aes [aes add Boeth.] tenens, ita dicit: "hunc ego hominem ex iure [Boeth.: iūst cod] Quiritium meum esse aio isque mihi emptus esto hoc aere aeneaque libra", deinde aere percutit libram, idque aes dat ei a quo mancipio accipit quasi pretii loco' (I 119).

MAGIS is found as a secondary reading in F and in the thirteenth-century Barberinus lat. 26; the reading of most manuscripts is MINVS, which seems to me impossible. Several explanations of minus have been advanced:

(i) Gronovius took the line to mean 'tuus sum, immo mancipium tuum, nisi quod sola libra et aes mea mancipatione abfuerunt'. This retention of minus, however, involves Ovid in a qualifying retraction just when he seems to be aiming for a ringing conclusion. As well, the instances of minus cited by Gronovius do not in fact illustrate this passage: among them are EP I vii 25-26 'uno / nempe salutaris quam prius ore minus', Met XII 554-55 'bis sex Herculeis ceciderunt me minus uno ['except for me alone'] / uiribus', and Manilius I 778 'Tarquinio ... minus reges', 'the kings, except for Tarquin'.

Gronovius seems to have realized that difficulties remained, and proposed to read NOVIT in 42 and make 41-42 a relative clause dependent on tellus in 38, so that the concluding lines of the poem would mean 'mea tellus, Sulmo, Roma, Italia, me tuum esse audiet. sed audiet idem etiam, quaecumque sub alia quauis caeli parte terra posita est, et te, meum seruatorem, meque, libra et aere tuum, minus nouit'. Once again, minus seems to weaken the poem fatally.

(ii) Ehwald (KB 71) followed Gronovius' second explanation, retaining the manuscripts' norit, and glossing 'tellus, quae sub ullo caelo posita est et te, meae salutis seruatorem, meque, libra et aere tuum, minus norit'.

(iii) Némethy followed Gronovius' first explanation, adding as an illustration AA I 643-44 'ludite, si sapitis, solas impune puellas: / hac minus [Burman: magis codd] est una fraude tuenda [Naugerius ex codd suis: pudenda codd] fides'. The citation does not strengthen the case for minus.

(iv) André wrote 'Minus me paraît avoir le sens de citra "sans aller jusqu'à", i.e. "sans même avoir recours à la mancipation": "tu es mon maître de ma propre volonté, et non, comme tu l'es de tes autres propriétés, par achat."' But the meaning seems to weaken the force of the poem.