5-36. It is possible to discern a rough order in the catalogue of names; first come the writers of epic and Pindaric verse (5-28), then the dramatists (29-31), and finally the writers of lighter verse (32-36).
5. CVM FORET ET FHT CVMQVE FORET BCMIL. Clearly either et or -que was lost, and one or both inserted to restore the metre. Cumque would be a continuation of at mihi nomen ..., which seems an inelegant construction. Cum foret et, introducing a sentence of forty-two lines ending in 'dicere si fas est, claro mea nomine Musa / atque inter tantos quae legeretur erat' seems preferable; this very long sentence serves not as a continuation of the statement in 3-4, but as evidence for it.
5. MARSVS. Domitius Marsus[29] is often mentioned by Martial as a writer of epigram, sometimes being coupled with Catullus and Albinovanus Pedo (I praef, II lxxi 3 & lxxvii 5, V v 6, VII xcix 7). A friend of Maecenas, he wrote an epic poem on the Amazons (Martial IV xxix 8), and at least nine books of fabellae (Charisius I 72 Keil). Quintilian quotes from his treatise on urbanitas (VI iii 102 ff.); and he is cited as an authority by the elder Pliny (NH I 34).
The scholiasts and grammarians preserve seven fragments (Morel 110-11), the most interesting being the four lines on the death of Tibullus: 'Te quoque Vergilio comitem non aequa, Tibulle, / Mors iuuenem campos misit ad Elysios, / ne foret aut elegis molles qui fleret amores / aut caneret forti regia bella pede'.
5. MAGNIQVE RABIRIVS ORIS. Similar phrasing at Virgil G III 294 'magno nunc ore sonandum', Prop II x 12 'magni nunc erit oris opus', and AA I 206 (to Gaius) 'et magno nobis ore sonandus eris'. In the last two passages, as here, there is a specific reference to epic verse.
5. RABIRIVS. Velleius Paterculus (II 36 3) mentions Rabirius (Schanz-Hosius 267-68 [§ 316]; Bardon 73-74) alongside Virgil: 'paene stulta est inhaerentium oculis ingeniorum enumeratio, inter quae maxima nostri aeui eminent princeps carminum Vergilius Rabiriusque'. Quintilian speaks of him with rather less admiration: 'Rabirius ac Pedo non indigni cognitione, si uacet' (X i 90). Seneca (Ben VI 3 1) quotes a passage of his with Mark Antony speaking; presumably one of his poems dealt with the civil war.
Five short fragments of Rabirius survive (Morel 120-21).
6. ILIACVSQVE MACER. Pompeius Macer[30] was one of Ovid's closest friends; he is the addressee of Am II xviii and EP II x. The son of Theophanes of Mytilene, Pompey's confidant, he was intimate with Tiberius (Strabo XIII 2 3); under Augustus he had served as procurator of Asia and had been placed in charge of the libraries at Rome (Suet Iul 56 7). Two poems in the Greek Anthology are generally attributed to him (VII ccxix; IX xxviii).
Iliacus is explained by Am II xviii 1-3 'Carmen ad iratum dum tu perducis Achillem ['while you are writing a poem about the Trojan war up to the starting-point of the Iliad'] / primaque iuratis induis arma uiris, / nos, Macer, ignaua Veneris cessamus in umbra' and EP II x 13-14 'tu canis aeterno quicquid restabat Homero, / ne careant summa Troica bella manu'; Macer had written poems narrating those parts of the Trojan war not covered by the Iliad.
The Macer mentioned at Tr IV x 43-44 must be a different person, for he is described as already being grandior aeuo in Ovid's youth.