17-26. Ovid lists in order of ascending importance some of the activities Pompeius as consul might be engaged in, starting with the hearing of lawsuits and ending with visits to the imperial family. For a shorter instance of the device of listing the recipient's possible activities, see Tr III vii 3-4 (Ovid tells his letter to seek Perilla) 'aut illam inuenies dulci cum matre sedentem, / aut inter libros Pieridasque suas'.
18. CONSPICVVM ... SIGNIS EBVR. Signis = 'bas-relief'; the sense is confined to verse (OLD signum 12b). Compare ix 27 'signa ... in sella ... formata curuli', Met V 80-82 'altis / extantem signis ... cratera', Met XII 235-36 'signis extantibus asper / antiquus crater', Met XIII 700, Lucr V 1427-28 'ueste ... purpurea atque auro signisque ingentibus apta', Aen V 267, V 536 & IX 263, Prop IV v 24, Statius Theb I 540, and Silius II 432.
18. CVM PREMET ALTVS EBUR. 'When he sits tall on the curule chair'. The same situation similarly described at Fast I 81-82 'iamque noui praeeunt fasces, noua purpura fulget, / et noua conspicuum pondera sentit ebur'; compare as well Med Fac 13 'matrona premens altum rubicunda sedile' and Met V 317 'factaque de uiuo pressere sedilia saxo'.
19. REDITVS ... COMPONET. 'Will be arranging the [state's] income'. For reditus compare Am I x 41 'turpe tori reditu census augere paternos' and EP II iii 17-18 'at reditus iam quisque suos amat, et sibi quid sit / utile sollicitis supputat ['calculates'] articulis'. For componet compare Cic II Verr IV 36 'compone hoc quod postulo de argento' and Tac Ann VI 16 5.
19. POSITAM ... AD HASTAM. A spear placed in the ground was a symbol of magisterial authority, and as such was always present at the letting of tax contracts. For the language compare Cic Leg Agr II 53 'ponite ante oculos uobis Rullum ... hasta posita ... auctionantem'. For hasta with the specific meaning of 'contract-letting', see Livy XXIV 18 11 'conuenere ad eos frequentes qui hastae huius generis adsueuerant'. The practice is recalled in the modern Italian term for 'auction', uendita all'asta.
20. MINVI MAGNAE. A word play on minus and magis at least; but Professor E. Fantham points out to me that Ovid probably had in mind the phrase maiestatem populi Romani minuere (Cic Inu II 53 & Phil I 21); Pompeius will not allow the interests of the state to be damaged.
21. IN IVLIA TEMPLA = in curiam Iuliam. Caesar had started the construction of a new senate-house in 44; it was opened by Augustus in 29. The building, as restored by Diocletian, survives substantially intact: see Nash I 301.
22. TANTO DIGNIS CONSVLE REBVS. Note the separation of the epithets from the nouns, and the high level of diction produced by the hyperbaton.
23. AVT FERET ... SOLITAM ... SALVTEM = aut, ut solet, salutabit.
23. NATOQVE. Tiberius, son of Ti. Claudius Nero, had been adopted by Augustus in AD 4.