46. DE MARE. The same form of the ablative at Tr V ii 20 'pleno de mare'. Compare Ovid's frequent use of the metrically convenient ablative in -e of third-declension adjectives.
47-48. Thyestes' feast cited as a proverbial example at Met XV 62 (Pythagoras is urging a vegetarian diet) 'neue Thyesteis cumulemus uiscera mensis', Tr II 391-92 'si non Aeropen [Politianus: Meropen uel Europen codd] frater sceleratus amasset, / auersos Solis non legeremus equos', Lucan I 534-44, and Martial III xlv 1-2 'Fugerit an Phoebus mensas cenamque Thyestae / ignoro: fugimus nos, Ligurine, tuam'.
47. VTQVE ... SI = et, quasi. All of the instances of the idiom cited by Lewis & Short ut II A 2e and OLD ut 8d are from prose, except for Ter Eun 117 and Lucilius 330 Marx. In none of these passages is ut separated from si: the hyperbaton elevates the phrase and makes more natural its use in verse.
49. QVI ME DOLVISTIS ADEMPTVM. 'Who mourned my exile' is the meaning imposed by context, but the phrase would usually mean 'who mourned my death': compare EP I ix 41 'iure igitur lacrimas Celso libamus adempto', and the similar use of raptus for the exiled Ovid at xi 5 and xvi 1. For Ovid's considering his exile as his death, see xvi 1-4, Tr III iii 53 'cum patriam amisi, tunc me periisse putato', and EP I ix 56 'et nos extinctis adnumerare potest'.
VII. To Vestalis
Vestalis, a younger son of Cottius, monarch of a small kingdom in the Alps (see at 29 [[p 253]]), was primipilaris of the legion of the area (perhaps the V Macedonica). He had just been named administrator of the region around Tomis (see at 1); as an important local official, he was a natural choice as recipient of one of Ovid's letters.
The poem starts with a description of the harsh climate of Tomis, to which Vestalis along with Ovid can now testify, and of the savagery of the inhabitants (1-12). This serves as a bridge to a compliment to Vestalis on being named primipilaris (13-18), and to the main body of the poem, a long and rather conventional description of how Vestalis led the final attack in the recovery of Aegissos (19-52). In the concluding distich Ovid declares that he has rendered immortal the deeds of Vestalis.
1. ORAS (CI) seems more suited to the nature of Vestalis' command than VNDAS, the reading of the other manuscripts. After Euxinas, corruption from oras to undas would be very easy, the inverse less so. Ovid does not elsewhere use Euxinae orae, the usual substantives with Euxinus being aquae, mare, fretum, and, closest in meaning, litus, for which see iii 51 'litus ad Euxinum ... ibis', Tr V ii 63-64 'iussus ad Euxini deformia litora ueni / aequoris', and Tr V iv 1.
2. POSITIS ... SVB AXE in effect acts as a single adjective meaning 'northern'; axe plays a subordinate role and so does not require an epithet. The phrasing may be based on Accius 566-67 Ribbeck2 '[ora ...] sub axe posita ad Stellas septem, unde horrifer / Aquilonis stridor gelidas molitur niues'. Lycaonio ... sub axe at Tr III ii 2.