32. FORTIA NE POSSINT FACTA LATERE CAVES. Vestalis would in any case have fought bravely; so that his deeds would not pass unnoticed, he led the attack.
33. INGENTIQVE GRADV. When Ovid elsewhere use ingens gradus (passus) he gives the phrase a humorous tone: see Am III i 11 'uenit et ingenti uiolenta Tragoedia passu', AA III 303-4 'illa uelut coniunx Vmbri rubicunda mariti / ambulat ingentes uarica fertque gradus', and Met XIII 776-77 (of Polyphemus) 'gradiens ingenti litora passu / degrauat'. The straightforwardness of this passage is of a piece with the rest of the poem.
For an example of the normal epic use of this detail, see Aen X 572 'longe gradientem'.
33. FERRVM LOCVMQVE reflects 23 'dubium positu melius defensa manune'.
34. SAXAQVE ... GRANDINE PLVRA. The same phrase in the same metrical position at Ibis 467-68 'aut te deuoueat certis Abdera diebus, / saxaque deuotum grandine plura petant'.
35. MISSA SVPER IACVLORVM TVRBA. 'The crowding missiles hurled from above' (Wheeler).
38. FERE. Heinsius' FERO would involve the repetition of fero in 44; and fero uulnere would be rather feeble when applied to a shield.
Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me that Ovid's description of Vestalis' exploit may have served as a distant model for Lucan's account of how a centurion named Scaeua rallied Caesar's forces and led an attack against Pompey's encampment (VI 140-262). Scaeua was made primipilaris in reward for his bravery (Caesar BC III 53 5).
40. SED MINOR EST ACRI LAVDIS AMORE DOLOR. Similar language of a similar exploit at Met XI 525-28 'ut miles, numero praestantior omni, / cum saepe adsiluit defensae moenibus urbis, / spe potitur tandem laudisque accensus amore / inter mille uiros murum tamen occupat unus'. Ovid's description of Vestalis' exploit is little more than a string of conventional phrases.
40. ACRI. 'Sharp'. Compare ii 36 'immensum gloria calcar habet'.