=16. PER IMMENSAS AERE LAPSA VIAS.= Similar phrasing at _EP_ III iii 77-78 (Amor speaking) 'ut tamen aspicerem consolarerque iacentem, / _lapsa per immensas est mea penna uias_'. =17. QVO NON TIBI CARIOR ALTER.= Compare _Tr_ III vi 3 'nec te mihi carior alter', _Tr_ IV vi 46 'qua nulla mihi carior, uxor', and _EP_ II viii 27 'per patriae nomen, quae te tibi carior ipso est'. =18. CANDIDVS ET FELIX PROXIMVS ANNVS ERIT.= Compare _Fast_ I 63-64 'ecce tibi _faustum_, Germanice, nuntiat _annum_ / inque meo primus carmine Ianus adest'. No doubt both passages echo the phrasing of a New Year wish or prayer. =18. CANDIDVS.= 'Favourable'. Compare _Tr_ V v 13-14 (on his wife's birthday) 'optime natalis! quamuis procul absumus, opto / _candidus_ huc uenias', Prop IV i 67-68 'Roma, faue, tibi surgit opus, date _candida_ ciues / omina, et inceptis dextera cantet auis!', and _Fast_ I 79-80 'uestibus intactis Tarpeias itur in arces, / et populus _festo concolor_ ipse suo est'. =19. DIXIT ET= has a definite epic flavour, being found in Virgil at _Aen_ I 402 & 736, II 376, III 258, IV 659, V 477, VI 677, VIII 366 & 615, IX 14, X 867, XI 561 & 858, XII 266 & 681, and _G_ IV 499; from Ovid compare _Met_ I 466-67 'dixit et eliso percussis aere pennis / impiger umbrosa Parnasi constitit arce', I 762 'dixit et implicuit materno bracchia collo', III 474, IV 162 & 576, V 230 & 419, VIII 101, and VIII 757. A close parallel at _EP_ III iii 93-94 (Amor has been speaking with Ovid) 'dixit et aut ille est tenues dilapsus in auras, / coeperunt sensus aut uigilare mei'. =22. EXCIDIT.= 'I forgot'; the opposite of _subit_ 'I remember'. The idiom is standard Latin (_OLD excido1_ 9b); Ovidian instances at _Her_ XII 71, _Am_ II i 18, _Met_ VIII 449-50 'excidit omnis / luctus et a lacrimis in poenae uersus amorem est', _Met_ XIV 139, _Fast_ V 315, _Tr_ I v 14, _EP_ II iv 24, and _EP_ II x 8 'exciderit tantum ne tibi cura mei'. =23. VBI ... RESERAVERIS ANNVM.= 'When you have unlocked the year'. Compare Ovid's descriptions of Janus at _Fast_ I 99 'tenens baculum dextra _clauemque_ sinistra' and _Fast_ I 253-54 '"nil mihi cum bello: pacem postesque tuebar / et" _clauem_ ostendens "haec" ait "arma gero"'. =23. LONGVM ANNVM.= André translates, 'l'année longue à venir', citing Cic _Phil_ V 1 'Nihil umquam longius his Kalendiis Ianuariis mihi uisum est', to which _OLD longus_ 14a adds (among other passages) Caesar _BG_ I 40 13 'in longiorem diem collaturus' and Sen _Ep_ 63 3 'non differo in _longius_ tempus'; but the meaning 'far off' seems unsuited to the present context. _Longum_ should be taken in its usual sense; it perhaps emphasizes that the whole year is still ahead. =24. SACRO MENSE.= _Sacer_ because of the religious ceremonies marking the New Year.