=25. INTERCEPERAT.= _Intercipere_ 'capture' common in Livy (IX 43 3, XXI 1 5, XXVI 51 12, XXXVI 31 10); compare Ammianus XX 7 17 & XX 10 3 'locis ... recuperatis quae olim barbari intercepta retinebant ut propria'. =26. EREPTAS VICTOR HABEBAT OPES.= Similar phrasing at _Fast_ III 49-51 'hoc ubi cognouit contemptor Amulius aequi / (nam _raptas_ fratri _uictor habebat opes_), / amne iubet mergi geminos'. =27. FLVMINEA ... VNDA.= _Flumineus_ does not occur elsewhere in the _Tristia_ or _Ex Ponto_; _fluminea ... aqua_ at _Fast_ II 46 & 596. =27. VITELLIVS.= This Vitellius is presumably one of the four sons of Publius Vitellius, grandfather of the emperor. Suetonius wrote of the sons, Aulus, Quintus, Publius, and Lucius, that they were 'quattuor filios amplissimae dignitatis cognomines ac tantum praenominibus distinctos' (_Vit_ 2 2). Heinsius suggested Aulus (_cos_ AD 32) was the one here meant, 'nisi ad L. Vitellium patrem [_sc_ principis] referre mauis'. 'On the general and reasonable assumption', wrote Syme (_HO_ 90), 'this is P. Vitellius'. But Suetonius calls P. Vitellius 'Germanici comes', and he is heard of in 15 assisting Germanicus in a campaign (Tac _Ann_ I 70 1): it is perhaps more likely that Publius would have been with Germanicus at the time of the capture of Aegissos, and that another of the brothers is meant. Certainty is in any case not attainable. =29. PROGENIES ALTI FORTISSIMA DONNI.= For the phrasing, compare _EP_ II ix 1-2 'Regia _progenies_, cui nobilitatis origo / nomen in Eumolpi peruenit usque ['goes back to'], Coty'. The Donnus here referred to is Vestalis' grandfather (_CIL_ V 7817), or possibly a more distant ancestor. Vestalis' father, Cottius, became a client of Augustus; at XV 10 7 Ammianus mentions the worship still accorded Cottius 'quod iusto moderamine rexerat suos, et ascitus in societatem rei Romanae quietem genti praestitit sempiternam'. At _Nero_ 18 Suetonius mentions as one of the few additions to the empire under Nero the 'regnum ... Alpium defuncto Cottio'. This Cottius would probably have been Vestalis' older brother; André is therefore right to infer that Vestalis 'n'était pas l'héritier du trône, ce qu'Ovide n'aurait pas manqué de signaler'. =30. IMPETVS.= _Impetus_ + infinitive usually indicates a mad impulse: the only other exception in Ovid is _Met_ V 287-88 (one of the Muses speaking) '_impetus ire fuit_; claudit sua tecta Pyreneus / uimque parat, quam nos sumptis effugimus alis'. =31. CONSPICVVS LONGE FVLGENTIBVS ARMIS.= Modelled on _Aen_ XI 769 '_insignis longe_ Phrygiis _fulgebat_ in _armis_'. =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.