=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'.
=41-42. TALIS APVD TROIAM DANAIS PRO NAVIBVS AIAX / DICITVR HECTOREAS
SVSTINVISSE FACES.= Compare _Met_ XIII 7-8 (Ajax speaking of Ulysses) 'at
non Hectoreis dubitauit cedere flammis, / quas ego sustinui, quas hac a
classe fugaui' and _Met_ XIII 384-85 (the death of Ajax) 'Hectora qui
solus, qui ferrum ignesque Iouemque / sustinuit totiens, unam non
sustinet iram'. All three passages are drawn from _Il_ XV 674-746, the
description of how Ajax repulsed Hector's attempt to set the Greek ships
afire, and in particular from 730-31 '[Greek: enth ar' ho g' hestêkei
dedokêmenos, encheï d' aiei / Trôas amyne neôn, hos tis pheroi akamaton
pyr]'.
=41. PRO NAVIBVS.= 'In front of the ships'; a reminiscence of _Il_ XV 746
(the final line of the book) '[Greek: dôdeka de proparoithe neôn
autoschedon outa]'.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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