There is a striking parallel to this passage in Quintilian's address to
Domitian in his catalogue of poets: 'hos nominamus quia Germanicum
Augustum ab institutis studiis deflexit cura terrarum, parumque dis
uisum est esse eum maximum poetarum' (X i 91-92).
=70. GLORIA PIERIDVM SVMMA.= _Gloria_ similarly used at _EP_ II xi 28
'maxima Fundani _gloria_, Rufe, soli', _Aen_ VI 767 'proximus ille
Procas, Troianae _gloria_ gentis', and Val Max IV iii 3 'Drusum
... Germanicum, eximiam Claudiae familiae _gloriam_'. The term was used
in particular of fine cattle: see _AA_ I 290 'candidus, armenti gloria,
taurus', _Pan Mess_ (_Corp Tib_ III vii) 208 'tardi pecoris ... _gloria_
taurus' and _Aetna_ 597 '_gloria_ uiua Myronis' (on Myron's _Cow_ see at
i 34 _ut similis uerae uacca Myronis opus_ [p 158]).
=71. SI DARE= _R. J. Tarrant._ The manuscripts' SED DARE is a possible
reading; but Professor Tarrant's slight change removes the awkwardness
of _nec tamen_ following immediately upon _sed_.
=71. MAVIS= _IF2ul_ MAIVS _BF1_. Either of the two variants could be read
from _CMHLT_. The preferable reading is _mauis_, since it links more
closely to _potes_ in the pentameter, and would be especially liable to
corruption after _maiora_ two lines previous. I have found no good
parallel for singular _maius_ 'a more important thing': for the plural
_OLD maior_ 5 cites from verse _Fast_ IV 3 'certe maiora canebas' and
its model, _Ecl_ IV 1 'paulo maiora canamus'.
=72. NEC TAMEN EX TOTO DESERERE ILLA POTES.= Graecinus was another of
Ovid's addressees who, while a soldier, kept up his other pursuits:
'artibus ingenuis [=_lIberAlibus_], quarum tibi maxima cura
est, / pectora mollescunt asperitasque fugit. / nec quisquam meliore
fide complectitur illas, / qua sinit officium militiaeque labor' (_EP_ I
vi 7-10).
=72. EX TOTO.= 'Altogether'. Compare _EP_ I vi 27-28 'spes igitur menti
poenae, Graecine, leuandae / non est _ex toto_ nulla relicta meae'. The
idiom was probably subliterary: the only instances from the time of Ovid
cited by _OLD totum_ 2 are Celsus III 3 71b 'neque _ex toto_ in
remissionem desistit' and Columella V 6 17 'antequam _ex toto_ arbor
praeualescat'.
=73. NVMERIS ... VERBA COERCES.= 'You arrange words in metrical patterns'.
Similar wording at Cic _Or_ 64 'mollis est enim oratio philosophorum
... nec _uincta numeris_ ['not in rhythmic prose'], sed soluta liberius'.
Professor E. Fantham points out to me that Ovid may also be playing on
_numerus_ 'military contingent' (_OLD numerus_ 9): 'you draft words in
squads'.
=75-76. NEC AD CITHARAM NEC AD ARCVM SEGNIS APOLLO, / SED VENIT AD SACRAS
NERVVS VTERQVE MANVS.= Apollo is similarly described at _Met_ X 107-8 (of
Cyparissus) 'nunc arbor, puer ante deo dilectus ab illo / _qui citharam
neruis et neruis temperat arcum_'.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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