=42. PRAETEXTAM FASCES ASPICIAMQVE.= The _-que_ logically belongs with _fasces_, joining it with _praetextam_: such dislocations are common in the pentameter because of its strict metrical requirements. According to the manuscripts the preceding line ends with VTAR; I have printed Heinsius' VSVS, since there would otherwise be an asyndeton between _utar_ and _aspiciam_. There are similar errors at 57 and xi 15 (_cedet_ for _cedens_; _peruenit_ for _perueniens_): here we may have a deliberate alteration by a scribe who did not understand the force of the delayed enclitic and sought a verb to couple _aspiciam_ with. =44. DECRETIS= _Korn_ SECRETIS _codd_ SECRETO _Wheeler_. Korn's conjecture makes the pentameter an amplification of the hexameter, a common pattern in Ovid; its corruption to _secretis_ would be easy. Ehwald (_KB_ 39-40) retained _secretis_, citing Tac _Ann_ III 37 '_secreta_ ['solitary designs'--Grant] patris mitigari' and Pliny _Pan_ 53 6 (we should rejoice in our present good fortune under Trajan, and weep at the tribulations endured under previous emperors) 'hoc _secreta_ nostra ['our private thoughts'], hoc sermones, hoc ipsae gratiarum actiones agant'. But in a list of the consul's public functions such a deviation of subject seems inappropriate. Wheeler's _secreto_ is a little forced: 'my mind ... shall fancy itself present unseen at your actions'. Ehwald objected that Korn did not explain what his conjecture meant; but _decernere_ was used of the consuls' judicial decisions (Cic _Att_ XVI xvi a 4(6) 'consulum decretum'). =45. LONGI ... LVSTRI.= The epithet seems to have no special force: compare iv 23 'longum ... annum'. =45. REDITVS HASTAE SVPPONERE.= See at v 19 _reditus ... componet_ (p 219). =46. CERNET= _PM2c, Gothanus membr. II 121 (saec xiii)_ CREDET _BCFHILT_. _Cernet_ seems preferable to _credet_ as continuing the image of _uidebit_ in 43. =46. EXACTA CVNCTA LOCARE FIDE.= Graecinus will be careful and incorruptible in assigning taxation contracts. For _fide_ compare v 20 'et minui magnae non sinet urbis opes'; for _exacta_ compare Suet _Tib_ 18 'cum animaduerteret Varianam cladem temeritate et neglegentia ducis accidisse ... curam ... solita [_scripsi; confer Liu XXVII 47 1 'multitudo ... maior solita_' solito _codd_] _exactiorem_ praestitit'. =48. PVBLICA QVAERENTEM QVID PETAT VTILITAS.= The consul acted as chairman of the Senate, proposing the order of the day, and asking the senators in order of seniority for their _sententiae_ on the appropriate action for the question under discussion. =48. PVBLICA ... VTILITAS.= 'The people's interest'. For _utilitas_ compare _Met_ XIII 191 'utilitas populi', Cic _Part Or_ 89 'persaepe euenit ut _utilitas_ cum honestate certet', Cic _Sul_ 25 '_populi utilitati_ magis consulere quam uoluntati', and Livy VI 40 5 & VIII 34 2 'posthabita filii caritas _publicae utilitati_'.