Ulysses' voyage was a favourite subject of the Latin poets. For a surviving example, see Prop III xii 23-36. An indication of the subject's popularity is the fact that _Pan Mess_ 45-49 'nam seu diuersi fremat inconstantia uulgi, / non alius sedare queat; seu iudicis ira / sit placanda, tuis poterit mitescere uerbis. / non Pylos aut Ithace tantos genuisse feruntur / Nestora uel paruae magnum decus urbis Vlixem' is followed not by a description of Ulysses' eloquence, as would have been appropriate, but by a narrative of his travels (52-81): this illogical sequence was no doubt induced by the poet's familiarity with similar descriptions of Ulysses' voyage in the poetry of his time. Professor E. Fantham cites Seneca's use of Ulysses as an _exemplum patientiae_ at Sen _Dial_ II 2 1, where Hercules is compared to Ulysses. =9. EXEMPLVM EST.= Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me the unusual baldness of the phrase. In Ovid's earlier verse _exemplum_ has an instructional or minatory overtone (_AA_ III 686, _Met_ IX 454). The flatter use of _exemplum_ seems to be typical of the poetry of exile: compare _EP_ III i 44 'coniugis exemplum diceris esse bonae', and _Tr_ I v 21, IV iii 72 & IV iv 71. =9. NIMIVM PATIENTIS= = [Greek: polytlas] (_Il_ VIII 97, _Od_ V 171, et saep.). The sense of _nimium_ seen here is not generally found in poetry, or even in literary prose; the instances cited by _OLD nimium2_ 2 are all from comedy, Cato, and the letters of Cicero. =10. DVO LVSTRA.= Compare xvi 13-14 'Vlixem / errantem saeuo per _duo lustra_ mari' and _AA_ III 15-16 'est pia Penelope _lustris_ errante _duobus_ / et totidem lustris bella gerente uiro'. =11. SOLLICITI ... FATI= is based on such phrases as _sollicita uita_ (Prop II vii 1) and _sollicitissima aetas_ (Sen _Breu Vit_ 16 1). Similar phrasing at _Tr_ IV x 116 'nec me _sollicitae_ taedia _lucis_ habent'. =11. PLACIDAE SAEPE FVERE MORAE.= Compare Prop III xii 23-24 'Postumus alter erit miranda coniuge Vlixes: / non illi _longae_ tot nocuere _morae_'. =13. SEX ANNIS.= According to Homer (_Od_ VII 261), Ulysses left Calypso in the eighth year of his stay on her island. André points out that Hyginus _Fab_ CXXV 16 has Ulysses on the island for one year only; for other estimates of the length of Ulysses' stay, see Roscher III 627. Ovid was probably influenced by the _bis ... tertia_ of the poem's opening. _Cimmerio_ in 1 furnishes another connection with Ulysses (_Od_ XI 14; quoted at 1). =13. FOVISSE.= Compare _Od_ V 118-120 (Calypso speaking) '[Greek: Schetlioi este, theoi, zêlêmones exochon allôn, / hoi te theais agaasthe par' andrasin eunazesthai / amphadiên, hên tis te philon poiêset' akoitên]'.