=78. INQVE FIDE THESEVS QVILIBET ESSE POTEST.= For the use of mythological figures as character types, compare _RA_ 589 'semper habe Pyladen aliquem qui curet Oresten' and Martial VI xi 9-10 'ut praestem Pyladen, aliquis mihi praestet Oresten. / hoc non fit uerbis, Marce: ut ameris, ama'. =79-82.= Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me how the example of Theseus balances the comparison with Ulysses at the start of the poem. Earlier Ovid argued against a difference of scale between his own case and the mythic figure's: here he insists on it. =79. HOSTES ... DOMANDI.= For lists of these enemies, see _Her_ II 69-70 'cum fuerit Sciron lectus toruusque Procrustes / et Sinis' and the Athenians' hymn of praise to Theseus at _Met_ VII 433-50. =79. CLAVAQVE.= For Theseus' club see _Her_ IV 115-16 (Phaedra to Hippolytus) 'ossa mei fratris _claua_ perfracta trinodi / sparsit humi' and _Her_ X 77 'me quoque, qua fratrem, mactasses, improbe, _claua_'. Ovid mentions the club of Hercules about a dozen times. =80. VIX ILLI.= For _uix_ 'with difficulty' _OLD uix_ 1 cites _Fast_ I 508 'uix est Euandri uixque retenta manu'. Most editors print VIX VLLI (_BCT_), which is possible enough. _Vix illi_ seems rather more forceful, however, as making the point that even Theseus was able to make the dangerous journey only with difficulty, and that before him the road was impassable. Compare _Met_ VII 443-44 'tutus ad Alcathoen, Lelegeia moenia, limes / composito Scirone patet'. =81. OPEROSA.= The word in the sense 'troublesome' seems confined to prose except for this passage and _Her_ II 63-64 'fallere credentem non est _operosa_ puellam / gloria; simplicitas digna fauore fuit'. =83. PERSTAS= _IPF2ul_. Compare _Tr_ IV i 19-20 'me quoque Musa leuat Ponti loca iussa petentem: / sola comes nostrae _perstitit_ illa fugae' and _Tr_ V xiv 19-20 'quae ne quis possit temeraria dicere, persta [_uar_ praesta] / et pariter serua meque piamque fidem'. PERSTAS, the reading of most manuscripts, would have no acceptable meaning in the present passage; it has no object, and the intransitive meaning, 'stand out', is clearly inappropriate. The error may have been induced by _Tr_ IV v 23-24 'teque, quod est rarum, _praesta_ constanter ad omne / indeclinatae munus amicitiae'; more probably, it is an aftereffect of _praestandus_ in 81. =83. INDECLINATVS= governs _amico_. The only other instance of the word in classical Latin seems to be _Tr_ IV v 24, quoted at the end of the last note. =84. LINGVA QVERENTE.= Ovid elsewhere uses persons as the subject of _queri_, except for similar uses of metonymy at xiv 26 '_littera_ de uobis est mea _questa_ nihil' and _Tr_ V xi 1-2 'Quod te nescioquis per iurgia dixerit esse / exulis uxorem, _littera questa_ tua est'. XI. To Gallio