=17-18. MVNERIS ... QVOD MEVS ADIECTO FAENORE REDDET AMOR.= _Adiecto
faenore_ = 'with interest added on'; Ovid will make up for his past
negligence by sending Tuticanus more than one poem ('tibi _carmina_
mittam'). It is clear from the opening distich of poem xiv that Ovid
sent the poem to Tuticanus very soon after the composition of xii: 'Haec
tibi mittuntur quem sum _modo_ carmine questus / non aptum numeris nomen
habere meis'.
A similar use of _faenus_ at _EP_ III i 79-81 'nec ... debetur meritis
gratia nulla meis. / redditur illa quidem grandi cum _faenore_ nobis'.
The variant AGER (_TM2I2_) for _amor_ was clearly induced by such
passages as Tib II vi 21-22 'spes sulcis credit aratis / semina quae
magno _faenore_ reddat _ager_', _RA_ 173-74 'obrue uersata Cerealia
semina terra, / quae tibi cum multo _faenore_ reddat _ager_', and _EP_ I
v 25-26 'at, puto ... sata cum multo _faenore_ reddit _ager_': these
passages refer to the original meaning of _faenus_ ('faenum appellatur
naturalis terrae fetus; ob quam causam et nummorum fetus _faenus_ est
uocatum'--Festus 94 Muller, 83 Lindsay).
=18. REDDET= _GCMIT_ REDDIT _BFHL_. Numerous instances of similar
corruptions in Lucan and Juvenal given by Willis (166-67), who remarks
'The general trend seems to be from other tenses to the present, and
from other persons and numbers to the third person singular'.
=19. QVACVMQVE NOTA.= 'With whatever method of indicating your name is
possible'. For the collocation of _nota_ and _nomen_, see _Aen_ III
443-44 'insanam uatem aspicies, quae rupe sub ima / fata canit foliisque
_notas et nomina_ mandat'.
Luck joins the phrase with the following _tibi carmina mittam_, but the
construction seems somewhat cumbersome; it is probably better to retain
the comma after _nota_ and take the phrase with _teque canam_.
=20-22. PVERO ... PVER ... FRATRI FRATER.= For Ovid's use of polyptoton,
see at viii 67 _uatis ... uates_ (p 278).
=23. DVXQVE COMESQVE.= The same phrase at _Tr_ III vii 18 (to his
stepdaughter Perilla) 'utque pater natae _duxque comesque_ fui' and _Tr_
IV x 119-20 (to his Muse) 'tu _dux et comes_ es, tu nos abducis ab
Histro, / in medioque mihi das Helicone locum'.
=24. FRENA NOVELLA.= For the image, see at ii 23 _frena remisi_ (p 169).
_Nouellus_ is a rare word in poetry. In prose, the word is often used of
young plants or farm animals; and here _frena nouella_ may well be a
metonymy for _frena nouellorum equorum_. Alternatively, the word could
be equivalent to _noua_ 'new, unfamiliar', as at _Fast_ III 455 'iamque
indignanti _noua frena_ receperat ore'. In either case, Ovid is clearly
referring to the beginning of his poetic career.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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