=37. LAPSO= _FHILT_ LASSO _BCM_. _Lapso ... sodali_ seems to me the preferable reading, since it contrasts Ovid's former life in Rome with his disgrace and exile; but _lasso_ is well attested and can be construed easily enough. Unfortunately, parallels from the poems of exile are of little use, since in most of them the one word could easily be read for the other: 'tu quoque magnorum laudes admitte uirorum, / ut facis, et lapso [_uar_ lasso] quam potes adfer opem' (_EP_ II iii 47-48), 'fac modo permaneas lasso [_uar_ lapso], Graecine, fidelis, / duret et in longas impetus iste moras' (_EP_ II vi 35-36), 'regia, crede mihi, res est succurrere lapsis [_uar_ lassis], / conuenit et tanto, quantus es ipse, uiro' (_EP_ II ix 11-12), 'digne uir hac serie, lapso [_uar_ lasso] succurrere amico / conueniens istis moribus esse puta' (_EP_ III ii 109). Professor R. J. Tarrant cites similar variants in the text of Seneca at _HF_ 646 & 803 and _Thy_ 616 & 658. A clear decision can be made, however, for the phrase _res lassae_; it is certified as the correct term by the parallel phrase _res fessae_, for which see _Aen_ III 145 'quam _fessis_ finem _rebus_ ferat' and _Aen_ XI 335 'consulite in medium et _rebus_ succurrite _fessis_', cited by Luck at _Tr_ I v 35. For _res lassae_ in Ovid, compare _Tr_ I v 35 'quo magis, o pauci, _rebus_ succurrite _lassis_', _Tr_ V ii 41 'unde petam _lassis_ solacia _rebus_?', _EP_ II ii 47 'nunc tua pro _lassis_ nitatur gratia _rebus'_, and _EP_ II iii 93 'respicis antiquum _lassis_ in _rebus_ amicum'; in each of these passages _lapsis_ is found as a variant for _lassis_. Similarly, the sixth-century _codex Romanus_ reads _lapsis_ at Virgil _G_ IV 449 'uenimus hinc _lassis_ quaesitum oracula rebus'. =38. HIC CVMVLVS NOSTRIS ABSIT ABESTQVE MALIS.= Festus defines _cumulus_ as a heap added to an already full measure (s.u. _auctarium_, 14 Muller, 14 Lindsay). The transferred sense is common in Cicero (_Prou Cons_ 26, _S Rosc_ 8, _Att_ XVI iii 3), and is found elsewhere in Ovid at _EP_ II v 35-36 'hoc tibi facturo uel si non ipse rogarem / accedat cumulus gratia nostra leuis' and _Met_ XI 205-6 'stabat opus: pretium rex infitiatur et addit, / perfidiae _cumulum_, falsis periuria uerbis'. =38. ABSIT ABESTQVE.= The more natural _abest absitque_ cannot be placed in a pentameter. =39. PER SVPEROS, QVORVM CERTISSIMVS ILLE EST.= Similar line-endings at _Ibis_ 23-24 'di melius! _quorum longe mihi maximus ille est_, / qui nostras inopes noluit esse uias' and _EP_ I ii 97-98 'di faciant igitur, _quorum iustissimus ipse est_, / alma nihil maius Caesare terra ferat'.