The only other instance of independent _a pudet_ in Ovid is _AA_ III 803-4 'quid iuuet et uoces et anhelitus arguat oris; / a pudet, arcanas pars habet ista notas', which, however, Professor R. J. Tarrant suspects is part of an interpolation. =19. GETICO ... SERMONE.= Ovid repeatedly claims to have learned Getic and Sarmatian: compare _Tr_ III xiv 47-48 'Threicio Scythicoque fere circumsonor ore, / et uideor Geticis scribere posse modis', _Tr_ V vii 55-56 'ille ego Romanus uates--ignoscite, Musae!-- / Sarmatico cogor plurima more loqui', _Tr_ V xii 58 'nam didici Getice Sarmaticeque loqui', and _EP_ III ii 40 (identical to _Tr_ V xii 58). It is of course not possible to prove that Ovid did or did not learn Getic and write poetry in that language. But in the absence of other evidence, it seems better to suppose that he did learn the language since (a) he claims to have do so, (b) Latin and Greek would hardly have been widely spoken in the region, and (c) a man with Ovid's linguistic facility would have had little difficulty in learning the languages of the region. =20. STRVCTAQVE ... VERBA.= Compare Cic _de Or_ III 171 'struere uerba', and see at 4 _structura_ (p 393). =20. NOSTRIS ... MODIS.= Ovid did not use native rhythms, but instead used Latin metres. =21. ET PLACVI.= Luck compares _EP_ I v 63-64 'forsitan audacter faciam, sed glorior Histrum / ingenio nullum maius habere meo', but it is clear enough from the context that Ovid was there speaking of his Latin poetry. =21. GRATARE.= _Gratari_ is extremely rare in Latin, being found only in the poets and historians; _grAtulAri_ was of course not available (except for _grAtulor_) for use in dactylic verse. Other instances of the word in Ovid at ix 13 _'gratatusque_ darem cum dulcibus oscula uerbis', _Her_ VI 119 'nunc etiam peperi; _gratare_ ambobus, Iason!', _Her_ XI 65, _Met_ I 578, VI 434, IX 244 & 312, and _Fast_ III 418. =22. INTER INHVMANOS ... GETAS.= The same phrase in the same metrical position at _EP_ I v 65-66 'hoc ubi uiuendum est satis est si consequor aruo / _inter inhumanos_ esse poeta _Getas_' and _EP_ III v 27-28 'quem ... fatum ... _inter inhumanos_ maluit esse _Getas_'. =23. LAVDES DE CAESARE DIXI.= In 1896 J. Gilbert ingeniously proposed the punctuation 'laudes [potential subjunctive]: de Caesare dixi'. But _laus de_ + ablative instead of the more usual objective genitive construction is supported by Tac _Ann_ I 12 'addidit laudem de Augusto'. Nipperdey there explains _de_ by equating _laus_ with _oratio_ and _sermo_, both of which take _de_ as a normal construction; but it appears from the present passage that _laus de_ may have been a special term for panegyric. Professor E. Fantham notes that Ovid may have been seeking a synonym for _laudAtiO_.