=11. ALII VELLEM CVM SCRIBERE.= The line confirms that Ovid was not at liberty to name Sextus Pompeius in his poems even after he had begun the composition of the first three books of the _Ex Ponto_. Ovid similarly indicates his frustrated desire to name his correspondent at _Tr_ IV v 10 'excidit heu nomen quam mihi paene tuum' and at _EP_ III vi 1-2 'Naso suo (posuit nomen quam paene!) sodali / mittit ... hoc breue carmen'. =11. VELLEM CVM.= _B_ offers CVM VELLEM, which I take to be a simple corruption to prose word-order. It is however the reading printed by Owen; and it could be argued that _cum uellem_ is the correct reading, and was altered to _uellem cum_ for metrical reasons. Lucretius and Catullus were fond of placing a spondaic word in the fourth foot of the hexameter; in the Augustan age practice altered, and the pattern was generally avoided; compare _Aen_ I 1 'Arma uirumque cano, _Troiae qui_ primus ab oris'. It was, however, permitted occasionally, especially when the previous foot ended in a long monosyllable (Platnauer 20-22). Scribes quite often alter such lines so as to remove the spondaic word from coinciding with the fourth foot; an instance of this can be seen at line 7 'non potuit mea mens quin esset grata teneri', where _H_ offers the scribal alteration _esset quin_. For a full discussion see Housman 269. =13. MENDIS.= This is probably a form of _mendum_ rather than of _menda_; compare Cic _II Ver_ II 104 'quid fuit istic antea scriptum? quod _mendum_ ista litura correxit?' and _Att_ XIII xxiii 2 ' tantum librariorum _menda_ tolluntur'. I have found no earlier instance in verse of _mendum_ meaning 'error' in this sense; Ovid in his poems of exile uses the terms of his craft more readily than any of his predecessors. =14. VIX INVITA FACTA LITVRA MANV EST.= _Vix_ goes with _facta_; André seems to take it with _inuita_ ('ma main l'effaçait presque à regret').