=1. QVOD LEGIS.= Similar beginnings to verse-epistles at _Her_ III 1 '_Quam legis_ a rapta Briseide littera uenit', _Tr_ V vii 1, _EP_ I vii 1-2 'Littera pro uerbis tibi, Messaline, salutem / _quam legis_ a saeuis attulit usque Getis', and _EP_ III v 1 '_Quam legis_ unde tibi mittatur epistula quaeris?'. Compare as well _Her_ X 3-4 '_Quae legis_ ex illo, Theseu, tibi litore mitto / unde tuam sine me uela tulere ratem'. This poem has suffered from two separate interpolations at its beginning. Certain manuscripts start the poem with the distich 'Illa relicta feris etiam nunc, improbe Theseu, / uiuit et haec aequa mente tulisse uelis', which is universally condemned; but the formulaic nature of 3-4 suggests that 1-2 'Mitius inueni quam te genus omne ferarum, / credita non ulli quam tibi peius eram', found in all manuscripts, is a second interpolation. Micyllus was the first to see this; a recent discussion at Kirfel 69-70. =1. VATES MAGNORVM MAXIME REGVM.= Severus apparently wrote a poem dealing with pre-Republican Rome, to judge from xvi 9 his most famous work: 'quique dedit Latio carmen regale, Seuerus'. Heinsius took the two passages as meaning that Severus was a writer of tragedy, citing _Tr_ II 553 'et dedimus tragicis scriptum regale cothurnis'; compare as well Hor _Sat_ I x 42-43 'Pollio regum / facta canit pede ter percusso ['in iambic trimeter']'. Heinsius' suggestion is possible enough, but since Seneca and Quintilian speak of Severus as an epic poet and there is no mention of the stage in this poem, it should be rejected. Similar language is used of epic poetry at _Ecl_ VI 3 'cum canerem _reges_ et proelia' and Prop III iii 1-4 'Visus eram ... reges, Alba, tuos et _regum facta_ tuorum, / tantum operis, neruis hiscere posse meis'. =1. REGVM.= VATVM (_M1FIL_) is a conscious or unconscious attempt to extend the etymological figure seen in _magnorum maxime_. =5-6. ORBA TAMEN NVMERIS CESSAVIT EPISTVLA NVMQVAM / IRE PER ALTERNAS OFFICIOSA VICES.= Other mentions of what was clearly an extensive prose correspondence between Ovid and his friends at _Tr_ V xii 1-2 and _EP_ I ix 1-2. =6. OFFICIOSA.= 'Attentive'. The preface to Martial XII gives a good illustration of the sense: 'consequimur ut molesti potius quam ut officiosi esse uideamur'. _Officiosus_ occurs five times in the _Ex Ponto_, but only four times in the rest of Ovid's poetry.