=2. QVI SIS.= The boundary between adjectival _qui_ and pronominal _quis_
in Latin was not absolute; and just as one finds such forms as _quis
clamor_ (_Met_ III 632), so it seems to have been Latin practice to use
_qui_ before forms of _esse_ in indirect discourse, perhaps in order to
avoid a double _s_-sound. Some instances of this from verse are _Ecl_ I
18 'iste deus _qui sit_ da, Tityre, nobis', _Ecl_ II 19 'nec _qui sim_
quaeris, Alexi', _Aen_ III 608-9 '_qui sit_ fari ... hortamur', _Met_ XIV
841 'mihi nec _quae sis_ dicere promptum est', _Met_ XV 595 'is _qui
sit_ signo, non nomine dicam', _Fast_ V 191 'ipse doce _quae sis_',
_Ibis_ 52 'teque breui _qui sis_ dissimulare sinam', _Ibis_ 61 '_qui
sis_ nondum quaerentibus edo', and _EP_ III vi 57 'teque tegam, _qui
sis_'. In some of these passages _quis_ is found as a variant reading;
given the ease of corruption, the rule should perhaps be made canonical,
and such passages as _Met_ I 248-49 '_quis sit_ laturus in aras / tura'
supplied with forms of _qui_ even when, as in this instance, there is
only weak manuscript support. (Professor R. J. Tarrant prefers, however,
to retain _quis_ at _Met_ I 248, seeing a difference between expressions
of identity [_qui sis ... dicam_] and of description [_sit_ and _laturus_
go closely together]).
The use of _qui_ seems to have extended to past subjunctives of _esse_
as well as present: compare _Met_ XI 719 'qui [_uar_ quis] foret
ignorans'. For discussions see Löfstedt II 79-96 and Shackleton Bailey
on _Att_ III x 2 'possum obliuisci _qui fuerim_, non sentire qui sim?'.
In preclassical Latin _qui_ is found for _quis_ even in direct
questions: _OLD qui_ A4a cites Pl _Capt_ 833 'qui uocat', Ter _Ph_ 990
'qui nominat me', and Scipio minor V 19 Malcovati3 'qui spondet mille
nummum'. The usage must have continued in spoken Latin, for it is found
at Vitruvius VII 5 6 and Petronius 62 8.
=3. NOMINE NON VTAR, NE COMMENDERE QVERELA.= An interesting indication of
the confidence Ovid felt in his poetry. In his earlier poems of
reproach, Ovid had represented his not naming the person as an act of
forbearance (_Tr_ IV ix 1-4; _Ibis_ 51-54).
=3. COMMENDERE QVERELA.= Oxymoron.
=5. DVM MEA PVPPIS ERAT VALIDA FVNDATA CARINA.= The common ancient
metaphor of shipwreck also used of Ovid's exile at _Tr_ I i 85-86, _Tr_
II 99-102, _Tr_ III iv 15-16 'dum tecum uixi, dum me leuis aura ferebat,
/ haec mea per placidas cumba cucurrit aquas', _Tr_ V xii 50, and _EP_
II iii 25-28.
=7. CONTRAXIT VVLTVM.= See at i 5 _trahis uultus_ (p 149).
=9-10= form a tricolon, where each phrase represents the same action in
progressively more specific terms: (1) 'dissimulas etiam' (2) 'nec me
uis nosse uideri' (3) 'quisque sit audito nomine Naso rogas'.
=9. DISSIMVLAS.= The same word in similar contexts at _Tr_ I i 62
'dissimulare uelis, te liquet esse meum', _Tr_ III vi 2, _Tr_ IV iii 54,
_Tr_ IV iv 28, and _EP_ I ii 146.
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