HKB
autem nascitur in Oete monte et optimum uno eius loco circa Pyram' and XXV 52 'Drusum quoque apud nos ... constat hoc medicamento liberatum comitiali morbo ['epilepsy'] in Anticyra insula'.
=57. TV QVOQVE FAC TIMEAS.= That is, his friend should start to behave better towards him. For a similar exhortation at the end of a poem of reproach, see Tr I viii 49-50 'effice peccati ne sim memor huius, et illo / officium laudem quo queror ore tuum'; even in the Ibis there is a veiled offer of reconciliation: 'et neque nomen in hoc nec dicam facta libello, / teque breui qui sis dissimulare sinam. / postmodo, si perges, in te mihi liber iambus / tincta Lycambeo sanguine tela dabit' (51-54).
=58. DVM LOQVERIS.= Compare Am I xi 15 'dum loquor, hora fugit' and Hor Carm I xi 7-8 'dum loquimur, fugerit inuida / aetas'; Nisbet and Hubbard cite ad loc Persius V 153 and Petronius 99 3, noting that the sententia is not found before Horace.
IV. To Sextus Pompeius
In this second poem addressed to Sextus Pompeius, Ovid celebrates the news that Pompeius is to be consul ordinarius in the following year. As Pompeius was consul in 14, Ovid probably wrote the poem shortly after the election of magistrates in 13.
Poems iv and v form a pair, the first being an account of Ovid's reaction on learning of Pompeius' election, the second being a letter to the new consul. Both poems have points of contact with poem ix, a letter of congratulation sent to Graecinus on his becoming suffect consul.
The poem begins with general reflections that no sadness is absolute, which prepare for the description of how the news came to Ovid of Pompeius' election (1-20). He pictures to himself the ceremonies that will take place (21-42), and ends with the hope that in the midst of the festivities Pompeius will still be able to remember him (43-50).
=1-6.= In these lines Ovid reverses the usual ancient sentiment that no pleasure is unalloyed. Compare Hor Carm II x 17-18 'non, si male nunc, et olim / sic erit'. For the more usual thought, see Met VII 453-54 'nulla est sincera uoluptas, / sollicitique aliquid laetis interuenit' and Fast VI 463 'interdum miscentur tristia laetis'.
=1. AVSTRALIBVS VMIDA NIMBIS.= An image used elsewhere by Ovid as a metaphor of his unhappiness: see Tr I iii 13 'hanc animo nubem dolor ipse remouit', Tr V v 22 'pars uitae tristi cetera nube uacet', and EP II i 5-6 'tandem aliquid pulsa curarum nube serenum ['cloudless'] uidi'.
=1. VMIDA.= For the dampness of the south wind, compare Met I 65-66 'contraria tellus / nubibus assiduis pluuiaque madescit ab Austro'.
=2. NON INTERMISSIS ... AQVIS.= Non intermissis in the same metrical position at EP I iv 16 'non intermissis cursibus ibit equus'; intermissus used of bad weather at Tr II 149-51 'uentis agitantibus aera [uar aequora] non est / aequalis rabies continuusque furor, / sed modo subsidunt intermissique silescunt'.
=7. DOMO PATRIAQVE CARENS OCVLISQVE MEORVM.= Similar phrasing at Tr III vii 45 'cum caream patria uobisque domoque', Tr III xi 15-16 'quod coniuge cara, / quod patria careo pignoribusque meis', Tr V v 19 (of his wife) 'illa domo nataque sua patriaque fruatur', Tr I v 83, Tr IV vi 19, Tr IV ix 12, Tr V x 47, EP I iii 47, and EP II ix 79.
=7. OCVLISQVE MEORVM.= Compare Tr V iv 27-30 'nec patriam magis ille suam desiderat ... quam uultus oculosque tuos, o dulcior illo / melle quod in ceris Attica ponit apis'. Oculisque meorum seems to mean 'regards des miens' (André) rather than 'the sight of my own' (Wheeler); compare Aen XI 800-1 'oculosque tulere / cuncti ad reginam', Met VII 256 'et monet arcanis oculos remouere profanos', Persius V 33 'permisit sparsisse oculos ['to look where I chose']', and from prose Cic Fam IX ii 2 'ut uitemus oculos hominum'.