=16. CONTIGERITIS.= See on 6 _transierItis_.
=17. DICENDO IVRA.= The plural is poetic, the standard phrase being _ius dicere_: _OLD ius2_ 4b cites Livy III 52 6 alone for the plural.
=17-26.= Ovid lists in order of ascending importance some of the activities Pompeius as consul might be engaged in, starting with the hearing of lawsuits and ending with visits to the imperial family. For a shorter instance of the device of listing the recipient's possible activities, see _Tr_ III vii 3-4 (Ovid tells his letter to seek Perilla) 'aut illam inuenies dulci cum matre sedentem, / aut inter libros Pieridasque suas'.
=18. CONSPICVVM ... SIGNIS EBVR.= _Signis_ = 'bas-relief'; the sense is confined to verse (_OLD signum_ 12b). Compare ix 27 'signa ... in sella ... formata curuli', _Met_ V 80-82 'altis / extantem signis ... cratera', _Met_ XII 235-36 'signis extantibus asper / antiquus crater', _Met_ XIII 700, Lucr V 1427-28 'ueste ... purpurea atque auro signisque ingentibus apta', _Aen_ V 267, V 536 & IX 263, Prop IV v 24, Statius _Theb_ I 540, and Silius II 432.
=18. CVM PREMET ALTVS EBUR.= 'When he sits tall on the curule chair'. The same situation similarly described at _Fast_ I 81-82 'iamque noui praeeunt fasces, noua purpura fulget, / et noua conspicuum pondera sentit ebur'; compare as well _Med Fac_ 13 'matrona _premens altum_ rubicunda sedile' and _Met_ V 317 'factaque de uiuo _pressere_ sedilia saxo'.
=19. REDITVS ... COMPONET.= 'Will be arranging the [state's] income'. For _reditus_ compare _Am_ I x 41 'turpe tori _reditu_ census augere paternos' and _EP_ II iii 17-18 'at _reditus_ iam quisque suos amat, et sibi quid sit / utile sollicitis supputat ['calculates'] articulis'. For _componet_ compare Cic _II Verr_ IV 36 '_compone_ hoc quod postulo de argento' and Tac _Ann_ VI 16 5.
=19. POSITAM ... AD HASTAM.= A spear placed in the ground was a symbol of magisterial authority, and as such was always present at the letting of tax contracts. For the language compare Cic _Leg Agr_ II 53 'ponite ante oculos uobis Rullum ... _hasta posita_ ... auctionantem'. For _hasta_ with the specific meaning of 'contract-letting', see Livy XXIV 18 11 'conuenere ad eos frequentes qui _hastae huius generis_ adsueuerant'. The practice is recalled in the modern Italian term for 'auction', _uendita all'asta_.