=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).
=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.