=58. FRATER.= L. Pomponius Flaccus (_PIR1_ P 538), _consul ordinarius_ for 17. As the greater honour would indicate (Graecinus was _consul suffectus_), Flaccus was more prominent than his brother and, unlike Graecinus, is several times mentioned in literary sources outside Ovid. At II 129 Velleius Paterculus speaks of Flaccus' ability and modesty, and Suetonius (_Tib_ 42 1) names him as a drinking-companion of the emperor, made propraetor of Syria by Tiberius. Tacitus says that Flaccus proposed the _supplicationum dies_ following the discovery in 16 of Libo's plot against Tiberius (_Ann_ II 32 3); at _Ann_ II 41 2 he names Flaccus as consul at the time of Germanicus' great triumph in 17, and at VI 27 3 mentions Flaccus' death in 34 while propraetor of Syria. For Flaccus' special mission to Thrace shortly after the time this poem was written, see at 75 (p 308).
_EP_ I x is addressed to Flaccus, but gives little information except that Flaccus had, like Graecinus, given help to Ovid (37-40). Ovid's relations with Flaccus were clearly not as intimate as those with his brother.
=59-60.= The distich may be an interpolation, or at least deeply corrupted in its present form. Professor E. Fantham points out to me that the construction of _die_ with both _summo ... Decembri_ and _Iani_ is awkward, and that _dies Iani_ does not seem to be used elsewhere in Latin literature. The tense of _suspicit_ is strange as well: a future would normally be expected here.
=61. QVAEQVE EST IN VOBIS PIETAS.= 'Your family-feeling is so great that ...' The same idiom at _Met_ V 373 'quae iam patientia nostra est', _EP_ I vii 59, _EP_ II ii 21-22 'quaeque tua est pietas in totum nomen Iuli, / te laedi cum quis laeditur inde [=_ex illis_] putas', and Hor _Sat_ I ix 54-55 'quae tua uirtus, / expugnabis'. The sense is frequent in prose (_OLD qui1_ A 12).
The expression is used as a simple relative with the implication of size only from context at _Tr_ III v 29 'quaeque tibi linguae est facundia, confer in illud' and _Tr_ III vi 7-8 'quique est in caris animi [_codd_: animo _fort legendum; uide ad 91_] tibi candor amicis-- / cognitus est illi quem colis ipse uiro'.
=61-62. ALTERNA ... GAVDIA.= Flaccus will first rejoice to see Graecinus become consul; then Graecinus will have the pleasure of seeing Flaccus consul.