arma . . . mihi, in emphatic correspondence with equos . . . hostis, a similar service deserving a similar reward.
fuerit . . . Aiax. These words have been variously corrected, as by Muretus to ferat haec ut dignior Aiax, while benignior has been generally explained, on the analogy of its use as an epithet of trees and fields which produce largely (cf. 270, n., Amor. I. x. 56, “praebeat Alcinoi poma benignus ager”), to mean ‘more beneficent,’ ‘more helpful,’ ‘melius meritus,’ an explanation denounced by Bentley as ‘neither Latin nor sense.’ Heinsius suggested that it might have the force of ‘qui benignius habetur,’ ‘gratiosior,’ ‘blandior’ (‘more acceptable,’ almost ‘more persuasive’), but confessed himself unable to find a parallel, and Burmann's endeavour (on Petron. xliv.) to support this meaning seems to be unsuccessful. Bentley (who was, however, inclined to reject this and the preceding line) no doubt gives the right explanation, ‘even Ajax himself, as much as he is my enemy, would reward my services more generously’ (Pref. to Phalaris, p. 1xx.); there is then a reference to the ironical proposal of Ajax in 102. The imperative negate is equivalent to a conditional clause (si negaveritis), Roby, § 1557, R. § 651 n. Cf. XIV. 488 n.
