Cato Maior de Senectute with Introduction and Notes

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

NOTES TO CATO MAIOR.

---

CATO MAIOR DE SENECTUTE (CATO THE ELDER ON OLD AGE). CATO MAIOR was probably intended by Cicero as the principal title. He twice gives the work this name, in Laelius 4 and Att. 14, 21, 1. In the former passage he adds the descriptive words, addressed to Atticus, qui est scriptus ad te de senectute. In a third notice, De Div. 2, 3, he gives the description without the title, liber is quem ad nostrum Atticum de senectute misimus. It is likely that Cicero intended the essay to be known as the CATO MAIOR DE SENECTUTE, the full title corresponding with LAELIUS DE AMICITIA. The word maior was necessary to distinguish the book from Cicero's eulogy of the younger Cato (Uticensis), which seems to have gone by the name of CATO simply.

P. [1] — [1.] O Tite etc.: the lines are a quotation from the Annales of Q. Ennius (born at Rudiae in Calabria 239 B.C., died 169), an epic poem in hexameter verse, the first great Latin poem in that metre, celebrating the achievements of the Roman nation from the time of Aeneas to the poet's own days. The incident alluded to in Ennius' verses is evidently the same as that narrated by Livy 32, cc. 9, 10. Titus Quinctius Flamininus, who commanded in 198 B.C. the Roman army opposed to Philip of Macedon, found the king strongly posted on the mountains between Epirus and Thessaly. For forty days Flamininus lingered, hoping to find some path which would give him access to the enemy's quarters. A shepherd who knew every nook of the mountains came before the general, and promised to lead the Roman soldiers to the ground above Philip's camp. This was done, and Flamininus drove the Macedonians into Thessaly. It is the shepherd who in the first line addresses Flamininus by his first name Titus. Cicero here cleverly applies the lines to his life-long friend Titus Pomponius Atticus. He several times takes the two words 'O Tite' to designate the whole treatise; cf. Att. 16, 11, 3 'O Tite' tibi prodesse laetor. — quid: accusative of respect or extent; so nihil in [30], aliquid in [82]. A.[^[56]] 240, a; G. 331, 3; H. 378, 2. — adiŭero: for adiūvero, the long vowel having become short after the falling out of the v between the two vowels. Catullus 66, 18 has iŭerint at the end of a pentameter verse, and the same scanning is found in Plautus and Terence. A. 128, a; G. 151, 1; H. 235. — levasso: a form of levavero, which was originally levaveso. For the formation of this class of future-perfects see Peile, Introduction to Greek and Latin Etymology, p. 295, ed. 3; also Roby, Gram. 1, p. 199, who has a list of examples; he supports a different view from that given above; cf. A. 128, e, 3; G. 191, 5; H. 240, 4. — coquit: 'vexes.' This metaphorical use of coquere occurs in poetry and late prose; cf. Plaut. Trin. 225 egomet me coquo et macero et defetigo; Verg. Aen. 7, 345 quam ... femineae ardentem curaeque iraeque coquebant; Quint. 12, 10, 77 sollititudo oratorem macerat et coquit. — versāt: we have here the original quantity of the vowel preserved, as in ponebāt below, [10]; the a in versat was originally as long as the a in versās. Plautus has some parallels to this scanning (see Corssen, Aussprache 11², 488), but it is rarely imitated by poets of the best period. Horace, however, has arāt, Odes 3, 16, 26. A. 375, g, 5; H. 580, III n. 2. — praemi: the genitive in ĭ-ī from nouns in ium only began to come into use at the end of the Republic. A. 40, b; G. 29, Rem. 1; H. 51, 5. — isdem: Cicero may have written isdem or eisdem (two syllables), but he probably did not write the form most commonly found in our texts, iisdem. H. p. 74, foot-note 2. — Flamininum: T. Quinctius Flaminīnus first served against Hannibal during the Second Punic War. He was present at the capture of Tarentum in 209 B. c., and in 208 was military tribune under Marcellus. After being employed on minor business of state, he became quaestor in 199, and, immediately after his year of office, consul, passing over the aedileship and praetorship, and attaining the consulship at the extraordinarily early age of 30. In 197 he won the victory of Cynoscephalae over the Macedonians, which ended the war. At the Isthmian games in the spring of 196 Flamininus made his famous proclamation of freedom to all the Greeks. He returned to Rome in 194 to enjoy a splendid triumph. For the rest of his life was employed chiefly on diplomatic business concerning Greece and the East. One of his embassies was to Prusias, king of Bithynia, call on him to surrender Hannibal, who was living at his court in advanced old age; this led to Hannibal's suicide. Flamininus was censor in 189 (see below, 42), and lived on till some time after 167, in which year he became augur; but the date of his death is unknown. He was a man of brilliant ability both as general and as diplomat, and also possessed much culture and was a great admirer of Greek literature. — ille vir etc.: i.e. the shepherd mentioned in n. on line 1. Livy 32, II, 4 says that Flamininus sent to the master of the shepherd, Charopus, an Epirote prince, to ask how far he might be trusted. Charopus replied that Flamininus might trust him, but had better keep a close watch on the operations himself. — haud magna cum re: 'of no great property'; re = re familiari, as is often the case elsewhere in both verse and prose. Cf. pro Caelio 78 hominem sine re. Cum is literally 'attended by'; it is almost superfluous here, since vir haud magna re would have had just the same meaning. Madvig, Gram. § 258 has similar examples. — plenus: final s was so lightly pronounced that the older poets felt justified in neglecting it in their scanning. It was probably scarcely pronounced at all by the less educated Romans, since it is often wholly omitted in inscriptions, and has been lost in modern Italian. Cicero, Orator 161, says that the neglect to pronounce final s is 'somewhat boorish' (subrusticum), though formerly thought 'very refined' (politius). Even Lucretius sometimes disregards it in his scanning. In the ordinary literary Latin a large number of words has lost an original s; e.g. all the nouns of the -a declension. A. 375, a; G. 722; H. 608, 1, n. 3. — fidēi: this form of the genitive of fides is found also in Plautus, Aulularia 575, and Lucretius 5, 102. Fidĕi as genitive seems only to occur in late poets, but as dative it is found in a fragment of Ennius. Fidē as genitive occurs in Horace and Ovid. H. 585, III. 1; Roby, 357, (c). — quamquam: see [n. on 2] etsi. — sollicitari etc.: Cicero probably has not quoted the line as Ennius wrote it. The word sic, at least, is evidently inserted on purpose to correspond with ut before Flamininum. — noctesque diesque: the use of que ... que for et ... et is almost entirely poetical, Sallust being the only prose writer of the best period in whose works the usage is beyond doubt. Noctes is put before dies here, as in noctes diesque (Verr. 5, 112), noctes et dies (Brut. 308 etc.), nodes ac dies (Arch. 29); cf. also Verg. Aen. 6, 127; and νυκτας τε και ημαρ in Iliad 5, 490; but the collocations dies noctesque, dies et noctes are far commoner in Cicero. Madvig (Emend. Liv. p. 487 n., ed 2) says that in writers of Livy's time and earlier, when an action is mentioned which continues throughout a number of days and nights, either dies et noctes and the like phrases are used, or die et nocte and the like, but not diem noctemque or diem et noctem, which expression, he says, would imply that the action continued only throughout one day and one night. But Madvig has overlooked De Or. 2, 162 eandem incu dem diem noctemque tundentibus; also three passages of Caesar: viz. Bell. Gall. 7, 42, 6 and 7, 77, 11; Bell. Civ. 1, 62, 1; to which add a passage in the Bell. Hisp. 38. Though diem noctemque does often mean 'throughout one day and one night' (as e.g. in Nep. Them. 8, 7), yet it would seem that the other sense cannot be excluded. — moderationem ... aequitatem: 'the self-control and even balance of your mind'. Moderatio is in Cic. a common translation of σωφροσυνη. Aequitas is not used here in its commonest sense of 'reasonableness' or 'equity', but as the noun corresponding to aequus in the ordinary phrase aequus animus (Horace, 'aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem'), cf. Tusc. 1, 97 hanc maximi animi aequitatem in ipsa morte. said of Theramenes' undisturbed composure before his execution. — animi tui: for the position of these words between moderationem and aequitatem, to both of which nouns they refer (a form of speech called by the Latin grammarians coniunctio), see note on Laelius 8 cum summi viri tum amicissimi. — cognomen: i.e. the name Atticus, which Cicero's friend did not inherit, but adopted. For the word cognomen cf. [n. on 5]. — deportasse: it should be noted that the verb deportare is nearly always in the best writers used of bringing things from the provinces to Italy or Rome, and not vice versa, the Romans using 'down' (de) of motion towards the capital. Italia deportare occurs in Tacitus and late writers, but only in the sense of banishing a person (cf. Ann 14, 45). So decedere de provincia is common, but not Roma decedere. As to the form deportasse, it may be remarked that Cic. in the vast majority of instances uses the contracted and not the full forms of the infinitives corresponding to perfects in -avi. So putassent in 4. An extensive collection of examples of this and similar contractions may be found in Frohwein, Die Perfectbildungen auf -vi bei Cicero; Gera, 1874. — humanitatem: 'culture', i.e. learning resulting in gentleness and refinement of character. — prudentiam: φρονησιν or practical wisdom. Corn. Nepos (or his imitator) in his life of Atticus 17, 3 says of him principum philosophorum ita percepta habuit praecepta ut his ad vitam agendam non ad ostentationem uteretur. — isdem rebus: i.e. the state of public affairs at the time, see [Introd]. — quibus me ipsum: strictly speaking the construction is inaccurate, since suspicor commoveri must be supplied, and Cicero does not really mean to say that he merely conjectures himself to be seriously affected by the state of public affairs; ego ipse commoveor would have accurately expressed his meaning. The accusative is due to the attraction of te above. — maior: = difficilior as often; e.g. Lael. 29 quod maius est. — visum est mihi conscribere: = placuit mihi, 'I have determined to write'. The best writers rarely use the impersonal videtur etc. followed by an infinitive. When the usage occurs videtur mihi etc. generally have the meaning (as here) of δοκει μοι κ τ λ = 'I have made up my mind'. Cf. Tusc. 5, 12 Non mihi videtur ad beate vivendum satis posse virtutem; ib. 5, 22 (a curious passage) mihi enim non videbatur quisquam esse beatus posse cum esset in malis; in malis autem sapientem esse posse; Off 3, 71 malitia quae volt illa quidem videri se esse prudentiam ('craft which desires that people should believe it to be wisdom'); Liv. 1, 10, 7 dis visum nec irritam conditoris templi vocem esse ... ('the gods decided that the word of the founder of the shrine should not remain of no effect'). It would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a passage in a writer before silver Latin times where the best texts still exhibit anything like videtur eum facere for is videtur facere. H 534, 1, n. 1; Roby, 1353. — aliquid ad te: 'some work dedicated to you'; so below, [3]; cf. also Lael. 4 ut de amicitia scriberem aliquid; ib. Catone maiore qui est scriptus ad te de senectute; Div. 2, 3 liber is quem ad nostrum Atticum de senectute misimus.

[2.] aut ... aut certe: so often in Cic.; certe, 'at any rate'. — senectutis: at the time the words were written Cic. was 62 years old, Atticus three years older. For the meaning of senectus see [n. on 4]. — levari volo: the best Latin writers frequently use the passive infinitive after verbs expressing desire, where moderns would incline to the active; here Cic. instead of saying 'I wish to relieve yourself and me of the burden' says 'I wish yourself and me to be relieved'. — etsi: = καιτοι 'and yet'. This use of etsi to introduce a clause correcting the preceding clause, though not uncommon (e.g. below [29]; Tusc. 1, 99; 3, 17; 4, 63; 5, 55), is far less common than that of quamquam, which we have in [1], [9], [10], [24], [47], [67], [69]. — te quidem: 'you at all events', 'you for one'. — modice ac sapienter: modice recalls moderationem above (modice and moderate are used with exactly the same sense by Cic.), while sapienter recalls aequitatem, since sapientia produces stability and an even balance of the mind. In De Or. 1, 132 we have modice et scienter. — sicut omnia: cf. Fin. 1, 7 facete is quidem sicut alia; also below, 65 sicut alia. — et ferre et laturum esse: Tischer rightly remarks that when a verb is repeated thus with a variation of tense Cic. very nearly always uses et ... et, and not a single et merely. The contrast between the two tenses is thus made more pointed. Cf. 3 et diximus et dicemus. — certo scio: one of the best MSS., followed by some editors, has here certe scio. The latter phrase would mean 'I am sure that I know'(a sense which seems out of place here); the former 'I have certain or sure knowledge'. Observe that certe may be used with all verbs, while certo is only used with scire. A. 151, c. — sed: the idea implied is, 'but though I well know you do not need such consolation, I have yet resolved to address my book to you'. — occurrebas dignus: a condensed construction for occurrebat te digmim esse.

P. [2] — munere ... uteretur: 'a gift such as we both might make use of in company'. — mihi quidem: this forms a correction upon uterque nostrum above: 'whatever you may think of the work, I at least have found the writing of it pleasant'. — confectio: 'composition'; 'completion'; a word scarcely found in the classical Latin except in Cicero's writings. Cf. De Or. 2, 52 annalium confectio; pro. Font. 3 confectio tabularum ('account-books'). — fuit ut absterserit: the sequence of tenses fuit ut abstergeret would have been equally admissible, but the meaning would have been slightly different. With the perfect the sense is 'was so pleasant that it has wiped away'; with the imperfect 'was so pleasant that it did (while I was writing) wipe away'. The metaphor in absterserit is common: e.g. Tusc. 3, 43 luctum omnem absterseris. With this statement of Cicero's concerning the effect the work had on himself contrast Att. 14, 21, 3 legendus mihi saepius est Cato maior ad te missus. Amariorem enim me senectus facit. Stomachor omnia. — omnis: acc. pl. A. 55, c; G. 60, 1; H. 67. — effecerit mollem: so 56 poteratne tantus animus efficere non iucundam senectutem; but 56 conditiora facit haec aucupium. Efficio gives more emphatically than facio the idea of the completion of the action. Cf. Lael. 73 efficere aliquem consulem, 'to carry through a man's election as consul'; facere aliquem consulem being merely 'to vote for a man's election to the consulship'. — satis digne: 'as she deserves', lit. 'in a sufficiently worthy manner.' Some editors have thought digne superfluous and wished to cast it out but we have satis digne elsewhere, as in Verr. Act. II. 1, 82; cf. also Sex. Rosc. 33 pro dignitate laudare satis commode. — qui pareat ... degere: a conditional sentence of irregular form (qui = siquis; cui simply connective, = et ei). Cf. Div. 1, 127 qui enim teneat causas rerum futurarum, idem necesse est omnia teneat quae futura sint; also the examples in Roby's Grammar, 1558. A. 310, a, 307, b; G. 594, 1, 598; H. 507, II. and III. 2. Some, however, make possit a subjunctive of characteristic or of cause with cui, and pareat a subjunctive by attraction. — omne tempus aetatis: 'every season of life'; so in [55] extremum tempus aetatis; [70] breve tempus aetatis. The opposite phrase aetas temporis is very rare; it occurs in Propertius 1, 4, 7.

[3.] ceteris: neuter adjective used as a noun, equivalent to ceteris rebus 'the other matters'; i.e. the political troubles hinted at above. The best writers do not often use the neuter adjective as noun in the oblique cases unless there is something in the context to show the gender clearly, as in [24] aliis ... eis quae; we have, however, below in [8], isto = ista re; [72], reliquum; [77], caelestium = rerum caelestium; and in [78], praeteritorum futurorumque; see other instances in n. on Lael. 50 similium. The proleptic or anticipatory use of ceteris should also be noticed; its sense is not fully seen till we come to hunc librum; the same use occurs below in [4], [5], [59], [60]; so aliis in [24]; cf. also n. on Lael. 7 reliqua. — diximus ... dicemus: when a clause or phrase consists of four parts, which go in pairs (as here diximus, dicemus on one side, and multa, saepe on the other), the Latins frequently arrange the words so as to put one pair between the two members of the other pair, as here. This usage is called by grammarians chiasmus. Thus if we denote the four parts by AA' BB', chiasmus requires the order ABB'A' or BAA'B'. See examples in [8], [20], [22], [38], [44], [71]. For the more complicated forms of chiasmus consult Nägelsbach, Stil. §§ 167, 169. A. 344, f; G. 684; H. 562. — librum ... misimus: observe the omission of a particle at the beginning of the clause; the contrast between ceteris and hunc librum is made stronger by the omission. For this asyndeton adversativum see n. on Lael. 5 Laelium ... putes. For tense of misimus, 'I send' see A. 282; G. 244, H. 472, 1. — omnem: see [n. on 62]. — tribuimus: perfect tense like misimus. — Tithono ... Aristo: see [Introd]. — Cius: Greek Κειος (a native of Ceos), not to be confused with Χιος(a native of Chios), or Κωος (a native of Cos). Cicero generally denotes the Greek diphthong ει by i not e. This Aristo was a Peripatetic. — parum ... auctoritatis: observe how often Cicero takes trouble to separate words which are, grammatically, closely connected. So above, omnis ... molestias; [7] multorum ... senectutem; [9] mirificos ... fructus; [21] civium ... nomina; [33] minus ... virium; [53] multo ... fecundior; etc. etc. See also [n. on 15] quam sit iusta. A. 344, c, d, e; H. 561, III. — esset: condition omitted. A. 311; G. 602; H. 510. — maiorem auctoritatem: cf. Lael. 4. — apud quem: 'at whose house'; so [55] a me, 'from my house'. A. 153; G. 417; H. 446, n. 4. — Laelium ... Scipionem: see [Introd]. — facimus admirantis: 'we represent as expressing astonishment'. For facere, in this sense, Cic. more often uses inducere 'to bring on the stage', as in Lael. 4 Catonem induxi senem disputantem. Cf. however [54] Homerus Laerten colentem agrum facit; also Brut. 218; Orat 85. Instead of facimus we might have expected either fecimus to correspond with misimus and tribuimus above, or faciemus to correspond with videbitur below. On the use of the participle see A. 292, q; G. 536; H 535, I. 4. — eruditius disputare: Cic. not infrequently in his dialogues makes people talk with more learning than they really possessed. He several times confesses this as regards Lucullus and Catulus in the Academica, and as regards Antonius in the De Oratore. — ferat: subjunctive because embodying the sentiment of Laelius and Scipio. Roby, 1744; Madvig, 357; H. 516, 11. — suis libris etc.: for the allusions here to Cato's life, works, and opinions see [Introd]. — quid opus est plura? sc. dicere. cf. the elliptic phrases quid multa? sc. dicam in [78]; also below, [10] praeclare. A 206, c; H. 368, 3, n. 2.

[4.] saepe numero soleo: 'it is my frequent custom'. Numero is literally 'by the count or reckoning', and in saepe numero had originally the same force as in quadraginta numero and the like; but the phrase came to be used merely as a slight strengthening of saepe. — cum hoc ... cum ceterarum: the use of cum in different senses in the same clause, which seems awkward, is not uncommon; cf. below, [67]. The spelling quum was certainly not used by Cicero, and probably by no other Latin writer of the best period. H. 311, foot-note 4. It is worth remarking that cum the conjunction and cum the preposition, though spelt alike, are by origin quite distinct. The former is derived from the pronominal stem ka or kva, and is cognate with qui; the latter comes from the root sak 'to follow', and is cognate with Gk. συν, Lat sequor, etc. See Vanicek, Etymologisches Worterbuch, pp. 96, 984. — rerum ... sapientiam: 'wisdom in affairs'; the objective genitive. — excellentem: in sense much stronger than our 'excellent'; excellentem perfectamque 'pre-eminent and indeed faultless'. — quod ... senserim: this clause takes the place of an object to admirari. The subjunctive is used because the speaker reports his own reason for the wonder, formerly felt, as if according to the views of another person, and without affirming his holding the same view at the time of speaking. Madvig, 357, a, Obs. 1. A 341, d, Rem. — odiosa: this word is not so strong as our 'hateful', but rather means 'wearisome', 'annoying'. In Plautus the frequent expression odiosus es means, in colloquial English, 'you bore me'. Cf. [47] odiosum et molestum; [65] odiosa offensio. — onus Aetna gravius: a proverbial expression with an allusion to Enceladus, who, after the defeat of the Giants by Juppiter, was said to have been imprisoned under Mt. Aetna. Cf. Eurip. Hercules Furens, 637; also Longfellow's poem, Enceladus. — haud sane difficilem: 'surely far from difficult'; cf. [83] haud sane facile. — quibus: a dativus commodi, 'those for whom there is no aid in themselves'. Cf. Lael. 79 quibus in ipsis. — bene beateque vivendum: 'a virtuous and happy life'; 'virtue and happiness'; so bene honesteque below, [70]. — qui ... petunt: these are the αυταρκεις, men sufficient for themselves, 'in se toti teretes atque rotundi'. We have here a reminiscence of the Stoic doctrine about the wise man, whose happiness is quite independent of everything outside himself, and is caused solely by his own virtue. Cicero represents the same Stoic theory in Lael. 7. Cf. Juv. Sat. 10, 357-362; also Seneca, De Cons. Sap. VIII, De Prov. I. 5. — a se ipsi: 'themselves from themselves,' so in [78] se ipse moveat ... se ipse relucturus sit; [84] me ipse consolabar. Expressions like a se ipsis are quite uncommon in Cicero. Cf. n. on Lael. 5 te ipse cognosces; also see below, [38] se ipsa [78] se ipse. — naturae necessitas: 'the inevitable conditions of nature.' Cf. [71] quid est tam secundum naturam quam senibus emori? — afferat: subjunctive because nihil quod = nihil tale ut. A 320, a; G. 633, 634; H. 503, I. — quo in genere: sc. rerum; with this phrase the defining genitive is commonly omitted by Cicero. So below, [45] in eo genere. — ut ... adeptam: notice the chiasmus. — eandem: idem is used in the same way, to mark an emphatic contrast in [24], [52], [68], [71]. — adeptam: this is probably the only example in Cicero of the passive use of adeptus, which occurs in Sallust, Ovid, Tacitus, etc.; and in this passage the use cannot be looked on as certain, since one of the very best and several of the inferior MSS. read adepti. Cicero, however, uses a good many deponent participles in a passive sense (cf. below, [59] dimensa; [74] meditatum; see also a list, Roby, 734), and some of them occur very rarely. Thus periclitatus, arbitratus, depastus as passives are found each in only one passage. — inconstantia: 'instability', 'inconsistency'. Constantia, unwavering firmness and consistency, is the characteristic of the wise man; cf. Acad. 2, 23 sapientia ... quae ex sese habeat constantiam; also Lael. 8 and 64.

P. [3] — aiunt: sc. stulti. — putassent: the subjunctive is due to the indirect discourse. Where we say 'I should not have thought,' the Latins say, in direct narration, 'non putaram,' i.e. 'I never had thought' (so Off. 1, 81 and often in Cicero's letters). Translate, 'more quickly than they had ever expected'. Cf. Att. 6, 1, 6 accipiam equidem dolorem mihi ilium irasci sed multo maiorem non esse eum talem qualem putassem. See Zumpt, Gram., 518. — falsum putare: 'to form a mistaken judgment'. For falsum as noun equivalent to ψευδος, cf. 6 gratissimum; also [n. on 3] ceteris. — qui citius: lit. 'in what way quicker'; cf. Tusc. 5, 89 qui melius. H. 188, II. 2. — adulescentia ... senectus ... pueritia: babyhood was generally at Rome supposed to last till the 17th year (the time for assuming the toga virilis and for beginning military service). Iuventus is usually the age from 17 to 45, during which men were liable to be called on for active service. Ordinarily, in colloquial language, adulescentia is the earlier portion of iuventus, say the years from 17 to 30 (cf. 33), but Cicero seems here to make adulescentia co-extensive with iuventus. From 45 to 60 is the aetas seniorum, the period during which citizens in early Rome might be called out for the defence of the city, but not for active service. Senectus was commonly reckoned as beginning at 60; but in § [60] Cicero includes in senectus the aetas seniorum, and probably intended to include it here. In Tusc. 1, 34 Cic. reckons three ages pueritia adulescentia senectus as here; below in [74], four periods, or five. — quamvis: = quantumvis. — effluxisset: subjunctive because the mood of posset, to which it stands in subordinate relation Cum here is purely temporal. See Roby, 1778; A. 342; G. 666; H. 529, II. — posset: see [n.] on esset above, [3].

[5.] si ... soletis ... sumus: the apodosis and protasis do not exactly correspond; the sense really required is 'if that wisdom for which you admire me does exist, it lies in this', etc. — utinam ... esset: esset here gives a greater appearance of modesty than would been expressed by sit: 'would it were, as it certainly is not'. A. 267; G. 253; H. 483, 2. — cognomine: Cato bore the title sapiens, even in his lifetime; see [Introd]. Cognomen is used in good Latin to denote both the family name and the acquired by-name; in late Latin this latter is denoted by agnomen. — in hoc sapientes: but above, [4] rerum sapientiam, not in rebus. The genitive construction is not found with sapiens used as noun or adjective till late Latin times. — naturam ducem etc.: Cato's claim to the title of sapiens does not rest on any deep knowledge of philosophy, but on practical wisdom or common sense and experience in affairs. Cf. Lael. 6 and 19. In this passage Cicero has put into Cato's mouth phrases borrowed from the Stoic philosophy, which declared the life of virtue to be life in accordance with nature (naturae convenienter vivere or ‛ομολογουμενως τη φυσει ζην). Cf. [71], [n.] on secundum naturam. — tamquam deum: observe deum not deam, because nature is compared with, and not identified with, a divine being. Cf. Fin. 5, 43 eam (rationem) quasi deum ducem subsequens. — aetatis: here = vitae, life as a whole. Cf. [2] omne tempus aetatis and [n.]; also [13] aetatis ... senectus; [33], [64], [82]. — descriptae: 'composed'; literally 'written out'. The reading discriptae, which many editions give, does not so well suit the passage. Discribere is to map out, plan, arrange, put in order (see [59] discripta and discriptio); the point here lies, however, not in the due arrangement of the different scenes of a play, but in the careful working out of each scene. Ab ea must be supplied after descriptae from a qua above. — actum: the common comparison of life with a drama is also found in [64], [70], [85]. — inerti: the sense of 'ignorant' 'inartistic' (in, ars), has been given to this by some editors (cf. Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 126 praetulerim scriptor delirus inersque videri, and Cic. Fin. 2, 115 artes, quibus qui carebant, inertes a maioribus nominabantur), but the meaning 'inactive', 'lazy', 'slovenly' seems to suit neglectum better. — poeta: nature is here the dramatist, the drama is life, the actors are human beings. — sed tamen etc.: 'but for all that it was inevitable that there should be something with the nature of an end'. So [69] in quo est aliquid extremum, [43] aliquid pulchrum. — arborum bacis: the word baca (the spelling bacca has little or no authority) is applied to all fruits growing on bushes or trees, cf. Tusc. 1, 31 arbores seret diligens agricola, quarum aspiciet bacam ipse numquam. — terraeque fructibus: here = cereals, roots, vegetables and small fruits. No sharp distinction can be drawn between fruges and fructus (e.g. in Div. 1, 116 we have fruges terrae bacasve arborum) though fructus as commonly used is the more general word of the two. — maturitate caducum: 'a time of senility, so to speak and readiness to drop, that comes of a seasonable ripeness'. Vietus is literally 'twisted' or bent', being originally the passive participle of viere. The comparison of old age with the ripeness of fruit recurs in [71]. Cf. Plin. Ep. 5, 14, 5 non tam aetatis maturitate quam vitae. — ferundum: the form in undus is archaic, and generally used by Cic. in quoting or imitating passages of laws, sacred formulae, and the like. H 239. — molliter: here 'gently', 'with resignation', though molliter ferre often has another meaning, viz. to bear pain or trouble in an unmanly fashion. Cf. facillime ferre below. — quid est aliud etc. The words perhaps imply the rationalistic explanation of myths which the Greeks had begun to teach to the Romans during Cato's lifetime. Trans 'what else but resistance to nature is equivalent to warring against the gods, and not 'what else does warring with the gods mean but to resist nature.' In comparisons of this sort the Latins generally put the things compared in a different order from that required by English idiom. Thus in Div. 2, 78 quid est aliud nolle moneri a Iove nisi efficere ut aut ne fieri possit auspicium aut, si fiat, videri, S. Rosc. 54 quid est aliud iudicio ac legibus ac maiestate vestra abuti ad quaestum ac libidinem nisi hoc modo accusare. Phil. 1, 22, 2, 7, 5, 5, 10, 5. — Gigantum modo: see [n. on 4] Aetna gravius — dis: for the form dis see [n. on 25].

[6.] atqui: in the best Latin atqui does not introduce a statement contradicting the preceding statement, but one that supplements it. Here it may be translated 'True, but'. Cf. [66], [81]. — gratissimum: equivalent to rem gratissimam. With the thought cf. Rep. 1, 34 gratum feceris si explicaris. Lael. 16 pergratum feceris si disputaris. — ut pollicear: so Acad. 1, 33 nos vero volumus ut pro Attico respondeam. Brut. 122 nobis vero placet, ut pro Bruto etiam respondeam; Lael. 32 tu vero perge, pro hoc enim respondeo A 317, c, H 499, 2, n. — senes fieri: if the infinitive had depended on speramus alone and volumus had not intervened, Cicero would probably have written nos futuros esse senes. — multo ante: sc. quam id factum erit so Balb 41 re denique multo ante (sc. quam factum est) audita, and very often in Cicero. — didicerimus: as this corresponds with feceris,it would have been formally correct to write here nos docueris. — quibus possimus: 'what considerations will enable us most easily to support the growing burden of age'. — futurum est: = μελλει ειναι this form of the future is used in preference to the simple erit because it is desired to represent the event as on the very point of fulfilment, and therefore sure of fulfilment. Erit would have implied much less certainty. Trans. 'I will do so if my action is going to give you pleasure'. Cf. [67] beatus futurus sum, also [81], [85]. See Roby, 1494. — nisi molestum est: a common expression of courtesy, like [15] nisi alienum putas, si placet, cf. Hor. Sat. 2, 8, 4 si grave non est. — tamquam longam viam: Cicero here puts into Laelius' mouth almost the very words addressed by Socrates to the aged Cephalus in the introduction to Plato's Republic, 328 E. Observe the succession of similar sounds in tamquam, aliquam, longam, viam. — viam confeceris so pro Quint. 79 conficere DCC milia passuum, conficere iter a common phrase. For mood see A 312, G 604, H 513, II. — quam ... ingrediundum sit: this construction, the neuter of the gerundive with est followed by an accusative case, is exceedingly rare excepting in two writers, Lucretius and Varro. See the full list of examples given by Roby, Gram., Pref. to vol. 2, p LXXII. A 294, c, H 371, I. 2, 2, n. The best texts of Cicero now give only one example of a construction at all resembling this, viz. pro Scauro 13 obliviscendum vobis putatis matrum in liberos, virorum in uxores scelera? The supposition of some scholars, that in this passage Cic. used the construction in imitation of the archaic style of Cato, is not likely to be true, seeing that in Cato's extant works the construction does not once occur. For the form undum see [n. on 5] ferundum. — istuc: not adverb, but neuter pronoun, as in [8]. The kind of construction, istuc videre quale sit for videre quale istuc sit, is especially common in Cicero.

[7.] faciam ut potero 'I will do it as well as I can.' Observe the future potero where English idiom would require a present. So Rep. 1, 38 hic Scipio, faciam quod voltis, ut potero. — saepe enim: enim introduces a reason, not for the words ut potero, but for faciam — 'I will grant your request because I have often heard complaints about old age and therefore have thought of the matter.' — pares autem etc.: parenthetical. — vetere proverbio: the saying is as old as Homer, Od. 17, 218 as ‛ως αιει τον ‛ομοιον αγει θεος ‛ως τον ‛ομοιον; cf. also Plat., Rep. 329 A, Symp. 195 B, Phaedr. 240 C.

P. [4] — facillime: 'most cheerfully', 'most eagerly'; a common meaning of the word in Cic., e.g. Fam. 2, 16, 2 in maritimis facillime sum, i.e. 'I find most pleasure in staying by the sea'. — quae: a kind of explanation of querellis. — 'lamentations, viz. such utterances as' etc.; see n. on Lael. 14 quae; cf. Fam. 2, 8, 2 sermonibus de re publica ... quae nec possunt scribi nec scribenda sunt. A. 199, b; G. 616, 3, I.; H. 445, 5. — C. Salinator: probably C. Livius Salinator, praetor in 191 B.C. (Livy 35, 24), who was entrusted with the equipment of the Roman fleets during the war against Antiochus. He was born about 230, and was therefore a little younger than Cato; cf. fere aequales below. Salinator was consul in 188, and died in 170. For the name Salinator cf. [n. on 11]. — Sp. Albinus: Sp. Postumius Albinus was consul in 186, and was with his colleague appointed to investigate the great Bacchanalian conspiracy of that year (Livy 39, CC. 1 seq.). Albinus died in 180. He was probably a little younger than Salinator. He can scarcely have been fifty years of age at his death. — tum ... tum: 'now ... again'; so in [45]. — carerent: see [n. on 3] ferat. — vitam nullam putarent: 'they considered life to be not life at all'. For vitam nullam cf. Lael. 86 sine amicitia vitam esse nullam; also the Greek phrase βιος αβιωτος; and below, [77] vitam quae est sola vita nominanda; also 82. A. 239; H. 373, 1, n. 2. Putarent = 'thought, as they said'. — id quod esset accusandum: the subjunctive esset is used because a class of things is referred to, 'nothing of a nature to deserve complaint'; id quod erat, etc. would have meant merely 'that one thing which was matter for complaint'. A. 320; G. 634, Rem. 1; H. 503, I. — usu venirent: the phrase usu venire differs very little in meaning from accidere. Usu is commonly explained as an ablative ('in practice', 'in experience'), but is quite as likely to be a dative of the sort generally called predicative ('to come as matter of experience'); cf. Verg. Aen. 1, 22 venire excidio; Plin. N.H. 28, 106 odio; Caes. B.G. 5, 27 subsidio. — quorum ... multorum: the first genitive is dependent on the second, so that quorum = e quibus. Notice the separation of quorum from multorum and of multorum from senectutem. — sine querella: attribute of senectutem. A. 217, Rem.; H. 359, n. 1, 4), and n. 3. This form of attributive phrase, consisting of a preposition with a noun, is common; cf. [24] ex agro Sabino rusticos Romanos; [40] cum hostibus clandestina colloquia. Querella is better spelling than querela. See Roby, 177, 2. — qui: 'men of such nature as to ...' — et ... nec: Roby 2241. The reason for the departure from the ordinary sequence of particles lies in the words non moleste. Nec ...et is common; see [51], [53]. — libidinum vinculis etc.: Cic. is here thinking of the conversation between Socrates and Cephalus in Plato, Rep. 329 D, for which see [Introd]. — moderati: 'self-controlled'; cf. [n. on 1] moderationem; difficiles, 'peevish'; inhumani, 'unkindly'; importunitas, 'perversity'. Importunitas seems to be used as the substantive corresponding in sense with the adjective difficilis. Difficultas, in the sense of 'peevishness', probably occurs only in Mur. 19.

[8.] dixerit quispiam: 'some one will say presently'; a gentle way of introducing one's own objection. The mood of dixerit is probably indicative, not subjunctive; see the thorough discussion in Roby, Gram., Vol. 2, Pref., p. CIV. et seq. — opes et copias: 'resources and means'. Opes has a wider meaning than copias (mere material wealth) and includes all sources of power, influence, and authority as well as wealth. Thus in Lael. 22 the end of divitiae is said to be enjoyment; of opes, worship (opes ut colare). Dignitas is social position. — id: remark the singular pronoun, which indicates that the preceding clause is now taken as conveying one idea. Trans. 'such fortune'. — contingere: 'to fall to one's lot' is the phrase in English which most closely represents contingere. This verb is not, as is often assumed, used merely of good fortune; it implies in itself nothing concerning the character of events, whether they be good or bad, but simply that the events take place naturally and were to be expected. See n. on Lael. 8, where the word is distinctly used in connection with bad fortune, as it is, strikingly, in [71] below. — est ... omnia: 'your statement indeed amounts to something, but it by no means comprises every consideration'. The phrase esse aliquid, 'to be of some importance', is often used by Cic. both of things and of persons; cf. Tusc. 5, 104 eos aliquid esse, also [n. on 17] nihil afferunt. So esse aliquis of persons, as in the well-known passage of Iuvenal, 1, 72 aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere dignum si vis esse aliquis. For the general sense cf. Tusc. 3, 52 est id quidem magnum, sed non sunt in hoc omnia; so De Or. 2, 215; ib. 3, 221; Leg. 2, 24 in quo sunt omnia. — isto: the use of the neuter pronoun in the oblique case as substantive is noticeable. — Themistocles etc.: Cicero borrows the story from Plato (Rep. 329 E et seq.), but it was first told by Herodotus, 8, 125 who gave a somewhat different version. Themistocles had received great honors at Sparta when Athenian ambassador there; an envious man declaring that the honors were paid really to Athens and not to Themistocles, the statesman answered ουτ αν εγω, εων Βελβινιτης (i.e. an inhabitant of the small island of Belbina lying to the S. of Cape Sunium) ετιμηθην ουτω προς Σπαρτιηρεων, ουτ αν συ, ανθρωπε, εων Αθηναιος. — Seriphio: Seriphus is a small island belonging to the Cyclad group and lying almost due N. of Melos, and due E. of the Scyllaean promontory. Seriphus is often taken by ancient writers as a specimen of an insignificant community (e.g. Aristoph. Acharn. 542; Cic. N.D. 1, 88), but it had the honor of being one of the three island states which refused to give earth and water to the Persian envoys, the other two being the adjacent islands of Melos and Siphnus (Herodotus, 8, 46). — iurgio: iurgium is a quarrel which does not go beyond words; rixa a quarrel where the disputants come to blows. — si ego: but further on, tu si. The contrast would certainly be more perfect if ego si were read, as has been proposed, in place of si ego. — quod eodem modo ... dici: Cic. commonly says quod ita dicendum and the like; see [n. on 35] quod ni ita fuisset. Cato means that just as Themistocles' success was due to two things, his own character and his good fortune, so two things are necessary to make old age endurable, viz. moderate fortune and wisdom. He then in [9] insists that of these two conditions wisdom is far the more important. — nec ... levis ... nec ... non gravis: notice the chiasmus.

[9.] omnino: here = πανταπασι 'undoubtedly', in a strongly affirmative sense, as in [76]; but in [28] (where see [n.]) it is concessive. — cum diu multumque vixeris: literally 'when you have lived long and much', i.e. when you have not only had a long life but have done a great deal in the course of it. The phrases diu multumque, multum et diu are common in Cic., as below, 38; Acad. 1, 4; Div. 2, 1; Off 1, 118; Leg. Agr. 2, 88; De Or. 1, 152. For mood see A. 309, a; H. 518, 2. — ecferunt: ecferunt for efferunt (ec = ex = ecs; so εκ = εξ = εκς) was old-fashioned in Cicero's time, but forms of the sort, as below, 39 ecfrenate, according to the evidence of the best MSS., occur in a good many passages. See Neue, Formenlehre, Vol. 2, pp. 766 seq., ed. 2. — numquam deserunt: the omission of the object after deserunt is not common. With the general sense of this passage cf. Arch. 16 litterarum studia adulescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium ac solarium praebent, delectant domi, non impediunt foris, pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur.

P. [5] — [10.] Q. Maximum: the famous Q. Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Ovicula Cunctator, hero of the Second Punic War. — eum ... recepit: this clause has often been suspected to be an insertion of the writers of MSS. But (1) the capture of Tarentum in 209 B.C. was Fabius' crowning achievement, and 'captor of Tarentum' was often added to his name as a title of honor; see De Orat. 2, 273; and (2) there were several other persons of distinction bearing the name Q. Maximus about the same time, so that some special mark was wanted for the sake of clearness. Notice recepit 'recovered', Tarentum having been lost by the Romans to Hannibal in 212 B.C. — senem adulescens: observe the emphasis given by placing close together the two words of opposite meaning. — erat ... gravitas: 'that hero possessed dignity tempered by courtesy'. Expressions like erat in illo gravitas are common in Cicero; e.g. Mur. 58 erat in Cotta summa eloquentia. The metaphor in condīta, 'seasoned', is also common; cf. Lael. 66 condimentum amicitiae. — quamquam: 'though indeed', introducing a necessary correction of the last words nec senectus mores mutaverat. For this corrective quamquam cf. [n. on 2]. — consul primum: B.C. 233. — grandem natu: although the phrases maior, maximus, parvus, minor, minimus natu are of frequent occurrence, yet magnus natu is not Latin, grandis natu being always used instead. The historians sometimes use magno natu esse or in magno natu esse. — anno post: the word unus is not usually attached to annus except where there is a strong contrast between one and a larger number of years. Anno post must not be translated 'during the year after'; but either 'a year after', anno being regarded as the ablative of measure or excess, literally 'later by a year', or 'at the end of a year', the ablative being one of limitation, and fuerat being equivalent to factus erat 'had been elected'. So quinto anno below, 'at the end of the fifth year', i.e. 'five years after'. — adulescentulus miles: See [n. on 21] quemquam senem. Translate 'when quite a youth I marched with him to Capua as a private soldier'. G. 324; H. 363, 3, 2). Miles here = gregarius miles. — quem magistratum: sc. quaesturam, to be understood from quaestor Cf. Mur. 18 quaesturam una petiit et sum ego factus (sc. quaestor) prior. — Tuditano et Cethego: when the praenomina of the consuls are given the names generally stand side by side without et; when they are omitted et is generally inserted. Cf. [n. on 50] Centone Tuditanoque, etc. — cum quidem: the quidem simply adds a slight emphasis to cum; 'at the very time when', επειδη γε. — suasor: suasor legis was any person who publicly (i.e. before the senate or people in contio assembled) spoke in favor of a measure, dissuasor any one who spoke against it. Cf. [14] suasissem. — legis Cinciae: a law passed in 204 B.C. by M. Cincius Alimentus, a plebeian tribune, whereby advocates were forbidden to take fees from their clients, and certain limitations were placed on gifts of property by private persons. — cum ... esset: 'though he was'; so below [11], [30], etc. — grandis: = grandis natu. — iuveniliter: Hannibal was 29 years of age when he entered Italy in 218. — exsultantem: 'wildly roaming'. The word in its literal sense is used of a horse galloping at its own will over a plain. The metaphorical use is common in Cicero; cf. Acad. 2, 112 cum sit campus in quo exsultare possit oratio, cur eam tantas in angustias compellimus? — patientia: 'endurance', 'persistence'; it is not equivalent to our 'patience'. — praeclare: sc. dicit; cf. [n. on 3]. — familiaris: see [Introd]. — unus homo etc.: these lines were famous, and were not only often quoted with the name of Ennius attached (as in Off. 1, 84; Livy 30, 26), but also imitated or adapted without mention of his name, as, being too familiar to need it; cf. Att. 2, 19, 2; Ovid, Fast. 2, 241; Verg. Aen. 6, 846; Suet. Tib. 21. — cunctando: Cf. Polybius 3, 105, 8. On Fabius' military policy consult Mommsen, Hist. of Rome, Bk. III. ch. 5. — rem: here = rem publicam. — noenum: the older form from which non is an abbreviation; = ne-oinom, n-oinom, literally 'not one thing'; cf. nihil = ne-hilum 'not a whit', also the rare word ningulus = ne oinculus, 'not even a little one'. — rumores: 'fame', 'public opinion'. — ponebāt: for the long vowel cf. [n. on 1], l. 2 versat. — plusque: MSS. postque; plusqueis the emendation of Bernays. Plusque magisque is a variation upon the ordinary phrases plus plusque, magis magisque.

[11.] Salinatori: there can be no doubt that Cicero is guilty of a blunder here, and in De Or. 2, 273 where the story also occurs. Livy (27, 34, 7) gives M. Livius Macatus as the name of the Roman commander who held the citadel of Tarentum while Hannibal was in possession of the town. Cicero probably found the commander described by the annalists merely as M. Livius (so in Livy 24, 20, 13; 26, 39, 1), and then jumped to tne conclusion that he was the famous M. Livius Salinator. This man, the father of the Salinator mentioned in [7], was consul in 219 and subdued the Illyrians, but was condemned for misappropriation of public moneys and went into exile. In 210 he was induced to return by the desire of the senate. In 207 he became consul with C. Claudius Nero, and defeated Hasdrubal in the great battle of the Metaurus. In 204 Livius was censor with Nero as his colleague, and won his name Salinator by imposing a tax on salt. The title was bestowed in ridicule, but clung to the family. Salinator was a relative of M. Livius Macatus. See Liv 27, 34, 7. — ita dicenti etc.: the anecdote is told by Livy, 27, 25, 5 and Plutarch, Fab. 23. Both, however, refer the story not to the time at which Tarentum was taken, but to the year after, when altercations about it took place in the senate. — toga: here put for 'civil life', the toga being replaced in time of war by the sagum. Cf. in Pisonem 73 pacis est insigne et oti toga, contra autem arma tumultus atque belli; De Or. 3, 167 'togam', pro 'pace', 'arma', ac 'tela', pro 'bello'. We have the same contrast between arma and toga in Cicero's own much-derided verse, cedant arma togae, concedat laurea laudi, which is defended by him, in Pis. 73 and Off. 1, 77. — consul iterum etc.: as the second consulship of Fabius was in 228 B.C., while the law of Flaminius was passed in 232 (according to Polybius), it is very difficult to understand the statement here made. It is possible that Flaminius was one of the commissioners for executing his own law, and that its execution lasted over the time of Fabius' second consulship. The Flaminius here mentioned is the same who fell as consul in 217 at the battle of lake Trasimenus. He held large and statesman-like views on the policy of securing Italy by planting Romans and Latins in the territory then recently taken from the Gauls, in the neighborhood of Ariminum. This particular measure was carried against the will of the senate, and was the first law passed, since the lex Hortensia of 287, in defiance of its wishes. It was also the first agrarian law since the Licinio-Sextian law of 367. Polybius dates the decline of the Roman constitution from the passing of the lex Flaminia. Cf.'Rheinisches Museum', 1843, p. 573. — Sp. Carvilio quiescente: this Sp. Carvilius was consul in 234 when he conquered the Corsicans and Sardinians. In 228 he was again consul, and died as augur in 212. He is said, but erroneously, to have been the first Roman who divorced his wife. In 216, just after the battle of Cannae, he made a most remarkable proposal, to fill up the gaps which that battle had made in the numbers of the senate by selecting two members from each of the Latin communities. It was almost the only occasion in the course of Roman history when anything like modern representative government was advocated. Carvilius was not sprung from one of the noble families, who for the most part monopolized the higher offices of state, it is therefore not surprising that he should have sympathized with Flaminius. — contra senatus auctoritatem: 'against the expressed wish of the senate' Senatus auctoritas is, strictly speaking, an opinion of the senate not formally embodied in a decree, senatus consultum. Cicero, in Invent. 2, 52 says Flaminius carried his law contra voluntatem omnium optimatium. — dividenti: 'when he tried to divide'. The participle is here equivalent to cum with the imperfect indicative (dividebat). So in [54] lenientem A. 290, a; G 668; H 549, 1.

P. [6] — cum esset: 'though he was'. What Fabius declared was reaily that the auspicia were a political instrument in the hands of the aristocrats, rather than a part of religion. Fabius, according to Liv. 30, 26, 7, was augur for 62 years before his death, and had no doubt had a large experience in the manipulation of the auspicia for political purposes. Compare Homer, Iliad, 12, 243, also Cic. Phil. 11, 28 Iuppiter ipse sanxit ut omnia quae rei publicae salutaria essent legitima et iusta haberentur. Consult Mommsen, Hist of Rome, Bk. IV. Ch. 12.

[12.] admirabilius: 'more amazing'. The Latin word has a much stronger meaning than the English word derived from it. — quo modo tulit: = eum modum quo tulit, so that the clause is not really dependent on cognovi, nor tulit irregularly put for tulerit. In Lael. 9 Laelius exclaims, of Cato himself, quo modo, ut alia omittam, mortem fili tulit. And no doubt Cic. meant here to make Cato allude to his loss, described in [84]. — fili: see n. on 1 praemi. — consularis: the son of Fabius was consul in 213 with Ti. Sempronius Gracchus. — est in manibus: 'is in every one's hands', 'is commonly read'. The expression is common enough in this sense; e.g. Lael. 96 in manibus est oratio. — laudatio: sc. funebris, the funeral speech. This composition was read in Cicero's time (see Tusc. 3, 70; Fam. 4, 6, 1) and existed in the time of Plutarch. See Plutarch's life of Fab. 24. — quem philosophum: many of the ancient philosophers wrote popular treatises in which the principles of philosophy were applied to the alleviation of sorrow. The most famous of these in Cicero's time was Crantor's περι πενθους, which Cicero used largely in writing his Tusculan Disputations, and also in his De Consolatione on the death of his daughter. — in luce ... civium: 'in public and under the gaze of his fellow-countrymen'. Do not translate in oculis by the English phrase 'in the eyes of', which has another sense. The metaphor in lux is often used by Cicero, as Qu. Fr. 1, 1, 7 in luce Asiae, in oculis provinciae. — notitia: notitia is general knowledge, often merely the result of superficial observation; scientia is thorough knowledge, the result of elaboration and generalization. — multae litterae: 'great literary attainments.' In this sense magnae could not be used to represent 'great'. Note the ellipsis of erant. — ut in homine Romano: 'considering that he was a Roman', or 'for a Roman'. On the backwardness of the Romans in literary pursuits see Teuffel, Hist. of Rom. Lit, § 2; cf. also Ritter, Hist. of Ancient Philosophy, Vol. IV. pp. 1-13, Eng. ed. In parenthetic clauses like this, the introductory ut may convey two very different meanings according to the context. Thus in Acad. 2, 98 homo acutus, ut Poenus is 'a keen witted man, as might be expected of a Carthaginian' (cf. Colum. 1, 3, 8 acutissimam gentem Poenos) while Nepos, Epam. 5, 2 exercitatum in dicendo ut Thebanum implies that oratory was not to be expected of a Theban. — domestica ... externa bella: here the domestica bella are those wars which belong to the history of Rome, the externa bella those wars which belong to the history of other states; but usually domestica bella are civil wars, externa foreign wars in which Rome is engaged; e.g. Leg. agr. 2, 90 omnibus domesticis externisque bellis; in Catil 2, 11 omnia sunt externa unius virtute pacata; domesticum bellum manet, intus insidiae sunt. The practice of reading military history was common among Roman commanders; see for instance Acad. 2, 3 of Lucullus; the practice is ridiculed by Marius in Sall. Iug. 85. — ita: ita does not qualify cupide, and has not the sense of tam, it means rather 'in this state', 'under these conditions'; the words from quasi to the end of the sentence really form an explanation of ita. This mode of expression is often found, ita and sic frequently look on to clauses introduced by quasi, si, ut, cum etc. Cf. below [26] sic quasi, cupiens (where see [n.]); Sall. Iug. 85, 19 ita aetatem agunt quasi vestros honores contemnunt, ita hos petunt quasi honeste vixerint. — divinarem: see references on [6] confeceris. — illo exstincto: Fabius died in 203 B.C. — fore unde discerem neminem: cf. Acad. 1, 8 quae nemo adhuc docuerat nec erat unde studiosi scire possent. Unde of persons (here = a quo); is common in both verse and prose (so ‛οθεν and ‛οθενπερ, vid. Liddell and Scott in vv.); cf. Horace 1, 12, 17 unde nil maius generatur ipso; 1, 28, 28; Cic. de Or. 1, 67 ille ipse unde cognorit; ib. 2, 285. So ubi = apud quem in Verr. 4, 29; quo = ad quos below, 83, and in Verr. 4 38; cf. also [n.] on istinc in 47. For mood of discerem see A. 320; G. 634; H. 503, I.

[13.] quorsus igitur haec: sc. dixi. — tam multa: this takes the place of tot, which, like quot, cannot be used as a substantive. — Scipiones: 'men like Scipio', i.e. the elder Africanus; so 15 Fabricii Curii Coruncanii. Cicero has here put his own opinion of Scipio into the mouth of Cato, who, during a large part of his life, was a staunch and even bitter opponent of Scipio, and therefore not likely to couple him with Fabius. Cf. [Introd]. — ut ... recordentur: the repetition of ut with each clause for the sake of effect may be compared with the repetition of nihil in [15], [27], [41]; of non in [32]; of hinc in [40]; of sibi in [58]. — pedestris: for terrestris; the usage is very common; so in Greek πεζομαχια and ναυμαχια, πεζομαχειν and ναυμαχειν are often contrasted (see Liddell and Scott). It is not recorded by historians that either Scipio or Fabius took part personally in naval warfare. — recordentur: this verb implies the habitual dwelling of the memory upon the past. — quiete et pure atque eleganter: the enumeration consists of two branches connected by et, the second branch being subdivided into two members connected by atque. Had each of the adverbs been intended to stand on exactly the same footing Cic. would have written et instead of atque, or else would have omitted the copula altogether; see [n. on 53] capitum iugatio. In enumerations of the form A + (B_l + B₂), the + outside the bracket is expressed by et, the + inside the bracket generally being expressed by ac, for which atque is substituted when the following word (i.e. B₂) begins with a vowel, a guttural (c, q, g) or h, before which ac was very seldom written. — pure atque eleganter: 'sinlessly and gently'. Pure implies moral stainlessness, eleganter, literally 'in choice fashion', implies daintiness combined with simplicity in regard to the external conditions of life. The same ideas are put together in Sull. 79 cum summa elegantia atque integritate vixistis. — aetatis: see [n. on 5]. — placida ac lenis: 'quiet and mild'; placida refers to the external surroundings, lenis to the temper and character. — accepimus: sc. fuisse; for the ellipsis of the infinitive cf. [n. on 22] videretur. — uno et octogesimo: but below quarto (not quattuor) nonagesimo. In the compound ordinal numbers corresponding to those cardinal numbers which are made up of one and a multiple of ten, the Latins use unus oftener than primus, which would be strictly correct; so in English 'one and eightieth' for 'eighty-first'. The ordinary Grammar rule (Roby, Vol. I, p. 443 'the ordinal not the cardinal is used in giving the date') requires slight correction. For the position of the words see G. 94, 3; H. 174, footnote 3. — scribens est mortuus: 'died while still engaged upon his works'; cf. [23] num Platonem ... coegit in suis studiis obmutiscere senectus? Diog. Laert. 3, 2 quoting Hermippus (a Greek writer of biography who lived about the time of the Second Punic war), says that Plato died in the middle of a marriage-feast at which he was a guest. Val. Max. 8, 7, 3 gives a slightly different account. — Isocrati: this form of the genitive of Greek proper names in -es was probably used by Cicero rather than the form in -is; see Madvig on Fin. 1, 14; Neue, Formenlehre, 1² 332. Isocrates, the greatest teacher of rhetoric of his time, lived from 436 to 338, when he died by voluntary starvation owing to his grief at the loss of Greek freedom through the battle of Chaeronea. Milton, Sonnet X. 'That dishonest victory At Chaeronea, fatal to liberty, Kill'd with report that old man eloquent'. — eum ... inscribitur: the periphrasis is common, and the verb inscribere is nearly always in the present tense (in later prose as well as in Cicero) as in [59]. This is sometimes the case even where the neighboring verbs are in past tenses, as in Acad. 1, 12 nec se tenuit quin contra suum doctorem librum etiam ederet qui Sosus inscribitur. The present seems to mean that the name mentioned is continually given to each copy of the book as produced; where the continuing multiplication of copies is not looked to, we have the perfect, as Att. 8, 5, 2 tu fasciculum (bundle of letters) qui est inscriptus 'des M'. Curio', velim cures ad eum perferendum. Cf. also De Or. 2, 61 deceptus indicibus librorum qui sunt fere inscripti ('to which the authors—once for all—have given the titles') de virtute, de iustitia, etc.; so Div. 2, 1 eo libro qui inscriptus Hortensius. — dicit: the 'Panathenaicus', an encomium of Athens written for recitation at the great festival of the Panathenaea, is among the works of Isocrates which we still possess. In c. 1 Isocrates says τοις ετεσι ενενηκοντα και τετταρσιν, ‛ων εγω τυγχανω γεγονως. — vixitque: 'and yet he lived'. The que here has a slight adversative force, as is often the case with et. Cf. [n. on 28], [43], [73]. — Gorgias: the greatest of the sophists, born at Leontini in Sicily about 485 B.C.; his death took place, according to the varying accounts, in 380, 378, or 377. In his old age he lived in Thessaly where Isocrates studied with him; see Or. 176; Fin. 2, 1. For the adjective Leontinus placed before the name rather than after cf. 43 Thessalo Cinea. — centum et septem annos: Kennedy, Gram., § 34, vii, c, says, 'in compound numbers above 100 the larger number, with or without et, generally precedes the smaller'; cf. Roby, Vol. 1 p. 443. — cesso: does not correspond in meaning with our 'cease', i.e. 'to come to a standstill'; cesso is 'I am in a state of rest', 'I am idle'. — quaereretur: the past tense, though the principal verb inquit, is in the present, because the present is the historical present and so equivalent to a past tense. Cf. Roby, 1511-1514; Kennedy 229, 2. A. 287, e; G. 511, Rem. 1; H. 495, II. The idiom by which the imperfect stands where we should expect a tense of completed action, should be noticed; cf. Tusc. 2, 60 quem cum rogaret, respondit. The explanation of the imperfect in such cases is that it marks out, more clearly than the pluperfect would, the fact that the action of the principal verb and the action of the dependent verb are practically contemporaneous. In our passage if quaesitum esset had been written it would have indicated merely that at some quite indefinite time after the question was put the answer was given. Cf. N.D. 1, 60 auctore ... obscurior. — cur ... vita: a hint at suicide, which the ancients thought a justifiable mode of escape from troubles, particularly those of ill health or old age. See [n. on 73] vetat Pythagoras. Esse in vita is stronger than vivere; cf. Qu. Fr. 1, 3, 5. — nihil habeo quod accusem: 'I have no reason to reproach'. Cf. the common phrase quid est quod ...? Quod, adverbial acc. A. 240, a; G. 331, R. 3; H. 378, 2. For mood of accusem see H. 503, I. n. 2, and references on [12] discerem. — praeclarum responsum: est is not required, because responsum is in apposition to the last part of the preceding sentence. Similar appositions occur in Laelius, 67, 71, 79. — docto: applied especially to philosophers, but also to poets. The word implies cultivation as well as mere knowledge; 'a learned man', merely as such, is 'homo litteratus'; cf. [n. on 54].

P. [7] — [14.] cuius ... feci: 'the aforesaid' is in good Latin always expressed by a parenthesis like this and not by a participle in agreement with the noun. The phrases 'ante dictus', 'supra dictus', belong to silver Latin, where they are common. Cf. [23] quos ante dixi. — sic ut etc.: the lines are from the Annals of Ennius, for which see [n. on 1]. — ecus: Ennius did not write uu, nor most likely did Cicero; the former may have written either ecus, equos, or equs. The last form Vahlen prints in his edition of Ennius. — spatio supremo: 'at the end of the race-course', 'at the goal', or it may be 'at the last turn round the course', the race requiring the course to be run round several times; cf. Homer's πυματον δρομον in Iliad 23, 768. So [83] decurso spatio; Verg. Aen. 5, 327 iamque fere spatio extreme fessique sub ipsam finem adventabant. — vicit Olumpia: a direct imitation of the Greek phrase νικαν Ολυμπια, to win a victory at an Olympic contest. So Horace Ep. 1, 1, 50 has coronari Olympia = στεφανουσθαι Ολυμπια. The editors print Olympia, but the use of y to represent Greek υ did not come in till long after the time of Ennius. — senio: differs from senectute in implying not merely old age, but the weakness which usually accompanies it. — confectus: for the disregard of the final s in scanning cf. [n. on 1], l. 6. — equi victoris: for the almost adjectival use of the substantive victor, cf. Verg. Aen. 7, 656 victores equos; ib. 12, 751 venator canis; ib. 10, 891; 11, 89, and Georg. 2, 145 bellator equus, in Theocritus 15, 51 πολεμισται ‛ιπποι. The feminine nouns in -trix are freely used as adjectives both in verse and in prose. A. 88, c; H. 441, 3. — quem quidem: the same form of transition is used in [26], [29], [46], [53]. The whole of this passage to suasissem is an exhibition of antiquarian learning quite unnatural and inappropriate in a dialogue. — probe meminisse potestis: cf. De Or. 3, 194 quem tu probe meministi; Fin. 2, 63 L. Thorius quem meminisse tu non potes. Memini can take a personal accusative only when the person who remembers was a contemporary of the person remembered; otherwise the gen. follows. Cf. Roby, 1333; A. 219, Rem.; H. 407, n. 1. — hi consules: 'the present consuls'. — T. Flamininus: commonly said to be the son of the great Flamininus ([1], l. 1). He was altogether undistinguished, as also were the Acilius and the Caepio here mentioned. This passage gives the imagined date of the dialogue as 150 B.C. — Philippo: this was Q. Marcius Philippus, who was consul in 186 and took part in the suppression of the great Bacchanalian conspiracy of that year. For the next 17 years he was a leading senator and much engaged in diplomacy in the East. In 169 he was again consul and commanded against Perseus in the early part of the war. — cum ... legem Voconiam ... suasissem: 'after I had spoken publicly in favor of the law o£ Voconius'. For suasissem cf. [10] suasor with [n.] The Lex Voconia de mulierum hereditatibus aimed at securing the continuance of property in families. By its provisions no man who possessed property valued in the censors' lists at 100,000 sesterces or more, could appoint a woman or women as his heres or heredes; further, no person or persons, male or female, could receive under the will legacies amounting in all to a larger sum than that received by the principal heir or heirs. Every Roman will named a heres or heredes, on whom devolved all the privileges and duties of the deceased, with such duties as were enjoined by the will; particularly the duty of paying the legacies left to those who were not heredes. See Maine, Ancient Law, Ch. 6; also Hunter, Introd. to Roman Law, Ch. 5. — magna: in Latin the word magnus is the only equivalent of our 'loud'. — lateribus: 'lungs'. Cic. and the best writers rarely use pulmones for 'lungs'; the few passages in which it occurs either refer to victims sacrificed at the altar, or are medical or physiological descriptions. 'Good lungs' is always 'bona latera' never pulmones. — duo ... senectutem: Ennius is said to have kept a school in his later days, and to have lived in a cottage with one servant only.

[15.] etenim: this word generally introduces either an explanation or a proof of a preceding statement. Here the words are elliptic, and the real connection with what precedes can only be made clear by a paraphrase. 'Ennius seemed to delight in old age. And no wonder, since there are four causes which make men think old age wretched, and no one of these will bear examination'. Etenim may generally be translated 'indeed', or 'in fact'. — cum complector animo: 'when I grasp them in my thoughts'. The object of complector is to be supplied from causas. — avocet: sc. senes. The subjunctives denote that these are the thoughts not of the speaker, but of the persons who do think old age a wretched thing. See [n. on 3] ferat; but cf. Kennedy, Grammar, pref., p. 30. — alteram ... tertiam: in enumerations of more than two things unus and alter generally take the place of primus, and secundus: in Cic. these latter rarely occur under such circumstances. Cf. Att. 3, 15, 1; Fin. 5, 9; Off. 1, 152; Cluent. 178. — infirmius: sc. auam antea erat. — quam sit iusta: Cicero generally separates from the words they qualify quam, tam, ita, tantus, quantus, often, as here, by one small word. Cf. below, [35] quam fuit imbecillus; 40 tam esse inimicum. — quibus: the preposition a is often omitted; cf. in Pis. 91 Arsinoen ... Naupactum fateris ab hostibus esse captas. Quibus hostibus? Nempe eis etc.; Tusc. 3, 37 sed traducis cogitationes meas ad voluptates. Quas? Even when relative and antecedent are in the same sentence the preposition is not often repeated; e.g. Fin. 5, 68 eodem in genere quo illa. — an eis: an always introduces a question which is not independent, but follows upon a previous question either expressed or implied. Here quibus implies omnibusne. Cf. div. in Caec. 52 quid enim dices? An id quod dictitas ... where quid implies nihilne: also below, [23], [29] anne. A 211, b; G. 459; H. 353, 2, n. 4. — iuventute et viribus: commonly explained as a hendiadys, i.e. as put for iuventutis viribus; but Cic. no more meant this than we mean 'the strength of youth' when we speak of 'youth and strength'. Real instances of hendiadys are much rarer than is generally supposed. — quae: = tales ut. — L. Paulus: this is L. Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus, consul in 182 B.C., and again in 168 when he finished the third Macedonian war by utterly defeating Perseus at Pydna. For his connection with Scipio and Cato see [Introd]. — pater tuus: i.e. Scipio; so in [29] avi tui, and in [75] avum tuum, without mention of young Scipio's name, but in [49] patris tui, Scipio; so [77]. — Fabricii etc.: for the plurals see [n. on 13]. C. Fabricius Luscinus, consul in 282, 278, and 273 B.C., censor in 275, held the command against Pyrrhus. The Roman writers, Cicero especially, are never tired of eulogizing him as a pattern of old-fashioned Roman virtue. Manius Curius Dentatus, consul in 290, 275, and 274 practically, if not formally, ended the third Samnite war, and also commanded against Pyrrhus; see [55]. He was famed for his sturdy Roman simplicity and frugality. Tiberius Coruncanius as consul in 280 crushed an Etruscan insurrection. In 252 he became the first plebeian pontifex maximus. These three men are very frequently mentioned together by Cicero; cf. below, [43], Lael. 18. — nihil agebant: observe that nihil agebat is put at the beginning of the first sentence, nihil agebant at the end of the second; chiasmus.

[16.] A. Claudi: Appius Claudius, the head of the most strongly aristocratic family in Rome, was censor in 311 B.C., when he constructed the via Appia, and consul in 307 and 296. He had to be carried into the senate-house in order to oppose the peace with Pyrrhus. — accedebat ut: accedit is far oftener followed by a clause with quod and indicative than by a clause with ut and subjunctive. When the quod clause follows, it contains a fact looked at merely as a fact and nothing more, but the ut clause views the fact as consequent upon, or dependent on some other fact. Here the blindness is regarded as being the consequence of old age, though Livy 9, 29, 11 and other authors attribute it to the anger of the gods, because as censor Appius had taken the administration of the worship of Hercules away from the ancient family of the Potitii, and had placed it in the hands of public slaves. The mental vigor of Appius in his old age is mentioned by Cic. in Tusc. 5, 112.

P. [8] — cum Pyrrho: note the position of the words between pacem and foedus, with both of which they go. This usage is called by the grammarians coniunctio; cf. n. on Lael. 8 cum summi viri tum amicissimi, also above, quae iuventute geruntur et viribus, below 18 quae sunt gerenda praescribo et quo modo. — foedus: this seems opposed to pacem as a formal engagement is to a mere abstention from hostilities. — non dubitavit dicere: when dubitare means 'to hesitate' (about a course of action), and the sentence is negative, or an interrogative sentence assuming a negative answer, the infinitive construction generally follows, as here; but the infinitive is rare in a positive sentence. When dubitare means to 'be in doubt' (as to whether certain statements are true or not), the regular construction is either quin with subj. or some form of indirect interrogative clause. Cf. below, 25. — quo vobis: from the Annales. In mentis dementis we have oxymoron (an intentional contradiction in terms) as in [38] sensum sine sensu; [39] munus ... aufert. On the case of vobis, see Roby, 1154, A. 235, a, H. 384, 4, n. 2. — antehac: always a dissyllable in verse, and probably so pronounced in prose. — viai: the old genitive. A. 36 a, G. 27, Rem. 1, H. 49, 2. The reading is not quite certain, if viai be read it is not altogether certain whether it depends on quo or on sese flexere. In the former construction we have a partitive gen with an adv; A. 216, a, 4, G. 371, Rem. 4, H. 397, 4, in the latter, a distinct Graecism like desine querellarum (Hor Od 2, 9, 17) and the like; A. 243 Rem., G. 373 Rem. 6, H. 410 V 4. — et tamen: the sense is incompletely expressed, in full it is 'and yet there is no need for me to refer to Appius' speech as given by Ennius, since the speech itself is in existence.' Exactly similar ellipses are found with et tamen in Fin. 1, 11 and 15; 2, §§ 15, 21, 64 and 85, Att. 7, 3, 10, Lucretius 5, 1177. In Munro's note on the last passage a collection of examples will be found. — Appi ... oratio: the speech was known to Cicero, and was one of the oldest monuments of prose composition in Latin extant in his time, see Brut. 61. Plutarch, Pyrrhus 19, gives an account of Appius' speech, which may founded on the original, he mentions it also in his tract commonly called 'an seni sit gerenda res publica', c. 21. Ihne (History of Rome, Vol I. p. 521, Eng. ed.) doubts whether the speech, as Cic. knew it, was committed to writing by Appius himself. — haec ille egit: 'he made this speech.' — septemdecim annis: as the second (alterum) consulship was in 296, and the speech in 280, both these years are included in the reckoning by a usage very common in Latin. For the ablative cf. [19]. — censor ... ante consulatum: this was unusual, and therefore to Claudius' honor. — grandem sane: 'undoubtedly old'. — et tamen sic: i.e. eum tum grandem fuisse Lahmeyer wrongly says that sic points to the words atque haec ille egit. It may be noted that sic takes the place of an object after accipimus, cf. [77] ita crederem; [78] sic mihi persuasi, also [18] male cogitanti.

[17.] nihil afferunt: 'they bring forward nothing', i.e. what they bring forward is worthless, so in Greek ουδεν λεγειν, the opposite of which is λεγειν τι. — similes ut si: a very rare construction. Equally unusual is similes tamquam si in Div. 2, 131. In Tusc. 4, 41 and Off. 1, 87 we find similiter ut si in Fin 2, 21 and 4, 31 similiter or similis et si, in N.D. 3, 8 similiter ac si, also in Liv. 5, 5, 12 dissimilia ac si, in 35, 42, 10 idem ac si. As regards the ut after similes, we may compare a few passages in which simul ut appears for simul ac, see Reid's n. on Academ. 2, 51. In the English Bible there are expressions like similes sunt ut si qui dicant, 'they are like as if some men should say.' — scandant: 'cum is used with the subjunctive when it expresses a kind of comparison, and especially a contrast, between the contents of a leading proposition and a subordinate ("whereas", etc.)' Madvig, 358, Obs. 3. The underlying idea in this use is generally cause, sometimes concession. — per foros: 'over the deck.' — ille: for the omission of sed or autem (asyndeton adversativum) see [n. on 3] librum, etc. — clavum: 'tiller'. With this passage Lahmeyer well compares what Cicero says of himself in Fam. 9, 15, 3 sedebamus in puppi et clavum tenebamus; nunc autem vix est in sentina locus. — velocitate: velocitas and celeritas differ very slightly; the former means rather speed of movement in one line the latter rather power of rapid motion with frequent change of direction. The emphatic word in this clause is corporum. Cf. Off. 1, 79 honestum ... animi efficitur non corporis viribus. — consilio ... sententia: consilio, advice; auctoritate, weight of influence; sententia, an opinion or vote formally given. — quibus: in twofold relation; with orbari, abl. of separation, with augeri of specification.

[18.] nisi forte: ironical, used to introduce a possible, but absurd objection to something which has gone before. The verb that follows is always in the indicative. — miles etc.: 'as common soldier'; see [n. on 10]. — in vario genere: we use the plural, 'in different kinds'. Cf. Acad. 2, 3 in omni genere belli; Deiot. 12 in omni genere bellorum. — cessare: cf. [n. on 13]. — at senatui etc.: exactly the same ideas are expressed, with the same mention of Cato's activity in Off. 1, 79. — male cogitanti: 'which has now for a long time been plotting mischief'; A. 290, a; G. 671, 221; H. 549, 4; 467, III. 2. Cf. pro Sulla 70 nefarie cogitare; for the use of the adverb see [n. on 16] sic. On Cato's attitude toward Carthage see [Introd]. — vereri: the construction is unusual. Vereor regularly takes after it an accusative, or else a clause with ne or ut. A passage much resembling this is Rab. Post. 10 omnes qui aliquid de se verebantur; cf. also Att. 10, 4, 6 de vita sua metuere; Verg. Aen. 9, 207 de te nil tale verebar; in all these examples the ablative with de denotes the quarter threatened, not, as here, the quarter from which the threat comes. — exscisam: from exscindo; most edd. excisam, but to raze a city is urbem exscindere not excidere; e.g. Rep. 6, 11 Numantiam exscindes.

[19.] quam palmam etc.: a prophecy after the event, like that in Rep. 6, 11 avi relliquias, the finishing up of the Punic wars. For the use of relliquias cf. Verg. Aen. 11, 30 Troas relliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli; ib. 598; ib. 3, 87. — tertius: so all our MSS. This places the elder Scipio's death in 183, which agrees with Livy's account in 39, 50, 10. But the year before Cato's censorship was 185 not 183, hence some edd. read quintus and some sextus in place of tertius.

P. [9] — novem annis: as Cato's consulship was in 195 these words also apparently disagree with tertius above. Novem annis post means nine full years after, i.e. 185 not 186; cf. [42] septem annis post. — enim: implies that the answer 'no' has been given to the question and proceeds to account for that answer. — excursione: a military term = 'skirmishing'; Cf. Div. 2, 26 prima orationis excursio. — hastis: loosely used for pilis. The long old Roman hasta, whence the name hastati, had long before Cato's time been discarded for the pilum or short javelin, which was thrown at the enemy from a distance before the troops closed and used the sword. — consilium: the repetition of consilium in a different sense from that which it had in the sentence before seems to us awkward; but many such repetitions are found in Cicero. Consilium corresponds to both 'counsel' and 'council'; the senate was originally regium consilium, the king's body of advisers. Here translate summum consilium 'the supreme deliberative body'. — senatum: 'assembly of elders'. Cf. [56] senatores, id est senes. Senatus implies a lost verb senā-re, to be or grow old from the stem of which both senā-tus and senā-tor are derived. This stem again implies a lost noun or adjective senus, old. The word senatus was collective, like comitatus, a body of companions, exercitus, a trained band etc.

[20.] amplissimum: 'most honorable'. — ut sunt ... senes: the Spartan γερουσια, as it is commonly called, consisted of 28 members, all over 60 years of age. Herodotus uses the term γεροντες (senes) for this assembly; Xenophon γεροντια. In the Laconian dialect γερωια was its name; we also find γεροντευειν 'to be a senator'. For ut ... sic cf. Academ. 2, 14, similiter vos cum perturbare, ut illi rem publicam, sic vos philosophiam velitis; also Lael. 19. — audire: like ακουω, used especially of historical matters, since instruction in them was almost entirely oral. Cf. ανηκοος = 'ignorant of history'. — voletis: see note on 7 faciam ut potero; cf. Roby, 1464, a; Madvig, 339, Obs. 1; A. 278, b; G. 234, Rem. 1; H. 470, 2. — adulescentibus: Cic., when he wrote this, was possibly thinking of Athens and Alcibiades. — labefactatas: the verb labefacio is foreign to good prose, in which labefacto is used. — sustentatas: Cic. does not use sustentus. In Mur. 3 sustinenda is followed by sustentata in the same sentence. — cedo ... cito: the line is of the kind called tetrameter iambic acatalectic (or octonarius), and is scanned thus: —

In all kinds of iambic verse the old Romans freely introduced spondees where the Greeks used iambi; so in hexameters spondees for dactyls. Cf. Hor. Ep. ad Pis. 254 et seq. — cedo: = dic; from ce, the enclitic particle involved in hic = (hi-ce) etc. and da, the root of do. So cette = ce-dăte = cedte, then cette by assimilation of d to t. The original meaning would thus be 'give here', and in this sense the word is often used. See Lex. Dare is commonly put for dicere, as accipere is for audire. — qui: 'how'. — tantam: = οτσαυτην ουσαν. — Naevi: Naevius lived about 264-194 B.C. His great work was a history of the First Punic War written in Saturnian verse, the rude indigenous metre of early Roman poetry. He wrote also plays,—tragedies and comedies, both palliatae and praetextae. For an account of him see Cruttwell, History of Roman Literature; also, Sellar, Roman Poets of the Republic, Ch. 3. If Ludo be read, it may be either from the Latin ludus (Naevius entitled a comedy Ludius) or from Λυδος, Lydian. — poetae: Naevius seems to have been in the habit of adding poeta to his name. It appears in the well-known epitaph said to have been written by himself, also in the lines written against him by the family poet of the Metelli: 'malum dabunt Metelli Naevio poetae'. The name poeta was new in Naevius' time and was just displacing the old Latin name vates; see Munro on Lucr. 1, 102. — proveniebant etc.: the same metre as above, divided thus by Lahmeyer: —

provéni | ebant | orát | ores || noví | stultí adu | lescén / iuli.

The whole line has the look of being translated from the Greek: προυβαινον (εις το βημα) ‛ρητορες κανοι τινες, μειρακια γελοια. Lr. takes provenire in the sense of 'to grow up', comparing Plin. Ep. 1, 13, 1 magnum proventum ('crop') poetarum annus hic attulit; Sall. Cat. 8, 3 provenere ibi scriptorum magna ingenia. — videlicet: 'you see'.

[21.] at: = αλλα γαρ; used, as in 32, 35, 47, 65, and 68, to introduce the supposed objection of an opponent. — credo: 'of course'. Cf. [47] where credo follows at as here. — exerceas: the subject is the indefinite 'you' equivalent to 'one', τις: 'unless one were to practise it'. So [28] nequeas; [33] requiras. Cf. also Plin. Ep. 8, 14, 3 difficile est tenere quae acceperis, nisi exerceas. For the mood see A. 309, a; G. 598, 597, Rem. 3; H. 508, 5, 2). — tardior: 'unusually dull'; cf. Academ. 2, 97 Epicurus quem isti tardum putant. — Themistocles: famed for his memory. — civium: 'fellow-countrymen'; perceperat: 'had grasped' or 'mastered'. — qui ... solitum: 'that he often addressed as Lysimachus some one who for all that was Aristides'. The direct object of salutare is omitted. For qui = tametsi is cf. Att. 1, 13, 3 nosmet ipsi, qui Lycurgei fuissemus, cotidie demitigamur; also De Or. 1, 82. — esset: A.342; G.631; H.529, II. and n. 1, 1). — Lysimachum: for ut L. or pro Lysimacho. So Arch. 19 Homerum Chii suum vindicant (= ut suum or pro suo). Lysimachus was the father of Aristides. — sunt: = vivunt, as often; so in [32] esse = vivere; [54] fuit = vixit; [56], [60], [69]. — sepulcra legens: Cato was a great antiquarian; cf. [38] Originum. — in memoriam redeo mortuorum: the genitive as with memini, recordari etc. For the phrase cf. Verr. 1, 120 redite in memoriam, iudices, quae libido istius fuerit; also below, 59 in gratiam redire cum voluptate. Here translate 'I refresh my memory of the dead'. — quemquam senem: the best writers do not use quisquam as an adjective, but there is no need to alter senem into senum as some editors do, since senem is a substitute for a clause cum senex esset; 'I never heard that anybody because he was an old man ...'. Senes must be so taken in [22], since pontifices etc. cannot stand as adjectives. Cf. [n. on 10] adulescentulus miles. — vadimonia: 'their appointments to appear in court, the debts due to them and the debts they owe'. When the hearing of a suit had to be adjourned, the defendant was bound over either on his own recognizance merely (pure) or along with sureties (vades) to appear in court on the day appointed for the next hearing, a sum or sums of money being forfeited in case of his non-appearance. The engagement to appear was technically called vadimonium; when the defendant entered into the engagement he was said vadimonium promittere; if he kept the engagement, v. obire or sistere; if he failed in it, v. deserere. The plural vadimonia is here used because a number of suits is meant; the word constituta is chosen as a more general term than promissa, and as referring to the circumstances of both plaintiff and defendant. Strictly speaking, it is the presiding judge who vadimonia constituit. On this account vadimonia constituta should be translated as above 'appointments', and not 'bonds' or 'engagements' to appear in court.

P. [10] — [22.] quid ... senes: sc. tibi videntur; 'what do you think of old men as lawyers, etc.?' So without ellipsis, Fam. 9, 21, 1 quid tibi ego in epistulis videor? — ingenia: = suum cuique ingenium; 'old men retain their wits'. — permaneat: A. 266, d; G. 575; H. 513, I. — studium et industria: 'earnestness and activity'; not a case of hendiadys, as some editors make it. Cf. [n. on 15] iuventute et viribus. — neque ea solum: = ουδε ταυτα μονον, 'and that not only'. — honoratis: this does not correspond to our 'honored', but implies that the persons have held high offices (honores); cf. [61] senectus honorata praesertim. Here translate 'statesmen'. — in vita ... quieta: 'in an unofficial and retired life'. There is chiasmus here, since privata is contrasted with honoratis and quieta with claris. — summam senectutem: Sophocles died at the age of 90 in 405 B.C. — quod propter studium: 'from his devotion to this occupation'. — filiis: except Plutarch, who probably follows Cicero's words, all the authorities tell the story of the poet's eldest son Iophon only. The tale is full of improbabilities. — rem: = rem familiarem as in [1]. — patribus bonis interdici solet: 'fathers are often prevented from managing their property'. For the construction cf. the expression interdicere alicui aqua et igni: interdici is here used impersonally with patribus in the dat.; A. 230; H. 384, 5; bonis is abl. of separation (deprivation). The fragment of the XII tables here referred to is thus given in Dirksen's edition: sei fouriosos aut prodicos (prodigus) escit (erit) adenatorum centiliomque (gentiliumque) eius potestas estod, i.e. the agnates (male relatives whose kinship with the furiosus is derived through males) and members of his gens are to administer his property. We have preserved the form in which the judgment was made by the praetor urbanus (Paulus, Sent. 3, 4_a, 7): 'quando tibi tua bona paterna avitaque nequitia tua disperdis liberosque tuos ad egestatem perducis, ob eam rem tibi ea re commercioque interdico'. — quasi desipientem: '‛ως παραφρονουντα' says the author of the anonymous life of Sophocles. Cf. Xenophon, Mem. 1, 2, 49. — in manibus habebat: 'had on hand' i.e. in preparation. Est in manibus in [12] has a different meaning. — scripserat: he had written it but not finally corrected it. — recitasse: the common version of the story states that not the whole play was read but only the fine chorus beginning ευιππου, ξενε, τασδε χωρας. — videretur: sc. esse; the infinitive is often omitted thus after verbs of desiring, thinking etc., also verbs of speaking and hearing; cf. Lael. 18 eam sapientiam interpretantur; ib. 29 quam natam volunt; ib. 64 homines ex maxime raro genere iudicare; Acad. 2, 12 viderenturne ea Philonis.

[23.] Hesiodum: see [n. on 54]. — Simoniden: Simonides of Ceos (not S. of Amorgos), one of the greatest Greek lyric poets, lived from 556 to about 469 B.C. — Stesichorum: of Himera in Sicily, also a lyric poet; lived from about 630 to about 556 B.C. — Isocraten Gorgian: [nn. on 13]. — philosophorum principes: 'in the first rank of philosophers'. — Pythagoran: neither the date of his birth nor that of his death can be determined; he 'flourished' about 530. He lived mostly in the Greek settlements of lower Italy, where his school existed for some centuries after his death. — Democritum: of Abdera, one of the originators of the theory of atoms; said to have lived from 460 to 361 or 357 B.C. — Xenocraten: after Plato, Speusippus was the first head of the Academic School; Xenocrates succeeded him. He lived from 397 to 315 or 313. — Zenonem: of Citium in Cyprus, founder of Stoicism, born about 357, is said to have lived to the age of 98. — Cleanthen: he followed Zeno in the presidency of the Stoic school. His age at death is variously given as 99 and as 80 years. — quem vidistis: see [Introd]. It is rather curious that Cic. should make Cato speak with admiration of Diogenes, to whom he had shown great hostility. — Diogenen: Cic. probably wrote in -an, -en, not in -am, -em the accusatives of Greek proper names in -as, -es. — Stoicum: to distinguish him from Diogenes the Cynic. — agitatio: Cic. uses agitatio and actio almost interchangeably; cf. agitatio rerum in De Or. 3, 88 with actio rerum in Acad. 2, 62 and elsewhere. Actus in this sense occurs only in silver Latin.

[24.] age: a common form of transition to a new subject; brief for 'hoc age', 'do this', i.e. 'attend to this that I am going to say'. The common use of αγε in Greek is exactly similar. — ut ... omittamus: Cf. [n. on 52] ut. — possum nominare: 'I am able to name'; in colloquial English 'I might name'. The Latins occasionally use also a hypothetical form, where possim or possem stands in the apodosis of a conditional sentence, the protasis of which is not expressed; but the missing protasis is generally easily supplied and was distinctly present to the writer's mind. E.g. in Tusc. 1, 88 we have dici hoc in te non potest; posset in Tarquinio; at in mortuo ne intellegi quidem (potest), where the reason for the change from potest to posset is quite evident. In translating from English into Latin it is far safer to use the indicative. Cf. [55] possum persequi. A. 311, c; G. 599, Rem. 3; H. 511, 1, n. 3, 476, 4. — ex agro ... Romanos: 'country-bred Romans (i.e. Roman citizens) belonging to the Sabine district'. The words ex agro Sabino form an attributive phrase qualifying Romanos just as rusticos does. — numquam fere: 'scarcely ever'. — maiora opera: 'farm work of any importance'. This use of opera is common in Vergil's Georgics. — non: the repetition of the negative after numquam is common in Latin; in English never ... not is found in dialects only. Cf. Lael. 48 non tantum ... non plus quam. — serendis: ablative of respect, 'as regards sowing'. See Roby 1210; Kennedy, 149. — percipiendis: so [70]; cf. N.D. 2, 156 neque enim serendi neque colendi, nec tempestive demetendi percipiendi que fructus, neque condendi nec reponendi ulla pecudum scientia est. — in aliis: see [n. on 3] ceteris. Notice the proleptic use. — idem: a better form of the plural than iidem, commonly found in our texts. For the use here cf. [n. on 4] eandem. — pertinere: present for future. — sent ... prosint: the line is given as Ribbeck prints it. He scans it as a 'bacchius', consisting of four feet, with the measurement

, the last syllable of saeclo seeming to be shortened. Cicero quotes the same line in Tusc. 1, 31 adding ut ait (Statius) in Synephebis, quid spectans nisi etiam postera saecla ad se pertinere? Saeclo = 'generation'. For mood of prosint see A 317; G. 632, H. 497, I. — Statius noster: 'our fellow-countryman Statius'. So Arch. 22 Ennius noster. Caecilius Statius, born among the Insubres, wrote Latin comedies which were largely borrowed from the Greek of Menander. The original of the Synephebi was Menander's Συνε φηβοι 'young comrades'. See Sellar, Rom. Poets of the Rep., Ch. 7.

P. [11]. — [25.] dis: the spellings diis, dii which many recent editors still keep, are probably incorrect, at all events it is certain that the nominative and ablative plural of deus formed monosyllables, except occasionally in poetry, where dei, deis were used. Even these dissyllabic forms scarcely occur before Ovid. — et: emphatic at the beginning of a sentence: 'aye, and'. — melius: sc. dixit. — illud: 'the following' A. 102, b, G. 292, 4; H. 450, 3. — idem: īdem, not ĭdem. — edepol: literally, 'ah, god Pollux', e being an interjection, de a shortened form of the vocative of deus, pol abbreviated from Pollux. The asseveration is mostly confined to comedy. The lines come from a play by Statius called Plocium (πλοκιον 'necklace'), copied from one by Menander with the same title; see Ribbeck's 'Fragmenta' The verses are iambic trimeters A. 365; G. 754, H. 622. — nil quicquam: see [n. on 21] quemquam senem, cf. the common expression nemo homo, 84 nemo vir, etc. where two substantival words are placed side by side. — viti: see [n. on 1], l 3 praemi Viti here = mali; cf. Ter. Andr. 73 ei vereor ne quid Andria adportet mali. — sat est: sat for satis in Cicero's time was old-fashioned and poetical. — quod diu: these words must be scanned as a spondee. The i in diu here probably had the sound of our y. A. 347, c, G. 717; H. 608, III. n. 2. Allen well compares a line of Publilius Syrus heu quam multa paenitenda incurrunt vivendo diu. — volt: indefinite subject. — videt: Tischer quotes Herod. 1, 32 (speech of Solon to Croesus) εν γαρ τωι μακρωι χρονωι πολλα μεν εστιν ιδεειν, τα μη τις εθελει, πολλα δε και παθεειν — tum equidem etc.: these lines, as well as those above, occurred in a play of Statius called 'Ephesio' see Ribbeck's 'Fragmenta'. — senecta: not used by prose writers before the time of silver Latin. — deputo: this compound is used by the dramatists and then does not occur again till late Latin times. — eumpse: like ipse and reapse (for which see n. on Lael. 47) this word contains the enclitic particle pe (probably another form of que), found in nem pe, quis-p-iam etc., along with se, which belongs to an old demonstrative pronoun once declined sos, sa, sum, the masc. and fem. of which are seen in ‛ο, ‛η. The form was no doubt originally eumpsum, like ipsom (ipsum), but has passed into its present form just as ipsos (nom.) became ipso, then ipse. The only difference in sense between eumpse and the simple eum is that the former is more emphatic. The pronoun eumpse is the subject of the infinitive sentire, but the substantive, senex, to which the pronoun refers, is not expressed. — odiosum: cf. [n. on 4].

[26.] iucundum ... odiosum: elliptic, = 'iucundum' potius quam 'odiosum' senem esse dicendum est. — ut ... delectantur: cf. Lael. 101; also below, [29]. — sapientes senes: neither of these words is used as an adjective here; the whole expression = sapientes, cum facti sunt senes. — levior: cf. the fragm. of Callimachus: γηρασκει δ' ‛ο γερων κεινος ελαφροτερον, τον κουροι φιλεουσι. — coluntur et diliguntur: colere rather implies the external marks of respect (cf. coli in [7]), diligere the inner feeling of affection. — praeceptis etc.: cf. Off. 1, 122 ineuntis enim aetatis inscitia senum constituenda et regenda prudentia est. — me ... iucundos: put for me iucundum esse quam vos mihi estis iucundi. The attraction of a finite verb into the infinitive after quam is not uncommon; cf. [n. on 1] quibus me ipsum (Roby, 1784, b; A. 336, b, Rem.; H. 524, 1, 2). Minus, be it observed, does not qualify intellego, but iucundos. — sed: here analeptic, i.e. it introduces a return to the subject proper after a digression, so in [31]. — videtis, ut ... sit: here ut = quo modo; 'how'. — senectus ... cuiusque: the abstract senectus is put for senes as in [34]; hence cuiusque, sc. senis. So above adulescentia = adulescentes. — agens aliquid: this phrase differs from agat in that while the subjunctive would express the fact of action, the participial phrase expresses rather the constant tendency to act. Agens aliquid forms a sort of attribute to senectus, parallel with operosa. Moliri differs from agere in that it implies the bringing into existence of some object. Cf. Off. 3, 102 agere aliquid et moliri volunt; Acad. 2, 22 ut moliatur aliquid et faciat; N.D. 1, 2 utrum di nihil agant, nihil moliantur; Mur. 82 et agant et moliantur. — quid ... aliquid: for the ellipsis in quid qui cf. [n. on 22] quid ... Addiscunt = προμανθανουσι = learn on and on, go on learning. — ut ... videmus: put, as Allen observes, for ut Solon fecit, quem videmus. — Solonem: see also 50. The line (versibus here is an exaggeration; in 50 it is versiculus) is preserved by Plato in his Timaeus and by Plutarch, Sol. 31 γαερασκο δ' αει πολλα διδασκομενος. The age of Solon at his death is variously given as 80 or 100 years. — videmus: the Latins frequently use 'we see' for 'we read'. See n. on Lael. 39, also below, [69] ut scriptum video. — gloriantem: A. 292, e; G. 536, 527, Rem. 1; H. 535, I. 4. Notice the change to the infinitive in uti below. — senex: i.e. cum senex essem; so [27] adulescens desiderabam; [30] memini puer. Plutarch (Cato 2) gives an account of Cato's study of Greek in his old age. — sic: this word does not qualify avide, but refers on to quasi, so that sic ... quasi cupiens = 'thus, viz. like one desiring'. Cf. [n. on 12] ita cupide fruebar quasi; also [35] tamquam ... sic. Quasi serves to soften the metaphor in sitim; cf. n. on Lael. 3. — cupiens: after quasi a finite verb (cuperem) would have been more usual, as in [12] ita ... quasi divinarem. Cf. however [22] quasi desipientem. — ea ipsa mihi: for the juxtaposition of pronouns, which is rather sought after in Latin, cf. [72] ipsa suum eadem quae. — exemplis: = pro exemplis, or exemplorum loco (cf. [n. on 21] Lysimachum), so that those editors are wrong who say that we have here an example of the antecedent thrust into the relative clause, as though ea ipsa quibus exemplis were put for ea ipsa exempla quibus. — quod: = ut cum iam senex esset disceret. — Socraten: Cic. probably learned this fact from Plato's Menexenus 235 E and Euthydemus 272 C where Connus is named as the teacher of Socrates in music. In the Euthydemus Socrates says that the boys attending Connus' lessons laughed at him and called Connus γεροντοδιδασκαλον. Cf. also Fam. 9, 22, 3 Socraten fidibus docuit nobilissimus fidicen; is Connus vocitatus est; Val. Max. 8, 7, 8. — in fidibus: 'in the case of the lyre'. Tücking quotes Quintilian 9, 2, 5 quod in fidibus fieri vidimus. The Greek word cithara is not used by Cicero and does not become common in Latin prose till long after Cicero's time, though he several times uses the words citharoedus, citharista, when referring to Greek professional players. The word lyra too is rare in early prose; it occurs in Tusc. 1, 4 in connection with a Greek, where in the same sentence fides is used as an equivalent. — audirem: for audire = legendo cognoscere see [n. on 20]. — vellem: sc. si possem. — discebant ... antiqui: doubts have been felt as to the genuineness of the clause. In Tusc. 4, 3 a passage of Cato is quoted which refers to the use of the tibia among the ancient Romans; immediately afterwards the antiquity of practice on the fides at Rome is mentioned, though not expressly on Cato's authority. The words cannot be said to be unsuited either to the person or to the occasion. — discebant ... fidibus: the verb canere, which means 'to play' as well as 'to sing', must be supplied; fidibus is then an ablative of the means or instrument. There is the same ellipsis of canere in the phrases docere fidibus (Fam. 9, 22, 3) and scire fidibus (Terence, Eunuchus 133). Cf. Roby, 1217.

P. [12] — [27.] ne ... quidem: these two words together correspond to the Greek ουδε (ου = ne, δε = quidem), and are best translated here by 'nor' rather than by 'not even'. The rendering 'not even', though required by some passages, will often misrepresent the Latin. — locus: locus (like τοπος in Greek) is a rhetorical term with a technical meaning. The pleader is to anticipate the arguments he may find it necessary to use in different cases, and is to arrange them under certain heads; each head is called a τοπος or locus, meaning literally the place where a pleader is to look for an argument when wanted. Hence locus came to mean 'a cut-and-dried argument' or, as here, a 'commonplace'. It is often found in Cicero's rhetorical writings. — non plus quam: 'any more than'. After the negative ne above it is incorrect to translate non by a negative in English, though the repetition of the negative is common enough in Latin, as in some English dialects. Cf. [n. on 24]. Plus here = magis. — quod est: sc. tibi, 'what you have', so Paradoxa 18 and 52 satis esse, quod est. — agas: quisquis is generally accompanied by the indicative, as in Verg. Aen. 2, 49 quidquid id est etc.; see Roby, 1697; A. 309, c; G. 246, 4; H. 476, 3. The subjunctive is here used, with the imaginary second person, to render prominent the hypothetical and indefinite character of the verb statement. Roby, 1544-1546; Madvig, 370, 494, Obs. 5, (6). — vox: 'utterance'; the word is used only of speeches in some way specially remarkable. — contemptior: 'more despicable'. The passive participle of contemno has the sense of an adjective in -bilis, like invictus and many others. — Milonis: the most famous of the Greek athletes. He lived at the end of the sixth century B.C., and the praises of his victories were sung by Simonides. It was under his leadership that his native city Croton, in Magna Graecia, attacked and destroyed Sybaris. Many stories are told by the ancients about his feats of strength (see 33), and about his power of consuming food. He is said to have been a prominent disciple of Pythagoras. — illacrimans: beware of spelling lacrima with either ch for c or y for i; these spellings are without justification. The y rests on the absurd assumption that the Latins borrowed their word lacrima straight from the Greek δακρυ. — dixisse: combinations like dicitur dixisse are exceedingly rare in good Latin. Cicero nearly always uses two different verbs; i.e. he says aiunt dicere and the like. — at: there is an ellipsis here such as 'those young men's muscles are powerful but ...'. This elliptic use of at is common in sudden exclamations of grief, annoyance, surprise etc. — vero: this is common in emphatic replies, whether the reply convey assent, or, as here, a retort. The usage is well illustrated in Nägelsbach's Stilistik, § 197, 2. — tam: sc. mortui sunt. — nugator: nugari = ληρειν, 'to trifle'. — ex te: Cato here identifies a man's person with his soul and intellect, the body being regarded as a mere dress; cf. Rep. 6, 26 mens cuiusque is est quisque. Ex te, literally, 'out of yourself', i.e. 'from your real self's resources'. — lateribus: see [n. on 14]. — Aelius: his cognomen was Paetus; he was consul in 198, and censor in 194 B.C. He was one of the earliest and most famous writers on Roman Law. His great commentary on the XII tables is often referred to by Cicero, who several times quotes Ennius' line about him — egregie cordatus homo catus Aelius Sextus. — tale: sc. dixit. — Coruncanius: [n. on 15]. — P. Crassus: consul in 205 B.C. with the elder Africanus; pontifex maximus from 212 to his death in 183. He was famous both as a lawyer (see below, 50; also Liv. 30, 1, 5 iuris pontifici peritissimus) and as a statesman (see 61). Modo therefore covers a space of at least 33 years, so that it cannot well be translated by our 'lately'; say rather 'nearer our time'. The amount of time implied by modo and nuper depends entirely on the context; for modo see Lael. 6 with note, for nuper below, [n. on 61], where it is used of Crassus as modo is here. — praescribebantur: the meaning is that these lawyers practised in old age as jurisconsults, i.e. according to old Roman custom, they gave audience in the early hours of the day to all who chose to consult them about legal difficulties. — est provecta: literally 'was carried forward', i.e. 'continued', 'remained'. Some wrongly take the phrase to mean 'made progress', 'increased', a sense which would require the imperfect, provehebatur. — prudentia: here, as often, 'legal skill'.

[28.] orator: emphatic position. — senectute: causal ablative; not 'in age', but 'owing to age'. — omnino — sed tamen: 'no doubt — but still'. Omnino (literally, 'altogether') has two almost exactly opposite uses — (1) the affirmative, cf. 9; (2) the concessive, which we have here and in 45. The circumstance which is contrasted with the admitted circumstance is usually introduced by sed tamen or sed as in 45, but in Lael. 98 by the less emphatic autem, while in Lael. 69 there is no introductory particle. — canorum ... senectute: canorum implies the combination of power with clearness in a voice. For the mixture of metaphors in canorum splendescit edd. quote Soph. Phil. 189 αχω τηλεφανης; Cic. De Or. 2, 60 illorum tactu orationem meam quasi colorari. — nescio quo pacto: literally, 'I know not on what terms'; quite interchangeable with nescio quo modo; cf. 82. A. 334, e; G. 469, Rem. 2; H. 529, 5, 3). — adhuc non: purposely put for nondum, because more emphasis is thus thrown both on the time-word and on the negation. The common view that nondum was avoided because it would have implied that Cato expected to lose the canorum is certainly wrong. — et videtis: 'though you see my years'. The adversative use of et for autem or tamen after the negative is not very uncommon in Cicero, but there are few examples of the usage in the speeches. Cf. Lael. 26 et quidquid; so sometimes que as above, 13; also Lael. 30 ut nullo egeat suaque omnia in se posita iudicet. — seni: Madvig's em. for senis. In Leg. 1, 11 allusion is made to the great change which advancing years had wrought in Cicero's own impassioned oratory. He was no doubt thinking of that change when he wrote the words we have here. — sermo: 'style of speaking'; a word of wider meaning than oratio, which only denotes public speaking. — quietus et remissus: 'subdued and gentle'. The metaphor in remissus (which occurs also in 81) refers to the loosening of a tight-stretched string; cf. intentum etc. in [37] with [n.] With the whole passage cf. Plin. Ep. 3, 1, 2 nam iuvenes confusa adhuc quaedam et quasi turbata non indecent; senibus placida omnia et ordinata conveniunt. — facit audientiam: 'procures of itself a hearing for it'. In the words per se ipsa there is no doubt an allusion to the custom at large meetings in ancient times whereby the praeco or κηρυξ called on the people to listen to the speakers. Cf. Liv. 43, 16, 8 praeconem audientiam facere iussit. Note that this is the only classical use of the word audientia; it has not the meaning of our 'audience' either in the sense of a body of listeners, or as used in the expression 'to give audience'. — composita et mitis: 'unimpassioned and smooth'. Cf. Quintil. 6, 2, 9 affectus igitur hos concitatos, illos mitis atque compositos esse dixerunt. — quam ... nequeas: 'and if you cannot practise oratory yourself'. Evidently quam refers to oratio in the widest sense, not to the special style of oratory mentioned in the last sentence. With si nequeas cf. nisi exerceas in [21] with [n.] — Scipioni et Laelio: 'a Scipio and a Laelius'; i.e. 'young friends such as Scipio and Laelius are to me'. — praecipere: here absolute, = praecepta dare; usually an accusative follows. — studiis iuventutis: 'the zeal of youth'. Studiis does not imply here the deference of youth to age; the studia meant are the virtutum studia of [26].

[29.] ne ... instruat: docere is to impart knowledge, instituere (literally 'to ground' or 'establish') is to form the intellect and character by means of knowledge, instruere, to teach the pupil how he may bring his acquirements to bear in practical life. — offici munus: 'performance of duty'; cf. 35, 72; Fam. 6, 14. In scores of passages in Cicero we find officium et munus, 'duty and function', as in [34]. — Cn. et P. Scipiones: in Cic. the plural is always used where two men of the same family are mentioned and their names connected by et. In other writers the plural is regular, the singular exceptional, as in Sall. Iug. 42, 1 Ti. et C. Gracchus; Liv. 6, 22 Sp. et L. Papirius. Even with other nouns the plural is regular; e.g. Cic. Phil. 2, 101 arationes Campana et Leontina, though a little above we have mense Aprili atque Maio. [See Draeger, Hist. Synt. 1², p. 1.] Gnaeus (not Cnaeus — see n. on Lael. 3) Cornelius Scipio was consul in 222 B.C. and was sent to Spain at the outbreak of the Second Punic war to command against Hasdrubal. Publius was consul in 218, and after being defeated by Hannibal at the Ticinus, joined his brother in Spain. At first they won important successes, but in 212 they were hemmed in and killed, after a crushing defeat. — L. Aemilius: the father of Macedonicus. He was consul in 219 and defeated the Illyrii; but when consul again in 216 was defeated and killed at Cannae. See [75]. For avi duo cf. 82. — consenuerint ... defecerint: coniunctio, for which see [n. on 16]. For the mood see A. 313, a; G. 608; H. 515, III. and n. 3. — etsi: see [n. on 2]. — senectute: MSS. and edd. have senectutis, but the sense requires the abl.

P. [13] — [30.] Cyrus: the elder. — apud Xenophontem: 'in Xenophon'; so in [79] where see [n.]; also [31] apud Homerum. See Cyropaedia, 8, 7, 6. — cum ... esset: 'though he was very old', the clause depends on the following words, not on the preceding. — negat: in Latin as in English the present tense is used in quotations from books. — Metellum: was consul in 251 B.C. and won a great victory over the Carthaginians at Panormus (Palermo); consul again in 247. See below, [61]. — memini ... esse: for the construction of memini with the present or perfect infinitive, see n. on Lael. 2; also A. 288, b; G. 277, Rem.; H. 537, 1. — puer: the expression is peculiar, being abbreviated from quod puer vidi or something of the kind. Quintil. 8, 3, 31 has memini iuvenis. In Rep. 1, 23 Cicero says memini me admodum adulescentulo. — viginti et duos: the commoner order of the words is duos et viginti; see [n. on 13] centum ... annos. — ei sacerdotio: 'that sacred college'; i.e. the pontifical college consisting of the pontifex maximus and the inferior pontifices. — requireret: see [n. on 13] quaereretur. — nihil: [n. on 1], l. 1 quid. — mihi: dat. for acc. to emphasize the person. — id: 'such a course'; cf. [82] ut de me ipse aliquid more senum glorier.

[31.] videtisne ut: here ne is the equivalent of nonne, as it often is in the Latin of Plautus and Terence, and in the colloquial Latin of the classical period. For ut after videtis see [n. on 26]. — Nestor: e.g. in Iliad 1, 260 et seq. 11, 668 et seq. — tertiam aetatem: cf. Iliad 1, 250; Odyssey 3, 245. — vera ... se: 'if he told the truth about himself'. — nimis: 'to any great extent'. Insolens does not correspond to our 'insolent'; it is almost the equivalent of ineptus, and has no harsher meaning than 'odd', 'strange', 'in bad taste'. — melle dulcior: Homer, Il. 1, 249 του και απο γλωσσης μελιτος γλυκιων ‛ρεεν αυδη. In Or. 32 Cic. says of Xenophon (whom the Greeks called Αττικη μελιττα) that his oratio was melle dulcior. — suavitatem: notice the change from dulcior, which seems to be made for the mere sake of variety, since elsewhere (De Or. 3, 161) Cicero writes dulcitudo orationis. — et tamen: see [n. on 16]. — dux ille: Agamemnon; see Iliad 2, 370 et seq. — nusquam: i.e. nowhere in Homer. — Aiacis: i.e. Aiax Telamonius, who was the greatest Greek warrior while Achilles sulked (Iliad 2, 768). The genitive after similis is the rule in Cicero, though many examples of the dative are found even with names of persons; see Madv. on Fin. 5, 12.

[32.] sed: see [n. on 26]. — redeo ad me: so 45; Lael. 96, Div. 1, 97 ad nostra iam redeo; also below, 67 sed redeo ad mortem impendentem. — vellem: see n. on. 26. — idem: A. 238; G. 331, Rem. 2; H. 371, 2. — quod Cyrus: see [30]. — queo: the verb queo is rarely found without a negative, possum being used in positive sentences; cf. however Lael. 71 queant, where see n. — miles etc.: see [10] above. — fuerim ... depugnavi: A. 336, b; G. 630, Rem. 1; H. 524, 2, 2. Depugnavi = 'fought the war out', or 'to the end'; cf. 38, desudans; 44 devicerat. — enervavit: enervare is literally 'to take out the sinews'; cf. the expressions nervos elidere (Tusc. 2, 27) and nervos incidere (Academ. 1, 35) both of which are used in a secondary or metaphorical sense. — curia: = senatus. — rostra: cf. [n. on 44] devicerat. — fieri: A. 331, a; G. 546, Rem. 1; H. 498, I. n. — esse: emphatic, = vivere; see [n. on 21]. — ego vero etc.: 'I however would rather that my old age should be shorter than that I should be old before my time'. — mallem: see [n. on 26] vellem.

P. [14] — nemo cui fuerim: cf. Plaut. Mercator 2, 2, 17 quamquam negotium est, numquam sum occupatus amico operam dare.

[33.] at: as in [21], where see [n.] — T. Ponti centurionis: the centurions were generally men of powerful frame; cf. Veget. 2, 14 centurio elegendus est, qui sit magnis viribus et procera statura; Philipp. 8, 26 centuriones pugnaces et lacertosos; Horat. Sat. 1, 6, 72. — moderatio: 'a right application'; literally 'a governing'. — tantum ... nitatur: cf. 27 quidquid agas agere pro viribus, also 434 quantum possumus. — ne: the affirmative ne, often wrongly written nae on the absurd assumption that the word passed into Latin from the Greek ναι, is in Cicero always and in other writers nearly always followed by a pronoun. For the form of the sentence here cf. Fam. 7, 1, 3 ne ... nostrum; Tusc. 3, 8 ne ista etc.; Fin. 3, 11 (almost the same words). — per stadium: 'over the course'; cf. Athenaeus 10. 4, p. 412 E; Lucian, Charon, 8; Quint. 1, 9, 5 Milo quem vitulum assueverat ferre, taurum ferebat. As to Milo see [n. on 27]. For cum sustineret a modern would have been inclined to use a participle, which was perhaps avoided here because of the close proximity of another participle, ingressus. — umeris: this spelling is better than humeris, which is now abandoned by the best scholars. There is no sound corresponding to the h in words of the same origin in cognate languages (see Curtius, Greek Etym. 1, 423 of the Eng. Trans.), and although undoubtedly h was wrongly attached to some Latin words, there is no evidence to show that this happened to umerus. — has: i.e. Milonis, corresponding to Pythagorae. — Pythagorae: chosen no doubt because tradition made Milo a Pythagorean; see [n. on 27]. — malis: i.e. si optandum sit (cf. Plaut. Miles 170). For the ellipsis see [n. on 26]. — denique: 'in short'. — utare: the second person of the present subjunctive hortative is very rare, excepting when, as here, the command is general. Had the command been addressed to a particular person, Cicero might have written ne requisieris. Cf. Madvig, Opusc. 2, 105; Roby, 1596; A. 266, a, b; G. 256, 2; H. 484, 4, n. 2. — dum adsit, cum absit: as both dum and cum evidently have here a temporal sense, the subjunctives seem due to the influence of the other subjunctives utare and requiras. A. 342; G. 666; H. 529, II. and n. 1, 1). — nisi forte: see [n. on 18]. — cursus: for the metaphor cf. [n. on 83]; also Fam. 8, 13, 1 (a letter of Coelius) aetate iam sunt decursa; pro Quint. 99 acta aetas decursaque. For certus cf. below, [72] senectutis certus terminus. — aetatis: here = vitae; see [n. on 5]. — eaque: this is a common way of introducing with emphasis a fresh epithet or predicate. Often idque (και τουτο) occurs, the pronoun being then adverbially used, and not in agreement with the subject. Cf. [n. on 65] illius quidem; also neque ea in [22]. — simplex: life is compared to a race, in which each man has to run once and only once around the course. — tempestivitas: 'seasonableness'; cf. [5] maturitate tempestiva, with [n.] — infirmitas: the context shows that not physical but intellectual weakness is meant; so in Acad. 2, 9 infirmissimo tempore aetatis; Fin. 5, 43 aetas infirma. — ferocitas: 'exultation', 'high spirit'. — iam constantis aetatis: i.e. middle age, the characteristic of which is stability; cf. [76] constans aetas quae media dicitur; also 60; Tac. A. 6, 46 composita aetas. For iam cf. Suet. Galb. 4 aetate nondum constanti; pro Caelio 41 aetas iam corroborata; Fam. 10, 3, 2 aetas iam confirmata. — maturitas: 'ripeness', i.e. of intellect or judgment. — suo: G. 295, Rem. 1; H. 449, 2.

[34.] audire te arbitror: 'I think that news reaches you'. — hospes: see [n. on 28] orator. — avitus: there was a strong friendship between the elder Africanus and Masinissa, king of Numidia, who in 206 B.C. passed over from the Carthaginian alliance to that of the Romans. He was richly rewarded by Scipio, and remained loyal to Rome till his death. He lived to welcome the younger Scipio in Africa during the last Punic war, and to see the utter ruin of Carthage. See Sall. Iug. 5, 4. For the expression hospes tuus avitus cf. Plautus, Miles 135 paternum suom hospitem. — cum ingressus etc.: i.e. protracted exercise of one kind did not weary him. — cum ... equo: though Cic. says in equo vehi, esse, sedere etc. the preposition here is left out because a mere ablative of manner or means is required to suit the similar ablative pedibus. So Div. 2, 140 equus in quo vehebar, 'the horse on which I rode'; but ib. 1, 58 equo advectus ad ripam, 'brought to the bank by the aid of a horse'. — siccitatem: 'wiriness', literally 'dryness' or freedom from excessive perspiration, colds and the like; cf. Tusc. 5, 99 siccitatem quae consequitur continentiam in victu; Catull. 23, 12 corpora sicciora cornu. — regis: here = regia. — officia et munera: see [n. on 29]. — ne sint: 'grant that age has no strength'. This formula of concession for argument's sake is frequent in Cicero, who often attaches to it sane. A. 266, d; G. 610; H. 515, III. — senectute = senibus: see [n. on 26]. — legibus et institutis: 'by statute and precedent'. — muneribus eis etc.: chiefly military service. — non modo ... sed ne quidem: when a negative follows non modo these words have the force of non modo non, a negative being borrowed from the negative in the subsequent clause. But often non modo non is written; the negative after modo is then more emphatic, being independent. Here non modo non quod non would have had a harsh sound. A. 149, e; G. 484, 3 and Rem. 1.; H. 552, 2. — quod: adv. acc. (see [n. on 1] quid). Cf. Liv. 6, 15 sed vos id cogendi estis.

[35.] at: as in [21], where see [n.] In his reply Cato adopts the same form as that in which the objection is urged, at id quidem etc. So in 68 at senex ... at est ...

P. [15] — commune valetudinis: 'common to weak health', i.e. to all in a weak state of health. Valetudo means in itself neither good nor bad health; the word takes its coloring from the context. — filius is qui: a pause must be made at filius; the sense is not 'that son of Africanus who adopted you', but 'the son of Africanus, I mean the man who adopted you'. — quod ni ita fuisset: 'now if this had not been so'; a phrase like quod cum ita sit and hoc ita dici. Cf. also [67] quod ni ita accideret; 82 quod ni ita se haberet. — alterum ... civitatis: illud is put for ille, by attraction to lumen. Roby, 1068. A. 195, d; G. 202, Rem. 5; H. 445, 4. Cf. Fin. 2, 70 Epicurus, hoc enim vestrum lumen est, 'Epicurus, for he is your shining light'. — vitia: 'defects'. — diligentia: scarcely corresponds to our 'diligence'; it rather implies minute, patient attention; 'painstaking'.

[36.] habenda ... valetudinis: 'attention must be paid to health'; so valetudini consulere (Fam. 16, 4, 3) operam dare (De Or. I, 265) indulgere (Fam. 16, 18, 1) valetudinem curare often; cf. also Fam. 10, 35, 2; Fin. 2, 64. — tantum: restrictive, = 'only so much'; so in 69, and often. — potionis: cibus et potio is the regular Latin equivalent for our 'food and drink'; see below, [46]; also Tusc. 5, 100; Fin. 1, 37; Varro de Re Rust. 1, 1, 5. — adhibendum: adhibere has here merely the sense of 'to employ' or 'to use'. Cf. Fin. 2, 64. — non: we should say 'and not' or 'but not'; the Latins, however, are fond of asyndeton, called adversativum, when two clauses are contrasted. — menti ... animo: properly mens is the intellect, strictly so called, animus intellect and feeling combined, but the words are often very loosely used. They often occur together in Latin; Lucretius has even mens animi. — instilles: see [n. on 21] exerceas. — et: 'moreover'. — exercitando: in good Latin the verb exercitare is rare except in exercitatus, which stands as participle to exerceo, exercitus being unused. The word seems to have been chosen here as suiting exercitationibus better than exercendo would. So in [47] desideratio is chosen rather than desiderium, to correspond with the neighboring titillatio. — ait: sc. esse; the omission with aio is rare, though common with dico, appello etc.; see [n. on 22]. — comicos: not 'comic' in our sense, but = in comoediis, 'represented in comedy'. So Rosc. Am. 47 comicum adulescentem, 'the young man of comedy'. The passage of Caecilius (see [n. on 24] Statius) is more fully quoted in Lael. 99. — credulos: in almost every Latin comedy there is some old man who is cheated by a cunning slave. — somniculosae: the adj. contains a diminutive noun stem (somniculo-). — petulantia: 'waywardness'. — non proborum: Cic. avoids improborum as being too harsh; with exactly similar feeling Propertius 3, 20, 52 (ed. Paley) says nec proba Pasiphae for et improba P. Cf. Off. 3, 36 error hominum non proborum. — ista: implying contempt. A. 102, c; G. 291, Rem.; H. 450, 1. n. and foot-note 4. — deliratio: 'dotage'; a rare word, used by Cic. only here and in Div. 2, 90.

[37.] robustos: 'sturdy'; implying that the sons were grown up. — tantam: sc. quantam habuit; only a little more emphatic than magnam would have been; see [n. on 52]. — Appius: see [n. on 16]. — regebat: the pater familias in early Roman times was an almost irresponsible ruler over his children and household. For a full discussion of the patria potestas see Coulanges, Ancient City, Bk. II. Ch. 8; Maine, Ancient Law, Ch. 5; Hadley, Introd. to Roman Law, Chapters 5 and 6. — et ... senex: 'though both blind and old'. — intentum: commonly used of animus, like the opposite remissus (28). — tenebat etc.: the patria potestas is often denoted by the word imperium; cf. De Invent. 2, 140 imperium domesticum. — vigebat etc.: 'in him ancestral spirit and principles were strong'. While animus patrius here evidently means the strong will for which the patrician Claudii were proverbial (as e.g. in Rosc. Am. 46 intellegere qui animus patrius sit in liberos) it indicates the feeling of a particular father for his children.

P. [16] — [38.] ita: = ea lege 'on these conditions, viz. ...', the clause with si being an explanation of ita. This correspondence of ita ... si is common in Cicero; see [n. on 12] ita ... quasi. Here translate 'age can only be in honor if it fights for itself'. — se ipsa: cf. Cic. Acad. 2, 36 veritas se ipsa defendet; see also the [n. on 4]. — si ... est: 'if it has passed into bondage to nobody'. Mancipium is a piece of property; emancipare is to pass a piece of property out of its owner's hands. The word acquired two exactly opposite meanings. When used of a slave, or of a son in patria potestate, who was legally subject to many of the same ordinances as a slave, it means 'to set free', unless, as in Fin. I, 24 filium in adoptionem D. Silano emancipaverat, some person is mentioned to whom the original owner makes over his rights. But in Plaut. Bacchid. 1, 1, 90 mulier, tibi me emancupo the sense is 'I enslave myself to you', i.e. 'I pass myself out of my own power into yours'. So in the well-known passage of Horace, Epod. 9, 12 (of Antony) emancipatus feminae 'enslaved to a woman'; cf Cic. Phil. 2, 51 venditum atque emancipatum tribunatum. — senile aliquid ... aliquid adulescentis: chiasmus. For the sense cf. [33] ferocitas iuvenum ... senectutis maturitas. — quod qui sequitur: 'and he who strives after this', i.e. to combine the virtues of age and youth. Cf. Aesch. Sept. 622 γεροντα τον νουν σαρκα δ' ‛ηβωσαν φυει. — mihi ... est in manibus: 'I have on hand', 'am busy with'. Cf. [n. on 22]. — Originum: as to Cato's literary labors see [Introd]. — omnia colligo: referring to the materials Cato was collecting for his 'Origines'. — quascunque defendi: 'as many as I have conducted'. Defendere causam here is simply to act as counsel in a case, whether the client be defendant or plaintiff. So in Lael. 96 and often. — nunc cum maxime: 'now more than ever', νυν μαλιστα. The phrase is elliptic; in full it would be 'cum maxime conficio orationes, nunc conficio', 'when I most of all compose speeches, I now compose them'; i.e. 'the time when I most of all compose is now'. The words cum maxime generally follow tum or nunc and add emphasis to those words, but are sometimes used alone to express the ideas 'then' and 'now' more emphatically than tum and nunc would. Cf. Ver. 4, 82; Tac. Ann. 4, 27. The orators were in the habit of working over their speeches carefully for publication and preservation. — ius augurium etc.: 'the law pertaining to the augurs and pontifices'; i.e. the principles applied by them in the performance of their duties. The pontifices had the general oversight of religious observances. See Dict. of Antiq. — civile: the meaning of ius civile varies according to the context. Here it is the secular law as opposed to the sacred law, as in [50]; sometimes it is the whole body of Roman law as opposed to the law of other states; often, again, it is the older portion of the Roman law as opposed to the newer or 'equity' portion. — commemoro: 'I say over to myself'. In Cicero commemoro is a verb of speaking, and never has the meaning of recordor or memini. — curricula: see [nn. on 33]. — magno opere: better so written than in one word magnopere; so maximo, minimo, nimio opere. — adsum amicis: 'I act as counsel to my friends'. This legal sense of adesse is common. — frequens: literally the word means 'crowded' (connected with farcire 'to cram' or 'to crowd together'), hence frequens senatus and the like phrases. Then frequens comes to be used of actions or events that often recur; e.g. Orat. 15 Demosthenes frequens Platonis auditor; De Or. 1, 243 frequens te audivi. On the use of the adj. here see A. 191; G. 324, Rem. 6; H. 443. — ultro: 'unasked', 'of my own motion', a reference to the well-known story that, whatever subject was discussed, Cato gave as his opinion 'delenda est Carthago'. See [Introd]. — tueor: 'advocate', 'support'. — lectulus: a couch usually stood in the Roman study, on which the student reclined while reading, composing or dictating, or even writing. Cf. De Or. 3, 17, in eam exedram venisse in qua Crassus lectulo posito recubuisset, cumque eum in cogitatione defixum esse sensisset, statim recessisse ...; Suet. Aug. 78 lecticula lucubratoria. — ea ipsa cogitantem: = de eis ipsis cog.: so Acad. 2, 127 cogitantes supera atque caelestia, and often. — acta vita: 'the life I have led'; cf. [62] honeste acta superior aetas; so Tusc. 1, 109; Fam. 4, 13, 4. — viventi: dative of reference. A. 235; G. 354; H. 384, 4, n. 3. 'As regards one who lives amid these pursuits and tasks'. — ita sensim etc.: sensim sine sensu (observe the alliteration) is like mentes dementis in [16], where see [n.] Sensim must have meant at one time 'perceptibly', then 'only just perceptibly', then 'gradually' and almost 'imperceptibly'.

[39.] quod ... dicunt: not strictly logical, being put for quod careat, ut dicunt. In cases like this the verb of saying is usually in the subjunctive. Cf. Roby, 1746; A. 341, Rem.; G. 541, Rem. 2; H. 516, II. 1. The indicative here is more vivid and forcible. — munus ... aufert: to say that a gift robs one of anything is of course an oxymoron; cf. [n. on 16] mentes dementis. — aetatis: almost = senectutis: cf. [n. on 45]. — id quod est etc.: 'the greatest fault of youth'; i.e. the love of pleasure. In this passage voluptas indicates pleasure of a sensual kind, its ordinary sense, delectatio, oblectatio etc. being used of the higher pleasures. In [51], however, we have voluptates agricolarum. — accipite: 'hear'; so dare often means 'to tell'. With accipere in this sense cf. the similar use of αποδεχεσθαι. — Archytae: Archytas (the subject of Horace's well-known ode, 1, 28) was a contemporary and friend of Plato, and a follower of the Pythagorean philosophy. He wrote philosophical works, and was also famous as a mathematician and astronomer, besides being the leading statesman and general of the commonwealth of Tarentum. For another saying of Archytas, cf. Lael. 88. — tradita est: 'was imparted to me', i.e. by word of mouth. — cum ... Tarenti: 'when as a young man I stayed at Tarentum'. For adulescens cf. [n. on 26] senes. — nullam ... pestem etc.: cf. Lael. 34 pestem ... cupiditatem; Off. 2, 9 consuetudo ... honestatem ab utilitate secernens, qua nulla pernicies maior hominum vitae potuit afferri. — capitaliorem: 'more deadly'; caput was often equivalent to vita, so that capitalis comes to mean 'affecting the life'.

P. [17] — [40.] hinc etc.: cf. Cic. Hortensius fragm. quod turpe damnum, quod dedecus est quod non evocetur atque eliciatur voluptate? Observe the singular patriae followed by the plural rerum publicarum; the plural of patria is rare. On the significance of this passage see Lecky, Hist. of European Morals, I. p. 211, n. (Am. ed.). — cum hostibus etc.: attributive phrase; cf. Phil. 12, 27 colloquia cum acerrimis hostibus. — scelus: this word looks chiefly to the criminal intention, whether it be carried into action or not, malum, facinus to the completed crime; flagitium is sin rather than crime, Facinus in sense is often rather narrower and lighter than scelus; cf. Verr. 5, 170 facinus est vincire civem Romanum, scelus verberare, prope parricidium necare. — impelleret: sc. homines; so nos is omitted after iubebat below. — excitari: 'stirred up'. In [39] and [41] we have the verb in-citare; for the difference between the two verbs cf. Qu. Fr. 1, 1, 45 haec non eo dicuntur, ut te oratio mea dormientem excitasse, sed potius ut currentem incitasse videatur. — homini ... dedisset: cf. Acad. 1, 7 nec ullum arbitror maius aut melius a dis datum munus homini. Notice homini 'man', in the same sense as hominibus, above. — muneri ac dono: the two words munus and donum are often found together; the difference in meaning is hardly perceptible. Donum implies the fact of giving, munus the generosity of the giver. — tam ... inimicum: notice the separation of tam from inimicum.

[41.] libidine: = επιθυμια; temperantia = σωφροσυνη. Dominari is a very strong word, 'to tyrannize'; dominatio = τυραννις. For locum cf. Lael. 52 in tyranni vita nullus locus est amicitiae. — consistere: 'find a foothold'. Cf. Fin. 4, 69 sapientia pedem ubi poneret non habebat. — fingere animo: 'to imagine'. — tanta ... quanta ... maxima: 'the greatest that could possibly be enjoyed'. The form of expression is common, e.g. Lael. 74 tanta quanta maxima potest esse distantia. — tam diu dum: this is not exactly equivalent to the ordinary tam diu quam, but there is ellipsis — 'so long as this, I mean while, etc.'. Cf. Cat. 3, 16 tam diu, dum urbis moenibus continebatur; Off. 1, 2 tam diu ... quoad ... — mente ... ratione ... cogitatione: 'by thought, by reasoning, by imagination'. Cogitatio like διανοια has often the sense of 'imagination'. The close juxtaposition of words nearly synonymous is quite characteristic of Cicero's Latin. — quidem: concessive, as in [32] and often. — maior atque longior: 'very intense and protracted'. Superlatives might have been expected, in view of quanta percipi posset maxima above. Longus in the sense of 'long-continued' is rare in Ciceronian Latin, excepting when, as in 66 longa aetate, it is joined with a word distinctly referring to time. For the general drift of the passage cf. Cic. Hortensius (fragment) congruere cum cogitatione magna voluptas corporis non potest; quis enim, cum utatur voluptate ea qua nulla possit maior esse, attendere animum, inire rationes, cogitare omnino quidquam potest? — animi lumen: a common metaphor; e.g. Cic. Rep. 6, 12 tu, Africane, ostendas oportebit patriae lumen animi tui. Cf. 36 haec ... exstinguuntur; also below, [42] mentis oculos. — C. Pontio: C. Pontius Herennius, the father of C. Pontius Telesinus who defeated the Romans at the Caudine Forks during the Second Samnite war, in 321 B.C. The father is several times mentioned by Livy 9, cc. 1 and 3; cf. especially 1, § 2 C. Pontium, patre longe prudentissimo natum. — Nearchus: mentioned by Plutarch, Cato 2, as a Pythagorean and friend of Cato. — permanserat: i.e. during the siege of Tarentum. — interfuisset: not in accordance with English idiom; cf. [n. on 4] putassent; also [44] devicerat. — Plato etc.: although Plato made two journeys to Italy and Sicily (or, as some authorities say, three) it is scarcely likely that he was present at Tarentum in the year mentioned, 349 B.C., two years before his death, when he was of advanced age. The latest date assigned by other authorities for Plato's last visit to the West is 361 B.C. — reperio: sc. in annalibus; so in [15]; cf. videmus in [26].

[42.] efficeret: efficeret, liberet, and oporteret can be properly rendered into English only by the present tense. Although these verbs express circumstances which continue, since the general effect of old age is being described, they are thrown into the past to suit the past tense dicebam or dixi which, though not expressed, is really the principal verb. Cf. below, [62], [78]. — consilium: 'deliberation'.

P. [18] — ut ita dicam: this softens the metaphor, as quasi or quasi quidam often does, and as ‛οιον, ‛ωσπερ do in Greek [but not ‛ως επος ειπειν, which is often wrongly said to be the equivalent of ut ita dicam; see n. on Lael. 2]. The phrase mentis or animi aciem praestringere often occurs without anything to soften the metaphor; e.g. Fin. 4, 37. — nec habet etc: 'and has no relations with virtue'. The use of commercium in the metaphorical sense is common. — invitus: see ref. on 38 frequens. — feci ut: a periphrasis not unusual. A. 332, e; G. 557; H. 498, II. n. 2. — T. Flaminini: see [n. on 1], l. 1. — L. Flamininum: as prætor he commanded the fleet under his brother Titus during the Macedonian war; in 192 B.C. he was consul. Septem annis denotes seven complete years (cf. [n. on 19]), as Cato was censor in 184. A reference to Livy 39, 43, 2 will show that Cicero borrows his account of Flamininus' crime from the old annalist Valerius Antias. Livy also quotes (39, 42, 7) an account of the matter given by Cato himself in a speech, which is even more disgraceful to Flamininus. — eicerem: the phrase commonly used is not eicere, but movere, aliquem senatu. Notare and nota (censoria) are technically used of degradation or disfranchisement inflicted by the censors. For the spelling see Roby, 144, 2; A. 10, d; H. 36, 4 and footnote 1. — fuisset: for the mood see A. 342; G. 666; H. 529, II. and n. 1, 1); for the tense see Roby, 1491; A. 324, a; G. 233, 2; H. 471, 4. — cum ... Gallia: not 'when he was consul in Gaul' but 'when he was in Gaul during his consulship'. Cum with the imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive often has a sense differing very little from that of cum with the imperfect or pluperfect indicative. No doubt when the usage originally arose, the clause with cum was regarded as expressing the cause of the action or event denoted by the principal verb; here the presence of F. in Gaul might be regarded as a cause of the crime. It is more than doubtful, however, whether in actual use the subjunctive in these phrases continued to carry with it to Latin readers any idea of cause. See Roby, 1720, Kennedy, 211; also A. 325, 323 and footnote 1; G. 586 with Rem.; H. 521, II. 2 and footnote 1. — exoratus est: 'was persuaded'; cf. Liv. 39, 43. — securi feriret: the story was that L. Flamininus himself acted as executioner. — eorum qui ... essent: the subjunctive because of the class-notion, 'of such persons as were'. — Tito censore: i.e. in 189 B.C.; see [n. on 1]. — Flacco: L. Valerius Flaccus was the life-long friend of Cato, and his colleague in the consulship and in the censorship. He entirely favored Cato's political views. See [Introd]. — imperi dedecus: Flamininus was at the time Roman governor of the district.

[43.] audivi e: Cic. uses audire ex, ab, and de aliquo, almost indifferently. — porro: 'in turn'; literally 'farther on', here = 'farther back'; cf. Livy 27, 51. — C. Fabricium: see [n. on 15]. — Cinea: the famous diplomatist, minister of Pyrrhus. He was a pupil of Demosthenes and himself one of the most famous orators of his time. Cineas was the ambassador who tried to negotiate peace on the occasion mentioned in [16]. — se sapientem profiteretur: the omission of esse is common in such phrases; e.g. Fin. 5, 13 Strato physicum se voluit. Epicurus, who is here meant (born 342 B.C., died 270), was blamed for calling himself σοφος or sapiens. Others, says Cicero, who had borne the title had waited for the public to confer it on them (Fin. 2, 7). — eumque: 'and yet he'; cf. [n. on 13] vixitque. — faceremus: for the tense cf. [n. on 42] efficeret; also expeteretur below. — ad ... referenda: 'ought to be judged by the standard of pleasure', i.e. anything which brings pleasure may be regarded as good, and its opposite bad. So in Greek επαναφερειν τι εις τι. On the moral teachings of Epicurus consult Zeller, Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics, Ch. 19; Ueberweg, History of Philosophy, § 59; Guyan, La morale d'Épicure et ses rapports avec les doctrines contemporaines. — Curium ... Coruncanium: see [n. on 15]. — id ... persuaderetur: intransitive verbs are used in the passive only impersonally (Roby, 1422; A. 230; G. 199, Rem. 1; H. 301, 1); when so used the dative may follow as in the active (see Madvig, 244, b; G. 208; H. 384, 5). A neuter pronoun in the singular sometimes, as here, accompanies the passive, and may be regarded as an adverbial accusative of respect or extent, or as a nominative qualifying the impersonal subject. The former is probably the real construction. Cf. Roby, 1423, and Madvig, 229, b, Obs. 1. — Samnitibus: then in alliance with Pyrrhus. — vixerat ... cum: not to be taken literally of living in the same house; the phrase merely indicates close friendship. In Acad. 2, 115 Cic. writes Diodoto qui mecum vivit tot annos, qui habitat apud me, clearly showing that the phrases vivere cum aliquo and habitare apud aliquem are not equivalent. — P. Decio: this is P. Decius Mus, who at the battle of Sentinum in 295 gave his life as a propitiatory offering to the powers of the unseen world, in order to bring victory to the Roman arms. His father had sacrificed himself in the same way at the battle of Veseris (close to Vesuvius) in 340, fought against the Latins and Campanians. — devoverat: Liv. 10, 28, 13 (speech of Decius) datum hoc: nostro generi est ut luendis periculis publicis piacula simus; iam ego mecum hostium legiones mactandas Telluri et dis Manibus dabo. — aliquid etc.: 'some principle'; in his philosophical works Cicero often confounds the Epicureans by quoting the action of the Decii and others like it, as showing that pleasure is not the end of existence. Cf. especially Fin. 2, 61 P. Decius cum se devoverat et equo admisso in mediam aciem Latinorum irruebat, aliquid de voluptatibus suis cogitabat? Cf. also below, [75]. With regard to natura see [n. on 5]. — sua sponte: 'for its own sake'; 'on its own account'. Cf. Leg. 1, 45 vera et falsa sua sponte non aliena iudicantur, where a few lines later sua natura occurs as equivalent to sua sponte. — ex peteretur: em. for peteretur in the MSS. The words expetere, expetendum are technically used in Cicero's philosophical works to express the Greek ‛αιρεισθαι, ‛αιρετον as applied to the finis or τελος, the supreme aim of moral action. Pulchrum above is a translation of the Greek καλον, a term constantly applied to the τελος, particularly by the Stoics. — spreta et contempta: the first word is much the stronger of the two; spernere is καταφρονειν, 'to scorn'; contemnere ολιγωρεισθαι, 'to make light of', 'hold of no account'. Contemnere is often no stronger in sense than omittere, 'to pass by, neglect'. Cf. [65] contemni, despici. — optimus quisque: see A. 93, c; G. 305; H. 458, 1.

P. [19] - [44.] cruditate: 'indigestion'. — insomniis: 'sleeplessness'; the singular insomnium occurs only once in prose (Tac. Ann. 11, 4). Insomnia, ae is found only in poetry and late prose. — divine: this word in Cic. often means nothing more than 'splendidly', 'extraordinarily'. — escam malorum: 'an enticement to evil' (esca = ed-ca, from the root of edo). Plato in the Timaeus 69 D (a dialogue translated into Latin by Cicero, a fragment of whose translation is still preserved) has ‛ηδονην μεγιστον κακου δελεαρ. Cf. also Cic. Hortensius fr. 76 (ed. Halm) voluptates corporis quae vere et graviter a Platone dictae sunt illecebrae esse atque escae malorum. — modicis: for the sake of variety Cic. chooses this, not moderatis, as the opposite of immoderatis. Trans. 'a moderate amount of goodfellowship'. — M.F. = Marci filium. — devicerat: pluperfect where a modern would incline to use a perfect. The battle referred to is that of Mylae, fought in 260; its memory was perpetuated by the decking of the forum with the rostra of the captured ships; the columna rostrata bore a long inscription, a restored version of which still exists. — cena: so best spelt; some good texts still print caena, but coena is decidedly wrong, being based on the fiction that the Latin borrowed the Greek word κοινη and turned it into coena. — cereo funali: 'the torch-light'; cereo, the em. of Mommsen for crebro; the funale was a torch composed of withs or twigs twisted into a rope (funis) and dipped in pitch or oil. — sibi ... sumpserat: Cic. seems to think that Duillius assumed these honors on his own authority. This was probably not the case; they were most likely conferred on him by a vote of the comitia tributa. Cf. Liv. epit. 17 C. Duillius primus omnium Romanorum ducum navalis victoriae duxit triumphum, ob quam causam ei perpetuus quoque honos habitus est, ut revertenti a cena tibicine canente funale praeferretur. No other instance is known where these particular distinctions were decreed; the nearest parallel lies in the right accorded to Paulus Macedonicus and to Pompeius to wear the triumphal toga picta for life on each occasion of the ludi. It may be conjectured that the music and the torch were part of the ceremony on the evening of a triumph when the triumphator was escorted home. Cf. Florus 1, 18, 10, ed. Halm. — nullo exemplo: 'without any precedent'. — privatus: any person is privatus who is not actually in office at the moment referred to, whether he has led a public life or not. — licentiae: a strong word is used to mark the heinousness of Duillius' supposed offence against ancestral custom.

[45.] alios: sc. nomino. — primum: the corresponding deinde is omitted, as often. — sodalis: the sodalitates or sodalitia, brotherhoods for the perpetuation of certain rites accompanied with feasting, were immemorial institutions at Rome. The clause sodalitates ... acceptis must not be taken to mean that Cicero supposed these brotherhoods to have been first instituted in the time of Cato; it is only introduced to show that Cato, so far from being averse to good living, assisted officially in the establishment of new clubs. Most of the sodalitates were closely connected with the gens; all members of a gens were sodales and met together to keep up the old sacra, but in historical times fictitious kinship largely took the place of real kinship, and feasting became almost the sole raison d'être of these clubs. [See Mommsen's treatise De collegiis et sodaliciis Romanis] The parallel of the London City Companies readily suggests itself. The national sodalitates or priesthoods such as those of the Sodales Titii, Luperci, Augustales etc. were somewhat different. — autem: for the form of the parenthesis cf. 7. — Magnae Matris: the image of Cybele was brought to Rome in 204 B.C. from Pessinus in Phrygia. See Liv. 29, 10. The Sacra are called Idaea from Mount Ida in Phrygia, which was a great centre of the worship of Cybele. Acceptis, sc. in civitatem; the worship of strange gods was in principle illegal at Rome unless expressly authorized by the State. — igitur: the construction of the sentence is broken by the introduction of the parenthesis, and a fresh start is made with epulabar igitur. Igitur is often thus used, like our 'well then', to pick up the broken thread of a sentence. So often sed or ergo. — fervor: Cf. Hor. Od. 1, 16, 22 me quoque pectoris temptavit in dulci iuventa fervor. — aetatis, qua progrediente: 'belonging to that time of life, but as life advances'. The word aetas has really two senses here; in the first place it is bona aetas or iuventus (cf. [39] where aetas = senectus), in the second place vita (for which see [n. on 5]). — neque enim: the enim refers to modice. — coetu ... sermonibus: for the order of the words see [n. on 1] animi tui. — metiebar: cf. [n. on 43] referenda. — accubitionem: a vox Ciceroniana, rarely found in other authors. — vitae coniunctionem: 'a common enjoyment of life'. — tum ... tum: here purely temporal, 'sometimes ... sometimes'; often however = 'both ... and'; cf. [7]. — compotationem etc.: cf. Epist. ad Fam. 9, 24, 3. Compotatio = συμποσιον; concenatio = συνδειπνον. — in eo genere: see [n. on 4]. — id: i.e. eating and drinking.

[46.] tempestivis ... conviviis: 'even in protracted banquets'. Those banquets which began early in order that they might last long were naturally in bad repute, so that the phrase tempestivum convivium often has almost the sense of 'a debauch'. Thus in Att. 9, 1, 3 Cicero describes himself as being evil spoken of in tempestivis conviviis, i.e. in dissolute society. Cf. pro Arch. 13. The customary dinner hour at Rome was about three o'clock in the afternoon. The word tempestivus, which in [5] means 'at the right time', here means 'before the right time'. So in English 'in good time' often means 'too early'. See Becker's Gallus, p. 451 et seq. — qui pauci: the substitution of the nominative of the relative for the partitive genitive (quorum) is not uncommon. A. 216, e; G. 368, Rem. 2; H. 397, 2, n. — pauci admodum: Cic. usually says admodum pauci rather than pauci admodum. — vestra aetate: = eis qui sunt vestra aetate. Cf. [n. on 26] senectus. — sermonis ... sustulit: notice the indicatives auxit, sustulit, the relative clauses being attributive, though they might fairly have been expected here to be causal. G. 627; H. 517, 2. In this passage Cic. imitates Plato, Rep. 328 D. — bellum indicere: common in the metaphorical sense; e.g. De Or. 2, 155 miror cur philosophiae prope bellum indixeris; Hor. Sat. 1, 5, 7 ventri indico bellum. — cuius est etc.: i.e. nature sanctions a certain amount of pleasure. This is the Peripatetic notion of the mean, to which Cicero often gives expression, as below, 77; also in Acad. 1, 39; 2, 139; and in De Off.; so Hor. Sat. 1, 1, 106 sunt certi denique fines quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum; cf. Od. 2, 10. — non intellego ne: for the negatives cf. [nn. on 24], 27.

P. [20] — magisteria: generally explained as referring to the practice of appointing at each dinner a 'master of the feast', arbiter bibendi or συμποσιαρχης. This explanation is not quite correct. Mommsen shows in his work 'de collegiis' that each one of the collegia or sodalicia annually appointed a magister cenarum whose duty it was to attend to the club-dinners during his year of office and no doubt to preside at them. That some office is meant more important than that of the arbiter bibendi appointed for a particular feast is shown by the words a maioribus instituta. It is scarcely likely that Cicero was ignorant of the Greek origin of the custom of appointing an arbiter bibendi. — et is sermo etc.: 'and the kind of talk in which following the fashion of our fathers we engage, beginning at the upper table, as the cup goes round'. The cup circulated from left to right, not, as with us, from right to left. The guests at a Roman dinner reclined on three couches, placed at three tables; two of the couches (lecti) were parallel, and the third was at right angles to the other two. The lectus at which the cup began to circulate was summus, the next medius, the last imus. For a summo cf. da (sc. bibere) a summo in Plaut. Asin. 5, 2, 41. See Becker's Gallus, p. 471 et seq. — sicut ... est: 'as we find'; so Off. 1, 32 ut in fabulis est, and often. — in Symposio: 2, 26. — minuta: see [n. on 52]. — rorantia: here with an active sense, 'besprinkling', representing επιψεκαζειν in Xenophon; often however not different in sense from 'roscida'. — refrigeratio ... hibernus: cf. closely 57 ubi et seq. Note the changes of expression in passing from refrigeratio to sol (apricatio would have more exactly corresponded with refrigeratio) and from aestate to hibernus (for hieme). — in Sabinis: 'when with the Sabines', who were celebrated for their simplicity of life. Cato had an estate in the Sabine district. — convivium vicinorum compleo: 'I make up (i.e. to the proper number) a company of my neighbors'. — quod ... producimus: 'and we continue our companionship to as late an hour as we can, with changing talk'. The phrases multa nocte or de nocte 'late in the night', multo die 'late in the day', are common; cf. also Att. 13, 9, 1 multus sermo ad multum diem; Rep. 6, 10 sermonem in multam noctem produximus.

[47.] at: so in [21], where see [n.] — quasi titillatio: the quasi, as often in Cicero's writings, marks a translation from the Greek. Here the Epicurean word γαργαλισμος is referred to; it is often in Cic. represented by titillatio; cf. N.D. 1, 113; Fin. 1, 39; Tusc. 3, 47. — bene: sc. dixit. — affecto aetate: 'wrought on by age'. Cf. De Or. 1, 200 in eius infirmissima valetudine affectaque iam aetate. — utereturne etc.: 'whether he still took pleasure in love'; uti = frui. Cf. Ovid, Met. 4, 259 dementer amoribus uti with Cic. Tusc. 4, 68 venereis voluptatibus frui. — di meliora: sc. duint; this archaic form usually occurs when the phrase is given in full. The story of Sophocles is taken by Cicero from Plato (Rep. 329 B) who has ευφημει. — istinc etc.: cf. the passage in Plato, Rep. 1, 329 C. For istinc used otherwise than of place cf. unde in [12] with [n.] — agresti: 'boorish'; rusticus denotes simply an ordinary countryman. — quamquam ... ergo: these words may be scanned as a hexameter line, but the pause before ergo would prevent them from being taken as a verse. — hoc non desiderare: 'this absence of regret'; the words form the subject of est. So hoc non dolere in Fin. 2, 18. For the pronoun in agreement with the infinitive treated as noun cf. Persius 1, 9 istud vivere; 1, 122 hoc ridere meum. H. 538, 3.

[48.] si: 'even if', 'granting that'. — bona aetas: 'the good time of life', i.e. youth. Tischer qu. Varro de Re Rustica 2, 6, 2 mares feminaeque bona aetate = 'young'. For bona aetas = homines bona aetate cf. [n. on 26] senectus. — ut diximus: not expressly, but the opinion is implied in [44], [45]. — Turpione Ambivio: L. Ambivius Turpio was the most famous actor of Cato's time, and appeared especially in Terence's plays. In old Latin commonly, occasionally in the Latin of the best period, and often in Tacitus, the cognomen is placed before the nomen when the praenomen is not mentioned. Cf. Att. 11, 12, 1 Balbo Cornelio. The usage is more common in Cicero's writings than in those of his contemporaries. — prima cavea: 'the lower tier'. The later Roman theatres consisted of semicircular or elliptic galleries, with rising tiers of seats; the level space partially enclosed by the curve was the orchestra, which was bounded by the stage in front. There can be little doubt that Cicero is guilty of an anachronism here; his words do not suit the circumstances of Cato's time. Till nearly the end of the Republic the theatres were rude structures of wood, put up temporarily; it is even doubtful whether they contained seats for the audience. Cato himself frustrated an attempt to establish a permanent theatre. — propter: 'close by'. The adverbial use of propter (rarely, if ever, met with outside of Cicero) is denied by some scholars, but is well attested by MSS. here and elsewhere. — tantum ... est: these words qualify delectatur.

[49.] illa: put for illud, as in Greek ταυτα and ταδε are often put for τουτο and τοδε. The words from animum to the end of the sentence are explanatory of illa. — quanti: 'how valuable!' but the word may have exactly the opposite meaning if the context require it; thus in N.D. 1, 55 and Rep. 6, 25 the sense is 'how worthless!' — stipendiis: 'campaigns'. The four words from libidinis to inimicitiarum are to be taken in pairs, while cupiditatum sums them up and is in apposition to all. — secum esse: cf. Tusc. 1, 75; Pers. 4, 52 tecum habita. — si ... aliquod: the sense is scarcely different from that of si ... quod; the distinction is as slight as that in English between 'if' followed by 'some', and 'if' followed by 'any'. Cf. n. on Lael. 24 si quando aliquid. — pabulum: for the metaphorical sense rendered less harsh by tamquam, cf. Acad. 2, 127; Tusc. 5, 66 pastus animorum. — studi: an explanatory genitive dependent on pabulum. — otiosa senectute: 'leisured age'; otium in the Latin of Cicero does not imply idleness, but freedom from public business and opportunity for the indulgence of literary and scientific tastes. — videbamus: for the tense cf. Lael. 37 Gracchum rem publicam vexantem ab amicis derelictum videbamus, i.e. 'we saw over a considerable period'. See also 50, 79. — in studio etc.: 'busied with the task of almost measuring bit by bit (di-metiendi) the heavens and the earth'. For the sense cf. Hor. Od. 1, 28 (of Archytas). — Gallum: consul in 157 B.C., famous as an astronomer and as the first Roman who predicted an eclipse before the battle of Pydna. See Liv. 44, 37.

P. [21] — describere: technically used of the drawing of mathematical figures. Ingredior often has an infinitive dependent on it even in the best Latin; e.g. Cic. Top. 1 nos maiores res scribere ingressos.

[50.] acutis: requiring keenness of intellect. — Naevius: see [n. on 20]. — Truculento ... Pseudolo: these plays of Plautus (lived from 254 to 184 B.C.) we still possess. The Truculentus is so named from one of the characters, a slave of savage disposition who is wheedled; the Pseudolus from a cheating slave. The latter name is commonly supposed to be a transcription from a Greek word ψευδυλος, which however nowhere occurs; and as the change from Greek υ to Latin o is not found before l, Corssen assumes ψευδαλος as the original word. The form Pseudulus of the name is probably later than Pseudolus. — Livium: Livius Andronicus, the founder of Latin literature (lived from about 285 to 204 B.C.), who translated the Odyssey, also many Greek tragedies. Livius was a Greek captured by Livius Salinator at Tarentum in 275 B.C.; for a time he was the slave of Livius, and, according to custom, took his name when set free. For an account of his writings see Cruttwell's Hist. of Roman Literature, Ch. 3; Sellar, Roman Poets of the Rep., Ch. 3. — docuisset: 'had brought on to the stage'. Docere (like διδασκειν in Greek, which has the same use) meant originally to instruct the performers in the play. — Centone Tuditanoque consulibus: i.e. in 240 B.C. The use of que here is noticeable; when a date is given by reference to the consuls of the year it is usual to insert et (not que or atque, which rarely occur) between the two names, if only the cognomina (as here) be given. If the full names be given, then they are put side by side without et. Cf. [n. on 10]. — Crassi: see [n. on 27]. — pontifici et civilis iuris: the ius pontificium regarded mainly the proper modes of conducting religious ceremonial. Ius civile, which is often used to denote the whole body of Roman Law, here includes only the secular portion of that Law. Cf. [n. on 38]. — huius P. Scipionis: 'the present P. Scipio'. So in [14] hi consules 'the present consuls'; Rep. 1, 14 Africanus hic, Pauli filius, and often. The P. Scipio who is meant here is not Africanus, but Nasica Corculum. — flagrantis: 'all aglow'; so ardere studio in Acad. 2, 65. — senes: = cum senes essent, so senem below. — suadae medullam: 'the essence (lit. marrow) of persuasiveness'. The lines of Ennius are preserved by Cicero, Brut. 58. Suada is a translation of πειθω, which the Greek rhetoricians declared to be the end and aim of oratory. This Cethegus was consul in 204 and in 203 defeated Mago in the N. of Italy. — exerceri: here reflexive in meaning. A. 111, n. 1; G. 209; H. 465. — videbamus: see [n. on 49]. — comparandae: for the idea of possibility which the gerundive sometimes has (but only in negative sentences or interrogative sentences implying a negative answer, and in conditional clauses) see Madvig, 420, Obs.; Roby, 1403. — haec quidem: a short summary of the preceding arguments, preparatory to a transition to a new subject, introduced by venio nunc ad. The succession of two clauses both containing quidem seems awkward, but occurs in Fin. 5, 80 and elsewhere. — honestum sit: 'does him honor'. — ut ante dixi: in [26], where see the notes. — potest esse: Meissner ([n. on 27]) says that Cicero's rule is to say potest esse, debet esse and the like, not esse potest and the like. It is true that esse in such cases is very seldom separated from the word on which it depends, but esse potest is just as common as potest esse; the difference to the sense is one of emphasis only, the esse having more emphasis thrown on it in the latter case.

[51.] mihi ... videntur: see Introd. — habent rationem cum: 'they have their reckonings with', 'their dealings with'; a phrase of book-keeping. — imperium: so Verg. Georg. 1, 99 exercetque frequens tellurem atque imperat agris; ib. 2, 369 dura exerce imperia et ramos compesce fluentes; Tac. Germ. 26 sola terrae seges imperatur. — sed alias ... faenore: put for sed semper cum faenore, alias minore, plerumque maiore. — vis ac natura: 'powers and constitution'. These two words are very often used by Cic. together, as in Fin. 1, 50 vis ac natura rerum. — gremio: so Lucret. 1, 250 pereunt imbres ubi eos pater aether In gremium matris terrai praecipitavit, imitated by Verg. Georg. 2, 325. — mollito ac subacto: i.e. by the plough. Subigere, 'subdue', is a technical word of agriculture; so Verg. Georg. 2, 50 scrobibus subactis; see also below, [59].

P. [22] — occaecatum: 'hidden'. Caecus has the sense of 'unseen' as well as that of 'unseeing' or 'blind'. — occatio: Cicero's derivation, as well as Varro's (De Re Rust. 1, 31, 1) from occidere, because the earth is cut up, is unsound. Occa is rastrum, probably from its sharp points (root ak-); occatio therefore is 'harrowing'. — vapore: 'heat'. This word has not in the best Latin the meaning of our 'vapor'. — compressu: a word found only here in Cicero's writings and elsewhere in Latin only in the ablative case, like so many other nouns whose stem ends in -u. — diffundit et elicit: 'expands and lures forth'. — herbescentem: this word occurs nowhere else in Latin. — nixa: A. 254, b; G. 403, Rem. 3; H. 425, 1, 1), n. — fibris stirpium: so Tusc. 3, 13 radicum fibras. — geniculato: 'knotted'. The verb geniculo, from genu, scarcely occurs excepting in the passive participle, which is always used, as here, of plants. So Plin. Nat. Hist. 16, 158 geniculata cetera gracilitas nodisque distincta, speaking of the harundo. — spici: besides spica, the forms spicum and spicus are occasionally found. Spici here is explanatory frugem. — vallo: for the metaphor compare N.D. 2, 143 munitae sunt palpebrae tamquam vallo pilorum; Lucr. 2, 537.

[52.] quid ego ... commemorem: this and similar formulae for passing to a new subject are common; cf. [53] quid ego ... proferam etc.; often nam precedes the quid, as in Lael. 104. The ego has a slight emphasis. Cato implies that his own devotion to grape-culture was so well known as not to need description. — ortus satus incrementa: 'origin, cultivation, and growth'. For the omission of the copula see [n. on 53]. — ut: final, and slightly elliptic ('I say this that etc.'); so in [6] (where see [n.]), [24], [56], [59], [82]. — requietem: the best MSS. of Cic. sometimes give the other form requiem, as in Arch. 13. — vim ipsam: 'the inherent energy'. — omnium ... terra: a common periphrasis for 'all plants'; cf. e.g. N.D. 2, 120. The Latin has no one word to comprehend all vegetable products. — quae ... procreet: 'able to generate'. — tantulo: strictly elliptic, implying quantulum re vera est. In such uses tantus and tantulus differ slightly from magnus and parvus; they are more emphatic. — acini vinaceo: 'a grape-stone'. — minutissimis: used here for minimis. Strictly speaking minutus ought to be used of things which are fragments of larger things, minutus being really the participle passive of minuo. In a well-known passage (Orat. 94) Cic. himself calls attention to the theoretical incorrectness of the use, which, however, is found throughout Latin literature. Cf. [46] pocula minuta; also below, [85] minuti philosophi. — malleoli: vine-cuttings; so called because a portion of the parent stem was cut away with the new shoot, leaving the cutting in the shape of a mallet. — plantae: 'suckers', shoots springing out of the trunk. — sarmenta: 'scions', shoots cut from branches not from the trunk. — viviradices: 'quicksets', new plants formed by dividing the roots of the mother plant. — propagines: 'layers', new plants formed by rooting a shoot in the earth without severing it from the parent plant; Verg. Georg. 2, 26. — eadem: [n. on 4] eandem. — claviculis: cf. N.D. 2, 120 vites sic claviculis. — ars agricolarum: agricolae arte freti, a strong instance of the abstract put for the concrete.

[53.] eis: sc. sarmentis, those which have not been pruned away by the knife. — exsistit: 'springs up'. Exsistere in good Latin never has the meaning of our 'exist', i.e. 'to be in existence', but always means 'to come into existence'. — articulos: 'joints'; cf. 51 culmo geniculato. The word tamquam softens the metaphor in articuli, which would properly be used only of the joints in the limbs of animals. — gemma: Cicero took the meaning 'gem' or 'jewel' to be the primary sense of gemma and considered that the application to a bud was metaphorical. See the well-known passages, Orat. 81 and De Or. 3, 155. — vestita pampinis: 'arrayed in the young foliage'. — fructu ... aspectu: ablatives of respect, like gustatu above. — capitum iugatio: 'the linking together of their tops'; i.e. the uniting of the tops of the stakes by cross-stakes. So the editors; but Conington on Verg. Georg. 2, 355 seems to take capita of the top-foliage of the vines, an interpetation which is quite possible. Those editors are certainly wrong who remove the comma after iugatio and place it after religatio, as though et were omitted between the two words. In enumerations of more than two things Cic. either omits the copula altogether or inserts it before each word after the first; but in enumerating two things et cannot be omitted, except where there are several sets or pairs of things. Cf. [n. on 13]. — religatio: i.e. the tying down of shoots so as to cause them to take root in the earth. Religatio seems to occur only here.

P. [23] — aliorum immissio: 'the granting of free scope to others'. Immissio scarcely occurs elsewhere in good Latin. The metaphor is from letting loose the reins in driving; cf. Verg. Georg. 2, 364; Plin. N.H. 16, 141 cupressus immittitur in perticas asseresque amputatione ramorum; Varro, R.R. 1, 31, 1 vitis immittitur ad uvas pariendas. Some, referring to Columella de Arbor, c. 7, take the word to mean the setting in the earth of a shoot in order that it may take root before being separated from the parent stem. The context, however, is against this interpretation. — irrigationes etc.: the plurals denote more prominently than singulars would the repetition of the actions expressed by these words. — repastinationes: 'repeated hoeings'. The pastinum was a kind of pitchfork, used for turning over the ground round about the vines, particularly when the young plants were being put in. — multo terra fecundior: see [n. on 3] parum ... auctoritatis.

[54.] in eo libro: see Introd. — doctus: often used of poets, not only by Cicero but by most other Latin writers, more particularly by the elegiac poets; see also [n. on 13]. — Hesiodus: the oldest Greek poet after Homer. The poem referred to here is the Εργα και ‛Ημεραι which we still possess, along with the Theogony and the Shield of Heracles. — cum: concessive. — saeculis: 'generations', as in [24]. — fuit: = vixit. — Laerten: the passage referred to is no doubt the touching scene in Odyss. 24, 226, where Odysseus, after killing the suitors, finds his unhappy old father toiling in his garden. In that passage nothing is said of manuring. — lenientem: see [n. on 11] dividenti. — colentem etc.: the introduction of another participle to explain lenientem is far from elegant. Cultione agri or something of the kind might have been expected. The collocation of appetentem with occupatum in 56 is no less awkward. — facit: [n. on 3] facimus. — res rusticae laetae sunt: 'the farmer's life is gladdened'. — apium: this form is oftener found in the best MSS., of prose writers at least, than the other form apum, which probably was not used by Cic. — omnium: = omnis generis. — consitiones ... insitiones: 'planting ... grafting'. On the varieties of grafting and the skill required for it see Verg. Georg. 2, 73 seq.

[55.] possum: see [n. on 24]. — ignoscetis: 'you will excuse (me)'. — provectus sum: 'I have been carried away'. Cicero often uses prolabi in the same sense. — in hac ... consumpsit: Cic. probably never, as later writers did, used consumere with a simple ablative. — Curius: see [n. on 15]. — a me: = a mea villa; cf. [n. on 3] apud quem. — admirari satis non possum: a favorite form of expression with Cicero; e.g. De Or. 1, 165. — disciplinam: 'morals'; literally 'teaching'.

[56.] Curio: Plutarch, Cat. 2, says the ambassadors found him cooking a dinner of herbs, and that Curius sent them away with the remark that a man who dined in that way had no need of gold. The present was not brought as a bribe, since the incident took place after the war. Curius had become patronus of the Samnites, and they were bringing the customary offering of clientes; see Rep. 3, 40. — ne: here = num, a rare use; so Fin. 3, 44; Acad. 2, 116. — sed venio ad: so in [51] venio nunc ad. Redeo ad (see [n. on 32]) might have been expected here. — in agris erant: 'lived on their farms'. For erant cf. [n. on 21] sunt. — id est senes: cf. [19] [n.] on senatum. — si quidem: often written as one word siquidem = ειπερ. — aranti: emphatic position. — Cincinnato: L. Quinctius Cincinnatus is said to have been dictator twice; in 458 B.C., when he saved the Roman army, which was surrounded by the Aequians, and ended the war in sixteen days from his appointment; in 439, when Maelius was killed and Cincinnatus was eighty years old. In our passage Cic. seems to assume only one dictatorship. The story of Cincinnatus at the plough is told in Livy 3, 26. — factum: the technical term was dicere dictatorem, since he was nominated by the consul on the advice of the senate. — dictatoris: in apposition with cuius.

P. [24] — Maelium: a rich plebeian, who distributed corn in time of famine and was charged with courting the people in order to make himself a king. Ahala summoned him before the dictator, and because he did not immediately obey, killed him with his own hand. For this, Ahala became one of the heroes of his nation. See Liv. 4, 13. Cicero often mentions him with praise. Cf. in Catil. I. 3; p. Sestio 143, etc. — appetentem: = quia appetebat; so occupatum = cum occupasset. — viatores: literally 'travellers', so 'messengers'. They formed a regularly organized corporation at Rome and were in attendance on many of the magistrates. Those officers who had the fasces had also lictors, who, however, generally remained in close attendance and were not despatched on distant errands. The statement of Cic. in the text is repeated almost verbatim by Plin. N.H. 18, 21. — miserabilis: 'to be pitied'. The word does not quite answer to our 'miserable'. — agri cultione: a rare expression, found elsewhere only in Verr. 3, 226; then not again till the 'Fathers'. — haud scio an nulla: since haud scio an is affirmative in Cicero, not negative as in some later writers, nulla must be read here, not ulla. Cf. 73 haud scio an melius Ennius, 'probably Ennius speaks better'; also [74] incertium an hoc ipso die, 'possibly to-day'. Roby, 2256; G. 459, Rem.; H. 529, II. 3, 20, n. 2. — quam dixi: = de qua dixi, as in [53]. — saturitate: the word is said to occur nowhere else in Latin. — quidam: i.e. the authors of the tertia vituperatio senectutis, whom Cato refutes in [39], [59]. — porco ... gallina: these words are used collectively, as rosa often is; so Fin. 2, 65 potantem in rosa Thorium. — iam: 'further'. — succidiam alteram: 'a second meat-supply'. The word seems to be connected with caedo, and probably originally meant 'slaughter'. In a fragment of Cato preserved by Gellius 13, 24, 12 (in some editions 13, 25, 12) we find succidias humanas facere. Varro, R.R. 2, 14 has the word in the sense of 'meat'. — conditiora facit: 'adds a zest to'; cf. condita in [10]. — supervacaneis operis: 'by the use of spare time'; literally 'by means of toils that are left over', i.e. after completing the ordinary work of the farm.

[57.] ordinibus: cf. [59] ordines. — brevi praecidam: 'I will cut the matter short', for praecidam (sc. rem or sermonem) cf. Acad. 2, 133 praecide (sc. sermonem); for brevi (= 'in brief', εν βραχει) cf. De Or. 1, 34 ne plura consecter comprehendam brevi. — usu uberius: cf. 53 fructu laetius ... aspectu pulchrius. — ad quem ... retardat: some have thought that there is zeugma here, supposing ad to be suited only to invitat, not to retardat. That this is not the case is clear from such passages as Caes. B.G. 7, 26, 2 palus Romanos ad insequendum tardabat (= tardos faciebat); Cic. Sull. 49 nullius amicitia ad pericula propulsanda impedimur. On fruendum see Madvig, 421, a, Obs. 2 and 265, Obs. 2; G. 428, Rem. 3, exc.; H. 544, 2, n. 5. — invitat atque allectat: one of the 'doublets' of which Cicero is so fond; cf. Lael. 99 allectant et invitant.

[58.] sibi habeant: sc. iuvenes; contemptuous, as in Lael. 18 sibi habeant sapientiae nomen Sull. 26 sibi haberent honores, sibi imperia etc.; cf. the formula of Roman divorce, tu tuas res tibi habeto. — hastas: in practising, the point was covered by a button, pila; cf. Liv. 26, 51 praepilatis missilibus iaculati sunt. — clavam: cf. Vegetius de Re Mil. 1, 11 clavas ligneas pro gladiis tironibus dabant, eoque modo exercebantur ad palos; Iuv. 6, 246. The palus is called stipes by Martial 7, 32. — pilam ... venationes ... cursus: all national amusements, well known to readers of Horace; see Becker's Gallus. Venationes, em. for nataliones. — talos ... tesseras: tali, 'knucklebones', were oblong, and rounded at the two ends; the sides were numbered 1 and 6 (1 being opposite to 6), 3 and 4. Four tali were used at a time and they, like the tesserae, were generally thrown from a box, fritillus. The tesserae, of which three were used at a time, were cubes, with the sides numbered from 1 to 6 in such a way that the numbers on two opposite sides taken together always made 7. A separate name was used by dicers for almost every possible throw of the tesserae and tali. The two best known are canis, when all the dice turned up with the same number uppermost; and venus, when they all showed different numbers. The word alea was general and applicable to games of chance of every kind. These games, which were forbidden by many ineffectual laws ('vetita legibus alea') were held to be permissible for old men; see Mayor on Iuv. 14, 4. — id ipsum: sc. faciunt; the omission of facere is not uncommon. Roby, 1441; H. 368, 3, n. 1. — ut: em. for ordinary readings unum and utrum.

[59.] legite: 'continue to read'. Cf. De Or. 1, 34 pergite, ut facitis, adulescentes. In Tusc. 2, 62 it is stated that Africanus was a great reader of Xenophon.

P. [25] — libro qui est de: so in Fat. 1 libris qui sunt de natura deorum, and similarly elsewhere; but the periphrasis is often avoided, as in Off. 2, 16 Dicaearchi liber de interitu hominum. — qui: quique might have been expected, but the words above, qui ... familiari, are regarded as parenthetical. — Oeconomicus: Cicero translates from this work c. 4, 20-25. — inscribitur: see [n. on 13]. — regale: 'worthy of a king'; different from regium, which would mean 'actually characteristic of kings'. Yet Cic. sometimes interchanges the words; thus regalis potestas in Har. Resp. 54 is the same as regia potestas in Phil. 1, 3. — loquitur cum Critobulo etc.: 'discourses with Critobulus of how Cyrus etc.'. The construction of loqui with acc. and inf. belongs to colloquial Latin, as does the construction loqui aliquam rem for de aliqua re; cf. Att. 1, 5, 6 mecum Tadius locutus est te ita scripsisse; ib. 9, 13, 1 mera scelera loquuntur. — Cyrum minorem: Cyrus the younger (cf. [79] Cyrus maior), well known from Xenophon's Anabasis. As Cyrus never arrived at the throne (having been killed at Cunaxa in 401 in his attempt to oust his brother the king with the help of the 10,000 Greeks) regem is used in the sense of 'prince', as in Verr. 4, 61 and elsewhere; βασιλευς is used in exactly the same way in a passage of the Oeconomicus which comes a little before the one Cic. is here rendering (4, 16). — Lysander: the great commander who in 405 B.C. won the battle of Aegospotamos against the Athenians. — Sardis: acc. pl.; -is represents Gk. -εις. — consaeptum agrum: 'park'; the phrase is a translation of Xenophon's παραδεισον; this will account for the omission of et before diligenter consitum. — diligenter: 'carefully'. — proceritates: the plural probably indicates the height of each kind of tree. — quincuncem: thus :·:·:·:·:·:·: This was the order of battle in the Roman army during a great part of its history. The cause for this application of the term is rather difficult to see; it originally meant five-twelfths of an uncia; possibly it was thus applied because by drawing lines between the points the letter V (five) might be produced. As regards its application to trees, see Verg. Georg. 2, 277-284. — puram: so the farmers talk of 'cleaning' the land. — dimensa: notice the passive use of this participle, originally deponent; cf. [n. on 4] adeptam. — discripta: 'arranged'; so discriptio a little farther on. Cf. [n. on 5] descriptae. — ornatum: 'costume', used by Latin writers of any dress a little unfamiliar. So in Plaut. Miles 4, 4, 41 (1177 R) ornatus nauclericus.

[60.] impedit: sc. nos; with this construction the pronoun is always omitted. — Valerium: when a young man, in 349 B.C., he engaged in combat with a Gaul, in sight of the Roman and Gallic armies, and came off victor by the aid of a raven, corvus; hence the name Corvinus (Liv. 7, 26). His first consulship was in 348, his last in 299; Cic. has miscalculated. Valerius was also twice dictator and is said to have held altogether 21 terms of curule offices. — perduxisse: sc. agri colendi studia. Cf. Lael. 33 quod — perduxissent. — esset: cf. [n. on 21]. — aetate: here = the vigorous period of life; cf. bona aetas in [48]. — cursus honorum: 'official career'. — huius: ille and hic are not often found in the same sentence referring to the same person. Eius would have been more regular here. — media: cf. [n. on 33] constantis aetatis.

P. [26] — apex: 'the crown', 'the highest glory'. The word meant originally 'knot', being connected with ap-tus ap-isci ap-ere and other words containing the idea of binding fast or grasping. It was properly applied to the olive-twig bound round with wool, which was stuck in the cap worn by the flamines and salii. It is sometimes employed to translate διαδημα (a word originally of similar meaning), the royal insigne, as in Horace, Odes, 3, 21, 20 regum apices, with which cf. Odes, 1, 34, 14. The word is scarcely found elsewhere in a metaphorical sense. Our passage is imitated by Ammianus Marcellinus (a great imitator of Cicero) 27, 7, 2 Rufinus velut apicem honoratae senectutis praetendens.

[61.] Metello: see [n. on 30]. — A. Atilio Calatino: consul in 258 B.C. and again in 254; dictator in 249, censor in 247. Cicero classed him with old heroes like Curius and Fabricius (Planc. 60). His tomb was on the via Appia outside the Porta Capena, close to the well-known tomb of the Scipios (see Tusc. 1, 13). — in quem ... elogium: 'in whose honor there is the inscription'. With in quem = de quo cf. the occasional occurrence of κατα τινος in the sense of περι τινος. — elogium: Greek ελεγειον (so Curtius): for the representation of ε by o cf. oliva with ελαια, and Plautus' lopadas for λεπαδας. But cf. Roby, 929, d. — hunc etc.: the inscription (which is quoted by Cicero also in Fin. 2, 116) is strikingly like that on the tomb of Scipio Barbatus which has actually come down to us, and thus begins (Ritschl's recension):

honc oino ploirime cosentiont Romai

duonoro optumo fuise viro viroro

i.e. hunc unum plurimi consentiunt Romae bonorum optimum fuisse virum virorum. Ritschl thus completes the elogium of Atilus, by comparison with others still preserved: dictator (ending the second line), Consul, censor, aedilis hic fuit apud vos. But Cicero's words (nolum ... sepulcro) seem to imply a longer inscription than one of three lines; the analogy of the Scipionic inscriptions points the same way. The older monumental inscriptions of Rome were written in the Saturnian metre, which depended partly on accent. The normal line ran thus:

but there were many deviations. — unum: intensifies primarium, 'the very first'; cf. the common use of unus with a superlative adjective, for which see n. on Lael. 1 unum etc. — esset consentiens: cf. [n. on 26] agens aliquid. — nuper: like modo (see [n. on 27]) nuper is loosely used, and has its meaning defined by the context. Cf. n. on Lael. 13. In Plin. Ep. 1, 2, 2 the orator Calvus, a younger contemporary of Cicero, is said to have existed nuper. — Lepidum: pontifex maximus from 180 B.C., consul in 187 and in 175; censor in 179; he is said to have been chosen princeps senatus by six sets of censors in succession. He died in 152. — Paulo: see [29] L. Aemilius with [n.] — Maximo: see [10] et seq. — sententia: i.e. a set speech in the senate. Cf. De Or. 1, 38 is non accurata orationis copia, sed nutu atque verbo libertinos in urbanas tribus transtulit. — honorata: see [n. on 22].

[62.] in omni oratione: 'everywhere throughout my speech'. Tota oratione would have meant 'my speech viewed as a whole'. — defenderet: the tense is accommodated to that of dixi, according to Latin custom; see [n. on 42] efficeret. — cani: sc. capilli; the same ellipsis is found in Ovid. Cf. calda (sc. aqua), laurea (sc. corona), natalis (sc. dies), Latinae (sc. feriae), etc.; also cereo in [44]. — fructus ... extremos: 'receives the reward of influence at the last'.

[63.] appeti: 'to be courted'; decedi: 'to take precedence', literally 'that there should be a yielding of the way'. — assurgi: 'the honor shown by rising'. Cf. Iuv. 13, 54 credebant grande nefas et morte piandum si iuvenis vetulo non assurrexerat, where see Mayor's note. — deduci reduci: 'the escort from home and the attendance homeward'. The difference between these two words, which has often been misunderstood, is shown by Val. Max. 2, 1, 9 iuvenes senatus die utique aliquem ex patribus conscriptis ad curiam deducebant, affixique valvis exspectabant donec reducendi etiam officio fungerentur. — consuli: probably refers to private legal consultations as well as to the deliberations of the senate. — ut quaeque optime: Cic. often uses ut quisque with superlatives, ita following; see n. on Lael. 19. Translate ut ... ita 'in proportion as ... so'. — morata: from mos. — modo: in [59]. — memoriae proditum est: in Verr. 5, 36 Cic. uses ad memoriam instead of the dative. The best writers have memoriae prodere and prodi, 'for the recollection of posterity', memoria prodi, 'to be handed down by tradition'; but not memoria prodere. — ludis: sc. Panathenaicis, abl. of time. The Panathenaea was the greatest of the Athenian festivals and was celebrated in honor of Athene, patron goddess of the city, once in four years. The story that follows is told in almost the same words by Val. Max. 4, 5, ext. 2.

P. [27] — qui: at this point the oratio obliqua is broken off, but it is resumed in the next sentence, dixisse being dependent on proditum est. — legati cum essent: 'being ambassadors'. — illi: 'in his honor'. — sessum recepisse: Val. Max. uses the same phrase; cf. Fam. 10, 32, 2 sessum deducere; N.D. 3, 74 sessum ire.

[64.] plausus multiplex: cf. Verg. Aen. 1, 747 ingeminant plausu. Cic. generally says plausus maximus. — facere nolle: cf. the well-known saying of Demosthenes, Olynth. 3, § 3 πεπεισμαι γαρ τα πλειω των πραγματων ‛υμας εκπεφευγεναι τωι μη βουλεσθαι τα δεοντα ποιειν, η τωι μη συνιεναι. — collegio: the college or board of augurs to which Cato belonged. In his time there were nine members; later the number was increased. — antecedit: sc. alios. — sententiae principatum: 'precedence in debate'. Meissner quotes Verr. 4, 142 ut quisque aetate et honore antecedit, ita primus solet sua sponte dicere itaque a ceteris ei conceditur. — honore: i.e. as regards office, past or present. — qui ... sunt: actual praetors or consuls. — comparandae: [n. on 50]. — fabulam aetatis: cf. [5], [70], [85]. The comparison of life to a play, and mankind to the players, is common in all literature; e.g. 'All the world's a stage, etc.'. When Augustus was on his deathbed he asked his friends ecquid eis videretur mimum vitae commode transegisse (Suet. Aug. 99); cf. Gay's epitaph, 'Life's a jest, etc.'. — corruisse: i.e. through fatigue; cf. defetigationem in [85].

[65.] at: see [n. on 21]. — morum: cf. [7] in moribus est culpa, non in aetate. — ea vitia: i.e. ea alia vitia. — habent etc.: cf. Thucyd. 3, 44 εχοντες τι συγγνωμης. — non ... videatur: 'not well grounded indeed, but such as it may seem possible to allow'. Ille is often used with quidem in making concessions where the English idiom requires no pronoun. Roby, 2259; Madvig, 489, b; Kennedy, 65, n. 2; A. 151, e; G. 292, Rem. 4; H. 450, 4, n. 2. — contemni ... despici: see [n. on 43] spreta et contempta. — moribus bonis et artibus: for the order of the words cf. [n. on 1] animi tui. — in vita: 'in everyday life.' — Adelphis: Adelphi = αδελφοι, The Brothers; this play of Terence is still extant. — diritas: 'harshness of temper'; but Suet. Tib. 21 has diritas morum, and Varro scena quem senem Latina vidit dirissimum. Both dirus and diritas are rare in Cicero; the former word does not once occur in the whole range of the speeches, the latter scarcely excepting here and in Vat. 9; in Tusc. 3, 29 Cic. uses it in translating from Euripides.

P. [28] - [66.] sollicitam habere: 'to keep in trouble'. Sollicitus is, literally, 'wholly in motion', from sollus, which has the same root with ‛ολος, and citus; cf. the rare words sollifides, solliferreus. The perfect participle with habeo emphasizes the continuance of the effect produced. Zumpt, 634; A. 292, c; G. 230; H. 388, 1, n. — nostram aetatem: cf. [n. on 26] senectus. — esse longe: more usually abesse. — O miserum: 'O, wretched is that old man'. Cicero oftener joins O with the accusative than with the nominative: he rarely, if ever, uses the interjection with the vocative in direct address to persons. — extinguit animum: the doctrine of the annihilation of the soul after death was held by many of Cicero's contemporaries, professedly by the Epicureans (e.g. Lucretius, De Rerum Nat. 3, 417 et seq.; cf. also Caesar's argument at the trial of the Catilinian conspirators, Sall. Bell. Catil. c. 51, Cic. in Catil. 3, c. 4), practically by the Stoics, who taught that there is a future existence of limited though indefinite length. — deducit: cf. [n. on 63]. — atqui: see [n. on 6]. — tertium ... potest: 'nothing can be found as a third alternative': so in Tusc. 1, 82 quoniam nihil tertium est.

[67.] quid timeam etc.: so Tusc. 1, 25 quo modo igitur aut cur mortem malum tibi videri dicis? quae aut beatas nos efficiet, animis manentibus, aut non miseros, sensu carentis; ib. 1, 118 ut aut in aeternam domum remigremus aut omni sensu careamus. For mood see A. 268; G. 251; H 486, II. — aut non miser ... aut beatus: a dilemma, but unsound and not conclusive; for non miser is used with reference to annihilation, and the soul may exist after death in a state of unhappiness. — futurus sum: see [n. on 6] futurum est. — quamvis sit: prose writers of the Republican period use quamvis with the subjunctive only; see Roby, 1624, 1627; A. 313,a, g; G. 608; H. 515, III. and n. 3. — cui: see [n. on 38] viventi. — ad vesperum esse victurum: 'that he will be alive when evening comes', not 'that he will live till the evening'. With the prepositions ad, sub, in the form vesper is generally used, not vespera. With this passage cf. Fin. 2, 92 an id exploratum cuiquam potest esse quo modo sese habiturum sit corpus. non dico ad annum, sed ad vesperum? Also cf. the title of one of Varro's Menippean Satires, nescis quid vesper serus vehat, probably a proverb. — aetas illa ... adulescentes: some suppose that this sentence was borrowed from Hippocrates. — tristius: 'severioribus remediis'. Manutius. So Off. 1, 83 leviter aegrotantis leniter curant, gravioribus autem morbis periculosas curationes et ancipites adhibere coguntur. The adverb tristius, which has in prose a superlative but no positive, occurs in Fam. 4, 13, 5. — mens ... ratio ... consilium: cf. [n. on 41]. — qui ... nulli: cf. [n. on 46] qui pauci; but nulli here almost = non. — nullae ... fuissent: i.e. the young men would have brought every country to ruin; see 20. — cum ... cum: see [n. on 4].

[68.] in filio ... in fratribus: cf. Lael. 9. As to Cato's son cf. 15, 84. — tu: sc. sensisti. — exspectatis ad: a rare construction, perhaps without parallel; exspectatis is an adjective and takes the construction of aptus, idoneus etc., 'of whom hopes were entertained as regards honor'. — fratribus: the sons of Paulus Macedonicus, two of them died within seven days (Fam. 4, 6, 1), one just before and one just after Paulus' great triumph in 167 B.C. — idem: see [n. on 4] eandem. — insipienter: adversative asyndeton. — incerta ... veris: chiasmus avoided. With the thought cf. Off. 1, 18. — at ... at: the objection and its answer are both introduced by at, as here, in [35]. — at ... adulescens: these words look back to the preceding sentence, to which they are an answer. — ille ... hic: here hic denotes the person who is more important, ille the person who is less important for the matter in hand; the former may therefore be regarded as nearer to the speaker, the latter as more remote. A. 102, a; G. 292, Rem. 1; H. 450, 2, n.

[69.] quamquam: see [n. on 2] etsi. — quid est ... diu: cf. Tusc. 1, 94 quae vero aetas longa est, aut quid omnino homini longum? ... quia ultra nihil habemus, hoc longum dicimus. For est see [n. on 72]. — Tartessiorum ... Gadibus: the whole of the south coast of Spain bore the name Tartessus, but the name is often confined to Gades, the chief city. — fuit: = vixit. — scriptum video: so in Acad. 2, 129; Div. 1, 31; cf. also N.D. 1, 72 ut videmus in scriptis; Off. 2, 25 ut scriptum legimus; also cf. [n. on 26] videmus. — Arganthonius: the story is from Herodotus 1, 163.

P. [29] — aliquid extremum: see [n. on 5]; cf. pro Marcello 27 — effluxit: strongly aoristic in sense 'at once is gone'. — tantum: — 'only so much'. — consecutus sis: 'you may have obtained'. The subjunctive is here used in the indefinite second person to give a hypothetical character to the statement of the verb. The indicative might have been expected; the expression almost = consecuti sumus, consecutus aliquis est. Roby, 1546; G. 252, Rem. 3; H. 486, III. — virtute et recte factis: the same opinion is enforced in Tusc. 1, 109. — quid sequatur: 'the future'; cf. Lucr. 1, 459 transactum quid sit in aevo, Tum quae res instet, quid porro deinde sequatur. — quod ... contentus: this passage with the whole context resembles Lucretius 3, 931-977; cf. especially 938 cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis; 960 satur ac plenus discedere rerum. Cf. also Hor. Sat. 1, 1, 117-118.

[70.] ut placeat: 'in order to secure approval'. — peragenda: cf. [n. on 50] comparandae. — plaudite: the Latin plays nearly always ended with this word, addressed by the actor to the audience; cf. Hor. A.P. 153 si plausoris eges aulaea manentis et usque Sessuri donec cantor 'vos plaudite' dicat. — breve tempus etc.: one of the poets has said that 'in small measures lives may perfect be'. Cf. also Tusc. 1, 109 nemo parum diu vixit qui virtutis perfectae perfecto functus est munere; Seneca, Ep. 77 quo modo fabula, sic vita: non quam diu, sed quam bene acta sit refert. — processerit: probably the subject is sapiens, in which case aetate must also be supplied from aetatis; the subject may however be aetas. — ostendit: 'gives promise of'; cf. Fam. 9, 8, 1 etsi munus (gladiatorial show) flagitare quamvis quis ostenderit, ne populus quidem solet nisi concitatus. With the whole passage cf. pro Cael. 76.

[71.] ut ... dixi: in [9], [60], [62]. — secundum naturam: = κατα φυσιν a Stoic phrase; cf. [n. on 5] naturam optimam ducem. — senibus: dative of reference; emori stands as subject to an implied est. — contingit: see [n. on 8]. — exstinguitur: there is the same contrast between opprimere and exstinguere in Lael. 78. — quasi ... evelluntur: it is rare to find in Cic. or the other prose writers of the best period a verb in the indicative mood immediately dependent on quasi, in the sense of sicut or quem ad modum. When two things are compared by quasi ... ita, the indicative verb is nearly always put in the second clause, and may be supplied in the clause with quasi; very rarely are there two different verbs for the two clauses. Cf. however Plautus, Stich. 539 fuit olim, quasi nunc ego sum senex; Lucr. 3, 492 agens animam spumat quasi ... fervescunt undae. — si ... si: for the more usual si ... sin. — accedam: see A. 342; G. 666; H. 529, II. — in portum: speaking of death, Cic. says in Tusc. 1, 118 portum potius paratum nobis et perfugium putemus: quo utinam velis passis pervehi liceat! Sin reflantibus ventis reiciemur tamen eodem paulo tardius referamur necesse est; cf. also ib. 1, 107.

P. [30] — [72.] munus offici: see [n. on 29]. — tueri: 'uphold'. — possit: subject indefinite. — ex quo fit etc.: the argument seems to be that youth knows how long it has to last and is therefore less spirited than age, which knows not when it will end. — animosior ... fortior: Horace, Odes 2, 10, 21 rebus angustis animosus atque fortis appare; the two words are joined also in Cic. Mil. 92: animosus, 'spirited'. — hoc illud est etc.: 'this is the meaning of the answer made by Solon etc'. Cf. Div. 1, 122 hoc nimirum illud est quod de Socrate accepimus, also the Greek phrase ‛η τουτ' εκεινο. Est = valet as in 69. — Pisistratus: the despot of Athens, who seized the power in 560 B.C. Plutarch, who tells the story, 'An Seni Sit Gerenda Respublica' c. 21, makes Solon speak to the friends of Pisistratus, not to P. himself. — quaerenti: see [n. on 11] dividenti. — audaciter: Quintil. 1, 6, 17 condemns those who used audaciter for audacter, which latter form, he says, had been used by 'all orators'. Yet the form audaciter is pretty well attested by MSS. here and elsewhere in Cicero. [See Neue, Formenlehre, 1² 662.] For the two forms cf. difficiliter, difficulter. Audaciter is of importance as showing that c before i must have been pronounced just like c in any other position, not as in modern Italian. — certis sensibus: Acad. 2, 19 integris incorruptisque sensibus. — ipsa ... quae: see [n. on 26]. H. 569, I. 2 — coagmentavit: Cic. is fond of such metaphors; cf. Orat. 77 verba verbis quasi coagmentari; Phil. 7, 21 docebo ne coagmentari quidem pacem posse ('that no patched-up peace can be made'). — conglutinavit: a still more favorite metaphor than coagmentare. Cic. has conglutinare rem (Or. 1, 188); amicitias (Lael. 32 and Att. 7, 8, 1); voluntates (Fam. 11, 27, 2); concordiam. (Att. 1, 17, 10); in Phil. 3, 28 Cic. says of Antony that he is totus ex vitiis conglutinatus. — iam: 'further', so below. — conglutinatio: the noun occurs only here and Orat. 78 c. verborum. — reliquum: not infrequently, as here, used substantively with an adjective modifier. — sine causa: 'without sufficient reason'.

[73.] vetat Pythagoras etc.: the passage is from Plato, Phaedo 61 A-62 C. Plato makes Socrates there profess to quote Philolaus, the Pythagorean; Cic. therefore refers the doctrine to Pythagoras Cf. Tusc. 1, 74; Rep. 6, 15. The Stoics held the same view about suicide, which they authorized in extreme cases, but much less freely than is commonly supposed; cf. Sen. Ep. 117, 22 nihil mihi videtur turpius quam optare mortem. See Zeller, Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics, Ch. 12, C (2); cf. also Lecky, Hist. of European Morals, I. p. 228 et seq. (Am. ed.) — imperatoris ... praesidio: here Cic. seems to understand Plato's φρουραι as referring to warfare; in Tusc. and Rep. he understands it of a prison. — sapientis: Solon was one of the 'Seven Sages of Greece'. — elogium: the distich is preserved by Plutarch, and runs thus: μηδε μοι ακλαυστος θανατος μολοι, αλλα φιλοισι Καλλειποιμι θανων αλγεα και στοναχας. Cic. thus translates it in Tusc. 1, 117 Mors mea ne careat lacrimis, linquamus amicis Maerorem, ut celebrent funera cum gemitu. The epitaph of Ennius is also quoted there and is declared to be better than that of Solon (cf. Tusc. 1, 34). — volt se esse carum: 'he wishes to make out that he is beloved'; volt esse carus would have had quite a different sense. Cf. Fin. 5, 13 Strato physicum se volt, with Madvig's n. — haud scio an: see [n. on 56]. — faxit: the subject is quisquam understood from nemo. For the form see A. 142, 128, e, 3; G. 191, 5; H. 240, 4. The end of the epitaph is omitted here as in Tusc. 1, 117, but is given in Tusc. 1, 34 cur? volito vivas per ora virum. Notice the alliteration.

[74.] isque: cf. [n. on 13] vixitque. — aut optandus aut nullus: cf. [66] aut neglegenda ... aut optanda; nullus almost = non as in [67], but only in the Letters does Cic. (imitating Plautus and the other dramatists) attach nullus in this sense to the name of a particular person; e.g. Att. 11, 24, 4 Philotimus nullus venit. — sed ... esse: 'but we must con this lesson from our youth up'. For the passive sense of meditatum cf. [n. on 4] adeptam. In Tusc. 1, 74 Cic., imitating Plato, says tota philosophorum vita commentatio mortis est. So Seneca, tota vita discendum est mori. — sine qua ... nemo potest: these words bring the position of Cicero with regard to death wonderfully near that of Lucretius: the latter argues that for peace of mind one must believe 'nullum esse sensum post mortem'; the former's lesson is 'aut nullum esse sensum aut optandum'. — timens: = si quis timet; the subject of poterit is the indefinite quis involved in timens. A. 310, a; G. 670; H. 549, 2. — qui: = quo modo, as in [4]. — animo consistere: so in pro Quint. 77; also mente consistere in Phil. 2, 68; Div. 2, 149; Q. Fr. 2, 3, 2 neque mente neque lingua neque ore consistere. The word is, literally, 'to stand firm', 'to get a firm foothold'.

P. [31] — [75.] L. Brutum: fell in single combat with Aruns, son of the exiled Tarquin; see Liv. 2, 6. The accusatives Brutum etc. are not the objects of recorder but the subjects of infinitives to be supplied from profectas. — duos Decios: see [n. on 43]. — cursum equorum: the word equos would have been sufficient; but this kind of pleonasm is common in Latin; see n. on Lael. 30 causae diligendi. — Atilius: i.e. Regulus, whose story is too well known to need recounting. There are many contradictions and improbabilities about it. — Scipiones: see [n. on 29]. In Paradoxa 1, 12 Cic. says of them Carthaginiensium adventum corporibus suis intercludendum putaverunt. — Poenis: on the dat. see A. 235, a; H. 384, 4, n. 2. — Paulum: [n. on 29] L. Aemilius. — collegae: M. Terentius Varro. There is no reason to suppose that he was a worse general than many other Romans who met Hannibal and were beaten; the early historians, being all aristocrats, fixed the disgrace of Cannae on the democratic consul. Varro's contemporaries were more just to him. Far from reproaching him, the Senate commended his spirit, and several times afterwards entrusted him with important business. — Marcellum: the captor of Syracuse in 212 B.C. He fell into an ambush in 208 and was killed; Hannibal buried him with military honors. — cuius interitum: abstract for concrete = quem, post interitum. — crudelissimus hostis: this, the traditional Roman view of Hannibal, is the reverse of the truth, so far as extant testimony goes. See Mommsen, Hist. of Rome, Bk. III. Ch. 4; Ihne, Hist. of Rome, Bk. IV. — sed ... arbitrarentur: these words are almost exactly repeated in Tusc. 1, 89 and 101. — rustici: cf. Arch. 24 nostri illi fortes viri sed rustici ac milites; also above, 24.

[76.] omnino: see [n. on 9]. — num igitur etc.: cf. [33] nisi forte et seq. — constans: cf. [n. on 33]. — ne ... quidem: see [n. on 27]. — satietas vitae: cf. [85] senectus autem et seq., and satietas vivendi in pro Marc. 27; also Tusc. 1, 109 vita acta perficiat ut satis superque vixisse videamur.

[77.] cernere: of the mind also in [82]. With the context cf. Div. 1, 63 animus appropinquante morte multo est divinior; facilius evenit appropinquante morte ut animi futura augurentur. — vestros patres: [n. on 15]. The elder Laelius was prominent both as general and as statesman. He commanded the fleet which co-operated with Scipio Africanus in Spain and afterwards served with honor in Africa. He was an intimate friend of Cato. See Liv. 26, 42 et seq. — tuque: so in Lael. 100 C. Fanni et tu, Q. Muci; but above, [4] and [9] simply Scipio et Laeli. — quae est sola vita: cf. [n.] on vitam nullam in [7]. — nam dum sumus etc.: the whole of this doctrine is Platonic; cf. Lael. 13. — munere necessitatis et ... opere: 'function and task allotted as by fate'.

P. [32] — immortalis: Cicero rarely mentions the gods without this epithet. — sparsisse: Horace calls the soul divinae particulam aurae. — tuerentur: rule, or guard, or care for. Most editors wrongly take tuerentur to be for intuerentur, 'to look upon', and regard it as an intentional archaism. But cf. Rep. 6, 15 (where no archaism can be intended): homines sunt hac lege generati, qui tuerentur illum globum quae terra vocatur; also tuentur below in [82]. — contemplantes imitarentur: perhaps more Stoic than Platonic; the Stoics laid great stress on the ethical value of a contemplation and imitation of the order of the universe. Cf. N.D. 2, 37 ipse homo ortus est ad mundum contemplandum et imitandum; Sen. Dial. 8, 5, 1 Natura nos ad utrumque genuit, et contemplationi rerum et actioni. — modo: here modus seems to be the Platonic το μετριον, or perhaps a reminiscence of the Aristotelian doctrine of the mean ([n. on 46]). Translate 'in moderation and consistency of life'; and cf. Off. 1, 93 rerum modus 'moderation in all things'. For constantia see [n. on 4]. — ita: cf. [n. on 16] et tamen sic.

[78.] Pythagoran: see n. to 23. No ancient philosopher held more firmiy than Pythagoras to belief in the immortality of the soul; it formed a part of his doctrine of Metempsychosis. He was also noted for his numerical speculations in Astronomy and Music. With him is said to have originated the doctrine of the 'harmony of the spheres'. — qui essent: 'inasmuch as they were'. Cicero often tries to make out a connection between Pythagoras and the early Romans; cf. Tusc. 4, 2; also Liv. 1, 18. — ex universa mente: the world-soul. Diog. Laert 8 gives as Pythagorean the doctrine ψυχην ειναι αποσπασμα του αιθερος και αθανατον. Similar doctrines occur in Plato and the Stoics; cf. Div. 1, 110 a qua (i.e. a natura deorum) ut doctissimis sapientissimisque placuit, haustos animos et libatos habemus; Tusc. 5, 38 humanus animus decerptus ex mente divina; Sen. Dial. 12, 6, 7. — haberemus: imperfect where the English requires the present. A. 287, d; H. 495, V. — Socrates: in Plato's Phaedo. — immortalitate animorum: this is commoner than immortalitas animi, for 'the immortality of the soul'; so Lael. 14; Tusc. 1, 80 aeternitas animorum. — disseruisset: subjunctive because involving the statements of some other person than the speaker. A. 341, c; G. 630; H. 528, 1. — is qui esset etc.: 'a man great enough to have been declared wisest'. See n. on Lael. 7 Apollinis ... iudicatum. — sic: cf. ita above. — celeritas animorum: the ancients pictured to themselves the mind as a substance capable of exceedingly rapid movement; cf. Tusc. 1, 43 nulla est celeritas quae possit cum animi celeritate contendere. — tantae scientiae: as the plural of scientia is almost unknown in classical Latin, recent editors take scientiae here as genitive, 'so many arts requiring so much knowledge'. In favor of this interpretation are such passages as Acad. 2, 146 artem sine scientia esse non posse; Fin. 5, 26 ut omnes artes in aliqua scientia versentur. Yet in De Or. 1, 61 physica ista et mathematica et quae paulo ante ceterarum artium propria posuisti, scientiae sunt eorum qui illa profitentur it is very awkward to take scientiae as genitive. — cumque semper etc.: this argument is copied very closely from Plato's Phaedrus, 245 C. — principium motus: αρχη κινησεως in Plato. — se ipse: cf. [n. on 4] a se ipsi. — cum simplex etc: from Plato's Phaedo, 78-80. The general drift of the argument is this: material things decay because they are compounded of parts that fall asunder; there is nothing to show that the soul is so compounded; therefore no reason to believe that it will so decay. Notice the imperfects esset ... haberet ... posset accommodated to the tense of persuasi above, although the other subjunctives in the sentence are not; cf. [n. on 42] efficeret. — neque ... dissimile: in modern phraseology the whole of this clause would be briefly expressed thus, — 'and was homogeneous'. — posset: quod si ='whereas if', the subject of posset being animus, and dividi being understood. — magno argumento: ‛ικανον τεκμηριον in Pl. Phaed. 72 A. Belief in the immortality of the soul naturally follows the acceptance of the doctrine of pre-existence. — homines scire etc.: See Plato, Phaedo, 72 E-73 B. The notion that the souls of men existed before the bodies with which they are connected has been held in all ages and has often found expression in literature. The English poets have not infrequently alluded to it. See Wordsworth's Ode on the Intimations of Immortality from the Recollections of Early Childhood, 'Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting' etc.; also, in Tennyson's Two Voices the passage beginning, —

'Yet how should I for certain hold,

Because my memory is so cold,

That I first was in human mould?'

reminisci et recordari: a double translation of Plato's αναμιμνησκεσθαι, quite in Cicero's fashion; the former word implies a momentary act, the latter one of some duration. — haec Platonis fere: 'so far Plato'.

[79.] apud Xenophontem: Cyropaedia, 8, 7, 17; for apud cf. [30]; when Cic. says that a passage is 'in' a certain author (not naming the book) he uses apud, not in. — maior: 'the elder'; cf. [59] Cyrum minorem. — nolite arbitrari: a common periphrasis. A. 269, a, 2; G. 264, II.; H. 489, I. — dum eram: the imperfect with dum is not common; see Roby, 1458, c; A. 276, e, n.; G. 572, 571; H. 519, I., 467, 4 with n.

P. [33] — [80.] nec ... teneremus: the souls of the dead continue to exert an influence on the living, or else their fame would not remain; a weak argument. — mihi ... potuit: cf. [82] nemo ... persuadebit. — vivere ... emori: adversative asyndeton. — insipientem: in Xen. αφρων, i.e. without power of thinking. — sed: 'but rather that ...'. — hominis natura: a periphrasis for homo; cf. Fin. 5, 33 intellegant, si quando naturam hominis dicam, hominem dicere me; nihil enim hoc differt. — nihil ... somnum: poets and artists from Homer (Il. 16, 682) onwards have pictured death as sleep's brother. Cf. Lessing, How the Ancients Represented Death.

[81.] atqui: see [n. on 6]. — dormientium animi etc.: see Div. 1, 60 where a passage of similar import is translated from Plato's Republic IX; ib. 115. — remissi et liberi: cf. Div. 1, 113 animus solutus ac vacuus; De Or. 2, 193 animo leni ac remisso. — corporis: the singular, though animi precedes; so in Lael. 13; Tusc. 2, 12, etc. — pulchritudinem: κοσμον; Cic. translates it by ornatus in Acad. 2, 119 where hic ornatus corresponds to hic mundus a little earlier. — tuentur: see [n. on 77] tuerentur. — servabitis: future for imperative. A. 269, f; G. 265, 1; H. 487, 4.

[82.] Cyrus etc.: see [n. on 78]. — si placet: cf. [n. on 6] nisi molestum est. — nostra: = Romana = domestica in 12. — nemo etc.: this line of argument is often repeated in Cic.; see Tusc. 1, 32 et seq.; Arch. 29. — duos avos ... patruum: see [nn. on 29]. — multos: sc. alios. — esse conatos: loosely put for fuisse conaturos, as below, suscepturum fuisse. So in the direct narration we might have, though exceptionally, non conabantur nisi cernerent for non conati essent nisi vidissent. — cernerent: see [n. on 13] quaereretur. — ut ... glorier: in Arch. 30 Cic. makes the same reflections in almost the same words about his own achievements. — aliquid: see [n. on 1] quid.

P. [34] — si isdem etc.: cf. Arch. 29 si nihil animus praesentiret ... dimicaret. — aetatem: = vitam. — traducere: cf. Tusc. 3, 25 volumus hoc quod datum est vitae tranquille placideque traducere. — nescio quo modo: A. 210, f, Rem.; G. 469, Rem. 2; H. 529, 5, 3). — erigens se: Acad. 2, 127 erigimur, elatiores fieri videmur. — haud ... niteretur: in Cicero's speeches haud scarcely occurs except before adverbs and the verb scio; in the philosophical writings and in the Letters before many other verbs. — immortalitatis gloriam: so Balb. 16 sempiterni nominis gloriam. Cf. also Arch. 26 trahimur omnes studio laudis et optimus quisque maxime gloria ducitur.

[83.] non videre: either non videre or non item was to be expected, as Cicero does not often end sentences or clauses with non. — colui et dilexi: so [26] coluntur et diliguntur. — videndi: Cic. for the most part avoids the genitive plural of the gerundive in agreement with a noun, and uses the gerund as here. Meissner notes that Latin has no verb with the sense 'to see again', which a modern would use here. — conscripsi: in the Origines. — quo: = ad quos; see [n. on 12] fore unde. — Pelian: a mistake of Cicero's. It was not Pelias but his half-brother Aeson, father of Iason, whom Medea made young again by cutting him to pieces and boiling him in her enchanted cauldron. She, however, induced the daughters of Pelias to try the same experiment with their father; the issue, of course, was very different. Plautus, Pseud. 3, 2, 80 seems to make the same mistake. — si quis deus: the present subjunctive is noticeable; strictly, an impossible condition should require the past tense, but in vivid passages an impossible condition is momentarily treated as possible. So Cic. generally says si reviviscat aliquis, not revivisceret. — decurso spatio: 'when I have run my race'. See [n. on 14]. Lucretius 3, 1042 oddly has decurso lumine vitae. — ad carceres a calce: carceres were the barriers behind which the horses and cars stood waiting for the race; calx (γραμμη), literally 'a chalked line', was what we should call 'the winning post'. Cf. Lael. 101; Tusc. 1, 15 nunc video calcem ad quam cum sit decursum, nihil sit praeterea extimescendum.

[84.] habeat: concessive. A. 266, c; G. 257; H. 484, 3. — multi et ei docti: as Nägelsbach, Stilistik § 25, 5, remarks, Cic. always uses this phrase and not multi docti. One of the books Cic. has in view is no doubt that of Hegesias, a Cyrenaic philosopher, mentioned in Tusc. 1, 84. — commorandi ... divorsorium: 'a hostelry wherein to sojourn'. The idea has been expressed in literature in a thousand ways. Cf. Lucr. 3, 938 cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis; Hor. Sat. 1, 1, 118 vita cedat uti conviva satur. Cicero often insists that heaven is the vera aeternaque domus of the soul (cf. Tusc. 1, 118). Cf. Epist. to the Hebrews, 13, 14 'Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come'. — concilium coetumque: so in Rep. 6, 13 concilia coetusque hominum quae civitates vocantur. The words here seem to imply that the real civitas is above; what seems to men a civitas is merely a disorganized crowd.

P. [35] — Catonem meum: see [15], [68]; so Cicero in his letters often calls his own son meus Cicero. — nemo vir: see [n. on 21] quemquam senem. — quod contra: = ‛ο τουναντιον, 'whereas on the contrary'; cf. n. on Lael. 90 where, as well as here, many of the editors make the mistake of taking quod to be the accusative governed by contra out of place. — meum: sc. corpus cremari. — quo: put for ad quae, as often. — visus sum: 'people thought I bore up bravely'. — non quo ... sed: a relative clause parallel with a categorically affirmative clause. The usage is not uncommon, though Cic. often has non quo ... sed quia. For mood of ferrem see A. 341, d, Rem.; G. 541, Rem. 1.; H. 516, II. 2.

[85.] dixisti: in [4.] — qui: here = cum ego, 'since I ...'. — extorqueri volo: [n. on 2] levari volo. — minuti philosophi: for the word minutus cf. [n. on 46]; Cic. has minuti philosophi in Acad. 2, 75; Div. 1, 62; in Fin. 1, 61 minuti et angusti (homines); in Brut. 265 m. imperatores; cf. Suet. Aug. 83 m. pueri. — sentiam: future indicative. — peractio: the noun is said to occur only here in Cic.; cf. however [64] peragere; [70]. — haec ... dicerem: the same words occur at the end of the Laelius; for habeo quod dicam Cic. often says habeo dicere, as in Balb. 34.

---