[§6]. Illigari: "entangled" as though in something bad. For this use Forc. qu. Liv. XXXIII. 21, Tac. Ann. XIII. 40. Aut ludicros sermones: = aut clar. vir. serm. ludic. esse oporteat. Rerum leviorum: a similar argument in D.F. I. 12. Quodam in libro: the Hortensius. Gradu: so the word "degree" was once used, e.g. "a squire of low degree" in the ballad. De opera publica detrahamus: the dative often follows this verb, as in D.F. III. 7 nihil operae reipublicae detrahens, a passage often wrongly taken. Operae is the dat. after the verb, not the gen. after nihil, reip. the gen. after operae, like opera publica here, not the dat. after detrahens. Nisi forensem: the early oratorical works may fairly be said to have this character; scarcely, however, the De Republica or the De Leg. both of which fall within the period spoken of. Ut plurimis prosimus: cf. Introd. p. [29]. Non modo non minui, sed: notice non modo ... sed thrice over in two sentences.
[§7]. Sunt ... qui negent: and truly, see Introd. p. [38]. In Cat. Mai. §3 Cic. actually apologises for making Cato more learned than he really was. Mortuis: Catulus died in 60, Lucullus about 57, Hortensius 50. Contra omnis dicere quae videntur: MSS. mostly insert qui between dicere and quae, one of the best however has dicere quae aliis as a correction, while another has the marginal reading qui scire sibi videntur. The omission of qui, which I conjectured, but now see occurs in a MS. (Pal. 2) referred to by Halm, gives admirable sense. Verum invenire: cf. [60]. Contentione: = φιλονεικια as usual. In ... rebus obscuritas: cf. I. [44] rerum obscuritate. Infirmitas: cf. I. [44] imbecillos animos. Antiquissimi et doctissimi: on the other hand recentissima quaeque sunt correcta et emendata maxime I. [13]. Diffisi: one of the best MSS. has diffissi, which reminds one of the spelling divisssiones, asserted to be Ciceronian in Quint. Inst. Or. I. 7, 20. In utramque partem: επ' αμφοτερα, cf. I. [45]. Exprimant: "embody," cf. n. on I. [19].
[§8]. Probabilia: πιθανα, for which see [33]. Sequi: "act upon," cf. [99]-[101]. Liberiores et solutiores: these two words frequently occur together in Cic. and illustrate his love for petty variations; see [105], also T.D. V. 43, De Div. I. 4, De Rep. IV. 4, N.D. I. 56, Orat. 64. Integra: "untrammelled," cf. the phrase "non mihi integrum est"—"I have committed my self." Et quasi: MSS. have et quibus et quasi. Cogimur: for this Academic freedom see Introd. p. [18]. Amico cuidam: Orelli after Lamb. cuipiam; for the difference see Madv. Gram. 493 b, c.
[§9]. Ut potuerint, potuerunt: thus Lamb. corrected the MSS. reading which was simply ut potuerunt, "granting that they had the ability, they gained it by hearing all things, now as a matter of fact they did decide on a single hearing," etc. Iudicaverunt autem: so Lamb. for MSS. aut. Muretus, by what Dav. calls an "arguta hariolatio," read an for aut and put a note of interrogation at contulerunt. C.F. Hermann (Schneidewin's Philologus VII. 466) introduces by conj. a sad confusion into the text, but no other good critic since Madvig's remarks in Em. 125 has impugned Lambinus' reading. Goerenz indeed, followed by the faithful Schutz, kept the MSS. reading with the insertion of aut between sed and ut at the beginning; of this Madv. says "non solum Latina non est, sed sanae menti repugnat." For the proceeding which Cic. deprecates, cf. N.D. I. 10, De Leg. I. 36. Quam adamaverunt: "which they have learned to love;" the ad has the same force as προ in προμανθανειν, which means "to learn on and on, to learn by degrees" (cf. προυμαθον στεργειν κακοις), not, as the lexica absurdly say, "to learn beforehand, i.e. to learn thoroughly." Constantissime: "most consistently". Quae est ad Baulos: cf. Introd. p. [57]. In spatio: this xystus was a colonnade with one side open to the sea, called ξυστος from its polished floor and pillars. Consedimus: n. on I. [14].
[§10]. Servatam oportuit: a construction very characteristic of Terence, found, but rarely, in Cic. and Livy. In promptu ... reconditiora: cf. in promptu ... interiora in De Div. II. 124, also Ac. I. [4]. Quae dico: Goer. is exceedingly troubled by the pres. tense and wishes to read dixero. But the substitution of the pres. for the future is common enough in all languages cf. Iuv. IV. 130 with Mayor's copious note. Si non fuerint: so all Halm's best MSS. Two, however, of Davies' have si vera etc. In support of the text, see I. [9] (sunt ista) and note. Labefactata: this is only found as an alteration in the best MSS. and in Ed. Rom. (1471); the others have labefacta. Orelli's statement (note to his separate text of the Academica 1827) that Cic. commonly uses the perfect labefeci and the part, labefactus is quite wrong. The former is indeed the vulg. reading in Pro Sestio 101, the latter in De Haruspicum Responsis 60, but the last of these two passages is doubtful. Cic. as a rule prefers long forms like sustentatus, which occurs with labefactatus in Cat. Mai. 20. For the perfect labefactavit cf. I. [33]. Agam igitur: Cic. rather overdoes the attempt to force on his readers a belief in the learning of Lucullus.
[§11]. Pro quaestore: cf. [4]. Essem: MSS. issem, whence Goer. conj. Alexandriam issem. Heraclitus Tyrius: scarcely known except from this passage. Clitomachum: for this philosopher see Zeller 532. Quae nunc prope dimissa revocatur: sc. a Cicerone. Philo's only notable pupils had combined to form the so called "Old Academy," and when Cic. wrote the Academica the New Academic dialectic had been without a representative for many years. Cf. Introd. p. [21]. Libri duo: cf. I. [13]. Heri for this indication of the contents of the lost Catulus, see Introd. p. [50]. Implorans: "appealing to," the true meaning being "to appeal to with tears," see Corss. I. 361. Philonis: sc. esse. Scriptum agnoscebat: i.e. it was an actual work of Ph. Tetrilius: some MSS. are said to have Tetrinius, and the name Tertinius is found on Inscr. One good MS. has Tretilius, which may be a mistake for Tertilius, a name formed like Pompilius, Quintilius, Sextilius. Qy, should Petrilius, a derivative from the word for four, be read? Petrilius and Pompilius would then agree like Petronius and Pomponius, Petreius and Pompeius. For the formation of these names see Corss. I. 116. Rogus: an ill omened and unknown name. Rocus, as Ursinus pointed out, occurs on denarii of the gens Creperia. De Philone ... ab eo ipso: note the change of prep. "from Philo's lips," "from his copy." De and ex are common in Cic. after audire, while ab is rather rarer. See M.D.F. I. 39, and for describere ab aliquo cf. a te in Ad Att. XIII. 22, 3.
[§12]. Dicta Philoni: for this see Introd. p. [50]. It cannot mean what Goer. makes it mean, "coram Philone." I think it probable that Philoni is a marginal explanation foisted on the text. As to the statements of Catulus the elder, they are made clear by [18]. Academicos: i.e. novos, who are here treated as the true Academics, though Antiochus himself claimed the title. Aristo: see Introd. p. [11]. Aristone: Diog. VII. 164 mentions an Aristo of Alexandria, a Peripatetic, who may be the same. Dio seems unknown. Negat: see n. on [18]. Lenior: some MSS. levior, as is usual with these two words. In [11] one of the earliest editions has leviter for leniter.
[§§13]—[18]. Summary. Cicero seems to me to have acted like a seditious tribune, in appealing to famous old philosophers as supporters of scepticism ([13]), Those very philosophers, with the exception of Empedocles, seem to me, if anything, too dogmatic ([14]). Even if they were often in doubt, do you suppose that no advance has been made during so many centuries by the investigations of so many men of ability? Arcesilas was a rebel against a good philosophy, just as Ti. Gracchus was a rebel against a good government ([15]). Has nothing really been learned since the time of Arcesilas? His opinions have had scanty, though brilliant support ([16]). Now many dogmatists think that no argument ought to be held with a sceptic, since argument can add nothing to the innate clearness of true sensations ([17]). Most however do allow of discussion with sceptics. Philo in his innovations was induced to state falsehoods, and incurred all the evils he wished to avoid, his rejection of Zeno's definition of the καταληπτικη φαντασια really led him back to that utter scepticism from which he was fleeing. We then must either maintain Zeno's definition or give in to the sceptics ([18]).
[§13]. Rursus exorsus est: cf. exorsus in [10]. Popularis: δημοτικους. Ii a: so Dav. for MSS. iam. Tum ad hos: so MSS., Dav. aut hos. The omission of the verb venire is very common in Cic.'s letters. C. Flaminium: the general at lake Trasimene. Aliquot annis: one good MS. has annos, cf. T.D. I. 4, where all the best MSS. have annos. The ablative is always used to express point of time, and indeed it may be doubted whether the best writers ever use any accusative in that sense, though they do occasionally use the ablative to express duration (cf. Prop. I. 6, 7 and Madv. Gram. 235, 2). L. Cassium: this is L. Cassius Longinus Ravilla, a man of good family, who carried a ballot bill (De Leg. III. 35), he was the author of the cui bono principle and so severe a judge as to be called scopulus reorum. Pompeium: apparently the man who made the disgraceful treaty with Numantia repudiated by home in 139 B.C. P. Africanum: i.e. the younger, who supported the ballot bill of Cassius, but seems to have done nothing else for the democrats. Fratres: Lamb. viros, but cf. Brut. 98. P. Scaevolam: the pontifex, consul in the year Tib. Gracchus was killed, when he refused to use violence against the tribunes. The only connection these brothers had with the schemes of Gracchus seems to be that they were consulted by him as lawyers, about the legal effect the bills would have. Ut videmus ... ut suspicantur: Halm with Gruter brackets these words on the ground that the statement about Marius implies that the demagogues lie about all but him. Those words need not imply so much, and if they did, Cic. may be allowed the inconsistency.
[§14]. Similiter: it is noticeable that five MSS. of Halm have simile. Xenophanem: so Victorius for the MSS. Xenoplatonem. Ed. Rom. (1471) has Cenonem, which would point to Zenonem, but Cic. does not often name Zeno of Elea. Saturninus: of the question why he was an enemy of Lucullus, Goer. says frustra quaeritur. Saturninus was the persistent enemy of Metellus Numidicus, who was the uncle of Lucullus by marriage. Arcesilae calumnia: this was a common charge, cf. Academicorum calumnia in N.D. II. 20 and calumnia in [18] and [65] of this book. So August. Contra Acad. II. 1 speaks of Academicorum vel calumnia vel pertinacia vel pericacia. Democriti verecundia: Cic. always has a kind of tenderness for Democritus, as Madv. on D.F. I. 20 remarks, cf. De Div. II. 30 where Democr. is made an exception to the general arrogantia of the physici. Empedocles quidem ... videatur: cf. [74]. The exordium of his poem is meant, though there is nothing in it so strong as the words of the text, see R. and P. 108. Quale sit: the emphasis is on sit, the sceptic regards only phenomenal, not essential existence. Quasi modo nascentes: Ciacconus thought this spurious, cf. however T.D. II. 5 ut oratorum laus ... senescat ... , philosophia nascatur.