[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 + (Bl + 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.