[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, 4a, 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.