Cato Maior de Senectute with Introduction and Notes

by Marcus Tullius Cicero

[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.