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.