honc oino ploirime cosentiont Romai
duonoro optumo fuise viro viroro
i.e. hunc unum plurimi consentiunt Romae bonorum optimum fuisse virum virorum. Ritschl thus completes the elogium of Atilus, by comparison with others still preserved: dictator (ending the second line), Consul, censor, aedilis hic fuit apud vos. But Cicero's words (nolum ... sepulcro) seem to imply a longer inscription than one of three lines; the analogy of the Scipionic inscriptions points the same way. The older monumental inscriptions of Rome were written in the Saturnian metre, which depended partly on accent. The normal line ran thus:
but there were many deviations. — unum: intensifies primarium, 'the very first'; cf. the common use of unus with a superlative adjective, for which see n. on Lael. 1 unum etc. — esset consentiens: cf. [n. on 26] agens aliquid. — nuper: like modo (see [n. on 27]) nuper is loosely used, and has its meaning defined by the context. Cf. n. on Lael. 13. In Plin. Ep. 1, 2, 2 the orator Calvus, a younger contemporary of Cicero, is said to have existed nuper. — Lepidum: pontifex maximus from 180 B.C., consul in 187 and in 175; censor in 179; he is said to have been chosen princeps senatus by six sets of censors in succession. He died in 152. — Paulo: see [29] L. Aemilius with [n.] — Maximo: see [10] et seq. — sententia: i.e. a set speech in the senate. Cf. De Or. 1, 38 is non accurata orationis copia, sed nutu atque verbo libertinos in urbanas tribus transtulit. — honorata: see [n. on 22].
[62.] in omni oratione: 'everywhere throughout my speech'. Tota oratione would have meant 'my speech viewed as a whole'. — defenderet: the tense is accommodated to that of dixi, according to Latin custom; see [n. on 42] efficeret. — cani: sc. capilli; the same ellipsis is found in Ovid. Cf. calda (sc. aqua), laurea (sc. corona), natalis (sc. dies), Latinae (sc. feriae), etc.; also cereo in [44]. — fructus ... extremos: 'receives the reward of influence at the last'.
[63.] appeti: 'to be courted'; decedi: 'to take precedence', literally 'that there should be a yielding of the way'. — assurgi: 'the honor shown by rising'. Cf. Iuv. 13, 54 credebant grande nefas et morte piandum si iuvenis vetulo non assurrexerat, where see Mayor's note. — deduci reduci: 'the escort from home and the attendance homeward'. The difference between these two words, which has often been misunderstood, is shown by Val. Max. 2, 1, 9 iuvenes senatus die utique aliquem ex patribus conscriptis ad curiam deducebant, affixique valvis exspectabant donec reducendi etiam officio fungerentur. — consuli: probably refers to private legal consultations as well as to the deliberations of the senate. — ut quaeque optime: Cic. often uses ut quisque with superlatives, ita following; see n. on Lael. 19. Translate ut ... ita 'in proportion as ... so'. — morata: from mos. — modo: in [59]. — memoriae proditum est: in Verr. 5, 36 Cic. uses ad memoriam instead of the dative. The best writers have memoriae prodere and prodi, 'for the recollection of posterity', memoria prodi, 'to be handed down by tradition'; but not memoria prodere. — ludis: sc. Panathenaicis, abl. of time. The Panathenaea was the greatest of the Athenian festivals and was celebrated in honor of Athene, patron goddess of the city, once in four years. The story that follows is told in almost the same words by Val. Max. 4, 5, ext. 2.
P. [27] — qui: at this point the oratio obliqua is broken off, but it is resumed in the next sentence, dixisse being dependent on proditum est. — legati cum essent: 'being ambassadors'. — illi: 'in his honor'. — sessum recepisse: Val. Max. uses the same phrase; cf. Fam. 10, 32, 2 sessum deducere; N.D. 3, 74 sessum ire.
[64.] plausus multiplex: cf. Verg. Aen. 1, 747 ingeminant plausu. Cic. generally says plausus maximus. — facere nolle: cf. the well-known saying of Demosthenes, Olynth. 3, § 3 πεπεισμαι γαρ τα πλειω των πραγματων ‛υμας εκπεφευγεναι τωι μη βουλεσθαι τα δεοντα ποιειν, η τωι μη συνιεναι. — collegio: the college or board of augurs to which Cato belonged. In his time there were nine members; later the number was increased. — antecedit: sc. alios. — sententiae principatum: 'precedence in debate'. Meissner quotes Verr. 4, 142 ut quisque aetate et honore antecedit, ita primus solet sua sponte dicere itaque a ceteris ei conceditur. — honore: i.e. as regards office, past or present. — qui ... sunt: actual praetors or consuls. — comparandae: [n. on 50]. — fabulam aetatis: cf. [5], [70], [85]. The comparison of life to a play, and mankind to the players, is common in all literature; e.g. 'All the world's a stage, etc.'. When Augustus was on his deathbed he asked his friends ecquid eis videretur mimum vitae commode transegisse (Suet. Aug. 99); cf. Gay's epitaph, 'Life's a jest, etc.'. — corruisse: i.e. through fatigue; cf. defetigationem in [85].
[65.] at: see [n. on 21]. — morum: cf. [7] in moribus est culpa, non in aetate. — ea vitia: i.e. ea alia vitia. — habent etc.: cf. Thucyd. 3, 44 εχοντες τι συγγνωμης. — non ... videatur: 'not well grounded indeed, but such as it may seem possible to allow'. Ille is often used with quidem in making concessions where the English idiom requires no pronoun. Roby, 2259; Madvig, 489, b; Kennedy, 65, n. 2; A. 151, e; G. 292, Rem. 4; H. 450, 4, n. 2. — contemni ... despici: see [n. on 43] spreta et contempta. — moribus bonis et artibus: for the order of the words cf. [n. on 1] animi tui. — in vita: 'in everyday life.' — Adelphis: Adelphi = αδελφοι, The Brothers; this play of Terence is still extant. — diritas: 'harshness of temper'; but Suet. Tib. 21 has diritas morum, and Varro scena quem senem Latina vidit dirissimum. Both dirus and diritas are rare in Cicero; the former word does not once occur in the whole range of the speeches, the latter scarcely excepting here and in Vat. 9; in Tusc. 3, 29 Cic. uses it in translating from Euripides.