98. #publica lex hominum naturaque#: 'The universal law of human
nature.' Of course in the peculiar Stoic sense. See note on 3, 67. 'The
doctrine of a supreme law of Nature, the actual source and ideal
standard of all particular laws, was characteristic of the Stoics, and
lay at the bottom of the Roman juristical notion of a _ratio naturalis_
or _ius gentium_' (Conington).
99. #teneat actus#: As _tenere cursum_ is sometimes used in the sense of
'check a course,' 'refrain from a course,' so _tenere vetitos actus_
means to refrain from, or, as Pretor translates, 'hold in abeyance
forbidden actions.' To this effect König. But as _tenere cursum_ is also
used in the sense of 'hold a course, keep on a course,' Jahn's version,
which makes it a law of nature for weak ignorance to pursue forbidden
actions, is not without justification. In that case _fas est_ = 'it is
to be expected,' as in _operi longo fas est obrepere somnum_. For the
thought of the necessity of sin for the ignorant, see v. 119. But the
immediate context favors the former interpretation. Casaubon's _tenere
vetitos_ = _habere pro vetitis_ is without warrant in usage.
100-104. Popular illustrations of the doctrine drawn from medicine and
navigation, and from Hor., Ep., 2, 1, 114: _navem agere ignarus navis
timet: abrotonum aegro | non audet, nisi qui didicit dare_.
100. #certo conpescere puncto#, etc.: 'although you do not know how to
check [that is, to bring to the perpendicular and keep there] the tongue
or index [of the steelyard by putting the equipoise or pea] at a certain
point.' 'Although you do not know how to use the steelyard' (_statera_).
On the _examen_, see 1, 6; _punctum_ is one of the points or notches
(_notae_) on the graduated arm. With _nescius conpescere_ comp.
_callidus suspendere_, 1, 118, and Prol., 11. --#natura# = _lex_, as
above.
102. #peronatus#: The _pero_ was a thick boot of raw-hide, _crudus
pero_, Verg., Aen., 7, 690, and Juv., 14, 186: _quem non pudet alto |
per glaciem #perone# tegi, qui summovet Euros | pellibus inversis_
(Jahn). The _peronatus arator_ is a clodhopper, a country bumpkin.
103. #luciferi rudis#: Not a good stroke. Some knowledge of the stars
was necessary for the ploughman himself, as Casaubon remarks. See Verg.,
Georg., 1, 204 seqq. So notably of the Pleiades, Hesiod, O. et D., 383.
615. --#Melicerta#: Portunus, patron of sailors, Verg., Georg., 1, 437.
--#perisse#: Comp. Hor., Ep., 2, 1, 80: _clament #periisse# pudorem |
cuncti paene patres_.
104. #frontem#: the seat of modesty for modesty itself. In English,
'face,' 'front,' and 'forehead' are used for the absence of modesty; but
'frontless' and 'effrontery' accord with the usage and in Juv., 13, 242:
_quando recepit | eiectum simul attrita de fronte pudorem?_ --#de
rebus#: 'from the world,' or omitted. See 1, 1. --#recto talo#: Comp.
Hor., Ep., 2, 1, 176: _cadat an #recto# stet fabula #talo#_. Jahn comp.
further Pind., Isthm., 6, 12: +orthô estasas epi sphurô+, and Eur.,
Hel., 1449: +orthô bênai podi+. Transl. 'uprightly.'
105. #ars#: Philosophy. [_Philosophus_] _#artem# vitae professus_, Cic.,
Tusc. Dis., 2, 4, 12; _sapientia #ars# est_, Sen., Ep., 29, 3.
--#speciem#: Jahn gave up in 1868 the hopeless _specimen_ of 1843, which
left _qua_ in the next line utterly unprovided for. That this aberration
of a distinguished scholar should have been followed at all is a sad
instance of _Nachbeterei_-- a German word, not exclusively a German
vice.
106. #ne qua#: sc. _species_. _Ne_ because of the general notion of
apprehension in the sentence, as after _videre_. G., 548, R. 2; A., 70,
3, _e_. --#subaerato auro#: _Subaeratus_ is a translation of
+hupochalkos. Hupochalkon nomisma+ is literally a coin (of gold or
silver) with copper underneath. Of course we should say gilt or silvered
copper coin. _Subaerato auro_, Abl. Abs. --#mendosum tinniat#: With
_mendosum_ comp. _sonat vitium_, 3, 21; _solidum crepet_, v. 25; with
_tinniat_, Quint., 11, 3, 31: _sonis homines, ut aera #tinnitu#,
dinoscimus_. Translate the line: 'that no [seeming truth] give a faulty
ring, due to the copper underneath the gold.'