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.
48. SI: 'even if', 'granting that'. -- BONA AETAS: 'the good time of life',
_i.e._ youth. Tischer qu. Varro de Re Rustica 2, 6, 2 _mares feminaeque
bona aetate_ = 'young'. For _bona aetas = homines bona aetate_ cf. n. on 26
_senectus_. -- UT DIXIMUS: not expressly, but the opinion is implied in 44,
45. -- TURPIONE AMBIVIO: L. Ambivius Turpio was the most famous actor of
Cato's time, and appeared especially in Terence's plays. In old Latin
commonly, occasionally in the Latin of the best period, and often in
Tacitus, the _cognomen_ is placed before the _nomen_ when the _praenomen_
is not mentioned. Cf. Att. 11, 12, 1 _Balbo Cornelio_. The usage is more
common in Cicero's writings than in those of his contemporaries. -- PRIMA
CAVEA: 'the lower tier'. The later Roman theatres consisted of semicircular
or elliptic galleries, with rising tiers of seats; the level space
partially enclosed by the curve was the _orchestra_, which was bounded by
the stage in front. There can be little doubt that Cicero is guilty of an
anachronism here; his words do not suit the circumstances of Cato's time.
Till nearly the end of the Republic the theatres were rude structures of
wood, put up temporarily; it is even doubtful whether they contained seats
for the audience. Cato himself frustrated an attempt to establish a
permanent theatre. -- PROPTER: 'close by'. The adverbial use of _propter_
(rarely, if ever, met with outside of Cicero) is denied by some scholars,
but is well attested by MSS. here and elsewhere. -- TANTUM ... EST: these
words qualify _delectatur_.
49. ILLA: put for _illud_, as in Greek ταυτα and ταδε are often put for
τουτο and τοδε. The words from _animum_ to the end of the sentence are
explanatory of _illa_. -- QUANTI: 'how valuable!' but the word may have
exactly the opposite meaning if the context require it; thus in N.D. 1, 55
and Rep. 6, 25 the sense is 'how worthless!' -- STIPENDIIS: 'campaigns'.
The four words from _libidinis_ to _inimicitiarum_ are to be taken in
pairs, while _cupiditatum_ sums them up and is in apposition to all. --
SECUM ESSE: cf. Tusc. 1, 75; Pers. 4, 52 _tecum habita_. -- SI ... ALIQUOD:
the sense is scarcely different from that of _si ... quod_; the distinction
is as slight as that in English between 'if' followed by 'some', and 'if'
followed by 'any'. Cf. n. on Lael. 24 _si quando aliquid_. -- PABULUM: for
the metaphorical sense rendered less harsh by _tamquam_, cf. Acad. 2, 127;
Tusc. 5, 66 _pastus animorum_. -- STUDI: an explanatory genitive dependent
on _pabulum_. -- OTIOSA SENECTUTE: 'leisured age'; _otium_ in the Latin of
Cicero does not imply idleness, but freedom from public business and
opportunity for the indulgence of literary and scientific tastes. --
VIDEBAMUS: for the tense cf. Lael. 37 _Gracchum rem publicam vexantem ab
amicis derelictum videbamus, i.e._ 'we saw over a considerable period'. See
also 50, 79. -- IN STUDIO etc.: 'busied with the task of almost measuring
bit by bit (_di-metiendi_) the heavens and the earth'. For the sense cf.
Hor. Od. 1, 28 (of Archytas). -- GALLUM: consul in 157 B.C., famous as an
astronomer and as the first Roman who predicted an eclipse before the
battle of Pydna. See Liv. 44, 37.
P. 21. -- DESCRIBERE: technically used of the drawing of mathematical
figures. _Ingredior_ often has an infinitive dependent on it even in the
best Latin; _e.g._ Cic. Top. 1 _nos maiores res scribere ingressos_.