'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.
P. 28. -- 66. SOLLICITAM HABERE: 'to keep in trouble'. _Sollicitus_ is,
literally, 'wholly in motion', from _sollus_, which has the same root with
‛ολος, and _citus_; cf. the rare words _sollifides_, _solliferreus_. The
perfect participle with _habeo_ emphasizes the continuance of the effect
produced. Zumpt, 634; A. 292, _c_; G. 230; H. 388, 1, n. -- NOSTRAM
AETATEM: cf. n. on 26 _senectus_. -- ESSE LONGE: more usually _abesse_. --
O MISERUM: 'O, wretched is that old man'. Cicero oftener joins _O_ with the
accusative than with the nominative: he rarely, if ever, uses the
interjection with the vocative in direct address to persons. -- EXTINGUIT
ANIMUM: the doctrine of the annihilation of the soul after death was held
by many of Cicero's contemporaries, professedly by the Epicureans (_e.g._
Lucretius, De Rerum Nat. 3, 417 _et seq._; cf. also Caesar's argument at
the trial of the Catilinian conspirators, Sall. Bell. Catil. c. 51, Cic. in
Catil. 3, c. 4), practically by the Stoics, who taught that there is a
future existence of limited though indefinite length. -- DEDUCIT: cf. n. on
63. -- ATQUI: see n. on 6. -- TERTIUM ... POTEST: 'nothing can be found as
a third alternative': so in Tusc. 1, 82 _quoniam nihil tertium est._
67. QUID TIMEAM etc.: so Tusc. 1, 25 _quo modo igitur aut cur mortem malum
tibi videri dicis? quae aut beatas nos efficiet, animis manentibus, aut non
miseros, sensu carentis;_ ib. 1, 118 _ut aut in aeternam domum remigremus
aut omni sensu careamus._ For mood see A. 268; G. 251; H 486, II. -- AUT
NON MISER ... AUT BEATUS: a dilemma, but unsound and not conclusive; for
_non miser_ is used with reference to annihilation, and the soul may exist
after death in a state of unhappiness. -- FUTURUS SUM: see n. on 6 _futurum
est_. -- QUAMVIS SIT: prose writers of the Republican period use _quamvis_
with the subjunctive only; see Roby, 1624, 1627; A. 313,_a, g_; G. 608; H.
515, III. and n. 3. -- CUI: see n. on 38 _viventi_. -- AD VESPERUM ESSE
VICTURUM: 'that he will be alive when evening comes', _not_ 'that he will
live till the evening'. With the prepositions _ad_, _sub_, _in_ the form
_vesper_ is generally used, not _vespera._ With this passage cf. Fin. 2, 92
_an id exploratum cuiquam potest esse quo modo sese habiturum sit corpus.
non dico ad annum, sed ad vesperum?_ Also cf. the title of one of Varro's
Menippean Satires, _nescis quid vesper serus vehat_, probably a proverb. --
AETAS ILLA ... ADULESCENTES: some suppose that this sentence was borrowed
from Hippocrates. -- TRISTIUS: '_severioribus remediis_'. Manutius. So Off.
1, 83 _leviter aegrotantis leniter curant, gravioribus autem morbis
periculosas curationes et ancipites adhibere coguntur_. The adverb
_tristius_, which has in prose a superlative but no positive, occurs in
Fam. 4, 13, 5. -- MENS ... RATIO ... CONSILIUM: cf. n. on 41. -- QUI ...
NULLI: cf. n. on 46 _qui pauci_; but _nulli_ here almost = _non_. -- NULLAE
... FUISSENT: _i.e._ the young men would have brought every country to
ruin; see 20. -- CUM ... CUM: see n. on 4.
68. IN FILIO ... IN FRATRIBUS: cf. Lael. 9. As to Cato's son cf. 15, 84. --
TU: _sc. sensisti_. -- EXSPECTATIS AD: a rare construction, perhaps without
parallel; _exspectatis_ is an adjective and takes the construction of
_aptus_, _idoneus_ etc., 'of whom hopes were entertained as regards honor'.
-- FRATRIBUS: the sons of Paulus Macedonicus, two of them died within seven
days (Fam. 4, 6, 1), one just before and one just after Paulus' great
triumph in 167 B.C. -- IDEM: see n. on 4 _eandem_. -- INSIPIENTER:
adversative asyndeton. -- INCERTA ... VERIS: chiasmus avoided. With the
thought cf. Off. 1, 18. -- AT ... AT: the objection and its answer are both
introduced by _at_, as here, in 35. -- AT ... ADULESCENS: these words look
back to the preceding sentence, to which they are an answer. -- ILLE ...
HIC: here _hic_ denotes the person who is more important, _ille_ the person
who is less important for the matter in hand; the former may therefore be
regarded as nearer to the speaker, the latter as more remote. A. 102, _a_;
G. 292, Rem. 1; H. 450, 2, n.
69. QUAMQUAM: see n. on 2 _etsi_. -- QUID EST ... DIU: cf. Tusc. 1, 94
_quae vero aetas longa est, aut quid omnino homini longum? ... quia ultra
nihil habemus, hoc longum dicimus_. For _est_ see n. on 72. -- TARTESSIORUM
... GADIBUS: the whole of the south coast of Spain bore the name
_Tartessus_, but the name is often confined to Gades, the chief city. --
FUIT: = _vixit_. -- SCRIPTUM VIDEO: so in Acad. 2, 129; Div. 1, 31; cf.
also N.D. 1, 72 _ut videmus in scriptis_; Off. 2, 25 _ut scriptum legimus_;
also cf. n. on 26 _videmus_. -- ARGANTHONIUS: the story is from Herodotus
1, 163.
P. 29. -- ALIQUID EXTREMUM: see n. on 5; cf. pro Marcello 27 -- EFFLUXIT:
strongly aoristic in sense 'at once is gone'. -- TANTUM: -- 'only so much'.
-- CONSECUTUS SIS: 'you may have obtained'. The subjunctive is here used in
the indefinite second person to give a hypothetical character to the
statement of the verb. The indicative might have been expected; the
expression almost = _consecuti sumus, consecutus aliquis est_. Roby, 1546;
G. 252, Rem. 3; H. 486, III. -- VIRTUTE ET RECTE FACTIS: the same opinion
is enforced in Tusc. 1, 109. -- QUID SEQUATUR: 'the future'; cf. Lucr. 1,
459 _transactum quid sit in aevo, Tum quae res instet, quid porro deinde
sequatur_. -- QUOD ... CONTENTUS: this passage with the whole context
resembles Lucretius 3, 931-977; cf. especially 938 _cur non ut plenus vitae
conviva recedis_; 960 _satur ac plenus discedere rerum_. Cf. also Hor. Sat.
1, 1, 117-118.
70. UT PLACEAT: 'in order to secure approval'. -- PERAGENDA: cf. n. on 50
_comparandae_. -- PLAUDITE: the Latin plays nearly always ended with this
word, addressed by the actor to the audience; cf. Hor. A.P. 153 _si
plausoris eges aulaea manentis et usque Sessuri donec cantor 'vos plaudite'
dicat_. -- BREVE TEMPUS etc.: one of the poets has said that 'in small
measures lives may perfect be'. Cf. also Tusc. 1, 109 _nemo parum diu vixit
qui virtutis perfectae perfecto functus est munere_; Seneca, Ep. 77 _quo
modo fabula, sic vita: non quam diu, sed quam bene acta sit refert_. --
PROCESSERIT: probably the subject is _sapiens_, in which case _aetate_ must
also be supplied from _aetatis_; the subject may however be _aetas_. --
OSTENDIT: 'gives promise of'; cf. Fam. 9, 8, 1 _etsi munus_ (gladiatorial
show) _flagitare quamvis quis ostenderit, ne populus quidem solet nisi
concitatus_. With the whole passage cf. pro Cael. 76.
71. UT ... DIXI: in 9, 60, 62. -- SECUNDUM NATURAM: = κατα φυσιν a Stoic
phrase; cf. n. on 5 _naturam optimam ducem_. -- SENIBUS: dative of
reference; _emori_ stands as subject to an implied _est_. -- CONTINGIT: see
n. on 8. -- EXSTINGUITUR: there is the same contrast between _opprimere_
and _exstinguere_ in Lael. 78. -- QUASI ... EVELLUNTUR: it is rare to find
in Cic. or the other prose writers of the best period a verb in the
indicative mood immediately dependent on _quasi_, in the sense of _sicut_
or _quem ad modum_. When two things are compared by _quasi ... ita_, the
indicative verb is nearly always put in the second clause, and may be
supplied in the clause with _quasi_; very rarely are there two different
verbs for the two clauses. Cf. however Plautus, Stich. 539 _fuit olim,
quasi nunc ego sum senex_; Lucr. 3, 492 _agens animam spumat quasi_ ...
_fervescunt undae_. -- SI ... SI: for the more usual _si ... sin_. --
ACCEDAM: see A. 342; G. 666; H. 529, II. -- IN PORTUM: speaking of death,
Cic. says in Tusc. 1, 118 _portum potius paratum nobis et perfugium
putemus: quo utinam velis passis pervehi liceat! Sin reflantibus ventis
reiciemur tamen eodem paulo tardius referamur necesse est_; cf. also ib. 1,
107.
P. 30. -- 72. MUNUS OFFICI: see n. on 29. -- TUERI: 'uphold'. -- POSSIT:
subject indefinite. -- EX QUO FIT etc.: the argument seems to be that youth
knows how long it has to last and is therefore less spirited than age,
which knows not when it will end. -- ANIMOSIOR ... FORTIOR: Horace, Odes 2,
10, 21 _rebus angustis animosus atque fortis appare_; the two words are
joined also in Cic. Mil. 92: _animosus_, 'spirited'. -- HOC ILLUD EST etc.:
'this is the meaning of the answer made by Solon etc'. Cf. Div. 1, 122 _hoc
nimirum illud est quod de Socrate accepimus_, also the Greek phrase ‛η
τουτ' εκεινο. _Est_ = _valet_ as in 69. -- PISISTRATUS: the despot of
Athens, who seized the power in 560 B.C. Plutarch, who tells the story, 'An
Seni Sit Gerenda Respublica' c. 21, makes Solon speak to the friends of
Pisistratus, not to P. himself. -- QUAERENTI: see n. on 11 _dividenti_. --
AUDACITER: Quintil. 1, 6, 17 condemns those who used _audaciter_ for
_audacter_, which latter form, he says, had been used by 'all orators'. Yet
the form _audaciter_ is pretty well attested by MSS. here and elsewhere in
Cicero. [See Neue, Formenlehre, 1² 662.] For the two forms cf.
_difficiliter, difficulter. Audaciter_ is of importance as showing that _c_
before _i_ must have been pronounced just like _c_ in any other position,
not as in modern Italian. -- CERTIS SENSIBUS: Acad. 2, 19 _integris
incorruptisque sensibus_. -- IPSA ... QUAE: see n. on 26. H. 569, I. 2. --
COAGMENTAVIT: Cic. is fond of such metaphors; cf. Orat. 77 _verba verbis
quasi coagmentari_; Phil. 7, 21 _docebo ne coagmentari quidem pacem posse_
('that no patched-up peace can be made'). -- CONGLUTINAVIT: a still more
favorite metaphor than _coagmentare_. Cic. has _conglutinare rem _ (Or. 1,
188); _amicitias_ (Lael. 32 and Att. 7, 8, 1); _voluntates_ (Fam. 11, 27,
2); _concordiam_. (Att. 1, 17, 10); in Phil. 3, 28 Cic. says of Antony that
he is _totus ex vitiis conglutinatus_. -- IAM: 'further', so below. --
CONGLUTINATIO: the noun occurs only here and Orat. 78 _c. verborum_. --
RELIQUUM: not infrequently, as here, used substantively with an adjective
modifier. -- SINE CAUSA: 'without sufficient reason'.
73. VETAT PYTHAGORAS etc.: the passage is from Plato, Phaedo 61 A-62 C.
Plato makes Socrates there profess to quote Philolaus, the Pythagorean;
Cic. therefore refers the doctrine to Pythagoras Cf. Tusc. 1, 74; Rep. 6,
15. The Stoics held the same view about suicide, which they authorized in
extreme cases, but much less freely than is commonly supposed; cf. Sen. Ep.
117, 22 _nihil mihi videtur turpius quam optare mortem_. See Zeller,
Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics, Ch. 12, C (2); cf. also Lecky, Hist. of
European Morals, I. p. 228 _et seq_. (Am. ed.) -- IMPERATORIS ...
PRAESIDIO: here Cic. seems to understand Plato's φρουραι as referring to
warfare; in Tusc. and Rep. he understands it of a prison. -- SAPIENTIS:
Solon was one of the 'Seven Sages of Greece'. -- ELOGIUM: the distich is
preserved by Plutarch, and runs thus: μηδε μοι ακλαυστος θανατος μολοι,
αλλα φιλοισι Καλλειποιμι θανων αλγεα και στοναχας. Cic. thus translates it
in Tusc. 1, 117 _Mors mea ne careat lacrimis, linquamus amicis Maerorem, ut
celebrent funera cum gemitu_. The epitaph of Ennius is also quoted there
and is declared to be better than that of Solon (cf. Tusc. 1, 34). -- VOLT
SE ESSE CARUM: 'he wishes to make out that he is beloved'; _volt esse
carus_ would have had quite a different sense. Cf. Fin. 5, 13 _Strato
physicum se volt_, with Madvig's n. -- HAUD SCIO AN: see n. on 56. --
FAXIT: the subject is _quisquam_ understood from _nemo_. For the form see
A. 142, 128, _e_, 3; G. 191, 5; H. 240, 4. The end of the epitaph is
omitted here as in Tusc. 1, 117, but is given in Tusc. 1, 34 _cur? volito
vivas per ora virum_. Notice the alliteration.
74. ISQUE: cf. n. on 13 _vixitque_. -- AUT OPTANDUS AUT NULLUS: cf. 66 _aut
neglegenda ... aut optanda; nullus_ almost = _non_ as in 67, but only in
the Letters does Cic. (imitating Plautus and the other dramatists) attach
_nullus_ in this sense to the name of a particular person; _e.g._ Att. 11,
24, 4 _Philotimus nullus venit_. -- SED ... ESSE: 'but we must con this
lesson from our youth up'. For the passive sense of _meditatum_ cf. n. on 4
_adeptam_. In Tusc. 1, 74 Cic., imitating Plato, says _tota philosophorum
vita commentatio mortis est_. So Seneca, _tota vita discendum est mori_. --
SINE QUA ... NEMO POTEST: these words bring the position of Cicero with
regard to death wonderfully near that of Lucretius: the latter argues that
for peace of mind one must believe '_nullum esse sensum post mortem_'; the
former's lesson is '_aut nullum esse sensum aut optandum_'. -- TIMENS: =
_si quis timet_; the subject of _poterit_ is the indefinite _quis_ involved
in _timens_. A. 310, _a_; G. 670; H. 549, 2. -- QUI: = _quo modo_, as in 4.
-- ANIMO CONSISTERE: so in pro Quint. 77; also _mente consistere_ in Phil.
2, 68; Div. 2, 149; Q. Fr. 2, 3, 2 _neque mente neque lingua neque ore
consistere_. The word is, literally, 'to stand firm', 'to get a firm
foothold'.
P. 31. -- 75. L. BRUTUM: fell in single combat with Aruns, son of the
exiled Tarquin; see Liv. 2, 6. The accusatives _Brutum_ etc. are not the
objects of _recorder_ but the subjects of infinitives to be supplied from
_profectas_. -- DUOS DECIOS: see n. on 43. -- CURSUM EQUORUM: the word
_equos_ would have been sufficient; but this kind of pleonasm is common in
Latin; see n. on Lael. 30 _causae diligendi_. -- ATILIUS: _i.e._ Regulus,
whose story is too well known to need recounting. There are many
contradictions and improbabilities about it. -- SCIPIONES: see n. on 29. In
Paradoxa 1, 12 Cic. says of them _Carthaginiensium adventum corporibus suis
intercludendum putaverunt_. -- POENIS: on the dat. see A. 235, _a_; H. 384,
4, n. 2. -- PAULUM: n. on 29 _L. Aemilius_. -- COLLEGAE: M. Terentius
Varro. There is no reason to suppose that he was a worse general than many
other Romans who met Hannibal and were beaten; the early historians, being
all aristocrats, fixed the disgrace of Cannae on the democratic consul.
Varro's contemporaries were more just to him. Far from reproaching him, the
Senate commended his spirit, and several times afterwards entrusted him
with important business. -- MARCELLUM: the captor of Syracuse in 212 B.C.
He fell into an ambush in 208 and was killed; Hannibal buried him with
military honors. -- CUIUS INTERITUM: abstract for concrete = _quem, post
interitum_. -- CRUDELISSIMUS HOSTIS: this, the traditional Roman view of
Hannibal, is the reverse of the truth, so far as extant testimony goes. See
Mommsen, Hist. of Rome, Bk. III. Ch. 4; Ihne, Hist. of Rome, Bk. IV. -- SED
... ARBITRARENTUR: these words are almost exactly repeated in Tusc. 1, 89
and 101. -- RUSTICI: cf. Arch. 24 _nostri illi fortes viri sed rustici ac
milites_; also above, 24.
76. OMNINO: see n. on 9. -- NUM IGITUR etc.: cf. 33 _nisi forte et seq._ --
CONSTANS: cf. n. on 33. -- NE ... QUIDEM: see n. on 27. -- SATIETAS VITAE:
cf. 85 _senectus autem et seq._, and _satietas vivendi_ in pro Marc. 27;
also Tusc. 1, 109 _vita acta perficiat ut satis superque vixisse videamur_.
77. CERNERE: of the mind also in 82. With the context cf. Div. 1, 63
_animus appropinquante morte multo est divinior; facilius evenit
appropinquante morte ut animi futura augurentur_. -- VESTROS PATRES: n. on
15. The elder Laelius was prominent both as general and as statesman. He
commanded the fleet which co-operated with Scipio Africanus in Spain and
afterwards served with honor in Africa. He was an intimate friend of Cato.
See Liv. 26, 42 _et seq._ -- TUQUE: so in Lael. 100 _C. Fanni et tu, Q.
Muci_; but above, 4 and 9 simply _Scipio et Laeli_. -- QUAE EST SOLA VITA:
cf. n. on _vitam nullam_ in 7. -- NAM DUM SUMUS etc.: the whole of this
doctrine is Platonic; cf. Lael. 13. -- MUNERE NECESSITATIS ET ... OPERE:
'function and task allotted as by fate'.
P. 32. -- IMMORTALIS: Cicero rarely mentions the gods without this epithet.
-- SPARSISSE: Horace calls the soul _divinae particulam aurae_. --
TUERENTUR: rule, or guard, or care for. Most editors wrongly take
_tuerentur_ to be for _intuerentur_, 'to look upon', and regard it as an
intentional archaism. But cf. Rep. 6, 15 (where no archaism can be
intended): _homines sunt hac lege generati, qui tuerentur illum globum quae
terra vocatur_; also _tuentur_ below in 82. -- CONTEMPLANTES IMITARENTUR:
perhaps more Stoic than Platonic; the Stoics laid great stress on the
ethical value of a contemplation and imitation of the order of the
universe. Cf. N.D. 2, 37 _ipse homo ortus est ad mundum contemplandum et
imitandum_; Sen. Dial. 8, 5, 1 _Natura nos ad utrumque genuit, et
contemplationi rerum et actioni_. -- MODO: here _modus_ seems to be the
Platonic το μετριον, or perhaps a reminiscence of the Aristotelian doctrine
of the mean (n. on 46). Translate 'in moderation and consistency of life';
and cf. Off. 1, 93 _rerum modus_ 'moderation in all things'. For
_constantia_ see n. on 4. -- ITA: cf. n. on 16 _et tamen sic_.