_The Word "Repudiate"_ (Vol. iv., p. 54.).--That the use of the word
_repudiate_, in the sense of refuse, repel, reject, abandon, disown,
cast off, is by no means modern; and that such phrases as "I repudiate
the idea," "I repudiate the sentiment," "I repudiate the proposal," are
strictly correct, is evident from the use of the word by "standard
classical authors" in the original language from which it has come down
to us. Sallust, for instance, in his _History of Catiline's Conspiracy_,
says that Lentulus advised him to seek assistance everywhere, even
amongst the dregs of the populace; asking him at the same time, "Why,
since the senate had already adjudged him to be an enemy to the
republic, he should _repudiate the slaves_?" i. e., refuse to enrol them
in his levies.
"Cum ab senatu hostis judicatus sit, quo consilio _servitia
repudiet_?"--_Sall. Cat._ 44.
Cicero, in his Offices, in opposition to the opinion of the peripatetic
school, that anger is implanted in us by nature for useful ends, lays it
down as a principle, that "on all occasions _anger ought to be
repudiated_;" that is, "cast out of the mind," and says that "it is to
be wished that persons who are at the head of the state should be like
the laws, which inflict punishment not in anger but in justice."
"_Illa_ (iracundia) vero omnibus in rebus _repudianda
est_."--_Cic. de Off._ I. xxv. 13.
Cicero knew nothing of the Christian grace of "being angry and sinning,
not;" he knew nothing of the severity of love. In another place he tells
us that on one occasion Themistocles declared in the Athenian assembly,
that he had a plan to propose which would be of great advantage to the
state, but ought not to be made public. He was willing, however, to
communicate it to any one person whom they might select. Aristides,
rightly named the Just, being the person selected, Themistocles
disclosed his plan to him: which was, secretly to set fire to the
Lacedæmonian fleet in the dockyard of Gytheum, by which means they would
effectually crush the power of the Lacedæmonians. Aristides returned to
the assembly, and at once declared that Themistocles' plan was certainly
very advantageous, but by no means honourable; whereupon the Athenians,
rightly considering that what was not attended with honour, could not be
attended even with advantage in reality, without hearing another word,
"_repudiated the whole affair_;" that is, utterly rejected the proposal.
"Itaque Athenienses, quod honestum non esset, id ne utile quidem
putaverunt; _totamque eam rem_, quam ne audierant quidem, auctore
Aristide, _repudiaverunt_."--_Cic. de Off._ III. xi. 12.
In a third place, he relates that some persons forged a will of one
Minucius Basilus, who had died in Greece; and, in order that they might
the more easily obtain their end, put down Marcus Crassus and Quintus
Hortensius, two of the most influential men in Rome at that time, as
co-legatees with themselves, who although they suspected the will to be
forged, yet did not _repudiate the little legacy_ coming to them through
other persons' fraud, because forsooth they were not privy to the actual
commission of the forgery.
"Qui cum illud falsum esse suspicarentur, sibi autem nullius
essent conscii culpæ, alieni facinoris _munusculum non
repudiaverunt_."--_Cic. de Off._ III. xviii. 4.
A little further research might easily multiply instances, but I think
these are quite sufficient to prove that we moderns are but following
the ancients in using the word _repudiate_ without reference to any
_obligation_ expressed or implied.