M. TULLI CICERONIS

CATO MAIOR DE SENECTUTE

WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY JAMES S. REID, M.L.

FELLOW OF GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,
UNIVERSITY LECTURER IN ROMAN HISTORY

American Edition Revised
BY FRANCIS W. KELSEY

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

ALLYN AND BACON
Boston New York Chicago

Copyright, 1882 By John Allyn

PREFACE.

Three years ago Mr. James S. Reid, of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, prepared for the Syndics of the University Press editions of Cicero's Cato Maior de Senectute and Laelius de Amicitia. The thorough and accurate scholarship displayed, especially in the elucidation of the Latinity, immediately won for the books a cordial reception; and since then they have gained a permanent place in the esteem of English scholars.

The present volume has the full authorization of Mr. Reid, and was prepared with the design of presenting to American students, in a form best adapted to their use, the results of his work. The Text remains substantially that of Mr. Reid; while mention is made in the notes of the most important variations in readings and orthography from other editions. The Introductions have been recast, with some enlargement; the analyses of the subject-matter in particular have been entirely remodelled. The Notes have been in some instances reduced, in others amplified,—especially by the addition of references to the standard treatises on grammar, history, and philosophy. It was at first the intention of the American editor to indicate by some mark the matter due to himself; but as this could hardly be done without marring the appearance of the page, and thus introducing a source of confusion to the student, it was not attempted. In the work of revision free use of the principal German and English editions has been made.

To some the notes of the present edition may appear too copious. The aim throughout, however, has been not simply to give aid on difficult points, but to call attention to the finer usages of the Latin, and to add also whatever explanation seemed necessary to a clear understanding of the subject-matter. Latin scholarship which shall be at the same time broad and accurate, including not only a mastery of the language but also a comprehensive view of the various phases of Roman life and thought, will, it is believed, be best assured by the slow and careful reading of some portions of the literature and by the rapid survey of others. Certainly of the shorter Latin classics few would more fully repay close and careful study of both language and thought than these charming colloquies on Old Age and Friendship. While almost faultless in expression, they embody in a remarkable degree that universal element which characterizes the literary masterpiece, and makes it the valued possession not merely of an age or a nation, but of all time.

FRANCIS W. KELSEY

LAKE FOREST, ILL., May, 1882.

INTRODUCTION.

I. CICERO AS A WRITER ON PHILOSOPHY.

(i.) STATE OF PHILOSOPHY IN CICERO'S TIME.

In Philosophy the Romans originated nothing. Their energies in the earlier years of the state were wholly absorbed in organization and conquest. Resting in a stern and simple creed, they had little speculative interest in matters outside the hard routine of their daily life. But with the close of the Period of Conquest came a change. The influx of wealth from conquered provinces, the formation of large landed estates, the excessive employment of slave labor, and the consequent rise of a new aristocracy, prepared the way for a great revolution. The old religion lost its hold on the higher classes; something was needed to take its place. With wealth and luxury came opportunity and desire for culture. Greece, with Art, Literature, and Philosophy fully developed and highly perfected, stood ready to instruct her rude conqueror.[^[1]]

In Cicero's time the productive era of Greek Philosophy had well-nigh passed. Its tendency was less speculative, more ethical and practical than in the earlier time. There were four prominent schools, the New Academy, the Peripatetic, the Stoic, and the Epicurean. The supporters of the last-named advocated in Science the doctrine of the atom, in Ethics the pursuit of pleasure, in Religion the complete inactivity of the gods.

The Stoics and Peripatetics were divided by comparatively unimportant differences. In Ethics, considered by them as almost the whole of Philosophy, which was itself defined as 'the art of living', the main question between the two schools was the amount of importance to be attributed to Virtue,—the Stoics declaring that in comparison with Virtue all other things sink into absolute insignificance, while the Peripatetics maintained that these have a certain though infinitesimally small significance. The New Academy taught at this time no complete philosophical system. It simply proclaimed the view that in the field of knowledge certainty is unattainable, and that all the inquirer has to do is to balance probabilities one against the other. The New Academic, therefore, was free to accept any opinions which seemed to him to have the weight of probability on their side, but he was bound to be ready to abandon them when anything appeared which altered his views of the probabilities. He not only might be, but he could not help being, eclectic; that is, he chose such views promulgated by other schools as seemed to him at the moment to be most reasonable or probable. Cicero called himself an adherent of this school. On most points however, although eclectic, he agreed with the Peripatetics, but with a decided leaning toward the Stoic ethical system. The Stoic opinion that it is the duty of the wise man to abstain from public life, which the Peripatetics contested, Cicero decisively rejected. With the Epicureans he had absolutely no sympathy. Up to this time these schools and their teachings were known to the Romans only through the medium of the Greek. The only Latin philosophical literature was Epicurean, and, excepting the poem of Lucretius (De Rerum Natura), scarcely famous as yet, consisted entirely of books rudely written, although considerably read.

(ii.) THE MISSION OF CICERO IN PHILOSOPHY.

Cicero made no claim to originality as a philosopher, nor even to complete acquaintance with every detail of the Greek systems.[^[2]]

In early life he had studied with enthusiasm and success all the learning of the Greeks, but especially in the two departments of Rhetoric and Philosophy, then closely connected, or rather hardly distinguished. He not only sought the society of learned Greeks, but spent considerable time in study at Rhodes and Athens, which had become not merely the 'school of Greece', as Thucydides makes Pericles call her, but the school of the civilized world.[^[3]] When, by reason of political troubles, he was forced to retire to private life, he began to carry out a great plan for interpreting the best philosophical writings of the Greeks to his fellow-countrymen. For this work his liberal views as a New Academic peculiarly fitted him. His usual method was to take one or two leading Greek works on the subject with which he was dealing, and to represent freely in his own language their subject-matter, introducing episodes and illustrations of his own. He thus presented to the Romans in their own tongue the most significant portions of the Greek Philosophy; and in his writings there has come down to us much, especially of the Post-Aristotelian Philosophy, that was doomed to oblivion in the original Greek. But further than this, to Cicero more than to any other Roman is due the formation of a Latin philosophical vocabulary, by which the language was enriched and fitted for the part it has since taken as the Language of the Learned. While on many points Cicero's own views can hardly be determined with perfect exactness, the exalted sentiments and the exquisite literary finish of his philosophical writings have always won admiration; and through them he has exerted no small influence on the literature and life of modern times.[^[4]]

(iii.) THE PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS OF CICERO.

During the whole of an exceptionally busy public life Cicero devoted his spare moments to reading and to the society of the learned. After his exile in 58 and 57 B.C. his political career, except for a brief period just before his death, was over, and it is at this time that his period of great literary activity begins, In 55 he produced the work De Oratore, in 54 the De Re Publica, and in 52 the De Legibus, all three works, according to ancient ideas, entitled to rank as philosophical.[^[5]]

From 51 to 46 B.C., owing first to his absence in Cilicia, then to the civil troubles, Cicero almost ceased to write. But in the latter year he was reconciled with Caesar, and as the Senate and law courts were closed against him on his refusal to compromise his political principles, he betook himself with greater devotion than ever to literature. The first work written in 46 was the Hortensius, or De Philosophia, now lost. It was founded on a lost dialogue of Aristotle, and set forth the advantages of studying Philosophy. During the same year Cicero completed several oratorical works, the Partitiones Oratoriae, the Brutus, or De Claris Oratoribus, and the Orator, all of which are extant.

Early in 45 Cicero lost his beloved daughter Tullia. He passed the whole year in retirement, trying to soothe his grief by incessant writing. In quick succession appeared

De Consolatione, an attempt to apply philosophy to the mitigation of his own sorrow and that of others;

Academica, an exposition of the New Academic Philosophy, advocating probability rather than certainty as the foundation of philosophy;

De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, a work criticising the most prominent views entertained concerning Ethics;

Disputationes Tusculanae, treating of certain conditions essential to morality and happiness;

De Natura Deorum, an examination of the principal theories regarding the nature and power of the gods;

Cato Maior, on old age; Laelius, on friendship;

De Fato, discussing Fate and Free Will;

Paradoxa, a book setting forth certain remarkable views of the Stoics;

De Officiis, a treatise on practical ethics, the application of moral principles to the questions and difficulties of ordinary life.

These works, written mostly in 45 and 44, are, except the De Cons., still extant. To the list may be added also other works of a rhetorical nature, such as the Topica and De Optima Genere Dicendi, and some lost philosophical books, such as De Gloria.

Even though allowance be made for the fact that Cicero was giving in Latin the substance of Greek books with which he had been familiar from boyhood, the mental vigor and literary power exhibited by this series of works appear prodigious when we consider their great compass and variety and the generally high finish of their style.

References.—For a fuller account of Cicero's philosophical views and writings consult Ritter, 'History of Ancient Philosophy', Vol. 4, Ch. 2; Maurice, 'Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy', Ch. 7, § 5; Tennemann and Morell, 'History of Philosophy', Ch. 3; Ueberweg, 'History of Philosophy', Vol I, § 61; J.B. Mayor, 'Sketch of Ancient Philosophy', pp. 223-244; Teuffel, 'History of Roman Literature', Vol. i, § 172 et seq. Cruttwell, 'History of Roman Literature', Bk. II. Part 1, Ch. 2; 'Cicero', by Collins, in Ancient Classics for English Readers, Ch. 10, et seq.; also the Introduction to Reid's edition of the Academica, and the account of Cicero by Prof. Ramsay in Smith's Dictionary of Biography and Mythology. The most attractive biography of Cicero in English is that by Forsyth. That by Trollope is able but quite partisan. On the philosophy, consult also Zeller's 'Eclectics.'

II. THE CATO MAIOR.

(i.) ORIGIN AND SCOPE.

1. Date and Circumstances of Composition.

The date at which the Cato Maior was written can be determined with almost perfect exactness. A mention in Cicero's work entitled De Divinatione[^[6]] shows that the Cato Maior preceded that work by a short time. The De Divinatione was written after the assassination of Caesar, that is, after the 15th of March in the year 44.[^[7]] Again, the Cato Maior is mentioned as a recent work in three letters addressed by Cicero to Atticus.[^[8]] The earliest of these letters was written on or about the 12th of May, 44.[^[9]] We shall hardly err, therefore, if we assume that Cicero composed the Cato Maior in April of the year 44.[^[10]] This agrees also with slight indications in the work itself. In the dedicatory introduction Cicero speaks of troubles weighing heavily on himself and Atticus.[^[11]] Any one who reads the letters to Atticus despatched in April, 44, will have little doubt that the troubles hinted at are the apprehensions as to the course of Antonius, from whom Cicero had personally something to fear. Atticus was using all the influence he could bring to bear on Antonius in order to secure Cicero's safety;

hence Cicero's care to avoid in the dedication all but the vaguest possible allusions to politics. Had that introduction been written before Caesar's death, we should have had plain allusions (as in the prooemia of the Academica, the De Finibus, the Tusculan Disputations, and the De Natura Deorum) to Caesar's dictatorship.[^[12]]

The time was one of desperate gloom for Cicero. The downfall of the old constitution had overwhelmed him with sorrow, and his brief outburst of joy over Caesar's death had been quickly succeeded by disgust and alarm at the proceedings of Antonius. The deep wound caused by his daughter's death[^[13]] was still unhealed. It is easy to catch in the Cato Maior some echoes of his grief for her. When it is said that of all Cato's titles to admiration none is higher than the fortitude he showed in bearing the death of his son,[^[14]] the writer is thinking of the struggle he himself had been waging against a like sorrow for more than a year past; and when Cato expresses his firm conviction that he will meet his child beyond the grave,[^[15]] we can see Cicero's own yearning for reunion with his deeply loved Tullia.

2. Greek Sources.

All Cicero's philosophical and rhetorical writings were confessedly founded more or less on Greek originals.[^[16]] The stores from which he principally drew in writing the Cato Maior are clearly indicated in several parts of the work. Passages from Xenophon's Oeconomicus are translated in Chapters 17 and 22. In Chapters 2 and 3 there is a close imitation of the conversation between Socrates and Cephalus at the beginning of Plato's Republic, while in Chapter 21 is reproduced one of the most

striking portions of the Phaedo, 72 E-73 B, 78-80.[^[17]] The view of the divine origin and destiny of the human soul contained in the passage from the Phaedo is rendered by Cicero in many of his works,[^[18]] and was held by him with quite a religious fervor and sincerity.

Besides these instances of special indebtedness Cicero, in composing the Cato Maior, was no doubt under obligations of a more general kind to the Greeks. The form of the dialogue is Greek, and Aristotelian rather than Platonic.[^[19]] But further, it is highly probable that Cicero owed to some particular Greek dialogue on Old Age the general outline of the arguments he there brings forward. Many of the Greek illustrative allusions may have had the same origin, though in many cases Roman illustrations must have been substituted for Greek. Whether the dialogue by Aristo Cius, cursorily mentioned in the Cato Maior,[^[20]] was at all used by Cicero or not it is impossible to determine.[^[21]]

3. Purpose.

The Cato Maior is a popular essay in Ethics, applying the principles of philosophy to the alleviation of one of life's chief burdens, old age. In ancient times, when philosophy formed the real and only religion of the educated class, themes like this were deemed to afford a worthy employment for the pens even of the greatest philosophers. Such essays formed the only substitute the ancients had for our Sermons. There can be no doubt of Cicero's sincerity when he says that the arguments he sets

forth in the treatise had given him real comfort,[^[22]] and the opening words of the dedication show that he meant and hoped to administer the same comfort to his friend Atticus, who indeed acknowledged the benefit he derived from the work.[^[23]] When Cicero wrote the treatise he was himself sixty-two years of age, while his friend was three years older. He speaks, therefore, rather euphemistically when he says that his purpose is to lighten the trouble of an old age which is already close at hand, or at all events approaching.[^[24]]

But in addition to the main ethical purpose, there was, as in many of Cicero's works, a distinct political purpose. He desired to stimulate in his readers an admiration for what he regarded as the golden age of Roman politics, the era of the Punic wars, and to do this by making the contrast between that age and his own appear as striking as possible. A like double purpose is apparent throughout the De Re Publica, where Africanus the younger is the chief personage, and in the treatise on Friendship, where Laelius is the central figure. For the dialogue on Old Age M. Porcius Cato the Censor is selected as the principal speaker for two reasons: first, because he was renowned for the vigor of mind and body he displayed in advanced life;[^[25]] and secondly, because in him were conspicuously exhibited the serious simplicity, the unswerving adherence to principle, and the self-sacrificing patriotism which were the ideal Roman virtues, and which Cicero could not find among the politicians of his time.

4. Form and Language.

The Cato Maior, like most of Cicero's philosophical writings, is cast in the form of a dialogue. Among the ancients the dialogue

was a common rhetorical device, especially in the presentation of abstruse subjects. The introduction of characters to conduct the discussion gave vividness and clearness to the unfolding of the argument, as well as a kind of dramatic interest to the production. In the Cato Maior[^[26]] and the Laelius, as generally, Cicero followed the plan of Aristotle's dialogues (now lost) rather than that of the dialogues of Plato. In the former there was more of exposition and less of discussion than in the latter; one person stated his views on some question, and the company in attendance only made occasional remarks without attempting to debate the question. In the latter, although one person, Socrates, is everywhere prominent, others are continually drawn into the discussions, and there is a quick interchange of question and answer. The Aristotelian form was better adapted to Cicero's purposes than the Platonic; the progress of the argument was less interrupted, and thus better opportunity for a symmetrical development of the theme was afforded. Then, too, the former was more popular. The style of Aristotle[^[27]] had been imitated by Theophrastus and many other writers down to Cicero's time, while that of Plato had found hardly any imitators.

The editors of the Cato Maior have generally assumed that Cicero attempted to give an antique coloring to the diction of the dialogue in order to remind readers of Cato's own style. It is only necessary to read a page or two of Cato's De Re Rustica to have this illusion dispelled. The only things actually alleged to be archaisms are (1) the use of deponent participles as passives in §§ [4], [59], [74], a thing common enough in Cicero; (2) the occurrence of quasi = quem ad modum in § [71]; (3) of audaciter = audacter in § [72]; (4) of tuerentur for intuerentur in § [77]; (5) of neutiquam in § [42]; (6) of the nominative of the gerundive governing an accusative case in § [6]. In every instance the

notes will supply a refutation of the allegation. That Cicero should attempt to write in any style but his own is exceedingly improbable.

5. Personages.

The conversation is supposed to take place between Cato, Scipio Africanus the younger, and Laelius, in the year before Cato's death, i.e. 150 B.C., when he was in his eighty-fourth year,[^[28]] Scipio being about 35 and Laelius a few years older.

(1.) Cato. M. Porcius Cato was born in 234 B.C.[^[29]] at the ancient Latin town of Tusculum. Little is known of his family except that it was plebeian, and possessed a small patrimony in the territory of the Sabines, close to the farm of M'. Curius Dentatus, one of Cato's great heroes and models. The heads of the family, so far as memory extended, had distinguished themselves as tough warriors and hardy farmers. Among the Sabines, who even down to the times of the Empire were famed for simplicity of manners and the practice of all the sterner virtues, Cato passed those portions of his life which were not occupied with business of state. From his earliest days he toiled in his own fields, and contented himself with the hardest rustic life.[^[30]] Yet even in his boyhood Cato must have passed intervals at Rome, and seen something of the great statesmen and generals of the time.[^[31]] He seems to have received when young as thorough an education as was possible without learning Greek, such an education as was to be obtained only in the capital. He grew up to manhood in the comparatively quiet

period between the first and the second Punic wars; the most exciting event of his younger years must have been the destruction at Clastidium of the vast hordes of Celts who had swept over the northern half of Italy, almost within reach of Rome.

Cato was of the age for military service about the time of the battle of Lake Trasimenus, and entered the army then as a common soldier.[^[32]] The first expedition in which he is definitely said to have taken part is that of Q. Fabius Maximus Cunctator against Hannibal in Campania, in 214.[^[33]] This Roman commander was a man entirely after Cato's heart, and became one of his models in public life.

Before and during the early years of his soldier's life, Cato succeeded in winning some reputation as an orator, having practised first in the provincial courts near his home, and afterwards at Rome.[^[34]] This reputation as well as his great force of character procured for him a powerful life-long friend and patron, M. Valerius Flaccus, a statesman of the old Roman conservative-democratic school of politics, the leader of which was Fabius Cunctator. Through the influence of Flaccus, possibly with the aid of Fabius, Cato became military tribune, and served with that rank under Marcellus in Sicily, under Fabius again at the capture of Tarentum in 209,[^[35]] and under C. Claudius Nero at the battle of the Metaurus, where he contributed materially to that great victory.

In 204 Cato began his political career with the quaestorship.[^[36]] As he was a novus homo and a man of small private means, it was no small distinction that he had forced his way to office in

his thirtieth year. The lot assigned him as quaestor to Scipio, then in Sicily and about to cross over into Africa. The chance was most unfortunate, if for no other reason, because Cato was intimately connected with the party in the senate opposed to Scipio, which had been attempting to bring him to trial for the atrocities committed by the Roman army in southern Italy. But in addition the two men were so utterly different that there was no possibility of the quaestor standing in that filial relation to his consul, which old Roman custom required. As financial officer, Cato complained of the luxury and extravagance which Scipio allowed not only to himself but to his army. Yet the complaint was made not so much on economic as on moral grounds; it seemed to Cato that the old Roman discipline and power to endure hardships were being swept away. The dispute was ended by Scipio allowing Cato to return to Rome, some authorities say from Sicily, others from Africa. According to one writer,[^[37]] he came home by way of Sardinia and brought thence with him Ennius the poet.[^[38]]

In 199 Cato was plebeian aedile, and exercised with severity the police jurisdiction pertaining to that office, yet so as to win popular approval, since he was chosen praetor for 198 without the usual interval. The province of Sardinia was entrusted to him, and he strained every nerve to make his government present as strong a contrast as possible with the lax and corrupt administration of the nobles who took Scipio for their pattern. The troops were sternly disciplined, and law-breakers of every kind severely dealt with; in money matters the strictest economy prevailed; all gifts from provincials to Roman officers were forbidden. The praetor, the great representative of Roman power, passed from town to town attended by a single servant.

In 196 Cato was occupied with his canvass for the consulship

of the year 195, to which he was elected in company with his friend Flaccus. Cato was the first novus homo elected since C. Flaminius, the consul of 217. It is probable, though not certain, that he paved the way to his election by carrying the first of the leges Porciae, restricting the right of punishing Roman citizens. During the whole of his career Cato showed a high sense of the importance of the individual civis Romanus.

One of the first official acts of the new consul was to deliver a set speech to the people against a proposal to repeal the Oppian law, passed twenty years before, the object of which was to prevent lavish expenditure on dress and adornments, particularly by women. We have a lively report of Cato's speech from Livy's pen, partly founded on the speech as published by Cato himself.[^[39]] The earnest pleading in favor of simple manners and economy failed, after having almost caused an open insurrection on the part of the women.[^[40]]

The two new provinces in Spain, Hispania Citerior and Ulterior, were still in a very unsettled state. The nearer province was made a consular province and assigned to Cato; the praetor who governed the farther province was also placed under Cato's jurisdiction. Before leaving Rome Cato carried a law for protecting the provincials from extortion. During the whole of his year of office he practised with the utmost exactness his principles of purity, simplicity, and economy in public affairs. He is said to have started from his house on the journey to Spain with only three servants, but when he got as far as the forum, it struck him that such an attendance was scarcely worthy of a Roman consul; so he purchased two more slaves on the spot! In the same spirit, before returning he sold his horse that the state might not be at the expense of transporting it to Italy. Cato was no less careful of the revenue than of the expenditure. He largely increased the productiveness of the mines and other

property belonging to the state, and all goods captured from the enemy were sold for the benefit of the exchequer. On leaving the province Cato made an unusually large gift to each soldier, saying that it was better for all to bring home silver than for a few to bring home gold. The provincials were thoroughly content with their ruler and ever after looked on him as their best friend. The army was kept in the strictest discipline. Some disorderly conduct of the equites was rebuked by Cato in a bitter harangue which he afterwards published. Partly by craft, partly by good leadership in the field, Cato broke the strength of the turbulent natives and returned to enjoy a well-earned triumph.[^[41]] In the same year (194) a brilliant triumph was celebrated by Flamininus.

Scipio, probably uneasy at the great reputations quickly won by Flamininus and Cato, secured his second consulship for the year 194, but failed to achieve anything remarkable. Cato probably spent the three years after his return for the most part at his Sabine farm. When the war against Antiochus broke out, he took service along with his friend Flaccus on the staff of the consul Glabrio,[^[42]] and by a difficult march over the mountains broke in on the king's rear, and so was chiefly instrumental in winning the great battle of Thermopylae, by which Antiochus was driven out of Greece. Immediately after the battle Cato returned home with despatches. We have dim and uncertain information that he took the field once or twice again, but his career as a soldier was practically ended.

From this time to his death, forty years later, Cato was the leading figure on the stage of Roman politics. In season and out of season he attacked abuses or innovations in speeches addressed to the senate, the people, or the courts. Soon after his return from Thessaly he struck a heavy blow at the unrepublican honor-hunting among the magistrates, of which the example

had been set by P. Scipio Africanus. Most provincial governors drove their subjects into war, sent lying despatches home about their victories, and claimed a triumph. In 190 Cato attacked with success the proposal to grant a triumph to Q. Minucius Thermus, who had already triumphed over the Spaniards as praetor, and after his consulship in 193 had fought against the Ligurians. Cato's next victim was his former commander M'. Acilius Glabrio, who came forward at the same time with Cato, Marcellus (a son of the captor of Syracuse), L. Cornelius Scipio Nasica, T. Quinctius Flamininus (the conqueror of Macedonia) and Cato's friend L. Valerius Flaccus, as candidate for the censorship of 189. Cato by his violent speeches procured the trial of Glabrio for appropriating the plunder captured in Thessaly, and himself gave evidence concerning some property which had disappeared. Glabrio denounced Cato as a perjurer, but yet retired from his candidature. On this occasion Cato and Flaccus failed, Marcellus being elected as plebeian and Flamininus as patrician censor.

In the next year (188) Cato acted in the senate with the party which tried unsuccessfully to refuse the triumph to the two consuls of 189, M. Fulvius Nobilior and Cn. Manlius Vulso, the former of whom had gained none but trifling advantages over the Aetolians, while the latter had disgraced the Roman name by making war without authorization upon the Gauls of Asia Minor, and had also suffered a humiliating defeat from some Thracian robber bands on his homeward march. Not disheartened by ill success, Cato and his friends determined to strike at higher game. L. Scipio Asiaticus (or Asiagenus), the brother of Africanus, was asserted in the senate to have appropriated 3000 talents of public money when in command against Antiochus. Legal proceedings were taken not only against Asiaticus, but against Africanus, who behaved with great violence and arrogance. In the end Africanus withdrew to his country estate, while his brother was condemned to pay a heavy fine. A death-stroke had been given to the almost kingly authority of Africanus, who never again showed his face in Rome. The proceedings

against the Scipios seem to have begun in 187 and not to have been completed before 185.

Nearly twenty years had passed since the conflict between Cato and Scipio began, and now it had ended in a complete triumph for Cato.[^[43]] But the new modes of which Scipio was the chief patron were too strong to be conquered, and Cato spent the rest of his life in fighting a hopeless battle against them, though he fought for a time with the strongest weapons that the constitution supplied. In 184 he was censor along with Flaccus, who seems to have allowed his colleague full liberty of action. Every portion of the censor's duty was carried out on the most severe and 'old Roman' principles. Seven senators were degraded, among them L. Flamininus, an ex-consul and brother of the 'liberator of the Hellenes,' for serious misconduct,[^[44]] also Manilius, an ex-praetor, for no worse offence than that of having kissed his wife in presence of his daughter. M. Furius Purpurio, who had actually competed with Cato for the censorship, was punished for diverting a public aqueduct for his private advantage. Flaccus was named leader of the senate in the place of Scipio Africanus, now dead.

On reviewing the equites, Cato removed from that body L. Scipio and many others on various charges: this one had allowed himself to grow too fat for horsemanship; that had failed to groom his horse properly; another had neglected his farm; another again had made an untimely jest on the occasion of the review itself. With the ordinary citizens Cato dealt just as harshly. In his censorian edict he sharply reproved the extravagance prevalent at private feasts. All articles of luxury, such as slaves purchased at fancy prices, luxurious clothing, carriages, statues, and pictures were rendered liable to heavy taxation. In this way Cato revenged himself for the repeal of the Oppian law.

In looking after the property and income of the state Cato followed the same principles he had acted on in Spain. He reduced the expenditure on public works as far as possible, and took care to sell at the full price the right to collect the revenue. Encroachments on the property of the nation were severely punished.

Not by acts only, but by constant speeches, full at once of grimness and humor, did Cato struggle against the degeneracy of his time[^[45]]. He concluded his period of office with a self-laudatory harangue, and assumed the title Censorius, while his statue was placed in the temple of the goddess Salus with an inscription affirming that he had reformed the Roman nation.

But in a very brief time all trace of Cato's activity as censor was swept away, except that afforded by the numerous life-long quarrels in which he had involved himself[^[46]]. In less than two years one of his victims, Purpurio, was employed by the senate on a high political mission, while another, L. Flamininus, sat among the senators at the games in defiance of Cato's sentence. Yet Cato remained by far the most powerful member of the senate. Titus Flamininus, his only important rival, quickly passed out of notice. So far as there was any democratic opposition to the senatorial oligarchy, Cato was the leader of that opposition for the remainder of his life. But at that period no great political movements agitated the state within; nearly the whole interest of the time was centred in the foreign relations of Rome. On matters of foreign policy Cato offered but little opposition to the prevailing tendencies of the age, though on particular occasions he exercised great influence. But his voice was at all times loudly heard on all questions of morality and public order. He supported the lex Furia and the lex Voconia, the object of which was to prevent the dissipation of family property, and the lex Orchia, directed against extravagant expenditure

on feasts, also the lex Baebia de ambitu, the first serious attempt to check bribery. We hear also that Cato bitterly attacked Lepidus, censor in 180, for erecting a permanent theatre in place of the movable booths before used. The building was actually pulled down. We are told that from time to time he denounced the misdoings of provincial governors. In 171 he was one of a commission of five for bringing to justice three ex-praetors who had practised all manner of corruption in Spain. Almost the last act of his life was to prosecute Galba for cruel misgovernment of the Lusitanians. The titles of Cato's speeches show that he played a great part in the deliberations of the senate concerning foreign affairs, but as his fighting days were over and he was unfitted for diplomacy, we have little explicit evidence of his activity in this direction. At the end of the third Macedonian war he successfully opposed the annexation of Macedonia. He also saved from destruction the Rhodians, who during the war had plainly desired the victory of Perseus, and in the early days, when the Roman commanders had ill success, had deeply wounded the whole Roman nation by an offer to mediate between them and the king of Macedon.

Cato had all his life retained his feeling of enmity to the Carthaginians, whom Scipio, he thought, had treated too tenderly. In 150 he was one of an embassy sent to Carthage, and came back filled with alarm at the prosperity of the city. It is said that whatever was the subject on which he was asked for his opinion in the senate, he always ended his speech with 'ceterum censeo delendam esse Carthaginem' P. Scipio Nasica, the son-in-law of Africanus, and the representative of his policy, always shouted out the opposite opinion, thinking that the fear of Carthage had a salutary effect on the Roman populace at large. But the ideas of Cato prevailed, and a cruel policy, carried out with needless brutality, led to the extinction of Rome's greatest rival. Cato did not live to see the conclusion of the war; he died in 149, at the age of 84 or 85 years, having retained his mental and physical vigor to the last. He had two sons, one by his first wife, and one by his second wife, born when Cato was 80

years of age. The elder son, to whom many of Cato's works were addressed, died as praetor-elect, before his father[^[47]]. The other was grandfather of Cato Uticensis.

The literary activity of the old censor was great, though his leisure was small.[^[48]] In Cicero's time a collection of 150 speeches was still extant. The titles of about 90 are still known to us, and of some we possess a few fragments. Cato's greatest work, however, was his Origines, the first real historical work written in Latin. His predecessors had been merely compilers of chronicles. The work was founded on laborious investigations, and comprised the history of Rome from the earliest times perhaps down to 150 B.C.[^[49]], as well as notices of the history of other important Italian states. Further, Cato wrote of Agriculture, to which he was enthusiastically devoted. We still have his De Re Rustica, a collection of maxims loosely strung together. He also composed works on law; a sort of educational encyclopaedia for his son; and a collection of witty sayings, Αποφθεγματα, drawn from Greek as well as from Roman sources.

Plutarch seems to have known a collected edition of the pungent and proverbial utterances for which the censor was famous, and for which (not for any knowledge of philosophy[^[50]]) he received the title of sapiens ('shrewd') which he bore at the end of his life. This edition, however, was not compiled by Cato himself.

In view of Cicero's treatise, the Cato Maior, it is necessary to say something of Cato's relations with the Greeks and Greek literature. The ancients give us merely vague statements that he only began to learn Greek 'in his old age.' The expression must be liberally interpreted if, as seems clear, the whole of his writings showed the influence of Greek literature. It is certain, however, that he thoroughly detested the Greek nation. This hatred was shown in acts more than once. No doubt Cato was

at least a consenting party to the expulsion from Rome of Greek teachers in 161 B.C. When in 155 the famous embassy came from Athens consisting of Carneades the Academic, Critolaus the Peripatetic and Diogenes the Stoic, Cato was a prime mover of the decree by which they were removed from the city. Socrates was one of Cato's favorite marks for jests. And this is the man into whose mouth Cicero puts the utterances, but slightly veiled, of Greek wisdom!

(2.) Scipio. P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the younger, was no blood relation of the conqueror of Hannibal, but the adopted son of his son. It must be remembered, however, that adoption was much more formal and binding, and produced much closer ties in ancient than in modern times.[^[51]] The elder Africanus was unfortunate in his sons. The younger of these attained to the praetorship in 174, but was immediately driven from the senate by the censors of that year on account of his disreputable life. The elder was an invalid, who never held any office except that of augur, and died at an early age. He adopted the son of L. Aemilius Paulus, the victor of Pydna; the adopted son bore the name Aemilianus in memory of his origin. Cato's son married a daughter of Paulus, so that the censor was brought into relationship with the Cornelii, whose most illustrious representative he had hated and attacked.

The young Scipio was born about 185, and when scarce 17 years old fought with daring bravery at Pydna. While still very young he showed a great devotion to study, which he retained through life. He was a thorough partisan of the new Greek learning, and grouped around him in friendship all the leaders of the Hellenistic movement. Among his dearest friends were Polybius, the Greek statesman and historian, and later Panaetius, the Stoic. In 151 B.C. when the consuls found it difficult to enlist officers and men for service in Spain, where great defeats had been suffered, Scipio volunteered, and served with great distinction as military tribune. When the war with Carthage broke out he

held the same rank, and shone by comparison with his blundering superior officers. Coming to Rome in 148 he stood for the aedileship, but was elected consul for the year 147, and again for 146, when he finished the war. He is said to have grieved over the fate of Carthage, and to have dreaded any further increase of the Roman territory. In 142 Scipio was censor, and acted with almost Catonian severity. In 134, though not a candidate, he was elected to the consulship and put in command of the Roman army then besieging the city of Numantia in Spain. The war, of which this siege formed a part, had been going on for some years most disastrously for the Romans, but Scipio speedily brought it to a conclusion in 133. While before Numantia he received news of the murder of Ti. Gracchus, whose sister he had married and whose cousin he had become by adoption, but whose policy he had on the whole opposed, though he had occasionally coquetted with the democrats. This course cost him the favor of the people, and when in 131 he desired to conduct the war against Aristonicus, only two of the thirty-five tribes voted for his appointment. In 129, after a violent scene in the senate, where he had opposed the carrying out of Ti. Gracchus' agrarian law, he was triumphantly escorted home by a crowd, composed chiefly of Italians whose interests had been threatened by the law. Next morning he was found dead in his bed. Opinion as to the cause of his death was divided at the time and so remained. In the Laelius the death is assumed to have been from natural causes.[^[52]] Elsewhere, however, Cicero adopts the view of many of Scipio's friends that he was murdered by Carbo.[^[53]] Carbo afterwards lent color to the suspicions by putting himself to death, in order, as was supposed, to avoid a direct prosecution. In ancient times even C. Gracchus was suspected of having thus avenged his brother's death, but no modern scholar of any rank has countenanced the suspicion.

Whether the degree of intimacy between Cato and Scipio, which Cicero assumes, ever existed or not, cannot be determined.[^[54]]

There was much in Scipio that would attract Cato. Unlike the elder Africanus, he was severe and simple in his outward life, and though a lover of Greek and Greeks, yet attached to all that was best in the old Roman character and polity. Though an opponent of revolution, he was far from being a partisan of the oligarchy. Altogether, of all Romans, he most nearly deserved the description, 'ανηρ τετραγωνος ανευ ψογου,' 'a man four-square without reproach.' In his De Re Publica, Cicero points to Scipio as the ideal statesman, and often elsewhere eulogizes him as an almost perfect Roman.

(3.) Laelius. Gaius Laelius, born about 186, was Scipio's most distinguished officer before Carthage, and his most intimate friend throughout life. The friendship of the two was one of the most famous in antiquity, and is celebrated in the Laelius. Laelius was an able speaker, writer and soldier, and devoted to Greek learning, particularly to the Stoic philosophy. He is with Cicero the type of a man of culture.[^[55]] He, too, is one of the interlocutors in the De Re Publica.

(ii.) SUBJECT-MATTER.

1. General View.

The Cato Maior falls naturally into three parts:—

Preliminary, dedication to Atticus, §§ [1]-[3];

Introductory Conversation, [4]-[9];

Cato's Defence of Old Age, [10]-[85].

After § [9] Cato continues to express his views on old age without interruption to the end, and the dialogue thus becomes really a monologue.

2. Analysis.

Preliminary ... [1]-[3].

Cicero, addressing Atticus, states his purpose in writing the book and the effect of the work on himself ([1], [2]), the reasons

for putting the sentiments on old age into the mouth of Cato, and the circumstances of the supposed conversation ([3]).

Introductory Conversation ... [4]-[9].

Scipio declares his admiration of Cato's vigorous and happy old age. Cato replies that the secret lies in following the guidance of Nature ([4], [5]). Laelius then asks Cato to point out the road to such an old age as his own ([6]). This the old man promises to do, but first remarks that the faults charged against old age are generally due to defects of character ([7]). Laelius suggests that prosperity makes Cato's declining years pleasant. Cato admits that there may be some truth in this, but maintains that right character alone can make old age tolerable ([8], [9]).

Cato's Defence of Old Age ... [10]-[85].

A. Introductory argument from fact. Account of celebrated old men whose lives till death were useful and happy ... [10]-[14]

(a). Fabius Maximus ... [10]-[12]
(b). Plato; (c). Isocrates; (d). Gorgias ... [13]
(e). Ennius ... [14]

B. Refutation of charges made against old age ... [15]-[85]

Statement of the four charges commonly made against old age: it withdraws men from active life, it weakens the physical powers, it takes away capacity for enjoyment, and it involves the anticipation of death ... [15]

A. Refutation of the first charge, that old age withdraws from active life.

(a). There are employments suited to old age which are as necessary to the well-being of society as those which require greater physical powers ... [15]-[20]

(b). The special objection that old men have weak memories is answered by showing that this is due either to an original defect or to insufficient exercise ... [21]-[22]

(c). Argument from fact: instances of old men in public and in private life who till death were actively at work ... [23]-[26]

B. Rebuttal of the second charge, that old age weakens the physical powers.

(a). Old age does not desire nor require the strength of youth, because it may exert influence through other means. Instances cited to show this ... [27]-[32]

(b). Temperate habits will retain a good measure of strength till old age ([33], [34]); many instances of weakness in old age may be attributed to ill-health, which is common to all periods of life ([35]); proper care will greatly retard decay ... [33]-[38]

C. Refutation of the third charge, that old age takes away the capacity for enjoyment

(a). The pleasures in which youth finds its keenest enjoyment are in themselves bad, and old age is beneficent in freeing from their allurements ... [39]-[44]

(b). Old age has pleasures far more refined and satisfying than those of sense ... [45]-[64]
Such as, those of conversation and literature ([45]-[50]); especially those of agriculture ([51]-[61]); and lastly, the exercise of influence, which old age will always possess if a rightly spent youth has preceded ... ([62]-[64]).

(c). The special objection that old men's tempers spoil their enjoyments is met by the statement that this is the fault of character, not of age ... [65]

D. Refutation of the fourth charge, that old age is unhappy because it involves the anticipation of death.

(a). Since the right aim of life is to live not long but well, death ought not to be dreaded at any age ... [66]-[69]

(b). Old men, especially those of learning and culture, ought not to fear death ... [70]-[76]
Because, that which is according to nature is good, and it is natural for old men to die ([70]-[73]); the process of dying is brief and almost painless ([74]); even young men and those without learning often set the example of despising death ([75]); and old age, just as the other periods of life, has finally its season of ripeness and satiety ([76]).

(c). Death is probably the gateway to a happy immortality ... [77]-[85]
Tending towards proof of this are the arguments stated in Plato; viz. the rapidity of the mind's action, its powers of memory and invention, its self-activity, indivisible nature and pre-existence ([78]); also the arguments, attributed to Cyrus, based upon the soul's immateriality, the posthumous fame of great men and the likeness of death to sleep ([79]-[81]); the instinctive belief in immortality, so strong as even to form an incentive for action ([82]); and, finally, the speaker's own longing after immortality and hope of union with those whom he once knew and loved ([83]-[85]).

CATO MAIOR DE SENECTUTE

M. TULLI CICERONIS

CATO MAIOR

DE SENECTUTE.

[1]

O Tite, si quid ego adiuero curamve levasso

quae nunc te coquit et versat in pectore fixa,

ecquid erit praemi?

Licet enim mihi versibus isdem affari te, Attice, quibus affatur Flamininum

ille vir haud magna cum re, sed plenus fidei,

quamquam certo scio non, ut Flamininum,

sollicitari te, Tite, sic noctesque diesque,

novi enim moderationem animi tui et aequitatem, teque non cognomen solum Athenis deportasse, sed humanitatem et prudentiam intellego. Et tamen te suspicor isdem rebus quibus me ipsum interdum gravius commoveri, quarum consolatio et maior est et in aliud tempus differenda. Nunc autem visum est mihi de senectute aliquid ad te conscribere. [2] Hoc enim onere, quod mihi commune tecum est, aut iam urgentis aut certe adventantis senectutis et te et me ipsum levari volo: etsi te quidem id modice ac sapienter, sicut omnia, et ferre et laturum esse certo scio. Sed mihi, cum de senectute vellem aliquid scribere, tu occurrebas

dignus eo munere, quo uterque nostrum communiter uteretur. Mihi quidem ita iucunda huius libri confectio fuit, ut non modo omnis absterserit senectutis molestias, sed effecerit mollem etiam et iucundam senectutem. Numquam igitur laudari satis digne philosophia poterit cui qui pareat omne tempus aetatis sine molestia possit degere. [3] Sed de ceteris et diximus multa et saepe dicemus: hunc librum ad te de senectute misimus. Omnem autem sermonem tribuimus non Tithono, ut Aristo Cius, parum enim esset auctoritatis in fabula, sed M. Catoni seni, quo maiorem auctoritatem haberet oratio: apud quem Laelium et Scipionem facimus admirantis, quod is tam facile senectutem ferat, eisque eum respondentem, qui si eruditius videbitur disputare quam consuevit ipse in suis libris, attribuito litteris Graecis, quarum constat eum perstudiosum fuisse in senectute. Sed quid opus est plura? Iam enim ipsius Catonis sermo explicabit nostram omnem de senectute sententiam.

II. [4] SCIPIO. Saepe numero admirari soleo cum hoc C. Laelio cum ceterarum rerum tuam excellentem, M. Cato, perfectamque sapientiam, tum vel maxime quod numquam tibi senectutem gravem esse senserim, quae plerisque senibus sic odiosa est, ut onus se Aetna gravius dicant sustinere.

CATO. Rem haud sane, Scipio et Laeli, difficilem admirari videmini. Quibus enim nihil est in ipsis opis ad bene beateque vivendum, eis omnis aetas gravis est: qui autem omnia bona a se ipsi petunt, eis nihil potest malum videri quod naturae necessitas afferat. Quo in genere est in primis senectus, quam ut adipiscantur omnes optant, eandem accusant adeptam: tanta est stultitiae inconstantia atque perversitas. Obrepere

aiunt eam citius quam putassent. Primum quis coegit eos falsum putare? Qui enim citius adulescentiae senectus quam pueritiae adulescentia obrepit? Deinde qui minus gravis esset eis senectus, si octingentesimum annum agerent, quam si octogesimum? Praeterita enim aetas quamvis longa, cum effluxisset, nulla consolatione permulcere posset stultam senectutem. [5] Quocirca si sapientiam meam admirari soletis, quae utinam digna esset opinione vestra nostroque cognomine, in hoc sumus sapientes, quod naturam optimam ducem tamquam deum sequimur eique paremus: a qua non veri simile est, cum ceterae partes aetatis bene descriptae sint, extremum actum tamquam ab inerti poeta esse neglectum. Sed tamen necesse fuit esse aliquid extremum et, tamquam in arborum bacis terraeque fructibus, maturitate tempestiva quasi vietum et caducum, quod ferundum est molliter sapienti. Quid est enim aliud Gigantum modo bellare cum dis nisi naturae repugnare?

[6] LAELIUS. Atqui, Cato, gratissimum nobis, ut etiam pro Scipione pollicear, feceris, si, quoniam speramus, volumus quidem certe, senes fieri, multo ante a te didicerimus quibus facillime rationibus ingravescentem aetatem ferre possimus.

CATO. Faciam vero, Laeli, praesertim si utrique vestrum, ut dicis, gratum futurum est.

LAELIUS. Volumus sane, nisi molestum est, Cato, tamquam longam aliquam viam confeceris, quam nobis quoque ingrediundum sit, istuc, quo pervenisti, videre quale sit.

III. [7] CATO. Faciam ut potero, Laeli. Saepe enim interfui querellis aequalium meorum, pares autem vetere

proverbio cum paribus facillime congregantur, quae C. Salinator, quae Sp. Albinus, homines consulares, nostri fere aequales, deplorare solebant, tum quod voluptatibus carerent, sine quibus vitam nullam putarent, tum quod spernerentur ab eis, a quibus essent coli soliti; qui mihi non id videbantur accusare, quod esset accusandum. Nam si id culpa senectutis accideret, eadem mihi usu venirent reliquisque omnibus maioribus natu, quorum ego multorum cognovi senectutem sine querella, qui se et libidinum vinculis laxatos esse non moleste ferrent nec a suis despicerentur. Sed omnium istius modi querellarum in moribus est culpa, non in aetate. Moderati enim et nec difficiles nec inhumani senes tolerabilem senectutem agunt, importunitas autem et inhumanitas omni aetati molesta est.

[8] LAELIUS. Est, ut dicis, Cato; sed fortasse dixerit quispiam tibi propter opes et copias et dignitatem tuam tolerabiliorem senectutem videri, id autem non posse multis contingere.

CATO. Est istuc quidem, Laeli, aliquid, sed nequaquam in isto sunt omnia; ut Themistocles fertur Seriphio cuidam in iurgio respondisse, cum ille dixisset non eum sua, sed patriae gloria splendorem assecutum: 'nec hercule', inquit, 'si ego Seriphius essem, nec tu, si Atheniensis, clarus umquam fuisses'. Quod eodem modo de senectute dici potest; nec enim in summa inopia levis esse senectus potest, ne sapienti quidem, nec insipienti etiam in summa copia non gravis. [9] Aptissima omnino sunt, Scipio et Laeli, arma senectutis artes exercitationesque virtutum, quae in omni aetate cultae, cum diu multumque vixeris, mirificos ecferunt fructus, non solum quia numquam deserunt, ne extremo quidem

tempore aetatis, quamquam id quidem maximum est, verum etiam quia conscientia bene actae vitae multorumque bene factorum recordatio iucundissima est.

IV. [10] Ego Q. Maximum, eum qui Tarentum recepit, senem adulescens ita dilexi, ut aequalem. Erat enim in illo viro comitate condita gravitas, nec senectus mores mutaverat. Quamquam eum colere coepi non admodum grandem natu, sed tamen iam aetate provectum. Anno enim post consul primum fuerat quam ego natus sum, cumque eo quartum consule adulescentulus miles ad Capuam profectus sum quintoque anno post ad Tarentum. Quaestor deinde quadriennio post factus sum, quem magistratum gessi consulibus Tuditano et Cethego, cum quidem ille admodum senex suasor legis Cinciae de donis et muneribus fuit. Hic et bella gerebat ut adulescens, cum plane grandis esset, et Hannibalem iuveniliter exsultantem patientia sua molliebat; de quo praeclare familiaris noster Ennius:

unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem;

noenum rumores ponebat ante salutem;

ergo plusque magisque viri nunc gloria claret.

[11] Tarentum vero qua vigilantia, quo consilio recepit! Cum quidem me audiente Salinatori, qui amisso oppido fugerat in arcem, glorianti atque ita dicenti, 'mea opera, Q. Fabi, Tarentum recepisti', 'certe', inquit ridens, 'nam nisi tu amisisses, numquam recepissem'. Nec vero in armis praestantior quam in toga; qui consul iterum, Sp. Carvilio collega quiescente, C. Flaminio tribuno plebis, quoad potuit, restitit agrum Picentem et Gallicum viritim contra senatus auctoritatem dividenti,

augurque cum esset, dicere ausus est optimis auspiciis ea geri, quae pro rei publicae salute gererentur; quae contra rem publicam ferrentur, contra auspicia ferri. [12] Multa in eo viro praeclara cognovi, sed nihil admirabilius quam quo modo ille mortem fili tulit, clari viri et consularis. Est in manibus laudatio, quam cum legimus, quem philosophum non contemnimus? Nec vero ille in luce modo atque in oculis civium magnus, sed intus domique praestantior. Qui sermo, quae praecepta! Quanta notitia antiquitatis, scientia iuris auguri! Multae etiam, ut in homine Romano, litterae: omnia memoria tenebat non domestica solum, sed etiam externa bella. Cuius sermone ita tum cupide fruebar, quasi iam divinarem, id quod evenit, illo exstincto fore unde discerem neminem.

V. [13] Quorsus igitur haec tam multa de Maximo? Quia profecto videtis nefas esse dictu miseram fuisse talem senectutem. Nec tamen omnes possunt esse Scipiones aut Maximi, ut urbium expugnationes, ut pedestris navalisve pugnas, ut bella a se gesta, ut triumphos recordentur. Est etiam quiete et pure atque eleganter actae aetatis placida ac lenis senectus, qualem accepimus Platonis, qui uno et octogesimo anno scribens est mortuus, qualem Isocrati, qui eum librum, qui Panathenaicus inscribitur, quarto nonagesimo anno scripsisse dicit vixitque quinquennium postea; cuius magister Leontinus Gorgias centum et septem complevit annos, neque umquam in suo studio atque opere cessavit. Qui, cum ex eo quaereretur cur tam diu vellet esse in vita, 'nihil habeo,' inquit, 'quod accusem senectutem'. Praeclarum responsum et docto homine dignum! [14] Sua enim vitia insipientes et suam culpam in senectutem

conferunt, quod non faciebat is, cuius modo mentionem feci, Ennius:

sic ut fortis ecus, spatio qui saepe supremo

vicit Olumpia, nunc senio confectus quiescit.

Equi fortis et victoris senectuti comparat suam; quem quidem probe meminisse potestis; anno enim undevicesimo post eius mortem hi consules, T. Flamininus et M'. Acilius, facti sunt; ille autem Caepione et Philippo iterum consulibus mortuus est, cum ego quinque et sexaginta annos natus legem Voconiam magna voce et bonis lateribus suasissem. Annos septuaginta natus, tot enim vixit Ennius, ita ferebat duo quae maxima putantur, onera, paupertatem et senectutem, ut eis paene delectari videretur.

[15] Etenim, cum complector animo, quattuor reperio causas cur senectus misera videatur: unam, quod avocet a rebus gerendis; alteram, quod corpus faciat infirmius; tertiam, quod privet omnibus fere voluptatibus; quartam, quod haud procul absit a morte. Earum, si placet, causarum quanta quamque sit iusta una quaeque videamus.

VI. A rebus gerendis senectus abstrahit. Quibus? An eis, quae iuventute geruntur et viribus? Nullaene igitur res sunt seniles, quae vel infirmis corporibus animo tamen administrentur? Nihil ergo agebat Q. Maximus, nihil L. Paulus, pater tuus, socer optimi viri fili mei? Ceteri senes, Fabricii Curii Coruncanii, cum rem publicam consilio et auctoritate defendebant, nihil agebant? [16] Ad Appi Claudi senectutem accedebat etiam ut caecus esset; tamen is, cum sententia senatus inclinaret

ad pacem cum Pyrrho foedusque faciendum, non dubitavit dicere illa, quae versibus persecutus est Ennius:

quo vobis mentes, rectae quae stare solebant

antehac, dementis sese flexere viai?

ceteraque gravissime, notum enim vobis carmen est, et tamen ipsius Appi exstat oratio. Atque haec ille egit septemdecim annis post alterum consulatum, cum inter duos consulatus anni decem interfuissent censorque ante superiorem consulatum fuisset, ex quo intellegitur Pyrrhi bello grandem sane fuisse, et tamen sic a patribus accepimus. [17] Nihil igitur afferunt qui in re gerenda versari senectutem negant, similesque sunt ut si qui gubernatorem in navigando nihil agere dicant, cum alii malos scandant, alii per foros cursent, alii sentinam exhauriant, ille clavum tenens quietus sedeat in puppi, non faciat ea, quae iuvenes. At vero multo maiora et meliora facit. Non viribus aut velocitate aut celeritate corporum res magnae geruntur, sed consilio auctoritate sententia, quibus non modo non orbari, sed etiam augeri senectus solet; [18] nisi forte ego vobis, qui et miles et tribunus et legatus et consul versatus sum in vario genere bellorum, cessare nunc videor, cum bella non gero. At senatui quae sint gerenda praescribo et quo modo; Carthagini male iam diu cogitanti bellum multo ante denuntio, de qua vereri non ante desinam quam illam exscisam esse cognovero. [19] Quam palmam utinam di immortales, Scipio, tibi reservent, ut avi relliquias persequare, cuius a morte tertius hic et tricesimus annus est, sed memoriam illius viri omnes excipient anni consequentes. Anno ante me censorem mortuus est,

novem annis post meum consulatum, cum consul iterum me consule creatus esset. Num igitur, si ad centesimum annum vixisset, senectutis eum suae paeniteret? Nec enim excursione nec saltu, nec eminus hastis aut comminus gladiis uteretur, sed consilio ratione sententia, quae nisi essent in senibus, non summum consilium maiores nostri appellassent senatum. [20] Apud Lacedaemonios quidem ei, qui amplissimum magistratum gerunt, ut sunt, sic etiam nominantur senes. Quod si legere aut audire voletis externa, maximas res publicas ab adulescentibus labefactatas, a senibus sustentatas et restitutas reperietis.

Cedo qui vestram rem publicam tantam amisistis tam cito?

sic enim percontantur in Naevi poetae Ludo. Respondentur et alia et hoc in primis:

proveniebant oratores novi, stulti adulescentuli.

Temeritas est videlicet florentis aetatis, prudentia senescentis.

VII. [21] At memoria minuitur. Credo, nisi eam exerceas, aut etiam si sis natura tardior. Themistocles omnium civium perceperat nomina; num igitur censetis eum, cum aetate processisset, qui Aristides esset Lysimachum salutare solitum? Equidem non modo eos novi qui sunt, sed eorum patres etiam et avos, nec sepulcra legens vereor, quod aiunt, ne memoriam perdam; his enim ipsis legendis in memoriam redeo mortuorum. Nec vero quemquam senem audivi oblitum, quo loco thesaurum obruisset. Omnia quae curant meminerunt, vadimonia constituta, quis sibi, cui ipsi debeant. [22] Quid iuris consulti, quid pontifices, quid augures, quid philosophi

senes? Quam multa meminerunt! Manent ingenia senibus, modo permaneat studium et industria, neque ea solum claris et honoratis viris, sed in vita etiam privata et quieta. Sophocles ad summam senectutem tragoedias fecit; quod propter studium cum rem neglegere familiarem videretur, a filiis in iudicium vocatus est, ut, quem ad modum nostro more male rem gerentibus patribus bonis interdici solet, sic illum quasi desipientem a re familiari removerent iudices. Tum senex dicitur eam fabulam quam in manibus habebat et proxime scripserat, Oedipum Coloneum, recitasse iudicibus quaesisseque num illud carmen desipientis videretur, quo recitato sententiis iudicum est liberatus. [23] Num igitur hunc, num Homerum Hesiodum Simoniden Stesichorum, num quos ante dixi Isocraten Gorgian, num philosophorum principes, Pythagoran Democritum, num Platonem Xenocraten, num postea Zenonem Cleanthen, aut eum, quem vos etiam vidistis Romae, Diogenen Stoicum coegit in suis studiis obmutiscere senectus? An in omnibus studiorum agitatio vitae aequalis fuit? [24] Age, ut ista divina studia omittamus, possum nominare ex agro Sabino rusticos Romanos, vicinos et familiaris meos, quibus absentibus numquam fere ulla in agro maiora opera fiunt, non serendis, non percipiendis, non condendis fructibus. Quamquam in aliis minus hoc mirum est, nemo enim est tam senex qui se annum non putet posse vivere; sed idem in eis elaborant, quae sciunt nihil ad se omnino pertinere:

serit arbores, quae alteri saeclo prosint,

ut ait Statius noster in Synephebis. [25] Nec vero dubitat agricola, quamvis sit senex, quaerenti cui serat respondere:

'dis immortalibus, qui me non accipere modo haec a maioribus voluerunt, sed etiam posteris prodere'.

VIII. Et melius Caecilius de sene alteri saeculo prospiciente, quam illud idem:

edepol, senectus, si nil quicquam aliud viti

adportes tecum, cum advenis, unum id sat est,

quod diu vivendo multa quae non volt videt.

Et multa fortasse quae volt, atque in ea, quae non volt, saepe etiam adulescentia incurrit. Illud vero idem Caecilius vitiosius:

tum equidem in senecta hoc deputo miserrimum,

sentire ea aetate eumpse esse odiosum alteri.

[26] Iucundum potius quam odiosum! Ut enim adulescentibus bona indole praeditis sapientes senes delectantur, leviorque fit senectus eorum qui a iuventute coluntur et diliguntur, sic adulescentes senum praeceptis gaudent, quibus ad virtutum studia ducuntur, nec minus intellego me vobis quam mihi vos esse iucundos. Sed videtis, ut senectus non modo languida atque iners non sit, verum etiam sit operosa et semper agens aliquid et moliens, tale scilicet, quale cuiusque studium in superiore vita fuit. Quid, qui etiam addiscunt aliquid, ut et Solonem versibus gloriantem videmus, qui se cotidie aliquid addiscentem dicit senem fieri, et ego feci, qui litteras Graecas senex didici, quas quidem sic avide arripui quasi diuturnam sitim explere cupiens, ut ea ipsa mihi nota essent, quibus me nunc exemplis uti videtis. Quod cum fecisse Socraten in fidibus audirem, vellem equidem etiam illud, discebant enim fidibus antiqui, sed in litteris certe elaboravi.

IX. [27] Ne nunc quidem viris desidero adulescentis, is enim erat locus alter de vitiis senectutis, non plus quam adulescens tauri aut elephanti desiderabam. Quod est, eo decet uti et quidquid agas agere pro viribus. Quae enim vox potest esse contemptior quam Milonis Crotoniatae? Qui cum iam senex esset athletasque se exercentis in curriculo videret, aspexisse lacertos suos dicitur illacrimansque dixisse, 'at hi quidem mortui iam sunt'. Non vero tam isti, quam tu ipse, nugator, neque enim ex te umquam es nobilitatus, sed ex lateribus et lacertis tuis. Nihil Sex. Aelius tale, nihil multis annis ante Ti. Coruncanius, nihil modo P. Crassus, a quibus iura civibus praescribebantur, quorum usque ad extremum spiritum est provecta prudentia. [28] Orator metuo ne languescat senectute: est enim munus eius non ingeni solum, sed laterum etiam et virium. Omnino canorum illud in voce splendescit etiam nescio quo pacto in senectute, quod equidem adhuc non amisi, et videtis annos. Sed tamen est decorus seni sermo quietus et remissus, facitque persaepe ipsa sibi audientiam diserti senis composita et mitis oratio, quam si ipse exsequi nequeas, possis tamen Scipioni praecipere et Laelio. Quid enim est iucundius senectute stipata studiis iuventutis? [29] An ne illas quidem viris senectuti relinquimus, ut adulescentis doceat, instituat, ad omne offici munus instruat? Quo quidem opere quid potest esse praeclarius? Mihi vero et Cn. et P. Scipiones et avi tui duo L. Aemilius et P. Africanus comitatu nobilium iuvenum fortunati videbantur, nec ulli bonarum artium magistri non beati putandi, quamvis consenuerint vires atque defecerint. Etsi ipsa ista defectio virium adulescentiae vitiis efficitur saepius quam senectute; libidinosa enim et intemperans adulescentia

effetum corpus tradit senectuti. [30] Cyrus quidem apud Xenophontem eo sermone, quem moriens habuit, cum admodum senex esset, negat se umquam sensisse senectutem suam imbecilliorem factam quam adulescentia fuisset. Ego L. Metellum memini puer, qui, cum quadriennio post alterum consulatum pontifex maximus factus esset, viginti et duos annos ei sacerdotio praefuit, ita bonis esse viribus extremo tempore aetatis, ut adulescentiam non requireret. Nihil necesse est mihi de me ipso dicere, quamquam est id quidem senile aetatique nostrae conceditur. X. [31] Videtisne, ut apud Homerum saepissime Nestor de virtutibus suis praedicet? Tertiam enim aetatem hominum videbat, nec erat ei verendum ne vera praedicans de se nimis videretur aut insolens aut loquax. Etenim, ut ait Homerus, ex eius lingua melle dulcior fluebat oratio; quam ad suavitatem nullis egebat corporis viribus. Et tamen dux ille Graeciae nusquam optat ut Aiacis similis habeat decem, sed ut Nestoris, quod si sibi acciderit, non dubitat quin brevi sit Troia peritura. [32] Sed redeo ad me. Quartum ago annum et octogesimum: vellem equidem idem posse gloriari quod Cyrus, sed tamen hoc queo dicere, non me quidem eis esse viribus, quibus aut miles bello Punico aut quaestor eodem bello aut consul in Hispania fuerim aut quadriennio post, cum tribunus militaris depugnavi apud Thermopylas M'. Glabrione consule; sed tamen, ut vos videtis, non plane me enervavit, non afflixit senectus: non curia viris meas desiderat, non rostra, non amici, non clientes, non hospites. Nec enim umquam sum assensus veteri illi laudatoque proverbio, quod monet mature fieri senem, si diu velis senex esse. Ego vero me minus diu senem esse mallem quam esse

senem ante quam essem. Itaque nemo adhuc convenire me voluit cui fuerim occupatus. [33] At minus habeo virium quam vestrum utervis. Ne vos quidem T. Ponti centurionis viris habetis: num idcirco est ille praestantior? Moderatio modo virium adsit et tantum quantum potest quisque nitatur, ne ille non magno desiderio tenebitur virium. Olympiae per stadium ingressus esse Milo dicitur, cum umeris sustineret bovem: utrum igitur has corporis an Pythagorae tibi malis viris ingeni dari? Denique isto bono utare, dum adsit, cum absit, ne requiras: nisi forte adulescentes pueritiam, paulum aetate progressi adulescentiam debent requirere. Cursus est certus aetatis et una via naturae eaque simplex, suaque cuique parti aetatis tempestivitas est data, ut et infirmitas puerorum et ferocitas iuvenum et gravitas iam constantis aetatis et senectutis maturitas naturale quiddam habet, quod suo tempore percipi debeat. [34] Audire te arbitror, Scipio, hospes tuus avitus Masinissa quae faciat hodie nonaginta natus annos: cum ingressus iter pedibus sit, in equum omnino non ascendere; cum autem equo, ex equo non descendere; nullo imbri, nullo frigore adduci ut capite operto sit; summam esse in eo corporis siccitatem, itaque omnia exsequi regis officia et munera. Potest igitur exercitatio et temperantia etiam in senectute conservare aliquid pristini roboris.

XI. Ne sint in senectute vires: ne postulantur quidem vires a senectute. Ergo et legibus et institutis vacat aetas nostra muneribus eis quae non possunt sine viribus sustineri. Itaque non modo quod non possumus, sed ne quantum possumus quidem cogimur. [35] At multi ita sunt imbecilli senes, ut nullum offici aut

omnino vitae munus exsequi possint. At id quidem non proprium senectutis vitium est, sed commune valetudinis. Quam fuit imbecillus P. Africani filius, is qui te adoptavit, quam tenui aut nulla potius valetudine! Quod ni ita fuisset, alterum illud exstitisset lumen civitatis; ad paternam enim magnitudinem animi doctrina uberior accesserat. Quid mirum igitur in senibus, si infirmi sunt aliquando, cum id ne adulescentes quidem effugere possint? Resistendum, Laeli et Scipio, senectuti est, eiusque vitia diligentia compensanda sunt, pugnandum tamquam contra morbum sic contra senectutem, [36] habenda ratio valetudinis, utendum exercitationibus modicis, tantum cibi et potionis adhibendum, ut reficiantur vires, non opprimantur. Nec vero corpori solum subveniendum est, sed menti atque animo multo magis. Nam haec quoque, nisi tamquam lumini oleum instilles, exstinguuntur senectute. Et corpora quidem exercitationum defetigatione ingravescunt, animi autem exercitando levantur. Nam quos ait Caecilius 'comicos stultos senes,' hos significat credulos obliviosos dissolutos, quae vitia sunt non senectutis, sed inertis ignavae somniculosae senectutis. Ut petulantia, ut libido magis est adulescentium quam senum, nec tamen omnium adulescentium, sed non proborum, sic ista senilis stultitia, quae deliratio appellari solet, senum levium est, non omnium. [37] Quattuor robustos filios, quinque filias, tantam domum, tantas clientelas Appius regebat et caecus et senex; intentum enim animum tamquam arcum habebat nec languescens succumbebat senectuti. Tenebat non modo auctoritatem, sed etiam imperium in suos: metuebant servi, verebantur liberi, carum omnes habebant; vigebat in illo animus patrius

et disciplina. [38] Ita enim senectus honesta est, si se ipsa defendit, si ius suum retinet, si nemini emancipata est, si usque ad ultimum spiritum dominatur in suos. Ut enim adulescentem in quo est senile aliquid, sic senem in quo est aliquid adulescentis probo, quod qui sequitur, corpore senex esse poterit, animo numquam erit. Septimus mihi liber Originum est in manibus; ommia antiquitatis monumenta colligo; causarum illustrium, quascunque defendi, nunc cum maxime conficio orationes; ius augurium pontificium civile tracto; multum etiam Graecis litteris utor, Pythagoriorumque more, exercendae memoriae gratia, quid quoque die dixerim audierim egerim commemoro vesperi. Hae sunt exercitationes ingeni, haec curricula mentis; in his desudans atque elaborans corporis viris non magno opere desidero. Adsum amicis, venio in senatum frequens ultroque affero res multum et diu cogitatas easque tueor animi, non corporis viribus. Quas si exsequi nequirem, tamen me lectulus meus oblectaret ea ipsa cogitantem, quae iam agere non possem; sed ut possim facit acta vita. Semper enim in his studiis laboribusque viventi non intellegitur quando obrepat senectus: ita sensim sine sensu aetas senescit nec subito frangitur, sed diuturnitate exstinguitur.

XII. [39] Sequitur tertia vituperatio senectutis, quod eam carere dicunt voluptatibus. O praeclarum munus aetatis, si quidem id aufert a nobis, quod est in adulescentia vitiosissimum! Accipite enim, optimi adulescentes, veterem orationem Archytae Tarentini, magni in primis et praeclari viri, quae mihi tradita est cum essem adulescens Tarenti cum Q. Maximo. Nullam capitaliorem pestem quam voluptatem corporis hominibus

dicebat a natura datam, cuius voluptatis avidae libidines temere et ecfrenate ad potiendum incitarentur. Hinc patriae proditiones, [40] hinc rerum publicarum eversiones, hinc cum hostibus clandestina colloquia nasci; nullum denique scelus, nullum malum facinus esse ad quod suscipiendum non libido voluptatis impelleret; stupra vero et adulteria et omne tale flagitium nullis excitari aliis illecebris nisi voluptatis; cumque homini sive natura sive quis deus nihil mente praestabilius dedisset, huic divino muneri ac dono nihil tam esse inimicum quam voluptatem. [41] Nec enim libidine dominante temperantiae locum esse, neque omnino in voluptatis regno virtutem posse consistere. Quod quo magis intellegi posset, fingere animo iubebat tanta incitatum aliquem voluptate corporis, quanta percipi posset maxima: nemini censebat fore dubium quin tam diu, dum ita gauderet, nihil agitare mente, nihil ratione, nihil cogitatione consequi posset. Quocirca nihil esse tam detestabile tamque pestiferum quam voluptatem, si quidem ea, cum maior esset atque longior, omne animi lumen exstingueret. Haec cum C. Pontio Samnite, patre eius, a quo Caudino proelio Sp. Postumius T. Veturius consules superati sunt, locutum Archytam Nearchus Tarentinus hospes noster, qui in amicitia populi Romani permanserat, se a maioribus natu accepisse dicebat, cum quidem ei sermoni interfuisset Plato Atheniensis, quem Tarentum venisse L. Camillo Ap. Claudio consulibus reperio. [42] Quorsus hoc? Ut intellegeretis, si voluptatem aspernari ratione et sapientia non possemus, magnam esse habendam senectuti gratiam, quae efficeret ut id non liberet quod non oporteret. Impedit enim consilium voluptas, rationi inimica est, mentis ut

ita dicam praestringit oculos, nec habet ullum cum virtute commercium. Invitus feci ut fortissimi viri T. Flaminini fratrem L. Flamininum e senatu eicerem septem annis post quam consul fuisset, sed notandam putavi libidinem. Ille enim cum esset consul in Gallia exoratus in convivio a scorto est ut securi feriret aliquem eorum qui in vinculis essent, damnati rei capitalis. Hic Tito fratre suo censore, qui proximus ante me fuerat, elapsus est, mihi vero et Flacco neutiquam probari potuit tam flagitiosa et tam perdita libido, quae cum probro privato coniungeret imperi dedecus.

XIII. [43] Saepe audivi e maioribus natu, qui se porro pueros a senibus audisse dicebant, mirari solitum C. Fabricium quod, cum apud regem Pyrrhum legatus esset, audisset a Thessalo Cinea esse quendam Athenis qui se sapientem profiteretur, eumque dicere omnia quae faceremus ad voluptatem esse referenda. Quod ex eo audientis M'. Curium et Ti. Coruncanium optare solitos ut id Samnitibus ipsique Pyrrho persuaderetur, quo facilius vinci possent cum se voluptatibus dedissent. Vixerat M'. Curius cum P. Decio, qui quinquennio ante eum consulem se pro re publica quarto consulatu devoverat: norat eundem Fabricius, norat Coruncanius, qui cum ex sua vita tum ex eius quem dico. Deci facto iudicabant esse profecto aliquid natura pulchrum atque praeclarum, quod sua sponte expeteretur quodque spreta et contempta voluptate optimus quisque sequeretur. [44] Quorsum igitur tam multa de voluptate? Quia non modo vituperatio nulla, sed etiam summa laus senectutis est, quod ea voluptates nullas magno opere desiderat. Caret epulis exstructisque mensis et frequentibus poculis. Caret ergo etiam vinulentia et

cruditate et insomniis. Sed si aliquid dandum est voluptati, quoniam eius blanditiis non facile obsistimus, divine enim Plato escam malorum appellat voluptatem quod ea videlicet homines capiantur ut pisces, quamquam immoderatis epulis caret senectus, modicis tamen conviviis delectari potest. C. Duellium M. F., qui Poenos classe primus devicerat, redeuntem a cena senem saepe videbam puer; delectabatur cereo funali et tibicine, quae sibi nullo exemplo privatus sumpserat: tantum licentiae dabat gloria. [45] Sed quid ego alios? Ad me ipsum iam revertar. Primum habui semper sodalis—sodalitates autem me quaestore constitutae sunt sacris Idaeis Magnae Matris acceptis—epulabar igitur cum sodalibus, omnino modice, sed erat quidam fervor aetatis, qua progrediente omnia fiunt in dies mitiora. Neque enim ipsorum conviviorum delectationem voluptatibus corporis magis quam coetu amicorum et sermonibus metiebar; bene enim maiores accubitionem epularem amicorum, quia vitae coniunctionem haberet, convivium nominaverunt, melius quam Graeci, qui hoc idem tum compotationem, tum concenationem vocant, ut, quod in eo genere minimum est, id maxime probare videantur.

XIV. [46] Ego vero propter sermonis delectationem tempestivis quoque conviviis delector, nec cum aequalibus solum, qui pauci admodum restant, sed cum vestra etiam aetate atque vobiscum, habeoque senectuti magnam gratiam, quae mihi sermonis aviditatem auxit, potionis et cibi sustulit. Quod si quem etiam ista delectant, ne omnino bellum indixisse videar voluptati, cuius est fortasse quidam naturalis modus, non intellego ne in istis quidem ipsis voluptatibus carere sensu senectutem.

Me vero et magisteria delectant a maioribus instituta et is sermo, qui more maiorum a summo adhibetur in poculo, et pocula sicut in Symposio Xenophontis est, minuta atque rorantia, et refrigeratio aestate et vicissim aut sol aut ignis hibernus. Quae quidem etiam in Sabinis persequi soleo conviviumque vicinorum cotidie compleo, quod ad multam noctem quam maxime possumus vario sermone producimus. [47] At non est voluptatum tanta quasi titillatio in senibus. Credo, sed ne desideratio quidem; nihil autem est molestum quod non desideres. Bene Sophocles, cum ex eo quidam iam affecto aetate quaereret, utereturne rebus veneriis, 'di meliora!' inquit; 'ego vero istinc sicut a domino agresti ac furioso profugi.' Cupidis enim rerum talium odiosum fortasse et molestum est carere, satiatis vero et expletis iucundius est carere quam frui; quamquam non caret is, qui non desiderat; ergo hoc non desiderare dico esse iucundius. [48] Quod si istis ipsis voluptatibus bona aetas fruitur libentius, primum parvulis fruitur rebus, ut diximus, deinde eis, quibus senectus, etiam si non abunde potitur, non omnino caret. Ut Turpione Ambivio magis delectatur qui in prima cavea spectat, delectatur tamen etiam qui in ultima, sic adulescentia voluptates propter intuens magis fortasse laetatur, sed delectatur etiam senectus, procul eas spectans, tantum quantum sat est. [49] At illa quanti sunt, animum tamquam emeritis stipendiis libidinis ambitionis, contentionum inimicitiarum, cupiditatum omnium secum esse secumque, ut dicitur, vivere! Si vero habet aliquod tamquam pabulum studi atque doctrinae, nihil est otiosa senectute iucundius. Videbamus in studio dimetiendi paene caeli atque terrae Gallum familiarem

patris tui, Scipio. Quotiens ilium lux noctu aliquid describere ingressum, quotiens nox oppressit cum mane coepisset! Quam delectabat eum defectiones solis et lunae multo ante nobis praedicere! [50] Quid in levioribus studiis, sed tamen acutis? Quam gaudebat Bello suo Punico Naevius, quam Truculento Plautus, quam Pseudolo! Vidi etiam senem Livium, qui, cum sex annis ante quam ego natus sum fabulam docuisset Centone Tuditanoque consulibus, usque ad adulescentiam meam processit aetate. Quid de P. Licini Crassi et pontifici et civilis iuris studio loquar aut de huius P. Scipionis, qui his paucis diebus pontifex maximus factus est? Atque eos omnis, quos commemoravi, his studiis flagrantis senes vidimus. M. vero Cethegum, quem recte suadae medullam dixit Ennius, quanto studio exerceri in dicendo videbamus etiam senem! Quae sunt igitur epularum aut ludorum aut scortorum voluptates cum his voluptatibus comparandae? Atque haec quidem studia doctrinae, quae quidem prudentibus et bene institutis pariter cum aetate crescunt, ut honestum illud Solonis sit, quod ait versiculo quodam, ut ante dixi, senescere se multa in dies addiscentem, qua voluptate animi nulla certe potest esse maior.

XV. [51] Venio nunc ad voluptates agricolarum, quibus ego incredibiliter delector, quae nec ulla impediuntur senectute et mihi ad sapientis vitam proxime videntur accedere. Habent enim rationem cum terra, quae numquam recusat imperium nec umquam sine usura reddit quod accepit, sed alias minore, plerumque maiore cum faenore; quamquam me quidem non fructus modo, sed etiam ipsius terrae vis ac natura delectat. Quae cum gremio mollito ac subacto sparsum semen excepit,

primum id occaecatum cohibet, ex quo occatio quae hoc efficit nominata est; deinde tepefactum vapore et compressu suo diffundit et elicit herbescentem ex eo viriditatem, quae nixa fibris stirpium sensim adolescit culmoque erecta geniculato vaginis iam quasi pubescens includitur; e quibus cum emersit, fundit frugem spici ordine structam et contra avium minorum morsus munitur vallo aristarum. [52] Quid ego vitium ortus satus incrementa commemorem? Satiari delectatione non possum, ut meae senectutis requietem oblectamentumque noscatis. Omitto enim vim ipsam omnium quae generantur e terra, quae ex fici tantulo grano aut ex acini vinaceo aut ex ceterarum frugum aut stirpium minutissimis seminibus tantos truncos ramosque procreet; malleoli plantae sarmenta viviradices propagines nonne efficiunt ut quemvis cum admiratione delectent? Vitis quidem quae natura caduca est et, nisi fulta est, fertur ad terram, eadem, ut se erigat, claviculis suis quasi manibus quidquid est nacta complectitur, quam serpentem multiplici lapsu et erratico, ferro amputans coercet ars agricolarum, ne silvescat sarmentis et in omnis partis nimia fundatur. [53] Itaque ineunte vere in eis quae relicta sunt exsistit tamquam ad articulos sarmentorum ea quae gemma dicitur, a qua oriens uva se ostendit, quae et suco terrae et calore solis augescens primo est peracerba gustatu, dein maturata dulcescit vestitaque pampinis nec modico tepore caret et nimios solis defendit ardores: qua quid potest esse cum fructu laetius, tum aspectu pulchrius? Cuius quidem non utilitas me solum, ut ante dixi, sed etiam cultura et natura ipsa delectat: adminiculorum ordines, capitum iugatio, religatio et propagatio vitium, sarmentorum ea,

quam dixi, aliorum amputatio, aliorum immissio. Quid ego irrigationes, quid fossiones agri repastinationesque proferam quibus fit multo terra fecundior? [54] Quid de utilitate loquar stercorandi? Dixi in eo libro, quem de rebus rusticis scripsi. De qua doctus Hesiodus ne verbum quidem fecit, cum de cultura agri scriberet. At Homerus, qui multis, ut mihi videtur, ante saeculis fuit, Laerten lenientem desiderium, quod capiebat e filio, colentem agrum et eum stercorantem facit. Nec vero segetibus solum et pratis et vineis et arbustis res rusticae laetae sunt, sed hortis etiam et pomariis, tum pecudum pastu, apium examinibus, florum omnium varietate. Nec consitiones modo delectant, sed etiam insitiones, quibus nihil invenit agri cultura sollertius.

XVI. [55] Possum persequi permulta oblectamenta rerum rusticarum, sed ea ipsa quae dixi sentio fuisse longiora. Ignoscetis autem, nam et studio rerum rusticarum provectus sum, et senectus est natura loquacior, ne ab omnibus eam vitiis videar vindicare. Ergo in hac vita M'. Curius, cum de Samnitibus, de Sabinis, de Pyrrho triumphavisset, consumpsit extremum tempus aetatis; cuius quidem ego villam contemplans, abest enim non longe a me, admirari satis non possum vel hominis ipsius continentiam vel temporum disciplinam. Curio ad focum sedenti magnum auri pondus Samnites cum attulissent, repudiati sunt; non enim aurum habere praeclarum sibi videri dixit, sed eis qui haberent aurum imperare. [56] Poteratne tantus animus efficere non iucundam senectutem? Sed venio ad agricolas, ne a me ipso recedam. In agris erant tum senatores, id est senes, si quidem aranti L. Quinctio Cincinnato nuntiatum est eum dictatorem esse factum, cuius dictatoris

iussu magister equitum C. Servilius Ahala Sp. Maelium regnum appetentem occupatum interemit. A villa in senatum arcessebatur et Curius et ceteri senes, ex quo qui eos arcessebant viatores nominati sunt. Num igitur horum senectus miserabilis fuit, qui se agri cultione oblectabant? Mea quidem sententia haud scio an nulla beatior possit esse, neque solum officio, quod hominum generi universo cultura agrorum est salutaris, sed et delectatione quam dixi, et saturitate copiaque rerum omnium, quae ad victum hominum, ad cultum etiam deorum pertinent, ut, quoniam haec quidam desiderant, in gratiam iam cum voluptate redeamus. Semper enim boni assiduique domini referta cella vinaria, olearia, etiam penaria est, villaque tota locuples est, abundat porco haedo agno gallina, lacte caseo melle. Iam hortum ipsi agricolae succidiam alteram appellant. Conditiora facit haec supervacaneis etiam operis aucupium atque venatio. [57] Quid de pratorum viriditate aut arborum ordinibus aut vinearum olivetorumve specie plura dicam? Brevi praecidam. Agro bene culto nihil potest esse nec usu uberius nec specie ornatius, ad quem fruendum non modo non retardat, verum etiam invitat atque allectat senectus. Ubi enim potest illa aetas aut calescere vel apricatione melius vel igni, aut vicissim umbris aquisve refrigerari salubrius? [58] Sibi habeant igitur arma, sibi equos, sibi hastas, sibi clavam et pilam, sibi venationes atque cursus, nobis senibus ex lusionibus multis talos relinquant et tesseras; id ipsum ut lubebit, quoniam sine eis beata esse senectus potest.

XVII. [59] Multas ad res perutiles Xenophontis libri sunt, quos legite quaeso studiose, ut facitis. Quam

copiose ab eo agri cultura laudatur in eo libro, qui est de tuenda re familiari, qui Oeconomicus inscribitur! Atque ut intellegatis nihil ei tam regale videri quam studium agri colendi, Socrates in eo libro loquitur cum Critobulo Cyrum minorem Persarum regem, praestantem ingenio atque imperi gloria, cum Lysander Lacedaemonius, vir summae virtutis, venisset ad eum Sardis eique dona a sociis attulisset, et ceteris in rebus communem erga Lysandrum atque humanum fuisse et ei quendam consaeptum agrum diligenter consitum ostendisse. Cum autem admiraretur Lysander et proceritates arborum et directos in quincuncem ordines et humum subactam atque puram et suavitatem odorum qui afflarentur ex floribus, tum eum dixisse mirari se non modo diligentiam sed etiam sollertiam eius a quo essent illa dimensa atque discripta; et Cyrum respondisse 'atqui ego ista sum omnia dimensus, mei sunt ordines, mea discriptio; multae etiam istarum arborum mea manu sunt satae.' Tum Lysandrum, intuentem purpuram eius et nitorem corporis ornatumque Persicum multo auro multisque gemmis, dixisse 'recte vero te, Cyre, beatum ferunt, quoniam virtuti tuae fortuna coniuncta est!' [60] Hac igitur fortuna frui licet senibus, nec aetas impedit quo minus et ceterarum rerum et in primis agri colendi studia teneamus usque ad ultimum tempus senectutis. M. quidem Valerium Corvinum accepimus ad centesimum annum perduxisse, cum esset acta iam aetate in agris eosque coleret, cuius inter primum et sextum consulatum sex et quadraginta anni interfuerunt. Ita quantum spatium aetatis maiores ad senectutis initium esse voluerunt, tantus illi cursus honorum fuit; atque huius extrema aetas hoc beatior quam media, quod auctoritatis

habebat plus, laboris minus; apex est autem senectutis auctoritas. [61] Quanta fuit in L. Caecilio Metello, quanta in A. Atilio Calatino! In quem illud elogium:

hunc unum plurimae consentiunt gentes

populi primarium fuisse virum.

Notum est totum carmen incisum in sepulcro. Iure igitur gravis, cuius de laudibus omnium esset fama consentiens. Quem virum nuper P. Crassum, pontificem maximum, quem postea M. Lepidum eodem sacerdotio praeditum vidimus! Quid de Paulo aut Africano loquar, aut, ut iam ante, de Maximo? Quorum non in sententia solum, sed etiam in nutu residebat auctoritas. Habet senectus, honorata praesertim, tantam auctoritatem, ut ea pluris sit quam omnes adulescentiae voluptates.

XVIII. [62] Sed in omni oratione mementote eam me senectutem laudare, quae fundamentis adulescentiae constituta sit. Ex quo efficitur id, quod ego magno quondam cum assensu omnium dixi, miseram esse senectutem quae se oratione defenderet. Non cani nec rugae repente auctoritatem arripere possunt, sed honeste acta superior aetas fructus capit auctoritatis extremos. [63] Haec enim ipsa sunt honorabilia, quae videntur levia atque communia, salutari appeti decedi assurgi deduci reduci consuli, quae et apud nos et in aliis civitatibus, ut quaeque optime morata est, ita diligentissime observantur. Lysandrum Lacedaemonium, cuius modo feci mentionem, dicere aiunt solitum Lacedaemonem esse honestissimum domicilium senectutis; nusquam enim tantum tribuitur aetati, nusquam est senectus honoratior. Quin etiam memoriae proditum est, cum Athenis ludis quidam in theatrum grandis natu venisset, magno

consessu locum nusquam ei datum a suis civibus, cum autem ad Lacedaemonios accessisset, qui, legati cum essent certo in loco considerant, consurrexisse omnes illi dicuntur et senem sessum recepisse; [64] quibus cum a cuncto consessu plausus esset multiplex datus, dixisse ex eis quendam Atheniensis scire quae recta essent, sed facere nolle. Multa in nostro collegio praeclara, sed hoc de quo agimus, in primis, quod, ut quisque aetate antecedit, ita sententiae principatum tenet, neque solum honore antecedentibus, sed eis etiam, qui cum imperio sunt, maiores natu augures anteponuntur. Quae sunt igitur voluptates corporis cum auctoritatis praemiis comparandae? Quibus qui splendide usi sunt, ei mihi videntur fabulam aetatis peregisse nec tamquam inexercitati histriones in extremo actu corruisse.

[65] At sunt morosi et anxii et iracundi et difficiles senes. Si quaerimus, etiam avari; sed haec morum vitia sunt, non senectutis. Ac morositas tamen et ea vitia, quae dixi, habent aliquid excusationis, non illius quidem iustae, sed quae probari posse videatur: contemni se putant, despici, illudi; praeterea in fragili corpore odiosa omnis offensio est; quae tamen omnia dulciora fiunt et moribus bonis et artibus, idque cum in vita tum in scaena intellegi potest ex eis fratribus qui in Adelphis sunt. Quanta in altero diritas, in altero comitas! Sic se res habet: ut enim non omne vinum, sic non omnis natura vetustate coacescit. Severitatem in senectute probo, sed eam, sicut alia, modicam; acerbitatem nullo modo; [66] avaritia vero senilis quid sibi velit, non intellego. Potest enim quicquam esse absurdius quam, quo viae minus restet, eo plus viatici quaerere?

XIX. Quarta restat causa, quae maxime angere atque

sollicitam habere nostram aetatem videtur, appropinquatio mortis, quae certe a senectute non potest esse longe. O miserum senem, qui mortem contemnendam esse in tam longa aetate non viderit! Quae aut plane neglegenda est, si omnino exstinguit animum, aut etiam optanda, si aliquo eum deducit ubi sit futurus aeternus. Atqui tertium certe nihil inveniri potest. [67] Quid igitur timeam, si aut non miser post mortem, aut beatus etiam futurus sum? Quamquam quis est tam stultus, quamvis sit adulescens, cui sit exploratum se ad vesperum esse victurum? Quin etiam aetas illa multo pluris quam nostra casus mortis habet: facilius in morbos incidunt adulescentes, gravius aegrotant, tristius curantur. Itaque pauci veniunt ad senectutem; quod ni ita accideret, melius et prudentius viveretur. Mens enim et ratio et consilium in senibus est, qui si nulli fuissent, nullae omnino civitates fuissent. Sed redeo ad mortem impendentem. Quod est istud crimen senectutis, cum id ei videatis cum adulescentia esse commune? [68] Sensi ego in optimo filio, tu in exspectatis ad amplissimam dignitatem fratribus, Scipio, mortem omni aetati esse communem. At sperat adulescens diu se victurum, quod sperare idem senex non potest. Insipienter sperat; quid enim stultius quam incerta pro certis habere, falsa pro veris? At senex ne quod speret quidem habet. At est eo meliore condicione quam adulescens, quoniam id quod ille sperat hic consecutus est: ille volt diu vivere, hic diu vixit. [69] Quamquam, o di boni, quid est in hominis natura diu? Da enim supremum tempus, exspectemus Tartessiorum regis aetatem: fuit enim, ut scriptum video, Arganthonius quidam Gadibus, qui octoginta regnaverat annos, centum viginti vixerat.

Sed mihi ne diuturnum quidem quicquam videtur, in quo est aliquid extremum; cum enim id advenit, tum illud quod praeteriit, effluxit; tantum remanet, quod virtute et recte factis consecutus sis. Horae quidem cedunt et dies et menses et anni, nec praeteritum tempus umquam revertitur nec quid sequatur sciri potest. Quod cuique temporis ad vivendum datur, eo debet esse contentus. [70] Neque enim histrioni, ut placeat, peragenda fabula est, modo in quocunque fuerit actu probetur; neque sapientibus usque ad 'plaudite' veniendum est, breve enim tempus aetatis satis longum est ad bene honesteque vivendum; sin processerit longius, non magis dolendum est, quam agricolae dolent praeterita verni temporis suavitate aestatem autumnumque venisse. Ver enim tamquam adulescentia significat ostenditque fructus futuros; reliqua autem tempora demetendis fructibus et percipiendis accommodata sunt. [71] Fructus autem senectutis est, ut saepe dixi, ante partorum bonorum memoria et copia. Omnia autem, quae secundum naturam fiunt, sunt habenda in bonis; quid est autem tam secundum naturam quam senibus emori? Quod idem contingit adulescentibus adversante et repugnante natura. Itaque adulescentes mihi mori sic videntur, ut cum aquae multitudine flammae vis opprimitur, senes autem sic, ut cum sua sponte, nulla adhibita vi, consumptus ignis exstinguitur, et quasi poma ex arboribus, cruda si sunt, vix evelluntur, si matura et cocta, decidunt, sic vitam adulescentibus vis aufert, senibus maturitas; quae quidem mihi tam iucunda est, ut, quo propius ad mortem accedam, quasi terram videre videar aliquandoque in portum ex longa navigatione esse venturus.

XX. [72] Senectutis autem nullus est certus terminus,

recteque in ea vivitur, quoad munus offici exsequi et tueri possit mortemque contemnere, ex quo fit ut animosior etiam senectus sit quam adulescentia et fortior. Hoc illud est, quod Pisistrato tyranno a Solone responsum est, cum illi quaerenti qua tandem re fretus sibi tam audaciter obsisteret respondisse dicitur 'senectute.' Sed vivendi est finis optimus, cum integra mente certisque sensibus opus ipsa suum eadem quae coagmentavit natura dissolvit. Ut navem, ut aedificium idem destruit facillime qui construxit, sic hominem eadem optime quae conglutinavit natura dissolvit. Iam omnis conglutinatio recens aegre, inveterata facile divellitur. Ita fit ut illud breve vitae reliquum nec avide appetendum senibus nec sine causa deserendum sit; vetatque Pythagoras iniussu imperatoris, id est dei, de praesidio et statione vitae decedere. [73] Solonis quidem sapientis est elogium, quo se negat velle suam mortem dolore amicorum et lamentis vacare. Volt, credo, se esse carum suis. Sed haud scio an melius Ennius:

nemo me lacrumis decoret, neque funera fletu

faxit

[74] Non censet lugendam esse mortem, quam immortalitas consequatur. Iam sensus moriendi aliquis esse potest, isque ad exiguum tempus, praesertim seni: post mortem quidem sensus aut optandus aut nullus est. Sed hoc meditatum ab adulescentia debet esse, mortem ut neglegamus; sine qua meditatione tranquillo animo esse nemo potest. Moriendum enim certe est, et incertum an hoc ipso die. Mortem igitur omnibus horis impendentem timens qui poterit animo consistere? [75] De qua non ita longa disputatione opus esse videtur, cum recorder

non L. Brutum, qui in liberanda patria est interfectus, non duos Decios, qui ad voluntariam mortem cursum equorum incitaverunt, non M. Atilium, qui ad supplicium est profectus ut fidem hosti datam conservaret non duos Scipiones, qui iter Poenis vel corporibus suis obstruere voluerunt, non avum tuum L. Paulum, qui morte luit collegae in Cannensi ignominia temeritatem, non M. Marcellum, cuius interitum ne crudelissimus quidem hostis honore sepulturae carere passus est, sed legiones nostras, quod scripsi in Originibus, in eum locum saepe profectas alacri animo et erecto, unde se redituras numquam arbitrarentur. Quod igitur adulescentes, et ei quidem non solum indocti sed etiam rustici contemnunt, id docti senes extimescent? [76] Omnino, ut mihi quidem videtur, rerum omnium satietas vitae facit satietatem. Sunt pueritiae studia certa: num igitur ea desiderant adulescentes? Sunt ineuntis adulescentiae: num ea constans iam requirit aetas, quae media dicitur? Sunt etiam eius aetatis: ne ea quidem quaeruntur in senectute. Sunt extrema quaedam studia senectutis: ergo, ut superiorum aetatum studia occidunt, sic occidunt etiam senectutis; quod cum evenit, satietas vitae tempus maturum mortis affert.

XXI. [77] Non enim video, cur, quid ipse sentiam de morte, non audeam vobis dicere, quod eo cernere mihi melius videor, quo ab ea propius absum. Ego vestros patres, P. Scipio tuque, C. Laeli, viros clarissimos mihique amicissimos, vivere arbitror et eam quidem vitam, quae est sola vita nominanda. Nam dum sumus inclusi in his compagibus corporis, munere quodam necessitatis et gravi opere perfungimur; est enim animus caelestis ex altissimo domicilio depressus et quasi demersus

in terram, locum divinae naturae eternitatique contrarium. Sed credo deos immortalis sparsisse animos in corpora humana, ut essent qui terras tuerentur quique caelestium ordinem contemplantes imitarentur eum vitae modo atque constantia. Nec me solum ratio ac disputatio impulit ut ita crederem, sed nobilitas etiam summorum philosophorum et auctoritas.

[78] Audiebam Pythagoran Pythagoriosque, incolas paene nostros, qui essent Italici philosophi quondam nominati numquam dubitasse quin ex universa mente divina delibatos animos haberemus. Demonstrabantur mihi praeterea quae Socrates supremo vitae die de immortalitate animorum disseruisset, is qui esset omnium sapientissimus oraculo Apollinis iudicatus. Quid multa? Sic mihi persuasi, sic sentio, cum tanta celeritas animorum sit, tanta memoria praeteritorum futurorumque prudentia, tot artes tantae scientiae, tot inventa, non posse eam naturam, quae res eas contineat, esse mortalem; cumque semper agitetur animus nec principium motus habeat, quia se ipse moveat, ne finem quidem habiturum esse motus, quia numquam se ipse sit relicturus; et cum simplex animi natura esset neque haberet in se quicquam admixtum dispar sui atque dissimile, non posse eum dividi, quod si non posset, non posse interire; magnoque esse argumento homines scire pleraque ante quam nati sint, quod iam pueri, cum artis difficilis discant, ita celeriter res innumerabilis arripiant, ut eas non tum primum accipere videantur, sed reminisci et recordari. Haec Platonis fere. XXII. [79] Apud Xenophontem autem moriens Cyrus maior haec dicit: 'nolite arbitrari, o mihi carissimi filii, me, cum a vobis discessero, nusquam aut nullum fore. Nec enim, dum eram vobiscum, animum

meum videbatis, sed eum esse in hoc corpora ex eis rebus quas gerebam intellegebatis. Eundem igitur esse creditote, etiam si nullum videbitis. [80] Nec vero clarorum virorum post mortem honores permanerent, si nihil eorum ipsorum animi efficerent, quo diutius memoriam sui teneremus. Mihi quidem numquam persuaderi potuit animos dum in corporibus essent mortalibus vivere, cum excessissent ex eis emori; nec vero tum animum esse insipientem cum ex insipienti corpore evasisset, sed cum omni admixtione corporis liberatus purus et integer esse coepisset, tum esse sapientem. Atque etiam, cum hominis natura morte dissolvitur, ceterarum rerum perspicuum est quo quaeque discedat, abeunt enim illuc omnia, unde orta sunt; animus autem solus nec cum adest nec cum discessit apparet. Iam vero videtis nihil esse morti tam simile quam somnum. [81] Atqui dormientium animi maxime declarant divinitatem suam; multa enim, cum remissi et liberi sunt, futura prospiciunt; ex quo intellegitur quales futuri sint, cum se plane corporis vinculis relaxaverint. Qua re, si haec ita sunt, sic me colitote,' inquit, 'ut deum, sin una est interiturus animus cum corpore, vos tamen, deos verentes, qui hanc omnem pulchritudinem tuentur et regunt, memoriam nostri pie inviolateque servabitis.'

XXIII. [82] Cyrus quidem haec moriens; nos, si placet, nostra videamus. Nemo umquam mihi, Scipio, persuadebit aut patrem tuum Paulum, aut duos avos Paulum et Africanum, aut Africani patrem aut patruum, aut multos praestantis viros, quos enumerare non est necesse, tanta esse conatos quae ad posteritatis memoriam pertinerent, nisi animo cernerent posteritatem ad ipsos pertinere. Anne censes, ut de me ipse aliquid more

senum glorier, me tantos labores diurnos nocturnosque domi militiaeque suscepturum fuisse, si isdem finibus gloriam meam quibus vitam essem terminaturus? Nonne melius multo fuisset otiosam et quietam aetatem sine ullo labore et contentione traducere? Sed nescio quo modo animus erigens se posteritatem ita semper prospiciebat, quasi, cum excessisset e vita, tum denique victurus esset. Quod quidem ni ita se haberet ut animi immortales essent, haud optimi cuiusque animus maxime ad immortalitatis gloriam niteretur. [83] Quid quod sapientissimus quisque aequissimo animo moritur, stultissimus iniquissimo, nonne vobis videtur is animus, qui plus cernat et longius, videre se ad meliora proficisci, ille autem, cuius obtusior sit acies, non videre? Equidem efferor studio patres vestros quos colui et dilexi videndi, neque vero eos solum convenire aveo, quos ipse cognovi, sed illos etiam, de quibus audivi et legi et ipse conscripsi; quo quidem me proficiscentem haud sane quid facile retraxerit, nec tamquam Pelian recoxerit. Et si quis deus mihi largiatur ut ex hac aetate repuerascam et in cunis vagiam, valde recusem, nec vero velim quasi decurso spatio ad carceres a calce revocari. [84] Quid habet enim vita commodi? Quid non potius laboris? Sed habeat sane; habet certe tamen aut satietatem aut modum. Non libet enim mihi deplorare vitam, quod multi et ei docti saepe fecerunt, neque me vixisse paenitet, quoniam ita vixi, ut non frustra me natum existimem, et ex vita ita discedo tamquam ex hospitio, non tamquam e domo; commorandi enim natura divorsorium nobis, non habitandi dedit. O praeclarum diem cum in illud divinum animorum concilium coetumque proficiscar cumque ex hac turba et colluvione discedam! Proficiscar

enim non ad eos solum viros, de quibus ante dixi, verum etiam ad Catonem meum, quo nemo vir melior natus est, nemo pietate praestantior, cuius a me corpus est crematum, quod contra decuit ab illo meum, animus vero non me deserens sed respectans, in ea profecto loca discessit quo mihi ipsi cernebat esse veniendum. Quem ego meum casum fortiter ferre visus sum, non quo aequo animo ferrem, sed me ipse consolabar existimans non longinquum inter nos digressum et discessum fore.

[85] His mihi rebus, Scipio, id enim te cum Laelio admirari solere dixisti, levis est senectus, nec solum non molesta, sed etiam iucunda. Quod si in hoc erro, qui animos hominum immortalis esse credam, libenter erro nec mihi hunc errorem, quo delector, dum vivo, extorqueri volo; sin mortuus, ut quidam minuti philosophi censent, nihil sentiam, non vereor ne hunc errorem meum philosophi mortui irrideant. Quod si non sumus immortales futuri, tamen exstingui homini suo tempore optabile est. Nam habet natura, ut aliarum omnium rerum, sic vivendi modum. Senectus autem aetatis est peractio tamquam fabulae, cuius defetigationem fugere debemus, praesertim adiuncta satietate.

Haec habui de senectute quae dicerem, ad quam utinam veniatis, ut ea, quae ex me audistis, re experti probare possitis!

NOTES TO CATO MAIOR.

CATO MAIOR DE SENECTUTE (CATO THE ELDER ON OLD AGE). CATO MAIOR was probably intended by Cicero as the principal title. He twice gives the work this name, in Laelius 4 and Att. 14, 21, 1. In the former passage he adds the descriptive words, addressed to Atticus, qui est scriptus ad te de senectute. In a third notice, De Div. 2, 3, he gives the description without the title, liber is quem ad nostrum Atticum de senectute misimus. It is likely that Cicero intended the essay to be known as the CATO MAIOR DE SENECTUTE, the full title corresponding with LAELIUS DE AMICITIA. The word maior was necessary to distinguish the book from Cicero's eulogy of the younger Cato (Uticensis), which seems to have gone by the name of CATO simply.

P. [1] — [1.] O Tite etc.: the lines are a quotation from the Annales of Q. Ennius (born at Rudiae in Calabria 239 B.C., died 169), an epic poem in hexameter verse, the first great Latin poem in that metre, celebrating the achievements of the Roman nation from the time of Aeneas to the poet's own days. The incident alluded to in Ennius' verses is evidently the same as that narrated by Livy 32, cc. 9, 10. Titus Quinctius Flamininus, who commanded in 198 B.C. the Roman army opposed to Philip of Macedon, found the king strongly posted on the mountains between Epirus and Thessaly. For forty days Flamininus lingered, hoping to find some path which would give him access to the enemy's quarters. A shepherd who knew every nook of the mountains came before the general, and promised to lead the Roman soldiers to the ground above Philip's camp. This was done, and Flamininus drove the Macedonians into Thessaly. It is the shepherd who in the first line addresses Flamininus by his first name Titus. Cicero here cleverly applies the lines to his life-long friend Titus Pomponius Atticus. He several times takes the two words 'O Tite' to designate the whole treatise; cf. Att. 16, 11, 3 'O Tite' tibi prodesse laetor. — quid: accusative of respect or extent; so nihil in [30], aliquid in [82]. A.[^[56]] 240, a; G. 331, 3; H. 378, 2. — adiŭero: for adiūvero, the long vowel having become short after the falling out of the v between the two vowels. Catullus 66, 18 has iŭerint at the end of a pentameter verse, and the same scanning is found in Plautus and Terence. A. 128, a; G. 151, 1; H. 235. — levasso: a form of levavero, which was originally levaveso. For the formation of this class of future-perfects see Peile, Introduction to Greek and Latin Etymology, p. 295, ed. 3; also Roby, Gram. 1, p. 199, who has a list of examples; he supports a different view from that given above; cf. A. 128, e, 3; G. 191, 5; H. 240, 4. — coquit: 'vexes.' This metaphorical use of coquere occurs in poetry and late prose; cf. Plaut. Trin. 225 egomet me coquo et macero et defetigo; Verg. Aen. 7, 345 quam ... femineae ardentem curaeque iraeque coquebant; Quint. 12, 10, 77 sollititudo oratorem macerat et coquit. — versāt: we have here the original quantity of the vowel preserved, as in ponebāt below, [10]; the a in versat was originally as long as the a in versās. Plautus has some parallels to this scanning (see Corssen, Aussprache 11², 488), but it is rarely imitated by poets of the best period. Horace, however, has arāt, Odes 3, 16, 26. A. 375, g, 5; H. 580, III n. 2. — praemi: the genitive in ĭ-ī from nouns in ium only began to come into use at the end of the Republic. A. 40, b; G. 29, Rem. 1; H. 51, 5. — isdem: Cicero may have written isdem or eisdem (two syllables), but he probably did not write the form most commonly found in our texts, iisdem. H. p. 74, foot-note 2. — Flamininum: T. Quinctius Flaminīnus first served against Hannibal during the Second Punic War. He was present at the capture of Tarentum in 209 B. c., and in 208 was military tribune under Marcellus. After being employed on minor business of state, he became quaestor in 199, and, immediately after his year of office, consul, passing over the aedileship and praetorship, and attaining the consulship at the extraordinarily early age of 30. In 197 he won the victory of Cynoscephalae over the Macedonians, which ended the war. At the Isthmian games in the spring of 196 Flamininus made his famous proclamation of freedom to all the Greeks. He returned to Rome in 194 to enjoy a splendid triumph. For the rest of his life was employed chiefly on diplomatic business concerning Greece and the East. One of his embassies was to Prusias, king of Bithynia, call on him to surrender Hannibal, who was living at his court in advanced old age; this led to Hannibal's suicide. Flamininus was censor in 189 (see below, 42), and lived on till some time after 167, in which year he became augur; but the date of his death is unknown. He was a man of brilliant ability both as general and as diplomat, and also possessed much culture and was a great admirer of Greek literature. — ille vir etc.: i.e. the shepherd mentioned in n. on line 1. Livy 32, II, 4 says that Flamininus sent to the master of the shepherd, Charopus, an Epirote prince, to ask how far he might be trusted. Charopus replied that Flamininus might trust him, but had better keep a close watch on the operations himself. — haud magna cum re: 'of no great property'; re = re familiari, as is often the case elsewhere in both verse and prose. Cf. pro Caelio 78 hominem sine re. Cum is literally 'attended by'; it is almost superfluous here, since vir haud magna re would have had just the same meaning. Madvig, Gram. § 258 has similar examples. — plenus: final s was so lightly pronounced that the older poets felt justified in neglecting it in their scanning. It was probably scarcely pronounced at all by the less educated Romans, since it is often wholly omitted in inscriptions, and has been lost in modern Italian. Cicero, Orator 161, says that the neglect to pronounce final s is 'somewhat boorish' (subrusticum), though formerly thought 'very refined' (politius). Even Lucretius sometimes disregards it in his scanning. In the ordinary literary Latin a large number of words has lost an original s; e.g. all the nouns of the -a declension. A. 375, a; G. 722; H. 608, 1, n. 3. — fidēi: this form of the genitive of fides is found also in Plautus, Aulularia 575, and Lucretius 5, 102. Fidĕi as genitive seems only to occur in late poets, but as dative it is found in a fragment of Ennius. Fidē as genitive occurs in Horace and Ovid. H. 585, III. 1; Roby, 357, (c). — quamquam: see [n. on 2] etsi. — sollicitari etc.: Cicero probably has not quoted the line as Ennius wrote it. The word sic, at least, is evidently inserted on purpose to correspond with ut before Flamininum. — noctesque diesque: the use of que ... que for et ... et is almost entirely poetical, Sallust being the only prose writer of the best period in whose works the usage is beyond doubt. Noctes is put before dies here, as in noctes diesque (Verr. 5, 112), noctes et dies (Brut. 308 etc.), nodes ac dies (Arch. 29); cf. also Verg. Aen. 6, 127; and νυκτας τε και ημαρ in Iliad 5, 490; but the collocations dies noctesque, dies et noctes are far commoner in Cicero. Madvig (Emend. Liv. p. 487 n., ed 2) says that in writers of Livy's time and earlier, when an action is mentioned which continues throughout a number of days and nights, either dies et noctes and the like phrases are used, or die et nocte and the like, but not diem noctemque or diem et noctem, which expression, he says, would imply that the action continued only throughout one day and one night. But Madvig has overlooked De Or. 2, 162 eandem incu dem diem noctemque tundentibus; also three passages of Caesar: viz. Bell. Gall. 7, 42, 6 and 7, 77, 11; Bell. Civ. 1, 62, 1; to which add a passage in the Bell. Hisp. 38. Though diem noctemque does often mean 'throughout one day and one night' (as e.g. in Nep. Them. 8, 7), yet it would seem that the other sense cannot be excluded. — moderationem ... aequitatem: 'the self-control and even balance of your mind'. Moderatio is in Cic. a common translation of σωφροσυνη. Aequitas is not used here in its commonest sense of 'reasonableness' or 'equity', but as the noun corresponding to aequus in the ordinary phrase aequus animus (Horace, 'aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem'), cf. Tusc. 1, 97 hanc maximi animi aequitatem in ipsa morte. said of Theramenes' undisturbed composure before his execution. — animi tui: for the position of these words between moderationem and aequitatem, to both of which nouns they refer (a form of speech called by the Latin grammarians coniunctio), see note on Laelius 8 cum summi viri tum amicissimi. — cognomen: i.e. the name Atticus, which Cicero's friend did not inherit, but adopted. For the word cognomen cf. [n. on 5]. — deportasse: it should be noted that the verb deportare is nearly always in the best writers used of bringing things from the provinces to Italy or Rome, and not vice versa, the Romans using 'down' (de) of motion towards the capital. Italia deportare occurs in Tacitus and late writers, but only in the sense of banishing a person (cf. Ann 14, 45). So decedere de provincia is common, but not Roma decedere. As to the form deportasse, it may be remarked that Cic. in the vast majority of instances uses the contracted and not the full forms of the infinitives corresponding to perfects in -avi. So putassent in 4. An extensive collection of examples of this and similar contractions may be found in Frohwein, Die Perfectbildungen auf -vi bei Cicero; Gera, 1874. — humanitatem: 'culture', i.e. learning resulting in gentleness and refinement of character. — prudentiam: φρονησιν or practical wisdom. Corn. Nepos (or his imitator) in his life of Atticus 17, 3 says of him principum philosophorum ita percepta habuit praecepta ut his ad vitam agendam non ad ostentationem uteretur. — isdem rebus: i.e. the state of public affairs at the time, see [Introd]. — quibus me ipsum: strictly speaking the construction is inaccurate, since suspicor commoveri must be supplied, and Cicero does not really mean to say that he merely conjectures himself to be seriously affected by the state of public affairs; ego ipse commoveor would have accurately expressed his meaning. The accusative is due to the attraction of te above. — maior: = difficilior as often; e.g. Lael. 29 quod maius est. — visum est mihi conscribere: = placuit mihi, 'I have determined to write'. The best writers rarely use the impersonal videtur etc. followed by an infinitive. When the usage occurs videtur mihi etc. generally have the meaning (as here) of δοκει μοι κ τ λ = 'I have made up my mind'. Cf. Tusc. 5, 12 Non mihi videtur ad beate vivendum satis posse virtutem; ib. 5, 22 (a curious passage) mihi enim non videbatur quisquam esse beatus posse cum esset in malis; in malis autem sapientem esse posse; Off 3, 71 malitia quae volt illa quidem videri se esse prudentiam ('craft which desires that people should believe it to be wisdom'); Liv. 1, 10, 7 dis visum nec irritam conditoris templi vocem esse ... ('the gods decided that the word of the founder of the shrine should not remain of no effect'). It would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a passage in a writer before silver Latin times where the best texts still exhibit anything like videtur eum facere for is videtur facere. H 534, 1, n. 1; Roby, 1353. — aliquid ad te: 'some work dedicated to you'; so below, [3]; cf. also Lael. 4 ut de amicitia scriberem aliquid; ib. Catone maiore qui est scriptus ad te de senectute; Div. 2, 3 liber is quem ad nostrum Atticum de senectute misimus.

[2.] aut ... aut certe: so often in Cic.; certe, 'at any rate'. — senectutis: at the time the words were written Cic. was 62 years old, Atticus three years older. For the meaning of senectus see [n. on 4]. — levari volo: the best Latin writers frequently use the passive infinitive after verbs expressing desire, where moderns would incline to the active; here Cic. instead of saying 'I wish to relieve yourself and me of the burden' says 'I wish yourself and me to be relieved'. — etsi: = καιτοι 'and yet'. This use of etsi to introduce a clause correcting the preceding clause, though not uncommon (e.g. below [29]; Tusc. 1, 99; 3, 17; 4, 63; 5, 55), is far less common than that of quamquam, which we have in [1], [9], [10], [24], [47], [67], [69]. — te quidem: 'you at all events', 'you for one'. — modice ac sapienter: modice recalls moderationem above (modice and moderate are used with exactly the same sense by Cic.), while sapienter recalls aequitatem, since sapientia produces stability and an even balance of the mind. In De Or. 1, 132 we have modice et scienter. — sicut omnia: cf. Fin. 1, 7 facete is quidem sicut alia; also below, 65 sicut alia. — et ferre et laturum esse: Tischer rightly remarks that when a verb is repeated thus with a variation of tense Cic. very nearly always uses et ... et, and not a single et merely. The contrast between the two tenses is thus made more pointed. Cf. 3 et diximus et dicemus. — certo scio: one of the best MSS., followed by some editors, has here certe scio. The latter phrase would mean 'I am sure that I know'(a sense which seems out of place here); the former 'I have certain or sure knowledge'. Observe that certe may be used with all verbs, while certo is only used with scire. A. 151, c. — sed: the idea implied is, 'but though I well know you do not need such consolation, I have yet resolved to address my book to you'. — occurrebas dignus: a condensed construction for occurrebat te digmim esse.

P. [2] — munere ... uteretur: 'a gift such as we both might make use of in company'. — mihi quidem: this forms a correction upon uterque nostrum above: 'whatever you may think of the work, I at least have found the writing of it pleasant'. — confectio: 'composition'; 'completion'; a word scarcely found in the classical Latin except in Cicero's writings. Cf. De Or. 2, 52 annalium confectio; pro. Font. 3 confectio tabularum ('account-books'). — fuit ut absterserit: the sequence of tenses fuit ut abstergeret would have been equally admissible, but the meaning would have been slightly different. With the perfect the sense is 'was so pleasant that it has wiped away'; with the imperfect 'was so pleasant that it did (while I was writing) wipe away'. The metaphor in absterserit is common: e.g. Tusc. 3, 43 luctum omnem absterseris. With this statement of Cicero's concerning the effect the work had on himself contrast Att. 14, 21, 3 legendus mihi saepius est Cato maior ad te missus. Amariorem enim me senectus facit. Stomachor omnia. — omnis: acc. pl. A. 55, c; G. 60, 1; H. 67. — effecerit mollem: so 56 poteratne tantus animus efficere non iucundam senectutem; but 56 conditiora facit haec aucupium. Efficio gives more emphatically than facio the idea of the completion of the action. Cf. Lael. 73 efficere aliquem consulem, 'to carry through a man's election as consul'; facere aliquem consulem being merely 'to vote for a man's election to the consulship'. — satis digne: 'as she deserves', lit. 'in a sufficiently worthy manner.' Some editors have thought digne superfluous and wished to cast it out but we have satis digne elsewhere, as in Verr. Act. II. 1, 82; cf. also Sex. Rosc. 33 pro dignitate laudare satis commode. — qui pareat ... degere: a conditional sentence of irregular form (qui = siquis; cui simply connective, = et ei). Cf. Div. 1, 127 qui enim teneat causas rerum futurarum, idem necesse est omnia teneat quae futura sint; also the examples in Roby's Grammar, 1558. A. 310, a, 307, b; G. 594, 1, 598; H. 507, II. and III. 2. Some, however, make possit a subjunctive of characteristic or of cause with cui, and pareat a subjunctive by attraction. — omne tempus aetatis: 'every season of life'; so in [55] extremum tempus aetatis; [70] breve tempus aetatis. The opposite phrase aetas temporis is very rare; it occurs in Propertius 1, 4, 7.

[3.] ceteris: neuter adjective used as a noun, equivalent to ceteris rebus 'the other matters'; i.e. the political troubles hinted at above. The best writers do not often use the neuter adjective as noun in the oblique cases unless there is something in the context to show the gender clearly, as in [24] aliis ... eis quae; we have, however, below in [8], isto = ista re; [72], reliquum; [77], caelestium = rerum caelestium; and in [78], praeteritorum futurorumque; see other instances in n. on Lael. 50 similium. The proleptic or anticipatory use of ceteris should also be noticed; its sense is not fully seen till we come to hunc librum; the same use occurs below in [4], [5], [59], [60]; so aliis in [24]; cf. also n. on Lael. 7 reliqua. — diximus ... dicemus: when a clause or phrase consists of four parts, which go in pairs (as here diximus, dicemus on one side, and multa, saepe on the other), the Latins frequently arrange the words so as to put one pair between the two members of the other pair, as here. This usage is called by grammarians chiasmus. Thus if we denote the four parts by AA' BB', chiasmus requires the order ABB'A' or BAA'B'. See examples in [8], [20], [22], [38], [44], [71]. For the more complicated forms of chiasmus consult Nägelsbach, Stil. §§ 167, 169. A. 344, f; G. 684; H. 562. — librum ... misimus: observe the omission of a particle at the beginning of the clause; the contrast between ceteris and hunc librum is made stronger by the omission. For this asyndeton adversativum see n. on Lael. 5 Laelium ... putes. For tense of misimus, 'I send' see A. 282; G. 244, H. 472, 1. — omnem: see [n. on 62]. — tribuimus: perfect tense like misimus. — Tithono ... Aristo: see [Introd]. — Cius: Greek Κειος (a native of Ceos), not to be confused with Χιος(a native of Chios), or Κωος (a native of Cos). Cicero generally denotes the Greek diphthong ει by i not e. This Aristo was a Peripatetic. — parum ... auctoritatis: observe how often Cicero takes trouble to separate words which are, grammatically, closely connected. So above, omnis ... molestias; [7] multorum ... senectutem; [9] mirificos ... fructus; [21] civium ... nomina; [33] minus ... virium; [53] multo ... fecundior; etc. etc. See also [n. on 15] quam sit iusta. A. 344, c, d, e; H. 561, III. — esset: condition omitted. A. 311; G. 602; H. 510. — maiorem auctoritatem: cf. Lael. 4. — apud quem: 'at whose house'; so [55] a me, 'from my house'. A. 153; G. 417; H. 446, n. 4. — Laelium ... Scipionem: see [Introd]. — facimus admirantis: 'we represent as expressing astonishment'. For facere, in this sense, Cic. more often uses inducere 'to bring on the stage', as in Lael. 4 Catonem induxi senem disputantem. Cf. however [54] Homerus Laerten colentem agrum facit; also Brut. 218; Orat 85. Instead of facimus we might have expected either fecimus to correspond with misimus and tribuimus above, or faciemus to correspond with videbitur below. On the use of the participle see A. 292, q; G. 536; H 535, I. 4. — eruditius disputare: Cic. not infrequently in his dialogues makes people talk with more learning than they really possessed. He several times confesses this as regards Lucullus and Catulus in the Academica, and as regards Antonius in the De Oratore. — ferat: subjunctive because embodying the sentiment of Laelius and Scipio. Roby, 1744; Madvig, 357; H. 516, 11. — suis libris etc.: for the allusions here to Cato's life, works, and opinions see [Introd]. — quid opus est plura? sc. dicere. cf. the elliptic phrases quid multa? sc. dicam in [78]; also below, [10] praeclare. A 206, c; H. 368, 3, n. 2.

[4.] saepe numero soleo: 'it is my frequent custom'. Numero is literally 'by the count or reckoning', and in saepe numero had originally the same force as in quadraginta numero and the like; but the phrase came to be used merely as a slight strengthening of saepe. — cum hoc ... cum ceterarum: the use of cum in different senses in the same clause, which seems awkward, is not uncommon; cf. below, [67]. The spelling quum was certainly not used by Cicero, and probably by no other Latin writer of the best period. H. 311, foot-note 4. It is worth remarking that cum the conjunction and cum the preposition, though spelt alike, are by origin quite distinct. The former is derived from the pronominal stem ka or kva, and is cognate with qui; the latter comes from the root sak 'to follow', and is cognate with Gk. συν, Lat sequor, etc. See Vanicek, Etymologisches Worterbuch, pp. 96, 984. — rerum ... sapientiam: 'wisdom in affairs'; the objective genitive. — excellentem: in sense much stronger than our 'excellent'; excellentem perfectamque 'pre-eminent and indeed faultless'. — quod ... senserim: this clause takes the place of an object to admirari. The subjunctive is used because the speaker reports his own reason for the wonder, formerly felt, as if according to the views of another person, and without affirming his holding the same view at the time of speaking. Madvig, 357, a, Obs. 1. A 341, d, Rem. — odiosa: this word is not so strong as our 'hateful', but rather means 'wearisome', 'annoying'. In Plautus the frequent expression odiosus es means, in colloquial English, 'you bore me'. Cf. [47] odiosum et molestum; [65] odiosa offensio. — onus Aetna gravius: a proverbial expression with an allusion to Enceladus, who, after the defeat of the Giants by Juppiter, was said to have been imprisoned under Mt. Aetna. Cf. Eurip. Hercules Furens, 637; also Longfellow's poem, Enceladus. — haud sane difficilem: 'surely far from difficult'; cf. [83] haud sane facile. — quibus: a dativus commodi, 'those for whom there is no aid in themselves'. Cf. Lael. 79 quibus in ipsis. — bene beateque vivendum: 'a virtuous and happy life'; 'virtue and happiness'; so bene honesteque below, [70]. — qui ... petunt: these are the αυταρκεις, men sufficient for themselves, 'in se toti teretes atque rotundi'. We have here a reminiscence of the Stoic doctrine about the wise man, whose happiness is quite independent of everything outside himself, and is caused solely by his own virtue. Cicero represents the same Stoic theory in Lael. 7. Cf. Juv. Sat. 10, 357-362; also Seneca, De Cons. Sap. VIII, De Prov. I. 5. — a se ipsi: 'themselves from themselves,' so in [78] se ipse moveat ... se ipse relucturus sit; [84] me ipse consolabar. Expressions like a se ipsis are quite uncommon in Cicero. Cf. n. on Lael. 5 te ipse cognosces; also see below, [38] se ipsa [78] se ipse. — naturae necessitas: 'the inevitable conditions of nature.' Cf. [71] quid est tam secundum naturam quam senibus emori? — afferat: subjunctive because nihil quod = nihil tale ut. A 320, a; G. 633, 634; H. 503, I. — quo in genere: sc. rerum; with this phrase the defining genitive is commonly omitted by Cicero. So below, [45] in eo genere. — ut ... adeptam: notice the chiasmus. — eandem: idem is used in the same way, to mark an emphatic contrast in [24], [52], [68], [71]. — adeptam: this is probably the only example in Cicero of the passive use of adeptus, which occurs in Sallust, Ovid, Tacitus, etc.; and in this passage the use cannot be looked on as certain, since one of the very best and several of the inferior MSS. read adepti. Cicero, however, uses a good many deponent participles in a passive sense (cf. below, [59] dimensa; [74] meditatum; see also a list, Roby, 734), and some of them occur very rarely. Thus periclitatus, arbitratus, depastus as passives are found each in only one passage. — inconstantia: 'instability', 'inconsistency'. Constantia, unwavering firmness and consistency, is the characteristic of the wise man; cf. Acad. 2, 23 sapientia ... quae ex sese habeat constantiam; also Lael. 8 and 64.

P. [3] — aiunt: sc. stulti. — putassent: the subjunctive is due to the indirect discourse. Where we say 'I should not have thought,' the Latins say, in direct narration, 'non putaram,' i.e. 'I never had thought' (so Off. 1, 81 and often in Cicero's letters). Translate, 'more quickly than they had ever expected'. Cf. Att. 6, 1, 6 accipiam equidem dolorem mihi ilium irasci sed multo maiorem non esse eum talem qualem putassem. See Zumpt, Gram., 518. — falsum putare: 'to form a mistaken judgment'. For falsum as noun equivalent to ψευδος, cf. 6 gratissimum; also [n. on 3] ceteris. — qui citius: lit. 'in what way quicker'; cf. Tusc. 5, 89 qui melius. H. 188, II. 2. — adulescentia ... senectus ... pueritia: babyhood was generally at Rome supposed to last till the 17th year (the time for assuming the toga virilis and for beginning military service). Iuventus is usually the age from 17 to 45, during which men were liable to be called on for active service. Ordinarily, in colloquial language, adulescentia is the earlier portion of iuventus, say the years from 17 to 30 (cf. 33), but Cicero seems here to make adulescentia co-extensive with iuventus. From 45 to 60 is the aetas seniorum, the period during which citizens in early Rome might be called out for the defence of the city, but not for active service. Senectus was commonly reckoned as beginning at 60; but in § [60] Cicero includes in senectus the aetas seniorum, and probably intended to include it here. In Tusc. 1, 34 Cic. reckons three ages pueritia adulescentia senectus as here; below in [74], four periods, or five. — quamvis: = quantumvis. — effluxisset: subjunctive because the mood of posset, to which it stands in subordinate relation Cum here is purely temporal. See Roby, 1778; A. 342; G. 666; H. 529, II. — posset: see [n.] on esset above, [3].

[5.] si ... soletis ... sumus: the apodosis and protasis do not exactly correspond; the sense really required is 'if that wisdom for which you admire me does exist, it lies in this', etc. — utinam ... esset: esset here gives a greater appearance of modesty than would been expressed by sit: 'would it were, as it certainly is not'. A. 267; G. 253; H. 483, 2. — cognomine: Cato bore the title sapiens, even in his lifetime; see [Introd]. Cognomen is used in good Latin to denote both the family name and the acquired by-name; in late Latin this latter is denoted by agnomen. — in hoc sapientes: but above, [4] rerum sapientiam, not in rebus. The genitive construction is not found with sapiens used as noun or adjective till late Latin times. — naturam ducem etc.: Cato's claim to the title of sapiens does not rest on any deep knowledge of philosophy, but on practical wisdom or common sense and experience in affairs. Cf. Lael. 6 and 19. In this passage Cicero has put into Cato's mouth phrases borrowed from the Stoic philosophy, which declared the life of virtue to be life in accordance with nature (naturae convenienter vivere or ‛ομολογουμενως τη φυσει ζην). Cf. [71], [n.] on secundum naturam. — tamquam deum: observe deum not deam, because nature is compared with, and not identified with, a divine being. Cf. Fin. 5, 43 eam (rationem) quasi deum ducem subsequens. — aetatis: here = vitae, life as a whole. Cf. [2] omne tempus aetatis and [n.]; also [13] aetatis ... senectus; [33], [64], [82]. — descriptae: 'composed'; literally 'written out'. The reading discriptae, which many editions give, does not so well suit the passage. Discribere is to map out, plan, arrange, put in order (see [59] discripta and discriptio); the point here lies, however, not in the due arrangement of the different scenes of a play, but in the careful working out of each scene. Ab ea must be supplied after descriptae from a qua above. — actum: the common comparison of life with a drama is also found in [64], [70], [85]. — inerti: the sense of 'ignorant' 'inartistic' (in, ars), has been given to this by some editors (cf. Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 126 praetulerim scriptor delirus inersque videri, and Cic. Fin. 2, 115 artes, quibus qui carebant, inertes a maioribus nominabantur), but the meaning 'inactive', 'lazy', 'slovenly' seems to suit neglectum better. — poeta: nature is here the dramatist, the drama is life, the actors are human beings. — sed tamen etc.: 'but for all that it was inevitable that there should be something with the nature of an end'. So [69] in quo est aliquid extremum, [43] aliquid pulchrum. — arborum bacis: the word baca (the spelling bacca has little or no authority) is applied to all fruits growing on bushes or trees, cf. Tusc. 1, 31 arbores seret diligens agricola, quarum aspiciet bacam ipse numquam. — terraeque fructibus: here = cereals, roots, vegetables and small fruits. No sharp distinction can be drawn between fruges and fructus (e.g. in Div. 1, 116 we have fruges terrae bacasve arborum) though fructus as commonly used is the more general word of the two. — maturitate caducum: 'a time of senility, so to speak and readiness to drop, that comes of a seasonable ripeness'. Vietus is literally 'twisted' or bent', being originally the passive participle of viere. The comparison of old age with the ripeness of fruit recurs in [71]. Cf. Plin. Ep. 5, 14, 5 non tam aetatis maturitate quam vitae. — ferundum: the form in undus is archaic, and generally used by Cic. in quoting or imitating passages of laws, sacred formulae, and the like. H 239. — molliter: here 'gently', 'with resignation', though molliter ferre often has another meaning, viz. to bear pain or trouble in an unmanly fashion. Cf. facillime ferre below. — quid est aliud etc. The words perhaps imply the rationalistic explanation of myths which the Greeks had begun to teach to the Romans during Cato's lifetime. Trans 'what else but resistance to nature is equivalent to warring against the gods, and not 'what else does warring with the gods mean but to resist nature.' In comparisons of this sort the Latins generally put the things compared in a different order from that required by English idiom. Thus in Div. 2, 78 quid est aliud nolle moneri a Iove nisi efficere ut aut ne fieri possit auspicium aut, si fiat, videri, S. Rosc. 54 quid est aliud iudicio ac legibus ac maiestate vestra abuti ad quaestum ac libidinem nisi hoc modo accusare. Phil. 1, 22, 2, 7, 5, 5, 10, 5. — Gigantum modo: see [n. on 4] Aetna gravius — dis: for the form dis see [n. on 25].

[6.] atqui: in the best Latin atqui does not introduce a statement contradicting the preceding statement, but one that supplements it. Here it may be translated 'True, but'. Cf. [66], [81]. — gratissimum: equivalent to rem gratissimam. With the thought cf. Rep. 1, 34 gratum feceris si explicaris. Lael. 16 pergratum feceris si disputaris. — ut pollicear: so Acad. 1, 33 nos vero volumus ut pro Attico respondeam. Brut. 122 nobis vero placet, ut pro Bruto etiam respondeam; Lael. 32 tu vero perge, pro hoc enim respondeo A 317, c, H 499, 2, n. — senes fieri: if the infinitive had depended on speramus alone and volumus had not intervened, Cicero would probably have written nos futuros esse senes. — multo ante: sc. quam id factum erit so Balb 41 re denique multo ante (sc. quam factum est) audita, and very often in Cicero. — didicerimus: as this corresponds with feceris,it would have been formally correct to write here nos docueris. — quibus possimus: 'what considerations will enable us most easily to support the growing burden of age'. — futurum est: = μελλει ειναι this form of the future is used in preference to the simple erit because it is desired to represent the event as on the very point of fulfilment, and therefore sure of fulfilment. Erit would have implied much less certainty. Trans. 'I will do so if my action is going to give you pleasure'. Cf. [67] beatus futurus sum, also [81], [85]. See Roby, 1494. — nisi molestum est: a common expression of courtesy, like [15] nisi alienum putas, si placet, cf. Hor. Sat. 2, 8, 4 si grave non est. — tamquam longam viam: Cicero here puts into Laelius' mouth almost the very words addressed by Socrates to the aged Cephalus in the introduction to Plato's Republic, 328 E. Observe the succession of similar sounds in tamquam, aliquam, longam, viam. — viam confeceris so pro Quint. 79 conficere DCC milia passuum, conficere iter a common phrase. For mood see A 312, G 604, H 513, II. — quam ... ingrediundum sit: this construction, the neuter of the gerundive with est followed by an accusative case, is exceedingly rare excepting in two writers, Lucretius and Varro. See the full list of examples given by Roby, Gram., Pref. to vol. 2, p LXXII. A 294, c, H 371, I. 2, 2, n. The best texts of Cicero now give only one example of a construction at all resembling this, viz. pro Scauro 13 obliviscendum vobis putatis matrum in liberos, virorum in uxores scelera? The supposition of some scholars, that in this passage Cic. used the construction in imitation of the archaic style of Cato, is not likely to be true, seeing that in Cato's extant works the construction does not once occur. For the form undum see [n. on 5] ferundum. — istuc: not adverb, but neuter pronoun, as in [8]. The kind of construction, istuc videre quale sit for videre quale istuc sit, is especially common in Cicero.

[7.] faciam ut potero 'I will do it as well as I can.' Observe the future potero where English idiom would require a present. So Rep. 1, 38 hic Scipio, faciam quod voltis, ut potero. — saepe enim: enim introduces a reason, not for the words ut potero, but for faciam — 'I will grant your request because I have often heard complaints about old age and therefore have thought of the matter.' — pares autem etc.: parenthetical. — vetere proverbio: the saying is as old as Homer, Od. 17, 218 as ‛ως αιει τον ‛ομοιον αγει θεος ‛ως τον ‛ομοιον; cf. also Plat., Rep. 329 A, Symp. 195 B, Phaedr. 240 C.

P. [4] — facillime: 'most cheerfully', 'most eagerly'; a common meaning of the word in Cic., e.g. Fam. 2, 16, 2 in maritimis facillime sum, i.e. 'I find most pleasure in staying by the sea'. — quae: a kind of explanation of querellis. — 'lamentations, viz. such utterances as' etc.; see n. on Lael. 14 quae; cf. Fam. 2, 8, 2 sermonibus de re publica ... quae nec possunt scribi nec scribenda sunt. A. 199, b; G. 616, 3, I.; H. 445, 5. — C. Salinator: probably C. Livius Salinator, praetor in 191 B.C. (Livy 35, 24), who was entrusted with the equipment of the Roman fleets during the war against Antiochus. He was born about 230, and was therefore a little younger than Cato; cf. fere aequales below. Salinator was consul in 188, and died in 170. For the name Salinator cf. [n. on 11]. — Sp. Albinus: Sp. Postumius Albinus was consul in 186, and was with his colleague appointed to investigate the great Bacchanalian conspiracy of that year (Livy 39, CC. 1 seq.). Albinus died in 180. He was probably a little younger than Salinator. He can scarcely have been fifty years of age at his death. — tum ... tum: 'now ... again'; so in [45]. — carerent: see [n. on 3] ferat. — vitam nullam putarent: 'they considered life to be not life at all'. For vitam nullam cf. Lael. 86 sine amicitia vitam esse nullam; also the Greek phrase βιος αβιωτος; and below, [77] vitam quae est sola vita nominanda; also 82. A. 239; H. 373, 1, n. 2. Putarent = 'thought, as they said'. — id quod esset accusandum: the subjunctive esset is used because a class of things is referred to, 'nothing of a nature to deserve complaint'; id quod erat, etc. would have meant merely 'that one thing which was matter for complaint'. A. 320; G. 634, Rem. 1; H. 503, I. — usu venirent: the phrase usu venire differs very little in meaning from accidere. Usu is commonly explained as an ablative ('in practice', 'in experience'), but is quite as likely to be a dative of the sort generally called predicative ('to come as matter of experience'); cf. Verg. Aen. 1, 22 venire excidio; Plin. N.H. 28, 106 odio; Caes. B.G. 5, 27 subsidio. — quorum ... multorum: the first genitive is dependent on the second, so that quorum = e quibus. Notice the separation of quorum from multorum and of multorum from senectutem. — sine querella: attribute of senectutem. A. 217, Rem.; H. 359, n. 1, 4), and n. 3. This form of attributive phrase, consisting of a preposition with a noun, is common; cf. [24] ex agro Sabino rusticos Romanos; [40] cum hostibus clandestina colloquia. Querella is better spelling than querela. See Roby, 177, 2. — qui: 'men of such nature as to ...' — et ... nec: Roby 2241. The reason for the departure from the ordinary sequence of particles lies in the words non moleste. Nec ...et is common; see [51], [53]. — libidinum vinculis etc.: Cic. is here thinking of the conversation between Socrates and Cephalus in Plato, Rep. 329 D, for which see [Introd]. — moderati: 'self-controlled'; cf. [n. on 1] moderationem; difficiles, 'peevish'; inhumani, 'unkindly'; importunitas, 'perversity'. Importunitas seems to be used as the substantive corresponding in sense with the adjective difficilis. Difficultas, in the sense of 'peevishness', probably occurs only in Mur. 19.

[8.] dixerit quispiam: 'some one will say presently'; a gentle way of introducing one's own objection. The mood of dixerit is probably indicative, not subjunctive; see the thorough discussion in Roby, Gram., Vol. 2, Pref., p. CIV. et seq. — opes et copias: 'resources and means'. Opes has a wider meaning than copias (mere material wealth) and includes all sources of power, influence, and authority as well as wealth. Thus in Lael. 22 the end of divitiae is said to be enjoyment; of opes, worship (opes ut colare). Dignitas is social position. — id: remark the singular pronoun, which indicates that the preceding clause is now taken as conveying one idea. Trans. 'such fortune'. — contingere: 'to fall to one's lot' is the phrase in English which most closely represents contingere. This verb is not, as is often assumed, used merely of good fortune; it implies in itself nothing concerning the character of events, whether they be good or bad, but simply that the events take place naturally and were to be expected. See n. on Lael. 8, where the word is distinctly used in connection with bad fortune, as it is, strikingly, in [71] below. — est ... omnia: 'your statement indeed amounts to something, but it by no means comprises every consideration'. The phrase esse aliquid, 'to be of some importance', is often used by Cic. both of things and of persons; cf. Tusc. 5, 104 eos aliquid esse, also [n. on 17] nihil afferunt. So esse aliquis of persons, as in the well-known passage of Iuvenal, 1, 72 aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere dignum si vis esse aliquis. For the general sense cf. Tusc. 3, 52 est id quidem magnum, sed non sunt in hoc omnia; so De Or. 2, 215; ib. 3, 221; Leg. 2, 24 in quo sunt omnia. — isto: the use of the neuter pronoun in the oblique case as substantive is noticeable. — Themistocles etc.: Cicero borrows the story from Plato (Rep. 329 E et seq.), but it was first told by Herodotus, 8, 125 who gave a somewhat different version. Themistocles had received great honors at Sparta when Athenian ambassador there; an envious man declaring that the honors were paid really to Athens and not to Themistocles, the statesman answered ουτ αν εγω, εων Βελβινιτης (i.e. an inhabitant of the small island of Belbina lying to the S. of Cape Sunium) ετιμηθην ουτω προς Σπαρτιηρεων, ουτ αν συ, ανθρωπε, εων Αθηναιος. — Seriphio: Seriphus is a small island belonging to the Cyclad group and lying almost due N. of Melos, and due E. of the Scyllaean promontory. Seriphus is often taken by ancient writers as a specimen of an insignificant community (e.g. Aristoph. Acharn. 542; Cic. N.D. 1, 88), but it had the honor of being one of the three island states which refused to give earth and water to the Persian envoys, the other two being the adjacent islands of Melos and Siphnus (Herodotus, 8, 46). — iurgio: iurgium is a quarrel which does not go beyond words; rixa a quarrel where the disputants come to blows. — si ego: but further on, tu si. The contrast would certainly be more perfect if ego si were read, as has been proposed, in place of si ego. — quod eodem modo ... dici: Cic. commonly says quod ita dicendum and the like; see [n. on 35] quod ni ita fuisset. Cato means that just as Themistocles' success was due to two things, his own character and his good fortune, so two things are necessary to make old age endurable, viz. moderate fortune and wisdom. He then in [9] insists that of these two conditions wisdom is far the more important. — nec ... levis ... nec ... non gravis: notice the chiasmus.

[9.] omnino: here = πανταπασι 'undoubtedly', in a strongly affirmative sense, as in [76]; but in [28] (where see [n.]) it is concessive. — cum diu multumque vixeris: literally 'when you have lived long and much', i.e. when you have not only had a long life but have done a great deal in the course of it. The phrases diu multumque, multum et diu are common in Cic., as below, 38; Acad. 1, 4; Div. 2, 1; Off 1, 118; Leg. Agr. 2, 88; De Or. 1, 152. For mood see A. 309, a; H. 518, 2. — ecferunt: ecferunt for efferunt (ec = ex = ecs; so εκ = εξ = εκς) was old-fashioned in Cicero's time, but forms of the sort, as below, 39 ecfrenate, according to the evidence of the best MSS., occur in a good many passages. See Neue, Formenlehre, Vol. 2, pp. 766 seq., ed. 2. — numquam deserunt: the omission of the object after deserunt is not common. With the general sense of this passage cf. Arch. 16 litterarum studia adulescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium ac solarium praebent, delectant domi, non impediunt foris, pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur.

P. [5] — [10.] Q. Maximum: the famous Q. Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Ovicula Cunctator, hero of the Second Punic War. — eum ... recepit: this clause has often been suspected to be an insertion of the writers of MSS. But (1) the capture of Tarentum in 209 B.C. was Fabius' crowning achievement, and 'captor of Tarentum' was often added to his name as a title of honor; see De Orat. 2, 273; and (2) there were several other persons of distinction bearing the name Q. Maximus about the same time, so that some special mark was wanted for the sake of clearness. Notice recepit 'recovered', Tarentum having been lost by the Romans to Hannibal in 212 B.C. — senem adulescens: observe the emphasis given by placing close together the two words of opposite meaning. — erat ... gravitas: 'that hero possessed dignity tempered by courtesy'. Expressions like erat in illo gravitas are common in Cicero; e.g. Mur. 58 erat in Cotta summa eloquentia. The metaphor in condīta, 'seasoned', is also common; cf. Lael. 66 condimentum amicitiae. — quamquam: 'though indeed', introducing a necessary correction of the last words nec senectus mores mutaverat. For this corrective quamquam cf. [n. on 2]. — consul primum: B.C. 233. — grandem natu: although the phrases maior, maximus, parvus, minor, minimus natu are of frequent occurrence, yet magnus natu is not Latin, grandis natu being always used instead. The historians sometimes use magno natu esse or in magno natu esse. — anno post: the word unus is not usually attached to annus except where there is a strong contrast between one and a larger number of years. Anno post must not be translated 'during the year after'; but either 'a year after', anno being regarded as the ablative of measure or excess, literally 'later by a year', or 'at the end of a year', the ablative being one of limitation, and fuerat being equivalent to factus erat 'had been elected'. So quinto anno below, 'at the end of the fifth year', i.e. 'five years after'. — adulescentulus miles: See [n. on 21] quemquam senem. Translate 'when quite a youth I marched with him to Capua as a private soldier'. G. 324; H. 363, 3, 2). Miles here = gregarius miles. — quem magistratum: sc. quaesturam, to be understood from quaestor Cf. Mur. 18 quaesturam una petiit et sum ego factus (sc. quaestor) prior. — Tuditano et Cethego: when the praenomina of the consuls are given the names generally stand side by side without et; when they are omitted et is generally inserted. Cf. [n. on 50] Centone Tuditanoque, etc. — cum quidem: the quidem simply adds a slight emphasis to cum; 'at the very time when', επειδη γε. — suasor: suasor legis was any person who publicly (i.e. before the senate or people in contio assembled) spoke in favor of a measure, dissuasor any one who spoke against it. Cf. [14] suasissem. — legis Cinciae: a law passed in 204 B.C. by M. Cincius Alimentus, a plebeian tribune, whereby advocates were forbidden to take fees from their clients, and certain limitations were placed on gifts of property by private persons. — cum ... esset: 'though he was'; so below [11], [30], etc. — grandis: = grandis natu. — iuveniliter: Hannibal was 29 years of age when he entered Italy in 218. — exsultantem: 'wildly roaming'. The word in its literal sense is used of a horse galloping at its own will over a plain. The metaphorical use is common in Cicero; cf. Acad. 2, 112 cum sit campus in quo exsultare possit oratio, cur eam tantas in angustias compellimus? — patientia: 'endurance', 'persistence'; it is not equivalent to our 'patience'. — praeclare: sc. dicit; cf. [n. on 3]. — familiaris: see [Introd]. — unus homo etc.: these lines were famous, and were not only often quoted with the name of Ennius attached (as in Off. 1, 84; Livy 30, 26), but also imitated or adapted without mention of his name, as, being too familiar to need it; cf. Att. 2, 19, 2; Ovid, Fast. 2, 241; Verg. Aen. 6, 846; Suet. Tib. 21. — cunctando: Cf. Polybius 3, 105, 8. On Fabius' military policy consult Mommsen, Hist. of Rome, Bk. III. ch. 5. — rem: here = rem publicam. — noenum: the older form from which non is an abbreviation; = ne-oinom, n-oinom, literally 'not one thing'; cf. nihil = ne-hilum 'not a whit', also the rare word ningulus = ne oinculus, 'not even a little one'. — rumores: 'fame', 'public opinion'. — ponebāt: for the long vowel cf. [n. on 1], l. 2 versat. — plusque: MSS. postque; plusqueis the emendation of Bernays. Plusque magisque is a variation upon the ordinary phrases plus plusque, magis magisque.

[11.] Salinatori: there can be no doubt that Cicero is guilty of a blunder here, and in De Or. 2, 273 where the story also occurs. Livy (27, 34, 7) gives M. Livius Macatus as the name of the Roman commander who held the citadel of Tarentum while Hannibal was in possession of the town. Cicero probably found the commander described by the annalists merely as M. Livius (so in Livy 24, 20, 13; 26, 39, 1), and then jumped to tne conclusion that he was the famous M. Livius Salinator. This man, the father of the Salinator mentioned in [7], was consul in 219 and subdued the Illyrians, but was condemned for misappropriation of public moneys and went into exile. In 210 he was induced to return by the desire of the senate. In 207 he became consul with C. Claudius Nero, and defeated Hasdrubal in the great battle of the Metaurus. In 204 Livius was censor with Nero as his colleague, and won his name Salinator by imposing a tax on salt. The title was bestowed in ridicule, but clung to the family. Salinator was a relative of M. Livius Macatus. See Liv 27, 34, 7. — ita dicenti etc.: the anecdote is told by Livy, 27, 25, 5 and Plutarch, Fab. 23. Both, however, refer the story not to the time at which Tarentum was taken, but to the year after, when altercations about it took place in the senate. — toga: here put for 'civil life', the toga being replaced in time of war by the sagum. Cf. in Pisonem 73 pacis est insigne et oti toga, contra autem arma tumultus atque belli; De Or. 3, 167 'togam', pro 'pace', 'arma', ac 'tela', pro 'bello'. We have the same contrast between arma and toga in Cicero's own much-derided verse, cedant arma togae, concedat laurea laudi, which is defended by him, in Pis. 73 and Off. 1, 77. — consul iterum etc.: as the second consulship of Fabius was in 228 B.C., while the law of Flaminius was passed in 232 (according to Polybius), it is very difficult to understand the statement here made. It is possible that Flaminius was one of the commissioners for executing his own law, and that its execution lasted over the time of Fabius' second consulship. The Flaminius here mentioned is the same who fell as consul in 217 at the battle of lake Trasimenus. He held large and statesman-like views on the policy of securing Italy by planting Romans and Latins in the territory then recently taken from the Gauls, in the neighborhood of Ariminum. This particular measure was carried against the will of the senate, and was the first law passed, since the lex Hortensia of 287, in defiance of its wishes. It was also the first agrarian law since the Licinio-Sextian law of 367. Polybius dates the decline of the Roman constitution from the passing of the lex Flaminia. Cf.'Rheinisches Museum', 1843, p. 573. — Sp. Carvilio quiescente: this Sp. Carvilius was consul in 234 when he conquered the Corsicans and Sardinians. In 228 he was again consul, and died as augur in 212. He is said, but erroneously, to have been the first Roman who divorced his wife. In 216, just after the battle of Cannae, he made a most remarkable proposal, to fill up the gaps which that battle had made in the numbers of the senate by selecting two members from each of the Latin communities. It was almost the only occasion in the course of Roman history when anything like modern representative government was advocated. Carvilius was not sprung from one of the noble families, who for the most part monopolized the higher offices of state, it is therefore not surprising that he should have sympathized with Flaminius. — contra senatus auctoritatem: 'against the expressed wish of the senate' Senatus auctoritas is, strictly speaking, an opinion of the senate not formally embodied in a decree, senatus consultum. Cicero, in Invent. 2, 52 says Flaminius carried his law contra voluntatem omnium optimatium. — dividenti: 'when he tried to divide'. The participle is here equivalent to cum with the imperfect indicative (dividebat). So in [54] lenientem A. 290, a; G 668; H 549, 1.

P. [6] — cum esset: 'though he was'. What Fabius declared was reaily that the auspicia were a political instrument in the hands of the aristocrats, rather than a part of religion. Fabius, according to Liv. 30, 26, 7, was augur for 62 years before his death, and had no doubt had a large experience in the manipulation of the auspicia for political purposes. Compare Homer, Iliad, 12, 243, also Cic. Phil. 11, 28 Iuppiter ipse sanxit ut omnia quae rei publicae salutaria essent legitima et iusta haberentur. Consult Mommsen, Hist of Rome, Bk. IV. Ch. 12.

[12.] admirabilius: 'more amazing'. The Latin word has a much stronger meaning than the English word derived from it. — quo modo tulit: = eum modum quo tulit, so that the clause is not really dependent on cognovi, nor tulit irregularly put for tulerit. In Lael. 9 Laelius exclaims, of Cato himself, quo modo, ut alia omittam, mortem fili tulit. And no doubt Cic. meant here to make Cato allude to his loss, described in [84]. — fili: see n. on 1 praemi. — consularis: the son of Fabius was consul in 213 with Ti. Sempronius Gracchus. — est in manibus: 'is in every one's hands', 'is commonly read'. The expression is common enough in this sense; e.g. Lael. 96 in manibus est oratio. — laudatio: sc. funebris, the funeral speech. This composition was read in Cicero's time (see Tusc. 3, 70; Fam. 4, 6, 1) and existed in the time of Plutarch. See Plutarch's life of Fab. 24. — quem philosophum: many of the ancient philosophers wrote popular treatises in which the principles of philosophy were applied to the alleviation of sorrow. The most famous of these in Cicero's time was Crantor's περι πενθους, which Cicero used largely in writing his Tusculan Disputations, and also in his De Consolatione on the death of his daughter. — in luce ... civium: 'in public and under the gaze of his fellow-countrymen'. Do not translate in oculis by the English phrase 'in the eyes of', which has another sense. The metaphor in lux is often used by Cicero, as Qu. Fr. 1, 1, 7 in luce Asiae, in oculis provinciae. — notitia: notitia is general knowledge, often merely the result of superficial observation; scientia is thorough knowledge, the result of elaboration and generalization. — multae litterae: 'great literary attainments.' In this sense magnae could not be used to represent 'great'. Note the ellipsis of erant. — ut in homine Romano: 'considering that he was a Roman', or 'for a Roman'. On the backwardness of the Romans in literary pursuits see Teuffel, Hist. of Rom. Lit, § 2; cf. also Ritter, Hist. of Ancient Philosophy, Vol. IV. pp. 1-13, Eng. ed. In parenthetic clauses like this, the introductory ut may convey two very different meanings according to the context. Thus in Acad. 2, 98 homo acutus, ut Poenus is 'a keen witted man, as might be expected of a Carthaginian' (cf. Colum. 1, 3, 8 acutissimam gentem Poenos) while Nepos, Epam. 5, 2 exercitatum in dicendo ut Thebanum implies that oratory was not to be expected of a Theban. — domestica ... externa bella: here the domestica bella are those wars which belong to the history of Rome, the externa bella those wars which belong to the history of other states; but usually domestica bella are civil wars, externa foreign wars in which Rome is engaged; e.g. Leg. agr. 2, 90 omnibus domesticis externisque bellis; in Catil 2, 11 omnia sunt externa unius virtute pacata; domesticum bellum manet, intus insidiae sunt. The practice of reading military history was common among Roman commanders; see for instance Acad. 2, 3 of Lucullus; the practice is ridiculed by Marius in Sall. Iug. 85. — ita: ita does not qualify cupide, and has not the sense of tam, it means rather 'in this state', 'under these conditions'; the words from quasi to the end of the sentence really form an explanation of ita. This mode of expression is often found, ita and sic frequently look on to clauses introduced by quasi, si, ut, cum etc. Cf. below [26] sic quasi, cupiens (where see [n.]); Sall. Iug. 85, 19 ita aetatem agunt quasi vestros honores contemnunt, ita hos petunt quasi honeste vixerint. — divinarem: see references on [6] confeceris. — illo exstincto: Fabius died in 203 B.C. — fore unde discerem neminem: cf. Acad. 1, 8 quae nemo adhuc docuerat nec erat unde studiosi scire possent. Unde of persons (here = a quo); is common in both verse and prose (so ‛οθεν and ‛οθενπερ, vid. Liddell and Scott in vv.); cf. Horace 1, 12, 17 unde nil maius generatur ipso; 1, 28, 28; Cic. de Or. 1, 67 ille ipse unde cognorit; ib. 2, 285. So ubi = apud quem in Verr. 4, 29; quo = ad quos below, 83, and in Verr. 4 38; cf. also [n.] on istinc in 47. For mood of discerem see A. 320; G. 634; H. 503, I.

[13.] quorsus igitur haec: sc. dixi. — tam multa: this takes the place of tot, which, like quot, cannot be used as a substantive. — Scipiones: 'men like Scipio', i.e. the elder Africanus; so 15 Fabricii Curii Coruncanii. Cicero has here put his own opinion of Scipio into the mouth of Cato, who, during a large part of his life, was a staunch and even bitter opponent of Scipio, and therefore not likely to couple him with Fabius. Cf. [Introd]. — ut ... recordentur: the repetition of ut with each clause for the sake of effect may be compared with the repetition of nihil in [15], [27], [41]; of non in [32]; of hinc in [40]; of sibi in [58]. — pedestris: for terrestris; the usage is very common; so in Greek πεζομαχια and ναυμαχια, πεζομαχειν and ναυμαχειν are often contrasted (see Liddell and Scott). It is not recorded by historians that either Scipio or Fabius took part personally in naval warfare. — recordentur: this verb implies the habitual dwelling of the memory upon the past. — quiete et pure atque eleganter: the enumeration consists of two branches connected by et, the second branch being subdivided into two members connected by atque. Had each of the adverbs been intended to stand on exactly the same footing Cic. would have written et instead of atque, or else would have omitted the copula altogether; see [n. on 53] capitum iugatio. In enumerations of the form A + (B_l + B₂), the + outside the bracket is expressed by et, the + inside the bracket generally being expressed by ac, for which atque is substituted when the following word (i.e. B₂) begins with a vowel, a guttural (c, q, g) or h, before which ac was very seldom written. — pure atque eleganter: 'sinlessly and gently'. Pure implies moral stainlessness, eleganter, literally 'in choice fashion', implies daintiness combined with simplicity in regard to the external conditions of life. The same ideas are put together in Sull. 79 cum summa elegantia atque integritate vixistis. — aetatis: see [n. on 5]. — placida ac lenis: 'quiet and mild'; placida refers to the external surroundings, lenis to the temper and character. — accepimus: sc. fuisse; for the ellipsis of the infinitive cf. [n. on 22] videretur. — uno et octogesimo: but below quarto (not quattuor) nonagesimo. In the compound ordinal numbers corresponding to those cardinal numbers which are made up of one and a multiple of ten, the Latins use unus oftener than primus, which would be strictly correct; so in English 'one and eightieth' for 'eighty-first'. The ordinary Grammar rule (Roby, Vol. I, p. 443 'the ordinal not the cardinal is used in giving the date') requires slight correction. For the position of the words see G. 94, 3; H. 174, footnote 3. — scribens est mortuus: 'died while still engaged upon his works'; cf. [23] num Platonem ... coegit in suis studiis obmutiscere senectus? Diog. Laert. 3, 2 quoting Hermippus (a Greek writer of biography who lived about the time of the Second Punic war), says that Plato died in the middle of a marriage-feast at which he was a guest. Val. Max. 8, 7, 3 gives a slightly different account. — Isocrati: this form of the genitive of Greek proper names in -es was probably used by Cicero rather than the form in -is; see Madvig on Fin. 1, 14; Neue, Formenlehre, 1² 332. Isocrates, the greatest teacher of rhetoric of his time, lived from 436 to 338, when he died by voluntary starvation owing to his grief at the loss of Greek freedom through the battle of Chaeronea. Milton, Sonnet X. 'That dishonest victory At Chaeronea, fatal to liberty, Kill'd with report that old man eloquent'. — eum ... inscribitur: the periphrasis is common, and the verb inscribere is nearly always in the present tense (in later prose as well as in Cicero) as in [59]. This is sometimes the case even where the neighboring verbs are in past tenses, as in Acad. 1, 12 nec se tenuit quin contra suum doctorem librum etiam ederet qui Sosus inscribitur. The present seems to mean that the name mentioned is continually given to each copy of the book as produced; where the continuing multiplication of copies is not looked to, we have the perfect, as Att. 8, 5, 2 tu fasciculum (bundle of letters) qui est inscriptus 'des M'. Curio', velim cures ad eum perferendum. Cf. also De Or. 2, 61 deceptus indicibus librorum qui sunt fere inscripti ('to which the authors—once for all—have given the titles') de virtute, de iustitia, etc.; so Div. 2, 1 eo libro qui inscriptus Hortensius. — dicit: the 'Panathenaicus', an encomium of Athens written for recitation at the great festival of the Panathenaea, is among the works of Isocrates which we still possess. In c. 1 Isocrates says τοις ετεσι ενενηκοντα και τετταρσιν, ‛ων εγω τυγχανω γεγονως. — vixitque: 'and yet he lived'. The que here has a slight adversative force, as is often the case with et. Cf. [n. on 28], [43], [73]. — Gorgias: the greatest of the sophists, born at Leontini in Sicily about 485 B.C.; his death took place, according to the varying accounts, in 380, 378, or 377. In his old age he lived in Thessaly where Isocrates studied with him; see Or. 176; Fin. 2, 1. For the adjective Leontinus placed before the name rather than after cf. 43 Thessalo Cinea. — centum et septem annos: Kennedy, Gram., § 34, vii, c, says, 'in compound numbers above 100 the larger number, with or without et, generally precedes the smaller'; cf. Roby, Vol. 1 p. 443. — cesso: does not correspond in meaning with our 'cease', i.e. 'to come to a standstill'; cesso is 'I am in a state of rest', 'I am idle'. — quaereretur: the past tense, though the principal verb inquit, is in the present, because the present is the historical present and so equivalent to a past tense. Cf. Roby, 1511-1514; Kennedy 229, 2. A. 287, e; G. 511, Rem. 1; H. 495, II. The idiom by which the imperfect stands where we should expect a tense of completed action, should be noticed; cf. Tusc. 2, 60 quem cum rogaret, respondit. The explanation of the imperfect in such cases is that it marks out, more clearly than the pluperfect would, the fact that the action of the principal verb and the action of the dependent verb are practically contemporaneous. In our passage if quaesitum esset had been written it would have indicated merely that at some quite indefinite time after the question was put the answer was given. Cf. N.D. 1, 60 auctore ... obscurior. — cur ... vita: a hint at suicide, which the ancients thought a justifiable mode of escape from troubles, particularly those of ill health or old age. See [n. on 73] vetat Pythagoras. Esse in vita is stronger than vivere; cf. Qu. Fr. 1, 3, 5. — nihil habeo quod accusem: 'I have no reason to reproach'. Cf. the common phrase quid est quod ...? Quod, adverbial acc. A. 240, a; G. 331, R. 3; H. 378, 2. For mood of accusem see H. 503, I. n. 2, and references on [12] discerem. — praeclarum responsum: est is not required, because responsum is in apposition to the last part of the preceding sentence. Similar appositions occur in Laelius, 67, 71, 79. — docto: applied especially to philosophers, but also to poets. The word implies cultivation as well as mere knowledge; 'a learned man', merely as such, is 'homo litteratus'; cf. [n. on 54].

P. [7] — [14.] cuius ... feci: 'the aforesaid' is in good Latin always expressed by a parenthesis like this and not by a participle in agreement with the noun. The phrases 'ante dictus', 'supra dictus', belong to silver Latin, where they are common. Cf. [23] quos ante dixi. — sic ut etc.: the lines are from the Annals of Ennius, for which see [n. on 1]. — ecus: Ennius did not write uu, nor most likely did Cicero; the former may have written either ecus, equos, or equs. The last form Vahlen prints in his edition of Ennius. — spatio supremo: 'at the end of the race-course', 'at the goal', or it may be 'at the last turn round the course', the race requiring the course to be run round several times; cf. Homer's πυματον δρομον in Iliad 23, 768. So [83] decurso spatio; Verg. Aen. 5, 327 iamque fere spatio extreme fessique sub ipsam finem adventabant. — vicit Olumpia: a direct imitation of the Greek phrase νικαν Ολυμπια, to win a victory at an Olympic contest. So Horace Ep. 1, 1, 50 has coronari Olympia = στεφανουσθαι Ολυμπια. The editors print Olympia, but the use of y to represent Greek υ did not come in till long after the time of Ennius. — senio: differs from senectute in implying not merely old age, but the weakness which usually accompanies it. — confectus: for the disregard of the final s in scanning cf. [n. on 1], l. 6. — equi victoris: for the almost adjectival use of the substantive victor, cf. Verg. Aen. 7, 656 victores equos; ib. 12, 751 venator canis; ib. 10, 891; 11, 89, and Georg. 2, 145 bellator equus, in Theocritus 15, 51 πολεμισται ‛ιπποι. The feminine nouns in -trix are freely used as adjectives both in verse and in prose. A. 88, c; H. 441, 3. — quem quidem: the same form of transition is used in [26], [29], [46], [53]. The whole of this passage to suasissem is an exhibition of antiquarian learning quite unnatural and inappropriate in a dialogue. — probe meminisse potestis: cf. De Or. 3, 194 quem tu probe meministi; Fin. 2, 63 L. Thorius quem meminisse tu non potes. Memini can take a personal accusative only when the person who remembers was a contemporary of the person remembered; otherwise the gen. follows. Cf. Roby, 1333; A. 219, Rem.; H. 407, n. 1. — hi consules: 'the present consuls'. — T. Flamininus: commonly said to be the son of the great Flamininus ([1], l. 1). He was altogether undistinguished, as also were the Acilius and the Caepio here mentioned. This passage gives the imagined date of the dialogue as 150 B.C. — Philippo: this was Q. Marcius Philippus, who was consul in 186 and took part in the suppression of the great Bacchanalian conspiracy of that year. For the next 17 years he was a leading senator and much engaged in diplomacy in the East. In 169 he was again consul and commanded against Perseus in the early part of the war. — cum ... legem Voconiam ... suasissem: 'after I had spoken publicly in favor of the law o£ Voconius'. For suasissem cf. [10] suasor with [n.] The Lex Voconia de mulierum hereditatibus aimed at securing the continuance of property in families. By its provisions no man who possessed property valued in the censors' lists at 100,000 sesterces or more, could appoint a woman or women as his heres or heredes; further, no person or persons, male or female, could receive under the will legacies amounting in all to a larger sum than that received by the principal heir or heirs. Every Roman will named a heres or heredes, on whom devolved all the privileges and duties of the deceased, with such duties as were enjoined by the will; particularly the duty of paying the legacies left to those who were not heredes. See Maine, Ancient Law, Ch. 6; also Hunter, Introd. to Roman Law, Ch. 5. — magna: in Latin the word magnus is the only equivalent of our 'loud'. — lateribus: 'lungs'. Cic. and the best writers rarely use pulmones for 'lungs'; the few passages in which it occurs either refer to victims sacrificed at the altar, or are medical or physiological descriptions. 'Good lungs' is always 'bona latera' never pulmones. — duo ... senectutem: Ennius is said to have kept a school in his later days, and to have lived in a cottage with one servant only.

[15.] etenim: this word generally introduces either an explanation or a proof of a preceding statement. Here the words are elliptic, and the real connection with what precedes can only be made clear by a paraphrase. 'Ennius seemed to delight in old age. And no wonder, since there are four causes which make men think old age wretched, and no one of these will bear examination'. Etenim may generally be translated 'indeed', or 'in fact'. — cum complector animo: 'when I grasp them in my thoughts'. The object of complector is to be supplied from causas. — avocet: sc. senes. The subjunctives denote that these are the thoughts not of the speaker, but of the persons who do think old age a wretched thing. See [n. on 3] ferat; but cf. Kennedy, Grammar, pref., p. 30. — alteram ... tertiam: in enumerations of more than two things unus and alter generally take the place of primus, and secundus: in Cic. these latter rarely occur under such circumstances. Cf. Att. 3, 15, 1; Fin. 5, 9; Off. 1, 152; Cluent. 178. — infirmius: sc. auam antea erat. — quam sit iusta: Cicero generally separates from the words they qualify quam, tam, ita, tantus, quantus, often, as here, by one small word. Cf. below, [35] quam fuit imbecillus; 40 tam esse inimicum. — quibus: the preposition a is often omitted; cf. in Pis. 91 Arsinoen ... Naupactum fateris ab hostibus esse captas. Quibus hostibus? Nempe eis etc.; Tusc. 3, 37 sed traducis cogitationes meas ad voluptates. Quas? Even when relative and antecedent are in the same sentence the preposition is not often repeated; e.g. Fin. 5, 68 eodem in genere quo illa. — an eis: an always introduces a question which is not independent, but follows upon a previous question either expressed or implied. Here quibus implies omnibusne. Cf. div. in Caec. 52 quid enim dices? An id quod dictitas ... where quid implies nihilne: also below, [23], [29] anne. A 211, b; G. 459; H. 353, 2, n. 4. — iuventute et viribus: commonly explained as a hendiadys, i.e. as put for iuventutis viribus; but Cic. no more meant this than we mean 'the strength of youth' when we speak of 'youth and strength'. Real instances of hendiadys are much rarer than is generally supposed. — quae: = tales ut. — L. Paulus: this is L. Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus, consul in 182 B.C., and again in 168 when he finished the third Macedonian war by utterly defeating Perseus at Pydna. For his connection with Scipio and Cato see [Introd]. — pater tuus: i.e. Scipio; so in [29] avi tui, and in [75] avum tuum, without mention of young Scipio's name, but in [49] patris tui, Scipio; so [77]. — Fabricii etc.: for the plurals see [n. on 13]. C. Fabricius Luscinus, consul in 282, 278, and 273 B.C., censor in 275, held the command against Pyrrhus. The Roman writers, Cicero especially, are never tired of eulogizing him as a pattern of old-fashioned Roman virtue. Manius Curius Dentatus, consul in 290, 275, and 274 practically, if not formally, ended the third Samnite war, and also commanded against Pyrrhus; see [55]. He was famed for his sturdy Roman simplicity and frugality. Tiberius Coruncanius as consul in 280 crushed an Etruscan insurrection. In 252 he became the first plebeian pontifex maximus. These three men are very frequently mentioned together by Cicero; cf. below, [43], Lael. 18. — nihil agebant: observe that nihil agebat is put at the beginning of the first sentence, nihil agebant at the end of the second; chiasmus.

[16.] A. Claudi: Appius Claudius, the head of the most strongly aristocratic family in Rome, was censor in 311 B.C., when he constructed the via Appia, and consul in 307 and 296. He had to be carried into the senate-house in order to oppose the peace with Pyrrhus. — accedebat ut: accedit is far oftener followed by a clause with quod and indicative than by a clause with ut and subjunctive. When the quod clause follows, it contains a fact looked at merely as a fact and nothing more, but the ut clause views the fact as consequent upon, or dependent on some other fact. Here the blindness is regarded as being the consequence of old age, though Livy 9, 29, 11 and other authors attribute it to the anger of the gods, because as censor Appius had taken the administration of the worship of Hercules away from the ancient family of the Potitii, and had placed it in the hands of public slaves. The mental vigor of Appius in his old age is mentioned by Cic. in Tusc. 5, 112.

P. [8] — cum Pyrrho: note the position of the words between pacem and foedus, with both of which they go. This usage is called by the grammarians coniunctio; cf. n. on Lael. 8 cum summi viri tum amicissimi, also above, quae iuventute geruntur et viribus, below 18 quae sunt gerenda praescribo et quo modo. — foedus: this seems opposed to pacem as a formal engagement is to a mere abstention from hostilities. — non dubitavit dicere: when dubitare means 'to hesitate' (about a course of action), and the sentence is negative, or an interrogative sentence assuming a negative answer, the infinitive construction generally follows, as here; but the infinitive is rare in a positive sentence. When dubitare means to 'be in doubt' (as to whether certain statements are true or not), the regular construction is either quin with subj. or some form of indirect interrogative clause. Cf. below, 25. — quo vobis: from the Annales. In mentis dementis we have oxymoron (an intentional contradiction in terms) as in [38] sensum sine sensu; [39] munus ... aufert. On the case of vobis, see Roby, 1154, A. 235, a, H. 384, 4, n. 2. — antehac: always a dissyllable in verse, and probably so pronounced in prose. — viai: the old genitive. A. 36 a, G. 27, Rem. 1, H. 49, 2. The reading is not quite certain, if viai be read it is not altogether certain whether it depends on quo or on sese flexere. In the former construction we have a partitive gen with an adv; A. 216, a, 4, G. 371, Rem. 4, H. 397, 4, in the latter, a distinct Graecism like desine querellarum (Hor Od 2, 9, 17) and the like; A. 243 Rem., G. 373 Rem. 6, H. 410 V 4. — et tamen: the sense is incompletely expressed, in full it is 'and yet there is no need for me to refer to Appius' speech as given by Ennius, since the speech itself is in existence.' Exactly similar ellipses are found with et tamen in Fin. 1, 11 and 15; 2, §§ 15, 21, 64 and 85, Att. 7, 3, 10, Lucretius 5, 1177. In Munro's note on the last passage a collection of examples will be found. — Appi ... oratio: the speech was known to Cicero, and was one of the oldest monuments of prose composition in Latin extant in his time, see Brut. 61. Plutarch, Pyrrhus 19, gives an account of Appius' speech, which may founded on the original, he mentions it also in his tract commonly called 'an seni sit gerenda res publica', c. 21. Ihne (History of Rome, Vol I. p. 521, Eng. ed.) doubts whether the speech, as Cic. knew it, was committed to writing by Appius himself. — haec ille egit: 'he made this speech.' — septemdecim annis: as the second (alterum) consulship was in 296, and the speech in 280, both these years are included in the reckoning by a usage very common in Latin. For the ablative cf. [19]. — censor ... ante consulatum: this was unusual, and therefore to Claudius' honor. — grandem sane: 'undoubtedly old'. — et tamen sic: i.e. eum tum grandem fuisse Lahmeyer wrongly says that sic points to the words atque haec ille egit. It may be noted that sic takes the place of an object after accipimus, cf. [77] ita crederem; [78] sic mihi persuasi, also [18] male cogitanti.

[17.] nihil afferunt: 'they bring forward nothing', i.e. what they bring forward is worthless, so in Greek ουδεν λεγειν, the opposite of which is λεγειν τι. — similes ut si: a very rare construction. Equally unusual is similes tamquam si in Div. 2, 131. In Tusc. 4, 41 and Off. 1, 87 we find similiter ut si in Fin 2, 21 and 4, 31 similiter or similis et si, in N.D. 3, 8 similiter ac si, also in Liv. 5, 5, 12 dissimilia ac si, in 35, 42, 10 idem ac si. As regards the ut after similes, we may compare a few passages in which simul ut appears for simul ac, see Reid's n. on Academ. 2, 51. In the English Bible there are expressions like similes sunt ut si qui dicant, 'they are like as if some men should say.' — scandant: 'cum is used with the subjunctive when it expresses a kind of comparison, and especially a contrast, between the contents of a leading proposition and a subordinate ("whereas", etc.)' Madvig, 358, Obs. 3. The underlying idea in this use is generally cause, sometimes concession. — per foros: 'over the deck.' — ille: for the omission of sed or autem (asyndeton adversativum) see [n. on 3] librum, etc. — clavum: 'tiller'. With this passage Lahmeyer well compares what Cicero says of himself in Fam. 9, 15, 3 sedebamus in puppi et clavum tenebamus; nunc autem vix est in sentina locus. — velocitate: velocitas and celeritas differ very slightly; the former means rather speed of movement in one line the latter rather power of rapid motion with frequent change of direction. The emphatic word in this clause is corporum. Cf. Off. 1, 79 honestum ... animi efficitur non corporis viribus. — consilio ... sententia: consilio, advice; auctoritate, weight of influence; sententia, an opinion or vote formally given. — quibus: in twofold relation; with orbari, abl. of separation, with augeri of specification.

[18.] nisi forte: ironical, used to introduce a possible, but absurd objection to something which has gone before. The verb that follows is always in the indicative. — miles etc.: 'as common soldier'; see [n. on 10]. — in vario genere: we use the plural, 'in different kinds'. Cf. Acad. 2, 3 in omni genere belli; Deiot. 12 in omni genere bellorum. — cessare: cf. [n. on 13]. — at senatui etc.: exactly the same ideas are expressed, with the same mention of Cato's activity in Off. 1, 79. — male cogitanti: 'which has now for a long time been plotting mischief'; A. 290, a; G. 671, 221; H. 549, 4; 467, III. 2. Cf. pro Sulla 70 nefarie cogitare; for the use of the adverb see [n. on 16] sic. On Cato's attitude toward Carthage see [Introd]. — vereri: the construction is unusual. Vereor regularly takes after it an accusative, or else a clause with ne or ut. A passage much resembling this is Rab. Post. 10 omnes qui aliquid de se verebantur; cf. also Att. 10, 4, 6 de vita sua metuere; Verg. Aen. 9, 207 de te nil tale verebar; in all these examples the ablative with de denotes the quarter threatened, not, as here, the quarter from which the threat comes. — exscisam: from exscindo; most edd. excisam, but to raze a city is urbem exscindere not excidere; e.g. Rep. 6, 11 Numantiam exscindes.

[19.] quam palmam etc.: a prophecy after the event, like that in Rep. 6, 11 avi relliquias, the finishing up of the Punic wars. For the use of relliquias cf. Verg. Aen. 11, 30 Troas relliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli; ib. 598; ib. 3, 87. — tertius: so all our MSS. This places the elder Scipio's death in 183, which agrees with Livy's account in 39, 50, 10. But the year before Cato's censorship was 185 not 183, hence some edd. read quintus and some sextus in place of tertius.

P. [9] — novem annis: as Cato's consulship was in 195 these words also apparently disagree with tertius above. Novem annis post means nine full years after, i.e. 185 not 186; cf. [42] septem annis post. — enim: implies that the answer 'no' has been given to the question and proceeds to account for that answer. — excursione: a military term = 'skirmishing'; Cf. Div. 2, 26 prima orationis excursio. — hastis: loosely used for pilis. The long old Roman hasta, whence the name hastati, had long before Cato's time been discarded for the pilum or short javelin, which was thrown at the enemy from a distance before the troops closed and used the sword. — consilium: the repetition of consilium in a different sense from that which it had in the sentence before seems to us awkward; but many such repetitions are found in Cicero. Consilium corresponds to both 'counsel' and 'council'; the senate was originally regium consilium, the king's body of advisers. Here translate summum consilium 'the supreme deliberative body'. — senatum: 'assembly of elders'. Cf. [56] senatores, id est senes. Senatus implies a lost verb senā-re, to be or grow old from the stem of which both senā-tus and senā-tor are derived. This stem again implies a lost noun or adjective senus, old. The word senatus was collective, like comitatus, a body of companions, exercitus, a trained band etc.

[20.] amplissimum: 'most honorable'. — ut sunt ... senes: the Spartan γερουσια, as it is commonly called, consisted of 28 members, all over 60 years of age. Herodotus uses the term γεροντες (senes) for this assembly; Xenophon γεροντια. In the Laconian dialect γερωια was its name; we also find γεροντευειν 'to be a senator'. For ut ... sic cf. Academ. 2, 14, similiter vos cum perturbare, ut illi rem publicam, sic vos philosophiam velitis; also Lael. 19. — audire: like ακουω, used especially of historical matters, since instruction in them was almost entirely oral. Cf. ανηκοος = 'ignorant of history'. — voletis: see note on 7 faciam ut potero; cf. Roby, 1464, a; Madvig, 339, Obs. 1; A. 278, b; G. 234, Rem. 1; H. 470, 2. — adulescentibus: Cic., when he wrote this, was possibly thinking of Athens and Alcibiades. — labefactatas: the verb labefacio is foreign to good prose, in which labefacto is used. — sustentatas: Cic. does not use sustentus. In Mur. 3 sustinenda is followed by sustentata in the same sentence. — cedo ... cito: the line is of the kind called tetrameter iambic acatalectic (or octonarius), and is scanned thus: —

In all kinds of iambic verse the old Romans freely introduced spondees where the Greeks used iambi; so in hexameters spondees for dactyls. Cf. Hor. Ep. ad Pis. 254 et seq. — cedo: = dic; from ce, the enclitic particle involved in hic = (hi-ce) etc. and da, the root of do. So cette = ce-dăte = cedte, then cette by assimilation of d to t. The original meaning would thus be 'give here', and in this sense the word is often used. See Lex. Dare is commonly put for dicere, as accipere is for audire. — qui: 'how'. — tantam: = οτσαυτην ουσαν. — Naevi: Naevius lived about 264-194 B.C. His great work was a history of the First Punic War written in Saturnian verse, the rude indigenous metre of early Roman poetry. He wrote also plays,—tragedies and comedies, both palliatae and praetextae. For an account of him see Cruttwell, History of Roman Literature; also, Sellar, Roman Poets of the Republic, Ch. 3. If Ludo be read, it may be either from the Latin ludus (Naevius entitled a comedy Ludius) or from Λυδος, Lydian. — poetae: Naevius seems to have been in the habit of adding poeta to his name. It appears in the well-known epitaph said to have been written by himself, also in the lines written against him by the family poet of the Metelli: 'malum dabunt Metelli Naevio poetae'. The name poeta was new in Naevius' time and was just displacing the old Latin name vates; see Munro on Lucr. 1, 102. — proveniebant etc.: the same metre as above, divided thus by Lahmeyer: —

provéni | ebant | orát | ores || noví | stultí adu | lescén / iuli.

The whole line has the look of being translated from the Greek: προυβαινον (εις το βημα) ‛ρητορες κανοι τινες, μειρακια γελοια. Lr. takes provenire in the sense of 'to grow up', comparing Plin. Ep. 1, 13, 1 magnum proventum ('crop') poetarum annus hic attulit; Sall. Cat. 8, 3 provenere ibi scriptorum magna ingenia. — videlicet: 'you see'.

[21.] at: = αλλα γαρ; used, as in 32, 35, 47, 65, and 68, to introduce the supposed objection of an opponent. — credo: 'of course'. Cf. [47] where credo follows at as here. — exerceas: the subject is the indefinite 'you' equivalent to 'one', τις: 'unless one were to practise it'. So [28] nequeas; [33] requiras. Cf. also Plin. Ep. 8, 14, 3 difficile est tenere quae acceperis, nisi exerceas. For the mood see A. 309, a; G. 598, 597, Rem. 3; H. 508, 5, 2). — tardior: 'unusually dull'; cf. Academ. 2, 97 Epicurus quem isti tardum putant. — Themistocles: famed for his memory. — civium: 'fellow-countrymen'; perceperat: 'had grasped' or 'mastered'. — qui ... solitum: 'that he often addressed as Lysimachus some one who for all that was Aristides'. The direct object of salutare is omitted. For qui = tametsi is cf. Att. 1, 13, 3 nosmet ipsi, qui Lycurgei fuissemus, cotidie demitigamur; also De Or. 1, 82. — esset: A.342; G.631; H.529, II. and n. 1, 1). — Lysimachum: for ut L. or pro Lysimacho. So Arch. 19 Homerum Chii suum vindicant (= ut suum or pro suo). Lysimachus was the father of Aristides. — sunt: = vivunt, as often; so in [32] esse = vivere; [54] fuit = vixit; [56], [60], [69]. — sepulcra legens: Cato was a great antiquarian; cf. [38] Originum. — in memoriam redeo mortuorum: the genitive as with memini, recordari etc. For the phrase cf. Verr. 1, 120 redite in memoriam, iudices, quae libido istius fuerit; also below, 59 in gratiam redire cum voluptate. Here translate 'I refresh my memory of the dead'. — quemquam senem: the best writers do not use quisquam as an adjective, but there is no need to alter senem into senum as some editors do, since senem is a substitute for a clause cum senex esset; 'I never heard that anybody because he was an old man ...'. Senes must be so taken in [22], since pontifices etc. cannot stand as adjectives. Cf. [n. on 10] adulescentulus miles. — vadimonia: 'their appointments to appear in court, the debts due to them and the debts they owe'. When the hearing of a suit had to be adjourned, the defendant was bound over either on his own recognizance merely (pure) or along with sureties (vades) to appear in court on the day appointed for the next hearing, a sum or sums of money being forfeited in case of his non-appearance. The engagement to appear was technically called vadimonium; when the defendant entered into the engagement he was said vadimonium promittere; if he kept the engagement, v. obire or sistere; if he failed in it, v. deserere. The plural vadimonia is here used because a number of suits is meant; the word constituta is chosen as a more general term than promissa, and as referring to the circumstances of both plaintiff and defendant. Strictly speaking, it is the presiding judge who vadimonia constituit. On this account vadimonia constituta should be translated as above 'appointments', and not 'bonds' or 'engagements' to appear in court.

P. [10] — [22.] quid ... senes: sc. tibi videntur; 'what do you think of old men as lawyers, etc.?' So without ellipsis, Fam. 9, 21, 1 quid tibi ego in epistulis videor? — ingenia: = suum cuique ingenium; 'old men retain their wits'. — permaneat: A. 266, d; G. 575; H. 513, I. — studium et industria: 'earnestness and activity'; not a case of hendiadys, as some editors make it. Cf. [n. on 15] iuventute et viribus. — neque ea solum: = ουδε ταυτα μονον, 'and that not only'. — honoratis: this does not correspond to our 'honored', but implies that the persons have held high offices (honores); cf. [61] senectus honorata praesertim. Here translate 'statesmen'. — in vita ... quieta: 'in an unofficial and retired life'. There is chiasmus here, since privata is contrasted with honoratis and quieta with claris. — summam senectutem: Sophocles died at the age of 90 in 405 B.C. — quod propter studium: 'from his devotion to this occupation'. — filiis: except Plutarch, who probably follows Cicero's words, all the authorities tell the story of the poet's eldest son Iophon only. The tale is full of improbabilities. — rem: = rem familiarem as in [1]. — patribus bonis interdici solet: 'fathers are often prevented from managing their property'. For the construction cf. the expression interdicere alicui aqua et igni: interdici is here used impersonally with patribus in the dat.; A. 230; H. 384, 5; bonis is abl. of separation (deprivation). The fragment of the XII tables here referred to is thus given in Dirksen's edition: sei fouriosos aut prodicos (prodigus) escit (erit) adenatorum centiliomque (gentiliumque) eius potestas estod, i.e. the agnates (male relatives whose kinship with the furiosus is derived through males) and members of his gens are to administer his property. We have preserved the form in which the judgment was made by the praetor urbanus (Paulus, Sent. 3, 4_a, 7): 'quando tibi tua bona paterna avitaque nequitia tua disperdis liberosque tuos ad egestatem perducis, ob eam rem tibi ea re commercioque interdico'. — quasi desipientem: '‛ως παραφρονουντα' says the author of the anonymous life of Sophocles. Cf. Xenophon, Mem. 1, 2, 49. — in manibus habebat: 'had on hand' i.e. in preparation. Est in manibus in [12] has a different meaning. — scripserat: he had written it but not finally corrected it. — recitasse: the common version of the story states that not the whole play was read but only the fine chorus beginning ευιππου, ξενε, τασδε χωρας. — videretur: sc. esse; the infinitive is often omitted thus after verbs of desiring, thinking etc., also verbs of speaking and hearing; cf. Lael. 18 eam sapientiam interpretantur; ib. 29 quam natam volunt; ib. 64 homines ex maxime raro genere iudicare; Acad. 2, 12 viderenturne ea Philonis.

[23.] Hesiodum: see [n. on 54]. — Simoniden: Simonides of Ceos (not S. of Amorgos), one of the greatest Greek lyric poets, lived from 556 to about 469 B.C. — Stesichorum: of Himera in Sicily, also a lyric poet; lived from about 630 to about 556 B.C. — Isocraten Gorgian: [nn. on 13]. — philosophorum principes: 'in the first rank of philosophers'. — Pythagoran: neither the date of his birth nor that of his death can be determined; he 'flourished' about 530. He lived mostly in the Greek settlements of lower Italy, where his school existed for some centuries after his death. — Democritum: of Abdera, one of the originators of the theory of atoms; said to have lived from 460 to 361 or 357 B.C. — Xenocraten: after Plato, Speusippus was the first head of the Academic School; Xenocrates succeeded him. He lived from 397 to 315 or 313. — Zenonem: of Citium in Cyprus, founder of Stoicism, born about 357, is said to have lived to the age of 98. — Cleanthen: he followed Zeno in the presidency of the Stoic school. His age at death is variously given as 99 and as 80 years. — quem vidistis: see [Introd]. It is rather curious that Cic. should make Cato speak with admiration of Diogenes, to whom he had shown great hostility. — Diogenen: Cic. probably wrote in -an, -en, not in -am, -em the accusatives of Greek proper names in -as, -es. — Stoicum: to distinguish him from Diogenes the Cynic. — agitatio: Cic. uses agitatio and actio almost interchangeably; cf. agitatio rerum in De Or. 3, 88 with actio rerum in Acad. 2, 62 and elsewhere. Actus in this sense occurs only in silver Latin.

[24.] age: a common form of transition to a new subject; brief for 'hoc age', 'do this', i.e. 'attend to this that I am going to say'. The common use of αγε in Greek is exactly similar. — ut ... omittamus: Cf. [n. on 52] ut. — possum nominare: 'I am able to name'; in colloquial English 'I might name'. The Latins occasionally use also a hypothetical form, where possim or possem stands in the apodosis of a conditional sentence, the protasis of which is not expressed; but the missing protasis is generally easily supplied and was distinctly present to the writer's mind. E.g. in Tusc. 1, 88 we have dici hoc in te non potest; posset in Tarquinio; at in mortuo ne intellegi quidem (potest), where the reason for the change from potest to posset is quite evident. In translating from English into Latin it is far safer to use the indicative. Cf. [55] possum persequi. A. 311, c; G. 599, Rem. 3; H. 511, 1, n. 3, 476, 4. — ex agro ... Romanos: 'country-bred Romans (i.e. Roman citizens) belonging to the Sabine district'. The words ex agro Sabino form an attributive phrase qualifying Romanos just as rusticos does. — numquam fere: 'scarcely ever'. — maiora opera: 'farm work of any importance'. This use of opera is common in Vergil's Georgics. — non: the repetition of the negative after numquam is common in Latin; in English never ... not is found in dialects only. Cf. Lael. 48 non tantum ... non plus quam. — serendis: ablative of respect, 'as regards sowing'. See Roby 1210; Kennedy, 149. — percipiendis: so [70]; cf. N.D. 2, 156 neque enim serendi neque colendi, nec tempestive demetendi percipiendi que fructus, neque condendi nec reponendi ulla pecudum scientia est. — in aliis: see [n. on 3] ceteris. Notice the proleptic use. — idem: a better form of the plural than iidem, commonly found in our texts. For the use here cf. [n. on 4] eandem. — pertinere: present for future. — sent ... prosint: the line is given as Ribbeck prints it. He scans it as a 'bacchius', consisting of four feet, with the measurement

, the last syllable of saeclo seeming to be shortened. Cicero quotes the same line in Tusc. 1, 31 adding ut ait (Statius) in Synephebis, quid spectans nisi etiam postera saecla ad se pertinere? Saeclo = 'generation'. For mood of prosint see A 317; G. 632, H. 497, I. — Statius noster: 'our fellow-countryman Statius'. So Arch. 22 Ennius noster. Caecilius Statius, born among the Insubres, wrote Latin comedies which were largely borrowed from the Greek of Menander. The original of the Synephebi was Menander's Συνε φηβοι 'young comrades'. See Sellar, Rom. Poets of the Rep., Ch. 7.

P. [11]. — [25.] dis: the spellings diis, dii which many recent editors still keep, are probably incorrect, at all events it is certain that the nominative and ablative plural of deus formed monosyllables, except occasionally in poetry, where dei, deis were used. Even these dissyllabic forms scarcely occur before Ovid. — et: emphatic at the beginning of a sentence: 'aye, and'. — melius: sc. dixit. — illud: 'the following' A. 102, b, G. 292, 4; H. 450, 3. — idem: īdem, not ĭdem. — edepol: literally, 'ah, god Pollux', e being an interjection, de a shortened form of the vocative of deus, pol abbreviated from Pollux. The asseveration is mostly confined to comedy. The lines come from a play by Statius called Plocium (πλοκιον 'necklace'), copied from one by Menander with the same title; see Ribbeck's 'Fragmenta' The verses are iambic trimeters A. 365; G. 754, H. 622. — nil quicquam: see [n. on 21] quemquam senem, cf. the common expression nemo homo, 84 nemo vir, etc. where two substantival words are placed side by side. — viti: see [n. on 1], l 3 praemi Viti here = mali; cf. Ter. Andr. 73 ei vereor ne quid Andria adportet mali. — sat est: sat for satis in Cicero's time was old-fashioned and poetical. — quod diu: these words must be scanned as a spondee. The i in diu here probably had the sound of our y. A. 347, c, G. 717; H. 608, III. n. 2. Allen well compares a line of Publilius Syrus heu quam multa paenitenda incurrunt vivendo diu. — volt: indefinite subject. — videt: Tischer quotes Herod. 1, 32 (speech of Solon to Croesus) εν γαρ τωι μακρωι χρονωι πολλα μεν εστιν ιδεειν, τα μη τις εθελει, πολλα δε και παθεειν — tum equidem etc.: these lines, as well as those above, occurred in a play of Statius called 'Ephesio' see Ribbeck's 'Fragmenta'. — senecta: not used by prose writers before the time of silver Latin. — deputo: this compound is used by the dramatists and then does not occur again till late Latin times. — eumpse: like ipse and reapse (for which see n. on Lael. 47) this word contains the enclitic particle pe (probably another form of que), found in nem pe, quis-p-iam etc., along with se, which belongs to an old demonstrative pronoun once declined sos, sa, sum, the masc. and fem. of which are seen in ‛ο, ‛η. The form was no doubt originally eumpsum, like ipsom (ipsum), but has passed into its present form just as ipsos (nom.) became ipso, then ipse. The only difference in sense between eumpse and the simple eum is that the former is more emphatic. The pronoun eumpse is the subject of the infinitive sentire, but the substantive, senex, to which the pronoun refers, is not expressed. — odiosum: cf. [n. on 4].

[26.] iucundum ... odiosum: elliptic, = 'iucundum' potius quam 'odiosum' senem esse dicendum est. — ut ... delectantur: cf. Lael. 101; also below, [29]. — sapientes senes: neither of these words is used as an adjective here; the whole expression = sapientes, cum facti sunt senes. — levior: cf. the fragm. of Callimachus: γηρασκει δ' ‛ο γερων κεινος ελαφροτερον, τον κουροι φιλεουσι. — coluntur et diliguntur: colere rather implies the external marks of respect (cf. coli in [7]), diligere the inner feeling of affection. — praeceptis etc.: cf. Off. 1, 122 ineuntis enim aetatis inscitia senum constituenda et regenda prudentia est. — me ... iucundos: put for me iucundum esse quam vos mihi estis iucundi. The attraction of a finite verb into the infinitive after quam is not uncommon; cf. [n. on 1] quibus me ipsum (Roby, 1784, b; A. 336, b, Rem.; H. 524, 1, 2). Minus, be it observed, does not qualify intellego, but iucundos. — sed: here analeptic, i.e. it introduces a return to the subject proper after a digression, so in [31]. — videtis, ut ... sit: here ut = quo modo; 'how'. — senectus ... cuiusque: the abstract senectus is put for senes as in [34]; hence cuiusque, sc. senis. So above adulescentia = adulescentes. — agens aliquid: this phrase differs from agat in that while the subjunctive would express the fact of action, the participial phrase expresses rather the constant tendency to act. Agens aliquid forms a sort of attribute to senectus, parallel with operosa. Moliri differs from agere in that it implies the bringing into existence of some object. Cf. Off. 3, 102 agere aliquid et moliri volunt; Acad. 2, 22 ut moliatur aliquid et faciat; N.D. 1, 2 utrum di nihil agant, nihil moliantur; Mur. 82 et agant et moliantur. — quid ... aliquid: for the ellipsis in quid qui cf. [n. on 22] quid ... Addiscunt = προμανθανουσι = learn on and on, go on learning. — ut ... videmus: put, as Allen observes, for ut Solon fecit, quem videmus. — Solonem: see also 50. The line (versibus here is an exaggeration; in 50 it is versiculus) is preserved by Plato in his Timaeus and by Plutarch, Sol. 31 γαερασκο δ' αει πολλα διδασκομενος. The age of Solon at his death is variously given as 80 or 100 years. — videmus: the Latins frequently use 'we see' for 'we read'. See n. on Lael. 39, also below, [69] ut scriptum video. — gloriantem: A. 292, e; G. 536, 527, Rem. 1; H. 535, I. 4. Notice the change to the infinitive in uti below. — senex: i.e. cum senex essem; so [27] adulescens desiderabam; [30] memini puer. Plutarch (Cato 2) gives an account of Cato's study of Greek in his old age. — sic: this word does not qualify avide, but refers on to quasi, so that sic ... quasi cupiens = 'thus, viz. like one desiring'. Cf. [n. on 12] ita cupide fruebar quasi; also [35] tamquam ... sic. Quasi serves to soften the metaphor in sitim; cf. n. on Lael. 3. — cupiens: after quasi a finite verb (cuperem) would have been more usual, as in [12] ita ... quasi divinarem. Cf. however [22] quasi desipientem. — ea ipsa mihi: for the juxtaposition of pronouns, which is rather sought after in Latin, cf. [72] ipsa suum eadem quae. — exemplis: = pro exemplis, or exemplorum loco (cf. [n. on 21] Lysimachum), so that those editors are wrong who say that we have here an example of the antecedent thrust into the relative clause, as though ea ipsa quibus exemplis were put for ea ipsa exempla quibus. — quod: = ut cum iam senex esset disceret. — Socraten: Cic. probably learned this fact from Plato's Menexenus 235 E and Euthydemus 272 C where Connus is named as the teacher of Socrates in music. In the Euthydemus Socrates says that the boys attending Connus' lessons laughed at him and called Connus γεροντοδιδασκαλον. Cf. also Fam. 9, 22, 3 Socraten fidibus docuit nobilissimus fidicen; is Connus vocitatus est; Val. Max. 8, 7, 8. — in fidibus: 'in the case of the lyre'. Tücking quotes Quintilian 9, 2, 5 quod in fidibus fieri vidimus. The Greek word cithara is not used by Cicero and does not become common in Latin prose till long after Cicero's time, though he several times uses the words citharoedus, citharista, when referring to Greek professional players. The word lyra too is rare in early prose; it occurs in Tusc. 1, 4 in connection with a Greek, where in the same sentence fides is used as an equivalent. — audirem: for audire = legendo cognoscere see [n. on 20]. — vellem: sc. si possem. — discebant ... antiqui: doubts have been felt as to the genuineness of the clause. In Tusc. 4, 3 a passage of Cato is quoted which refers to the use of the tibia among the ancient Romans; immediately afterwards the antiquity of practice on the fides at Rome is mentioned, though not expressly on Cato's authority. The words cannot be said to be unsuited either to the person or to the occasion. — discebant ... fidibus: the verb canere, which means 'to play' as well as 'to sing', must be supplied; fidibus is then an ablative of the means or instrument. There is the same ellipsis of canere in the phrases docere fidibus (Fam. 9, 22, 3) and scire fidibus (Terence, Eunuchus 133). Cf. Roby, 1217.

P. [12] — [27.] ne ... quidem: these two words together correspond to the Greek ουδε (ου = ne, δε = quidem), and are best translated here by 'nor' rather than by 'not even'. The rendering 'not even', though required by some passages, will often misrepresent the Latin. — locus: locus (like τοπος in Greek) is a rhetorical term with a technical meaning. The pleader is to anticipate the arguments he may find it necessary to use in different cases, and is to arrange them under certain heads; each head is called a τοπος or locus, meaning literally the place where a pleader is to look for an argument when wanted. Hence locus came to mean 'a cut-and-dried argument' or, as here, a 'commonplace'. It is often found in Cicero's rhetorical writings. — non plus quam: 'any more than'. After the negative ne above it is incorrect to translate non by a negative in English, though the repetition of the negative is common enough in Latin, as in some English dialects. Cf. [n. on 24]. Plus here = magis. — quod est: sc. tibi, 'what you have', so Paradoxa 18 and 52 satis esse, quod est. — agas: quisquis is generally accompanied by the indicative, as in Verg. Aen. 2, 49 quidquid id est etc.; see Roby, 1697; A. 309, c; G. 246, 4; H. 476, 3. The subjunctive is here used, with the imaginary second person, to render prominent the hypothetical and indefinite character of the verb statement. Roby, 1544-1546; Madvig, 370, 494, Obs. 5, (6). — vox: 'utterance'; the word is used only of speeches in some way specially remarkable. — contemptior: 'more despicable'. The passive participle of contemno has the sense of an adjective in -bilis, like invictus and many others. — Milonis: the most famous of the Greek athletes. He lived at the end of the sixth century B.C., and the praises of his victories were sung by Simonides. It was under his leadership that his native city Croton, in Magna Graecia, attacked and destroyed Sybaris. Many stories are told by the ancients about his feats of strength (see 33), and about his power of consuming food. He is said to have been a prominent disciple of Pythagoras. — illacrimans: beware of spelling lacrima with either ch for c or y for i; these spellings are without justification. The y rests on the absurd assumption that the Latins borrowed their word lacrima straight from the Greek δακρυ. — dixisse: combinations like dicitur dixisse are exceedingly rare in good Latin. Cicero nearly always uses two different verbs; i.e. he says aiunt dicere and the like. — at: there is an ellipsis here such as 'those young men's muscles are powerful but ...'. This elliptic use of at is common in sudden exclamations of grief, annoyance, surprise etc. — vero: this is common in emphatic replies, whether the reply convey assent, or, as here, a retort. The usage is well illustrated in Nägelsbach's Stilistik, § 197, 2. — tam: sc. mortui sunt. — nugator: nugari = ληρειν, 'to trifle'. — ex te: Cato here identifies a man's person with his soul and intellect, the body being regarded as a mere dress; cf. Rep. 6, 26 mens cuiusque is est quisque. Ex te, literally, 'out of yourself', i.e. 'from your real self's resources'. — lateribus: see [n. on 14]. — Aelius: his cognomen was Paetus; he was consul in 198, and censor in 194 B.C. He was one of the earliest and most famous writers on Roman Law. His great commentary on the XII tables is often referred to by Cicero, who several times quotes Ennius' line about him — egregie cordatus homo catus Aelius Sextus. — tale: sc. dixit. — Coruncanius: [n. on 15]. — P. Crassus: consul in 205 B.C. with the elder Africanus; pontifex maximus from 212 to his death in 183. He was famous both as a lawyer (see below, 50; also Liv. 30, 1, 5 iuris pontifici peritissimus) and as a statesman (see 61). Modo therefore covers a space of at least 33 years, so that it cannot well be translated by our 'lately'; say rather 'nearer our time'. The amount of time implied by modo and nuper depends entirely on the context; for modo see Lael. 6 with note, for nuper below, [n. on 61], where it is used of Crassus as modo is here. — praescribebantur: the meaning is that these lawyers practised in old age as jurisconsults, i.e. according to old Roman custom, they gave audience in the early hours of the day to all who chose to consult them about legal difficulties. — est provecta: literally 'was carried forward', i.e. 'continued', 'remained'. Some wrongly take the phrase to mean 'made progress', 'increased', a sense which would require the imperfect, provehebatur. — prudentia: here, as often, 'legal skill'.

[28.] orator: emphatic position. — senectute: causal ablative; not 'in age', but 'owing to age'. — omnino — sed tamen: 'no doubt — but still'. Omnino (literally, 'altogether') has two almost exactly opposite uses — (1) the affirmative, cf. 9; (2) the concessive, which we have here and in 45. The circumstance which is contrasted with the admitted circumstance is usually introduced by sed tamen or sed as in 45, but in Lael. 98 by the less emphatic autem, while in Lael. 69 there is no introductory particle. — canorum ... senectute: canorum implies the combination of power with clearness in a voice. For the mixture of metaphors in canorum splendescit edd. quote Soph. Phil. 189 αχω τηλεφανης; Cic. De Or. 2, 60 illorum tactu orationem meam quasi colorari. — nescio quo pacto: literally, 'I know not on what terms'; quite interchangeable with nescio quo modo; cf. 82. A. 334, e; G. 469, Rem. 2; H. 529, 5, 3). — adhuc non: purposely put for nondum, because more emphasis is thus thrown both on the time-word and on the negation. The common view that nondum was avoided because it would have implied that Cato expected to lose the canorum is certainly wrong. — et videtis: 'though you see my years'. The adversative use of et for autem or tamen after the negative is not very uncommon in Cicero, but there are few examples of the usage in the speeches. Cf. Lael. 26 et quidquid; so sometimes que as above, 13; also Lael. 30 ut nullo egeat suaque omnia in se posita iudicet. — seni: Madvig's em. for senis. In Leg. 1, 11 allusion is made to the great change which advancing years had wrought in Cicero's own impassioned oratory. He was no doubt thinking of that change when he wrote the words we have here. — sermo: 'style of speaking'; a word of wider meaning than oratio, which only denotes public speaking. — quietus et remissus: 'subdued and gentle'. The metaphor in remissus (which occurs also in 81) refers to the loosening of a tight-stretched string; cf. intentum etc. in [37] with [n.] With the whole passage cf. Plin. Ep. 3, 1, 2 nam iuvenes confusa adhuc quaedam et quasi turbata non indecent; senibus placida omnia et ordinata conveniunt. — facit audientiam: 'procures of itself a hearing for it'. In the words per se ipsa there is no doubt an allusion to the custom at large meetings in ancient times whereby the praeco or κηρυξ called on the people to listen to the speakers. Cf. Liv. 43, 16, 8 praeconem audientiam facere iussit. Note that this is the only classical use of the word audientia; it has not the meaning of our 'audience' either in the sense of a body of listeners, or as used in the expression 'to give audience'. — composita et mitis: 'unimpassioned and smooth'. Cf. Quintil. 6, 2, 9 affectus igitur hos concitatos, illos mitis atque compositos esse dixerunt. — quam ... nequeas: 'and if you cannot practise oratory yourself'. Evidently quam refers to oratio in the widest sense, not to the special style of oratory mentioned in the last sentence. With si nequeas cf. nisi exerceas in [21] with [n.] — Scipioni et Laelio: 'a Scipio and a Laelius'; i.e. 'young friends such as Scipio and Laelius are to me'. — praecipere: here absolute, = praecepta dare; usually an accusative follows. — studiis iuventutis: 'the zeal of youth'. Studiis does not imply here the deference of youth to age; the studia meant are the virtutum studia of [26].

[29.] ne ... instruat: docere is to impart knowledge, instituere (literally 'to ground' or 'establish') is to form the intellect and character by means of knowledge, instruere, to teach the pupil how he may bring his acquirements to bear in practical life. — offici munus: 'performance of duty'; cf. 35, 72; Fam. 6, 14. In scores of passages in Cicero we find officium et munus, 'duty and function', as in [34]. — Cn. et P. Scipiones: in Cic. the plural is always used where two men of the same family are mentioned and their names connected by et. In other writers the plural is regular, the singular exceptional, as in Sall. Iug. 42, 1 Ti. et C. Gracchus; Liv. 6, 22 Sp. et L. Papirius. Even with other nouns the plural is regular; e.g. Cic. Phil. 2, 101 arationes Campana et Leontina, though a little above we have mense Aprili atque Maio. [See Draeger, Hist. Synt. 1², p. 1.] Gnaeus (not Cnaeus — see n. on Lael. 3) Cornelius Scipio was consul in 222 B.C. and was sent to Spain at the outbreak of the Second Punic war to command against Hasdrubal. Publius was consul in 218, and after being defeated by Hannibal at the Ticinus, joined his brother in Spain. At first they won important successes, but in 212 they were hemmed in and killed, after a crushing defeat. — L. Aemilius: the father of Macedonicus. He was consul in 219 and defeated the Illyrii; but when consul again in 216 was defeated and killed at Cannae. See [75]. For avi duo cf. 82. — consenuerint ... defecerint: coniunctio, for which see [n. on 16]. For the mood see A. 313, a; G. 608; H. 515, III. and n. 3. — etsi: see [n. on 2]. — senectute: MSS. and edd. have senectutis, but the sense requires the abl.

P. [13] — [30.] Cyrus: the elder. — apud Xenophontem: 'in Xenophon'; so in [79] where see [n.]; also [31] apud Homerum. See Cyropaedia, 8, 7, 6. — cum ... esset: 'though he was very old', the clause depends on the following words, not on the preceding. — negat: in Latin as in English the present tense is used in quotations from books. — Metellum: was consul in 251 B.C. and won a great victory over the Carthaginians at Panormus (Palermo); consul again in 247. See below, [61]. — memini ... esse: for the construction of memini with the present or perfect infinitive, see n. on Lael. 2; also A. 288, b; G. 277, Rem.; H. 537, 1. — puer: the expression is peculiar, being abbreviated from quod puer vidi or something of the kind. Quintil. 8, 3, 31 has memini iuvenis. In Rep. 1, 23 Cicero says memini me admodum adulescentulo. — viginti et duos: the commoner order of the words is duos et viginti; see [n. on 13] centum ... annos. — ei sacerdotio: 'that sacred college'; i.e. the pontifical college consisting of the pontifex maximus and the inferior pontifices. — requireret: see [n. on 13] quaereretur. — nihil: [n. on 1], l. 1 quid. — mihi: dat. for acc. to emphasize the person. — id: 'such a course'; cf. [82] ut de me ipse aliquid more senum glorier.

[31.] videtisne ut: here ne is the equivalent of nonne, as it often is in the Latin of Plautus and Terence, and in the colloquial Latin of the classical period. For ut after videtis see [n. on 26]. — Nestor: e.g. in Iliad 1, 260 et seq. 11, 668 et seq. — tertiam aetatem: cf. Iliad 1, 250; Odyssey 3, 245. — vera ... se: 'if he told the truth about himself'. — nimis: 'to any great extent'. Insolens does not correspond to our 'insolent'; it is almost the equivalent of ineptus, and has no harsher meaning than 'odd', 'strange', 'in bad taste'. — melle dulcior: Homer, Il. 1, 249 του και απο γλωσσης μελιτος γλυκιων ‛ρεεν αυδη. In Or. 32 Cic. says of Xenophon (whom the Greeks called Αττικη μελιττα) that his oratio was melle dulcior. — suavitatem: notice the change from dulcior, which seems to be made for the mere sake of variety, since elsewhere (De Or. 3, 161) Cicero writes dulcitudo orationis. — et tamen: see [n. on 16]. — dux ille: Agamemnon; see Iliad 2, 370 et seq. — nusquam: i.e. nowhere in Homer. — Aiacis: i.e. Aiax Telamonius, who was the greatest Greek warrior while Achilles sulked (Iliad 2, 768). The genitive after similis is the rule in Cicero, though many examples of the dative are found even with names of persons; see Madv. on Fin. 5, 12.