Page images
PDF
EPUB

9

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

13

morum

20 naturae celeritatem ad discendum et memoriam dabant, autem putabant studia esse. Cf. also (with my notes on the passage) Arch. 15 ego multos homines excellenti animo ac virtute fuisse et sine doctrina naturae ipsius habitu...gravis exstitisse fateor etc., and Verg. Georg. 4, 5 mores et studia. Studio et doctrina is not an instance of ev dia dvov, and should not be translated 'by zeal for learning', but 'by devotion and culture'; cf. Arch. 3 otium ac studium; De Or. 1, 22 otio studioque.

reliqua: this word is proleptic or anticipative, since its sense is not fully seen till we come to Athenis which completes the contrast. So ceterus is often used and Xorròs, aλλos in Greek; cf. 16, 1. 21 ceteris; 22, 1. 24 ceterae; 54, 1. 17 antea; 41, 1. 18 deinde; 55, 1. 21 cetera.

septem: 'the seven', sapientes being understood, as in 59, p. 46, 1. 32. So XII alone often stands for XII tabulae (Leg. 2, 59, 60), and Asinius Pollio has (in Cic. Fam. 10, 32, 2) XIV for XIV ordines.

subtilius: 'with more than usual accuracy'. Subtilis is often the exact equivalent of the Greek ἀκριβής.

non habent: Cic. in Off. 3, 16 denies the title sapiens not only to the seven, but to Cato and to Laelius himself.

unum: emphatic: 'one only'. Cic. nearly always leaves the English 'only' unexpressed, but occasionally he uses modo, and once (Acad. 2, 74) tantum, the occurrence of which Seyffert on this passage wrongly denies.

et eum quidem: these words really belong to and add emphasis to sapientissimum; cf. 4, l. 16 et eorum; 38, 1. 23 et eorum quidem.

Apollinis...iudicatum: Socrates in Plato's Apology p. 21 A merely says that the oracle declared that no one was wiser than himself (undéva σοφώτερον είναι). The person who put the enquiry to the oracle, Chaerephon, a pupil of Socrates, was dead when the trial took place, but his brother bore evidence to the facts. Xenophon in his Apology § 14 (if it be his) makes Socrates speak more definitely about the oracles-dveîλev d ̓Απόλλων μηδένα εἶναι ἀνθρώπων ἐμοῦ μήτε ἐλευθεριώτερον μήτε δικαιότερον μńτе σwoроVÉσтepov. In another part of the Apology by Plato (33 C) Socrates says that the life he followed had been enjoined on him by the Delphian god καὶ ἐκ μαντείων καὶ ἐξ ἐνυπνίων. The Scholiast on Aristophanes' Nubes 114 gives there the actual words of the answer to Chaerephon : σοφὸς Σοφοκλῆς, σοφώτερος δ ̓ Εὐριπίδης, ἀνδρῶν δ ̓ ἁπάντων Σωκράτης σοφώτερος. The latter of the two lines is also preserved by Diogenes Laertius 2, 5, 37. Cic. speaks in four other passages of the oracle, viz. Lael. 10 and 13, Cat. m. 78, Academ. 1, 16.

omnia tua in te posita esse: the Stoic doctrine is here hinted at, that virtue is the only thing deserving the name of good, and that the happiness of the truly wise man is absolutely unaffected by external circumstances. People were curious to see whether Laelius would try to carry out his philosophy, and to appear careless about the death of his friend. For constr. posita in cf. 4, l. 16; 20, p. 34, 1. 7.

14 virtute inferiores: 'of less importance than virtue'. This (see preceding n.) is not strong enough to express the Stoic doctrine.

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

19

20

21

credo: merely parenthetic, and without influence on the construction. The verb to be supplied for this clause is quaerunt, not quaerere.

[blocks in formation]

quonam pacto: lit. on what conditions', pactum (paciscor) being properly something agreed on between two persons. The phrase came to be used in exactly the same sense as quonam modo; cf. 4, l. 17 nescio quo pacto with 89, p. 55, l. 32 nescio quo modo.

[ocr errors]

eoque magis: sc. quaerunt. The sentence from quod onwards is really explanatory of eo, which is the ablative of excess dependent on magis; lit. more by thus much, viz. that'.

proximis: 'the last'. Proximus is used both of the future and the past. Occasionally a word is inserted to define the meaning more nearly, as Fam. 1, 9, 20 proximis superioribus diebus; Tac. A. 1, 77 proximo priore anno, and also when proximus is used of space, as Cic. Orat. 216 proximum superiorem pedem; N.D. 2, 53 proximum inferiorem

orbem.

Bruti: D. Iunius Brutus, surnamed Gallaecus, from his conquest of the Gallaeci, consul in 138 B.C.; cf. my n. on Arch. 27. He appears as augur only in our passage.

For

commentandi causa: 'with a view to practice', ¿e. in the augural art. Commentari is properly 'to con over a lesson', μeλetâv. the custom cf. Cic. Div. 1, 90 divinant Magi qui congregantur in fano commentandi causa atque inter se colloquendi, quod etiam idem vos quo idam facere Nonis solebatis. As the augurs required for their practice an open space whence they could get an uninterrupted view of the sky they usually met in some gentleman's park (horti) outside the city: cf. N. D. 2, 11; Rep. 1, 14 in hortis esse.

qui...solitus esses: though you had been accustomed'.

For this use of the subj. with qui, to express an idea contrasting with, or opposed to that of the preceding clause or sentence, cf. Brut. 127 hic, qui in collegio sacerdotum esset, iudicio publico est condemnatus.

diligentissime: 'most carefully'. See my n. on Arch. 9, 1. 24.
obire: 'to attend to'; lit. 'to go to meet'.

§ 8.

C. Lael: the addition of the praenomen, not usual in familiar conversation, gives formality to the address: cf. 100, 1. 10.

etc.

id respondeo, quod etc.: 'I state in reply what I have observed, that' For this use of respondere to put something into a reply, cf. Acad. 2, 93 fateris neque ultimum te paucorum neque primum multorum respondere posse, and the common phrase ius respondere; also n. on 4, l. 1 3.

animum adverti: animum advertere and animadvertere (cf. 27, p. 37, 1 1; 99, p. 58, 1. 26) differ not at all in sense, and very little in use. Animum advertere is said to be necessary when the construction ad aliquid (to turn the mind to something) follows. Bentley on Tusc. 5, 65 denied that it governs a simple accusative as animadvertere does; but he was wrong.

22

cum summi viri tum amicissimi: the natural order would have been viri cum summi tum amicissimi. A word however which (like viri here) stands in the same relation towards two other words or phrases, is often placed thus between the two. The old grammarians called this usage coniunctio; cf. Cornificius Ad Herennium 4, 38 coniunctio est cum interpositione verbi et superiores orationis partes comprehenduntur et inferiores, hoc modo: Formae dignitas aut morbo deflorescit aut vetustate; also n. on 15, 1. 9 quocum...communis; 32, 1. 21; 52, 1. 30; 61, l. 17; 84, 1. 5; 95, l. 10; 45, l. 23.

23 moderate: the Stoics, whom Laelius followed, declared (in opposition to the Peripatetics) all ordinary emotion vicious; see Tusc., book IV, particularly § 42 nihil interest utrum moderatas perturbationes approbent an moderatam iniustitiam, moderatam ignaviam, moderatam intemperantiam. The Stoic wise man, however, experiences certain pure emotions (evrabela), which have their counterparts in other men; only among these there is nothing resembling pain (dolor).

25

26

28

29

nec potuisse...humanitatis tuae: 'that you could not remain unmoved, and that to be so (id) did not accord with your cultured spirit'. Humanitas almost exactly corresponds in sense with our 'culture', i.e. education when accompanied by its best fruits, gentleness and refine

ment.

valetudinem: not to be translated by 'ill-health' or 'sickness', but simply by health', the English word being just as undefined as the Latin, which receives its definition from the context; cf. 22, 1. 26.

maestitiam: this is the right spelling, not moestitiam; so maestus not moestus, maereo not moerèo.

recte...et vere: sc. respondeas. Cf. Academ. 1, 33 nos vero volumus, inquam, ut pro Attico respondeam.-Et recte, inquit, respondes; also for the ellipse 1, l. 10; 33, p. 38, 1. 33.

officio: corresponds to munus in 1. 18 as usurpavi does to obire, 1. 19. Usurpare is to say or do something habitually or repeatedly, here 'to perform regularly'. Cf. 28, l. 13, with n.

incommodo: note the slightness of the expression, as applied to the death of a very dear friend, and cf. n. on 10, l. 15.

Constans homo

constanti homini: 'a man of strong character'. (Horace's iustus ac tenax propositi vir) is opposed to mobilis in Qu. Rosc. 49; cf. Lael. 64, 1. 23 constantem et stabilem. Constantia (often coupled with gravitas fides and the like) formed an important part of the character of the ideal Roman. Cic. complains (Flacc. 36) nullam constantiam in Graecis hominibus esse.

30 contingere: here distinctly used of bad fortune, though the old traditional distinction between contingere on the one hand and accidere, evenire on the other required the word to be used of good fortune only. Seyffert rightly compares contingere with poonкe and explains its meaning to be (in the best Latin) the happening of something which is natural or to be expected under the circumstances. Cf. N.D. 1, 27 non vidit, cum miseri animi essent, quod plerisque contingeret (that being the natural lot of most) tum dei partem esse miseram; so Fam. 5, 16, 5 and Phil. 14, 24; also below, 72, 1. 32; 48, 1. 29.

§ 9.

31.

32

33

I

2

3

4

tribui: i.e. by people in general.

agnosco: sc. mihi tribui. Nägelsbach Stilistik § 114 supplies tanquam debitum mihi.

facis amice: a polite expression of thanks, like bene facis in Acad.

I, 25.

ut videris: for the personal construction taking the place of the impersonal ut videtur cf. Att. 5, 18, 2 consiliis, ut videmur, bonis utimur. The usage is somewhat uncommon. See also n. on 56, p. 45, l. 30.

nemo: the Stoics attached such superhuman excellences to their oopos or sapiens, that doubts were often expressed whether such a person ever existed in the flesh. Cf. 18, 1. 7 and Tusc. 2, 51 in quo vero erit perfecta sapientia, quem adhuc nos quidem vidimus neminem.

P. 30.

si quisquam: like the parenthesis commonly used in Greek, el kaí TɩS ἄλλος. So in Latin sometimes si quisquam alius, as in Brut. 126.

fili: cf. Cat. m. 12 and 84. He was praetor designatus when he died and had served with distinction against Perseus, under L. Aemilius Paulus, whose daughter he had married (Cat. m. 15).

memineram Paulum, videram Gallum: sc. mortem filiorum ferre. Seyffert quotes Phil. 5, 17 Cinnam memini, vidi Sullam; cf. also De Or. 3, 133 meminerant illi Sextum Aelium; M'. vero Manilium nos etiam vidimus. In all passages where memini is thus used with the accus. of a person there is an ellipse of an infinitive. Paulus (Macedonicus) lost two sons, one immediately before, the other immediately after, his great triumph in 168 B.C. Cf. Fam. 4, 6, 1 L. Paulus duos septem diebus (sc. filios amisit). C. Sulpicius Gallus served as tribunus militum under Paulus, and was consul 157 B.C. He was famous as an astronomer and was the first Roman who predicted an eclipse (Liv. 44, 37).

sed hi: sc. mortem filiorum, or rather talem casum tulerunt.

in pueris: literally 'in the case of boys'. Trans. but their sons were boys, while Cato's was, etc.'. For the use of in see my n. on Cic. pro Balbo, §6; also cf. 18, 1. 3; 41, l. 14; 63, l. 4; 41, l. 19; 42, 1. 27; 24, 1. 23; 39, 1. 31.

perfecto: this seems here merely to mean 'adult' in opposition to pueris. I know no parallel to this use, but there are good reasons for not taking perfectus in the moral sense which our word 'perfect' has. (1) Cic. though he has perfectus orator Stoicus etc., would not say perfectus vir in this sense. (2) The meaning 'perfect' would make perfecto et spectato a ὕστερον πρότερον.

§ 10.

cave...ne...quidem: Cic. here treats cave as a negative verb, and he frequently follows up negative words with negative, where in English we should use positive, expressions. Thus negare...nec...nec is regular;

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

15

cf. also 51, 1. 25. For the subjunctive immediately dependent on cave cf. Roby, Gram. §§ 1584, 1608; Kennedy, Gram. § 197; also below, 47, 1.8; 17, 1. 32.

huius facta, illius dicta: for hic used to denote the one of two persons who is nearer in time to the speaker, as compared with ille, the person who is more distant in time, see my n. on Arch. § 16. In facta...dicta we have the contrast between the life of action, the Tрaктiкòs Bios, which the Romans regarded as the only proper life for a man of rank, and the literary or contemplative life, the OewpηTikos Bios. The Romans looked on all departments of thought and literature as graceful adjuncts to a life of activity, but nothing more. Cf. n. on 16, 1. 19; also on 88, 1. 29. habetote: on this form of the imperative, erroneously called the future imperative, though it differs not a whit in sense from the other form, see my n. on Cic. pro Balbo § 17; cf. quaeritote in 24, p. 36, 1. 2.

quam id recte: Cic. loves to separate tam quam ita tantus quantus by some small word, from the words they qualify. See my n. on Academ. 1, 26; also cf. 11, 1. 27; 15, 1. 14; 17, p. 33, l. 1; 23, l. 9; 53, 1. 6; 63, 1. 5.

viderint sapientes: 'how far I am right is for the wise men to consider'. The literal rendering of viderint would be 'shall by and by consider', viderint being not perfect subjunctive, but future perfect indicative. Phrases like this are carefully treated by Roby (Preface to Vol. II, p. CVI and § 1593), who has a very full list of examples.

moveor enim: Seyffert is right in supplying desiderio from the preceding sentence.

confirmare: the sense is rather stronger than that of affirmare.
me ipse: cf. n. on 5, 1. 28.

solacio: this, not solatio, is the right spelling.

errore: 'delusion'.

quo decessu: for the juxtaposition of ablatives in different constructions which seems to us an awkwardness, cf. my n. on pro Balbo § 26.

nihil mali etc.: the same opinion is expounded at length in Tusc. Disp., book I. Cf. especially § 111 nostrum enim et nostra causa susceptum dolorem modice ferre debemus ne nosmet ipsos amare videamur. Illa suspicio intolerabili dolore cruciat, si opinamur eos quibus orbati sumus, esse cum aliquo sensu in eis malis quibus volgo opinantur. See also the reflexions on the death of Hortensius in Brut. § 5, and Fam. 5, 16, quoted on 45, l. 25.

incommodis: the word is here pointedly contrasted with mali. There is no doubt a slight reference to the Stoic theory of ponyμéva and droπροηγμένα. Although only virtue is bonum, only vice malum in the eyes of the Stoics, still there are such differences among other things as will incline the wise men to desire some of them (poηyμÉνα-sumenda) and reject others (dπожроnyuéva reicienda or incommoda), his real happiness, however, remaining absolutely unaffected. See Acad. 1, 36 and 37, with my nn.

« PreviousContinue »