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!
* * * * * 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 H. 378, 2. -- ADI[)U]ERO: for _adi[=u]vero,_ the long vowel having become short after the falling out of the _v_ between the two vowels. Catullus 66, 18 has _i[)u]erint_ at the end of a pentameter verse, and the same scanning LEVASSO: a form of _levavero,_ which was originally _levaveso_. For the formation of this class of future-perfects see Peile, _Introduction to who has a list of examples; he supports a different view from that given 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_. -- VERS[=A]T: we have here the original quantity of the vowel preserved, as in _poneb[=a]t_ below, 10; the _a_ in _versat_ was originally as long as the _a_ in _vers[=a]s_. 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 genitive in _ĭ-ī_ from nouns in _ium_ only began to come into use at the 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_; 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, 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 (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 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 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 ('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 H. 67. -- EFFECERIT MOLLEM: so 56 _poteratne tantus animus efficere non 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 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.
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 _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 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.
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, APUD QUEM: 'at whose house'; so 55 _a me_, 'from my house'. A. 153; G. 417; '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 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, II.
-- 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 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 '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 Expressions like _a se ipsis_ are quite uncommon in Cicero. Cf. n. on Lael.
NATURAE NECESSITAS: 'the inevitable conditions of nature.' Cf. 71 _quid est tam secundum naturam quam senibus emori?_ -- AFFERAT: subjunctive because 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 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 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 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 _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 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 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 t_am_qu_am_, aliqu_am_, long_am_, vi_am_.
-- VIAM CONFECERIS: so pro Quint. 79 _conficere DCC milia passuum, 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 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.
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' 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. --