The former is probably the real construction. Cf. Roby, 1423, and Madvig, 229, _b_, Obs. 1. -- SAMNITIBUS: then in alliance with Pyrrhus. -- VIXERAT...CUM: not to be taken literally of living in the same house; the phrase merely indicates close friendship. In Acad. 2, 115 Cic. writes _Diodoto qui mecum vivit tot annos, qui habitat apud me_, clearly showing that the phrases _vivere cum aliquo_ and _habitare apud aliquem_ are not equivalent.
-- P. DECIO: this is P. Decius Mus, who at the battle of Sentinum in 295 gave his life as a propitiatory offering to the powers of the unseen world, in order to bring victory to the Roman arms. His father had sacrificed himself in the same way at the battle of Veseris (close to Vesuvius) in 340, fought against the Latins and Campanians. -- DEVOVERAT: Liv. 10, 28, 13 (speech of Decius) _datum hoc: nostro generi est ut luendis periculis publicis piacula simus; iam ego mecum hostium legiones mactandas Telluri et dis Manibus dabo_. -- ALIQUID etc.: 'some principle'; in his philosophical works Cicero often confounds the Epicureans by quoting the action of the Decii and others like it, as showing that pleasure is not the end of existence. Cf. especially Fin. 2, 61 _P. Decius cum se devoverat et equo admisso in mediam aciem Latinorum irruebat, aliquid de voluptatibus suis cogitabat?_ Cf. also below, 75. With regard to _natura_ see n. on 5. -- SUA SPONTE: 'for its own sake'; 'on its own account'. Cf. Leg. 1, 45 _vera et falsa sua sponte non aliena iudicantur_, where a few lines later _sua natura_ occurs as equivalent to _sua sponte_. -- EX PETERETUR: em. for _peteretur_ in the MSS. The words _expetere_, _expetendum_ are technically used in Cicero's philosophical works to express the Greek ‛αιρεισθαι, ‛αιρετον as applied to the _finis_ or τελος, the supreme aim of moral action. _Pulchrum_ above is a translation of the Greek καλον, a term constantly applied to the τελος, particularly by the Stoics. -- SPRETA ET CONTEMPTA: the first word is much the stronger of the two; _spernere_ is καταφρονειν, 'to scorn'; _contemnere_ ολιγωρεισθαι, 'to make light of', 'hold of no account'. _Contemnere_ is often no stronger in sense than _omittere_, 'to pass by, neglect'. Cf. 65 _contemni_, _despici_. -- OPTIMUS P. 19. -- 44. CRUDITATE: 'indigestion'. -- INSOMNIIS: 'sleeplessness'; the singular _insomnium_ occurs only once in prose (Tac. Ann. 11, 4).
_Insomnia, ae_ is found only in poetry and late prose. -- DIVINE: this word in Cic. often means nothing more than 'splendidly', 'extraordinarily'. -- ESCAM MALORUM: 'an enticement to evil' (_esca_ = _ed-ca_, from the root of _edo_). Plato in the Timaeus 69 D (a dialogue translated into Latin by Cicero, a fragment of whose translation is still preserved) has ‛ηδονην μεγιστον κακου δελεαρ. Cf. also Cic. Hortensius fr. 76 (ed. Halm) _voluptates corporis quae vere et graviter a Platone dictae sunt illecebrae esse atque escae malorum_. -- MODICIS: for the sake of variety Cic. chooses this, not _moderatis_, as the opposite of _immoderatis_. Trans. 'a moderate pluperfect where a modern would incline to use a perfect. The battle referred to is that of Mylae, fought in 260; its memory was perpetuated by the decking of the _forum_ with the _rostra_ of the captured ships; the _columna rostrata_ bore a long inscription, a restored version of which still exists. -- CENA: so best spelt; some good texts still print _caena_, but _coena_ is decidedly wrong, being based on the fiction that the Latin borrowed the Greek word κοινη and turned it into _coena_. -- CEREO FUNALI: 'the torch-light'; _cereo_, the em. of Mommsen for _crebro_; the _funale_ was a torch composed of withs or twigs twisted into a rope (_funis_) and dipped in pitch or oil. -- SIBI...SUMPSERAT: Cic. seems to think that Duillius assumed these honors on his own authority. This was probably not the case; they were most likely conferred on him by a vote of the _comitia tributa_. Cf. Liv. epit. 17 _C. Duillius primus omnium Romanorum ducum navalis victoriae duxit triumphum, ob quam causam ei perpetuus quoque honos habitus est, ut revertenti a cena tibicine canente funale praeferretur_. No other instance is known where these particular distinctions were decreed; the nearest parallel lies in the right accorded to Paulus Macedonicus and to Pompeius to wear the triumphal _toga picta_ for life on each occasion of the _ludi_. It may be conjectured that the music and the torch were part of the ceremony on the evening of a triumph when the _triumphator_ was escorted home. Cf. Florus 1, 18, 10, ed. Halm. -- NULLO EXEMPLO: 'without any precedent'. -- PRIVATUS: any person is _privatus_ who is not actually in office at the moment referred to, whether he has led a public life or not. -- LICENTIAE: a strong word is used to mark the heinousness of Duillius' supposed offence against ancestral custom.
45. ALIOS: _sc. nomino_. -- PRIMUM: the corresponding _deinde_ is omitted, as often. -- SODALIS: the _sodalitates_ or _sodalitia_, brotherhoods for the perpetuation of certain rites accompanied with feasting, were immemorial institutions at Rome. The clause _sodalitates...acceptis_ must not be taken to mean that Cicero supposed these brotherhoods to have been first instituted in the time of Cato; it is only introduced to show that Cato, so far from being averse to good living, assisted officially in the establishment of new clubs. Most of the _sodalitates_ were closely connected with the _gens_; all members of a _gens_ were _sodales_ and met together to keep up the old _sacra_, but in historical times fictitious kinship largely took the place of real kinship, and feasting became almost the sole raison d'être of these clubs. [See Mommsen's treatise _De collegiis et sodaliciis Romanis_] The parallel of the London City Companies readily suggests itself. The national _sodalitates_ or priesthoods such as those of the _Sodales Titii, Luperci, Augustales_ etc. were somewhat different. -- AUTEM: for the form of the parenthesis cf. 7. -- MAGNAE MATRIS: the image of Cybele was brought to Rome in 204 B.C. from Pessinus in Phrygia. See Liv. 29, 10. The _Sacra_ are called _Idaea_ from Mount Ida in Phrygia, which was a great centre of the worship of Cybele. _Acceptis_, sc. _in civitatem_; the worship of strange gods was in principle illegal at Rome unless expressly authorized by the State. -- IGITUR: the construction of the sentence is broken by the introduction of the parenthesis, and a fresh start is made with _epulabar igitur. Igitur_ is often thus used, like our 'well then', to pick up the broken thread of a sentence. So often _sed_ or _ergo_. -- FERVOR: Cf. Hor. Od. 1, 16, 22 _me quoque pectoris temptavit in dulci iuventa fervor_. -- AETATIS, QUA PROGREDIENTE: 'belonging to that time of life, but as life advances'. The word _aetas_ has really two senses here; in the first place it is _bona aetas_ or _iuventus_ (cf. 39 where _aetas = senectus_), in the second place _vita_ (for which see n. on 5). -- NEQUE ENIM: the _enim_ refers to _modice_. -- COETU...SERMONIBUS: for the order of the words see n. on 1 _animi tui_. -- METIEBAR: cf. n. on 43 _referenda_. -- ACCUBITIONEM: a _vox Ciceroniana_, rarely found in other authors. -- VITAE CONIUNCTIONEM: 'a common enjoyment of life'. -- TUM...TUM: here purely temporal, 'sometimes...sometimes'; often however = 'both...and'; cf. 7. -- COMPOTATIONEM etc.: cf. Epist. ad Fam. 9, 24, 3.
_Compotatio_ = συμποσιον; _concenatio_ = συνδειπνον. -- IN EO GENERE: see n. on 4. -- ID: _i.e._ eating and drinking.
46. TEMPESTIVIS...CONVIVIIS: 'even in protracted banquets'. Those banquets which began _early_ in order that they might last long were naturally in bad repute, so that the phrase _tempestivum convivium_ often has almost the sense of 'a debauch'. Thus in Att. 9, 1, 3 Cicero describes himself as being evil spoken of _in tempestivis conviviis, i.e._ in dissolute society. Cf. pro Arch. 13. The customary dinner hour at Rome was about three o'clock in the afternoon. The word _tempestivus_, which in 5 means 'at the right time', here means 'before the right time'. So in English 'in good time' often means 'too early'. See Becker's Gallus, p. 451 _et seq_. -- QUI PAUCI: the substitution of the nominative of the relative for the partitive genitive (_quorum_) is not uncommon. A. 216, _e_; G. 368, rather than _pauci admodum_. -- VESTRA AETATE: = _eis qui sunt vestra indicatives _auxit, sustulit_, the relative clauses being attributive, though they might fairly have been expected here to be causal. G. 627; H.
517, 2. In this passage Cic. imitates Plato, Rep. 328 D. -- BELLUM INDICERE: common in the metaphorical sense; _e.g._ De Or. 2, 155 _miror cur philosophiae prope bellum indixeris_; Hor. Sat. 1, 5, 7 _ventri indico bellum_. -- CUIUS EST etc.: _i.e._ nature sanctions a certain amount of pleasure. This is the Peripatetic notion of the _mean_, to which Cicero often gives expression, as below, 77; also in Acad. 1, 39; 2, 139; and in De Off.; so Hor. Sat. 1, 1, 106 _sunt certi denique fines quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum_; cf. Od. 2, 10. -- NON INTELLEGO NE: for the negatives cf. nn. on 24, 27.
P. 20. -- MAGISTERIA: generally explained as referring to the practice of appointing at each dinner a 'master of the feast', _arbiter bibendi_ or συμποσιαρχης. This explanation is not quite correct. Mommsen shows in his work '_de collegiis_' that each one of the _collegia_ or _sodalicia_ annually appointed a _magister cenarum_ whose duty it was to attend to the club-dinners during his year of office and no doubt to preside at them.
That some office is meant more important than that of the _arbiter bibendi_ appointed for a particular feast is shown by the words _a maioribus instituta_. It is scarcely likely that Cicero was ignorant of the Greek origin of the custom of appointing an _arbiter bibendi_. -- ET IS SERMO etc.: 'and the kind of talk in which following the fashion of our fathers we engage, beginning at the upper table, as the cup goes round'. The cup circulated from left to right, not, as with us, from right to left. The guests at a Roman dinner reclined on three couches, placed at three tables; two of the couches (_lecti_) were parallel, and the third was at right angles to the other two. The _lectus_ at which the cup began to circulate was _summus_, the next _medius_, the last _imus_. For a _summo_ cf. _da _et seq_. -- SICUT...EST: 'as we find'; so Off. 1, 32 _ut in fabulis RORANTIA: here with an active sense, 'besprinkling', representing επιψεκαζειν in Xenophon; often however not different in sense from Note the changes of expression in passing from _refrigeratio_ to _sol_ (_apricatio_ would have more exactly corresponded with _refrigeratio_) and from _aestate_ to _hibernus_ (for _hieme_). -- IN SABINIS: 'when with the Sabines', who were celebrated for their simplicity of life. Cato had an estate in the Sabine district. -- CONVIVIUM VICINORUM COMPLEO: 'I make up (_i.e._ to the proper number) a company of my neighbors'. -- QUOD...PRODUCIMUS: 'and we continue our companionship to as late an hour as we can, with changing talk'. The phrases _multa nocte_ or _de nocte_ 'late in the night', _multo die_ 'late in the day', are common; cf. also Att. 13, 9, 1 _multus sermo ad multum diem_; Rep. 6, 10 _sermonem in multam noctem produximus_.
47. AT: so in 21, where see n. -- QUASI TITILLATIO: the _quasi_, as often in Cicero's writings, marks a translation from the Greek. Here the Epicurean word γαργαλισμος is referred to; it is often in Cic. represented dixit_. -- AFFECTO AETATE: 'wrought on by age'. Cf. De Or. 1, 200 _in eius infirmissima valetudine affectaque iam aetate_. -- UTERETURNE etc.: 'whether he still took pleasure in love'; _uti = frui_. Cf. Ovid, Met. 4, frui_. -- DI MELIORA: _sc. duint_; this archaic form usually occurs when the phrase is given in full. The story of Sophocles is taken by Cicero from Plato (Rep. 329 B) who has ευφημει. -- ISTINC etc.: cf. the passage in Plato, Rep. 1, 329 C. For _istinc_ used otherwise than of place cf. _unde_ in 12 with n. -- AGRESTI: 'boorish'; _rusticus_ denotes simply an ordinary countryman. -- QUAMQUAM...ERGO: these words may be scanned as a hexameter line, but the pause before _ergo_ would prevent them from being taken as a verse. -- HOC NON DESIDERARE: 'this absence of regret'; the words form the subject of _est_. So _hoc non dolere_ in Fin. 2, 18. For the pronoun in agreement with the infinitive treated as noun cf. Persius 1, 9 _istud 48. SI: 'even if', 'granting that'. -- BONA AETAS: 'the good time of life', _i.e._ youth. Tischer qu. Varro de Re Rustica 2, 6, 2 _mares feminaeque bona aetate_ = 'young'. For _bona aetas = homines bona aetate_ cf. n. on 26 _senectus_. -- UT DIXIMUS: not expressly, but the opinion is implied in 44, 45. -- TURPIONE AMBIVIO: L. Ambivius Turpio was the most famous actor of Cato's time, and appeared especially in Terence's plays. In old Latin commonly, occasionally in the Latin of the best period, and often in Tacitus, the _cognomen_ is placed before the _nomen_ when the _praenomen_ is not mentioned. Cf. Att. 11, 12, 1 _Balbo Cornelio_. The usage is more common in Cicero's writings than in those of his contemporaries. -- PRIMA CAVEA: 'the lower tier'. The later Roman theatres consisted of semicircular or elliptic galleries, with rising tiers of seats; the level space partially enclosed by the curve was the _orchestra_, which was bounded by the stage in front. There can be little doubt that Cicero is guilty of an anachronism here; his words do not suit the circumstances of Cato's time.
Till nearly the end of the Republic the theatres were rude structures of wood, put up temporarily; it is even doubtful whether they contained seats for the audience. Cato himself frustrated an attempt to establish a permanent theatre. -- PROPTER: 'close by'. The adverbial use of _propter_ (rarely, if ever, met with outside of Cicero) is denied by some scholars, but is well attested by MSS. here and elsewhere. -- TANTUM...EST: these words qualify _delectatur_.
49. ILLA: put for _illud_, as in Greek ταυτα and ταδε are often put for τουτο and τοδε. The words from _animum_ to the end of the sentence are explanatory of _illa_. -- QUANTI: 'how valuable!' but the word may have exactly the opposite meaning if the context require it; thus in N.D. 1, 55 and Rep. 6, 25 the sense is 'how worthless!' -- STIPENDIIS: 'campaigns'.
The four words from _libidinis_ to _inimicitiarum_ are to be taken in pairs, while _cupiditatum_ sums them up and is in apposition to all. -- the sense is scarcely different from that of _si...quod_; the distinction is as slight as that in English between 'if' followed by 'some', and 'if' followed by 'any'. Cf. n. on Lael. 24 _si quando aliquid_. -- PABULUM: for the metaphorical sense rendered less harsh by _tamquam_, cf. Acad. 2, 127; Tusc. 5, 66 _pastus animorum_. -- STUDI: an explanatory genitive dependent on _pabulum_. -- OTIOSA SENECTUTE: 'leisured age'; _otium_ in the Latin of Cicero does not imply idleness, but freedom from public business and opportunity for the indulgence of literary and scientific tastes. -- VIDEBAMUS: for the tense cf. Lael. 37 _Gracchum rem publicam vexantem ab amicis derelictum videbamus, i.e._ 'we saw over a considerable period'. See also 50, 79. -- IN STUDIO etc.: 'busied with the task of almost measuring bit by bit (_di-metiendi_) the heavens and the earth'. For the sense cf.
Hor. Od. 1, 28 (of Archytas). -- GALLUM: consul in 157 B.C., famous as an astronomer and as the first Roman who predicted an eclipse before the battle of Pydna. See Liv. 44, 37.
P. 21. -- DESCRIBERE: technically used of the drawing of mathematical figures. _Ingredior_ often has an infinitive dependent on it even in the best Latin; _e.g._ Cic. Top. 1 _nos maiores res scribere ingressos_.
50. ACUTIS: requiring keenness of intellect. -- NAEVIUS: see n. on 20. -- TRUCULENTO...PSEUDOLO: these plays of Plautus (lived from 254 to 184 B.C.) we still possess. The Truculentus is so named from one of the characters, a slave of savage disposition who is wheedled; the Pseudolus from a cheating slave. The latter name is commonly supposed to be a transcription from a Greek word ψευδυλος, which however nowhere occurs; and as the change from Greek υ to Latin _o_ is not found before _l_, Corssen assumes ψευδαλος as the original word. The form _Pseudulus_ of the name is probably later than _Pseudolus_. -- LIVIUM: Livius Andronicus, the founder of Latin literature (lived from about 285 to 204 B.C.), who translated the Odyssey, also many Greek tragedies. Livius was a Greek captured by Livius Salinator at Tarentum in 275 B.C.; for a time he was the slave of Livius, and, according to custom, took his name when set free. For an account of his writings see Cruttwell's Hist. of Roman Literature, Ch. 3; Sellar, Roman Poets of the Rep., Ch. 3. -- DOCUISSET: 'had brought on to the stage'. _Docere_ (like διδασκειν in Greek, which has the same use) meant originally to instruct the performers in the play. -- CENTONE TUDITANOQUE CONSULIBUS: _i.e._ in 240 B.C. The use of _que_ here is noticeable; when a date is given by reference to the consuls of the year it is usual to insert _et_ (not _que_ or _atque_, which rarely occur) between the two names, if only the _cognomina_ (as here) be given. If the full names be given, then they are put side by side without _et_. Cf. n. on 10. -- CRASSI: see n. on 27. -- PONTIFICI ET CIVILIS IURIS: the _ius pontificium_ regarded mainly the proper modes of conducting religious ceremonial. _Ius civile_, which is often used to denote the whole body of Roman Law, here includes only the secular portion of that Law. Cf. n. on 38. -- HUIUS P. SCIPIONIS: 'the present P. Scipio'. So in 14 _hi consules_ 'the present consuls'; Rep. 1, 14 _Africanus hic, Pauli filius_, and often. The P. Scipio who is meant here is not Africanus, but Nasica Corculum. -- FLAGRANTIS: 'all aglow'; so below. -- SUADAE MEDULLAM: 'the essence (lit. marrow) of persuasiveness'.
The lines of Ennius are preserved by Cicero, Brut. 58. _Suada_ is a translation of πειθω, which the Greek rhetoricians declared to be the end and aim of oratory. This Cethegus was consul in 204 and in 203 defeated Mago in the N. of Italy. -- EXERCERI: here reflexive in meaning. A. 111, n.
of _possibility_ which the gerundive sometimes has (but only in negative sentences or interrogative sentences implying a negative answer, and in conditional clauses) see Madvig, 420, Obs.; Roby, 1403. -- HAEC QUIDEM: a short summary of the preceding arguments, preparatory to a transition to a new subject, introduced by _venio nunc ad_. The succession of two clauses both containing _quidem_ seems awkward, but occurs in Fin. 5, 80 and elsewhere. -- HONESTUM SIT: 'does him honor'. -- UT ANTE DIXI: in 26, where see the notes. -- POTEST ESSE: Meissner (n. on 27) says that Cicero's rule is to say _potest esse, debet esse_ and the like, not _esse potest_ and the like. It is true that _esse_ in such cases is very seldom separated from the word on which it depends, but _esse potest_ is just as common as _potest esse_; the difference to the sense is one of emphasis only, the _esse_ having more emphasis thrown on it in the latter case.
51. MIHI...VIDENTUR: see Introd. -- HABENT RATIONEM CUM 'they have their reckonings with', 'their dealings with'; a phrase of book-keeping. -- IMPERIUM: so Verg. Georg. 1, 99 _exercetque frequens tellurem atque imperat agris_; ib. 2, 369 _dura exerce imperia et ramos compesce fluentes_; Tac.
Germ. 26 _sola terrae seges imperatur._ -- SED ALIAS...FAENORE: put for _sed semper cum faenore, alias minore, plerumque maiore_. -- VIS AC NATURA: 'powers and constitution'. These two words are very often used by Cic.
together, as in Fin. 1, 50 _vis ac natura rerum_. -- GREMIO: so Lucret. 1, 250 _pereunt imbres ubi eos pater aether In gremium matris terrai praecipitavit_, imitated by Verg. Georg. 2, 325. -- MOLLITO AC SUBACTO: _i.e._ by the plough. _Subigere_, 'subdue', is a technical word of agriculture; so Verg. Georg. 2, 50 _scrobibus subactis_; see also below, 59.
P. 22. -- OCCAECATUM: 'hidden'. _Caecus_ has the sense of 'unseen' as well as that of 'unseeing' or 'blind'. -- OCCATIO: Cicero's derivation, as well as Varro's (De Re Rust. 1, 31, 1) from _occidere_, because the earth is cut up, is unsound. _Occa_ is _rastrum_, probably from its _sharp_ points (root _ak-_); _occatio_ therefore is 'harrowing'. -- VAPORE: 'heat'. This word has not in the best Latin the meaning of our 'vapor'. -- COMPRESSU: a word found only here in Cicero's writings and elsewhere in Latin only in the ablative case, like so many other nouns whose stem ends in _-u_. -- DIFFUNDIT ET ELICIT: 'expands and lures forth'. -- HERBESCENTEM: this word GENICULATO: 'knotted'. The verb _geniculo_, from _genu_, scarcely occurs excepting in the passive participle, which is always used, as here, of plants. So Plin. Nat. Hist. 16, 158 _geniculata cetera gracilitas nodisque distincta_, speaking of the _harundo_. -- SPICI: besides _spica_, the forms _spicum_ and _spicus_ are occasionally found. _Spici_ here is explanatory _frugem_. -- VALLO: for the metaphor compare N.D. 2, 143 _munitae sunt palpebrae tamquam vallo pilorum_; Lucr. 2, 537.
52. QUID EGO...COMMEMOREM: this and similar formulae for passing to a new subject are common; cf. 53 _quid ego...proferam_ etc.; often _nam_ precedes the _quid_, as in Lael. 104. The _ego_ has a slight emphasis. Cato implies that his own devotion to grape-culture was so well known as not to need description. -- ORTUS SATUS INCREMENTA: 'origin, cultivation, and growth'. For the omission of the copula see n. on 53. -- UT: final, and slightly elliptic ('I say this that etc.'); so in 6 (where see n.), 24, 56, 59, 82. -- REQUIETEM: the best MSS. of Cic. sometimes give the other form _requiem_, as in Arch. 13. -- VIM IPSAM: 'the inherent energy'. -- OMNIUM...TERRA: a common periphrasis for 'all plants'; cf. _e.g._ N.D. 2, 120.
The Latin has no one word to comprehend all vegetable products. -- QUAE...PROCREET: 'able to generate'. -- TANTULO: strictly elliptic, implying _quantulum re vera est_. In such uses _tantus_ and _tantulus_ differ slightly from _magnus_ and _parvus_; they are more emphatic. -- ACINI VINACEO: 'a grape-stone'. -- MINUTISSIMIS: used here for _minimis_.
Strictly speaking _minutus_ ought to be used of things which are fragments of larger things, _minutus_ being really the participle passive of _minuo_.
In a well-known passage (Orat. 94) Cic. himself calls attention to the theoretical incorrectness of the use, which, however, is found throughout Latin literature. Cf. 46 _pocula minuta_; also below, 85 _minuti philosophi_. -- MALLEOLI: vine-cuttings; so called because a portion of the parent stem was cut away with the new shoot, leaving the cutting in the shape of a mallet. -- PLANTAE: 'suckers', shoots springing out of the trunk. -- SARMENTA: 'scions', shoots cut from branches not from the trunk.
-- VIVIRADICES: 'quicksets', new plants formed by dividing the roots of the mother plant. -- PROPAGINES: 'layers', new plants formed by rooting a shoot in the earth without severing it from the parent plant; Verg. Georg. 2, 26.
claviculis_. -- ARS AGRICOLARUM: _agricolae arte freti_, a strong instance of the abstract put for the concrete.
53. EIS: _sc. sarmentis_, those which have not been pruned away by the knife. -- EXSISTIT: 'springs up'. _Exsistere_ in good Latin never has the meaning of our 'exist', _i.e._ '_to be in_ existence', but always means '_to come into_ existence'. -- ARTICULOS: 'joints'; cf. 51 _culmo geniculato_. The word _tamquam_ softens the metaphor in _articuli_, which would properly be used only of the joints in the limbs of animals. -- GEMMA: Cicero took the meaning 'gem' or 'jewel' to be the primary sense of _gemma_ and considered that the application to a bud was metaphorical. See the well-known passages, Orat. 81 and De Or. 3, 155. -- VESTITA PAMPINIS: 'arrayed in the young foliage'. -- FRUCTU...ASPECTU: ablatives of respect, like _gustatu_ above. -- CAPITUM IUGATIO: 'the linking together of their tops'; _i.e._ the uniting of the tops of the stakes by cross-stakes.
So the editors; but Conington on Verg. Georg. 2, 355 seems to take _capita_ of the top-foliage of the vines, an interpetation which is quite possible.
Those editors are certainly wrong who remove the comma after _iugatio_ and place it after _religatio_, as though _et_ were omitted between the two words. In enumerations of more than two things Cic. either omits the copula altogether or inserts it before each word after the first; but in enumerating two things _et_ cannot be omitted, except where there are several _sets_ or _pairs_ of things. Cf. n. on 13. -- RELIGATIO: _i.e._ the tying down of shoots so as to cause them to take root in the earth.
_Religatio_ seems to occur only here.
P. 23. -- ALIORUM IMMISSIO: 'the granting of free scope to others'.
_Immissio_ scarcely occurs elsewhere in good Latin. The metaphor is from letting loose the reins in driving; cf. Verg. Georg. 2, 364; Plin. N.H. 16, 141 _cupressus immittitur in perticas asseresque amputatione ramorum_; Varro, R.R. 1, 31, 1 _vitis immittitur ad uvas pariendas_. Some, referring to Columella de Arbor, c. 7, take the word to mean the setting in the earth of a shoot in order that it may take root before being separated from the parent stem. The context, however, is against this interpretation. -- IRRIGATIONES etc.: the plurals denote more prominently than singulars would the repetition of the actions expressed by these words. -- REPASTINATIONES: 'repeated hoeings'. The _pastinum_ was a kind of pitchfork, used for turning over the ground round about the vines, particularly when the young plants were being put in. -- MULTO TERRA FECUNDIOR: see n. on 3 _parum...auctoritatis_.
54. IN EO LIBRO: see Introd. -- DOCTUS: often used of poets, not only by Cicero but by most other Latin writers, more particularly by the elegiac poets; see also n. on 13. -- HESIODUS: the oldest Greek poet after Homer.
The poem referred to here is the Εργα και ‛Ημεραι which we still possess, along with the Theogony and the Shield of Heracles. -- CUM: concessive. -- SAECULIS: 'generations', as in 24. -- FUIT: = _vixit_. -- LAERTEN: the passage referred to is no doubt the touching scene in Odyss. 24, 226, where Odysseus, after killing the suitors, finds his unhappy old father toiling in his garden. In that passage nothing is said of _manuring_. -- LENIENTEM: see n. on 11 _dividenti_. -- COLENTEM etc.: the introduction of another participle to explain _lenientem_ is far from elegant. _Cultione agri_ or something of the kind might have been expected. The collocation of _appetentem_ with _occupatum_ in 56 is no less awkward. -- FACIT: n. on 3 _facimus_. -- RES RUSTICAE LAETAE SUNT: 'the farmer's life is gladdened'.
-- APIUM: this form is oftener found in the best MSS., of prose writers at least, than the other form _apum_, which probably was not used by Cic. -- OMNIUM: = _omnis generis_. -- CONSITIONES...INSITIONES: 'planting...grafting'. On the varieties of grafting and the skill required for it see 55. POSSUM: see n. on 24. -- IGNOSCETIS: 'you will excuse (me)'. -- PROVECTUS SUM: 'I have been carried away'. Cicero often uses _prolabi_ in the same sense. -- IN HAC...CONSUMPSIT: Cic. probably never, as later writers did, used _consumere_ with a simple ablative. -- CURIUS: see n. on NON POSSUM: a favorite form of expression with Cicero; _e.g._ De Or. 1, 165. -- DISCIPLINAM: 'morals'; literally 'teaching'.
56. CURIO: Plutarch, Cat. 2, says the ambassadors found him cooking a dinner of herbs, and that Curius sent them away with the remark that a man who dined in that way had no need of gold. The present was not brought as a bribe, since the incident took place after the war. Curius had become _patronus_ of the Samnites, and they were bringing the customary offering of _clientes_; see Rep. 3, 40. -- NE: here = num, a rare use; so Fin. 3, 44; Acad. 2, 116. -- SED VENIO AD: so in 51 _venio nunc ad. Redeo ad_ (see n. on 32) might have been expected here. -- IN AGRIS ERANT: 'lived on their farms'. For _erant_ cf. n. on 21 _sunt_. -- ID EST SENES: cf. 19 n. on _senatum_. -- SI QUIDEM: often written as one word _siquidem_ = ειπερ. -- ARANTI: emphatic position. -- CINCINNATO: L. Quinctius Cincinnatus is said to have been dictator twice; in 458 B.C., when he saved the Roman army, which was surrounded by the Aequians, and ended the war in sixteen days from his appointment; in 439, when Maelius was killed and Cincinnatus was eighty years old. In our passage Cic. seems to assume only one dictatorship. The story of Cincinnatus at the plough is told in Livy 3, 26.
-- FACTUM: the technical term was _dicere dictatorem_, since he was nominated by the consul on the advice of the senate. -- DICTATORIS: in apposition with _cuius_.
P. 24. -- MAELIUM: a rich plebeian, who distributed corn in time of famine and was charged with courting the people in order to make himself a king.
Ahala summoned him before the dictator, and because he did not immediately obey, killed him with his own hand. For this, Ahala became one of the heroes of his nation. See Liv. 4, 13. Cicero often mentions him with praise. Cf. in Catil. I. 3; p. Sestio 143, etc. -- APPETENTEM: = _quia 'travellers', so 'messengers'. They formed a regularly organized corporation at Rome and were in attendance on many of the magistrates.
Those officers who had the _fasces_ had also lictors, who, however, generally remained in close attendance and were not despatched on distant errands. The statement of Cic. in the text is repeated almost _verbatim_ by Plin. N.H. 18, 21. -- MISERABILIS: 'to be pitied'. The word does not quite answer to our 'miserable'. -- AGRI CULTIONE: a rare expression, found elsewhere only in Verr. 3, 226; then not again till the 'Fathers'. -- HAUD SCIO AN NULLA: since _haud scio an_ is affirmative in Cicero, not negative as in some later writers, _nulla_ must be read here, not _ulla_. Cf. 73 _haud scio an melius Ennius_, 'probably Ennius speaks better'; also 74 _incertium an hoc ipso die_, 'possibly to-day'. Roby, 2256; G. 459, Rem.; SATURITATE: the word is said to occur nowhere else in Latin. -- QUIDAM: _i.e._ the authors of the _tertia vituperatio senectutis_, whom Cato refutes in 39, 59. -- PORCO...GALLINA: these words are used collectively, as _rosa_ often is; so Fin. 2, 65 _potantem in rosa Thorium_. -- IAM: 'further'. -- SUCCIDIAM ALTERAM: 'a second meat-supply'. The word seems to be connected with _caedo_, and probably originally meant 'slaughter'. In a fragment of Cato preserved by Gellius 13, 24, 12 (in some editions 13, 25, 12) we find _succidias humanas facere_. Varro, R.R. 2, 14 has the word in the sense of 'meat'. -- CONDITIORA FACIT: 'adds a zest to'; cf. _condita_ in 10. -- SUPERVACANEIS OPERIS: 'by the use of spare time'; literally 'by means of toils that are left over', _i.e._ after completing the ordinary work of the farm.
57. ORDINIBUS: cf. 59 _ordines_. -- BREVI PRAECIDAM: 'I will cut the matter _praecide_ (_sc. sermonem_); for _brevi_ (= 'in brief', εν βραχει) cf. De Or. 1, 34 _ne plura consecter comprehendam brevi_. -- USU UBERIUS: cf. 53 thought that there is zeugma here, supposing _ad_ to be suited only to _invitat_, not to _retardat_. That this is not the case is clear from such _tardos faciebat_); Cic. Sull. 49 _nullius amicitia ad pericula propulsanda 428, Rem. 3, exc.; H. 544, 2, n. 5. -- INVITAT ATQUE ALLECTAT: one of the 'doublets' of which Cicero is so fond; cf. Lael. 99 _allectant et invitant_.
58. SIBI HABEANT: _sc. iuvenes_; contemptuous, as in Lael. 18 _sibi habeant sapientiae nomen_ Sull. 26 _sibi haberent honores, sibi imperia_ etc.; cf.
the formula of Roman divorce, _tu tuas res tibi habeto_. -- HASTAS: in practising, the point was covered by a button, _pila_; cf. Liv. 26, 51 _praepilatis missilibus iaculati sunt_. -- CLAVAM: cf. Vegetius de Re Mil.
1, 11 _clavas ligneas pro gladiis tironibus dabant, eoque modo exercebantur PILAM...VENATIONES...CURSUS: all national amusements, well known to readers of Horace; see Becker's Gallus. _Venationes_, em. for _nataliones_.
-- TALOS...TESSERAS: _tali_, 'knucklebones', were oblong, and rounded at the two ends; the sides were numbered 1 and 6 (1 being opposite to 6), 3 and 4. Four _tali_ were used at a time and they, like the _tesserae_, were generally thrown from a box, _fritillus_. The _tesserae_, of which three were used at a time, were cubes, with the sides numbered from 1 to 6 in such a way that the numbers on two opposite sides taken together always made 7. A separate name was used by dicers for almost every possible throw of the _tesserae_ and _tali_. The two best known are _canis_, when all the dice turned up with the same number uppermost; and _venus_, when they all showed different numbers. The word _alea_ was general and applicable to games of chance of every kind. These games, which were forbidden by many ineffectual laws ('_vetita legibus alea_') were held to be permissible for old men; see Mayor on Iuv. 14, 4. -- ID IPSUM: sc. _faciunt_; the omission of _facere_ is not uncommon. Roby, 1441; H. 368, 3, n. 1. -- UT: em. for ordinary readings _unum_ and _utrum_.