Chapter 11

33. AT: as in 21, where see n. -- T. PONTI CENTURIONIS: the centurions were generally men of powerful frame; cf. Veget. 2, 14 _centurio elegendus est, qui sit magnis viribus et procera statura_; Philipp. 8, 26 _centuriones pugnaces et lacertosos_; Horat. Sat. 1, 6, 72. -- MODERATIO: 'a right application'; literally 'a governing'. -- TANTUM ... NITATUR: cf. 27 _quidquid agas agere pro viribus_, also 434 _quantum possumus_. -- NE: the affirmative _ne_, often wrongly written _nae_ on the absurd assumption that the word passed into Latin from the Greek ναι, is in Cicero always and in other writers nearly always followed by a pronoun. For the form of the sentence here cf. Fam. 7, 1, 3 _ne ... nostrum_; Tusc. 3, 8 _ne ista_ etc.; Fin. 3, 11 (almost the same words). -- PER STADIUM: 'over the course'; cf. Athenaeus 10. 4, p. 412 E; Lucian, Charon, 8; Quint. 1, 9, 5 _Milo quem vitulum_ _assueverat ferre, taurum ferebat_. As to Milo see n. on 27. For _cum sustineret_ a modern would have been inclined to use a participle, which was perhaps avoided here because of the close proximity of another participle, _ingressus_. -- UMERIS: this spelling is better than _humeris_, which is now abandoned by the best scholars. There is no sound corresponding to the _h_ in words of the same origin in cognate languages (see Curtius, Greek Etym. 1, 423 of the Eng. Trans.), and although undoubtedly _h_ was wrongly attached to some Latin words, there is no evidence to show that this happened to _umerus_. -- HAS: _i.e. Milonis_, corresponding to _Pythagorae_. -- PYTHAGORAE: chosen no doubt because tradition made Milo a Pythagorean; see n. on 27. -- MALIS: _i.e. si optandum sit_ (cf. Plaut. Miles 170). For the ellipsis see n. on 26. -- DENIQUE: 'in short'. -- UTARE: the second person of the present subjunctive hortative is very rare, excepting when, as here, the command is general. Had the command been addressed to a particular person, Cicero might have written _ne requisieris_. Cf. Madvig, Opusc. 2, 105; Roby, 1596; A. 266, _a, b_; G. 256, 2; H. 484, 4, n. 2. -- DUM ADSIT, CUM ABSIT: as both _dum_ and _cum_ evidently have here a temporal sense, the subjunctives seem due to the influence of the other subjunctives _utare_ and _requiras_. A. 342; G. 666; H. 529, II. and n. 1, 1). -- NISI FORTE: see n. on 18. -- CURSUS: for the metaphor cf. n. on 83; also Fam. 8, 13, 1 (a letter of Coelius) _aetate iam sunt decursa_; pro Quint. 99 _acta aetas decursaque_. For _certus_ cf. below, 72 _senectutis certus terminus_. -- AETATIS: here = _vitae_; see n. on 5. -- EAQUE: this is a common way of introducing with emphasis a fresh epithet or predicate. Often _idque_ (και τουτο) occurs, the pronoun being then adverbially used, and not in agreement with the subject. Cf. n. on 65 _illius quidem_; also _neque ea_ in 22. -- SIMPLEX: life is compared to a race, in which each man has to run once and only once around the course. -- TEMPESTIVITAS: 'seasonableness'; cf. 5 _maturitate tempestiva_, with n. -- INFIRMITAS: the context shows that not physical but intellectual weakness is meant; so in Acad. 2, 9 _infirmissimo tempore aetatis_; Fin. 5, 43 _aetas infirma_. -- FEROCITAS: 'exultation', 'high spirit'. -- IAM CONSTANTIS AETATIS: _i.e._ middle age, the characteristic of which is _stability_; cf. 76 _constans aetas quae media dicitur_; also 60; Tac. A. 6, 46 _composita aetas_. For _iam_ cf. Suet. Galb. 4 _aetate nondum constanti_; pro Caelio 41 _aetas iam corroborata_; Fam. 10, 3, 2 _aetas iam confirmata_. -- MATURITAS: 'ripeness', _i.e._ of intellect or judgment. -- SUO: G. 295, Rem. 1; H. 449, 2.

34. AUDIRE TE ARBITROR: 'I think that news reaches you'. -- HOSPES: see n. on 28 _orator_. -- AVITUS: there was a strong friendship between the elder Africanus and Masinissa, king of Numidia, who in 206 B.C. passed over from the Carthaginian alliance to that of the Romans. He was richly rewarded by Scipio, and remained loyal to Rome till his death. He lived to welcome the younger Scipio in Africa during the last Punic war, and to see the utter ruin of Carthage. See Sall. Iug. 5, 4. For the expression _hospes tuus avitus_ cf. Plautus, Miles 135 _paternum suom hospitem_. -- CUM INGRESSUS etc.: _i.e._ protracted exercise of one kind did not weary him. -- CUM ... EQUO: though Cic. says _in equo vehi, esse, sedere_ etc. the preposition here is left out because a mere ablative of manner or means is required to suit the similar ablative _pedibus_. So Div. 2, 140 _equus in quo vehebar_, 'the horse on which I rode'; but ib. 1, 58 _equo advectus ad ripam_, 'brought to the bank _by the aid_ of a horse'. -- SICCITATEM: 'wiriness', literally 'dryness' or freedom from excessive perspiration, colds and the like; cf. Tusc. 5, 99 _siccitatem quae consequitur continentiam in victu_; Catull. 23, 12 _corpora sicciora cornu_. -- REGIS: here = _regia_. -- OFFICIA ET MUNERA: see n. on 29. -- NE SINT: 'grant that age has no strength'. This formula of concession for argument's sake is frequent in Cicero, who often attaches to it _sane_. A. 266, _d_; G. 610; H. 515, III. -- SENECTUTE = _senibus_: see n. on 26. -- LEGIBUS ET INSTITUTIS: 'by statute and precedent'. -- MUNERIBUS EIS etc.: chiefly military service. -- NON MODO ... SED NE QUIDEM: when a negative follows _non modo_ these words have the force of _non modo non_, a negative being borrowed from the negative in the subsequent clause. But often _non modo non_ is written; the negative after modo is then more emphatic, being independent. Here _non modo non quod non_ would have had a harsh sound. A. 149, _e_; G. 484, 3 and Rem. 1.; H. 552, 2. -- QUOD: adv. acc. (see n. on 1 _quid_). Cf. Liv. 6, 15 _sed vos id cogendi estis_.

35. AT: as in 21, where see n. In his reply Cato adopts the same form as that in which the objection is urged, _at id quidem_ etc. So in 68 _at senex ... at est ..._

P. 15. -- COMMUNE VALETUDINIS: 'common to weak health', i.e. to all in a weak state of health. _Valetudo_ means in itself neither good nor bad health; the word takes its coloring from the context. -- FILIUS IS QUI: a pause must be made at _filius_; the sense is not 'that son of Africanus who adopted you', but 'the son of Africanus, I mean the man who adopted you'. -- QUOD NI ITA FUISSET: 'now if this had not been so'; a phrase like _quod cum ita sit_ and _hoc ita dici_. Cf. also 67 _quod ni ita accideret_; 82 _quod ni ita se haberet_. -- ALTERUM ... CIVITATIS: _illud_ is put for _ille_, by attraction to _lumen_. Roby, 1068. A. 195, _d_; G. 202, Rem. 5; H. 445, 4. Cf. Fin. 2, 70 _Epicurus, hoc enim vestrum lumen est_, 'Epicurus, for _he_ is your shining light'. -- VITIA: 'defects'. -- DILIGENTIA: scarcely corresponds to our 'diligence'; it rather implies minute, patient attention; 'painstaking'.

36. HABENDA ... VALETUDINIS: 'attention must be paid to health'; so _valetudini consulere_ (Fam. 16, 4, 3) _operam dare_ (De Or. I, 265) _indulgere_ (Fam. 16, 18, 1) _valetudinem curare_ often; cf. also Fam. 10, 35, 2; Fin. 2, 64. -- TANTUM: restrictive, = 'only so much'; so in 69, and often. -- POTIONIS: _cibus et potio_ is the regular Latin equivalent for our 'food and drink'; see below, 46; also Tusc. 5, 100; Fin. 1, 37; Varro de Re Rust. 1, 1, 5. -- ADHIBENDUM: _adhibere_ has here merely the sense of 'to employ' or 'to use'. Cf. Fin. 2, 64. -- NON: we should say 'and not' or 'but not'; the Latins, however, are fond of _asyndeton_, called _adversativum_, when two clauses are contrasted. -- MENTI ... ANIMO: properly _mens_ is the intellect, strictly so called, _animus_ intellect and feeling combined, but the words are often very loosely used. They often occur together in Latin; Lucretius has even _mens animi_. -- INSTILLES: see n. on 21 _exerceas_. -- ET: 'moreover'. -- EXERCITANDO: in good Latin the verb _exercitare_ is rare except in _exercitatus_, which stands as participle to _exerceo, exercitus_ being unused. The word seems to have been chosen here as suiting _exercitationibus_ better than _exercendo_ would. So in 47 _desideratio_ is chosen rather than _desiderium_, to correspond with the neighboring _titillatio_. -- AIT: _sc. esse_; the omission with _aio_ is rare, though common with _dico, appello_ etc.; see n. on 22. -- COMICOS: not 'comic' in our sense, but = _in comoediis_, 'represented in comedy'. So Rosc. Am. 47 _comicum adulescentem_, 'the young man of comedy'. The passage of Caecilius (see n. on 24 _Statius_) is more fully quoted in Lael. 99. -- CREDULOS: in almost every Latin comedy there is some old man who is cheated by a cunning slave. -- SOMNICULOSAE: the adj. contains a diminutive noun stem (_somniculo-_). -- PETULANTIA: 'waywardness'. -- NON PROBORUM: Cic. avoids _improborum_ as being too harsh; with exactly similar feeling Propertius 3, 20, 52 (ed. Paley) says _nec proba Pasiphae_ for _et improba P._ Cf. Off. 3, 36 _error hominum non proborum_. -- ISTA: implying contempt. A. 102, _c_; G. 291, Rem.; H. 450, 1. n. and foot-note 4. -- DELIRATIO: 'dotage'; a rare word, used by Cic. only here and in Div. 2, 90.

37. ROBUSTOS: 'sturdy'; implying that the sons were grown up. -- TANTAM: _sc. quantam habuit_; only a little more emphatic than _magnam_ would have been; see n. on 52. -- APPIUS: see n. on 16. -- REGEBAT: the _pater familias_ in early Roman times was an almost irresponsible ruler over his children and household. For a full discussion of the _patria potestas_ see Coulanges, Ancient City, Bk. II. Ch. 8; Maine, Ancient Law, Ch. 5; Hadley, Introd. to Roman Law, Chapters 5 and 6. -- ET ... SENEX: 'though both blind and old'. -- INTENTUM: commonly used of _animus_, like the opposite _remissus_ (28). -- TENEBAT etc.: the _patria potestas_ is often denoted by the word _imperium_; cf. De Invent. 2, 140 _imperium domesticum_. -- VIGEBAT etc.: 'in him ancestral spirit and principles were strong'. While _animus patrius_ here evidently means the strong will for which the patrician Claudii were proverbial (as _e.g._ in Rosc. Am. 46 _intellegere qui animus patrius sit in liberos_) it indicates the feeling of a particular father for his children.

P. 16. -- 38. ITA: = _ea lege_ 'on these conditions, viz. ...', the clause with _si_ being an explanation of _ita_. This correspondence of _ita ... si_ is common in Cicero; see n. on 12 _ita ... quasi_. Here translate 'age can only be in honor if it fights for itself'. -- SE IPSA: cf. Cic. Acad. 2, 36 _veritas se ipsa defendet_; see also the n. on 4. -- SI ... EST: 'if it has passed into bondage to nobody'. _Mancipium_ is a piece of property; _emancipare_ is to pass a piece of property out of its owner's hands. The word acquired two exactly opposite meanings. When used of a slave, or of a son _in patria potestate_, who was legally subject to many of the same ordinances as a slave, it means 'to set free', unless, as in Fin. I, 24 _filium in adoptionem D. Silano emancipaverat_, some person is mentioned to whom the original owner makes over his rights. But in Plaut. Bacchid. 1, 1, 90 _mulier, tibi me emancupo_ the sense is 'I enslave myself to you', _i.e._ 'I pass myself out of my own power into yours'. So in the well-known passage of Horace, Epod. 9, 12 (of Antony) _emancipatus feminae_ 'enslaved to a woman'; cf Cic. Phil. 2, 51 _venditum atque emancipatum tribunatum_. -- SENILE ALIQUID ... ALIQUID ADULESCENTIS: chiasmus. For the sense cf. 33 _ferocitas iuvenum ... senectutis maturitas_. -- QUOD QUI SEQUITUR: 'and he who strives after this', _i.e._ to combine the virtues of age and youth. Cf. Aesch. Sept. 622 γεροντα τον νουν σαρκα δ' ‛ηβωσαν φυει -- MIHI ... EST IN MANIBUS: 'I have on hand', 'am busy with'. Cf. n. on 22. -- ORIGINUM: as to Cato's literary labors see Introd. -- OMNIA COLLIGO: referring to the materials Cato was collecting for his 'Origines'. -- QUASCUNQUE DEFENDI: 'as many as I have conducted'. _Defendere causam_ here is simply to act as counsel in a case, whether the client be defendant or plaintiff. So in Lael. 96 and often. -- NUNC CUM MAXIME: 'now more than ever', νυν μαλιστα. The phrase is elliptic; in full it would be '_cum maxime conficio orationes, nunc conficio_', 'when I most of all compose speeches, I now compose them'; _i.e._ 'the time when I most of all compose is now'. The words _cum maxime_ generally follow _tum_ or _nunc_ and add emphasis to those words, but are sometimes used alone to express the ideas 'then' and 'now' more emphatically than _tum_ and _nunc_ would. Cf. Ver. 4, 82; Tac. Ann. 4, 27. The orators were in the habit of working over their speeches carefully for publication and preservation. -- IUS AUGURIUM etc.: 'the law pertaining to the augurs and pontifices'; _i.e._ the principles applied by them in the performance of their duties. The pontifices had the general oversight of religious observances. See Dict. of Antiq. -- CIVILE: the meaning of _ius civile_ varies according to the context. Here it is the secular law as opposed to the sacred law, as in 50; sometimes it is the whole body of Roman law as opposed to the law of other states; often, again, it is the older portion of the Roman law as opposed to the newer or 'equity' portion. -- COMMEMORO: 'I say over to myself'. In Cicero _commemoro_ is a verb of speaking, and never has the meaning of _recordor_ or _memini_. -- CURRICULA: see nn. on 33. -- MAGNO OPERE: better so written than in one word _magnopere_; so _maximo, minimo, nimio opere_. -- ADSUM AMICIS: 'I act as counsel to my friends'. This legal sense of _adesse_ is common. -- FREQUENS: literally the word means 'crowded' (connected with _farcire_ 'to cram' or 'to crowd together'), hence _frequens senatus_ and the like phrases. Then _frequens_ comes to be used of actions or events that often recur; _e.g._ Orat. 15 _Demosthenes frequens Platonis auditor_; De Or. 1, 243 _frequens te audivi_. On the use of the adj. here see A. 191; G. 324, Rem. 6; H. 443. -- ULTRO: 'unasked', 'of my own motion', a reference to the well-known story that, whatever subject was discussed, Cato gave as his opinion '_delenda est Carthago_'. See Introd. -- TUEOR: 'advocate', 'support'. -- LECTULUS: a couch usually stood in the Roman study, on which the student reclined while reading, composing or dictating, or even writing. Cf. De Or. 3, 17, _in eam exedram venisse in qua Crassus lectulo posito recubuisset, cumque eum in cogitatione defixum esse sensisset, statim recessisse ..._; Suet. Aug. 78 _lecticula lucubratoria_. -- EA IPSA COGITANTEM: = _de eis ipsis cog._: so Acad. 2, 127 _cogitantes supera atque caelestia_, and often. -- ACTA VITA: 'the life I have led'; cf. 62 _honeste acta superior aetas_; so Tusc. 1, 109; Fam. 4, 13, 4. -- VIVENTI: dative of reference. A. 235; G. 354; H. 384, 4, n. 3. 'As regards one who lives amid these pursuits and tasks'. -- ITA SENSIM etc.: _sensim sine sensu_ (observe the alliteration) is like _mentes dementis_ in 16, where see n. _Sensim_ must have meant at one time 'perceptibly', then 'only just perceptibly', then 'gradually' and almost 'imperceptibly'.

39. QUOD ... DICUNT: not strictly logical, being put for _quod careat, ut dicunt_. In cases like this the verb of saying is usually in the subjunctive. Cf. Roby, 1746; A. 341, Rem.; G. 541, Rem. 2; H. 516, II. 1. The indicative here is more vivid and forcible. -- MUNUS ... AUFERT: to say that a gift robs one of anything is of course an _oxymoron_; cf. n. on 16 _mentes dementis_. -- AETATIS: almost = _senectutis_: cf. n. on 45. -- ID QUOD EST etc.: 'the greatest fault of youth'; _i.e._ the love of pleasure. In this passage _voluptas_ indicates pleasure of a sensual kind, its ordinary sense, _delectatio, oblectatio_ etc. being used of the higher pleasures. In 51, however, we have _voluptates agricolarum_. -- ACCIPITE: 'hear'; so _dare_ often means 'to tell'. With _accipere_ in this sense cf. the similar use of αποδεχεσθαι. -- ARCHYTAE: Archytas (the subject of Horace's well-known ode, 1, 28) was a contemporary and friend of Plato, and a follower of the Pythagorean philosophy. He wrote philosophical works, and was also famous as a mathematician and astronomer, besides being the leading statesman and general of the commonwealth of Tarentum. For another saying of Archytas, cf. Lael. 88. -- TRADITA EST: 'was imparted to me', _i.e._ by word of mouth. -- CUM ... TARENTI: 'when as a young man I stayed at Tarentum'. For _adulescens_ cf. n. on 26 _senes_. -- NULLAM ... PESTEM etc.: cf. Lael. 34 _pestem ... cupiditatem_; Off. 2, 9 _consuetudo ... honestatem ab utilitate secernens, qua nulla pernicies maior hominum vitae potuit afferri_. -- CAPITALIOREM: 'more deadly'; _caput_ was often equivalent to _vita_, so that _capitalis_ comes to mean 'affecting the life'.

P. 17. -- 40. HINC etc.: cf. Cic. Hortensius fragm. _quod turpe damnum, quod dedecus est quod non evocetur atque eliciatur voluptate?_ Observe the singular _patriae_ followed by the plural _rerum publicarum_; the plural of _patria_ is rare. On the significance of this passage see Lecky, Hist. of European Morals, I. p. 211, n. (Am. ed.). -- CUM HOSTIBUS etc.: attributive phrase; cf. Phil. 12, 27 _colloquia cum acerrimis hostibus_. -- SCELUS: this word looks chiefly to the criminal intention, whether it be carried into action or not, _malum_, _facinus_ to the completed crime; _flagitium_ is sin rather than crime, _Facinus_ in sense is often rather narrower and lighter than _scelus_; cf. Verr. 5, 170 _facinus est vincire civem Romanum, scelus verberare, prope parricidium necare_. -- IMPELLERET: _sc. homines_; so _nos_ is omitted after _iubebat_ below. -- EXCITARI: 'stirred up'. In 39 and 41 we have the verb _in-citare_; for the difference between the two verbs cf. Qu. Fr. 1, 1, 45 _haec non eo dicuntur, ut te oratio mea dormientem excitasse, sed potius ut currentem incitasse videatur_. -- HOMINI ... DEDISSET: cf. Acad. 1, 7 _nec ullum arbitror maius aut melius a dis datum munus homini_. Notice _homini_ 'man', in the same sense as _hominibus_, above. -- MUNERI AC DONO: the two words _munus_ and _donum_ are often found together; the difference in meaning is hardly perceptible. _Donum_ implies the fact of giving, _munus_ the generosity of the giver. -- TAM ... INIMICUM: notice the separation of _tam_ from _inimicum_.

41. LIBIDINE: = επιθυμια; temperantia = σωφροσυνη. _Dominari_ is a very strong word, 'to tyrannize'; _dominatio_ = τυραννις. For _locum_ cf. Lael. 52 _in tyranni vita nullus locus est amicitiae_. -- CONSISTERE: 'find a foothold'. Cf. Fin. 4, 69 _sapientia pedem ubi poneret non habebat_. -- FINGERE ANIMO: 'to imagine'. -- TANTA ... QUANTA ... MAXIMA: 'the greatest that could possibly be enjoyed'. The form of expression is common, _e.g._ Lael. 74 _tanta quanta maxima potest esse distantia_. -- TAM DIU DUM: this is not exactly equivalent to the ordinary _tam diu quam_, but there is ellipsis -- 'so long as this, I mean while, etc.'. Cf. Cat. 3, 16 _tam diu, dum urbis moenibus continebatur_; Off. 1, 2 _tam diu ... quoad ..._ -- MENTE ... RATIONE ... COGITATIONE: 'by thought, by reasoning, by imagination'. _Cogitatio_ like διανοια has often the sense of 'imagination'. The close juxtaposition of words nearly synonymous is quite characteristic of Cicero's Latin. -- QUIDEM: concessive, as in 32 and often. -- MAIOR ATQUE LONGIOR: 'very intense and protracted'. Superlatives might have been expected, in view of _quanta percipi posset maxima_ above. _Longus_ in the sense of 'long-continued' is rare in Ciceronian Latin, excepting when, as in 66 _longa aetate_, it is joined with a word distinctly referring to time. For the general drift of the passage cf. Cic. Hortensius (fragment) _congruere cum cogitatione magna voluptas corporis non potest; quis enim, cum utatur voluptate ea qua nulla possit maior esse, attendere animum, inire rationes, cogitare omnino quidquam potest_? -- ANIMI LUMEN: a common metaphor; _e.g._ Cic. Rep. 6, 12 _tu, Africane, ostendas oportebit patriae lumen animi tui_. Cf. 36 _haec ... exstinguuntur_; also below, 42 _mentis oculos_. -- C. PONTIO: C. Pontius Herennius, the father of C. Pontius Telesinus who defeated the Romans at the Caudine Forks during the Second Samnite war, in 321 B.C. The father is several times mentioned by Livy 9, cc. 1 and 3; cf. especially 1, § 2 _C. Pontium, patre longe prudentissimo natum_. -- NEARCHUS: mentioned by Plutarch, Cato 2, as a Pythagorean and friend of Cato. -- PERMANSERAT: _i.e._ during the siege of Tarentum. -- INTERFUISSET: not in accordance with English idiom; cf. n. on 4 _putassent_; also 44 _devicerat_. -- PLATO etc.: although Plato made two journeys to Italy and Sicily (or, as some authorities say, three) it is scarcely likely that he was present at Tarentum in the year mentioned, 349 B.C., two years before his death, when he was of advanced age. The latest date assigned by other authorities for Plato's last visit to the West is 361 B.C. -- REPERIO: _sc. in annalibus_; so in 15; cf. _videmus_ in 26.

42. EFFICERET: _efficeret, liberet_, and _oporteret_ can be properly rendered into English only by the present tense. Although these verbs express circumstances which _continue_, since the general effect of old age is being described, they are thrown into the past to suit the past tense _dicebam_ or _dixi_ which, though not expressed, is really the principal verb. Cf. below, 62, 78. -- CONSILIUM: 'deliberation'.