Chapter 12

P. 18. -- UT ITA DICAM: this softens the metaphor, as _quasi_ or _quasi quidam_ often does, and as ‛οιον, ‛ωσπερ do in Greek [but not ‛ως επος ειπειν, which is often wrongly said to be the equivalent of _ut ita dicam_; see n. on Lael. 2]. The phrase _mentis_ or _animi aciem praestringere_ often occurs without anything to soften the metaphor; _e.g._ Fin. 4, 37. -- NEC HABET etc: 'and has no relations with virtue'. The use of _commercium_ in the metaphorical sense is common. -- INVITUS: see ref. on 38 _frequens_. -- FECI UT: a periphrasis not unusual. A. 332, _e_; G. 557; H. 498, II. n. 2. -- T. FLAMININI: see n. on 1, l. 1. -- L. FLAMININUM: as prætor he commanded the fleet under his brother Titus during the Macedonian war; in 192 B.C. he was consul. _Septem annis_ denotes seven _complete_ years (cf. n. on 19), as Cato was censor in 184. A reference to Livy 39, 43, 2 will show that Cicero borrows his account of Flamininus' crime from the old annalist Valerius Antias. Livy also quotes (39, 42, 7) an account of the matter given by Cato himself in a speech, which is even more disgraceful to Flamininus. -- EICEREM: the phrase commonly used is not _eicere_, but _movere, aliquem senatu. Notare_ and _nota (censoria)_ are technically used of degradation or disfranchisement inflicted by the censors. For the spelling see Roby, 144, 2; A. 10, _d_; H. 36, 4 and footnote 1. -- FUISSET: for the mood see A. 342; G. 666; H. 529, II. and n. 1, 1); for the tense see Roby, 1491; A. 324, _a_; G. 233, 2; H. 471, 4. -- CUM ... GALLIA: not 'when he was consul in Gaul' but 'when he was in Gaul during his consulship'. _Cum_ with the imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive often has a sense differing very little from that of _cum_ with the imperfect or pluperfect indicative. No doubt when the usage originally arose, the clause with _cum_ was regarded as expressing the _cause_ of the action or event denoted by the principal verb; here the presence of F. in Gaul might be regarded as _a cause_ of the crime. It is more than doubtful, however, whether in actual use the subjunctive in these phrases continued to carry with it to Latin readers any idea of cause. See Roby, 1720, Kennedy, 211; also A. 325, 323 and footnote 1; G. 586 with Rem.; H. 521, II. 2 and footnote 1. -- EXORATUS EST: 'was persuaded'; cf. Liv. 39, 43. -- SECURI FERIRET: the story was that L. Flamininus himself acted as executioner. -- EORUM QUI ... ESSENT: the subjunctive because of the class-notion, 'of such persons as were'. -- TITO CENSORE: _i.e._ in 189 B.C.; see n. on 1. -- FLACCO: L. Valerius Flaccus was the life-long friend of Cato, and his colleague in the consulship and in the censorship. He entirely favored Cato's political views. See Introd. -- IMPERI DEDECUS: Flamininus was at the time Roman governor of the district.

43. AUDIVI E: Cic. uses _audire ex, ab_, and _de aliquo_, almost indifferently. -- PORRO: 'in turn'; literally 'farther on', here = 'farther back'; cf. Livy 27, 51. -- C. FABRICIUM: see n. on 15. -- CINEA: the famous diplomatist, minister of Pyrrhus. He was a pupil of Demosthenes and himself one of the most famous orators of his time. Cineas was the ambassador who tried to negotiate peace on the occasion mentioned in 16. -- SE SAPIENTEM PROFITERETUR: the omission of _esse_ is common in such phrases; _e.g._ Fin. 5, 13 _Strato physicum se voluit_. Epicurus, who is here meant (born 342 B.C., died 270), was blamed for calling himself σοφος or _sapiens_. Others, says Cicero, who had borne the title had waited for the public to confer it on them (Fin. 2, 7). -- EUMQUE: 'and yet he'; cf. n. on 13 _vixitque_. -- FACEREMUS: for the tense cf. n. on 42 _efficeret_; also _expeteretur_ below. -- AD ... REFERENDA: 'ought to be judged by the standard of pleasure', _i.e._ anything which brings pleasure may be regarded as good, and its opposite bad. So in Greek επαναφερειν τι εις τι. On the moral teachings of Epicurus consult Zeller, Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics, Ch. 19; Ueberweg, History of Philosophy, § 59; Guyan, La morale d'Épicure et ses rapports avec les doctrines contemporaines. -- CURIUM ... CORUNCANIUM: see n. on 15. -- ID ... PERSUADERETUR: intransitive verbs are used in the passive only impersonally (Roby, 1422; A. 230; G. 199, Rem. 1; H. 301, 1); when so used the dative may follow as in the active (see Madvig, 244, _b_; G. 208; H. 384, 5). A neuter pronoun in the singular sometimes, as here, accompanies the passive, and may be regarded as an adverbial accusative of respect or extent, or as a nominative qualifying the impersonal subject. 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 QUISQUE: see A. 93, _c_; G. 305; H. 458, 1.

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 amount of goodfellowship'. -- M.F. = _Marci filium_. -- DEVICERAT: 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, Rem. 2; H. 397, 2, n. -- PAUCI ADMODUM: Cic. usually says _admodum pauci_ rather than _pauci admodum_. -- VESTRA AETATE: = _eis qui sunt vestra aetate_. Cf. n. on 26 _senectus_. -- SERMONIS ... SUSTULIT: notice the 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 (sc. bibere) a summo_ in Plaut. Asin. 5, 2, 41. See Becker's Gallus, p. 471 _et seq_. -- SICUT ... EST: 'as we find'; so Off. 1, 32 _ut in fabulis est_, and often. -- IN SYMPOSIO: 2, 26. -- MINUTA: see n. on 52. -- RORANTIA: here with an active sense, 'besprinkling', representing επιψεκαζειν in Xenophon; often however not different in sense from _'roscida'_. -- REFRIGERATIO ... HIBERNUS: cf. closely 57 _ubi et seq_. 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 by _titillatio_; cf. N.D. 1, 113; Fin. 1, 39; Tusc. 3, 47. -- BENE: _sc. 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, 259 _dementer amoribus uti_ with Cic. Tusc. 4, 68 _venereis voluptatibus 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 vivere_; 1, 122 _hoc ridere meum_. H. 538, 3.

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. -- SECUM ESSE: cf. Tusc. 1, 75; Pers. 4, 52 _tecum habita_. -- SI ... ALIQUOD: 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_.