Cato Maior de Senectute by Marcus Tullius Cicero

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P. 6. -- CUM ESSET: '_though_ he was'. What Fabius declared was reaily that
the _auspicia_ were a political instrument in the hands of the aristocrats,
rather than a part of religion. Fabius, according to Liv. 30, 26, 7, was
augur for 62 years before his death, and had no doubt had a large
experience in the manipulation of the _auspicia_ for political purposes.
Compare Homer, Iliad, 12, 243, also Cic. Phil. 11, 28 _Iuppiter ipse sanxit
ut omnia quae rei publicae salutaria essent legitima et iusta haberentur_.
Consult Mommsen, Hist of Rome, Bk. IV. Ch. 12.

12. ADMIRABILIUS: 'more amazing'. The Latin word has a much stronger
meaning than the English word derived from it. -- QUO MODO TULIT: = _eum
modum quo tulit_, so that the clause is not really dependent on _cognovi_,
nor _tulit_ irregularly put for _tulerit_. In Lael. 9 Laelius exclaims, of
Cato himself, _quo modo, ut alia omittam, mortem fili tulit_. And no doubt
Cic. meant here to make Cato allude to _his_ loss, described in 84. --
FILI: see n. on 1 _praemi_. -- CONSULARIS: the son of Fabius was consul in
213 with Ti. Sempronius Gracchus -- EST IN MANIBUS: 'is in every one's
hands', 'is commonly read'. The expression is common enough in this sense;
_e.g._ Lael. 96 _in manibus est oratio_. -- LAUDATIO: _sc. funebris_, the
funeral speech. This composition was read in Cicero's time (see Tusc. 3,
70; Fam. 4, 6, 1) and existed in the time of Plutarch. See Plutarch's life
of Fab. 24. -- QUEM PHILOSOPHUM: many of the ancient philosophers wrote
popular treatises in which the principles of philosophy were applied to the
alleviation of sorrow. The most famous of these in Cicero's time was
Crantor's [Greek: peri penthous], which Cicero used largely in writing his
_Tusculan Disputations_, and also in his _De Consolatione_ on the death of
his daughter. -- IN LUCE ... CIVIUM: 'in public and under the gaze of his
fellow-countrymen'. Do not translate _in oculis_ by the English phrase 'in
the eyes of', which has another sense. The metaphor in _lux_ is often used
by Cicero, as Qu. Fr. 1, 1, 7 _in luce Asiae, in oculis provinciae_. --
NOTITIA: _notitia_ is general knowledge, often merely the result of
superficial observation; _scientia_ is thorough knowledge, the result of
elaboration and generalization. -- MULTAE LITTERAE: 'great literary
attainments.' In this sense _magnae_ could not be used to represent
'great'. Note the ellipsis of _erant_. -- UT IN HOMINE ROMANO: 'considering
that he was a Roman', or 'for a Roman'. On the backwardness of the Romans
in literary pursuits see Teuffel, Hist. of Rom. Lit, Sec. 2; cf. also Ritter,
Hist. of Ancient Philosophy, Vol. IV. pp. 1-13, Eng. ed. In parenthetic
clauses like this, the introductory _ut_ may convey two very different
meanings according to the context. Thus in Acad. 2, 98 _homo acutus, ut
Poenus_ is 'a keen witted man, _as might be expected of_ a Carthaginian'
(cf Colum 1, 3, 8 _acutissimam gentem Poenos_) while Nepos, Epam. 5, 2
_exercitatum in dicendo ut Thebanum_ implies that oratory was _not_ to be
expected of a Theban. -- DOMESTICA ... EXTERNA BELLA: here the _domestica
bella_ are those wars which belong to the history of Rome, the _externa
bella_ those wars which belong to the history of other states; but usually
_domestica bella_ are civil wars, _externa_ foreign wars in which Rome is
engaged; _e.g._ Leg. agr. 2, 90 _omnibus domesticis externisque bellis_; in
Catil 2, 11 _omnia sunt externa unius virtute pacata; domesticum bellum
manet, intus insidiae sunt_. The practice of reading military history was
common among Roman commanders; see for instance Acad. 2, 3 of Lucullus; the
practice is ridiculed by Marius in Sall. Iug. 85. -- ITA: _ita_ does not
qualify _cupide_, and has not the sense of _tam_, it means rather 'in this
state', 'under these conditions'; the words from _quasi_ to the end of the
sentence really form an explanation of _ita_. This mode of expression is
often found, _ita_ and _sic_ frequently look on to clauses introduced by
_quasi_, _si_, _ut_, _cum_ etc. Cf below 26 _sic quasi, cupiens_ (where see
n.); Sall. Iug. 85, 19 _ita aetatem agunt quasi vestros honores contemnunt,
ita hos petunt quasi honeste vixerint_. -- DIVINAREM: see references on 6
_confeceris_. -- ILLO EXSTINCTO: Fabius died in 203 B.C. -- FORE UNDE
DISCEREM NEMINEM: cf. Acad. 1, 8 _quae nemo adhuc docuerat nec erat unde
studiosi scire possent. Unde_ of persons (here = _a quo_); is common in
both verse and prose (so [Greek: hothen] and [Greek: hothenper], vid.
Liddell and Scott in vv.); cf. Horace 1, 12, 17 _unde nil maius generatur
ipso_; 1, 28, 28; Cic. de Or. 1, 67 _ille ipse unde cognorit_; ib. 2, 285.
So _ubi = apud quem_ in Verr. 4, 29; _quo = ad quos_ below, 83, and in
Verr. 4 38; cf. also n. on _istinc_ in 47. For mood of _discerem_ see A.
320; G. 634; H. 503, I.

13. QUORSUS IGITUR HAEC: _sc. dixi._ -- TAM MULTA: this takes the place of
_tot_, which, like _quot_, cannot be used as a substantive. -- SCIPIONES:
'men like Scipio', _i.e._ the elder Africanus; so 15 _Fabricii Curii
Coruncanii_. Cicero has here put his own opinion of Scipio into the mouth
of Cato, who, during a large part of his life, was a staunch and even
bitter opponent of Scipio, and therefore not likely to couple him with
Fabius. Cf. Introd. -- UT ... RECORDENTUR: the repetition of _ut_ with each
clause for the sake of effect may be compared with the repetition of
_nihil_ in 15, 27, 41; of _non_ in 32; of _hinc_ in 40; of _sibi_ in 58. --
PEDESTRIS: for _terrestris_; the usage is very common; so in Greek [Greek:
pezomachia] and [Greek: naumachia], [Greek: pezomachein] and [Greek:
naumachein] are often contrasted (see Liddell and Scott). It is not
recorded by historians that either Scipio or Fabius took part personally in
naval warfare. -- RECORDENTUR: this verb implies the habitual dwelling of
the memory upon the past. -- QUIETE ET PURE ATQUE ELEGANTER: the
enumeration consists of two branches connected by _et_, the second branch
being subdivided into two members connected by _atque_. Had each of the
adverbs been intended to stand on exactly the same footing Cic. would have
written _et_ instead of _atque_, or else would have omitted the copula
altogether; see n. on 53 _capitum iugatio_. In enumerations of the form A +
(Bl + B2), the + outside the bracket is expressed by _et_, the + inside the
bracket generally being expressed by _ac_, for which _atque_ is substituted
when the following word (_i.e._ B2) begins with a vowel, a guttural (_c, q,
g_) or _h_, before which _ac_ was very seldom written. -- PURE ATQUE
ELEGANTER: 'sinlessly and gently'. _Pure_ implies moral stainlessness,
_eleganter_, literally 'in choice fashion', implies daintiness combined
with simplicity in regard to the external conditions of life. The same
ideas are put together in Sull. 79 _cum summa elegantia atque integritate
vixistis_. -- AETATIS: see n. on 5. -- PLACIDA AC LENIS: 'quiet and mild';
_placida_ refers to the external surroundings, _lenis_ to the temper and
character. -- ACCEPIMUS: _sc. fuisse_; for the ellipsis of the infinitive
cf. n. on 22 _videretur_. -- UNO ET OCTOGESIMO: but below _quarto_ (not
_quattuor_) _nonagesimo_. In the compound _ordinal_ numbers corresponding
to those _cardinal_ numbers which are made up of one and a multiple of ten,
the Latins use _unus_ oftener than _primus_, which would be strictly
correct; so in English 'one and eightieth' for 'eighty-first'. The ordinary
Grammar rule (Roby, Vol. I, p. 443 'the _ordinal_ not the _cardinal_ is
used in giving the date') requires slight correction. For the position of
the words see G. 94, 3; H. 174, footnote 3. -- SCRIBENS EST MORTUUS: 'died
while still engaged upon his works'; cf. 23 _num Platonem ... coegit in
suis studiis obmutiscere senectus?_ Diog. Laert. 3, 2 quoting Hermippus (a
Greek writer of biography who lived about the time of the Second Punic
war), says that Plato died in the middle of a marriage-feast at which he
was a guest. Val. Max. 8, 7, 3 gives a slightly different account. --
ISOCRATI: this form of the genitive of Greek proper names in _-es_ was
probably used by Cicero rather than the form in _-is_; see Madvig on Fin.
1, 14; Neue, Formenlehre, 1 squared 332. Isocrates, the greatest teacher of
rhetoric of his time, lived from 436 to 338, when he died by voluntary
starvation owing to his grief at the loss of Greek freedom through the
battle of Chaeronea. Milton, Sonnet X. 'That dishonest victory At
Chaeronea, fatal to liberty, Kill'd with report that old man eloquent'. --
EUM ... INSCRIBITUR: the periphrasis is common, and the verb _inscribere_
is nearly always in the present tense (in later prose as well as in Cicero)
as in 59. This is sometimes the case even where the neighboring verbs are
in past tenses, as in Acad. 1, 12 _nec se tenuit quin contra suum doctorem
librum etiam ederet qui Sosus inscribitur_. The present seems to mean that
the name mentioned is continually given to each copy of the book as
produced; where the continuing multiplication of copies is not looked to,
we have the perfect, as Att. 8, 5, 2 _tu fasciculum_ (bundle of letters)
_qui est inscriptus 'des M'. Curio', velim cures ad eum perferendum_. Cf.
also De Or. 2, 61 _deceptus indicibus librorum qui sunt fere inscripti_
('to which the authors--once for all--have given the titles') _de virtute,
de iustitia_, etc.; so Div. 2, 1 _eo libro qui inscriptus Hortensius_. --
DICIT: the 'Panathenaicus', an encomium of Athens written for recitation at
the great festival of the Panathenaea, is among the works of Isocrates
which we still possess. In c. 1 Isocrates says [Greek: tois etesi
enenekonta kai tettarsin, hon ego tynchano gegonos]. -- VIXITQUE: 'and yet
he lived'. The _que_ here has a slight adversative force, as is often the
case with _et_. Cf. n. on 28, 43, 73. -- GORGIAS: the greatest of the
sophists, born at Leontini in Sicily about 485 B.C.; his death took place,
according to the varying accounts, in 380, 378, or 377. In his old age he
lived in Thessaly where Isocrates studied with him; see Or. 176; Fin. 2, 1.
For the adjective _Leontinus_ placed before the name rather than after cf.
43 _Thessalo Cinea_. -- CENTUM ET SEPTEM ANNOS: Kennedy, Gram., Sec. 34, vii,
_c_, says, 'in compound numbers above 100 the larger number, with or
without _et_, generally precedes the smaller'; cf. Roby, Vol. 1 p. 443. --
CESSO: does not correspond in meaning with our 'cease', _i.e._ '_to come
to_ a standstill'; _cesso_ is 'I am in a state of rest', 'I am idle'. --
QUAERERETUR: the past tense, though the principal verb _inquit_, is in the
present, because the present is the _historical_ present and so equivalent
to a past tense. Cf. Roby, 1511-1514; Kennedy 229, 2. A. 287, _e_; G. 511,
Rem. 1; H. 495, II. The idiom by which the imperfect stands where we should
expect a tense of completed action, should be noticed; cf. Tusc. 2, 60
_quem cum rogaret, respondit._ The explanation of the imperfect in such
cases is that it marks out, more clearly than the pluperfect would, the
fact that the action of the principal verb and the action of the dependent
verb are practically contemporaneous. In our passage if _quaesitum esset_
had been written it would have indicated merely that at some quite
indefinite time after the question was put the answer was given. Cf. N.D.
1, 60 _auctore ... obscurior_. -- CUR ... VITA: a hint at suicide, which
the ancients thought a justifiable mode of escape from troubles,
particularly those of ill health or old age. See n. on 73 _vetat
Pythagoras. Esse in vita_ is stronger than _vivere_; cf. Qu. Fr. 1, 3, 5.
-- NIHIL HABEO QUOD ACCUSEM: 'I have no reason to reproach'. Cf. the common
phrase _quid est quod ...? Quod_, adverbial acc. A. 240, _a_; G. 331, R. 3;
H. 378, 2. For mood of _accusem_ see H. 503, I. n. 2, and references on 12
_discerem_. -- PRAECLARUM RESPONSUM: _est_ is not required, because
_responsum_ is in apposition to the last part of the preceding sentence.
Similar appositions occur in Laelius, 67, 71, 79. -- DOCTO: applied
especially to philosophers, but also to poets. The word implies
_cultivation_ as well as mere _knowledge_; 'a learned man', merely as such,
is '_homo litteratus_'; cf. n. on 54.

P. 7. -- 14. CUIUS ... FECI: 'the aforesaid' is in good Latin always
expressed by a parenthesis like this and not by a participle in agreement
with the noun. The phrases '_ante dictus_', '_supra dictus_', belong to
silver Latin, where they are common. Cf. 23 _quos ante dixi_. -- SIC UT
etc.: the lines are from the Annals of Ennius, for which see n. on 1. --
ECUS: Ennius did not write _uu_, nor most likely did Cicero; the former may
have written either _ecus, equos,_ or _equs_. The last form Vahlen prints
in his edition of Ennius. -- SPATIO SUPREMO: 'at the end of the
race-course', 'at the goal', or it may be 'at the last turn round the
course', the race requiring the course to be run round several times; cf.
Homer's [Greek: pymaton dromon] in Iliad 23, 768. So 83 _decurso spatio_;
Verg. Aen. 5, 327 _iamque fere spatio extreme fessique sub ipsam finem
adventabant_. -- VICIT OLUMPIA: a direct imitation of the Greek phrase
[Greek: nikan Olympia], to win a victory at an Olympic contest. So Horace
Ep. 1, 1, 50 has _coronari Olympia_ = [Greek: stephanousthai Olympia]. The
editors print _Olympia_, but the use of _y_ to represent Greek [Greek: u]
did not come in till long after the time of Ennius. -- SENIO: differs from
_senectute_ in implying not merely old age, but the weakness which usually
accompanies it. -- CONFECTUS: for the disregard of the final _s_ in
scanning cf. n. on 1, l. 6. -- EQUI VICTORIS: for the almost adjectival use
of the substantive _victor_, cf. Verg. Aen. 7, 656 _victores equos_; ib.
12, 751 _venator canis_; ib. 10, 891; 11, 89, and Georg. 2, 145 _bellator
equus_, in Theocritus 15, 51 [Greek: polemistai hippoi]. The feminine nouns
in _-trix_ are freely used as adjectives both in verse and in prose. A. 88,
_c_; H. 441, 3. -- QUEM QUIDEM: the same form of transition is used in 26,
29, 46, 53. The whole of this passage to _suasissem_ is an exhibition of
antiquarian learning quite unnatural and inappropriate in a dialogue. --
PROBE MEMINISSE POTESTIS: cf. De Or. 3, 194 _quem tu probe meministi_; Fin.
2, 63 _L. Thorius quem meminisse tu non potes. Memini_ can take a
_personal_ accusative only when the person who remembers was a contemporary
of the person remembered; otherwise the gen. follows. Cf. Roby, 1333; A.
219, Rem.; H. 407, n. 1. -- HI CONSULES: 'the present consuls'. -- T.
FLAMININUS: commonly said to be the son of the great Flamininus (1, l. 1).
He was altogether undistinguished, as also were the Acilius and the Caepio
here mentioned. This passage gives the imagined date of the dialogue as 150
B.C. -- PHILIPPO: this was Q. Marcius Philippus, who was consul in 186 and
took part in the suppression of the great Bacchanalian conspiracy of that
year. For the next 17 years he was a leading senator and much engaged in
diplomacy in the East. In 169 he was again consul and commanded against
Perseus in the early part of the war. -- CUM ... LEGEM VOCONIAM ...
SUASISSEM: 'after I had spoken publicly in favor of the law oL Voconius'.
For _suasissem_ cf. 10 _suasor_ with n. The _Lex Voconia de mulierum
hereditatibus_ aimed at securing the continuance of property in families.
By its provisions no man who possessed property valued in the censors'
lists at 100,000 sesterces or more, could appoint a woman or women as his
_heres_ or _heredes_; further, no person or persons, male or female, could
receive under the will legacies amounting in all to a larger sum than that
received by the principal heir or heirs. Every Roman will named a _heres_
or _heredes_, on whom devolved all the privileges and duties of the
deceased, with such duties as were enjoined by the will; particularly the
duty of paying the legacies left to those who were not _heredes_. See
Maine, Ancient Law, Ch. 6; also Hunter, Introd. to Roman Law, Ch. 5. --
MAGNA: in Latin the word _magnus_ is the only equivalent of our 'loud'. --
LATERIBUS: 'lungs'. Cic. and the best writers rarely use _pulmones_ for
'lungs'; the few passages in which it occurs either refer to victims
sacrificed at the altar, or are medical or physiological descriptions.
'Good lungs' is always '_bona latera_' never _pulmones_. -- DUO ...
SENECTUTEM: Ennius is said to have kept a school in his later days, and to
have lived in a cottage with one servant only.

15. ETENIM: this word generally introduces either an explanation or a proof
of a preceding statement. Here the words are elliptic, and the real
connection with what precedes can only be made clear by a paraphrase.
'Ennius seemed to delight in old age. And no wonder, since there are four
causes which make men think old age wretched, and no one of these will bear
examination'. _Etenim_ may generally be translated 'indeed', or 'in fact'.
-- CUM COMPLECTOR ANIMO: 'when I grasp them in my thoughts'. The object of
_complector_ is to be supplied from _causas_. -- AVOCET: _sc. senes_. The
subjunctives denote that these are the thoughts not of the speaker, but of
the persons who do think old age a wretched thing. See n. on 3 _ferat_; but
cf. Kennedy, Grammar, pref., p. 30. -- ALTERAM ... TERTIAM: in enumerations
of more than two things _unus and alter_ generally take the place of
_primus_, and _secundus_: in Cic. these latter rarely occur under such
circumstances. Cf. Att. 3, 15, 1; Fin. 5, 9; Off. 1, 152; Cluent. 178. --
INFIRMIUS: _sc. auam antea erat_. -- QUAM SIT IUSTA: Cicero generally
separates from the words they qualify _quam_, _tam_, _ita_, _tantus_,
_quantus_, often, as here, by one small word. Cf. below, 35 _quam fuit
imbecillus_; 40 _tam esse inimicum_. -- QUIBUS: the preposition _a_ is
often omitted; cf. in Pis. 91 _Arsinoen ... Naupactum fateris ab hostibus
esse captas. Quibus hostibus? Nempe eis_ etc.; Tusc. 3, 37 _sed traducis
cogitationes meas ad voluptates. Quas?_ Even when relative and antecedent
are in the same sentence the preposition is not often repeated; _e.g._ Fin.
5, 68 _eodem in genere quo illa_. -- AN EIS: _an_ always introduces a
question which is not independent, but follows upon a previous question
either expressed or implied. Here _quibus_ implies _omnibusne_. Cf. div. in
Caec. 52 _quid enim dices? An id quod dictitas_ ... where _quid_ implies
_nihilne_: also below, 23, 29 _anne_. A 211, _b_; G. 459; H. 353, 2, n. 4.
-- IUVENTUTE ET VIRIBUS: commonly explained as a hendiadys, _i.e._ as put
for _iuventutis viribus_; but Cic. no more meant this than we mean 'the
strength of youth' when we speak of 'youth and strength'. Real instances of
hendiadys are much rarer than is generally supposed. -- QUAE: = _tales ut_.
-- L. PAULUS: this is L. Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus, consul in 182 B.C.,
and again in 168 when he finished the third Macedonian war by utterly
defeating Perseus at Pydna. For his connection with Scipio and Cato see
Introd. -- PATER TUUS: _i.e. Scipio_; so in 29 _avi tui_, and in 75 _avum
tuum_, without mention of young Scipio's name, but in 49 _patris tui,
Scipio_; so 77. -- FABRICII etc.: for the plurals see n. on 13. C.
Fabricius Luscinus, consul in 282, 278, and 273 B.C., censor in 275, held
the command against Pyrrhus. The Roman writers, Cicero especially, are
never tired of eulogizing him as a pattern of old-fashioned Roman virtue.
Manius Curius Dentatus, consul in 290, 275, and 274 practically, if not
formally, ended the third Samnite war, and also commanded against Pyrrhus;
see 55. He was famed for his sturdy Roman simplicity and frugality.
Tiberius Coruncanius as consul in 280 crushed an Etruscan insurrection. In
252 he became the first plebeian pontifex maximus. These three men are very
frequently mentioned together by Cicero; cf. below, 43, Lael. 18. -- NIHIL
AGEBANT: observe that _nihil agebat_ is put at the beginning of the first
sentence, _nihil agebant_ at the end of the second; chiasmus.

16. A. CLAUDI: Appius Claudius, the head of the most strongly aristocratic
family in Rome, was censor in 311 B.C., when he constructed the _via
Appia_, and consul in 307 and 296. He had to be carried into the
senate-house in order to oppose the peace with Pyrrhus -- ACCEDEBAT UT:
_accedit_ is far oftener followed by a clause with _quod_ and indicative
than by a clause with _ut_ and subjunctive. When the _quod_ clause follows,
it contains a fact looked at merely as a fact and nothing more, but the
_ut_ clause views the fact as consequent upon, or dependent on some other
fact. Here the blindness is regarded as being the consequence of old age,
though Livy 9, 29, 11 and other authors attribute it to the anger of the
gods, because as censor Appius had taken the administration of the worship
of Hercules away from the ancient family of the Potitii, and had placed it
in the hands of public slaves. The mental vigor of Appius in his old age is
mentioned by Cic. in Tusc. 5, 112.

P. 8. -- CUM PYRRHO: note the position of the words between _pacem_ and
_foedus_, with both of which they go. This usage is called by the
grammarians _coniunctio_; cf. n. on Lael. 8 _cum summi viri tum
amicissimi_, also above, _quae iuventute geruntur et viribus_, below 18
_quae sunt gerenda praescribo et quo modo_. -- FOEDUS: this seems opposed
to _pacem_ as a formal engagement is to a mere abstention from hostilities.
-- NON DUBITAVIT DICERE: when _dubitare_ means 'to hesitate' (about a
course of action), and the sentence is _negative_, or an interrogative
sentence assuming a negative answer, the infinitive construction generally
follows, as here; but the infinitive is rare in a _positive_ sentence. When
_dubitare_ means to 'be in doubt' (as to whether certain statements are
true or not), the regular construction is either _quin_ with subj. or some
form of indirect interrogative clause. Cf. below, 25. -- QUO VOBIS: from
the _Annales_. In _mentis dementis_ we have _oxymoron_ (an intentional
contradiction in terms) as in 38 _sensum sine sensu_; 39 _munus ...
aufert_. On the case of _vobis_, see Roby, 1154, A. 235, _a_, H. 384, 4, n.
2. -- ANTEHAC: always a dissyllable in verse, and probably so pronounced in
prose -- VIAI: the old genitive. A. 36 _a_, G. 27, Rem. 1, H. 49, 2. The
reading is not quite certain, if _viai_ be read it is not altogether
certain whether it depends on _quo_ or on _sese flexere_. In the former
construction we have a partitive gen with an adv; A. 216, _a_, 4, G. 371,
Rem. 4, H. 397, 4, in the latter, a distinct Graecism like _desine
querellarum_ (Hor Od 2, 9, 17) and the like; A. 243 Rem., G. 373 Rem. 6, H.
410 V 4. -- ET TAMEN: the sense is incompletely expressed, in full it is
'and yet there is no need for me to refer to Appius' speech as given by
Ennius, since the speech itself is in existence.' Exactly similar ellipses
are found with _et tamen_ in Fin 1, 11 and 15; 2, Sec.Sec. 15, 21, 64 and 85,
Att. 7, 3, 10, Lucretius 5, 1177. In Munro's note on the last passage a
collection of examples will be found. -- APPI ... ORATIO: the speech was
known to Cicero, and was one of the oldest monuments of prose composition
in Latin extant in his time, see Brut. 61. Plutarch, Pyrrhus 19, gives an
account of Appius' speech, which may founded on the original, he mentions
it also in his tract commonly called '_an seni sit gerenda res publica_',
c. 21. Ihne (History of Rome, Vol. I. p. 521, Eng. ed.) doubts whether the
speech, as Cic. knew it, was committed to writing by Appius himself. --
HAEC ILLE EGIT: 'he made this speech'. -- SEPTEMDECIM ANNIS: as the second
(_alterum_) consulship was in 296, and the speech in 280, both these years
are included in the reckoning by a usage very common in Latin. For the
ablative cf. 19. -- CENSOR ... ANTE CONSULATUM: this was unusual, and
therefore to Claudius' honor. -- GRANDEM SANE: 'undoubtedly old'. -- ET
TAMEN SIC: _i.e. eum tum grandem fuisse_ Lahmeyer wrongly says that _sic_
points to the words _atque haec ille egit_. It may be noted that _sic_
takes the place of an object after _accipimus_, cf. 77 _ita crederem_; 78
_sic mihi persuasi_, also 18 _male cogitanti_.

17. NIHIL AFFERUNT: 'they bring forward nothing', _i.e._ what they bring
forward is worthless, so in Greek [Greek: ouden legein], the opposite of
which is [Greek: legein ti]. Cf. 8 _est istuc aliquid_. -- SIMILES UT SI: a
very rare construction. Equally unusual is _similes tamquam si_ in Div. 2,
131. In Tusc. 4, 41 and Off. 1, 87 we find _similiter ut si_ in Fin. 2, 21
and 4, 31 _similiter_ or _similis et si_, in N.D. 3, 8 _similiter ac si_,
also in Liv. 5, 5, 12 _dissimilia ac si_, in 35, 42, 10 _idem ac si_. As
regards the _ut_ after _similes_, we may compare a few passages in which
_simul ut_ appears for _simul ac_, see Reid's n. on Academ 2, 51. In the
English Bible there are expressions like _similes sunt ut si qui dicant_,
'they are like as if some men should say.' -- SCANDANT: '_cum_ is used with
the subjunctive when it expresses a kind of comparison, and especially a
contrast, between the contents of a leading proposition and a subordinate
("whereas", etc.)' Madvig, 358, Obs. 3. The underlying idea in this use is
generally cause, sometimes concession. -- PER FOROS 'over the deck'. --
ILLE: for the omission of _sed_ or _autem_ (_asyndeton adversativum_) see
n. on 3 _librum_, etc. -- CLAVUM: 'tiller'. With this passage Lahmeyer well
compares what Cicero says of himself in Fam. 9, 15, 3 _sedebamus in puppi
et clavum tenebamus; nunc autem vix est in sentina locus_. -- VELOCITATE:
_velocitas_ and _celeritas_ differ very slightly; the former means rather
speed of movement in one line the latter rather power of rapid motion with
frequent change of direction. The emphatic word in this clause is
_corporum_. Cf. Off. 1, 79 _honestum ... animi efficitur non corporis
viribus_. -- CONSILIO ... SENTENTIA: _consilio_, advice; _auctoritate_,
weight of influence; _sententia,_ an opinion or vote formally given. --
QUIBUS: in twofold relation; with _orbari_, abl. of separation, with
_augeri_ of specification.

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