Cato Maior de Senectute by Marcus Tullius Cicero

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28. ORATOR: emphatic position. -- SENECTUTE: causal ablative; not 'in age',
but 'owing to age'. -- OMNINO -- SED TAMEN: 'no doubt -- but still'.
_Omnino_ (literally, 'altogether') has two almost exactly opposite uses --
(1) the affirmative, cf. 9; (2) the concessive, which we have here and in
45. The circumstance which is contrasted with the admitted circumstance is
usually introduced by _sed tamen_ or _sed_ as in 45, but in Lael. 98 by the
less emphatic _autem_, while in Lael. 69 there is no introductory particle.
-- CANORUM ... SENECTUTE: _canorum_ implies the combination of power with
clearness in a voice. For the mixture of metaphors in _canorum splendescit_
edd. quote Soph. Phil. 189 [Greek: acho telephanes]; Cic. De Or. 2, 60
_illorum tactu orationem meam quasi colorari_. -- NESCIO QUO PACTO:
literally, 'I know not on what terms'; quite interchangeable with _nescio
quo modo_; cf. 82. A. 334, _e_; G. 469, Rem. 2; H. 529, 5, 3). -- ADHUC
NON: purposely put for _nondum_, because more emphasis is thus thrown both
on the time-word and on the negation. The common view that _nondum_ was
avoided because it would have implied that Cato _expected_ to lose the
_canorum_ is certainly wrong. -- ET VIDETIS: 'though you see my years'. The
adversative use of _et_ for _autem_ or _tamen_ after the negative is not
very uncommon in Cicero, but there are few examples of the usage in the
speeches. Cf. Lael. 26 _et quidquid_; so sometimes _que_ as above, 13; also
Lael. 30 _ut nullo egeat suaque omnia in se posita iudicet_. -- SENI:
Madvig's em. for _senis_. In Leg. 1, 11 allusion is made to the great
change which advancing years had wrought in Cicero's own impassioned
oratory. He was no doubt thinking of that change when he wrote the words we
have here. -- SERMO: 'style of speaking'; a word of wider meaning than
_oratio_, which only denotes public speaking. -- QUIETUS ET REMISSUS:
'subdued and gentle'. The metaphor in _remissus_ (which occurs also in 81)
refers to the loosening of a tight-stretched string; cf. _intentum_ etc. in
37 with n. With the whole passage cf. Plin. Ep. 3, 1, 2 _nam iuvenes
confusa adhuc quaedam et quasi turbata non indecent; senibus placida omnia
et ordinata conveniunt_. -- FACIT AUDIENTIAM: 'procures of itself a hearing
for it'. In the words _per se ipsa_ there is no doubt an allusion to the
custom at large meetings in ancient times whereby the _praeco_ or [Greek:
keryx] called on the people to listen to the speakers. Cf. Liv. 43, 16, 8
_praeconem audientiam facere iussit_. Note that this is the only classical
use of the word _audientia_; it has not the meaning of our 'audience'
either in the sense of a body of listeners, or as used in the expression
'to give audience'. -- COMPOSITA ET MITIS: 'unimpassioned and smooth'. Cf.
Quintil. 6, 2, 9 _affectus igitur hos concitatos, illos mitis atque
compositos esse dixerunt_. -- QUAM ... NEQUEAS: 'and if you cannot practise
oratory yourself'. Evidently _quam_ refers to _oratio_ in the widest sense,
not to the special style of oratory mentioned in the last sentence. With
_si nequeas_ cf. _nisi exerceas_ in 21 with n. -- SCIPIONI ET LAELIO: '_a_
Scipio and _a_ Laelius'; _i.e._ 'young friends such as Scipio and Laelius
are to me'. -- PRAECIPERE: here absolute, = _praecepta dare_; usually an
accusative follows. -- STUDIIS IUVENTUTIS: 'the zeal of youth'. _Studiis_
does not imply here the deference of youth to age; the studia meant are the
_virtutum studia_ of 26.

29. NE ... INSTRUAT: _docere_ is to impart knowledge, _instituere_
(literally 'to ground' or 'establish') is to form the intellect and
character by means of knowledge, _instruere_, to teach the pupil how he may
bring his acquirements to bear in practical life. -- OFFICI MUNUS:
'performance of duty'; cf. 35, 72; Fam. 6, 14. In scores of passages in
Cicero we find _officium et munus_, 'duty and function', as in 34. -- CN.
ET P. SCIPIONES: in Cic. the plural is always used where two men of the
same family are mentioned and their names connected by et. In other writers
the plural is regular, the singular exceptional, as in Sall. Iug. 42, 1
_Ti. et C. Gracchus_; Liv. 6, 22 _Sp. et L. Papirius_. Even with other
nouns the plural is regular; e.g. Cic. Phil. 2, 101 _arationes Campana et
Leontina_, though a little above we have _mense Aprili atque Maio_. [See
Draeger, Hist. Synt. 1 squared, p. 1.] Gnaeus (_not_ Cnaeus -- see n. on Lael. 3)
Cornelius Scipio was consul in 222 B.C. and was sent to Spain at the
outbreak of the Second Punic war to command against Hasdrubal. Publius was
consul in 218, and after being defeated by Hannibal at the Ticinus, joined
his brother in Spain. At first they won important successes, but in 212
they were hemmed in and killed, after a crushing defeat. -- L. AEMILIUS:
the father of Macedonicus. He was consul in 219 and defeated the Illyrii;
but when consul again in 216 was defeated and killed at Cannae. See 75. For
_avi duo_ cf. 82. -- CONSENUERINT ... DEFECERINT: _coniunctio_, for which
see n. on 16. For the mood see A. 313, _a_; G. 608; H. 515, III. and n. 3.
-- ETSI: see n. on 2. -- SENECTUTE: MSS. and edd. have _senectutis_, but
the sense requires the abl.

P. 13. -- 30. CYRUS: the elder. -- APUD XENOPHONTEM: 'in Xenophon'; so in
79 where see n.; also 31 _apud Homerum_. See Cyropaedia, 8, 7, 6. -- CUM
... ESSET: '_though_ he was very old', the clause depends on the following
words, not on the preceding. -- NEGAT: in Latin as in English the present
tense is used in quotations from books. -- METELLUM: was consul in 251 B.C.
and won a great victory over the Carthaginians at Panormus (Palermo);
consul again in 247. See below, 61. -- MEMINI ... ESSE: for the
construction of _memini_ with the present or perfect infinitive, see n. on
Lael. 2; also A. 288, _b_; G. 277, Rem.; H. 537, 1. -- PUER: the expression
is peculiar, being abbreviated from _quod puer vidi_ or something of the
kind. Quintil. 8, 3, 31 has _memini iuvenis_. In Rep. 1, 23 Cicero says
_memini me admodum adulescentulo_. -- VIGINTI ET DUOS: the commoner order
of the words is _duos et viginti_; see n. on 13 _centum ... annos_. -- EI
SACERDOTIO: 'that sacred college'; _i.e._ the pontifical college consisting
of the _pontifex maximus_ and the inferior _pontifices_. -- REQUIRERET: see
n. on 13 _quaereretur_. -- NIHIL: n. on 1, l. 1 _quid_. -- MIHI: dat. for
acc. to emphasize the person. -- ID: 'such a course'; cf. 82 _ut de me ipse
aliquid more senum glorier_.

31. VIDETISNE UT: here _ne_ is the equivalent of _nonne_, as it often is in
the Latin of Plautus and Terence, and in the colloquial Latin of the
classical period. For _ut_ after _videtis_ see n. on 26. -- NESTOR: _e.g._
in Iliad 1, 260 _et seq_. 11, 668 _et seq_. -- TERTIAM AETATEM: cf. Iliad
1, 250; Odyssey 3, 245. -- VERA ... SE: 'if he told the truth about
himself'. -- NIMIS: 'to any great extent'. _Insolens_ does not correspond
to our 'insolent'; it is almost the equivalent of _ineptus_, and has no
harsher meaning than 'odd', 'strange', 'in bad taste'. -- MELLE DULCIOR:
Homer, Il. 1, 249 [Greek: tou kai apo glosses melitos glykion rheen aude].
In Or. 32 Cic. says of Xenophon (whom the Greeks called [Greek: Attike
melitta]) that his _oratio_ was _melle dulcior_. -- SUAVITATEM: notice the
change from _dulcior_, which seems to be made for the mere sake of variety,
since elsewhere (De Or. 3, 161) Cicero writes _dulcitudo orationis_. -- ET
TAMEN: see n. on 16. -- DUX ILLE: Agamemnon; see Iliad 2, 370 _et seq_. --
NUSQUAM: _i.e._ nowhere in Homer. -- AIACIS: _i.e._ Aiax Telamonius, who
was the greatest Greek warrior while Achilles sulked (Iliad 2, 768). The
genitive after _similis_ is the rule in Cicero, though many examples of the
dative are found even with names of persons; see Madv. on Fin. 5, 12.

32. SED: see n. on 26. -- REDEO AD ME: so 45; Lael. 96, Div. 1, 97 _ad
nostra iam redeo_; also below, 67 _sed redeo ad mortem impendentem._ --
VELLEM: see n. on. 26. -- IDEM: A. 238; G. 331, Rem. 2; H. 371, 2. -- QUOD
CYRUS: see 30. -- QUEO: the verb _queo_ is rarely found without a negative,
_possum_ being used in positive sentences; cf. however Lael. 71 _queant_,
where see n. -- MILES etc.: see 10 above. -- FUERIM ... DEPUGNAVI: A. 336,
_b_; G. 630, Rem. 1; H. 524, 2, 2. _Depugnavi_ = 'fought the war out', or
'to the end'; cf. 38, _desudans; 44 devicerat_. -- ENERVAVIT: _enervare_ is
literally 'to take out the sinews'; cf. the expressions _nervos elidere_
(Tusc. 2, 27) and _nervos incidere_ (Academ. 1, 35) both of which are used
in a secondary or metaphorical sense. -- CURIA: = _senatus_. -- ROSTRA: cf.
n. on 44 _devicerat_. -- FIERI: A. 331, _a_; G. 546, Rem. 1; H. 498, I. n.
-- ESSE: emphatic, = _vivere_; see n. on 21. -- EGO VERO etc.: 'I however
would rather that my old age should be shorter than that I should be old
before my time'. -- MALLEM: see n. on 26 _vellem_.

P. 14. -- NEMO CUI FUERIM: cf. Plaut. Mercator 2, 2, 17 _quamquam negotium
est, numquam sum occupatus amico operam dare_.

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 [Greek: nai], 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_ ([Greek: kai touto])
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 [Greek: geronta ton noun sarka d' hebosan phuei] --
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', [Greek: nun malista]. 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 [Greek: apodechesthai]. -- 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'.

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