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'.

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.

50. acutis: requiring keenness of intellect. — Naevius: see n. on 20. — Truculento ... Pseudolo: these plays of Plautus (lived from 254 to 184 B.C.) we still possess. The Truculentus is so named from one of the characters, a slave of savage disposition who is wheedled; the Pseudolus from a cheating slave. The latter name is commonly supposed to be a transcription from a Greek word ψευδυλος, which however nowhere occurs; and as the change from Greek υ to Latin o is not found before l, Corssen assumes ψευδαλος as the original word. The form Pseudulus of the name is probably later than Pseudolus. — Livium: Livius Andronicus, the founder of Latin literature (lived from about 285 to 204 B.C.), who translated the Odyssey, also many Greek tragedies. Livius was a Greek captured by Livius Salinator at Tarentum in 275 B.C.; for a time he was the slave of Livius, and, according to custom, took his name when set free. For an account of his writings see Cruttwell's Hist. of Roman Literature, Ch. 3; Sellar, Roman Poets of the Rep., Ch. 3. — docuisset: 'had brought on to the stage'. Docere (like διδασκειν in Greek, which has the same use) meant originally to instruct the performers in the play. — Centone Tuditanoque consulibus: i.e. in 240 B.C. The use of que here is noticeable; when a date is given by reference to the consuls of the year it is usual to insert et (not que or atque, which rarely occur) between the two names, if only the cognomina (as here) be given. If the full names be given, then they are put side by side without et. Cf. n. on 10. — Crassi: see n. on 27. — pontifici et civilis iuris: the ius pontificium regarded mainly the proper modes of conducting religious ceremonial. Ius civile, which is often used to denote the whole body of Roman Law, here includes only the secular portion of that Law. Cf. n. on 38. — huius P. Scipionis: 'the present P. Scipio'. So in 14 hi consules 'the present consuls'; Rep. 1, 14 Africanus hic, Pauli filius, and often. The P. Scipio who is meant here is not Africanus, but Nasica Corculum. — flagrantis: 'all aglow'; so ardere studio in Acad. 2, 65. — senes: = cum senes essent, so senem below. — suadae medullam: 'the essence (lit. marrow) of persuasiveness'. The lines of Ennius are preserved by Cicero, Brut. 58. Suada is a translation of πειθω, which the Greek rhetoricians declared to be the end and aim of oratory. This Cethegus was consul in 204 and in 203 defeated Mago in the N. of Italy. — exerceri: here reflexive in meaning. A. 111, n. 1; G. 209; H. 465. — videbamus: see n. on 49. — comparandae: for the idea of possibility which the gerundive sometimes has (but only in negative sentences or interrogative sentences implying a negative answer, and in conditional clauses) see Madvig, 420, Obs.; Roby, 1403. — haec quidem: a short summary of the preceding arguments, preparatory to a transition to a new subject, introduced by venio nunc ad. The succession of two clauses both containing quidem seems awkward, but occurs in Fin. 5, 80 and elsewhere. — honestum sit: 'does him honor'. — ut ante dixi: in 26, where see the notes. — potest esse: Meissner (n. on 27) says that Cicero's rule is to say potest esse, debet esse and the like, not esse potest and the like. It is true that esse in such cases is very seldom separated from the word on which it depends, but esse potest is just as common as potest esse; the difference to the sense is one of emphasis only, the esse having more emphasis thrown on it in the latter case.

51. mihi ... videntur: see Introd. — habent rationem cum: 'they have their reckonings with', 'their dealings with'; a phrase of book-keeping. — imperium: so Verg. Georg. 1, 99 exercetque frequens tellurem atque imperat agris; ib. 2, 369 dura exerce imperia et ramos compesce fluentes; Tac. Germ. 26 sola terrae seges imperatur. — sed alias ... faenore: put for sed semper cum faenore, alias minore, plerumque maiore. — vis ac natura: 'powers and constitution'. These two words are very often used by Cic. together, as in Fin. 1, 50 vis ac natura rerum. — gremio: so Lucret. 1, 250 pereunt imbres ubi eos pater aether In gremium matris terrai praecipitavit, imitated by Verg. Georg. 2, 325. — mollito ac subacto: i.e. by the plough. Subigere, 'subdue', is a technical word of agriculture; so Verg. Georg. 2, 50 scrobibus subactis; see also below, 59.

P. 22 — occaecatum: 'hidden'. Caecus has the sense of 'unseen' as well as that of 'unseeing' or 'blind'. — occatio: Cicero's derivation, as well as Varro's (De Re Rust. 1, 31, 1) from occidere, because the earth is cut up, is unsound. Occa is rastrum, probably from its sharp points (root ak-); occatio therefore is 'harrowing'. — vapore: 'heat'. This word has not in the best Latin the meaning of our 'vapor'. — compressu: a word found only here in Cicero's writings and elsewhere in Latin only in the ablative case, like so many other nouns whose stem ends in -u. — diffundit et elicit: 'expands and lures forth'. — herbescentem: this word occurs nowhere else in Latin. — nixa: A. 254, b; G. 403, Rem. 3; H. 425, 1, 1), n. — fibris stirpium: so Tusc. 3, 13 radicum fibras. — geniculato: 'knotted'. The verb geniculo, from genu, scarcely occurs excepting in the passive participle, which is always used, as here, of plants. So Plin. Nat. Hist. 16, 158 geniculata cetera gracilitas nodisque distincta, speaking of the harundo. — spici: besides spica, the forms spicum and spicus are occasionally found. Spici here is explanatory frugem. — vallo: for the metaphor compare N.D. 2, 143 munitae sunt palpebrae tamquam vallo pilorum; Lucr. 2, 537.

52. quid ego ... commemorem: this and similar formulae for passing to a new subject are common; cf. 53 quid ego ... proferam etc.; often nam precedes the quid, as in Lael. 104. The ego has a slight emphasis. Cato implies that his own devotion to grape-culture was so well known as not to need description. — ortus satus incrementa: 'origin, cultivation, and growth'. For the omission of the copula see n. on 53. — ut: final, and slightly elliptic ('I say this that etc.'); so in 6 (where see n.), 24, 56, 59, 82. — requietem: the best MSS. of Cic. sometimes give the other form requiem, as in Arch. 13. — vim ipsam: 'the inherent energy'. — omnium ... terra: a common periphrasis for 'all plants'; cf. e.g. N.D. 2, 120. The Latin has no one word to comprehend all vegetable products. — quae ... procreet: 'able to generate'. — tantulo: strictly elliptic, implying quantulum re vera est. In such uses tantus and tantulus differ slightly from magnus and parvus; they are more emphatic. — acini vinaceo: 'a grape-stone'. — minutissimis: used here for minimis. Strictly speaking minutus ought to be used of things which are fragments of larger things, minutus being really the participle passive of minuo. In a well-known passage (Orat. 94) Cic. himself calls attention to the theoretical incorrectness of the use, which, however, is found throughout Latin literature. Cf. 46 pocula minuta; also below, 85 minuti philosophi. — malleoli: vine-cuttings; so called because a portion of the parent stem was cut away with the new shoot, leaving the cutting in the shape of a mallet. — plantae: 'suckers', shoots springing out of the trunk. — sarmenta: 'scions', shoots cut from branches not from the trunk. — viviradices: 'quicksets', new plants formed by dividing the roots of the mother plant. — propagines: 'layers', new plants formed by rooting a shoot in the earth without severing it from the parent plant; Verg. Georg. 2, 26. — eadem: n. on 4 eandem. — claviculis: cf. N.D. 2, 120 vites sic claviculis. — ars agricolarum: agricolae arte freti, a strong instance of the abstract put for the concrete.

53. eis: sc. sarmentis, those which have not been pruned away by the knife. — exsistit: 'springs up'. Exsistere in good Latin never has the meaning of our 'exist', i.e. 'to be in existence', but always means 'to come into existence'. — articulos: 'joints'; cf. 51 culmo geniculato. The word tamquam softens the metaphor in articuli, which would properly be used only of the joints in the limbs of animals. — gemma: Cicero took the meaning 'gem' or 'jewel' to be the primary sense of gemma and considered that the application to a bud was metaphorical. See the well-known passages, Orat. 81 and De Or. 3, 155. — vestita pampinis: 'arrayed in the young foliage'. — fructu ... aspectu: ablatives of respect, like gustatu above. — capitum iugatio: 'the linking together of their tops'; i.e. the uniting of the tops of the stakes by cross-stakes. So the editors; but Conington on Verg. Georg. 2, 355 seems to take capita of the top-foliage of the vines, an interpetation which is quite possible. Those editors are certainly wrong who remove the comma after iugatio and place it after religatio, as though et were omitted between the two words. In enumerations of more than two things Cic. either omits the copula altogether or inserts it before each word after the first; but in enumerating two things et cannot be omitted, except where there are several sets or pairs of things. Cf. n. on 13. — religatio: i.e. the tying down of shoots so as to cause them to take root in the earth. Religatio seems to occur only here.

P. 23 — aliorum immissio: 'the granting of free scope to others'. Immissio scarcely occurs elsewhere in good Latin. The metaphor is from letting loose the reins in driving; cf. Verg. Georg. 2, 364; Plin. N.H. 16, 141 cupressus immittitur in perticas asseresque amputatione ramorum; Varro, R.R. 1, 31, 1 vitis immittitur ad uvas pariendas. Some, referring to Columella de Arbor, c. 7, take the word to mean the setting in the earth of a shoot in order that it may take root before being separated from the parent stem. The context, however, is against this interpretation. — irrigationes etc.: the plurals denote more prominently than singulars would the repetition of the actions expressed by these words. — repastinationes: 'repeated hoeings'. The pastinum was a kind of pitchfork, used for turning over the ground round about the vines, particularly when the young plants were being put in. — multo terra fecundior: see n. on 3 parum ... auctoritatis.

54. in eo libro: see Introd. — doctus: often used of poets, not only by Cicero but by most other Latin writers, more particularly by the elegiac poets; see also n. on 13. — Hesiodus: the oldest Greek poet after Homer. The poem referred to here is the Εργα και ‛Ημεραι which we still possess, along with the Theogony and the Shield of Heracles. — cum: concessive. — saeculis: 'generations', as in 24. — fuit: = vixit. — Laerten: the passage referred to is no doubt the touching scene in Odyss. 24, 226, where Odysseus, after killing the suitors, finds his unhappy old father toiling in his garden. In that passage nothing is said of manuring. — lenientem: see n. on 11 dividenti. — colentem etc.: the introduction of another participle to explain lenientem is far from elegant. Cultione agri or something of the kind might have been expected. The collocation of appetentem with occupatum in 56 is no less awkward. — facit: n. on 3 facimus. — res rusticae laetae sunt: 'the farmer's life is gladdened'. — apium: this form is oftener found in the best MSS., of prose writers at least, than the other form apum, which probably was not used by Cic. — omnium: = omnis generis. — consitiones ... insitiones: 'planting ... grafting'. On the varieties of grafting and the skill required for it see Verg. Georg. 2, 73 seq.

55. possum: see n. on 24. — ignoscetis: 'you will excuse (me)'. — provectus sum: 'I have been carried away'. Cicero often uses prolabi in the same sense. — in hac ... consumpsit: Cic. probably never, as later writers did, used consumere with a simple ablative. — Curius: see n. on 15. — a me: = a mea villa; cf. n. on 3 apud quem. — admirari satis non possum: a favorite form of expression with Cicero; e.g. De Or. 1, 165. — disciplinam: 'morals'; literally 'teaching'.

56. Curio: Plutarch, Cat. 2, says the ambassadors found him cooking a dinner of herbs, and that Curius sent them away with the remark that a man who dined in that way had no need of gold. The present was not brought as a bribe, since the incident took place after the war. Curius had become patronus of the Samnites, and they were bringing the customary offering of clientes; see Rep. 3, 40. — ne: here = num, a rare use; so Fin. 3, 44; Acad. 2, 116. — sed venio ad: so in 51 venio nunc ad. Redeo ad (see n. on 32) might have been expected here. — in agris erant: 'lived on their farms'. For erant cf. n. on 21 sunt. — id est senes: cf. 19 n. on senatum. — si quidem: often written as one word siquidem = ειπερ. — aranti: emphatic position. — Cincinnato: L. Quinctius Cincinnatus is said to have been dictator twice; in 458 B.C., when he saved the Roman army, which was surrounded by the Aequians, and ended the war in sixteen days from his appointment; in 439, when Maelius was killed and Cincinnatus was eighty years old. In our passage Cic. seems to assume only one dictatorship. The story of Cincinnatus at the plough is told in Livy 3, 26. — factum: the technical term was dicere dictatorem, since he was nominated by the consul on the advice of the senate. — dictatoris: in apposition with cuius.

P. 24 — Maelium: a rich plebeian, who distributed corn in time of famine and was charged with courting the people in order to make himself a king. Ahala summoned him before the dictator, and because he did not immediately obey, killed him with his own hand. For this, Ahala became one of the heroes of his nation. See Liv. 4, 13. Cicero often mentions him with praise. Cf. in Catil. I. 3; p. Sestio 143, etc. — appetentem: = quia appetebat; so occupatum = cum occupasset. — viatores: literally 'travellers', so 'messengers'. They formed a regularly organized corporation at Rome and were in attendance on many of the magistrates. Those officers who had the fasces had also lictors, who, however, generally remained in close attendance and were not despatched on distant errands. The statement of Cic. in the text is repeated almost verbatim by Plin. N.H. 18, 21. — miserabilis: 'to be pitied'. The word does not quite answer to our 'miserable'. — agri cultione: a rare expression, found elsewhere only in Verr. 3, 226; then not again till the 'Fathers'. — haud scio an nulla: since haud scio an is affirmative in Cicero, not negative as in some later writers, nulla must be read here, not ulla. Cf. 73 haud scio an melius Ennius, 'probably Ennius speaks better'; also 74 incertium an hoc ipso die, 'possibly to-day'. Roby, 2256; G. 459, Rem.; H. 529, II. 3, 20, n. 2. — quam dixi: = de qua dixi, as in 53. — saturitate: the word is said to occur nowhere else in Latin. — quidam: i.e. the authors of the tertia vituperatio senectutis, whom Cato refutes in 39, 59. — porco ... gallina: these words are used collectively, as rosa often is; so Fin. 2, 65 potantem in rosa Thorium. — iam: 'further'. — succidiam alteram: 'a second meat-supply'. The word seems to be connected with caedo, and probably originally meant 'slaughter'. In a fragment of Cato preserved by Gellius 13, 24, 12 (in some editions 13, 25, 12) we find succidias humanas facere. Varro, R.R. 2, 14 has the word in the sense of 'meat'. — conditiora facit: 'adds a zest to'; cf. condita in 10. — supervacaneis operis: 'by the use of spare time'; literally 'by means of toils that are left over', i.e. after completing the ordinary work of the farm.

57. ordinibus: cf. 59 ordines. — brevi praecidam: 'I will cut the matter short', for praecidam (sc. rem or sermonem) cf. Acad. 2, 133 praecide (sc. sermonem); for brevi (= 'in brief', εν βραχει) cf. De Or. 1, 34 ne plura consecter comprehendam brevi. — usu uberius: cf. 53 fructu laetius ... aspectu pulchrius. — ad quem ... retardat: some have thought that there is zeugma here, supposing ad to be suited only to invitat, not to retardat. That this is not the case is clear from such passages as Caes. B.G. 7, 26, 2 palus Romanos ad insequendum tardabat (= tardos faciebat); Cic. Sull. 49 nullius amicitia ad pericula propulsanda impedimur. On fruendum see Madvig, 421, a, Obs. 2 and 265, Obs. 2; G. 428, Rem. 3, exc.; H. 544, 2, n. 5. — invitat atque allectat: one of the 'doublets' of which Cicero is so fond; cf. Lael. 99 allectant et invitant.

58. sibi habeant: sc. iuvenes; contemptuous, as in Lael. 18 sibi habeant sapientiae nomen Sull. 26 sibi haberent honores, sibi imperia etc.; cf. the formula of Roman divorce, tu tuas res tibi habeto. — hastas: in practising, the point was covered by a button, pila; cf. Liv. 26, 51 praepilatis missilibus iaculati sunt. — clavam: cf. Vegetius de Re Mil. 1, 11 clavas ligneas pro gladiis tironibus dabant, eoque modo exercebantur ad palos; Iuv. 6, 246. The palus is called stipes by Martial 7, 32. — pilam ... venationes ... cursus: all national amusements, well known to readers of Horace; see Becker's Gallus. Venationes, em. for nataliones. — talos ... tesseras: tali, 'knucklebones', were oblong, and rounded at the two ends; the sides were numbered 1 and 6 (1 being opposite to 6), 3 and 4. Four tali were used at a time and they, like the tesserae, were generally thrown from a box, fritillus. The tesserae, of which three were used at a time, were cubes, with the sides numbered from 1 to 6 in such a way that the numbers on two opposite sides taken together always made 7. A separate name was used by dicers for almost every possible throw of the tesserae and tali. The two best known are canis, when all the dice turned up with the same number uppermost; and venus, when they all showed different numbers. The word alea was general and applicable to games of chance of every kind. These games, which were forbidden by many ineffectual laws ('vetita legibus alea') were held to be permissible for old men; see Mayor on Iuv. 14, 4. — id ipsum: sc. faciunt; the omission of facere is not uncommon. Roby, 1441; H. 368, 3, n. 1. — ut: em. for ordinary readings unum and utrum.

59. legite: 'continue to read'. Cf. De Or. 1, 34 pergite, ut facitis, adulescentes. In Tusc. 2, 62 it is stated that Africanus was a great reader of Xenophon.

P. 25 — libro qui est de: so in Fat. 1 libris qui sunt de natura deorum, and similarly elsewhere; but the periphrasis is often avoided, as in Off. 2, 16 Dicaearchi liber de interitu hominum. — qui: quique might have been expected, but the words above, qui ... familiari, are regarded as parenthetical. — Oeconomicus: Cicero translates from this work c. 4, 20-25. — inscribitur: see n. on 13. — regale: 'worthy of a king'; different from regium, which would mean 'actually characteristic of kings'. Yet Cic. sometimes interchanges the words; thus regalis potestas in Har. Resp. 54 is the same as regia potestas in Phil. 1, 3. — loquitur cum Critobulo etc.: 'discourses with Critobulus of how Cyrus etc.'. The construction of loqui with acc. and inf. belongs to colloquial Latin, as does the construction loqui aliquam rem for de aliqua re; cf. Att. 1, 5, 6 mecum Tadius locutus est te ita scripsisse; ib. 9, 13, 1 mera scelera loquuntur. — Cyrum minorem: Cyrus the younger (cf. 79 Cyrus maior), well known from Xenophon's Anabasis. As Cyrus never arrived at the throne (having been killed at Cunaxa in 401 in his attempt to oust his brother the king with the help of the 10,000 Greeks) regem is used in the sense of 'prince', as in Verr. 4, 61 and elsewhere; βασιλευς is used in exactly the same way in a passage of the Oeconomicus which comes a little before the one Cic. is here rendering (4, 16). — Lysander: the great commander who in 405 B.C. won the battle of Aegospotamos against the Athenians. — Sardis: acc. pl.; -is represents Gk. -εις. — consaeptum agrum: 'park'; the phrase is a translation of Xenophon's παραδεισον; this will account for the omission of et before diligenter consitum. — diligenter: 'carefully'. — proceritates: the plural probably indicates the height of each kind of tree. — quincuncem: thus :·:·:·:·:·:·: This was the order of battle in the Roman army during a great part of its history. The cause for this application of the term is rather difficult to see; it originally meant five-twelfths of an uncia; possibly it was thus applied because by drawing lines between the points the letter V (five) might be produced. As regards its application to trees, see Verg. Georg. 2, 277-284. — puram: so the farmers talk of 'cleaning' the land. — dimensa: notice the passive use of this participle, originally deponent; cf. n. on 4 adeptam. — discripta: 'arranged'; so discriptio a little farther on. Cf. n. on 5 descriptae. — ornatum: 'costume', used by Latin writers of any dress a little unfamiliar. So in Plaut. Miles 4, 4, 41 (1177 R) ornatus nauclericus.

60. impedit: sc. nos; with this construction the pronoun is always omitted. — Valerium: when a young man, in 349 B.C., he engaged in combat with a Gaul, in sight of the Roman and Gallic armies, and came off victor by the aid of a raven, corvus; hence the name Corvinus (Liv. 7, 26). His first consulship was in 348, his last in 299; Cic. has miscalculated. Valerius was also twice dictator and is said to have held altogether 21 terms of curule offices. — perduxisse: sc. agri colendi studia. Cf. Lael. 33 quod — perduxissent. — esset: cf. n. on 21. — aetate: here = the vigorous period of life; cf. bona aetas in 48. — cursus honorum: 'official career'. — huius: ille and hic are not often found in the same sentence referring to the same person. Eius would have been more regular here. — media: cf. n. on 33 constantis aetatis.

P. 26 — apex: 'the crown', 'the highest glory'. The word meant originally 'knot', being connected with ap-tus ap-isci ap-ere and other words containing the idea of binding fast or grasping. It was properly applied to the olive-twig bound round with wool, which was stuck in the cap worn by the flamines and salii. It is sometimes employed to translate διαδημα (a word originally of similar meaning), the royal insigne, as in Horace, Odes, 3, 21, 20 regum apices, with which cf. Odes, 1, 34, 14. The word is scarcely found elsewhere in a metaphorical sense. Our passage is imitated by Ammianus Marcellinus (a great imitator of Cicero) 27, 7, 2 Rufinus velut apicem honoratae senectutis praetendens.

61. Metello: see n. on 30. — A. Atilio Calatino: consul in 258 B.C. and again in 254; dictator in 249, censor in 247. Cicero classed him with old heroes like Curius and Fabricius (Planc. 60). His tomb was on the via Appia outside the Porta Capena, close to the well-known tomb of the Scipios (see Tusc. 1, 13). — in quem ... elogium: 'in whose honor there is the inscription'. With in quem = de quo cf. the occasional occurrence of κατα τινος in the sense of περι τινος. — elogium: Greek ελεγειον (so Curtius): for the representation of ε by o cf. oliva with ελαια, and Plautus' lopadas for λεπαδας. But cf. Roby, 929, d. — hunc etc.: the inscription (which is quoted by Cicero also in Fin. 2, 116) is strikingly like that on the tomb of Scipio Barbatus which has actually come down to us, and thus begins (Ritschl's recension):