Cicero: PHILOSOPHIA

Principio aetherio flammatus Iuppiter igni
vertitur et totum conlustrat lumine mundum
menteque divina caelum terrasque petessit,
quae penitus sensus hominum vitasque retenta[n]t,
aetheris aeterni saepta atque inclusa cavernis.
Et si stellarum motus cursusque vagantis
nosse velis quae sint signorum in sede locatae,
quae verbo et falsis Graiorum vocibus errant,
re vera certo lapsu spatioque feruntur,
omnia iam cernes divina mente notata.
Nam primum astrorum volucris te consule motus
concursusque gravis stellarum ardore micanti[s]
tu quoque, cum tumulos Albano in monte nivalis
lustrasti et laeto mactasti lacte Latinas,
vidisti et claro tremulos ardore cometas;
multaque misceri nocturna strage putasti,
quod ferme dirum in tempus cecidere Latinae,
cum claram speciem concreto lumine luna
abdidit et subito stellanti nocte perempta est.

In the beginning Jupiter, enflamed with ethereal fire,
turns about and with his light illumines the whole world,
and with divine mind he makes for heaven and for the lands,
things which, deep within, touch the senses and the lives of men,
shut in and enclosed by the caverns of eternal aether.
And if you should wish to know the motions of the stars and the course of the wanderers,
what ones are situated in the seat of the signs,
which in speech and by the Greeks’ false words are said to err,
in truth are borne with a fixed glide and interval,
you will now discern all, marked by a divine mind.
For first, with you as consul, the swift motions of the stars
and the weighty concourse of stars flashing with ardor—
you too, when on snowy Alban Mount you purified the mounds
and with glad milk sacrificed the Latin rites—
you saw comets quivering with bright blaze;
and you thought that many things were being confused with nocturnal slaughter,
because the Latin rites fell at a nearly dire time,
when the Moon hid her bright appearance with congealed light
and suddenly, on a starry night, was quenched.

Quid vero Phoebi fax, tristis nuntia belli,
quae magnum ad columen flammato ardore volabat,
praecipitis caeli partis obitusque petessens?
Aut cum terribili perculsus fulmine civis
luce serenanti vitalia lumina liquit?
Aut cum se gravido tremefecit corpore tellus?

But what of the torch of Phoebus, sad messenger of war,
which with flaming ardor was flying toward the great pole,
making for the precipitous quarter of the sky and the region of setting?
Or when a citizen, struck by a terrible thunderbolt,
with the light growing serene, left his vital lights?
Or when the earth made itself tremble with a gravid body?

Iam vero variae nocturno tempore visae
terribiles formae bellum motusque monebant,
multaque per terras vates oracla furenti
pectore fundebant tristis minitantia casus;
atque ea quae lapsu tandem cecidere vetusto,
haec fore perpetuis signis clarisque frequentans
ipse deum genitor caelo terrisque canebat.
Nunc ea Torquato quae quondam et consule Cotta
Lydius ediderat Tyrrhenae gentis haruspex,
omnia fixa tuus glomerans determinat annus.
Nam pater altitonans stellanti nixus Olympo
ipse suos quondam tumulos ac templa petivit
et Capitolinis iniecit sedibus ignis.

Now indeed various shapes seen in the nocturnal time
terrible forms were warning of war and upheavals,
and many oracles throughout the lands the seers,
with a frenzied breast, were pouring forth, menacing grim misfortunes;
and those things which at last have fallen by an ancient lapse,
these the begetter of the gods himself, reiterating with perpetual and clear signs,
in sky and on lands, was proclaiming would be.
Now those things which once also to Torquatus and to the consul Cotta
the Lydian haruspex of the Tyrrhenian nation had published,
your year, gathering all, determines as fixed.
For the high-thundering father, leaning on starry Olympus,
he himself once made for his own tumuli and temples,
and cast fires upon the Capitoline seats.

Tum species ex aere vetus venerataque Nattae
concidit, elapsaeque vetusto numine leges,
et divom simulacra peremit fulminis ardor.
Hic silvestris erat Romani nominis altrix,
Martia, quae parvos Mavortis semine natos
uberibus gravidis vitali rore rigabat:
quae tum cum pueris flammato fulminis ictu
concidit atque avolsa pedum vestigia liquit.
Tum quis non, artis scripta ac monumenta volutans,
voces tristificas chartis promebat Etruscis?

Then the old and venerated bronze image of Natta
fell, and the laws, their ancient numen elapsed,
and the ardor of the thunderbolt destroyed the simulacra of the gods.
Here was the woodland nurse of the Roman name,
the Martial one, who with teeming udders was sprinkling with vital dew
the little sons begotten by the seed of Mars:
which then, together with the boys, by the flaming stroke of the thunderbolt
fell, and torn away left the footprints of her feet.
Then who, turning over the writings and records of the art,
was not drawing forth sad-making voices from the Etruscan charts?

Omnes civilem generosa[m] stirpe profectam
<vol>vier ingentem Cladem pestemque monebant,
tum legum exitium constanti voce ferebant,
templa deumque adeo flammis urbemque iubebant
eripere et stragem horribilem caedemque vereri;
atque haec fixa gravi fato ac fundata teneri,
ni prius excelsum ad columen formata decore
sancta Iovis species claros spectaret in ortus:
tum fore ut occultos populus sanctusque senatus
cernere conatus posset, si solis ad ortum
conversa inde patrum sedes populique videret.
Haec tardata diu species multumque morata
consule te tandem celsa est in sede locata,
atque una fixi ac signati temporis hora
Iuppiter excelsa clarabat sceptra columna,
et clades patriae flamma ferroque parata
vocibus Allobrogum patribus populoque patebat.
Rite igitur veteres, quorum monumenta tenetis,
qui populos urbisque modo ac virtute regebant,
rite etiam vestri, quorum pietasque fidesque
praestitit et longe vicit sapientia cunctos,
praecipue coluere vigenti numine divos.

All were warning that a civil disaster and pestilence, sprung from a noble stock,
<vol>vier an enormous Ruin and plague; then with a steadfast voice they were declaring the destruction of the laws,
and they were bidding that the temples and even the gods and the city be snatched away by flames,
and that one should fear horrible havoc and slaughter;
and that these things were held fixed by a grave fate and founded,
unless first the holy appearance of Jove, formed with comeliness toward the lofty column,
should look upon the bright risings:
then it would come to pass that the people and the sacred senate
could discern hidden attempts, if from then on it should see the seat of the fathers and of the people turned to the rising of the sun.
This appearance, delayed long and much held back,
under you as consul at last was set in a high seat,
and at the single hour of the fixed and designated time
Jupiter was making his scepters shine from the lofty column,
and the ruin of the fatherland, prepared by flame and iron,
was being laid open to the fathers and the people by the voices of the Allobroges.
Rightly therefore did the ancients, whose monuments you possess,
who governed peoples and cities by method and by virtue,
rightly also your own, whose pietas and good faith
excelled, and whose wisdom far surpassed all,
especially honor the gods with a vigorous numen.

Haec adeo pcnitus cura videre sagaci
otia qui studiis laeti tenuere decoris,
inque Academia umbrifera nitidoque Lyceo
fuderunt claras fecundi pectoris artis.
E quibus ereptum primo iam a flore iuventae
te patria in media virtutum mole locavit.
Tu tamen anxiferas curas requiete relaxans,
quod patriae vacat, id studiis nobisque sacrasti.

These things indeed, those who with sagacious care have seen deeply,
who, glad in decorous studies, have held their leisures,
and in the umbriferous Academy and the gleaming Lyceum
have poured forth the bright arts of a fecund mind.
From among whom, you, snatched already from the first bloom of youth,
your fatherland has placed in the midst of the mass of virtues.
You, however, relaxing anxiety-bearing cares with repose,
what is vacant from the fatherland, that you have consecrated to studies and to us.

De consulatu suo, frg. 6

On His Consulship, frag. 6

Cedant arma togae, concedat laurea laudi!

Let arms yield to the toga, let the laurel yield to praise!

De consulatu suo, frg. 7

On his consulship, frg. 7

O fortunatam natam me consule Romam!

O fortunate Rome, born when I was consul!