Gellius: NOCTES ATTICAE

I. "Hesterna noctu" rectene an cum vitio dicatur et quaenam super istis verbis grammatica traditio sit; item quod decemviri in XII tabulis "nox" pro "noctu" dixerunt.

I. "Hesterna noctu": whether it is said correctly or with a fault, and what grammatical tradition there is concerning these words; likewise that the decemvirs in the 12 Tables said "nox" in place of "noctu".

II. Quae mihi decem verba ediderit Favorinus, quae usurpentur quidem a Graecis, sed sint adulterina et barbara; quae item a me totidem acceperit, quae ex medio communique usu Latine loquentium minime Latina sint neque in veterum libris reperiantur.

2. The ten words which Favorinus produced for me, which are indeed used by the Greeks, but are adulterine and barbarous; likewise the same number which he received from me, which, though from the common and general usage of Latin-speakers, are scarcely Latin and are not found in the books of the ancients.

III. Quem in modum et quam severe increpuerit audientibus nobis Peregrinus philosophus adulescentem Romanum ex equestri familia stantem segnem apud se et assidue oscitantem. Et adsiduo oscitantem vidit atque illius quidem delicatissimas mentis et corporis halucinationes.

3. How, and how severely, the philosopher Peregrinus rebuked, as we were listening, a Roman youth of equestrian family who was standing slack in his presence and constantly yawning. And he observed him yawning unceasingly, and indeed the most delicate hallucinations of his mind and body.

IV. Quod Herodotus, scriptor historiae memoratissimus, parum vere dixerit unam solamque pinum arborum omnium caesam numquam denuo ex iisdem radicibus pullulare; et quod item de aqua pluviali et nive rem non satis exploratam pro comperta posuerit.

4. That Herodotus, a most memorable writer of history, said not very truly that the pine alone, of all trees, when cut, never again sprouts from the same roots; and that likewise concerning rainwater and snow he set forth as ascertained a matter not sufficiently explored.

V. Quid illud sit, quod Vergilius "caelum stare pulvere", et quod Lucilius "pectus sentibus stare" dixit.

5. What that is, that Vergil said "the sky to stand with dust," and that Lucilius said "the breast to stand with brambles."

VI. Cum post offensiunculas in gratiam redeatur, expostulationes fieri mutuas minime utile esse, superque ea re et sermo Tauri expositus et verba ex Theophrasti libro sumpta; et quid M. quoque Cicero de amore amicitiae senserit, cum ipsius verbis additum.

6. When, after little offenses, one returns into favor, it is by no means useful for mutual expostulations to be made; and moreover on that matter both a discourse of Taurus is set forth and words taken from a book of Theophrastus; and also what Marcus Cicero thought about the love of friendship, with his own words appended.

VII. Ex Aristotelis libro, qui peri mnemes inscriptus est, cognita acceptaque de natura memoriae et habitu; atque inibi alia quaedam de exuberantia aut interitu eius lecta auditaque.

7. From Aristotle’s book, which is inscribed "On Memory" (peri mnemes), things learned and received about the nature of memory and its habit; and therein certain other things read and heard about its exuberance or its extinction.

VIII. Quid mihi usu venerit interpretari et quasi effingere volenti locos quosdam Platonicos Latina oratione.

8. What has come to me in experience, when I wished to interpret and, as it were, effigy certain Platonic passages in Latin oration.

IX. Quod Theophrastus philosophus omnis suae aetatis facundissimus verba pauca ad populum Atheniensem facturus deturbatus verecundia obticuerit; quodque idem hoc Demostheni apud Philippum regem verba facienti evenerit.

9. That Theophrastus the philosopher, the most eloquent of his whole age, when about to address a few words to the Athenian people, disconcerted by modesty fell silent; and that this same thing befell Demosthenes as he was speaking in the presence of King Philip.

X. Qualis mihi fuerit in oppido Eleusino disceptatio cum grammatico quodam praestigioso tempora verborum et puerilia meditamenta ignorante, remotarum autem quaestionum nebulas et formidines capiendis imperitorum animis ostentante.

10. What sort of disputation I had in the town of Eleusis with a certain conjuring grammarian, ignorant of the tenses of verbs and of puerile exercises, but flaunting the mists and bugbears of remote questions for the capturing of the minds of the unskilled.

XI. Quam festive responderit Xanthippae uxori Socrates petenti, ut per Dionysia largiore sumptu cenitarent.

XI. How wittily Socrates replied to his wife Xanthippe, who was requesting that during the Dionysia they should dine with more lavish expense.

XII. Quid significet in veterum libris scriptum "plerique omnes"; et quod ea verba accepta a Graecis videntur.

12. What the written phrase "plerique omnes" signifies in the books of the ancients; and that those words seem to have been accepted from the Greeks.

XIII. "Cupsones", quod homines Afri dicunt, non esse verbum Poenicum, sed Graecum.

13. "Cupsones," which the Africans say, is not a Punic word, but Greek.

XIV. Lepidissima altercatio Favorini philosophi adversus quendam intempestivum de ambiguitate verborum disserentem; atque inibi verba quaedam ex Naevio poeta et Cn. Gellio non usitate collocata; atque ibidem a P. Nigidio origines vocabulorum exploratae.

14. A most delightful altercation of the philosopher Favorinus against a certain unseasonable fellow discoursing about the ambiguity of words; and therein certain words from the poet Naevius and Cn. Gellius collocated in an unusual way; and in the same place the origins (etymologies) of words explored by P. Nigidius.

XV. Quibus modis ignominiatus tractatusque sit a C. Caesare Laberius poeta; atque inibi appositi versus super eadem re eiusdem LaberiI. Historia ex libris Heraclidae Pontici iucunda memoratu et miranda.

15. By what ways the poet Laberius was ignominiously treated by Gaius Caesar; and therein verses appended about the same matter by that same Laberius. A history from the books of Heraclides of Pontus, pleasant to remember and worthy of wonder.