Gellius: NOCTES ATTICAE

I. Quamobrem Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius in undevicesimo annali scripserit rectiores certioresque ictus fieri, si sursum quid mittas, quam si deorsum.I. Quintus Claudius in undevicesimo annali, cum oppidum a Metello proconsule oppugnari, contra ab oppidanis desuper e muris propugnari describeret, ita scripsit: "Sagittarius cum funditore utrimque summo studio spargunt fortissime. Sed sagittam atque lapidem deorsum an sursum mittas, hoc interest: nam neutrum potest deorsum versum recte mitti, sed sursum utrumque optime. Quare milites Metelli sauciabantur multo minus et, quod maxime opus erat, a pinnis hostis defendebant facillime." II. Percontabar ego Antonium Iulianum rhetorem, cur hoc ita usu veniret, quod Quadrigarius dixisset, ut contigui magis directioresque ictus fiant, si vel lapidem vel sagittam sursum versus iacias quam deorsum, cum proclivior faciliorque iactus sit ex supernis in infima quam ex infimis in superna.

1. Why Quintus Claudius Quadrigarius in the nineteenth Annal wrote that strikes are straighter and surer if you send something upward rather than downward.1. Quintus Claudius in the nineteenth Annal, when he was describing that a town was being assaulted by the proconsul Metellus, and in turn defended by the townsmen from above, from the walls, wrote thus: "The archer and the slinger on both sides with the utmost zeal let fly most bravely. But whether you send the arrow and the stone downward or upward, this makes a difference: for neither can be sent correctly in a downward direction, but upward both exceedingly well. Wherefore the soldiers of Metellus were being wounded much less and, what was most needful, they were most easily defending themselves from the enemy’s battlements." 2. I was inquiring of Antonius Julianus the rhetor why this so comes about in practice, as Quadrigarius had said, that more close and more straight hits are made if you cast either a stone or an arrow upward rather than downward, although the throw is more downhill and easier from the higher to the lower than from the lower to the higher.

III. Tum Iulianus comprobato genere quaestionis: "quod de sagitta" inquit "et lapide dixit, hoc de omni fere missili telo dici potest. IV. Facilior autem iactus est, sicuti dixisti, si desuper iacias, si quid iacere tantum velis, non ferire.

3. Then Julianus, the kind of question having been approved, said: "What he said about the arrow and the stone can be said about almost every missile weapon. 4. Moreover, the cast is easier, just as you said, if you cast from above, if you wish only to cast something, not to smite."

V. Sed cum modus et impetus iactus temperandus derigendusque est, tum, si in prona iacias, moderatio atque ratio mittentis praecipitantia ipsa et pondere cadentis teli corrumpitur. VI. At si in editiora mittas et ad percutiendum superne aliquid manum et oculos conlinies, quo motus a te datus tulerit, eo telum ibit, quod ieceris." VII. Ad hanc ferme sententiam Iulianus super istis Q. Claudii verbis nobiscum sermocinatus est.

5. But since the measure and impulse of a throw must be tempered and directed, then, if you cast downward, the moderation and method of the thrower are spoiled by the very precipitancy itself and by the weight of the falling missile. 6. But if you send into higher places and, for striking something from above, you align your hand and eyes, whither the motion given by you will have carried, thither the weapon will go which you have thrown." 7. To this purport Julianus about those words of Q. Claudius discoursed with us.

VIII. Quod ait idem Q. Claudius: "a pinnis hostis defendebant facillime" animadvertendum est usum esse eum verbo "defendebant" non ex vulgari consuetudine, sed admodum proprie et Latine. IX. Nam "defendere" et "offendere" inter sese adversa sunt, quorum alterum significat empodon echein, id est incurrere in aliquid et incidere, alterum ekpodon poiein, id est avertere atque depellere, quod hoc in loco a Q. Claudio dicitur.

8. As that same Q. Claudius says: "they most easily kept off the enemy from the battlements," it must be noted that he used the verb "defendebant" not in the vulgar custom, but very properly and in a genuinely Latin way. 9. For "defendere" and "offendere" are opposed to each other, of which the one signifies empodon echein, that is, to run into something and fall upon it, the other ekpodon poiein, that is, to turn aside and drive away— which is what Q. Claudius is saying in this place.

II. Qualibus verbis notarit Herodes Atticus falso quempiam cultu amictuque nomen habitumque philosophi ementientem.I. Ad Herodem Atticum, consularem virum ingenioque amoeno et Graeca facundia celebrem, adiit nobis praesentibus palliatus quispiam et crinitus barbaque prope ad pubem usque porrecta ac petit aes sibi dari eis artous. II. Tum Herodes interrogat, quisnam esset. III.

2. With what words Herodes Atticus branded someone falsely counterfeiting the attire and cloak and the name and habit of a philosopher.1. To Herodes Atticus, a consular man and celebrated for agreeable wit and for Greek eloquence, there came, while we were present, a certain fellow cloaked in a pallium and long‑haired, with a beard stretched almost down to the groin, and he asked that money be given to him for loaves. 2. Then Herodes asks who he was. 3.

Atque ille vultu sonituque vocis obiurgatorio philosophum sese esse dicit et mirari quoque addit, cur quaerendum putasset, quod videret. IV. "Video" inquit Herodes "barbam et pallium, philosophum nondum video. V. Quaeso autem te, cum bona venia dicas mihi, quibus nos uti posse argumentis existimas, ut esse te philosophum noscitemus?" VI. Interibi aliquot ex his, qui cum Herode erant, erraticum esse hominem dicere et nulli rei incolamque esse sordentium ganearum, ac nisi accipiat, quod petit, convicio turpi solitum incessere; atque ibi Herodes: "demus" inquit "huic aliquid aeris, cuicuimodi est, tamquam homines, non tamquam homini", VII.

And he, with a scolding look and sound of voice, says that he is a philosopher and adds that he also wonders why he thought it necessary to ask what he could see. IV. "I see," says Herodes, "the beard and the pallium; I do not yet see a philosopher. V. I beg you, however, with your good leave, tell me by what arguments you think we can make use, so that we may know you to be a philosopher?" VI. Meanwhile several of those who were with Herodes say that the man is a wanderer and good-for-nothing, and an inhabitant of sordid cook-shops, and that unless he receives what he asks, he is wont to assail with foul abuse; and there Herodes: "let us give," he says, "this fellow some coin, whatever sort he is, as human beings, not as to a human being," VII.

et iussit dari pretium panis triginta dierum. VIII. Tum nos aspiciens, qui eum sectabamur: "Musonius" inquit "aeruscanti cuipiam id genus et philosophum sese ostentanti dari iussit mille nummum, et cum plerique dicerent nebulonem esse hominem malum et malitiosum et nulla re bona dignum, tum Musonium subridentem dixisse aiunt: axios oun estin argyriou.

and he ordered the price of bread for thirty days to be given. 8. Then, looking at us who were following him: “Musonius,” he said, “ordered that a thousand coins be given to some copperscraping beggar of that sort, who was exhibiting himself as a philosopher; and when most were saying the man was a ne’er-do-well, an evil and malicious fellow, and worthy of no good thing, then they say Musonius, smiling, said: he is therefore worthy of silver.”

IX. Sed hoc potius" inquit "dolori mihi et aegritudini est, quod istiusmodi animalia spurca atque probra nomen usurpant sanctissimum et philosophi appellantur. X. Maiores autem mei Athenienses nomina iuvenum fortissimorum Harmodii et Aristogitonis, qui libertatis recuperandae gratia Hippiam tyrannum interficere adorsi erant, ne umquam servis indere liceret, decreto publico sanxerunt, quoniam nefas ducerent nomina libertati patriae devota servili contagio pollui. XI. Cur ergo nos patimur nomen philosophiae inlustrissimum in hominibus deterrimis exsordescere?

9. But this rather," he says, "is a pain and a grief to me, that foul animals of this sort and disgraces usurp the most sacred name and are called philosophers. 10. Moreover, my elders the Athenians ordained by public decree that the names of the very brave youths Harmodius and Aristogiton, who, for the sake of recovering liberty, had undertaken to kill Hippias the tyrant, should never be allowed to be given to slaves, since they deemed it nefas that names devoted to the fatherland’s liberty be polluted by servile contagion. 11. Why, then, do we allow the most illustrious name of philosophy to grow threadbare in the worst men?

Simili autem" inquit "exemplo ex contraria specie antiquos Romanorum audio praenomina patriciorum quorundam male de republica meritorum et ob eam causam capite damnatorum censuisse, ne cui eiusdem gentis patricio inderentur, ut vocabula quoque eorum defamata atque demortua cum ipsis viderentur."

"But by a similar example," he said, "of the contrary sort
I hear that the ancients among the Romans decreed that the praenomina of certain patricians who had served ill toward the republic
and for that cause had been condemned to death should not be given to any patrician of the same gens,
so that their very names, defamed and deceased,
might seem to have died along with them."

III. Epistula Philippi regis ad Aristotelem philosophum super Alexandro recens nato.I. Philippus, Amyntae filius, terrae Macedoniae rex, cuius virtute industriaque Macetae locupletissimo imperio aucti gentium nationumque multarum potiri coeperant et cuius vim atque arma toti Graeciae cavenda metuendaque inclitae illae Demosthenis orationes contionesque vocificant, II. is Philippus, cum in omni fere tempore negotiis belli victoriisque adfectus exercitusque esset, a liberali tamen Musa et a studiis humanitatis numquam afuit, quin lepide comiterque pleraque et faceret et diceret. III. Feruntur adeo libri epistularum eius munditiae et venustatis et prudentiae plenarum, velut sunt illae litterae, quibus Aristoteli philosopho natum esse sibi Alexandrum nuntiavit.

3. Letter of King Philip to Aristotle the philosopher concerning Alexander newly born.1. Philip, son of Amyntas, king of the land of Macedonia, by whose virtue and industry the Macetae, increased with a most wealthy empire, had begun to get possession of many peoples and nations, and whose force and arms those famous speeches and popular assemblies of Demosthenes proclaim to all Greece as things to be guarded against and feared, 2. that Philip, although at almost every time he was occupied and exercised with the business of war and with victories, nevertheless was never absent from the liberal Muse and from the studies of humanity, but both did and said most things wittily and affably. 3. So much so, books of his letters are reported, full of neatness, charm, and prudence, as, for instance, those letters by which he announced to Aristotle the philosopher that Alexander had been born to him.

IV. Ea epistula, quoniam curae diligentiaeque in liberorum disciplinas hortamentum est, exscribenda visa est ad commonendos parentum animos. V. Exponenda est igitur ad hanc ferme sententiam: "Philippus Aristoteli salutem dicit. Filium mihi genitum scito.

4. That epistle, since it is an encouragement to care and diligence in the disciplines of children, seemed fit to be copied out to remind the minds of parents. 5. It must therefore be set forth to about this purport: "Philip sends greeting to Aristotle. Know that a son has been begotten to me.

Quod equidem dis habeo gratiam, non proinde quia natus est, quam pro eo, quod eum nasci contigit temporibus vitae tuae. Spero enim fore, ut eductus eruditusque a te dignus exsistat et nobis et rerum istarum susceptione." VI. Ipsius autem Philippi verba haec sunt: Philippos Aristotelei chairein. Isthi moi gegonota hyion.

I indeed have gratitude to the gods, not so much because he has been born, as for this, that it has befallen that he be born in the times of your life.
For I hope that, brought up and educated by you, he may prove worthy both of us and of the undertaking of those matters."
6. But the very words of Philip are these:
Philip to Aristotle, greetings. Know that a son has been born to me.

Pollen oun tois theois echo charin, ouch houtos epi tei genesei tou paidos, hos epi toi kata ten sen helikian auton gegonenai; elpizo gar auton hypo sou traphenta kai paideuthenta axion esesthai kai hemon kai tes ton pragmaton diadoches.

I therefore hold much gratitude to the gods, not so much for the birth of the child, as for this: that he has come to be in your lifetime; for I hope that, having been reared and educated by you, he will be worthy both of us and of the succession to the affairs.

IV. De barbararum gentium prodigiosis miraculis; deque diris et exitiosis effascinationibus; atque inibi de feminis repente versis in mares.I. Cum e Graecia in Italiam rediremus et Brundisium iremus egressique e navi in terram in portu illo inclito spatiaremur, quem Q. Ennius remotiore paulum, sed admodum scito vocabulo "praepetem" appellavit, fasces librorum venalium expositos vidimus. II. Atque ego avide statim pergo ad libros. III.

4. On the prodigious miracles of barbarian nations; and on dire and ruinous bewitchments; and therein on women suddenly turned into males.1. When we were returning from Greece into Italy and were going to Brundisium, and, having gone out from the ship onto the land, were strolling in that famed harbor, which Q. Ennius, with a somewhat more out-of-the-way, but very knowing word, called “praepetem,” we saw bundles of books for sale set out. 2. And I, eagerly, straightway go toward the books. 3.

Erant autem isti omnes libri Graeci miraculorum fabularumque pleni, res inauditae, incredulae, scriptores veteres non parvae auctoritatis: Aristeas Proconnesius et Isigonus Nicaeensis et Ctesias et Onesicritus et Polystephanus et Hegesias; IV. ipsa autem volumina ex diutino situ squalebant et habitu aspectuque taetro erant. V. Accessi tamen percontatusque pretium sum et adductus mira atque insperata vilitate libros plurimos aere pauco emo eosque omnis duabus proximis noctibus cursim transeo; atque in legendo carpsi exinde quaedam et notavi mirabilia et scriptoribus fere nostris intemptata eaque his commentariis aspersi, ut, qui eos lectitabit, is ne rudis omnino et anezoos inter istiusmodi rerum auditiones reperiatur. VI. Erant igitur in illis libris scripta huiuscemodi: Scythas illos penitissimos, qui sub ipsis septentrionibus aetatem agunt, corporibus hominum vesci eiusque victus alimento vitam ducere et anthropophagous nominari; item esse homines sub eadem regione caeli unum oculum in frontis medio habentes, qui appellantur Arimaspi, qua fuisse facie Cyclopas poetae ferunt; alios item esse homines apud eandem caeli plagam singulariae velocitatis vestigia pedum habentes retro porrecta, non, ut ceterorum hominum, prospectantia; praeterea traditum esse memoratumque in ultima quadam terra, quae "Albania" dicitur, gigni homines, qui in pueritia canescant et plus cernant oculis per noctem quam interdiu; item esse compertum et creditum Sauromatas, qui ultra Borysthenen fluvium longe colunt, cibum capere semper diebus tertiis, medio abstinere.

Now all those books were Greek, full of miracles and fables, unheard-of, unbelievable matters, by ancient writers of no small authority: Aristeas of Proconnesus and Isigonus of Nicaea and Ctesias and Onesicritus and Polystephanus and Hegesias; 4. but the volumes themselves, from long-continued neglect, were squalid and were of a grim condition and aspect. 5. I approached, nevertheless, and inquired the price, and, induced by the wondrous and unexpected cheapness, I buy very many books for a little bronze, and I run through them all quickly over the next two nights; and in reading I plucked out from there certain things and noted marvels, for the most part unattempted by our writers, and I sprinkled these commentaries with them, so that whoever will read them often may not be altogether raw and anezoos amid hearings of matters of that sort. 6. There were, then, in those books writings of this kind: that those innermost Scythians, who pass their life under the very North, feed on the bodies of men and sustain life by that diet as nourishment and are named anthropophagous; likewise that there are men under the same region of the sky having a single eye in the middle of the forehead, who are called Arimaspi, with a face such as the poets report the Cyclopes to have had; that there are also other men in the same quarter of the sky of singular velocity, having the footprints of their feet stretched backward, not, as in other men, facing forward; moreover that it has been handed down and recorded that in a certain farthest land which is called “Albania” men are born who in boyhood turn gray and see more with their eyes by night than by day; likewise that it has been ascertained and believed that the Sauromatae, who dwell far beyond the river Borysthenes, take food always on every third day, abstaining in the middle.

VII. Id etiam in isdem libris scriptum offendimus, quod postea in libro quoque Plinii Secundi naturalis historiae septimo legi, esse quasdam in terra Africa hominum familias voce atque lingua effascinantium, qui si impensius forte laudaverint pulchras arbores, segetes laetiores, infantes amoeniores, egregios equos, pecudes pastu atque cultu opimas, emoriantur repente haec omnia nulli aliae causae obnoxia. VIII.

7. We also came upon it written in those same books, which afterwards in the book
also of Pliny the Second, in the seventh of Natural History, I read, that there are certain in
the land of Africa families of men bewitching by voice and tongue, who, if
by chance they have praised too earnestly beautiful trees, more luxuriant crops, more delightful infants,
excellent horses, flocks fattened by pasture and culture, all these things die
suddenly, subject to no other cause. 8.

Oculis quoque exitialem fascinationem fieri in isdem libris scriptum est, traditurque esse homines in Illyriis, qui interimant videndo, quos diutius irati viderint, eosque ipsos mares feminasque, qui visu tam nocenti sunt, pupillas in singulis oculis binas habere. IX. Item esse in montibus terrae Indiae homines caninis capitibus et latrantibus, eosque vesci avium et ferarum venatibus; atque esse item alia aput ultimas orientis terras miracula, homines qui "monocoli" appellentur, singulis cruribus saltuatim currentes, vivacissimae pernicitatis; quosdam etiam esse nullis cervicibus oculos in humeris habentes. X. Iam vero hoc egreditur omnem modum admirationis, quod idem illi scriptores gentem esse aiunt aput extrema Indiae corporibus hirtis et avium ritu plumantibus nullo cibatu vescentem, sed spiritu florum naribus hausto victitantem; Pygmaeos quoque haut longe ab his nasci, quorum qui longissimi sint, non longiores esse quam pedes duo et quadrantem.

It is also written in those same books that a deadly fascination is wrought by the eyes, and it is handed down that there are men in Illyria who kill by looking, those whom, being angry, they have looked at for a longer time; and that those very males and females who are so noxious by their look have double pupils in each eye. 9. Likewise, that in the mountains of the land of India there are men with canine heads who bark, and that they feed on birds and wild beasts by hunting; and that likewise there are other wonders among the farthest lands of the east: men who are called “monocoli,” running by leaps on single legs, of most lively swiftness; and that some have no necks, having their eyes on their shoulders. 10. And now this passes every measure of admiration: the same writers say that there is a people at the extremities of India with bodies shaggy and, in the manner of birds, feathering, feeding on no food, but subsisting by the breath of flowers drawn in through the nostrils; the Pygmies too are born not far from these, of whom those who are the tallest are no taller than two feet and a quarter.

XI. Haec atque alia istiusmodi plura legimus; XII. sed cum ea scriberemus, tenuit nos non idoneae scripturae taedium nihil ad ornandum iuvandumque usum vitae pertinentis. XIII.

11. These and many more of this kind we have read; 12. but when we were writing them, a weariness of not-suitable writing pertaining to nothing for the adorning and aiding of the use of life held us. 13.

Libitum tamen est in loco hoc miraculorum notare id etiam, quod Plinius Secundus, vir in temporibus aetatis suae ingenii dignitatisque gratia auctoritate magna praeditus, non audisse neque legisse, sed scire sese atque vidisse in libro naturalis historiae septimo scripsit. XIV. Verba igitur haec, quae infra posui, ipsius sunt ex eo libro sumpta, quae profecto faciunt, ut neque respuenda neque ridenda sit notissima illa veterum poetarum de Caenide et Caeneo cantilena.

Yet it pleased me in this place of marvels to note also that which
Pliny Secundus, a man in the times of his age endowed with great authority by the favor of his genius and dignity,
wrote that he had not heard nor read, but knew himself and had seen, in the seventh book of Natural History. 14. Therefore these words, which I have set down below, are taken from that book of his,
which assuredly make it so that that most well-known cantilena of the ancient poets about Caenis and Caeneus is neither to be rejected nor to be laughed at.

XV. "Ex feminis" inquit "mutari in mares non est fabulosum. Invenimus in annalibus Q. Licinio Crasso C. Cassio Longino consulibus Casini puerum factum ex virgine sub parentibus iussuque haruspicum deportatum in insulam desertam. Licinius Mucianus prodidit visum esse a se Argis Arescontem, cui nomen Arescusae fuisset, nubsisse etiam, mox barbam et virilitatem provenisse uxoremque duxisse; eiusdem sortis et Zmyrnae puerum a se visum.

15. "From females," he says, "to be changed into males is not a fable. We find in
the annals that, with Quintus Licinius Crassus and Gaius Cassius Longinus as consuls, at Casinum a boy was
made from a virgin, with his parents alive, and by order of the haruspices was deported to a deserted
island. Licinius Mucianus reported that he himself had seen at Argos an Arescon, whose name had been Arescusa, that she had even married, soon a beard and virility
had grown and he took a wife; and a boy of the same sort at Smyrna seen by himself.

Ipse in Africa vidi mutatum in marem die nuptiarum L. Cossitium civem Thysdritanum, vivebatque, cum proderem haec." XVI. Idem Plinius in eodem libro verba haec scripsit: "Gignuntur homines utriusque sexus, quos "hermaphroditos" vocamus, olim "androgynos" vocatos et in prodigiis habitos, nunc vero in deliciis."

I myself in Africa saw L. Cossitius, a citizen of Thysdrus, changed into a male on the wedding day; and he was alive when I published these things."
16. The same Pliny in the same book wrote these words: "Human beings of both sexes are born, whom we call "hermaphrodites," formerly called "androgynes" and held among prodigies, but now indeed among delights."

V. Diversae nobilium philosophorum sententiae de genere ac natura voluptatis; verbaque Hieroclis philosophi, quibus decreta Epicuri insectatus est.I. De voluptate veteres philosophi diversas sententias dixerunt. II. Epicurus voluptatem summum bonum esse ponit; eam tamen ita definit: sarkos eustathes katastema; III. Antisthenes Socraticus summum malum dicit; eius namque hoc verbum est: manein mallon e hesthein.

5. Diverse opinions of noble philosophers concerning the kind and nature of pleasure; and the words of the philosopher Hierocles, with which he attacked the decrees of Epicurus.1. About pleasure the ancient philosophers said diverse opinions. 2. Epicurus sets pleasure as the highest good; yet he thus defines it: "a well-stabilized constitution of the flesh"; 3. Antisthenes, a Socratic, says it is the highest evil; for this is his saying: "to endure rather than to eat."

IV. Speusippus vetusque omnis Academia voluptatem et dolorem duo mala esse dicunt opposita inter sese, bonum autem esse, quod utriusque medium foret. V. Zeno censuit voluptatem esse indifferens, id est neutrum, neque bonum neque malum, quod ipse Graeco vocabulo adiaphoron appellavit. VI. Critolaus Peripateticus et malum esse voluptatem ait et multa alia mala parere ex sese, incurias, desidias, obliviones, ignavias.

4. Speusippus and the whole old Academy say that pleasure and pain are two evils opposed to one another, but that the good is what would be the mean between the two. 5. Zeno judged pleasure to be indifferent, that is neutral, neither good nor evil, which he himself, with the Greek term, called adiaphoron. 6. Critolaus the Peripatetic also says that pleasure is an evil, and that it brings forth from itself many other evils—neglect, idleness, forgetfulness, sloth.

VII. Plato ante hos omnis ita varie et multiformiter de voluptate disseruit, ut cunctae istae sententiae, quas supra posui, videantur ex sermonum eius fontibus profluxisse; nam proinde unaquaque utitur, ut et ipsius voluptatis natura fert, quae est multiplex, et causarum, quas tractat, rerumque, quas efficere vult, ratio desiderat. VIII.

7. Plato before all these discoursed in such varied and multiform ways about pleasure
that all those opinions, which I set above, seem to have flowed forth from the sources of his discourses;
for he uses each one accordingly, both as the nature of pleasure itself bears, which is manifold,
and as the rationale of the causes which he handles and of the things which he wishes to effect requires. 8.

Taurus autem noster, quotiens facta mentio Epicuri erat, in ore atque in lingua habebat verba haec Hieroclis Stoici, viri sancti et gravis: Hedore telos, pornes dogma; ouk estin pronoia, oude pornes dogma.

But our Taurus, whenever mention of Epicurus was made, had on his lips and on his tongue these words of Hierocles the Stoic, a man holy and grave:
“Pleasure the telos—the dogma of a whore; there is no providence—the dogma of a whore.”

VI. Verbum, quod est ab "ago" frequentativum, in syllaba prima quonam sit modulo pronuntiandum.I. Ab eo, quod est "ago" et "egi", verba sunt, quae appellant grammatici "frequentativa", "actito" et "actitavi". II. Haec quosdam non sane indoctos viros audio ita pronuntiare, ut primam in his litteram corripiant, rationemque dicunt, quoniam in verbo principali, quod est "ago", prima littera breviter pronuntiatur. III. Cur igitur ab eo, quod est "edo" et "ungo", in quibus verbis prima littera breviter dicitur, "esito" et "unctito", quae sunt eorum frequentativa, prima littera longa promimus et contra "dictito" ab eo verbo, quod est "dico", correpte dicimus?

6. By what measure the frequentative verb that is from "ago" is to be pronounced in the first syllable.1. From that which is "ago" and "egi" there are verbs which grammarians call "frequentatives," "actito" and "actitavi". 2. I hear certain men, not indeed unlearned, pronounce these so that they shorten the first syllable in them; and they state the rationale, because in the principal verb, which is "ago," the first syllable is pronounced short. 3. Why then from that which is "edo" and "ungo," in which verbs the first syllable is said short, do we pronounce "esito" and "unctito," which are their frequentatives, with the first syllable long, and conversely "dictito" from that verb which is "dico" do we say with a short one?

num ergo potius "actito" et "actitavi" producenda sunt? quoniam frequentativa ferme omnia eodum modo in prima syllaba dicuntur, quo participia praeteriti temporis ex his verbis, unde ea profecta sunt, in eadem syllaba pronuntiantur, sicuti "lego, lectus" facit "lectito"; "ungo, unctus" "unctito"; "scribo, scriptus" "scriptito"; "moveo, motus" "motito"; "pendeo, pensus" "pensito"; "edo, esus" "esito"; "dico" autem "dictus" "dictito" facit; "gero, gestus" "gestito"; "veho, vectus" "vectito"; "rapio, raptus" "raptito"; "capio, captus" "captito"; "facio, factus" "factito". Sic igitur "actito" producte in prima syllaba pronuntiandum, quoniam ex eo fit, quod est "ago" et "actus".

Therefore, should "actito" and "actitavi" rather be lengthened? since almost all frequentatives are said in the first syllable in the same way in which the past participles from those verbs, whence they have proceeded, are pronounced in the same syllable, just as "lego, lectus" makes "lectito"; "ungo, unctus" "unctito"; "scribo, scriptus" "scriptito"; "moveo, motus" "motito"; "pendeo, pensus" "pensito"; "edo, esus" "esito"; but "dico" "dictus" makes "dictito"; "gero, gestus" "gestito"; "veho, vectus" "vectito"; "rapio, raptus" "raptito"; "capio, captus" "captito"; "facio, factus" "factito". Thus, therefore, "actito" must be pronounced with the first syllable lengthened, since it is formed from that which is "ago" and "actus".

VII. De conversione foliorum in arbore olea brumali et solstitiali die: deque fidibus id temporis ictu alieno sonantibus.I. Volgo et scriptum et creditum est folia olearum arborum brumali et solstitiali die converti et quae pars eorum fuerit inferior atque occultior, eam supra fieri atque exponi ad oculos et ad solem. II. Quod nobis quoque semel atque iterum experiri volentibus ita esse propemodum visum est. III.

7. On the conversion of leaves in the olive-tree on the brumal and solstitial day: and on strings at that time sounding by a foreign stroke.1. Commonly it has been both written and believed that the leaves of olive-trees on the brumal and the solstitial day are converted, and that the part of them which had been lower and more hidden becomes upper and is exposed to the eyes and to the sun. 2. Which, we too, wishing to make trial once and again, saw to be pretty nearly so. 3.

Sed de fidibus rarius dictu et mirabilius est; quam rem et alii docti viri et Suetonius etiam Tranquillus in libro ludicrae historiae primo satis compertam esse satisque super ea constare adfirmat: nervias in fidibus brumali die alias digitis pelli, alias sonare.

But about the strings it is rarer to say and more marvelous: which matter both other learned men and Suetonius also, Tranquillus, in the first book of the Ludic History, affirms to have been sufficiently ascertained and that more than enough stands established concerning it: that the gut-strings on stringed instruments on the brumal day are at one time struck by the fingers, at another time sound of themselves.

VIII. Necessum esse, qui multa habeat, multis indigere; deque ea re Favorini philosophi cum brevitate eleganti sententia.I. Verum est profecto, quod observato rerum usu sapientes viri dixere, multis egere, qui multa habeat, magnamque indigentiam nasci non ex inopia magna, sed ex magna copia: multa enim desiderari ad multa, quae habeas, tuenda. II. Quisquis igitur multa habens cavere atque prospicere velit, ne quid egeat neve quid desit, iactura opus esse, non quaestu, et minus habendum esse, ut minus desit. III.

8. That it is necessary that he who has many things need many; and on that matter a maxim of the philosopher Favorinus with elegant brevity.1. It is truly the case, as wise men have said from observing the usage of affairs, that he who has many things needs many things, and that great indigence is born not from great want, but from great copiousness: for many things are desired for the keeping of the many things you possess. 2. Whoever therefore, having many things, wishes to be cautious and to provide that he lack nothing and that nothing be missing, there is need of expenditure, not of profit, and one must have less, so that less be lacking. 3.

Hanc sententiam memini a Favorino inter ingentes omnium clamores detornatam inclusamque verbis his paucissimis: Ton gar myrion kai pentakischilion chlamydon deomenon ouk esti me pleionon deisthai; ois gar echo prosdeomenos, aphelon hon echo, arkoumai ois echo.

I remember this sentiment from Favorinus, amid the immense clamors of all, turned and enclosed in these very few words:
For the man who needs ten thousand and five thousand cloaks cannot but need more;
for, needing the things which I have, by taking away what I have, I am satisfied with what I have.

IX. Quis modus sit vertendi verba in Graecis sententiis; deque his Homeri versibus, quos Vergilius vertisse aut bene apteque aut inprospere existimatus est.I. Quando ex poematis Graecis vertendae imitandaeque sunt insignes sententiae, non semper aiunt enitendum, ut omnia omnino verba in eum, in quem dicta sunt, modum vertamus. II. Perdunt enim gratiam pleraque, si quasi invita et recusantia violentius transferantur. III.

9. What the method should be for translating words in Greek sentences; and about those verses of Homer which Vergil was judged to have translated either well and aptly or unsuccessfully.1. Whenever notable sententiae are to be translated and imitated from Greek poems, they say one must not always strive to turn absolutely all the words into that very mode in which they were expressed. 2. For most things lose their grace, if, as though unwilling and refusing, they are transferred too violently. 3.

Scite ergo et considerate Vergilius, cum aut Homeri aut Hesiodi aut Apollonii aut Parthenii aut Callimachi aut Theocriti aut quorundam aliorum locos effingeret, partem reliquit, alia expressit. IV. Sicuti nuperrime aput mensam cum legerentur utraque simul Bucolica Theocriti et Vergilii, animadvertimus reliquisse Vergilium, quod Graecum quidem mire quam suave est, verti autem neque debuit neque potuit. V. Sed enim, quod substituit pro eo, quod omiserat, non abest, quin iucundius lepidiusque sit: ballei kai maloisi ton aipolon ha Klearista tas aigas parelanta kai hady ti poppyliazei, - VI. malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella, et fugit ad salices et se cupit ante videri.

Therefore, Vergil, skillfully and with consideration, whenever he would fashion passages of either Homer or Hesiod or Apollonius or Parthenius or Callimachus or Theocritus or certain others, left a part, expressed other parts. 4. Just as very recently, at table, when both the Bucolics of Theocritus and of Vergil were being read together, we noticed that Vergil had left out what in Greek indeed is wondrously sweet, but neither ought to have been nor could have been translated. 5. But what he put in place of what he had omitted is not far from being more pleasant and more charming:
she pelts the goatherd with apples, that Clearista, as he passes by leading the she-goats, and she makes some sweet little kissing sound, -
6. with an apple Galatea assails me, a lascivious girl, and she flees to the willows and desires to be seen beforehand.

VII. Illud quoque alio in loco animadvertimus caute omissum, quod est in Graeco versu dulcissimum: Tityr', emin to kalon pephilemene, boske tas aigas kai poti tan kranan age, Tityre; kai ton enorchan ton Libykon knakona phylasseo, me ty kophypsei. VIII.

7. We also noticed in another place that this, which in the Greek verse is most sweet, was cautiously omitted:
“Tityrus, my fair dear, feed the goats,
and lead them toward the spring, Tityrus; and beware the horned
Libyan beetle, lest it nip you.” 8.

Quo enim pacto diceret: to kalon pephilemene, verba hercle non translaticia, sed cuiusdam nativae dulcedinis? IX. Hoc igitur reliquit et cetera vertit non infestiviter, nisi quod "caprum" dixit, X. quem Theocritus enorchan appellavit - auctore enim M. Varrone is demum Latine "caper" dicitur, qui excastratus est -: XI. Tityre, dum redeo, brevis est via, pasce capellas et potum pastas age, Tityre, et inter agendum occursare capro, cornu ferit ille, caveto. XII.

For by what method would he say: "to kalon pephilemene," words, by Hercules, not traditional, but of a certain native sweetness? 9. Therefore he left this and translated the rest not inelegantly, except that he said "he-goat," 10. which Theocritus called enorchan - for, with M. Varro as authority, only he is called in Latin "caper" who has been unmanned -: 11. Tityrus, while I return, the way is short, pasture the she-goats
and drive, when pastured, to drink, Tityrus, and, in the driving,
avoid running into the he-goat; he strikes with his horn; beware. 12.

Et quoniam de transferendis sententiis loquor, memini audisse me ex Valerii Probi discipulis, docti hominis et in legendis pensitandisque veteribus scriptis bene callidi, solitum eum dicere nihil quicquam tam inprospere Vergilium ex Homero vertisse quam versus hos amoenissimos, quos de Nausicaa Homerus fecit: hoe d'Artemis eisi kat'oureos iocheaira, e kata Teygeton perimeketon e Erymanthon terpomene kaproisi kai okeieis elaphoisin; tei de th'hama nymphai, kourai Dios aigiochoio, agronomoi paizousi; gegethe de te phrena Leto; pasaon d'hyper he ge kare echei ede metopa, rheia d'arignote peletai, kalai de te pasai - XIII. qualis in Eurotae ripis aut per iuga Cynthi exercet Diana choros, quam mille secutae hinc atque hinc glomerantur Oriades. Illa pharetram fert humero gradiensque deas supereminet omnis.

And since I am speaking about transferring sentences, I remember that I heard from the disciples of Valerius Probus, a learned man and well skilled in reading and weighing ancient writings, that he used to say that in nothing at all had Vergil translated from Homer so unhappily as these most delightful verses, which Homer made about Nausicaa:
but Artemis goes down from the mountain, the arrow-shooter,
either along very-long Taygetus or Erymanthus,
delighting in boars and in swift deer;
and with her the nymphs, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus,
field-ranging, play; and Leto rejoices in her mind;
and above all of them she holds her head and brow,
and she becomes easily very-noticeable, and yet all are fair— 13. just as on the banks of the Eurotas or over the ridges of Cynthus
Diana exercises her choruses, whom, a thousand having followed,
on this side and that the Oreads are massing in a cluster. She bears her quiver
on her shoulder, and as she steps she overtops all the goddesses.

Latonae tacitum pertemptant gaudia pectus. XIV. Primum omnium id visum esse dicebant Probo, quod aput Homerum quidem virgo Nausicaa ludibunda inter familiares puellas in locis solis recte atque commode confertur cum Diana venante in iugis montium inter agrestes deas, nequaquam autem conveniens Vergilium fecisse, quoniam Dido in urbe media ingrediens inter Tyrios principes cultu atque incessu serio, "instans operi", sicut ipse ait, "regnisque futuris", nihil eius similitudinis capere possit, quae lusibus atque venatibus Dianae congruat; XV. tum postea, quod Homerus studia atque oblectamenta in venando Dianae honeste aperteque dicit, Vergilius autem, cum de venatu deae nihil dixisset, pharetram tantum facit eam ferre in humero, tamquam si onus et sarcinam; atque illud impense Probum esse demiratum in Vergilio dicebant, quod Homerica quidem Leto gaudium gaudeat genuinum et intimum atque in ipso penetrali cordis et animae vigens, siquidem non aliud est: gegethe de te phrena Leto, ipse autem imitari hoc volens gaudia fecerit pigra et levia et cunctantia et quasi in summo pectore supernantia; nescire enim sese, quid significaret aliud "pertemptant"; XVI.

Joys thoroughly thrill the silent breast of Latona. 14. First of all, they said this seemed to Probus: that in Homer indeed the maiden Nausicaa, playing among her familiar girls in solitary places, is rightly and suitably compared with Diana hunting on the ridges of mountains among rustic goddesses; by no means, however, did Vergil do what was fitting, since Dido, advancing in the middle of the city among Tyrian princes with serious attire and gait, “pressing on the task,” as he himself says, “and on the kingdoms to come,” can take nothing of that likeness which suits Diana’s games and huntings; 15. then afterwards, because Homer states openly and honorably the pursuits and delights of Diana in hunting, whereas Vergil, when he had said nothing about the goddess’s hunting, merely makes her carry a quiver on her shoulder, as if a load and a pack; and they said that Probus marveled greatly at this in Vergil, that the Homeric Leto rejoices with joy genuine and inmost and flourishing in the very inner sanctuary of heart and soul, since it is nothing other than: “and Leto rejoiced in her mind,” but he himself, wishing to imitate this, made the joys sluggish and light and delaying and, as it were, floating on the surface of the breast; for he did not know, he said, what else “pertemptant” signified; 16.

praeter ista omnia florem ipsius totius loci Vergilium videri omisisse, quod hunc Homeri versum exigue secutus sit: rheia d'arignoton peletai, kalai de te pasai, XVII. quando nulla maior cumulatiorque pulcritudinis laus dici potuerit, quam quod una inter omnis pulcras excelleret, una facile ex omnibus nosceretur.

besides all those things, Virgil seems to have omitted the flower of the passage itself as a whole, because he followed this verse of Homer exiguously:
rheia d'arignoton peletai, kalai de te pasai,
17. since no greater or more cumulate praise of pulchritude could be said than that she alone among all the fair excelled, that she alone was easily recognized out of all.

X. Quod Annaeus Cornutus versus Vergilii, quibus Veneris et Vulcani concubitum pudice operteque dixit, reprehensione spurca et odiosa inquinavit.I. Annianus poeta et plerique cum eo eiusdem Musae viri summis adsiduisque laudibus hos Vergilii versus ferebant, quibus Volcanum et Venerem iunctos mixtosque iure coniugii, rem lege naturae operiendam, verecunda quadam translatione verborum, cum ostenderet demonstraretque, protexit. II. Sic enim scripsit: ea verba locutus optatos dedit amplexus placidumque petivit coniugis infusus gremio per membra soporem. III.

10. How Annaeus Cornutus, by foul and odious censure, befouled the verses of Vergil in which he said modestly and covertly the concubitus of Venus and Vulcan.1. The poet Annianus and many men with him of the same Muse were bearing with highest and continual praises these verses of Vergil, in which, when he set forth and demonstrated Vulcan and Venus joined and mingled by the right of marriage—a matter that by the law of nature ought to be covered—he veiled it by a certain modest transference of words. 2. For thus he wrote: having spoken these words he gave the desired embraces and sought placid sleep, poured into the bosom of his spouse along his limbs. 3.

Minus autem difficile esse arbitrabantur in istiusmodi re digerenda verbis uti uno atque altero brevi tenuique eam signo demonstrantibus, sicut Homerus dixerit parthenien zonen et lektroio thesmon et erga philotesia, IV. tot vero et tam evidentibus ac tamen non praetextatis, sed puris honestisque verbis venerandum illud concubii pudici secretum neminem quemquam alium dixisse. V. Sed Annaeus Cornutus, homo sane pleraque alia non indoctus neque inprudens, in secundo tamen librorum, quos de figuris sententiarum conposuit, egregiam totius istius verecundiae laudem insulsa nimis et odiosa scrutatione violavit. VI. Nam cum genus hoc figurae probasset et satis circumspecte factos esse versus dixisset: " "membra" tamen" inquit "paulo incautius nominavit."

They thought it, however, less difficult, in setting forth a matter of that sort, to use words that, by one or another brief and slender sign, indicate it, just as Homer has said parthenien zonen and lektroio thesmon and erga philotesia,
4. but that no one else had spoken, with so many and so evident and yet not cloaked but pure and honest words, that venerable secret of modest concubitus. 5. But Annaeus Cornutus, a man indeed in most other things not unlearned nor imprudent, yet in the second of the books which he composed on figures of thought, violated the distinguished praise of all that modesty by an overly tasteless and odious rummaging. 6. For when he had approved this kind of figure and had said that the verses had been made quite circumspectly: "‘limbs,’ however," he said, "he named a little too incautiously."

XI. De Valerio Corvino; et unde Corvinus. I. De Maximo Valerio, qui Corvinus appellatus est ob auxilium propugnationemque corvi alitis, haut quisquam est nobilium scriptorum, qui secus dixerit. II. Ea res prorsus admiranda sic profecto est in libris annalibus memorata: III.

XI. On Valerius Corvinus; and whence “Corvinus”. I. About Valerius Maximus, who was called Corvinus on account of the aid and defense of a crow, there is no one of the noble writers who has said otherwise. II. That matter, altogether admirable, is indeed thus recorded in the annal-books: III.

Adulescens tali genere editus L. Furio Claudio Appio consulibus fit tribunus militaris. IV. Atque in eo tempore copiae Gallorum ingentes agrum Pomptinum insederant, instruebanturque acies a consulibus de vi ac multitudine hostium satis agentibus. V. Dux interea Gallorum vasta et ardua proceritate armisque auro praefulgentibus grandia ingrediens et manu telum reciprocans incedebat perque contemptum et superbiam circumspiciens despiciensque omnia venire iubet et congredi, si quis pugnare secum ex omni Romano exercitu auderet.

As a young man born of such a lineage, when L. Furius and Appius Claudius were consuls, he became a military tribune. 4. And at that time immense forces of the Gauls had occupied the Pomptine territory, and the battle lines were being arrayed by the consuls, who were making adequate provision in view of the force and multitude of the enemy. 5. Meanwhile the leader of the Gauls, of vast and towering height, and with arms refulgent with gold, advancing with a grand gait and brandishing a weapon in his hand, was striding about; and, out of contempt and arrogance, looking around and looking down on everything, he orders them to come and to engage, if anyone from the whole Roman army should dare to fight with him.

VI. Tum Valerius tribunus ceteris inter metum pudoremque ambiguis impetrato prius a consulibus ut in Gallum tam inmaniter adrogantem pugnare sese permitterent, progreditur intrepide modesteque obviam; et congrediuntur et consistunt, et conserebantur iam manus, atque ibi vis quaedam divina fit: VII. corvus repente inprovisus advolat et super galeam tribuni insistit atque inde in adversari os atque oculos pugnare incipit; insilibat, obturbabat et unguibus manum laniabat et prospectum alis arcebat atque, ubi satis saevierat, revolabat in galeam tribuni. VIII.

6. Then Valerius the tribune, while the rest were wavering between fear and shame, first having obtained from the consuls permission that he be allowed to fight against the Gaul so monstrously arrogant, advances to meet him fearlessly and modestly; and they come together and stand, and their hands were already being joined, and then a certain divine force occurs: 7. a raven, suddenly unforeseen, flies in and perches upon the tribune’s helmet, and from there begins to fight at his adversary and at his eyes; it would leap upon him, throw him into confusion, and with its talons was mangling his hand and with its wings was shutting off his view, and, when it had raged enough, it would fly back to the tribune’s helmet. 8.

Sic tribunus spectante utroque exercitu et sua virtute nixus et opera alitis propugnatus ducem hostium ferocissimum vicit interfecitque atque ob hanc causam cognomen habuit Corvinus. IX. Id factum est annis quadringentis quinque post Romam conditam. X. Statuam Corvino isti divus Augustus in foro suo statuendam curavit.

Thus the tribune, with both armies looking on, relying on his own virtue and defended by the work of the bird, conquered and slew the most ferocious leader of the enemies, and for this cause he had the cognomen Corvinus. 9. This happened 405 years after Rome was founded. 10. The deified Augustus took care that a statue of Corvinus be set up in his forum.

In eius statuae capite corvi simulacrum est rei pugnaeque, quam diximus, monimentum.

On the head of his statue there is a simulacrum of a raven, a monument of the matter and the battle, which we have mentioned.

XII. De verbis, quae in utramque partem significatione adversa et reciproca dicuntur.I. Vt "formidulosus" dici potest et qui formidat et qui formidatur, ut "invidiosus" et qui invidet et cui invidetur, ut "suspiciosus" et qui suspicatur et qui suspectus est, ut "ambitiosus" et qui ambit et qui ambitur, ut item "gratiosus" et qui adhibet gratias et qui admittit, ut "laboriosus" et qui laborat et qui labori est, ut pleraque alia huiuscemodi in utramque partem dicuntur, ita "infestus" quoque ancipiti significatione est. II. Nam et is "infestus" appellatur, qui malum infert cuipiam, et contra, cui aliunde impendet malum, is quoque "infestus" dicitur. III.

12. On words which are said with an adverse and reciprocal signification in either direction.1. Just as "formidulosus" can be said both of him who fears and of him who is feared, so "invidiosus" both of him who envies and of him who is envied, so "suspiciosus" both of him who suspects and of him who is suspected, so "ambitiosus" both of him who canvasses and of him who is canvassed, so likewise "gratiosus" both of him who bestows favors and of him who is admitted, so "laboriosus" both of him who labors and of that which is a labor, as very many other things of this kind are said in either direction, so "infestus" also has a twofold signification. 2. For both he is called "infestus" who brings evil upon someone, and, conversely, he upon whom evil impends from elsewhere is also called "infestus." 3.

Sed quod prius posui, profecto exemplis non indiget: sic adeo multi locuntur, ut "infestum" dicant inimicum atque adversum; alterum autem illud ignorabilius obscuriusque est. IV. Quis enim e medio facile dixerit infestum esse, cui alter infestus est? Sed et veteres plerique ita dixerunt, et M. Tullius in oratione, quam Pro Cn. Plancio scripsit, vocabulo hoc sic usus est: V. "Dolebam" inquit "iudices, et acerbe ferebam, si huius salus ob eam ipsam causam esset infestior, quod is meam salutem atque vitam sua benivolentia praesidio custodiaque texisset." VI. Nos igitur de origine et ratione verbi quaerebamus atque ita in Nigidianis scriptum invenimus: "Infestum" a festinando dictum; nam qui instat" inquit "alicui eumque properans urget opprimereque eum studet festinatque, aut contra de cuius periculo et exitio festinatur, is uterque "infestus" dicitur ab instantia atque imminentia fraudis, quam vel facturus cuipiam vel passurus est." VII.

But the former point I put first surely has no need of examples: so many speak thus, that they call "infestus" an enemy and adverse; but that other meaning is more little-known and more obscure. 4. For who from the common crowd would easily say that the one is "infestus," to whom another is "infestus"? But most of the ancients spoke thus, and M. Tullius in the speech which he wrote For
Cn. Plancius used this word thus:
5. "I was grieving," he says, "judges, and I was bearing it bitterly, if this man's safety for that
very cause were more endangered, because he had covered my safety and life with his
benevolence, protection, and guardianship."
6. We therefore were inquiring about the origin and the rationale of the word, and thus in the
Nigidian writings we found it written: '"Infestus" is said from hastening; for he who
presses upon," he says, "someone, and, hurrying, urges him and strives to crush him and
hastens, or, conversely, about whose peril and destruction there is hastening, each of these
is called "infestus" from the instantness and the imminence of harm, which he is either going to do
to someone or going to suffer."
7.

Ne quis autem de "suspicioso", quod supra posuimus, et de "formiduloso" in eam partem, quae minus usitata est, exemplum requirat, inveniet de "suspicioso" aput M. Catonem de re Floria ita scriptum: "Sed nisi qui palam corpore pecuniam quaereret aut se lenoni locavisset, etsi famosus et suspiciosus fuisset, vim in corpus liberum non aecum censuere adferri." VIII. "Suspiciosum" enim Cato hoc in loco suspectum significat, non suspicantem. IX. "Formidulosum" autem, qui formidetur, Sallustius in Catilina ita dicit: "Igitur talibus viris non labor insolitus, non locus ullus asper aut arduus erat, non armatus hostis formidulosus." X. Item C. Calvus in poematis "laboriosus" dicit, non, ut vulgo dicitur, qui laborat, sed in quo laboratur.

Lest, however, anyone should require an example of “suspicious” and of “formidulous” in that sense which is less customary, he will find concerning “suspicious” with M. Cato, on the matter of Floria, thus written: “But unless someone openly sought money with his body or had hired himself out to a pimp, even if he had been notorious and ‘suspicious’ (i.e., suspect), they judged it not equitable for force to be applied to a free body.” 8. For Cato in this passage signifies by “suspicious” one who is suspected, not one who is suspecting. 9. As for “formidulous,” meaning one who is feared, Sallust in the Catiline says thus: “Therefore for such men neither unusual labor nor any place at all rough or steep was a problem, nor was an armed enemy formidable.” 10. Likewise C. Calvus in his poems says “laborious,” not, as is commonly said, of one who labors, but of that on which labor is expended.

"durum" inquit "rus fugis et laboriosum." XI. Eadem ratione Laberius quoque in Sororibus: "ecastor" inquit "mustum somniculosum", XII. et Cinna in poematis: somniculosam ut Poenus aspidem Psyllus. XIII.

"hard," he says, "you flee the countryside and the laborious." 11. By the same reasoning Laberius also in The Sisters: "by Castor," he says, "somnolent must," 12. and Cinna in his poems: "somnolent, as the Carthaginian Psyllus [makes] the asp." 13.

"Metus" quoque et "iniuria" atque alia quaedam id genus sic utroqueversum dici possunt: nam "metus hostium" recte dicitur, et cum timent hostes et cum timentur. XIV. Itaque Sallustius in historia prima "metum Pompei" dixit, non quo Pompeius metueret, quod est usitatius, sed quo metueretur.

"Fear" also and "injury," and certain others of that kind, can be said both ways: for "fear of the enemies" is rightly said, both when the enemies fear and when they are feared. 14. And so Sallust, in the first history, said "the fear of Pompey," not whereby Pompey was fearing, which is more usual, but whereby he was feared.

Verba haec Sallusti sunt: "Id bellum excitabat metus Pompei victoris Hiempsalem in regnum restituentis." XV. Item alio in loco: "Postquam remoto metu Punico simultates exercere vacuum fuit." XVI. "Iniurias" itidem dicimus tam illorum, qui patiuntur, quam qui faciunt, quarum dictionum exempla sunt facilia inventu. XVII.

These words are Sallust’s: “That war was being excited by the fear of Pompey the victor, who was restoring Hiempsal into his kingdom.”
15. Likewise in another place: “After the Punic fear had been removed, it was free to exercise rivalries.”
16. We likewise say “injuries” both of those who suffer them and of those who do them, examples of which locutions are easy to find. 17.

Illud etiam dictum a Vergilio eandem habet formam communicatae ultro et citro significationis: "et vulnere" inquit "tardus Vlixi", cum diceret vulnus, non quod accepisset Vlixes, sed quod dedisset. XVIII. "Nescius" quoque dicitur tam is, qui nescitur, quam qui nescit.

That saying too by Vergil has the same form of a signification shared both ways: "et vulnere" he says "tardus Vlixi", when he said "wound," not the one which Ulysses had received, but the one which he had given. 18. "Nescius" likewise is said both of him who is not known and of him who does not know.

XIX. Sed super eo, qui nescit, frequens huius vocabuli usus est, infrequens autem est de eo, quod nescitur. XX. "Ignarus" aeque utroqueversum dicitur non tantum qui ignorat, set et qui ignoratur.

19. But with respect to him who does not know, the use of this word is frequent, infrequent
however is its use concerning that which is not known. 20. "Ignarus" likewise is said both ways, not only of him who is ignorant, but also
of him who is ignored.

XXI. Plautus in Rudente: quae in locis nesciis nescia spe sumus. XXII.

21. Plautus in the Rudens: how in unknown places we are nescient of hope. 22.

Sallustius: "More humanae cupidinis ignara visendi." Vergilius: ignarum Laurens habet ora Mimanta.

Sallust: "In the manner of human cupidity, unknowing of seeing." Vergil:
the Laurentine shore holds Mimas, unknowing.

XIII. Verba ex historia Claudi Quadrigari, quibus Manli Torquati, nobilis adulescentis, et hostis Galli provocatoris pugnam depinxit.I. Titus Manlius summo loco natus adprimeque nobilis fuit. II. Ei Manlio cognomentum factum est Torquatus. III.

13. Words from the history of Claudius Quadrigarius, in which he painted the combat of Manlius Torquatus, a noble young man, and of the Gallic enemy challenger.1. Titus Manlius was born of the highest station and was very noble. 2. For that Manlius the cognomen Torquatus was given. 3.

Causam cognomenti fuisse accepimus torquis ex auro induvias, quam ex hoste, quem occiderat, detractam induit. IV. Sed quis hostis et quid genus, quam formidandae vastitatis et quantum insolens provocator et cuimodi fuerit pugna decertatum, Q. Claudius primo annalium purissime atque inlustrissime simplicique et incompta orationis antiquae suavitate descripsit. V. Quem locum ex eo libro philosophus Favorinus cum legeret, non minoribus quati adficique animum suum motibus pulsibusque dicebat, VI. quam si ipse coram depugnantes eos spectaret.

We have received that the cause of the cognomen was a torque of gold as spoil, which, stripped from the enemy whom he had slain, he put on.
4. But what the enemy was and of what stock, of how to-be-feared vastness and how insolent a provocator, and of what kind the fight in which the issue was decided, Q. Claudius in the first book of his Annals has described most purely and most luminously, and with the simple and unadorned sweetness of ancient oration.
5. Which passage, when the philosopher Favorinus was reading from that book, he said that his mind was being shaken and affected by no lesser stirrings and pulses,
6. than if he himself were seeing them fighting it out face to face.

VII. Verba Q. Claudi, quibus pugna ista depicta est, adscripsi: "Cum interim Gallus quidam nudus praeter scutum et gladios duos torque atque armillis decoratus processit, qui et viribus et magnitudine et adulescentia simulque virtute ceteris antistabat. VIII.

7. The words of Q. Claudius, by which that fight was depicted, I have appended: "When
meanwhile a certain Gaul, naked except for a shield and two swords, adorned with a torque and
armlets, advanced, who both in strength and in size and in youth
and likewise in valor surpassed the rest. 8.

Is maxime proelio commoto atque utrisque summo studio pugnantibus manu significare coepit utrisque, quiescerent. IX. Pugnae facta pausa est. X. Extemplo silentio facto cum voce maxima conclamat, si quis secum depugnare vellet, uti prodiret.

He, with the battle greatly stirred and both sides fighting with the utmost zeal,
began to signal by hand to both that they should be quiet. 9. A pause of the fight was made. 10. Straightway, silence having been made, with a very great voice he shouts that, if anyone wished to fight it out with him, he should come forth.

XI. Nemo audebat propter magnitudinem atque inmanitatem facies. XII. Deinde Gallus inridere coepit atque linguam exsertare.

11. No one dared on account of the size and the monstrousness of his appearance. 12. Then the Gaul began to deride and to stick out his tongue.

XIII. Id subito perdolitum est cuidam Tito Manlio, summo genere gnato, tantum flagitium civitati adcidere, e tanto exercitu neminem prodire. XIV.

13. That suddenly pained to the quick a certain Titus Manlius, born of the highest lineage, that so great a disgrace should befall the state, that out of so great an army no one should come forth. 14.

Is, ut dico, processit neque passus est virtutem Romanam ab Gallo turpiter spoliari. Scuto pedestri et gladio Hispanico cinctus contra Gallum constitit. XV. Metu magno ea congressio in ipso ponti utroque exercitu inspectante facta est.

He, as I say, advanced and did not allow Roman virtue to be shamefully despoiled by the Gaul.
Girded with an infantry shield and a Spanish sword, he took his stand against the Gaul.
15. With great fear that encounter took place on the very bridge, with both armies looking on.

XVI. Ita, ut ante dixi, constiterunt: Gallus sua disciplina scuto proiecto cantabundus; Manlius animo magis quam arte confisus scuto scutum percussit atque statum Galli conturbavit. XVII.

16. Thus, as I said before, they took their stand: the Gaul, by his own discipline, with his shield projected, chanting; Manlius, trusting more in spirit than in art, struck shield against shield and disturbed the Gaul’s stance. 17.

Dum se Gallus iterum eodem pacto constituere studet, Manlius iterum scuto scutum percutit atque de loco hominem iterum deiecit; eo pacto ei sub Gallicum gladium successit atque Hispanico pectus hausit; deinde continuo humerum dextrum eodem concessu incidit neque recessit usquam, donec subvertit, ne Gallus impetum icti haberet. XVIII. Vbi eum evertit, caput praecidit, torquem detraxit eamque sanguinulentam sibi in collum inponit.

While the Gaul tries again to set himself in the same manner, Manlius again strikes shield against shield and again casts the man from his place; in this way he stepped in under the Gallic sword and with the Hispanic blade pierced the chest; then immediately he cut the right shoulder with the same advance and did not withdraw anywhere, until he upended him, so that the Gaul might not have the impetus for a blow. 18. When he overturned him, he cut off the head, drew off the torque, and set it, bloodied, upon his own neck.

XIX. Quo ex facto ipse posterique eius Torquati sunt cognominati." XX. Ab hoc Tito Manlio, cuius hanc pugnam Quadrigarius descripsit, imperia et aspera et immitia "Manliana" dicta sunt, quoniam postea bello adversum Latinos cum esset consul, filium suum securi percussit, qui speculatum ab eo missus, interdicto hostem, a quo provocatus fuerat, occiderat.

19. From which deed he himself and his descendants were cognominated Torquati." 20. From this Titus Manlius, whose combat Quadrigarius described, commands both harsh and immitigable were called "Manlian," since afterwards, in the war against the Latins, when he was consul, he struck his own son with the axe—who, having been sent by him as a scout, in defiance of the interdict had slain the enemy by whom he had been challenged.

XIV. Quod idem Quadrigarius "huius facies" patrio casu probe et Latine dixit; et quaedam alia adposita de similium vocabulorum declinationibus.I. Quod autem supra scriptum est in Q. Claudi verbis: "Propter magnitudinem atque inmanitatem facies", id nos aliquot veteribus libris inspectis exploravimus atque ita esse, ut scriptum est, comperimus. II. Sic enim pleraque aetas veterum declinavit: "haec facies, huius facies", quod nunc propter rationem grammaticam "faciei" dicitur. Corruptos autem quosdam libros repperi, in quibus "faciei" scriptum est illo, quod ante scriptum erat, oblitterato.

14. That the same Quadrigarius said "huius facies" in the native case properly and in Latin; and certain other items appended about the declensions of similar vocables.1. But as for what above is written in the words of Q. Claudius: "On account of the magnitude and immensity of the facies," we, after inspecting several ancient books, have investigated and found that it is so as it is written. 2. For thus did the greater part of the age of the ancients decline it: "haec facies, huius facies," which now, on account of the grammatical rationale, is said "faciei." However, I found some corrupted books in which "faciei" is written, the earlier reading which had been written before having been blotted out.

III. Meminimus etiam in Tiburti bibliotheca invenire nos in eodem Claudi libro scriptum utrumque "facies" et "facii". Sed "facies" in ordinem scriptum fuit et contra per "i" geminum "facii," neque id abesse a quadam consuetudine prisca existimavimus; IV. nam et ab eo, quod est "hic dies", tam "huius dies", quam "huius dii", et ab eo, quod est "haec fames", tam "huius famis", quam "huius fami" dixerunt. V. Q. Ennius in XVI annali "dies" scripsit pro "diei" in hoc versu: postremae longinqua dies confecerit aetas.

3. We also remember finding in the Tiburtine library that in that same book of Claudius both "facies" and "facii" were written. But "facies" was written in order, and, contrariwise, "facii" with a twin i; nor did we think that to be at variance with a certain ancient usage;
4. for from that which is "hic dies" they said both "huius dies" and "huius dii", and from that which is "haec fames" both "huius famis" and "huius fami".
5. Q. Ennius in the 16th Annal wrote "dies" instead of "diei" in this verse: the far-off day will have finished the last age.

VI. Ciceronem quoque adfirmat Caesellius in oratione, quam pro P. Sestio fecit, "dies" scripsisse pro "diei", quod ego inpensa opera conquisitis veteribus libris plusculis ita, ut Caesellius ait, scriptum inveni. VII. Verba sunt haec M. Tullii: "Equites vero daturos illius dies poenas"; quocirca factum hercle est, ut facile his credam, qui scripserunt idiographum librum Vergilii se inspexisse, in quo ita scriptum est: libra dies somnique pares ubi fecerit horas, id est "libra diei somnique". VIII.

6. Caesellius also affirms that Cicero, in the oration which he made on behalf of P. Sestius, wrote "dies" in place of "diei," which I, with devoted effort after having sought out several old books, found written just as Caesellius says. 7. The words of M. Tullius are these: "Equites vero daturos illius dies poenas"; wherefore, by Hercules, it came about that I readily believe those who wrote that they had inspected Vergil’s autograph book, in which it is written thus:
libra dies somnique pares ubi fecerit horas,
that is, "libra diei somnique." 8.

Sed sicut hoc in loco "dies" a Vergilio scriptum videtur, ita in illo versu non dubium est, quin "dii" scripserit pro "diei": munera laetitiamque dii, quod inperitiores "dei" legunt ab insolentia scilicet vocis istius abhorrentes. IX. Sic autem "dies, dii" a veteribus declinatum est, ut "fames, fami", "pernicies, pernicii", "progenies, progenii", "luxuries, luxurii", "acies? acii". X. M. enim Cato in oratione, quam de bello Carthaginiensi composuit, ita scripsit: "Pueri atque mulieres extrudebantur fami causa." XI. Lucilius in XII: rugosum atque fami plenum.

But just as in this place “dies” seems to have been written by Vergil, so in that line there is no doubt that he wrote “dii” for “diei”:
munera laetitiamque dii,
which the more unskilled read as “dei,” recoiling, to wit, from the unusualness of that word. 9. Thus moreover “dies, dii” was declined by the ancients, as “fames, fami,” “pernicies, pernicii,” “progenies, progenii,” “luxuries, luxurii,” “acies? acii.”
10. For M. Cato, in the speech which he composed on the Carthaginian war, wrote thus: “Pueri atque mulieres extrudebantur fami causa.”
11. Lucilius in 12:
rugosum atque fami plenum.

XII. Sisenna in historiarum libro VI: "Romanos inferendae pernicii causa venisse." XIII. Pacuvius in Paulo: pater supreme nostrae progenii patris.

12. Sisenna in the 6th book of the Histories: "that the Romans had come for the sake of bringing ruin."
13. Pacuvius in Paulus: "O father supreme of the father of our progeny."

XIV. Cn. Matius in Iliadis XXI: altera pars acii vitassent fluminis undas. XV. Idem Matius in XXIII: an maneat specii simulacrum in morte silentum.

14. Cn. Matius in the Iliad 21: the other part of the battle-line would have avoided the river’s waves. 15. The same Matius in 23: or does the simulacrum of aspect remain in the death of the silent?

XVI. C. Gracchus de legibus promulgatis: "Ea luxurii causa aiunt institui"; XVII. et ibidem infra ita scriptum est: "non est ea luxuries, XVIII.

16. Gaius Gracchus on the promulgated laws: "They say that these were instituted for the sake of luxury";
17. and in the same place below it is written thus: "it is not that luxury,
18.

quae necessario parentur vitae causa", per quod apparet eum ab eo, quod est "luxuries", "luxurii" patrio casu dixisse. XIX. M. quoque Tullius in oratione, qua Sextum Roscium defendit, "pernicii" scriptum reliquit.

"which are necessarily provided for the sake of life," whereby it appears that he, from that which is "luxury," said "luxurii" in the native case. 19. M. Tullius also, in the speech in which he defended Sextus Roscius, left "pernicii" written.

Verba haec sunt: "Quorum nihil pernicii causa divino consilio, sed vi ipsa et magnitudine rerum factum putamus." XX. Aut "facies" ergo in casu patrio aut "facii" Quadrigarium scripsisse existimandum est; "facie" autem in nullo veteri libro scriptum repperi. XXI. [In casu autem dandi, qui purissime locuti sunt, non "faciei", uti nunc dicitur, sed "facie" dixerunt.] XXII.

These are the words: "Of which we think that nothing was done for the sake of perniciousness by divine counsel, but by the force itself and the magnitude of the affairs."
20. Therefore either "facies" in the paternal (nominative) case or "facii" must be supposed to have been written by Quadrigarius; but "facie" I have found written in no old book. 21. [In the case of giving (dative), moreover, those who spoke most purely said not "faciei," as is now said, but "facie."]
22.

Lucilius in saturis: "primum" inquit "facie quod honestae tantis accedit." XXIII. Lucilius in libro septimo: qui te diligat, aetatis facieque tuae se fautorem ostendat, fore amicum polliceatur; XXIV. sunt tamen non pauci, qui utrobique "facii" legant.

Lucilius in the Satires:
“first,” he says, “in the face, in that she approaches those so honorable
and so great.”
23. Lucilius in Book Seven:
let him love you, and show himself a supporter of your age and of your face,
and promise that he will be a friend;
24. there are, however, not a few who read “facii” in both places.

XXV. Sed C. Caesar in libro de analogia secundo "huius die" et "huius specie" dicendum putat. XXVI.

25. But Gaius Caesar in the second book On Analogy thinks that "of this day" and "of this appearance" ought to be said. 26.

Ego quoque in Iugurtha Sallustii summae fidei et reverendae vetustatis libro "die" casu patrio scriptum inveni. Verba haec ita erant: "Vix decima parte die reliqua." Non enim puto argutiolam istam recipiendam, ut "die" dictum quasi "ex die" existimemus.

I too, in Sallust’s Jugurtha, a book of supreme fidelity and reverend antiquity, found “die” written in the native case. The words were thus: “Hardly with a tenth part of the day remaining.” For I do not think that that little quibble is to be admitted, that we should suppose “die” to have been said as if “from the day.”

XV. De genere controversiae, quod Graece aporon appellatur.I. Cum Antonio Iuliano rhetore per feriarum tempus aestivarum decedere ex urbis aestu volentes Neapolim concesseramus. II. Atque ibi erat adulescens tunc quispiam ex ditioribus cum utriusque linguae magistris meditans et exercens ad causas Romae orandas eloquentiae Latinae facultatem; atque is rogat Iulianum, uti sese audiat declamantem. III.

15. On the kind of controversy, which in Greek is called aporon.1. With Antonius Julianus the rhetor, during the time of the summer holidays, wishing to withdraw from the heat of the city, we had gone to Naples. 2. And there at that time there was a certain young man from among the wealthier, practicing and exercising with teachers of both languages the faculty of Latin eloquence for pleading cases at Rome; and he asks Julianus to listen to him declaiming. 3.

It auditum Iulianus, imusque nos cum eo simul. IV. Introit adulescens et praefatur arrogantius et elatius, quam aetati eius decebat, ac deinde iubet exponi controversias. V. Aderat ibi nobiscum Iuliani sectator, iuvenis promptus et proficiens et offendens iam in eo, quod ille aput Iuliani aures in praecipiti stare et subitaria dictione periculum sui facere audebat.

Julianus heard it, and we go with him together. 4. The young man enters and prefaces more arrogantly and more loftily than befitted his age,
and then he orders the controversies to be set forth. 5. There was present there with us a follower of Julianus, a young man ready and advancing and
already giving offense in this, that he was daring, within Julianus’s hearing, to stand on the brink and
to make a danger of himself by extemporaneous diction.

VI. Exponit igitur temptamenti gratia controversiam parum consistentem, quod genus Graeci aporon vocant, Latine autem id non nimis incommode "inexplicabile" dici potest. VII. Ea controversia fuit huiusmodi: "De reo septem iudices cognoscant, eaque sententia sit rata, quam plures ex eo numero dixerint.

6. Accordingly, for the sake of a trial, he sets out a controversy of little consistency, the kind which the Greeks call aporon, but in Latin it can not too incommodiously be called “inexplicable.” 7. The controversy was of this sort: “Let seven judges take cognizance concerning the defendant, and let that sentence be ratified which more from that number have pronounced.”

Cum septem iudices cognovissent, duo censuerunt reum exsilio multandum, duo alii pecunia, tres reliqui capite puniendum. VIII. Petitur ad supplicium ex sententia trium iudicum et contradicit." IX. Hac ille audita nec considerata neque aliis, ut proponerentur, exspectatis incipit statim mira celeritate in eandem hanc controversiam principia nescio quae dicere et involucra sensuum verborumque volumina vocumque turbas fundere ceteris omnibus ex cohorte eius, qui audire eum soliti erant, clamore magno exsultantibus, Iuliano autem male ac misere rubente et sudante.

When the seven
judges had heard the case, two decreed that the defendant must be punished with exile, two others with money (a fine), the remaining three with the head to be punished (capital punishment). 8. He is demanded for execution according to the sentence of the three judges, and he objects." 9. On hearing this, without having considered it nor waiting for others to be proposed, he immediately begins with marvelous speed to say I-know-not-what beginnings on this same controversy and to pour forth wrappings of meanings and masses of words and throngs of sounds, all the rest of his cohort, who were accustomed to listen to him, exulting with a great clamor, but Julian badly and miserably blushing and sweating.

X. Sed ubi deblateratis versuum multis milibus finem aliquando fecit egressique inde sumus, amici familiaresque eius Iulianum prosecuti, quidnam existimaret, percontati sunt. XI. Atque ibi Iulianus festivissime: "nolite quaerere," inquit "quid sentiam; adulescens hic sine controversia disertus est."

10. But when, after many thousands of verses had been blurted out, he at last made an end and we went out from there, his friends and intimates, having accompanied Julian, asked what he thought.
11. And there Julian, most wittily: "Do not ask," he said, "what I think; this young man is, without controversy, eloquent."

XVI. Quod Plinium Secundum, non hominem indoctum, fugerit latueritque vitium argumenti, quod antistrephon Graeci dicunt.I. Plinius Secundus existimatus est esse aetatis suae doctissimus. II. Is libros reliquit, quos studiosorum inscripsit, non medius fidius usquequaque aspernandos. III.

16. That the fault of the argument, which the Greeks call antistrephon, escaped and evaded Pliny the Second, no unlearned man.

1. Pliny the Second was thought to be the most learned of his age. 2. He left books, which he inscribed “for the studious,” not, by my good faith, to be scorned in every respect. 3.

In his libris multa varie ad oblectandas eruditorum hominum aures ponit. IV. Refert etiam plerasque sententias, quas in declamandis controversiis lepide arguteque dictas putat. V. Sicuti hanc quoque sententiam ponit ex huiuscemodi controversia: " "Vir fortis praemio, quod optaverit, donetur.

In these books he sets forth many things in various ways to delight the ears of erudite men.
4. He also relates many sentences, which he thinks were spoken wittily and acutely in declaiming controversies.
5. Just as he also sets forth this sentence from a controversy of this kind: " "Let the brave man be endowed with the prize which he has opted for."

Qui fortiter fecerat, petit alterius uxorem in matrimonium et accepit. Is deinde, cuia uxor fuit, fortiter fecit. Repetit eandem; contradicitur." VI. Eleganter" inquit "et probabiliter ex parte posterioris viri fortis uxorem sibi reddi postulantis hoc dictum est: "Si placet lex, redde; si non placet, redde"." VII.

He who had acted bravely asks another man’s wife in marriage and received her. Then the man, whose wife she was, acted bravely. He demands the same woman back; it is opposed." 6. "Elegantly," he says, "and plausibly, from the side of the later brave man demanding that his wife be returned to him, this was said: "If the law pleases, give her back; if it does not please, give her back"." 7.

Fugit autem Plinium sententiolam istam, quam putavit esse argutissimam, vitio non carere, quod Graece antistrephon dicitur. Et est vitium insidiosum et sub falsa laudis specie latens; nihil enim minus converti ex contrario id ipsum adversus eundem potest atque ita a priore illo viro forte dici: "Si placet lex, non reddo; si non placet, non reddo."

However, it escaped Pliny that that little maxim, which he thought to be most acute,
is not free from a vice, which in Greek is called antistrephon. And it is
an insidious vice and lurking under a false show of praise; for nothing less
can that very same thing be converted from the contrary against the same man, and thus by the former
man it could well be said: "Si placet lex, non reddo; si non placet, non reddo."