Gellius: NOCTES ATTICAE

1 Among voluntary labors and exercises of the body, for strengthening the fortuitous turns of patience, we have also received that Socrates had become accustomed to do this:

2 stare solitus Socrates dicitur pertinaci statu perdius atque pernox a summo lucis ortu ad solem alterum orientem inconivens, immobilis, isdem in vestigiis et ore atque oculis eundem in locum directis cogitabundus tamquam quodam secessu mentis atque animi facto a corpore.

2 Socrates is said to have been accustomed to stand with a stubborn stance through the day and through the night, from the very rising of light until the sun rose again, unblinking, motionless, in the same footprints, and with mouth and eyes directed to the same place, pondering, as if by a certain secession of mind and spirit made from the body.

3 Quam rem cum Favorinus de fortitudine eius viri ut pleraque disserens attigisset: pollakis inquit ex heliou eis helion heistÈkei astrabËsteros ton premnon.

3 When Favorinus, discoursing—as in most things—about the fortitude of that man, had touched on this matter: “Often,” he said, “from sun to sun he stood, more unmoving than the stumps.”

4 Temperantia quoque fuisse eum tanta traditum est, ut omnia fere vitae suae tempora valitudine inoffensa vixerit.

4 It has also been handed down that he possessed such temperance, that he lived almost all the periods of his life with health unoffended.

5 In illius etiam pestilentiae vastitate, quae in belli Peloponnesiaci principis Atheniensium civitatem internecivo genere morbi depopulata est, is parcendi moderandique rationibus dicitur et a voluptatum labe cavisse et salubritates corporis retinuisse, ut nequaquam fuerit communi omnium cladi obnoxius.

5 In the devastation also of that pestilence, which at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War depopulated the city of the Athenians with an internecive kind of disease, he is said, by the methods of sparing and moderating, both to have guarded against the stain of pleasures and to have retained the salubrity of the body, so that he was by no means liable to the common disaster of all.

II. Quae ratio observatioque officiorum esse debeat inter patres filiosque in discumbendo sedendoque atque id genus rebus domi forisque, si filii magistratus sint et patres privati; superque ea re Tauri philosophi dissertatio et exemplum ex historia Romana petitum.

II. What the method and observance of duties ought to be between fathers and sons in reclining and in sitting and matters of that kind, at home and in public, if the sons are magistrates and the fathers private persons; and on this matter a disquisition of the philosopher Taurus, and an example sought from Roman history.

1 Ad philosophum Taurum Athenas visendi cognoscendique eius gratia venerat V. C., praeses Cretae provinciae, et cum eo simul eiusdem praesidis pater.

1 To the philosopher Taurus there had come to Athens, for the sake of seeing and getting to know him, a Most Distinguished Man, governor of the province of Crete, and at the same time along with him the father of that same governor.

2 Taurus sectatoribus commodum dimissis sedebat pro cubiculi sui foribus et cum assistentibus nobis sermocinabatur.

2 Taurus, his followers just now dismissed, was sitting before the doors of his chamber and was discoursing with us as we stood by.

3 Introivit provinciae praeses et cum eo pater;

3 The governor of the province entered, and with him his father;

4 assurrexit placide Taurus et post mutuam salutationem resedit.

4 Taurus rose calmly and, after a mutual salutation, sat down again.

5 Allata mox una sella est, quae in promptu erat, atque, dum aliae promebantur, apposita est. Invitavit Taurus patrem praesidis, uti sederet.

5 Soon one chair was brought, which was at the ready, and, while others were being produced, it was set in place. Taurus invited the governor’s father to sit.

6 Atque ille ait: "Sedeat hic potius, qui populi Romani magistratus est."

6 And he said: "Let this man sit here instead, who is a magistrate of the Roman people."

7 "Absque praeiudicio" inquit Taurus "tu interea sede, dum inspicimus quaerimusque, utrum conveniat tene potius sedere, qui pater es, an filium, qui magistratus est."

7 "Without prejudice," said Taurus, "you meanwhile sit, while we inspect and inquire whether it is fitting that you rather should sit, you who are the father, or the son, who is the magistrate."

8 Et, cum pater assedisset appositumque esset aliud filio quoque eius sedile, verba super ea re Taurus facit cum summa, dii boni, honorum atque officiorum perpensatione.

8 And, when the father had sat down and another seat had been set for his son as well, Taurus makes a speech on that matter with the highest, good gods, weighing of honors and offices.

9 Eorum verborum sententia haec fuit: In publicis locis atque muneribus atque actionibus patrum iura cum filiorum, qui in magistratu sunt, potestatibus collata interquiescere paululum et conivere, sed cum extra rempublicam in domestica re atque vita sedeatur, ambuletur, in convivio quoque familiari discumbatur, tum inter filium magistratum et patrem privatum publicos honores cessare, naturales et genuinos exoriri.

9 The sense of those words was this: In public places and in duties and in actions, the rights of fathers, when collated with the powers of sons who are in magistracy, take a brief rest and wink; but when outside the commonwealth, in domestic matter and life there is sitting, there is walking, and at a family banquet there is reclining, then between the son a magistrate and the father a private citizen the public honors cease, and the natural and inborn ones arise.

10 "Hoc igitur," inquit "quod ad me venistis, quod colloquimur nunc, quod de officiis disceptamus, privata actio est. Itaque utere apud me his honoribus prius, quibus domi quoque vestrae te uti priorem decet."

10 "Therefore this," he says, "that you have come to me, that we are conversing now, that we are disputing about duties, is a private action. And so use in my presence those honors first, which it befits you likewise at your own house to use as prior."

11 Haec atque alia in eandem sententiam Taurus graviter simul et comiter disseruit.

11 Taurus discoursed on these and other things to the same purport, gravely and at the same time affably.

12 Quid autem super huiuscemodi patris atque filii officio apud Claudium legerimus, non esse ab re visum est, ut adscriberemus.

12 Moreover, what we have read in Claudius concerning the office of a father and son of this kind, it seemed not out of place that we should append.

13 Posuimus igitur verba ipsa Quadrigarii ex annali eius sexto transscripta: "Deinde facti consules Sempronius Gracchus iterum Q. Fabius Maximus, filius eius, qui priore anno erat consul. Ei consuli pater proconsul obviam in equo vehens venit neque descendere voluit, quod pater erat, et, quod inter eos sciebant maxima concordia convenire, lictores non ausi sunt descendere iubere. Vbi iuxta venit, tum consul ait: "quid postea?"; lictor ille, qui apparebat, cito intellexit, Maximum proconsulem descendere iussit.

13 We have therefore set down the very words of Quadrigarius transcribed from his sixth Annal: "Then were made consuls Sempronius Gracchus a second time and Q. Fabius Maximus, his son, who in the prior year had been consul. To that consul his father, the proconsul, came to meet him, riding on a horse, and did not wish to dismount, because he was the father, and, because they knew that the greatest concord prevailed between them, the lictors did not dare to order him to dismount. When he came near, then the consul said: 'what next?'; that lictor, who was serving as apparitor, quickly understood, ordered Maximus the proconsul to dismount."

Fabius imperio paret et filium collaudavit, cum imperium, quod populi esset, retineret."

Fabius obeys the command and highly commended his son, since he was retaining the imperium, which belonged to the people."

III. Qua ratione verbis quibusdam vocabulisque veteres immiserint "h" litterae spiritum.

3. By what method the ancients inserted the spirit of the letter "h" into certain words and vocables.

1 "H" litteram sive illam spiritum magis quam litteram dici oportet, inserebant eam veteres nostri plerisque vocibus verborum firmandis roborandisque, ut sonus earum esset viridior vegetiorque; atque id videntur fecisse studio et exemplo linguae Atticae.

1 "The letter 'H'—or rather it ought to be called a spirit more than a letter—our ancients used to insert into the vocal forms of very many words, for the firming and corroborating of them, so that their sound might be fresher and more vigorous; and they seem to have done this out of zeal for, and by the example of, the Attic tongue."

2 Satis notum est Atticos hichthyn et hippon et multa itidem alia contra morem gentium Graeciae ceterarum inspirantis primae litterae dixisse.

2 It is well enough known that the Attics said hichthyn and hippon and many other things likewise, contrary to the custom of the other peoples of Greece, by breathing upon the first letter.

3 Sic "lachrumas", sic "sepulchrum", sic "ahenum", sic "vehemens", sic "incohare", sic "helluari", sic "halucinari", sic "honera", sic "honestum" dixerunt.

3 Thus "lachrumas," thus "sepulchrum," thus "ahenum," thus "vehemens," thus "incohare," thus "helluari," thus "halucinari," thus "honera," thus "honestum" they said.

4 In his enim verbis omnibus litterae seu spiritus istius nulla ratio visa est, nisi ut firmitas et vigor vocis quasi quibusdam nervis additis intenderetur.

4 For in all these words no rationale for that letter or breathing was seen, except that the firmness and vigor of the voice might be tightened, as if with certain sinews added.

5 Sed quoniam "aheni" quoque exemplo usi sumus, venit nobis in memoriam Fidum Optatum, multi nominis Romae grammaticum, ostendisse mihi librum Aeneidos secundum mirandae vetustatis emptum in sigillariis viginti aureis, quem ipsius Vergili fuisse credebatur. In quo duo isti versus cum ita scripti forent:
vestibulum ante ipsum primoque in limine Pyrrus
exsultat telis et luce coruscus aena,
additam supra vidimus "h" litteram et "ahena" factum.

5 But since we have also used the example of "aheni," there comes to our memory Fidus Optatus, a grammarian of great name at Rome, who had shown me a book, the second of the Aeneid, of wondrous antiquity, bought at the Sigillaria for twenty aurei, which was believed to have been Vergil’s own. In it, when these two verses had been written thus:
vestibulum ante ipsum primoque in limine Pyrrus
exsultat telis et luce coruscus aena,
we saw the letter "h" added above and "ahena" produced.

6 Sic in illo quoque Vergili versu in optimis libris scriptum invenimus: aut foliis undam trepidi despumat aheni.

6 Thus in that Vergilian verse also we found it written in the best books: or with leaves he skims the wave of the seething bronze.

IV. Quam ob causam Gavius Bassus genus quoddam iudicii "divinationem" appellari scripserit; et quam alii causam esse eiusdem vocabuli dixerint.

4. For what cause Gavius Bassus wrote that a certain kind of judgment is called "divination"; and what others have said is the cause of that same vocable.

1 Cum de constituendo accusatore quaeritur iudiciumque super ea re redditur, cuinam potissimum ex duobus pluribusve accusatio subscriptiove in reum permittatur, ea res atque iudicum cognitio "divinatio" appellatur. II. Id vocabulum quam ob causam ita factum sit, quaeri solet.

1 When there is inquiry about appointing an accuser and a judgment is rendered upon that matter, as to whom, preferably, out of two or more, the accusation or the subscription against the defendant should be permitted, that matter and the judges’ cognition is called “divination.” 2. For what cause that vocable has thus been formed is commonly asked.

3 Gavius Bassus in tertio librorum, quos de origine vocabulorum composuit: "divinatio" inquit "iudicium appellatur, quoniam divinet quodammodo iudex oportet, quam sententiam sese ferre par sit."

3 Gavius Bassus in the third of the books which he composed on the origin of vocables: "divination," he says, "is called a judgment, since the judge ought in a certain manner to divine what sentence it is proper for him to deliver."

4 Nimis quidem est in verbis Gavi Bassi ratio inperfecta vel magis inops et ieiuna.

4 The rationale in the words of Gavius Bassus is indeed excessively imperfect, or rather indigent and jejune.

5 Sed videtur tamen significare velle idcirco dici "divinationem", quod in aliis quidem causis iudex ea, quae didicit quaeque argumentis vel testibus demonstrata sunt, sequi solet, in hac autem re, cum eligendus accusator est, parva admodum et exilia sunt, quibus moveri iudex possit, et propterea, quinam magis ad accusandum idoneus sit, quasi divinandum est.

5 Yet it nevertheless seems to intend to signify that for that reason it is called "divination," because in other causes the judge is accustomed to follow those things which he has learned and which have been demonstrated by arguments or witnesses; but in this matter, when an accuser is to be chosen, the considerations by which a judge can be moved are very small and exiguous, and therefore, as to who is more apt for accusing, it must, as it were, be divined.

6 Hoc Bassus. Sed alii quidam "divinationem" esse appellatam putant, quoniam, cum accusator et reus duae res quasi cognatae coniunctaeque sint neque utra sine altera constare possit, in hoc tamen genere causae reus quidem iam est, sed accusator nondum est, et idcirco, quod adhuc usque deest et latet, divinatione supplendum est, quisnam sit accusator futurus.

6 So much for Bassus. But certain others think it was called "divination," because, since the accuser and the defendant are two things as it were cognate and conjoined and neither can stand without the other, yet in this kind of case the defendant indeed already exists, but the accuser does not yet exist; and therefore what up to now is lacking and lies hidden must be supplied by divination—namely, who the accuser will be.

V.Quam lepide signateque dixerit Favorinus philosophus, quid intersit inter Platonis et Lysiae orationem.

5.How wittily and pointedly the philosopher Favorinus said what difference there is between the oration of Plato and that of Lysias.

1 Favorinus de Lysia et Platone solitus dicere est: "Si ex Platonis" inquit "oratione verbum aliquod demas mutesve atque id commodatissime facias, de elegantia tamen detraxeris; si ex Lysiae, de sententia."

1 Favorinus was accustomed to say about Lysias and Plato: "If," he says, "from Plato’s oration you remove or alter some word, and do this most fittingly, nevertheless you will have detracted from elegance; if from Lysias’s, from the sense."

VI. Quibus verbis ignaviter et abiecte Vergilius usus esse dicatur; et quid his, qui improbe id dicunt, respondeatur.

6. By which words Vergil is said to have used in a craven and abject manner; and what is to be answered to those who say this improperly.

1 Nonnulli grammatici aetatis superioris, in quibus est Cornutus Annaeus, haut sane indocti neque ignobiles, qui commentaria in Vergilium composuerunt, reprehendunt quasi incuriose et abiecte verbum positum in his versibus:
candida succinctam latrantibus inguina monstris
Dulichias vexasse rates et gurgite in alto
a! timidos nautas canibus lacerasse marinis.

1 Several grammarians of a former age, among whom is Annaeus Cornutus—by no means unlearned nor undistinguished—who composed commentaries on Vergil, censure, as if careless and abject, a word set in these verses:
white, with her loins girt with barking monsters,
to have harried the Dulichian ships, and in the deep whirlpool,
ah! to have torn timid sailors with sea-dogs.

2 "Vexasse" enim putant verbum esse leve et tenuis ac parvi incommodi nec tantae atrocitati congruere, cum homines repente a belua immanissima rapti laniatique sint.

2 For they think “vexasse” is a light word and of slight and small inconvenience, and not congruent with so great an atrocity, since men were suddenly snatched and torn to pieces by a most monstrous beast.

3 Item aliud huiuscemodi reprehendunt:
quis aut Eurysthea durum
aut inlaudati nescit Busiridis aras?
"Inlaudati" parum idoneum esse verbum dicunt neque id satis esse ad faciendam scelerati hominis detestationem, qui, quod hospites omnium gentium immolare solitus fuit, non laude indignus, sed detestatione exsecrationeque totius generis humani dignus esset.

3 Likewise they censure another thing of this sort:
who either does not know harsh Eurystheus
or the altars of unlauded Busiris?
They say “unlauded” is an insufficiently apt word, nor is it enough for producing the detestation of a criminal man, who, because he was accustomed to immolate guests of all nations, would be not unworthy of praise, but worthy of the detestation and execration of the whole human race.

4 Item aliud verbum culpaverunt:
per tunicam squalentem auro latus haurit apertum,
tamquam si non convenerit dicere "auro squalentem", quoniam nitoribus splendoribusque auri squaloris inluvies sit contraria.

4 Likewise they blamed another word:
through the tunic, squalid with gold, he pierces the opened flank,
as though it were not fitting to say “squalid with gold,” since the filthiness of squalor is contrary to the lusters and splendors of gold.

5 Sed de verbo "vexasse" ita responderi posse credo: "Vexasse" grave verbum est factumque ab eo videtur, quod est "vehere", in quo inest vis iam quaedam alieni arbitrii; non enim sui potens est, qui vehitur. "Vexare" autem, quod ex eo inclinatum est, vi atque motu procul dubio vastiorest. Nam qui fertur et rapsatur atque huc atque illuc distrahitur, is vexari proprie dicitur, sicuti "taxare" pressius crebriusque est quam "tangere", unde id procul dubio inclinatum est, et "iactare" multo fusius largiusque est quam "iacere", unde id verbum traductum est, et "quassare" quam "quatere" gravius violentiusque est.

5 But about the word "vexasse" I believe one can reply thus: "vexasse" is a weighty word and seems to have been made from that which is "vehere" ("to carry/ convey"), in which there is already a certain force of another’s arbitrium; for he who is carried is not master of himself. But "vexare," which is inclined/derived from it, is beyond doubt more vast in force and in motion. For he who is borne along and rapt and dragged this way and that is properly said "to be vexed," just as "taxare" is more pressed and more frequent than "tangere," whence it is without doubt derived, and "iactare" is much more diffuse and more ample than "iacere," whence that word is transferred, and "quassare" is heavier and more violent than "quatere."

6 Non igitur, quia volgo dici solet "vexatum esse" quem fumo aut vento aut pulvere, propterea debet vis vera atque natura verbi deperire, quae a veteribus, qui proprie atque signate locuti sunt, ita ut decuit, conservata est.

6 Therefore, not because it is commonly said that someone has been "vexed" by smoke or by wind or by dust, for that reason ought the true force and nature of the word to perish, which by the ancients, who spoke properly and precisely, as was fitting, has been preserved.

7M. Catonis verba sunt ex oratione, quam de Achaeis scripsit: "Cumque Hannibal terram Italiam laceraret atque vexaret"; "vexatam" Italiam dixit Cato ab Hannibale, quando nullum calamitatis aut saevitiae aut immanitatis genus reperiri queat, quod in eo tempore Italia non perpessa sit;

7 The words are M. Cato’s, from the oration which he wrote about the Achaeans: “And when Hannibal was tearing and vexing the land of Italy”; Cato called Italy “vexed” by Hannibal, since no kind of calamity or savagery or immanity can be found which at that time Italy did not suffer;

8M. Tullius IV. in Verrem: "Quae ab isto sic spoliata atque direpta est, non ut ab hoste aliquo, qui tamen in bello religionem et consuetudinis iura retineret, sed ut a barbaris praedonibus vexata esse videatur."

8M. Tullius 4. against Verres: "Which was thus despoiled and plundered by that man, not as by some enemy, who yet in war would retain religion and the rights of custom, but so that it seems to have been vexed by barbarian pirates."

9 De "inlaudato" autem duo videntur responderi posse. Vnum est eiusmodi: Nemo quisquam tam efflictis est moribus, quin faciat aut dicat nonnumquam aliquid, quod laudari queat. Vnde hic antiquissimus versus vice proverbii celebratus est:
pollaki gar kai moros aner mala kairion eipen.

9 As to "unlaudable," however, two answers seem able to be given. One is of this sort: No one is of morals so shattered that he does not sometimes do or say something which can be lauded. Whence this most ancient verse has been celebrated in the place of a proverb:
for often indeed even a foolish man has spoken very opportunely.

10 Sed enim qui omni in re atque omni tempore laude omni vacat, is "inlaudatus" est isque omnium pessimus deterrimusque est, sicuti omnis culpae privatio "inculpatum" facit. "Inculpatus" autem instar est absolutae virtutis; "inlaudatus" quoque igitur finis est extremae malitiae.

10 But indeed, he who in every matter and at every time is void of all praise is “unlauded,” and he is the worst and most depraved of all, just as the privation of all fault makes one “inculpate.” “Inculpate,” however, is tantamount to absolute virtue; therefore “unlauded” likewise is the limit of extreme malice.

11 Itaque Homerus non virtutibus appellandis, sed vitiis detrahendis laudare ampliter solet. Hoc enim est:
to d'ouk akonte petesthen,
et item illud:
enth'ouk an brizonta idois Agamemnona dion,
oude kataptossont',oud'ouk ethelonta machesthai.

11 And so Homer is accustomed to praise abundantly not by naming virtues, but by subtracting vices. For this is it:
that “they did not fly unwilling,”
and likewise this:
“there you would not see divine Agamemnon nodding off, nor cowering, nor unwilling to fight.”

12 Epicurus quoque simili modo maximam voluptatem privationem detractionemque omnis doloris definivit his verbis: Horos tou megethous ton hedonon pantos tou algountos hypexaireis.

12 Epicurus likewise in a similar way defined the greatest pleasure as the privation and detraction of all pain in these words: Limit of the magnitude of pleasures: you remove everything that is in pain.

13 Eadem ratione idem Vergilius "inamabilem" dixit Stygiam paludem.

13 By the same rationale, the same Vergil called the Stygian marsh "un-amiable".

14 Nam sicut "inlaudatum" kata steresin laudis, ita "inamabilem" kata amoris steresin detestatus est.

14 For just as “unlauded,” according to a privation of praise, so “unlovable,” according to a privation of love, he has detested.

15 Altero modo "inlaudatus" ita defenditur:

15 In another way, "inlaudatus" is defended thus:

16 "Laudare" significat prisca lingua nominare appellareque. Sic in actionibus civilibus auctor "laudari" dicitur, quod est nominari.

16 "To laud" signifies in the ancient tongue to name and to appellate. Thus in civil actions the auctor is said "to be lauded," which is to be named.

17 "Inlaudatus" autem est, quasi inlaudabilis, qui neque mentione aut memoria ulla dignus neque umquam nominandus est,

17 "Inlaudatus," however, is, as it were, unpraisable: one who is worthy neither of any mention nor memory, nor ever to be named,

18 sicuti quondam a communi consilio Asiae decretum est, uti nomen eius, qui templum Dianae Ephesi incenderat, ne quis ullo in tempore nominaret.

18 just as once it was decreed by the common council of Asia, that the name of him who had set on fire the temple of Diana at Ephesus, no one at any time should name.

19 Tertium restat ex his, quae reprehensa sunt, quod "tunicam squalentem auro" dixit.

19 A third remains of those things which have been censured, namely that he said "a tunic bristling with gold."

20 Id autem significat copiam densitatemque auri in squamarum speciem intexti. "Squalere" enim dictum a squamarum crebritate asperitateque, quae in serpentium pisciumve coriis visuntur.

20 But that signifies the abundance and density of gold woven into the semblance of scales. "Squalere," indeed, is said from the frequency and asperity of scales, which are seen on the skins of serpents or of fishes.

21 Quam rem et alii et hic quidem poeta locis aliquot demonstrat:
quem pellis, inquit, ahenis
in plumam squamis auro conserta tegebat,
et alio loco:

21 Which matter both others and this very poet indeed demonstrates in several places:
“whom a pelt,” he says, “with brazen scales into plumage, stitched with gold, covered,”
and in another place:

22 iamque adeo rutilum thoraca indutus ahenis horrebat squamis.

22 and now indeed, having donned the rutilant thorax, he bristled with bronze scales.

23 Accius in Pelopidis ita scribit: eius serpentis squamae squalido auro et purpura pertextae.

23 Accius in the Pelopidae writes thus: the scales of that serpent interwoven with squalid gold and purple.

24 Quicquid igitur nimis inculcatum obsitumque aliqua re erat, ut incuteret visentibus facie nova horrorem, id "squalere" dicebatur.

24 Therefore whatever was excessively encrusted and overgrown with some substance, so as to strike those beholding it with a shudder by its novel aspect, was said to "squalere."

25 Sic in corporibus incultis squamosisque alta congeries sordium "squalor" appellatur. Cuius significationis multo assiduoque usu totum id verbum ita contaminatum est, ut iam "squalor" de re alia nulla quam de solis inquinamentis dici coeperit.

25 Thus in unkempt and scaly bodies a high congeries of filth is called "squalor." By much and assiduous use of that signification, that whole word has been so contaminated that now "squalor" has begun to be said of nothing else than defilements alone.

VII. De officio erga patres liberorum; deque ea re ex philosophiae libris, in quibus scriptum quaesitumque est, an omnibus patris iussis obsequendum sit.

7. On the duty of children toward their fathers; and on that matter from the books of philosophy, in which it has been written and inquired whether all a father’s commands are to be obeyed.

1 Quaeri solitum est in philosophorum disceptationibus, an semper inque omnibus iussis patri parendum sit.

1 It has been customary in the disputations of philosophers to inquire whether one must always, and in all commands, obey the father.

2 Super ea re Graeci nostrique, qui de officiis scripserunt, tres sententias esse, quae spectandae considerandaeque sint, tradiderunt easque subtilissime diiudicarunt.

2 Concerning that matter, the Greeks and our own, who wrote on duties, have handed down that there are three opinions which are to be inspected and considered, and they have most subtly distinguished them.

3 Earum una est: omnia, quae pater imperat, parendum;

3 One of these is: everything which the father commands must be obeyed;

4 altera est: in quibusdam parendum, quibusdam non obsequendum;

4 the second is: in some matters there must be obedience, in some there must not be compliance;

5 tertia est: nihil necessum esse patri obsequi et parere.

5 the third is: that nothing is necessary to be obsequious to and to obey the father.

6 Haec sententia quoniam primore aspectu nimis infamis est, super ea prius, quae dicta sunt, dicemus.

6 Since this opinion, at first glance, is too infamous, we will first speak about the things which have been said concerning it.

7 "Aut recte" inquiunt "imperat pater aut perperam. Si recte imperat, non, quia imperat, parendum, sed quoniam id fieri ius est, faciendum est; si perperam, nequaquam scilicet faciendum, quod fieri non oportet."

7 "Either rightly," they say, "does the father command, or wrongly. If he commands rightly, it is not to be obeyed because he commands, but since it is right by law that this be done, it must be done; if he commands wrongly, clearly by no means must that be done which ought not to be done."

8 Deinde ita concludunt: "numquam est igitur patri parendum, quae imperat".

8 Then thus they conclude: "therefore a father is never to be obeyed, in what he commands."

9 Set neque istam sententiam probari accepimus - argutiola quippe haec, sicuti mox ostendemus,

9 But neither have we accepted that that opinion is approved - indeed this is a little sophistry, as we shall soon show,

10 frivola et inanis est, neque autem illa, quam primo in loco diximus, vera et proba videri potest omnia esse, quae pater iusserit, parendum. XI. Quid enim si proditionem patriae, si matris necem, si alia quaedam imperabit turpia aut impia?

10 frivolous and inane it is, nor, however, can that view which we said in the first place seem true and approved, that everything which a father has ordered is to be obeyed. 11. For what if he should command betrayal of the fatherland, the slaying of the mother, or certain other things base or impious?

12 Media igitur sententia optima atque tutissima visa est quaedam esse parendum, quaedam non obsequendum.

12 Therefore the middle opinion seemed the best and the safest: that in certain things there is to be obedience, in certain things not to be complied with.

13 Sed ea tamen, quae obsequi non oportet, leniter et verecunde ac sine detestatione nimia sineque obprobratione acerba reprehensionis declinanda sensim et relinquenda esse dicunt quam respuenda.

13 But those things, however, to which it is not proper to comply, they say ought to be declined gently and modestly, and without excessive detestation and without the bitter opprobrium of reprehension, to be gradually turned aside and relinquished rather than spurned.

14 Conclusio vero illa, qua colligitur, sicuti supra dictum est, nihil patri parendum, inperfecta est refutarique ac dilui sic potest:

14 Indeed that conclusion, by which it is inferred, just as was said above, that the father is to be obeyed in nothing, is imperfect, and can be refuted and dissolved thus:

15 Omnia, quae in rebus humanis fiunt, ita ut docti censuerunt, aut honesta sunt aut turpia.

15 All things that are done in human affairs, as the learned have judged, are either honorable or shameful.

16 Quae sua vi recta aut honesta sunt, ut fidem colere, patriam defendere, ut amicos diligere, ea fieri oportet, sive imperet pater sive non imperet;

16 Things which by their own power are right or honorable, such as to keep faith, to defend the fatherland, to love friends, these ought to be done, whether the father commands or does not command;

17 sed quae his contraria quaeque turpia, omnino iniqua sunt, ea ne si imperet quidem.

17 but those things that are contrary to these and shameful are altogether iniquitous—those, not even if a father should command.

18 Quae vero in medio sunt et a Graecis tum mesa, tum adiaphora appellantur, ut in militiam ire, rus colere, honores capessere, causas defendere, uxorem ducere, ut iussum proficisci, ut accersitum venire, quoniam et haec et his similia per sese ipsa neque honesta sunt neque turpia, sed, proinde ut a nobis aguntur, ita ipsis actionibus aut probanda fiunt aut reprehendenda: propterea in eiusmodi omnium rerum generibus patri parendum esse censent, veluti si uxorem ducere imperet aut causas pro reis dicere.

18 But the things which are in the middle and by the Greeks are called now mesa, now adiaphora, such as to go into military service, to cultivate the countryside, to take up honors, to defend causes, to take a wife, to set out as ordered, to come when summoned, since both these and things similar to these in themselves are neither honorable nor base, but, just as they are conducted by us, so by the actions themselves they become either to be approved or to be reprehended: for that reason, in all kinds of matters of this sort they judge that a father must be obeyed, as for instance if he should command to take a wife or to plead causes on behalf of defendants.

19 Quod enim utrumque in genere ipso per sese neque honestum neque turpe est, idcirco, si pater iubeat, obsequendum est.

19 For whatever, in its very genus, is in itself neither honorable nor shameful, for that reason, if the father orders, it must be obeyed.

20 Sed enim si imperet uxorem ducere infamem, propudiosam, criminosam aut pro reo Catilina aliquo aut Tubulo aut P. Clodio causam dicere, non scilicet parendum, quoniam accedente aliquo turpitudinis numero desinunt esse per sese haec media atque indifferentia.

20 But indeed, if he should command to take as wife a woman infamous, shameless, criminal, or to plead a case for the defendant Catiline of some sort, or Tubulus, or P. Clodius, clearly one is not to obey, since, with some item of turpitude added, these things cease, in themselves, to be middle and indifferent.

21 Non ergo integra est propositio dicentium "aut honesta sunt, quae imperat pater, aut turpia", neque hygies et nominon diezeugmenon videri potest.

21 Therefore the proposition of those who say "either the things which the father commands are honorable, or shameful" is not complete, nor can it be considered a sound and lawful disjunction.

22 Deest enim diiunctioni isti tertium: "aut neque honesta sunt neque turpia". Quod si additur, non potest ita concludi: "numquam est igitur patri parendum".

22 For there is lacking to that disjunction a third: "or they are neither honorable nor base." But if this is added, it cannot be concluded thus: "never is therefore a father to be obeyed."

VIII. Quod parum aequa reprehensio Epicuri a Plutarcho facta sit in synlogismi disciplina.

8. That a not quite equitable censure of Epicurus was made by Plutarch in the discipline of the syllogism.

1 Plutarchus secundo librorum, quos de Homero composuit, inperfecte atque praepostere atque inscite synlogismo esse usum Epicurum dicit verbaque ipsa Epicuri ponit: "Ho thanatos ouden pros hemas; to gar dialythen anaisthetei; to de anaisthetoun ouden pros hemas.

1 Plutarch, in the second of the books which he composed on Homer, says that Epicurus used syllogism imperfectly and preposterously and unskillfully, and he sets down Epicurus’s very words: “Death is nothing to us; for what has been dissolved is without sensation; and that which is without sensation is nothing to us.”

2 "Nam praetermisit," inquit "quod in prima parte sumere debuit, ton thanaton einai psyches kai somatos dialysin,

2 "For he omitted," he says "what he ought to have taken in the first part, that death is the dissolution of soul and body,"

3 tunc deinde eodem ipso, quod omiserat, quasi posito concessoque ad confirmandum aliud utitur.

3 then next he uses that very same thing which he had omitted, as if posited and conceded, to confirm something else.

4 Progredi autem hic" inquit "synlogismus nisi illo prius posito non potest."

4 However, this" he says "syllogism cannot advance unless that has first been posited.

5 Vere hoc quidem Plutarchus de forma atque ordine synlogismi scripsit. Nam si, ut in disciplinis traditur, ita colligere et ratiocinari velis, sic dici oportet: ho thanatos psyches kai somatos dialysis; to de dialythein anaisthetei; to de anaisthetoun ouden pros hemas.

5 Truly, Plutarch did write this about the form and order of the syllogism. For if, as is taught in the disciplines, you should wish to collect and ratiocinate in this way, it ought to be said thus: death is the separation of soul and body; but to be separated is without sensation; but what is without sensation is nothing to us.

6 Sed Epicurus, cuiusmodi homost, non inscitia videtur partem istam synlogismi praetermisisse,

6 But Epicurus, being the sort of man he is, does not seem to have omitted that part of the syllogism through ignorance,

7 neque id ei negotium fuit synlogismum tamquam in scolis philosophorum cum suis numeris omnibus et cum suis finibus dicere, sed profecto, quia separatio animi et corporis in morte evidens est, non est ratus necessariam esse eius admonitionem, quod omnibus prosus erat obvium.

7 nor was it his business to state the syllogism, as in the schools of the philosophers, with all its numbers and with its bounds, but indeed, since the separation of soul and body in death is evident, he did not reckon it to be necessary to give an admonition of it, because it was altogether obvious to everyone.

8 Sicuti etiam, quod coniunctionem synlogismi non in fine posuit, set in principio: nam id quoque non inperite factum quis non videt?

8 Just so also, that he placed the conjunction of the syllogism not at the end, but at the beginning: for who does not see that this too was done not unskillfully?

9 Aput Platonem quoque multis in locis reperias synlogismos repudiato conversoque ordine isto, qui in docendo traditur, cum eleganti quadam reprehensionis contemptione positos esse.

9 In Plato too, in many places you may find syllogisms, with that order repudiated and reversed which is handed down in teaching, set forth with a certain elegant contempt of reproof.

IX. Quod idem Plutarchus evidenti calumnia verbum ab Epicuro dictum insectatus sit.

9. That the same Plutarch assailed with evident calumny a word spoken by Epicurus.

1 In eodem libro idem Plutarchus eundem Epicurum reprehendit, quod verbo usus sit parum proprio et alienae significationis.

1 In the same book the same Plutarch reprehends that same Epicurus, for having used a word insufficiently proper and of alien signification.

2 Ita enim scripsit Epicurus: Horos tou megethous ton hedonon he pantos tou algountos hypexaireis. "Non" inquit "pantos tou algountos, sed pantos tou algeinou dicere oportuit;

2 For Epicurus wrote thus: “The boundary of the magnitude of pleasures is the removal of all that is in pain.” “Not,” he says, “‘of all that is in pain,’ but ‘of all that is painful’ ought to have been said;

3 detractio enim significanda est doloris," inquit "non dolentis".

3 “for the removal is to be signified of pain,” he says, “not of the one suffering.”

4 Nimis minute ac prope etiam subfrigide Plutarchus in Epicuro accusando lexitherei.

4 Too minutely and almost even somewhat chilly, Plutarch, in accusing Epicurus, word-hunts.

5 Has enim curas vocum verborumque elegantias non modo non sectatur Epicurus, sed etiam insectatur.

5 For Epicurus not only does not pursue these cares—the elegances of sounds and of words—but even inveighs against them.

X. Quid sint favisae Capitolinae; et quid super eo verbo M. Varro Servio Sulpicio quaerenti rescripserit.

10. What the Capitoline favisae are; and what M. Varro wrote back to Servius Sulpicius inquiring about that word.

1 Servius Sulpicius, iuris civilis auctor, vir bene litteratus, scripsit ad M. Varronem rogavitque, ut rescriberet, quid significaret verbum, quod in censoris libris scriptum esset.

1 Servius Sulpicius, an authority on civil law, a well-lettered man, wrote to M. Varro and asked that he write back what the word meant, which had been written in the books of the censor.

2 Id erat verbum "favisae Capitolinae". Varro rescripsit in memoria sibi esse, quod Q. Catulus curator restituendi Capitolii dixisset voluisse se aream Capitolinam deprimere, ut pluribus gradibus in aedem conscenderetur suggestusque pro fastigii magnitudine altior fieret, sed facere id non quisse, quoniam "favisae" impedissent.

2 That was the term “the ‘Capitoline favisae.’” Varro wrote back that he remembered that Q. Catulus, the curator of restoring the Capitol, had said that he had wanted to lower the Capitoline area, so that by more steps one might ascend into the temple and the platform might be made higher in proportion to the magnitude of the pediment; but that he had not been able to do this, since the “favisae” had impeded it.

3 Id esse cellas quasdam et cisternas, quae in area sub terra essent, ubi reponi solerent signa vetera, quae ex eo templo collapsa essent, et alia quaedam religiosa e donis consecratis. Ac deinde eadem epistula negat quidem se in litteris invenisse, cur "favisae" dictae sint, sed Q. Valerium Soranum solitum dicere ait, quos "thesauros" Graeco nomine appellaremus, priscos Latinos "flavisas" dixisse, quod in eos non rude aes argentumque, sed flata signataque pecunia conderetur.

3 That these are certain cells and cisterns, which were in the area under the ground, where old statues were accustomed to be stored, which had fallen down from that temple, and certain other religious things from consecrated gifts. And then the same epistle denies that he had found in the writings why "favisae" are so called, but says that Q. Valerius Soranus used to say that what we would call "thesauros" by the Greek name, the ancient Latins called "flavisas," because into them there was stored not raw bronze and silver, but cast and stamped money.

4 Coniectare igitur se detractam esse ex eo verbo secundam litteram et "favisas" esse dictas cellas quasdam et specus, quibus aeditui Capitolii uterentur ad custodiendas res veteres religiosas.

4 Therefore he conjectures that from that word the second letter has been removed, and that "favisae" is what certain cells and grottoes are called, which the temple-wardens of the Capitol use to guard ancient religious objects.

XI. De Sicinio Dentato egregio bellatore multa memoratu digna.

11. On Sicinius Dentatus, a distinguished warrior, many things worthy of remembrance.

1 L. Sicinium Dentatum, qui tribunus plebi fuit Sp. Tarpeio A. Aternio consulibus, scriptum est in libris annalibus plus, quam credi debeat, strenuum bellatorem fuisse nomenque ei factum ob ingentem fortitudinem appellatumque esse Achillem Romanum.

1 It is written in the annal-books that L. Sicinius Dentatus, who was tribune of the plebs under the consuls Sp. Tarpeius and A. Aternius, was, beyond what ought to be believed, a valiant warrior, and that a name was made for him on account of immense fortitude, and that he was called the Roman Achilles.

2 Is pugnasse in hostem dicitur centum et viginti proeliis, cicatricem aversam nullam, adversas quinque et quadraginta tulisse, coronis donatus esse aureis octo, obsidionali una, muralibus tribus, civicis quattuordecim, torquibus tribus et octoginta, armillis plus centum sexaginta, hastis duodeviginti; phaleris item donatus est quinquies viciesque;

2 He is said to have fought against the enemy in 120 battles, to have borne no scar on his back, and 45 on the front; to have been presented with 8 golden crowns, 1 siege-crown, 3 mural, and 14 civic; with 83 neck-torques, with more than 160 armlets, with 18 spears; likewise he was also decorated with phalerae 25 times;

3 spolia militaria habuit multiiuga, in his provocatoria pleraque;

3 he had manifold military spoils, among these most won by challenge;

4 triumphavit cum imperatoribus suis triumphos novem.

4 he celebrated nine triumphs together with his commanders.

XII. Considerata perpensaque lex quaedam Solonis speciem habens primorem iniquae iniustaeque legis, sed ad usum et emolumentum salubritatis penitus reperta.

12. A certain law of Solon, considered and weighed, having at first the appearance of an iniquitous and unjust law, but found entirely for the use and emolument of salubrity.

1 In legibus Solonis illis antiquissimis, quae Athenis axibus ligneis incisae sunt quasque latas ab eo Athenienses, ut sempiternae manerent, poenis et religionibus sanxerunt, legem esse Aristoteles refert scriptam ad hanc sententiam: "Si ob discordiam dissensionemque seditio atque discessio populi in duas partes fiet et ob eam causam irritatis animis utrimque arma capientur pugnabiturque, tum qui in eo tempore in eoque casu civilis discordiae non alterutrae parti sese adiunxerit, sed solitarius separatusque a communi malo civitatis secesserit, is domo, patria fortunisque omnibus careto, exul extorrisque esto."

1 In those most ancient laws of Solon, which at Athens were incised on wooden axles, and which, having been proposed by him, the Athenians, that they might remain everlasting, sanctioned with penalties and religious sanctions, Aristotle reports there is a law written to this purport: “If on account of discord and dissension there shall be sedition and a discession of the people into two parts, and on that account, tempers on both sides being irritated, arms will be taken up and there will be fighting, then whoever at that time and in that case of civil discord shall not have joined himself to either party, but, solitary and separated, shall have withdrawn himself from the common ill of the state, let him be deprived of house, fatherland, and all his fortunes; let him be an exile and an outcast.”

2 Cum hanc legem Solonis singulari sapientia praediti legissemus, tenuit nos gravis quaedam in principio admiratio requirentes, quam ob causam dignos esse poena existimaverit, qui se procul a seditione et civili pugna removissent.

2 When we, endowed with singular wisdom, had read this law of Solon, a certain grave astonishment held us at the beginning, as we inquired for what cause he thought worthy of penalty those who had removed themselves far from sedition and civil combat.

3 Tum, qui penitus atque alte usum ac sententiam legis introspexerat, non ad augendam, sed ad desinendam seditionem legem hanc esse dicebat. Et res prorsum se sic habent.

3 Then, he who had thoroughly and deeply inspected the use and sense of the law said that this law was not for augmenting, but for ending, sedition. And the matter precisely so stands.

4 Nam si boni omnes, qui in principio coercendae seditioni impares fuerint, populum percitum et amentem non deseruerint, ad alterutram partem dividi sese adiunxerint, tum eveniet, ut cum socii partis seorsum utriusque fuerint eaeque partes ab his, ut maioris auctoritatis viris, temperari ac regi coeperint, concordia per eos potissimum restitui conciliarique possit, dum et suos, apud quos sunt, regunt atque mitificant et adversarios sanatos magis cupiunt quam perditos.

4 For if all the good, who at the beginning were unequal to restraining the sedition, shall not have deserted the people incensed and mad, but shall have divided and attached themselves to either party, then it will come about that, when they have been associates of each party separately and those parties have begun to be tempered and governed by them, as men of greater authority, concord can most especially be restored and reconciled through them, while they both rule and soften their own, among whom they are, and desire their adversaries to be healed rather than destroyed.

5 Hoc idem Favorinus philosophus inter fratres quoque aut amicos dissidentis oportere fieri censebat, ut qui in medio sunt utriusque partis benivoli, si in concordia adnitenda parum auctoritatis quasi ambigui amici habuerint, tum alteri in alteram partem discedant ac per id meritum viam sibi ad utriusque concordiam muniant.

5 This same Favorinus the philosopher judged that the same ought to be done also among brothers or friends who are dissenting: that those who are in the middle, well-disposed to both parties, if, in striving for concord, they should have too little authority as if ambiguous friends, then let them withdraw to the one side or the other, and through that merit pave a way for themselves to the concord of both.

6 "Nunc autem plerique" inquit "partis utriusque amici, quasi probe faciant, duos litigantes destituunt et relinquunt deduntque eos advocatis malivolis aut avaris, qui lites animasque eorum inflamment aut odii studio aut lucri."

6 "Now, however," he says, "most friends of both parties, as if they were acting rightly, abandon and leave the two litigants and hand them over to malevolent or avaricious advocates, who inflame their suits and their souls either by zeal for hatred or for gain."

XIII. "Liberos" in multitudinis numero etiam unum filium filiamve veteres dixisse.

13. The ancients said that "children," in the number of a multitude, could denote even a single son or daughter.

1 Antiqui oratores historiaeque aut carminum scriptores etiam unum filium filiamve "liberos" multitudinis numero appellarunt.

1 The ancient orators and the writers of history or of songs even called a single son or daughter "children" in the plural number.

2 Idque nos, cum in complurium veterum libris scriptum aliquotiens adverterimus, nunc quoque in libro Sempronii Asellionis rerum gestarunt quinto ita esse positum offendimus.

2 And this, since we have noticed it written several times in the books of several of the ancients, we have now also found set down thus in the fifth book of Sempronius Asellio’s Deeds.

3 Is Asellio sub P. Scipione Africano tribunus militum ad Numantiam fuit resque eas, quibus gerendis ipse interfuit, conscripsit.

3 That Asellio under P. Scipio Africanus was a military tribune at Numantia, and he composed those affairs, in the conducting of which he himself was present.

4 Eius verba de Tiberio Graccho tribuno pl., quo in tempore interfectus in Capitolio est, haec sunt: "Nam Gracchus domo cum proficiscebatur, numquam minus terna aut quaterna milia hominum sequebantur."

4 His words about Tiberius Gracchus, tribune of the plebs, at the time when he was slain on the Capitol, are these: "For when Gracchus was setting out from home, never fewer than three or four thousand men followed him."

5 Atque inde infra de eodem Graccho ita scripsit: "Orare coepit id quidem, ut se defenderent liberosque suos; eum, quem virile secus tum in eo tempore habebat, produci iussit populoque commendavit prope flens."

5 And then, further down, about that same Gracchus, he wrote thus: "He began to beg this indeed, that they defend him and his children; the one whom he then had at that time of the male sex, he ordered to be brought forth and commended him to the people, nearly weeping."

XIV. Quod M. Cato in libro, qui inscriptus est contra Tiberium exulem, "stitisses vadimonium" per "i" litteram dicit, non "stetisses"; eiusque verbi ratio reddita.

14. That M. Cato, in the book which is inscribed Against Tiberius the Exile, says "stitisses vadimonium" with the letter "i", not "stetisses"; and the rationale of that word is rendered.

1 In libro vetere M. Catonis, qui inscribitur contra Tiberium exulem, scriptum sic erat: "Quid si vadimonium capite obvoluto stitisses?" Recte ille quidem "stitisses" scripsit:

1 In an old book of M. Cato, which is inscribed Against Tiberius the Exile, it was written thus: "What if you had 'stitisses' the recognizance (vadimonium) with your head wrapped?" Rightly indeed he wrote "stitisses":

2 sed falsa et audax ... emendatores "e" scripto et per libros "stetisses" fecerunt, tamquam "stitisses" vanum et nihili verbum esset.

2 but a false and audacious ... the emenders, with an “e” written, made “stetisses” throughout the books, as though “stitisses” were an empty and worthless word.

3 Quin potius ipsi nequam et nihili sunt, qui ignorant "stitisses" dictum a Catone, quoniam "sisteretur" vadimonium, non "staretur".
Quod antiquitus aetati senectae potissimum habiti sint ampli honores; et cur postea ad maritos et ad patres idem isti honores delati sint; atque ibi de capite quaedam legis Iuliae septimo.

3 Nay rather, they themselves are good-for-nothing and of no account, who do not know that "stitisses" was said by Cato, since a vadimonium was "sisteretur," not "staretur".
That in antiquity ampler honors were held most especially for the age of old age; and why afterwards those same honors were conferred upon husbands and upon fathers; and there some matters concerning chapter seven of the Julian law.

XV. Quod antiquitus aetati senectae potissimum habiti sint ampli honores; et cur postea ad maritos et ad patres idem isti honores delati sint; atque ibi de capite quaedam legis Iuliae septimo.
I. Apud antiquissimos Romanorum neque generi neque pecuniae praestantior honos tribui quam aetati solitus, maioresque natu a minoribus colebantur ad deum prope et parentum vicem atque omni in loco inque omni specie honoris priores potioresque habiti.

15. That in antiquity very ample honors were most especially accorded to old age; and why afterward to husbands and to fathers those same honors were transferred; and there certain things about the seventh head of the Julian law.
1. Among the most ancient of the Romans, a superior honor was not accustomed to be bestowed upon birth nor upon wealth rather than upon age, and elders were venerated by their juniors almost in the stead of a god and of parents, and in every place and in every kind of honor they were held as prior and more preferred.

2 A convivio quoque, ut scriptum in antiquitatibus est, seniores a iunioribus domum deducebantur, eumque morem accepisse Romanos a Lacedaemoniis traditum est, apud quos Lycurgi legibus maior omnium rerum honos aetati maiori habebatur.

2 From a banquet also, as it is written in the antiquities, the elders were escorted home by the juniors, and it is handed down that the Romans received that custom from the Lacedaemonians, among whom, by the laws of Lycurgus, the highest honor in all matters was accorded to older age.

3 Sed postquam suboles civitati necessaria visa est et ad prolem populi frequentandam praemiis atque invitamentis usus fuit, tum antelati quibusdam in rebus qui uxorem quique liberos haberent senioribus neque liberos neque uxores habentibus.

3 But after offspring seemed necessary to the state, and, for making the people’s progeny more frequent, recourse was had to rewards and inducements, then in certain matters those who had a wife and children were preferred to seniors who had neither children nor wives.

4 Sicuti kapite VII. legis Iuliae priori ex consulibus fasces sumendi potestas fit, non qui pluris annos natus est, sed qui pluris liberos quam collega aut in sua potestate habet aut bello amisit.

4 Just as in chapter 7 of the Julian law the power of taking up the fasces is given to the prior of the consuls, not to the one who is older in years, but to the one who has more children than his colleague, either those he has in his own power or those he has lost in war.

5 Sed si par utrique numerus liberorum est, maritus aut qui in numero maritorum est, praefertur;

5 But if the number of children is equal for each, the husband, or one who is in the number of husbands, is preferred;

6 si vero ambo et mariti et patres totidem liberorum sunt, tum ille pristinus honos instauratur et qui maior natu est, prior fasces sumit.

6 but if indeed both are husbands and fathers of the same number of children, then that pristine honor is restored, and he who is older in age takes the fasces first.

7 Super his autem, qui aut caelibes ambo sunt et parem numerum filiorum habent aut mariti sunt et liberos non habent, nihil scriptum in lege de aetate est.

7 Moreover, about these, who either are both celibate and have an equal number of sons or are husbands and do not have children, nothing is written in the law concerning age.

8 Solitos tamen audio, qui lege potiores essent, fasces primi mensis collegis concedere aut longe aetate prioribus aut nobilioribus multo aut secundum consulatum ineuntibus.
Quod Caesellius Vindex a Sulpicio Apollinari reprehensus est in sensus Vergiliani enarratione.

8 I hear, however, that those who were superior by law were accustomed to concede the fasces of the first month to their colleagues, either to those far prior in age, or much more noble, or to those entering upon a second consulship.
On which point Caesellius Vindex was reproved by Sulpicius Apollinaris in an explication of Virgil’s sense.

XVI. Quod Caesellius Vindex a Sulpicio Apollinari reprehensus est in sensus Vergiliani enarratione
I. Vergilii versus sunt e libro sexto:
ille, vides, pura iuvenis qui nititur hasta,
proxima sorte tenet lucis loca. Primus ad auras
aetherias Italo commixtus sanguine surget
Silvius, Albanum nomen, tua postuma proles,
quem tibi longaevo serum Lavinia coniunx
educet silvis regem regumque parentem:
unde genus Longa nostrum dominabitur Alba.

16. That Caesellius Vindex was reproved by Sulpicius Apollinaris in the expounding of the Virgilian sense
1. The verses of Vergilius are from Book Six:
that one, you see, the youth who leans upon a pure spear,
holds by the nearest lot the places of light. First to the airs
ethereal, commingled with Italian blood, shall arise
Silvius, the Alban name, your posthumous offspring,
whom for you, belated, your long-lived spouse Lavinia
will lead forth from the woods, a king and parent of kings:
whence our stock from Alba Longa will be lord.

2 Videbantur haec nequaquam convenire:
tua postuma proles,
et:
quem tibi longaevo serum Lavinia coniunx
educet silvis.

2 These seemed by no means to accord:
your posthumous progeny,
and:
whom, late to you in your long age, your wife Lavinia
will bring up in the woods.

3 Nam si hic Silvius, ita ut in omnium ferme annalium monumentis scriptum est, post patris mortem natus est ob eamque causam praenomen ei Postumo fuit, qua ratione subiectum est: quem tibi longaevo serum Lavinia coniunx educet silvis?

3 For if this Silvius, just as it is written in the records of almost all the annals, was born after his father’s death and for that cause his praenomen was Postumus, by what reasoning is it subjoined: whom to you, late, in your old age, Lavinia your consort will rear in the woods?

4 Haec enim verba significare videri possunt Aenea vivo ac iam sene natum ei Silvium et educatum.

4 For these words can seem to signify that, Aeneas alive and now aged, Silvius was born to him and reared.

5 Itaque hanc sententiam esse verborum istorum Caesellius opinatus in commentario lectionum antiquarum: ""postuma"" inquit ""proles"" non eum significat, qui patre mortuo, sed qui postremo loco natus est, sicuti Silvius, qui Aenea iam sene tardo seroque partu est editus."

5 And so Caesellius supposed this to be the meaning of those words in the Commentary of Ancient Readings: ""postuma"" he says ""proles"" does not signify him who, with his father dead, but him who was born in the last place, just as Silvius, who was brought forth from Aeneas, already an old man, by a slow and belated birth.

6 Sed huius historiae auctorem idoneum nullum nominat;

6 But he names no suitable author of this story;

7 Silvium autem post Aeneae mortem, sicuti diximus, natum esse multi tradiderunt.

7 But many have handed down that Silvius was born after Aeneas’s death, just as we have said.

8 Idcirco Apollinaris Sulpicius inter cetera, in quis Caesellium reprehendit, hoc quoque eius quasi erratum animadvertit errorisque istius hanc esse causam dixit, quod scriptum ita sit "Quem tibi longaevo". ""Longaevo"" inquit "non seni significat - hoc enim est contra historiae fidem, sed in longum iam aevum et perpetuum recepto immortalique facto. IX. Anchises enim, qui haec ad filium dicit, sciebat eum, cum hominum vita discessisset, immortalem atque indigetem futurum et longo perpetuoque aevo potiturum."

8 Therefore Apollinaris Sulpicius, among the rest, in which he reproves Caesellius, also noticed this as if an error of his, and said that the cause of that error was this, that it is written thus "Quem tibi longaevo". ""Longaevo"" he says "does not signify an old man - for this is against the faith of history, but one received into a long and now perpetual age and made immortal. 9. For Anchises, who says these things to his son, knew that he, when he had departed from the life of men, would be immortal and an indigete, and would possess a long and perpetual age."

10 Hoc sane Apollinaris argute. Sed aliud tamen est "longum aevum", aliud "perpetuum", neque dii "longaevi" appellantur, sed "inmortales".

10 This, to be sure, Apollinaris says shrewdly. But still “long age” is one thing, “perpetual” another, nor are the gods called “long-lived,” but “immortals.”

XVII. Cuiusmodi esse naturam quarundam praepositionum M. Cicero animadverterit; disceptatumque ibi super eo ipso, quod Cicero observaverat.

17. Of what sort M. Cicero observed the nature of certain prepositions to be; and there was a dispute thereupon about that very thing which Cicero had observed.

1 Observate curioseque animadvertit M. Tullius "in" et "con" praepositiones verbis aut vocabulis praepositas tunc produci atque protendi, cum litterae sequerentur, quae primae sunt in "sapiente" atque "felice", in aliis autem omnibus correpte pronuntiari.

1M. Tullius observed carefully and inquisitively that the prepositions "in" and "con," when prefixed to verbs or vocables, are then lengthened and stretched out when letters follow which are the first in "sapiente" and "felice," but in all other cases are pronounced short.

2 Verba Ciceronis haec sunt: "Quid vero hoc elegantius, quod non fit natura, sed quodam instituto? "indoctus" dicimus brevi prima littera, "insanus" producta, "inhumanus" brevi, "infelix" longa et, ne multis, quibus in verbis hae primae litterae sunt, quae in "sapiente" atque "felice", producte dicuntur, in ceteris omnibus breviter; itemque "conposuit", "consuevit", "concrepuit", "confecit". Consule veritatem, reprehendet; refer ad auris, probabunt; quaere cur ita sit: dicent iuvare. Voluptati autem aurium morigerari debet oratio."

2 The words of Cicero are these: "What indeed is more elegant than this, which does not happen by nature, but by a certain institution? "indoctus" we say with the first letter short, "insanus" with it lengthened, "inhumanus" short, "infelix" long; and, not to say many, in whatever words those first letters are which are in "sapiens" and "felix", they are pronounced at length; in all the rest, briefly; likewise "conposuit", "consuevit", "concrepuit", "confecit". Consult truth, it will reprove; refer it to the ears, they will approve; ask why it is so: they will say it helps. But speech ought to be compliant to the pleasure of the ears."

3 Manifesta quidem ratio suavitatis est in his vocibus, de quibus Cicero locutus est. Sed quid dicemus de praepositione "pro", quae, cum produci et corripi soleat, observationem hanc tamen M. Tullii aspernata est?

3 Indeed, there is a manifest rationale of suavity in those words about which Cicero spoke. But what shall we say about the preposition "pro", which, although it is wont to be lengthened and to be shortened, has nevertheless spurned this observation of M. Tullius?

4 Non enim semper producitur, cum sequitur ea littera, quae prima est in verbo "fecit", quam Cicero hanc habere vim significat, ut propter eam rem "in" et "con" praepositiones producantur.

4 For it is not always lengthened when there follows that letter which is first in the word "fecit," which Cicero signifies to have this force, namely, that on account of that the prepositions "in" and "con" are lengthened.

5 Nam "proficisci" et "profugere" et "profundere" et "profanum" et "profestum" correpte dicimus, "proferre" autem et "profligare" et "proficere" producte.

5 For we say "proficisci" and "profugere" and "profundere" and "profanum" and "profestum" with a short quantity, but "proferre" and "profligare" and "proficere" with a long.

6 Cur igitur ea littera, quam Cicero productionis causam facere observavit, non in omnibus consimilibus eandem vim aut rationis aut suavitatis tenet, sed aliam vocem produci facit, aliam corripi? Neque vero "con" particula tum solum producitur, cum ea littera, de qua Cicero dixit, insequitur.

6 Why, therefore, does that letter, which Cicero observed to make a cause of lengthening, not in all similar cases hold the same force either of reason or of suavity, but cause one word to be lengthened, another to be shortened? Nor indeed is the particle "con" lengthened only then, when that letter, about which Cicero spoke, follows.

7 Nam et Cato et Sallustius: "faenoribus" inquiunt "copertus est".

7 For both Cato and Sallust say: "he is covered with usury."

8 Praeterea "coligatus" et "conexus" producte dicitur.

8 Moreover, "coligatus" and "conexus" are pronounced long.

9 Sed tamen videri potest in his, quae posui, ob eam causam particula haec produci, quoniam eliditur ex ea "n" littera: nam detrimentum litterae productione syllabae compensatur.

9 But nevertheless it can seem, in these which I have set forth, that for this reason this particle is lengthened, since the letter "n" is elided from it: for the detriment of the letter is compensated by the lengthening of the syllable.

10 Quod quidem etiam in eo servatur, quod est "cogo"; neque repugnat, quod "coegi" correpte dicimus:

10 This, indeed, is also observed in that which is "cogo"; nor does it conflict that we say "coegi" with short quantity:

11 non enim salva id analogiai dicitur a verbo, quod est "cogo".

11 for that is not said, with analogy intact, from the verb which is "cogo".

XVIII. Quod Phaedon Socraticus servus fuit; quodque item alii complusculi servitutem servierunt.

18. That Phaedo the Socratic was a slave; and that likewise several others served servitude.

1 Phaedon Elidensis ex cohorte illa Socratica fuit Socratique et Platoni per fuit familiaris.

1 Phaedo of Elis was from that Socratic cohort, and to Socrates and to Plato he was a very familiar friend.

2 Eius nomini Plato librum illum divinum de immortalitate animae dedit.

2 To his name Plato dedicated that divine book on the immortality of the soul.

3 Is Phaedon servus fuit forma atque ingenio liberali et, ut quidam scripserunt, a lenone domino puer ad merendum coactus.

3 This Phaedo was a slave, with handsome form and liberal wit, and, as some have written, by a pimp as his master, when a boy, compelled to earn money.

4 Eum Cebes Socraticus hortante Socrate emisse dicitur habuisseque in philosophiae disciplinis.

4 He is said to have been bought by Cebes the Socratic, at Socrates’ urging, and to have been kept in the disciplines of philosophy.

5 Atque is postea philosophus inlustris fuit, sermonesque eius de Socrate admodum elegantes leguntur.

5 And he afterwards was an illustrious philosopher, and his sermons concerning Socrates, very elegant, are read.

6 Alii quoque non pauci servi fuerunt, qui post philosophi clari exstiterunt.

6 Others too, not a few, were slaves, who later emerged as renowned philosophers.

7 Ex quibus ille Menippus fuit, cuius libros M. Varro in saturis aemulatus est, quas alii "cynicas", ipse appellat "Menippeas".

7 Among whom was that Menippus, whose books M. Varro emulated in his satires, which others call "Cynic", he himself calls "Menippean".

8 Sed et Theophrasti Peripatetici servus Pompylus et Zenonis Stoici servus, qui Persaeus vocatus est, et Epicuri, cui Mys nomen fuit, philosophi non incelebres vixerunt.

8 But also Pompylus, the servant of Theophrastus the Peripatetic, and the servant of Zeno the Stoic, who was called Persaeus, and of Epicurus, whose name was Mys, lived as philosophers not uncelebrated.

9 Diogenes etiam Cynicus servitutem servivit. Sed is ex libertate in servitutem venum ierat. Quem cum emere vellet Xeniades Korinthios, ecquid artificii novisset, percontatus "novi" inquit Diogenes "hominibus liberis imperare".

9 Diogenes the Cynic too served in servitude. But he had gone, from liberty into servitude, for sale. When Xeniades the Corinthian wished to buy him, having asked whether he knew any craft, “I know,” said Diogenes, “to command free men.”

10 Tum Xeniades responsum eius demiratus emit et manu emisit filiosque suos ei tradens: "accipe" inquit "liberos meos, quibus imperes". De Epicteto autem philosopho nobili, quod is quoque servus fuit, recentior est memoria, quam ut scribi quasi oblitteratum debuerit.

10 Then Xeniades, admiring his response, bought him and manumitted him, and, handing over his own sons to him, said: "receive my children, over whom you may command." But about Epictetus, a noble philosopher, the memory that he too was a slave is more recent than that it ought to have been written as if obliterated.

XIX. "Rescire" verbum quid sit; et quam habeat veram atque propriam significationem.

19. What the word "rescire" is; and what true and proper signification it has.

1 Verbum "rescire" observavimus vim habere propriam quandam, non ex communi significatione ceterorum verborum, quibus eadem praepositio imponitur; neque ut "rescribere", "relegere", "restituere" ... substituere dicimus, itidem dicimus "rescire";

1 We have observed the verb "rescire" to have a certain proper force, not from the common signification of the other verbs upon which the same preposition is imposed; nor, as we say "rescribe", "re-read", "restore" ... "substitute", do we likewise say "rescire";

2 nam qui factum aliquod occultius aut inopinatum insperatumque cognoscit, is dicitur proprie "rescire".

2 for he who comes to know some deed more occult or unanticipated and unhoped-for is properly said “to rescire.”

3 Cur autem in hoc uno verbo "re" particula huius sententiae vim habeat, equidem adhuc quaero.

3 But why, however, in this one word the particle "re" should have the force of this sense, I indeed am still inquiring.

4 Aliter enim dictum esse "rescivi" aut "rescire" apud eos, qui diligenter locuti sunt, nondum invenimus, quam super is rebus, quae aut consulto consilio latuerint aut contra spem opinionemve usu venerint,

4 For we have not yet found that "rescivi" or "rescire" has been said among those who have spoken diligently otherwise than concerning those matters which either have lain hidden by deliberate counsel or have come, in practice, contrary to hope or opinion,

5 quamquam ipsum "scire" de omnibus communiter rebus dicatur vel adversis vel prosperis vel insperatis vel exspectatis.

5 although the very "to know" is said of all things in common, whether adverse or prosperous or unexpected or expected.

6 Naevius in Triphallo ita scripsit:
si umquam quicquam filium rescivero
argentum amoris causa sumpse mutuum,
extemplo illo te ducam, ubi non despuas.

6 Naevius in the Triphallus wrote thus:
if ever I shall have learned anything that my son
has taken money on loan for the sake of love,
at once I will lead you there, where you do not spit.

7 Claudius Quadrigarius in primo annali: "Ea Lucani ubi resciverunt sibi per fallacias verba data esse."

7 Claudius Quadrigarius in the first Annal: "Then the Lucanians, when they learned that promises had been given to them by trickery."

8 Item Quadrigarius in eodem libro in re tristi et inopinata verbo isto ita utitur: "Id ubi rescierunt propinqui obsidum, quos Pontio traditos supra demonstravimus, eorum parentes cum propinquis capillo passo in viam provolarunt."

8 Likewise Quadrigarius in the same book, in a sad and unexpected affair, uses that word thus: "When the kinsmen of the hostages, whom we have shown above to have been handed over to Pontius, learned this, their parents with their kinsfolk, with hair let loose, rushed out into the road."

9M. Cato in quarto originum: "Deinde dictator iubet postridie magistrum equitum arcessi: "mittam te, si vis, cum equitibus". "Sero est", inquit magister equitum "iam rescivere"."
Quae volgo dicuntur "vivaria", id vocabulum veteres non dixisse; et quid pro eo P. Scipio in oratione ad populum, quid postea M. Varro in libris de re rustica dixerit.

9M. Cato in the fourth book of the Origins: "Then the dictator orders the master of horse to be summoned for the next day: 'I will send you, if you wish, with the cavalry.' 'It is too late,' says the master of horse, 'they have already found out'."
The things that are commonly called "vivaria," the ancients did not use that term; and what in place of it P. Scipio in a speech to the people, and what later M. Varro in the books On Agriculture, said.

XX. Quae volgo dicuntur "vivaria," id vocabulum veteres non dixisse; et quid pro eo P. Scipio in oratione ad populum, quid postea M. Varro in libris De Re Rustica dixerit.
I. "Vivaria", quae nunc dicuntur saepta quaedam loca, in quibus ferae vivae pascuntur, M. Varro in libro de re rustica III. dicit "leporaria" appellari.

20. Those things which are commonly called "vivaria," that the ancients did not use that word; and what in its place P. Scipio in a speech to the people, and what afterward M. Varro in the books On Country Matters said.
1. "Vivaria," which are now called certain enclosed places in which wild beasts are pastured alive, M. Varro in book 3 of On Country Matters says are called "leporaria."

2 Verba Varronis subieci: "Villaticae pastionis genera sunt tria, ornithones, leporaria, piscinae. Nunc ornithonas dico omnium alitum, quae intra parietes villae solent pasci. Leporaria te accipere volo, non ea, quae tritavi nostri dicebant, ubi soli lepores sint, sed omnia saepta, adficta villae quae sunt et habent inclusa animalia, quae pascuntur."

2 I have subjoined Varro’s words: “The genera of villatic pasturing are three: ornithons, leporaries, piscinae. Now I call ‘ornithons’ those of all winged creatures which are wont to be fed within the walls of the villa. I want you to take ‘leporaries’ not as our forefathers used to say, where there are hares only, but all enclosures that are affixed to the villa and have enclosed animals which are fed.”

3 Is item infra eodem in libro ita scribit: "Cum emisti fundum Tusculanum a M. Pisone, in leporario apri multi fuere."

3 He likewise further down in the same book writes thus: "When you bought the Tusculan estate from M. Piso, in the leporarium there were many boars."

4 "Vivaria" autem quae nunc vulgus dicit, quos paradeisous Graeci appellant, quae "leporaria" Varro dicit, haut usquam memini apud vetustiores scriptum.

4 "Vivaria," however, which the common crowd now says, which the Greeks call paradeisoi, which Varro calls "leporaria," I remember nowhere to have been written among the more ancient writers.

5 Sed quod apud Scipionem omnium aetatis suae purissime locutum legimus "roboraria", aliquot Romae doctos viros dicere audivi id significare, quod nos "vivaria" dicimus, appellataque esse a tabulis roboreis, quibus saepta essent; quod genus saeptorum vidimus in Italia locis plerisque.

5 But as to the word “roboraria,” which we read in Scipio—who, of all his age, spoke with the greatest purity—I have heard several learned men at Rome say that it signifies what we call “vivaria,” and that they were appellated from oaken boards (tabulis roboreis) with which they were fenced; a genus of enclosures that we have seen in many places in Italy.

6 Verba ex oratione eius contra Claudium Asellum quinta haec sunt: "Vbi agros optime cultos atque villas expolitissimas vidisset, in his regionibus excelsissimo loco grumam statuere aiebat; inde corrigere viam, aliis per vineas medias, aliis per roborarium atque piscinam, aliis per villam."

6 The words from his oration against Claudius Asellus, the fifth are these: "Where he had seen fields most excellently cultivated and villas most polished, in these regions he said they set up a gruma in the most elevated place; from there to straighten the road, for some through the middle of the vineyards, for others through the roborarium and the fishpond, for others through the villa."

7 Lacus vero aut stagna piscibus vivis coercendis clausa suo atque proprio nomine "piscinas" nominaverunt.

7 Indeed, lakes or pools enclosed for confining live fish they named, by their own and proper name, "piscinas".

8 "Apiaria" quoque vulgus dicit loca, in quibus siti sunt alvei apum; sed neminem ferme, qui incorrupte locuti sunt, aut scripsisse memini aut dixisse.

8 "Apiaries" also the vulgar call the places in which the hives of bees are situated; but I scarcely remember anyone who has spoken incorruptly either to have written it or to have said it.

9M. autem Varro in libro de re rustica tertio: "Melissonas" inquit "ita facere oportet, quae quidam "mellaria" appellant." Sed hoc verbum, quo Varro usus est, Graecum est; nam melissones ita dicuntur, ut ampelones et daphnones.

9 But M. Varro in the third book On Rural Affairs: "Melissones," he says, "ought to be made thus, which certain people call "mellaria"." But this word, which Varro used, is Greek; for melissones are so called, as ampelones and daphnones.

XXI. Super eo sidere, quod Graeci hamaxan, nos "septentriones" vocamus; ac de utriusque vocabuli ratione et origine.

21. On that constellation which the Greeks call hamaxan, we "septentriones"; and on the reason and origin of each vocable.

1 Ab Aegina in Piraeum complusculi earundem disciplinarum sectatores Graeci Romanique homines eadem in navi tramittebamus.

1 From Aegina into Piraeus we were ferrying several followers of the same disciplines, Greek and Roman men, on the same ship.

2 Nox fuit et clemens mare et anni aestas caelumque liquide serenum. Sedebamus ergo in puppi simul universi et lucentia sidera considerabamus.

2 It was night, and the sea was clement, and the season was summer, and the sky was limpidly serene. Therefore we sat together, all of us, in the stern, and we were considering the lucent stars.

3 Tum, qui eodem in numero Graecas res eruditi erant, quid hamaxa esset, et quaenam maior et quae minor, cur ita appellata et quam in partem procedentis noctis spatio moveretur et quamobrem Homerus solam eam non occidere dicat, tum et quaedam alia, scite ista omnia ac perite disserebant.

3 Then those who in that same company were erudite in Greek matters were discoursing cleverly and expertly about what the hamaxa was, which was the greater and which the lesser, why it was so called, into what quarter, as the night advanced, it moved, and for what reason Homer says that it alone does not set, then also certain other things.

4 Hic ego ad nostros iuvenes convertor et "quin" inquam "vos opici dicitis mihi, quare, quod hamaxan Graeci vocant, nos "septentriones" vocamus?

4 Here I turn to our youths and say, "why don’t you boors tell me why that which the Greeks call the hamaxa we call "Septentriones" ?"

5 non enim satis est, quod septem stellas videmus, sed quid hoc totum, quod "septentriones" dicimus, significet, scire" inquam "id prolixius volo."

5 for it is not enough that we see seven stars, but what this whole thing, which we call "septentriones," signifies—to know that," I say, "I want more at length.

6 Tum quispiam ex his, qui se ad litteras memoriasque veteres dediderat: "vulgus" inquit "grammaticorum "septentriones" a solo numero stellarum dictum putat.

6 Then someone from among these, who had devoted himself to letters and to ancient memories, said: "the 'vulgus' of the grammarians thinks 'septentriones' to be named from the sole number of the stars."

7 "Triones" enim per sese nihil significare aiunt, sed vocabuli esse supplementum; sicut in eo, quod "quinquatrus" dicamus, quinque ab Idibus dierum numerus sit, "atrus" nihil.

7 They say that "Triones" by itself signifies nothing, but is an appurtenance of the word; just as in this, that we say "Quinquatrus," the number of days from the Ides is five, while "atrus" is nothing.

8 Sed ego quidem cum L. Aelio et M. Varrone sentio, qui "triones" rustico vocabulo boves appellatos scribunt quasi quosdam "terriones", hoc est arandae colendaeque terrae idoneos.

8 But I indeed agree with L. Aelius and M. Varro, who write that "triones," by a rustic vocable, are called oxen, as though certain "terriones," that is, fit for the plowing and cultivating of the earth.

9 Itaque hoc sidus, quod a figura posituraque ipsa, quia simile plaustri videtur, antiqui Graecorum hamaxan dixerunt, nostri quoque veteres a bubus iunctis "septentriones" appellarunt, id est septem stellas, ex quibus quasi iuncti triones figurantur.

9 Therefore this constellation, which from the figure and the very position itself, because it seems similar to a wagon, the ancient Greeks called hamaxan, our own elders also, from oxen yoked, called "septentriones," that is, seven stars, from which as it were yoked triones are figured.

10 Praeter hanc" inquit "opinionem id quoque Varro addit dubitare sese, an propterea magis hae septem stellae "triones" appellatae sint, quia ita sunt sitae, ut ternae stellae proximae quaeque inter sese faciant "trigona", id est triquetras figuras."

10 "Besides this," he says, "opinion Varro also adds that he is in doubt whether for this reason rather these seven stars were called 'triones,' because they are so situated that groups of three nearest stars each make among themselves 'trigons,' that is three-cornered figures."

11 Ex his duabus rationibus, quas ille dixit, quod posterius est, subtilius elegantiusque est visum. Intuentibus enim nobis in illud ita propemodum res erat, ut forma esse triquetra videretur.

11 From these two reasons, which he stated, the latter seemed more subtle and more elegant. For as we were looking upon that, the matter was thus almost, that the form seemed to be triquetrous.

XXII. De vento "iapyge" deque aliorum ventorum vocabulis regionibusque accepta ex Favorini sermonibus.

22. On the wind "Iapyx" and on the names and regions of the other winds, received from the discourses of Favorinus.

1 Apud mensam Favorini in convivio familiari legi solitum erat aut vetus carmen melici poetae aut historia partim Graecae linguae, alias Latinae.

1 At Favorinus’s table, at a familiar banquet, it was customary to read either an old song of a melic poet or a history, sometimes in the Greek tongue, at other times in Latin.

2 Legebatur ergo ibi tunc in carmine Latino "iapyx" ventus quaesitumque est, quis hic ventus et quibus ex locis spiraret et quae tam infrequentis vocabuli ratio esset; atque etiam petebamus, ut super ceterorum nominibus regionibusque docere nos ipse vellet, quia vulgo neque de appellationibus eorum neque de finibus neque de numero conveniret.

2 Accordingly there was then being read there in a Latin poem the “Iapyx” wind, and it was asked which wind this was and from what places it blew and what the rationale of so infrequent a vocable was; and we also asked that he himself should be willing to teach us about the names and regions of the rest, since among the common sort there was no agreement neither about their appellations nor about their boundaries nor about their number.

3 Tum Favorinus ita fibulatus est: "Satis" inquit "notum est limites regionesque esse caeli quattuor: exortum, occasum, meridiem, septentriones.

3 Then Favorinus, thus clasped, said: "It is well known that the boundaries and regions of the sky are four: the Orient, the Occident, the south, the north."

4 Exortus et occasus mobilia et varia sunt, meridies septentrionesque statu perpetuo stant et manent.

4 The rising and the setting are mobile and variable; the south and the north stand and remain in a perpetual state.

5 Oritur enim sol non indidem semper, sed aut "aequinoctialis" oriens dicitur, cum in circulo currit, qui appellatur isemerinos, aut "solstitialis", quae sunt therinai tropai, aut "brumalis", quae sunt cheimerinai tropai.

5 For the sun does not always rise from the same place, but it is called either “equinoctial” rising, when it runs in the circle which is called isemerinos, or “solstitial,” which are the therinai tropai, or “brumal,” which are the cheimerinai tropai.

6 Item cadit sol non in eundem semper locum. Fit enim similiter occasus eius aut "aequinoctialis" aut "solstitialis" aut "brumalis".

6 Likewise the sun does not set always in the same place. For indeed its setting is similarly either "equinoxial" or "solstitial" or "brumal".

7 Qui ventus igitur ab oriente verno, id est aequinoctiali, venit, nominatur "eurus" ficto vocabulo, ut isti etymologikai aiunt, ho apo tes eous rheon.

7 Therefore the wind which comes from the vernal east, that is, the equinoctial, is named "Eurus" by a fictive term, as those etymologists say, "the one flowing from the east."

8 Is alio quoque a Graecis nomine apheliotes, Romanis nauticis "subsolanus" cognominatur.

8 This one also, by another name among the Greeks, is called apheliotes, and by Roman sailors is surnamed "subsolanus".

9 Sed qui ab aestiva et solstitiali orientis meta venit, Latine "aquilo", boreas Graece dicitur, eumque propterea quidam dicunt ab Homero aithregeneten appellatum; boream autem putant dictum apo tes boes, quoniam sit violenti flatus et sonori.

9 But the one that comes from the estival and solstitial limit of the east is called in Latin "aquilo", in Greek boreas; and some therefore say that by Homer it is called aithregeneten; moreover they think boreas is said apo tes boes, since it is a violent and sonorous blast.

10 Tertius ventus, qui ab oriente hiberno spirat - "volturnum" Romani vocant, eum plerique Graeci mixto nomine, quod inter notum et eurum sit, euronoton appellant.

10 The third wind, which blows from the winter east - the Romans call it "volturnus", most of the Greeks, with a mixed name, because it is between Notus and Eurus, call it euronoton.

11 Hi sunt igitur tres venti orientales: "aquilo", "volturnus", "eurus", quorum medius eurus est.

11 These, therefore, are the three eastern winds: "aquilo", "volturnus", "eurus", of which the middle is eurus.

12 His oppositi et contrarii sunt alii tres occidui: "caurus", quem solent Graeci appellare argesten: is adversus aquilonem flat; item alter "favonius", qui Graece zephyros vocatur: is adversus eurum flat; tertius "africus", qui Graece lips: is adversus volturnum facit.

12 Opposite and contrary to these are three other western [winds]: "caurus", which the Greeks are accustomed to call argesten: this blows against aquilonem; likewise another "favonius", which in Greek is called zephyros: this blows against eurum; a third "africus", which in Greek is lips: this is set against volturnum.

13 Hae duae regiones caeli orientis occidentisque inter sese adversae sex habere ventos videntur.

13 These two regions of the sky, the Orient and the Occident, opposed to each other, seem to have six winds.

14 Meridies autem, quoniam certo atque fixo limite est, unum meridialem ventum habet: is Latine "auster", Graece notos nominatur, quoniam est nebulosus atque umectus; notis enim Graece umor nominatur.

14 The south, however, since it is of a sure and fixed boundary, has one meridional wind: this in Latin is called "auster", in Greek notos, since it is nebulous and humid; for notis in Greek is the name for moisture.

15 Septentriones autem habent ob eandem causam unum. Is obiectus derectusque in austrum, Latine "septentrionarius", Graece aparktias appellatus.

15 But the North, moreover, has for the same reason one. This one, set opposite and straight toward the south, in Latin "septentrionarius", in Greek aparktias called.

16 Ex his octo ventis alii quattuor ventos detrahunt atque id facere se dicunt Homero auctore, qui solos quattuor ventos noverit: eurum, austrum, aquilonem,

16 Out of these eight winds, some subtract four winds and say that they do this with Homer as author, who knew only four winds: eurus, auster, aquilo,

17 favonium, a quattuor caeli partibus, quas quasi primas nominavimus, oriente scilicet atque occidente latioribus atque simplicibus, non tripertitis.

17 the Favonius, from the four parts of the sky, which we have named as it were the first—namely the Orient and the Occident, broader and simple, not tripartite.

18 Partim autem sunt, qui pro octo duodecim faciant tertios quattuor in media loca inserentes circum meridiem et septentriones eadem ratione, qua secundi quattuor intersiti sunt inter primores duos apud orientem occidentemque.

18 But there are some who, instead of eight, make twelve, inserting a third four into the middle places around the south and the north by the same method by which the second four are interposed between the two principal ones at the east and the west.

19 "Sunt porro alia quaedam nomina quasi peculiarium ventorum, quae incolae in suis quisque regionibus fecerunt aut ex locorum vocabulis, in quibus colunt, aut ex alia qua causa, quae ad faciendum vocabulum acciderat.

19 "There are moreover certain other names, as it were, of peculiar winds, which the inhabitants in their several regions have fashioned either from the vocables of the places in which they dwell, or from some other cause which had occurred for the making of the appellation.

20 Nostri namque Galli ventum ex sua terra flantem, quem saevissimum patiuntur, "circium" appellant a turbine, opinor, eius ac vertigine;

20 For our Gauls call the wind blowing from their own land, which they undergo as most savage, "circium," from its turbine, I think, and its vertigo;

21 ex Iapygias ipsius orae proficiscentem quasi sinibus Apuli eodem, quo ipsi sunt, nomine "iapygem" dicunt.

21 setting out from the Iapygian parts of their own coast, as if from the bays of Apulia, they call it by the same name by which they themselves are called, "Iapygian".

22 Eum esse propemodum caurum existimo; nam et est occidentalis et videtur exadversum eurum flare.

22 I deem it to be almost the Caurus; for it is occidental and seems to blow opposite to Eurus.

23 Itaque Vergilius Cleopatram e navali proelio in Aegyptum fugientem vento "iapyge" ferri ait, ecum quoque Apulum eodem, quo ventum, vocabulo "iapygem" appellavit.

23 And so Virgil says that Cleopatra, fleeing from the naval battle into Egypt, was borne by the "Iapygian" wind, and he also called an Apulian horse "Iapygian" with the same term as the wind.

24 Est etiam ventus nomine kaikias, quem Aristoteles ita flare dicit, ut nubes non procul propellat, sed ut ad sese vocet, ex quo versum istum proverbialem factum ait:
helkon eph'hauton hoste kaikias nephos.

24 There is also a wind by the name Caecias, which Aristotle says blows in such a way that it does not propel the clouds far away, but calls them to itself; from which he says that that proverbial verse was made:
drawing a cloud to itself like the Caecias.

25 Praeter hos autem, quos dixi, sunt alii plurifariam venti commenticii et suae quisque regionis indigenae, ut est Horatianus quoque ille "atabulus", quos ipsos quoque exsecuturus fui; addidissemque eos, qui "etesiae" et "prodromi" appellitantur, qui certo tempore anni, cum canis oritur, ex alia atque alia parte caeli spirant, rationesque omnium vocabulorum, quoniam plus paulo adbibi, effutissem, nisi multa iam prosus omnibus vobis reticentibus verba fecissem, quasi fieret a me akroasis epideiktike.

25 Besides these, however, which I have mentioned, there are elsewhere other winds, in many places, concocted and each indigenous to its own region, as that Horatian “atabulus” as well, which very ones too I was going to set forth in detail; and I would have added those which are called “etesiae” and “prodromi,” which at a fixed time of the year, when the Dog-star rises, blow from now one and now another quarter of the sky; and I would have chattered out the reasons of all the vocabularies, since I have imbibed a little more than was fitting, had I not already made many words, altogether while all of you were keeping silence, as though an epideictic acroasis were being delivered by me.

26 In convivio autem frequenti loqui solum unum neque honestum est" inquit "neque commodum."

26 "But in a crowded banquet, for one person alone to speak is neither honorable," he says, "nor convenient."

27 Haec nobis Favorinus in eo, quo dixi, tempore apud mensam suam summa cum elegantia verborum totiusque sermonis comitate atque gratia denarravit.

27 Favorinus recounted these things to us, at the time that I mentioned, at his own table, with the utmost elegance of words and with the affability and grace of his entire discourse.

28 Sed quod ait ventum, qui ex terra Gallia flaret, "circium" appellari, M. Cato in libris originum eum ventum "cercium" dicit, non "circium".

28 But as to his saying that the wind which blew from the land of Gaul is called "circium," M. Cato in the books of the Origins calls that wind "cercium," not "circium".

29 Nam cum de Hispanis scriberet, qui citra Hiberum colunt, verba haec posuit: "Set in his regionibus ferrariae, argentifodinae pulcherrimae, mons ex sale mero magnus; quantum demas, tantum adcrescit. Ventus cercius, cum loquare, buccam implet, armatum hominem, plaustrum oneratum percellit."

29 For when he was writing about the Spaniards who dwell on this side of the Ebro, he set down these words: "But in these regions, iron-mines, most beautiful silver-mines, a great mountain of pure salt; as much as you take away, so much grows again. The Cercius wind, when you speak, fills the cheek; it strikes down an armed man, overturns a laden wagon."

30 Quod supra autem dixi etesias ex alia atque alia parte caeli flare, haut scio an secutus opinionem multorum temere dixerim.

30 But as to what I said above, that the Etesians blow from one and another part of the sky, I do not know whether, following the opinion of many, I spoke rashly.

31 P. enim Nigidii in secundo librorum, quos de vento composuit, verba haec sunt: "Et etesiai et austri anniversarii secundo sole flant." Considerandum igitur est, quid sit "secundo sole".

31 For the words of P. Nigidius in the second of the books which he composed about the wind are these: "Both the Etesians and the anniversary south winds blow at the second sun." Therefore it must be considered what "second sun" is.

XXIII. Consultatio diiudicatioque locorum facta ex comoedia Menandri et Caecilii, quae Plocium inscripta est.

23. A consultation and adjudication of passages made from the comedy of Menander and Caecilius, which is inscribed “Plocium.”

1 Comoedias lectitamus nostrorum poetarum sumptas ac versas de Graecis Menandro aut Posidippo aut Apollodoro aut Alexide et quibusdam item aliis comicis.

1 We keep reading comedies of our poets, taken and turned (translated) from the Greeks—Menander or Posidippus or Apollodorus or Alexis—and likewise from certain other comic poets.

2 Neque, cum legimus eas, nimium sane displicent, quin lepide quoque et venuste scriptae videantur, prorsus ut melius posse fieri nihil censeas.

2 Nor, when we read them, do they greatly displease; but rather, they even seem written wittily and gracefully, altogether so that you would judge that nothing could possibly be done better.

3 Sed enim si conferas et componas Graeca ipsa, unde illa venerunt, ac singula considerate atque apte iunctis et alternis lectionibus committas, oppido quam iacere atque sordere incipiunt, quae Latina sunt; ita Graecarum, quas aemulari nequiverunt, facetiis atque luminibus obsolescunt.

3 But indeed, if you compare and compose the Greek texts themselves, whence those came, and, considering each, with apt joinings commit them to alternate readings, the Latin ones begin outright to lie low and look sordid; thus they obsolesce before the facetiae and lights of the Greek works, which they were unable to emulate.

4 Nuper adeo usus huius rei nobis venit.

4 Quite recently indeed an experience of this thing came to us.

5 Caecili Plocium legebamus; hautquaquam mihi et, qui aderant, displicebat.

5 We were reading Caecilius’s Plocium; it by no means displeased me and those who were present.

6 Libitum et Menandri quoque Plocium legere, a quo istam comoediam verterat.

6 It pleased us also to read Menander’s Plocium as well, from whom he had translated that comedy.

7 Sed enim postquam in manus Menander venit, a principio statim, di boni, quantum stupere atque frigere quantumque mutare a Menandro Caecilius visus est! Diomedis hercle arma et Glauci non dispari magis pretio existimata sunt.

7 But indeed after Menander came into my hands, from the very beginning straightway, good gods, how much Caecilius seemed to be stupefied and frigid, and how much to change away from Menander! By Hercules, the arms of Diomedes and of Glaucus were not estimated at a more unequal price.

8 Accesserat dehinc lectio ad eum locum, in quo maritus senex super uxore divite atque deformi querebatur, quod ancillam suam, non inscito puellam ministerio et facie haut inliberali, coactus erat venundare suspectam uxori quasi paelicem. Nihil dicam ego, quantum differat; versus utrimque eximi iussi et aliis ad iudicium faciundum exponi.

8 Thereupon the reading had advanced to that place where an aged husband was complaining over a wife wealthy and misshapen, because he had been compelled to vend his handmaid—a girl not unskilled in ministration and in face by no means ungraceless—suspected by the wife as a concubine. I will say nothing of how much it differs; I ordered the verses on both sides to be extracted and to be set forth to others for making a judgment.

9 Menander sic:
ep'amphotera nyn hepikleros he kale
mellei katheudesein. Kateirgastai mega
kai periboeton ergon; ek tes oikias
exebale ten lypousan, hen ebouleto,
hin'apobleposin pantes eis to Krobyles
prosopon ei t'eugnostos ous'eme gyne
despoina. Kai ten opsin, hen ektesato
onos en pithekois touto de to legomenon
estin.

9 Menander thus:
now the fair heiress is going to sleep with both.
A great and much-noised deed has been wrought;
out of the house he has driven the vexing woman, the one he wished,
so that all may fix their gaze upon Crobylus’s face,
and that it be well known that she is my wife, the mistress.
And the look which a donkey got among monkeys—this is the so‑called saying.

Siopan boulomai ten nykta ten
pollon kakon archegon. Oimoi Krobylen
labein em'ei kai deka talanta ...
ten rhin'echousin pecheos; eit'esti to
phryagma pos hypostaton? ma ton Dia
ton Olympion kai ten Athenan, oudamos.

I wish to be silent about that night,
the author of many evils. Alas—Crobyle
to take me, and ten talents ...
with a nose a cubit long; and is the
swagger somehow supportable? By Zeus
the Olympian and by Athena, in no way.

Paidiskrion therapeutikon de kai logou
tachion apagesth'hode. Tis ar'an eisagoi?

Let a little serving-girl, an attendant, be brought here—quicker than a word.
Who, then, would bring her in?

10 Caecilius autem sic:
is demum miser est, qui aerumnam suam nescit occultare
ferre: ita me uxor forma et factis facit, si taceam, tamen indicium.
Quae nisi dotem, omnia, quae nolis, habet: qui sapiet, de me discet,
qui quasi ad hostes captus liber servio salva urbe atque arce.
Quae mihi, quidquid placet, eo privatu vim me servatum.

10 Caecilius, however, thus:
he is at last the truly miserable man who does not know how to hide and bear his hardship: thus my wife by her form and deeds makes me, even if I should be silent, nevertheless an indication.
Who, except a dowry, has everything you would not want: whoever will be wise will learn from me,
I who, as if captured to the enemies, though free, serve with the city and citadel safe.
She who, whatever pleases me, of that deprives me; by force she keeps me kept.

Dum ego eius mortem inhio, egomet vivo mortuus inter vivos.
Ea me clam se cum mea ancilla ait consuetum, id me arguit,
ita plorando, orando, instando atque obiurgando me obtudit,
eam uti venderem; nunc credo inter suas
aequalis et cognatas sermonem serit:
"quis vestrarum fuit integra aetatula,
quae hoc idem a viro
impetrarit suo, quod ego anus modo
effeci, paelice ut meum privarem virum?"
haec erunt concilia hodie, differor sermone miser.

While I gape after her death, I myself live dead among the living.
She says that I have been secretly intimate with my maidservant; she arraigns me on that charge,
thus by weeping, praying, pressing, and objurgating she has battered me,
that I should sell her; now I believe among her
peers and kinswomen she is sowing talk:
"which of you, in intact youthful age,
has impetrated this same thing from her own husband,
which I, an old woman, have just effected—that I should deprive my husband of his concubine?"
these will be the caucuses today; I, wretched, am deferred by talk.

11 Praeter venustatem autem rerum atque verborum in duobus libris nequaquam parem in hoc equidem soleo animum attendere, quod, quae Menander praeclare et apposite et facete scripsit, ea Caecilius, ne qua potuit quidem, conatus est enarrare, sed quasi minime probanda praetermisit et alia nescio qua mimica inculcavit et illud Menandri de vita hominum media sumptum, simplex et verum et delectabile, nescio quo pacto omisit.

11 Besides the grace of matter and of words, by no means equal in the two books, to this point, for my part, I am wont to attend my mind: that the things which Menander wrote excellently and appositely and wittily, these Caecilius did not even, so far as he could, attempt to expound, but, as if least to be approved, he pretermitted, and he inculcated some other I-know-not-what mimetic stuff; and that feature of Menander’s, taken from the middle life of men, simple and true and delectable, he somehow omitted.

12 Idem enim ille maritus senex cum altero sene vicino colloquens et uxoris locupletis superbiam deprecans haec ait:
A. Echo d'epikleron Lamian; ouk eireka soi
tout'? eit'ar'ouchi? kyrian tes oikias
kai ton agron kai panton ant'ekeines
echomen. B. Apollon, hos chaleton.

12 For that same old husband, conversing with another old man, a neighbor, and deprecating the pride of his opulent wife, says these things:
A. I have as an epikleros (heiress), Lamia; have I not told you this?
this? or have I not? as mistress of the household
and of the field and of everything we hold by her.
B. Apollo, how difficult!

A. Chalepotaton.
Hapasi d'argalea 'stin, ouk emoi monoi,
«ioi poly mallon, thygatri. B. Pragm'amachon legeis.

A. Most vexatious.
To all it is troublesome, not to me alone,
«to you much more, for your daughter. B. You speak of a contentious affair.

A. Eu oida.

A. I know well.

13 Caecilius vero hoc in loco ridiculus magis, quam personae isti, quam tractabat, aptus atque conveniens videri maluit. Sic enim haec corrupit:
A. Sed tua morosane uxor, quaeso, est? B. Va! rogas?

13 Caecilius, for his part, at this point preferred to seem more ridiculous rather than apt and congruent to that persona which he was handling. For thus he corrupted these lines:
A. But is your wife morose, I pray? B. Bah! you ask?

A. Qui tandem? B. Taedet mentionis, quae mihi,
ubi domum adveni, adsedi, extemplo savium
dat ieiuna anima. A. Nil peccat de savio:
ut devomas, vult, quod foris potaveris.

A. How so, then? B. I’m weary of the mention: she, for me,
when I come home and sit down, straightway the fasting spirit
gives a kiss. A. She does nothing wrong about the kiss:
she wants you to disgorge what you have drunk outside.

14 Quid de illo loco in utraque comoedia posito existimari debeat, manifestum est, cuius loci haec ferme sententia:

14 What ought to be esteemed about that passage placed in both comedies is manifest, the sense of which passage is roughly this:

15 Filia hominis pauperis in pervigilio vitiata est.

15 The daughter of a poor man was violated at the vigil.

16 Ea res clam patrem fuit, et habebatur pro virgine.

16 That matter was secret from her father, and she was held as a virgin.

17 Ex eo vitio gravida mensibus exactis parturit.

17 From that violation, pregnant, with the months completed, she gives birth.

18 Servus bonae frugi, cum pro foribus domus staret et propinquare partum erili filiae atque omnino vitium esse oblatum ignoraret, gemitum et ploratum audit puellae in puerperio enitentis: timet, irascitur, suspicatur, miseretur, dolet.

18 A frugal, upright slave, while he stood before the doors of the house and was unaware that the delivery of his master’s daughter was drawing near, and altogether that a violation had been inflicted, hears the groaning and weeping of the girl straining in childbirth: he fears, he grows angry, he suspects, he pities, he grieves.

19 Hi omnes motus eius affectionesque animi in Graeca quidem comoedia mirabiliter acres et illustres, apud Caecilium autem pigra istaec omnia et a rerum dignitate atque gratia vacua sunt.

19 All these motions of his and affections of mind, in the Greek comedy indeed, are marvelously keen and illustrious; but with Caecilius, all these are sluggish and void of the dignity and grace of the matter.

20 Post, ubi idem servus percontando, quod acciderat repperit, has aput Menandrum voces facit:
o tris kakodaimon, hostis on penes gamei
kai paidopoiei. Hos alogistos est'aner,
hos mete phylaken ton anankaion echei,
met',an atychesei eis ta koina tou biou,
epamphiesai dynaito touto chremasin,
all'en akalyptoi kai talaiporoi bioi
cheimazomenos zei ton men aniairon echon
to meros hapanton, ton d'agathon ouden meros.
Hyper gar henos algon hapantas noutheto.

20 Afterward, when the same slave, by questioning, discovered what had happened, he utters these words in Menander:
o thrice ill‑fated, whoever, being poor, marries
and begets children. How irrational is the man,
who neither keeps a safeguard of the necessary things,
nor, should he meet misfortune in the common affairs of life,
could he cloak this with money,
but in an unsheltered and wretched life
storm‑tossed, lives having the share of all the grievous things,
but of the good things no share.
For, by grieving over one, he is admonished concerning all.

21 Ad horum autem sinceritatem veritatemque verborum an adspiraverit Caecilius, consideremus. Versus sunt hi Caecili trunca quaedam ex Menandro dicentis et consarcinantis verba tragici tumoris:
is demum infortunatus est homo,
pauper qui educit in egestatem liberos,
cui fortuna et res ut est continuo patet.
Nam opulento famam facile occultat factio.

21 But whether Caecilius has aspired to the sincerity and verity of these words, let us consider. These verses of Caecilius are certain truncated fragments from Menander, spoken by one who patches together words of tragic tumor:
he indeed is, in the end, an ill-fortuned man,
a pauper who brings up his children into destitution,
to whom Fortune and his condition, as it is, lies continually open.
For a clique easily conceals the repute of the opulent.

22 Itaque, ut supra dixi, cum haec Caecilii seorsum lego, neutiquam videntur ingrata ignavaque, cum autem Graeca comparo et contendo, non puto Caecilium sequi debuisse, quod assequi nequiret.

22 Therefore, as I said above, when I read these pieces of Caecilius separately, they seem by no means unpleasing and inert; but when I compare and contend them with the Greek, I do not think Caecilius ought to have followed what he could not attain.

XXIV. De vetere parsimonia; deque antiquis legibus sumptuariis.

24. On ancient parsimony; and on ancient sumptuary laws.

1 Parsimonia apud veteres Romanos et victus atque cenarum tenuitas non domestica solum observatione ac disciplina, sed publica quoque animadversione legumque complurium sanctionibus custodita est.

1 Parsimony among the ancient Romans, and the spareness of diet and of dinners, was maintained not only by domestic observance and discipline, but also by public censure and by the sanctions of several laws.

2 Legi adeo nuper in Capitonis Atei coniectaneis senatus decretum vetus C. Fannio et M. Valerio Messala consulibus factum, in quo iubentur principes civitatis, qui ludis Megalensibus antiquo ritu mutitarent, id est mutua inter sese dominia agitarent, iurare apud consules verbis conceptis non amplius in singulas cenas sumptus esse facturos, quam centenos vicenosque aeris praeter olus et far et vinum, neque vino alienigena, sed patriae usuros neque argenti in convivio plus pondo quam libras centum inlaturos.

2 I read quite recently in the Coniectanea of Ateius Capito an old decree of the senate, passed in the consulship of Gaius Fannius and Marcus Valerius Messalla, in which the leading men of the state, who at the Megalensian games by an ancient rite practiced “mutitation,” that is, carried on mutual dominion as hosts among themselves, are ordered to swear before the consuls with prescribed words that they will not make expenses for individual dinners of more than 120 asses, besides vegetables and spelt and wine, and that they will use not foreign wine but native, and that they will not bring into the banquet more silver by weight than 100 pounds.

3 Sed post id senatus consultum lex Fannia lata est, quae ludis Romanis, item ludis plebeis et Saturnalibus et aliis quibusdam diebus in singulos dies centenos aeris insumi concessit decemque aliis diebus in singulis mensibus tricenos, ceteris autem diebus omnibus denos.

3 But after that senatorial decree the Fannian law was passed, which, on the Roman Games, likewise on the Plebeian Games and at the Saturnalia and on certain other days, allowed 100 asses to be expended for each day, and on 10 other days in each month 30, but on all the remaining days 10.

4 Hanc Lucilius poeta legem significat, cum dicit:
Fanni centussis misellus.

4 Lucilius the poet signifies this law, when he says:
Fannius’s poor little hundred-as.

5 In quo erraverunt quidam commentariorum in Lucilium scriptores, quod putaverunt Fannia lege perpetuos in omne dierum genus centenos aeris statutos.

5 In this certain writers of commentaries on Lucilius erred, because they thought that by the Fannian law a standing allowance of a hundred asses had been established for every kind of day.

6 Centum enim aeris Fannius constituit, sicuti supra dixi, festis quibusdam diebus eosque ipsos dies nominavit, aliorum autem dierum omnium in singulos dies sumptum inclusit intra aeris alias tricenos, alias denos.

6 For Fannius constituted one hundred asses, as I said above, for certain festal days, and he named those very days; but for all the other days he enclosed the expenditure for each single day within, in bronze, at times thirty asses, at times ten.

7 Lex deinde Licinia rogata est, quae cum certis diebus, sicuti Fannia, centenos acris inpendi permisisset, nuptiis ducenos indulsit ceterisque diebus statuit aeris tricenos; cum et carnis autem et salsamenti certa pondera in singulos dies constituisset, quidquid esset tamen e terra, vite, arbore, promisce atque indefinite largita est.

7 Then the Licinian law was proposed, which, on certain days, just as the Fannian, had permitted a hundred asses to be expended; for nuptials it indulged two hundred, and for the other days it established thirty asses of bronze; and when it had also established fixed weights of both meat and salted provisions for each day, whatever there was, however, from the earth, the vine, the tree, it granted promiscuously and indefinitely.

8 Huius legis Laevius poeta meminit in Erotopaegniis.

8 The poet Laevius makes mention of this law in the Erotopaegnia.

9 Verba Laevii haec sunt, quibus significat haedum, qui ad epulas fuerat adlatus, dimissum cenamque ita, ut lex Licinia sanxisset, pomis oleribusque instructam:
"lex Licinia" inquit "introducitur,
lux liquida haedo redditur".

9 The words of Laevius are these, by which he signifies that the kid, which had been brought to the banquet, was dismissed, and that the dinner was furnished thus, as the Lex Licinia had sanctioned, with fruits and vegetables:
"the Licinian law," he says, "is introduced,
limpid light is returned to the kid".

10 Lucilius quoque legis istius meminit in his verbis:
legem vitemus Licini.

10 Lucilius also makes mention of that law in these words:
let us avoid the Licinian law.

11 Postea L. Sulla dictator, cum legibus istis situ atque senio oblitteratis plerique in patrimoniis amplis helluarentur et familiam pecuniamque suam prandiorum conviviorumque gurgitibus proluissent, legem ad populum tulit, qua cautum est, ut Kalendis, Idibus, Nonis diebusque ludorum et feriis quibusdam sollemnibus sestertios trecenos in cenam insumere ius potestasque esset" ceteris autem diebus omnibus non amplius tricenos.

11 Afterwards L. Sulla, dictator, when, with those laws obliterated by disuse and senile decay, very many were gluttonizing on their ample patrimonies and had washed away their household and their money in the whirlpools of lunches and banquets, brought a law before the people, in which it was provided that “on the Kalends, the Ides, the Nones, and on days of games and on certain solemn holidays, there should be the right and power to expend 300 sesterces on dinner”; but on all other days, no more than 30.

12 Praeter has leges Aemiliam quoque legem invenimus, qua lege non sumptus cenarum, sed ciborum genus et modus praefinitus est.

12 Besides these laws we also find the Aemilian law, by which law not the expenses of dinners, but the kind and measure of foods is predefined.

13 Lex deinde Antia praeter sumptum acris id etiam sanxit, ut qui magistratus esset magistratumve capturus esset, ne quo ad cenam, nisi ad certas personas, itaret.

13 Then the Antian law, besides a severe regulation of expense, also enacted this: that whoever was a magistrate, or was going to be a candidate for a magistracy, should not go to dinner anywhere, except to certain persons.

14 Postrema lex Iulia ad populum pervenit Caesare Augusto imperante, qua profestis quidem diebus ducenti finiuntur, Kalendis, Idibus, Nonis et aliis quibusdam festis trecenti, nuptiis autem et repotiis sestertii mille.

14 The last Julian law came to the people with Caesar Augustus ruling, by which on non‑festive days 200 are fixed, on the Kalends, Ides, Nones and on certain other feast‑days 300, but for nuptials and repotia 1,000 sesterces.

15 Esse etiam dicit Capito Ateius edictum - divine Augusti an Tiberii Caesaris non satis commemini, quo edicto per dierum varias sollemnitates a trecentis sestertiis adusque duo sestertia sumptus cenarum propagatus est, ut his saltem finibus luxuriae effervescentis aestus coerceretur.

15 Ateius Capito also says that there was an edict - whether of the deified Augustus or of Tiberius Caesar I do not quite remember, by which edict, through the various solemnities of the days, the expense of dinners was extended from 300 sesterces up to 2,000 sesterces, so that at least by these boundaries the heat of effervescing luxury might be coerced.

XXV. Quid Graeci analogian, quid contra anomalian vocent.

25. What the Greeks call analogy, and what, contrariwise, they call anomaly.

1 In Latino sermone, sicut in Graeco, alii analogian sequendam putaverunt, alii anomalian.

1 In the Latin tongue, just as in Greek, some thought analogy was to be followed, others anomaly.

2 Analogia est similium similis declinatio, quam quidam Latine "proportionem" vocant.

2 Analogy is the similar declension of similars, which some call in Latin "proportion."

3 Anomalia est inaequalitas declinationum consuetudinem sequens.

3 Anomaly is an inequality of declensions following custom.

4 Duo autem Graeci grammatici illustres Aristarchus et Crates summa ope, ille analogian, hic anomalian defensitavit.

4 But two illustrious Greek grammarians, Aristarchus and Crates, with the utmost effort kept defending—the former analogy, the latter anomaly.

5M. Varronis liber ad Ciceronem de lingua Latina octavus nullam esse observationem similium docet inque omnibus paene verbis consuetudinem dominari ostendit:

5M. Varro’s eighth book to Cicero, On the Latin Language, teaches that there is no observation of similars, and shows that in almost all words consuetude (usage) holds sway:

6 "Sicuti cum dicimus" inquit ""lupus lupi", "probus probi" et "lepus leporis", item "paro paravi" et "lavo lavi", "pungo pupugi", "tundo tutudi" et "pingo pinxi".

6 "Just as when we say," he says, ""lupus lupi", "probus probi" and "lepus leporis", likewise "paro paravi" and "lavo lavi", "pungo pupugi", "tundo tutudi" and "pingo pinxi".

7 Cumque" inquit "a "ceno" et "prandeo" et "poto" et "cenatus sum" et "pransus sum" et "potus sum" dicamus, a "destringor" tamen et "extergeor" et "lavor" "destrinxi" et "extersi" et "lavi" dicimus.

7 And since" he says "from "ceno" and "prandeo" and "poto" we say "cenatus sum" and "pransus sum" and "potus sum", yet from "destringor" and "extergeor" and "lavor" we say "destrinxi" and "extersi" and "lavi".

8 Item cum dicamus ab "Osco", "Tusco", "Graeco" "Osce", "Tusce", "Graece", a "Gallo" tamen et "Mauro" "Gallice" et "Maurice" dicimus; item a "probus" "probe", a "doctus" "docte", sed a "rarus" non dicitur "rare", sed alii "raro" dicunt, alii "rarenter"."

8 Likewise, when we say from "Osco", "Tusco", "Graeco" "Osce", "Tusce", "Graece", yet from "Gallo" and "Mauro" we say "Gallice" and "Maurice"; likewise from "probus" "probe", from "doctus" "docte", but from "rarus" one does not say "rare", but some say "raro", others "rarenter"."

9 Inde M. Varro in eodem libro: ""Sentior"" inquit "nemo dicit et id per se nihil est, "adsentior" tamen fere omnes dicunt. Sisenna unus "adsentio" in senatu dicebat et eum postea multi secuti, neque tamen vincere consuetudinem potuerunt."

9 Then M. Varro in the same book: ""Sentior"" he says "no one says, and that by itself is nothing; "adsentior" however almost all say. Sisenna alone used to say "adsentio" in the senate, and many afterwards followed him, yet nevertheless they were not able to overcome usage."

10 Sed idem Varro in aliis libris multa pro analogiai tuenda scripsit.

10 But the same Varro in other books wrote many things in defense of analogy.

11 Sunt igitur ii tamquam loci quidam communes contra analogian dicere et item rursum pro analogiai.

11 There are, then, as it were, certain commonplaces for speaking against analogy, and likewise in turn for analogy.

XXVI. Sermones M. Frontonis et Favorini philosophi de generibus colorum vocabulisque eorum Graecis et Latinis; atque inibi color "spadix" cuiusmodi sit.

26. Conversations of M. Fronto and the philosopher Favorinus on the genera of colors and their Greek and Latin terms; and therein what sort the color "spadix" is.

1 Favorinus philosophus, cum ad M. Frontonem consularem pedibus aegrum visum iret, voluit me quoque ad eum secum ire.

1 Favorinus the philosopher, when he was going to visit M. Fronto, the consular, ill in his feet, wanted me also to go with him to him.

2 Ac deinde, cum ibi aput Frontonem plerisque viris doctis praesentibus sermones de coloribus vocabulisque eorum agitarentur, quod multiplex colorum facies, appellationes autem incertae et exiguae forent,

2 And then, when there at Fronto’s, with very many learned men present, discourses were being carried on about colors and their vocables, because the aspect of colors was manifold, but the appellations were uncertain and scant,

3 "plura" inquit "sunt" Favorinus "in sensibus oculorum quam in verbis vocibusque colorum discrimina.

3 "more," said Favorinus, "are the discriminations in the senses of the eyes than in the words and voices of colors."

4 Nam ut alias eorum inconcinnitates omittamus, simplices isti rufus et viridis colores singula quidem vocabula, multas autem species differentis habent.

4 For, to omit their other inconcinnities, those simple colors red and green are indeed single vocables, but they have many different species.

5 Atque eam vocum inopiam in lingua magis Latina video, quam in Graeca. Quippe qui "rufus" color a rubore quidem appellatus est, sed cum aliter rubeat ignis, aliter sanguis, aliter ostrum, aliter crocum, aliter aurum, has singulas rufi varietates Latina oratio singulis propriisque vocabulis non demonstrat omniaque ista significat una "ruboris" appellatione, cum ex ipsis rebus vocabula colorum mutuatur et "igneum" aliquid dicit et "flammeum" et "sanguineum" et "croceum" et "ostrinum" et "aureum".

5 And I see that scarcity of words more in the Latin tongue than in the Greek. Indeed, the color "rufus" is named from "rubor," but since fire reddens in one way, blood in another, purple-dye in another, saffron in another, gold in another, the Latin discourse does not designate these individual varieties of "rufus" with individual and proper words, and signifies all those things by the one appellation of "rubor," whereas it borrows the names of colors from the things themselves and says something "igneous" and "flammeous" and "sanguineous" and "croceous" and "ostrine" and "aureous."

6 "Russus" enim color et "ruber" nihil a vocabulo "rufi" dinoscuntur neque proprietates eius omnes declarant, xanthos autem et erythros et pyrrhos et «irros et phoinix habere quasdam distantias coloris rufi videntur vel augentes eum vel remittentes vel mixta quadam specie temperantes."

6 "For the color 'russus' and 'ruber' are not distinguished at all from the word 'rufus' nor do they declare all its properties, whereas xanthos and erythros and pyrrhos and «irros and phoinix seem to have certain distinctions of the rufus color, either augmenting it or diminishing it, or tempering it with a certain mixed kind."

7 Tum Fronto ad Favorinum: "non infitias" inquit "imus, quin lingua Graeca, quam tu videre elegisse, prolixior fusiorque sit quam nostra; sed in his tamen coloribus, quibus modo dixisti, denominandis non proinde inopes sumus, ut tibi videmur.

7 Then Fronto to Favorinus: "We do not deny," he said, "that the Greek language, which you seem to have chosen, is more prolix and more diffuse than ours; but yet in denominating these colors, which you just now said, we are not to that extent impoverished as we seem to you."

8 Non enim haec sunt sola vocabula rufum colorem demonstrantia, quae tu modo dixisti, "russus" et "ruber", sed alia quoque habemus plura, quam quae dicta abs te Graeca sunt: "fulvus" enim et "flavus" et "rubidus" et "poeniceus" et "rutilus" et "luteus" et "spadix" appellationes sunt rufi coloris aut acuentes eum quasi incendentes aut cum colore viridi miscentes aut nigro infuscantes aut virenti sensim albo illuminantes.

8 For these are not the only words denoting the rufous color, which you just named, “russus” and “ruber,” but we also have several others, more than those Greek ones stated by you: for “fulvus” and “flavus” and “rubidus” and “poeniceus” and “rutilus” and “luteus” and “spadix” are appellations of the rufous color, either sharpening it, as it were kindling it, or mixing it with green, or darkening it with black, or gently lighting it with a greenish white.

9 Nam "poeniceus", quem tu Graece phoinika dixisti, et "rutilus" et "spadix" poenicei synonymos, qui factus e Graeco noster est, exuberantiam splendoremque significant ruboris, quales sunt fructus palmae arboris non admodum sole incocti, unde spadici et poeniceo nomen est:

9 For “poeniceus,” which you said in Greek as phoinika, and “rutilus” and “spadix,” synonyms of poeniceus—“spadix” being ours, made from the Greek—signify the exuberance and splendor of redness, such as are the fruits of the palm-tree not very much sun-cooked, whence “spadix” and “poeniceus” have their name:

10 spadika enim Dorici vocant avulsum e palma termitem cum fructu.

10 for the Dorians call spadika the shoot torn off from the palm together with the fruit.

11 "Fulvus" autem videtur de rufo atque viridi mixtus in aliis plus viridis, in aliis plus rufi habere. Sic poeta verborum diligentissimus "fulvam aquilam" dicit et "iaspidem", "fulvos galeros" et "fulvum aurum" et "arenam fulvam" et "fulvum leonem", sic Q. Ennius in annalibus "aere fulvo" dixit.

11 "Fulvus," however, seems, compounded of rufous and green, in some to have more of green, in others more of rufous. Thus the poet most diligent in words says "a tawny eagle" and "jasper," "tawny caps" and "tawny gold" and "tawny sand" and "a tawny lion"; so too Q. Ennius in the Annals said "with tawny bronze."

12 "Flavus" contra videtur e viridi et rufo et albo concretus: sic "flaventes comae" et, quod mirari quosdam video, frondes olearum a Vergilio "flavae" dicuntur, sic multo ante Pacuvius aquam "flavam" dixit et "fulvum pulverem".

12 "Flavus," on the contrary, seems compounded from green and red and white: thus "flavescent locks," and—what I see some marvel at—the leaves of olive trees are called by Vergil "flavae," thus much earlier Pacuvius called water "flava" and "fulvous dust."

13 Cuius versus, quoniam sunt iucundissimi, libens commemini:
cedo tuum pedem mi, lymphis flavis fulvum ut
pulverem manibus isdem, quibus Vlixi saepe permulsi,
abluam lassitudinemque minuam manuum mollitudine.

13 Whose verses, since they are most delightful, I gladly recall:
grant me your foot, that with blond waters the tawny
dust I may wash away with the same hands, with which I have often soothed Ulysses,
and diminish lassitude by the softness of my hands.

14 "Rubidus" autem est rufus atrior et nigrore multo inustus, "luteus" contra rufus color est dilutior;

14 "Rubidus," moreover, is a darker rufous and much seared with blackness, "luteus," on the contrary, is a more diluted rufous color;

15 inde ei nomen quoque esse factum videtur.

15 thence its name also seems to have been derived.

16 Non igitur," inquit "mi Favorine, species rufi coloris plures aput Graecos, quam aput nos nominantur.

16 Not, then," he says, "my Favorinus, are more species of rufous color named among the Greeks than among us.

17 Sed ne viridis quidem color pluribus a vobis vocabulis dicitur,

17 But not even the green color is called by more names by you,

18 neque non potuit Vergilius colorem equi significare viridem volens caerulum magis dicere ecum quam "glaucum", sed maluit verbo uti notiore Graccho, quam inusitato Latino.

18 nor was Vergil unable, wishing to signify the green color of a horse, to say cerulean horse rather than “glaucous”; but he preferred to use the better-known Greek word than the unusual Latin.

19 Nostris autem veteribus "caesia" dicta est, quae a Graecis glaukopis, ut Nigidius ait, "de colore caeli quasi caelia.""

19 But by our ancients it was called "caesia," which by the Greeks is glaukopis, as Nigidius says, "from the color of the sky, as if 'caelia.'"

20 Postquam haec Fronto dixit, tum Favorinus scientiam rerum uberem verborumque eius elegantiam exosculatus: "absque te" inquit "uno forsitan lingua profecto Graeca longe anteisset; sed tu, mi Fronto, quod in versu Homerico est, id facis: Kai ny ken e parelassas e ampheriston ethekas.

20 After Fronto said these things, then Favorinus, having lavished kisses on him for his abundant knowledge of matters and the elegance of his words, said: "but for you alone, perhaps the Greek tongue would indeed have gone far ahead; but you, my Fronto, do what is in the Homeric verse: And now you would either have outstripped him, or you have made it a contest evenly balanced."

21 Sed cum omnia libens audivi, quae peritissime dixisti, tum maxime, quod varietatem flavi coloris enarrasti fecistique, ut intellegerem verba illa ex annali quarto decimo Ennii amoenissima, quae minime intellegebam: verrunt extemplo placidum mare: marmore flavo caeruleum spumat mare conferta rate pulsum;

21 But while I gladly listened to all the things which you most expertly said, then most of all, that you described the variety of the flavid color and made it so that I might understand those most delightful words from the fourteenth Annal of Ennius, which I least understood: they sweep at once the placid sea: with flavid marble the cerulean sea spumes, beaten by a crowded ship;

22 non enim videbatur "caeruleum mare" cum "marmore flavo" convenire.

22 for "the cerulean sea" did not seem to accord with "blond marble."

23 Sed cum sit, ita ut dixisti, flavus color e viridi et albo mixtus, pulcherrime prorsus spumas virentis maris "flavom marmor" appellavit."

23 But since, as you said, the yellow color is mixed from green and white, he most beautifully, indeed, called the foams of the green-tinged sea "yellow marble."

XXVII. Quid T. Castricius existimarit super Sallustii verbis et Demosthenis, quibus alter Philippum descripsit, alter Sertorium.

27. What T. Castricius judged concerning the words of Sallust and of Demosthenes, by which the one described Philip, the other Sertorius.

1 Verba sunt haec gravia atque illustria de rege Philippo Demosthenis: Heoron d'auton ton Philippon, pros hon en hemin ho agon, hyper arches kai dynasteias ton ophthalmon ekkekommenon, ten klein kateagota, ten cheira, to skelos peperomenon, pan ho ti bouletheie meros e tyche tou somatos parelesthai, touto proiemenon, hoste toi loipoi meta times kai doxes zen.

1 These are solemn and illustrious words by Demosthenes about King Philip: “And there was Philip himself, the very one against whom among us the contest was, for rule and for dynasty: his eye gouged out, his collarbone broken, his hand maimed, his leg maimed—whatever part of the body Fortune wished to carry off, that he had surrendered—so that in what remained he might live with honor and glory.”

2 Haec aemulari volens Sallustius de Sertorio duce in historiis ita scripsit: "Magna gloria tribunus militum in Hispania T. Didio imperante, magno usui bello Marsico paratu militum et armorum fuit, multaque tum ductu eius iussuque patrata primo per ignobilitatem, deinde per invidiam scriptorum incelebrata sunt, quae vivus facie sua ostentabat aliquot adversis cicatricibus et effosso oculo. Quin ille dehonestamento corporis maxime laetabatur neque illis anxius, quia reliqua gloriosius retinebat."

2 Wishing to emulate these, Sallust, about the leader Sertorius, wrote thus in the Histories: "With great glory, as tribune of soldiers in Spain, while T. Didius was commanding, he was of great use in the Marsic War through the preparation of soldiers and arms, and many things then achieved under his leadership and by his order were at first uncelebrated because of obscurity, then because of the envy of writers, which, while alive, he displayed in his very face with several adverse scars and a gouged-out eye. Nay rather, he rejoiced most in the disfigurement of his body and was not anxious over those things, because he retained the rest more gloriously."

3 De utriusque his verbis T. Castricius cum iudicaret, "nonne" inquit "ultra naturae humanae modum est dehonestamento corporis laetari? siquidem laetitia dicitur exsultatio quaedam animi gaudio efferventior eventu rerum expetitarum.

3 On the words of both of them T. Castricius, when he was rendering judgment, said, "Is it not beyond the measure of human nature to rejoice at a disfigurement of the body? since joy is said to be a certain exultation of the mind, more effervescent than gladness, at the event of desired things."

4 Quanto illud sinceriusque et humanis magis condicionibus conveniens: pan ho ti an bouletheie meros he tyche tou somatos parelesthai, touto proiemenon.

4 How much more sincere and more fitting to human conditions is this: that whatever part of the body Fortune might wish to deprive, let that be yielded up.

5 Quibus verbis" inquit "ostenditur Philippus non, ut Sertorius, corporis dehonestamento laetus, quod est" inquit "insolens et inmodicum, sed prae studio laudis et honoris iacturarum damnorumque corporis contemptor, qui singulos artus suos fortunae prodigendos daret quaestu atque compendio gloriarum."

5 "By which words," he says, "it is shown that Philip was not, like Sertorius, glad at the dishonoring of the body, which," he says, "is insolent and immoderate, but, out of zeal for praise and honor, a despiser of the losses and damages of the body, who would give his individual limbs to Fortune to be squandered, for the profit and gain of glories."

XXVIII. Non esse compertum, cui deo rem divinam fieri oporteat, cum terra movet.

28. It has not been ascertained to which god it is proper that a divine rite be performed, when the earth moves.

1 Quaenam esse causa videatur, quamobrem terrae tremores fiant, non modo his communibus hominum sensibus opinionibusque incompertum, sed ne inter physicas quidem philosophias satis constitit, ventorumne vi accidant specus hiatusque terrae subeuntium an aquarum subter in terrarum cavis undantium pulsibus fluctibusque, ita uti videntur existimasse antiquissimi Graecorum, qui Neptunum seisichthona appellaverunt, an cuius aliae rei causa alteriusve dei vi ac numine, nondum etiam, sicuti diximus, pro certo creditum.

1 What the cause seems to be, on account of which tremors of the earth arise, is unascertained not only by these common senses and opinions of men, but not even among the physical philosophies has it been sufficiently established, whether they occur by the force of winds going beneath into the caves and gapes of the earth, or by the pulses and billows of waters surging underneath in the hollows of the earth, just as the most ancient of the Greeks seem to have thought, who called Neptune Seisichthon, the Earth-shaker; or whether by the cause of some other thing or by the force and divine will of some other god, nor yet, as we have said, has it been believed for certain.

2 Propterea veteres Romani cum in omnibus aliis vitae officiis tum in constituendis religionibus atque in dis inmortalibus animadvertendis castissimi cautissimique, ubi terram movisse senserant nuntiatumve erat, ferias eius rei causa edicto imperabant, sed dei nomen, ita uti solet, cui servari ferias oporteret, statuere et edicere quiescebant, ne alium pro alio nominando falsa religione populum alligarent.

2 Therefore the ancient Romans, both in all other duties of life and in constituting religions and in observing the immortal gods, were most chaste and most cautious; when they had sensed that the earth had moved or it had been announced, they commanded a holiday by edict on account of that matter; but the name of the god—for whom it was proper that the holiday be observed—as is usual, they refrained from determining and proclaiming, lest by naming one in place of another they should bind the people with a false religion.

3 Eas ferias si quis polluisset piaculoque ob hanc rem opus esset, hostiam "si deo, si deae" immolabant, idque ita ex decreto pontificum observatum esse M. Varro dicit, quoniam, et qua vi et per quem deorum dearumve terra tremeret, incertum esset.

3 If anyone had defiled those holy days and a piacular remedy was needed for this matter, they immolated a victim "if to a god, if to a goddess"; and M. Varro says that this was thus observed by decree of the pontiffs, since both by what force and through which of the gods or goddesses the earth quaked was uncertain.

4 Sed de lunae solisque defectionibus non minus in eius rei causa reperienda sese exercuerunt.

4 But concerning the eclipses of the moon and the sun, they exercised themselves no less in finding out the cause of that matter.

5 Quippe M. Cato, vir in cognoscendis rebus multi studii, incerta tamen et incuriose super ea re opinatus est.

5 Indeed, M. Cato, a man of much study in learning things, nevertheless opined uncertainly and carelessly about that matter.

6 Verba Catonis ex originum quarto haec sunt: "Non lubet scribere, quod in tabula apud pontificem maximum est, quotiens annona cara, quotiens lunae aut solis lumine caligo aut quid obstiterit."

6 The words of Cato from the fourth book of the Origins are these: "I do not care to write what is on the tablet kept by the pontifex maximus—how often the grain-supply is dear, how often there is a dimness in the light of the moon or of the sun, or if anything has stood in the way."

7 Vsque adeo parvi fecit rationes veras solis et lunae deficientium vel scire vel dicere.

7 To such an extent he held of little account the true reasons for the eclipses of the sun and moon, either to know them or to declare them.

XXIX. Apologus Aesopi Phrygis memoratu non inutilis.

29. An apologue of Aesop the Phrygian, not unuseful to remember.

1 Aesopus ille e Phrygia fabulator haut inmerito sapiens existimatus est, cum, quae utilia monitu suasuque erant, non severe neque imperiose praecepit et censuit, ut philosophis mos est, sed festivos delectabilesque apologos commentus res salubriter ac prospicienter animadversas in mentes animosque hominum cum audiendi quadam inlecebra induit.

1 That Aesop, the storyteller from Phrygia, was not undeservedly esteemed wise, since the things that were useful for admonition and persuasion he did not give as precepts nor pronounce as judgments sternly or imperiously, as is the custom of philosophers, but, having devised festive and delectable apologues, he introduced matters observed with salutary and provident consideration into the minds and spirits of men with a certain lure of listening.

2 Velut haec eius fabula de aviculae nidulo lepide atque iucunde promonet spem fiduciamque rerum, quas efficere quis possit, haut umquam in alio, set in semetipso habendam.

2 For example, this fable of his about the little bird’s nest wittily and pleasantly admonishes that hope and confidence regarding the things which one can effect ought never to be held in another, but in oneself.

3 "Avicula" inquit "est parva, nomen est cassita.

3 "A little bird," he says, "is small, its name is the lark.

4 Habitat nidulaturque in segetibus id ferme temporis, ut appetat messis pullis iam iam plumantibus.

4 It inhabits and nests in the grain-fields at about the time when the harvest is drawing near, with the chicks already just now pluming out.

5 Ea cassita in sementes forte congesserat tempestiviores; propterea frumentis flavescentibus pulli etiam tunc involucres erant.

5 That cassita had by chance made her nest in the earlier sowings; therefore, with the grain yellowing, the chicks even then were still downy.

6 Dum igitur ipsa iret cibum pullis quaesitum, monet eos, ut, si quid ibi rei novae fieret dicereturve, animadverterent idque uti sibi, ubi redisset, nuntiarem.

6 While therefore she herself went to seek food for the chicks, she warns them that, if anything new were being done or said there, they should take note of it, and that, when she had returned, they should report it to me.

7 Dominus postea segetum illarum filium adulescentem vocat et "videsne" inquit "haec ematuruisse et manus iam postulare? idcirco die crastini, ubi primum diluculabit, fac amicos eas et roges, veniant operamque mutuam dent et messim hanc nobis adiuvent."

7 The master of those crops afterward calls his adolescent son and says, "Do you see these have matured and now demand hands? Therefore on the morrow, when first it will dawn, see that you go to the friends and ask that they come and give mutual assistance and help us with this harvest."

8 Haec ubi ille dixit, et discessit. Atque ubi redit cassita, pulli tremibundi, trepiduli circumstrepere orareque matrem, ut iam statim properet inque alium locum sese asportet: "nam dominus" inquiunt "misit, qui amicos roget, uti luce oriente veniant et metant".

8 When he had said these things, he departed. And when the lark returns, the chicks, trembling, all a-flutter, clamor around and beg their mother to hasten at once and to carry herself off into another place: "for the master" they say "has sent to ask his friends that, at the light’s rising, they come and reap".

9 Mater iubet eos otioso animo esse: "si enim dominus" inquit "messim ad amicos reicit, crastino seges non metetur neque necessum est, hodie uti vos auferam."

9 The mother bids them be of an untroubled mind: "for if the master," she says, "relegates the harvest to friends, tomorrow the crop will not be reaped, nor is it necessary that I carry you off today."

10 Die" inquit "postero mater in pabulum volat. Dominus, quos rogaverat, opperitur. Sol fervit, et fit nihil; it dies, et amici nulli eunt.

10 "On the next day," she says, "the mother flies to forage. The master waits for those whom he had asked. The sun burns, and nothing is done; the day goes by, and no friends come."

11 Tum ille rursum sum ad filium: "amici isti magnam partem" inquit "cessatores sunt. Quin potius imus et cognatos adfinesque nostros oramus, ut assint creas temperi ad metendum?" Itidem hoc pulli pavefacti matri nuntiant.

11 Then he again to his son: "those friends, for the most part," he says, "are slackers. Why do we not rather go and beg our kinsmen and affines, that they be present tomorrow in good time for harvesting?" Likewise the chicks, panic‑stricken, report this to their mother.

12 Mater hortatur, ut tum quoque sine metu ac sine cura sint; cognatos adfinesque nullos ferme tam esse obsequibiles ait, ut ad laborem capessendum nihil cunctentur et statim dicto oboediant: "vos modo" inquit "advertite, si modo quid denuo dicetur".

12 The mother exhorts that then also they be without fear and without care; she says that kinsmen and affines are scarcely any so obsequious as to delay nothing at the taking up of labor and to obey the word at once: "only you," she says "take note, if indeed anything is said anew."

13 Alia luce orta avis in pastum profecta est. Cognati et adfines operam, quam dare rogati sunt, supersederunt.

13 Another day having dawned, the bird set out to forage. The kinsmen and affines refrained from the service which they had been asked to give.

14 Ad postremum igitur dominus filio: "valeant" inquit "amici cum propinquis. Afferes primo luci falces duas; unam egomet mihi et tu tibi capies alteram, et frumentum nosmetipsi manibus nostris cras metemus".

14 At last, therefore, the master to his son: "Let friends together with relatives fare well," he says; "at first light you will bring two sickles; one I myself will take for myself, and you for yourself will take the other, and tomorrow we ourselves with our own hands will reap the grain."

15 Id ubi ex pullis dixisse dominum mater audivit: "tempus" inquit "est cedendi et abeundi; fiet nunc dubio procul, quod futurum dixit. In ipso enim iam vertitur, cuia res est, non in alio, unde petitur".

15 When the mother heard from the chicks that the master had said this, she said: "It is time of ceding and going away; now beyond doubt there will be done what he said would be. For now it turns upon the very one whose affair it is, not upon another from whom it is sought".

16 Atque ita cassita nidum migravit, seges a domino demessa est."

16 And thus the lark migrated with her nest, the standing corn was mown by the master."

17 Haec quidem est Aesopi fabula de amicorum et propinquorum quorum levi plerumque et inani fiducia.

17 This indeed is Aesop’s fable about friends and kinsmen, whose confidence is for the most part light and inane.

18 Sed quid aliud sanctiores libri philosophorum monent, quam ut in nobis tantum ipsis nitamur, alia autem omnia, quae extra nos extraque nostrum animum sunt, neque pro nostris neque pro nobis ducamus?

18 But what else do the more sacred books of the philosophers admonish, than that we rely only upon ourselves, but that all other things, which are outside us and outside our mind, we should reckon neither as our own nor as for us?

19 Hunc Aesopi apologum Q. Ennius in satiris scite admodum et venuste versibus quadratis composuit.

19 This Aesopic apologue Quintus Ennius composed in his Satires very skillfully and charmingly, in square verses.

20 Quorum duo postremi isti sunt, quos habere cordi et memoriae operae pretium esse hercle puto:
hoc erit tibi argumentum semper in promptu situm:
ne quid exspectes amicos, quod tute agere possies.

20 The last two of which are these, which I, by Hercules, think it worth the effort to keep at heart and in memory:
this will be an argument for you set always at hand:
do not expect from friends anything which you yourself could do.

XXX. Quid observatum sit in undarum motibus, quae in mari alio atque alio modo fiunt austris flantibus aquilonibusque.

30. What has been observed in the motions of the waves, which in the sea come about in one mode and another when the south winds and the north winds are blowing.

1 Hoc saepenumero in undarum motu, quas aquilones venti quique ex eadem caeli regione aer fluit, faciunt ... in mari austri atque africi.

1 This very often, in the motion of the waves, the north winds and the air which flows from the same region of the sky produce ... in the sea the south winds (Austri) and the Africi.

2 Nam fluctus, qui flante aquilone maximi et creberrimi excitantur, simul ac ventus posuit, sternuntur et conflaccescunt et mox fluctus esse desinunt.

2 For the waves, which, with the north wind blowing, are excited as the greatest and most frequent, as soon as the wind has subsided, are leveled and collapse, and soon cease to be waves.

3 At non idem fit flante austro vel africo; quibus iam nihil spirantibus undae tamen factae diutius tument, et a vento quidem iamdudum tranquilla sunt, sed mare est etiam atque etiam undabundum.

3 But the same does not happen with the south or Afric wind blowing; when these are now blowing nothing, nevertheless the waves that have been raised swell for longer, and with respect to the wind indeed they have long been tranquil, but the sea is again and again undulant.

4 Eius rei causa esse haec coniectatur, quod venti a septentrionibus ex altiore caeli parte in mare incidentes deorsum in aquarum profunda quasi praecipites deferuntur undasque faciunt non prorsus inpulsas, sed imitus commotas, quae tantisper erutae volvuntur, dum illius infusi desuper spiritus vis manet.

4 The cause of this matter is conjectured to be this: that winds from the north, impinging from the higher part of the sky upon the sea, are borne downward into the depths of the waters as if headlong, and they make waves not altogether impelled from without, but agitated from within, which, having been heaved up, roll on for so long as the force of that breath infused from above remains.

5 Austri vero et africi ad meridianum orbis circulum et ad partem axis infimam depressi inferiores et humiles per suprema aequoris euntes protrudunt magis fluctus quam eruunt, et idcirco non desuper laesae, sed propulsae in adversum aquae etiam desistente flatu retinent aliquantisper de pristino pulsu impetum.

5 But the south winds and the southwest winds, depressed toward the meridian circle of the orb and toward the lowest part of the axis, being lower and low-lying, as they go along the uppermost of the sea’s level surface, push the waves forward rather than tear them up; and therefore, the waters, not injured from above, but driven forward into the opposite, even with the blowing ceasing, retain for a little while an impetus from their pristine pulse.

6 Id autem ipsum, quod dicimus, ex illis quoque Homericis versibus, si quis non incuriose legat, adminiculari potest.

6 And this very thing which we say can be supported by those Homeric verses as well, if anyone should read them not carelessly.

7 Nam de austri flatibus ita scripsit:
entha notos mega kyma poti skaion rhion othei,

7 For about the blasts of the south wind he wrote thus:
there Notus drives a great wave toward the Scaean promontory,

8 contra autem de borea, quem "aquilonem" nos appellamus, alio dicit modo:
kai borees aithregenetes mega kyma kylindon.

8 but on the other hand about Boreas, whom we call "Aquilo," he says in another manner:
kai borees aithregenetes mega kyma kylindon.

9 Ab aquilonibus enim, qui alti supernique sunt, fluctus excitatos quasi per prona volvi dicit, ab austris autem, his qui humiliores sunt, maiore vi quadam propelli sursum atque subici.

9 For from the north winds, which are high and upper, he says that the waves, excited, roll as if down slopes; but from the south winds, those which are lower, by a certain greater force they are propelled upward and cast beneath.

10 Id enim significat verbum otheiut alio in loco: laan ano otheske poti lopon.

10 For that is what the verb “othei” signifies in another place: “he was pushing the stone upward toward the hill.”

11 Id quoque a peritissimis rerum philosophis observatum est austris spirantibus mare fieri glaucum et caeruleum, aquilonibus obscurius atriusque. Cuius rei causam, cum Aristotelis libros problematorum praecerperemus, notavi.

11 It also has been observed by the most expert philosophers of nature that, with the south winds breathing, the sea becomes glaucous and cerulean, but with the north winds, darker and more blackish. The cause of this matter, while we were excerpting Aristotle’s books of Problems, I noted.