Gellius: NOCTES ATTICAE

1 Hieme iam decedente apud balneas Titias in area subcalido sole cum Favorino philosopho ambulabamus, atque ibi inter ambulandum legebatur Catilina Sallustii, quem in manu amici conspectum legi iusserat.

1 With winter now withdrawing, at the Titia Baths in the courtyard under the warm sun we were walking with the philosopher Favorinus, and there, while we walked, Sallust’s Catiline was being read, which, having caught sight of it in a friend’s hand, he had ordered to be read.

2 Cumque haec verba ex eo libro lecta essent: "Avaritia pecuniae studium habet, quam nemo sapiens concupivit; ea quasi venenis malis inbuta corpus animumque virilem effeminat, semper infinita et insatiabilis est, neque copia neque inopia minuitur", tum Favorinus me aspiciens "quo" inquit "pacto corpus hominis avaritia effeminat?

2 And when these words from that book had been read: "Avarice has a zeal for money, which no wise man has coveted; it, as if imbued with evil venoms, effeminates the body and the manly spirit, it is always infinite and insatiable, nor is it diminished either by abundance or by want," then Favorinus, looking at me, "in what way," he said, "does avarice effeminate a man's body?"

3 quid enim istuc sit, quod animum virilem ab ea effeminari dixit, videor ferme assequi; set quonam modo corpus quoque hominis effeminet, nondum reperio."

3 for what that is, namely that he said the manly spirit is effeminated by it, I seem almost to grasp; but in what manner it also effeminates a man's body, I have not yet discovered."

4 "Et ego" inquam "longe iamdiu in eo ipse quaerendo fui ac, nisi tu occupasses, ultro te hoc rogassem."

4 "And I," I said, "for a long time now have myself been inquiring into that, and, unless you had forestalled me, I would unbidden have asked you this."

5 Vix ego haec dixeram cunctabundus, atque inibi quispiam de sectatoribus Favorini, qui videbatur esse in litteris veterator, "Valerium" inquit "Probum audivi hoc dicere: usum esse Sallustium circumlocutione quadam poetica et, cum dicere vellet hominem avaritia corrumpi, corpus et animum dixisse, quae duae res hominem demonstrarent; namque homo ex animo et corpore est."

5 Scarcely had I said these things, hesitating, when right there someone from among the followers of Favorinus, who seemed to be a veteran in letters, says: "I heard Valerius Probus say this: that Sallust employed a certain poetic circumlocution and, when he wished to say that a man is corrupted by avarice, he said 'body and soul,' which two things demonstrate a human being; for man consists of soul and body."

6 "Numquam," inquit Favorinus "quod equidem scio, tam inportuna tamque audaci argutia fuit noster Probus, ut Sallustium, vel subtilissimum brevitatis artificem, periphrasis poetarum facere diceret."

6 "Never," said Favorinus "so far as I know, was our Probus guilty of so inopportune and so audacious a quibble as to say that Sallust, even the most subtle artificer of brevity, employed the periphrases of poets."

7 Erat tum nobiscum in eodem ambulacro homo quispiam sane doctus.

7 There was then with us in the same ambulatory a certain man quite learned.

8 Is quoque a Favorino rogatus, ecquid haberet super ea re dicere, huiuscemodi verbis usus est:

8 He too, when asked by Favorinus whether he had anything to say about that matter, employed words of this kind:

9 "Quorum" inquit "avaritia mentem tenuit et corrupit quique sese quaerundae undique pecuniae dediderunt, eos plerosque tali genere vitae occupatos videmus, ut sicuti alia in his omnia prae pecunia, ita labor quoque virilis exercendique corporis studium relictui sit.

9 "Those whose avarice has held and corrupted the mind, and who have given themselves over to seeking money from every quarter, we see most of them occupied with such a kind of life, so that, just as all other things with them are put after money, so too manly labor and the zeal for exercising the body are left in neglect."

10 Negotiis enim se plerumque umbraticis et sellulariis quaestibus intentos habent, in quibus omnis eorum vigor animi corporisque elanguescit et, quod Sallustius ait, "effeminatur"."

10 For they for the most part keep themselves intent on umbratical occupations and chair-bound pursuits for gain, in which all their vigor of mind and body languishes and, as Sallust says, "is effeminated".

11 Tum Favorinus legi denuo verba eadem Sallustii iubet atque, ubi lecta sunt, "quid igitur" inquit "dicimus, quod multos videre est pecuniae cupidos et eosdem tamen corpore esse vegeto ac valenti?"

11 Then Favorinus orders that the same words of Sallust be read anew, and, when they have been read, "what then," he says, "do we say, since one may see many desirous of money and yet the same men to be in body vigorous and sound?"

12 Tum ille ita respondit non hercle inscite. "Quisquis" inquit "est pecuniae cupiens et corpore tamen est bene habito ac strenuo, aliarum quoque rerum vel studio vel exercitio eum teneri necessum est atque in sese colendo non aeque esse parcum.

12 Then he replied thus, not, by Hercules, without cleverness. "Whoever," he says, "is desirous of money and yet is in good bodily condition and vigorous, it is necessary that he be held also by the pursuit or the exercise of other things, and that in cultivating himself he be not equally sparing."

13 Nam si avaritia sola summa omnes hominis partes affectionesque occupet et si ad incuriam usque corporis grassetur, ut per illam unam neque virtutis neque virium neque corporis neque animi cura adsit, tum denique id vere dici potest effeminando esse et animo et corpori, qui neque sese neque aliud curent, nisi pecuniam."

13 For if avarice alone should wholly occupy all the parts and affections of a man, and if it should advance even to neglect of the body, so that by that one thing alone there is no care for virtue, nor for strengths, nor for body, nor for mind, then at last it can truly be said to be effeminating both soul and body—those who care neither for themselves nor for anything else, except money."

14 Tum Favorinus: "aut hoc," inquit "quod dixisti, probabile est, aut Sallustius odio avaritiae plus, quam oportuit, eam criminatus est."

14 Then Favorinus: "either this," he says, "which you have said, is probable, or Sallust, by hatred of avarice, accused it more than was fitting."

II. Quemnam esse natalem diem M. Varro dicat, qui ante noctis horam sextam postve eam nati sunt; atque de temporibus terminisque dierum, qui civiles nominantur et usquequaque gentium varie observantur; et praeterea quid Q. Mucius scripserit super ea muliere, quae a marito non iure se usurpavisset, quod rationem civilis anni non habuerit.

2. What day of birth M. Varro says belongs to those who were born before the sixth hour of the night or after it; and on the times and termini of days, which are called civil and are variously observed everywhere among the nations; and, moreover, what Q. Mucius wrote concerning that woman who had usurped herself from her husband not by right, because she had not had regard to the reckoning of the civil year.

1 Quaeri solitum est, qui noctis hora tertia quartave sive qua alia nati sunt, uter dies natalis haberi appellarique debeat, isne, quem nox ea consecuta est, an qui dies noctem consecutus est.

1 It used to be asked, for those who were born at the third or fourth hour of the night, or at whatever other, which day ought to be held and called the natal day—whether the one which that night followed, or the one which followed the night.

2M. Varro in libro rerum humanarum, quem de diebus scripsit: "homines", inquit "qui inde a media nocte ad proximam mediam noctem in his horis viginti quattuor nati sunt, uno die nati dicuntur."

2M. Varro in the book of human affairs, which he wrote about days: "people," he says, "who from midnight to the next midnight were born within these twenty-four hours are said to have been born on one day."

3 Quibus verbis ita videtur dierum observationem divisisse, ut qui post solem occasum ante mediam noctem natus sit, is ei dies natalis sit, a quo die ea nox coeperit; contra vero, qui in sex noctis horis posterioribus nascatur, eo die videri natum, qui post eam noctem diluxerit.

3 By these words he seems to have divided the observation of days thus: that he who has been born after the sun’s setting and before midnight, for him the birthday is that day from which that night began; but conversely, he who is born in the latter six hours of the night is seen to have been born on the day which dawned after that night.

4 Athenienses autem aliter observare idem Varro in eodem libro scripsit eosque a sole occaso ad solem iterum occidentem omne id medium tempus unum diem esse dicere.

4 However, the Athenians observe otherwise, the same Varro wrote in the same book, and say that from the sun’s setting to the sun setting again, all that intermediate time is one day.

5 Babylonios porro aliter; a sole enim exorto ad exortum eiusdem incipientem totum id spatium unius diei nomine appellare;

5 The Babylonians, moreover, otherwise; for from the sun’s rising to the beginning rising of the same, they style that whole span by the name of one day;

6 multos vero in terra Vmbria unum et eundem diem esse dicere a meridie ad insequentem meridiem; "quod quidem" inquit "nimis absurdum est. Nam qui Kalendis hora sexta apud Vmbros natus est, dies eius natalis videri debebit et Kalendarum dimidiarum et qui est post Kalendas dies ante horam eius diei sextam."

6 but many indeed in the land of Umbria say that one and the same day is from midday to the following midday; "which indeed," he says, "is exceedingly absurd. For he who is born on the Kalends at the sixth hour among the Umbrians, his natal day will have to seem to be both of the halved Kalends and of the day which is after the Kalends before the sixth hour of that day."

7 Populum autem Romanum ita, uti Varro dixit, dies singulos adnumerare a media nocte ad mediam proximam multis argumentis ostenditur.

7 But that the Roman People, thus, as Varro said, reckon individual days from midnight to the next midnight, is shown by many arguments.

8 Sacra sunt Romana partim diurna, alia nocturna; sed ea, quae inter noctem fiunt, diebus addicuntur, non noctibus;

8 The Roman sacred rites are partly diurnal, others nocturnal; but those which are performed during the night are assigned to days, not to nights;

9 quae igitur sex posterioribus noctis horis fiunt, eo die fieri dicuntur, qui proximus eam noctem inlucescit.

9 therefore, the things which are done in the six latter hours of the night are said to be done on that day which next dawns upon that night.

10 Ad hoc ritus quoque et mos auspicandi eandem esse observationem docet: nam magistratus, quando uno die eis auspicandum est et id, super quo auspicaverunt, agendum, post mediam noctem auspicantur et post meridialem solem agunt, auspicatique esse et egisse eodem die dicuntur.

10 In addition, the rite and the custom of auspication also teach that the observation is the same: for magistrates, when in one day it must be for them both to take the auspices and to do that about which they have taken auspices, they take the auspices after midnight and act after the midday sun, and they are said to have taken the auspices and to have acted on the same day.

11 Praeterea tribuni plebei, quos nullum diem abesse Roma licet, cum post mediam noctem proficiscuntur et post primam facem ante mediam sequentem revertuntur, non videntur afuisse unum diem, quoniam ante horam noctis sextam regressi parte aliqua illius in urbe Roma sunt.

11 Moreover, the tribunes of the plebs, whom it is permitted to be absent from Rome on no day, when after midnight they set out and, after the first torch, before the middle of the following night, they return, are not seen to have been absent for one day, since before the sixth hour of the night, having returned, they are in some part of it in the city of Rome.

12 Q. quoque Mucium iureconsultum dicere solitum legi non esse usurpatam mulierem, quae, cum Kalendis Ianuariis apud virum matrimonii causa esse coepisset, ante diem IV.

12 Q. Mucius also, the jurisconsult, was accustomed to say that by law the woman was not held to have been usurped, who, when on the Kalends of January she had begun to be with her husband for the sake of matrimony, before the 4th day.

13 kalendas Ianuarias sequentes usurpatum isset: non enim posse impleri trinoctium, quod abesse a viro usurpandi causa ex duodecim tabulis deberet, quoniam tertiae noctis posteriores sex horae alterius anni essent, qui inciperet ex Kalendis.

13 the following Kalends of January she had gone for usurpation: for the three-night period (trinoctium) cannot be completed, which, for the sake of usurpation, she ought by the Twelve Tables to be away from her husband, since the latter six hours of the third night would belong to another year, which would begin from the Kalends.

14 Ista autem omnia de dierum temporibus et finibus ad observationem disciplinamque iuris antiqui pertinentia cum in libris veterum inveniremus, non dubitabamus, quin Vergilius quoque id ipsum ostenderit, non exposite atque aperte, sed, ut hominem decuit poeticas res agentem, recondita et quasi operta veteris ritus significatione:

14 But all these things concerning the times and boundaries of days, pertaining to the observance and discipline of ancient law, since we found them in the books of the ancients, we did not doubt that Vergil also had shown that very thing, not exposited and open, but, as it befitted a man engaged in poetic matters, with a recondite and, as it were, veiled signification of the ancient rite:

15 "torquet" inquit "medios nox umida cursus, et me saevus equis oriens afflavit anhelis."

15 "‘twists,’ he says, ‘the humid night the middle courses, and the savage East has breathed upon me with panting horses.’"

16 His enim versibus oblique, sicuti dixi, admonere voluit diem, quem Romani "civilem" appellaverunt, a sexta noctis hora oriri.

16 For by these verses, obliquely, as I said, he wished to indicate that the day, which the Romans called "civil," begins from the sixth hour of the night.

III. De noscendis explorandisque Plauti comoediis, quoniam promisce verae atque falsae nomine eius inscriptae feruntur; atque inibi, quod Plautus et Naevius in carcere fabulas scriptitarint.

3. On recognizing and exploring Plautus’s comedies, since indiscriminately both genuine and spurious are circulated under his name as inscribed; and therein, that Plautus and Naevius kept writing plays in prison.

1 Verum esse comperior, quod quosdam bene litteratos homines dicere audivi, qui plerasque Plauti comoedias curiose atque contente lectitarunt, non indicibus Aelii nec Sedigiti nec Claudii nec Aurelii nec Accii nec Manilii super his fabulis, quae dicuntur "ambiguae", crediturum, sed ipsi Plauto moribusque ingeni atque linguae eius.

1 I ascertain it to be true, what I have heard certain well-literate men say, who have assiduously and earnestly read most of Plautus’s comedies: that one should not trust the indexes of Aelius, nor of Sedigitus, nor of Claudius, nor of Aurelius, nor of Accius, nor of Manilius concerning those plays which are called “ambiguous,” but rather Plautus himself and the manners of his genius and his language.

2 Hac enim iudicii norma Varronem quoque usum videmus.

2 For we see that Varro too used this norm of judgment.

3 Nam praeter illas unam et viginti, quae "Varronianae" vocantur, quas idcirco a ceteris segregavit, quoniam dubiosae non erant, set consensu omnium Plauti esse censebantur, quasdam item alias probavit adductus filo atque facetia sermonis Plauto congruentis easque iam nominibus aliorum occupatas Plauto vindicavit, sicuti istam, quam nuperrime legebamus, cui est nomen Boeotia.

3 For besides those twenty-one, which are called "Varronian," which he therefore segregated from the rest, since they were not doubtful, but by the consensus of all were judged to be Plautus’s, likewise he approved certain others also, induced by the thread and facetiousness of speech congruent with Plautus, and these, already occupied by the names of others, he vindicated for Plautus—just as that one which we most recently were reading, whose name is Boeotia.

4 Nam cum in illis una et viginti non sit et esse Aquili dicatur, nihil tamen Varro dubitavit, quin Plauti foret, neque alius quisquam non infrequens Plauti lector dubitaverit, si vel hos solos ex ea fabula versus cognoverit, qui quoniam sunt, ut de illius Plauti more dicam, Plautinissimi, propterea et meminimus eos et ascripsimus.

4 For although it is not among those twenty-one and is said to be by Aquilius, Varro nevertheless did not doubt that it was Plautus’s, nor would any other not-infrequent reader of Plautus have doubted, if he had recognized even these verses alone from that play; which, since they are—so that I may speak in the manner of that Plautus—most Plautine, for that reason we have both recalled them and set them down.

5 Parasitus ibi esuriens haec dicit:
ut illum di perdant, primus qui horas repperit,
quique adeo primus statuit hic solarium!
qui mihi conminuit misero articulatim diem.
Nam me puero venter erat solarium
multo omnium istorum optimum et verissimum:
ubi is te monebat, esses, nisi cum nihil erat.

5 The parasite there, hungry, says these things:
may the gods destroy the one who first discovered hours,
and who moreover first set up this sundial here!
who has crumbled my day for me, poor wretch, into articulated segments.
For when I was a boy, my belly was the sundial,
by far the best and most truthful of all of them:
whenever it warned you, you ate—except when there was nothing.

Nunc etiam quod est, non estur, nisi soli libet;
itaque adeo iam oppletum oppidum est solariis,
maior pars populi aridi reptant fame.

Now even what there is is not eaten, unless it pleases the sun;
and so to such a degree now the town is crammed with sundials,
the greater part of the populace, parched, crawl with hunger.

6 Favorinus quoque noster, cum Nervulariam Plauti legerem, quae inter incertas habita est, et audisset ex ea comoedia versum hunc: scrattae, scrupedae, strittivillae sordidae, delectatus faceta verborum antiquitate meretricum vitia atque deformitates significantium: "vel unus hercle" inquit "hic versus Plauti esse hanc fabulam satis potest fidei fecisse".

6 Favorinus too, our own, when I was reading Plautus’s Nervularia, which is held among the uncertain, and he had heard from that comedy this verse: scrattae, scrupedae, strittivillae sordidae, delighted by the facetious antiquity of the words signifying the vices and deformities of prostitutes, said: "By Hercules, even this single verse could quite have sufficed to have given credence that this play is Plautus’s."

7 Nos quoque ipsi nuperrime, cum legeremus Fretum - nomen est id comoediae, quam Plauti esse quidam non putant -, haut quicquam dubitavimus, quin ea Plauti foret, et omnium quidem maxime genuina.

7 We ourselves too most recently, when we were reading Fretum - that is the name of a comedy, which some do not think to be Plautus’s -, did not at all doubt that it was Plautus’s, and indeed of all [his plays] the most genuina.

8 Ex qua duo hos versus exscripsimus, ut historiam quaereremus oraculi Arretini: nunc illud est, quod "responsum Arreti" ludis magnis dicitur: peribo, si non fecero, si faxo, vapulabo.

8 From which we copied out these two verses, so that we might inquire into the history of the Arretine oracle: now this is what at the Great Games is called the "Response of Arretium": I shall perish, if I do not do it; if I do it, I shall be beaten.

9M. tamen Varro in libro de comoediis Plautinis primo Accii verba haec ponit: "Nam nec Geminei lenones nec Condalium nec Anus Plauti nec Bis compressa nec Boeotia unquam fuit neque adeo Agroecus neque Commorientes Macci Titi."

9M. Varro, however, in the first book On the Plautine Comedies, sets down these words of Accius: "For neither the Twin Pimps nor the Condalium nor Plautus’s Old Woman nor Twice-Ravished nor Boeotia ever was, nor indeed the Countryman nor The Dying Together of Maccus and Titus."

10 In eodem libro Varronis id quoque scriptum et Plautium fuisse quempiam poetam comoediarum. Quoniam fabulae illae" "Plauti" inscriptae forent, acceptas esse quasi Plautinas, cum essent non a Plauto Plautinae, sed a Plautio Plautianae.

10 In the same book of Varro it was also written that there was a certain Plautius, a poet of comedies. Since those plays" "Plauti" had been inscribed, they were accepted as if Plautine, whereas they were not Plautine from Plautus, but Plautian from Plautius.

11 Feruntur autem sub Plauti nomine comoediae circiter centum atque triginta;

11 However, under Plautus’s name there are reported comedies about one hundred and thirty;

12 sed homo eruditissimus L. Aelius quinque et viginti eius esse solas existimavit.

12 but a most erudite man, L. Aelius, judged that only 25 of them were his.

13 Neque tamen dubium est, quin istaec, quae scriptae a Plauto non videntur et nomini eius addicuntur, veterum poetarum fuerint et ab eo retractatae, expolitae sint ac propterea resipiant stilum Plautinum.

13 Nor, however, is it doubtful that those pieces, which do not seem to have been written by Plautus and are assigned to his name, were of the ancient poets and were reworked and polished by him, and therefore have a savor of the Plautine style.

14 Sed enim Saturionem et Addictum et tertiam quandam, cuius nunc mihi nomen non subpetit, in pistrino eum scripsisse Varro et plerique alii memoriae tradiderunt, cum pecunia omni, quam in operis artificum scaenicorum pepererat, in mercatibus perdita inops Romam redisset et ob quaerendum victum ad circumagendas molas, quae "trusatiles" appellantur, operam pistori locasset.

14 But indeed that he wrote Saturio and Addictus and a certain third, whose name does not occur to me now, in a bakehouse, Varro and many others have handed down to memory, when, all the money which he had earned in the works of scenic artisans having been lost in the markets, destitute he had returned to Rome and for seeking a livelihood to turn the millstones, which are called "thrust-driven," he had hired out his labor to a miller.

15 Sicuti de Naevio quoque accepimus fabulas eum in carcere duas scripsisse, Hariolum et Leontem, cum ob assiduam maledicentiam et probra in principes civitatis de Graecorum poetarum more dicta in vincula Romae a triumviris coniectus esset. Vnde post a tribunis plebis exemptus est, cum in his, quas supra dixi, fabulis delicta sua et petulantias dictorum, quibus multos ante laeserat, diluisset.

15 Just as we have also received about Naevius that he wrote two plays in prison, Hariolus and Leontes, when on account of assiduous malediction and reproaches against the princes of the state, spoken after the manner of the Greek poets, he had been cast into chains at Rome by the triumvirs. Whence afterward he was exempted by the tribunes of the plebs, when in these plays, which I said above, he had washed away his offenses and the petulances of his sayings, by which he had earlier injured many.

IV. Quod P. Africano et aliis tunc viris nobilibus ante aetatem senectam barbam et genas radere mos patrius fuit.

4. That it was the ancestral custom for P. Africanus and other noble men at that time to shave the beard and the cheeks before the age of old age.

1 In libris, quos de vita P. Scipionis Africani compositos legimus, scriptum esse animadvertimus P. Scipioni, Pauli filio, postquam de Poenis triumphaverat censorque fuerat, diem dictum esse ad populum a Claudio Asello tribuno plebis, cui equum in censura ademerat, eumque, cum esset reus, neque barbam desisse radi neque non candida veste uti neque fuisse cultu solito reorum.

1 In the books which we read as composed on the life of P. Scipio Africanus, we observed it written that for P. Scipio, the son of Paulus, after he had triumphed over the Poeni and had been censor, a day for trial was appointed before the people by Claudius Asellus, tribune of the plebs, from whom he had taken away his horse in the censorship; and that he, although he was a defendant, neither ceased to have his beard shaved nor refrained from using a white garment, nor was he in the customary attire of defendants.

2 Sed cum in eo tempore Scipionem minorem quadraginta annorum fuisse constaret, quod de barba rasa ita scriptum esset, mirabamur.

2 But since at that time it was established that Scipio was under forty years of age, we marveled that it had been written thus about a shaven beard.

3 Comperimus autem ceteros quoque in isdem temporibus nobiles viros barbam in eiusmodi aetate rasitavisse, idcircoque plerasque imagines veterum, non admodum senum, sed in medio aetatis, ita factas videmus.

3 We have ascertained, moreover, that other noble men also in those same times were in the habit of shaving the beard at such an age, and for that reason we see very many images of the ancients, not especially of old men, but in the middle of age, made thus.

V. Deliciarum vitium et mollities oculorum et corporis ab Arcesila philosopho cuidam obprobrata acerbe simul et festiviter.

5. The vice of delights and the mollity of the eyes and of the body, cast in reproach by the philosopher Arcesilaus against a certain man, acerbically and wittily at the same time.

1 Plutarchus refert Arcesilaum philosophum vehementi verbo usum esse de quodam nimis delicato divite, qui incorruptus tamen et a stupro integer dicebatur.

1 Plutarch reports that the philosopher Arcesilaus had used a vehement word about a certain overly delicate rich man, who nevertheless was said to be incorrupt and intact from debauchery.

2 Nam cum vocem eius infractam capillumque arte compositum et oculos ludibundos atque inlecebrae voluptatisque plenos videret : "nihil interest," inquit "quibus membris cinaedi sitis, posterioribus an prioribus".

2 For when he saw his voice broken, his hair arranged by art, and eyes wanton and full of allurement and pleasure : "it makes no difference," he said, "in which members you are pathics, in the posterior or the anterior".

VI. De vi atque natura palmae arboris, quod lignum ex ea ponderibus positis renitatur.

6. On the force and nature of the palm-tree, namely that the wood from it, when weights are placed upon it, springs back in resistance.

1 Per hercle rem mirandam Aristoteles in septimo problematorum et Plutarchus in octavo symposiacorum dicit.

1 By Hercules, Aristotle in the 7th of the Problemata and Plutarch in the 8th of the Symposiacs tells of a marvelous thing.

2 "Si super palmae" inquiunt "arboris lignum magna pondera inponas ac tam graviter urgeas oneresque, ut magnitudo oneris sustineri non queat, non deorsum palma cedit nec intra flectitur, sed adversus pondus resurgit et sursum nititur recurvaturque";

2 "If upon the palm," they say, "tree's wood you place great weights and press and load so heavily that the magnitude of the burden cannot be sustained, the palm does not yield downward nor bend inward, but against the weight it re-surges and strives upward and is recurved";

3 "propterea" inquit Plutarchus "in certaminibus palmam signum esse placuit victoriae, quoniam ingenium ligni eiusmodi est, ut urgentibus opprimentibusque non cedat."

3 "for this reason," says Plutarch, "in contests it has been pleasing that the palm be a sign of victory, since the nature of the wood is of such a sort that, to those pressing and oppressing, it does not yield."

VII. Historia ex annalibus sumpta de Q. Caedicio tribuno militum; verbaque ex originibus M. Catonis apposita, quibus Caedici virtutem cum Spartano Leonida aequiperat.

7. A history taken from the annals about Q. Caedicius, military tribune; and words appended from the Origins of M. Cato, by which he equates the virtue of Caedicius with the Spartan Leonidas.

1 Pulcrum, dii boni, facinus Graecarumque facundiarum magniloquentia condignum M. Cato libris originum de Q. Caedicio tribuno militum scriptum reliquit.

1 A fair deed, good gods, and condign to the magniloquence of Greek eloquence, M. Cato left written in the books of the Origins about Q. Caedicius, tribune of the soldiers.

2 Id profecto est ad hanc ferme sententiam:

2 This, assuredly, is to nearly this sense:

3 Imperator Poenus in terra Sicilia bello Carthaginiensi primo obviam Romano exercitu progreditur, colles locosque idoneos prior occupat.

3 The Punic commander in the land of Sicily, in the First Carthaginian War, advances to meet the Roman army, and first occupies the hills and suitable positions.

4 Milites Romani, uti res nata est, in locum insinuant fraudi et perniciei obnoxium.

4 The Roman soldiers, as the matter turned out, insinuate themselves into a place liable to fraud and destruction.

5 Tribunus ad consulem venit, ostendit exitium de loci importunitate et hostium circumstantia maturum.

5 The tribune came to the consul, and showed that ruin, by reason of the incommodiousness of the place and the enemies’ encompassing, was imminent.

6 "Censeo," inquit "si rem servare vis, faciundum, ut quadringentos aliquos milites ad verrucam illam" - sic enim Cato locum editum asperumque appellat - "ire iubeas, eamque uti occupent, imperes horterisque; hostes profecto ubi id viderint, fortissimus quisque et promptissimus ad occursandum pugnandumque in eos praevertentur unoque illo negotio sese alligabunt, atque illi omnes quadringenti procul dubio obtruncabuntur.

6 "I am of the opinion," he says, "if you wish to preserve the matter, it must be done that you order about four hundred soldiers to go to that 'verruca'—for thus Cato calls the elevated and rugged place—and that you command and encourage them to seize it; the enemies, assuredly, when they see this, each of the bravest and readiest will hasten to run to encounter and to fight against them, and will tie themselves up with that one business, and all those four hundred, without doubt, will be cut down.

7 Tunc interea occupatis in ea caede hostibus tempus exercitus ex hoc loco educendi habebis.

7 Then meanwhile, with the enemies occupied in that slaughter, you will have time to lead the army out from this place.

8 Alia nisi haec salutis via nulla est." Consul tribuno respondit consilium quidem istud aeque providens sibi viderier; "sed istos" inquit "milites quadringentos ad eum locum in hostium cuneos quisnam erit, qui ducat?"

8 "No other path of salvation than this exists." The consul replied to the tribune that that counsel indeed seemed to him equally provident; "but these" he says, "four hundred soldiers into that place, into the enemy’s wedges—who, pray, will there be to lead them?"

9 "Si alium" inquit tribunus "neminem reperis, me licet ad hoc periculum utare; ego hanc tibi et reipublicae animam do."

9 "If you find no one else," said the tribune, "you may use me for this peril; I give this life to you and to the Republic."

10 Consul tribuno gratias laudesque agit.

10 The consul renders thanks and praises to the tribune.

11 Tribunus et quadringenti ad moriendum proficiscuntur.

11 The tribune and four hundred set out to die.

12 Hostes eorum audaciam demirantur; quorsum ire pergant, in exspectando sunt.

12 The enemies marvel at their audacity; whither they proceed to go, they are in expectation.

13 Sed ubi apparuit ad eam verrucam occupandam iter intendere, mittit adversum illos imperator Carthaginiensis peditatum equitatumque, quos in exercitu viros habuit strenuissimos.

13 But when it became apparent that they were directing their march to occupy that knoll, the Carthaginian commander sends against them the infantry and the cavalry, whom he had in the army as the most strenuous men.

14 Romani milites circumveniuntur, circumventi repugnant; fit proelium diu anceps.

14 The Roman soldiers are surrounded; surrounded, they resist; a battle ensues, long in the balance.

15 Tandem superat multitudo.

15 At length the multitude prevails.

16 Quadringenti omnes cum uno perfossi gladiis aut missilibus operti cadunt.

16 All four hundred, together with one, pierced through by swords or by missiles, fall, covered with wounds.

17 Consul interim, dum ibi pugnatur, se in locos tutos atque editos subducit.

17 Meanwhile the consul, while fighting is going on there, withdraws himself into safe and elevated places.

18 Sed quod illi tribuno, duci militum quadringentorum, divinitus in eo proelio usu venit, non iam nostris, sed ipsius Catonis verbis subiecimus:

18 But what befell that tribune, the leader of the soldiers of four hundred, divinely in that battle, we have subjoined not now in our words, but in the very words of Cato himself:

19 "Dii inmortales tribuno militum fortunam ex virtute eius dedere. Nam ita evenit: cum saucius multifariam ibi factus esset, tamen volnus capiti nullum evenit, eumque inter mortuos defetigatum volneribus atque, quod sanguen eius defluxerat, cognovere. Eum sustulere, isque convaluit, saepeque postilla operam reipublicae fortem atque strenuam perhibuit illoque facto, quod illos milites subduxit, exercitum ceterum servavit.

19 "The immortal gods granted to the military tribune good fortune from his virtue. For thus it happened: although he had been wounded in many places there, yet no wound befell his head, and they recognized him among the dead, exhausted by wounds and because his blood had flowed away. They lifted him up, and he convalesced, and often thereafter he rendered to the republic a brave and strenuous service; and by that deed, that he withdrew those soldiers, he saved the rest of the army.

Sed idem benefactum quo in loco ponas, nimium interest. Leonides Laco, qui simile apud Thermopylas fecit, propter eius virtutes omnis Graecia gloriam atque gratiam praecipuam claritudinis inclitissimae decoravere monumentis: signis, statuis, elogiis, historiis aliisque rebus gratissimum id eius factum habuere; at tribuno militum parva laus pro factis relicta, qui idem fecerat atque rem servaverat."

But the same benefaction, where you place it, matters immensely. Leonidas the Laconian, who did a similar thing at Thermopylae, on account of his virtues all Greece adorned with monuments his glory and the special favor of most illustrious renown: signs, statues, inscriptions, histories, and other things they held that deed of his most gratifying; but for the tribune of soldiers little praise was left in proportion to his deeds, who had done the same and had saved the cause."

20 Hanc Q. Caedici tribuni virtutem M. Cato tali suo testimonio decoravit.

20M. Cato adorned this virtue of the tribune Q. Caedicius with such his testimony.

21 Claudius autem Quadrigarius annali tertio non Caedicio nomen fuisse ait, sed Laberio.

21 But Claudius Quadrigarius, in the third annal, says that the name was not Caedicius, but Laberius.

VIII. Litterae eximiae consulum C. Fabricii et Q. Aemilii ad regem Pyrrum a Q. Claudio scriptore historiarum in memoriam datae.

8. Outstanding letters of the consuls C. Fabricius and Q. Aemilius to King Pyrrhus, set down for remembrance by Q. Claudius, writer of histories.

1 Cum Pyrrus rex in terra Italia esset et unam atque alteram pugnas prospere pugnasset satisque agerent Romani et pleraque Italia ad regem descivisset, tum Ambraciensis quispiam Timochares, regis Pyrri amicus, ad C. Fabricium consulem furtim venit ac praemium petivit et, si de praemio conveniret, promisit regem venenis necare idque facile esse factu dixit, quoniam filii sui pocula in convivio regi ministrarent.

1 When King Pyrrhus was in the land of Italy and had fought one and then another battles successfully, and the Romans were doing well enough and the greater part of Italy had defected to the king, then a certain Ambraciot, Timochares, a friend of King Pyrrhus, came furtively to the consul Gaius Fabricius and asked for a reward and, if they should agree about the reward, promised to kill the king with poisons, and said that this would be easy to do, since his sons were serving the cups to the king at the banquet.

2 Eam rem Fabricius ad senatum scripsit.

2 Fabricius wrote about that matter to the Senate.

3 Senatus ad regem legatos misit mandavitque, ut de Timochare nihil proderent, sed monerent, uti rex circumspectius ageret atque a proximorum insidiis salutem tutaretur.

3 The Senate sent legates to the king and commanded that they disclose nothing about Timochares, but that they warn him to act more circumspectly and to safeguard his safety from the plots of his closest associates.

4 Hoc ita, uti diximus, in Valeri Antiatis historia scriptum est.

4 This, as we have said, is written in the history of Valerius Antias.

5 Quadrigarius autem in libro tertio non Timocharem, sed Niciam adisse ad consulem scripsit neque legatos a senatu missos, sed a consulibus, et Pyrrum populo Romano laudes atque gratias scripsisse captivosque omnes, quos tum habuit, vestivisse et reddidisse.

5 Quadrigarius, however, in the third book wrote that not Timochares, but Nicias, had gone to the consul, and that envoys were not sent by the senate, but by the consuls; and that Pyrrhus wrote praises and thanks to the Roman people and clothed and returned all the captives whom he then had.

6 Consules tum fuerunt C. Fabricius et Q. Aemilius. Litteras, quas ad regem Pyrrum super ea causa miserunt,

6 The consuls then were Gaius Fabricius and Quintus Aemilius. The letters which they sent to King Pyrrhus concerning that cause,

7 Claudius Quadrigarius scripsit fuisse hoc exemplo:

7 Claudius Quadrigarius wrote that this had been according to this example:

8 "Consules Romani salutem dicunt Pyrro regi. Nos pro tuis iniuriis continuis animo tenus commoti inimiciter tecum bellare studemus. Sed communis exempli et fidei ergo visum, ut te salvum velimus, ut esset, quem armis vincere possimus.

8 "The Roman consuls send greetings to King Pyrrhus. We, moved in spirit on account of your continual injuries, strive to wage war with you as enemies. But for the sake of common example and good faith it has seemed that we should wish you safe, so that there might be someone whom we could conquer with arms.

Ad nos venit Nicias familiaris tuus, qui sibi praemium a nobis peteret, si te clam interfecisset. Id nos negavimus velle, neve ob eam rem quicquam commodi exspectaret, et simul visum est, ut te certiorem faceremus, ne quid eiusmodi, si accidisset, nostro consilio civitates putarent factum, et quod nobis non placet pretio aut praemio aut dolis pugnare. Tu, nisi caves, iacebis."

To us came Nicias, your familiar, who sought a reward for himself from us if he had secretly killed you. That we said we were unwilling to grant, and that he should not on that account expect any advantage; and at the same time it seemed good that we should make you certain, lest the states, if anything of this sort had happened, think it done by our counsel, and because it does not please us to fight by price or reward or by wiles. You, unless you beware, will lie dead.

IX. Quis et cuiusmodi fuerit qui in proverbio fertur equus Seianus; et qualis color equorum sit qui "spadices" vocantur; deque istius vocabuli ratione.

9. Who and of what sort the horse was that in the proverb is called the Seian horse; and what color of horses it is that are called "spadices"; and concerning the rationale of that vocable.

1 Gavius Bassus in commentariis suis, item Iulius Modestus in secundo quaestionum confusarum historiam de equo Seiano tradunt dignam memoria atque admiratione:

1 Gavius Bassus in his Commentaries, likewise Julius Modestus in the second of the Confused Questions, hand down a history about the Seian horse, worthy of memory and admiration:

2 Gnaeum Seium quempiam scribam fuisse eumque habuisse equum natum Argis in terra Graecia, de quo fama constans esset, tamquam de genere equorum progenitus foret, qui Diomedis Thracis fuissent, quos Hercules Diomede occiso e Thracia Argos perduxisset.

2 that there was a certain Gnaeus Seius, a scribe, and that he had a horse born at Argos in the land of Greece, about which a constant fame existed, as though he had been begotten from the race of horses which had belonged to Diomedes the Thracian, whom Hercules, Diomedes slain, had led from Thrace to Argos.

3 Eum equum fuisse dicunt magnitudine invisitata, cervice ardua, colore poeniceo, flora et comanti iuba, omnibusque aliis equorum laudibus quoque longe praestitisse; sed eundem equum tali fuisse fato sive fortuna ferunt, ut, quisquis haberet eum possideretque, ut is cum omni domo familia fortunisque omnibus suis ad internecionem deperiret.

3 They say that that horse was of unprecedented magnitude, with a towering neck, of a Phoenician (Tyrian) hue, with a flowing and comate mane, and that it far excelled also in all the other praises of horses; but they report that the same horse was under such a fate or fortune, that whoever should have and possess him, that he would perish to utter extermination with his whole house, household, and all his fortunes.

4 Itaque primum illum Gnaeum Seium, dominum eius, a M. Antonio, qui postea triumvirum reipublicae constituendae fuit, capitis damnatum miserando supplicio affectum esse; eodem tempore Cornelium Dolabellam consulem in Syriam proficiscentem fama istius equi adductum Argos devertisse cupidineque habendi eius exarsisse emisseque eum sestertiis centum milibus; sed ipsum quoque Dolabellam in Syria bello civili obsessum atque interfectum esse; mox eundem equum, qui Dolabellae fuerat, C. Cassium, qui Dolabellam obsederat, abduxisse.

4 And so, first that Gnaeus Seius, its owner, was condemned on a capital charge by M. Antonius, who afterwards was one of the triumvirs for the reestablishing of the republic, and was subjected to a pitiable punishment; at the same time Cornelius Dolabella, the consul, setting out for Syria, diverted to Argos, drawn by the report of that horse, and, inflamed with the desire of possessing it, bought it for 100,000 sesterces; but Dolabella himself too in Syria, besieged in the civil war, was slain; soon the same horse, which had been Dolabella’s, Gaius Cassius, who had besieged Dolabella, carried off.

5 Eum Cassium postea satis notum est victis partibus fusoque exercitu suo miseram mortem oppetisse; deinde post Antonium post interitum Cassii parta victoria equum illum nobilem Cassii requisisse et, cum eo potitus esset, ipsum quoque postea victum atque desertum detestabili exitio interisse.

5 It is well enough known that that Cassius afterwards, his party conquered and his army routed, met a wretched death; then Antony, after the death of Cassius and with victory obtained, sought that noble horse of Cassius, and, when he had gotten possession of it, he himself also later, defeated and deserted, perished by a detestable end.

6 Hinc proverbium de hominibus calamitosis ortum dicique solitum: "ille homo habet equum Seianum".

6 Hence a proverb arose about calamitous men and was wont to be said: "that man has Sejanus’s horse".

7 Eadem sententia est illius quoque veteris proverbii, quod ita dictum accepimus: "aurum Tolosanum". Nam cum oppidum Tolosanum in terra Gallia Quintus Caepio consul diripuisset multumque auri in eius oppidi templis fuisset, quisquis ex ea direptione aurum attigit, misero cruciabilique exitu perit.

7 Of the same sentiment is that old proverb too, which we have received as said thus: "the Tolosan gold." For when the Tolosan town in the land of Gaul the consul Quintus Caepio plundered, and much gold had been in the temples of that town, whoever from that plundering touched the gold perished with a wretched and excruciating end.

8 Hunc equum Gavius Bassus vidisse Argis refert haut credibili pulcritudine vigoreque et colore exuberantissimo.

8 Gavius Bassus reports that he saw this horse at Argos, of hardly credible pulchritude and vigor, and of most exuberant color.

9 Quem colorem nos, sicuti dixi, "poeniceum" dicimus, Graeci partim phoinika, alii spadika appellant, quoniam palmae termes ex arbore cum fructu avulsus "spadix" dicitur.

9 That color we, just as I said, call "Phoenicean"; the Greeks partly call it phoinika, others spadika, since the shoot of the palm torn from the tree with the fruit is called "spadix".

X. Quod est quaedam septenarii numeri vis et facultas in multis naturae rebus animadversa, de qua M. Varro in hebdomadibus disserit copiose.

10. That there is a certain force and faculty of the number seven observed in many things of nature, about which M. Varro in the Hebdomades disserts copiously.

1M. Varro in primo librorum, qui inscribuntur hebdomades vel de imaginibus, septenarii numeri, quem Graece hebdomada appellant, virtutes potestatesque multas variasque dicit.

1M. Varro, in the first of the books which are entitled Hebdomads or On Images, says that the septenary number, which in Greek they call the hebdomad, has many and various virtues and powers.

2 "Is namque numerus" inquit "septentriones maiores minoresque in caelo facit, item vergilias, quas pleiadas Graeci vocant, facit etiam stellas, quas alii "erraticas", P. Nigidius "errones" appellat."

2 "For that number," he says, "makes the Greater and Lesser Septentriones in the sky, likewise the Vergiliae, which the Greeks call the Pleiads; it also makes the stars which some call "erratic," P. Nigidius calls "wanderers."

3 Circulos quoque ait in caelo circum longitudinem axis septem esse; ex quis duos minimos, qui axem extimum tangunt, polous appellari dicit; sed eos in sphaera, quae krikote vocatur, propter brevitatem non inesse.

3 He also says that in the sky there are seven circles around the length of the axis; of which the two smallest, which touch the outermost axis, are called poles; but that in the sphere which is called krikote, on account of their shortness, they are not present.

4 Ac neque ipse zodiacus septenario numero caret; nam in septimo signo fit solstitium a bruma, in septimo bruma a solstitio, in septimo aequinoctium ab aequinoctio.

4 And the zodiac itself is not devoid of the septenary number; for in the seventh sign the solstice occurs from the bruma (winter solstice), in the seventh the bruma from the solstice, in the seventh the equinox from the equinox.

5 Dies deinde illos, quibus alcyones hieme anni in aqua nidulantur, eos quoque septem esse dicit.

5 Then he says that those days, during which the halcyons in the winter of the year nest on the water, are seven as well.

6 Praeterea scribit lunae curriculum confici integris quater septenis diebus; "nam die duodetricesimo luna", inquit "ex quo vestigio profecta est, eodem redit", auctoremque opinionis huius Aristidem esse Samium; in qua re non id solum animadverti debere dicit, quod quater septenis, id est octo et viginti, diebus conficeret luna iter suum, sed quod is numerus septenarius, si ab uno profectus, dum ad semetipsum progreditur, omnes, per quos progressus est, numeros comprehendat ipsumque se addat, facit numerum octo et viginti, quot dies sunt curriculi lunaris.

6 Furthermore, he writes that the course of the moon is completed in an entire four times seven days; "for on the twenty-eighth day," he says, "the moon returns to the same point from which it set out," and that the author of this opinion is Aristides the Samian; in which matter he says that notice ought to be taken not only of this, that in four times seven, that is in twenty-eight, days the moon completes its journey, but that this septenary number, if setting out from one, while it advances up to itself, embraces all the numbers through which it has progressed and adds itself besides, and makes the number twenty-eight, as many days as there are in the lunar course.

7 Ad homines quoque nascendos vim numeri istius porrigi pertinereque ait: "Nam cum in uterum" inquit "mulieris genitale semen datum est, primis septem diebus conglobatur coagulaturque fitque ad capiendam figuram idoneum. Post deinde quarta hebdomade, quod eius virile secus futurum est, caput et spina, quae est in dorso, informatur. Septima autem fere hebdomade, id est nono et quadragesimo die, totus" inquit "homo in utero absolvitur."

7 He also says that for humans being born the force of that number extends and pertains: "For when into the womb," he says, "the genital seed of the woman has been given, in the first seven days it is conglobated and coagulates and becomes suitable for taking on a figure. Then thereafter, in the fourth hebdomad, that of it which is going to be of the male sex, the head and the spine, which is in the back, is formed. But at about the seventh hebdomad, that is on the forty-ninth day, the whole," he says, "human being is completed in the womb."

8 Illam quoque vim numeri huius observatam refert, quod ante mensem septimum neque mas neque femina salubriter ac secundum naturam nasci potest et quod hi, qui iustissime in utero sunt, post ducentos septuaginta tres dies, postquam sunt concepti, quadragesima denique hebdomade inita nascuntur.

8 He also reports that that force of this number has been observed, namely that before the seventh month neither male nor female can be born healthfully and according to nature, and that those who are most properly borne in the womb, after 273 days from the time they have been conceived, are born, finally, with the fortieth week begun.

9 Pericula quoque vitae fortunarumque hominum, quae "climacteras" Chaldaei appellant, gravissimos quosque fieri affirmat septenarios.

9 He also affirms that the perils of life and of the fortunes of men, which the Chaldeans call "climacterics," each become most grave in the septenaries.

10 Praeter hoc modum esse dicit summum adolescendi humani corporis septem pedes.

10 Besides this, he says the maximum measure of the human body’s growth is seven feet.

11 Quod esse magis verum arbitramur, quam quod Herodotus, homo fabulator, in primo historiarum inventum esse sub terra scripsit Oresti corpus cubita longitudinis habens septem, quae faciunt pedes duodecim et quadrantem, nisi si, ut Homerus opinatus est, vastiora prolixioraque fuerunt corpora hominum antiquiorum et nunc quasi iam mundo senescente rerum atque hominum decrementa sunt.

11 We judge this to be more true than what Herodotus, a fabulist of a man, wrote in the first book of the Histories: that the body of Orestes was found under the earth, having a length of seven cubits, which make twelve feet and a quarter—unless, as Homer supposed, the bodies of earlier men were vaster and more elongated, and now, as if the world were already senescent, there are decrements of things and of men.

12 Dentes quoque et in septem mensibus primis et septenos ex utraque parte gigni ait et cadere annis septimis et genuinos adnasci annis fere bis septenis.

12 He says also that teeth are produced both within the first seven months and in sevens on each side, and that they fall in the seventh year, and that the genuine ones grow on at about twice-seven years.

13 Venas etiam in hominibus vel potius arterias medicos musicos dicere ait numero moveri septenario, quod ipsi appellant ten dia tessaron symphonian, quae fit in collatione quaternarii numeri.

13 He says that physicians—musicians—declare that in human beings the veins, or rather the arteries, are moved by the septenary number, which they themselves call the ten dia tessaron symphonian, which comes about in the collation of the quaternary number.

14 Discrimina etiam periculorum in morbis maiore vi fieri putat in diebus, qui conficiuntur ex numero septenario, eosque dies omnium maxime, ita ut medici appellant, krisimous videri: primam hebdomadam et secundam et tertiam.

14 He also thinks that the discriminations of perils in diseases take place with greater force on the days which are made up from the septenary number, and that those days, above all, seem, as the physicians call them, krisimous: the first hebdomad and the second and the third.

15 Neque non id etiam sumit ad vim facultatesque eius numeri augendas, quod, quibus inedia mori consilium est, septimo demum die mortem oppetunt.

15 Nor does he fail also to take this to augment the force and faculties of that number: that those whose plan is to die by inedia (fasting) meet death only on the seventh day.

16 Haec Varro de numero septenario scripsit admodum conquisite. Sed alia quoque ibidem congerit frigidiuscula: veluti septem opera esse in orbe terrae miranda et sapientes item veteres septem fuisse et curricula ludorum circensium sollemnia septem esse et ad oppugnandas Thebas duces septem delectos.

16 These things Varro wrote about the septenary number very exquisitely. But he also heaps up in the same place some rather chilly items: for example, that there are seven works to be admired in the orb of the earth, and that likewise the ancient sages were seven, and that the solemn laps of the circus games are seven, and that for assaulting Thebes seven leaders were chosen.

17 Tum ibi addit se quoque iam duodecimam annorum hebdomadam ingressum esse et ad eum diem septuaginta hebdomadas librorum conscripsisse, ex quibus aliquammultos, cum proscriptus esset, direptis bibliothecis suis non comparuisse.

17 Then there he adds that he too has now entered the twelfth hebdomad of years, and up to that day has written seventy hebdomads of books, of which a good many, when he was proscribed and his libraries were plundered, did not turn up.

XI. Quibus et quam frivolis argumentis Accius in didascalicis utatur, quibus docere nititur Hesiodum esse quam Homerum natu antiquiorem.

11. What, and how frivolous, arguments Accius employs in the Didascalica, with which he strives to teach that Hesiod is by birth older than Homer.

1 Super aetate Homeri atque Hesiodi non consentitur.

1 On the age of Homer and of Hesiod there is no agreement.

2 Alii Homerum quam Hesiodum maiorem natu fuisse scripserunt, in quis Philochorus et Xenophanes, alii minorem, in quis L. Accius poeta et Ephorus historiae scriptor.

2 Others wrote that Homer was older by birth than Hesiod, among whom Philochorus and Xenophanes; others that he was younger, among whom L. Accius the poet and Ephorus the writer of history.

3M. autem Varro in primo de imaginibus, uter prior sit natus, parum constare dicit, sed non esse dubium, quin aliquo tempore eodem vixerint, idque ex epigrammate ostendi, quod in tripode scriptum est, qui in monte Helicone ab Hesiodo positus traditur.

3 But M. Varro, in the first book of On Images, says that which of the two was born earlier is not well established, but that there is no doubt that at some time they lived contemporaneously, and that this is shown by an epigram which is written on a tripod that is handed down to have been set up on Mount Helicon by Hesiod.

4 Accius autem in primo didascalico levibus admodum argumentis utitur, per quae ostendi putat Hesiodum natu priorem:

4 But Accius, however, in the first Didascalicus, uses exceedingly light arguments, through which he thinks it is shown that Hesiod was prior in birth:

5 "quod Homerus," inquit "cum in principio carminis Achillem esse filium Pelei diceret, quis esset Peleus, non addidit; quam rem procul" inquit "dubio dixisset, nisi ab Hesiodo iam dictum videret. De Cyclope itidem," inquit "vel maxime quod unoculus fuit, rem tam insignem non praeterisset, nisi aeque prioris Hesiodi carminibus involgatum esset."

5 "that Homer," he says "when at the beginning of the poem he said that Achilles was the son of Peleus, did not add who Peleus was; which thing far" he says "beyond doubt he would have said, unless he saw that it had already been said by Hesiod. About the Cyclops likewise," he says "most especially that he was one-eyed, he would not have passed over so conspicuous a matter, unless it had likewise been vulgated by the poems of the earlier Hesiod."

6 De patria quoque Homeri multo maxime dissensum est. Alii Colophonium, alii Smyrnaeum, sunt qui Atheniensem, sunt etiam qui Aegyptium fuisse dicant, Aristoteles tradidit ex insula Io. M. Varro in libro de imaginibus primo Homeri imagini epigramma hoc apposuit:

6 About the fatherland of Homer, too, there has been by far the greatest dissension. Some a Colophonian, others a Smyrnaean, there are those who say an Athenian, there are even those who say an Egyptian; Aristotle handed down that he was from the island of Ios. M. Varro, in the first book On Images, appended this epigram to Homer’s image:

7 capella Homeri candida haec tumulum indicat,
quod hac letae mortuo faciunt sacra.

7 this white she-goat of Homer indicates the tomb,
because with this the elated perform sacred rites for the dead.

XII. Largum atque avidum bibendi a P. Nigidio, doctissimo viro, nova et prope absurda vocabuli figura "bibosum" dictum.

12. A man lavish and avid for drinking was, by P. Nigidius, a most learned man, called, with a new and almost absurd figure of the word, "bibosum."

1 Bibendi avidum P. Nigidius in commentariis grammaticis "bibacem" et "bibosum" dicit.

1 Publius Nigidius in his grammatical commentaries calls one eager for drinking “bibacem” and “bibosum”.

2 "Bibacem" ego ut "edacem" a plerisque aliis dictum lego; "bibosum" dictum nondum etiam usquam repperi nisi apud Laberium, neque aliud est, quod simili inclinatu dicatur.

2 I read that “bibacem,” like “edacem,” is said by most others; “bibosum” I have not yet anywhere found except with Laberius, nor is there any other that is said with a similar inclination.

3 Non enim simile est ut "vinosus" aut "vitiosus" ceteraque, quae hoc modo dicuntur, quoniam a vocabulis, non a verbo, inclinata sunt.

3 For it is not similar as "vinosus" or "vitiosus" and the rest, which are said in this way, since they are derived from nouns, not from a verb.

4 Laberius in mimo, qui Salinator inscriptus est, verbo hoc ita utitur: non mammosa, non annosa, non bibosa, mon procax.

4 Laberius, in the mime which is entitled Salinator, uses this word thus: not mammose, not annose, not bibulous, not procacious.

XIII. Quod Demosthenes etiamtum adulescens, cum Platonis philosophi discipulus foret, audito forte Callistrato rhetore in contione populi destitit a Platone et sectatus Callistratum est.

13. That Demosthenes, still an adolescent, when he was a disciple of the philosopher Plato, having by chance heard the rhetorician Callistratus in an assembly of the people, desisted from Plato and followed Callistratus.

1 Hermippus hoc scriptum reliquit Demosthenen admodum adulescentem ventitare in Academiam Platonemque audire solitum.

1 Hermippus left this written: that Demosthenes, quite a youth, used to frequent the Academy and was accustomed to hear Plato.

2 "Atque is" inquit "Demosthenes domo egressus, ut ei mos erat, cum ad Platonem pergeret complurisque populos concurrentes videret, percontatur eius rei causam cognoscitque currere eos auditum Callistratum.

2 "And he," he says, "Demosthenes, having gone out from home, as was his custom, when he was proceeding to Plato and saw several crowds converging, inquires the cause of that matter and learns that they are running to hear Callistratus.

3 Is Callistratus Athenis orator in republica fuit, quos illi demagogous appellant.

3 This Callistratus was at Athens an orator in the republic, whom they call demagogues.

4 Visum est paulum devertere experirique, an digna auditio tanto properantium studio foret.

4 It seemed good to turn aside a little and to make experiment, whether the hearing would be worthy of such great zeal of the hasteners.

5 Venit" inquit "atque audit Callistratum nobilem illam ten peri Oropou diken dicentem atque ita motus et demultus et captus est, ut Callistratum iam inde sectari coeperit, Academiam cum Platone reliquerit."

5 He came" he says "and heard Callistratus delivering that famous case concerning Oropus, and he was so moved and soothed and captivated that from then on he began to follow Callistratus, and left the Academy with Plato."

XIV. "Dimidium librum legi" aut "dimidiam fabulam audivi" aliaque huiuscemodi qui dicat, vitiose dicere; eiusque vitii causas reddere M. Varronem; nec quemquam veterem hisce verbis esse.

14. "I have read half a book" or "I have heard half a fable," and other things of this sort—whoever says them speaks improperly; and M. Varro renders the causes of this fault; and no ancient author is found with these words.

1 "Dimidium librum legi" aut "dimidiam fabulam audivi" vel quid aliud huiuscemodi male ac vitiose dici existumat Varro.

1 Varro considers "I have read half a book" or "I have heard half a play," or anything else of this sort, to be said ill and improperly.

2 "Oportet enim" inquit "dicere "dimidiatum librum", non "dimidium", et "dimidiatam fabulam", non "dimidiam". Contra autem si ex sextario hemina fusa est, non "dimidiatum sextarium fusum" dicendum est, et qui ex mille nummum, quod ei debebatur, quingentos recepit, non "dimidiatum" recepisse dicemus, sed "dimidium".

2 "For it is proper," he says, "to say "a halved book," not "a half," and "a halved fable," not "a half." Conversely, however, if from a sextarius a hemina has been poured out, it is not to be said "a halved sextarius was poured," and one who, out of 1,000 coins that were owed to him, has received 500, we shall not say has received "the halved," but "the half".

3 At si scyphus" inquit "argenteus mihi cum alio communis in duas partis disiectus sit, "dimidiatum" eum esse dicere scyphum debeo, non "dimidium", argentum autem, quod in eo scypho inest,

3 But if a cup" he says "of silver, mine in common with another, has been broken into two parts, I ought to say that the cup is "dimidiatum", not "dimidium", but the silver, which is in that cup,

4 "dimidium" meum esse, non "dimidiatum"," disseritque ac dividit subtilissime, quid "dimidium" "dimidiato" intersit, et Q. Ennium scienter hoc in annalibus dixisse ait:

4 "the half is mine, not the halved," and he argues and most subtly distinguishes what difference there is between "half" and "halved," and says that Q. Ennius said this knowingly in the Annals:

5 sicut si quis ferat vas vini dimidiatum, sicuti pars, quae deest ei vaso, non "dimidiata" dicenda est, sed "dimidia".

5 just as if someone were to carry a dimidiated vessel of wine, so too the part which is lacking to that vessel is not to be called "dimidiated," but "half."

6 Omnis autem disputationis eius, quam subtiliter quidem, sed subobscure explicat, summa haec est: "dimidiatum" est quasi "dismediatum" et in partis duas pares divisum,

6 The whole of his disputation, which indeed he explicates subtly, but somewhat obscurely, has this sum: "dimidiatum" is as if "dismediatum" and divided into two equal parts,

7 "dimidiatum" ergo nisi ipsum, quod divisum est, dici haut convenit;

7 "dimidiated," therefore, is not fitting to be said except of the very thing which is divided;

8 "dimidium" vero est, non quod ipsum dimidiatum est, sed quae ex dimidiato pars altera est.

8 "half," indeed, is not that which itself is dimidiated, but that which is the other part from the dimidiated whole.

9 Cum igitur partem dimidiam libri legisse volumus dicere aut partem dimidiam fabulae audisse, si "dimidiam fabulam" aut "dimidium librum" dicimus, peccamus; totum enim ipsum, quod dimidiatum atque divisum est, "dimidium" dicis.

9 Since therefore when we wish to say that we have read the half part of a book or heard the half part of a tale, if we say "a half tale" or "a half book," we err; for you call "the half" the whole thing itself which has been dimidiated and divided.

10 Itaque Lucilius eadem secutus:
"uno oculo" inquit "pedibusque duobus dimidiatus ut porcus",
et alio loco:
quidni? et scruta quidem ut vendat, scrutarius laudat,
praefractam strigilem, soleam inprobus dimidiatam.

10 And so Lucilius, following the same:
"with one eye," he says, "and with two feet, dimidiated like a pig,"
and in another place:
why not? And a rag-dealer indeed, in order to sell scraps, praises them—
a broken-off strigil; the shameless fellow a dimidiated sandal.

11 Iam in vicesimo manifestius "dimidiam horam" dicere studiose fugit, sed pro "dimidia" "dimidium" ponit in hisce versibus:
tempestate sua atque eodem uno tempore et horae
dimidio et tribus confectis dumtaxat eandem
ad quartam.

11 Now in the twentieth he more plainly studiously avoids saying "half an hour," but in place of "half" he puts "a half" in these verses:
at its own season and at that same single time and by a half of the hour
and with three completed, at most, the same up to the fourth.

12 Nam cum obvium proximumque esset dicere: "dimidia et tribus confectis", vigilate atque attente verbum non probum vitavit.

12 For since it was obvious and the nearest thing to say: "the half and with three completed," he, vigilantly and attentively, avoided the improper word.

13 Per quod satis apparet ne "horam" quidem "dimidiam" recte dici, sed vel "dimidiatam horam" vel "dimidiam partem horae".

13 Through which it sufficiently appears that not even "half an hour" is rightly said, but either "a halved hour" or "a half part of an hour".

14 Propterea Plautus quoque in Bacchidibus "dimidium auri" dicit, non "dimidiatum aurum";

14 For that reason Plautus also in the Bacchides says "a half of the gold," not "halved gold";

15 item in Aulularia "dimidium obsoni", non "dimidiatum obsonium", in hoc versu:
ei adeo obsoni hic iussit dimidium dari;

15 likewise in the Aulularia “half of the provisions,” not “the halved provision,” in this verse:
“for indeed here he ordered that half of the provisions be given;”

16 in Menaechmis autem "dimidiatum diem" non "dimidium", in hoc versu: dies quidem iam ad umbilicum dimidiatus mortuust.

16 but in the Menaechmi "a halved day" not "a half," in this verse: the day indeed now, halved to the navel, is dead.

17M. etiam Cato in libro, quem de agricultura conscripsit: "Semen cupressi serito crebrum, ita uti linum seri solet. Eo cribro terram incernito dimidiatum digitum. Iam id bene tabula aut pedibus aut manibus complanato."

17M. Cato also, in the book which he composed on agriculture: "Sow cypress seed thick, just as flax is wont to be sown. With that sieve sift in earth to the depth of half a finger. Then level it well with a board or with the feet or with the hands."

18 "Dimidiatum" inquit "digitum", non "dimidium". Nam "digiti" quidem "dimidium", digitum autem ipsum "dimidiatum" dici oportet.

18 "Dimidiated," he says, "finger," not "half." For "the half of the finger" indeed, but the finger itself ought to be said "dimidiated."

19 Item M. Cato de Carthaginiensibus ita scripsit: "Homines defoderunt in terram dimidiatos ignemque circumposuerunt, ita interfecerunt."

19 Likewise M. Cato wrote thus about the Carthaginians: "They half-buried men in the earth and placed fire around them; thus they slew them."

20 Neque quisquam omnium, qui probe locuti sunt, his verbis sequius quam dixi usus est.

20 Nor has anyone at all, of those who have spoken properly, used these words less appropriately than as I have stated.

XV. Exstare in litteris perque hominum memorias traditum, quod repente multis mortem attulit gaudium ingens insperatum interclusa anima et vim magni novique motus non sustinente.

15. It stands in the writings and is handed down through the memories of men, that a great and unhoped-for joy suddenly brought death to many, with the breath cut off and not able to withstand the force of a great and novel motion.

1 Cognito repente insperato gaudio exspirasse animam refert Aristoteles philosophus Polycritam, nobilem feminam Naxo insula.

1 Aristotle the philosopher reports that, once an unexpected joy was recognized suddenly, Polycrita, a noble woman on the island of Naxos, breathed out her spirit.

2 Philippides quoque, comoediarum poeta haut ignobilis, aetate iam edita, cum in certamine poetarum praeter spem vicisset et laetissime gauderet, inter illud gaudium repente mortuus est.

2 Philippides too, a not ignoble poet of comedies, with his age now advanced, when in the contest of poets he had won beyond expectation and was rejoicing most joyfully, amid that joy suddenly died.

3 De Rhodio etiam Diagora celebrata historia est. Is Diagoras tris filios adulescentis habuit, unum pugilem, alterum pancratiasten, tertium luctatorem. Eos omnis vidit vincere coronarique Olympiae eodem die et, cum ibi cum tres adulescentes amplexi coronis suis in caput patris positis saviarentur, cum populus gratulabundus flores undique in eum iaceret, ibidem in stadio inspectante populo in osculis atque in manibus filiorum animam efflavit.

3 There is also a celebrated story about the Rhodian Diagoras. This Diagoras had three young sons, one a boxer, another a pancratiast, the third a wrestler. He saw them all win and be crowned at Olympia on the same day, and, when there the three young men, having embraced him, with their crowns placed upon their father’s head, were kissing him, while the rejoicing people were throwing flowers upon him from every side, there in the stadium, with the people looking on, in the kisses and in the hands of his sons, he breathed out his spirit.

4 Praeterea in nostris annalibus scriptum legimus, qua tempestate apud Cannas exercitus populi Romani caesus est, anum matrem nuntio de morte filii adlato luctu atque maerore affectam esse; sed is nuntius non verus fuit, atque is adulescens non diu post ex ea pugna in urbem redit: anus repente filio viso copia atque turba et quasi ruina incidentis inopinati gaudii oppressa exanimataque est.

4 Moreover, in our annals we read written, at the time when at Cannae the army of the Roman people was cut down, that an old woman, a mother, when a message about the death of her son had been brought, was affected with mourning and sorrow; but that message was not true, and that young man not long after from that battle returned into the city: the old woman, suddenly, upon seeing her son, overwhelmed by the abundance and throng and, as it were, the collapse of unexpected joy falling upon her, was oppressed and, deprived of breath, expired.

XVI. Temporis varietas in puerperis mulierum quaenam sit a medicis et a philosophis tradita; atque inibi poetarum quoque veterum super eadem re opiniones multaque alia auditu atque memoratu digna; verbaque ipsa Hippocratis medici ex libro illius sumpta, qui inscriptus est peri trophes.

CHAPTER 16. What the variation of time in women’s childbeds is, as handed down by physicians and by philosophers; and therein also the opinions of ancient poets on the same matter, and many other things worthy of hearing and remembering; and the very words of the physician Hippocrates taken from that book of his which is entitled Peri Trophes.

1 Et medici et philosophi inlustres de tempore humani partus quaesiverunt. Multa opinio est eaque iam pro vero recepta, postquam mulieris uterum semen conceperit, gigni hominem septimo rarenter, numquam octavo, saepe nono, saepius numero decimo mense, eumque esse hominem gignendi summum finem: decem menses non inceptos, sed exactos.

1 Both physicians and illustrious philosophers have inquired about the time of human birth. There is a prevalent opinion, and it has now been received as true, that after a woman’s womb has conceived seed, a human is begotten rarely in the seventh, never in the eighth, often in the ninth, more often in the tenth month in number; and that this is the utmost limit of generating a human being: ten months not begun, but completed.

2 Idque Plautum, veterem poetam, dicere videmus in comoedia Cistellaria his verbis:
tum illa, quam compresserat,
decumo post mense exacto hic peperit filiam.

2 And we see Plautus, an ancient poet, say this in the comedy Cistellaria in these words:
then that woman, whom he had compressed,
after the tenth month completed, here bore a daughter.

3 Hoc idem tradit etiam Menander, poeta vetustior, humanarum opinionum vel peritissimus; versus eius super ea re de fabula Plocio posui:
gyne kyei deka menas ...?

3 This same thing is also handed down by Menander, a more ancient poet, most skilled, as it were, in human opinions; I have set his verses on this matter from the play Plokion:
a woman is pregnant ten months ...?

4 sed noster Caecilius, cum faceret eodem nomine et eiusdem argumenti comoediam ac pleraque a Menandro sumeret, in mensibus tamen genitalibus nominandis non praetermisit octavum, quem praeterierat Menander. Caecilii versus hisce sunt:
soletne mulier decimo mense parere? - pol nono quoque,
etiam septimo atque octavo.

4 but our Caecilius, when he was making a comedy of the same name and the same plot and was taking many things from Menander, yet in naming the gestational months did not omit the eighth, which Menander had passed over. Caecilius’s verses are these:
is it usual for a woman to give birth in the tenth month? — by Pollux, in the ninth too,
even in the seventh and the eighth.

5 Eam rem Caecilium non inconsiderate dixisse neque temere a Menandro atque a multorum opinionibus descivisse M. Varro uti credamus facit.

5M. Varro leads us to believe that Caecilius did not say that matter inconsiderately, nor did he rashly depart from Menander and from the opinions of many.

6 Nam mense nonnumquam octavo editum esse partum in libro quarto decimo rerum divinarum scriptum reliquit; quo in libro etiam undecimo mense aliquando nasci posse hominem dicit, eiusque sententiae tam de octavo quam de undecimo mense Aristotelem auctorem laudat.

6 For he left written, in the fourteenth book of Divine Things, that a birth has sometimes been brought forth in the eighth month; in which book he also says that a human can sometimes be born in the eleventh month, and for this opinion, concerning both the eighth and the eleventh month, he lauds Aristotle as an authority.

7 Sed huius de mense octavo dissensionis causa cognosci potest in libro Hippocratis, qui inscriptus est peri trophes, ex quo libro verba haec sunt:
Estin de kai ouk estin ta oktamena.

7 But the cause of this disagreement about the eighth month can be known in the book of Hippocrates, which is entitled peri trophes, from which book these words are:
Eight‑month (babies) both are and are not.

8 Id tamen obscure atque praecise tamquam adverse dictum Sabinus medicus, qui Hippocratem commodissime commentatus est, verbis his enarravit: Estin men phainomena hos zoa meta ten ekptosin; ouk estin de, thneskonta meta tauta; kai estin oun kai ouk estin phantasiai men parautika onta, dynamei de ouketi.

8 This, however, as something obscure and precise, as if said in opposition, Sabinus the physician, who most aptly commented on Hippocrates, in these words explained: “There are, appearing as living creatures after the expulsion; yet there are not, since they die thereafter; and thus they both are and are not—phantasms indeed existing for the moment, but in potentiality no longer.”

9 Antiquos autem Romanos Varro dicit non recepisse huiuscemodi quasi monstruosas raritates, sed nono mense aut decimo neque praeter hos aliis partionem mulieris secundum naturam fieri existimasse, idcircoque eos nomina Fatis tribus fecisse a pariendo et a nono atque decimo mense.

9 But Varro says that the ancient Romans did not receive such, as it were, monstrous rarities, but judged that the parturition of a woman according to nature occurs in the ninth month or the tenth, and not in other months besides these; and therefore that they made the names for the three Fates from bearing and from the ninth and tenth month.

10 "Nam "Parca"" inquit "inmutata una littera a partu nominata, item "Nona" et "Decima" a partus tempestivi tempore."

10 "For "Parca"," says he, "with one letter changed, is named from "partus" (birth), likewise "Nona" and "Decima" from the time of a timely birth."

11 Caesellius autem Vindex in lectionibus suis antiquis: "tria" inquit "nomina Parcarum sunt: "Nona", "Decuma" "Morta", et versum hunc Livii, antiquissimi poetae, ponit ex Odysseiai: quando dies adveniet, quem profata Morta est.
Sed homo minime malus Caesellius "Mortam" quasi nomen accepit, cum accipere quasi Moeram deberet.

11 Caesellius Vindex, however, in his ancient readings, says: "the three names of the Fates are: "Nona", "Decuma" "Morta", and he sets this verse of Livius, a most ancient poet, from the Odyssey: when the day will come, which Morta has pre-spoken.
But Caesellius, a man by no means bad, took "Mortam" as if it were a name, whereas he ought to have taken it as if it were "Moera."

12 Praeterea ego de partu humano, praeterquam quae scripta in libris legi, hoc quoque usu venisse Romae comperi: feminam bonis atque honestis moribus, non ambigua pudicitia, in undecimo mense post mariti mortem peperisse, factumque esse negotium propter rationem temporis, quasi marito mortuo postea concepisset, quoniam decemviri in decem mensibus gigni hominem, non in undecimo scripsissent; sed divum Hadrianum causa cognita decrevisse in undecimo quoque mense partum edi posse; idque ipsum eius rei decretum nos legimus. In eo decreto Hadrianus id statuere se dicit requisitis veterum philosophorum et medicorum sententiis.

12 Moreover I, concerning human parturition, besides the things which I read as written in books, discovered that this too came about at Rome in practice: a woman of good and honorable morals, with chastity not in doubt, gave birth in the eleventh month after her husband’s death, and a legal matter arose because of the reckoning of the time, as if, the husband having died, she had conceived afterward, since the decemvirs had written that a human being is engendered in ten months, not in the eleventh; but that the deified Hadrian, the case having been examined, decreed that a birth can also be brought forth in the eleventh month; and we have read that very decree about this matter. In that decree Hadrian says that he establishes this after the opinions of the ancient philosophers and physicians have been consulted.

13 Hodie quoque in satura forte M. Varronis legimus, quae inscribitur Testamentum, verba haec: "Si quis mihi filius unus pluresve in decem mensibus gignantur, ii, si erunt onoi lyras, exheredes sunto; quod si quis undecimo mense kata Aristotelen natus est, Attio idem, quod Tettio, ius esto apud me."

13 Today too we chanced to read in a satire of M. Varro, which is entitled Testament, these words: "If any son, one or more, shall be begotten to me within ten months, they, if they will be onoi lyras, let them be disinherited; but if anyone in the eleventh month kata Aristotelen is born, let Attius have with me the same right as Tettius."

14 Per hoc vetus proverbium Varro significat, sicuti vulgo dici solitum erat de rebus nihil inter sese distantibus: "idem Atti, quod Tetti", ita pari eodemque iure esse in decem mensibus natos et in undecim.

14 By this old proverb Varro indicates that, just as it used to be commonly said about things that differed nothing among themselves: "the same to Attus as to Tettus," so those born in ten months and in eleven are by equal and the same right.

15 Quod si ita neque ultra decimum mensem fetura mulierum protolli potest, quaeri oportet, cur Homerus scripserit Neptunum dixisse puellae a se recens compressae:
chaire gyne philoteti; periplomenou d'eniautou
texeis aglaa tekn',epei ouk apopholioi eunai
athanaton.

15 But if it is so, that the gestation of women cannot be prolonged beyond the tenth month, one ought to ask why Homer wrote that Neptune said to a girl recently embraced by him:
Hail, woman beloved; when a year has gone around
you will bear glorious children, since the beds are not barren
of the immortals.

16 Id cum ego ad complures grammaticos attulissem, partim eorum disputabant Homeri quoque aetate, sicuti Romuli, annum fuisse non duodecim mensium, sed decem; alii convenisse Neptuno maiestatique eius dicebant, ut longiori tempore fetus ex eo grandesceret; alii alia quaedam nugalia.

16 When I had brought that to several grammarians, some of them were disputing that in the age of Homer too, just as in that of Romulus, the year had been not of twelve months, but of ten; others were saying that it had suited Neptune and his majesty, that in a longer time the fetus from him would grow large; others some other trifles.

17 Sed Favorinus mihi ait periplomenou eniautou non "confecto" esse "anno", sed "adfecto".

17 But Favorinus said to me that periplomenou eniautou is not "with the year 'completed'," but "with the year 'approached'."

18 In qua re verbo usus est non vulgariae significationis.

18 In this matter he used a word of not common signification.

19 "Adfecta" enim, sicuti Marcus Cicero et veterum elegantissimi locuti sunt, ea proprie dicebantur, quae non ad finem ipsum, sed proxime finem progressa deductave erant. Hoc verbum ad hanc sententiam Cicero in hac fecit, quam dixit de provinciis consularibus.

19 For “adfecta,” just as Marcus Cicero and the most elegant of the ancients have spoken, was properly said of things which had not reached the end itself, but had advanced very near to the end or had been brought down to that point. Cicero employed this word with this sense in this speech, which he delivered on the consular provinces.

20 Hippocrates autem in eo libro, de quo supra scripsi, cum et numerum dierum, quibus conceptum in utero coagulum conformatur, et tempus ipsius partionis nono aut decimo mense definisset neque id tamen semper eadem esse fini dixisset, sed alias ocius fieri, alias serius, hisce ad postremum verbis usus est: Ginetai de en toutois kai pleio kai elasso kai holon kai kata meros; ou pollon de kai pleio kai elasso elasso. Quibus verbis significat, quod aliquando ocius fieret, non multo tamen fieri ocius, neque quod serius, multo serius.

20 Hippocrates, moreover, in that book about which I wrote above, after he had defined both the number of days in which the conceived coagulum in the womb is formed and the time of the parturition itself as the ninth or tenth month, and yet had said that this is not always fixed the same, but that at times it happens sooner, at times later, used these words at the end: It happens in these cases both more and less, both in whole and in part; but not by much are the “more” more and the “less” less. By these words he signifies that although sometimes it happens sooner, yet it does not happen much sooner, nor, when later, much later.

21 Memini ego Romae accurate hoc atque sollicite quaesitum negotio non rei tunc parvae postulante, an octavo mense infans ex utero vivus editus et statim mortuus ius trium liberorum supplevisset, cum abortio quibusdam, non partus, videretur mensis octavi intempestivitas.

21 I remember at Rome that this was inquired into carefully and anxiously, the case, not then of small importance, demanding it, whether an infant brought forth alive from the womb in the eighth month and immediately dead had satisfied the right of three children, since the untimeliness of the eighth month seemed to some an abortion, not a birth.

22 Sed quoniam de Homerico annuo partu ac de undecimo mense diximus quae cognoveramus, visum est non praetereundum, quod in Plinii Secundi libro septimo naturalis historiae legimus.

22 But since about the Homeric annual birth and about the eleventh month we have said what we had come to know, it seemed not to be passed over, what we read in the seventh book of the Natural History of Pliny the Second.

23 Id autem quia extra fidem esse videri potest, verba ipsius Plinii posuimus: "Masurius auctor est L. Papirium praetorem secundo herede lege agente bonorum possessionem contra eum dedisse, cum mater partum se tredecim mensibus tulisse diceret, quoniam nullum certum tempus pariendi statutum ei videretur."

23 But because this can seem to be beyond belief, we have set down the very words of Pliny himself: "Masurius is authority that L. Papirius, praetor, gave possession of the goods to a second heir proceeding under the law, against him, when the mother said that she had carried the birth for thirteen months, since no fixed time for giving birth seemed to him to have been established."

24 In eodem libro Plini Secundi verba haec scripta sunt: "Oscitatio in nixu letalis est, sicut sternuisse a coitu abortivum."

24 In the same book of Pliny Secundus these words are written: "Yawning in labor is lethal, just as to have sneezed after coitus is abortive."

XVII. Id quoque esse a gravissimis viris memoriae mandatum, quod tris libros Plato Philolai Pythagorici et Aristoteles pauculos Speusippi philosophi mercati sunt pretiis fidem non capientibus.

17. That too has been committed to memory by most grave men: that Plato purchased three books of Philolaus the Pythagorean, and Aristotle a few of the philosopher Speusippus, for prices not admitting credence.

1 Memoriae mandatum est Platonem philosophum tenui admodum pecunia familiari fuisse atque eum tamen tris Philolai Pythagorici libros decem milibus denarium mercatum.

1 It has been committed to memory that the philosopher Plato had very meager household money, and yet that he bought three books of Philolaus the Pythagorean for ten thousand denarii.

2 Id ei pretium donasse quidam scripserunt amicum eius Dionem Syracosium.

2 Some have written that his friend Dion the Syracusan donated that price to him.

3 Aristotelem quoque traditum libros pauculos Speusippi philosophi post mortem eius emisse talentis Atticis tribus; ea summa fit nummi nostri sestertia duo et septuaginta milia.

3 It is handed down, too, that Aristotle bought a few little books of the philosopher Speusippus after his death for three Attic talents; that sum amounts, in our money, to 72,000 sesterces.

4 Timon amarulentus librum maledicentissimum conscripsit, qui sillos inscribitur.

4 The amarulent Timon composed a most maledictive book, which is inscribed sillos.

5 In eo libro Platonem philosophum contumeliose appellat, quod inpenso pretio librum Pythagoricae disciplinae emisset exque eo Timaeum, nobilem illum dialogum, concinnasset. Versus super ea re Timonos hi sunt:
kai sy, Platon, kai gar se matheteies pothos eschen,
pollon d'argyrion oligen ellaxao biblon,
enthen aparchomenos timaiographein edidachthes.

5 In that book he addresses the philosopher Plato with contumely, because at a great price he had bought a book of the Pythagorean discipline and from it had composed the Timaeus, that noble dialogue. The verses of Timon on this matter are these:
and you too, Plato, for indeed a longing for discipleship possessed you,
and for much silver you exchanged a small book,
whence, taking your beginning, you were taught to write the Timaeus.

XVIII. Quid sint "pedari senatores" et quam ob causam ita appellati; Quamque habeant verba haec ex edicto tralaticio consulum: "senatores quibusque sententiam dicere licet".

18. What "pedarii senators" are and for what cause they are so called; And what import these words have from the tralatician edict of the consuls: "senators and to whomever it is permitted to speak an opinion".

1 Non pauci sunt, qui opinantur, "pedarios senatores" appellatos, qui sententiam in senatu non verbis dicerent, sed in alienam sententiam pedibus irent.

1 There are not a few who opine that the "pedarian senators" were so called, who would declare their opinion in the senate not by words, but would go with their feet into another’s opinion.

2 Quid igitur? cum senatusconsultum per discessionem fiebat, nonne universi senatores sententiam pedibus ferebant?

2 What then? when a senatus-consult was being made by discession, did not all the senators deliver their opinion by their feet?

3 Atque haec etiam vocabuli istius ratio dicitur, quam Gavius Bassus in commentariis suis scriptam reliquit.

3 And this, too, is said to be the rationale of that term, which Gavius Bassus left written in his commentaries.

4 Senatores enim dicit in veterum aetate, qui curulem magistratum gessissent, curru solitos honoris gratia in curiam vehi, in quo curru sella esset, super quam considerent, quae ob eam causam "curulis" appellaretur: sed eos senatores, qui magistratum curulem nondum ceperant, pedibus itavisse in curiam; propterea senatores nondum maioribus honoribus "pedarios" nominatos.

4 For he says that in the age of the ancients, those senators who had borne a curule magistracy were accustomed, for the sake of honor, to be conveyed by chariot into the curia, in which chariot there was a seat, upon which they might sit, which for that reason was called "curule": but that those senators who had not yet taken a curule magistracy had gone on foot into the curia; therefore senators not yet with greater honors were named "pedarii".

5M. autem Varro in satira Menippea, quae Hippokyon inscripta est, equites quosdam dicit "pedarios" appellatos videturque eos significare, qui nondum a censoribus in senatum lecti senatores quidem non erant, sed, quia honoribus populi usi erant, in senatum veniebant et sententiae ius habebant.

5M. Varro, however, in a Menippean satire which is entitled Hippokyon, says that certain equestrians were called "pedarii," and he seems to mean those who, not yet chosen into the senate by the censors, indeed were not senators, but, because they had used the honors of the people, came into the senate and had the right of giving an opinion.

6 Nam et curulibus magistratibus functi, si nondum a censoribus in senatum lecti erant, senatores non erant et, quia in postremis scripti erant, non rogabantur sententias, sed, quas principes dixerant, in eas discedebant.

6 For even those who had performed curule magistracies, if they had not yet been chosen by the censors into the senate, were not senators; and, because they had been enrolled among the last, they were not asked for opinions, but they went over into those which the leading men had declared.

7 Hoc significabat edictum, quo nunc quoque consules, cum senatores in curiam vocant, servandae consuetudinis causa tralaticio utuntur.

7 This the edict signified, which even now the consuls, when they summon the senators into the Curia, use in tralatitious fashion for the sake of preserving the custom.

8 Verba edicti haec sunt: "Senatores quibusque in senatu sententiam dicere licet."

8 The words of the edict are these: "Senators and all to whom it is permitted in the senate to speak an opinion."

9 Versum quoque Laberii, in quo id vocabulum positum est, notari iussimus, quem legimus in mimo, qui Stricturae inscriptus est: caput sine lingua pedarii sententia est.

9 We have also ordered to be noted a verse of Laberius, in which that vocable is set, which we read in the mime that is inscribed Stricturae: a head without a tongue is the sentence of a pedarian.

10 Hoc vocabulum a plerisque barbare dici animadvertimus; nam pro "pedariis" "pedaneos" appellant.

10 We have observed this term to be spoken barbarously by many; for instead of "pedarii" they call them "pedanei."

XIX. Qua ratione Gavius Bassus scripserit "parcum" hominem appellatum et quam esse eius vocabuli causam putarit; et contra, quem in modum quibusque verbis Favorinus hanc traditionem eius eluserit.

19. By what rationale Gavius Bassus wrote that a “parcus” man was appellated and what he thought to be the cause of that vocable; and, conversely, in what manner and with what words Favorinus flouted this tradition of his.

1 Apud cenam Favorini philosophi cum discubitum fuerat coeptusque erat apponi cibus, servus assistens mensae eius legere inceptabat aut Graecarum quid litterarum aut nostratium; velut eo die, quo ego affui, legebatur Gavii Bassi, eruditi viri, liber de origine verborum et vocabulorum.

1 At the dinner of the philosopher Favorinus, when the reclining had taken place and the food had begun to be served, a servant attending his table began to read either something of the Greek letters or of our own; just as on that day, when I was present, there was being read the book of Gavius Bassus, a learned man, on the origin of words and of vocables.

2 In quo ita scriptum fuit: ""Parcus" composito vocabulo est dictus quasi "par arcae", quando, sicut in arca omnia reconduntur eiusque custodia servantur et continentur, ita homo tenax parvoque contentus omnia custodita ac recondita habet sicuti arca. Quam ob causam "parcus" quasi "pararcus" est nominatus."

2 In which it was written thus: ""Parcus" has been termed by a compound word, as if "par arcae," since, just as in a chest all things are laid away and by its custody are kept and contained, so a tenacious man and content with little has everything kept and stowed away like a chest. For which cause "parcus" is named as if "pararcus."

3 Tum Favorinus, ubi haec audivit: "superstitiose" inquit "et nimis moleste atque odiose confabricatus commolitusque magis est originem vocabuli Gavius iste Bassus, quam enarravit.

3 Then Favorinus, when he heard these things: "superstitiously" he says "and too annoyingly and odiously that fellow Gavius Bassus has rather fabricated and triturated the origin of the word than enarrated it.

4 Nam si licet res dicere commenticias, cur non probabilius videatur, ut accipiamus "parcum" ob eam causam dictum, quod pecuniam consumi atque inpendi arceat et prohibeat quasi "pecuniarcus"?

4 For if it is permitted to speak things fictitious, why should it not seem more probable that we accept “parcus” to be so called for this reason, because he wards off and prohibits money from being consumed and expended, as though a “pecuniarcus”?

5 Quin potius," inquit "quod simplicius veriusque est, id dicimus? "Parcus" enim neque ab arca neque ab arcendo, sed ab eo, quod est "parum" et "parvum", denominatus est."

5 Why not rather," he says, "do we say what is simpler and truer? 'Parcus' indeed is denominated neither from 'arca' nor from 'arcendo', but from that which is 'parum' and 'parvum'."