Gellius: NOCTES ATTICAE

1. That Musonius the philosopher reprehended and disapproved a philosopher, while discoursing, being praised by those vociferating and exulting in praising.

1 . . . Musonium philosophum solitum accepimus. "Cum philosophus" inquit "hortatur, monet, suadet, obiurgat aliudve quid disciplinarum disserit, tum, qui audiunt, si de summo et soluto pectore obvias vulgatasque laudes effutiunt, si clamitant etiam, si gestiunt, si vocum eius festivitatibus, si modulis verborum, si quibusdam quasi fritamentis orationis moventur, exagitantur et gestiunt, tum scias et qui dicit et qui audiunt frustra esse neque illi philosophum loqui, sed tibicinem canere.

1 . . . we have learned that the philosopher Musonius was wont. "When the philosopher," he says, "exhorts, admonishes, persuades, rebukes, or expounds some other matter of the disciplines, then, if those who hear, from the top of an unrestrained chest, babble out ready-to-hand and vulgar praises, if they even keep shouting, if they exult, if they are moved by the festivites of his voice, by the modulations of words, by certain, as it were, fritters of speech, are driven about and exult, then know that both the one who speaks and those who listen are to no purpose, and that that man is not speaking as a philosopher, but a piper is playing."

2 Animus" inquit "audientis philosophum, dum, quae dicuntur, utilia ac salubria sunt et errorum atque vitiorum medicinas ferunt, laxamentum atque otium prolixe profuseque laudandi non habet.

2 "The mind," he says, "of one listening to a philosopher, while the things that are said are useful and salubrious and bring medicines for errors and vices, has no relaxation and leisure for praising at length and profusely."

3 Quisquis ille est, qui audit, nisi ille est plane deperditus, inter ipsam philosophi orationem et perhorrescat necesse est et pudeat tacitus et paeniteat et gaudeat et admiretur,

3 Whoever he is who listens, unless he is plainly utterly lost, during the philosopher’s very oration it is necessary that he both shudder and be silently ashamed and repent and rejoice and admire,

4 varios adeo vultus disparilesque sensus gerat, proinde ut eum conscientiamque eius adfecerit utrarumque animi partium aut sincerarum aut aegrarum philosophi pertractatio."

4 he exhibits such various countenances and so disparate feelings, according as the philosopher’s pertractation has affected him and his conscience, in regard to both parts of the mind, whether sound or sick."

5 Praeterea dicebat magnam laudem non abesse ab admiratione, admirationem autem, quae maxima est, non verba parere, sed silentium.

5 Moreover, he said that great praise is not far from admiration; admiration, however, which is the greatest, is not produced by words, but by silence.

6 "Idcirco" inquit "poetarum sapientissimus auditores illos Vlixi labores suos inlustrissime narrantis, ubi loquendi finis factus, non exsultare nec strepere nec vociferari facit, sed consiluisse universos dicit quasi attonitos et obstupidos delenimentis aurium ad origines usque vocis permanantibus: hos phato; toi d'ara pantes aken egenonto siopei, kelethmoi d'eschonto kata megara skioenta.

6 "Therefore," he says, "the most sapient of poets does not make those auditors of Ulysses, most illustriously narrating his labors, when an end of speaking has been made, exult or make a din or vociferate, but says that they all had grown silent as if thunderstruck and stupefied, with the blandishments of the ears percolating to the very sources of the voice: thus he spoke; and then they all became hushed in silence, and the clamors were checked throughout the shadowy halls.

II. Super equo Alexandri regis, qui Bucephalas appellatus est.

2. On the horse of King Alexander, who was called Bucephalas.

1 Equus Alexandri regis et capite et nomine "Bucephalas" fuit.

1 The horse of King Alexander was “Bucephalas” both in head and in name.

2 Emptum Chares scripsit talentis tredecim et regi Philippo donatum; hoc autem aeris nostri summa est sestertia trecenta duodecim.

2 Chares wrote that it was bought for thirteen talents and given to King Philip; this, however, in our money is a sum of three hundred and twelve sestertia.

3 Super hoc equo dignum memoria visum, quod, ubi ornatus erat armatusque ad proelium, haud umquam inscendi sese ab alio nisi ab rege passus sit.

3 About this horse a thing seemed worthy of memory, that, when he was adorned and armed for battle, he never allowed himself to be mounted by another except by the king.

4 Id etiam de isto equo memoratum est, quod, cum insidens in eo Alexander bello Indico et facinora faciens fortia in hostium cuneum non satis sibi providens inmisisset coniectisque undique in Alexandrum telis vulneribus altis in cervice atque in latere equus perfossus esset, moribundus tamen ac prope iam exsanguis e mediis hostibus regem vivacissimo cursu retulit atque, ubi eum extra tela extulerat, ilico concidit et domini iam superstitis securus quasi cum sensus humani solacio animam exspiravit.

4 This also has been recorded about that horse: that, when Alexander, sitting upon him in the Indian war and doing brave deeds, not sufficiently provident for himself, had launched himself into the enemy’s wedge, and when, missiles having been hurled from every side at Alexander, the horse had been pierced with deep wounds in the neck and in the side, yet dying and now almost bloodless he carried the king back from the midst of the enemies at a most vivacious speed, and, when he had borne him beyond the missiles, he fell thereupon, and, secure now that his master survived, as if with the consolation of human sense, breathed out his life.

5 Tum rex Alexander parta eius belli victoria oppidum in isdem locis condidit idque ob equi honores "Bucephalon" appellavit.

5 Then King Alexander, the victory of that war having been won, founded a town in the same places and called it "Bucephalon" in honor of the horse.

III. Quae causa quodque initium fuisse dicatur Protagorae ad philosophiae litteras adeundi.

3. What cause and what inception is said to have led Protagoras to approach the letters of philosophy.

1 Protagoram, virum in studiis doctrinarum egregium, cuius nomen Plato libro suo illi incluto inscripsit, adulescentem aiunt victus quaerendi gratia in mercedem missum vecturasque onerum corpore suo factitavisse,

1 Protagoras, a man outstanding in the studies of doctrines, whose name Plato inscribed on that renowned book of his, they say as a youth, for the sake of seeking livelihood, was sent into hire, and that he used to perform the carriage of burdens with his own body,

2 quod genus Graeci achthophorous vocant, Latine "baiulos" appellamus.

2 which kind the Greeks call achthophorous, in Latin we call "baiulos".

3 Is de proximo rure Abdera in oppidum, cuius popularis fuit, caudices ligni plurimos funiculo brevi circumdatos portabat.

3 He, from the nearby countryside into the town of Abdera, of which he was a fellow townsman, was carrying very many billets of wood bound around with a short cord.

4 Tum forte Democritus, civitatis eiusdem civis, homo ante alios virtutis et philosophiae gratia venerandus, cum egrederetur extra urbem, videt eum cum illo genere oneris tam impedito ac tam incohibili facile atque expedite incedentem et prope accedit et iuncturam posituramque ligni scite periteque factam considerat petitque, ut paululum adquiescat.

4 Then by chance Democritus, a citizen of the same city, a man to be venerated before others for virtue and for philosophy, as he was going out beyond the city, sees him proceeding easily and expeditiously with that kind of burden, so encumbering and so unmanageable; and he comes up close and considers the junction and the positioning of the wood, cleverly and expertly done, and he requests that he rest a little.

5 Quod ubi Protagoras, ut erat petitum, fecit atque itidem Democritus acervum illum et quasi orbem caudicum brevi vinculo comprehensum ratione quadam quasi geometrica librari continerique animadvertit, interrogavit, quis id lignum ita composuisset, et, cum ille a se compositum dixisset, desideravit, uti solveret ac denuo in modum eundem collocaret.

5 When Protagoras, as had been requested, did this, and likewise Democritus observed that that heap and, as it were, orb of billets, encompassed by a short cord, by a certain, as it were, geometrical rationale was being balanced and held together, he asked who had composed the wood thus; and when the man said it had been composed by himself, he desired that he should unbind it and anew arrange it in the same mode.

6 At postquam ille solvit ac similiter composuit, tum Democritus animi aciem sollertiamque hominis non docti demiratus: "mi adulescens," inquit "cum ingenium bene faciendi habeas, sunt maiora melioraque, quae facere mecum possis", abduxitque eum statim secumque habuit et sumptum ministravit et philosophias docuit et esse eum fecit, quantus postea fuit.

6 But after he untied it and arranged it similarly, then Democritus, marveling at the keenness of mind and the cleverness of a man not learned, said: "my young man," he said, "since you have an inborn talent for doing well, there are greater and better things which you can do with me," and he led him away at once and kept him with himself and furnished expenses and taught him philosophy and made him to be as great as he afterwards was.

7 Is tamen Protagoras insincerus quidem philosophus, sed acerrimus sophistarum fuit; pecuniam quippe ingentem cuma discipulis acciperet annuam, pollicebatur se id docere, quanam verborum industria causa infirmior fieret fortior, quam rem Graece ita dicebat: ton hetto logon kreitto poiein.

7 He, however, Protagoras, was indeed an insincere philosopher, but the keenest of the sophists; for since he received an enormous sum of money annually from his disciples, he used to promise that he taught this: by what verbal industry the weaker cause might be made the stronger, which thing he thus said in Greek: ton hetto logon kreitto poiein.

IV. De verbo "duovicesimo", quod volgo incognitum, set a viris doctis multifariam in libris scriptum est.

4. On the word "duovicesimo," which is unknown in common usage, but by learned men has been written in many ways in books.

1 Apud Sigillaria forte in libraria ego et Iulius Paulus poeta, vir memoria nostra doctissimus, consideramus; atque ibi expositi erant Fabii annales, bonae atque sincerae vetustatis libri, quos venditor sine mendis esse contendebat.

1 At the Sigillaria, by chance, in a bookshop I and Julius Paulus the poet, a man most learned in our memory, were looking over; and there the Annals of Fabius were on display, books of good and sincere antiquity, which the vendor contended were without faults.

2 Grammaticus autem quispiam de nobilioribus ab emptore ad spectandos libros adhibitus repperisse unum in libro mendum dicebat; sed contra librarius in quodvis pignus vocabat, si in una uspiam littera delictum esset.

2 But a certain grammarian of the more notable sort, summoned by the buyer to inspect the books, kept saying that he had found one error in the book; but on the contrary the bookseller challenged to any pledge whatsoever, if in any single letter anywhere there were a fault.

3 Ostendebat grammaticus ita scriptum in libro quarto: "Quapropter tum primum ex plebe alter consul factus est duovicesimo anno, postquam Romam Galli ceperunt."

3 The grammarian was showing that it was thus written in book four: "Wherefore then for the first time one consul from the plebs was made, in the 22nd year after the Gauls captured Rome."

4 "Non" inquit ""duovicesimo", sed "duoetuicesimo" scribi oportuit.

4 "Not," he says, "duovicesimo," but "duoetuicesimo" ought to have been written.

5 Quid enim est "duovicesimo?"" ... hic ita scripsit: "Mortuus est anno duovicesimo; rex fuit annos XXI ..."

5 What, in fact, is "duovicesimo?"" ... here he wrote thus: "He died in the duovicesimo year; he was king for 21 years ..."

V. Cuiusmodi ioco incavillatus sit Antiochum regem Poenus Hannibal.

5. With what sort of joke Hannibal the Punic cavilled at King Antiochus.

1 In libris veterum memoriarum scriptum est Hannibalem Carthaginiensem apud regem Antiochum facetissime cavillatum esse.

1 In the books of ancient memorials it is written that Hannibal the Carthaginian most facetiously jested in the presence of King Antiochus.

2 Ea cavillatio huiuscemodi fuit: Ostendebat ei Antiochus in campo copias ingentis, quas bellum populo Romano facturus comparaverat, convertebatque exercitum insignibus argenteis et aureis florentem;

2 That cavillation was of this sort: Antiochus was showing him on the plain immense forces, which he had prepared to make war upon the Roman people, and he was wheeling the army, flourishing with silver and golden insignia;

3 inducebat etiam currus cum falcibus et elephantos cum turribus equitatumque frenis, ephippiis, monilibus, phaleris praefulgentem.

3 he also brought forward chariots with scythes and elephants with towers, and cavalry resplendent with bits, saddles, necklets, and phalerae.

4 Atque ibi rex contemplatione tanti ac tam ornati exercitus gloriabundus Hannibalem aspicit et "putasne" inquit "conferri posse ac satis esse Romanis haec omnia?"

4 And there the king, glorying in the contemplation of so great and so ornate an army, looks upon Hannibal and says, "Do you think all these things can be compared and are enough for the Romans?"

5 Tum Poenus eludens ignaviam inbelliamque militum eius pretiose armatorum: "Satis, plane satis esse credo Romanis haec omnia, etiamsi avarissimi sunt."

5 Then the Carthaginian, mocking the cowardice and unwarlikeness of his soldiers, expensively armed: "Enough—plainly I believe all these things are enough for the Romans, even if they are most avaricious."

6 Nihil prorsum neque tam lepide neque tam acerbe dici potest:

6 Nothing at all can be said either so wittily or so acerbically:

7 rex de numero exercitus sui ac de aestimanda aequiperatione quaesiverat, respondit Hannibal de praeda.

7 the king had asked about the number of his army and about the assessment of equiparation; Hannibal answered about the booty.

VI. De coronis militaribus; quae sit earum triumphalis, quae obsidionalis, quae civica, quae muralis, quae castrensis, quae navalis, quae ovalis, quae oleaginea.

6. On military crowns; which of them is triumphal, which obsidional, which civic, which mural, which camp, which naval, which oval, which olive.

1 Militares coronae multae, variae sunt.

1 Military crowns are many and various.

2 Quarum quae nobilissimae sunt, has ferme esse accepimus: "triumphalem, obsidionalem, civicam, muralem, castrensem, navalem";

2 Of which, those that are most noble, we have received to be these, for the most part: "triumphal, obsidional, civic, mural, camp, naval";

3 est ea quoque corona,

3 there is that crown as well,

4 quae "ovalis" dicitur, est item postrema "oleaginea", qua uti solent, qui in proelio non fuerunt, sed triumphum procurant.

4 which is called "oval," likewise the last is the "oleaginous," which those are accustomed to use, who were not in battle, but procure a triumph.

5 "Triumphales" coronae sunt aureae, quae imperatoribus ob honorem triumphi mittuntur.

5 "Triumphales" crowns are golden, which are sent to commanders in honor of a triumph.

6 Id vulgo dicitur "aurum coronarium".

6 This is commonly called "crown-gold".

7 Haec antiquitus e lauru erant, post fieri ex auro coeptae.

7 These in antiquity were from laurel, afterward they began to be made from gold.

8 "Obsidionalis" est, quam ii, qui liberati obsidione sunt, dant ei duci, qui liberavit.

8 "Obsidionalis" is that which those who have been liberated from a siege give to the leader who liberated them.

9 Ea corona graminea est, observarique solitum, ut fieret e gramine, quod in eo loco gnatum esset, intra quem clausi erant, qui obsidebantur.

9 That crown is the Grass Crown, and it was observed as the custom that it be made of grass which had grown in the place within which those who were being besieged had been shut in.

10 Hanc coronam gramineam senatus populusque Romanus Q. Fabio Maximo dedit bello Poenorum secundo, quod urbem Romam obsidione hostium liberasset.

10 This grass crown the Senate and People of Rome gave to Q. Fabius Maximus in the Second Punic War, because he had freed the city of Rome from the siege of the enemy.

11 "Civica" corona appellatur, quam civis civi, a quo in proelio servatus est, testem vitae salutisque perceptae dat.

11 The "Civic" crown is so called, which a citizen gives to a fellow citizen by whom he has been saved in battle, as a witness of the life and safety received.

12 Ea fit e fronde quernea, quoniam cibus victusque antiquissimus quercus capi solitus; fuit etiam ex ilice, quod genus superiori proximum est, sicuti scriptum est in quadam comoedia Caecilii:
"advehuntur" inquit "cum ilignea corona et chlamyde: di vestram fidem!"

12 It is made from oak foliage, since food and the most ancient victual was wont to be taken from the oak; it was also from holm‑oak, which kind is nearest to the former, just as it is written in a certain comedy of Caecilius:
"they are brought in," he says, "with a holm‑oak crown and a chlamys: gods, by your good faith!"

13 Masurius autem Sabinus in undecimo librorum memorialium civicam coronam tum dari solitam dicit, cum is, qui civem servaverat, eodem tempore etiam hostem occiderat neque locum in ea pugna reliquerat; aliter ius civicae coronae negat concessum.

13 Masurius Sabinus, however, in the 11th of the Memorial Books, says that the civic crown was then accustomed to be given when the man who had saved a citizen had at the same time also slain an enemy and had not yielded ground in that battle; otherwise, he denies that the right of the civic crown was conceded.

14 Tiberium tamen Caesarem consultum, an civicam coronam capere posset, qui civem in proelio servasset et hostes ibidem duos interfecisset, sed locum, in quo pugnabat, non retinuisset eoque loco hostes potiti essent, rescripsisse dicit eum quoque civica dignum videri, quod appareret e tam iniquo loco civem ab eo servatum, ut etiam a fortiter pugnantibus retineri non quiverit.

14 Tiberius Caesar, however, he says, when consulted whether one who had saved a fellow-citizen in battle and had slain two enemies in the same place, but had not held the ground in which he was fighting and the enemies had gotten possession of that ground, could take the civic crown, wrote back that he too seemed worthy of the civic crown, because it appeared that from so disadvantageous a position the citizen had been saved by him, such that it could not be held even by those fighting bravely.

15 Hac corona civica L. Gellius, vir censorius, in senatu Ciceronem consulem donari a republica censuit, quod eius opera esset atrocissima illa Catilinae coniuratio detecta vindicataque.

15 With this civic crown L. Gellius, a censorial man, in the senate judged that Cicero the consul be awarded by the republic, because by his agency that most atrocious Catilinarian conspiracy had been detected and punished.

16 "Muralis" est corona, qua donatur ab imperatore, qui primus murum subiit inque oppidum hostium per vim ascendit; idcirco quasi muri pinnis decorata est.

16 The "Mural" crown is that with which he is endowed by the emperor who first went up to the wall and by force ascended into the enemies’ town; therefore it is, as it were, adorned with the battlements of a wall.

17 "Castrensis" est corona, qua donat imperator eum, qui primus hostium castra pugnans introivit; ea corona insigne valli habet.

17 "Camp" is the crown, with which the imperator bestows a gift upon the man who first, fighting, entered the enemies’ camp; that crown bears the emblem of the rampart.

18 "Navalis" est, qua donari solet, maritimo proelio qui primus in hostium navem vi armatus transiluit; ea quasi navium rostris insignita est.

18 "Naval" is the crown, with which he is usually awarded who, in a maritime battle, was the first to leap, armed and by force, onto an enemy ship; it is, as it were, adorned with the rams (rostra) of ships.

19 Et "muralis" autem et "castrensis" et "navalis" fieri ex auro solent.

19 And both the "mural" and the "castrensian" and the "naval" are wont to be made of gold.

20 "Ovalis" corona murtea est;

20 The "oval" crown is of myrtle;

21 ea utebantur imperatores, qui ovantes urbem introibant. Ovandi ac non triumphandi causa est, cum aut bella non rite indicta neque cum iusto hoste gesta sunt aut hostium nomen humile et non idoneum est, ut servorum piratarumque, aut deditione repente facta inpulverea, ut dici solet, incruentaque victoria obvenit.

21 that was used by commanders who entered the city ovating. The cause for ovating and not triumphing is, when either wars have not been duly declared nor carried on with a just enemy or the name of the enemies is low and not suitable, as that of slaves and pirates, or with surrender suddenly made, a “dustless,” as it is said, and bloodless victory has occurred.

22 Cui facilitati aptam esse Veneris frondem crediderunt, quod non Martius, sed quasi Venerius quidam triumphus foret.

22 To this ease they believed the frond of Venus to be apt, because it was not Martial, but as it were a certain triumph of Venus.

23 Ac murteam coronam M. Crassus, cum bello fugitivorum confecto ovans rediret, insolenter aspernatus est senatusque consultum faciundum per gratiam curavit, ut lauro, non murto, coronaretur.

23 And Marcus Crassus, when, the war of the fugitives completed, he was returning in an ovation, insolently spurned the myrtle crown, and by favor he arranged for a senatus consultum to be made, that he might be crowned with laurel, not with myrtle.

24 Marcus Cato obicit M. Fulvio Nobiliori, quod milites per ambitum coronis de levissimis causis donasset.

24 Marcus Cato reproaches M. Fulvius Nobilior, because he had, by ambitus (canvassing), bestowed crowns upon the soldiers for the most trivial causes.

25 De qua re verba ipsa apposui Catonis. "Iam principio quis vidit corona donari quemquam, cum oppidum captum non esset aut castra hostium non incensa essent?"

25 On which matter I have appended Cato’s very words. "To begin with, who has seen anyone presented with a crown, when a town had not been taken or the enemy’s camp had not been burned?"

26 Fulvius autem, in quem hoc a Catone dictum est, coronis donaverat milites, quia vallum curaverant, aut qui puteum strenue foderant.

26 Fulvius, however, against whom this was said by Cato, had bestowed crowns upon the soldiers, because they had cared for the rampart, or upon those who had strenuously dug a well.

27 Praetereundum non est, quod ad ovationes attinet, super quo dissensisse veteres scriptores accipio. Partim enim scripserunt, qui ovaret, introire solitum equo vehentem; set Sabinus Masurius pedibus ingredi ovantes dicit sequentibus eos non militibus, sed universo senatu.

27 It must not be passed over, as concerns ovations, about which I understand that the ancient writers dissented. For some wrote that one who celebrated an ovation was accustomed to enter conveyed on a horse; but Sabinus Masurius says that those celebrating ovations go in on foot, with, following them, not soldiers, but the whole senate.

VII. "Personae" vocabulum quam lepide interpretatus sit quamque esse vocis eius originem dixerit Gavius Bassus.

7. "How wittily Gavius Bassus interpreted the vocable 'persona,' and what he said was the origin of that word."

1 Lepide mi hercules et scite Gavius Bassus in libris, quos de origine vocabulorum composuit, unde appellata "persona" sit, interpretatur; a personando enim id vocabulum factum esse coniectat.

1 Neatly, by Hercules, and skillfully, Gavius Bassus, in the books which he composed on the origin of vocables, interprets whence “persona” is so called; for he conjectures that that vocable was made from resounding.

2 Nam "caput" inquit "et os coperimento personae tectum undique unaque tantum vocis emittendae via pervium, quoniam non vaga neque diffusa est, set in unum tantummodo exitum collectam coactamque vocem ciet, magis claros canorosque sonitus facit. Quoniam igitur indumentum illud oris clarescere et resonare vocem facit, ob eam causam "persona" dicta est "o" littera propter vocabuli formam productiore."

2 For “the head,” he says, “and the mouth, covered on every side by the covering of the persona, and passable only by a single way for sending out the voice—since it is not wandering nor diffused, but summons forth a voice gathered and compressed into only one exit—makes sounds more clear and canorous. Since therefore that garment of the mouth makes the voice become clear and resonate, for that cause it is called ‘persona,’ with the letter ‘o’ more prolonged on account of the form of the word.”

VIII. Defensus erroe a Vergilii versibus, quos arguerat Iulius Hyginus grammaticus; et ibidem, quid sit lituus; deque etimologiai vocis eius.

8. A mistake defended by Vergil’s verses, which Julius Hyginus the grammarian had accused; and in the same place, what a lituus is; and concerning the etymology of that word.

1 Ipse Quirinali lituo parvaque sedebat
subcinctus trabea laevaque ancile gerebat.
In his versibus errasse Hyginus Vergilium scripsit, tamquam non animadverterit deesse aliquid hisce verbis:
ipse Quirinali lituo.

1 He himself with the Quirinal lituus and the small
girt-up with the trabea was sitting, and in his left hand he was bearing the ancile.
In these verses Hyginus wrote that Vergil erred, as though he had not noticed that something is lacking in these words:
he himself with the Quirinal lituus.

2 "Nam si nihil" inquit "deesse animadverterimus, videtur ita dictum, ut fiat "lituo et trabea subcinctus", quod est" inquit "absurdissimum; quippe cum lituus sit virga brevis in parte, qua robustior est, incurva, qua augures utuntur, quonam modo "subcinctus lituo" videri potest?"

2 “For if we shall have noticed” he says “that nothing is lacking, it seems to have been said thus, so that it amounts to ‘girt with the lituus and the trabea,’ which” he says “is most absurd; since the lituus is a short rod, curved in the part where it is stouter, which the augurs use, how can he be thought to be ‘girt with the lituus’?”

3 Immo ipse Hyginus parum animadvertit sic hoc esse dictum, ut pleraque dici per defectionem solent.

3 Rather, Hyginus himself noticed too little that this is said thus, as most things are wont to be said by ellipsis.

4 Veluti cum dicitur "M. Cicero homo magna eloquentia" et "Q. Roscius histrio summa venustate", non plenum hoc utrumque neque perfectum est, sed enim pro pleno atque perfecto auditur.

4 Just as when it is said "M. Cicero, a man of great eloquence" and "Q. Roscius, an actor of supreme grace," neither of these is full nor perfect, but indeed it is heard as full and perfect.

5 Vt Vergilius alio in loco: victorem Buten inmani corpore, id est corpus inmane habentem, et item alibi:
in medium geminos inmani pondere caestus proiecit
ac similiter:
domus sanie dapibusque cruentis,
intus opaca, ingens.

5 As Vergil in another place: “the victor Butes, with an immense body,” that is, having an immense body; and likewise elsewhere:
into the midst he hurled twin cestuses of immense weight
and similarly:
a house with gore and bloody banquets,
dark within, huge.

6 Sic igitur id quoque videri dictum debet: "Picus Quirinali lituo erat", sicuti dicimus: "statua grandi capite erat".

6 Thus, therefore, this too ought to be considered as having been said: "Picus was with a Quirinal lituus," just as we say: "the statue was with a large head."

7 Et "est" autem et "erat" et "fuit" plerumque absunt cum elegantia sine detrimento sententiae.

7 And "is," moreover, and "was" and "has been" are frequently absent with elegance, without detriment to the sense.

8 Et quoniam facta litui mentio est, non praetermittendum est, quod posse quaeri animadvertimus, utrum lituus auguralis a tuba, quae lituus appellatur, an tuba a lituo augurum lituus dicta sit;

8 And since mention of the lituus has been made, it must not be passed over that we have observed it can be asked, whether the augural lituus is from the trumpet which is called lituus, or the trumpet has been called lituus from the augurs’ lituus;

9 utrumque enim pari forma et pariter incurvum est.

9 for both are of equal form and equally incurved.

10 Sed si, ut quidam putant, tuba a sonitu lituus appellata est ex illo Homerico verbo: linxe bios, necesse est ita accipi, ut virga auguralis a tubae similitudine lituus vocetur.

10 But if, as some think, the tuba from its sound is called lituus from that Homeric word: linxe bios, it must be taken thus, that the augural rod, from similitude to the tuba, is called lituus.

11 Vtitur autem vocabulo isto Vergilius et pro tuba: et lituo pugnas insignis obibat et hasta.

11 Moreover Vergil uses that vocable also in place of “tuba”: “and with the lituus he, distinguished, went about battles, and with the spear.”

IX. Historia de Croesi filio sumpta ex Herodoti libris.

9. History of the son of Croesus, taken from the books of Herodotus.

1 Filius Croesi regis, cum iam fari per aetatem posset, infans erat et, cum iam multum adolevisset, item nihil fari quibat.

1 The son of King Croesus, when by age he already could speak, was speechless; and when he had already grown much, likewise he could say nothing.

2 Mutus adeo et elinguis diu habitus est. Cum in patrem eius bello magno victum et urbe, in qua erat, capta hostis gladio educto regem esse ignorans invaderet, diduxit adulescens os clamare nitens eoque nisu atque impetu spiritus vitium nodumque linguae rupit planeque et articulate elocutus est clamans in hostem, ne rex Croesus occideretur.

2 So mute and tongueless was he held for a long time. When, with his father conquered in a great war and the city in which he was taken, an enemy, with sword drawn, ignorant that it was the king, was rushing in upon him, the adolescent, striving to shout, drew apart his mouth, and by that strain and impetus of the spirit he broke the defect and knot of his tongue, and plainly and articulately spoke, shouting at the enemy that King Croesus should not be slain.

3 Tum et hostis gladium reduxit, et rex vita donatus est, et adulescens loqui prorsum deinceps incepit.

3 Then both the enemy drew back his sword, and the king was granted life, and the adolescent began to speak straightway thereafter.

4 Herodotus in historiis huius memoriae scriptor est, eiusque verba sunt, quae prima dixisse filium Croesi refert: Anthrope, me kteine Kroison.

4 Herodotus in the Histories is the writer of this account, and these are his words, which he reports the son of Croesus to have first said: “Man, do not kill Croesus.”

5 Sed et quispiam Samius athleta, - nomen illi fuit Echeklous - cum antea non loquens fuisset, ob similem dicitur causam loqui coepisse.

5 But also a certain Samian athlete, - his name was Echeklous - when previously he had been not-speaking, is said to have begun to speak on account of a similar cause.

6 Nam cum in sacro certamine sortitio inter ipsos et adversarios non bona fide fieret et sortem nominis falsam subici animadvertisset, repente in eum, qui id faciebat, videre sese, quid faceret, magnum inclamavit. Atque is oris vinculo solutus per omne inde vitae tempus non turbide neque adhaese locutus est.

6 For when in the sacred contest the sortition between themselves and their adversaries was not being carried out in good faith, and he had noticed that a false lot of the name was being slipped in, suddenly he shouted loudly at the one who was doing it that he saw what he was doing. And he, loosed from the bond of the mouth, from then on for all the rest of his life spoke neither turbidly nor with sticking.

X. De argumentis, quae Graece antistrephonta appellantur, a nobis "reciproca" dici possunt.

10. On arguments which in Greek are called antistrephonta, by us they can be called "reciprocals."

1 Inter vitia argumentorum longe maximum esse vitium videtur, quae antistrephonta Graeci dicunt.

1 Among the vices of arguments, by far the greatest vice seems to be that which the Greeks call antistrephonta.

2 Ea quidam e nostris non hercle nimis absurde "reciproca" appellaverunt.

2 Some of our people, by Hercules, have not too absurdly called them "reciprocals."

3 Id autem vitium accidit hoc modo, cum argumentum propositum referri contra convertique in eum potest, a quo dictum est, et utrimque pariter valet; quale est pervolgatum illud, quo Protagoram, sophistarum acerrimum, usum esse ferunt adversus Evathlum, discipulum suum.

3 But this vice occurs in this way: when the proposed argument can be referred back and converted against the one by whom it was stated, and is equally valid on both sides; such is that much-pervulgated example which they report Protagoras, the keenest of the sophists, to have used against Evathlus, his disciple.

4 Lis namque inter eos et controversia super pacta mercede haec fuit.

4 For there was between them a lawsuit and a controversy over the fee agreed by pact.

5 Evathlus, adulescens dives, eloquentiae discendae causarumque orandi cupiens fuit.

5 Evathlus, a rich adolescent, was desirous of learning eloquence and of pleading causes.

6 Is in disciplinam Protagorae sese dedit daturumque promisit mercedem grandem pecuniam, quantam Protagoras petiverat, dimidiumque eius dedit iam tunc statim, priusquam disceret, pepigitque, ut relicum dimidium daret, quo primo die causam apud iudices orasset et vicisset.

6 He gave himself into the discipline of Protagoras and promised that he would give as fee a large pecuniary sum, as much as Protagoras had sought, and he gave half of it already then immediately, before he learned, and he stipulated that he would give the remaining half on the first day on which he should plead a case before the judges and win.

7 Postea cum diutule auditor adsectatorque Protagorae fuisset et in studio quidem facundiae abunde promovisset, causas tamen non reciperet tempusque iam longum transcurreret et facere id videretur, ne relicum mercedis daret, capit consilium Protagoras, ut tum existimabat, astutum:

7 Afterwards, since for a long while he had been an auditor and adherent of Protagoras and had indeed advanced abundantly in the study of eloquence, yet he would not take up cases, and a long time was now running by, and he seemed to be doing this so that he might not give the remaining portion of the fee, Protagoras adopts a plan, as he then thought, astute:

8 petere institit ex pacto mercedem, litem cum Evathlo contestatur.

8 he pressed to seek the fee by the pact, and he contests a lawsuit with Evathlus.

9 Et cum ad iudices coniciendae consistendaeque causae gratia venissent, tum Protagoras sic exorsus est: "Disce," inquit "stultissime adulescens, utroque id modo fore, uti reddas, quod peto, sive contra te pronuntiatum erit sive pro te.

9 And when they had come before the judges for the sake of submitting and establishing the case, then Protagoras began thus: "Learn," said he, "most foolish youth, that in either way it will be, that you render what I demand, whether judgment shall be pronounced against you or in your favor.

10 Nam si contra te lis data erit, merces mihi ex sententia tia debebitur, quia ego vicero; sin vero secundum te iudicatum erit, merces mihi ex pacto debebitur, quia tu viceris."

10 "For if the suit shall have been decided against you, the fee will be owed to me by the sentence, because I shall have won; but if indeed it shall have been judged in your favor, the fee will be owed to me by the pact, because you will have won."

11 Ad ea respondit Evathlus: "Potui" inquit "huic tuae tam ancipiti captioni isse obviam, si verba non ipse facerem atque alio patrono uterer.

11 To these things Evathlus responded: "I could," he said, "have gone to meet this your so two-edged captious trap, if I were not myself making the speech and were using another patron."

12 Sed maius mihi in ista victoria prolubium est, cum te non in causa tantum, sed in argumento quoque isto vinco.

12 But for me there is a greater pleasure in that victory, since I vanquish you not only in the cause, but in that argument of yours as well.

13 Disce igitur tu quoque, magister sapientissime, utroque modo fore, uti non reddam, quod petis, sive contra me pronuntiatum fuerit sive pro me.

13 Learn therefore you too, most wise Master, that in either way it will be, that I do not render what you demand, whether it has been pronounced against me or for me.

14 Nam si iudices pro causa mea senserint, nihil tibi ex sententia debebitur, quia ego vicero; sin contra me pronuntiaverint, nihil tibi ex pacto debebo, quia non vicero."

14 For if the judges shall have decided for my cause, nothing will be owed you from the sentence, because I shall have won; but if they shall have pronounced against me, I will owe you nothing from the pact, because I shall not have won."

15 Tum iudices dubiosum hoc inexplicabileque esse, quod utrimque dicebatur, rati, ne sententia sua, utramcumque in partem dicta esset, ipsa sese rescinderet, rem iniudicatam reliquerunt causamque in diem longissimam distulerunt.

15 Then the judges, thinking this, which was being said on both sides, to be dubious and inexplicable, lest their sentence, in whichever direction it was pronounced, should rescind itself, left the matter unadjudicated and deferred the case to a very distant day.

16 Sic ab adulescente discipulo magister eloquentiae inclutus suo sibi argumento confutatus est et captionis versute excogitatae frustratus fuit.

16 Thus by an adolescent disciple the renowned master of eloquence was confuted by his own argument and was foiled by the captio cunningly excogitated.

XI. Biantis de re uxoria syllogismum non posse videri antistrephein.

11. Bias’s syllogism on the uxorial matter cannot seem to be reversible.

1 Existimant quidam etiam illud Biantis, viri sapientis ac nobilis, responsum consimile esse atque est Protagorion illud, de quo dixi modo, antistrephon.

1 Some reckon that that reply of Bias, a wise and noble man, is also similar to that Protagorean one, of which I just spoke, the antistrephon.

2 Nam cum rogatus esset a quodam Bias, deberetne uxorem ducere, an vitam vivere caelibem: etoi, inquit kalen axeis e aischran; kai ei kalen, hexeis koinen, ei de aischran, hexeis poinen; hekateron de ou lepteon; ou gameteon ara.

2 For when Bias was asked by a certain person whether he ought to take a wife, or to live a celibate life: “Either,” he says, “you will take a beautiful one or an ugly one; and if a beautiful one, you will have a common (shared) one; if an ugly one, you will have a penalty; but neither is to be taken; therefore, one must not marry.”

3 Sic autem hoc rursum convertunt: Ei men kalen axo, ouch hexo poinen; ei de aischran, ouch exo koinen; gameteon ara.

3 Thus, however, they convert this back again: If I take a beautiful one, I shall not have a penalty; if a shameful/ugly one, I shall not have her in common; therefore, one must marry.

4 Sed minime hoc esse videtur antistrephon, quoniam ex altero latere conversum frigidius est infirmiusque.

4 But this seems by no means to be an antistrephon, since, when turned to the other side, it is colder and weaker.

5 Nam Bias proposuit non esse ducendam uxorem propter alterutrum incommodum, quod necessario patiendum erit ei, qui duxerit.

5 For Bias proposed that a wife is not to be taken, on account of the one-or-the-other inconvenience which will of necessity have to be suffered by him who marries.

6 Qui convertit autem, non ab eo se defendit incommodo, quod adest, sed carere se altero dicit, quod non adest.

6 He who converts it, however, does not defend himself from the inconvenience which is present, but says that he is without the other which is not present.

7 Satis est autem tuendae sententiae, quam Bias dixit, quod eum, qui duxit uxorem, pati necesse est ex duobus incommodis alterum, ut aut koinen habeat aut poinen.

7 It is enough, however, for defending the opinion which Bias stated, that he who has taken a wife must necessarily suffer one of two inconveniences: that he have either a koinen (“common” one) or a poinen (“penalty/punishment”).

8 Sed Favorinus noster, cum facta esset forte mentio syllogismi istius, quo Bias usus est, cuius prima protasis est: etoi kalen axeis e aischran, non ratum id neque iustum diiunctivum esse ait, quoniam non necessum sit alterum ex duobus, quae diiunguntur, verum esse, quod in proloquio diiviictivo necessarium est.

8 But our Favorinus, when by chance mention had been made of that syllogism which Bias used, whose first protasis is: ‘either you will take a fair [wife] or an ugly [one],’ said that that is not a valid nor a just disjunctive, since it is not necessary that one of the two things which are disjoined be true, which in a disjunctive premise is necessary.

9 Eminentia enim quadam significari formarum turpes et pulcrae videntur.

9 For by a certain eminence the ugly and the beautiful forms seem to be signified.

10 "Est autem" inquit "tertium quoque inter duo ista, quae diiunguntur, cuius rationem prospectumque Bias non habuit.

10 "But there is," he says, "also a third thing between those two that are disjoined, the reason and prospect of which Bias did not have."

11 Inter enim pulcherrimam feminam et deformissimam media forma quaedam est, quae et a nimiae pulcritudinis periculo et a summae deformitatis odio vacat;

11 For between the most beautiful woman and the most deformed there is a certain middle form, which is free both from the danger of excessive pulchritude and from the hatred of utmost deformity;

12 qualis a Quinto Ennio in Melanippa perquam eleganti vocabulo "stata" dicitur, quae neque koine futura sit neque poine."

12 such as by Quintus Ennius in the Melanippa, with a very elegant term, is called “stata,” which will be neither koine nor poine.

13 Quam formam modicam et modestam Favorinus non mi hercule inscite appellabat "uxoriam".

13 That form, moderate and modest, Favorinus, by Hercules, not unwittily used to call "uxorial".

14 Ennius autem in ista, quam dixit, tragoedia eas fere feminas ait incolumi pudicitia esse, quae stata forma forent.

14 But Ennius, moreover, in that tragedy which he mentioned, says that for the most part those women are with chastity unimpaired who would be of "stata" form.

XII. De nominibus deorum populi Romani Diovis et Vediovis.

12. On the names of the gods of the Roman people, Diovis and Vediovis.

1 In antiquis precationibus nomina haec deorum inesse animadvertimus: "Diovis" et "Vediovis";

1 In ancient supplications we have observed that these names of the gods are present: "Diovis" and "Vediovis";

2 est autem etiam aedes Vediovis Romae inter arcem et Capitolium.

2 and there is also a temple of Vediovis in Rome between the Citadel and the Capitol.

3 Eorum nominum rationem esse hanc comperi:

3 I have discovered that the rationale of those names is this:

4 "Iovem" Latini veteres a "iuvando" appellavere eundemque alio vocabulo iuncto "patrem" dixerunt.

4 The ancient Latins appellated "Jove" from "helping," and, with another vocable joined, called the same "father."

5 Nam quod est elisis aut inmutatis quibusdam litteris "Iupiter", id plenum atque integrum est "Iovispater". Sic et "Neptunuspater" coniuncte dictus est et "Saturnuspater" et "Ianuspater" et "Marspater" - hoc enim est "Marspiter" - itemque Iovis "Diespiter" appellatus, id est diei et lucis pater.

5 For what, with certain letters elided or changed, is "Iupiter", that, full and entire, is "Iovispater". Thus too "Neptunuspater" was said conjointly and "Saturnuspater" and "Ianuspater" and "Marspater" - for this indeed is "Marspiter" - and likewise Jove’s "Diespiter" was appellated, that is, father of day and of light.

6 Idcircoque simili nomine Iovis "Diovis" dictus est et "Lucetius", quod nos die et luce quasi vita ipsa afficeret et iuvaret.

6 And for that reason by a similar name Jove was called "Diovis" and "Lucetius," because he affects and helps us with day and with light, as with life itself.

7 "Lucetium" autem Iovem Cn. Naevius in libris belli Poenici appellat.

7 But Cn. Naevius, in the books of the Punic War, calls Jupiter "Lucetius".

8 Cum Iovem igitur et Diovem a iuvando nominassent, eum contra deum, qui non iuvandi potestatem, sed vim nocendi haberet - nam deos quosdam, ut prodessent, celebrabant, quosdam, ut ne obessent, placabant -, "Vediovem" appellaverunt dempta atque detracta iuvandi facultate.

8 Since therefore they had named Jove and Diove from helping, they, by contrast, called "Vediove" that god who had not the power of helping but the force of harming - for certain gods they celebrated, so that they might benefit, others they placated, so that they might not harm -, with the faculty of helping removed and taken away.

9 "Ve" enim particula, quae in aliis atque aliis vocabulis varia, tum per has duas litteras, tum "a" littera media inmissa dicitur, duplicem significatum eundemque inter sese diversum capit.

9 For the particle "Ve," which in one set of words and another is various, is said sometimes by these two letters, sometimes with the letter "a" inserted in the middle, and it takes a double signification, the two being different from one another.

10 Nam et augendae rei et minuendae valet, sicuti aliae particulae plurimae; propter quod accidit, ut quaedam vocabula, quibus particula ista praeponitur, ambigua sint et utroqueversum dicantur, veluti "vescum", "vehemens" et "vegrande", de quibus alio in loco uberiore tractatu facto admonuimus; "vesani" autem et "vecordes" ex una tantum parte dicti, quae privativa est, quam Graeci kata steresin dicunt.

10 For it avails both for augmenting a thing and for diminishing it, just like very many other particles; wherefore it happens that certain words, to which that particle is prefixed, are ambiguous and are said in both directions, such as "vescus," "vehement," and "vegrande," about which elsewhere, after a fuller treatment has been made, we have given a reminder; but "vesani" and "vecordes" are said from only one side, which is the privative one, which the Greeks call kata steresin.

11 Simulacrum igitur dei Vediovis, quod est in aede, de qua supra dixi, sagittas tenet, quae sunt videlicet partae ad nocendum.

11 Therefore the simulacrum of the god Vediovis, which is in the temple about which I spoke above, holds arrows, which are evidently prepared for harming.

12 Quapropter eum deum plerumque Apollinem esse dixerunt; immolaturque ritu humano capra, eiusque animalis figmentum iuxta simulacrum stat.

12 Wherefore they have for the most part said that that god is Apollo; and a she-goat is immolated with a human rite, and the effigy of that animal stands beside the simulacrum.

13 Propterea Vergilium quoque aiunt multae antiquitatis hominem sine ostentationis odio peritum numina laeva in georgicis deprecari significantem vim quandam esse huiuscemodi deorum in laedendo magis quam in iuvando potentem. Versus Vergilii sunt:
in tenui labor; at tenuis non gloria, si quem
numina laeva sinunt auditque vocatus Apollo.

13 Therefore they say that Vergil too, a man of much antiquarian learning, expert without the odiousness of ostentation, in the Georgics deprecates the left-hand numina, indicating that there is a certain force of gods of this sort, more potent for harming than for helping. The verses of Vergil are:
the toil is on slender things; yet the glory is not slender, if one
the left-hand numina allow, and Apollo, when invoked, hears.

14 In istis autem diis, quos placari oportet, uti mala a nobis vel a frugibus natis amoliantur, Auruncus quoque habetur et Robigus.

14 Among those gods, moreover, who ought to be placated, so that ills may be removed from us or from the crops that have sprung up, Auruncus and Robigus are also reckoned.

XIII. De officiorum gradu atque ordine moribus populi Romani observato.

13. On the grade of offices and the order observed by the customs of the Roman people.

1 Seniorum hominum et Romae nobilium atque in morum disciplinarumque veterum doctrina memoriaque praestantium disceptatio quaedam fuit praesente et audiente me de gradu atque ordine officiorum. Cumque quaereretur, quibus nos ea prioribus potioribusque facere oporteret, si necesse esset in opera danda faciendoque officio alios aliis anteferre, non consentiebatur.

1 There was a certain disputation, with me present and listening, among elder men and nobles of Rome, and men excelling in the doctrine and memory of ancient morals and disciplines, about the grade and order of duties. And when it was asked which of them we ought to make prior and preferable, if it should be necessary, in rendering service and in performing duty, to prefer some to others, there was no consensus.

2 Conveniebat autem facile constabatque ex moribus populi Romani primum iuxta parentes locum tenere pupillos debere fidei tutelaeque nostrae creditos; secundum eos proximum locum clientes habere, qui sese itidem in fidem patrociniumque nostrum dediderunt; tum in tertio loco esse hospites; postea esse cognatos adfinesque.

2 It was agreed, moreover, and easily stood established from the customs of the Roman people, that first, next to parents, wards entrusted to our faith and tutelage ought to hold the place; after them, clients have the next place, who likewise have surrendered themselves into our faith and patronage; then, in the third place, are guest-friends; afterwards are cognates and affines.

3 Huius moris observationisque multa sunt testimonia atque documenta in antiquitatibus perscripta, ex quibus unum hoc interim de clientibus cognatisque, quod prae manibus est, ponemus.

3 Of this custom and observance there are many testimonies and documents written in the antiquities, of which we will meanwhile set forth this one, concerning clients and kinsmen (cognates), which is at hand.

4M. Cato in oratione, quam dixit apud censores in Lentulum, ita scripsit: "Quod maiores sanctius habuere defendi pupillos quam clientem non fallere. Adversus cognatos pro cliente testatur, testimonium adversus clientem nemo dicit. Patrem primum, postea patronum proximum nomen habuere."

4M. Cato in the oration which he delivered before the censors against Lentulus wrote thus: "The elders held it more sacred to defend wards than not to deceive a client. He bears witness against kinsmen on behalf of a client; no one gives testimony against a client. They held the father first, afterwards the patron as the next in rank."

5 Masurius autem Sabinus in libro iuris civilis tertio antiquiorem locum hospiti tribuit quam clienti. Verba ex eo libro haec sunt: "In officiis apud maiores ita observatum est: primum tutelae, deinde hospiti, deinde clienti, tum cognato, postea adfini. Aequa causa feminae viris potiores habitae pupillarisque tutela muliebri praelata.

5 But Masurius Sabinus, in the third book of Civil Law, assigned an earlier place to the guest-friend than to the client. The words from that book are these: "In duties among the elders it was thus observed: first to tutelage, then to the guest-friend, then to the client, then to the cognate, afterwards to the affine. In an equal case, women were held preferable to men, and pupillary tutelage was preferred to female tutelage.

Etiam adversus quem adfuissent, eius filiis tutores relicti in eadem causa pupillo aderant."

Even against the person against whom they had appeared, the guardians left to his sons would in the same cause stand by the ward."

6 Firmum atque clarum isti rei testimonium perhibet auctoritas C. Caesaris pontificis maximi, qui in oratione quam pro Bithynis dixit, hoc principio usus est: "Vel pro hospitio regis Nicomedis vel pro horum necessitate, quorum res agitur, refugere hoc munus, M. Iunce, non potui. Nam neque hominum morte memoria deleri debet, quin a proximis retineatur, neque clientes sine summa infamia deseri possunt, quibus etiam a propinquis nostris opem ferre instituimus."

6 Firm and illustrious testimony to that matter is borne by the authority of Gaius Caesar, pontifex maximus, who in the oration which he delivered on behalf of the Bithynians used this beginning: "Whether on account of the guest‑friendship with King Nicomedes or on account of the necessity of these men, whose case is being handled, I could not shrink from this office, M. Iunce. For neither ought remembrance to be erased by the death of men, but rather to be retained by their nearest, nor can clients be deserted without the highest infamy, to whom we have established the practice of bringing aid even from our own kinsfolk."

XIV. Quod Apion, doctus homo, qui "Plistonices" appellatus est, vidisse se Romae scripsit recognitionem inter sese mutuam ex vetere notitia hominis et leonis.

14. That Apion, a learned man, who was appellated "Plistonices," wrote that he had seen at Rome a mutual recognition between a man and a lion from an old acquaintance.

1 Apion, qui "Plistonices" appellatus est, litteris homo multis praeditus rerumque Graecarum plurima atque varia scientia fuit.

1 Apion, who was called "Plistonices," was a man endowed with many letters and possessed of very much and various knowledge of Greek affairs.

2 Eius libri non incelebres feruntur, quibus omnium ferme, quae mirifica in Aegypto visuntur audiunturque, historia comprehenditur.

2 His books are not uncelebrated, in which the history of almost everything marvelous that is seen and heard in Egypt is comprehended.

3 Sed in his, quae vel audisse vel legisse sese dicit, fortassean vitio studioque ostentationis sit loquacior - est enim sane quam in praedicandis doctrinis sui venditator -;

3 But in these things, which he says he has either heard or read, perhaps by the vice and zeal of ostentation he is more loquacious — for he is indeed somewhat a vendor of himself in proclaiming doctrines —;

4 hoc autem, quod in libro Aegyptiacorum quinto scripsit, neque audisse neque legisse, sed ipsum sese in urbe Roma vidisse oculis suis confirmat.

4 but this, which he wrote in the fifth book of the Aegyptiaca, he affirms he neither heard nor read, but that he himself saw in the city of Rome with his own eyes.

5 "In circo maximo" inquit "venationis amplissimae pugna populo dabatur.

5 "in the circus maximus," he says, "a most ample venatorial combat was being given to the people.

6 Eius rei, Romae cum forte essem, spectator" inquit "fui.

6 Of that matter, when I chanced to be in Rome, "a spectator," he says, "I was."

7 Multae ibi saevientes ferae, magnitudines bestiarum excellentes, omniumque invisitata aut forma erat aut ferocia.

7 Many beasts raging there, the magnitudes of the beasts excelling, and in every case either the form or the ferocity was unprecedented.

8 Sed praeter alia omnia leonum" inquit "immanitas admirationi fuit praeterque omnis ceteros unus.

8 "But beyond all other things," he said, "the savagery of the lions was for admiration, and beyond all the rest, one."

9 Is unus leo corporis impetu et vastitudine terrificoque fremitu et sonoro, toris comisque cervicum fluctuantibus animos oculosque omnium in sese converterat.

9 That one lion, by the impetus and vastitude of his body and by a terrible and sonorous roar, with the muscles and manes of his necks fluctuating, had turned the minds and eyes of all upon himself.

10 Introductus erat inter compluris ceteros ad pugnam bestiarum datus servus viri consularis ; ei servo Androclus nomen fuit.

10 There had been brought in among several others, given to the beast-fight, a slave of a man of consular rank ; this slave’s name was Androclus.

11 Hunc ille leo ubi vidit procul, repente" inquit "quasi admirans stetit ac deinde sensim atque placide tamquam noscitabundus ad hominem accedit.

11 When that lion saw him from afar, suddenly" he says "as if admiring, he stood still, and then little by little and placidly, as though recognizing, he approaches the man.

12 Tum caudam more atque ritu adulantium canum clementer et blande movet hominisque se corpori adiungit cruraque eius et manus prope iam exanimati metu lingua leniter demulcet.

12 Then he moves his tail gently and coaxingly in the manner and rite of adulating dogs, and he joins himself to the man’s body, and the legs and hands of the man, now almost breathless from fear, he gently soothes with his tongue.

13 Homo Androclus inter illa tam atrocis ferae blandimenta amissum animum recuperat, paulatim oculos ad contuendum leonem refert.

13 The man Androclus, amid those blandishments of so atrocious a beast, recovers his lost spirit, and little by little brings back his eyes to behold the lion.

14 Tum quasi mutua recognitione facta laetos" inquit "et gratulabundos videres hominem et leonem."

14 Then, as if a mutual recognition had been made, "joyful," he said, "and congratulating, you would have seen the man and the lion."

15 Ea re prorsus tam admirabili maximos populi clamores excitatos dicit accersitumque a Caesare Androclum quaesitamque causam, cur illi atrocissimus leo uni parsisset.

15 He says that, by that affair altogether so admirable, the very great clamors of the people were aroused, and that Androclus was summoned by Caesar, and the cause was inquired, why the most atrocious lion had spared that one man alone.

16 Ibi Androclus rem mirificam narrat atque admirandam.

16 There Androclus narrates a marvelous and admirable matter.

17 "Cum provinciam" inquit "Africam proconsulari imperio meus dominus obtineret, ego ibi iniquis eius et cotidianis verberibus ad fugam sum coactus et, ut mihi a domino, terrae illius praeside, tutiores latebrae forent, in camporum et arenarum solitudines concessi ac, si defuisset cibus, consilium fuit mortem aliquo pacto quaerere.

17 "When the province of Africa," he says, "was held by my master with proconsular authority, I there was compelled to flight by his iniquitous and daily beatings; and, in order that hiding-places might be safer for me from my master, the governor of that land, I withdrew into the solitudes of the plains and sands; and, if food should be lacking, my plan was to seek death by some means.

18 Tum sole medio" inquit "rabido et flagranti specum quandam nanctus remotam latebrosamque in eam me penetro et recondo.

18 Then, "with the sun at mid-day," he says, "rabid and blazing, having chanced upon a certain cave, remote and full of hiding-places, into it I penetrate and conceal myself."

19 Neque multo post ad eandem specum venit hic leo debili uno et cruento pede gemitus edens et murmura dolorem cruciatumque vulneris commiserantia." Atque illic primo quidem conspectu advenientis leonis territum sibi et pavefactum animum dixit.
........

19 Not long after, to that same cave there came this lion with one foot debilitated and bloody, emitting groans and murmurs commiserating the pain and torment of the wound." And there, at the very first sight of the approaching lion, he said that his spirit was terrified and panic-stricken.
........

21 "Sed postquam introgressus" inquit "leo, uti re ipsa apparuit, in habitaculum illud suum, videt me procul delitescentem, mitis et mansues accessit et sublatum pedem ostendere mihi et porrigere quasi opis petendae gratia visus est.

21 "But after the lion," he says, "had gone in—as in the thing itself appeared—into that habitation of his, he sees me hiding afar; gentle and tame he approached and seemed to show to me and to stretch out his upraised foot, as if for the sake of seeking help."

22 Ibi" inquit "ego stirpem ingentem vestigio pedis eius haerentem revelli conceptamque saniem volnere intimo expressi accuratiusque sine magna iam formidine siccavi penitus atque detersi cruorem.

22 "There," he said, "I tore out a huge thorn clinging in the sole of his foot, and I pressed out the pus that had formed from the deep wound, and, more carefully, now without great fear, I dried it thoroughly and wiped away the blood."

23 Illa tunc mea opera et medella levatus pede in manibus meis posito recubuit et quievit,

23 Then he, relieved by my efforts and remedy, with his foot placed in my hands, reclined and rested,

24 atque ex eo die triennium totum ego et leo in eadem specu eodemque et victu viximus.

24 and from that day for a full three-year period the lion and I lived in the same cave and on the same victuals.

25 Nam, quas venabatur feras, membra opimiora ad specum mihi subgerebat, quae ego ignis copiam non habens meridiano sole torrens edebam.

25 For the wild beasts he hunted, he would bring the richer portions to the cave for me, which I, not having a supply of fire, roasted in the midday sun and ate.

26 Sed ubi me" inquit "vitae illius ferinae iam pertaesum est, leone in venatum profecto reliqui specum et viam ferme tridui permensus a militibus visus adprehensusque sum et ad dominum ex Africa Romam deductus.

26 "But when," he says, "I had already grown weary of that feral life, the lion having set out to hunt, I left the cave; and, having measured a journey of nearly three days, I was seen and seized by soldiers and conducted to my master from Africa to Rome."

27 Is me statim rei capitalis damnandum dandumque ad bestias curavit.

27 He immediately took care that I be condemned on a capital charge and handed over to the beasts.

28 Intellego autem" inquit "hunc quoque leonem me tunc separato captum gratiam mihi nunc beneficii et medicinae referre."

28 "I understand, however," he says, "that this lion too, then captured when separated from me, now renders me thanks for the benefaction and the medicine."

29 Haec Apion dixisse Androclum tradit eaque omnia scripta circumlataque tabula populo declarata atque ideo cunctis petentibus dimissum Androclum et poena solutum leonemque ei suffragiis populi donatum.

29 Apion records that Androclus said these things, and that all these matters were written and carried around on a tablet, declared to the people; and therefore, with all petitioning, Androclus was released and freed from punishment, and the lion was bestowed upon him by the suffrages of the people.

30 "Postea" inquit "videbamus Androclum et leonem loro tenui revinctum urbe tota circum tabernas ire, donari aere Androclum, floribus spargi leonem, omnes ubique obvios dicere: "Hic est leo hospes hominis, hic est homo medicus leonis"."

30 "Afterwards," he said, "we used to see Androclus and the lion, bound with a thin leash, going through the whole city past the shops, Androclus being presented with bronze, the lion being strewn with flowers, and everyone met everywhere saying: "This is the lion guest-friend of the man, this is the man the lion’s physician"."

XV. Corpusne sit vox an asomaton, varias esse philosophorum sententias.

15. Whether voice is a body or an asōmaton, the philosophers’ opinions are various.

1 Vetus atque perpetua quaestio inter nobilissimos philosophorum agitata est, corpusne sit vox an incorporeum.

1 An old and perpetual question has been agitated among the most noble of the philosophers, whether voice is a body or an incorporeal thing.

2 Hoc enim vocabulum quidam finxerunt proinde quod Graece dicitur asomaton.

2 This term some have fashioned just as what in Greek is called asomaton.

3 Corpus autem est, quod aut efficiens est aut patiens; id Graece definitur: to etoi poioun e paschon.

3 A body, moreover, is that which is either efficient or patient; this is defined in Greek: to etoi poioun e paschon.

4 Quam definitionem significare volens Lucretius poeta ita scripsit: tangere enim aut tangi nisi corpus nulla potest res.

4 Wishing to signify that definition, the poet Lucretius wrote thus: for nothing can touch or be touched unless it is a body.

5 Alio quoque modo corpus esse Graeci dicunt to triche diastaton.

5 In another way also the Greeks say that a body is that which is extended in three ways.

6 Sed vocem Stoici corpus esse contendunt eamque esse dicunt ictum aera;

6 But the Stoics contend that voice is a body, and they say it is an impact on the air;

7 Plato autem non esse vocem corpus putat: "non enim percussus" inquit "aer, sed plaga ipsa atque percussio, id vox est".

7 But Plato thinks that voice is not a body: "for not the struck air," he says, "but the blow itself and the percussion, that is voice."

8 Democritus ac deinde Epicurus ex individuis corporibus vocem constare dicunt eamque, ut ipsis eorum verbis utar, rheuma atomon appellant.

8 Democritus and then Epicurus say that voice consists of indivisible bodies, and, to use their very words, they call it rheuma atomon.

9 Hos aliosque talis argutae delectabilisque desidiae aculeos cum audiremus vel lectitaremus neque in his scrupulis aut emolumentum aliquod solidum ad rationem vitae pertinens aut finem ullum quaerendi videremus, Ennianum Neoptolemum probabamus, qui profecto ita ait:
philosophandum est paucis; nam omnino haud placet.

9 When we would hear or even peruse these and other such stings of acute and delectable idleness, and saw in these scruples neither any solid emolument pertaining to the rationale of life nor any end to inquiring, we approved the Ennian Neoptolemus, who indeed thus says:
one must philosophize only a little; for taken altogether it by no means pleases.

XVI. De vi oculorum deque videndi rationibus.

16. On the power of the eyes and on the modes of seeing.

1 De videndi ratione deque cernendi natura diversas esse opiniones philosophorum animadvertimus.

1 On the rationale of seeing and on the nature of discerning, we have observed that the opinions of philosophers are diverse.

2 Stoici causas esse videndi dicunt radiorum ex oculis in ea, quae videri queunt, emissionem aerisque simul intentionem.

2 The Stoics say the causes of seeing are the emission of rays from the eyes into those things which can be seen, and simultaneously the tension of the air.

3 Epicurus afluere semper ex omnibus corporibus simulacra quaedam corporum ipsorum eaque sese in oculos inferre atque ita fieri sensum videndi putat.

3 Epicurus thinks that simulacra, certain images of the bodies themselves, always flow from all bodies, and that these carry themselves into the eyes, and thus the sense of seeing is produced.

4 Plato existimat genus quoddam ignis lucisque de oculis exire idque coniunctum continuatumque vel cum luce solis vel cum alterius ignis lumine sua vi et externa nixum efficere, ut, quaecumque offenderit inlustraveritque, cernamus.

4 Plato esteems that a certain genus of fire and of light goes out from the eyes, and that, conjoined and continuous either with the light of the sun or with the lumen of another fire, propped by its own force and by an external one, it effects that, whatever it meets and has illuminated, we discern.

5 Sed hic aeque non diutius muginandum, eiusdemque illius Enniani Neoptolemi, de quo supra scripsimus, consilio utendum est, qui degustandum ex philosophia censet, non in eam ingurgitandum.

5 But here likewise there must be no further mulling; and we must use the counsel of that Ennian Neoptolemus, of whom we wrote above, who judges that from philosophy there is to be a tasting, not an ingurgitation.

XVII. Quam ob causam dies primi post Kalendas, Nonas, Idus atri habeantur; et cur diem quoque quartum ante Kalendas vel Nonas vel Idus quasi religiosum plerique vitent.

17. For what cause the first days after the Kalends, the Nones, and the Ides are held black; and why the fourth day before the Kalends or the Nones or the Ides, as quasi-religious, most avoid.

1 Verrius Flaccus in quarto de verborum significatu dies, qui sunt postridie kalendas, Nonas, Idus, quos vulgus imperite "nefastos" dicit, propter hanc causam dictos habitosque "atros" esse scribit.

1 Verrius Flaccus, in the 4th book of On the Meaning of Words, writes that the days which are on the day after the Kalends, Nones, and Ides, which the common crowd ignorantly calls "nefasti," for this cause were called and regarded "black."

2 "Vrbe" inquit "a Gallis Senonibus recuperata L. Atilius in senatu verba fecit Q. Sulpicium tribunum militum ad Alliam adversus Gallos pugnaturum rem divinam dimicandi gratia postridie Idus fecisse; tum exercitum populi Romani occidione occisum et post diem tertium eius diei urbem praeter Capitolium captam esse; compluresque alii senatores recordari sese dixerunt, quotiens belli gerendi gratia res divina postridie Kalendas, Nonas, Idus a magistratu populi Romani facta esset, eius belli proximo deinceps proelio rem publicam male gestam esse. Tum senatus eam rem ad pontifices reiecit, ut ipsi, quod videretur, statuerent. Pontifices decreverunt nullum his diebus sacrificium recte futurum."

2 "With the City recovered from the Gallic Senones," he says, "Lucius Atilius spoke in the senate that Quintus Sulpicius, military tribune, who was about to fight against the Gauls at the Allia, had performed a sacred (divine) rite for the sake of fighting on the day after the Ides; then the army of the Roman people was slaughtered with a massacre, and on the third day after that day the city, except for the Capitol, was captured; and several other senators said that they recalled that, whenever for the sake of waging war a sacred rite on the day after the Kalends, the Nones, or the Ides had been performed by a magistrate of the Roman people, in the immediately ensuing battle of that war the commonwealth had fared ill. Then the senate referred that matter to the pontiffs, that they themselves should determine what seemed good. The pontiffs decreed that on these days no sacrifice would be correct."

3 Ante diem quoque quartum kalendas vel Nonas vel Idus tamquam inominalem diem plerique vitant.

3 Also the fourth day before the kalends or the Nones or the Ides, as though an innominate day, most people avoid.

4 Eius observationis an religio ulla sit tradita, quaeri solet.

4 It is usually asked whether any religion has been handed down for that observance.

5 Nihil nos super ea re scriptum invenimus, nisi quod Q. Claudius annalium quinto cladem illam pugnae Cannensis vastissimam factam dicit ante diem quartum Nonas Sextiles.

5 We have found nothing written on that matter, except that Q. Claudius, in the fifth book of the Annals, says that that most vast disaster of the battle of Cannae happened on the fourth day before the Nones of Sextilis (August).

XVIII. An quid et quantum differat historia ab annalibus; superque ea re verba posita ex libro rerum gestarum Sempronii Asellionis primo.

18. Whether and how much history differs from annals; and moreover on this matter words set down from the first book of the deeds of Sempronius Asellio.

1 "Historiam" ab "annalibus" quidam differre eo putant, quod, cum utrumque sit rerum gestarum narratio, earum tamen proprie rerum sit "historia", quibus rebus gerendis interfuerit is, qui narret;

1 Some think that "history" differs from "annals" in this respect: that, although each is a narration of deeds done (res gestae), yet "history" is properly of those matters, in the doing of which the one who narrates has been present;

2 eamque esse opinionem quorundam Verrius Flaccus refert in libro de significatu verborum quarto. Ac se quidem dubitare super ea re dicit, posse autem videri putat nonnihil esse rationis in ea opinione, quod historia Graece significet rerum cognitionem praesentium.

2 and Verrius Flaccus reports that to be the opinion of certain persons in the fourth book On the Meaning of Words. And he indeed says that he is in doubt about that matter, but he thinks it can seem that there is somewhat of reason in that opinion, because “history” in Greek signifies the cognition of present things.

3 Sed nos audire soliti sumus annales omnino id esse,

3 But we have been accustomed to hear that annals are altogether this,

4 quod historiae sint, historias non omnino esse id, quod annales sint:

4 that the annals are altogether that which histories are, [but] histories are not altogether that which annals are:

5 sicuti, quod est homo, id necessario animal est; quod est animal, non id necesse est hominem esse.

5 just as, what is a man, that necessarily is an animal; what is an animal, it is not necessary that it be a man.

6 Ita "historias" quidem esse aiunt rerum gestarum vel expositionem vel demonstrationem vel quo alio nomine id dicendum est, "annales" vero esse, cum res gestae plurium annorum observato cuiusque anni ordine deinceps componuntur.

6 Thus they say that "histories" are an exposition or demonstration of deeds done, or by whatever other name that is to be called, but that "annals" are when the deeds done of many years are composed successively with the order of each year observed.

7 Cum vero non per annos, sed per dies singulos res gestae scribuntur, ea historia Graeco vocabulo ephemeris dicitur, cuius Latinum interpretamentum scriptum est in libro Semproni Asellionis primo, ex quo libro plura verba ascripsimus, ut simul, ibidem quid ipse inter res gestas et annales esse dixerit, ostenderemus.

7 When, however, deeds are written not by years but by individual days, that history is called by the Greek word ephemeris, whose Latin interpretation has been written in the first book of Sempronius Asellio; from which book we have transcribed several words, so that at the same time, in that same place, we might show what he himself said there is between res gestae and annales.

8 "Verum inter eos", inquit "qui annales relinquere voluissent, et eos, qui res gestas a Romanis perscribere conati essent, omnium rerum hoc interfuit. Annales libri tantummodo, quod factum quoque anno gestum sit, ea demonstrabant, id est quasi qui diarium scribunt, quam Graeci ephemerida vocant. Nobis non modo satis esse video, quod factum esset, id pronuntiare, sed etiam, quo consilio quaque ratione gesta essent, demonstrare."

8 "But between those," he says, "who wished to leave annals, and those who attempted to write out fully the deeds done by the Romans, in all respects this was the difference. Books of annals merely showed what had been done in each year, that is, as it were those who write a diary, which the Greeks call an ephemeris. For us I see it is not enough merely to proclaim what had been done, but also to show with what counsel and by what method the deeds were carried out."

9 Paulo post idem Asellio in eodem libro: "Nam neque alacriores" inquit "ad rempublicam defendundam neque segniores ad rem perperam faciundam annales libri commovere quicquam possunt. Scribere autem, bellum initum quo consule et quo confectum sit et quis triumphans introierit, et eo libro, quae in bello gesta sint, non praedicare autem interea quid senatus decreverit aut quae lex rogatiove lata sit, neque quibus consiliis ea gesta sint, iterare: id fabulas pueris est narrare, non historias scribere."

9 A little after, the same Asellio in the same book: "For neither more eager," says he, "to defend the Republic, nor more sluggish to do a thing amiss, can the annal-books move anyone at all. But to write that a war was begun under which consul and under which it was finished, and who entered in triumph, and in that book to set forth what was done in the war, but not meanwhile to declare what the senate decreed or what law or bill was passed, nor to rehearse by what counsels these things were done: that is to tell tales to boys, not to write histories."

XIX. Quid sit adoptatio, quid item sit adrogatio, quantumque haec inter se differant; verbaque eius quae qualiaque sint, qui in liberis adrogandis super ea re populum rogat.

19. What adoption is, what likewise arrogation is, and how far these differ from each other; and the words—what they are and of what kind—of him who, in arrogating children, asks the People concerning that matter.

1 Cum in alienam familiam inque liberorum locum extranei sumuntur, aut per praetorem fit aut per populum.

1 When outsiders are taken into another’s family and into the place of children, it is done either through the praetor or through the people.

2 Quod per praetorem fit, "adoptatio" dicitur, quod per populum, "arrogatio".

2 What is done through the praetor is called "adoption"; what [is done] through the people, "arrogation".

3 Adoptantur autem, cum a parente, in cuius potestate sunt, tertia mancipatione in iure ceduntur atque ab eo, qui adoptat, apud eum, apud quem legis actio est, vindicantur;

3 They are adopted, moreover, when by the parent in whose power they are they are ceded by in iure cession at the third mancipation, and by him who adopts they are vindicated before him with whom the legis actio is;

4 adrogantur hi, qui, cum sui iuris sunt, in alienam sese potestatem tradunt eiusque rei ipsi auctores fiunt.

4 are arrogated those who, while they are sui iuris, hand themselves over into another’s power, and they themselves become the authors of this matter.

5 Sed adrogationes non temere nec inexplorate committuntur;

5 But adrogations are not undertaken rashly nor without exploration;

6 nam comitia arbitris pontificibus praebentur, quae "curiata" appellantur, aetasque eius, qui adrogare vult, an liberis potius gignundis idonea sit, bonaque eius, qui adrogatur, ne insidiose adpetita sint, consideratur, iusque iurandum a Q. Mucio pontifice maximo conceptum dicitur, quod in adrogando iuraretur.

6 for the comitia are provided with the pontiffs as arbiters, which are called "curiata", and the age of him who wishes to adrogate—whether it is more suitable for the begetting of children—is considered, and the goods of him who is adrogated, lest they be insidiously sought after, are considered; and an oath, framed by Q. Mucius, pontifex maximus, is said to have been composed, which would be sworn in adrogating.

7 Sed adrogari non potest, nisi iam vesticeps.

7 But one cannot be arrogated, unless he is already vesticeps (i.e., has assumed the toga).

8 "Adrogatio" autem dicta, quia genus hoc in alienam familiam transitus per populi rogationem fit.

8 "Adrogation," however, is so called because this kind of transition into another family is made through a rogation of the people.

9 Eius rogationis verba haec sunt: "Velitis, iubeatis, uti L. Valerius L. Titio tam iure legeque filius siet, quam si ex eo patre matreque familias eius natus esset, utique ei vitae necisque in eum potestas siet, uti patri endo filio est. Haec ita, uti dixi, ita vos, Quirites, rogo."

9 The words of that rogation are these: “Do you will, do you order, that L. Valerius be to L. Titius a son by such right and law as if he had been born from that father and from the materfamilias of his household, and that there be to him the power of life and death over him, as a father has over a son. These things thus, as I have said, thus I ask you, Quirites.”

10 Neque pupillus autem neque mulier, quae in parentis potestate non est, adrogari possunt: quoniam et cum feminis nulla comitiorum communio est et tutoribus in pupillos tantam esse auctoritatem potestatemque fas non est, ut caput liberum fidei suae commissum alienae dicioni subiciant.

10 Neither a ward nor a woman who is not in a parent’s power can be adrogated: since both there is no communion of the comitia with women, and it is not right (fas non est) for guardians over wards to have such great authority and power as to subject a free person, committed to their good faith, to another’s dominion.

11 Libertinos vero ab ingenuis adoptari quidem iure posse Masurius Sabinus scripsit.

11 Masurius Sabinus wrote that freedmen can indeed by law be adopted by freeborn men.

12 Sed id neque permitti dicit neque permittendum esse umquam putat, ut homines libertini ordinis per adoptiones in iura ingenuorum invadant.

12 But he says that this is neither permitted nor does he think it should ever be permitted, that men of the freedman order (libertini) through adoptions invade the rights of the freeborn.

13 "Alioquin", inquit "si iuris ista antiquitas servetur, etiam servus a domino per praetorem dari in adoptionem potest."

13 "Otherwise," he says, "if that antiquity of the law is observed, even a slave can be given by his master through the praetor into adoption."

14 Idque ait plerosque iuris veteris auctores posse fieri scripsisse.

14 And he says that most authors of the old law have written that it can be done.

15 Animadvertimus in oratione P. Scipionis, quam censor habuit ad populum de moribus, inter ea, quae reprehendebat, quod contra maiorum instituta fierent, id etiam eum culpavisse, quod filius adoptivos patri adoptatori inter praemia patrum prodesset.

15 We have observed in the oration of P. Scipio, which, as censor, he delivered to the people concerning morals, among the things he was reproaching as being done against the institutions of the ancestors, that he also blamed this: that an adoptive son should benefit the adoptive father among the rewards of fathers.

16 Verba ex ea oratione haec sunt: "In alia tribu patrem, in alia filium suffragium ferre, filium adoptivum tam procedere, quam si se natum habeat; absentis censeri iubere, ut ad censum nemini necessus sit venire."

16 The words from that speech are these: "In one tribe the father, in another the son, to cast the suffrage; that an adoptive son advance just as much as if he had him born to himself; to order that the absent be assessed in the census, so that to the census it be necessary for no one to come."

XX. Quod vocabulum Latinum soloecismo fecerit Capito Sinnius, quid autem id ipsum appellaverint veteres Latini; quibusque verbis soloecismum definierit idem Capito Sinnius.

20. What Latin vocable Capito Sinnius made for “solecism,” what moreover the old Latins called that very thing; and with what words that same Capito Sinnius defined “solecism.”

1 "Soloecismus" Latino vocabulo a Sinnio Capitone eiusdemque aetatis aliis "inparilitas" appellatus vetustioribus Latinis "stribiligo" dicebatur a versura videlicet et pravitate tortuosae orationis tamquam "strobiligo" quaedam.

1 "Solecism," by a Latin vocable, called "inparilitas" by Sinnius Capito and by others of the same age, was called "stribiligo" by the more ancient Latins, from the turning, namely, and the pravity of tortuous oration, as though a kind of "strobiligo."

2 Quod vitium Sinnius Capito in litteris, quas ad Clodium Tuscum dedit, hisce verbis definit: ""Soloecismus" est" inquit "impar atque inconveniens compositura partium orationis."

2 That fault Sinnius Capito, in the letters which he sent to Clodius Tuscus, defines in these words: ""Solecism" is" he says "an unequal and incongruent composition of the parts of speech."

3 Cum Graecum autem vocabulum sit "soloecismus", an Attici homines, qui elegantius locuti sunt, usi eo sint, quaeri solet.

3 Since, however, "soloecism" is a Greek vocable, it is wont to be asked whether the Attic men, who spoke more elegantly, used it.

4 Sed nos neque "soloecismum" neque "barbarismum" apud Graecorum idoneos adhuc invenimus;

4 But we have not yet found either "solecism" or "barbarism" among the qualified Greeks;

5 nam sicut barbaron, ita soloikon dixerunt.

5 for just as they said barbaron, so they said soloikon.

6 Nostri quoque antiquiores "soloecum" facile, "soloecismum" haut scio an umquam dixerunt.

6 Our own elders also said "soloecum" readily; "soloecismum," I hardly know whether they ever said at all.

7 Quod si ita est, neque in Graeca neque in Latina lingua "soloecismus" probe dicitur.

7 If this is so, then in neither the Greek nor the Latin language is "soloecismus" properly said.

XXI. "Pluria" qui dicat et "compluria" et "compluriens", non barbare dicere, sed Latine.

21. Whoever says "pluria" and "compluria" and "compluriens" does not speak barbarously, but in Latin.

1 "Pluria" forte quis dixit sermocinans vir adprime doctus, meus amicus, non hercle studio se ferens ostentandi neque quo "plura" non dicendum putaret.

1 "Pluria," perhaps someone said while conversing, a man most learned, my friend, not, by Hercules, carried by any zeal for ostentation nor because he thought that "plura" ought not to be said.

2 Est enim doctrina homo seria et ad vitae officia devincta ac nihil de verbis laborante.

2 For he is a man of serious doctrine and bound to the offices of life, and taking no pains about words.

3 Sed, opinor, assidua veterum scriptorum tractatione inoleverat linguae illius vox, quam in libris saepe offenderat.

3 But, I suppose, by assiduous handling of the ancient writers, the word of that tongue, which he had often encountered in books, had taken root.

4 Aderat, cum ille hoc dicit, reprehensor audaculus verborum, qui perpauca eademque a volgo protrita legerat habebatque nonnullas disciplinae grammaticae inauditiunculas partim rudes inchoatasque partim non probas easque quasi pulverem ob oculos, cum adortus quemque fuerat, adspergebat.

4 There was present, while he says this, a rather audacious critic of words, who had read very few things, and those same ones trite and worn by the common herd; and he had some little overhearings of the discipline of grammar—partly rough and inchoate, partly not sound—and these he would sprinkle, as if dust before the eyes, whenever he had set upon anyone.

5 Sicut tunc amico nostro: "barbare" inquit "dixisti "pluria"; nam neque rationem verbum hoc neque auctoritates habet."

5 Just so then to our friend: "barbarously" he said "you said "pluria"; for this word has neither rationale nor authorities."

6 Ibi ille amicus ridens: "amabo te," inquit "vir bone, quia nunc mihi a magis seriis rebus otium est, velim doceas nos, cur "pluria" sive "compluria" - nihil enim differt - non Latine, sed barbare dixerint M. Cato, Q. Claudius, Valerius Antias, L. Aelius, P. Nigidius, M. Varro, quos subscriptores approbatoresque huius verbi habemus praeter poetarum oratorumque veterum multam copiam."

6 Thereupon that friend, laughing: "I beg you," said he, "good man, since now I have leisure from more serious matters, I would like you to teach us why 'pluria' or 'compluria' - for it makes no difference - were said not in Latin but barbarously by M. Cato, Q. Claudius, Valerius Antias, L. Aelius, P. Nigidius, M. Varro, whom we have as subscribers and approvers of this word, besides a great abundance of the ancient poets and orators."

7 Atque ille nimis arroganter: "tibi" inquit "habeas auctoritates istas ex Faunorum et Aboriginum saeculo repetitas atque huic rationi respondeas.

7 And he, excessively arrogantly: "keep for yourself," he says, "those authorities recalled from the age of the Fauns and the Aborigines, and respond to this rationale."

8 Nullum enim vocabulum neutrum comparativum numero plurativo recto casu ante extremum "a" habet "i" litteram, sicuti "meliora, maiora, graviora." Proinde igitur "plura", non "pluria" dici convenit, ne contra formam perpetuam in comparativo "i" littera sit ante extremum "a"."

8 For no neuter comparative word in the nominative plural has the letter "i" before the final "a," just like "meliora, maiora, graviora." Accordingly, therefore, it is fitting that "plura," not "pluria," be said, lest, contrary to the perpetual form in the comparative, the letter "i" be before the final "a."

9 Tum ille amicus noster, cum hominem confidentem pluribus verbis non dignum existimaret: "Sinni" inquit "Capitonis, doctissimi veri, epistulae sunt uno in libro multae positae, opinor, in templo Pacis.

9 Then our friend, since he judged the self-confident man not worthy of more words: "The letters of Sinnius Capito, a most learned man, are placed in one book, I think, in the Temple of Peace."

10 Prima epistula scripta est ad Pacuvium Labeonem, cui titulus praescriptus est pluria, non plura dici debere.

10 The first epistle was written to Pacuvius Labeo, to whom the prefixed title is that “pluria, not plura, ought to be said.”

11 In ea epistula rationes grammaticas posuit, per quas docet "pluria" Latinum esse, "plura" barbarum.

11 In that letter he set forth grammatical reasons, through which he shows that "pluria" is Latin, "plura" barbarous.

12 Ad Capitonem igitur te dimittimus.

12 To Capito, then, we refer you.

13 Ex eo id quoque simul disces, si modo assequi poteris, quod in ea epistula scriptum est, "pluria" sive "plura" absolutum esse et simplex, non, ut tibi videtur, comparativum."

13 From that you will also learn at the same time, if only you can attain it, that in that epistle it is written, "pluria" or "plura" to be absolute and simple, not, as it seems to you, comparative."

14 Huius opinionis Sinnianae id quoque adiumentum est, quod, "complures" cum dicimus, non comparative dicimus.

14 Of this Sinnian opinion there is this aid as well, that, when we say "complures," we do not say it comparatively.

15 Ab eo autem, quod est "compluria", adverbium est factum "compluriens".

15 From that, moreover, which is "compluria", an adverb has been made, "compluriens".

16 Id quoniam minus usitatum est, versum Plauti subscripsi ex comoedia? quae Persa inscribitur:
quid metuis? - metuo hercle vero; sensi ego compluriens.

16 Since that is less usual, I have subjoined a verse of Plautus from the comedy? which is entitled Persa:
why do you fear? - indeed I fear, by Hercules; I have sensed it many times.

17 Item M. Cato in IV. originum eodem in loco ter hoc verbum posuit: "Compluriens eorum milites mercennarii inter se multi alteri alteros in castris occidere, compluriens multi simul ad hostis transfugere, compluriens in imperatorem impetum facere."

17 Likewise M. Cato in 4. of the Origins in the same place set down this word thrice: "Compluriens of them the mercenary soldiers, many, among themselves, the one party the others, in camp to kill, compluriens many at once to defect to the enemies, compluriens to make an attack upon the commander."