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Book XIX

I

1arg

The reply of a certain philosopher, when he was asked why he turned pale in a storm at sea.

WE were sailing from Cassiopa ¹ to Brundisium over the Ionian sea, violent, vast and storm-tossed. During almost the whole of the night which followed our first day a fierce side-wind blew, which had filled our ship with water. Then afterwards, while we were all still lamenting, and working hard at the pumps, day at last dawned. But there was no less danger and no slackening of the violence of the wind; on the contrary, more frequent whirlwinds, a black sky, masses of fog, and a kind of fearful cloud-forms, which they called typhones,² or

typhoons,

seemed to hang over and threaten us, ready to overwhelm the ship.

In our company was an eminent philosopher of the Stoic sect, whom I had known at Athens as a man of no slight importance, holding the young men who were his pupils under very good control. In the midst of the great dangers of that time and that tumult of sea and sky I looked for him, desiring to know in what state of mind he was and whether he was unterrified and courageous. And then I beheld the man frightened and ghastly pale, not indeed uttering any lamentations, as all the rest were doing, nor any outcries of that kind, but in his loss of colour and distracted expression not differing much from the others. But when the sky cleared, the sea grew calm, and the heat of danger cooled, then the Stoic was approached by a rich Greek from Asia, a man of elegant apparel, as we saw, and with an abundance of baggage and many attendants, while he himself showed signs of a luxurious person and disposition. This man, in a bantering tone, said:

What does this mean, Sir philosopher, that when we were in danger you were afraid and turned pale, while I neither feared nor changed colour?

And the philosopher, after hesitating for a moment about the propriety of answering him, said:

If in such a terrible storm I did show a little fear, you are not worthy to be told the reason for it. But, if you please, the famous Aristippus, the pupil of Socrates, shall answer for me, ³ who on being asked on a similar occasion by a man much like you why he feared, though a philosopher, while his questioner on the contrary had no fear, replied that they had not the same motives, for his questioner need not be very anxious about the life of a worthless coxcomb, but he himself feared for the life of an Aristippus.

With these words then the Stoic rid himself of the rich Asiatic. But later, when we were approaching Brundisium and sea and sky were calm, I asked him what the reason for his fear was, which he had refused to reveal to the man who had improperly addressed him. And he quietly and courteously replied:

Since you are desirous of knowing, hear what our forefathers, the founders of the Stoic sect, thought about that brief but inevitable and natural fear, or rather,

said he,

read it, for if you read it, you will be the more ready to believe it and you will remember it better.

Thereupon before my eyes he drew from his little bag the fifth book of the Discourses of the philosopher Epictetus, which, as arranged by Arrian, undoubtedly agree with the writings of Zeno and Chrysippus.

In that book I read this statement, which of course was written in Greek ⁴ :

The mental visions, which the philosophers call fantasi/ai or 'phantasies,' by which the mind of man on the very first appearance of an object is impelled to the perception of the object, are neither voluntary nor controlled by the will, but through a certain power of their own they force their recognition upon men; but the expressions of assent, which they call sugkataqe/seis, by which these visions are recognized, are voluntary and subject to man's will. Therefore when some terrifying sound, either from heaven or from a falling building or as a sudden announcement of some danger, or anything else of that kind occurs, even the mind of a wise man must necessarily be disturbed, must shrink and feel alarm, not from a preconceived idea of any danger, but from certain swift and unexpected attacks which forestall the power of the mind and of reason. Presently, however, the wise man does not approve ' such phantasies,' that is to say, such terrifying mental visions (to quote the Greek, 'he does not consent to them nor confirm them'), but he rejects and scorns them, nor does he see in them anything that ought to excite fear. And they say that there is this difference between the mind of a foolish man and that of a wise man, that the foolish man thinks that such ' visions ' are in fact as dreadful and terrifying as they appear at the original impact of them on his mind, and by his assent he approves of such ideas as if they were rightly to be feared, and 'confirms' them; for prosepidoca/zei is the word which the Stoics use in their discourses on the subject. But the wise man, after being affected for a short time and slightly in his colour and expression, 'does not assent,' but retains the steadfastness and strength of the opinion which he has always had about visions of this kind, namely that they are in no wise to be feared but excite terror by a false appearance and vain alarms.

That these were the opinions and utterances of Epictetus the philosopher in accordance with the beliefs of the Stoics I read in that book which I have mentioned, and I thought that they ought to be recorded for this reason, that when things of the kind which I have named chance to occur, we may not think that to fear for a time and, as it were, turn white is the mark of a foolish and weak man, but in that brief but natural impulse we yield rather to human weakness than because we believe that those things are what they seem.

II

2arg

That of the five senses of the body two in particular we share with beasts; and that pleasure which comes from hearing, sight and smell is base and reprehensible, but that which comes from taste and touch is the most shameful of all, since the last two are felt also by beasts, the others only by mankind.

MEN have five senses, which the Greeks call ai)sqh/seis, by which mental or bodily pleasure is evidently sought: taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing. From all of these the enjoyment of any immoderate pleasure is regarded as base and reprehensible. But excessive pleasure from taste or touch in the opinion of philosophers is the basest of all things, and those in particular who have given themselves up to those two animal pleasures the Greeks call by terms of the gravest reproach either a)kratei=s or a)ko/lastoi; we call them either incontinences (incontinent) or intemperantes (intemperate); for if you should desire to have a closer translation of a)ko/lastoi, the equivalent will be too unusual. But those two pleasures of taste and touch, namely, gluttony and venery, are the only ones common to man with the lower animals, and therefore whoever is enslaved to these beastly pleasures is regarded as in the number of brutes and beasts; the remaining pleasures proceeding from the other three senses seem to be peculiar to man alone.

I have added the words of Aristotle the philosopher on this subject, ⁵ in order that the authority of that renowned and illustrious man might turn us from such shameful pleasures:

Why are they called incontinent who indulge to excess in the pleasures of taste and touch? For both those who are immoderate in venery and those who are immoderate in the enjoyment of food are such. But of the latter, some find this gratification in the tongue and others in the throat, and it was for that reason that Philoxenos prayed to have the throat of a crane. Is it because the pleasures derived from such sources are common to us with the other animals? And being thus common they are the most dishonourable and more than the other pleasures, or alone, objects of reproach, so that we censure a man who is addicted to them and call him incontinent and incorrigible because he is enslaved to the meanest of pleasures. Now, there being five senses, the other animals are gratified by the two which have been mentioned only, but from the others they either enjoy no pleasure at all, or they merely experience it incidentally.

Who, then, having any human modesty, would take pleasure in those two delights of venery and gluttony, which are common to man with the hog and the ass? Socrates indeed used to say that many men wish to live in order to eat and drink, but that he ate and drank in order to live. Hippocrates, moreover, a man of divine wisdom, believed of venery that it was a part of the horrible disease which our countrymen call comitialis, or

the election disease

; ⁶ for these are his very words as they have come down to us:

that coition is a brief epilepsy.

III

3arg

That it is more disgraceful to be praised coldly than to be accused bitterly.

FAVORINUS the philosopher used to say that it was more shameful to be praised faintly and coldly than to be censured violently and severely:

For,

said he,

the man who reviles and censures you is regarded as unjust and hostile towards you in proportion to the bitterness of his invective, and therefore he is usually not believed. But one who praises grudgingly and faintly seems to lack a theme; he is regarded as the friend of a man whom he would like to praise but as unable to find anything in him which he can justly commend.

IV

4arg

Why the bowels are loosened by sudden terror; also why fire provokes urine.

THERE is a work of Aristotle, entitled Physical Questions, which is most delightful, and filled with choice knowledge of all kinds. In this book he inquires ⁷ why it happens that those who are seized with sudden fear of some great catastrophe commonly suffer at once from looseness of the bowels. He also inquires why it happens that one who has stood for some time before a fire is overtaken with a desire to make water. And he says that the cause of the loosening and discharge of the bowels because of fear is due to the fact that all terror is cold producing, or yuxropoio/s, as he calls it, and that by the effect of that cold it drives and expels all the blood and heat from the surface of the skin and at the same time causes those who fear to grow pale, because the blood leaves the face.

Now this blood and heat,

he says,

being driven inwards, usually moves the bowels and stimulates them.

For the frequent urinating caused by nearness to a fire he gave this reason:

The fire dissolves the solid matter, as the sun does snow.

V

5arg

A statement from the works of Aristotle, that snow-water is a very bad thing to drink; and that ice is formed from snow. ⁸

IN the hottest season of the year with some companions and friends of mine who were students of eloquence or of philosophy, I had withdrawn to the country-place of a rich friend at Tibur. There was with us a good man of the Peripatetic school, well trained and especially devoted to Aristotle. When we drank a good deal of water made of melted snow, he tried to restrain us and rather severely scolded us. He cited us the authority of famous physicians and in particular of the philosopher Aristotle, a man skilled in all human knowledge, who declared that snow-water was indeed helpful to grain and trees, but was a very unwholesome drink for human beings, and that it gradually produced wasting diseases in the body, which made their appearance only after a long time.

This counsel he gave us repeatedly in a spirit of prudence and goodwill. But when the drinking of snow-water went on without interruption, from the library of Tibur, which at that time was in the temple of Hercules and was well supplied with books, he drew out a volume of Aristotle and brought it to us, saying:

At least believe the words of this wisest of men and cease to ruin your health.

In that book it was written ⁹ that water from snow was very bad to drink, as was also that water which was more solidly and completely congealed, which the Greeks call kru/stallos, or

clear ice

; and the following reason was there given for this:

That when water is hardened by the cold air and congeals, it necessarily follows that evaporation takes place and that a kind of very thin vapour, so to speak, is forced from it and comes out of it. But its lightest part,

he said,

is that which is evaporated; what remains is heavier and less clean and wholesome, and this part, beaten upon by the throbbing of the air, takes on the form and colour of white foam. But that some more wholesome part is forced out and evaporated from the snow is shown by the fact that it becomes less than it was before it congealed.

I have taken a few of Aristotle's own words from that book, and I quote them:

Why is the water made from snow or ice unwholesome? Because from all water that is frozen the lightest and thinnest part evaporates. And the proof of this is that when it melts after being frozen, its volume is less than before. But since the most wholesome part is gone, it necessarily follows that what is left is less wholesome.

After I read this, we decided to pay honour to the learned Aristotle. And so I for my part immediately declared war upon snow and swore hatred against it,1 while the others made truces with it on various terms.

VI

6arg

That shame drives the blood outward, while fear checks it.

IN the Problems of the philosopher Aristotle is the following passage: ¹⁰

Why do men who are ashamed turn red and those who fear grow pale; although these emotions are similar? Because the blood of those who feel shame flows from the heart to all parts of the body, and therefore comes to the surface; but the blood of those who fear rushes to the heart, and consequently leaves all the other parts of the body.

When I had read this at Athens with our friend Taurus and had asked him what he thought about that reason which had been assigned, he answered:

He has told us properly and truly what happens when the blood is diffused or concentrated, but he has not told us why this takes place. For the question may still be asked why it is that shame diffuses the blood and fear contracts it, when shame is a kind of fear and is defined by the philosophers as 'the fear of just censure.' For they say: ai)sxu/nh e)sti\n fo/bos dikai/ou yo/gou.

VII

7arg

The meaning of obesus and of some other early words.

THE poet Julius Paulus, a worthy man, very learned in early history and letters, inherited a small estate in the Vatican district. He often invited us there to visit him and entertained us very pleasantly and generously with vegetables and fruits. And so one mild day in autumn, when Julius Celsinus and I had dined with him, and after hearing the Alcestis of Laevius read at his table were returning to the city just before sunset, we were ruminating on the rhetorical figures and the new or striking use of words in that poem of Laevius', and as each word occurred that was worthy of notice with reference to its future use by ourselves, ¹¹ we committed it to memory.

Now the passages which then came to mind were of this sort: ¹²

Of chest and body wasted ( obeso) everywhere,

Of mind devoid of sense and slow of pace,

With age o'ercome.

Here we noticed that obesus is used, rather in its proper than in its common signification, to mean slender and lean; for the vulgar use obesus, a)ku/rws (improperly), or kata\ a)nti/frasin (by contraries), for uber (bulky) and pinguis (fat). We also observed ¹³ that he spoke of an extinct race as oblittera instead of oblitterata, and that he characterized enemies who broke treaties as foedifragi, not foederifragi; that he called the blushing Aurora pudoricolor, or

shame-coloured

and Memnon, nocticolor, or

night-coloured

; also that he used forte for

hesitatingly,

and said silenta loca, or

silent places,

from the verb sileo; further, that he used pulverulenta for

dusty

and pestilenta for

pestilent,

the genitive case instead of the ablative with careo; magno impete, or

mighty onset,

instead of impetu; that he used fortescere for fortem fieri, or

become brave,

dolentia for dolor, or

sorrow,

avens for libens, or

desirous

; that he spoke of curae intolerantes, or

unendurable cares,

instead of intolerandae, manciolae tenellae, or

tender hands,

instead of manus, and quis tam siliceo for

who is of so flinty a heart?

He also says fiere inpendio infit, meaning fieri inpense incipit, or

the expense begins to be great,

and he used accipetret¹⁴ for laceret, or

rends.

We entertained ourselves on our way with these notes on Laevius' diction. But others we passed over as too poetic and unsuited to use in prose; for example, when he calls Nestor trisaeclisenex, or

an old man who had lived three generations

and dulciorelocus isle, or

that sweet-mouthed speaker,

when he calls great swelling waves multigruma, or

great-hillocked,

and says that rivers congealed by the cold have an onychinum tegimen, or

an onyx covering

; also his many humorous multiple compounds, as when he calls his detractors ¹⁵ subductisupercilicarptores, or

carpers with raised eye-brows.

VIII

8arg

An inquiry whether harena, caelum and triticum are found in the plural; also whether quadrigae, inimicitiae, and some other words, occur in the singular.

WHEN I was a young man at Rome, before I went to Athens, I often paid a visit to Cornelius Fronto, when I had leisure from my masters and my lectures, and enjoyed his refined conversations, which abounded besides in excellent information. Whenever I saw him and heard him speak, I almost never failed to come away improved and better informed. An example is the following little talk of his, held one day on a trivial subject, it is true, but yet not without importance for the study of the Latin language. For when an intimate friend of his, a learned man and an eminent poet of the day, said that he had been cured of dropsy by the use of hot sand ( calentes harenae), thereupon Fronto in jesting fashion said: "You are indeed freed of your complaint, but not of the complaint of improper language. For Gaius Caesar, the famous life-dictator and father-in-law of Gnaeus Pompeius, from whom the family and the name of the Caesars are derived, a man of wonderful talent, surpassing all others of his time in the purity of his diction, in the work On Analogy, which he dedicated to Marcus Cicero, wrote ¹⁶ that harenae is an improper term, since harena ought never to be used in the plural, ¹⁷ any more than caelum (heaven) and triticum (wheat). But on the other hand he thinks that quadrigae, even though it be a single chariot, that is, one team of four horses yoked together, ought always to be used in the plural number, like arma (arms), moenia (walls), comitia (election) and inimicitiae (hostility)—unless, my finest of poets, you have anything to say in reply, to excuse yourself and show that you have not made an error."

With regard to caelum,

said the poet,

and triticum I do not deny that they ought always to be used in the singular, nor with regard to arma, moenia and comitia, that their use ought to be confined to the plural; but we will inquire rather about inimicitiae and quadigae. And perhaps in the case of quadrigae I shall yield to the authority of the early writers: but what reason is there why Caesar should think that inimicitia was not used by the ancients, as were inscientia (ignorance) and impotentia (impotence) and iniuria (injury), and ought not to be used by us, when Plautus, that glory of the Latin tongue, even used delicia in the singular number instead of deliciae? For he says: ¹⁸

O my delight, my darling ( delicia).

Furthermore Quintus Ennius, in that most famous book of his, said: ¹⁹

Such is my habit; plain upon my brow

Friendship I bear and enmity ( inmicitiam) to see.

But pray, who else has written or said that harenae is not good Latin? And therefore I beg of you, if Gaius Caesar's book is accessible, that you have it brought, in order that you may judge with how much confidence he makes this statement.

At the time, the first book On Analogy being brought, I committed to memory these few words from it; for, first asserting that neither caelum, triticum, nor harena admitted a plural meaning, Caesar said:

Do you not think that it happens from the nature of these things that we say ' one land' and 'several lands,' 'city' and 'cities,' 'command' and 'commands,' and that we cannot convert quadrigae into the form of a singular noun or harena into a plural?

When these words had been read, Fronto said to the poet:

Does it not seem to you that Gaius Caesar has decided against you as to the status of this word with sufficient clearness and force?

Thereupon the poet, greatly impressed by the authority of the book, said:

If it were lawful to appeal from Caesar, I would now appeal from this book of his. But since he has neglected to give the reason for his opinion, I now ask you to tell on what ground you think it an error to say quadriga and harenae.

Then Fronto replied as follows:

Quadrigae is always confined to the plural number, even though there be only one horse, since four horses yoked together are called quadrigae, from quadriugae, and certainly a term which designates many horses ought not to be included under the oneness expressed by the singular number. The same reasoning must be applied to harena, but in a different form; for since harena, though used in the singular number, nevertheless indicates the multiplicity and abundance of the minute parts of which it consists, harenae seems to be an ignorant and improper usage, as if the word needed a plural form,. when its collective nature makes it natural for it to be used in the singular. But,

said he,

I have said this, not in order to give my authority and signature to this opinion and rule, but that I might not leave the view of that learned man, Caesar, unsupported. For while caelum, or 'sky,' is always used in the singular, but mare, or 'sea,' and terra, or 'land,' not always, and pulvis, or 'dust,' ventus, or 'wind,' and fumus, or 'smoke,' not always, why did the early writers sometimes use indutiae, or 'truce,' and caerimoniae, or 'ceremony,' in the singular, but never feriae, or 'holiday,' nundinae, or 'market day,' inferiae, or 'offering to the dead,' and exsequiae, or ' obsequies'? Why may mel, or 'honey,' and vinum, or 'wine,' and other words of that kind, be used in the plural, but not lacte (milk)? ²⁰ All these questions, I say, cannot be investigated, unravelled, and thrashed out by men of affairs in so busy a city; indeed, I see that you have been delayed even by these matters of which I have spoken, being intent, I suppose, on some business. So go now and inquire, when you chance to have leisure, whether any orator or poet, provided he be of that earlier band—that is to say, any classical or authoritative writer, not one of the common herd—has used quadriga or harenae.

Now Fronto asked us to look up these words, I think, not because he thought that they were to be found in any books of the early writers, but to rouse in us an interest in reading for the purpose of hunting down rare words. The one, then, which seemed the rarest, quadriga, I found used in the singular number in that book of Marcus Varro's Satires which is entitled Ecdemeticus. But I sought with less interest for an example of the plural harenae, because, except Gaius Caesar, no one among learned men has used that form, so far as I can recall. ²¹

IX

9arg

The very neat reply of Antonius Julianus to certain Greeks at a banquet.

A YOUNG man of equestrian rank from the land of Asia, gifted by nature, well off in manners and fortune, with a taste and talent for music, was celebrating the anniversary of the day on which he began life by giving a dinner to his friends and teachers in a little country place near the city. There had come with us then to that dinner the rhetorician Antonius Julianus, a public teacher of young men, who spoke in the Spanish manner, ²² but was very eloquent, besides being well acquainted with our early literature. When there was an end of eating and drinking, and the time came for conversation, Julianus asked that the singers and lyre-players be produced, the most skilful of both sexes, whom he knew that the young man had at hand. And when the boys and girls were brought in, they sang in a most charming way several odes of Anacreon and Sappho, as well as some erotic elegies of more recent poets that were sweet and graceful. But we were especially pleased with some delightful verses of Anacreon, written in his old age, ²³ which I noted down, in order that sometimes the toil and worry of this task of mine might find relief in the sweetness of poetical compositions:

Shaping the silver, Hephaestus,

Make me no panoply, pray;

What do I care for war's combats?

Make me a drinking cup rather,

Deep as you ever can make it;

Carve on it no stars and no wains;

What care I, pray, for the Pleiads,

What for the star of Bootes?

Make vines, and clusters upon them,

Treading them Love and Bathyllus,

Made of pure gold, with Lyaeus.

Then several Greeks who were present at that dinner, men of refinement and not without considerable acquaintance also with our literature, began to attack and assail Julianus the rhetorician as altogether barbarous and rustic, since he was sprung from the land of Spain, was a mere ranter of violent and noisy speech, and taught exercises in a tongue which had no charm and no sweetness of Venus and the Muse; and they asked him more than once what he thought of Anacreon and the other poets of that kind, and whether any of our bards had written such smooth-flowing and delightful poems;

except,

said they,

perhaps a few of Catullus and also possibly a few of Calvus; for the compositions of Laevius were involved, those of Hortensius without elegance, of Cinna harsh, of Memmius rude, and in short those of all the poets without polish or melody.

Then Julianus, filled with anger and indignation, spoke as follows in behalf of his mother tongue, as if for his altars and his fires:

I must indeed grant you that in such licentiousness and baseness you would outdo Alcinus ²⁴ and that as you outstrip us in the pleasures of adornment and of food, so you do also in the wantonness of your ditties. But lest you should condemn us, that is, the Latin race, as lacking in Aphrodite's charm, just as if we were barbarous and ignorant, allow me, I pray, to cover my head with my cloak (as they say Socrates did when making somewhat indelicate remarks), and hear and learn that our forefathers also were lovers and devoted to Venus before those poets whom you have named.

Then lying upon his back with veiled head, he chanted in exceedingly sweet tones some verses of Valerius Aedituus, an early poet, and also of Porcius Licinus and Quintus Catulus; and I think that nothing can be found neater, more graceful, more polished and more terse than those verses, either in Greek or in Latin:

The verses of Aedituus are as follows: ²⁵

When, Pamphila, I try to tell my love,

What shall I ask of you? Words fail my lips,

A sudden sweat o'erflows my ardent ²⁶ breast;

Thus fond and silent, I refrain and die.

And he also added other verses of the same poet,

no less sweet than the former ones: ²⁷

O Phileros, why a torch, that we need not?

Just as we are we'll go, our hearts aflame.

That flame no wild wind's blast can ever quench,

Or rain that falls torrential from the skies;

Venus herself alone can quell her fire,

No other force there is that has such power.

He also recited the following verses of Porcius Licinus: ²⁸

O shepherds of the lambs, the ewes' young brood,

Seek ye for fire? Come hither; man is fire.

Touch I the wood with finger-tip, it burns;

Your flock's a flame, all I behold is fire.

The verses of Quintus Catulus were these: ²⁹

My soul has left me; it has fled, methinks,

To Theotimus; he its refuge is.

But what if I should beg that he refuse

The truant to admit, but cast it out?

I'll go to him; but what if I be caught?

What shall I do? Queen Venus, lend me aid.

X

10arg

That the words praeter propter, which are in common use, were found also in Ennius.

I REMEMBER that I once went with Julius Celsinus the Numidian to visit Cornelius Fronto, who was then seriously ill with the gout. When we arrived and were admitted, we found him lying on a Greek couch, and sitting around him a large number of men famous for learning, birth or fortune. By his side stood several builders, who had been summoned to construct some new baths and were exhibiting different plans for baths, drawn on little pieces of parchment. When he had selected one plan and specimen of their work, he inquired what the expense would be of completing that entire project. And when the architect had said that it would probably require about three hundred thousand sesterces, one of Fronto's friends said,

And another fifty thousand, more or less ( praeterpropter).

Then Fronto, interrupting the conversation which he had begun to hold about the expense of the baths, and looking at the friend who had said that another fifty thousand would be needed praeterpropter, asked him what that word meant. And the friend replied:

'That word is not my own, for you may hear many men using it; but what the word means you must ask from a grammarian, not from me

; and at the same time he pointed out a grammarian of no little fame as a teacher at Rome, who was sitting there with them. Then the grammarian, surprised by the uncertainty about a familiar and much used word, said:

We inquire about something which does not at all deserve the honour of investigation, for this is some utterly plebeian expression or other, better known in the talk of mechanics than in that of cultivated men.

But Fronto, raising his voice and with a more earnest expression, said:

Sir, does this word seem to you so degraded and utterly faulty, when Marcus Cato ³⁰ and Marcus Varro, ³¹ and the early writers in general, have used it as necessary and as good Latin?

And thereupon Julius Celsinus reminded him that also in the tragedy of Ennius entitled Iphigeina the very word about which we were inquiring was found, and that it was more frequently corrupted by the grammarians than explained. Consequently, he at once asked that the Iphigenia of Quintus Ennius be brought and in a chorus of that tragedy we read these lines: ³²

That man in truth who knows not leisure's use

More trouble has than one by tasks pursued;

For he who has a task must be performed,

Devotes himself to that with heart and soul;

The idle mind knows not what 'tis it wants.

With us it is the same; for not at home

Are we nor in the field; from place to place

We haste; and once arrived, we would be gone.

Aimless we drift, we live but more or less

( praeterpropter). ³³

When this had been read there, then Fronto said to the grammarian, who was already wavering:

Have you heard, most worthy master, that your Ennius used praeterpropter, and that too in an expression of opinion resembling the austerest diatribes of the philosophers? We beg you then to tell us, since we are now investigating a word used by Ennius, what the hidden meaning is in this line:

Aimless we drift, we live but more or less.

And the grammarian, in a profuse sweat and blushing deeply, since many of the company were laughing long and loud at this, got up, saying as he left:

I will tell you at a later time, when we are alone, Fronto, in order that ignorant folk may not hear and learn.

And so we all rose, leaving the consideration of the word at that point.

XI

11arg

He gives some amatory verses of Plato, with which the philosopher amused himself when he was a very young man and was contending for the tragic prize.

HERE are two Greek verses that are famous and deemed worthy of remembrance by many learned men because of their charm and graceful terseness. There are in fact not a few ancient writers who declare that they are the work of the philosopher Plato, with which he amused himself in his youth, while at the same time he was beginning his literary career by writing tragedies. ³⁴ My soul, when I kissed Agathon, did pass My lips; as though, poor soul, 'would leap across. This distich a friend of mine, a young man no stranger to the Muses, has paraphrased somewhat boldly and freely in a number of lines. And since they seemed to me not undeserving of remembrance, I have added them here: ³⁵

When with my parted lips my love I kiss,

And quaff the breath's sweet balm from open mouth,

Smitten with love my soul mounts to my lips,

And through my love's soft mouth its way would take,

Passing the open gateway of the lips.

But if our kiss, delayed, had been prolonged,

By love's fire swayed my soul that way had ta'en,

And left me. Faith, a wondrous thing it were,

If I should die, but live within my love.

XII

12arg

A discourse of Herodes Atticus on the power and nature of pain, and a confirmation of his view by the example of an ignorant countryman who cut down fruit-trees along with thorns.

I ONCE heard Herodes Atticus, the ex-consul, holding forth at Athens in the Greek language, in which he far surpassed almost all the men of our time in distinction, fluency, and elegance of diction. He was speaking at the time against the a)pa/qeia, or

lack of feeling

of the Stoics, in consequence of having been assailed by one of that sect, who alleged that he did not endure the grief which he felt at the death of a beloved boy with sufficient wisdom and fortitude. The sense of the discourse, so far as I remember, was as follows: that no man, who felt and thought normally, could be wholly exempt and free from those emotions of the mind, which he called pa/qh, caused by sorrow, desire, fear, anger and pleasure; and even if he could so resist them as to be free from them altogether, he would not be better off, since his mind would grow weak and sluggish, being deprived of the support of certain emotions, as of a highly necessary stimulus. For he declared that those feelings and impulses of the mind, though they become faults when excessive, are connected and involved in certain powers and activities of the intellect; and therefore, if we should in our ignorance eradicate them altogether, there would be danger lest we lose also the good and useful qualities of the mind which are connected with them. Therefore he thought that they ought to be regulated, and pruned skilfully and carefully, so that those only should be removed which are unsuitable and unnatural, lest in fact that should happen which once (according to the story) befell an ignorant and rude Thracian in cultivating a field which he had bought.

When a man of Thrace,

said he,

from a remote and barbarous land, and unskilled in agriculture, had moved into a more civilized country, in order to lead a less wild life, he bought a farm planted with olives and vines. Knowing nothing at all about the care of vines or trees, he chanced to see a neighbour cutting down the thorns which had sprung up high and wide, pruning his ash-trees almost to their tops, pulling up the suckers of his vines which had spread over the earth from the main roots, and cutting off the tall straight shoots on his fruit and olive trees. He drew near and asked why the other was making such havoc of his wood and leaves. The neighbour answered; 'In order to make the field clean and neat and the trees and vines more productive.' The Thracian left his neighbour with thanks, rejoicing that he had gained some knowledge of farming. Then he took his sickle and axe; and thereupon in his pitiful ignorance the fellow cuts down all his vines and olives, lopping off the richest branches of the trees and the most fruitful shoots of the vines, and, with the idea of clearing up his place, he pulls up all the shrubs and shoots fit for bearing fruits and crops, along with the brambles and thorns, having learnt assurance at a ruinous price and acquired boldness in error through faulty imitation. Thus it is,

said Herodes,

that those disciples of insensibility, wishing to be thought calm, courageous and steadfast because of showing neither desire nor grief, neither wrath nor joy, root out all the more vigorous emotions of the mind, and grow old in the torpor of a sluggish and, as it were, nerveless life.

XIII

13arg

That what we call pumiliones the Greeks term na/noi.

CORNELIUS FRONTO, Festus Postumius, and Sulpicius Apollinaris chanced to be standing and talking together in the vestibule of the Palace; ³⁶ and I, being near by with some companions, eagerly listened to their conversations on literary subjects. Then said Fronto to Apollinaris:

I pray you, Sir, inform me whether I was right in forbearing to call men of excessively small stature nam and in preferring the term pumiliones; for I remembered that the latter word appears in the books of early writers, while I thought that nam was vulgar and barbarous.

It is true,

replied Apollinaris, that the word nam is frequent in the language of the ignorant vulgar; yet it is not barbarous, but is thought to be of Greek origin; for the Greeks called men of short and low stature, rising but little above the ground, na/noi, or 'dwarfs,' using that word by the application of a certain etymological principle corresponding with its meaning, ³⁷ and if my memory is not at fault,

said he,

it occurs in the comedy of Aristophanes entitled (Olka/des,³⁸ or The Cargo Boats.

"But this word would have been given citizenship by you, or established in a Latin colony, if you had deigned to use it, and it would be very much more acceptable than the low and vulgar words which Laberius introduced into the Latin language." ³⁹ Thereupon Postumius Festus said to a Latin grammarian, a friend of Fronto's:

Apollinaris has told us that nam is a Greek word; do you inform us whether it is good Latin, when it is used, as it commonly is, of small mules or ponies, and in what author it is found.

And that grammarian, a man very well versed in knowledge of the early literature, said:

If I am not committing sacrilege in giving my opinion of any Greek or Latin word in the presence of Apollinaris, I venture to reply to your inquiry, Festus, that the word is Latin and is found in the poems of Helvius Cinna, a poet neither obscure nor without learning

And he gave the verses themselves, ⁴⁰ which I have added, since I chanced to remember them:

But now through Genunanian willow groves

the wagon hurries me with dwarf steeds ( bigis nanis) twain.

XIV

14arg

That Marcus Varro and Publius Nigidius, the most learned Romans of their time, were contemporaries of Caesar and Cicero, and that the commentaries of Nigidius, because of their obscurity and subtlety, did not become popular.

THE time of Marcus Cicero and Gaius Caesar had few men of surpassing eloquence, but in encyclopaedic learning and in the varied sciences by which humanity is enobled it possesses two towering figures in Marcus Varro and Publius Nigidius. Now the records of knowledge and learning left in written form by Varro are familiar and in general use, the observations of Nigidius, however, are not so widely known, but their obscurity and subtlety have caused them to be neglected, as of little practical value. As a specimen I may cite what I read a short time ago in his work entitled Grammatical Notes; from this book I have made a few extracts, as an example of the nature of his writings. When discussing the nature and order of the letters ⁴¹ which the grammarians call vocales, or

vowels,

he wrote the following, which I leave unexplained, in order to test my readers' powers of application: ⁴²

A and o,

he says,

always stand first in diphthongs, i and u always second, e both follows and precedes; it precedes in Euripus, follows in Aemilius. If anyone supposes that u precedes in the words Valeriuis, Vannonis, and Volusius, or that i precedes in iampridem (long ago), iecur (liver), iocis (joke), and iucundus (agreeable), he will be wrong, for when these letters precede, they are in fact not vowels.

⁴³ These words also are from the same book: ⁴⁴

Between the letters n and g another element is introduced, as in the words aguis (snake), angari,⁴⁵ ancora (anchor), increpat (chides), incurrit (runs upon), and ingenuus (free-born). In all these we have, not a true n, but a so-called n adullerinum.⁴⁶ For the tongue shows that it is not an ordinary n; since if it were that sound, the tongue would touch the palate in making it.

Then in another place we find this: ⁴⁷

I do not charge those Greeks with so great ignorance in writing ou (- ū) with o and v, as I do those ⁴⁸ who wrote ei (= ī) with e and i; for the former the Greeks lid from necessity, in the latter case there was no compulsion.

⁴⁹

Noctes Atticae. Aulus Gellius. John C. Rolfe (Translator). Cambridge, Mass.. 1927.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Perseus

Attic Nights (English) (Gellius, Aulus. The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius. Rolfe, John C., translator. Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, 1927 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Noctes Atticae Perseus (Gellius, Aulus. The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius. Rolfe, John C., editor. Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, 1927 (printing).) — 19.1 focus

I

Argument

Responsio cuiusdam philosophi, interrogati quam ob causam maris tempestate palluerit. ¹

[1] NAVIGABAMUS a Cassiopa Brundisium mare Ionium violentum et vastum et iactabundum.

[2] Nox deinde quae diem primum secuta est, in ea fere tota ventus a latere saeviens navem undis compleverat.

[3] Tum postea, complorantibus nostris omnibus atque in sentina satis agentibus, dies quidem tandem inluxit. Sed nihil de periculo neque de saevitia venti remissum, quin turbines etiam crebriores et caelum atrum et fumigantes globi et figurae quaedam nubium metuendae quos typhonas vocabant, inpendere inminereque ac depressurae navem videbantur.

[4] In eadem fuit philosophus in disciplina Stoica celebratus, quem ego A the nis cognoveram non parva virum auctoritate satisque attente discipulos iuvenes continentem.

[5] Eum tunc in tantis periculis inque illo tumultu caeli marisque requirebam oculis, scire cupiens quonam statu animi et an interritus intrepidusque esset.

[6] Atque ibi hominem conspicimus pavidum et expallidum, ² ploratus quidem nullos, sicuti ceteri omnes, nec ullas eiusmodi huiusmodi voces cientem, sed coloris et voltus turbatione non multum a ceteris differenten.

[7] At ubi caelum enituit et deferbuit mare et ardor ille periculi deflagravit, accedit ad Stoicum Graecus quispiam dives ex Asia, magno, ut videbamus, cultu paratuque rerum et familiae, atque ipse erat multis corporis animique deliciis affluens.

[8] Is quasi inludens: Quid hoc, inquit, est, o philosophe, quod, cum in periculis essemus, timuisti tu et palluisti? Ego neque timui neque pallui.

[9] Et philosophus aliquantum cunctatus an respondere ei conveniret, Si quid ego, inquit. in tanta violentia tempestatum videor paulum pavefactus, non tu istius rei ratione audienda dignus es.

[10] Set tibi sane Aristippus, ³ ille Socratis discipulus, pro me responderit, qui in simili ⁴ tempore a simillimo tui homine interrogatus quare philosophus timeret, cum ille contra nihil metueret, non eandem esse causam sibi atque illi respondit, quoniam is quidem esset non magnopere sollicitus pro anima nequissimi nebulonis, ipsum autem pro Aristippi anima timere.

[11] His tunc verbis Stoicus divitem ilium Asiaticum a sese molitus est.

[12] Sed postea, cum Brundisium adventaremus malaciaque esset venti ac maris, percontatus eum sum quaenam illa ratio esset pavoris sui, quam dicere ei supersedisset a quo fuerat non satis digne compellatus?

[13] Atque ille mihi placide et comiter: Quoniam, inquit, audiendi cupidus es, audi quid super isto brevi quidem, sed necessario et naturali pavore maiores nostri, conditores sectae Stoicae, senserint, vel potius, inquit, lege; nam et facilius credideris, si legas, et memineris magis. 14 Atque ibi coram ex sarcinula sua librum protulit Epicteti philosophi quintum Διαλέξεων, quas ab Arriano digestas congruere scriptis ζήνωνος et Chrysippi non dubium est.

[15] In eo libro Graeca scilicet oratione scriptam hanc sententiam legimus: Visa animi, quas φαντασίας philosophi appellant, quibus mens hominis prima statim specie accidentis ad animum rei pellitur, non voluntatis sunt neque arbitrariae, sed vi quadam sua inferunt sese hominibus noscitanda;

[16] probationes autem, quas συγκαταφέσεις vocant, quibus eadem visa noscuntur, voluntariae sunt fiuntque hominum arbitratu.

[17] Propterea cum sonus aliquis formidabilis aut caelo aut ex ruina aut repentinus nescio cuius periculi nuntius vel quid aliud est ⁵ eiusmodi factum, sapientis quoque animum paulisper moveri et contrahi et pallescere necessum est, non opinione alicuius mali praecepta, sed quibusdam motibus rapidis et inconsultis, officium mentis atque rationis praevertentibus.

[18] Mox tamen ille sapiens ibidem τὰς τοιαύτας φαντασίας id est visa istaec animi sui terrifica, non adprobat, hoc est οὐ συγκαττατιθεται οὐδὲ προσεπιδοξάζει,⁶ sed abicit respuitque nec ei metuendum esse in his quicquam videtur.

[19] Atque hoc inter insipientis sapientisque animum differre dicunt, quod insipiens, qualia sibi esse primo animi sui pulsu visa sunt saeva et aspera, talia esse vero putat et eadem incepta, tamquam si iure metuenda sint, sua quoque adsensione adprobat καὶ προσεπιδοξάζει hoc enim verbo Stoici, cum super ista istare disserunt, utuntur.

[20] Sapiens autem, cum breviter et strictim colore atque vultu motus est, οὐ συγκατατίθεαι, sed statum vigoremque sententiae suae retinet quam de huiuscemodi visis semper habuit, ut de minime metuendis, sed fronte falsa et formidine formidinie inani territantibus.

[21] Haec Epictetum philosophum ex decretis Stoicorum sensisse atque dixisse, in eo quo dixi libro legimus adnotandaque esse idcirco existimavimus, ut rebus forte id genus quibus dixi obortis pavescere sensim et quasi albescere, non insipientis esse hominis neque ignavi putemus et in eo tamen brevi motu naturali magis infirmitati cedamus quam quod esse ea qualia visa sunt censeamus.

II

Argument

Ex quinque corporis sensibus duos esse cum beluis maxiem communes; quodque turpis et improba est voluptas quae ex auditu, visu odoratuque procedit, quae vero ex gustu tactuque est, rerum omium foedissima est, cum hae duae bestiarum etiam sint, reliquae hominum tantum.

[1] QUINQUE sunt hominum sensus, quos Graeci αἰσθήσεις appellant, per quos voluptas animo aut corpori quaeri videtur: gustus, tactus, odoratus, visus, auditus. Ex his omnibus quae inmodice voluptas capitur, ea turpis atque inproba iniproba existimatur.

[2] Sed enim quae nimia ex gustu atque tactu est, ea voluptas, sicuti sapientes viri censuerunt, omnium rerum foedissima est, eosque maxime qui duabus istis beluinis voluptatibus sese dediderunt, gravissimi vitii vocabulis Graeci appellant vel ἀκρατεῖς vel ἀκολάστους; nos eos vel incontinentes dicimus vel intemperantes: ἀκολάστους enim, si interpretari coactius velis, nimis id verbum insolens erit.

[3] Istae autem voluptates duae gustus atque tactus, id est libidines in cibos atque in Venerem prodigae, solae sunt hominibus communes cum beluis et idcirco in pecudum ferorumque animalium numero habetur, quisquis est his ferinis voluptatibus praevinctus;

[4] ceterae ex tribus aliis sensibus proficiscentes hominum esse tantum propriae videntur.

[5] Verba super hac re Aristotelis philosophi adscripsi, ut vel auctoritas clari atque incluti viri tam infamibus nos voluptatibus deterreret: Διὰ τί οἱ κατὰ τὴν τῆς ἁφῆς ἢ γεύσεως ἡδονὴν⁷ γιγνομένην, ἂν ὑπερβάλλωσιν, ἀκρατεῖς λέγονται; οἵ τε γὰρ περὶ τὰ ἀφροδίσια ἀκόλαστοι τοιοῦτοι,⁸ οἵ τε περὶ τὰς τῆς τροφῆς ἀπολαύσεις· τῶν δὲ κατὰ τὴν τροφήν, ἀπʼ ἐνίων μὲν ἐν τῇ γλώττῃ τὸ ἡδύ, ἀπʼ ἐνίων δὲ ἐν τῷ λάρυγγι, διὸ καὶ Φιλόξενος γεράνου λάρυγγα⁹ εὔχετο ἔχειν· ἢ διὰ τὸ τὰς ἀπὸ τούτων γιγνομένας ἡδονὰς κοινὰς εἶναι ἡμῖν καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ζώοις; ἅτε¹⁰ οὐσῶν κοινῶν,¹¹ ἀτιμόταταί εἰσι καὶ μάλιστα ἢ μόναι ἐπονείδιστοι, ὡς τὸν¹² ὑπὸ τούτων ἡττώ- μενον ψέγομεν καὶ ἀκρατῆ καὶ ἀκόλαστον λέγομεν διὰ τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν χειρίστων ἡδονῶν ἡττᾶσθαι. οὐσῶν δὲ τῶν αἰσθήσεων πέντε, τὰ ἄλλα ζῶα ἀπὸ τῶν δύο μόνων τῶν προειρημένων ἥδεται, κατὰ δὲ τὰς ἄλλας ἢ ὅλως οὐχ ἥδεται ἢ κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς τοῦτο πάσχει.

[6] Quis igitur habens aliquid humani pudoris voluptatibus istis duabus coeundi atque comedendi, quae sunt homini cum sue atque asino communes, gaudeat?

[7] Socrates quidem dicebat multos homines propterea velle vivere, ut ederent et biberent, se bibere atque esse, ut viveret.

[8] Hippocrates autem, divina vir scientia, de coitu venerio ita existimabat, partem esse quandam morbi taeterrimi, quem nostri comitialem dixerunt; namque ipsius verba haec traduntur: τὴν συνουσίαν εἶναι μικρὰν ἐπιληψίαν.

III

Argument

Quod turpius est frigide laudari quam acerbius vituperari.

[1] TURPIUS esse dicebat Favorinus philosophus exigue atque frigide laudari quam insectanter et graviter vituperari:

[2] Quoniam, inquit, qui maledicit et vituperat, quanto id acerbius facit, tam maximo ille pro inimico et iniquo ducitur et plerumque propterea fidem non capit. Sed qui infecunde atque ieiune laudat destitui a causa videtur et amicus quidem creditur eius quem laudare vult, sed nihil posse reperire quod iure lure laudet.

IV

Argument

Quamobrem venter repentino timore effluat; quare etiam ignis urinam lacessat.

[1] ARISTOTELIS libri sunt, qui Problemata Physica inscribuntur, lepidissimi et elegantiarum omnigenus referti.

[2] In his quaerit quam ob causam eveniat ut quibus invasit repentinus rei magnae timor, plerumque alvo statim cita fiant.

[3] Item quaerit cur accidat ut eum qui propter ignem diutius stetit libido urinae lacessat.

[4] Ac de alvo quidem inter timendum prona atque praecipiti causam esse dicit quod timor omnis sit algificus, quem ille appellat ψυχροποιόν,¹³ eaque vi frigoris sanguine caldoremque omnem de summa corporis cute cogat penitus et depellat faciatque simul ut qui timent, sanguine ex ore decedente, pallescant.

[5] Is autem, inquit, sanguis et caldor in intuma coactus movet plerumque alvum et incitat.

[6] De urina celebri, ex igni proximo facta, verba haec posuit: Τὸ δὲ πῦρ διαχαλᾷ τὸ πεπηγός,¹⁴ ὥσπρ ἥλιος τὴν χιόνα.

V

Argument

Ex Aristotelis libris sumptum quod nivis aqua potui pessima sit; et quod ex nive crystallus concreatur.

[1] IN Tiburte rus concesseramus hominis amici divitis aestate anni flagrantissima ego et quidam alii aequales et familiares mei, eloquentiae aut philosophiae sectatores.

[2] Erat nobiscum vir bonus ex peripatetica disciplina, bene doctus et Aristotelis unice studiosissimus.

[3] Is nos aquam multam ex diluta nive bibentes coercebat severiusque increpabat. Adhibebat nobis auctoritates nobilium medicorum et cumprimis Aristotelis philosophi, rei omnis humanae peritissimi, qui aquam nivalem frugibus sane et arboribus fecundam diceret, sed hominibus potu nimio insalubrem esse tabemque et morbos sensim atque in diem longam visceribus inseminare.

[4] Haec quidem ille ad nos prudenter et benivole et adsidue dictitabat. Sed cum bibendae nivis pausa fieret nulla, profit e bibliotheca Tiburti, quae tunc in Herculis templo satis commode instructa libris erat, Aristotelis librum eumque ad nos adfert et Huius saltem, inquit, sapientissimi viri verbis credite ac desinite valitudinem vestram profligare.

[5] In eo libro scriptum fuit deterrimam esse potu aquam e nive itemque solidius latiusque concretam esse ¹⁵ eam, quam κρύσταλλον Graeci appellant; causaque ibi adscripta est huiuscemodi:

[6] Quoniam, cum aqua frigore aeris duratur et coit, necessum est fieri evaporationem et quandam quasi auram tenuissimam exprimi ex ea et emanare.

[7] Id autem, inquit, in ea levissimum est quod evaporatur; manet autem quod est gravius et sordidius et insalubrius, atque id, pulsu aeris verberatum, in modum coloremque spumae candidae oritur.

[8] Sed aliquantum quod est salubrius difflari atque evaporari ex nive indicium illud est, quod ¹⁶ minor fit illo, quod ante fuerat quam concresceret.

[9] Verba ipsa Aristotelis ex eo libro pauca sumpsi et adscripsi: Διὰ τί τὰ ἀπὸ χιόνος καὶ κρυστάλλων ὕδατα φαὐλά ἐστιν; ὅτι παντὸς ὕδατος πηγνυμένου τὸ λεπτότατον καὶ κουφότατον ἐξατμίζει. σημεῖον δέ, ὅτι ἔλαττον γίνεται ἢ πρότερον, ὅταν τακῇ παγέν. ἀπεληλυθότος οὖν τοῦ ὑγιεινοτάτου, ἀνάγκη ἀεί, τὸ καταλειμόμενον χεῖρον εἶναι.

[10] Hoc ubi legimus, placuit honorem doctissimo viro haberi Aristoteli. Atque ita postea ego bellum et odium nivi indixi, alii indutias cum ea varie factitabant.

VI

Argument

Quod pudor sanguinem ad extera diffundit, timor vero contrahit.

[1] In Problematis Aristotelis philosophi ita scriptum est: Διὰ τί οἱ μὲν αἰσχυνόμενοι ἐρυθριῶσιν, οἱ δὲ φοβούμενοι ὠχριῶσιν, παραπλησίων τῶν παθῶν ὄντων; ὅτι τῶν μὲν αἰσχυνομένων διαχεῖται τὸ αἷμα ἐκ τῆς καρδίας εἰς ἅπαντα τὰ μέρη τοῦ σώματος, ὥστε ἐπιπολάζειν· τοῖς δὲ φοβηθεῖσιν συντρέχει εἰς τὴν καρδίαν, ὥστε ἐκλείπειν ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων μερῶν.

[2] Hoc ego Athenis cum Tauro nostro legissem percontatusque essem quid de ratione ista reddita sentiret, Dixit quidem, inquit, probe et vere quid accideret diffuso sanguine aut contracto, sed cur ita fieret non dixit.

[3] Adhuc enim quaeri potest quam ob causam pudor sanguinem diffundat, timor contrahat, cum sit pudor species timoris atque ita definiatur: timor iustae reprehensionis. Ita enim philosophi definiunt: αἰσχύνη ἐστὶν φόβος δικαίου ψόγου.

VII

Argument

Quid sit obesum; nonnullaque alia prisca vocabula.

[1] IN agro Vaticano Iulius Paulus poeta, vir bonus et rerum litterarumque veterum inpense doctus, herediolum tenue possidebat. Eo saepe nos ad sese vocabat et olusculis pomisque satis comiter copioseque invitabat.

[2] Atque ita molli quodam tempestatis autumnae die ego et Iulius Celsinus, cum ad eum cenassemus et apud mensam eius audissemus legi Laevi Alcestin rediremusque in urbem sole iam fere occiduo, figuras habitusque verborum nove aut insigniter dictorum in Laeviano illo carmine ruminabamur et, ut quaeque vox indidem digna animadverti subvenerat, qua nos quoque possemus uti, memoriae mandabamus.

[3] Erant autem verba quae tunc suppetebant, huiuscemodi:

Corpore (inquit) pectoreque undique obeso ac

Mente exsensa tardigenuclo

Senio obpressum.

Obesum hic notavimus proprie magis, quam usitate dictum pro exili atque gracilento; vulgus enim ἀκύρως vel κατὰ ἀντίφρασιν obesum pro uberi atque pingui dicit.

[4] Item notavimus notavimnus quod oblitteram gentem pro oblitterata dixit;

[5] item quod hostis qui foedera frangerent, foedifragos, non foederifragos dixit;

[6] item, quod rubentem auroram pudoricolorem appellavit et Memnonem nocticolorem;

[7] item, quod forte dubitanter et ab eo quod est sileo, silenta loca dixit et pulverulenta et pestilenta et quod carendum tui est pro te quodque magno impete pro impetu;

[8]

[9] item quod fortescere posuit pro fortem fieri quodque dolentiam pro dolore et avens pro libens;

[10] item curis intolerantibus pro intolerandis, quodque manciolis, inquit, tenellis pro manibus et quis tam siliceo? Item fiere, inquit, inpendio infit, id est fieri inpense incipit;

[11] quodque accipitret posuit pro laceret.

[12] His nos inter viam verborum Laevianorum adnotatiunculis oblectabamus.

[13] Cetera enim, quae videbantur nimium poetica, ex prosae orationis usu alieniora praetermisimus; veluti fuit quod de Nestore ait trisaeclisenex et dulciorelocus iste,

[14] quod de tumidis magnisque fluctibus inquit multigrumis et

[15] flumina gelu concreta tegimine esse onychino dixit,

[16] et quae multiplica ludens conposuit, quale illud est, quod vituperones suos subductisupercilicarptores appellavit.

VIII

Argument

Quaestio an harena. caelum, triticum pluralia inveniantur; atque inibi de quadrigis, inimicitiis, nonnullis praeterea vocabulis, an singulari numero comperiantur.

[1] ADULESCENTULUS Romae, priusquam Athenas concederern, quando erat a magistris auditionibusque obeundis otium, ad Frontonem Cornelium visendi gratia pergebam pergelam sermonibusque eius purissimis bonarumque doctrinarum plenis fruebar. Nec umquam factum est, quotiens eum vidimus loquentemque audivimus, quin rediremus fere cultiores doctioresque.

[2] Veluti fuit illa quodam die sermocinatio illius, levi quidem de re, sed a Latinae tamen linguae studio non abhorrens.

[3] Nam, cum quispiam familiaris eius, bene eruditus homo et tum poeta inlustris, liberatum esse se aquae intercutis morbo diceret, quod harenis calentibus esset usus, tum adludens Fronto: Morbo quidem, inquit, cares, sed verbi vitio non cares. Gaius enim Caesar, ille perpetuus dictator, Cn. Pompei socer, a quo familia et appellatio Caesarum deinceps propagata est, vir ingenii praecellentis, sermonis praeter alios suae aetatis castissimi, in libris, quos ad M. Ciceronem De Analogia conscripsit, harenas vitiose dici existimat, quod harena numquam multitudinis numero appellanda sit, sicuti neque caelum neque triticum;

[4] contra autem quadrigas, etiamsi currus unus, equorum quattuor iunctorum agmen unum sit, plurativo semper numero dicendas putat, sicut arma arina¹⁷ et moenia et comitia et inimicitias—nisi quid contra ea dicis, poetarum pulcherrime, quo et te purges et non esse id vitium demonstres.

[5] De caelo, inquit ille, et tritico non infitias eo, quin singulo semper numero dicenda sint, neque de armis et moenibus et comitiis, quin figura figure multitudinis perpetua censeantur;

[6] videbimus autem potius ¹⁸ de inimicitiis et quadrigis. Ac fortassean de quadrigis veterum auctoritati concessero, inimicitiam tamen, sicuti inscientiam et inpotentiam et iniuriam, quae ratio est quamobrem C. Caesar vel dictam esse a veteribus vel dicendam a nobis non putat, quando Plautus, linguae Latinae decus, deliciam. quoque ἐνικῶς dixerit pro deliciis?

Méa (inquit) voluptas, méa delicia. ¹⁹

Inimicitiam autem Q. Ennius in illo memoratissimo libro dixit:

Eo ego (inquit) ingenio natus sum;

Amicitiam atque inimicitiam inimicitiamr in frontem promptam gero.

Sed enim harenas parum Latine dici, quis, oro te, alius aut scripsit aut dixit? Ac propterea peto ut, si Gai Caesaris liber prae manibus est, promi iubeas, ut quam confidenter hoc indicat aestimari a te possit.

[7] Tunc, prolato libro De Analogia primo, verba haec ex eo pauca memoriae mandavi.

[8] Nam, cum supra dixisset, neque caelum neque triticum neque harenam larenam multitudinis significationem pati, Num tu, inquit, harum rerum natura accidere arbitraris quod unam terram ac ²⁰ plures terras et urbem et urbes et imperium et imperia dicamus, neque quadrigas in unam nominis figuram redigere neque harenam multitudinis appellatione convertere possimus?

[9] His deinde verbis lectis ibi ²¹ Fronto ad illum poetam: Videturne tibi, inquit, C. Caesar de statu verbi contra te satis aperte satisque constanter pronuntiasse?

[10] Tunc permotus auctoritate libri poeta: Si a Caesare, inquit, ius provocandi foret, ego nunc ab hoc Caesaris libro provocassem. Sed quoniam ipse rationem sententiae suae reddere supersedit, nos te nunc rogamus ut dicas quam esse causam vitii putes et in quadriga dicenda et in harenis.²²

[11] Tum Fronto ita respondit: Quadrigae semper, etsi multiiugae non sunt, multitudinis tamen numero tenentur, quoniam quattuor simul equi iuncti quadrigae, quasi quadriiugae, vocantur, neque debet prorsus appellatio equorum plurium includi in singularis numeri unitatem.

[12] Eandemque rationem harenae²³ habendam, sed in specie dispari; nam cum harena singulari in numero dicta multitudinem tamen et copiam significet minimarum, ex quibus constat, partium, indocte et inscite harenae dici videntur, tamquam id vocabulum indigeat numeri amplitudine, cum ei singulariter dicto ²⁴ ingenita sit naturalis sui multitudo. Sed haec ego, inquit, dixi, non ut huius sententiae legisque fundus subscriptorque fierem, sed ut ne Caesaris, viri docti, opinionem ἀπαραμύθητον destituerem. Nam cum caelum semper ἑνικῶς dicatur,

[13] mare et terra non semper, et pulvis, ventus et fumus. non semper, cur indutias et caerimonias scriptores veteres nonnumquam singulari numero appellaverunt, ferias et nundinas. et inferias. et exequias numquam? Cur mel et vinum atque id genus cetera numerum multitudinis capiunt, lacte²⁵ non capiat?

[14] Quaeri, inquam, ista omnia et enucleari et extundi ab hominibus negotiosis in civitate tam occupata non queunt. Quin his quoque ipsis quae iam dixi demoratos vos esse video, alicui, opinor, negotio destinatos.

[15] Ite ergo nunc et, quando forte erit otium, quaerite an quadrigam et harenas dixerit e cohorte illa dumtaxat antiquiore vel oratorum aliquis vel poetarum, id est classicus adsiduusque aliquis scriptor, non proletarius.

[16] Haec quidem Fronto requirere nos iussit vocabula non ea re, opinor, quod scripta esse in ullis veterum libris existumaret, sed ut nobis studium lectitandi in quaerendis rarioribus verbis exerceret.

[17] Quod unum ergo rarissimum videbatur, invenimus quadrigam numero singulari dictam in libro Saturarum M. Varronis, qui inscriptus est Ecdemeticus.

[18] Harenas autem πληθυντικῶς dictas minore studio quaerimus, quia praeter C. Caesarem, quod equidem meminerim, nemo id doctorum hominum dedit.

IX

Argument

Antonii Adulescens Iuliani in convivio ad quosdam Graecos lepidissima responsio.

[1] ADULESCENS e terra Asia de equestri loco, laetae indolis moribusque et fortuna bene ornatus et ad rem musicam facili ingenio ac lubenti, cenam dabat amicis ac magistris sub urbe in rusculo celebrandae lucis annuae, quam principem sibi vitae habuerat.

[2] Venerat tum nobiscum ad eandem cenam Antonius Iulianus rhetor, docendis publice iuvenibus magister, Hispano ore florentisque homo facundiae et rerum litterarumque veterum peritus.

[3] Is, ubi eduliis finis et poculis mox sermonibusque tempus fuit, desideravit exhiberi, quos habere eum adulescentem sciebat, scitissimos utriusque sexus, qui canerent voce et qui psallerent.

[4] Ac posteaquam introducti pueri puellaeque sunt, iucundum in modum Ἀνακρεόντεια pleraque et Sapphica et poetarum quoque recentium ἐλεγεῖα quaedam erotica dulcia et venusta cecinerunt.

[5] Oblectati autem sumus praeter multa alia versiculis lepidissimis Anacreontis senis, quos equidem scripsi, ut interea labor hic vigiliarum et inquies suavitate paulisper vocum atque modulorum adquiesceret:

[6]

Τὸν ἄργυρον τορεύσας,

Ἥφαιστέ, μοι ποίησον

Πανοπλίας μὲν οὐχί,

Τί γὰρ μάχαισι κἀμοί;

Ποτήριον δὲ κοῖλον

Ὅσον δύνῃ βάθυνον,

Καὶ μὴ²⁶ ποίει κατʼ αὐτὸ

Μήτʼ ἄστρα μήτʼ ἀμάξας:

Τίδʼ ἀστέρος Βοώτεω;

Ποίησον ἀμπέλους μοι

Καὶ βότρυας κατʼ αὐτῶν

Καὶ χρυσέους πατοῦντας

Ὁμοῦ καλῷ Λυαίῳ

Ἔρωτα καὶ Βάθυλλον.

[7] Tum Graeci plusculi qui in eo convivio erant, homines amoeni et nostras quoque litteras haut incuriose docti, Iulianum lulianum rhetorem lacessere insectarique adorti sunt tamquam prorsus barbarum et agrestem, qui ortus terra Hispania foret clamatorque tantum et facundia rabida iurgiosaque esset eiusque linguae exercitationes doceret quae nullas voluptates nullamque mulcedinem Veneris atque Musae haberet; saepeque eum percontabantur quid de Anacreonte ceterisque id genus poetis sentiret et ecquis nostrorum poetarum tam fluentes carminum delicias fecisset. Nisi Catullus, inquiunt, forte pauca et Calvus itidem pauca. Nam Laevius inplicata et Hortensius invenusta et Cinna inlepida et Memmius dura ac deinceps omnes rudia fecerunt atque absona.

[8] Tum ille pro lingua patria, tamquam pro aris et focis, animo inritato indignabundus: Cedere equidem, inquit, vobis debui, ut in tali asotia atque nequitia Alcinoum Alcinum²⁷ vinceretis et sicut in voluptatibus cultus atque victus, ita in cantilenarum quoque mollitiis ²⁸ anteiretis.

[9] Sed ne nos, id est nomen Latinum, tamquam profecto vastos quosdam et insubidos, ἀναφροδισίας condemnetis, permittite mihi, quaeso, operire pallio caput, quod in quadam parum pudica oratione Socraten fecisse aiunt, et audite ac discite nostros quoque antiquiores ante eos quos nominastis poetas amasios ac venerios fuisse.

[10] Tum resupinus, capite convelato, voce admodum quam suavi, versus cecinit Valeri Aeditui, veteris poetae, item Porcii Licini et Q. Catuli, quibus mundius, venustius, limatius, tersius, ²⁹ Graecum Latinumve nihil quicquam reperiri puto.

[11] Aeditui versus:

Dicere cum conor curam tibi, Pamphila, cordis,

Quid mi abs te quaeram? verba labris abeunt,

Per pectus manat subito subido ³⁰ mihi sudor:

Sic tacitus, subidus, dum pudeo, pereo.

[12] Atque item alios versus eiusdem addidit, non hercle minus dulces quam priores:

Qui faculam praefers, Phileros, quae nil opus nobis?

Ibimus sic, lucet pectore flamma satis.

Istam nam potis est vis saeva extinguere venti

Aut imber caelo candidus ³¹ praecipitans,

At contra hunc ignem Veneris, nisi si Venus ipsa,

Nullast quae possit vis alia opprimere.

[13] Item dixit versus Porcii Licini hosce:

Custodes ovium tenerae ³² propaginis, agnum,

Quaeritis ignem? ite huc hue; quaeritis? ignis homost homrost.

Si digito attigero, incendam silvam simul omnem;

Omne pecus flammast, omnia quae video.

Quinti Catuli versus illi fuerunt:

[14]

Aufugit mi animus; credo, ut solet, ad Theotimum

Devenit. Sic est: perfugium illud habet.

Qui, si non interdixem, ne illunc fugitivum

Mitteret ad se intro, sed magis eiceret?

Ibimus quaesitum. Verum, ne ipsi teneamur,

Formido. Quid ago? Da Venus consilium.

X

Argument

Verba haec, praeter propter, in usu vulgi protrita, ³³ etiam Ennii fuisse.

[1] MEMINI me quondam et Celsinum Iulium Numidam ad Frontonem Cornelium, pedes tunc graviter aegrum, ire et visere. Atque ubi ³⁴ introducti sumus, offendimus eum cubantem in scimpodio Graeciensi, circumundique sedentibus multis doctrina aut genere aut fortuna nobilibus viris.

[2] Adsistebant fabri aedium complures, balneis novis moliendis adhibiti, ostendebantque

[3] depictas in membranulis varias species balnearum. Ex quibus cum elegisset unam formam speciemque operis, ³⁵ interrogavit quantus esset pecuniae sumptus ³⁶ ad id totum opus absolvendum.

[4] Cumque architectus dixisset necessaria videri esse sestertia ferme trecenta, unus ex amicis Frontonis: Et praeterpropter, inquit, alia quinquaginta.

[5] Tum Fronto, dilatis sermonibus quos habere de balnearum sumptu institerat, aspiciens ad eum amicum qui dixerat quinquaginta esse alia praeterpropter necessaria, ³⁷ eum interrogavit quid significaret verbum praeterpropter.

[6] Atque ille amicus: Non meum meutm, inquit, hoc verbum est, sed multorum hominum hominurm quos loquentis id audias;

[7] quid autem id verbum significet, non ex me, sed ex grammatico quaerundum est, ac simul digito demonstrat grammaticum, haud incelebri nomine Romae docentem unaque ibi ³⁸ sedentem. Tum grammaticus usitati pervulgatique verbi obscuritate motus:

[8] Quaerimus, inquit, quod honore quaestionis minime dignum est.

[9] Nam nescio quid hoc praenimis plebeium est et in opificum sermonibus quam in hominum doctorum ³⁹ notius.

[10] At enim Fronto, iam voce atque vultu intentiore: Itane, inquit, magister, dehonestum tibi deculpatumque hoc verbum videtur, quo et M. Cato et M. Varro et pleraque aetas superior ut necessario et Latino usi sunt?

[11] Atque ibi Iulius Celsinus admonuit, in tragoedia quoque Enni quae Iphigenia inscripta est, id ipsum de quo quaerebatur scriptum esse et a grammaticis contaminari magis solitum quam enarrari.

[12] Quocirca statim proferri Iphigeniam Q. Enni iubet. In eius tragoediae choro inscriptos esse hos versus legimus:

Ó otio tio qui néscit uti

Plús negoti habét quam cum est negótium in negótio.

Nám cui quod agat ínstitutumst, nil nisi ⁴⁰ negótium,

Íd agit, id ⁴¹ studét, ibi mentem atque ánimum delectát suum,

Ó otioso tioso in ótio animus néscit quid velit. ⁴²

Hóc idem est; em néque domi nunc nós nec militiaé sumus sumlus,

Ímus huc hue, hinc illuc, cum illuc véntum est, ire illínc lubet,

Í incerte ncerte errat ánimus, praeterprópter vitam vívitur.

[13] Hoc ibi lectum est, tum deinde Fronto ad grammaticum iam labentem: Audistine, inquit, magister optime, Ennium tuum dixisse praeterpropter et cum sententia quidem tali, quali severissimae philosophorum esse obiurgationes solent? Petimus igitur dicas, quoniam de Enniano iam verbo quaeritur, qu sit remotus ⁴³ huiusce versus sensus:

Í incerte ncerte errat ánimus, praeterprópter vitam vívitur.

[14] Et grammaticus sudans multum ac rubens multum, cum id plerique prolixius riderent, exsurgit exurgit et abiens: Tibi, inquit, Fronto, postea uni dicam, ne inscitiores audiant ac discant. Atque ita omnes, relicta ibi quaestione verbi, consurreximus.

XI

Argument

Ponit versus Platonis amatorios quos admodum iuvenis lusit, dum tragoediis contendit.

[1] CELEBRANTUR duo isti Graeci versiculi multorumque doctorum hominum memoria dignantur, quod sint lepidissimi et venustissimae brevitatis.

[2] Neque adeo pauci sunt veteres scriptores, qui quidem ⁴⁴ eos Platonis esse philosophi adfirmant, quibus ille adulescens luserit, cum tragoediis quoque eodem tempore faciendis praeluderet:

Τὴν ψυχὴν Ἀγάθωνα φιλῶν ἐπὶ χείλεσιν ἔσχον

Ἤλθε γὰρ ἡ τλήμων ὡς διαβησομένη.

[3] Hoc δίστιχον amicus meus, οὐκ ἄμουσος adulescens, in plures versiculos licentius liberiusque vertit. Qui quoniam mihi quidem visi sunt non esse memoratu indigni, subdidi:

[4]

Cum semihiulco savio

Meo puellum savior

Dulcemque florem spiritus

Duco ex aperto tramite,

Anima male ⁴⁵ aegra et saucia

Cucurrit ad labeas mihi milli,

Rictuinque in oris pervium

Et labra pueri mollia,

Rimata itineri transitus,

Ut transiliret, nititur.

Tum si morae quid plusculae plusculac

Fuisset in coetu osculi,

Amoris igni percita

Transisset et me linqueret

Et mira prorsum res foret,

Ut fierem ad me ⁴⁶ mortuus,

Ad puerum ut ⁴⁷ intus viverem.

XII

Argument

Dissertatio Herodis Attici super vi et natura doloris suaeque opinionis affirmatio per exemplum indocti rustici, qui cum rubis fructiferas arbores praecidit.

[1] HERODEM ATTICUM, consularem virum, Athenis disserentem audivi Graeca oratione, in qua fere omnes memoriae nostrae universos gravitate atque copia et elegantia vocum longe praestitit.

[2] Disseruit autem contra ἀπάθειαν Stoicorum, lacessitus a quodam Stoico, tamquam minus sapienter et parum viriliter dolorem ferret ex morte pueri quem amaverat.

[3] In ea dissertione, ⁴⁸ quantulum memini, huiuscemodi sensus est: quod nullus usquam homo, qui secundum naturam sentiret et saperet, adfectionibus istis animi, quas πάθη appellabat, aegritudinis, cupiditatis, timoris, irae, voluptatis, carere et vacare totis posset, ⁴⁹ atque, si posset etiam obniti ut totis careret, non fore ⁵⁰ id melius, quoniam langueret animus et torperet, adfectionum quarundam adminiculis, ut necessaria plurimum temperie privatus.

[4] Dicebat enim sensus istos motusque animi, qui cum inmoderatiores sunt vitia fiunt, innexos inplicatosque esse vigoribus quibusdam mentium et alacritatibus,

[5] ac propterea, si omnino omnis eos inperitius convellamus, periculum esse ne eis ⁵¹ adhaerentes bonas quoque et utiles animi indoles amittamus.

[6] Moderandos esse igitur et scite considerateque purgandos censebat, ut ea tantum quae aliena sunt contraque naturam videntur et cum pernicie adgnata sunt detrahantur, ne profecto id accidat quod cuipiam Thraco insipienti et rudi in agro quem emerat procurando venisse usu fabulast.

[7] Homo Thracus, inquit, ex ultima barbaria, ruris colendi insolens, cum in terras cultiores humanioris vitae cupidine commigrasset, fundum mercatus est oleo atque vino consitum. Qui cum ⁵² nihil admodum super vite aut arbore colenda sciret, videt forte vicinum rubos alte atque late obortas excidentem, fraxinos ad summum prope verticem deputantem, suboles vitium e radicibus caudicum super terrain fusas revellentem, stolones in pomis aut in oleis proceros atque derectos amputantem, acceditque prope et cur tantam ligni atque frondium caedem faceret percontatus est.

[8] Et vicinus ita respondit: Ut ager, inquit, mundus purusque fiat, eius arbor atque vitis fecundior.

[9] Discedit ille a vicino gratias agens et laetus, tamquam adeptus rei rusticae disciplinam. Tum falcem ibi ac securim capit: atque ibi homo misere ⁵³ inperitus vites suas sibi omnis et oleas detruncat comasque arborum laetissimas uberrimosque vitium palmites decidit et frutecta atque virgulta simul omnia, pomis frugibusque gignendis felicia, cum sentibus et rubis purificandi agri gratia convellit, mala mercede doctus audaciam fiduciamque peccandi imitatione falsa eruditus.

[10] Sic, inquit, isti apathiae sectatores, qui videri se esse tranquillos et intrepidos et inmobiles volunt, dum nihil cupiunt, nihil dolent, nihil irascuntur, nihil gaudent, omnibus vehementioris animi officiis amputatis, in torpore ignavae et quasi enervatae vitae consenescunt.

XIII

Argument

Quos pumiliones dicimus, Graece νάνους appellari.

[1] STABANT forte una in vestibulo Palatii fabulantes tabulantes Fronto Cornelius et Festus Postumius et Apollinaris Sulpicius, atque ego ibi adsistens cum quibusdam aliis sermones eorum, quos de litterarum disciplinis habebant, curiosius captabam.

[2] Tum Fronto Apollinari: Fac me, inquit, oro, magister, ut sim certus an recte supersederim nanos dicere parva nimis nimtis statura homines maluerimque eos pumiliones appellare, quoniam hoc scriptum esse in libris veterum memineram, nanos autem sordidum esse verbum et barbarum credebam?

[3] Est quidem, inquit, hoc Apollinaris, in consuetudine inperiti vulgi frequens, sed barbarum non est censeturque linguae Graecae origine; νάνους enim Graeci ⁵⁴ vocaverunt brevi atque humili corpore homines paulum supra terrain extantes idque ita dixerunt adhibita quadam ratione etymologiae cum sententia vocabuli competente et, si memoria, inquit, mihi non labat scriptun hoc est in comoedia Aristophanis, cui nomen est Ὁλκάδες.⁵⁵ Fuisset autem verbum hoc a te civitate donatum aut in Latinam coloniam colonial deductum, si tu eo uti dignatus fores, essetque id inpendio probabilius quam quae a Laberio ignobilia nimis et sordentia in usum linguae Latinae intromissa sunt.

[4] Tum Festus Postumius grammatico cuipiam Latino, Frontonis familiari: Docuit, inquit, nos Apollinaris, nanos verbum Graecum esse, tu nos doce, quoniam ⁵⁶ de mulis aut eculeis humilioribus vulgo dicitur, anne Latinum sit et aput quem scriptum reperiatur?

[5] Atque ille grammaticus, homo sane perquam in noscendis veteribus scriptis exercitus: Si piaculum piaculunm, inquit, non committitur comniittitur, praesente Apollinare, quid de voce ulla Graeca Latinave sentiam dicere, audeo tibi, Feste, quaerenti respondere esse hoc verbum Latinum scriptumque inveniri in poematis poeinatis Helvi Cinnae, non ignobilis neque indocti poetae, versusque eius ipsos dixit, quos, quoniam memoriae mihi forte aderant, adscripsi: At nunc me Genumana per salicta Bigis raeda rapit citata nanis.

XIV

Argument

Contemporaneos fuisse Caesari et Ciceroni M. Varronem et P. Nigidium, aetatis suae doctissimos Ronanos; et quod Nigidii commentationes propter earum obscuritatem subtilitatemque in vulgus non exeunt.

[1] AETAS M. Ciceronis et C. Caesaris praestanti facundia paucos habuit, doctrinarum autem multiformium variarumque artium quibus humanitas erudita est columina habuit M. Varronem et P. Nigidium.

[2] Sed Varronis quidem monumenta rerum ac disciplinarum, quae per litteras condidit, in propatulo frequentique usu feruntur,

[3] Nigidianae autem commentationes non proinde in volgus exeunt et obscuritas subtilitasque earum tamquam parum utilis derelicta est.

[4] Sicuti sunt quae paulo ante legimus in Commentariis eius, quos Grammaticos inscripsit, ex ⁵⁷ quibus quaedam ad demonstrandum scripturae seripturae genus exempli gratia sumpsi sunpsi.

[5] Nam, cum de natura atque ordine litterarum dissereret quas grammatici vocales appellant, verba haec scripsit, quae reliquimus inenarrata ad exercendam legentium intentionem:

[6] A et o semper principes sunt, i et u semper subditae, e et subit et praeit; praeit ⁵⁸ in Euripo, subit in Aemilio. Si quis putat praeire u in his verbis: Valerius, Vennonius, Volusius, aut i in his: iampridem ianpridem, iecur, iocus, iucundum, errabit, quod hae litterae, cum praeeunt, ne vocales quidem sunt.

[7] Item ex eodem libro verba haec sunt: Inter litteram n et g est alia vis, ut in nomine anguis et angari anrari et ancorae et increpat et incurrit et ingenuus ingeluus. In omnibus his non verum n, sed adulterinum ponitur. Nam n non esse lingua indicio est; nam si ea littera esset, lingua palatum tangeret.

[8] Alio deinde in loco ita scriptum: Graecos non tantae inscitiae arcesso, qui ou ex o et u scripserunt, quantae ⁵⁹ qui ei ex e et i; illud enim inopia fecerunt, hoc nulla re subacti.

Notes on the current edition

Attic Nights

1. A town in the north-eastern part of Corcyra, also called Cassiope.

2. Typhon, according to Hesiod, was a son of Typhoeus (see note on xvii. 10. 9) and father of the winds; but by later poets he was identified with Typhos or Typhoeus. His name was given to the violent storms called typhoons.

3. Frag. Phil. Graec. ii. 407. 16.

4. Frag. 9, p. 408, Schenkl., L.C.L. II. 448 ff.

5. Problemata, xxviii. 7.

6. See note on xvi. 4. 4.

7. xxvii. 10; vii. 3.

8. This is not what Aristotle said, but that water formed from ice was unwholesome, see § 5 and 9. See crit. note 1, p. 362.

9. Frag. 214, Rose.

10. Frag. 243, Rose.

11. This is characteristic of the archaistic period in which Gellius lived.

12. Frag. 8, Bahrens.

13. Frag. 9, Bährens.

14. A verb formed from accipiter,

hawk,

meaning

to tear,

as a hawk does its prey.

15. Frag. 7, Bährens.

16. ii. p. 126, Dinter.

17. Harenae is used by Virgil, Horace, and Ovid ( e.g. Hor. Odes, i. 28. 1; iii. 4. 31; Virg. Aen. i. 107); also by Seneca the philosopher Tacitus, Suetonius ( Aug. lxxx.) and other post-Augustan prose-writers and poets.

18. Poen. 365.

19. Achilles, 12, p. 120, Vahlen 2.

20. The classical form is, of course, lac. Lacte and lact occur in early Latin, and the use of lacte here is an archaism, which was not understood by some of the scribes; see crit. note 2.

21. The plural is used by Ovid, Virgil, and Horace; and by later poets and prose-writers; e.g. Suetonius, Aug. lxxx. (i., p. 246, L.C.L.).

22. Cf. facundia rabida iurgiosaque, § 7.

23. Poetae Lyrici Graeci, iii., p. 298, Bergk 4.

24. Probably (see crit. note) another form of Alcinous, King of the Phaeacians. He is not represented by Homer as

licentious and base,

but that opinion arose at a later time. Cf. Horace, Epist. i. 2. 28 ff.

25. Frag. 1, Bährens.

26. Subidus occurs only here, and its meaning is not certain It seems to be connected with the verb subo,

burn with love,

but some regard it as the opposite of insubidus,

foolish, stupid,

in which case it might be translated

conscious

The alliteration and assonance in this epigram are noteworthy.

27. Frag. 2, Bährens.

28. Frag. 5, Bährens.

29. Frag. 1, Bährens.

30. Frag. inc. 53, Jordan.

31. p. 340 Bipont.

32. 183, Ribbeck 3.

33. That is, we exist rather than really live. Cf. Sophocles, fr. Iphig. ti/ktei ga\r ou)de\n e)sqlo\n ei)kai/a sxolh/,

aimless idleness produces nothing that is good.

(Bergk, De Frag. Soph. p. 15.)

34. The writing of tragedies as youthful literary exercises was not uncommon; see Suet. Jul. lvi. 7, and Plin. Epist. vii. 4. 2. The lemma is wrong; cf. note 2, p. 360.

35. p. 375, Bährens.

36. The palace of the Caesars on the Palatine Hill at Rome.

37. That is, a short word for short people. The derivation of na/nos, from which nam comes, is uncertain. Pumilio is connected by some with pugmali/wn. = pugmai=os,

thumbing

; cf. Lat. pugnus: by others with peter and probes.

38. Frag. 427, Kock.

39. See xvi. 7.

40. Frag. 1, Bährens.

41. Properly

sounds.

42. Frag. 53, Swoboda.

43. They are semi-vowels.

44. Frag. 54, Swoboda.

45. This word is cited by the Thes. Ling. Lat. from Lucilius 200, Lachmann; that, however, is a conjecture of Scaliger's and Marx (262) reads Ancerius, a personal name. The meaning of the word is uncertain. It is perhaps the same as the Greek a)/ggaros,

courier,

a loan-word of Persian origin.

46. Pronounced like ng; for example, angcor,.

47. Frag. 55, Swoboda.

48. That is, the Romans.

49. Since the sound of v was that of French u, German ü, the Greeks were compelled to use ou for the long v. In Latin the genuine diphthong ei had changed to ī before the period of our earliest records; an example is dīco for deico (cf. dei/knumi). The spurious diphthong ei, which probably was the only one known to Nigidius, was introduced to indicate the sound of ī, and was not necessary, although, like the tall I and the apex (over other vowels) it was convenient.

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