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Book XX

I

1arg

A discussion of the jurist Sextus Caecilius and the philosopher Favorinus about the laws of the Twelve Tables.

SEXTUS CAECILIUS was famed for his knowledge, experience and authority in the science of jurisprudence and in understanding and interpreting the laws of the Roman people. It happened that as we were waiting to pay our respects to Caesar, ¹ the philosopher Favorinus met and accosted Caecilius in the Palatine square ² in my presence and that of several others. In the conversation which they carried on at the time mention was made of the laws of the decemvirs, which the board of ten appointed by the people for that purpose wrote and inscribed upon twelve tablets. ³

When Sextus Caecilius, who had examined and studied the laws of many cities, said that they were drawn up in the most choice and concise terms, Favorinus rejoined:

It may be as you say in the greater part of those laws; for I read your twelve tables with as eager interest as I did the twelve books of Plato On the Laws. But some of them seem to me to be either very obscure or very cruel, or on the other hand too mild and lenient, or by no means to be taken exactly as they are written.

As for the obscurities,

said Sextus Caecilius,

let us not charge those to the fault of the makers of the laws, but to the ignorance of those who cannot follow their meaning, although they also who do not fully understand what is written may he excused. For long lapse of time has rendered old words and customs obsolete, and it is in the light of those words and customs that the sense of the laws is to be understood. As a matter of fact, the laws were compiled and written in the three hundredth year after the founding of Rome, ⁴ and from that time until to-day is clearly not less than six hundred years. But what can be looked upon as cruel in those laws? Unless you think a law is cruel which punishes with death a judge or arbiter appointed by law, who has been convicted of taking a bribe for rendering his decision, ⁵ or which hands over a thief caught in the act to be the slave of the man from whom he stole, ⁶ and makes it lawful to kill a robber who comes by night. ⁷ Tell me, I pray, tell me, you deep student of philosophy, whether you think that the perfidy of a juror who sells his oath contrary to all laws, human and divine, or the intolerable audacity of an open theft, or the treacherous violence of a nocturnal footpad, does not deserve the penalty of death?

Don't ask me,

said Favorinus,

what I think. For you know that, according to the practice of the sect to which I belong, ⁸ I am accustomed rather to inquire than to decide. But the Roman people is a judge neither insignificant nor contemptible, and while they thought that such crimes ought to be punished, they yet believed that punishments of that kind were too severe; for they have allowed the laws which prescribed such excessive penalties to die out from disuse and old age. Just so they considered it also an inhuman provision, that if a man has been summoned to court, and being disabled through illness or years is too weak to walk, 'a covered waggon he need not spread'; ⁹ but the man is carried out and placed upon a beast of burden and conveyed from his home to the praetor ¹⁰ in the comitium, as if he were a living corpse. For why should one who is a prey to illness, and unable to appear, be haled into court at the demand of his adversary, clinging to a draught animal? But as for my statement that some laws were excessively lenient, do not you yourself think that law too lax, which reads as follows with regard to the penalty for an injury: ¹¹ 'If anyone has inflicted an injury upon another, let him be fined twenty-five asses'? For who will be found so poor that twenty-five asses would keep him from inflicting an injury if he desired to? And therefore your friend Labeo also, in the work which he wrote On the Twelve Tables,¹² expressing his disapproval of that law, says: ¹³ One Lucius Veratius was an exceedingly wicked man and of cruel brutality. He used to amuse himself by striking free men in the face with his open hand. A slave followed him with a purse full of asses; as often as he had buffeted anyone, he ordered twenty-five asses to be counted out at once, according to the provision of the Twelve Tables' Therefore,

he continued,

the praetors afterwards decided that this law was obsolete and invalid and declared that they would appoint arbiters to appraise damages. Again, some things in those laws obviously cannot, as 1 have said, even be carried out; for instance, the one referring to retaliation, which reads as follows, if my memory is correct: 'If one has broken another's limb, there shall be retaliation, unless a compromise be made.' Now not to mention the cruelty of the vengeance, the exaction even of a just retaliation is impossible. For if one whose limb has been broken by another wishes to retaliate by breaking a limb of has injurer, can he succeed, pray, in breaking the limb in exactly the same manner? In this case there first arises this insoluble difficulty. What about one who has broken another's limb unintentionally? For what has been done unintentionally ought to be retaliated unintentionally. For a chance blow and an intentional one do not fall under the same category of retaliation. How then will it be possible to imitate unintentional action, when in retaliating one has not the right of intention, but of unintention? But if he break it intentionally, the offender will certainly not allow himself to be injured more deeply or more severely; but by what weight and measure this can be avoided, I do not understand. Nay more, if retaliation is taken to a greater extent or differently, it will be a matter of absurd cruelty that a counter-action for retaliation should arise and an endless interchange of retaliation take place. But that enormity of cutting and dividing a man's body, if an individual is brought to trial for debt and adjudged to several creditors, ¹⁴ I do not care to remember, and I am ashamed to mention it. For what can seem more savage, what more inconsistent with humanity, than for the limbs of a poor debtor to be barbarously butchered and sold, just as to-day his goods are divided and sold?

Then Sextus Caecilius, throwing both arms about Favorinus, said: " You are indeed the one man within my memory who is most familiar both with Greek and with Roman lore. For what philosopher is skilled and learned in the laws of his sect to the extent to which you are thoroughly versed in our decemviral legislation? But yet, I pray you, depart for a little from that academic manner of arguing of yours, and laying aside the passion for attacking or defending anything whatever according to your inclination, consider more seriously what is the nature of the details which you have censured, and do not scorn those ancient laws merely because there are many of them which even the Roman people have now ceased to use. For you surely are not unaware that according to the manners of the times, the conditions of governments, considerations of immediate utility, and the vehemence of the vices which are to be remedied, the advantages and remedies offered by the laws ¹⁵ are often changed and modified, and do not remain in the same condition; on the contrary, like the face of heaven and the sea, they vary according to the seasons of circumstances and of fortune. What seemed more salutary than that law of Stolo limiting the number of acres? What more expedient than the bill of Voconius regulating the inheritances of women? What was thought so necessary for checking the luxury of the citizens as the law of Licinius and Fannius and other sumptuary laws? Yet all these have been wiped out and buried by the wealth of the State, as if by the waves of a swelling sea. But why did that law appear to you inhumane which in my opinion is the most humane of all; that law, namely, which provides that a beast be furnished for a sick or aged man who is called into court? The words of that law, 'if he summon him to court,' ¹⁶ are as follows: ¹⁷ If disease or age be a hindrance, let the summoner provide a beast; if he does not wish, he need not spread a covered waggon.' Do you by any chance suppose that morhus (disease) here means a dangerous sickness with a high fever and ague, and that iumentum (beast) means only one animal, capable of carrying someone on his back; and is it for that reason that you think it was inhumane for a man lying sick-a-bed at his home to be placed upon a beast and hurried off to court? That is by no means the case, my dear Favorinus. For morbus in that law does not mean a serious complaint attended with fever, but some defect of weakness and indisposition, not involving danger to life. On the contrary, a more severe disorder, having the power of material injury, the writers of those laws call in another place, ¹⁸ not morbus alone, but morbus sonticus, or 'a serious disease.' ¹⁹ iumentum also does not have only the meaning which it has at present, but it might even mean a vehicle drawn by yoked animals; for our forefathers formed iumentum from iungo. Furthermore arcera was the name for a waggon, enclosed and shut in on all sides like a great chest ( arca), ²⁰ and strewn with robes, and in it men who were too ill or old used to be carried lying down. What cruelty then does there seem to you to be in deciding that a waggon ought to be furnished for a poor or needy man who was called into court, if haply through lameness or some other mischance he was unable to walk; and in not requiring that ' a closed carriage' be luxuriously strewn, ²¹ when a conveyance of any kind was sufficient for the invalid? And they made that decision, in order that the excuse of a diseased body might not give perpetual immunity to those who neglected their obligations and put off suits at law; but foolishly."

"They assessed inflicted injuries at twenty-five asses. They did not, my dear Favorinus, by any means compensate all injuries by that trifling sum, although even that small number of asses meant a heavy weight of copper; for the as which the people then used weighed a pound. But more cruel injuries, such as breaking a bone, inflicted not only on freemen but even on slaves, they punished with a heavier fine, ²² and for some injuries they even prescribed retaliation. This very law of retaliation, my dear sir, you criticized somewhat unfairly, saying with facetious captiousness that it was impossible to carry it out, since injury and retaliation could not be exactly alike, and because it was not easy to break a limb in such a way as to be an exact aequilibrium, or 'balance,' as you put it, of the breaking of the other man's. It is true, my dear Favorinus, that to make exact retaliation is very difficult. But the Ten, wishing by retaliation to diminish and abolish such violence as beating and injuring, thought that men ought to be restrained by the fear of such a penalty; and they did not think that so much consideration ought to be had for one who broke another's limb, and refused to compromise by buying off retaliation, as to consider that the question ought to be raised whether he broke it intentionally or not, nor did they make the retaliation in such a case exactly equivalent or weigh it in a balance; but they aimed rather at exacting the same spirit and the same violence in breaking the same part of the body, but not also the same result, since the degree of intention can be determined, but the effect of a chance blow cannot."

"But if this is as I say, and as the condition of fairness itself dictates, those mutual retaliations that you imagined were certainly rather ingenious than real. But since you think that even this kind of punishment is cruel, what cruelty, pray, is there in doing the same thing to you which you have done to another? especially when you have the opportunity of compromising, and when it is not necessary for you to suffer retaliation unless you choose that alternative. As for your idea that the praetors' edict was preferable in taking cognizance of injuries, I want you to realize this, that this retaliation also was wont of necessity to be subject to the discretion of a judge. For if a defendant, who refused to compromise, did not obey the judge who ordered retaliation, the judge considered the case and fined the man a sum of money; so that, if the defendant thought the compromise hard and the retaliation cruel, the severity of the law was limited to a fine. It remains for me to answer your belief that the cutting and division of a man's body is most inhuman. It was by the exercise and cultivation of all the virtues that the Roman people sprang from a lowly origin to such a height of greatness, but most of all and in particular they cultivated integrity and regarded it as sacred, whether public or private. Thus for the purpose of vindicating the public honour it surrendered its consuls, most distinguished men, to the enemy, ²³ thus it maintained that a client taken under a man's protection should be held dearer than his relatives and protected against his own kindred, nor was any crime thought to be worse than if anyone was convicted of having defrauded a client. This degree of faith our forefathers ordained, not only in public functions, but also in private contracts, and particularly in the use and interchange of borrowed money; for they thought that this aid to temporary need, which is made necessary by the common intercourse of life, was lost, if perfidy on the part of debtors escaped with a slight punishment. Therefore in the case of those liable for an acknowledged debt thirty days were allowed for raising the money to satisfy the obligation, and those days the Ten called 'legitimate,' as if they formed a kind of moratorium, that is to say, a cessation and interruption of judicial proceedings, during which no legal action could be taken against them."

"Then later, unless they had paid the debt, they were summoned before the praetor and were by him made over to those to whom they had been adjudged; and they were also fastened in the stocks or in fetters. For that, I think, is the meaning of these words: ²⁴ For a confessed debt and for judgment duly pronounced let thirty days be the legitimate time. Then let there be a laying on of hands, bring him to court. If he does not satisfy the judgment, or unless someone in the presence of the magistrate intervenes as a surety, let the creditor take him home and fasten him in stocks or in fetters. Let him fasten him with not less than fifteen pounds weight, or if he wish, with more. ²⁵ If the prisoner wishes, he may live at his own expense. If he does not, the creditor shall give him a pound of meal each day. If he wishes, he may give more.' In the meantime the right of compromising the case was allowed, ²⁶ and if they did not compromise it, debtors were confined for sixty days. During that time on three successive market-days ²⁷ they were brought before the praetor and the amount of the judgment against them was announced. But on the third day ²⁸ they were capitally condemned or sent across the Tiber to be sold abroad. But they made this capital punishment horrible by a show of cruelty and fearful by unusual terrors, for the sake, as I have said, of making faith sacred. For if there were several, to whom the debtor had been adjudged, the laws allowed them to cut the man who had been made over to them in pieces, if they wished, and share his body. And indeed I will quote the very words of the law, less haply you should think that I shrink from their odium: ²⁹ 'On the third market day,' it says, 'let them cut him up; if they have cut more or less, let them not be held accountable.' Nothing surely is more merciless, nothing less humane, unless, as is evident on the face of it, such a cruel punishment was threatened in order that they might never have to resort to it. For nowadays we see many condemned and bound, because worthless men despise the punishment of bondage; but I have never read or heard of anyone having been cut up in ancient days, since the severity of that law could not be scorned. Or do you suppose, Favorinus, that if the penalty provided by the Twelve Tables³⁰ for false witness had not become obsolete, and if now, as formerly, one who was convicted of giving false witness was hurled from the Tarpeian Rock, that we should see so many guilty of lying on the witness stand? Severity in punishing crime is often the cause of upright and careful living. The story of the Alban Mettius Fufetius ³¹ is not unknown even to me, although I read few books of that kind. Since he had treacherously broken a pact and agreement made with the king of the Roman people, he was bound to two four-horse teams and torn asunder as the horses rushed in opposite directions. Who denies that this is an unusual and cruel punishment? but see what the most refined of poets says: ³²

But you, O Alban, should have kept your word."

When Sextus Caecilius had said these and other things with the approval of all who were present, including Favorinus himself, it was announced that Caesar was now receiving, and we separated.

II

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The meaning of the word siticines in a speech of Marcus Cato's.

THE word siticines is found in a speech of Marcus Cato entitled Let not a Former Official retain his power, when his Successor arrives.³³ He speaks of siticines, liticines and tubicines. But Caesellius Vindex, in his Notes on Early Words, declares that he knows that liticines played upon the lituus, or

clarion,

and tibicines on the tuba, or

trumpet,

but, being a man of conscientious honesty, he says that he does not know what instrument the siticines used. But I have found in the Miscellanies of Ateius Capito ³⁴ that those were called siticines who played in the presence of those who were

laid away

( sitos), that is, who were dead and buried; and that they had a special kind of trumpet on which they played, differing from those of the other trumpeters.

III

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Why the poet Lucius Accius in his Pragmatica said that sicinnistae was a

nebulous word.

THOSE whom the vulgar call sicinistae, persons who speak more accurately have called sicinnistae with a double n. For the sicinnium was an ancient form of dance. Moreover, those who now stand and sing formerly danced as they sang. Lucius Accius used this word in his Pragmatica, and says that sicinnistae are so called by a

nebulous

( nebuloso) term, using the word

nebulous,

I suppose, because the reason for the term sicinnium was obscure.

IV

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That devotion to play-actors, and love of them, was shameful and disgraceful, with a quotation of the words of the philosopher Aristotle on that subject.

A WEALTHY young man, a pupil of the philosopher Taurus, was devoted to, and delighted in, the society of comic and tragic actors and musicians, as if they were freemen. Now in Greek they call artists of that kind oi( peri\ Dio/nuson texni=tai or

craftsmen of Dionysus.

Taurus, wishing to wean that youth from the intimacy and companionship of men connected with the stage, sent him these words extracted from the work of Aristotle entitled Universal Questions, and bade him read it over every day: ³⁵

Why are the craftsmen of Dionysus for the most part worthless fellows? Is it because they are least of all familiar with reading and philosophy, since the greater part of their life is given to their essential pursuits and much of their time is spent in intemperance and sometimes in poverty too? For both of these things are incentives to wickedness.

V

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Specimens of letters of King Alexander and the philosopher Aristotle. just as they were written; with a rendering of the same into Latin.

THE philosopher Aristotle, the teacher of king Alexander, is said to have had two forms of the lectures and instructions which he delivered to his pupils. One of these was the kind called e)cwterika/, or

exoteric,

the other a)kroatika/, or

acroatic.

³⁶ Those were called

exoteric

which gave training in rhetorical exercises, logical subtlety, and acquaintance with politics; those were called

acroatic

in which a more profound and recondite philosophy was discussed, which related to the contemplation of nature or dialectic discussions. To the practice of the

acroatic

training which I have mentioned he devoted the morning hours in the Lyceum, ³⁷ and he did not ordinarily admit any pupil to it until he had tested his ability, his elementary knowledge, and his zeal and devotion to study. The exoteric lectures and exercises in speaking lie held at the same place in the evening and opened them generally to young men without distinction. This he called deilino\s peri/patos, or

the evening walk,

the other which I have mentioned above, e(wqino/s, or

the morning walk

; ³⁸ for on both occasions he walked as he spoke. He also divided his books on all these subjects into two divisions, calling one set

exoteric,

the other

acroatic.

When King Alexander knew that he had published those books of the

acroatic

set, although at that time the king was keeping almost all of Asia in a state of panic by his deeds of arms, and was pressing King Darius himself hard by attacks and victories, yet in the midst of such urgent affairs he sent a letter to Aristotle, saying that the philosopher had not done right in publishing the books and so revealing to the public the acroatic training, in which he himself had been instructed.

For in what other way,

said he,

can I excel the rest, it that instruction which I have received from you becomes the common property of all the world? For I would rather be first in learning than in wealth and power.

Aristotle replied to him to this purport:

Know that the acroatic books, which you complain have been made public and not hidden as if they contained secrets, have neither been made public nor hidden, since they can be understood only by those who have heard my lectures.

I have added copies of both letters, taken from the book of the philosopher Andronicus. ³⁹ I was particularly charmed with the slender thread of elegant brevity in the letter of each.

Alexander to Aristotle, Greeting.

You have not done right in publishing your acroatic lectures; for wherein, pray, shall I differ from other men, if these lectures, by which I was instructed, become the common property of all? As for me, I should wish to excel in acquaintance with what is noblest, rather than in power. Farewell.

"Aristotle to King Alexander, Greeting.

You have written to me regarding my acroatic lectures, thinking that I ought to have kept them secret. Know then that they have both been made public and not made public. For they are intelligible only to those who have heard me. Farewell, King Alexander.

When trying, in the phrase cunetoi\ ga\r ei)sin, to express the word cunetoi/ by a single Latin term, I found nothing better than what is written by Marcus Cato in the sixth book of his Origins:⁴⁰

Therefore I think the information is more comprehensible ( cognobilior).

VI

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It is asked and discussed whether it it is more correct to say habeo curam vestri, or vestrum.

I ASKED Sulpicius Apollinaris, when I was studying with him at Rome in my youth, on what principle people said habeo curam vestri, or

I have care for you,

and misereor vestri, or

I pity you,

and what he thought the nominative case of vestri was in such connections. Thereupon he answered me as follows:

You ask something of me about which I too have long been in a state of uncertainty. For it seems to me that one ought to say, not vestri, but vestrum, just as the Greeks say e)pimelou=mai u(mw=n and kh/domai u(mw=n, where u(mw=n is translated by vestrum more fittingly than by vestri, having vos for the naming case, or the 'direct' case, as you called it. Yet in not a few places,

said he, "I find nostri and vestri, not nostrum or vestrum. Thus Lucius Sulla says, in the second book of his Autobiography:⁴¹

But if it is possible that even now you think of me ( nostri), and believe me worthy to be your fellow citizen rather than your enemy, and to fight for you rather than against you, this will surely be due to my services and those of my forefathers.

Also Terence in the Phormio: ⁴²

Of such a nature are we almost all,

That with ourselves ( nostri) we discontented are.

Afranius wrote in an Italian play: ⁴³

At last some god or other pitied us ( nostri).

And Laberius in the Necyomantia:⁴⁴

Detained for many days, he us ( nostri) forgot.

There is no doubt,

said he,

that in all these phrases: 'we are discontented,' he forgot us,' 'he pitied us' ( nostri), the same case is used as in 'I repent' ( mei paenitet), 'he pitied me' ( mei miseritus est), ' he forgot me' ( mei oblitus est). But mei is the case of questioning, ⁴⁵ which the grammarians call 'genitive,' and comes from ego; and the plural of ego is nos. Tui also is formed from tu, and the plural of this is vos. For Plautus has thus declined those pronouns in the Pseudolus, in the following lines: ⁴⁶

O Sir, could I be told without your words

What wretchedness so grievous troubles you,

I would have spared the trouble of two men:

My own ( mei), of asking you, and yours ( tis = tui), of answering.

For Plautus here uses mei, not from meus, but from ego. Therefore if you should choose to say patrem mei instead of patrem meum, as the Greeks say to\n pate/ra mou, it would be unusual, but surely correct, and on the same principle that Plautus used labori mei, 'the trouble of me,' for labori meo, ' my trouble.' The same rule applies also in the plural number, where Gracchus said ⁴⁷ misereri vestrum and Marcus Cicero ⁴⁸ contentio vestrum, and contention nostrum,⁴⁹ and on the same principle Quadrigarius in the nineteenth book of his Annals wrote these words: ⁵⁰ 'Gaius Marius, when pray will you pity us ( nostrum) and the State?' Why then should Terence use paenitet nostri, not nostrum, and Afranius nostri miseritus est, not nostrum? Indeed,

said he,

no reason for this occurs to me except the authority of a certain ancient usage, which was not too anxious or scrupulous in the use of language. For just as vestrorum is often used for vestrum, as in this line from the Mustellaria Mostellaria of Plautus, ⁵¹

The greatest part of you ( vestrorum) know that is true

(where vestrorum is for vestrum), in the same way vestri also is sometimes used for vestrum. But undoubtedly one who desires to speak very correctly will prefer vestrum to vestri. And therefore,

said he,

those have acted most arbitrarily who in many copies of Sallust have corrupted a thoroughly sound reading. For although he wrote in the Catiline:⁵² 'Often your forefathers ( maiores vestrum), pitying the Roman commons,' they erased vestrum and wrote vestrz over it. And from this ⁵³ that error has grown and found its way into more manuscripts.

This is what I remember hearing from Apollinaris, and I noted down his very words at the time, exactly as they were spoken."

VII

7arg

How the opinions of the Greeks differ as to the number of Niobe's children.

A STRANGE and indeed almost absurd variation is to be noted in the Greek poets as to the number of Niobe's children. For Homer says ⁵⁴ that she had six sons and six daughters; Euripides, ⁵⁵ seven of each; Sappho, ⁵⁶ nine; Bacchylides ⁵⁷ and Pindar, ⁵⁸ ten; while certain other writers have said that there were only three sons and three daughters.

VIII

8arg

Of things which seem to have sumptwsi/a, or

coincidence,

with the waning and waxing moon.

THE poet Annianus owned an estate in the Faliscan territory, where he used to celebrate the vintage season with mirth and jollity. On one occasion he invited me, along with some other friends. As we were dining there one day, a large quantity of oysters were sent from Rome. When they were set before us and proved to be indeed numerous, but neither rich nor very plump, Annianus said:

Of course the moon is waning just now; therefore the oyster also, like some other things, is thin and juiceless.

When we asked what other things wasted away with the waning moon, he answered: "Don't you remember that our Lucilius says: ⁵⁹

The moon makes oysters fat, sea-urchins full,

And bulk and substance to the mussels adds? ⁶⁰

Furthermore, those same things which grow as the moon waxes grow less as it wanes. The eyes of cats also become larger or smaller according to the same changes of the moon. This too," said he,

is much more greatly to be wondered at, which I read in the fourth book of Plutarch's Commentary on Hesiod:⁶¹ ' The onion grows and buds as the moon wanes, but, on the contrary, dries up while the moon waxes. The Egyptian priests say that this is the reason why the people of Pelusium do not eat the onion, because it is the only one of all vegetables which has an interchange of increase and decrease contrary to the waxing and waning of the moon.'

IX

9arg

A passage in the Mimiambi of Gnaeus Matius, in which Antonius Iulianus used to delight; and the meaning of Marcus Cato in the speech which he wrote on his own uprightness, when he said:

I have never asked the people for garments.

ANTONIUS JULIANUS used to say that his ears were soothed and charmed by the newly-coined words of Gnaeus Matius, a man of learning, such as the following, which he said were written by Matius in his Mimiambi: ⁶²

Revive your cold love in your warm embrace,

Close joining lip to lip like amorous dove ( columbulatim).

And this also he declared to be charmingly and neatly devised: ⁶³

The shorn rugs now are drunken with the dye

With which the shell ⁶⁴ has drenched and coloured them. . .

X

10arg

The meaning of the phrase ex iure manum consertum.

Ex iure manum consertum, or

lay on hands according to law,

is a phrase taken from ancient cases at law, and commonly used to-day when a case is tried before the praetor and claims are made. I asked a Roman grammarian, a man of wide reputation and great name, what the meaning of these words was. But he, looking scornfully at me, said:

Either you are making a mistake, youngster, or you are jesting; for I teach grammar and do not give legal advice. If you want to know anything connected with Virgil, Plautus or Ennius, you may ask me.

It is a question from Ennius then, master,

said I,

that I am asking. For it was Ennius who used those words.

And when the grammarian said in great surprise that the words were unsuited to poetry and that they were not to be found anywhere in the poems of Ennius, I quoted from memory the following lines from the eighth book of the Annals; for it chanced that I remembered them because of their particularly striking character: ⁶⁵

Wisdom is driven forth and force prevails;

They scorn the speaker good, the rude soldier love.

Contending not with learning nor abuse,

They join in strife, not laying claim by law,

But, seeking with the sword both wealth and power,

With force resistless rush.

When I had recited these verses from Ennius, the grammarian rejoined:

Now I believe you. But I would have you believe me, when I say that Quintus Ennius learned this, not from his reading of the poets, but from someone learned in the law. Do you too then go and learn from the same source as Ennius.

I followed the advice of this teacher, when he referred me to another from whom I could learn what he ought to have taught me himself: And I thought that I ought to include in these notes of mine what I have learned from jurists and their writings, since those who are living in the midst of affairs and among men ought not to be ignorant of the commoner legal expressions. Manum conserere,

to lay on hands.

. . . For with one's opponent to lay hold of and claim in the prescribed formula anything about which there is a dispute, whether it be a field or something else, is called vindicia, or

a claim.

A seizing with the hand of the thing or place in question took place in the presence of the praetor according to the Twelve Tables, in which it was written ⁶⁶ "If any lay on hands in the presence of the magistrate." ⁶⁷ But when the boundaries of Italy were extended and the praetors were greatly occupied with legal business, they found it hard to go to distant places to settle claims. Therefore it became usual by silent consent, though contrary to the Twelve Tables, for the litigants not to lay on hands in court in the presence of the praetor, but to call for

a laying on of hands according to law

; that is, that the one litigant should summon the other to the object in question, to lay hands on it according to law, and that they should go together to the field under dispute and bring some earth from it to the city to the praetor's court, for example one clod, and should lay claim to that clod, as if it were the whole field. Accordingly Ennius, wishing to describe such action, said that restitution was demanded, not by legal processes, such as are carried on before a praetor, nor by a laying on of hands according to law, but by war and the sword, and by genuine and resistless violence; and he seems to have expressed this by comparing that civil and symbolic ⁶⁸ power which is exercised in name only and not actually, with warlike and sanguinary violence.

XI

11arg

The meaning of the word sculna, used by Marcus Varro.

PUBLIUS LAVINIUS is the author of a carefully written book, entitled On Vulgar Words. In it he wrote that scublna was a colloquial form for seculna,

for which,

says he,

more elegant speakers use sequester, or' arbiter.'

Each of these words is derived from sequor, because both parties

the decision of the arbiter who is chosen. Lavinius reminds us in the same book that sculna was written in the division of Marcus Varro's Logistorica entitled Caius.⁶⁹ But that which was deposited with the arbiter they spoke of as sequestro positum,

deposited for arbitration,

using the adverb sequestro. Cato, in his speech On Ptolemy, against Thermus, says: ⁷⁰

By the immortal gods, do not. . . .

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).) — 20.1 focus

I

Argument

Disputatio Sex. Caecilii iureconsulti et Favorini philosophi de legibus Duodecim Tabularum.

[1] SEXTUS CAECILIUS in disciplina iuris atque in legibus populi Romani noscendis interpretandisque scientia, usu auctoritateque inlustris fuit.

[2] Ad eum forte in area Palatina, cum salutationem Caesaris opperiremur, philosophus Favorinus accessit conlocutusque est, nobis multisque aliis praesentibus.

[3] In illis tunc eorum sermonibus orta mentiost legum decemviralium, quas decemviri eius rei gratia a populo creati conposuerunt, in duodecim tabulas conscripserunt.

[4] Eas leges cum Sex. Caecilius, inquisitis exploratisque multarum urbium legibus, eleganti atque absoluta brevitate verborum scriptas diceret, Sit,¹ inquit, hoc Favorinus, in pleraque earum legum parte ita uti dicis; non enim minus cupide tabulas istas duodecim duodecin legi quam illos duodecim libros Platonis De Legibus. Sed quaedam istic esse animadvertuntur aut obscurissima aut durissima ² aut lenia contra nimis et remissa aut nequaquam ita, ut scriptum est, consistentia.

Obscuritates, inquit Sex.

[5] Caecilius, non adsignemus culpae scribentium, sed inscitiae non adsequentium, quamquam hi quoque ipsi, qui quae scripta script sunt minus percipiunt culpa vacant.

[6] Nam longa aetas verba atque mores veteres oblitteravit, quibus verbis moribusque sententia legum conprehensa est. Trecentesimo quoque anno post Romam conditam tabulae conpositae scriptaeque sunt, a quo tempore ad hunc diem anni esse non longe minus sescenti ³ videntur.

[7] Dure autem scriptum esse in istis legibus quid existimari potest? nisi duram esse legem legend putas, quae iudicem arbitrumve iure datum, qui ob rem iudicandam ⁴ pecuniam accepisse convictus est, capite poenitur aut quae furem furerm manifestum ei cui furtum factum est in servitutem tradit, nocturnum autem furem ius occidendi tribuit.

[8] Dic enim, quaeso, die, vir sapientiae studiosissime, an aut iudicis illius perfidiam contra omnia divina atque humana iusiurandum suum pecunia vendentis aut furis manifesti intolerandam audaciam aut nocturni grassatoris insidiosam violentiam non dignam esse capitis poena existumes?

[9] Noli, inquit Favorinus, ex me quaerere quid ego existumem. Scis enim solitum esse me, pro disciplina sectae quam colo, inquirere potius quam decernere.

[10] Sed non levis existimator neque aspernabilis est populus Romanus, cui delicta quidem istaec vindicanda, poenae tamen huiuscemodi nimis durae esse visae sunt; passus enim est leges istas de tam inmodico supplicio situ atque senio emori.

[11] Sicut illud quoque inhumaniter non scriptum improbavit, quod, si homo in ius vocatus, morbo aut aetate aeger ad ingrediendum invalidus est, arcera non sternitur, sed ipse aufertur et iumento imponitur atque ex domo sua ad praetorem in comitium nova funeris facie effertur. Quam enim ob causam morbo adfectus et ad respondendum pro sese non idoneus, iumento adhaerens in ius adversario deportatur?

[12] Quod vero dixi videri quaedam esse inpendio molliora, nonne tibi quoque videtur nimis esse dilutum quod ita de iniuria poenienda scriptum est: Si iniuriam alteri faxsit, viginti quinque aeris poenae sunto? Quis enim erit tam inops, quem ab iniuriae faciendae libidine viginti quinque asses deterreant?

[13] Itaque cum eam legem Labeo quoque ⁵ vester in libris, quos Ad Duodecimn Tabulas conscripsit, non probaret: Quidam,⁶ inquit, L. Veratius fuit egregie homo inprobus atque inmani vecordia. Is pro delectamento habebat, os hominis liberi manus suae palma verberare. Eum servus sequebatur ferens crumenam plenam assium; ut quemque depalmaverat, numerari statim secundum Duodecim Tabulas quinque et viginti asses iubebat. Propterea, inquit, praetores postea hanc abolescere et relinqui censuerunt iniuriisque aestumandis recuperatores se daturos edixerunt.

[14] Nonnulla autem in istis legibus ne consistere quidem, sicuti dixi, visa sunt, velut illa lex talionis, cuius verba, nisi memoria me fallit, haec sunt: Si merbrum rupit, ni cum e pacto, talio esto.

[15] Praeter enim ulciscendi ulclsendi acerbitatem ne procedere quoque executio iustae talionis potest. Nam cui membrum ab alio ruptum est, si ipsi itidem rumpere per talionem velit, quaero, an efficere possit rumpendi pariter membri aequilibrium? In qua re primum ea difficultas est inexplicabilis.

[16] Quid si ⁷ membrum, inquit, alteri inprudens ruperit? Quod enim inprudentia factum est, retaliari per inprudentiam debet. Ictus quippe fortuitus et consultus non cadunt sub eiusdem talionis similitudinem. Quonam igitur modo inprudentem poterit imitari, qui in exequenda talione non licentiae ius habet, sed inprudentiae?

[17] Sed et si prudens ruperit, nequaquam patietur aut altius se laedi aut latius. Quod cuimodi cuiusmodi libra atque mensura caveri possit, non reperio.

[18] Quin etiam, si quid plus erit aliterve conmissum, res fiet ridiculae atrocitatis, ut contraria actio mutuae nutuae talionis oriatur et adolescat infinita quaedam reciprocatio talionum.

[19] Nam de inmanitate illa secandi partiendique humani corporis, si unus ob pecuniam debitam iudicatus addictusque sit pluribus, non libet meminisse et piget dicere. Quid enim videri potest efferatius, quid ab hominis ingenio diversius quam quod membra inopis debitoris acerbissimo ⁸ laniatu distrahebantur, sicuti nunc bona venum distrahuntur?

[20] Tum Sex. Caecilius amplexus utraque manu Favorinum, Tu es, inquit, unus profecto in nostra memoria memorial non Graecae modo, sed Romanae quoque rei peritissimus. Quis enim philosophorum disciplinae suae leges tam scite atque docte callet quam leges tu nostras decemvirales percalluisti?

[21] Sed, quaeso tecum tamen, degrediare paulisper paulisler curriculis istis disputationum vestrarum academicis omissoque studio, quicquid lubitum est arguendi tuendique, consideres gravius cuimodi cuiusmodi sint ea quae reprehendisti,

[22] nec ideo contemnas legum istarum antiquitates, quod plerisque ipse ⁹ iam populus Romanus uti desiverit. Non enim profecto ignoras legum oportunitates oportunlitates et medellas pro temporum tempoorum moribus et pro rerum publicarum generibus ac pro utilitatum praesentium rationibus proque vitiorum quibus medendum est fervoribus mutari atque flecti neque uno statu consistere, quin, ut facies caeli et maris, ita rerum atque fortunae tempestatibus varientur.

[23] Quid salubrius visum est rogatione illa Stolonis iugerum de numero praefinito? Quid utilius plebisscito Voconio de coercendis mulierum hereditatibus? Quid tam necessarium existimatum est propulsandae civium luxuriae quam lex Licinia et Fannia aliaeque item leges sumptuariae? Omnia tamen haec oblitterata et operta sunt civitatis opulentia quasi quibusdam fluctibus exaestuantis.

[24] Sed cur tibi esse visa est inhumana lex omnium mea quidem sententia humanissima, quae iumentum dari iubet aegro aut seni in ius vocato?

[25] Verba sunt haec de lege Si in ius vocat: Si morbus aevitasve vitium escit, qui in ius vocabit iumentum dato; si nolet,

[26] arceram ne sternito. An tu forte morbum appellari hic putas aegrotationem graver cum febri rapida et quercera, iumentumque dici pecus aliquod unicum tergo vehens? ac propterea minus fuisse humanum existumas aegrotum domi suae cubantem iumento inpositum in ius rapi?

[27] Hoc, mi Favorine, nequaquam ita est. Nam morbus in lege ista non febriculosus neque nimium gravis, sed vitium aliquod inbecillitatis atque invalentiae demonstratur, non periculum vitae ostenditur. Ceteroqui morbum vehementiorem, vim graviter nocendi habenten, legum istarum scriptores alio in loco, non per se morbum, sed morbum sonticum appellant.

[28] Iumentum quoque non id solum significat quod nunc dicitur, sed vectabulum etiam quod a iunctis pecoribus trahebatur; veteres ¹⁰ nostri iumentum. a iungendo dixerunt.

[29] Arcera autem vocabatur plaustrum ¹¹ tectum undique et munitum, quasi area quaedam magna, vestimentis instrata, qua nimis aegri aut senes portari cubantes solebant.

[30] Quaenam tibi igitur acerbitas esse visa est, quod in ius vocato paupertino homini vel inopi, qui aut pedibus forte aegris esset aut quo alio casu ingredi non quiret, plaustrum esse dandum censuerunt? neque insterni tamen delicate arceram iusserunt, quoniam satis esset invalido cuimodi vectabulum. Atque id fecerunt, ne causatio ista aegri corporis perpetuam vocationem daret fidem detractantibus iurisque actiones declinantibus; sed enim insubide. ¹²

[31] Iniurias factas quinque et viginti assibus sanxerunt. Non omnino omnes, mi Favorine, iniurias aere isto pauco diluerunt, tametsi haec ipsa paucitas assium grave pondus aeris fuit; nam librariis assibus in ea tempestate populus usus est.

[32] Sed iniurias atrociores, ut de osse fracto, non liberis modo, verum etiam servis factas, inpensiore damno vindicaverunt, quibusdam autem iniuriis talionem quoque adposuerunt.

[33] Quam quidem tu talionem, vir optime, iniquius paulo insectatus es ac ne consistere quidem dixisti lepida quadam sollertia verborum, quoniam talioni par non sit talio neque rumpi membrum facile possit ad alterius rupturae, ut ais tu, aequilibrium.

[34] Verumst, mi Favorine, talionem parissimam fieri difficillime. Sed decemviri minuere atque extinguere volentes huiuscemodi violentiam pulsandi atque laedendi talione, eo quoque metu coercendos esse homines putaverunt neque eius qui membrum alteri rupisset et pacisci tamen de talione redimenda nollet tantam esse habendam rationem arbitrati sunt, ut an prudens inprudensne rupisset spectandum putarent aut talionem in eo vel ad amussim aequiperarent vel in librili perpenderent; sed potius eundem animum eundemque impetum in eadem parte corporis rumpenda, non eundem quoque casum exigi voluerunt, quoniam modus voluntatis praestari posset, casus ictus non posset.

[35] Quod si ita est ut dico, et ut ipse aequitatis habitus demonstrat, taliones illae tuae reciprocae argutiores profecto quam veriores fuerunt.

[36] Sed quoniam acerbum quoque esse hoc genus poenae putas, quae, obsecro te, ista acerbitas est, si idem fiat in te quod tute in alio feceris? praesertim cum habeas facultatem paciscendi et non necesse sit pati talionem, nisi eam tu elegeris.

[37] Quod edictum autem praetorum de aestimandis iniuriis probabilius esse existimas, ¹³ nolo hoc ignores, hanc quoque ipsam talionem ad aestimationem iudicis redigi necessario solitam.

[38] Nam si reus, qui depecisci noluerat, iudici talionem imperanti non parebat, aestimata lite iudex hominem pecuniae damnabat, atque ita, si reo et pactio gravis et acerba talio visa fuerat, severitas legis ad pecuniae multam redibat.

[39] Restat, ut ei quod de sectione partitioneque que corporis inmanissimum esse tibi visum est respondeam. Omnibus quidem virtutum generibus exercendis colendisque populus Romanus e parva origine ad tantae amplitudinis instar emicuit, sed omnium maxime atque praecipue fidem coluit sanctamque habuit tam privatim quam publice.

[40] Sic consules, clarissimos viros, hostibus confirmandae fidei publicae causa dedidit, ¹⁴ sic clientem in fidem acceptum cariorem haberi quam propinquos tuendumque esse contra cognatos censuit, neque peius ullum facinus existimatum est quam si cui probaretur prolaretur clientem divisui habuisse.

[41] Hanc autem fidem maiores nostri non modo in officiorum vicibus vicious, sed in negotiorum quoque contractibus sanxerunt maximeque in pecuniae mutuaticae usu atque commercio; adimi enim putaverunt subsidium hoc inopiae temporariae, quo communis comnunis omnium vita indiget, si perfidia debitorum sine gravi poena eluderet.

[42] Confessi igitur aeris ac debiti iudicatis triginta dies sunt dati conquirendae pecuniae causa, quam dissolverent,

[43] eosque dies decemviri iustos appellaverunt, velut quoddam iustitium, id est iuris inter eos quasi interstitionem quandam et cessationem, quibus diebus nihil cum his agi iure posset.

[44] Post deinde, nisi dissolverant, ad praetorem vocabantur et ab eo quibus erant iudicati addicebantur, nervo quoque aut compedibus compedilus vinciebantur.

[45] Sic enim sunt, opinor, verba legis: Aeris confessi rebusque iure iudicatis triginta dies iusti sunto. Post deinde manus iniectio esto, in ius ducito. Ni iudicatum facit aut quis endo eo in iure vindicit, secum ducito, vincito aut nervo aut compedibus. Quindecim pondo ne minore aut si volet maiore vincito. Si volet suo vivito. Ni suo vivit, qui eum vinctum habebit, libras farris endo dies dato. Si volet plus dato.

[46] Erat autem ius interea paciscendi ac, nisi pacti forent, habebantur in vinculis dies sexaginta.

[47] Inter eos dies trinis nundinis continuis ad praetorem in comitium producebantur, quantaeque pecuniae iudicati essent praedicabatur. Tertiis autem nundinis capite poenas dabant aut trans Tiberim peregre venum ibant.

[48] Sed eam capitis poenam sanciendae, sicuti dixi, fidei gratia horrificam atrocitatis ostentu novisque terroribus metuendam reddiderunt. Nam si plures forent, quibus reus esset iudicatus, ¹⁵ secare, si vellent, atque partiri corpus addicti sibi hominis permiserunt.

[49] Et quidem verba ipsa legis dicam, ne existimes invidiam me istam forte formidare: Tertiis, inquit, nundinis partis secanto. Si plus minusve secuerunt, se fraude esto.

[50] Nihil profecto inmitius, nihil inmanius, nisi, ut re ipsa apparet, eo consilio tanta inmanitas poenae denuntiatast, ne ad eam umquam perveniretur.

[51] Addici namque nunc et vinciri multos videmus, quia vinculorum poenam deterrimi homines contemnunt,

[52] dissectum esse antiquitus neminem equidem legi neque audivi, quoniam saevitia ista poenae contemni non quitast.

[53] An putas, Favorine, si non illa etiam ex Duodecim Tabulis de testimoniis falsis poena abolevisset et si nunc quoque, ut antea, qui falsum testimonium dixisse convictus esset, e saxo Tarpeio deiceretur, mentituros fuisse pro testimonio tam multos quam videmus? Acerbitas plerumque ulciscendi maleficii bene atque caute vivendi disciplinast.

[54] Historia de Metto Fufetio Albano nobis quoque, non admodum numero ¹⁶ istiusmodi libros lectitantibus, ignota non est, qui, quoniam pactum atque condictum cum rege populi Romani perfide ruperat, binis quadrigis evinctus in diverse nitentibus laceratus est; novum atque asperum supplicium quis negat? sed, quid elegantissimus poeta dicat, vide:

at tu dictis, Albane, maneres.

[55] Haec taliaque alia ubi Sextus Caecilius, omnibus qui aderant, ipso quoque Favorino adprobante atque laudante, disseruit, nuntiatum est Caesarem iam salutari, et separati sumus.

II

Argument

Vocabulum siticinum in M. Catonis oratione quid significet.

[1] SITICINES scriptum est in oratione M. Catonis, quae scribitur Ne Imperium sit Veteri, ubi Nouus Venerit. Siticines, intuit, et liticines et tubicines.

[2] Sed Caesellius Vindex in Conmentariis Lectionum Antiquarum scire quidem se ait, liticines lituo cantare et tubicines tuba; quid istuc autem sit, quo siticines cantant, homo ingenuae veritatis scire sese negat.

[3] Nos autem in Capitonis Atei Coniectaneis invenimus, siticines appellatos qui apud sitos canere soliti essent, hoc est vita functos et sepultos, eosque habuisse proprium genus tubae, qua canerent, a ceterorum tubicinum differens.

III

Argument

Quam ob causam L. Accius poeta in Pragmaticis sicinnistas nebuloso nomine esse dixerit.

[1] Quos sicinistas vulgus dicit, qui rectius locuti sunt, sicinnistas littera n gemina dixerunt.

[2] Sicinnium enim genus veteris saltationis fuit. Saltabundi autem canebant, quae nunc stantes canunt.

[3] Posuit hoc verbum L. Accius poeta in Pragmaticis appellarique sicinnistas ait nebuloso nomine, credo propterea nebuloso, quod, sicinnium cur diceretur, obscurum esset.

IV

Argument

Artificum scaenicorum studium amoremque inhonestum probrosumque esse; et super ea re verba Aristotelis philosophi adscripta.

[1] COMOEDOS quispiam et tragoedos et tibicines dives adulescens, Tauri philosophi discipulus, ut ¹⁷ liberos homines in deliciis atque in delectamentis habebat.

[2] Id genus autem artifices Graece appellantur οἱ περὶ τὸν Διόνυσον τεχνῖται.

[3] Eum adulescentem Taurus a sodalitatibus convictuque hominum scaenicorum abducere volens, misit ei verba haec ex Aristotelis libro exscripta, qui Προβλήματα Ἐγκύκλια inscriptus est,

[4] iussitque uti ea cotidie lectitaret: Διὰ τὶ οἱ Διονυσιακοὶ τεχνῖται ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ πονηροί εἰσιν; ἢ¹⁸ ὅτι ἥκιστα λόγου καὶ¹⁹ φιλοσοφίας²⁰ κοινωνοῦσι διὰ τὸ περὶ τὰς ἀναγκαίας τέχνας τὸ πολὺ μέρος τοῦ βίου εἶναι, καὶ ὅτι ἐν ἀκρασίαις τὸν πολὺν χρόνον εἰσίν, ὁτὲ δὲ ἐν ἀποριαις;²¹ ἀμφότερα δὲ φαυλότητος παρασκευαστικά.

V

Argument

Exempla epistularum Alexandri regis et Aristotelis philosophi, ita uti sunt edita; eaque in lingua Latinam versa.

[1] COMMENTATIONUM suarum artiumque quas discipulis tradebat Aristoteles philosophus, regis Alexandri magister, duas species habuisse dicitur. Alia erant, quae nominabat ἐξωτερικά, alia, quae appellabat ἀκροατικά.

[35] Ἐξωτερικά dicebantur, quae ad rhetoricas meditationes facultatemque argutiarum civiliumque rerum notitiam conducebant, ἀκροατικά autem vocabantur,

[3] in quibus philosophia remotior subtiliorque agitabatur quaeque ad naturae contemplationes disceptationesve dialecticas pertinebant.

[4] Huic disciplinae, quam dixi, ἀκροατικῇ tempus exercendae dabat in Lycio matutinum nec ad eam quemquam temere ternere admittebat, nisi quorum ante ingenium et eruditionis elementa atque in discendo studium laboremque explorasset.

[5] Illas vero exotericas auditiones exercitiumque dicendi eodem in loco vesperi faciebat easque vulgo iuvenibus sine dilectu praebebat, atque eum δειλινὸν περίπατον appellabat, ilium alterum supra ἐωθινόν; utroque enim tempore ambulans disserebat.

[6] Libros quoque suos, earum omnium rerum conmentarios, seorsum divisit, ut alii exoterici dicerentur, partim acroatici.

[7] Eos libros generis acroatici cum in vulgus ab eo editos rex Alexander cognovisset atque ea tempestate armis exercitam ²² omnem prope Asiam teneret regemque ipsum Darium proeliis et victoriis urgeret, in illis tamen tantis negotiis litteras ad Aristotelem misit, non eum recte fecisse, quod disciplinas acroaticas, quibus ab eo ipse eruditus foret, libris foras editis involgasset:

[8] Nam qua, inquit, alia re praestare ceteris poterimus, si ea quae ex te accepimus accelimus omnium prosus fient communia? Quippe ego doctrina anteire malim quam copiis atque opulentiis.

[9] Rescripsit ei Aristoteles ad hanc sententiam: Acroaticos libros, quos editos quereris et non proinde ut arcana absconditos, neque editos scito esse neque non editos, quoniam his solis cognobiles erunt, qui nos audiverunt.²³

[10] Exempla utrarumque litterarum sumpta ex Andronici philosophi libro subdidi; amavi ²⁴ prosus in utriusque epistula brevitatis elegantissimae filum tenuissimum:

[11]

Ἀλέξανδρος Ἀριστοτέλει εὖ πράττειν.

Οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἐποίησας, ἐκδοὺς τοὺς ἀκροατικοὺς²⁵ τῶν λόγων· τίνι γὰρ δὴ διοίσομεν ἡμεῖς τῶν ἄλλων, εἰ καθʼ οὓς ἐπαιδεύθημεν λόγους, οὗτοι πάντων ἔσονται κοινοί; ἐγὼ δὲ βουλοίμην ἂν ταῖς περὶ τὰ ἄριστα ἐμπειράαις ἢ ταῖς δυνάμεσιν διαφέρειν. ἔρρωσο.

[12]

Ἀριστοτέλης βασιλεῖ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ εὖ πράττειν.

Ἔγραψάς μοι περὶ τῶν ἀκροατικῶν λόγων, οἰόμενος δεῖν αὐτοὺς φυλάττειν ἐν ἀπορρήτοις. ἴσθι οὖν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐκδεδομένους καὶ μὴ ἐκδεδομένουσ· ξυνετοὶ γάρ εἰσιν μόνοις τοῖς ἡμῶν ἀκούσασιν. ἔρρωσο, Ἀλέξανδρε βασιλεῦ.

[13] Hoc ego verbum ξυνετοὶ γὰρ εἰσιν quaerens uno itidem verbo dicere, aliud non repperi quam quod est scriptum a M. Catone in sexta Origine: Itaque ego, inquit, cognobiliorem cognitionem esse arbitror.

VI

Argument

Quaesitum atque tractatum utrumn siet rectius dicere habeo curam vestri, an vestrum.

[1] PERCONTABAR Apollinarem Sulpicium, cum eum Romae adulescentulus sectarer, qua ratione diceretur habeo curam vestri aut misereor vestri et iste casus vestri eo in loco quem videretur habere casum rectum.

[2] Is hic mihi ita respondit: Quaeris, inquit, ex me, quod mihi quoque est iamdiu in perpetua quaestione. Videtur enim non vestri oportere dici, sed vestrum, sicuti Graeci locuntur: ἐπιμελοῦμαι ὑμῶν, κήδομαι ὑμῶν, in quo loco ὑμῶν aptius vestrum dicitur quam vestri et habet casum nominandi, quem tu rectum appellasti, vos.²⁶

[3] Invenio tamen, inquit, non paucis in locis nostri atque vestri dictum, non nostrum aut vestrum. L. Sulla Rerum Gestarum libro secundo: Quod si fieri potest, ut etiam nunc nostri vobis in mentem veniat, nosque magis dignos creditis quibus civibus quam hostibus utamini quique pro vobis potius quam contra vos pugnemus, neque nostro neque maiorum nostrorum inmmerito ²⁷ nobis id continget.

[4] Terentius in Phormione:

Ita plérique ingenió sumus omnes, nóstri nosmet paénitet.

[5] Afranius in togata:

Nescío qui nostri míseritust tandém deus.

[6] Et Laberius in Necyomantia:

Dum diútius retinétur, nostri oblitus est.

[7] Dubium porro, inquit, non est, quin eodem haec omnia casu dicantur: nostri paenitet,²⁸ nostri oblitus est, nostri misertus est, quo dicitur: mei paenitet, mei misertus est, mei oblitus est.

[8] Mei autem casus interrogandi est, quem genetivum grammatici vocant, et ab eo declinatur, quod est ego; huius deinde plurativum est nos. Tui aeque declinatur ab eo, quod est tu; huius itidem plurativum est vos.

[9] Sic namque Plautus declinavit in Pseudulo Pseudolo in hisce versibus:

Si ex té tacente fíeri possem cértior,

Ere, quaé miseriae té tam misere mácerent,

Duorúm labori ego hóminum parsissém lubens:

Mei té rogandi et tís ²⁹ respondendí mihi.

Mei enim Plautus hoc in loco non ab eo dixit, quod est meus, sed ab eo, quod est ego.

[10] Itaque si dicere velis patrem mei pro patrem meum, quo Graeci modo τὸν πατέρα μου dicunt, inusitate quidem, sed recte profecto eaque ratione dices, qua Plautus dixit labori mei pro labori meo.

[11] Haec autem ipsa ratio est in numero plurativo, qua Gracchus misereri vestrum dixit et qua M. Cicero contentio vestrum et contentione nostrum dixit quaque item ratione Quadrigarius in Annali undevicesimo verba haec posuit: C. Mari, ecquando te nostrum et reipublicae miserebitur! Cur igitur Terentius paenitet nostri, non nostrum, et Afranius nostri miseritus est, non nostrum?

[35] Nihil hercle, inquit, mihi de ista re in mentem venit, nisi auctoritas quaedam vetustatis non nimis anxie neque superstitiose loquentis. Nam sicuti multifariam scriptum est vestrorum pro vestrum, ut in Plauti Mustellaria Mostellaria in hoc versu:

Vérum illud esse ³⁰ máxima ³¹ párs vestrorum intéllegit,

cum vellet maxima pars dicere vestrum, ita nonnumquam vestri quoquc dictum est pro vestrum.

[13] Sed procul procu dubio qui rectissime loqui volet vestrum potius dixerit quam vestri.

[14] Et idcirco ideirco inportunissime, inquit, fecerunt, qui in plerisque Sallusti exemplaribus scripturam istam sincerissimam corruperunt. Nam cum ita in Catilina scriptum esset: Saepe maiores vestrum miseriti plebis Romanae, vestrum obleverunt et vestri superscripserunt. Ex quo in plures libros mendae istius indoles manavit.

[15] Haec memini mihi Apollinarem dicere, eaque tunc ipsa, ita ut dicta fuerant, notavi.

VII

Argument

Quam diversae Graecorum sint sententiae super numero Niobae filiorum. ³²

[1] MIRA et prope adeo ridicula diversitas fabulae apud Graecos poetas deprenditur super numero Niobae filiorum.

[2] Nam Homerus pueros puellasque eius bis senos dicit fuisse, Euripides bis septenos, Sappho bis novenos, Bacchylides et Pindarus bis denos, quidam alii scriptores tres fuisse solos dixerunt.

VIII

Argument

De his quae habere συμπτωσίαν videntur cum luna iuvenescente ³³ ac senescente.

[1] ANNIANUS poeta in fundo suo, quem in agro Falisco possidebat, agitare erat solitus vindemiam hilare atque amoeniter.

[2] Ad eos dies me et quosdam item alios familiaris vocavit.

[3] Ibi tum cenantibus nobis magnus ostrearum numerus Roma missus est. Quae cum adpositae fuissent et multae quidem, sed inuberes macriusculaeque ³⁴ essent: Luna, inquit Annianus, nunc videlicet senescit; ea re ostrea quoque, sicuti quaedam alia, tenuis exsuctaque est.

[4] Cum quaereremus quae alia item senescente luna tabescerent, Nonne Lucilium, inquit, nostrum meministis dicere:

Luna alit ostrea et implet echinos, muribus fibras

Et iecur addit?

[5] Eadem autem ipsa quae crescente luna gliscunt, deficiente contra defiunt.

[6] Aelurorum quoque oculi ad easdem vices lunae aut ampliores fiunt aut minores.

[7] Id etiam, inquit, multo mirandum est magis, quod apud Plutarchum in quarto In Hesiodum Commentario legi: Cepetum revirescit et congerminat decedente luna, contra autem inarescit adolescente. Eam causam esse dicunt sacerdotes Aegyptii, cur Pelusiotae cepe non edint, quia solum olerum omnium contra lunae augmenta atque damna vices minuendi et augendi habeat contrarias.

IX

Argument

Qualibus verbis delectari solitus sit Antonius Iulianus, positis in mimiambis Mamiambis Cn. ³⁵ Matii; et quid significet signiificet M. Cato in oratione quam scripsit de innocentia sua, cum curl ita dictitat: numquam vestimenta vestirnenta a populo poposci peposci.

[1] Delectari mulcerique aures suas dicebat Antonius Iulianus figmentis verborum novis Cn. Matii, hominis eruditi,

[2] qualia haec quoque essent, quae scripta ab eo in Mimiambis memorabat:

Sinuque amicam refice frigidam caldo,

Columbulatim labra conserens labris.

Item id quoque iucunde lepideque fictum dictitabat:

[3]

Iam tonsiles tapetes ebrii fuco,

Quos concha purpura imbuens venenavit ³⁶

X

Argument

Quid vocabulum ex iure manuni consertum signiticet. ³⁷

[1] Ex iure manum consertum verba sunt ex antiquis actionibus, quae, cum lege agitur et vindiciae contenduntur, dici nunc quoque apud praetorem solent.

[2] Rogavi ego Romae grammaticum, celebri hominem fama et multo nomine, quid haec verba essent. Tum ille me despiciens: Aut erras, inquit, adulescens, aut ludis; rem enim doceo grammaticam, non ius respondeo; si quid igitur ex Vergilio, Plauto, Ennio quaerere habes, quaeras licet.

[3] Ex Ennio ergo, inquam, est, magister, quod quaero.

[4] Ennius enim verbis hisce usus est. Cumque ille demiratus aliena haec esse a poetis et haud usquam inveniri in carminibus Ennii diceret, tum turn ego hos versus ex octavo Annali absentes dixi, nam forte eos tamquam insigniter praeter alios factos

Pellitur ³⁸ e medio sapientia, vi geritur res;

Spernitur orator bonus, horridus miles amatur.

Haut doctis dictis certantes nec maledictis,

Miscent inter sese inimicitiam agitantes.

Non ex iure manum ³⁹ consertum, sed magis ferro

Rem ⁴⁰ repetunt regnumque petunt, vadunt solida vi.

[5] Cum hos ego versus Ennianos dixissem, Credo, inquit grammaticus, iam tibi. Sed tu velim credas mihi, Quintum Ennium didicisse hoc non ex poeticae litteris, set ex iuris aliquo perito. Eas igitur tu quoque, inquit, et discas unde Ennius didicit.

[6] Usus consilio sum magistri, quod docere ipse debuerat a quo discerem praetermonstrantis. Itaque id quod ex iureconsultis quodque ex libris eorum didici inferendum his commentariis existimavi, quoniam in medio rerum et hominum vitam qui colunt ignorare non oportet verba actionum civilium celebriora.

[7] Manum conserere Nam de qua re disceptatur in iure lure in re ⁴¹ praesenti, sive ager sive quid aliud est, cum adversario simul manu prendere et in ea re sollemnibus verbis vindicare, id est vindicia.

[8] Correptio manus in re atque in loco praesenti apud praetorem ex Duodecim Tabulis fiebat, in quibus ita scriptum est: Si qui in iure manum conserunt.

[9] Sed postquam praetores, propagatis Italiae finibus, satis iurisdictionis ⁴² negotiis occupati, proficisci vindiciarum dicendarum causa ad ⁴³ longinquas res gravabantur, institutum est contra Duodecim Tabulas tacito consensus, ut litigantes non in iure apud praetorem manum consererent, sed ex iure manum consertum vocarent, id est alter alterum ex iure ad conserendam manum in rem de qua ageretur vocaret atque profecti simul in agrum de quo litigabatur, terrae aliquid ex eo, uti unam glebam, in ius in urbem ad praetorem deferrent et in ea gleba, tamquam in toto agro, vindicarent.

[10] Idcirco Ennius significare volens gestum, ⁴⁴ non, ut ad praetorem solitum est, legitimis actionibus neque ex iure manum consertum, sed bello ferroque et vera vi atque solida solid rem repeti dixit; ⁴⁵ quod videtur dixisse, conferens vim illam civilem et festucariam, quae verbo diceretur, non quae manu fieret, cum vi bellica et cruenta.

XI

Argument

Quid sit sculuae verbum positum apud M. Varronem.

[1] P. LAVINI liber est non incuriose factus. Is inscriptus est De verbis Verhis Sordidis.

[2] In eo scripsit sculnam vulgo dici, quasi seculnam; quem qui elegantius, inquit, loquuntur sequestrem appellant.

[3] Utrumque vocabulum a sequendo factum est, quod eius cius qui electus sit utraque pars fidem sequatur.

[4] Sculnam autem scriptum esse in Logistorico M. Varronis, qui inscribitur Catus, idem Lavinius in eodem libro admonet.

[5] Sed quod apud sequestrem depositum erat, sequestro positum per adverbium dicebant. Cato De Ptolomaeo contra Thermum: Per deos immortalis, nolite vos atque

Notes on the current edition

Attic Nights

1. That is, Antoninus Pius.

2. The Area Palatina was originally the space bounded on the west by the Domus Tiberiana, or Palace of Tiberius, and the Domus Augustana; as time went on, it must have been bounded and restricted by other parts of the Imperial Palace.

3. These laws were set up in the Forum on ten tablets of bronze in 451 B.C., to which two more tablets were added in 450.

4. The chronology of Nepos; see note on § 3, above, and on the chapter heading of xvii. 21.

5. ix. 3.

6. viii. 4.

7. viii. 12.

8. He probably refers to the Pyrronian sceptics, about whose beliefs he wrote a work in ten books; see xi. 5. 5.

9. That is, with a pallet for lying upon.

10. At that time one of the two chief magistrates, corresponding to the consuls of later times.

11. viii. 4.

12. Frag. 25, Hushke; 3, Bremer.

13. There seems to be a lacuna in the text; see crit. note.

14. The law reads: fertiis nundinis partis secanto. Si plus minusve secuerunt, se fraude esto,

on the third market day ( i.e. after about two weeks; see note on § 49, below) let them cut him into pieces. If they have cut more or less (than their proper share), let it be without prejudice (to them).

15. Oportuitates refers to the advantage or assistance which the laws afford to meet the special needs of defence; moedellas, to the remedies they furnish for the cure of vice and crime.

16. The first provision of the law is: Si in ius vocat, ito,

if he summon him to court, let him go.

Here the words

Si . . . vocat

are used merely to designate the law.

17. i. 1, 3.

18. ii. 2.

19. See xvi. 4. 4 and the note.

20. The derivation of arcera from area seems to be generally accepted.

21. See note on § 11, above.

22. viii. 3.

23. In the Samnite war, after the battle of the Caudine Forks in 321 B.C.

24. iii. 1–4.

25. F. D. Allen, Remnants of Early Latin, p. 86, suggested that minore and maiore probably ought to change places.

26. iii. 5.

27. The nundinae, or market days, came on every ninth day, reckoned in the Roman fashion. The time between two market days was the French

huit jours

and our

week.

Terliis nundinis, counting the one at the beginning of the period (in the Roman fashion), would be about two weeks (actually seventeen days).

28. iii. 6.

29. iii. 6.

30. viii. 23.

31. He was the ruler of Alba Longa in the time of Tullus Hostilius, the third king of Rome (673–641 B.C.).

32. Virg. Aen. viii. 643.

33. lxix, Jordan.

34. Frag. 7, Huschke; 9, Bremer.

35. Prob. xxx. 10; frag. 209, Rose.

36. i.e. esoteric, or inner, for the initiated only. The term was originally applied to Aristotle's acrobatic (or acroamatic) writings, which were not made public, as were his exoteric Dialogues, but were read to hearers only (cf. a)kou/w) and were of a strictly scientific character. Except for the fragments of his Dialogues, all the works of Aristotle which have come down to us are of the latter class.

37. See note on vii. 16. 1 (ii, p. 135).

38. Hence the term

peripatetics,

from peripate/w,

walk up and down.

39. Frag. 662, Rose.

40. Frag. 105, Peter 2.

41. Frag. 3, Peter 2.

42. v. 172.

43. v. 417, Ribbeck 3.

44. v. 62, Ribbeck 3.

45. See note on xiii. 26. 1.

46. vv. 3 ff.

47. O.R.F p. 248, Meyer 2.

48. Pro Planc. § 16.

49. Div. in Caec. § 37.

50. Frag 83, Peter 2.

51. v. 280.

52. xxxiii. 2.

53. Indoles is perhaps

the nature of the error,

i.e., the disposition to make an error of that kind.

54. Iliad xxiv. 602.

55. Frag. 455, N 2.

56. Frag. 143, Bergk.

57. Frag. 46, Blass 2.

58. Frag. 65, Bergk.

59. v. 1201, Marx.

60. Cf. Hor. Serm. ii. 4. 30, lubrica nascentes implent conchylia lunae; Cic. de Div. ii. 33.

61. Frag. 90, Bern.

62. Frag. 12, Bahrens ( F.P.R. p. 282).

63. Id. 13.

64. That is, the murex or

purple-fish.

65. vv. 268 ff., Vahlen.

66. vi. 5.

67. Cf. xx. i. 48; see Allen, Remnants of Early Latin, p. 85.

68. festuca,

a stalk or stem,

was used of the rod with which slaves were touched in the ceremony of manumission. Here festucariam (a a(/pac lego/menon) is extended in meaning to include any symbolic legal process.

69. Frag. 37, Riese.

70. x. 3, Jordan.

Aulus Gellius Noctes Atticae 20

John C. Rolfe (Translator)

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