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BOOK IV

I

1arg

A discourse of the philosopher Favorinus carried on in the Socratic manner with an over-boastful grammarian; and in that discourse we are told how Quintus Scaevola defined penus¹ ; and that this same definition has been criticized and rejected.

1 IN the entrance hall of the palace on the Palatine a large number of men of almost all ranks had gathered together, waiting an opportunity to pay their respects to Caesar. ² And there in a group of scholars, in the presence of the philosopher Favorinus, a man who thought himself unusually rich in grammatical lore was airing trifles worthy of the schoolroom, discoursing on the genders and cases of nouns with raised eyebrows and an exaggerated gravity of voice and expression, as if he were the interpreter and sovereign lord of the Sibyl's oracle. Then, looking at Favorinus, although as yet he was hardly acquainted with him, he said: "Penus too is used in different genders and is variously declined. For the early writers used to say hoc penus and haec penus, and in the genitive peni and penoris; Lucilius in his sixteenth satire also used the word mundus, which describes women's ornaments, not in the masculine gender, as other writers do, but in the neuter, in these words: ³

A man once willed his wife all ornaments (mundum omne) and stores.

But what are ornaments? Who will determine that?

And he kept bawling out illustrations and examples of all these usages; but while he was prating quite too tiresomely, Favorinus interrupted and quietly said:

Well and good, master, whatever your name is, you have taught us more than enough about many things of which we were indeed ignorant and certainly did not ask to know. For what difference does it make to me and the one with whom I am speaking in what gender I use penus, or with what endings I inflect it, provided no one of us does this too barbarously? But this is clearly what I need to know, what penus is, and how far that word may be employed, so that I may not call a thing in everyday use by the wrong name, as those do who begin to speak their Latin in the slave-market.

Your question is not at all difficult,

replied the man.

Who indeed does not know that penus is wine, wheat, oil, lentils, beans, and the other things of that kind?

Is not penus also,

said Favorinus,

millet, panic-grass, ⁴ acorns and barley? for these too are almost of the same sort;

and when the man hesitated and did not answer, he continued:

I do not want you to trouble yourself further about the question whether those things which I have mentioned are called penus. But can you not, instead of telling me some essential part of penus, rather define the meaning of the word by stating its genus and adding its species?

Good Heavens!

said he,

I don't understand what you mean by genus and species.

You ask,

replied Favorinus,

to have a matter which has been stated clearly stated still more clearly, which is very difficult; for it is surely a matter of common knowledge that every definition consists of genus and species. But if you ask me to predigest it for you, as they say, I will certainly do that too, for the sake of showing you honour.

And then Favorinus began in this wise:

If,

said he,

I should now ask you to tell me, and as it were to define in words, what a man is, you would not, I suppose, reply that you and I are men. For that is to show who is a man, not to tell what a man is. But if, I say, I should ask you to define exactly what a man is, you would undoubtedly tell me that a man is a mortal living being, endowed with reason and knowledge, or you would define him in some other manner which would differentiate him from all other animals. Similarly, then, I now ask you to tell what penus is, not to name some example of penus.

Then that boaster, now in humble and subdued tones, said:

I have never learned philosophy, nor desired to learn it, and if I do not know whether barley is included under penus, or in what words penus is defined, I am not on that account ignorant also of other branches of learning.

To know what penus is,

said Favorinus, who was now laughing,

is not more a part of my philosophy than of your grammar. For you remember, I suppose, that it is often inquired whether Virgil said penum struere longam or longo ordine;⁵ for you surely know that both readings are current. But to make you feel easier in mind, let me say that not even those old masters of the law who were called 'wise men' are thought to have defined penus with sufficient accuracy. For I hear that Quintus Scaevola used the following words to explain penus:⁶ Penus,' said he, 'is what is to be eaten or drunk, which is prepared for the use of the father of the family himself; or the mother of the family, or the children of the father, or the household which he has about him or his children and which is not engaged in work ⁷ . . . as ⁸ Mucius says ought to be regarded as penus. For articles which are prepared for eating and drinking day by day, for luncheon or dinner, are not penus; but rather the articles of that kind which are collected and stored up for use during a long period are called penus, because they are not ready at hand, but are kept in the innermost part of the house.' ⁹ This information,

said Favorinus, although I had devoted myself to philosophy, I yet did not neglect to acquire; since for Roman citizens speaking Latin it is no less disgraceful not to designate a thing by its proper word than it is to call a man out of his own name.

Thus Favorinus used to lead ordinary conversations of this kind from insignificant and trivial topics to those which were better worth hearing and knowing, topics not lugged in irrelevantly, nor by way of display, but springing from and suggested by the conversations themselves.

Besides what Favorinus said, I think this too ought to be added to our consideration of penus, that Servius Sulpicius, in his Criticism of the Chapters of Scaevola, wrote ¹⁰ that Aelius Catus believed ¹¹ that not only articles for eating and drinking, but also incense and wax tapers were included under the head of penus, since they were provided for practically the same purpose. But Masurius Sabinus, in the second book of his Civil Law, declares ¹² that whatever was prepared for the beasts of burden which the owner of a house used was also penus. He adds that some ¹³ have thought that the term likewise included wood, faggots and charcoal, by means of which the penus was made ready for use. But of articles kept in the same place, for use or for purposes of trade, he thinks that only the amount which was sufficient for a year's needs was to be regarded as penus.

II

2arg

On the difference between a disease and a defect, and the force of those terms in the aediles' edict; also whether eunuchs and barren women can he returned, and the various views as to that question.

1 THE edict of the curule aediles, ¹⁴ in the section containing stipulations about the purchase of slaves, reads as follows: ¹⁵

See to it that the sale ticket of each slave be so written that it can be known exactly what disease or defect each one has, which one is a runaway or a vagabond, or is still under condemnation for some offence.

Therefore the jurists of old raised the question ¹⁶ of the proper meaning of a

diseased slave

and one that was

defective,

and to what degree a disease differed from a defect. Caelius Sabinus, in the book which he wrote ¹⁷ On the Edict of t he Curule Aediles, quotes Labeo, ¹⁸ as defining a disease in these terms:

Disease is an unnatural condition of any body, which impairs its usefulness.

But he adds that disease affects sometimes the whole body and at other times a part of the body. That a disease of the whole body is, for example, consumption or fever, but of a part of the body anything like blindness or lameness.

But,

he continues,

one who stutters or stammers is defective rather than diseased, and a horse which bites or kicks has faults rather than a disease. But one who has a disease is also at the same time defective. However, the converse is not also true; for one may have defects and yet not be diseased. Therefore in the case of a man who is diseased,

says he,

it will be just and fair to state to what extent ' the price will be less on account of that defect.'

With regard to a eunuch in particular it has been inquired whether he would seem to have been sold contrary to the aediles' edict, if the purchaser did not know that he was a eunuch. They say that Labeo ruled ¹⁹ that he could be returned as diseased; and that Labeo also wrote that if sows were sterile and had been sold, action could be brought on the basis of the edict of the aediles. But in the case of a barren woman, if the barrenness were congenital they say that Trebatius gave a ruling opposed to that of Labeo. For while Labeo thought ²⁰ that she could be returned as unsound, they quote Trebatius as declaring ²¹ that no action could be taken on the basis of the edict, if the woman had been born barren. But if her health had failed, and in consequence such a defect had resulted that she could not conceive, in that case she appeared to be unsound and there was ground for returning her. With regard to a short-sighted person too, one whom we call in Latin luscitiosus, there is disagreement; for some maintain that such a person should be returned in all cases, while others on the contrary hold that he can be returned only if that defect was the result of disease. Servius indeed ruled ²² that one who lacked a tooth could be returned, but Labeo said ²³ that such a defect was not sufficient ground for a return:

For,

says he,

many men lack some one tooth, and most of them are no more diseased on that account, and it would be altogether absurd to say that men are not born sound, because infants come into the world unprovided with teeth.

I must not omit to say that this also is stated in the works of the early jurists, ²⁴ that the difference between a disease and a defect is that the latter is lasting, while the former comes and goes. But if this be so, contrary to the opinion of Labeo, which I quoted above, neither a blind man nor a eunuch is diseased.

I have added a passage from the second book of Masurius Sabinus On Civil Law.: ²⁵

A madman or a mute, or one who has a broken or crippled limb, or any defect which impairs his usefulness, is diseased. But one who is by nature near-sighted is as sound as one who runs more slowly than others.

III

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That before the divorce of Carvilius there were no lawsuits about a wife's dowry in the city of Rome; further, the proper meaning of the word paelex and its derivation.

1 IT is on record that for nearly five hundred years after the founding of Rome there were no lawsuits and no warranties ²⁶ in connection with a wife's dowry in the city of Rome or in Latium, since of course nothing of that kind was called for, inasmuch as no marriages were annulled during that period. Servius Sulpicius too, in the book which he compiled On Dowries, wrote ²⁷ that security for a wife's dower seemed to have become necessary for the first time when Spurius Carvilius, who was surnamed Ruga, a man of rank, put away his wife because, owing to some physical defect, no children were born from her; and that this happened in the five hundred and twenty-third year after the founding of the city, in the consulship of Marcus Atilius and Publius Valerius. ²⁸ And it is reported that this Carvilius dearly loved the wife whom he divorced, and held her in strong affection because of her character, but that above his devotion and his love he set his regard for the oath which the censors had compelled him to take, ²⁹ that he would marry a wife for the purpose of begetting children.

Moreover, a woman was called paelex, or

concubine,

and regarded as infamous, if she lived on terms of intimacy with a man who had another woman under his legal control in a state of matrimony, as is evident from this very ancient law, which we are told was one of king Numa's: ³⁰

Let no concubine touch the temple of Juno; if she touch it, let her, with hair unbound, offer up a ewe lamb to Juno.

Now paelex is the equivalent of pa/llac, that is to say, of pallaki/s.³¹ Like many other words of ours, this one too is derived from the Greek.

IV

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What Servius Sulpicius wrote in his work On Dowries about the law and usage of betrothals in early times.

1 IN the book to which he gave the title On Dowries Servius Sulpicius wrote ³² that in the part of Italy known as Latium betrothals were regularly contracted according to the following customary and legal practice.

One who wished to take a wife,

says he,

demanded of him from whom she was to be received a formal promise that she would be given in marriage. The man who was to take the woman to wife made a corresponding promise. That contract, based upon pledges given and received, was called sponsalia, or 'betrothal.' Thereafter, she who had been promised was called sponsa, and he who had asked her in marriage, sponsus. But if, after such an interchange of pledges, the bride to be was not given in marriage, or was not received, then he who had asked for her hand, or he who had promised her, brought suit on the ground of breach of contract. The court took cognizance of the case. The judge inquired why the woman was not given in marriage, or why she was not accepted. If no good and sufficient reason appeared, the judge then assigned a money value to the advantage to be derived from receiving or giving the woman in marriage, and condemned the one who had made the promise, or the one who had asked for it, to pay a fine of that amount.

Servius Sulpicius says that this law of betrothal was observed up to the time when citizenship was given to all Latium by the Julian law. ³³ The same account as the above was given also by Neratius in the book which he wrote On Marriage.³⁴

V

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A story which is told of the treachery of Etruscan diviners; and how because of that circumstance the boys at Rome chanted this verse all over the city:

Bad counsel to the giver is most ruinous.

1 The statue of that bravest of men, Horatius Cocles, which stood in the Comitium ³⁵ at Rome, was struck by lightning. To make expiatory offerings because of that thunderbolt, diviners were summoned from Etruria. These, through personal and national hatred of the Romans, had made up their minds to give false directions for the performance of that rite.

They accordingly gave the misleading advice that the statue in question should be moved to a lower position, on which the sun never shone, being cut off by the high buildings which surrounded the place on every side. When they had induced the Romans to take that course, they were betrayed and brought to trial before the people, and having confessed their duplicity, were put to death. And it became evident, in exact accord with what were later found to be the proper directions, that the statue ought to be taken to an elevated place and set up in a more commanding position in the area of Vulcan; ³⁶ and after that was done, the matter turned out happily and successfully for the Romans. At that time, then, because the evil counsel of the Etruscan diviners had been detected and punished, this clever line is said to have been composed, and chanted by the boys all over the city: ³⁷

Bad counsel to the giver is most ruinous.

This story about the diviners and that senarius³⁸ is found in the Annales Maximi, in the eleventh book, ³⁹ and in Verrius Flaccus' first book of Things Worth Remembering.⁴⁰ But the verse appears to be a translation of the Greek poet Hesiod's familiar line: ⁴¹

And evil counsel aye most evil is

To him who gives it.

VI

6arg

A quotation from an early decree of the senate, which provided that sacrifice should be made with full-grown victims because the spears of Mars had moved in the sanctuary; also an explanation of the meaning of hostiae succidaneae and likewise of porca praecidanea; and further, that Ateius Capito called certain holidays praecidaneae.

1 NOT only was an earthquake regularly reported, and expiatory offerings made on that account, but I also find it mentioned in early records, that report was made to the senate when the spears of Mars ⁴² had moved in the sanctuary in the Regia. ⁴³ Because of such an occurrence, a decree of the senate was passed in the consulship of Marcus Antonius and Aulus Postumius, ⁴⁴ of which this is a copy:

Whereas Gaius Julius, son of Lucius, the pontifex, has reported that the spears of Mars have moved in the sanctuary in the Regia, the senate has therefore decreed with reference to that matter, that Marcus Antonius the consul should make expiation to Jupiter and Mars with full-grown victims, and with unweaned victims to such of the other gods as he thought proper. They decided that it should be regarded as sufficient for him to have sacrificed with these. If there should be any need of additional victims, the additional offerings should be made with red victims.

Inasmuch as the senate called some victims succidaneae, it is often inquired what that word means. Also in the comedy of Plautus which is entitled Epidicus I hear that inquiry is made about that same word, which occurs in these verses: ⁴⁵

Should I the victim of your folly be

And let you sacrifice my back to it,

As substitute for yours?

Now it is said that the victims were called succidaneae —which is equivalent to succaedaneae, the diphthong ae, according to the custom in compound words, being changed to i—because if the expiation was not effected by the first victims, other victims were brought and killed after them; and since these, after the first had already been offered, were substituted for the sake of making atonement and were

slain in succession to

the others, they were called succidaneae,⁴⁶ the letter i, of course, being pronounced long; for I hear that some barbarously shorten that letter in this word.

Moreover, it is on the same linguistic principle that praecidanea is applied to those victims which are offered on the day before the regular sacrifices. Also the sow is called praecidalea⁴⁷ which it was usual to offer up to Ceres before the harvesting of the new crops, for the sake of expiation in case any had failed to purify a defiled household, or had performed that rite in an improper manner.

But that a sow and certain victims are called praecidaneae, as I have said, is a matter of common knowledge; that some festivals are called praecidaneae is a fact I think that is not known to the general public. Therefore I have quoted a passage from the fifth book of the treatise which Ateius Capito compiled On Pontifical Law:⁴⁸

Tiberius Coruncanius, the pontifex maximus, appointed feriae praecidaneae, or

a preparatory festival,

for a day of ill-omen. The college of pontiffs voted that there need be no religious scruple against celebrating the feriae praecidaneae on that day.

⁴⁹

VII

7arg

On a letter of the grammarian Valerius Probus, written to Marcellus, regarding the accent of certain Punic names.

1 VALERIUS PROBUS the grammarian was conspicuous among the men of his time for his learning. He pronounced Hannibalem and Hasdrubalem and Hamilcarem with a circumflex accent on the penult, and there is a letter addressed To Marcellus, in which he asserts that Plautus, ⁵⁰ and Ennius and many other early writers pronounced in that way; but he quotes a single line of Ennius alone, from the book entitled Scipio.

That verse, composed in octonarii, ⁵¹ I have appended; in it, unless the third syllable of Hannibal's name is circumflexed, ⁵² the metre will halt. The verse of Ennius to which I referred reads thus: ⁵³

And where near Hannibal's forces he had camped. ⁵⁴

VIII

8arg

What Gaius Fabricius said of Cornelius Rufinus, an avaricious man, whose election to the consulship he supported, although he hated him and was his personal enemy.

1 FABRICIUS LUSCINUS was a man of great renown and great achievements. Publius Cornelius Rufinus was, to be sure, a man energetic in action, a good warrior, and a master of military tactics, but thievish and keen for money. This man Fabricius neither respected nor treated as a friend, but hated him because of his character. Yet when consuls were to be chosen at a highly critical period for the State, and that Rufinus was a candidate while his competitors were without military experience and untrustworthy, Fabricius used every effort to have the office given to Rufinus. ⁵⁵ When many men expressed surprise at his attitude, in wishing an avaricious man, towards whom he felt bitter personal enmity, to be elected consul, he said:

I would rather be robbed by a fellow-citizen than sold ⁵⁶ by the enemy.

This Rufinus afterwards, when he had been dictator and twice consul, Fabricius in his censorship expelled from the senate ⁵⁷ on the charge of extravagance, because he possessed ten pounds weight of silver plate. That remark of Fabricius about Rufinus I gave above in the form in which it appears in most historians; but Marcus Cicero, in the second book of the De Oratore, says ⁵⁸ that it was not made by Fabricius to others, but to Rufinus himself, when he was thanking Fabricius because he had been elected consul through his help.

IX

9arg

On the proper meaning of religiosus; and what changes the meaning of that word has undergone; and remarks of Nigidius Figulus on that subject, drawn from his Commentaries.

1 NIGIDIUS FIGULUS, in my opinion the most learned of men next to Marcus Varro, in the eleventh book of his Grammatical Commentaries, quotes ⁵⁹ a truly remarkable line from an early poet: ⁶⁰

Best it is to be religious, lest one superstitious be;

but he does not name the author of the poem. And in the same connection Nigidius adds:

The suffix osus in words of this kind, such as vinosus, mulierosus, religiosus, always indicates an excessive amount of the quality in question. Therefore religiosus is applied to one who has involved himself in an extreme and superstitious devotion, which was regarded as a fault.

But in addition to what Nigidius says, by another shift in meaning religiosus began to be used of an upright and conscientious man, who regulates his conduct by definite laws and limits. Similarly too the following terms, which have the same origin, appear to have acquired different meanings; namely, religiosus dies and religiosa delubra. For those days are called religiosi which are of ill-fame and are hampered by an evil omen, so that on them one must refrain from offering sacrifice or beginning any new business whatever; they are, namely, the days that the ignorant multitude falsely and improperly call ne fasti.⁶¹ Thus Marcus Cicero, in the ninth book of his Letters to Atticus, writes: ⁶²

Our forefathers maintained that the day of the battle at the Allia was more calamitous than that on which the city was taken; because the latter disaster was the result of the former. Therefore the one day is even now religiosus, while the other is unknown to the general public.

Yet the same Marcus Tullius, in his speech On Appointing a Prosecutor,⁶³ uses the term religiosa delubra of shrines which are not ill-omened and gloomy, but full of majesty and sacredness. Masurius Sabinus too, in his Notes on Native Words, says: ⁶⁴

Religiosus is that which because of some sacred quality is removed and withdrawn from us; the word is derived from relinquo, as is caerimonia from careo.

⁶⁵ According to this explanation of Sabinus, temples indeed and shrines—since an accumulation of these does not give rise to censure, as in case of things which are praised for their moderate use—since they are to be approached, not unceremoniously and thoughtlessly, but after purification and in due form, must be both revered and feared, rather than profaned; but those days are called religiosi which for the opposite reason, because they are of dire omen, we avoid. ⁶⁶ And Terence says: ⁶⁷

Then too I give her nothing, except to say

All right;

For I avoid confessing my impecunious plight.

But if, as Nigidius says, all derivatives of that kind indicate an excessive and immoderate degree, and therefore have a bad sense, as do vinosus (

fond of wine

), mulierosus (

fond of women

), morosus (

whimsical

), verbosus (

wordy

), famosus (

notorious

), ⁶⁸ why are ingeniosus (

talented

), formosus (

beautiful

), officiosus (

dutiful

), and speciosus (

showy

), ⁶⁹ which are formed in the same way from ingenium, forma, officium, and species, why too are disciplinosus (

well-trained

), consiliosus (

full of wisdom

), victoriosus (

victorious

), words coined by Marcus Cato, ⁷⁰ why too facundiosts—for Sempronius Asellio in the thirteenth book of his History wrote, ⁷¹

one should regard his deeds, not his words if they are less eloquent ( facundiosa)

—why, I say, are all these adjectives used, not in a bad, but in a good sense, although they too indicate an excessive amount of the quality which they signify? Is it because a certain necessary limit must be set for the qualities indicated by those words which I first cited? For favour if it is excessive and without limit, ⁷² and habits if they are too many and varied, and words if they are unceasing, endless and deafening, and fame if it should be great and restless and begetting envy; all these are neither praiseworthy nor useful; but talent, duty, beauty, training, wisdom, victory and eloquence, being in themselves great virtues, are confined within no limits, but the greater and more extensive they are, the more are they deserving of praise.

X

10arg

The order observed in calling upon senators for their opinions; and the altercation in the senate between Gaius Caesar, when consul, and Marcus Cato, who tried to use up the whole day in talk.

1 BEFORE the passage of the law which is now observed in the proceedings of the senate, the order in calling for opinions varied. Sometimes the man was first called upon whom the censors had first enrolled in the senate, sometimes the consuls elect; some of the consuls, influenced by friendship or some personal relationship, used to call first upon anyone they pleased, as a compliment, contrary to the regular order. However, when the usual order was not followed, the rule was observed of not calling first upon any but a man of consular rank. It is said that Gaius Caesar, when he was consul with Marcus Bibulus, ⁷³ called upon only four senators out of order. The first of these was Marcus Crassus, but after Caesar had betrothed his daughter to Gnaeus Pompeius, he began to call upon Pompeius first. ⁷⁴

Caesar gave the senate his reason for this procedure, according to the testimony of Tullius Tiro, Cicero's freedman, who writes ⁷⁵ that he had the information from his patron. Ateius Capito has made the same statement in his work On Senatorial Conduct.⁷⁶

In the same treatise of Capito is this passage: ⁷⁷

The consul Gaius Caesar called upon Marcus Cato for his opinion. Cato did not wish to have the motion before the house carried, since he did not think it for the public good. For the purpose of delaying action, he made a long speech and tried to use up the whole day in talking. For it was a senator's right, when asked his opinion, to speak beforehand on any other subject he wished, and as long as he wished. Caesar, in his capacity as consul, summoned an attendant, ⁷⁸ and since Cato would not stop, ordered him to be arrested in the full tide of his speech and taken to prison. The senate arose in a body and attended Cato to the prison. But this,

he says,

aroused such indignation, that Caesar yielded and ordered Cato's release.

XI

11arg

The nature of the information which Aristoxenus has handed down about Pythagoras on the ground that it was more authoritative; and also what Plutarch wrote in the same vein about that same Pythagoras.

1 AN erroneous belief of long standing has established itself and become current, that the philosopher Pythagoras did not eat of animals: also that he abstained from the bean, which the Greeks call ku/amos. In accordance with that belief the poet Callimachus wrote: ⁷⁹

I tell you too, as did Pythagoras,

Withhold your hands from beans, a hurtful food.

Also, as the result of the same belief, Marcus Cicero wrote these words in the first book of his work On Didination:⁸⁰

Plato therefore bids us go to our sleep in such bodily condition that there may be nothing to cause delusion and disturbance in our minds. It is thought to be for that reason too that the Pythagoreans were forbidden to eat beans, a food that produces great flatulency, which is disturbing to those who seek mental calm.

So then Cicero. But Aristoxenus the musician, a man thoroughly versed in early literature, a pupil of the philosopher Aristotle, in the book On Pythagoras which he has left us, says that Pythagoras used no vegetable more often than beans, since that food gently loosened the bowels and relieved them. I add Aristoxenus' own words: ⁸¹

Pythagoras among vegetables especially recommended the bean, saying that it was both digestible and loosening; and therefore he most frequently made use of it.

Aristoxenus also relates that Pythagoras ate very young pigs and tender kids. This fact he seems to have learned from his intimate friend Xenophilus the Pythagorean and from some other older men, who lived not long after the time of Pythagoras. And the same information about animal food is given by the poet Alexis, in the comedy entitled

The Pythagorean Bluestocking.

⁸² Furthermore, the reason for the mistaken idea about abstaining from beans seems to be, that in a poem of Empedocles, who was a follower of Pythagoras, this line is found: ⁸³

O wretches, utter wretches, from beans withhold your hands.

For most men thought that kua/mous meant the vegetable, according to the common use of the word. But those who have studied the poems of Empedocles with greater care and knowledge say that here kua/mous refers to the testicles, and that after the Pythagorean manner they were called in a covert and symbolic way ku/amoi, because they are the cause of pregnancy and furnish the power for human generation: ⁸⁴ and that therefore Empedocles in that verse desired to keep men, not from eating beans, but from excess in venery.

Plutarch too, a man of weight in scientific matters, in the first book of his work On Homer wrote that Aristotle ⁸⁵ gave the same account of the Pythagoreans: namely, that except for a few parts of the flesh they did not abstain from eating animals. Since the statement is contrary to the general belief, I have appended Plutarch's own words: ⁸⁶

Aristotle says that the Pythagoreans abstained from the matrix, the heart, the a)kalh/fh and some other such things, but used all other animal food.

Now the a)kalh/fh is a marine creature which is called the sea-nettle. But Plutarch in his Table Talk says ⁸⁷ that the Pythagoreans also abstained from mullets.

But as to Pythagoras himself, while it is well known that he declared that he had come into the world as Euphorbus, what Cleanthes ⁸⁸ and Dicaearchus ⁸⁹ have recorded is less familiar—that he was afterwards Pyrrhus Pyranthius, then Aethalides, and then a beautiful courtesan, whose name was Alco.

XII

12arg

Instances of disgrace and punishment inflicted by the censors, found in ancient records and worthy of notice.

1 IF anyone had allowed his land to run to waste and was not giving it sufficient attention, if he had neither ploughed nor weeded it, or if anyone had neglected his orchard or vineyard, such conduct did not go unpunished, but it was taken up by the censors, who reduced such a man to the lowest class of citizens. ⁹⁰ So too, any Roman knight, if his horse seemed to be skinny or not well groomed, was charged with inpolitiae, a word which means the same thing as negligence. ⁹¹ There are authorities for both these punishments, and Marcus Cato has cited frequent instances. ⁹²

XIII

13arg

On the possibility of curing gout by certain melodies played in a special way on the flute.

1 I RAN across the statement very recently in the book of Theophrastus On Inspiration⁹³ that many men have believed and put their belief on record, that when gouty pains in the hips are most severe, they are relieved if a flute-player plays soothing measures. That snake-bites are cured by the music of the flute, when played skilfully and melodiously, is also stated in a book of Democritus, entitled On Deadly Infections, in which he shows that the music of the flute is medicine for many ills that flesh is heir to. So very close is the connection between the bodies and the minds of men, and therefore between physical and mental ailments and their remedies.

XIV

14arg

A story told of Hostilius Mancinus, a curule aedile, and the courtesan Manilia; and the words of the decree of the tribunes to whom Manilia appealed.

1 As I was reading the ninth book of the Miscellany of Ateius Capito, entitled On Public Decisions,⁹⁴ one decree of the tribunes seemed to me full of old-time dignity. For that reason I remember it, and it was rendered for this reason and to this purport. Aulus Hostilius Mancinus was a curule aedile. ⁹⁵ He brought suit before the people against a courtesan called Manilia, because he said that he had been struck with a stone thrown from her apartment by night, and he exhibited the wound made by the stone. Manilia appealed to the tribunes of the commons. Before them she declared that Mancinus had come to her house in the garb of a reveller; that it would not have been to her advantage to admit him, and that when he tried to break in by force, he had been driven off with stones. The tribunes decided that the aedile had rightly been refused admission to a place to which it had not been seemly for him to go with a garland on his head; ⁹⁶ therefore they forbade the aedile to bring an action before the people.

XV

15arg

The defence of a passage in the historical works of Sallust, which his enemies attacked in a spirit of malicious criticism.

1 THE elegance of Sallust's style and his passion for coining and introducing new words was met with exceeding great hostility, and many men of no mean ability tried to criticize and decry much in his writings. Many of the attacks on him were ignorant or malicious. Yet there are some things that may be regarded as deserving of censure, as for example the following passage in the History of Catiline,⁹⁷ which has the appearance of being written somewhat carelessly. Sallust's words are these:

And for myself, although I am well aware that by no means equal repute attends the narrator and the doer of deeds, yet I regard the writing of history as one of the hardest of tasks; first because the style and diction must be equal to the deeds recorded; and in the second place, because such criticisms as you make of others' shortcomings are thought by most men to be due to malice and envy. Furthermore, when you commemorate the distinguished merit and fame of good men, while everyone is quite ready to believe you when you tell of things which he thinks he could easily do himself, everything beyond that he regards as fictitious, if not false.

The critics say:

He declared that he would give the reasons why it appears to be ' hard ' 'to write history'; and then, after mentioning the first reason, he does not give a second, but gives utterance to complaints. For it ought not to be regarded as a reason why the work of history is 'hard,' that the reader either misinterprets what is written or does not believe it to be true.

They maintain that he ought to say that such work is exposed and subject to misjudgments, rather than

hard

; for that which is

hard

is hard because of the difficulty of its accomplishment, not because of the mistaken opinions of other men.

That is what those ill-natured critics say. But Sallust does not use arduus merely in the sense of

hard,

but as the equivalent of the Greek word xalepo/s, that is, both difficult and also troublesome, disagreeable and intractable. And the meaning of these words is not inconsistent with that of the passage which was just quoted from Sallust.

XVI

16arg

On the inflection of certain words by Varro and Nigidius contrary to everyday usage; and also a quotation of some instances of the same kind from the early writers, with examples.

1 I LEARN that Marcus Varro and Publius Nigidius, ⁹⁸ the most learned of all the Romans, always said and wrote senatuis, domuis and fluctuis as the genitive case of the words senatus, domus and fluctus, and used senatui, domui, fluctui, and other similar words, with the corresponding dative ending. There is also a line of the comic poet Terence, which in the old manuscripts is written as follows: ⁹⁹

Because, I think, of that old dame ( anuis) who died.

Some of the early grammarians wished to give this authority of theirs ¹⁰⁰ the sanction of a rule; namely, that every dative singular ending in l, if it has not the same form as the genitive singular, ¹⁰¹ makes the genitive singular by adding s, as pati patris, duci ducis, caedi caedis.

Therefore,

they say,

since we use senatui as the dative case, the genitive singular of that word is senatuis, not senatus.

But all are not agreed that we should use senatui in the dative case rather than senatu. For example, Lucilius in that same case uses victu and ann, and not victui and anui, in these verses: ¹⁰²

Since you to honest fare ( victu) do waste and feasts prefer,

and in another place: ¹⁰³

I'm doing harm to the old girl ( anu).

Vergil also in the dative case writes aspectu and not aspecui:¹⁰⁴

Withdraw not from our view ( aspectu)

and in the Georgics:¹⁰⁵

Nor give themselves to love's embrace ( concubitu).

Gaius Caesar too, a high authority on the Latin language, says in his Speech against Cato: ¹⁰⁶

owing to the arrogance, haughtiness and tyranny dominateu) of one man.

Also in the First Action against Dolabella, Book I: ¹⁰⁷

Those in whose temples and shrines they had been placed for an honour and an adornment ( ornatu).

¹⁰⁸ Also, in his books on analogy he decides that i should be omitted in all such forms.

XVII

17arg

A discussion of the natural quantity of certain particles, the long pronunciation of which, when prefixed to verbs, seems to be barbarous and ignorant; with several examples and explanations.

1 IN the eleventh book of Lucilius are these lines: ¹⁰⁹

Thus base Asellus did great Scipio taunt:

Unlucky was his censorship and bad.

I hear that many read obiciebat with a long o, and they say that they do this in order to preserve the metre. ¹¹⁰ Again farther on he says: ¹¹¹

I'd versify the words the herald Granius spoke.

In this passage also they lengthen the prefix of the first word for the same reason. Again in the fifteenth book: ¹¹²

Subicit huic humilem et suffercitus posteriorem, ¹¹³

they read subicit with a long u, because it is not proper for the first syllable to be short in heroic verse. Likewise in the Epidicus of Plautus ¹¹⁴ they lengthen the syllable con in

Haste now, Epidicus, prepare yourself,

And throw ( conice) your mantle round about your neck.

In Virgil too I hear that some lengthen the verb subicit in: ¹¹⁵

Parnassian laurel too

Lifts ( subicit) 'neath large mother-shade its infant stem.

But neither the preposition ob nor sub is long by nature, nor is con long either, except when it is followed by the letters which come directly after it in constituit and confecit,¹¹⁶ or when its n is lost, as in Sallust's faenoribus copertus.¹¹⁷ But in those instances which I have mentioned above the metre may be preserved without barbarously lengthening the prefixes; for the following letter in those words should be written with two i's, not with one. For the simple verb to which the above-mentioned particles are prefixed, is not icio, but iacio, and the perfect is not icit, but iecit. When that word is used in compounds, the letter a is changed into i, as happens in the verbs insilio and incipio, and thus the first i acquires consonantal force. ¹¹⁸ Accordingly, that syllable, being pronounced a little longer and fuller, does not allow the first syllable to be short, but makes it long by position, and thus the rhythm of the verse and the correct pronunciation are preserved.

What I have said leads also to a knowledge of this, that in the line which we find in the sixth book of Virgil: ¹¹⁹

Unconquered chieftain, save me from these ills;

Or do thou earth cast on ( inice) me,

iniice is to be written and pronounced as I have indicated above, unless anyone is so ignorant as to lengthen the preposition in in this word too for the sake of the metre.

We ask then for what reason the letter o in obicibus is lengthened, since this word is derived from the verb obiicio, and is not at all analogous to motus, which is from moveo and is pronounced with a long o. I myself recall that Sulpicius Apollinaris, a man eminent for his knowledge of literature, pronounced obices and obicibus with a short o, and that in Virgil too he read in the same way the lines: ¹²⁰

And by what force the oceans fathomless

Rise, bursting all their bounds ( obicibus);

but, as I have indicated, he gave the letter i, which in that word also should be doubled, a somewhat fuller and longer sound.

It is consistent therefore that subices also, which is formed exactly like obices, should be pronounced with the letter u short. Ennius, in his tragedy which is entitled Achilles, uses subices for the upper air which is directly below the heavens, in these lines: ¹²¹ By lofty, humid regions ( subices) of the gods I swear, Whence comes the storm with savage roaring wind; yet, in spite of what I have said, you may hear almost everyone read subices with a long u. But Marcus Cato uses that very verb with another prefix in the speech which he delivered On his Consulship:¹²²

So the wind bears them to the beginning of the Pyrenees' range, where it extends ( proicit) into the deep.

And so too Pacuvius in the Chryses:¹²³

High Ida's cape, whose tongue into the deep extends ( proicit).

XVIII

18arg

Some stories of the elder Publius Africanus, taken from the annals and well worth relating.

1 How greatly the earlier Scipio Africanus excelled in the splendour of his merits, how lofty and noble of spirit he was, and to what an extent he was upheld by consciousness of his own rectitude, is evident from many of his words and acts. Among these are the following two instances of his extreme self-confidence and sense of superiority.

When Marcus Naevius, tribune of the commons, accused him before the people ¹²⁴ and declared that he had received money from king Antiochus to make peace with him in the name of the Roman people on favourable and easy terms, and when the tribune added sundry other charges which were unworthy of so great a man, then Scipio, after a few preliminary remarks such as were called for by the dignity and renown of his life, said:

I recall, fellow citizens, that this is the day on which in Africa in a mighty battle I conquered Hannibal the Carthaginian, the most bitter enemy of your power, and won for you a splendid peace and a glorious victory. Let us then not be ungrateful to the gods, but, I suggest, let us leave this worthless fellow, and go at once to render thanks to Jupiter, greatest and best of gods.

So saying, he turned away and set out for the Capitol. Thereupon the whole assembly, which had gathered to pass judgment on Scipio, left the tribune, accompanied Scipio to the Capitol, and then escorted him to his home with the joy and expressions of gratitude suited to a festal occasion. The very speech is in circulation which is believed to have been delivered that day by Scipio, ¹²⁵ and those who deny its authenticity at least admit that these words which I have quoted were spoken by Scipio.

There is also another celebrated act of his. Certain Petilii, tribunes of the commons, influenced they say by Marcus Cato, Scipio's personal enemy, and instigated to appear against him, insisted most vigorously in the senate ¹²⁶ on his rendering an account of the money of Antiochus and of the booty taken in that war; for he had been deputy to his brother Lucius Scipio Asiaticus, the commander in that campaign. Thereupon Scipio arose, and taking a roll from the fold of his toga, said that it contained an account of all the money and all the booty; that he had brought it to be publicly read and deposited in the treasury.

But that,

said he,

I shall not do now, nor will I so degrade myself.

And at once, before them all, he tore the roll across with his own hands and rent it into bits, indignant that an account of money taken in war should be required of him, to whose account the salvation of the Roman State and its power ought to be credited. ¹²⁷

XIX

19arg

What Marcus Varro wrote in his Philosophical-historical Treatise on restricting the diet of immature children.

1 IT has been found that if immature children eat a great deal and sleep too much, they become so sluggish as to have the dulness of a sufferer from insomnia or lethargy; and their bodies are stunted and under-developed. This is stated by numerous other physicians and philosophers and also by Marcus Varro in that section of his Philosophical-historical Treatise which is entitled Catus, or On Bringing up Children.¹²⁸

XX

20arg

On the punishment by the censors of men who had made untimely jokes in their hearing; also a deliberation as to the punishment of a man who had happened to yawn when standing before them.

1 AMONG the severities of the censors these three examples of the extreme strictness of their discipline are recorded in literature. The first is of this sort: The censor was administering the usual oath regarding wives, which was worded as follows:

Have you, to the best of your knowledge and belief, a wife?

The man who was to take the oath was a jester, a sarcastic dog, ¹²⁹ and too much given to buffoonery. Thinking that he had a chance to crack a joke, when the censor asked him, as was customary,

Have you, to the best of your knowledge and belief, a wife?

he replied:

I indeed have a wife, but not, by Heaven! such a one as I could desire.

¹³⁰ Then the censor reduced him to a commoner for his untimely quip, ¹³¹ and added that the reason for his action was a scurrilous joke made in his presence.

Here is another instance of the sternness of the same officials. The censors deliberated about the punishment of a man who had been brought before them by a friend as his advocate, and who had yawned in court very clearly and loudly. He was on the point of being condemned for his lapse, on the ground that it was an indication of a wandering and trifling mind and of wanton and undisguised indifference. But when the man had sworn that the yawn had overcome him much against his will and in spite of his resistance, and that he was afflicted with the disorder known as oscedo, or a tendency to yawning, he was excused from the penalty which had already been determined upon. Publius Scipio Africanus, son of Paulus, included both these stories in a speech which he made when censor, urging the people to follow the customs of their forefathers. ¹³²

Sabinus Masurius too in the seventh book of his Memoirs relates a third instance of severity. He says:

When the censors Publius Scipio Nasica and Marcus Popilius were holding a review of the knights, they saw a horse that was very thin and ill-kept, while its rider was plump and in the best of condition. 'Why is it,' said they, 'that you are better cared for than your mount?' 'Because,' he replied, 'I take care of myself, but Statius, a worthless slave, takes care of the horse.' This answer did not seem sufficiently respectful, and the man was reduced to a commoner, according to custom.

Now Statius was a slave-name. In old times there were many slaves of that name. Caecilius too, the famous comic poet, was a slave and as such called Statius. But afterwards this was made into a kind of surname and he was called Caecilius Statius.¹³³

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).) — 4.1 focus

I

Argument

Sermo quidam Favorini philosophi cum grammatico iactantiore factus in Socraticum modum; atque ibi in sermone dictum quibus verbis penus a Q. Scaevola definita sit; quodque eadem definitio culpata reprehensaque est.

[1] IN vestibulo aedium Palatinarum omnium fere ordinum multitudo opperientes salutationem Caesaris constiterant; atque ibi in circulo doctorum hominum, Favorino philosopho praesente, ostentabat quispiam grammaticae rei ditior ¹ scholica quaedam nugalia, de generibus et casibus vocabulorum disserens cum arduis superciliis vocisque et vultus gravitate composita, tamquam interpres et arbiter Sibyllae oraculorum.

[2] Tum aspiciens ad Favorinum, quamquam ei nondum etiam satis notus esset, Penus quoque, inquit, variis generibus dictum et varie declinatum est. Nam et hoc penus et haec penus et huius peni et penoris veteres dictaverunt;

[3] mundum quoque muliebrem Lucilius in Satirarum xvi. non virili genere, ut ceteri, sed neutro appellavit his verbis:

Legavit quidam uxori mundum omne penumque. ²

Atqui quid mundum, quid non? quis dividet istuc?

[4] Atque horum omnium et testimoniis et exemplis constrepebat; cumque nimis odiose blatiret, ³ intercessit placide Favorinus et Amabo, inquit, magister, quicquid est nomen tibi, abunde multa docuisti quae quidem ignorabamus et scire haud sane postulabamus.

[5] Quid enim refert mea eiusque quicum loquor, quo genere penum dicam aut in quas extremas litteras declinem, si nemo id non nimis barbare fecerimus? ⁴

[6] Sed hoc plane indigeo discere, quid sit penus et qua fini id vocabulum dicatur, ne rem cotidiani usus, tamquam qui in venalibus Latine loqui coeptant, alia quam oportet voce appellem.

[7] Quaeris, inquit, rem minime obscuram. Quis adeo ignorat, penum esse vinum et triticum et oleum et lentim et fabam atque huiuscemodi cetera?

[8] Etiamne, inquit Favorinus, milium et panicum et glans et hordeum penus est? sunt enim propemodum haec quoque eiusdemmodi;

[9] cumque ille reticens haereret, Nolo, inquit, hoc iam labores, an ista, quae dixi, penus appelletur. Sed potesne mihi non speciem aliquam de penu dicere, sed definire, genere proposito et differentiis adpositis, quid sit penus ? Quod, inquit, genus et quas differentias dicas, non hercle intellego.

[10] Rem, inquit Favorinus, plane dictam postulas, quod difficillimum est, dici planius; nam hoc quidem pervolgatum est, definitionem omnem ex genere et differentia consistere.

[11] Sed si me tibi praemandere, quod aiunt, postulas, faciam sane id quoque honoris tui habendi gratia.

[12] Ac deinde ita exorsus est: Si, inquit, ego te nunc rogem ut mihi dicas et quasi circumscribas verbis cuiusmodi homo sit, non, opinor, respondeas hominem esse te atque me. Hoc enim quis homo sit ostendere est, non quid homo sit dicere. Sed si, inquam, peterem ut ipsum illud quod homo est definires, tu profecto mihi diceres hominem esse animal mortale, rationis et scientiae capiens, vel quo alio modo diceres, ut eum a ceteris omnibus separares. Proinde igitur nunc te rogo ut quid sit penus dicas, non ut aliquid ex penu nomines.

[13] Tum ille ostentator, voce iam molli atque demissa, philosophias, inquit, ego non didici neque discere adpetivi et, si ignoro an hordeum ex penu sit aut quibus verbis penus definiatur, non ea re litteras quoque alias nescio.

[14] Scire, inquit ridens iam Favorinus, quid penus sit, non ex nostra magis est philosophia quam ex grammatica tua.

[15] Meministi enim, credo, quaeri solitum quid Vergilius dixerit, penum struere vel longam vel longo ordine; utrumque enim profecto scis legi solitum.

[16] Sed ut faciam te aequiore animo ut sis, ne illi quidem veteres iuris magistri, qui sapientes appellati sunt, definisse satis recte existimantur, quid sit penus.

[17] Nam Quintum Scaevolam ad demonstrandam penum his verbis usum audio: Penus est, inquit, quod esculentum aut posculentum est, quod ipsius patrisfamilias aut matris familias ⁵ aut liberum patrisfamilias aut familiae ⁶ eius, quae circum eum aut liberos eius est et opus non ⁷ facit, causa paratum est. .. , ut Mucius ait, penus videri debet. Nam quae ad edendum bibendumque in dies singulos prandii aut cenae causa parantur, penus non sunt; sed ea potius, quae huíusce generis longae usionis gratia contrahuntur et reconduntur, ex eo, quod non in promptu est, sed intus et penitus habeatur, penus dicta est.

[18] Haec ego, inquit, cum philosophiae me dedissem, non insuper tamen habui discere; quoniam civibus Romanis Latine loquentibus rem non suo ⁸ vocabulo demonstrare non minus turpe est quam hominem non suo nomine appellare.

[19] Sic Favorinus sermones id genus communes a rebus parvis et frigidis abducebat ad ea quae magis utile esset audire ac discere, non allata extrinsecus, non per ostentationem, sed indidem nata acceptaque.

[20] Praeterea de penu adscribendum hoc etiam putavi, Servium Sulpicium In Reprehensis Scaevolae Capitibus scripsisse Cato Aelio placuisse, non quae esui et potui forent, sed thus quoque et cereos in penu esse, quod esset eius ferme rei causa comparatum.

[21] Masurius autem Sabinus in Iuris Civilis secundo, etiam quod iumentorum causa apparatum esset quibus dominus uteretur, penori attributum dicit.

[22] Ligna quoque et virgas et carbones, quibus conficeretur penus, quibusdam ait videri esse in penu.

[23] Ex his autem quae promercalia et usuaria isdem in locis essent, ⁹ esse ea sola penoris putat quae satis sint usu annuo.

II

Argument

Morbus et vitium quid differat et quam vim habeant vocabula ista in edicto aedilium; et an eunuchus et steriles mulieres redhiberi possint; diversaeque super ea re sententiae.

[1] IN Edicto Aedilium Curulium, qua parte de mancipiis vendundis cautum est, scriptum sic fuit: Titulus servorum ¹⁰ singulorum scriptus sit curato ita, ut intellegi recte possit quid morbi vitiive cuique sit, quis fugitivus errove sit noxave solutus non sit.

[2] Propterea quaesierunt iure consulti veteres, quod mancipium morbosum quodve vitiosum recte diceretur quantumque morbus a vitio differret.

[3] Caelius Sabinus in libro, quem De Edicto Aedilium Curulium composuit, Labeonem refert quid esset morbus hisce verbis definisse: Morbus est habitus cuiusque corporis contra naturam, qui usum eius facit deteriorem.

[4] Sed morbum alias in toto corpore accidere dicit, alias in parte corporis. Totius corporis morbum esse, veluti sit phthisis aut febris, partis autem, veluti sit caecitas aut pedis debilitas.

[5] Balbus autem, inquit, et atypus vitiosi magis quam morbosi sunt, et equus mordax aut calcitro vitiosus, non morbosus est. Sed cui morbus est, idem etiam vitiosus est. Neque id tamen contra fit; potest enim qui vitiosus est non morbosus esse. quamobrem Quarmobrem, cum de homine morboso agetur, aeque,¹¹ inquit, ita dicetur: quanto ob id vitium minoris erit.

[6] De eunucho quidem quaesitum est an contra edictum aedilium videretur venundatus, si ignorasset emptor eum eunuchum esse.

[7] Labeonem respondisse aiunt redhiberi posse quasi morbosum;

[8] sues etiam feminae si sterilae essent et venum issent, ex edicto aedilium posse agi Labeonem scripsisse.

[9] De sterila autem muliere, si nativa sterilitate sit, Trebatiun contra Labeonem respondisse dicunt.

[10] Nam cum redhiberi eam earn Labeo, quasi minus sanam, putasset, negasse aiunt Trebatium ex edicto agi posse, si ea mulier a principio genitali sterilitate esset. At si valitudo eius offendisset exque ea vitium factum esset ut concipere fetus non posset, tum sanam non videri et esse in causa redhibitionis.

[11] De myope quoque, qui luscitiosus Latine appellatur, dissensum est; alii enim redhiberi omnimodo debere, alii contra, nisi id vitium morbo contractum esset.

[12] Eum vero cui dens deesset, Servius redhiberi posse respondit, Labeo in causa esse redhibendi negavit; vit; Nam et magna, inquit, pars dente aliquo carent, neque eo inagis plerique homines morbosi sunt, et absurdum alsurdum admodum est dicere non sanos nasci homines, quoniam cum infantibus non simul dentes gignuntur.

[13] Non praetereundum est id quoque in libris veterum iurisperitorum scriptum esse, morbum et vitium distare, quod vitium perpetuum, morbus cum accessu decessuque sit.

[14] Sed hoc si ita est, neque caecus neque eunuchus morbosus est, contra Labeonis quam supra dixi sententiam.

[15] Verba Masuri Sabini apposui ex libro luris civilis secundo: Furiosus mutusve cuive quod membrum lacerum laesumque est aut obest quo ipse minus aptus sit, morbosi sunt. Qui natura longe minus videt tam sanus est quam qui tardius currit.

III

Argument

Quod nullae fuerunt rei uxoriae actiones in urbe Roma ante Carvilianum divortium; atque inibi, quid sit proprie paelex quaeque eius vocabuli ratio sit.

[1] MEMORIAE traditum est quingentis fere annis post Romam conditam nullas rei uxoriae neque actiones neque cautiones in urbe Roma aut in Latio fuisse, quoniam profecto nihil desiderabantur, nullis etiamtunc matrimoniis divertentibus.

[2] Servius quoque Sulpicius in libro, quem composuit De Dotibus, tum primum cautiones rei uxoriae necessarias esse visas scripsit, cum Spurius Carvilius, cui Ruga cognomentum fuit, vir nobilis, divortium cum uxore fecit, quia liberi ex ea corporis vitio non gignerentur, anno urbis conditae quingentesimo vicesimo tertio M. Atilio, P. Valerio consulibus. Atque is Carvilius traditur uxorem quam dimisit egregie dilexisse carissimamque morum eius gratia habuisse, set ¹² iurisiurandi religionem animo atque amori praevertisse quod iurare a censoribus coactus erat, uxorem se liberum quaerundum gratia habiturum.

[3] Paelicem autem appellatam probrosamque habitam, quae iuncta consuetaque esset cum eo in cuius manu mancipioque alia matrimonii causa foret, hac antiquissima lege ostenditur, quam Numae regis fuisse accepimus: Paelex aedem ¹³ Iunonis ne tangito; si tangit, Iunoni crinibus demissis agnum feminam caedito.

Paelex autem quasi πάλλαξ, id est quasi παλλακίς. Ut pleraque alia, ita hoc quoque vocabulum de Graeco flexum est.

IV

Argument

Quid Servius Sulpicius, in libro qui est De Dotibus, scripserit de iure atque more veterum sponsaliorum.

[1] SPONSALIA in ea parte Italiae Italiac quae Latium appellatur hoc more atque iure solita fieri scripsit Servius Sulpicius in libro quem inscripsit ¹⁴ De Dotibus:

[2] Qui uxorem, inquit, ducturus erat, ab eo unde ducenda erat stipulabatur, eam in matrimonium datum ¹⁵ iri. Qui ducturus erat, id ¹⁶ itidem spondebat. Is contractus stipulationum sponsionumque dicebatur sponsalia. Tunc, quae promissa erat sponsa appellabatur, qui spoponderat ducturum, sponsus. Sed si post eas stipulationis uxor non dabatur aut non ducebatur, qui stipulabatur aut qui spoponderat ¹⁷ ex sponsu agebat. Iudices cognoscebant. Iudex quamobrem quamobrerm data acceptave non esset uxor quaerebat. Si nihil iustae causae videbatur, litem pecunia aestimabat, quantique interfuerat eam earn uxorem accipi aut dari, eum qui spoponderat aut ¹⁸ qui stipulatus erat, condemnabat.

[3] Hoc ius sponsaliorum observatum dicit Servius ad id tempus quo civitas universe Latio lege Iulia data est.

[4] Haec eadem Neratius scripsit in libro quem De Nuptiis composuit.

V

Argument

Historia narrata de perfidia aruspicum Etruscorum; quodque ob eam earn rem versus hic a pueris Romae urbe tota cantatus est: Malum consilium consultori pessimum est.

[1] STATUA Romae in comitio posita Horatii Coclitis, fortissimi viri, de caelo tacta est.

[2] Ob id fulgur piaculis luendum aruspices ex Etruria acciti, inimico atque hostili in populum Romanum animo, instituerant eam earn rem contrariis religionibus procurare,

[3] atque illam statuam suaserunt in inferiorem locum perperam transponi, quem sol oppositu circum undique ¹⁹ altarum ²⁰ aedium numquam illustraret.

[4] Quod cum ita fieri persuasissent, delati ad populum proditique sunt et, cum de perfidia confessi essent, necati sunt, constititque, eam statuam, proinde ut verae rationes post compertae monebant, in locum editum subducendam atque ita in area Volcani sublimiore loco statuendam; ex quo res bene ac prospere populo Romano cessit.

[5] Tum igitur, quod in Etruscos aruspices male consulentis animadversum vindicatumque fuerat, versus hic scite factus cantatusque esse a pueris urbe tota fertur:

Malúm consilium cónsultori péssimum est.

[6] Ea historia de aruspicibus ac de versu isto senario scripta est in Annalibus Maximis, libro undecimo, et in Verri Flacci libro primo Rerum Memoria Dignarum.

[7] Videtur autem versus hic de Graeco illo Hesiodi versu expressus:

Ἡ δὲ κακὴ βουλὴ τῷ βουλεύσαντι κακίστη.

VI

Argument

Verba veteris senatusconsulti posita, quo decretum est hostiis maioribus expiandum, quod in sacrario hastae Martiae movissent; atque ibi enarratum quid sint hostiae succidaneae, quid item porca praecidanea ; et quod Capito Ateius ferias praecidaneas appellavit.

[1] UT terram movisse nuntiari solet eaque res procuratur, ita in veteribus memoriis scriptum legimus nuntiatum esse senatui in sacrario in regia hastas Martias movisse.

[2] Eius rei causa senatusconsultum factum est M. Antonio A. Postumio consulibus, eiusque exemplum hoc est: Quod C. Iulius, L. filius, pontifex nuntiavit in sacrario in ²¹ regia hastas Martias movisse, de ea re ita censuerunt, uti M. Antonius consul hostiis maioribus Iovi et Marti procuraret et ceteris dis, quibus videretur, lactantibus. Ibus ²² uti procurasset satis halendum censuerunt. Si quid succidaneis opus esset, robiis succideret.

[3] Quod succidaneas hostias senatus appellavit, quaeri solet quid verbum id significet.

[4] In Plauti quoque comoedia quae Epidicus inscripta est, super eodem ipso verbo requiri audio in his versibus:

Mén piaculárem oportet fíeri ob stultitiám tuam,

Ut meum tergum tuaé stultitiae súbdas succidaneum?

[5] Succidaneae autem hostiae dicuntur, ae littera per morem compositi vocabuli in i²³ litteram tramutata ²⁴ quasi succaedaneae,

[6] appellatae, quoniam, si primis hostiis litatum non erat, aliae post easdem ductae hostiae caedebantur; quae quia, ²⁵ prioribus iam caesis, luendi piaculi gratia subdebantur et succidebantur, succidaneae nominatae, littera i²⁶ scilicet tractim pronuntiata; audio enim quosdam eam litteram in hac voce barbare corripere.

[7] Eadem autem ratione verbi praecidaneae quoque hostiae dicuntur quae ante sacrificia sollemnia pridie caeduntur.

[8] Porca etiam praecidanea appellata quam piaculi gratia ante fruges novas captas immolare Cereri mos fuit, si qui familiam funestam aut non purgaverant, aut aliter eam rem, quam oportuerat, procuraverant.

[9] Sed porcam et hostias quasdam praecidaneas, sicuti dixi, appellari, vulgo notum est, ferias praecidaneas dici, id, opinor, a volgo remotum est.

[10] Propterea verba Atei Capitonis, ex quinto librorum quos De Pontificio iure lure composuit, scripsi: Tib. Coruncanio pontifici maximo feriae praecidaneae in atrum diem inauguratae sunt. Collegium decrevit non habendum religioni, quin eo die feriae praecidaneae essent.

VII

Argument

De epistula Valerii Probi grammatici ad Marcellum scripta super accentu nominum quorundam Poenicorum.

[1] VALERIUS PROBUS grammaticus inter suam aetatem praestanti scientia fuit.

[2] Is Hannibalem et Hasdrubalem et Hamilcarem ita pronuntiabat ut paenultimam circumflecteret, et est ²⁷ epistula eius scripta Ad Marcellum, in qua Plautum et Ennium multosque alios veteres eo modo pronuntiasse affirmat,

[3] solius tamen Ennii versum unum ponit ex libro, qui Scipio inscribitur.

[4] Eum versum quadrato numero factum subiecimus, in quo, nisi tertia syllaba de Hannibalis nomine circumflexe promatur, numerus clausurus est.

[5] Versus Ennii quem dixit, ita est:

Quáque ²⁸ propter Hánnibalis cópias considerat.

VIII

Argument

Quid C. Fabricius de Cornelio Rufino homine avaro dixerit, quem, cum odisset inimicusque esset, designandum tamen consulem curavit.

[1] FABRICIUS LUSCINUS magna gloria vir magnisque rebus gestis fuit.

[2] P. Cornelius Rufinus manu quidem strenuus et bellator bonus militarisque disciplinae peritus admodum fuit, sed furax homo et avaritia acri erat.

[3] Hunc Fabricius non probabat neque amico utebatur osusque eum morum causa fuit.

[4] Sed cum in temporibus rei publicae ²⁹ difficillimis consules creandi forent et is Rufinus peteret consulatum competitoresque eius essent inbelles quidam et futtiles, summa ope adnixus est Fabricius uti Rufino consulatus deferretur.

[5] eam Earn rem plerisque admirantibus, quod hominem avarum cui esset inimicissimus,

[6] creari consulem vellet, Malo, inquit, civis me ³⁰ compilet, quam hostis vendat.

[7] Hunc Rufinum postea, bis consulatu et dictatura functum, censor Fabricius senatu movit ob luxuriae notam, quod decem pondo libras argenti facti haberet.³¹

[8] Id autem quod supra scripsi, Fabricium de Cornelio Rufino ita, uti in pleraque historia scriptum est, dixisse, M. Cicero non aliis a Fabricio, sed ipsi Rufino, gratias agenti quod ope ³² eius designatus esset, dictum esse refert in libro secundo De Oratore.

IX

Argument

Quid significet proprie religiosus ; et in quae diverticula significatio istius vocabuli flexa sit; et verba verbal Nigidii Figuli ex Commentariis eius super ea re sumpta.

[1] NIGIDIUS FIGULUS, homo, ut ego arbitror, iuxta M. Varronem doctissimus, in undecimo Commentariorum Grammaticorum versum ex antiquo carmine refert memoria hercle dignum:

Religentem esse oportet, religiosus ne fuas,

cuius autem id carmen sit non scribit.

[2] Atque in eodem loco Nigidius: Hoc, inquit, inclinamentum semper huiuscemodi verborum, ut vinosus, mulierosus, religiosus, significat copiam quandam inmodicam rei super qua dicitur. Quocirca religiosus is appellabatur, qui nimia et superstitiosa religione sese alligaverat, eaque res vitio assignabatur.

[3] Sed praeter ista quae Nigidius dicit, alio quodam diverticulo significationis religiosus pro casto atque observanti cohibentique sese certis legibus finibusque dici coeptus.

[4] Simili autem modo illa quoque vocabula, ab eadem profecta origine, diversum significare videntur, religiosi dies et religiosa delubra.

[5] Religiosi enim dies dicuntur tristi omine infames inpeditique, in quibus et res divinas facere et rem quampiam novam exordiri temperandum est, quos multitudo imperitorum prave et perperam nefastos appellat.

[6] Itaque M. Cicero in libro Epistularum nono Ad Atticum, Maiores, inquit, nostri funestiorem diem esse voluerunt Alliensis pugnae quam urbis captae, quod hoc malum ex illo. Itaque alter religiosus etiamnunc dies, alter in volgus ignotus.

[7] Idem tamen M. Tullius in oratione De accusatore Accusalore Constituendo religiosa delubra dicit non ominosa nec tristia, sed maiestatis venerationisque plena.

[8] Masurius autem Sabinus in Commentariis quos De Indigenis composuit, Religiosum, inquit, est quod propter sanctitatem aliquam remotum ac sepositum a nobis est, verbum a reliquendo dictum, tamquam caerimoniae a carendo.

[9] Secundum hanc Sabini interpretationem templa quidem ac delubra—quia horum cumulus in vituperationem non cadit, ut illorum quorum laus in modo extat ³³ —, quae non volgo ac temere, sed cum castitate caerimoniaque adeundum, et reverenda et reformidanda

[10] sunt magis quam involganda; sed dies religiosi dicti, quos ex contraria causa, propter ominis diritatem, relinquimus.

[11] Et Terentius:

Tun, quód dem recte est. Nám, nihil esse Míhi, religio est dicere.

[12] Quod si, ut ait Nigidius, omnia istiusmodi inclinamenta nimium ac praeter modum significant et idcirco in culpas cadunt eadunt, ut vinosus, mulierosus, morosus, verbosus, famosus, cur ingeniosus et formosus et officiosus et speciosus, quae pariter ab ingenio et forma et officio et specie, ³⁴ inclinata sunt, cur etiam disciplinosus, consiliosus, victoriosus, quae M. Cato ita affiguravit, cur item facundiosa, quod Sempronius Asellio XIII Rerum Gestarum ita scripsit: facta sua spectare oportere, non dicta, si minus facundiosa essent—cur, inquam, ista omnia numquam in culpam, sed in laudem dicuntur, quamquam haec item ³⁵ incrementum sui nimium demonstrent? an propterea, quia illis quidem, quae supra posui, adhibendus est modus quidam necessarius?

[13] Nam et gratia, si nimia atque inmodica, et mores, si multi atque varii, et verba, si perpetua atque infinita et obtundentia, et fama, si magna et inquieta et invidiosa sit, neque laudabilia neque utilia sunt;

[14] ingenium autem et officium et forma et disciplina et consilium et victoria et facundia sicut ipsae virtutum amplitudines nullis finibus cohibentur, sed quanto maiora auctioraque sunt, multo etiam tanto laudatiora sunt.

X

Argument

Quid observatum de ordine rogandarum in senatu sententiarum; iurgiumque inrgiumque in senatu C. Caesaris consulis et M. Catonis, diem dicendo eximentis.

[1] ANTE legem quae nunc de senatu habendo observatur, ordo rogandi sententias varius fuit.

[2] Alias primus rogabatur qui princeps a censoribus in senatum lectus fuerat, alias qui designati consules erant;

[3] quidam e consulibus, studio aut necessitudine aliqua adducti, quem is visum erat honoris gratia extra ordinem sententiam primum rogabant.

[4] Observatum tamen est, cum extra ordinem fieret, ne quis quemquam ex alio quam ex consulari loco sententiam primum rogaret.

[5] C. Caesar in consulatu, quem cum M. Bibulo gessit, quattuor solos extra ordinem rogasse sententiam dicitur. Ex his quattuor principem rogabat M. Crassum; sed, postquam filiam Cn. Pompeio desponderat, primum primuim coeperat Pompeium rogare.

[6] Eius rei rationem reddidisse eum senatui Tiro Tullius, M. Ciceronis libertus, refert, itaque se ex patrono suo audisse scribit.

[7] Id ipsum Capito Ateius in libro quem De Officio Senatorio composuit, scriptum reliquit.

[8] In eodem libro Capitonis id quoque scriptum est: C., inquit, Caesar consul M. Catonem sententiam rogavit. Cato rem quae consulebatur, quoniam non e republica videbatur, perfici nolebat. Eius rei ducendae gratia longa oratione utebatur eximebatque dicendo diem. Erat enim ius senatori, ut sententiam rogatus diceret ante quicquid vellet aliae rei et quoad vellet. Caesar consul viatorem vocavit eumque, cum finem non faceret, prendi loquentem et in carcerem duci iussit. Senatus consurrexit et prosequebatur Catonem in carcerem. Hac, inquit, invidia facta Caesar destitit et mitti Catonem iussit.

XI

Argument

Quae qualiaque sint quae Aristoxenus quasi magis comperta de Pythagora memoriae mandavit; et quae item Plutarchus in eundem modum de eodem Pythagora scripserit.

[1] OPINIO vetus falsa occupavit et convaluit, Pythagoram philosophum non esitavisse ex animalibus, item abstinuisse fabulo, quem Graeci κύαμον appellant.

[2] Ex hac opinione Callimachus poeta scripsit: Καὶ κυάμων ἄπο χεῖρας ἔχειν, ἀνιῶντος ἐδεστοῦ, Κἀγώ, Πυθαγόρας ὡς ἐκέλευε, λέγω.

[3] Ex eadem item opinione M. Cicero in libro De Divinatione primo haec verba posuit: Iubet igitur Plato sic ad somnum proficisci corporibus affectis, ut nihil sit quod errorem animis perturbationemque afferat. Ex quo etiam Pythagoreis ³⁶ interdictum putatur ne faba vescerentur, quae res habet inflationem magnam, ³⁷ tranquillitatem mentis quaerentibus contrariam.

[4] Haec quidem M. Cicero. Sed Aristoxenus musicus, vir litterarum veterum diligentissimus, Aristoteli philosophi auditor, in libro quem De Pythagora reliquit, nullo saepius legumento Pythagoram dicit usum quam fabis, quoniam is cibus et subduceret sensim alvum et levigaret.

[5] Verba ipsa Aristoxeni subscripsi: Πυθαγόρας δὲ τῶν ὀσπρίων μάλιστα τὸν κύαμον ἐδοκίμασεν· λειαντικόν τε γὰρ εἶναι καὶ διαχωρητικόν· διὸ καὶ μάλιστα κέχρηται αὐτῷ.

[6] Porculis quoque minusculis et haedis tenerioribus victitasse, idem Aristoxenus refert.

[7] Quam rem videtur cognovisse e Xenophilo Pythagorico familiari suo, et ex quibusdam aliis natu maioribus, qui ab aetate Pythagorae minus diu aberant. ³⁸

[8] Ac de animalibus Alexis etiam poeta in comoedia, quae Πυθαγορίζουσα inscribitur, docet.

[9] Videtur autem de κυάμῳ non esitato causam erroris fuisse, quia in Empedocli carmine, qui disciplinas Pythagorae secutus est, versus hic invenitur:

Δειλοί, πάνδειλοι, κυάμων ἄπο χεῖρας ἔχεσθαι.

[10] Opinati enim sunt plerique κυάμους legumentum dici, ut a vulgo dicitur. Sed qui diligentius scitiusque carmina Empedocli arbitrati sunt, κυάμους hoc in loco testiculos significare dicunt, eosque more Pythagorae operte atque symbolice κυάμους appellatos, quod sint αἴτιοι τοῦ κυεῖν et geniturae humanae vim praebeant; idcircoque Empedoclen versu isto non a fabulo edendo, sed a rei veneriae prolubio ³⁹ voluisse homines deducere.

[11] Plutarchus quoque, homo in disciplinis gravi auctoritate, in primo librorum quos De Homero composuit, Aristotelem philosophum scripsit eadem ipsa de Pythagoricis scripsisse, quod non abstinuerint edundis animalibus, nisi pauca carne quadam.

[12] Verba ipsa Plutarchi, quoniam res inopinata est, subscripsi: Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ μήτρας καὶ καρδίας καὶ ἀκαλήφης καὶ τοιούτων τινῶν ἄλλων ἀπέχεσθαί φησιν

[13] τοὺς Πυθαγορικούς· χρῆσθαι δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις. Ἀκαλήφη autem est animal marinum, quod urtica appellatur. Sed et piscibus mullis ⁴⁰ abstinere Pythagoricos, Plutarchus in Symposiacis dicit.

[14] Pythagoram vero ipsum, sicuti celebre est Euphorbum primo fuisse dictasse, ita ⁴¹ haec remotiora sunt his quae Clearchus et Dicaearchus memoriae tradiderunt, fuisse eum postea Pyrrum Pyranthium, deinde Aethaliden, deinde feminam pulcra facie meretricem neretricem, cui nomen fuerat Alco.

XII

Argument

Notae et animadversiones censoriae in veteribus monumentis repertae memoria dignae.

[1] Si quis agrum suum passus fuerat sordescere eumque indiligenter curabat ac neque araverat neque purgaverat, sive quis arborem suam vineamque habuerat derelictui, non id sine poena fuit, sed erat opus censorium censoresque aerarium faciebant. Item, si quis ⁴² eques Romanus equum habere gracilentum aut parum nitidum visus erat, inpolitiae notabatur; id verbum significat quasi tu dicas incuriae.

[3] Cuius rei utriusque auctoritates sunt et M. Cato id saepenumero adtestatus est.

XIII

Argument

Quod incentiones quaedam tibiarum certo modo factae ischiacis mederi possunt.

[1] Creditum hoc a plerisque esse ⁴³ et memoriae mandatum, ischia cum maxime doleant, tum, si modulis lenibus tibicen incinat, minui dolores, ego nuperrime in libro Theophrasti Περὶ Ἐνθουσιασμοῦ⁴⁴ scriptum inveni.

[3] Viperarum morsibus tibicinium scite modulateque adhibitum adhilitum mederi, refert etiam Democriti liber, qui inscribitur inscrilitur Περὶ Λοιμῶν,⁴⁵ in quo docet plurimis hominum morbidis medicinae fuisse incentiones tibiarum.

[4] Tanta prosus adfinitas est corporibus hominum mentibusque et propterea vitiis quoque aut medellis animorum et corporum.

XIV

Argument

Narratur historia de Hostilio Mancino aedili cur. ⁴⁶ et Manilia meretrice; verbaque decreti tribunorum ad quos a Manilia provocatum est.

[1] CUM librum IX. ⁴⁷ Atei Capitonis Coniectaneorum legeremus, qui inscriptus est De Iudiciis Publicis, decretum tribunorum visum est gravitatis antiquae plenum.

[2] Propterea id meminimus, idque ob hanc causam et in hanc sententiam scriptum est: Aulus Hostilius Mancinus aedilis curulis fuit.

[3] Is Maniliae meretrici diem ad populum dixit, quod e tabulato eius noctu lapide ictus esset, vulnusque ex eo lapide ostendebat.

[4] Manilia ad tribunos plebi provocavit.

[5] Apud eos dixit comessatorem Mancinum ad aedes suas venisse; eum sibi recipere non fuisse e re ⁴⁸ sua, sed cum vi inrumperet inruinperet, lapidibus depulsum.

[6] Tribuni decreverunt aedilem ex eo loco iure deiectum quo eum venire cum corollario non decuisset; propterea, ne cum populo aedilis ageret intercesserunt

XV

Argument

Defensa a culpa sententia ex historia Sallustii, quam iniqui eius cum insectatione maligni reprehenderint.

[1] ELEGANTIA orationis Sallustii verborumque fingendi et novandi studium cum multa prorsus invidia fuit, multique non mediocri ingenio viri conati sunt reprehendere pleraque et obtrectare. In quibus plura inscite aut maligne vellicant. Nonnulla tamen videri possunt non indigna reprehensione; quale illud in Catilinae Historia repertum est, quod habeat eam earn speciem, quasi parum adtente dictum. Verba Sallustii haec sunt:

[2] Ac mihi quidem, tametsi hautquaquam par gloria sequitur scriptorem et auctorem rerum, tamen inprimis arduum videtur res gestas scribere; primum, quod facta dictis exaequanda sunt; dein, quia plerique quae delicta reprehenderis ⁴⁹ malivolentia et invidia dicta putant. Ubi de magna virtute atque gloria bonorum memores, quae sibi quisque facilia factu putat, aequo animo accipit; supra ea, ⁵⁰ veluti ficta, pro falsis ducit

[3] Proposuit, inquiunt, dicturum causas quamobrem videatur esse arduum, res gestas scribere; atque ibi cum primam causam dixerit, dein non alteram causam, ⁵¹ sed querellas dicit.

[4] Non enim causa videri debet cur historiae opus arduum sit, quod hi qui legunt aut inique interpretantur quae scripta sunt aut vera esse non credunt.

[5] Obnoxiam quippe et obiectam falsis existimationibus eam earn rem dicendam aiunt quam arduam ; quia quod est arduum sui operis difficultate est arduum, non opinionis alienae erroribus.

[6] Haec illi malivoli reprehensores dicunt. Sed arduum Sallustius non pro difficili tantum, sed pro eo quoque ponit quod Graeci χαλεπὸν appellant, quod est cum difficile, tum molestum quoque et incommodum et intractabile. Quorum verborum significatio a sententia Sallustii supra scripta non abhorret.

XVI

Argument

De vocabulis quibusdam a Varrone et Nigidio contra cotidiani sermonis consuetudinem declinatis; atque inibi id genus quaedam cum exemplis veterum relata.

[1] M. VARRONEM et P. Nigidium, viros Romani generis doctissimos, comperimus non aliter elocutos esse et scripsisse quam senatuis et domuis et fluctuis, qui est patrius casus ab eo quod est senatus, domus fluctus ; ⁵² huic senatui, domui⁵³ fluctui ceteraque is consimilia pariter dixisse.

[2] Terentii quoque comici versus in libris veteribus itidem scriptus est:

Eius ánuis causa, opínor, quae est emórtua. ⁵⁴

[3] Hanc eorum auctoritatem quidam e veteribus grammaticis ratione etiam firmare voluerunt, quod omnis dativus singularis i littera finitus, si non similis est genetivi singularis, s littera addita genetivum singularem facit, ut patri patris, duci ducis, caedi caedis.

[4] Cum igitur inquiunt in casu dandi huic senatui dicamus, genetivus ex eo singularis senatuis est, non senatus.

[5] Set ⁵⁵ non omnes concedunt in casu dativo senatui magis dicendum quam senatu.

[6] Sicuti Lucilius in eodem casu victu et anu dicit, non victui nec anui, in hisce versibus:

Quod sumptum atque epulas victu praeponis honesto

et alio in loco:

Anu noceo (inquit).

[7] Vergilius quoque in casu dandi aspectu dicit, non aspectui

Teque aspectu ne subtrahe nostro

et in Georgicis:

Quod nec concubitu indulgent.

[8] C. etiam Caesar, gravis auctor linguae Latinae, in Anticatone, unius, inquit, arrogantiae, superbiae dominatuque. Item In Dolabellam actionis l. lib. I.: Isti, quorum in aedibus fanisque posita et honori erant et ornatu.

[9] In libris quoque analogicis omnia istiusmodi sine i littera dicenda censet.

XVII

Argument

De natura quarundam particularum particularuin quae praepositae verbis intendi atque produci barbare et inscite videntur, exemplis rationibusque plusculis disceptatum.

[1] LUCILII ex XI. versus sunt:

Scipiadae magno improbus obiciebat Asellus,

Lustrum illo censore malum infelixque fuisse.

Obiciebat o littera producta multos legere audio,

[2] idque eo facere dicunt ut ratio numeri salva sit. Idem infra:

Conicere in versus dictum praeconis volebam

Grani.

In hac quoque primi verbi praepositione o⁵⁶ ob eandem causam producunt.

[3] Item XV.:

Subicit huic humilem et suffercitus posteriorem,

subicit u littera longa legunt, quia primam syllabam brevem esse in versu heroico non convenit.

[4] Item apud Plautum in Epidico con syllabam productam pronuntiant:

Age núnciam orna te, Epidice, et palliolum in

collum cónice.

[5] Apud Vergilium quoque subicit verbum produci a plerisque audio:

etiam Parnasia laurus

Parva sub ingenti matris se subicit umbra.

[6] Sed neque ob neque sub praepositio producendi habet naturam, neque item con,⁵⁷ nisi cum eam litterae secuntur quae in verbis constituit et confecit secundum eam primae sunt, vel cum curl eliditur ex ea n⁵⁸ littera, sicut Sallustius: faenoribus, inquit, copertus.

[7] In his autem quae supra posui et metrum esse integrum potest et praepositiones istae possunt non barbare protendi; secunda enim littera in his verbis per duo i, non per unum scribenda est.

[8] Nam verbum ipsum, cui supradictae particulae praepositae sunt, non est icio, sed iacio et praeteritum non icit facit, sed iecit. Id ubi compositum est, a⁵⁹ littera in i⁶⁰ mutatur, sicuti fit in verbis insilio et incipio, atque i⁶¹ ita vim consonantis,capit, et idcirco ea syllaba productius latiusque paulo pronuntiata priorem syllabam brevem esse non patitur, sed reddit eam positu longam, proptereaque et numerus in versu et ratio in pronuntiatu manet.

[9] Haec quae diximus eo etiam conducunt, ut quod ⁶² apud Vergilium in sexto positum invenimus:

Eripe me his, invicte, malis, aut tu mihi terram Inice,

sic esse iniice, ut supra dixi, et scribendum et legendum sciamus, nisi quis tam indocilis est, ut ⁶³ in hoc quoque verbo in praepositionem metri gratia protendat.

[10] Quaerimus igitur in obicibus o littera qua ratione intendatur, cum id vocabulum factum sit a verbo obiicio et nequaquam simile sit quod a verbo moveo motus o littera longa dicitur.

[11] Equidem memini Sulpicium Apollinarem, virum praestanti litterarum scientia, obices otobices et obicibus o littera correpta dicere, in Vergilio quoque sic eum legere:

qua vi maria alta tumescant

Obicibus ruptis;

sed ita ut diximus,

[12] i litteram, quae in hoc ⁶⁴ vocabulo quoque gemina esse debet, paulo uberius largiusque pronuntiabat.

[13] Congruens igitur est ut subices etiam, quod proinde ut obices compositum est, u littera brevi dici oporteat.

[14] Ennius in tragoedia quae Achilles inscribitur, subices pro aere alto ponit qui caelo subiectus est, in his versibus:

per ego déum sublimas súbices

Húmidas, unde óritur imber sónitu saevo et spíritu; ⁶⁵

plerosque omnes tamen legere audias u littera producta.

[15] Id ipsum autem verbum M. Cato sub alia praepositione dicit in oratione quam De Consulatu Suo habuit: Ita hos,⁶⁶ inquit, fert ventus ad primorem Pyrenaeum, quo proicit in altum. Et Pacuvius item in Chryse:

Idae ⁶⁷ promúnturium, cuius lingua in altum prócit.

XVIII

Argument

De P. Africano superiore sumpta quaedam ex annalibus memoratu dignissima dignissinla.

[1] SCIPIO AFRICANUS antiquior quanta virtutum gloria praestiterit et quam fuerit altus animi atque magnificus et qua sui conscientia subnixus, plurimis rebus quae dixit quaeque fecit declaratum est.

[2] Ex quibus sunt haec duo exempla eius fiduciae atque exuperantiae ingentis.

[3] Cum M. Naevius tribunus plebis accusaret eum ad populum diceretque accepisse a rege Antiocho pecuniam, ut condicionibus gratiosis et mollibus pax cum eo populi Romani nomine fieret, et quaedam item alia crimini daret indigna tali viro, tum Scipio pauca praefatus quae dignitas vitae suae atque gloria postulabat, Memoria, inquit, Quirites, repeto, diem esse hodiernum quo Hannibalem Poenum imperio vestro inimicissimum magno proelio vici in terra Africa pacemque et victoriam vobis peperi spectabilem. ⁶⁸ Non igitur simus adversum deos ingrati et, censeo, relinquamus nebulonem hunc, eamus hinc protinus Iovi optimo maximo gratulatum.

[4] Id cum dixisset, avertit et ire ad Capitolium coepit.

[5] Tum contio universa, quae ad sententiam de Scipione ferendam convenerat, relicto tribuno, Scipionem in Capitolium comitata atque inde ad aedes eius cum laetitia et gratulatione sollemni prosecuta est.

[6] Fertur etiam oratio quae videtur habita eo die a Scipione, et qui dicunt eam earn non veram, non eunt infitias quin haec quidem verba fuerint, quae dixi, Scipionis.

[7] Item aliud est factum eius praeclarum. Petilii quidam tribuni plebis a M., ut aiunt, Catone, inimico Scipionis, comparati in eum atque inmissi, desiderabant in senatu instantissime ut pecuniae Antiochinae praedaeque in eo bello captae rationem redderet;

[8] fuerat enim L. Scipioni Asiatico, fratri suo, imperatori in ea provincia legatus.

[9] Ibi Scipio exsurgit exurgit et, prolato e sinu togae libro, rationes in eo scriptas esse dixit omnis pecuniae omnisque praedae;

[10] illatum, ut palam recitaretur et ad aerarium deferretur.

[11] Sed enim id iam non faciam, inquit, nec me ipse afficiam contumelia,

[12] eumque librum statim coram discidit suis manibus et concerpsit, aegre passus quod cui salus imperii ac reipublicae accepta ferri deberet rationem pecuniae praedatae posceretur.

XIX

Argument

Quid M. Varro in Logistorico⁶⁹ scripserit de moderando victu puerorum inpubium.

[1] PUEROS inpubes compertum est, si plurimo cibo nimioque somno uterentur, hebetiores fieri ad veterni usque aut eluci tarditatem, corporaque eorum inprocera fieri minusque adolescere.

[2] Idem plerique alii medicorum philosophorumque et M. Varro in Logistorico⁷⁰ scripsit, quae inscripta est Catus aut De Liberis Educandis.

XX

Argument

Notati a censoribus qui audientibus iis dixerant ioca quaedam intempestiviter; ac de eius ⁷¹ quoque nota deliberatum qui steterat forte apud eos oscitabundus.

[1] INTER censorum severitates tria haec exempla in litteris sunt castigatissimae disciplinae.

[2] Unum est huiuscemodi:

[3] Censor agebat de uxoribus sollemne iusiurandum; verba erant ita concepta: Ut tu ex animi tui sententia uxorem habes? Qui iurabat cavillator quidam et canicula ⁷² et nimis ridicularius fuit.

[4] Is locum esse sibi loci dicundi ratus, cum ita uti mos erat censor dixisset, Ut tu ex animi tui sententia uxorem habes?

[5] Habeo equidem, inquit, uxorem, sed non hercle ex animi mei sententia.

[6] Tum censor eum, quod intempestive lascivisset, in aerarios rettulit, causamque hanc ioci scurrilis apud se dicti subscripsit.

[7] Altera severitas eiusdem sectae disciplinaeque est.

[8] Deliberatum est de nota eius qui ad censores ab amico advocatus est et in iure stans dare nimis et sonore oscitavit; atque inibi ut plecteretur fuit, tamquam illud indicium esset vagi animi et alucinantis et fluxae atque apertae securitatis.

[9] Sed cum ille deiurasset invitissimum sese ac repugnantem oscitatione victum tenerique eo vitio quod oscedo appellatur, tum notae iam destinatae exemptus est.

[10] Publius Scipio Africanus, Pauli filius, utramque historiam posuit in oratione quam dixit in censura, cum ad maiorum mores populum hortaretur.

[11] Item aliud refert Sabinus Masurius in septimo Memoriali severe factum: Censores, inquit, Publius Scipio Nasica et Marcus Popilius cum equitum censum agerent, equum nimis strigosum et male habitum, sed equitem eius uberrimum et habitissimum viderunt et cur, inquiunt, ita est, ut tu sis quam equus curatior? Quoniam, inquit, ego me curo, equum Statius nihili servos. Visum est parum esse reverens responsum relatusque in aerarios, ut mos est.

Statius autem servile nomen fuit.

[12] Plerique apud veteres servi eo nomine fuerunt.

[13] Caecilius quoque, ille comoediarum poeta inclutus, servus fuit et propterea nomen habuit Statius. Sed postea versum est quasi in cognomentum, appellatusque est Caecilius Statius.

Notes on the current edition

Attic Nights

1. A store of provisions.

2. Doubtless Antoninus Pius, since Gellius always refers to Divus Hadrianus.

3. 519 Marx, who reads in the second line: quid

mundum

atque penus.

4. A kind of grass of the genus Panicun, a word derived, not from panis,

bread,

but from panus,

an ear of millet,

or similar grain (Walde).

5. Aen. i. 704 f.: Quinquaginta intus famulae, quibus ordine longo cura penum struere et flammis adolere Penates. The MSS. and Servius have longo; Charisius, longam.

6. Jur. Civ. fr. 1, Huschke; II. 5a, Bremer.

7. If the reading is correct, opus must mean field-work, the reference being to the household servants of the paterfamilies and his children.

8. There is a lacuna in the text.

9. Penitus, like Penates, is connected with penus in the sense of an inner chamber. Penus is derived by some from the root pa- of pasco, pabulum, etc.; by others it is connected with pe/nomai and po/nos, as the fruit of labour. Walde, Lat. Etym. Wörterb. s.v., separates penus, an inner chamber, from penus, a store of provisions, connecting the latter with pasco, the former with penes, penetro and Penates.

10. Fr. 4, Huschke; 3, Bremer.

11. Fr. 1, Huschke, and Bremer.

12. Fr. 1, Huschke; 38, Bremer.

13. Rufi resp. l b, p. 44, Mucii Jur. Civ. fr. 7a, Bremer.

14. The aediles, and some other magistrates, issued an edict, or proclamation, at the beginning of their term of office, relating to the matters over which they had jurisdiction. When successive officials adopted and announced the same body of rules ( edictum tralaticium), the edict assumed a more or less permanent form and became practically a code of laws.

15. F.J.R. p. 214; cf. Hor. Epist. ii. 2. 1 ff.

16. III. p. 510, Bremer.

17. Fr. 1, Huschke; 2, Bremer.

18. Ad. Ed. Aed. fr. 27, Huschke; 1, Bremer.

19. Ad. Ed. Aed. fr. 28, Huschke; 12, Bremer.

20. Fr. 28; Huschke; 3, Bremer.

21. Fr. 10, Huschke; Resp. 24. Bremer.

22. Fr. 17, Huschke; Resp. 108, Bremer.

23. Fr. 29, Huschke; 2, Bremer.

24. Cael. Sab. ad. ed. fr. 1 ff., Bremer.

25. Fr. . 5 Huschke; 173 ff., Bremer.

26. That is, the repayment of the dowry in case of a divorce was not secured. A cautio was a verbal or written promise, sometimes confirmed by an oath, as in Suet. Aug. xcviii. 2, ius iurandum et cautionem exegit.

27. Fr. 1, Huschke; p. 227, Bremer.

28. 231 B.C.

29. An oath was regularly required by the censors that a man married for the purpose of begetting legal heirs ( liberorum quacrendorum causa); cf. Suet. Jul. lii. 3.

30. F.J.R., p. 8, fr. 2; I, p. 135, Bremer.

31. Walde, Lat. Etymn. Wörterb. s.v., regards paelex and the Greek pa/llac and pallaki/s, the former in the sense of a young slave, as loan words from the Phoenician-Hebrew pillegesh,

concubine.

The spelling pellex is due to popular etymology, which associated the word with pellicio,

entice.

32. Fr. 2, Huschke; p. 226, Bremer.

33. 90 B.C.

34. Fr. 1, Bremer.

35. The Comitium, or place of assembly ( com-, co), was a templum, or inaugurated plot of ground, orientated according to the points of the compass, at the north-western corner of the Forum Romanum.

36. On the lower slope of the Capitoline Hill, at the northwest corner of the Forum.

37. p. 37, Bährens, who needlessly changes the reading.

38. The senarius was an iambic trimeter, consisting of six iambic feet, or three dipodies. The early Roman dramatic poets allowed substitutions (the tribrach, irrational spondee, irrational anapaest, cyclic dactyl, and proceleusmatic) in every foot except the last; others conformed more closely to the Greek models.

39. Fr. 3, Peter.

40. p. xiii, Müller.

41. Works and Days, 166.

42. The spears sacred to Mars and the sacred shields ( ancilia) were said to move of their own accord when danger threatened. According to Dio, xliv. 17, they shook violently before the death of Caesar.

43. A building in the Roman Forum, near the temple of Vesta, the official headquarters of the pontifex maximus. According to tradition, it was built and dwelt in by Numa. It contained a sanctuary of Mars, in which the sacred spears and shields ( ancilia) were sometimes kept. Dio, however, xliv. 17, tells us that at the time of Caesar's death they were in his house, i. e. the domus public (see Suet. Jul. xlvi.).

44. 99 B. C.

45. 139 f.

46. From sub and caedo.

47. From prae and caedo,

slay beforehand.

48. Fr. 8, Huschke; 1, Bremer.

49. So little is known about the feriae praecidaneae that it is not easy to tell whether this vote was for that occasion only (

on that day

) or was general (

on such a day

). Since Gellius, v. 17. 2, quotes Verrius Flaccus as saying that no sacrifice could properly be made on a dies ater, the former seems the more probable. In any case, the action of Coruncanius was evidently criticized, and his colleagues came to his rescue. Possibly preliminary sacrifices might be offered on such a day, or praecidaneae as applied to feriae may not have involved sacrifices. The statement in Smith's Dict. of Antiq. 3rd ed., ii. p. 839, that feriae praecidaneae were

often

dies atri, and were

on certain occasions

inaugurated by the chief pontiff, does not seem warranted by this passage, which is the only one in which the phrase occurs.

50. Frag. inc. xlii. Götz.

51. The term octonarius is applied both to a trochaic tetrameter acatalectic (as here in the Latin verse) or to an iambic tetrameter acatalectic. It consisted of eight trochaic or iambic feet. Substitutions were allowed in every foot except the last. See note on senarius, p. 329.

52. In the Latin line the ictus falls on the penult Hánnibális, but the ordinary pronunciation was Hanníbalis.

53. Varia, 13, Vahlen 2, who reads quaque.

54. Vahlen and the T.L.L. take considerat from consido, Weiss from considero.

55. This was in 290 B.C. at the beginning of the last Samnite war. Rufinus was consul again in 277 B. C.

56. That is, sold into slavery by a victorious foe.

57. In 275 B.C.

58. §268.

59. Fr. 4, Swoboda.

60. p. 297, Ribbeck 3, who reads: réligentem esse oportet, réligiosus né fuas, following Fleckeisen.

61. On ne fasti dies it was impious for legal business to be carried on, or assemblies held.

62. ix. 5. 2.

63. Div. in Caec. 3.

64. Fr. 13, Huschke; p. 366, Bremer.

65. The sense of relinquo as=

avoid

is shown below (§ 10); that of careo is explained by Paul. Fest. (pp. 62 and 298, Lindsay, s.v. denariae and purimenstrio) as referring to doing without, or refraining from, certain things on ceremonial days. Some Roman etymologists derived caerimonia from the town of Caere, others from caritas; see Paul. Fest. p. 38, Linds. The origin of the word is uncertain. For religio some accept Cicero's derivation from relegere (Nat. Deor. ii. 72), others that of Lactantius (iv. 28) from religare.

66. That is, we avoid doing business, or undertaking any enterprise, on such days.

67. Heaut. 228; Dziatzko reads: turn quód dem ei

recte

est; nám nil esse míhi religiost dícere.

68. The meaning

full of

abounding in

does not suit all these words, although it is related to their meaning. Thus a habit ( mos) easily becomes a whim, and one who is morosus is likely to be peevish; for a somewhat different idea see Cicero, Tusc. Disp. iv. 54, bene igitur nostri, cum omnia essent in moribus vitia, quod nullum erat iracundia foedius, iracundos solos morosos nomninaverunt. It should be noted too that famosus is used also in a good sense.

69. Since speciosus is used also in a bad sense, it should perhaps be omitted (see crit. note); but cf. famosus, in the preceding list.

70. Fr. inc. 42, Jordan.

71. Fr. 10, Peter.

72. As would be indicated by gratiosus, which, however, Gellius has not mentioned among

the words which he first cited.

73. In 59 B.C.

74. See Suet. Jul. xxi., who adds the information that it was the custom for the consul to maintain throughout the year the order with which he had begun on the first of January.

75. Fr. 1, Peter; p. 6, Lion.

76. Fr. 18, Huschke; 1, Bremer.

77. Fr. 18, Huschke; 2, Bremer.

78. According to Suet. Jul. xx. 4, it was a lictor.

79. Fr. 128, Schn.

80. § 62; see Pease, ad loc.

81. F. H. G. ii. 273.

82. Fr. 199, Kock.

83. Fr. 141, Diehls.

84. Associating ku/amos with kuei=n

to conceive.

85. Fr. 194, Rose.

86. vii., p. 100, Bern.

87. viii. 8.

88. F. H. G. ii. 317.

89. F. H. G. ii. 244.

90. Made him an aerarius, originally a citizen who owned no land, but paid a tax ( aes) based on such property as he had. The aerarii had no political rights until about the middle of the fifth century B.C., when they were enrolled in the four city tribes. See Mommsen, Staatsr. ii. 392 ff.

91. More literally, inpolitia is

lack of neatness,

from in-, negative, and polio,

polish,

from which pulcher also is derived.

92. Fr. 2, p. 52, Jordan.

93. Fr. 87, Wimmer.

94. Fr. 1, Huschke; 1, Bremer.

95. The date is uncertain.

96. That is, as a reveller coming from a drinking-bout. An aedile might visit such a place officially in the course of his duty of regulating taverns and brothels.

97. iii. 2.

98. Fr. 63, Swoboda.

99. Heaut. 287.

100. That is, of Varro, Nigidius, and Terence.

101. Dative singulars ending in i and having the same form as the genitive singular occur only in the fifth declension ( diei, rei, etc.), except for the archaic forms of the first declension in -ai.

102. 1288, Marx.

103. 280, Marx.

104. Aen. vi. 465.

105. iv. 198.

106. ii. p. 136, Dinter.

107. ii. p. 121, Dinter; O. R. F. 2, p. 410.

108. ii. p. 129, Dinter.

109. 394, Marx.

110. The point is, that the syllable ob, being a closed syllable, is long, while the vowel o is short. Hence o is pronounced short, but the first three syllables of obiciebat form a dactyl (_ u u). Gellius' explanation in §§ 7–8 is correct, although not so clear as it might be.

111. 411, Marx.

112. 509, Marx, who reads suffert citrus, following Lion.

113. The reading is uncertain and the meaning doubtful. The line is an hexameter, since final s (as in suffercitus) did not make position in early Latin.

114. 194.

115. Georg. ii. 18.

116. Cf. ii. 17.

117.

Loaded with debt,

Hist. fr. iv. 52, Maur.; see note on ii. 17. 11, p. 168. Copertus is from co- (not con-) opertus, and there is no loss of n.

118. Gellius is partly right. As in + capio and in + salio became incipio and insilio, so ob + iacio became obiicio. As the Romans disliked the combination ii, only one i was written, but both were pronounced, and the syllable ob was thus long

by position.

In the early Latin dramatists the scansion ăbicio indicates that the i was syncopated and the semi-vowel changed to a vowel. See Sommer, Lat. Laut- und Formenlehre, p. 522.

119. Aen. vi. 365.

120. Georg. iii. 479.

121. 2, Ribbeck 3.

122. i. 9, Jordan, who reads nos for hos.

123. 94, Ribbeck 3.

124. In 185 B.C.

125. O. P. F., p. 6, Meyer 2.

126. Probably in 187 B.C., but the details of these attacks on Scipio are confused and uncertain.

127. Accepta ferri is a technical term of book-keeping,

to enter as received

on the credit side

; the opposite is ferre expensum, i, 16. 5,

to enter as paid out

on the debit side.

128. Fr. 17, Riese.

129. Canicula is used of a biting woman by Plaut. Cure. 598, and of Diogenes by Tertullian, adv. Marc. 1. 1.

130. The joke, which seems untranslatable, is of course on the doublemeaning of ex sententia,

according to your opinion

and

according to your wish.

131. Made him one of the aerarii; see note 1, p. 352.

132. O. R. F., 2 p. 179.

133. This was regular in the case of freedmen, who took the forename and gentile name of their patron, or former master, and added their slave-name as a cognomen; e.g. M. Tullius Tiro. The forename of the Caecilius to whom Statius belonged is not known.

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