revenge. And these principles are common both to natural and statute law. But there are also other divisions of law; for there is both the written and the unwritten law,–each of which is maintained by the rights of nations and the customs of our ancestors. Again, written law is divided into public law and private law. Public law is laws, resolutions of the senate, treaties; private law is accounts, covenants, agreements, stipulations.
But those laws which are unwritten, owe their influence either to custom or to some agreement between, and as it were to the common consent of men. And indeed it is in some degree prescribed to us by the laws of nature, that we are to uphold our customs and laws. And since the foundations of equity have been briefly explained in this manner, we ought to meditate carefully, with reference to causes of this kind, on what is to be said in our speeches about nature, and laws, and the customs of our ancestors, and the repelling of injuries, and revenge, and every portion of human rights. If a man has done anything unintentionally, or through necessity, or by accident, which men would not be excused for doing if they did it of their own accord and intentionally, by way of deprecating punishment for the action he should implore pardon and indulgence, founding his petition on many topics of equity. I have now explained as well as I could every kind of controversy, unless there is anything besides which you wish to know.
XXXVIII. _C.F._ I wish to know that which appears to me to be the only point left,–what is to be done when the discussion turns upon expressions in written documents.
_C.P._ You are right to ask: for when that is explained I shall have discharged the whole of the task which I have undertaken. The rules then which relate to ambiguity are common to both parties. For each of them will urge that the signification which he himself adopts is the one suited to the wisdom of the framer of the document; each of them will urge that that sense which his adversary says is to be gathered from the ambiguous expression in the writing, is either absurd, or inexpedient, or unjust, or discreditable, or again that it is inconsistent with other written expressions, either of other men, or, if possible, of the same man. And he will urge further that the meaning which he himself contends for is the one which would have been intended by every sensible and respectable man; and that such an one would express himself more plainly if the case were to come over again, and that the meaning which he asserts to be the proper one has nothing in it to which objection can be made, or with which any fault can be found; but that if the contrary meaning is admitted, many vices, many foolish, unjust, and inconsistent consequences must follow. But when it appears that the writer meant one thing and wrote another, then he who relies on the letter of the law must first explain the circumstances of the case, and then recite the law; then he must press his opponent, repeat the law, reiterate it, and ask him whether he denies that that is the expression contained in the writing, or whether he denies the facts of the case. After that he must invoke the judge to maintain the letter of the law. When he has dwelt on this sort of corroborative argument he must amplify his case by praising the law, and attack the audacity of the man who, when he has openly violated it, and confesses that he has done so, still comes forward and defends his conduct. Then he must invalidate the defence when his opponent says that the writer meant one thing and wrote another, and say that it is intolerable that the meaning of the framer of the law should be explained by any one else in preference to the law itself. Why did he write down such words if he did not mean them? Why does the opponent, while he neglects what is plainly written, bring forward what is not written anywhere? Why should he think that men who were most careful in what they wrote are to be convicted of extreme folly? What could have hindered the framer of this law from making this exception which the opponent contends that he intended to make, if he really had intended it? He will then bring forward those instances where the same writer has made a similar exception, or if he cannot do that, at least he will cite cases where others have made similar exceptions. For a reason must be sought for, if it is possible to find one, why this exception was not made in this case. The law must be stated to be likely to be unjust, or useless, or else that there is a reason for obeying part of it, and for abrogating part; it must be that the argument of the opponent and the law are at variance. And then, by way of amplification, it will be proper, both in other parts of the speech, and above all in the peroration, to speak with great dignity and energy about the desirableness of maintaining the laws, and of the danger with which all public and private affairs are threatened.
XXXIX. But he who defends himself by appeals to the spirit and intention of the law, will urge that the force of the law depends on the mind and design of the framer, not on words and letters. And he will praise him for having mentioned no exceptions in his law, so as to leave no refuge for offences, and so as to bind the judge to interpret the intention of the law according to the actions of each individual. Then he must cite instances in which all equity will be disturbed if the words of the law are attended to and not the meaning. Then all cunning and false accusation must be endeavoured to be put before the judge in an odious light, and complaints uttered in a tone of indignation. If the action in question has been done unintentionally, or by accident, or by compulsion, rather than in consequence of any premeditation,–and actions of those kinds we have already discussed,–then it will be well to use the same topics of equity to counteract the effect of the harshness of the language.
But if the written laws contradict one another, then the connexion of art is such, and most of its principles are so connected and linked together, that the rules which we a little while ago laid down for cases of ambiguity, and which have just been given with reference to the letter and spirit of the law, may be all transferred to this third division also. For the topics by which, in the case of an ambiguous expression, we defended that meaning which is favourable to our argument must also be used to defend the law which is favourable to us when there are inconsistent laws. In the next place, we must contrive to defend the spirit of one law, and the letter of the other. And so the rules which were just now given relating to the spirit and letter of the law may all be transferred to this subject.
XL. I have now explained to you all the divisions of oratory which have prevailed, as laid down by the academy to which we are devoted, and if it had not been for that academy they could not have been discovered, or understood, or discussed. For the mere act of division, and of definition, and the distribution of the partitions of a doubtful question, and the understanding the topics of arguments, and the arranging the argumentation itself properly, and the discerning what ought to be assumed in arguing, and what follows from what has been assumed, and the distinguishing what is true from what is false, and what is probable from what is incredible, and refuting assumptions which are not legitimate, or which are inappropriate, and discussing all these different points either concisely as those do who are called dialecticians, or copiously as an orator should do, are all fruits of the practice in disputing with acuteness and speaking with fluency, which is instilled into the disciples of that academy. And without a knowledge of these most important arts how can an orator have either energy or variety in his discourse, so as to speak properly of things good or bad, just or unjust, useful or useless, honourable or base?
Let these rules then, my Cicero, which I have now explained to you, be to you a sort of guide to those fountains of eloquence, and if under my instruction or that of others you arrive at them, you will then acquire a clearer understanding of these things and of others which are much more important.
_C.F._ I will strive to arrive at them with great eagerness, my father; and I do not think that there is any greater advantage which I can derive even from your many excellent kindnesses to me.
THE TREATISE OF M. T. CICERO ON THE BEST STYLE OF ORATORS.
This little piece was composed by Cicero as a sort of preface to his translation of the Orations of Demosthenes and Aeschines de Corona; the translations themselves have not come down to us.
I. There are said to be classes of orators as there are of poets. But it is not so; for of poets there are a great many divisions; for of tragic, comic, epic, lyric, and also of dithyrambic poetry, which has been more cultivated by the Latins, each kind is very different from the rest. Therefore in tragedy anything comic is a defect, and in comedy anything tragic is out of place. And in the other kinds of poetry each has its own appropriate note, and a tone well known to those who understand the subject. But if any one were to enumerate many classes of orators, describing some as grand, and dignified, and copious, others as thin, or subtle, or concise, and others as something between the two and in the middle as it were, he would be saying something of the men, but very little of the matter. For as to the matter, we seek to know what is the best; but as to the man, we state what is the real case. Therefore if any one likes, he has a right to call Ennius a consummate epic poet, and Pacuvius an excellent tragic poet, and Caecilius perhaps a perfect comic poet. But I do not divide the orator as to class in this way. For I am seeking a perfect one. And of perfection there is only one kind; and those who fall short of it do not differ in kind, as Attius does from Terentius; but they are of the same kind, only of unequal merit. For he is the best orator who by speaking both teaches, and delights, and moves the minds of his hearers. To teach them is his duty, to delight them is creditable to him, to move them is indispensable. It must be granted that one person succeeds better in this than another; but that is not a difference of kind but of degree. Perfection is one thing; that is next to it which is most like it; from which consideration it is evident that that which is most unlike perfection is the worst.
II. For, since eloquence consists of words and sentences, we must endeavour, by speaking in a pure and correct manner, that is to say in good Latin, to attain an elegance of expression with words appropriate and metaphorical. As to the appropriate words, selecting those which are most suitable; and when indulging in metaphor, studying to preserve a proper resemblance, and to be modest in our use of foreign terms. But of sentences, there are as many different kinds as I have said there are of panegyrics. For if teaching, we want shrewd sentences; if aiming at giving pleasure, we want musical ones; if at exciting the feelings, dignified ones. But there is a certain arrangement of words which produces both harmony and smoothness; and different sentiments have different arrangements suitable to them, and an order naturally calculated to prove their point; but of all those things memory is the foundation, (just as a building has a foundation,) and action is the light. The man, then, in whom all these qualities are found in the highest perfection, will be the most skilful orator; he in whom they exist in a moderate degree will be a mediocre orator: he in whom they are found to the slightest extent will be the most inferior sort of orator. All these, indeed, will be called orators, just as bad painters are still called painters; not differing from one another in kind, but in ability. So there is no orator who would not like to resemble Demosthenes; but Menander did not want to be like Homer, for his style was different.
This difference does not exist in orators; or if there be any such difference, that one avoiding gravity aims rather at subtlety; and on the other hand, that another desires to show himself acute rather than polished: such men, although they may be tolerable orators, are certainly not perfect ones; since that is perfection which combines every kind of excellence.
III. I have stated these things with greater brevity than the subject deserves; but still, with reference to my present object, it was not worth while being more prolix. For as there is but one kind of eloquence, what we are seeking to ascertain is what kind it is. And it is such as flourished at Athens; and in which the genius of the Attic orators is hardly comprehended by us, though their glory is known to us. For many have perceived this fact, that there is nothing faulty in them: few have discerned the other point; namely, how much in them there is that is praiseworthy. For it is a fault in a sentence if anything is absurd, or foreign to the subject, or stupid, or trivial; and it is a fault of language if any thing is gross, or abject, or unsuitable, or harsh, or far-fetched. Nearly all those men who are either considered Attic orators or who speak in the Attic manner have avoided these faults. But if that is all their merit, then they may deserve to be regarded as sound and healthy, as if we were regarding athletes, to such an extent as to be allowed to exercise in the palaestra, but not to be entitled to the crown at the Olympic games. For the athletes, who are free from defects, are not content as it were with good health, but seek to produce strength and muscles and blood, and a certain agreeableness of complexion; let us imitate them, if we can; and if we cannot do so wholly, at least let us select as our models those who enjoy unimpaired health, (which is peculiar to the Attic orators,) rather than those whose abundance is vicious, of whom Asia has produced numbers. And in doing this (if at least we can manage even this, for it is a mighty undertaking) let us imitate, if we can, Lysias, and especially his simplicity of style: for in many places he rises to grandeur. But because he wrote speeches for many private causes, and those too for others, and on very trifling subjects, he appears to be somewhat simple, because he has designedly filed himself down to the standard of the inconsiderable causes which he was pleading.
IV. And a man who acts in this way, even if he be not able to turn out a vigorous speaker as he wishes, may still deserve to be accounted an orator, though an inferior one; but even a great orator must often also speak in the same manner in causes of that kind. And in this way it happens that Demosthenes is at times able to speak with simplicity, though perhaps Lysias may not be able to arrive at grandeur. But if men think that, when an army was marshalled in the forum and in all the temples round the forum, it was possible to speak in defence of Milo, as if we had been speaking in a private cause before a single judge, they measure the power of eloquence by their own estimate of their own ability, and not by the nature of the case. Wherefore, since some people have got into a way of repeating that they themselves do speak in an Attic manner, and others that none of us do so; the one class we may neglect, for the facts themselves are a sufficient answer to these men, since they are either not employed in causes, or when they are employed they are laughed at; for if the laughter which they excite were in approbation of them, that very fact would be a characteristic of Attic speakers. But those who will not admit that we speak in the Attic manner, but yet profess that they themselves are not orators; if they have good ears and an intelligent judgment, may still be consulted by us, as one respecting the character of a picture would take the opinion of men who were incapable of making a picture, though not devoid of acuteness in judging of one. But if they place all their intelligence in a certain fastidiousness of ear, and if nothing lofty or magnificent ever pleases them, then let them say that they want something subtle and highly polished, and that they despise what is dignified and ornamented; but let them cease to assert that those men alone speak in the Attic manner, that is to say, in a sound and correct one. But to speak with dignity and elegance and copiousness is a characteristic of Attic orators. Need I say more? Is there any doubt whether we wish our oration to be tolerable only, or also admirable? For we are not asking now what sort of speaking is Attic: but what sort is best. And from this it is understood, since those who were Athenians were the best of the Greek orators, and since Demosthenes was beyond all comparison the best of them, that if any one imitates them he will speak in the Attic manner, and in the best manner, so that since the Attic orators are proposed to us for imitation, to speak well is to speak Attically.
V. But as there was a great error as to the question, what kind of eloquence that was, I have thought that it became me to undertake a labour which should be useful to studious men, though superfluous as far as I myself was concerned. For I have translated the most illustrious orations of the two most eloquent of the Attic orators, spoken in opposition to one another: Aeschines and Demosthenes. And I have not translated them as a literal interpreter, but as an orator giving the same ideas in the same form and mould as it were, in words conformable to our manners; in doing which I did not consider it necessary to give word for word, but I have preserved the character and energy of the language throughout. For I did not consider that my duty was to render to the reader the precise number of words, but rather to give him all their weight. And this labour of mine will have this result, that by it our countrymen may understand what to require of those who wish to be accounted Attic speakers, and that they may recal them to, as it were, an acknowledged standard of eloquence.
But then Thucydides will rise up; for some people admire his eloquence. And they are quite right. But he has no connexion with the orator, which is the person of whom we are in search. For it is one thing to unfold the actions of men in a narration, and quite a different one to accuse and get rid of an accusation by arguing. It is one thing to fix a hearer’s attention by a narration, and another to excite his feelings. “But he uses beautiful language.” Is his language finer than Plato’s? Nevertheless it is necessary for the orator whom we are inquiring about, to explain forensic disputes by a style of speaking calculated at once to teach, to delight, and to excite.
VI. Wherefore, if there is any one who professes that he intends to plead causes in the forum, following the style of Thucydides, no one will ever suspect him of being endowed with that kind of eloquence which is suited to affairs of state or to the bar. But if he is content with praising Thucydides, then he may add my vote to his own. Moreover, even Isocrates himself, whom that divine author, Plato, who was nearly his contemporary, has represented in the Phaedrus as being highly extolled by Socrates, and whom all learned men have called a consummate orator, I do not class among the number of those who are to be taken for models. For he is not engaged in actual conflict; he is not armed for the fray; his speeches are made for display, like foils. I will rather, (to compare small things with great,) bring on the stage a most noble pair of gladiators. Aeschines shall come on like aeserninus, as Lucilius says–
“No ordinary man, but fearless all,
And skill’d his arms to wield–his equal match Pacideianus stands, than whom the world Since the first birth of man hath seen no greater.”
For I do not think that anything can be imagined more divine than that orator. Now this labour of mine is found fault with by two kinds of critics. One set says, “But the Greek is better.” And I ask them whether the authors themselves could have clothed their speeches in better Latin? The others say, “Why should I rather read the translation than the original?” Yet those same men read the Andria and the Synephebi; and are not less fond of Terence and Caecilius than of Menander. They must then discard the Andromache, and the Antiope, and the Epigoni in Latin. But yet, in fact, they read Ennius and Pacuvius and Attius more than Euripides and Sophocles. What then is the meaning of this contempt of theirs for orations translated from the Greek, when they have no objection to translated verses?
VII. However, let us now come to the task which we have undertaken, when we have just explained what the cause is which is before the court.
As there was a law at Athens, that no one should be the cause of carrying a decree of the people that any one should be presented with a crown while invested with office till he had given in an account of the way in which he had discharged its duties; and another law, that those who had crowns given them by the people ought to receive them in the assembly of the people, and that they who had them given to them by the senate should receive them in the senate; Demosthenes was appointed a superintendent of repairs of the walls; and he did it at his own expense. Therefore, with reference to him Ctesiphon proposed a decree, without his having given in any accounts, that he should be presented with a golden crown, and that that presentation should take place in the theatre, the people being summoned for the purpose, (that is not the legitimate place for an assembly of the people;) and that proclamation should be made, “that he received this present on account of his virtue and devotion to the state, and to the Athenian people.” Aeschines then prosecuted this man Ctesiphon because he had proposed a decree contrary to the laws, to the effect that a crown should be given when no accounts had been delivered, and that it should be presented in the theatre, and that he had made false statements in the words of his motion concerning Demosthenes’s virtue and loyalty; since Demosthenes was not a good man, and was not one who had deserved well of the state.
That kind of cause is indeed inconsistent with the precedents established by our habits; but still it has an imposing look. For it has on each side of the question a sufficiently clever interpretation of the laws, and a very grave contest as to the respective services done by the two rival orators to the republic. Therefore the object of Aeschines was, since he himself had been prosecuted on a capital charge by Demosthenes, for having given a false account of his embassy, that now a trial should take place affecting the conduct and character of Demosthenes, that so, under pretence of prosecuting Ctesiphon, he might avenge himself on his enemy. For he did not say so much about the accounts not having been delivered, as to the point that a very bad citizen had been praised as an excellent.
Aeschines instituted this prosecution against Ctesiphon four years before the death of Philip of Macedon. But the decision took place a few years afterwards; when Alexander had become master of Asia. And it is said that all Greece thronged to hear the issue of the trial. For what was ever better worth going to see, or better worth hearing, than the contest of two consummate orators in a most important cause, inflamed and sharpened by private enmity?
If then, as I trust, I have given such a copy of their speeches, using all their excellencies, that is to say, their sentiments, and their figures, and the order of their facts; adhering to their words only so far as they are not inconsistent with our customs, (and though they may not be all translated from the Greek, still I have taken pains that they should be of the same class,) then there will be a standard to which the orations of those men must be directed who wish to speak Attically. But I have said enough of myself–let us now hear Aeschines speaking in Latin. (_These Orations are not extant_.)
END OF THE TREATISE.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Dolabella had been married to Cicero’s daughter Tullia, but was divorced from her.]
[Footnote 2: The name was given them early. Juvenal, who wrote within a hundred years of Cicero’s time, calls them “divina Philippica.”]
[Footnote 3: This meeting took place on the third day after Caesar’s death.]
[Footnote 4: [Greek: Mae mnaesikakin].]
[Footnote 5: The hook was to drag his carcass along the streets to throw it into the Tiber. So Juvenal says–
“Sejanus ducitur unco
Spectandus.”–x. 66.]
[Footnote 6: This refers to a pillar that was raised in the forum in honour of Caesar, with the inscription, “To the Father of his Country.”]
[Footnote 7: _See_ Philippic 2.]
[Footnote 8: This was the name of a legion raised by Caesar in Gaul, and called so, probably, from the ornament worn on their helmet.]
[Footnote 9: He meant to insinuate that Antonius had been forging Caesar’s handwriting and signature]
[Footnote 10: Fulvia, who had been the wife of Clodius, and afterwards of Curio, was now the wife of Antonius.]
[Footnote 11: These were the names of slaves.]
[Footnote 12: Ityra was a town at the foot of Mount Taurus.]
[Footnote 13: Brutus was the Praetor urbanus this year, and that officer’s duty confined him to the city; and he was forbidden by law to be absent more than ten days at a time during his year of office.]
[Footnote 14: I have translated _jugerum_ “an acre,” because it is usually so translated, but in point of fact it was not quite two-thirds of an English acre. At the same time it was nearly three times as large as the Greek [Greek: plethros] such by the fault of fortune and not by his own. You assumed the manly gown, which you soon made a womanly one: at first a public prostitute, with a regular price for your wickedness, and that not a low one. But very soon Curio stepped in, who carried you off from your public trade, and, as if he had bestowed a matron’s robe upon you, settled you in a steady and durable wedlock. No boy bought for the gratification of passion was ever so wholly in the power of his master as you were in Curio’s. How often has his father turned you out of his house? How often has he placed guards to prevent you from entering? while you, with night for your accomplice, lust for your encourager, and wages for your compeller, were let down through the roof. That house could no longer endure your wickedness. Do you not know that I am speaking of matters with which I am thoroughly acquainted? Remember that time when Curio, the father, lay weeping in his bed; his son throwing himself at my feet with tears recommended to me you; he entreated me to defend you against his own father, if he demanded six millions of sesterces of you; for that he had been bail for you to that amount. And he himself, burning with love, declared positively that because he was unable to bear the misery of being separated from you, he should go into banishment. And at that time what misery of that most nourishing family did I allay, or rather did I remove! I persuaded the father to pay the son’s debts; to release the young man, endowed as he was with great promise of courage and ability, by the sacrifice of part of his family estate; and to use his privileges and authority as a father to prohibit him not only from all intimacy with, but from every opportunity of meeting you. When you recollected that all this was done by me, would you have dared to provoke me by abuse if you had not been trusting to those swords which we behold?]
[Footnote 15: Sisapo was a town in Spain, celebrated for some mines of vermilion, which were farmed by a company.]
[Footnote 16: She was a courtesan who had been enfranchised by her master Volumnius. The name of Volumnia was dear to the Romans as that of the wife of Coriolanus, to whose entreaties he had yielded when he drew off his army from the neighbourhood of Rome.]
[Footnote 17: This is a play on the name Hippia, as derived from [Greek: hippos], a horse.]
[Footnote 18: The custom of erecting a spear wherever an auction was held is well known, it is said to have arisen from the ancient practice of selling under a spear the booty acquired in war.]
[Footnote 19: There seems some corruption here. Orellius apparently thinks the case hopeless.]
[Footnote 20: The Latin is, “non solum de die, sed etiam in diem, vivere;” which the commentators explain, “_De die_ is to feast every day and all day. Banquets _de die_ are those which begin before the regular hour.” (Like Horace’s _Partem solido demere de die_.) “To live _in diem_ is to live so as to have no thought for the future.”–Graevius.]
[Footnote 21: This accidental resemblance to the incident in the “Forty Thieves” in the “Arabian Nights” is curious.]
[Footnote 22: The _septemviri,_ at full length _septemviri epulones_ or _epulonum_, were originally triumviri. They were first created BC. 198, to attend to the _epulum Jovis_, and the banquets given in honour of the other gods, which duty had originally belonged to the _pontifices_. Julius Caesar added three more, but that alteration did not last. They formed a _collegium_, and were one of the four great religious corporations at Rome with the _pontifices_, the _augures_, and the _quindecemviri_. Smith, Diet, Ant. v. _Epulones_.]
[Footnote 23: It had been explained before that Fulvia had been the widow of Clodius and of Curio, before she married Antonius.]
[Footnote 24: Riddle (Dict. Lat. in voce) says, that this was the regular punishment for deserters, and was inflicted by their comrades.]
[Footnote 25: Cnaeus Octavius, the real father of Octavius Caesar, had been praetor and governor of Macedonia, and was intending to stand for the consulship when he died.]
[Footnote 26: Bambalio is derived from the Greek word [Greek: bambala] to lisp.]
[Footnote 27: Julia, the mother of Antonius and sister of Lucius Caesar, was also a native of Aricia.]
[Footnote 28: He had intended to propose to the senate to declare Octavius a public enemy. We must recollect that in these orations Cicero, even when he speaks of Caius Caesar, means Octavius.]
[Footnote 29: It is quite impossible to give a proper idea of Cicero’s meaning here. He is arguing on the word _dignus_, from which _dignitas_ is derived. But we have no means of keeping up the play on the words in English.]
[Footnote 30: The general proceeding on such occasions being to ask each senator’s opinion separately, which gave those who chose an opportunity for pronouncing some encomium on the person honoured.]
[Footnote 31: Spartacus was the general of the gladiators and slaves in the Servile war.]
[Footnote 32: Lepidus had not in reality done any particular service to the republic (he was afterwards one of the triumviri), but he was at the head of the best army in the empire, and so was able to be of the most important service to either party, and, therefore, Cicero hoped to attach him to his side by this compliment.]
[Footnote 33: It has been already explained that this was the name of one legion.]
[Footnote 34: The mirmillo was the gladiator who fought with the retiarius; he wore a Gallic helmet with a fish for a crest.]
[Footnote 35: The English reader must recollect that what is called Gaul in these orations, is Cisalpine Gaul containing what we now call the North of Italy, coming down as far south as Modena and Ravenna.]
[Footnote 36: After the year B.C. 403 there were two classes of Roman knights, one of which received a horse from the state, and were included in the eighteen centuries of service, the other class, first mentioned by Livy (v. 7) in the account of the siege of Veii, served with their own horses, and instead of having a horse found them, received a certain pay, (three times that of the infantry) and were not included in the eighteen centuries of service. The original knights, to distinguish them from these latter, are often called _equites equo publico_, sometimes also ficus vanes or _trossuli_ _Vide_ Smith, Dict. Ant. P. 394-396, v. _Equites_]
[Footnote 37: He had been one of the septemvirs appointed to preside over the distribution of the lands.]
[Footnote 38: Janus was the name of a street near the temple of Janus, especially frequented by bankers and usurers. It was divided into _summus, nedus_ and _imus_ Horace says–
Hase Janus summus ab imo
Edocet [lacuna]
Postquam omms res mea Janum
Ad medium fracta cat.
]
[Footnote 39: _I.e. tumultus_, as if it were _tumor multus_]
[Footnote 40: These were the names of officers devoted to Antonius.]
[Footnote 41: The province between the Alps and the Rubicon was called Gallia _Citerior_, or _Oisalpina_, from its situation, also _Togata_, from the inhabitants wearing the Roman toga. The other was called _Ulterior_, and by Cicero often _Ultima_, or _Transalpina_, and also _Comata_, from the fashion of the inhabitants wearing long hair]
[Footnote 42: Sulpicius was of about the same age as Cicero, and an early friend of his, and he enjoyed the reputation of being the first lawyer of his time, or of all who ever had studied law as a profession in Rome.]
[Footnote 43: There is some corruption of the text here.]
[Footnote 44: Brutus had been adopted by his maternal uncle Quintus Servilius Caepio, so that his legal designation was what is given in the text now, as Cicero is proposing a formal vote–though at all other times we see that he calls him Marcus Brutus]
[Footnote 45: The Latin is _Samiarius_, or as some read it _Samarius_. Orellius says, “perhaps it means some sort of trade, for I doubt its having been a Roman proper name.” Nizollius says, “Samarius exul–_proverbium_.” Facciolatti calls him a man whose business it was to clean the arms of the guards, &c. with Samian chalk.]
[Footnote 46: Vopiscus is another name of Bestia.]
[Footnote 47: It is impossible to give the force of the original here, which plays on the word _tabula_. The Latin is, “vindicem enim novarum tabularum novam tabulam vidimus,” _novae tabulae_ meaning as is well known a law for the abolition of debts, _nova tabula_ in the singular an advertisement of (Trebellius’s) property being to be sold.]
[Footnote 48: Here too is a succession of puns. Lysidicus is derived from the Greek [Greek: lyo] to loosen and [Greek: dikae], justice. _Cimber_ is a proper name, and also means one of the nation of the Cimbri, _Germanus_ is a German, and _germanus_ a brother, and he means here to impute to Caius Cimber that he had murdered his brother.]
[Footnote 49: Compare St Paul,–“For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” 1 Cor. xiv 8.]
[Footnote 50: That is, without being crucified like a slave.]
[Footnote 51: The Latin here is “Itaque Caesaris munera rosit,”–playing on the name mus, mouse; but Orellius thinks the whole passage corrupt, and indeed there is evident corruption in the text here in many places.]
[Footnote 52: He means Lucius Aemilius Paullus, and Caius Claudius Marcellus, who were consuls the year after Servius Sulpicius and Marcus Claudius Marcellus, A.U.C. 704.]
[Footnote 53: These two were tribunes of the people, who had been dispossessed of their offices by Julius Caesar.]
[Footnote 54: There is some difficulty here. Many editors propose to read “offen lerint” which Orellius thinks would hardly be Latin. He says, “Antonius is here speaking of those veterans who had deserted him indeed but who, at the time of his writing this letter, had not acted against him”. Therefore, he says it is open to them to become reconciled to him again (wishing to conciliate them, and to alarm his enemies). On the other hand, Cicero replies, Nothing is so open to them now as to do what their duty to the republic requires. That is to say, openly to attack you, whose party they have already abandoned.]
[Footnote 55: There were two wine feasts, Vinalia, at Rome: the vinalia urbano, celebrated on the twenty-third of April; and the vinalia rustica, on the nineteenth of October. This was the urbana vinalia; on which occasion the wine casks which had been filled in the autumn were tasted for the first time.]
[Footnote 56: There is much dispute as to who is meant here. Some say Cicero refers to Amphion, some to Orpheus, and some to Mercury; the Romans certainly did attribute the civilization of men to Mercury, as Horace says–
Qui feros cultus hominum recenti
Voce formasti catus I. 9, 2.]
[Footnote 57: This is very frequently quoted by Cicero; the Latin lines being the opening of the Medea of Ennius, translated from the first lines of the Medea of Euripides.]
[Footnote 58: The Talysus was a hunter at Rhodes, of whom Protogenes had made an admirable picture, which was afterwards brought to Rome, and placed in the temple of Peace.]
[Footnote 59: Brutus was at present propraetor in Gaul.]
[Footnote 60: Theophrastus’s real name was Tyrtamus, but Aristotle, whose pupil he was, surnamed him Theophrastus, from the Greek words [Greek: Theos], God and [Greek: phrazo], to speak.]
[Footnote 61: He refers to the Menexenus.]
[Footnote 62: Cape si vis.]
[Footnote 63: “Assiduus. Prop, sitting down, seated, and so, well to do in the world, rich. The derivation _ab assis duendis_ is therefore to be rejected. Servius Tullius divided the Roman people into two classes, _assidui, i. e._ the rich, who could sit down and take their ease, and _proletarii_, or _capite censi_, the poor.”–Riddle, in voc. _Assiduus_, quoting this passage. One does not see, however, why aelius and Cicero should not understand the meaning and derivation of a Latin word. Smith’s Dict. Ant. takes no notice of the word at all.]
[Footnote 64: See chap. x.]