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11.1.p822
11.1.p822
On the origin of the term terra Italia, or the land of Italy; of that fine which is called supreme; concerning the reason for the name and on the Aternian law; and in what words the smallest fine used to be pronounced in ancient days.
11.1.p823
11.1.p823
TIMAEUS, in the
11.1.p823
History
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1
11.1.p823
which he composed in the Greek language about the affairs of the Roman people, and Marcus Varro in his
11.1.p823
Human Antiquities,
11.1.p823
2
11.1.p823
wrote that the land of Italy derived its name from a Greek word, oxen in the old Greek tongue being called
11.1.p823
i)taloi/
11.1.p823
; for in Italy there was a great abundance of cattle, and in that land pastures are numerous and grazing is a frequent employment.
11.1.p824
11.1.p824
Furthermore, we may infer that it was for the same reason—namely, since Italy at that time so abounded in cattle—that the fine was established which is called
11.1.p824
supreme,
11.1.p824
consisting of two sheep and thirty oxen each day, obviously proportionate to the abundance of oxen and the scarcity of sheep. But when a fine of that sort, consisting of cattle and sheep, was pronounced by a magistrate, oxen and sheep were brought, now of small, again of greater value; and this made the penalty of the fine unequal. Therefore later, by the Aternian law,
11.1.p824
1
11.1.p824
the value of a sheep was fixed at ten pieces of brass, of the cattle at a hundred apiece. Now the
11.1.p824
smallest
11.1.p824
fine is that of one sheep. The
11.1.p824
supreme
11.1.p824
fine is of that number which we have mentioned, beyond which it is not lawful to impose a fine for a period of successive days;
11.1.p824
2
11.1.p824
and for that reason it is called
11.1.p824
supreme,
11.1.p824
that is, greatest and heaviest.
11.1.p825
11.1.p825
When therefore even now, according to ancient usage, either the
11.1.p825
smallest
11.1.p825
or the
11.1.p825
supreme
11.1.p825
fine is pronounced by Roman magistrates, it is regularly observed that
11.1.p825
oves
11.1.p825
(
11.1.p825
sheep
11.1.p825
) be given the masculine gender; and Marcus Varro has thus recorded the words of the law by which the smallest fine was pronounced:
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1
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Against Marcus Terentius, since, though summoned, he has neither appeared nor been excused, I pronounce a fine of one sheep (unum ovem)
11.1.p825
; and they declared that the fine did not appear to be legal unless that gender was used.
11.1.p826
11.1.p826
Furthermore, Marcus Varro, in the twenty-first book of his
11.1.p826
Human Antiquities,
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also says
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1
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that the word for fine (
11.1.p826
multa
11.1.p826
) is itself not Latin, but Sabine, and he remarks that it endured even to within his own memory in the speech of the Samnites, who are sprung from the Sabines. But the upstart herd of grammarians have asserted that this word, like some others, is used on the principle of opposites.
11.1.p826
2
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Furthermore, since it is a usage and custom in language for us to say even now, as the greater number of the early men did,
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multam dixit
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and
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multa dicta est,
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I have thought it not out of place to note that Marcus Cato spoke otherwise.
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3
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For in the fourth book of his
11.1.p826
Origins
11.1.p826
are these words:
11.1.p826
Our commander, if anyone has gone to battle out of order, imposes (facit) a fine upon him.
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But it may seem that Cato changed the word with an eye to propriety, since the fine was imposed in camp
11.1.p826
and in the army, not pronounced in the comitium or in the presence of the people.
11.2.p827
11.2.p827
That the word elegantia in earlier days was not used of a more refined nature, but of excessive fastidiousness in dress and mode of life, and was a term of reproach.
11.2.p828
11.2.p828
IT was not customary to call a man
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elegans, or
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elegant,
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by way of praise, but up to the time of Marcus Cato that word as a rule was a reproach, not a compliment. And this we may observe both in some other writers, and also in the work of Cato entitled
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Carmen de Moribus.
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In this book is the following passage:
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1
11.2.p828
They thought that avarice included all the vices; whoever was considered extravagant, ambitious, elegant, vicious or good-fornothing received praise.
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2
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It is evident from these words that in days of old the
11.2.p828
elegant
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man was so called, not because of refinement of character, but because he was excessively particular and extravagant in his attire and mode of life.
11.2.p829
11.2.p829
Later, the
11.2.p829
elegant
11.2.p829
man ceased indeed to be reproached, but he was deemed worthy of no commendation, unless his elegance was very moderate. Thus Marcus Tullius commended Lucius Crassus and Quintus Scaevola, not for mere elegance, but for elegance combined with great frugality.
11.2.p829
Crassus,
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he says,
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1
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was the most frugal of elegant men; Scaevola the most elegant of the frugal.
11.2.p830
11.2.p830
Besides this, in the same work of Cato, I recall also these scattered and cursory remarks:
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1
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It was the custom,
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says he,
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to dress becomingly in the forum, at home to cover their nakedness. They paid more for horses than for cooks. The poetic art was not esteemed. If anyone devoted himself to it, or frequented banquets, he was called a 'ruffian.'
11.2.p830
This sentiment too, of conspicuous truthfulness, is to be found in the same work:
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2
11.2.p830
Indeed, human life is very like iron. If you use it, it wears out; if you do not, it is nevertheless consumed by rust. In the same way we see men worn out by toil; if you toil not, sluggishness and torpor are more injurious than toil.
11.3.p831
11.3.p831
The nature and degree of the variety of usage in the particle pro; and some examples of the differences.
11.3.p832
11.3.p832
WHEN I have leisure from legal business, and walk or ride for the sake of bodily exercise, I have the habit sometimes of silently meditating upon questions that are trifling indeed and insignificant, even negligible in the eyes of the uneducated, but are nevertheless highly necessary for a thorough understanding of the early writers and a knowledge of the Latin language. For example, lately in the retirement of Praeneste,
11.3.p832
1
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as I was taking my evening walk alone, I began to consider the nature and degree of variety in the use of certain particles in the Latin language; for instance, in the preposition
11.3.p832
pro.
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For I saw that we had one use in
11.3.p832
the priests passed a decree in the name of their order,
11.3.p832
and another in
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that a witness who had been called in said by way of testimony
11.3.p832
; that Marcus Cato used it in still another way in the fourth book of his
11.3.p832
Origins:
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2
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The battle was fought and ended before the camp,
11.3.p832
and also in the fifth book:
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3
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That all the islands and cities were in favour of the Illyrian land.
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Also
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before the temple of Castor
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is one form of expression,
11.3.p832
on the rostra
11.3.p832
another,
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before, or on, the tribunal
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4
11.3.p832
another,
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in presence of the assembly
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another, and
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the tribune of the commons interposed a veto in view of his authority
11.3.p832
still another. Now, I thought that anyone who imagined that all these expressions were wholly alike and equal, or were entirely different, was in error; for I was of the opinion that this variety came from the same origin and source, but yet that its end was not the same. And this surely anyone will easily understand,
11.3.p832
5
11.3.p832
if he attentively considers the question and has a somewhat extensive use and knowledge of the early language.
11.4.p833
11.4.p833
How Quintus Ennius rivalled
11.4.p833
1
11.4.p833
certain verses of Euripides.
11.4.p834
11.4.p834
IN the
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Hecuba
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of Euripides there are some verses remarkable and brilliant in their diction, their thought and their terseness. Hecuba is speaking to Ulysses:
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1
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Thine high repute, how ill soe'er thou speak'st,
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Shall sway them; for the same speech carrieth not
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Like weight from men contemned and men revered.
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These verses Quintus Ennius, when he translated that tragedy, rivalled with no little success. The verses of Ennius are the same in number, as follows:
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2
11.4.p834
Though thou speak'st ill, thou wilt the Achivi sway;
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The selfsame words and speech have other weight
11.4.p834
When spoken by the great and by the obscure.
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Ennius, as I have said, did well; but yet
11.4.p834
ignobiles
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and
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opulenti
11.4.p834
do not seem to express the full force of
11.4.p834
a)docou/ntwn
11.4.p834
and
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dokou/ntwn
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; for not all who are obscure are contemned, nor are the great all revered.
11.5.p835
11.5.p835
Some brief notes about the Pyrronian philosophers and the Academics; and of the difference between them.
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11.5.p836
THOSE whom we call the Pyrronian philosophers are designated by the Greek name
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skeptikoi/,
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or
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sceptics,
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which means about the same as
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inquirers
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and
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investigators.
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For they decide nothing and determine nothing, but are always engaged in inquiring and considering what there is in all nature concerning which it is possible to decide and determine. And moreover they believe that they do not see or hear anything clearly,
11.5.p836
but that they undergo and experience something like seeing and hearing; but they are in doubt as to the nature and character of those very things which cause them those experiences, and they deliberate about them: and they declare that in everything assurance and absolute truth seem so beyond our grasp, owing to the mingling and confusing of the indications of truth and falsehood, that any man who is not rash and precipitate in his judgment ought to use the language which they say was used by Pyrro, the founder of that philosophy:
11.5.p836
Does not this matter stand so, rather than so, or is it neither?
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For they deny that proofs of anything and its real qualities can be known and understood, and they try in many ways to point this out and demonstrate it. On this subject Favorinus too with great keenness and subtlety has composed ten books, which he entitled
11.5.p836
Purrwnei=oi Tro/poi,
11.5.p836
or
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The Pyrronian Principles.
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1
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11.5.p837
It is besides a question of long standing, which has been discussed by many Greek writers, whether the Pyrronian and Academic philosophers differ at all, and to what extent. For both are called
11.5.p837
sceptics, inquirers and doubters,
11.5.p837
since both affirm nothing and believe that nothing is understood. But they say that appearances, which they call
11.5.p837
fantasi/ai,
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are produced from all objects, not according to the nature of the objects themselves, but according to the condition of mind or body of those to whom those appearances come. Therefore they call absolutely all things that affect men's senses
11.5.p837
ta\ pro/s ti.
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1
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This expression means that there is nothing at all that is self-dependent or which has its own power and nature, but that absolutely all things have
11.5.p837
reference to something else
11.5.p837
and seem to be such as their appearance is while they are seen, and such as they are formed by our senses, to which they come, not by the things themselves, from which they have proceeded. But although the Pyrronians and the Academics express themselves very much alike about these matters, yet they are thought to differ from each other both in certain other respects and especially for this reason—because the Academics do, as it were,
11.5.p837
comprehend
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2
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the very fact that nothing can be comprehended, and, as it were, decide that nothing can be decided, while the Pyrronians assert that not even that can by any means be regarded as true, because nothing is regarded as true.
11.6.p838
11.6.p838
That at Rome women did not swear by Hercules nor men by Castor.
11.6.p839
11.6.p839
IN our early writings neither do Roman women swear by Hercules nor the men by Castor. But why the women did not swear by Hercules is evident, since they abstain from sacrificing to Hercules. On the other hand, why the men did not name Castor in oaths is not easy to say. Nowhere, then, is it possible to find an instance, among good writers, either of a woman saying
11.6.p839
by Hercules
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or a man,
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by Castor
11.6.p839
; but
11.6.p839
edepol,
11.6.p839
which is an oath by Pollux, is common to both man and woman. Marcus Varro, however, asserts
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1
11.6.p839
that the earliest
11.6.p839
men were wont to swear neither by Castor nor by Pollux, but that this oath was used by women alone and was taken from the Eleusinian initiations; that gradually, however, through ignorance of ancient usage, men began to say
11.6.p839
edepol,
11.6.p839
and thus it became a customary expression; but that the use of
11.6.p839
by Castor
11.6.p839
by a man appears in no ancient writing.
11.7.p840
11.7.p840
That very old words which have become antiquated and obsolete ought not to be used.
11.7.p841
11.7.p841
To use words that are too antiquated and worn out, or those which are unusual and of a harsh and unpleasant novelty, seems to be equally faulty. But for my own part I think it more offensive and censurable to use words that are new, unknown and unheard of, than those that are trite and mean. Furthermore, I maintain that those words also seem new which are out of use and obsolete, even though they are of ancient date.
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1
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In fact, it is a common fault of lately acquired learning, or
11.7.p841
o)yimaqi/a
11.7.p841
as the Greeks call it, to make a great point anywhere and everywhere, and in connection with any subject whatever, to talk about what you have never learned and of which you were long ignorant, when at last you have begun to know something about it. For instance, at Rome in my presence a man of experience and celebrated as a pleader, who had acquired a sudden and, so to speak, haphazard kind of education, was speaking before the prefect of the city and wished to say that a certain man lived upon poor and wretched food, ate bread made from bran,
11.7.p841
and drank flat and spoiled wine:
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This Roman knight,
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said he,
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eats apluda and drinks flocces.
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All who were present looked at one another, at first somewhat seriously, with a disturbed and inquiring aspect, wondering what in the world the two words meant; then presently they all burst into a laugh, as if he had said something in Etruscan or Gallic. Now that man had read that the farmers of ancient days called the chaff of grain
11.7.p841
apluda,
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and that the word was used by Plautus in the comedy entitled
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Astraba,
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2
11.7.p841
if that play be the work of Plautus. He had also heard that
11.7.p841
flocces
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in the early language meant the lees of wine pressed from the skins of grapes, corresponding to the dregs of oil from olives. This he had read in the
11.7.p841
Polumeni
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3
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of Caecilius,
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4
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and he had saved up those two words as ornaments for his speeches.
11.7.p842
11.7.p842
Another
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Einfaltspinsel
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also, after some little reading of that kind, when his opponent requested that a case be postponed, said:
11.7.p842
I pray you, praetor, help me, aid me! How long, pray, shall this bovinator delay me?
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And he bawled it out three or four times in a loud voice:
11.7.p842
He is a bovinator.
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A murmur began to arise from many of those who were present, as if in wonder at this monster of a word. But he, waving his arms and gesticulating, cried:
11.7.p842
What, haven't you read Lucilius, who calls a shuffler bovinator?
11.7.p842
And, in fact, this verse occurs in Lucilius' eleventh book:
11.7.p842
1
11.7.p843
11.7.p843
If trifling shuffler (bovinator) with abusive tongue.
11.8.p844
11.8.p844
What Marcus Cato thought and said of Albinus, who, though a Roman, wrote a history of Rome in the Greek language, having first asked indulgence for his lack of skill in that tongue.
11.8.p845
11.8.p845
MARCUS CATO is said to have rebuked Aulus Albinus with great justice and neatness. Albinus, who had been consul with Lucius Lucullus,
11.8.p845
1
11.8.p845
composed a
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Roman History
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in the Greek language. In the introduction to his work he wrote to this effect:
11.8.p845
2
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that no one ought to blame him if he had written anything then in those books that was incorrect or inelegant;
11.8.p845
for
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he continues,
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I am a Roman, born in Latium, and the Greek language is quite foreign to me
11.8.p845
; and accordingly he asked indulgence and freedom from adverse criticism in case he had made any errors. When Marcus Cato had read this,
11.8.p845
Surely, Aulus,
11.8.p845
said he,
11.8.p845
you are a great trifler in preferring to apologize for a fault rather than avoid it. For we usually ask pardon either when we have erred through inadvertence or done wrong under compulsion. But tell me, I pray you,
11.8.p845
said he,
11.8.p845
who compelled you to do that for which you ask pardon before doing it.
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This is told in the thirteenth book of Cornelius Nepos' work
11.8.p845
On Famous Men.
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3
11.9.p846
11.9.p846
The story of the Milesian envoys and the orator Demosthenes, found in the works of Critolaus.
11.9.p847
11.9.p847
CRITOLAUS has written
11.9.p847
1
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that envoys came from Miletus to Athens on public business, perhaps for
11.9.p847
the purpose of asking aid. Then they engaged such advocates as they chose, to speak for them, and the advocates, according to their instructions, addressed the people in behalf of the Milesians. Demosthenes vigorously opposed the demands of the Milesians, maintaining that the Milesians did not deserve aid, nor was it to the interest of the State to grant it. The matter was postponed to the next day. The envoys came to Demosthenes and begged him earnestly not to speak against them; he asked for money, and received the amount which he demanded. On the following day, when the case was taken up again, Demosthenes, with his neck and shoulders wrapped in thick wool, came forward before the people and said that he was suffering from quinsy and hence could not speak against the Milesians. Then one of the populace cried out that it was, not quinsy, but
11.9.p847
silverinsy
11.9.p847
from which Demosthenes was suffering.
11.9.p848
11.9.p848
Demosthenes himself too, as Critolaus also relates, did not afterwards conceal that matter, but actually made a boast of it. For when he had asked Aristodemus, the player, what sum he had received for acting, and Aristodemus
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1
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had replied,
11.9.p848
a talent,
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Demosthenes rejoined:
11.9.p848
Why, I got more than that for holding my tongue.
11.10.p849
11.10.p849
That Gaius Gracchus in a speech of his applied the story related above to the orator Demades, and not to Demosthenes; and a quotation of Gracchus' words.
11.10.p850
11.10.p850
THE story which in the preceding chapter we said was told by Critolaus about Demosthenes, Gaius
11.10.p850
Gracchus, in the speech
11.10.p850
Against the Aufeian Law,
11.10.p850
applied to Demades in the following words:
11.10.p850
1
11.10.p850
For you, fellow citizens, if you wish to be wise and honest, and if you inquire into the matter, will find that none of us comes forward here without pay. All of us who address you are after something, and no one appears before you for any purpose except to carry something away. I myself, who am now recommending you to increase your taxes, in order that you may the more easily serve your own advantage and administer the government, do not come here for nothing; but I ask of you, not money, but honour and your good opinion. Those who come forward to persuade you not to accept this law, do not seek honour from you, but money from Nicomedes; those also who advise you to accept it are not seeking a good opinion from you, but from Mithridates a reward and an increase of their possessions; those, however, of the same rank and order who are silent are your very bitterest enemies, since they take money from all and are false to all. You, thinking that they are innocent of such conduct, give them your esteem; but the embassies from the kings, thinking it is for their sake that they are silent, give them great gifts and rewards. So in the land of Greece, when a Greek tragic actor boasted that he had received a whole talent for one play, Demades, the most eloquent man of his country, is said to have replied to him: 'Does it seem wonderful to you that you have gained a talent by speaking? I was paid ten talents by the king for holding my tongue.' Just so, these men now receive a very high price for holding their tongues.
11.11.p851
11.11.p851
The words of Publius Nigidius, in which he says that there is a difference between lying and telling a falsehood.
11.11.p852
11.11.p852
THESE are the very words of Publius Nigidius,
11.11.p852
1
11.11.p852
a man of great eminence in the pursuit of the liberal arts, whom Marcus Cicero highly respected because of his talent and learning:
11.11.p852
There is a difference between telling a falsehood and lying. One who lies is not himself deceived, but tries to deceive another; he who tells a falsehood is himself deceived.
11.11.p852
He also adds this:
11.11.p852
One who lies deceives, so far as he is able; but one who tells a falsehood does not himself deceive, any more than he can help.
11.11.p852
He also had this on the same subject:
11.11.p852
A good man,
11.11.p852
says he,
11.11.p852
ought to take pains not to lie, a wise man, not to tell what is false; the former affects the man himself, the latter does not.
11.11.p852
With variety, by Heaven! and neatness has Nigidius distinguished so many opinions relating to the same thing, as if he were constantly saying something new.
11.12.p853
11.12.p853
That the philosopher Chrysippus says that every word is ambiguous and of doubtful meaning, while Diodorus, on the contrary, thinks that no word is ambiguous.
11.12.p854
11.12.p854
CHRYSIPPUS asserts
11.12.p854
1
11.12.p854
that every word is by nature ambiguous, since two or more things may be understood from the same word. But Diodorus, surnamed Cronus, says:
11.12.p854
No word is ambiguous, and no one speaks or receives a word in two senses; and it ought not to seem to be said in any other sense than that which the speaker feels that he is giving to it. But when I,
11.12.p854
said he,
11.12.p854
meant one thing and you have understood another, it may seem that I have spoken obscurely rather than ambiguously; for the nature of an ambiguous word should be such that he who speaks it expresses two or more meanings. But no man expresses two meanings who has felt that he is expressing but one.
11.13.p855
11.13.p855
What Titus Castricius thought about the wording of a sentence of Gaius Gracchus; and that he showed that it contributed nothing to the effectiveness of the sentence.
11.13.p856
11.13.p856
THE speech of Gaius Gracchus
11.13.p856
Against Publius Popilius
11.13.p856
1
11.13.p856
was read before Titus Castricius, a teacher of the art of rhetoric and a man of sound and solid judgment. At the beginning of that speech the sentences were constructed with more care and regard for rhythm than was customary with the early orators. The words, arranged as I have said, are as follows:
11.13.p856
If you now reject rashly the things which all these years you have earnestly sought and longed for, it must be said either that you formerly sought them earnestly, or now have rejected them without consideration.
11.13.p857
11.13.p857
Well then, the flow and rhythm of this well-rounded and smooth-flowing sentence pleased us to a remarkable and unparalleled degree, and still more the evidence that composition of that kind appealed even in those early days to Gaius Gracchus, a man of distinction and dignity. But when those very same words were read again and again at our request, we were admonished by Castricius to consider what the force and value of the thought was, and not to allow our ears to be charmed by the rhythm of a well-turned sentence and through mere pleasure to confuse our judgment as well.
11.13.p858
11.13.p858
And when by this admonition he had made us more alert, Look deeply, said he, into the meaning of these words, and tell me pray, some of you, whether there is any weight or elegance in this sentence: 'If you rashly reject the things which all these years you have earnestly sought and longed for, it must be said either that you formerly sought them earnestly or now reject them without consideration.' For to whom of all men does it not occur, that it is certainly natural that you should be said earnestly to have sought what you earnestly sought, and to have rejected without consideration what you rejected without consideration? But I think, said he, if it had been written thus: ' If you now reject what you have sought and longed for these many years, it must be said that you formerly sought it earnestly or that you now reject it without consideration'; if, said he, it were spoken thus, the sentence would be weightier and more solid and would arouse some reasonable expectation in the hearer; but as it is, these words 'earnestly' and 'without consideration,' on which the whole effect of the sentence rests, are not only spoken at the end of the sentence, but are also put earlier where they are not needed, so that what ought to arise and spring from the very conception of the subject is spoken wholly before the subject demands it. For one who says: ' If you do this, you will be said to have done it earnestly,' says something that is composed and arranged with some regard to sense; but one who says: 'If you do it earnestly, you will be said to have done it earnestly,' speaks in much the same way as if he should say: 'If you do it earnestly, you will do it earnestly.' I have warned you of this, said he, not with the idea of censuring Gaius Gracchus—may the gods give me a wiser mind! for if any fault or error can be mentioned in a man of such powerful eloquence, it is wholly excused by his authority and overlooked in view of his antiquity—but in order that you might be on your guard lest the rhythmic sound of any flowing eloquence should easily dazzle you, and that you might first balance the actual weight of the substance against the high quality of the diction; so that if any sentence was uttered that was weighty, honest and sound, then, if you thought best, you might praise also the mere flow of the language and the delivery; that if, on the contrary, thoughts that were cold, trifling and futile should be conveyed in words neatly and rhythmically arranged, they might have the same effect upon you as when men conspicuous for their deformity and their ludicrous appearance imitate actors and play the buffoon.
11.14.p859
11.14.p859
The discreet and admirable reply of King Romulus as to his use of wine.
11.14.p860
11.14.p860
Lucius Piso FRUGI has shown an elegant simplicity of diction and thought in the first book of his
11.14.p860
Annals,
11.14.p860
when writing of the life and habits of King Romulus. His words are as follows:
11.14.p860
1
11.14.p860
They say also of Romulus, that being invited to dinner, he drank but little there, giving the reason that he had business for the following day. They That is, his table companions. answer: ' If all men were like you, Romulus, wine would be cheaper.' ' Nay, dear,' answered Romulus, ' if each man drank as much as he wished; for I drank as much as I wished.'
11.15.p861
11.15.p861
On ludibundus and errabundus and the suffix in words of that kind; that Laberius used amorabunda in the same way as ludibunda and errabunda; also that Sisenna in the case of a word of that sort made a new form.
11.15.p862
11.15.p862
LABERIUS in his
11.15.p862
Lake Avernus
11.15.p862
spoke
11.15.p862
1
11.15.p862
of a woman in love as
11.15.p862
amorabunda,
11.15.p862
coining a word in a somewhat unusual manner. Caesellius Vindex in his
11.15.p862
Commentary on Archaic Words
11.15.p862
said that this word was used on the same principle that
11.15.p862
ludibunda, ridibunda
11.15.p862
and
11.15.p862
errabunda
11.15.p862
are used for
11.15.p862
ludens, ridens
11.15.p862
and
11.15.p862
errans.
11.15.p862
But Terentius Scaurus, a highly distinguished grammarian of the time of the deified Hadrian, among other things which he wrote
11.15.p862
On the Mistakes of Caesellius,
11.15.p862
declared
11.15.p862
2
11.15.p862
that about this word also he was wrong in thinking that
11.15.p862
ludens and
11.15.p862
ludibunda, ridens
11.15.p862
and
11.15.p862
ridibunda, errans
11.15.p862
and
11.15.p862
errabunda
11.15.p862
were identical.
11.15.p862
For ludibunda, ridibunda, and errabunda,
11.15.p862
he says,
11.15.p862
are applied to one who plays the part of, or imitates, one who plays, laughs or wanders.
11.15.p863
11.15.p863
But why Scaurus was led to censure Caesellius on this point, I certainly could not understand. For there is no doubt that these words, each after its
11.15.p863
own kind, have the same meaning that is indicated by the words from which they are derived. But I should prefer to seem not to understand the meaning of
11.15.p863
act the laugher
11.15.p863
or
11.15.p863
imitate the laugher
11.15.p863
rather than charge Scaurus himself with lack of knowledge. But Scaurus ought rather, in censuring the commentaries of Caesellius, to have taken him to task for what he left unsaid; namely, whether
11.15.p863
ludibundus, ridibundus
11.15.p863
and
11.15.p863
errabundus
11.15.p863
differ at all from
11.15.p863
ludens, ridens and errans,
11.15.p863
and to what extent, and so with other words of the same kind; whether they differ only in some slight degree from their primitives, and what is the general force of the suffix which is added to words of that kind. For in examining a phenomenon of that nature that were a more pertinent inquiry, just as in
11.15.p863
vinulentus, lutulentus
11.15.p863
and
11.15.p863
turbulentus
11.15.p863
it is usual to ask whether that suffix is superfluous and without meaning,
11.15.p863
paragwgh/,
11.15.p863
as the Greeks say,
11.15.p863
1
11.15.p863
or whether the suffix has some special force of its own.
11.15.p864
11.15.p864
However, in noting this criticism of Scaurus it occurred to me that Sisenna, in the fourth book of his
11.15.p864
Histories,
11.15.p864
used a word of the same form. He says:
11.15.p864
1
11.15.p864
He came to the town, laying waste the fields (populabundus),
11.15.p864
which of course means
11.15.p864
while he was laying waste the fields,
11.15.p864
not, as Sisenna says of similar words,
11.15.p864
when he played the part of, or imitated, one laying waste.
11.15.p865
11.15.p865
But when I was inquiring about the signification and origin of such forms as
11.15.p865
populabundus, errabundus, laetabundus, ludibundus,
11.15.p865
and many other words of that kind, our friend Apollinaris—very appositely by Heaven! —remarked that it seemed to him that the final syllable of such words indicated force and abundance, and as it were, an excess of the quality belonging to
11.15.p865
the primitive word. Thus
11.15.p865
laetabundus
11.15.p865
is used of one who is excessively joyful, and
11.15.p865
errabundus
11.15.p865
of one who has wandered long and far, and he showed that all other words of that form are so used that this addition and ending indicates a great and overflowing force and abundance
11.15.p865
1
11.16.p866
11.16.p866
That the translation of certain Greek words into the Latin language is very difficult, for example, that which in Greek is called
11.16.p866
polupragmosu/nh.
11.16.p866
1
11.16.p866
The word means
11.16.p866
being busy about many things,
11.16.p866
often with the idea of
11.16.p866
officiousness
11.16.p866
or
11.16.p866
meddling.
11.16.p867
11.16.p867
WE have frequently observed not a few names of things which we cannot express in Latin by single words, as in Greek; and even if we use very many words, those ideas cannot be expressed in Latin so aptly and so clearly as the Greeks express them by single terms. Lately, when a book of Plutarch had been brought to me, and I had read its title, which was Peri\ Polupragmosu/nhs, a man who was unacquainted with Greek letters and words asked who the author was and what the book was about. The name of the writer I gave him at once, but I hesitated when on the point of naming the subject of the work. At first indeed, since it did not seem to me that it would be a very apt interpretation if I said that it was written De Negotiositale or On Busyness, I began to rack my brains for something else which would render the title word for word, as the saying is. But there was absolutely nothing that I remembered to have read, or even that I could invent, that was not to a degree harsh and absurd, if I fashioned a single word out of multitudo, or multitude, and negotium, or business, in the same way that we say multiiugus (manifold), multicolorus (multicoloured) and multiformius (multiform). But it would be no less uncouth an expression than if you should try to translate by one word polufili/a (abundance of friends), polutropi/a (versatility), or polusarki/a (fleshiness). Therefore, after spending a brief time in silent thought, I finally answered that in my opinion the idea could not be expressed by a single word, and accordingly I was preparing to indicate the meaning of that Greek word by a phrase.
11.16.p868
11.16.p868
Well then, said I, undertaking many things and busying oneself with them all is called in Greek polupragmosu/nh, and the title shows that this is the subject of our book. Then that illiterate fellow, misled by my unfinished, rough-and-ready language and believing that polupragmosu/nh was a virtue, said: Doubtless this Plutarch, whoever he is, urges us to engage in business and to undertake very many enterprises with energy and dispatch, and properly enough he has written as the title of the book itself the name of this virtue about which, as you say, he is intending to speak. Not at all, said I; for that is by no means a virtue which, expressed by a Greek term, serves to indicate the subject of this book; and neither does Plutarch do what you suppose, nor do I intend to say that he did. For, as a matter of fact, it is in this book that he tries to dissuade us, so far as he can, from the haphazard, promiscuous and unnecessary planning and pursuit of such a multitude of things. But, said I, I realize that this mistake of yours is due to my imperfect command of language, since even in so many words I could not express otherwise than very obscurely what in Greek is expressed with perfect elegance and clearness by a single term.
11.17.p869
11.17.p869
The meaning of the expression found in the old praetorian edicts: those who have undertaken public contracts for clearing the rivers of nets.
11.17.p870
11.17.p870
As I chanced to be sitting in the library of Trajan's temple,
11.17.p870
1
11.17.p870
looking for something else, the edicts of the early praetors fell into my hands, and I thought it worth while to read and become acquainted with them. Then I found this, written in one of the earlier edicts:
11.17.p870
If anyone of those who have taken public contracts for clearing the rivers of nets shall be brought before me, and shall be accused of not having done that which by the terms of his contract he was bound to do.
11.17.p870
Thereupon the question arose what
11.17.p870
clearing of nets
11.17.p870
meant.
11.17.p871
11.17.p871
Then a friend of mine who was sitting with us said that he had read in the seventh book of Gavius
11.17.p871
On the Origin of Words
11.17.p871
1
11.17.p871
that those trees which either projected from the banks of rivers, or were found in their beds, were called
11.17.p871
retae,
11.17.p871
and that they got their name from nets, because they impeded the course of ships and, so to speak, netted them. Therefore he thought that the custom was to farm
11.17.p871
out the rivers to be
11.17.p871
cleaned of nets,
11.17.p871
that is to say, cleaned out, in order that vessels meeting such branches might suffer neither delay nor danger.
11.18.p872
11.18.p872
The punishment which Draco the Athenian, in the laws which he made for his fellow-citizens, inflicted upon thieves; that of Solon later; and that of our own decemvirs, who compiled the Twelve Tables; to which it is added, that among the Egyptians thefts were permitted and lawful, while among the Lacedaemonians they were even strongly encouraged and commended as a useful exercise; also a memorable utterance of Marcus Cato about the punishment of theft.
11.18.p873
11.18.p873
DRACO the Athenian was considered a good man and of great wisdom, and he was skilled in law, human and divine. This Draco was the first of all to make laws for the use of the Athenians. In those laws he decreed and enacted that one guilty of any theft whatsoever should be punished with death, and added many other statutes that were excessively severe.
11.18.p874
11.18.p874
Therefore his laws, since they seemed very much too harsh, were abolished, not by order and decree, but by the tacit, unwritten consent of the Athenians. After that, they made use of other, milder laws, compiled by Solon. This Solon was one of the famous seven wise men.
11.18.p874
1
11.18.p874
He thought proper by his law to punish thieves, not with death, as Draco had formerly done, but by a fine of twice the value of the stolen goods.
11.18.p875
11.18.p875
But our decemvirs, who after the expulsion of the kings compiled laws on
11.18.p875
Twelve Tables
11.18.p875
for the use of the Romans, did not show equal severity in
11.18.p875
punishing thieves of every kind, nor yet too lax leniency. For they permitted
11.18.p875
1
11.18.p875
a thief who was caught in the act to be put to death, only if it was night when he committed the theft, or if in the daytime he defended himself with a weapon when taken. But other thieves taken in the act, if they were freemen, the decemvirs ordered to be scourged and handed over
11.18.p875
2
11.18.p875
to the one from whom the theft had been made, provided they had committed the theft in daylight and had not defended themselves with a weapon. Slaves taken in the act were to be scourged and hurled from the rock,
11.18.p875
3
11.18.p875
but they decided that boys under age should be flogged at the discretion of the praetor and the damage which they had done made good. Those thefts also which were detected by the girdle and mask,
11.18.p875
4
11.18.p875
they punished as if the culprit had been caught in the act.
11.18.p876
11.18.p876
But to-day we have departed from that law of the decemvirs; for if anyone wishes to try a case of manifest theft by process of law, action is brought for four times the value. But
11.18.p876
manifest theft,
11.18.p876
says Masurius,
11.18.p876
1
11.18.p876
is one which is detected while it is being committed. The act is completed when the stolen object is carried to its destination.
11.18.p876
When stolen goods are found in possession of the thief (
11.18.p876
concepti
11.18.p876
) or in that of another (
11.18.p876
oblati
11.18.p876
), the penalty is threefold.
11.18.p877
11.18.p877
But one who wishes to learn what
11.18.p877
oblatum
11.18.p877
means, and
11.18.p877
conceptum,
11.18.p877
and many other particulars of the same kind taken from the admirable customs of our forefathers, and both useful and agreeable to know, will consult the book of Sabinus entitled
11.18.p877
On Thefts.
11.18.p877
In this book there is also written
11.18.p877
1
11.18.p877
a thing that is not
11.18.p877
commonly known, that thefts are committed, not only of men and movable objects which can be purloined and carried off secretly, but also of an estate and of houses; also that a farmer was found guilty of theft, because he had sold the farm which he had rented and deprived the owner of its possession. And Sabinus tells this also, which is still more surprising, that one person was convicted of having stolen a man, who, when a runaway slave chanced to pass within sight of his master, held out his gown as if he were putting it on, and so prevented the slave from being seen by his master.
11.18.p878
11.18.p878
Then upon all other thefts, which were called
11.18.p878
not manifest,
11.18.p878
they imposed a two-fold penalty.
11.18.p878
1
11.18.p878
I recall also that I read in the work of the jurist Aristo,
11.18.p878
2
11.18.p878
a man of no slight learning, that among the ancient Egyptians, a race of men known to have been ingenious in inventions and keen in getting at the bottom of things, thefts of all kinds were lawful and went unpunished.
11.18.p879
11.18.p879
Among the Lacedaemonians too, those serious and vigorous men (a matter for which the evidence is not so remote as in the case of the Egyptians) many famous writers, who have composed records of their laws and customs, affirm that thieving was lawful and customary, and that it was practised by their young men, not for base gain or to furnish the means for indulgence or amassing wealth, but as an exercise and training in the art of war; for dexterity and practice in thieving made the minds of the youth keen and strong for clever ambuscades, and for endurance in watching, and for the swiftness of surprise.
11.18.p880
11.18.p880
Marcus Cato, however, in the speech which he
11.18.p880
wrote
11.18.p880
On Dividing Spoils among the Soldiers,
11.18.p880
complains in strong and choice language about unpunished thievery and lawlessness. I have quoted his words, since they pleased me greatly:
11.18.p880
1
11.18.p880
Those who commit private theft pass their lives in confinement and fetters; plunderers of the public, in purple and gold.
11.18.p881
11.18.p881
But I think I ought not to pass over the highly ethical and strict definition of theft made by the wisest men, lest anyone should consider him only a thief who privately purloins anything or secretly carries it off. The words are those of Sabinus in his second book
11.18.p881
On Civil Law:
11.18.p881
1
11.18.p881
He is guilty of theft who has touched anything belonging to another, when he has reason to know that he does so against the owner's will.
11.18.p881
Also in another chapter:
11.18.p881
2
11.18.p881
He who silently carries off another's property for the sake of gain is guilty of theft, whether he knows to whom the object belongs or not.
11.18.p882
11.18.p882
Thus has Sabinus written, in the book which I just now mentioned, about handling things for the purpose of stealing them. But we ought to remember, according to what I have written above, that a theft may be committed even without touching anything, when the mind alone and the thoughts desire that a theft be committed. Therefore Sabinus says
11.18.p882
1
11.18.p882
that he has no doubt that a master should be convicted of theft who has ordered a slave of his to steal something.