Noctesatticae

Aulus Gellius

Noctesatticae

Aulus Gellius · Noctesatti 15 · perseus-eng1 · More by Aulus Gellius

Choose a text id="mobileReaderAuthor" class="mobile-reader-author" href="/authors/aulus-gellius" aria-label="More works by Aulus Gellius"> â€”

â‹¯

Primary version Secondary version

Original / primary: Perseus Eng1

15.1.p1085

That it is written in the Annals of Quintus Claudius that wood smeared with alum does not burn.

15.1.p1086

THE rhetorician Antonius Julianus, besides holding forth on many other occasions, had once declaimed with marvellous charm and felicity. For such scholastic declamations generally show the characteristics of the same man and the same eloquence, but nevertheless are not every day equally happy. We friends of his therefore thronged about him on all sides and were escorting him home, when, as we were on our way up the Cispian Hill, we saw that a block of houses, built high with many stories, had caught fire, and that now all the neighbouring buildings were burning in a mighty conflagration. Then some one of Julianus' companions said: The income from city property is great, but the dangers are far greater. But if some remedy could be devised to prevent houses in Rome from so constantly catching fire, by Jove! I would sell my country property and buy in the city. And Julianus replied to him in his usual happy and graceful style: If you had read the nineteenth book of the Annals of Quintus Claudius, that excellent and faithful writer, you would surely have learned from Archelaus, a praefect of king Mithridates, by what method and by what skill you might prevent fires, so that no wooden building of yours would burn, even though caught and penetrated by the flames.

15.1.p1087

I inquired what this marvel of Quadrigarius

15.1.p1087

1

15.1.p1087

was. He rejoined:

15.1.p1087

In that book then I found it recorded, that when Lucius Sulla attacked the Piraeus in the land of Attica, and Archelaus, praefect of king Mithridates, was defending it against him, Sulla was unable to burn a wooden tower constructed for purposes of defence, although it had been surrounded with fire on every side, because Archelaus had smeared it with alum.

15.1.p1087

The words of Quadrigarius in that book are as follows:

15.1.p1087

2

15.1.p1087

When Sulla had exerted himself for a long time, he led out his troops in order to set fire to a single wooden tower which Archelaus had interposed. He came, he drew near, he put wood under it, he beat off the Greeks, he applied fire; though they tried for a considerable time, they were never able to set it on fire, so thoroughly had Archelaus covered all the wood with alum. Sulla and his soldiers were amazed at this, and failing in his attempt, the general led back his troops.

15.2.p1088

That Plato in the work which he wrote On the Laws expressed the opinion that inducements to drink more abundantly and more merrily at feasts were not without benefit.

15.2.p1089

A MAN from the island of Crete, who was living in Athens, gave out that he was a Platonic philosopher and desired to pass as one. He was, however, a man of no worth, a trifler, boastful of his command of Grecian eloquence, besides having a passion for wine which fairly made him a laughing stock. At the entertainments which it was the custom of us young men to hold at Athens at the beginning of each week, as soon as we had finished eating and an instructive and pleasant conversation had begun, this fellow, having called for silence that he might be heard, began to speak, and using a cheap and disordered rabble of words after his usual fashion, urged all to drink; and this he declared that he did in accordance with the injunction of Plato, maintaining that Plato in his work On the Laws had written most eloquently in praise of drunkenness, and had decided that it was beneficial to good and strong men. And at the same time, while he was thus speaking, he drenched such wits as he had with frequent and huge beakers, saying that it was a kind of touchwood and tinder to the intellect and the faculties, if mind and body were inflamed with wine.

15.2.p1090

However, Plato in the first

15.2.p1090

1

15.2.p1090

and second

15.2.p1090

2

15.2.p1090

books of his work

15.2.p1090

On the Laws

15.2.p1090

did not, as that fool thought, praise that shameful intoxication which is wont to undermine and weaken men's minds, although he did not disapprove of that somewhat more generous and cheerful inspiration of wine which is regulated by some temperate arbiters, so to speak, and presidents of banquets. For he thought that by the proper and moderate relaxation of drinking the mind was refreshed and renewed for resuming the duties of sobriety, and that men were gradually rendered happier and became readier to repeat their efforts. At the same time, if there were deep in their hearts any errors of inclination or desire,

15.2.p1090

which a kind of reverential shame concealed, he thought that by the frankness engendered by wine all these were disclosed without great danger and became more amenable to correction and cure.

15.2.p1091

And in the same place Plato says this also: that exercises of this kind

15.2.p1091

1

15.2.p1091

for the purpose of resisting the violence of wine, are not to be avoided and shunned, and that no one ever appeared to be altogether selfrestrained and temperate whose life and habits had not been tested amid the very dangers of error and in the midst of the enticements of pleasures. For when all the license and attractions of banquets are unknown, and a man is wholly unfamiliar with them, if haply inclination has led him, or chance has induced him, or necessity has compelled him, to take part in pleasures of that kind, then he is as a rule seduced and taken captive, his mind and soul fail to meet the test, but give way, as if attacked by some strange power. Therefore he thought that we ought to meet the issue and contend hand to hand, as in a kind of battle, with pleasure and indulgence in wine, in order that we may not be safe against them by flight or absence, but that by vigour of spirit, by presence of mind, and by moderate use, we may preserve our temperance and self-restraint, and at the same time by warming and refreshing the mind we may free it of whatever frigid austerity or dull bashfulness it may contain.

15.3.p1092

What Marcus Cicero thought and wrote about the prefix in the verbs aufugio and aufcro; and whether this same preposition is to be seen in the verb autumo.

15.3.p1093

I READ a book of Marcus Cicero's entitled

15.3.p1093

The Orator.

15.3.p1093

In that book when Cicero had said that the verbs

15.3.p1093

aifugio

15.3.p1093

and

15.3.p1093

aufero

15.3.p1093

were indeed formed of the preposition

15.3.p1093

ab

15.3.p1093

and the verbs

15.3.p1093

fugio

15.3.p1093

and

15.3.p1093

fero,

15.3.p1093

but that the preposition, in order that the word might be smoother in pronunciation and sound, was changed and altered into the syllable

15.3.p1093

au,

15.3.p1093

1

15.3.p1093

and

15.3.p1093

aufulgio

15.3.p1093

and

15.3.p1093

aufero

15.3.p1093

began to be used for

15.3.p1093

abfugio

15.3.p1093

and

15.3.p1093

abfero;

15.3.p1093

when he had said this, I say, he afterwards in the same work wrote as follows of the same particle:

15.3.p1093

2

15.3.p1093

This preposition,

15.3.p1093

he says,

15.3.p1093

will be found in no other verb save these two only.

15.3.p1094

But I have found in the

15.3.p1094

Commentary

15.3.p1094

of Nigidius

15.3.p1094

1

15.3.p1094

that the verb

15.3.p1094

autumo

15.3.p1094

is formed from the preposition

15.3.p1094

ab

15.3.p1094

and the verb

15.3.p1094

aestumo

15.3.p1094

(estimate) and that

15.3.p1094

autumo

15.3.p1094

is a contracted form of

15.3.p1094

abaestumo,

15.3.p1094

signifying

15.3.p1094

totum aestumo,

15.3.p1094

on the analogy of

15.3.p1094

abnumero.

15.3.p1094

2

15.3.p1094

But, be it said with great respect for Publius Nigidius, a most learned man, this seems to be rather bold and clever than true. For

15.3.p1094

autumo

15.3.p1094

does not only mean

15.3.p1094

I think,

15.3.p1094

but also

15.3.p1094

I say,

15.3.p1094

I am of the opinion,

15.3.p1094

and

15.3.p1094

I consider,

15.3.p1094

with which verbs that preposition has no connection either in the composition of the

15.3.p1094

word or in the expression of its meaning. Besides, Marcus Tullius, a man of unwearied industry in the pursuit of letters, would not have said that these were the only two verbs containing

15.3.p1094

au,

15.3.p1094

if any third example could be found. But the following point is more worthy of examination and investigation, whether the preposition

15.3.p1094

ab

15.3.p1094

is altered and changed into the syllable

15.3.p1094

au

15.3.p1094

for the sake of making the pronunciation smoother, or whether more properly the particle

15.3.p1094

au

15.3.p1094

has its own origin, and just as many other prepositions were taken from the Greeks, so this one also is derived from that source.

15.3.p1094

3

15.3.p1094

As in that verse of Homer:

15.3.p1094

4

15.3.p1094

First bent them back (au)e/rusan), then slew and flayed the beasts;

15.3.p1094

and:

15.3.p1094

5

15.4.p1095

The story of Ventidius Bassus, a man of obscure birth, who is reported to have been the first to celebrate a triumph over the Parthians.

15.4.p1096

IT was lately remarked in the conversation of certain old and learned men that in ancient times many persons of most obscure birth, who were previously held in great contempt, had risen to the highest grade of dignity. Nothing that was said about anyone, however, excited so much wonder as the story recorded of Ventidius Bassus. He was born in Picenum in a humble station, and with his mother was taken prisoner by Pompeius Strabo,

15.4.p1096

father of Pompey the Great, in the Social War,

15.4.p1096

1

15.4.p1096

in the course of which Strabo subdued the Aesculani.

15.4.p1096

2

15.4.p1096

Afterwards, when Pompeius Strabo triumphed, the boy also was carried in his mother's arms amid the rest of the captives before the general's chariot. Later, when he had grown up, he worked hard to gain a livelihood, resorting to the humble calling of a buyer of mules and carriages, which he had contracted with the State to furnish to the magistrates who had been allotted provinces. In that occupation he made the acquaintance of Gaius Caesar and went with him to the Gallic provinces. Then, because he had shown commendable energy in that province, and later during the civil war had executed numerous commissions with promptness and vigour, he not only gained Caesar's friendship, but because of it rose even to the highest rank. Afterwards he was also made tribune of the commons, and then praetor, and at that time he was declared a public enemy by the senate along with Mark Antony. Afterwards, however, when the parties were united, he not only recovered his former rank, but gained first the pontificate and then the consulship.

15.4.p1096

3

15.4.p1096

At this the Roman people, who remembered that Ventidius Bassus had made a living by taking care of mules, were so indignant that these verses

15.4.p1096

4

15.4.p1096

were posted everywhere about the streets of the city:

15.4.p1097

Suetonius Tranquillus writes

15.4.p1097

1

15.4.p1097

that this same Bassus was put in charge of the eastern provinces by Mark Antony, and that when the Parthians invaded Syria he routed them in three battles;

15.4.p1097

2

15.4.p1097

that he was the first of all to celebrate a triumph over the Parthians, and was honoured when he died with a public funeral.

15.5.p1098

That the verb profligo is used by many improperly and ignorantly.

15.5.p1099

JUST as many other words, through the ignorance and stupidity of those who speak badly what they do not understand, are diverted and turned aside from their proper and usual meaning, so too has the signification of the verb profligo been changed and perverted. For while it is taken over and derived from adfligo, in the sense of bring to ruin and destruction, and while all who have been careful in their diction have always used the word to express waste and destroy, calling things that were cast down and destroyed res profligatae, I now hear that buildings, temples, and many other things that are almost complete and finished are said to be in profligato and the things themselves profligata. Therefore that was a very witty reply, as Sulpicius Apollinaris has recorded in one of his Letters, which a praetor, a man not without learning, made to a simpleton among a crowd of advocates. For, said he, when that impudent prater had made a request in these terms: 'All the business, renowned sir, about which you said that you would take cognizance to-day, because of your diligence and promptness is done (profligata sunt); one matter only remains, to which I beg you to give attention.' Then the praetor wittily enough replied: 'Whether the affairs of which you say that I have taken cognizance are done (profligata), I do not know; but this business which has fallen into your hands is undoubtedly done for (profligatum est), whether I hear it or not.'

15.5.p1100

But to indicate what those wish to express who use

15.5.p1100

profligatum

15.5.p1100

in the sense of

15.5.p1100

nearly done,

15.5.p1100

those who have spoken good Latin used, not

15.5.p1100

profligatumprofigatum,

15.5.p1100

but

15.5.p1100

adfectum,

15.5.p1100

as for example Marcus Cicero, in the speech which he delivered

15.5.p1100

About the Consular Provinces.

15.5.p1100

His words are as follows:

15.5.p1100

1

15.5.p1100

We see the war nearing its end (adfectum) and, to tell the truth, all but finished.

15.5.p1100

Also further on:

15.5.p1100

2

15.5.p1100

For why should Caesar himself wish to remain longer in that province, except that he may turn over to the State, completed, the tasks which he has nearly finished (acfecta sunt)?

15.5.p1100

Cicero also says in the

15.5.p1100

Oeconomicus:

15.5.p1100

3

15.5.p1100

When indeed, as summer is already well nigh ended (adfecta), it is time for the grapes to ripen in the sun.

15.6.p1101

An evident mistake in the second book of Cicero On Glory, in the place where he has written about Hector and Ajax.

15.6.p1102

IN Cicero's second book

15.6.p1102

On Glory

15.6.p1102

there is an evident mistake, of no great importance-a mistake

15.6.p1102

which it does not require a man of learning to detect, but merely one who has read the seventh book of Homer. Therefore I am not so much surprised that Marcus Tullius erred in that matter, as that it was not noticed later and corrected either by Cicero himself or by Tiro, his freedman, a most careful man, who gave great attention to his patron's books. Now, in that book the following passage occurs:

15.6.p1102

1

15.6.p1102

The same poet says that Ajax, when about to engage with Hector in combat, arranges for his burial in case he should chance to be defeated, declaring that he wishes that those who pass his tomb even after many ages should thus speak:

15.6.p1102

2

15.6.p1102

Here lies a man of life's light long bereft,

15.6.p1102

Who slain by Hector's sword fell long ago.

15.6.p1102

This, one shall say; my glory ne'er shall die.

15.6.p1103

But the verses to this purport, which Cicero has turned into the Latin tongue, Ajax does not utter in Homer, nor is it Ajax who plans his burial, but Hector speaks the lines and arranges for burial, before he knows whether Ajax will meet him in combat.

15.7.p1104

It has been observed of old men, that the sixty-third year of their life is marked as a rule by troubles, by death, or by some disaster; and an example apropos of this observation is taken from a letter from the deified Augustus to his son Gaius.

15.7.p1104

1

15.7.p1105

IT has been observed during a long period of human recollection, and found to be true, that for almost all old men the sixty-third year of their age Both were adopted by Augustus, and on the death of the young Marcellus were made

15.7.p1105

principes iuventutis,

15.7.p1105

and thus designated as the successors of Augustus.

15.7.p1105

is attended with danger, and with some disaster involving either serious bodily illness, or loss of life, or mental suffering. Therefore those who are engaged in the study of matters and terms of that kind call that period of life the

15.7.p1105

climacteric.

15.7.p1105

1

15.7.p1105

Night before last, too, when I was reading a volume of letters of the deified Augustus, written to his grandson Gaius, and was led on by the elegance of the style, which was easy and simple, by Heaven without mannerisms or effort, in one of the letters I ran upon a reference to this very belief about that same year. I give a copy of the letter:

15.7.p1105

2

15.7.p1106

Greeting, my dear Gaius, my dearest little donkey, A term of affection. The asellus is an attractive little beast, whatever the reputation of the asinus. The ocellus of Beroaldus and Damsté's autclus (=avicellus, birdlet; the usual form is avicula, as in ii. 29. 2) are needless changes, particularly in view of Augustus' humorous tendencies; Weiss cites vi. 16. 5, where asellus has a different, but hardly more complimentary, meaning. whom, so help me! constantly miss whenever you are away from me. But especially on such days as to-day my eyes are eager for my Gaius, and wherever you have been to-day, I hope you have celebrated my sixty-fourth birthday in health and happiness. For, as you see, I have passed the climacteric common to all old men, the sixty-third year. And I pray the gods that whatever time is left to me I may pass with you safe and well, with our country in a flourishing condition, while you The plural refers to Gaius and his brother Lucius; see note. are playing the man and preparing to succeed to my position.

15.8.p1107

A passage from a speech of Favonius, an early orator, containing an attack which he made on luxurious entertainments, when he was advocating the Licinian law for lessening extravagance.

15.8.p1108

WHEN I was reading an old speech of Favonius, a man of no little eloquence, in which

15.8.p1108

1

15.8.p1108

. . . I learned the whole of it by heart, in order to be able to remember that such extravagant living is truly hateful. These words which I have added are those of Favonius:

15.8.p1108

2

15.8.p1108

The leaders in gluttony and luxury declare that an entertainment is not elegant, unless, when you are eating with the greatest relish, your plate is removed and a better, richer dainty comes from the reserves. This to-day is thought the very flower of a feast among those with whom extravagance and fastidiousness take the place of elegance; who say that the whole of no bird ought to be eaten except a fig-pecker; who think that a dinner is mean and stingy unless so many of the other birds and fatted fowl are provided, that the guests may be satisfied with the rumps and hinder parts; who believe that those who eat the upper parts of such birds and fowl have no refinement of taste. If luxury continues to increase in its present proportion, what remains but that men should bid someone to eat their dinners for them, in order that they may not fatigue themselves by feeding, when the couch is more profusely adorned with gold, silver and purple for a few mortals than for the immortal gods?

15.8.p1108

3

15.9.p1109

That the poet Caecilius used frons in the masculine gender, not by poetic license, but properly and by analogy.

15.9.p1110

CORRECTLY and elegantly did Caecilius write this in his

15.9.p1110

Changeling

15.9.p1110

:

15.9.p1110

1

15.9.p1110

The worst of foes are these, of aspect gay (fronte hilaro),

15.9.p1110

Gloomy of heart, whom we can neither grasp Nor yet let go.

15.9.p1110

I chanced to quote these lines in a company of well educated young men, when we were speaking of a man of that kind. Thereupon one of a throng of grammarians who stood there with us, a man of no little repute, said:

15.9.p1110

What license and boldness Caecilius showed here in saying, fronte hilaro and not fronte hilara, and in not shrinking from so dreadful a solecism.

15.9.p1110

Nay,

15.9.p1110

said I,

15.9.p1110

it is rather we who are as bold and free as possible in improperly and ignorantly failing to use frons in the masculine gender, when both the principle of regularity which is called analogy On analogy see ii. 25. and the authority of earlier writers indicate that we ought to say, not hanc frontem, but hunc frontem. Indeed, Marcus Cato in the first book of his Origins wrote as follows: Frag. 99, Peter2. 'On the following day in open combat, with straight front (aequo fronte) we fought with the enemy's legions with foot, horse and wings.' Also Cato again says Frag. 100, Peter2. recto fronte in the same book.

15.9.p1110

But that half-educated grammarian said:

15.9.p1110

Away with your authorities, which I think you may perhaps have, but give me a reason, which you do not have.

15.9.p1110

Then I, somewhat irritated by those words of his, as was natural at my time of life:

15.9.p1110

Listen,

15.9.p1110

said I,

15.9.p1110

my dear sir, to a reason that may be false, but which you cannot prove to be false. All words,

15.9.p1110

said I,

15.9.p1110

ending in the three letters in which frons ends are of the masculine gender, if they end in the same syllable in the genitive case also, as mons, fons, pons, frons.

15.9.p1110

5

15.9.p1110

But he replied with a laugh:

15.9.p1110

Hear, young scholar, several other similar words which are not of the masculine gender.

15.9.p1110

Then all begged him at once to name just one. But when the man was screwing up his face, could not open his lips, and changed colour, then I broke in, saying:

15.9.p1110

Go now and take thirty days to hunt one up; when you have found it, meet us again.

15.9.p1110

And thus we sent off this worthless fellow to hunt up a word with which to break down the rule which I had made.

15.10.p1111

About the strange suicides of the maids of Miletus.

15.10.p1112

PLUTARCH in the first book of his work

15.10.p1112

On the Soul,

15.10.p1112

1

15.10.p1112

discussing disorders which affect the human mind, has told us that almost all the maidens of the Milesian nation suddenly without any apparent cause conceived a desire to die, and thereupon many of them hanged themselves. When this happened more frequently every day, and no remedy had any effect on their resolve to die, the Milesians passed a decree that all those maidens who committed suicide

15.10.p1112

by hanging should be carried to the grave naked, along with the same rope by which they had destroyed themselves. After that decree the maidens ceased to seek a voluntary death, deterred by the mere shame of so disgraceful a burial.

15.11.p1113

The words of a decree of the senate on expelling philosophers from the city of Rome; also the words of the edict of the censors by which those were rebuked and restrained who had begun to establish and practise the art of rhetoric at Rome.

15.11.p1114

IN the consulship of Gaius Fannius Strabo and Marcus Valerius Messala

15.11.p1114

1

15.11.p1114

the following decree of the senate was passed regarding Latin speaking philosophers and rhetoricians:

15.11.p1114

2

15.11.p1114

(The praetor Marcus Pomponius laid a proposition before the senate. As the result of a discussion about philosophers and rhetoricians, the senate decreed that Marcus Pomponius, the praetor, should take heed and provide, in whatever way seemed to him in accord with the interests of the State and his oath of office, that they should not remain in Rome.

15.11.p1115

Then some years

15.11.p1115

1

15.11.p1115

after that decree of the senate Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Lucius Licinius Crassus the censors issued the following edict for restraining the Latin rhetoricians:

15.11.p1115

2

15.11.p1115

It has been reported to us that there be men who have introduced a new kind of training, and that our young men frequent their schools; that these men have assumed the title of Latin rhetoricians, and that young men spend whole days with them in idleness. Our forefathers determined what they wished their children to learn and what schools they desired them to attend. These innovations in the customs and principles of our forefathers neither please us nor seem proper. Therefore it seems necessary to make our opinion known, both to those who have such schools and to those who are in the habit of attending them, that they are displeasing to us.

15.11.p1116

And it was not only in those times, which were somewhat rude and not yet refined by Greek training, that philosophers were driven from the city of Rome, but even in the reign of Domitian

15.11.p1116

1

15.11.p1116

by a decree of the senate they were driven from the city and forbidden Italy. And it was at that time that the philosopher Epictetus also withdrew from Rome to Nicopolis because of that senatorial decree.

15.12.p1117

A highly memorable passage from a speech of Gracchus, regarding his frugality and continence.

15.12.p1118

WHEN Gaius Gracchus

15.12.p1118

1

15.12.p1118

returned from Sardinia, he delivered a speech to an assembly of the people in the following words:

15.12.p1118

2

15.12.p1118

I conducted myself in my province,

15.12.p1118

said he,

15.12.p1118

as I thought would be to your advantage, not as I believed would contribute to my own ambitions. There was no tavern at my establishment, nor did slaves of conspicuous beauty wait upon me, and at an entertainment of mine your sons were treated with more modesty than at their general's tent.

15.12.p1118

Later on he continues as follows:

15.12.p1118

I so conducted myself in my province that no one could truly say that I received a penny, or more than that, One is reminded of the story of the politician who declared that he had never received a penny in bribes, but that it was as well to say nothing about thousand dollar bills. by way of present, or that anyone was put to expense on my account. I spent two years in my province; if any courtesan entered my house or anyone's slave was bribed on my account, consider me the lowest and basest of mankind. Since I conducted myself so continently towards their slaves, you may judge from that on what terms I lived with your sons.

15.12.p1118

Then after an interval he goes on:

15.12.p1118

Accordingly, fellow citizens, when I left for Rome, I brought back empty from the province the purses which I took there full of money. Others have brought home overflowing with money the jars which they took to their province filled with wine.

15.13.p1119

Of some unusual words, which are used in either voice and are called by the grammarians common.

15.13.p1120

UTOR, vereor, hortor

15.13.p1120

and

15.13.p1120

consolor

15.13.p1120

are

15.13.p1120

common

15.13.p1120

verbs and can be used either way:

15.13.p1120

I respect you

15.13.p1120

and

15.13.p1120

I am respected by you,

15.13.p1120

that is,

15.13.p1120

you respect me

15.13.p1120

;

15.13.p1120

I use you

15.13.p1120

and

15.13.p1120

I am used by you,

15.13.p1120

that is,

15.13.p1120

you use me

15.13.p1120

;

15.13.p1120

I exhort you

15.13.p1120

and

15.13.p1120

I am exhorted by you,

15.13.p1120

that is,

15.13.p1120

you exhort me

15.13.p1120

;

15.13.p1120

I console you

15.13.p1120

and

15.13.p1120

I am consoled by you,

15.13.p1120

that is,

15.13.p1120

you console me.

15.13.p1120

Testor

15.13.p1120

too and

15.13.p1120

interpretor

15.13.p1120

are used in a reciprocal sense. But all these words are

15.13.p1120

unusual in the second of these meanings, and it is a matter of inquiry whether they are ever so used. Afranius in

15.13.p1120

The Cousins

15.13.p1120

says:

15.13.p1120

1

15.13.p1120

Lo! there his children hold a sire's life cheap,

15.13.p1120

Where rather feared than honoured (vereri) he would be.

15.13.p1120

Here

15.13.p1120

vereor

15.13.p1120

is used in its less common sense. Novius also in the

15.13.p1120

Wood-dealer

15.13.p1120

uses the word

15.13.p1120

utor

15.13.p1120

with a passive meaning:

15.13.p1120

2

15.13.p1120

Since a deal of gear is bought which is not used (utitur).

15.13.p1120

That is,

15.13.p1120

which is not to be used.

15.13.p1120

Marcus Cato in the fifth book of his

15.13.p1120

Origins

15.13.p1120

has this:

15.13.p1120

3

15.13.p1120

He led forth his army, fed, ready, and encouraged (cohortatum), and drew it up in order of battle.

15.13.p1120

We find

15.13.p1120

consolor

15.13.p1120

also used in a different sense from the one which it commonly has, in a letter of Quintus Metellus, which he wrote during his exile to Gnaeus and Lucius Domitius.

15.13.p1120

But,

15.13.p1120

he says,

15.13.p1120

when I realize your feeling towards me, I am very greatly consoled (consolor), and your loyalty and worth are brought before my eyes.

15.13.p1120

Marcus Tullius used

15.13.p1120

testata

15.13.p1120

and

15.13.p1120

interpretata

15.13.p1120

in the same manner in the first book of his work

15.13.p1120

On Divination,

15.13.p1120

4

15.13.p1120

so that

15.13.p1120

testor

15.13.p1120

and

15.13.p1120

interpreter

15.13.p1120

ought also to be considered to be

15.13.p1120

common

15.13.p1120

verbs. Sallust too in a similar way says:

15.13.p1120

5

15.13.p1120

The goods of the proscribed having been given away (dilargitis),

15.13.p1120

indicating that

15.13.p1120

largior

15.13.p1120

is one of the

15.13.p1120

common

15.13.p1120

verbs. Moreover, we see that

15.13.p1120

veritum,

15.13.p1120

like

15.13.p1120

puditum

15.13.p1120

and

15.13.p1120

pigitum,

15.13.p1120

is used impersonally and indefinitely,

15.13.p1120

6

15.13.p1120

not only by the earlier writers, but also by Marcus Tullius in the second book of his

15.13.p1120

De Finibus.

15.13.p1120

7

15.13.p1120

First (I will refute),

15.13.p1120

says he,

15.13.p1120

the view of Aristippus and of all the Cyrenaic philosophers, to whom it caused no fear i.e. who did not scruple. (veritum est) to assign the highest good to that pleasure which affects the senses with greatest delight.

15.13.p1121

Dignor,

15.13.p1121

too,

15.13.p1121

veneror, confiteor

15.13.p1121

and

15.13.p1121

testor

15.13.p1121

are treated as

15.13.p1121

common

15.13.p1121

verbs. Thus we find in Virgil:

15.13.p1121

1

15.13.p1121

Of wedlock high with Venus worthy deemed (dignale),

15.13.p1121

and

15.13.p1121

2

15.13.p1121

Revered in prayer (venerata), shall grant a voyage safe.

15.13.p1121

Moreover,

15.13.p1121

confessi aeris,

15.13.p1121

meaning a debt of which admission is made, is written in the

15.13.p1121

Twelve Tables

15.13.p1121

in these words:

15.13.p1121

3

15.13.p1121

For an admitted debt, when the matter has been taken into court, let the respite be thirty days.

15.13.p1121

Also in those same

15.13.p1121

Tables

15.13.p1121

we find this:

15.13.p1121

4

15.13.p1121

Whoever shall allow himself to be summoned as a witness or shall act as a balance-holder, That is, in a symbolic sale, when the purchaser touched a balance with a coin. See note on v. 19. 3 (vol. i., p. 436). if he does not give his testimony, let him be regarded as dishonoured and incapable of giving testimony in the future.

15.14.p1122

That Metellus Numidicus borrowed a new form of expression from Greek usage.

15.14.p1123

IN Quintus Metellus Numidicus, in the third book of his

15.14.p1123

Accusalion of Valerius Messala,

15.14.p1123

I have made note of a novel expression. The words of his speech are as follows:

15.14.p1123

1

15.14.p1123

When he knew that he had incurred so grave an accusation, and that our allies had come to the senate in tears, to make complaint that they had been exacted enormous sums of money (pecunias maximas exactos esse).

15.14.p1123

He says

15.14.p1123

that they had been exacted enormous sums of money,

15.14.p1123

instead of

15.14.p1123

that enormous sums of money had been exacted from them.

15.14.p1123

This seemed to me an imitation of a Greek idiom; for the Greeks say:

15.14.p1123

ei)sepra/cato/ me a)rgu/rion,

15.14.p1123

meaning

15.14.p1123

he exacted me money.

15.14.p1123

But if this can be said, so too can

15.14.p1123

one is exacted money,

15.14.p1123

and Caecilius seems to have used that form of expression in his

15.14.p1123

Supposititious Aeschinus:

15.14.p1123

2

15.14.p1123

Yet I the customs-fee exacted am.

15.14.p1123

That is to say,

15.14.p1123

yet the customs-fee is exacted from me.

15.15.p1124

That the early writers used passis velis and passis manibus, not from the verb patior, to which the participle belongs, but from pando, to which it does not belong.

15.15.p1125

FROM the verb

15.15.p1125

pando

15.15.p1125

the ancients made

15.15.p1125

passum,

15.15.p1125

not

15.15.p1125

pansum,

15.15.p1125

and with the preposition

15.15.p1125

ex

15.15.p1125

they formed

15.15.p1125

expassum,

15.15.p1125

not

15.15.p1125

expansum.

15.15.p1125

Caecilius in the

15.15.p1125

Fellowbreakfasters

15.15.p1125

says:

15.15.p1125

1

15.15.p1125

That yesterday he'd looked in from the roof,

15.15.p1125

Had this announced, and straight the veil The flame-coloured (yellow) bridal veil. was spread (expassum).

15.15.p1125

A woman too is said to be

15.15.p1125

capillo passo, or

15.15.p1125

with disordered hair,

15.15.p1125

when it is hanging down and loosened, and we say

15.15.p1125

passis manibus

15.15.p1125

and

15.15.p1125

velis passis

15.15.p1125

of hands and sails stretched out and spread. Therefore Plautus in his

15.15.p1125

Braggart Captain,

15.15.p1125

changing an

15.15.p1125

a

15.15.p1125

into an

15.15.p1125

e,

15.15.p1125

as is usual in compound words, uses

15.15.p1125

dispessis

15.15.p1125

for

15.15.p1125

dispassis

15.15.p1125

in these lines:

15.15.p1125

3

15.15.p1125

Methinks you thus must die without the gate, When you shall hold the cross with hands outstretched (

15.15.p1125

dispessis

15.15.p1125

).

15.16.p1126

Of the singular death of Milo of Croton.

15.16.p1126

1

15.16.p1127

MILO of Croton, a famous athlete, who was first crowned at the sixty-second Olympiad,

15.16.p1127

1

15.16.p1127

as the chronicles record, ended his life in a strange and lamentable manner. When he was already advanced in age and had given up the athletic art, he chanced to be journeying alone in a wooded part of Italy. Near the road he saw an oak tree, the middle of which gaped with wide cracks. Then wishing, I suppose, to try whether he still had any strength left,

15.16.p1127

he put his fingers into the hollows of the tree and tried to rend apart and split the oak. And in fact he did tear asunder and divide the middle part; but when the oak was thus split into two parts, and he relaxed his hold as if he had accomplished his attempt, the tree returned to its natural position when the pressure ceased, and catching and holding his hands as it came together and united, it kept the man there, to be torn to pieces by wild beasts.

15.17.p1128

Why young men of noble rank at Athens gave up playing the pipes, although it was one of their native customs.

15.17.p1129

ALCIBIADES the Athenian in his boyhood was being trained in the liberal arts and sciences at the home of his uncle, Pericles; and Pericles had ordered Antigenides, a player on the pipes, to be sent for, to teach the boy to play on that instrument, which was then considered a great accomplishment. But when the pipes were handed to him and he had put them to his lips and blown, disgusted at the ugly distortion of his face, he threw them away and broke them in two. When this matter was noised abroad, by the universal consent of the Athenians of that time the art of playing the pipes was given up. This story is told in the twenty-ninth book of the

15.17.p1129

Commentary

15.17.p1129

of Pamphila.

15.17.p1129

1

15.18.p1130

That the battle which Gaius Caesar fought on the plains of Pharsalus during the civil war was announced on the very same day at Patavium in Italy, and his victory foretold, by the divination of a seer.

15.18.p1131

ON the day that Gaius Caesar and Gnaeus Pompeius engaged in battle in Thessaly during the civil war, an event occurred at Patavium in Transpadane Italy, which is deserving of record. A priest called Cornelius, a man of good birth, honoured for scrupulousness in his office and revered for the purity of his life, was suddenly seized by a prophetic inspiration and said that he saw a most furious battle taking place afar off; then he shouted out, just as if he were personally taking part in the engagement, that some were giving way, others pressing on; that he saw before him carnage, flight, flying weapons, a renewal of the engagement, an attack, groans and wounds; and later he suddenly exclaimed that Caesar was victorious.

15.18.p1132

At the time the prophecy of the priest Cornelius seemed unimportant and without meaning. Afterwards, however, it caused great surprise, since not only the time of the battle which was fought in Thessaly, and its predicted outcome, were verified, but all the shifting fortunes of the day and the very conflict of the two armies were represented by the gestures and words of the seer.

15.18.p1132

1

15.19.p1133

Memorable words of Marcus Varro, from the satire entitled Peri\ )Edesma/twn.

15.19.p1134

THERE are not a few to whom that may apply which is said by Marcus Varro in his satire entitled

15.19.p1134

Peri\ )Edesma/twn.

15.19.p1134

or

15.19.p1134

On Eatables.

15.19.p1134

His words are these:

15.19.p1134

1

15.19.p1134

If you had given to philosophy a twelfth part of the effort which you spent in making your baker give you good bread, you would long since have become a good man. As it is, those who know him are willing to buy him at a hundred thousand sesterces, while no one who knows you would take you at a hundred.

15.20.p1135

Certain facts about the birth, life and character of the poet Euripides, and about the end of his life.

15.20.p1136

THEOPOMPUS says

15.20.p1136

1

15.20.p1136

that the mother of the poet Euripides made a living by selling country produce. Furthermore, when Euripides was born, his father was assured by the astrologers that the boy, when he grew up, would be victor in the games; for that was his destiny. His father, understanding this to mean that he ought to be an athlete, exercised and strengthened his son's body and took him to Olympia to contend among the wrestlers. And at first he was not admitted to the contest because of his time of life,

15.20.p1136

2

15.20.p1136

but afterwards he engaged in the Eleusinian

15.20.p1136

3

15.20.p1136

and Thesean

15.20.p1136

4

15.20.p1136

contests and won crowns.

15.20.p1136

Later, turning from attention to bodily exercise to the desire of training his mind, he was a pupil of the natural philosopher Anaxagoras and the rhetorician Prodicus, and, in moral philosophy, of Socrates. At the age of eighteen he attempted to write a tragedy. Philochorus relates

15.20.p1136

5

15.20.p1136

that there is on the island of Salamis a grim and gloomy cavern,

15.20.p1136

6

15.20.p1136

which I myself have seen, in which Euripides wrote tragedies. He is said to have had an exceeding antipathy towards almost all women, either because he had a natural disinclination to their society, or because he had had two wives at the same time (since that was permitted by a decree passed by the Athenians) and they had made wedlock hateful to him. Aristophanes also notices his antipathy to women in the first edition of the

15.20.p1136

Thesmophoriazousae

15.20.p1136

in these verses:

15.20.p1136

7

15.20.p1136

Now then I urge and call on all our sex

15.20.p1136

This man to punish for his many crimes.

15.20.p1136

For on us, women, he brings bitter woes,

15.20.p1136

Himself brought up 'mid bitter garden plants.

15.20.p1136

But Alexander the Aetolian composed the following lines about Euripides:

15.20.p1136

8

15.20.p1137

When Euripides was in Macedonia at the court of Archelaus, and had become an intimate friend of the king, returning home one night from a dinner with the monarch he was torn by dogs, which were set

15.20.p1137

upon him by a rival of his, and death resulted from his wounds.

15.20.p1137

1

15.20.p1137

The Macedonians treated his tomb and his memory with such honour that they used to proclaim:

15.20.p1137

Never, Euripides, shall thy monument perish,

15.20.p1137

also by way of self-glorification, because the distinguished poet had met his death and been buried in their land. Therefore when envoys, sent to them by the Athenians, begged that they should allow his bones to be moved to Athens, his native land, the Macedonians unanimously persisted in refusing.

15.21.p1138

That by the poets the sons of Jupiter are represented as most wise and refined, but those of Neptune as very haughty and rude.

15.21.p1139

THE poets have called the sons of Jupiter most excellent in worth, wisdom and strength, for example Aeacus, Minos and Sarpedon; the sons of Neptune, the Cyclops, Cercyon, Sciron, and the Laestrygonians, they said, were most haughty and cruel, and strangers to all refinement, as being sprung from the sea.

15.22.p1140

A story of the distinguished leader Sertorius; of his cunning, and of the clever devices which he used to control and conciliate his barbarian soldiers.

15.22.p1141

SERTORIUS, a brave man and a distinguished general, was skilled in using and commanding an army. In times of great difficulty he would lie to his soldiers, if a lie was advantageous, he would read forged letters for genuine ones, feign dreams, and resort to fictitious omens, if such devices helped him to keep up the spirits of his soldiers. the following story about Sertorius is particularly well known: A white hind of remarkable beauty, agility and swiftness was given him as a present by a man of Lusitania. He tried to convince everyone that the animal had been given him by the gods, and that inspired by the divine power of Diana, it talked with him, and showed and indicated what it was expedient to do; and if any command which he felt obliged to give his soldiers seemed unusually difficult, he declared that he had been advised by the hind. When he said that, all willingly rendered obedience, as if to a god. One day, when an advance of the enemy had been reported, the hind, alarmed by the hurry and confusion, took to flight and hid in a neighbouring marsh, and after being sought for in vain was believed to have perished. Not many days later, word was brought to Sertorius that the hind had been found. Then he bade the one who had brought the news to keep silence, threatening him with punishment in case he revealed the matter to anyone; and he ordered him suddenly on the following day to let the animal into the place where lie himself was with his friends. Then, next day, having called in his friends, he said that he had dreamed that the lost hind had returned to him, and after its usual manner had told him what ought to be done. Thereupoli he signed to the slave to do what he had ordered; the hind was let loose and burst into Sertorius' room, amid shouts of amazement.

15.22.p1142

This credulity of the barbarians was very helpful to Sertorius in important matters. It is recorded that of those tribes which acted with Sertorius, although he was defeated in many battles, not one ever deserted him, although that race of men is most inconstant.

15.23.p1143

Of the age of the famous historians, Hellanicus, Herodotus and Thucydides.

15.23.p1144

HELLANICUS, Herodotus, and Thucydides, writers of history, enjoyed great glory at almost the same time, and did not differ very greatly in age. For Hellanicus seems to have been sixty-five years old at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war,

15.23.p1144

1

15.23.p1144

Herodotus fifty-three, Thucydides forty. This is stated in the eleventh book of Pamphila.

15.23.p1144

2

15.24.p1145

Vulcacius Sedigitus' canon of the Latin writers of comedy, from the book which he wrote On Poets.

15.24.p1146

SEDIGITUS, in the book which he wrote

15.24.p1146

On Poets,

15.24.p1146

shows in the following verses of his

15.24.p1146

1

15.24.p1146

what he thought of those who wrote comedies, which one he thinks surpasses all the rest, and then what rank and honour he gives to each of them:

15.24.p1146

This question many doubtfully dispute,

15.24.p1146

Which comic poet they'd award the palm.

15.24.p1146

This doubt my judgment shall for you resolve;

15.24.p1146

If any differ from me, senseless he.

15.24.p1146

First place I give Caecilius Statius.

15.24.p1146

Plautus holds second rank without a peer;

15.24.p1146

Then Naevius third, for passion and for fire.

15.24.p1146

If fourth there be, be he Licinius.

15.24.p1146

I place Atilius next, after Licinius.

15.24.p1146

These let Terentius follow, sixth in rank.

15.24.p1146

Turpilius seventh, Trabea eighth place holds.

15.24.p1146

Ninth palm I gladly give to Luscius,

15.24.p1146

To Ennius tenth, as bard of long ago. The principle on which the ranking was done is a disputed question—the amount of originality, that of pa/qos, and personal feeling have been suggested. Vulcacius lived about 130 B.C. He is cited by Suetonius, v. Ter. ii, iv, v (L.C.L. ii, pp. 456, 458, 462).

15.25.p1147

Of certain new words which I had met in the Miimiambics of Gnaeus Matius.

15.25.p1148

GNAEUS MATIUS, a learned man, in his

15.25.p1148

Mimiambics

15.25.p1148

properly and fitly coined the word

15.25.p1148

recentatur

15.25.p1148

for the idea expressed by the Greek

15.25.p1148

a)nai eou=tai,

15.25.p1148

that is

15.25.p1148

it is born again and is again made new.

15.25.p1148

The lines in which the word occurs are these:

15.25.p1148

1

15.25.p1148

E'en now doth Phoebus gleam, again is born (recentatur)

15.25.p1148

The common light to joys of mortal men.

15.25.p1148

Matius too, in the same

15.25.p1148

Mimiarmbics,

15.25.p1148

says

15.25.p1148

edulcare,

15.25.p1148

meaning

15.25.p1148

to sweeten,

15.25.p1148

in these lines:

15.25.p1148

2

15.26.p1149

In what words the philosopher Aristotle defined a syllogism; and an interpretation of his definition in Latin terms.

15.26.p1150

ARISTOTLE defines a syllogism in these lines:

15.26.p1150

1

15.26.p1150

A sentence in which, granted certain premises, something else than these premises necessarily follows as the result of these premises.

15.26.p1150

The following interpretation of this definition seemed to me fairly good:

15.26.p1150

A syllogism is a sentence in which, certain things being granted and accepted, something else than that which was granted is necessarily established through what was granted.

15.27.p1151

The meaning of comitia calata, curiata, centsriata, and tribulta, and of concilium, and other related matters of the same kind.

15.27.p1152

IN the first book of the work of Laelius Felix addressed

15.27.p1152

To Quintus Mucius

15.27.p1152

it is said

15.27.p1152

1

15.27.p1152

that Labeo wrote

15.27.p1152

2

15.27.p1152

that the

15.27.p1152

comitia calata,

15.27.p1152

or

15.27.p1152

convoked assembly,

15.27.p1152

was held on behalf of the college of pontiffs for the purpose of installing the king

15.27.p1152

3

15.27.p1152

or the flames. Of these assemblies some were those

15.27.p1152

of the curies

15.27.p1152

, others those

15.27.p1152

of the centuries

15.27.p1152

; the former were called together (

15.27.p1152

calari

15.27.p1152

being used in the sense of

15.27.p1152

convoke

15.27.p1152

) by the curiate lictor, the latter by a horn blower.

15.27.p1153

In that same assembly, which we have said was called

15.27.p1153

calata,

15.27.p1153

or

15.27.p1153

convoked,

15.27.p1153

wills were customarily made and sacrifices annulled. For we learn that there were three kinds of wills: one which was made in the

15.27.p1153

convoked assembly

15.27.p1153

before the collected people, a second on the battle-field,

15.27.p1153

1

15.27.p1153

when the men were called into line for the purpose of fighting, a third the symbolic sale of a householder's property by means of the coin and balance.

15.27.p1153

2

15.27.p1154

In the same book of Laelius Felix this is written:

15.27.p1154

One who orders a part of the people to assemble, but not all the people, ought to announce a council rather than an assembly. Moreover, tribunes do not summon the patricians, nor may they refer any question to them. Therefore bills which are passed on the initiative of the tribunes of the commons are properly called plebiscita, or 'decrees of the commons,' rather than 'laws.' In former times the patricians were not bound by such decrees until the dictator Quintus Hortensius passed a law, providing that all the Quirites should be bound by whatever enactment the commons should pass.

15.27.p1154

1

15.27.p1154

It is also written in the same book:

15.27.p1154

When voting is done according to families of men, The comitia curiata were organized on the basis of the thirty curiae of the three original Roman tribes. These curiae included the patrician gentes, which, before the time of the military assembly (comitia centuriata) attributed to Servius Tullius, alone had the full rights of citizenship. the assembly is called 'curiate'; when it is according to property and age, ' centuriate'; when according to regions and localities, 'tribal.' Further it impious for the assembly of the centuries to be held within the pomerium, because the army must be summoned outside of the city, and it is not lawful for it to be summoned within the city. Therefore it was customary for the assembly of the centuries to be held in the field of Mars, and the army to be summoned there for purposes of defence while the people were busy casting their votes.

15.28.p1155

That Cornelius Nepos was in error when he wrote that Cicero defended Sextus Roscius at the age of twenty-three.

15.28.p1156

CORNELIUS NEPOS was a careful student of records and one of Marcus Cicero's most intimate friends. Yet in the first book of his

15.28.p1156

Life of Cicero

15.28.p1156

he seems to have erred in writing

15.28.p1156

1

15.28.p1156

that Cicero made his first plea in a public trial at the age of twenty-three years, defending Sextus Roscius, who was charged with murder. For if we count the years from Quintus Caepio and Quintus Serranus, in whose consulship Cicero was born on the third day before the Nones of January,

15.28.p1156

2

15.28.p1156

to Marcus Tullius and Gnaeus Dolabella, in whose consulate he pleaded a private case

15.28.p1156

In Defence of Quinctius

15.28.p1156

before Aquilius Gallus as judge, the result is twenty-six years. And there is no doubt that he defended Sextus Roscius on a charge of murder the year after he spoke

15.28.p1156

In Defence of Quinctius;

15.28.p1156

that is, at the age of twenty-seven, in the consulship of Lucius Sulla Felix and Metellus Pius, the former for a second time.

15.28.p1157

Asconius Pedianus has noted

15.28.p1157

1

15.28.p1157

that Fenestella also made a mistake in regard to this matter, in writing

15.28.p1157

2

15.28.p1157

that he pleaded for Sextus Roscius in the twenty-sixth year of his age. But the mistake of Nepos is greater than that of Fenestella, unless anyone is inclined to believe that Nepos, led by a

15.28.p1157

feeling of friendship and regard, suppressed four years in order to increase our admiration of Cicero, by making it appear that he delivered his brilliant speech

15.28.p1157

In Defence of Roscius

15.28.p1157

when he was a very young man.

15.28.p1158

This also has been noted and recorded by the admirers of both orators, that Demosthenes and Cicero delivered their first brilliant speeches in the courts at the same age, the former

15.28.p1158

Against Androtion

15.28.p1158

and

15.28.p1158

Against Timocrates

15.28.p1158

at the age of twenty-seven, the latter when a year younger

15.28.p1158

In Defence of Quinctius

15.28.p1158

and at twenty-seven

15.28.p1158

In Defence of Sextus Roscius.

15.28.p1158

Also, the number of years which they lived did not differ very greatly; Cicero died at sixty-three, Demosthenes at sixty.

15.28.p1158

1

15.29.p1159

A new form of expression used by Lucius Piso, the writer of annals.

15.29.p1160

THE two following modes of saying

15.29.p1160

my name is Julius

15.29.p1160

are common and familiar:

15.29.p1160

mihi nomen est Iulius

15.29.p1160

and

15.29.p1160

mihi nomen est Iulio.

15.29.p1160

I have actually found a third, and new, form in Piso, in the second book of his

15.29.p1160

Annals.

15.29.p1160

His words are these:

15.29.p1160

1

15.29.p1160

They feared his colleague, Lucius Tarquinius, because he had the Tarquinian name; and he begged him to leave Rome of his own free will.

15.29.p1160

2

15.29.p1160

Because,

15.29.p1160

says he,

15.29.p1160

he had the Tarquinian name

15.29.p1160

; this is as if I should say

15.29.p1160

mihi nomen est Iulium,

15.29.p1160

or

15.29.p1160

I have the Julian name.

15.30.p1161

Whether the word petorritum, applied to a vehicle, is Greek or Gallic.

15.30.p1162

THOSE who approach the study of letters late in life, after they are worn out and exhausted by some other occupation, particularly if they are garrulous and of only moderate keenness, make themselves exceedingly ridiculous and silly by displaying their would-be knowledge. To this class that man surely belongs, who lately talked fine-spun nonsense about

15.30.p1162

petorrita,

15.30.p1162

or

15.30.p1162

four-wheeled wagons.

15.30.p1162

For when the question was asked, what form of vehicle the

15.30.p1162

petorritum

15.30.p1162

was, and from what language the word came, he falsely described a form of vehicle very unlike the real one; he also declared that the name was Greek and interpreted it as meaning

15.30.p1162

flying wheels,

15.30.p1162

1

15.30.p1162

maintaining that

15.30.p1162

pelorritum

15.30.p1162

was formed by the change of a single letter from

15.30.p1162

pelorrotum,

15.30.p1162

and that this form was actually used by Valerius Probus.

15.30.p1163

When I had got together many copies of the

15.30.p1163

Commentaries

15.30.p1163

of Probus, I did not find that spelling in them, and I do not believe that Probus used it anywhere else. For

15.30.p1163

petorritum

15.30.p1163

is not a hybrid word derived in part from the Greek, but the entire word belongs to the people across the Alps; for it is a Gallic word. It is found in the fourteenth book of Marcus Varro's

15.30.p1163

Divine Antiquities,

15.30.p1163

where Varro, speaking of

15.30.p1163

petorritum,

15.30.p1163

says

15.30.p1163

1

15.30.p1163

that it is a Gallic term.

15.30.p1163

2

15.30.p1163

He also says that

15.30.p1163

lancea,

15.30.p1163

or

15.30.p1163

lance,

15.30.p1163

is not a Latin, but a Spanish word.

15.31.p1164

A message sent by the Rhodians about the celebrated picture of Ialysus to Demetrius, leader of the enemy, at the time when they were besieged by him.

15.31.p1165

THE island of Rhodes, of ancient fame, and the fairest and richest town in it were besieged and assaulted by Demetrius, a famous general of his time, who was surnamed Poliorkhth/s, or the taker of cities, from his skill and training in conducting sieges and the cleverness of the engines which he devised for the capture of towns. On that occasion he was preparing in the course of the siege to attack, pillage and burn a public building without the walls of the town, which had only a weak garrison.

15.31.p1166

In this building was that famous picture of Ialysus,

15.31.p1166

1

15.31.p1166

the work of Protogenes,

15.31.p1166

2

15.31.p1166

the distinguished painter; and incited by anger against them, Demetrius begrudged the Rhodians the beauty and fame of that work of art. The Rhodians sent envoys to Demetrius with this message:

15.31.p1166

What on earth is your reason for wishing to set fire to that building and destroy our painting? For if you overcome all of us and take this whole town, through your victory you will gain possession also of that painting, uninjured and entire; but if you are unable to overcome us by your siege, we beg you to take thought lest it bring shame upon you, because you could not conquer the Rhodians in war, to have waged war with the dead Protogenes.

15.31.p1166

Upon hearing this message from the envoys, Demetrius abandoned the siege and spared both the picture and the city.

Reader

Word analysis

Intertext edge

Note