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16.1.p1167
16.1.p1167
A saying of Musonius, the Greek philosopher, which is of practical value and worth hearing and bearing in mind; and a remark of equal value made by Marcus Cato many years before to the knights at Numantia.
16.1.p1168
16.1.p1168
WHEN I was still young and a schoolboy, I heard that this Greek sentiment which I have subjoined was uttered by the philosopher Musonius, and since it is a true and brilliant saying, expressed briefly and roundly, I very willingly committed it to memory:
16.1.p1168
1
16.1.p1168
"If you accomplish anything noble with toil, the toil passes, but the noble deed endures. If you do anything shameful with pleasure, the pleasure passes, but the shame endures."
16.1.p1169
16.1.p1169
Later, I read that same sentiment in the speech of Marcus Cato which he delivered
16.1.p1169
At Numantia to the Knights.
16.1.p1169
Although it is expressed somewhat loosely and diffusely compared with the Greek which I have given, yet, since it is prior in time and more ancient, it ought to seem worthy of greater respect. The words in the speech are as follows:
16.1.p1169
1
16.1.p1169
Bear in mind, that if through toil you accomplish a good deed, that toil will quickly pass from you, the good deed will not leave you so long as you live; but if through pleasure you do anything dishonourable, the pleasure will quickly pass away, that dishonourable act will remain with you for ever.
16.2.p1170
16.2.p1170
The nature of the rule of the logicians in disputation and declamation, and the defect of that rule.
16.2.p1171
16.2.p1171
THEY say that it is a rule of the dialectic art, that if there is inquiry and discussion of any subject, and you are called upon to answer a question which is asked, you should answer the question by a simple yes or no. And those who do not observe that rule, but answer more than they were asked, or differently, are thought to be both uneducated and unobservant of the customs and laws of debate. As a matter of fact this dictum undoubtedly ought to be followed in very many debates. For a discussion will become endless and hopelessly involved, unless it is confined to simple questions and answers. But there seem to be some discussions in which, if you answer what you are asked briefly and directly, you are caught in a trap. For if anyone should put a question in these words: I ask you to tell me whether you have given up committing adultery or not, whichever way you answer according to this rule of debate, whether you say yes or no, you will be caught in a dilemma, equally if you should say that you are an adulterer, or should deny it; for one who has not given up a thing has not of necessity ever done it. That then is a deceptive kind of catch-question, and can by no means lead to the inference and conclusion that he commits adultery who says that he has not given up doing it. But what will the defenders of that rule do in that dilemma, in which they must necessarily be caught, if they give a simple answer to the question? For if I should ask any one of them: Do you, or do you not, have what you have not lost? I demand the answer 'yes' or no,' whichever way he replies briefly, he will be caught. For if he says that he does not have what he has not lost, the conclusion will be drawn that he has no eyes, since he has not lost them; but if he says that he has it, it will be concluded that he has horns, because he has not lost them. Therefore it will be more cautious and more correct to reply as follows: I have whatever I had, if I have not lost it. But an answer of that kind is not made in accordance with the rule which we have mentioned; for more is answered than was asked. Therefore this proviso also is commonly added to the rule, that one need not answer catchquestions.
16.3.p1172
16.3.p1172
By what means Erasistratus, the physician, said that one could do for a time without eating, if food chanced to be lacking, and endure hunger; and his own words on that subject.
16.3.p1173
16.3.p1173
I OFTEN spent whole days in Rome with Favorinus. His delightful conversation held my mind enthralled, and I attended him wherever he went, as if actually taken prisoner by his eloquence; to such a degree did he constantly delight me with his most agreeable discourse. Once when he had gone to visit a sick man, and I had entered with him, having conversed for some time in Greek about the man's illness with the physicians who chanced to be there at the time, he said: This ought not to seem surprising either, that although previously he was always eager for food, now after an enforced fast of three days all his former appetite is lost. For what Erasistratus has written is pretty nearly true, said he, that the empty and open fibres of the intestines, the hollowness of the belly within and the empty and yawning cavity of the stomach, cause hunger; but when these are either filled with food or are contracted and brought together by continued fasting, then, since the place into which the food is received is either filled or made smaller, the impulse to take food, or to crave it, is destroyed. He declared that Erasistratus also said that the Scythians too, when it was necessary for them to endure protracted hunger, bound a very tight bandage around their bellies. That by such compression of the belly it was believed that hunger could be prevented.
16.3.p1174
16.3.p1174
These things and many others of the kind Favorinus said most entertainingly on that occasion; but later, when I chanced to be reading the first book of Erasistratus'
16.3.p1174
Distinctions,
16.3.p1174
I found in that book the very passage which 1 had heard Favorinus quote.
16.3.p1174
1
16.3.p1174
The words of Erasistratus on the subject are as follows:
16.3.p1174
I reasoned therefore that the ability to fast for a long time is caused by strong compression of the belly; for with those who voluntarily fast for a long time, at first hunger ensues, but later it passes away.
16.3.p1174
Then a little later:
16.3.p1174
And the Scythians also are accustomed, when on any occasion it is necessary to fast, to bind up the belly with broad belts, in the belief that the hunger thus troubles them less; and one may almost say too that when the stomach is full, men feel no hunger for the reason that there is no vacuity in it, and likewise when it is greatly compressed there is no vacuity.
16.3.p1175
16.3.p1175
In the same book Erasistratus declares that a kind of irresistibly violent hunger, which the Greeks call bou/limos, or ox-hunger, is much more apt to be felt on very cold days than when tile weather is calm and pleasant, and that the reasons why this disorder prevails especially at such times have not yet become clear to him. The words which he uses are these: It is unknown and requires investigation, both in reference to the case in question and in that of others who suffer from 'ox-hunger,' why this symptom appears rather on cold days than in warm weather.
16.4.p1176
16.4.p1176
In what fashion and in what language the war-herald of the Roman people was accustomed to declare war upon those against whom the people had voted that war should be made; also in what words the oath relating to the prohibition and punishment of theft by the soldiers was couched; and how the soldiers that were enrolled were to appear at an appointed time and place, with some exceptional cases in which they might properly be freed from that oath.
16.4.p1177
16.4.p1177
CINCIUS writes in his third book
16.4.p1177
On Military Science
16.4.p1177
1
16.4.p1177
that the war-herald of the Roman people, when he declared war on the enemy and hurled a spear into their territory, used the following words:
16.4.p1177
Whereas the Hermundulan people and the men of the Hermundulam people have made war against the Roman people and have transgressed against them, and whereas the Roman people has ordered war with the Hermundulan people and the men of the Hermundulans, therefore I and the Roman people declare and make war with the Hermundulan people and with the men of the Hermundulans.
16.4.p1178
16.4.p1178
Also in the fifth book of the same Cincius
16.4.p1178
On
16.4.p1178
Military Science
16.4.p1178
we read the following:
16.4.p1178
1
16.4.p1178
"When a levy was made in ancient times and soldiers were enrolled, the tribune of the soldiers compelled them to take an oath in the following words dictated by the magistrate: 'In the army of the consuls Gaius Laelius, son of Gaius, and Lucius Cornelius, son of Publius, and for ten miles around it, you will not with malice aforethought commit a theft, either alone or with others, of more than the value of a silver sesterce in any one day. And except for one spear, a spear shaft, wood, fruit, fodder, a bladder, a purse and a torch, if you find or carry off anything there which is not your own and is worth more than one silver sesterce, you will bring it to the consul Gaius Laelius, son of Gaius, or to the consul Lucius Cornelius, son of Publius, or to whomsoever either of them shall appoint, or you will make known within the next three days whatever you have found or wrongfully carried off, or you will restore it to him whom you suppose to be its rightful owner, as you wish to do what is right."
16.4.p1179
16.4.p1179
Moreover, when soldiers had been enrolled, a day was appointed on which they should appear and should answer to the consul's summons; then an oath was taken, binding them to appear, with the addition of the following exceptions: 'Unless there be any of the following excuses: a funeral in his family or purification from a dead body feriae denicales (from de and nex) are thus described by Paul. Fest. p. 61, Linds.: colebantur cum hominis mortui causa familia purgatur. Graeci enim ne/kun mortuum dicunt. (provided these were not appointed for that day in order that he might not appear on that day), a dangerous disease, See xx. 1. 27. It refers especially to epilepsy, also called morbus comitialis, or election disease, because if anyone present was attacked by it, elections, or other public business, might be postponed; cf. Suetonius, Jul. xlv. 1. or an omen which could not be passed by without expiatory rites, or an anniversary sacrifice which could not be properly celebrated unless he himself were present on that day, violence or the attack of enemies, a stated and appointed day with a foreigners; Stranger or foreigner was the original meaning of hostis. if anyone shall have any of these excuses, then on the day following that on which he is excused for these reasons he shall come and render service to the one who held the levy in that district, village or town.'
16.4.p1180
16.4.p1180
Also in the same book are these words:
16.4.p1180
1
16.4.p1180
'When a soldier was absent on the appointed day and had not been excused, he was branded as a deserter.
16.4.p1181
16.4.p1181
Also in the sixth book we find this:
16.4.p1181
1
16.4.p1181
The columns of cavalry were called the wings of the army, because they were placed around the legions on the right and on the left, as wings are on tile bodies of birds. In a legion there are sixty centuries, thirty maniples, and ten cohorts.
16.5.p1182
16.5.p1182
The meaning of vestibulum and the various derivations proposed for the word.
16.5.p1183
16.5.p1183
THERE are numerous words which we use commonly, without however clearly knowing what their proper and exact meaning is; but following an uncertain and vulgar tradition without investigating the matter, we seem to say what we mean rather than say it; an example is
16.5.p1183
vestibulum
16.5.p1183
or
16.5.p1183
vestibule,
16.5.p1183
a word frequently met in conversation, yet not wholly clear to all who readily make use of it. For I have observed that some men who are by
16.5.p1183
no means without learning think that the vestibule is the front part of the house, which is commonly known as the
16.5.p1183
atrium.
16.5.p1183
Gaius Aelius Gallus, in the second book of his work
16.5.p1183
On the Meaning of Words relating to the Civil Law,
16.5.p1183
says
16.5.p1183
1
16.5.p1183
that the vestibule is not in the house itself, nor is it a part of the house, but is an open place before the door of the house, through which there is approach and access to the house from the street, while on the right and left the door is hemmed in by buildings extended to the street and the door itself is at a distance from the street, separated from it by this vacant space. Furthermore, it is often inquired what the derivation of this word is; but nearly everything that I have read on the subject has seemed awkward and absurd. But what I recall hearing from Sulpicius Apollinaris, a man of choice learning, is as follows:
16.5.p1183
The particle
16.5.p1183
ve,
16.5.p1183
like some others, is now intensive and now the reverse; for of
16.5.p1183
vetis
16.5.p1183
and
16.5.p1183
vehenens,
16.5.p1183
the former is made by intensifying the idea of age, with elision,
16.5.p1183
2
16.5.p1183
and the latter from the power and force of the mind. But
16.5.p1183
vescus,
16.5.p1183
which is formed from the particle
16.5.p1183
ve
16.5.p1183
and
16.5.p1183
esca,
16.5.p1183
assumes the force of both opposite meanings. For Lucretius
16.5.p1183
3
16.5.p1183
uses
16.5.p1183
vescum salem,
16.5.p1183
or
16.5.p1183
'
16.5.p1183
devouring salt,' in one sense, indicating a strong propensity to eat, Lucilius
16.5.p1183
4
16.5.p1183
in the other sense, of fastidiousness in eating.
16.5.p1183
5
16.5.p1183
Those then in early times who made spacious houses left a vacant place before the entrance, midway between the door of the house and the street. There those who had come to pay their respects to the master of
16.5.p1183
the house took their places before they were admitted, standing neither in the street nor within the house. Therefore from that standing in a large space, and as it were from a kind of 'standing place,' the name vestibule was given to the great places left, as I have said, before the doors of houses, in which those who had come to call stood, before they were admitted to the house.
16.5.p1183
6
16.5.p1183
But we shall have to bear in mind that this word was not always used literally by the early writers, but in various figurative senses, which however are so formed as not to differ widely from that proper meaning which we have mentioned, as for example in the sixth book of Vergil:
16.5.p1183
7
16.5.p1183
Before the vestibule, e'en in Hell's very jaws,
16.5.p1183
Avenging Cares and Grief have made their beds.
16.5.p1183
For he does not call the front part of the infernal dwelling the 'vestibule,' although one might be misled into thinking it so called, but he designates two places outside the doors of Orcus, the ' vestibule' and the
16.5.p1183
fauces,
16.5.p1183
of which 'vestibule' is applied to the part as it were before the house itself and before the private rooms of Orcus, while
16.5.p1183
fauces
16.5.p1183
designates the narrow passage through which the vestibule was approached.
16.5.p1183
8
16.6.p1184
16.6.p1184
What the victims are which are called bidentes, and why they were so called; and the opinions of Publius Nigidius and Julius Hyginus on that subject.
16.6.p1185
16.6.p1185
ON my return from Greece I put in at Brundisium. There a dabbler in the Latin language, who had been called from Rome by the people of Brundisium, was offering himself generally to be tested. I also went to him for the sake of amusement, for my mind was weary and languid
16.6.p1185
1
16.6.p1185
from the tossing of the sea. He was reading in a barbarous and ignorant manner from the seventh book of Vergil, in which this verse occurs:
16.6.p1185
2
16.6.p1185
An hundred woolly sheep (bidentes) he duly slew,
16.6.p1185
and he invited anyone to ask him anything whatever which one wished to learn. Then I, marvelling at the assurance of the ignorant fellow, said:
16.6.p1185
Will you tell us, master, why bidentes are so called?
16.6.p1185
Bidentes,
16.6.p1185
said he,
16.6.p1185
means sheep, and he called them 'woolly,' to show more clearly that they are sheep.
16.6.p1185
I replied:
16.6.p1185
We will see later whether only sheep are called
16.6.p1185
bidentes,
16.6.p1185
as you say, and whether Pomponius, the writer of
16.6.p1185
Atellanae,
16.6.p1185
3
16.6.p1185
was in error in his
16.6.p1185
Transalpine Gauls,
16.6.p1185
when he wrote this:
16.6.p1185
4
16.6.p1185
O Mars, if ever I return, I vow
16.6.p1185
To sacrifice to thee with two-toothed (bidenti) boar.
16.6.p1185
But now I asked you whether you know the reason for this name.
16.6.p1185
And he, without a moment's hesitation, but with the greatest possible assurance, said:
16.6.p1185
Sheep are called bidentes, because they have only two teeth.
16.6.p1185
Where on earth, pray,
16.6.p1185
said I,
16.6.p1185
have you seen a sheep that by nature had only two teeth? For that is a portent and ought to be met with expiatory offerings.
16.6.p1185
Then he, greatly disturbed and angry with me, cried:
16.6.p1185
Ask rather such questions as ought to be put to a grammarian; for one inquires of shepherds about the teeth of sheep.
16.6.p1185
I laughed at the wit of the blockhead and left him.
16.6.p1186
16.6.p1186
Now Publius Nigidius, in the book which he wrote
16.6.p1186
On Sacrificial Meats,
16.6.p1186
says
16.6.p1186
1
16.6.p1186
that not sheep alone are called
16.6.p1186
bidentes,
16.6.p1186
but all victims that are two years old; yet he has not explained clearly why they are called
16.6.p1186
bidentes.
16.6.p1186
But I find written in some
16.6.p1186
Notes on the Pontifical Law
16.6.p1186
2
16.6.p1186
what I had myself thought, that they were first called
16.6.p1186
bidennes,
16.6.p1186
that is
16.6.p1186
biennes
16.6.p1186
with the insertion of the letter
16.6.p1186
d;
16.6.p1186
then by long use in speech the word became changed and from
16.6.p1186
bidennes
16.6.p1186
was formed
16.6.p1186
bidentes,
16.6.p1186
because the latter seemed easier and less harsh to pronounce.
16.6.p1187
16.6.p1187
However, Julius Hyginus, who seems not to have been ignorant of pontifical law, in the fourth book of his work
16.6.p1187
On Virgil,
16.6.p1187
wrote
16.6.p1187
1
16.6.p1187
that those victims were called
16.6.p1187
bidentes
16.6.p1187
which were of such an age that they had two prominent teeth. I quote his own words:
16.6.p1187
The victim called bidens should have eight teeth, but of these two should be more prominent than the rest, to make it plain that they have passed from infancy to a less tender age.
16.6.p1187
Whether this opinion of Hyginus is true or not may be determined by observation without resort to argument.
16.6.p1187
2
16.7.p1188
16.7.p1188
That Laberius formed many words freely and boldly, and that he even uses numerous words whose Latinity is often questioned.
16.7.p1189
16.7.p1189
LABERIUS, in the mimes which he wrote, coined words with the greatest possible freedom. For he said
16.7.p1189
1
16.7.p1189
mendicimonium
16.7.p1189
for
16.7.p1189
beggary,
16.7.p1189
moechimonium,
16.7.p1189
adulterio or adulteritas for
16.7.p1189
adultery,
16.7.p1189
depudicavit for
16.7.p1189
dishonoured,
16.7.p1189
and
16.7.p1189
abluvium
16.7.p1189
for
16.7.p1189
diluvium,
16.7.p1189
or
16.7.p1189
deluge
16.7.p1189
; in the farce which he entitled
16.7.p1189
The Basket
16.7.p1189
2
16.7.p1189
he uses
16.7.p1189
manuatus est
16.7.p1189
for
16.7.p1189
he stole,
16.7.p1189
and in
16.7.p1189
The Fuller
16.7.p1189
3
16.7.p1189
he calls a thief
16.7.p1189
manuarius,
16.7.p1189
4
16.7.p1189
saying: Thief (
16.7.p1189
manuari
16.7.p1189
), you have lost your shame, and he makes many other innovations of the same kind. He also used obsolete and obscene words, such as are spoken only by the dregs of the people, as in the
16.7.p1189
Spinners' Shop:
16.7.p1189
5
16.7.p1189
Orcus, in truth, will bear you on his shoulders (catomum) catomum = kat' w)=mon, Thes. Ling. Lat. s.v. nude.
16.7.p1189
He uses
16.7.p1189
7
16.7.p1189
elutriare for
16.7.p1189
washing out
16.7.p1189
linen, and
16.7.p1189
lavandaria,
16.7.p1189
or
16.7.p1189
wash,
16.7.p1189
of those things which are sent to be washed.
16.7.p1189
He says:
16.7.p1189
8
16.7.p1189
Into the fulling business I am hurled (coicior), There is nothing unusual in the word fullonica; hence the unusual word must be conicior (in this connection).
16.7.p1189
and
16.7.p1189
10
16.7.p1189
O heater (Calidoniamcaldonia), what's your haste? Would'st aught outstrip?
16.7.p1189
Also in the
16.7.p1189
Ropemaker
16.7.p1189
11
16.7.p1189
he applies the term
16.7.p1189
talabarriunculi
16.7.p1189
to those whom the general public call
16.7.p1189
talabarriones.
16.7.p1189
12
16.7.p1189
He writes in the
16.7.p1189
Compitlia:
16.7.p1189
13
16.7.p1189
My jaws I've tamed (malaxavi),
16.7.p1189
and in
16.7.p1189
The Forgetful Man,
16.7.p1189
14
16.7.p1189
This is that dolt (gurdus) who, when two months ago
16.7.p1189
From Africa I came, did meet me here,
16.7.p1189
As I did say.
16.7.p1189
Also in the farce entitled
16.7.p1189
Natalicius
16.7.p1189
he uses
16.7.p1189
15
16.7.p1189
cippus
16.7.p1189
for a small column,
16.7.p1189
obba
16.7.p1189
for a cup,
16.7.p1189
camella
16.7.p1189
for a bowl,
16.7.p1189
16
16.7.p1189
pittacim
16.7.p1189
for a flap
16.7.p1189
17
16.7.p1189
and
16.7.p1189
capitium
16.7.p1189
for a breast band; the last-named passage reads:
16.7.p1190
16.7.p1190
Further, in his
16.7.p1190
Anna Peranna
16.7.p1190
he uses
16.7.p1190
1
16.7.p1190
gubernius
16.7.p1190
for pilot, and
16.7.p1190
plans
16.7.p1190
2
16.7.p1190
for sycophant, and
16.7.p1190
nanus
16.7.p1190
for dwarf; but Marcus Cicero also wrote
16.7.p1190
planus
16.7.p1190
for sycophant in the speech which he delivered
16.7.p1190
In Defence of Cluentius.
16.7.p1190
3
16.7.p1190
Moreover Laberius in the farce entitled
16.7.p1190
The Saturnalia
16.7.p1190
4
16.7.p1190
calls a sausage
16.7.p1190
bolulus
16.7.p1190
and says
16.7.p1190
homo levanna
16.7.p1190
instead of
16.7.p1190
levis
16.7.p1190
or
16.7.p1190
slight.
16.7.p1190
In the
16.7.p1190
Necyomantia
16.7.p1190
too he uses the very vulgar expression
16.7.p1190
cocio
16.7.p1190
for what our forefathers called
16.7.p1190
arillator
16.7.p1190
or
16.7.p1190
haggler.
16.7.p1190
His words are these:
16.7.p1190
5
16.7.p1191
16.7.p1191
However, in the farce which he called
16.7.p1191
Alexandrea,
16.7.p1191
he used
16.7.p1191
1
16.7.p1191
the same Greek word which is in common use, but correctly and in good Latin form; for he put
16.7.p1191
emplastrum
16.7.p1191
in the neuter, not in the feminine gender, as those half-educated innovators of ours do. I quote the words of that farce:
16.7.p1191
What is an oath? A plaster (emplastrum) for a debt.
16.8.p1192
16.8.p1192
The meaning of what the logicians call an axiom, and what it is called by our countrymen; and some other things which belong to the elements of the dialectic art.
16.8.p1193
16.8.p1193
WHEN I wished to be introduced to the science of logic and instructed in it, it was necessary to take up and learn what the dialecticians call
16.8.p1193
ei)sagwgai/
16.8.p1193
or
16.8.p1193
introductory exercises.
16.8.p1193
1
16.8.p1193
Then because at first
16.8.p1193
I had to learn about axioms, which Marcus Varro calls,
16.8.p1193
2
16.8.p1193
now
16.8.p1193
proposita,
16.8.p1193
or
16.8.p1193
propositions,
16.8.p1193
and now
16.8.p1193
proloquia,
16.8.p1193
or
16.8.p1193
preliminary statements,
16.8.p1193
I sought diligently for the
16.8.p1193
Commentary on Proloquia
16.8.p1193
of Lucius Aelius, a learned man, who was the teacher of Varro; and finding it in the library of Peace,
16.8.p1193
3
16.8.p1193
I read it. But I found in it nothing that was written to instruct or to make the matter clear, but Aelius
16.8.p1193
4
16.8.p1193
seems to have made that book rather as suggestions for his own use than for the purpose of teaching others.
16.8.p1194
16.8.p1194
I therefore of necessity returned to my Greek books. From these I obtained this definition of an axiom:
16.8.p1194
lekto\n au)totele\s a)po/fanton o(/son a)f' au(tw=|.
16.8.p1194
1
16.8.p1194
This I forbore to turn into Latin, since it would have been necessary to use new and as yet uncoined words, such as, from their strangeness, the ear could hardly endure. But Marcus Varro in the twenty-fourth book of his
16.8.p1194
Latin Language,
16.8.p1194
dedicated to Cicero, thus defines the word very briefly:
16.8.p1194
2
16.8.p1194
A proloquium is a statement in which nothing is lacking.
16.8.p1195
16.8.p1195
But his definition will be clearer if I give an example. An axiom, then, or a preliminary proposition, if you prefer, is of this kind:
16.8.p1195
Hannibal was a Carthaginian
16.8.p1195
;
16.8.p1195
Scipio destroyed Numantia
16.8.p1195
;
16.8.p1195
Milo was found guilty of murder
16.8.p1195
;
16.8.p1195
pleasure is neither a good nor an evil
16.8.p1195
; and in general any saying which is a full and perfect thought, so expressed in words that it is necessarily either true or false, is called by the logicians an
16.8.p1195
axiom,
16.8.p1195
by Marcus Varro, as I have said, a
16.8.p1195
proposition,
16.8.p1195
but by Marcus Cicero
16.8.p1195
1
16.8.p1195
a
16.8.p1195
pronuntiatum, or
16.8.p1195
pronouncement,
16.8.p1195
a word however which he declared that he used
16.8.p1195
only until I can find a better one.
16.8.p1196
16.8.p1196
But what the Greeks call
16.8.p1196
sunhmme/non a)ci/wma,
16.8.p1196
or
16.8.p1196
a hypothetical syllogism,
16.8.p1196
1
16.8.p1196
some of our countrymen
16.8.p1196
2
16.8.p1196
call
16.8.p1196
adiunctum,
16.8.p1196
others
16.8.p1196
conexum.
16.8.p1196
3
16.8.p1196
The following are examples of this:
16.8.p1196
If Plato is walking, Plato is moving
16.8.p1196
;
16.8.p1196
if it is day, the sun is above the earth.
16.8.p1196
Also what they call
16.8.p1196
sumpeplegme/non,
16.8.p1196
or
16.8.p1196
a compound proposition,
16.8.p1196
we call
16.8.p1196
coniunctum
16.8.p1196
or
16.8.p1196
copulatum;
16.8.p1196
for example:
16.8.p1196
Publius Scipio, son of Paulus, was twice consul and celebrated a triumph, and held the censorship, and was the colleague of Lucius Mummius in his censorship.
16.8.p1196
But in the whole of a proposition of this kind, if one member is false, even if the rest are true, the whole is said to be false. For if to all those true statements which I have made about that Scipio I add
16.8.p1196
and he worsted Hannibal in Africa,
16.8.p1196
which is false, all those other statements which are made in conjunction will not be true, because of this one false statement which is made with them.
16.8.p1197
16.8.p1197
There is also another form, which the Greeks call
16.8.p1197
diezeugme/non a)ci/wma,
16.8.p1197
or
16.8.p1197
a disjunctive proposition,
16.8.p1197
and we call
16.8.p1197
disiunctum.
16.8.p1197
For example:
16.8.p1197
Pleasure is either good or evil, or it is neither good nor evil.
16.8.p1197
1
16.8.p1197
Now all statements which are contrasted ought to be opposed to each other, and their opposites, which the Greeks call
16.8.p1197
a)ntikei/mena,
16.8.p1197
ought also to be opposed. Of all statements which are contrasted, one ought to be true and the rest false. But if none at all of them is true, or if all, or more than one, are true, or if the contrasted things are not at odds, or if those which are opposed to each other are not contrary, then that is a false contrast and is called
16.8.p1197
paradiezeugme/non.
16.8.p1197
For instance, this case, in which the things which are opposed are not contraries:
16.8.p1197
Either you run or you walk or you stand.
16.8.p1197
These acts are indeed contrasted, but when opposed they are not contrary; for
16.8.p1197
not to walk
16.8.p1197
and
16.8.p1197
not to stand
16.8.p1197
and
16.8.p1197
not to run
16.8.p1197
are not contrary to one another, since those things are called
16.8.p1197
contraries
16.8.p1197
which cannot be true at the same time. But you may at once and at the same time neither walk, stand, nor run.
16.8.p1198
16.8.p1198
But for the present it will be enough to have given this little taste of logic, and I need only add by way of advice, that the study and knowledge of this science in its rudiments does indeed, as a rule, seem forbidding and contemptible, as well as disagreeable and useless. But when you have made some progress, then finally its advantages will become clear to you, and a kind of insatiable desire for acquiring it will arise; so much so, that if you do not set bounds to it, there will be great danger lest, as many others have done, you should reach a second childhood amid those mazes and meanders of logic, as if among the rocks of the Sirens.
16.9.p1199
16.9.p1199
The meaning of the expression susque deque, which occurs frequently in the books of early writers.
16.9.p1200
16.9.p1200
SUSQUE dequefero, susque deque sum,
16.9.p1200
or
16.9.p1200
susque deque habeo
16.9.p1200
1
16.9.p1200
—for all these forms occur, meaning
16.9.p1200
it's all one to me
16.9.p1200
—is an expression used in the everyday language of cultivated men. It occurs frequently in poems too and in the letters of the early writers; but you will more readily find persons who flaunt the phrase than who understand it. So true is it that many of us hasten to use out-of-the-way words that we have stumbled upon, but not to learn their meaning. Now
16.9.p1200
susque deque ferre
16.9.p1200
means to be indifferent and not to lay much stress upon anything that happens; sometimes it means to neglect and despise, having about the force of the Greek word
16.9.p1200
a)diaforei=n.
16.9.p1200
Laberius says in his
16.9.p1200
Compitalia:
16.9.p1200
2
16.9.p1200
Now you are dull, now 'tis all one to you (susque deque fers);
16.9.p1200
Your wife sits by you on the marriage bed, The marriage bed in the early Roman house stood in the atrium, opposite the door, whence it was called lectus adversus; in later times a symbolic bed stood in the sane place.
16.9.p1200
A penny slave unseemly language dares.
16.9.p1200
Marcus Varro in his
16.9.p1200
Sisenna, or On History
16.9.p1200
says:
16.9.p1200
4
16.9.p1200
But if all these things did not have similar beginnings and sequels, it would be all one (susque deque esset).
16.9.p1200
So Lucilius in his third book writes:
16.9.p1200
5
16.9.p1200
All this was sport, to us it was all one (susque deque fierunt),
16.9.p1200
All one it was, I say, all sport and play;
16.9.p1200
That was hard toil, when we gained Setia's bourne:
16.9.p1200
Goat-traversed heights, Aetnas, rough Athoses.
16.10.p1201
16.10.p1201
The meaning of proletarii and capite censi; also of adsiduus in the Twelve Tables, and the origin of the word.
16.10.p1202
16.10.p1202
ONE day there was a cessation of business in the Forum at Rome, and as the holiday was being joyfully celebrated, it chanced that one of the books of the
16.10.p1202
Annals
16.10.p1202
of Ennius was read in an assembly of very many persons. In this book the following lines occurred:
16.10.p1202
1
16.10.p1202
With shield and savage sword is Proletarius armed
16.10.p1202
At public cost; they guard our walls, our mart and town.
16.10.p1202
Then the question was raised there, what
16.10.p1202
proletarius
16.10.p1202
meant. And seeing in that company a man who was skilled in the civil law, a friend of mine, I asked him to explain the word to us; and when he rejoined that he was an expert in civil law and not in grammatical matters, I said: " You in particular ought to explain this, since, as you declare, you are skilled in civil law. For Quintus Ennius took this word from your
16.10.p1202
Twelve Tables,
16.10.p1202
in which, if I remember aright, we have the following:
16.10.p1202
2
16.10.p1202
'For a freeholder let the protector
16.10.p1202
3
16.10.p1202
be a freeholder. For a proletariate citizen
16.10.p1202
4
16.10.p1202
let whoso will be protector.
16.10.p1202
We therefore ask you to consider that not one of the books of Quintus Ennius' Annals, but the Twelve Tables are being read, and interpret the meaning of 'proletariate citizen' in that law.
16.10.p1202
It is true,
16.10.p1202
said he,
16.10.p1202
that if I had learned the law of the Fauns and Aborigines, I ought to explain and interpret this. But since proletarii, adsidui, sanates, vades, subvades, 'twenty-five asses,' 'retaliation,' and trials for theft 'by plate and girdle' XII Tab. i. 4, 5, 10; viii. 2, 4, 15. For proletarii see note, p. 167. The adsidui were permanent settlers, or taxpayers, belonging to one of the five upper Servian classes. The sanates seem to have been clients or dependents of the wealthy Roman citizens. Vades were sureties, who gave bail; subvades, sub-sureties, who gave security for the bail. On viginti quinque asses, the penalty for an assault, see xx. 1. 12; for taliones, xx. 1. 14; and for cum lance et licio, note on xi. 18. 9. have disappeared, and since all the ancient lore of the Twelve Tables, except for legal questions before the court of the centumviri, was put to sleep by the Aebutian law, The date is unknown, I ought only to exhibit interest in, and knowledge of, the law and statutes and legal terms which we now actually use.
16.10.p1202
"
16.10.p1203
16.10.p1203
Just then, by some chance, we caught sight of Julius Paulus passing by, the most learned poet within my recollection. We greeted him, and when he was asked to enlighten us as to the meaning and derivation of that word, he said: "Those of the Roman commons who were humblest and of smallest means, and who reported no more than fifteen hundred asses at the census, were called
16.10.p1203
proletarii,
16.10.p1203
but those who were rated as having no property at all, or next to none, were termed
16.10.p1203
capite censi,
16.10.p1203
or 'counted by head.' And the lowest rating of the
16.10.p1203
capite censi
16.10.p1203
was three hundred and seventy-five asses. But since property and money were regarded as a hostage and pledge of loyalty to the State, and since there was in them a kind of guarantee and assurance of patriotism, neither the
16.10.p1203
proletarii
16.10.p1203
nor the
16.10.p1203
capite censi
16.10.p1203
were enrolled as soldiers except in some time of extraordinary disorder, because they had
16.10.p1203
little or no property and money. However, the class of
16.10.p1203
proletarii
16.10.p1203
was somewhat more honourable in fact and in name than that of the
16.10.p1203
capite censi;
16.10.p1203
for in times of danger to the State, when there was a scarcity of men of military age, they were enrolled for hasty service,
16.10.p1203
1
16.10.p1203
and arms were furnished them at public expense. And they were called, not
16.10.p1203
capite censi,
16.10.p1203
but by a more auspicious name derived from their duty and function of producing offspring, for although they could not greatly aid the State with what small property they had, yet they added to the population of their country by their power of begetting children. Gaius Marius is said to have been the first, according to some in the war with the Cimbri in a most critical period for our country, or more probably, as Sallust says, in the Jugurthine war, to have enrolled soldiers from the
16.10.p1203
capite censi,
16.10.p1203
since such an act was unheard of before that time.
16.10.p1203
Adsidaus
16.10.p1203
in the
16.10.p1203
Twelve Tables
16.10.p1203
2
16.10.p1203
is used of one who is rich and well to do,
16.10.p1203
3
16.10.p1203
either because he contributed 'asses' (that is, money) when the exigencies of the State required it, or from his 'assiduity' in making contributions according to the amount of his property."
16.10.p1203
4
16.10.p1204
16.10.p1204
Now the words of Sallust in the
16.10.p1204
Iugurthine War
16.10.p1204
about Gaius Marius and the
16.10.p1204
capite censi
16.10.p1204
are these:
16.10.p1204
1
16.10.p1204
He himself in the meantime enrolled soldiers, not according to the classes, or in the manner of our forefathers, but allowing anyone to volunteer, for the most part the lowest class (capite censos). Some say that he did this through lack of good men, others because of a desire to curry favour, since that class had given him honour and rank, and as a matter of fact, to one who aspires to power the poorest man is the most helpful.
16.11.p1205
16.11.p1205
A story taken from the books of Herodotus about the destruction of the Psylli, who dwelt in the African Syrtes.
16.11.p1206
16.11.p1206
THE race of the Marsians in Italy is said to have sprung from the son of Circe. 'Therefore it was given to the Marsic men, provided their families were not stained through the admixture of foreign alliances, by an inborn hereditary power to be the subduers of poisonous serpents and to perform wonderful cures by incantations and the juices of plants.
16.11.p1207
16.11.p1207
We see certain persons called
16.11.p1207
Psylli
16.11.p1207
endowed with this same power. And when I had sought in ancient records for information about their name and race, I found at last in the fourth book of Herodotus
16.11.p1207
1
16.11.p1207
this story about them: that the Psylli had once been neighbours in the land of Africa of the Nasamones, and that the South Wind at a certain season in their territories blew very long and hard; that because of that gale all the water in the regions which they inhabited dried up; that the Psylli, deprived of their water supply, were grievously incensed at the South Wind because of that injury and voted to take up arms and march against the South Wind as against an enemy, and demand restitution according to the laws of war. And when they had thus set out, the South Wind
16.11.p1207
came to meet them with a great blast of air, and piling upon them mountainous heaps of sand, buried them all with their entire forces and arms. Through this act the Psylli all perished to a man, and accordingly their territories were occupied by the Nasamones.
16.12.p1208
16.12.p1208
Of those words which Cloatius Verus referred to a Greek origin, either quite fittingly or too absurdly and tastelessly.
16.12.p1209
16.12.p1209
CLOATIUS VERUS, in the books which he entitled
16.12.p1209
Words taken from the Greek,
16.12.p1209
says not a few things indeed which show careful and keen investigation, but also some which are foolish and trifling.
16.12.p1209
Errare (to err),
16.12.p1209
he says,
16.12.p1209
1
16.12.p1209
is derived from the Greek e)/rrein,
16.12.p1209
and he quotes a line of Homer in which that word occurs:
16.12.p1209
2
16.12.p1209
Swift wander (
16.12.p1209
e)/rrei
16.12.p1209
) from the isle, most wretched man. Cloatius also wrote that
16.12.p1209
alucinari,
16.12.p1209
or
16.12.p1209
dream,
16.12.p1209
is derived from the Greek
16.12.p1209
a)lu/ein,
16.12.p1209
or
16.12.p1209
be distraught,
16.12.p1209
and from this he thinks that the word
16.12.p1209
elucus
16.12.p1209
also is taken, with a change of
16.12.p1209
a
16.12.p1209
to
16.12.p1209
e,
16.12.p1209
meaning a certain sluggishness and stupidity of mind, which commonly comes to dreamy folk. He also
16.12.p1209
derives fascinum,
16.12.p1209
or
16.12.p1209
charm,
16.12.p1209
as if it were
16.12.p1209
bascanum,
16.12.p1209
3
16.12.p1209
and
16.12.p1209
fascinare,
16.12.p1209
as if it were
16.12.p1209
bascinare,
16.12.p1209
4
16.12.p1209
or
16.12.p1209
bewitch.
16.12.p1209
All these are fitting and proper enough. But in his fourth book he says:
16.12.p1209
5
16.12.p1209
Faenerator is equivalent to fainera/twr, meaning 'to appear at one's best,' since that class of men present an appearance of kindliness and pretend to be accommodating to poor men who are in need of money
16.12.p1209
; and he declared that this was stated by Hypsicrates, a grammarian whose books on
16.12.p1209
Words Borrowed from the Greeks
16.12.p1209
are very well known. But whether Cloatius himself or some other blockhead gave vent to this nonsense, nothing can be more silly.
16.12.p1209
For faenerator,
16.12.p1209
as Marcus Varro wrote in the third book of his
16.12.p1209
Latin Diction,
16.12.p1209
6
16.12.p1209
is so called from feanus, or 'interest,' but faenus,
16.12.p1209
he says,
16.12.p1209
is derived from fetus, Thurneysen, T.L.L. s. v. fenus, thinks this derivation is perhaps correct; we may compare Greek to/kos, which means both offspring and interest. or 'offspring,' and from a birth, as it were, from money, producing and giving increase.
16.12.p1209
Therefore he says that Marcus Cato
16.12.p1209
8
16.12.p1209
and others of his time pronounced
16.12.p1209
generator
16.12.p1209
without the letter a, just as
16.12.p1209
fetus
16.12.p1209
itself and
16.12.p1209
fecunditas
16.12.p1209
were pronounced.
16.13.p1210
16.13.p1210
The meaning of municipium and how it differs from colonia; and what municipes are and the derivation and proper use of that word; and also what the deified Hadrian said in the senate about the name and rights of municipes.
16.13.p1211
16.13.p1211
MUNICIPES
16.13.p1211
and
16.13.p1211
municipia
16.13.p1211
are words which are readily spoken and in common use, and you would never find a man who uses them who does not think that he understands perfectly what he is saying. But in fact it is something different, and the meaning is different. For how rarely is one of us found who, coming from a colony of the Roman people, does not say what is far removed from reason and from truth,
16.13.p1211
namely, that he is
16.13.p1211
municeps
16.13.p1211
and that his fellow citizens are
16.13.p1211
municipes?
16.13.p1211
So general is the ignorance of what
16.13.p1211
municipia
16.13.p1211
are and what rights they have, and how far they differ from a
16.13.p1211
colony,
16.13.p1211
as well as the belief that
16.13.p1211
coloniae
16.13.p1211
are better off than
16.13.p1211
municipia.
16.13.p1211
With regard to the errors in this opinion which is so general the deified Hadrian, in the speech which he delivered in the senate
16.13.p1211
In Behalf of the Italicenses,
16.13.p1211
1
16.13.p1211
from whom he himself came, discoursed most learnedly, showing his surprise that the Italicenses themselves and also some other ancient
16.13.p1211
municipia,
16.13.p1211
among whom he names the citizens of Utica, when they might enjoy their own customs and laws, desired instead to have the rights of colonies. Moreover, he asserts that the citizens of Praeneste earnestly begged and prayed the emperor Tiberius that they might be changed from a colony into the condition of a
16.13.p1211
municipium,
16.13.p1211
and that Tiberius granted their request by way of conferring a favour, because in their territory, and near their town itself, he had recovered from a dangerous illness.
16.13.p1212
16.13.p1212
Municipes,
16.13.p1212
then, are Roman citizens from free towns, using their own laws and enjoying their own rights, merely sharing with the Roman people an honorary
16.13.p1212
munus,
16.13.p1212
or
16.13.p1212
privilege
16.13.p1212
1
16.13.p1212
(from the enjoyment of which privilege they appear to derive their name), and bound by no other compulsion and no other law of the Roman people, except such as their own citizens have officially ratified.
16.13.p1212
2
16.13.p1212
We learn besides that the people of Caere were the first
16.13.p1212
municipes
16.13.p1212
without the right of suffrage, and that it was allowed them to assume the honour of Roman citizenship, but yet to be free from service and burdens, in return for receiving and guarding sacred
16.13.p1212
objects during the war with the Gauls. Hence by contraries those tablets were called
16.13.p1212
Caerites
16.13.p1212
on which the censors ordered those to be enrolled whom they deprived of their votes by way of disgrace.
16.13.p1213
16.13.p1213
But the relationship of the
16.13.p1213
colonies
16.13.p1213
is a different one; for they do not come into citizenship from without, nor grow from roots of their own, but they are as it were transplanted from the State and have all the laws and institutions of the Roman people, not those of their own choice. This condition, although it is more exposed to control and less free, is nevertheless thought preferable and superior because of the greatness and majesty of the Roman people, of which those colonies seem to be miniatures, as it were, and in a way copies;
16.13.p1213
1
16.13.p1213
and at the same time because the rights of the municipal towns become obscure and invalid, and from ignorance of their existence the townsmen are no longer able to make use of them.
16.14.p1214
16.14.p1214
That Marcus Cato said there was a difference between properare and festinare, and how inappropriately Verrius Flaccus explained the origin of the latter word.
16.14.p1215
16.14.p1215
FESTINARE
16.14.p1215
and
16.14.p1215
properare
16.14.p1215
seem to indicate the same thing and to be used of the same thing. But Marcus Cato thinks that there is a difference, and that the difference is this—I quote his own words from the speech which he pronounced
16.14.p1215
On his Own Merits:
16.14.p1215
1
16.14.p1215
It is one thing to hasten (properare), another to hurry (festinare). He who finishes some one thing in good season, hastens (properat); one who begins many things at the same time but does not finish them, hurries (festinat).
16.14.p1215
Verrius Flaccus, wishing to explain the nature of this difference, says
16.14.p1215
2
16.14.p1215
Festinat is derived from for (to speak), since those idle folk who can accomplish nothing talk more than they act.
16.14.p1215
But that seems too forced and absurd, nor can the first letter of the two words be of such weight that because of it such different words as
16.14.p1215
festino
16.14.p1215
and
16.14.p1215
for
16.14.p1215
should appear to be the same. But it seems more fitting and closer to explain
16.14.p1215
festinare
16.14.p1215
as equivalent to
16.14.p1215
fessum esse
16.14.p1215
or
16.14.p1215
be wearied.
16.14.p1215
For one who tires himself out by hastily attacking many things at once no longer hastens, but hurries.
16.14.p1215
3
16.15.p1216
16.15.p1216
The strange thing recorded of partridges by Theophrastus and of hares by Theopompus.
16.15.p1217
16.15.p1217
THEOPHRASTUS, most expert of philosophers, declares
16.15.p1217
1
16.15.p1217
that in Paphlagonia all the partridges have two hearts; Theopompus,
16.15.p1217
2
16.15.p1217
that in Bisaltia the hares have two livers each.
16.16.p1218
16.16.p1218
That the name Agrippa was given to those whose birth was difficult and unnatural; and of the goddesses called Prorsa and Postverta.
16.16.p1219
16.16.p1219
THOSE at whose birth the feet appeared first, instead of the head, which is considered the most difficult and dangerous form of parturition, are called
16.16.p1219
Agrippae,
16.16.p1219
a word formed from
16.16.p1219
aegritudo,
16.16.p1219
or
16.16.p1219
difficulty,
16.16.p1219
and
16.16.p1219
pedes
16.16.p1219
(feet). But Varro says
16.16.p1219
1
16.16.p1219
that the position of children in the womb is with the head lowest and the feet raised up, not according to the nature of a man, but of a tree. For he likens the branches of a tree to the feet and legs, and the stock and trunk to the head.
16.16.p1219
Accordingly,
16.16.p1219
says he,
16.16.p1219
when they chanced to be turned upon their feet in an unnatural position, since their arms are usually extended they are wont to be held back, and then women give birth with greater difficulty. For the purpose of averting this danger altars were set up at Rome to the two Carmentes, Carmenta was a birth-goddess, whose festival, the Carmentalia (or Karmentalia) occurred on Jan. 11 and 15. The Carmentes may originally have been wise women who assisted at births and were later deified (Fowler, Roman Festivals, pp 290 ff.). of whom one was called Postverta, That is, head foremost. the other Prorsa, That is, feet foremost. named from natural and unnatural births, and their power over them.
16.17.p1220
16.17.p1220
Of the origin of the term ager Vaticanus.
16.17.p1221
16.17.p1221
WE had been told that the
16.17.p1221
ager Vaticanus,
16.17.p1221
or
16.17.p1221
Vatican region,
16.17.p1221
and the presiding deity of the same place, took their names from the
16.17.p1221
vaticinia,
16.17.p1221
or
16.17.p1221
prophecies,
16.17.p1221
which were wont to be made in that region through the power and inspiration of that god. But in addition to that reason Marcus Varro, in his
16.17.p1221
Antiquities of the Gods,
16.17.p1221
states
16.17.p1221
1
16.17.p1221
that there is another explanation of the name: For,
16.17.p1221
says he, just as Aius was called a god and the altar was erected in his honour which stands at the bottom of the Nova Via, because in that place a voice from heaven was heard, so that god was called Vaticanus who controls the beginnings of human speech, since children, as soon as they are born, first utter the sound which forms the first syllable of Vaticanus; hence the word vagire ('cry'), which represents the sound of a new-born infant's voice.
16.18.p1222
16.18.p1222
Some interesting and instructive remarks about that part of Geometry which is called Optics; of another part called Harmony, and also of a third called Metric.
16.18.p1223
16.18.p1223
A PART of Geometry which relates to the sight is called o)ptikh/ or Optics, another part, relating to the ears, is known as kanonikh/ or Harmony, which musicians make use of as the foundation of their art. These are concerned respectively with the spaces and the intervals between lines and with the theory of musical numbers.
16.18.p1224
16.18.p1224
Optics effect many surprising things, such as the appearance in one mirror of several images of the same thing; also that a mirror placed in a certain position shows no image, but when moved to another spot gives reflections; also that if you look straight into a mirror, your reflection is such that your head
16.18.p1224
appears below and your feet uppermost.
16.18.p1224
1
16.18.p1224
This science also gives the reasons for optical illusions, such as the magnifying of objects seen in the water, and the small size of those that are remote from the eye.
16.18.p1225
16.18.p1225
Harmony, on the other hand, measures the length and pitch of sounds. The measure of the length of a tone is called
16.18.p1225
r(uqmo/s,
16.18.p1225
or rhythm of its pitch,
16.18.p1225
me/los,
16.18.p1225
or
16.18.p1225
melody.
16.18.p1225
There is also another variety of Harmony which is called
16.18.p1225
metrikh/,
16.18.p1225
or
16.18.p1225
Metric,
16.18.p1225
by which the combination of long and short syllables, and those which are neither long nor short, and the verse measure according to the principles of geometry are examined with the aid of the ears.
16.18.p1225
But these things,
16.18.p1225
says Marcus Varro,
16.18.p1225
1
16.18.p1225
we either do not learn at all, or we leave off before we know why they ought to be learned. But the pleasure,
16.18.p1225
he says,
16.18.p1225
and the advantage of such sciences appear in their later study, when they have been completely mastered; but in their mere elements they seem foolish and unattractive.
16.18.p1225
2
16.19.p1226
16.19.p1226
A story about the lyre-player Arion, taken from the work of Herodotus.
16.19.p1227
16.19.p1227
HERODOTUS has written
16.19.p1227
1
16.19.p1227
of the famous lyre-player Arion in terse and vigorous language and in simple and elegant style.
16.19.p1227
Arion,
16.19.p1227
says he,
16.19.p1227
in days of old was a celebrated player upon the lyre. The town in which he was born was Methyma, but from the name of his country and the island as a whole he was a Lesbian. This Arion for the sake of his art was held in friendship and affection by Periander, king of Corinth. 625–585 B.C. Later, he left the king, to visit the famous lands of Sicily and Italy. On his arrival there he charmed the ears and minds of all in the cities of both countries, and there he was enriched as well as being generally admired and beloved. Then later, laden with money and with wealth of all kinds, he determined to return to Corinth, choosing a Corinthian vessel and crew, as better known to him and more friendly.
16.19.p1227
But Herodotus says that those Corinthians, having received Arion on board and put to sea, formed the plan of murdering him for the sake of his money. Then he, realizing that death was at hand, gave them possession of his money and other goods, but begged that they should at least spare his life. The sailors were moved by his prayers only so far as to refrain from putting him to death with their own hands, but they bade him at once, before their eyes, leap headlong into the sea.
16.19.p1227
Then,
16.19.p1227
says Herodotus,
16.19.p1227
the poor man, in terror and utterly hopeless of life, finally made the one request that before meeting his end he might be allowed to put on all his costume, take his lyre, and sing a song in consolation of his fate. The sailors, though savage and cruel, nevertheless had a desire to hear him; his request was granted. Then afterwards, crowned in the usual way, robed and adorned, he stood upon the extreme stern and lifting up his voice on high sang the song called 'orthian.' This was a song in such a high key that it could be reached by few voices. In Aristophanes, Knights, 1279 (L.C.L. i, p. 247) the o)/rqios no/mos is played by a prince of harpers. Finally, having finished his song, with his lyre and all his equipment, just as he stood and sang, he threw himself far out into the deep. The sailors, not doubting in the least that he had perished, held on the course which they had begun. But an unheard of, strange and miraculous thing happened.
16.19.p1227
Herodotus asserts that a dolphin suddenly swam up amid the waves, dove under the floating man, and lifting his back above the flood, carried him and landed him at Taenarum in the Laconian land, with his person and adornment uninjured. Then Arion went from there straight to Corinth and, just as he was when the dolphin carried him, presented himself unexpectedly to king Periander and told him exactly what had occurred. The king did not believe the story but ordered that Arion be imprisoned as an impostor. He hunted up the sailors, and in the absence of Arion craftily questioned them, asking whether they had heard anything of Arion in the places from which they had come. They replied that the man had been in the land of Italy when they left it, that he was doing well there, enjoying the devotion and the pleasures of the cities, and that both in prestige and in money he was rich and fortunate. Then, in the midst of their story, Arion suddenly appeared with his lyre, clad in the garments in which he had thrown himself into the sea; the sailors were amazed and proved guilty, and could not deny their crime. This story is told by the Lesbians and the Corinthians, and in testimony to its truth two brazen images are to be seen near Taenarum, the dolphin carrying the man, who is seated on his back.