Helps to Latin Translation at Sight Part 63

11. +templo+, i.e. _Concordiae_. Cic. refers to _In Catil._ iv.

+The Peroration.+ 'Such a pa.s.sage speaks to us with a living impression of unity and directness which we acknowledge without question. We admire and ask for nothing more.' --Nettleship.

B. _On the Murder of Cicero, by order of Antonius._

Par scelus admisit Phariis Antonius armis: Abscidit voltus ensis uterque sacros.

Illud, laurigeros ageres c.u.m laeta triumphos, Hoc tibi, Roma, caput, c.u.m loquereris, erat. 4 Antoni tamen est peior quam causa Pothini: Hic facinus domino praest.i.tit, ille sibi.

MARTIAL, _Epig._ III. lxvi.

[Linenotes: 1. +Par Phariis armis+ = _which matches (that committed by) the armed hand of an Egyptian_, i.e. Pothinus (the guardian of the young king) who planned the murder of Pompeius, when he fled to Egypt 48 B.C.

+sacros+: _consecrated_ to Rome from their public services.

3-4. +Illud caput+ = Pompeius. +hoc caput+ = Cicero. Cf. _Epig._ v. lxix: _Quid gladium demens_ +Romana+ _stringis_ +in ora+?

6. +domino+, sc. Ptolemaeus, King of Egypt, jointly with Cleopatra.]

B68

CICERO.

A. _Cicero as Orator and Poet._

Eloquium ac famam Demosthenis aut Ciceronis Incipit optare et totis Quinquatribus optat 115 Quisquis adhuc uno parcam colit a.s.se Minervam, Quem sequitur custos angustae vernula capsae.

Eloquio sed uterque perit orator, utrumque Largus et exundans leto dedit ingenii fons.

Ingenio ma.n.u.s est et cervix caesa, nec umquam 120 Sanguine causidici maduerunt rostra pusilli.

'O fortunatam natam me consule Romam': Antoni gladios potuit contemnere, si sic Omnia dixisset. Ridenda poemata malo Quam te, conspicuae divina Philippica famae, 125 Volveris a prima quae proxima.

JUVENAL, _Satires_, x. 114-126.

[Linenotes: 114-117. Boys at school long to be a Demosthenes or a Cicero.

115. +totis Quinquatribus+, i.e. during all the five days of the Quinquatria, an annual feast of Minerva, March 19-23: it was always a holiday time at schools, and the school year began at the close of it.

116. +parcam Minervam+ = _a cheap kind of learning_, and +uno a.s.se+ = _an entrance fee of one_ +as+. But Duff says +as+ here = +stips+, i.e. the boy's contribution to the G.o.ddess of wisdom, who can make him wise, and +parcam+ (= _economical_), transferred from +a.s.se+ to +Minervam+.

117. +vernula+ = _a little home-born slave_, +capsa+ a circular box of beech-wood, used for the transport of books.

121. +causidici pusilli+ = _of a petty pleader_, as opposed to orator.

122. From Cicero's poem _de suo consulatu_. Another line quoted in the 2nd Philippic is _Cedant arma togae, concedat laurea laudi_.

124. +Ridenda poemata malo+, i.e. they are better as being safer.

Juvenal himself refutes this argument: _Summum crede nefas animam praeferre pudori Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas._]

B. _Cicero as Advocate._

Disertissime Romuli nepotum, Quot sunt quotque fuere, Marce Tulli, Quotque post aliis erunt in annis, Gratias tibi maximas Catullus Agit pessimus omnium poeta, 5 Tanto pessimus omnium poeta Quanto tu optimus omnium patronus.

CATULLUS, xlix.

[Linenotes: 2. +Marce Tulli+: the formal address suits the formal expression of thanks to a _patronus_ (= _advocate_).

5. +pessimus omnium poeta:+ the self-depreciation heightens the praise of the last line. --Merrill.]

B69

CICERO.

_His Death, by order of Antonius, 43 B.C._

M. Cicero sub adventum triumvirorum urbe cesserat pro certo habens id quod erat, non magis se Antonio eripi quam Caesari Ca.s.sium et Brutum posse: primo in Tusculanum fugerat, inde transversis itineribus in Formianum ut ab Caieta navem {5} conscensurus proficiscitur. Unde aliquoties in altum provectum c.u.m modo venti adversi retulissent, modo ipse iactationem navis caeco volvente fluctu pati non posset, taedium tandem eum et fugae et vitae cepit, regressusque ad superiorem villam, quae paulo {10} plus mille pa.s.sibus a mari abest, 'moriar,' inquit, 'in patria saepe servata.' Satis constat servos fort.i.ter fideliterque paratos fuisse ad dimicandum; ipsum deponi lecticam et quietos pati quod sors iniqua cogeret iussisse. Prominenti ex lectica praebentique {15} immotam cervicem caput praecisum est. Nec satis stolidae crudelitati militum fuit: ma.n.u.s quoque scripsisse aliquid in Antonium exprobrantes praeciderunt. Ita relatum caput ad Antonium iussuque eius inter duas ma.n.u.s in rostris positum, ubi {20} ille consul, ubi saepe consularis, ubi eo ipso anno adversus Antonium quanta nulla umquam humana vox c.u.m admiratione eloquentiae auditus fuerat: vix attollentes prae lacrimis oculos homines intueri trucidati membra civis poterant. Vixit tres et s.e.xaginta {25} annos, ut si vis afuisset, ne immatura quidem mors videri possit.

LIVY, _Fr. ap. Sen. Rh. Suas._ vii.

[Linenotes: 1. +triumvirorum+, sc. Antonius, Octavia.n.u.s, and Lepidus. These three allies (about the end of Oct. 43 B.C.) held their famous meeting on an island in the R. Rhenus (a tributary of the Padus) near Bononia (Bologna), at which they const.i.tuted themselves a commission of three with absolute powers for five years. This was followed by a proscription of their princ.i.p.al opponents, of whom seventeen, including Cicero (sacrificed to Antonius), were at once put to death.

4. +in Tusculanum+, i.e. to his villa at Tusculum, richly adorned with pictures and statues.

5. +in Formianum+, i.e. to his villa at Formiae, on the Appian Way, in the innermost corner of the beautiful Gulf of Caieta (Gaeta).

Near this villa Cicero was murdered.]

+The Death of Cicero.+ Cicero's work was over, and the tragedy of his death was the natural outcome of his splendid failure. The restoration of the Commonwealth of the Scipios was but a dream; still it was a beautiful dream, and Cicero gave his life for it. --Tyrrell.

B70

_In Praise of Cicero._

A. Nihil tamen egisti, M. Antoni, nihil, inquam, egisti mercedem caelestissimi oris et clarissimi capitis abscisi numerando, auctoramentoque funebri ad conservatoris quondam rei publicae tantique consulis irritando necem. Rapuisti tum Ciceroni lucem {5} sollicitam et aetatem senilem et vitam miseriorem te principe quam sub te triumviro mortem, famam vero gloriamque factorum atque dictorum adeo non abstulisti, ut auxeris. Vivit vivetque per omnem saeculorum memoriam, dumque hoc vel forte vel {10} providentia vel utc.u.mque const.i.tutum rerum naturae corpus, quod ille paene solus Romanorum animo vidit, ingenio complexus est, eloquentia illuminavit, manebit incolume, comitem aevi sui laudem Ciceronis trahet omnisque posteritas illius in te scripta mirabitur, {15} tuum in eum factum exsecrabitur citiusque e mundo genus hominum quam Ciceronis memoria cedet.

VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, ii. 66.

[Linenotes: 3-4. +auctoramentoque funebri irritando+ = lit. _and by stimulating (provoking) by a fatal reward_ (+auctoramento+) _the death_. . . .

10-15. +dumque ... trahet+, in reference to Cicero's philosophical works, in which Cicero propounds no original scheme of philosophy, claiming only that he renders the conclusions of Greek thinkers accessible to his own countrymen.]

B. Ingenium et operibus et praemiis operum felix; ipse fortunae diu prosperae et in longo tenore felicitatis {20} magnis interim ictus vulneribus, exilio, ruina partium pro quibus steterat, filiae exitu tam tristi tamque acerbo, omnium adversorum nihil ut viro dignum erat tulit praeter mortem, quae vere aestimanti minus indigna videri potuit, quod a victore {25} inimico nil crudelius pa.s.surus erat quam quod eiusdem fortunae compos victo fecisset. Si quis tamen virtutibus vitia pensaret, vir magnus ac memorabilis fuit, et in cuius laudes exsequendas Cicerone laudatore opus fuerit. {30}

LIVY, _Fr. ap. Sen._

[Linenote: 21-22. +ruina ... steterat+, i.e. the restoration of the Commonwealth of the Scipios.]

+Cicero.+ 'It happened many years after that Augustus once found one of his grandsons with a work of Cicero's in his hands. The boy was frightened, and hid the book under his gown; but Caesar took it from him, and, standing there motionless, he read through a great part of the book; then he gave it back to the boy, and said "This was a great orator, my child; a great orator, and a man who loved his country well."'--Plutarch, _Cicero_, 49.

B71

LAUS ITALIAE.

Si te forte iuvant h.e.l.les Athamantidos urbes, Nec desiderio, Tulle, movere meo, Tu licet aspicias caelum omne Atlanta gerentem, Sectaque Persea Phorcidos ora manu, 8 Geryonis stabula et luctantum in pulvere signa Herculis Antaeique Hesperidumque choros, Tuque tuo Colchum propellas remige Phasim, Peliacaeque trabis totum iter ipse legas, 12 Qua rudis Argoa natat inter saxa columba In faciem prorae pinus adacta novae, Et siqua Ortygii visenda est ora Caystri, Et quae septenas temperat unda vias; 16 Omnia Romanae cedent miracula terrae; Natura his posuit, quicquid ubique fuit.

Armis apta magis tellus, quam commoda noxae: Famam, Roma, tuae non pudet historiae. 20 Nam quantum ferro, tantum pietate potentes Stamus: victrices temperat illa ma.n.u.s.

Hic Anio Tiburne fluis, c.l.i.tumnus ab Umbro Tramite, et aeternum Marcius umor opus, 24 Alba.n.u.s lacus et foliis Nemorensis abundans, Potaque Pollucis lympha salubris equo. 26 Haec tibi, Tulle, parens, haec est pulcherrima sedes; 39 Hic tibi pro digna gente petendus honos; Hic tibi ad eloquium cives, hic ampla nepotum Spes et venturae coniugis aptus amor. 42

PROPERTIUS, III. (IV.) xxii. 5-26, 39-42.