Part 5

78 Audiebam Pythagoran Pythagoriosque, incolas paene nostros, qui essent Italici philosophi quondam nominati numquam dubitasse quin ex universa mente divina delibatos animos haberemus. Demonstrabantur mihi praeterea quae Socrates supremo vitae die de immortalitate animorum disseruisset, is qui esset omnium sapientissimus oraculo Apollinis iudicatus. Quid multa? Sic mihi persuasi, sic sentio, cum tanta celeritas animorum sit, tanta memoria praeteritorum futurorumque prudentia, tot artes tantae scientiae, tot inventa, non posse eam naturam, quae res eas contineat, esse mortalem; cumque semper agitetur animus nec principium motus habeat, quia se ipse moveat, ne finem quidem habiturum esse motus, quia numquam se ipse sit relicturus; et cum simplex animi natura esset neque haberet in se quicquam admixtum dispar sui atque dissimile, non posse eum dividi, quod si non posset, non posse interire; magnoque esse argumento homines scire pleraque ante quam nati sint, quod iam pueri, cum artis difficilis discant, ita celeriter res innumerabilis arripiant, ut eas non tum primum accipere videantur, sed reminisci et recordari. Haec Platonis fere. XXII. 79 Apud Xenophontem autem moriens Cyrus maior haec dicit: 'nolite arbitrari, o mihi carissimi filii, me, cum a vobis discessero, nusquam aut nullum fore. Nec enim, dum eram vobiscum, animum meum videbatis, sed eum esse in hoc corpora ex eis rebus quas gerebam intellegebatis. Eundem igitur esse creditote, etiam si nullum videbitis. 80 Nec vero clarorum virorum post mortem honores permanerent, si nihil eorum ipsorum animi efficerent, quo diutius memoriam sui teneremus. Mihi quidem numquam persuaderi potuit animos dum in corporibus essent mortalibus vivere, cum excessissent ex eis emori; nec vero tum animum esse insipientem cum ex insipienti corpore evasisset, sed cum omni admixtione corporis liberatus purus et integer esse coepisset, tum esse sapientem. Atque etiam, cum hominis natura morte dissolvitur, ceterarum rerum perspicuum est quo quaeque discedat, abeunt enim illuc omnia, unde orta sunt; animus autem solus nec cum adest nec cum discessit apparet. Iam vero videtis nihil esse morti tam simile quam somnum. 81 Atqui dormientium animi maxime declarant divinitatem suam; multa enim, cum remissi et liberi sunt, futura prospiciunt; ex quo intellegitur quales futuri sint, cum se plane corporis vinculis relaxaverint. Qua re, si haec ita sunt, sic me colitote,' inquit, 'ut deum, sin una est interiturus animus cum corpore, vos tamen, deos verentes, qui hanc omnem pulchritudinem tuentur et regunt, memoriam nostri pie inviolateque servabitis.'

XXIII. 82 Cyrus quidem haec moriens; nos, si placet, nostra videamus. Nemo umquam mihi, Scipio, persuadebit aut patrem tuum Paulum, aut duos avos Paulum et Africanum, aut Africani patrem aut patruum, aut multos praestantis viros, quos enumerare non est necesse, tanta esse conatos quae ad posteritatis memoriam pertinerent, nisi animo cernerent posteritatem ad ipsos pertinere. Anne censes, ut de me ipse aliquid more senum glorier, me tantos labores diurnos nocturnosque domi militiaeque suscepturum fuisse, si isdem finibus gloriam meam quibus vitam essem terminaturus? Nonne melius multo fuisset otiosam et quietam aetatem sine ullo labore et contentione traducere? Sed nescio quo modo animus erigens se posteritatem ita semper prospiciebat, quasi, cum excessisset e vita, tum denique victurus esset. Quod quidem ni ita se haberet ut animi immortales essent, haud optimi cuiusque animus maxime ad immortalitatis gloriam niteretur. 83 Quid quod sapientissimus quisque aequissimo animo moritur, stultissimus iniquissimo, nonne vobis videtur is animus, qui plus cernat et longius, videre se ad meliora proficisci, ille autem, cuius obtusior sit acies, non videre? Equidem efferor studio patres vestros quos colui et dilexi videndi, neque vero eos solum convenire aveo, quos ipse cognovi, sed illos etiam, de quibus audivi et legi et ipse conscripsi; quo quidem me proficiscentem haud sane quid facile retraxerit, nec tamquam Pelian recoxerit. Et si quis deus mihi largiatur ut ex hac aetate repuerascam et in cunis vagiam, valde recusem, nec vero velim quasi decurso spatio ad carceres a calce revocari. 84 Quid habet enim vita commodi? Quid non potius laboris? Sed habeat sane; habet certe tamen aut satietatem aut modum. Non libet enim mihi deplorare vitam, quod multi et ei docti saepe fecerunt, neque me vixisse paenitet, quoniam ita vixi, ut non frustra me natum existimem, et ex vita ita discedo tamquam ex hospitio, non tamquam e domo; commorandi enim natura divorsorium nobis, non habitandi dedit. O praeclarum diem cum in illud divinum animorum concilium coetumque proficiscar cumque ex hac turba et colluvione discedam! Proficiscar enim non ad eos solum viros, de quibus ante dixi, verum etiam ad Catonem meum, quo nemo vir melior natus est, nemo pietate praestantior, cuius a me corpus est crematum, quod contra decuit ab illo meum, animus vero non me deserens sed respectans, in ea profecto loca discessit quo mihi ipsi cernebat esse veniendum. Quem ego meum casum fortiter ferre visus sum, non quo aequo animo ferrem, sed me ipse consolabar existimans non longinquum inter nos digressum et discessum fore.

85 His mihi rebus, Scipio, id enim te cum Laelio admirari solere dixisti, levis est senectus, nec solum non molesta, sed etiam iucunda. Quod si in hoc erro, qui animos hominum immortalis esse credam, libenter erro nec mihi hunc errorem, quo delector, dum vivo, extorqueri volo; sin mortuus, ut quidam minuti philosophi censent, nihil sentiam, non vereor ne hunc errorem meum philosophi mortui irrideant. Quod si non sumus immortales futuri, tamen exstingui homini suo tempore optabile est. Nam habet natura, ut aliarum omnium rerum, sic vivendi modum. Senectus autem aetatis est peractio tamquam fabulae, cuius defetigationem fugere debemus, praesertim adiuncta satietate.

Haec habui de senectute quae dicerem, ad quam utinam veniatis, ut ea, quae ex me audistis, re experti probare possitis!

* * * * *

NOTES TO CATO MAIOR.

* * * * *

CATO MAIOR DE SENECTUTE (CATO THE ELDER ON OLD AGE). CATO MAIOR was probably intended by Cicero as the principal title. He twice gives the work this name, in Laelius 4 and Att. 14, 21, 1. In the former passage he adds the descriptive words, addressed to Atticus, _qui est scriptus ad te de senectute._ In a third notice, De Div. 2, 3, he gives the description without the title, _liber is quem ad nostrum Atticum de senectute misimus._ It is likely that Cicero intended the essay to be known as the CATO MAIOR DE SENECTUTE, the full title corresponding with LAELIUS DE AMICITIA. The word _maior_ was necessary to distinguish the book from Cicero's eulogy of the younger Cato (Uticensis), which seems to have gone by the name of CATO simply.

P. 1. -- 1. O TITE etc.: the lines are a quotation from the _Annales_ of Q. Ennius (born at Rudiae in Calabria 239 B.C., died 169), an epic poem in hexameter verse, the first great Latin poem in that metre, celebrating the achievements of the Roman nation from the time of Aeneas to the poet's own days. The incident alluded to in Ennius' verses is evidently the same as that narrated by Livy 32, cc. 9, 10. Titus Quinctius Flamininus, who commanded in 198 B.C. the Roman army opposed to Philip of Macedon, found the king strongly posted on the mountains between Epirus and Thessaly. For forty days Flamininus lingered, hoping to find some path which would give him access to the enemy's quarters. A shepherd who knew every nook of the mountains came before the general, and promised to lead the Roman soldiers to the ground above Philip's camp. This was done, and Flamininus drove the Macedonians into Thessaly. It is the shepherd who in the first line addresses Flamininus by his first name Titus. Cicero here cleverly applies the lines to his life-long friend Titus Pomponius Atticus. He several times takes the two words _'O Tite'_ to designate the whole treatise; cf. Att. 16, 11, 3 _'O Tite' tibi prodesse laetor_. -- QUID: accusative of respect or extent; so _nihil_ in 30, _aliquid_ in 82. A.[56] 240, _a_; G. 331, 3; H. 378, 2. -- ADI[)U]ERO: for _adi[=u]vero,_ the long vowel having become short after the falling out of the _v_ between the two vowels. Catullus 66, 18 has _i[)u]erint_ at the end of a pentameter verse, and the same scanning is found in Plautus and Terence. A. 128, _a_; G. 151, 1; H. 235. -- LEVASSO: a form of _levavero,_ which was originally _levaveso_. For the formation of this class of future-perfects see Peile, _Introduction to Greek and Latin Etymology,_ p. 295, ed. 3; also Roby, _Gram._ 1, p. 199, who has a list of examples; he supports a different view from that given above; cf. A. 128, _e_, 3; G. 191, 5; H. 240, 4. -- COQUIT: 'vexes.' This metaphorical use of _coquere_ occurs in poetry and late prose; cf. Plaut. Trin. 225 _egomet me coquo et macero et defetigo_; Verg. Aen. 7, 345 _quam ... femineae ardentem curaeque iraeque coquebant_; Quint. 12, 10, 77 _sollititudo oratorem macerat et coquit_. -- VERS[=A]T: we have here the original quantity of the vowel preserved, as in _poneb[=a]t_ below, 10; the _a_ in _versat_ was originally as long as the _a_ in _vers[=a]s_. Plautus has some parallels to this scanning (see Corssen, Aussprache 11², 488), but it is rarely imitated by poets of the best period. Horace, however, has _ar[=a]t_, Odes 3, 16, 26. A. 375, _g_, 5; H. 580, III n. 2. -- PRAEMI: the genitive in _ĭ-ī_ from nouns in _ium_ only began to come into use at the end of the Republic. A. 40, _b_; G. 29, Rem. 1; H. 51, 5. -- ISDEM: Cicero may have written _isdem_ or _eisdem_ (two syllables), but he probably did not write the form most commonly found in our texts, _iisdem._ H. p. 74, foot-note 2. -- FLAMININUM: T. Quinctius Flaminīnus first served against Hannibal during the Second Punic War. He was present at the capture of Tarentum in 209 B. c., and in 208 was military tribune under Marcellus. After being employed on minor business of state, he became quaestor in 199, and, immediately after his year of office, consul, passing over the aedileship and praetorship, and attaining the consulship at the extraordinarily early age of 30. In 197 he won the victory of Cynoscephalae over the Macedonians, which ended the war. At the Isthmian games in the spring of 196 Flamininus made his famous proclamation of freedom to all the Greeks. He returned to Rome in 194 to enjoy a splendid triumph. For the rest of his life was employed chiefly on diplomatic business concerning Greece and the East. One of his embassies was to Prusias, king of Bithynia, call on him to surrender Hannibal, who was living at his court in advanced old age; this led to Hannibal's suicide. Flamininus was censor in 189 (see below, 42), and lived on till some time after 167, in which year he became augur; but the date of his death is unknown. He was a man of brilliant ability both as general and as diplomat, and also possessed much culture and was a great admirer of Greek literature. -- ILLE VIR etc.: _i.e._ the shepherd mentioned in n. on line 1. Livy 32, II, 4 says that Flamininus sent to the master of the shepherd, Charopus, an Epirote prince, to ask how far he might be trusted. Charopus replied that Flamininus might trust him, but had better keep a close watch on the operations himself. -- HAUD MAGNA CUM RE: 'of no great property'; _re_ = _re familiari_, as is often the case elsewhere in both verse and prose. Cf. pro Caelio 78 _hominem sine re. Cum_ is literally 'attended by'; it is almost superfluous here, since _vir haud magna re_ would have had just the same meaning. Madvig, Gram. § 258 has similar examples. -- PLENUS: final _s_ was so lightly pronounced that the older poets felt justified in neglecting it in their scanning. It was probably scarcely pronounced at all by the less educated Romans, since it is often wholly omitted in inscriptions, and has been lost in modern Italian. Cicero, Orator 161, says that the neglect to pronounce final _s_ is 'somewhat boorish' (_subrusticum_), though formerly thought 'very refined' (_politius_). Even Lucretius sometimes disregards it in his scanning. In the ordinary literary Latin a large number of words has lost an original _s_; _e.g._ all the nouns of the _-a_ declension. A. 375, _a_; G. 722; H. 608, 1, n. 3. -- FIDĒI: this form of the genitive of _fides_ is found also in Plautus, Aulularia 575, and Lucretius 5, 102. _Fidĕi_ as genitive seems only to occur in late poets, but as dative it is found in a fragment of Ennius. _Fidē_ as genitive occurs in Horace and Ovid. H. 585, III. 1; Roby, 357, (c). -- QUAMQUAM: see n. on 2 _etsi_. -- SOLLICITARI etc.: Cicero probably has not quoted the line as Ennius wrote it. The word _sic_, at least, is evidently inserted on purpose to correspond with _ut_ before _Flamininum_, -- NOCTESQUE DIESQUE: the use of _que ... que_ for _et ... et_ is almost entirely poetical, Sallust being the only prose writer of the best period in whose works the usage is beyond doubt. _Noctes_ is put before _dies_ here, as in _noctes diesque_ (Verr. 5, 112), _noctes et dies_ (Brut. 308 _etc._), _nodes ac dies_ (Arch. 29); cf. also Verg. Aen. 6, 127; and νυκτας τε και ημαρ in Iliad 5, 490; but the collocations _dies noctesque_, _dies et noctes_ are far commoner in Cicero. Madvig (Emend. Liv. p. 487 n., ed 2) says that in writers of Livy's time and earlier, when an action is mentioned which continues throughout a number of days and nights, either _dies et noctes_ and the like phrases are used, or _die et nocte_ and the like, but not _diem noctemque_ or _diem et noctem,_ which expression, he says, would imply that the action continued only throughout _one_ day and _one_ night. But Madvig has overlooked De Or. 2, 162 _eandem incu dem diem noctemque tundentibus;_ also three passages of Caesar: viz Bell. Gall. 7, 42, 6 and 7, 77, 11; Bell. Civ. 1, 62, 1; to which add a passage in the Bell. Hisp. 38. Though _diem noctemque_ does often mean 'throughout _one_ day and _one_ night' (as _e.g._ in Nep. Them. 8, 7), yet it would seem that the other sense cannot be excluded. -- MODERATIONEM ... AEQUITATEM: 'the self-control and even balance of your mind'. _Moderatio_ is in Cic. a common translation of σωφροσυνη. _Aequitas_ is not used here in its commonest sense of 'reasonableness' or 'equity', but as the noun corresponding to _aequus_ in the ordinary phrase _aequus animus_ (Horace, '_aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem_'), cf. Tusc. 1, 97 _hanc maximi animi aequitatem in ipsa morte._ said of Theramenes' undisturbed composure before his execution. -- ANIMI TUI: for the position of these words between _moderationem_ and _aequitatem_, to both of which nouns they refer (a form of speech called by the Latin grammarians _coniunctio_), see note on Laelius 8 _cum summi viri tum amicissimi_. -- COGNOMEN: _i.e._ the name _Atticus_, which Cicero's friend did not inherit, but adopted. For the word _cognomen_ cf. n. on 5. -- DEPORTASSE: it should be noted that the verb _deportare_ is nearly always in the best writers used of bringing things from the provinces to Italy or Rome, and not _vice versa_, the Romans using 'down' (_de_) of motion towards the capital. _Italia deportare_ occurs in Tacitus and late writers, but only in the sense of banishing a person (cf. Ann 14, 45). So _decedere de provincia_ is common, but not _Roma decedere_. As to the form _deportasse_, it may be remarked that Cic. in the vast majority of instances uses the contracted and not the full forms of the infinitives corresponding to perfects in -_avi_. So _putassent_ in 4. An extensive collection of examples of this and similar contractions may be found in Frohwein, Die Perfectbildungen auf -vi bei Cicero; Gera, 1874. -- HUMANITATEM: 'culture', _i.e._ learning resulting in gentleness and refinement of character. -- PRUDENTIAM: φρονησιν or practical wisdom. Corn. Nepos (or his imitator) in his life of Atticus 17, 3 says of him _principum philosophorum ita percepta habuit praecepta ut his ad vitam agendam non ad ostentationem uteretur_. -- ISDEM REBUS: _i.e._ the state of public affairs at the time, see Introd. -- QUIBUS ME IPSUM: strictly speaking the construction is inaccurate, since _suspicor commoveri_ must be supplied, and Cicero does not really mean to say that he merely _conjectures_ himself to be seriously affected by the state of public affairs; _ego ipse commoveor_ would have accurately expressed his meaning. The accusative is due to the attraction of _te_ above. -- MAIOR: = _difficilior_ as often; _e.g._ Lael. 29 _quod maius est_. -- VISUM EST MIHI CONSCRIBERE: = _placuit mihi_, 'I have determined to write'. The best writers rarely use the impersonal _videtur etc._ followed by an infinitive. When the usage occurs _videtur mihi etc._ generally have the meaning (as here) of δοκει μοι κ.τ.λ. = 'I have made up my mind'. Cf. Tusc. 5, 12 _Non mihi videtur ad beate vivendum satis posse virtutem_; ib. 5, 22 (a curious passage) _mihi enim non videbatur quisquam esse beatus posse cum esset in malis; in malis autem sapientem esse posse_; Off. 3, 71 _malitia quae volt illa quidem videri se esse prudentiam_ ('craft which desires that people should believe it to be wisdom'); Liv. 1, 10, 7 _dis visum nec irritam conditoris templi vocem esse_ ... ('the gods decided that the word of the founder of the shrine should not remain of no effect'). It would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a passage in a writer before silver Latin times where the best texts still exhibit anything like _videtur eum facere_ for _is videtur facere_. H 534, 1, n. 1; Roby, 1353. -- ALIQUID AD TE: 'some work dedicated to you'; so below, 3; cf. also Lael. 4 _ut de amicitia scriberem aliquid_; ib. _Catone maiore qui est scriptus ad te de senectute_; Div. 2, 3 _liber is quem ad nostrum Atticum de senectute misimus._

2. AUT ... AUT CERTE: so often in Cic.; _certe_, 'at any rate'. -- SENECTUTIS: at the time the words were written Cic. was 62 years old, Atticus three years older. For the meaning of _senectus_ see n. on 4. -- LEVARI VOLO: the best Latin writers frequently use the passive infinitive after verbs expressing desire, where moderns would incline to the active; here Cic. instead of saying 'I wish to relieve yourself and me of the burden' says 'I wish yourself and me to be relieved'. -- ETSI: = καιτοι 'and yet'. This use of _etsi_ to introduce a clause correcting the preceding clause, though not uncommon (_e.g._ below 29; Tusc. 1, 99; 3, 17; 4, 63; 5, 55), is far less common than that of _quamquam_, which we have in 1, 9, 10, 24, 47, 67, 69. -- TE QUIDEM: 'you at all events', 'you for one'. -- MODICE AC SAPIENTER: _modice_ recalls _moderationem_ above (_modice_ and _moderate_ are used with exactly the same sense by Cic.), while _sapienter_ recalls _aequitatem_, since _sapientia_ produces stability and an even balance of the mind. In De Or. 1, 132 we have _modice et scienter_. -- SICUT OMNIA: cf. Fin. 1, 7 _facete is quidem sicut alia_; also below, 65 _sicut alia_. -- ET FERRE ET LATURUM ESSE: Tischer rightly remarks that when a verb is repeated thus with a variation of tense Cic. very nearly always uses _et ... et_, and not a single _et_ merely. The contrast between the two tenses is thus made more pointed. Cf. 3 _et diximus et dicemus_. -- CERTO SCIO: one of the best MSS., followed by some editors, has here _certe scio_. The latter phrase would mean 'I am sure that I know' (a sense which seems out of place here); the former 'I have certain or sure knowledge'. Observe that _certe_ may be used with all verbs, while _certo_ is only used with _scire_. A. 151, c. -- SED: the idea implied is, 'but though I well know you do not need such consolation, I have yet resolved to address my book to you'. -- OCCURREBAS DIGNUS: a condensed construction for _occurrebat te digmim esse_.

P. 2. -- MUNERE ... UTERETUR: 'a gift such as we both might make use of in company'. -- MIHI QUIDEM: this forms a correction upon _uterque nostrum_ above: 'whatever you may think of the work, _I at least_ have found the writing of it pleasant'. -- CONFECTIO: 'composition'; 'completion'; a word scarcely found in the classical Latin except in Cicero's writings. Cf. De Or. 2, 52 _annalium confectio;_ pro. Font. 3 _confectio tabularum_ ('account-books'). -- FUIT UT ABSTERSERIT: the sequence of tenses _fuit ut abstergeret_ would have been equally admissible, but the meaning would have been slightly different. With the perfect the sense is 'was so pleasant that it _has_ wiped away'; with the imperfect 'was so pleasant that it _did_ (while I was writing) wipe away'. The metaphor in _absterserit_ is common: _e.g._ Tusc. 3, 43 _luctum omnem absterseris_. With this statement of Cicero's concerning the effect the work had on himself contrast Att. 14, 21, 3 _legendus mihi saepius est Cato maior ad te missus. Amariorem enim me senectus facit. Stomachor omnia_. -- OMNIS: acc. pl. A. 55, _c_; G. 60, 1; H. 67. -- EFFECERIT MOLLEM: so 56 _poteratne tantus animus efficere non iucundam senectutem_; but 56 _conditiora facit haec aucupium_. _Efficio_ gives more emphatically than _facio_ the idea of the completion of the action. Cf. Lael. 73 _efficere aliquem consulem_, 'to carry through a man's election as consul'; _facere aliquem consulem_ being merely 'to vote for a man's election to the consulship'. -- SATIS DIGNE: 'as she deserves', lit. 'in a sufficiently worthy manner.' Some editors have thought _digne_ superfluous and wished to cast it out but we have _satis digne_ elsewhere, as in Verr. Act. II. 1, 82; cf. also Sex. Rosc. 33 _pro dignitate laudare satis commode_. -- QUI PAREAT ... DEGERE: a conditional sentence of irregular form (_qui_ = _siquis_; _cui_ simply connective, = _et ei_). Cf. Div. 1, 127 _qui enim teneat causas rerum futurarum, idem necesse est omnia teneat quae futura sint_; also the examples in Roby's Grammar, 1558. A. 310, _a_, 307, _b_; G. 594, 1, 598; H. 507, II. and III. 2. Some, however, make _possit_ a subjunctive of characteristic or of cause with _cui_, and _pareat_ a subjunctive by attraction. -- OMNE TEMPUS AETATIS: 'every season of life'; so in 55 _extremum tempus aetatis_; 70 _breve tempus aetatis._ The opposite phrase _aetas temporis_ is very rare; it occurs in Propertius 1, 4, 7.