The Academic Questions, Treatise De Finibus, and Tusculan Disputations, of M.T. Cicero, With a Sketch of the Greek Philosophers Mentioned by · Marcus Tullius Cicero
40 B.C. 480.
41 The Greek line occurs in the Orestes, 207. Ὡ πότνια λήθη τῶν κακῶν ὡς εἶ γλυκύ. Virgil has the same idea— Vos et Scyllæam rabiem, penitusque sonantes Accêtis scopulos, vos et Cyclopia saxa Experti; revocate animos, moestumque timorem Pellite: forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit.—Æn. i. 200. Which Dryden translates— With me the rocks of Scylla have you tried, Th’ inhuman Cyclops and his den defied: What greater ills hereafter can you bear? Resume your courage and dismiss your care; An hour will come with pleasure to relate Your sorrows past as benefits of fate. 42 That is, of the past, the present, and the future. 43 This seems to refer to the Greek epigram— Τὸν γαίης καὶ πόντου ἀμειφθείσαισι κελεύθοις, Ναύτην ἠπείρου, πεζόπορον πελάγους. Ἐν τρίσσαις δοράτων ἑκατοντάσιν ἔστεγεν Ἄρης Σπάρτης αἰσχυνεσθ᾽ οὔρεα καὶ πελάγη. Which may be translated— Him who the paths of land and sea disturb’d, Sail’d o’er the earth, walk’d o’er the humbled waves, Three hundred spears of dauntless Sparta curb’d. Shame on you, land and sea, ye willing slaves! 44 The Latin is _ærumnæ_: perhaps it is in allusion to this passage that Juvenal says— Et potiores Herculis _ærumnas_ credat, sævosque labores Et Venere et cœnis, et pluma Sardanapali. Sat. x. 361. 45 The great Lucullus, father of this young Lucullus, was married to Servilia, half-sister to Cato, and daughter of Quintus Servilius Cæpio, who was killed in the Social war, having been decoyed into an ambush by Pompædius, B.C. 90. The young Lucullus was afterwards killed in the battle of Philippi.
46 “Malitia, badness of quality ... especially malice, ill-will, spite, malevolence, artfulness, cunning, craft.”—Riddle and Arnold, Lat. Dict. 47 The Greek proverb was, ἐμοῦ θανόντος γαῖα μιχθήτω πυρί. 48 The Curia Hostilia was built by Tullus Hostilius, and was originally the only place where a Senatus Consultum could be passed, though the senate met at times in other places. But, under Cæsar, the Curia Julia, an immense edifice, had been built as the senate-house. 49 Pope’s Homer, Odys. xii. 231. 50 Archilochus was a native of Paros, and flourished about 714-676, B.C. His poems were chiefly Iambics of bitter satire. Horace speaks of him as the inventor of Iambics, and calls himself his pupil. Parios ego primus Iambos Ostendi Latio, numeros animosque secutus Archilochi, non res et agentia verba Lycamben. Epist. I. xix. 25. And in another place he says— Archilochum proprio rabies armavit Iambo.—A. P. 74. 51 This was Livius Andronicus: he is supposed to have been a native of Tarentum, and he was made prisoner by the Romans, during their wars in Southern Italy; owing to which he became the slave of M. Livius Salinator. He wrote both comedies and tragedies, of which Cicero (Brutus 18) speaks very contemptuously, as “Livianæ fabulæ non satis dignæ quæ iterum legantur,”—not worth reading a second time. He also wrote a Latin Odyssey, and some hymns, and died probably about B.C. 221.
52 C. Fabius, surnamed Pictor, painted the temple of Salus, which the dictator C. Junius Brutus Bubulus dedicated B.C. 302. The temple was destroyed by fire in the reign of Claudius. The painting is highly praised by Dionysius, xvi. 6. 53 For an account of the ancient Greek philosophers, see the sketch at the end of the volume. 54 Isocrates was born at Athens, B.C. 436. He was a pupil of Gorgias, Prodicus and Socrates. He opened a school of rhetoric, at Athens, with great success. He died by his own hand at the age of 98. 55 So Horace joins these two classes as inventors of all kinds of improbable fictions— Pictoribus atque poetis Quidlibet audendi semper fuit æqua potestas.—A. P. 9. Which Roscommon translates— Painters and poets have been still allow’d Their pencil and their fancies unconfined. 56 Epicharmus was a native of Cos, but lived at Megara, in Sicily, and when Megara was destroyed, removed to Syracuse, and lived at the court of Hiero, where he became the first writer of comedies, so that Horace ascribes the invention of comedy to him, and so does Theocritus. He lived to a great age. 57 Pherecydes was a native of Scyros, one of the Cyclades; and is said to have obtained his knowledge from the secret books of the Phœnicians. He is said also to have been a pupil of Pittacus, the rival of Thales, and the master of Pythagoras. His doctrine was that there were three principles, Ζεὺς, or Æther, Χθὼν, or Chaos, and Χρόνος, or Time; and four elements, Fire, Earth, Air, and Water, from which everything that exists was formed.—Vide Smith’s Dict. Gr., and Rom. Biog.
58 Archytas was a native of Tarentum, and is said to have saved the life of Plato by his influence with the tyrant Dionysius. He was especially great as a mathematician and geometrician, so that Horace calls him Maris et terræ numeroque carentis arenæ Mensorem—Od. i. 28. 1. Plato is supposed to have learnt some of his views from him, and Aristotle to nave borrowed from him every idea of the Categories. 59 This was not Timæus the historian, but a native of Locri, who is said also in the De Finibus (c. 29) to have been a teacher of Plato. There is a treatise extant bearing his name, which is, however, probably spurious, and only an abridgment of Plato’s dialogue Timæus. 60 Dicæarchus was a native of Messana, in Sicily, though he lived chiefly in Greece; he was one of the later disciples of Aristotle. He was a great geographer, politician, historian, and philosopher, and died about B.C. 285. 61 Aristoxenus was a native of Tarentum, and also a pupil of Aristotle. We know nothing of his opinions except that he held the soul to be a _harmony_ of the body; a doctrine which had been already discussed by Plato in the Phædo, and combated by Aristotle. He was a great musician, and the chief portions of his works which have come down to us are fragments of some musical treatises.—Smith’s Dict. Gr. and Rom. Biog., to which source I must acknowledge my obligation for nearly the whole of these biographical notes.
62 The Simonides here meant, is the celebrated poet of Ceos, the perfecter of Elegiac poetry among the Greeks. He flourished about the time of the Persian war. Besides his poetry, he is said to have been the inventor of some method of aiding the memory. He died at the court of Hiero, B.C. 467. 63 Theodectes was a native of Phaselis, in Pamphylia, a distinguished rhetorician and tragic poet, and flourished in the time of Philip of Macedon. He was a pupil of Isocrates, and lived at Athens, and died there at the age of 41. 64 Cineas was a Thessalian, and (as is said in the text) came to Rome as ambassador from Pyrrhus after the battle of Heraclea, B.C. 280, and his memory is said to have been so great that on the day after his arrival he was able to address all the senators and knights by name. He probably died before Pyrrhus returned to Italy, B.C. 276. 65 Charmadas, called also Charmides, was a fellow pupil with Philo, the Larissæan of Clitomachus, the Carthaginian. He is said by some authors to have founded a fourth academy. 66 Metrodorus was a minister of Mithridates the Great; and employed by him as supreme judge in Pontus, and afterwards as an ambassador. Cicero speaks of him in other places (De Orat. ii. 88) as a man of wonderful memory.
Aggeribus socer Alpinis atque arce Monœci Descendens, gener adversis instructus Eois.—Æn. vi. 830. 72 This idea is beautifully expanded by Byron:— Yet if, as holiest men have deem’d, there be A land of souls beyond that sable shore To shame the doctrine of the Sadducee And sophist, madly vain of dubious lore, How sweet it were in concert to adore With those who made our mortal labours light, To hear each voice we fear’d to hear no more, Behold each mighty shade reveal’d to sight, The Bactrian, Samian sage, and all who taught the right. _Childe Harold_, ii. 8. 73 The epitaph in the original is,— Ὥ ξεῖν᾽ ἀγγεῖλον Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων πειθόμενοι νομίμοις. 74 This was expressed in the Greek verses— Ἀρχὴν μὲν μὴ φῦναι ἐπιχθονίοισιν ἄριστον, φύντα δ᾽ ὅπως ὤκιστα πύλας Ἀίδαο περῆσαι; which by some authors are attributed to Homer. 75 This is the first fragment of the Cresphontes.—Ed. Var. vii. p. 594 Ἔδει γὰρ ἡμᾶς σύλλογον ποιουμένους Τὸν φύντα θρηνεῖν, εὶς ὅσ᾽ ἔρχεται κακά. Τὸν δ᾽ αὖ θανόντα καὶ πόνων πεπαυμένον χαίροντας εὐφημοῖντας ἐκπέμπειν δόμων. 76 The Greek verses are quoted by Plutarch— ... Ἤπου νήπιε, ἠλίθιοι φρένες ἀνδρᾶν Εὐθύνοος κεῖται μοιριδίῳ θανάτῳ Οὐκ ἦν γὰρ ζώειν καλὸν αὐτῷ οὄτε γονεῦσι. 77 This refers to the story that when Eumolpus, the son of Neptune, whose assistance the Eleusinians had called in against the Athenians, had been slain by the Athenians, an oracle demanded the sacrifice of one of the daughters of Erechtheus, the King of Athens. And when one was drawn by lot, the others voluntarily accompanied her to death.
78 Menœceus was son of Creon, and in the war of the Argives against Thebes, Teresias declared that the Thebans should conquer if Menœceus would sacrifice himself for his country; and accordingly he killed himself outside the gates of Thebes. 79 The Greek is, μήδε μοι ἄκλαυστος θάνατος μόλοι, ἀλλὰ φίλοισι ποιήσαιμι θανὼν ἄλγεα καὶ στοναχάς. 80 Soph. Trach. 1047. 81 The lines quoted by Cicero here, appear to have come from the Latin play of Prometheus by Accius; the ideas are borrowed rather than translated from the Prometheus of Æschylus. 82 From Exerceo. 83 Each soldier carried a stake, to help form a palisade in front of the camp. 84 Insania—from _in_, a particle of negative force in composition, and _sanus_, healthy, sound. 85 The man who first received this surname was L. Calpurnius Piso, who was consul, B.C. 133, in the Servile War. 86 The Greek is— Ἀλλά μοι οἰδάνεται κραδίν χόλω ὅπποτ ἐκείνου Μνήσομαι ὅς μ᾽ ἀσύφηλον ἐν Ἀργείοισιν ἔρεξεν.—Il. ix. 642. I have given Pope’s translation in the text. 87 This is from the Theseus— Ἐγὼ δὲ τοῦτο παρὰ σοφοῦ τινος μαθὼν εἰς φροντίδας νοῦν συμφοράς τ᾽ ἐβαλλόμην φυγάς τ᾽ ἐμαυτῷ προστιθεὶς πάτρας ἐμῆς. θανάτους τ᾽ ἀώρους, καὶ κακῶν ἄλλας ὁδοὺς ὥς, εἴ τι πάσχοιυμ᾽ ὦν ἐδοξαζόν ποτε Μή μοι νέορτον προσπεσὸν μᾶλλον δάκοι. 88 Ter. Phorm. II. i. 11.
89 This refers to the speech of Agamemnon in Euripides, in the Iphigenia in Aulis— ... Ζηλῶ σε, γέρον, ζηλῶ δ᾽ ἀνδρῶν ὅς ἀκίνδυνον βίον ἐξεπέρασ, ἀγνὼς, ἀκλεής.—v. 15. 90 This is a fragment from the Hypsipyle— Ἔφυ μὲν οὐδεις ὅστις οὐ πονεῖ βροτῶν; θάπτει τε τέκνα χάτερ᾽ αὖ κτᾶται νεὰ, αὐτός τε θνήσκει. καὶ τάδ᾽ ἄχθονται βροτοὶ εἰς γῆν φέροντες γῆν; ἀναγκαιως δ᾽ ἔχει βίον θερίζειν ὦστε κάρπιμον στάχυν. 91 Πολλὰς ἐκ κεφαλῆς προθελύμνους ἕλκετο χαίτας.—Il. x. 15. 92 Ητοι ο καππεδιον το Αληιον οιος αλατο ον θυμον κατεδων, πατον ανθρωπων αλεεινων.—Il. vi. 201. 93 This is a translation from Euripides— Ὥσθ᾽ ἵμερος μ᾽ ὑπῆλθε γῇ τε κ᾽ οὐρανῷ λέξαι μολούσῃ δεῦρο Μηδείας τύχας.—Med. 57. 94 Λίην γὰρ πολλοὶ καὶ ἐπήτριμοι ἤυατα πάντα πίπτουσιν, πότε κέν τις ἀναπνεύσειε πόνοιο? ἀλλὰ χρὴ τὸν μὲν καταθαπτέμεν, ὅς κε θάνησι, νηλέα θυμὸν ἔχοντας, ἔπ᾽ ἤματι δακρυσάντας.—Hom. Il. xix. 226. 95 This is one of the fragments of Euripides which we are unable to assign to any play in particular; it occurs Var. Ed. Tr. Inc. 167. Εἰ μέν τόδ᾽ ἦμαρ πρῶτον ἦν κακουμένω καὶ μὴ μακρὰν δὴ διὰ πόνων ἐναυστόλουν εἰκὸς σφαδάζειν ἦν ἄν, ὡς νεόζυγα πῶλον, χάλινον ἀρτίως δεδεγμένον; νῦν δ᾽ ἀμβλύς εἰμι, καὶ κατηρτυκὼς κακῶν. 96 This is only a fragment preserved by Stobæus— Τοὺς δ᾽ ἄν μεγίστους καὶ σοφωτάτους φρενὶ τοιούσδ᾽ ἴδοις ἄν, οἷός ἐστι νῦν ὅδε, καλῶς κακῶς πράσσοντι συμπαραινέσαι; ὅταν δὲ δαίμων ἀνδρὸς εὐτυχοῦς τὸ πρὶν μάστιγ᾽ ἐρείση τοῦ βίου παλίντροπον, τὰ πολλὰ φροῦδα καὶ κακῶς εἰρημένα.
97 Ωκ. Οὐκοῦν Προμηθεῦ τοῦτο γιγνώσκεις ὅτι ὀργῆς νοσούσης εἰσὶν ἰατροὶ λόγοι. Πρ. ἐάν τις ἐν καιρῷ γε μαλθάσση κέαρ καὶ μὴ σφριγῶντα θυμὸν ἰσχναίνη βίᾳ. Æsch. Prom. v. 378. 98 Cicero alludes here to Il. vii. 211, which is thus translated by Pope— His massy javelin quivering in his hand, He stood the bulwark of the Grecian band; Through every Argive heart new transport ran, All Troy stood trembling at the mighty man: E’en Hector paused, and with new doubt oppress’d, Felt his great heart suspended in his breast; ’Twas vain to seek retreat, and vain to fear, Himself had challenged, and the foe drew near. But Melmoth (Note on the Familiar Letters of Cicero, book ii. Let. 23) rightly accuses Cicero of having misunderstood Homer, who “by no means represents Hector as being thus totally dismayed at the approach of his adversary; and indeed it would have been inconsistent with the general character of that hero to have described him under such circumstances of terror.” Τὸν δὲ καὶ Ἀργεῖοι μέγ᾽ ἐγήθεον εἰσορόωντες, Τρωὰς δὲ τρόμος αἶνος ὑπήλυθε γυῖα ἕκαστον, Ἕκτορι δ᾽ αὐτῷ θυμὸς ἐνὶ στήθεσσι πάτασσεν. But there is a great difference, as Dr. Clarke remarks, between θυμὸς ἐνὶ στήθεσσι πάτασσεν and καρδίη ἔξω στηθέων ἔθρωσκεν, or τρόμος αἶνος ὑπήλυθε γυῖα.—_The Trojans_, says Homer, _trembled_ at the sight of Ajax, and even Hector himself felt some emotion in his breast.
99 Cicero means Scipio Nasica, who in the riots consequent on the re-election of Tiberius Gracchus to the tribunate, B.C. 133, having called in vain on the consul, Mucius Scævola, to save the republic, attacked Gracchus himself, who was slain in the tumult. 100 Morosus is evidently derived from mores—“Morosus, mos, stubbornness, selfwill, etc.”—Riddle and Arnold, Lat. Diet. 101 In the original they run thus:— Οὔκ ἐστιν οὐδὲν δεινὸν ὧδ᾽ εἰπεῖν ἔπος, Οὐδὲ πάθος, οὐδὲ ξυμφορὰ θεήλατος Ἦς οὐκ ἄν ἄροιτ᾽ ἄχθος ἀνθρώπου φύσις. 102 This passage is from the Eunuch of Terence, Act i. sc. 1, 14. 103 These verses are from the Atreus of Accius. 104 This was Marcus Atilius Regulus, the story of whose treatment by the Carthaginians in the first Punic War is well known to everybody. 105 This was Quintus Servilius Cæpio, who, B.C. 105, was destroyed, with his army, by the Cimbri,—it was believed as a judgment for the covetousness which he had displayed in the plunder of Tolosa. 106 This was Marcus Aquilius, who, in the year B.C. 88, was sent against Mithridates as one of the consular legates: and being defeated, was delivered up to the king by the inhabitants of Mitylene. Mithridates put him to death by pouring molten gold down his throat. 107 This was the elder brother of the triumvir Marcus Crassus, B.C. 87. He was put to death by Fimbria, who was in command of some of the troops of Marius.
108 Lucius Cæsar and Caius Cæsar were relations (it is uncertain in what degree) of the great Cæsar, and were killed by Fimbria on the same occasion as Octavius. 109 M. Antonius was the grandfather of the triumvir; he was murdered the same year, B.C. 87, by Annius, when Marius and Cinna took Rome. 110 This story is alluded to by Horace— Districtus ensis cui super impiâ Cervice pendet non Siculæ dapes Dulcem elaborabunt saporem, Non avium citharæve cantus Somnum reducent.—iii. 1. 17. 111 Hieronymus was a Rhodian, and a pupil of Aristotle, flourishing about 300 B.C. He is frequently mentioned by Cicero. 112 We know very little of Dinomachus. Some MSS. have Clitomachus. 113 Callipho was in all probability a pupil of Epicurus, but we have no certain information about him. 114 Diodorus was a Syrian, and succeeded Critolaus as the head of the Peripatetic School at Athens. 115 Aristo was a native of Ceos, and a pupil of Lycon, who succeeded Stratton as the head of the Peripatetic School, B.C. 270. He afterwards himself succeeded Lycon. 116 Pyrrho was a native of Elis, and the originator of the sceptical theories of some of the ancient philosophers. He was a contemporary of Alexander. 117 Herillus was a disciple of Zeno of Cittium, and therefore a Stoic. He did not, however, follow all the opinions of his master: he held that knowledge was the chief good. Some of the treatises of Cleanthes were written expressly to confute him.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.