Cato Maior de Senectute with Introduction and Notes · Marcus Tullius Cicero
NOTES TO CATO MAIOR.
P. 8. -- CUM PYRRHO: note the position of the words between _pacem_ and _foedus_, with both of which they go. This usage is called by the grammarians _coniunctio_; cf. n. on Lael. 8 _cum summi viri tum amicissimi_, also above, _quae iuventute geruntur et viribus_, below 18 _quae sunt gerenda praescribo et quo modo_. -- FOEDUS: this seems opposed to _pacem_ as a formal engagement is to a mere abstention from hostilities. -- NON DUBITAVIT DICERE: when _dubitare_ means 'to hesitate' (about a course of action), and the sentence is _negative_, or an interrogative sentence assuming a negative answer, the infinitive construction generally follows, as here; but the infinitive is rare in a _positive_ sentence. When _dubitare_ means to 'be in doubt' (as to whether certain statements are true or not), the regular construction is either _quin_ with subj. or some form of indirect interrogative clause. Cf. below, 25. -- QUO VOBIS: from the _Annales_. In _mentis dementis_ we have _oxymoron_ (an intentional contradiction in terms) as in 38 _sensum sine sensu_; 39 _munus ... aufert_. On the case of _vobis_, see Roby, 1154, A. 235, _a_, H. 384, 4, n. 2. -- ANTEHAC: always a dissyllable in verse, and probably so pronounced in prose -- VIAI: the old genitive. A. 36 _a_, G. 27, Rem.
1, H. 49, 2. The reading is not quite certain, if _viai_ be read it is not altogether certain whether it depends on _quo_ or on _sese flexere_. In the former construction we have a partitive gen with an adv; A. 216, _a_, 4, G. 371, Rem. 4, H. 397, 4, in the latter, a distinct Graecism like _desine querellarum_ (Hor Od 2, 9, 17) and the like; A. 243 Rem., G. 373 Rem. 6, H. 410 V 4. -- ET TAMEN: the sense is incompletely expressed, in full it is 'and yet there is no need for me to refer to Appius' speech as given by Ennius, since the speech itself is in existence.' Exactly similar ellipses are found with _et tamen_ in Fin 1, 11 and 15; 2, §§ 15, 21, 64 and 85, Att. 7, 3, 10, Lucretius 5, 1177. In Munro's note on the last passage a collection of examples will be found. -- APPI ... ORATIO: the speech was known to Cicero, and was one of the oldest monuments of prose composition in Latin extant in his time, see Brut.
61. Plutarch, Pyrrhus 19, gives an account of Appius' speech, which may founded on the original, he mentions it also in his tract commonly called '_an seni sit gerenda res publica_', c. 21. Ihne (History of Rome, Vol. I. p. 521, Eng. ed.) doubts whether the speech, as Cic. knew it, was committed to writing by Appius himself. -- HAEC ILLE EGIT: 'he made this speech'. -- SEPTEMDECIM ANNIS: as the second (_alterum_) consulship was in 296, and the speech in 280, both these years are included in the reckoning by a usage very common in Latin. For the ablative cf. 19. -- CENSOR ... ANTE CONSULATUM: this was unusual, and therefore to Claudius' honor. -- GRANDEM SANE: 'undoubtedly old'. -- ET TAMEN SIC: _i.e. eum tum grandem fuisse_ Lahmeyer wrongly says that _sic_ points to the words _atque haec ille egit_. It may be noted that _sic_ takes the place of an object after _accipimus_, cf. 77 _ita crederem_; 78 _sic mihi persuasi_, also 18 _male cogitanti_.
17. NIHIL AFFERUNT: 'they bring forward nothing', _i.e._ what they bring forward is worthless, so in Greek ουδεν λεγειν, the opposite of which is λεγειν τι. Cf. 8 _est istuc aliquid_. -- SIMILES UT SI: a very rare construction. Equally unusual is _similes tamquam si_ in Div. 2, 131. In Tusc. 4, 41 and Off. 1, 87 we find _similiter ut si_ in Fin. 2, 21 and 4, 31 _similiter_ or _similis et si_, in N.D. 3, 8 _similiter ac si_, also in Liv. 5, 5, 12 _dissimilia ac si_, in 35, 42, 10 _idem ac si_. As regards the _ut_ after _similes_, we may compare a few passages in which _simul ut_ appears for _simul ac_, see Reid's n. on Academ 2, 51. In the English Bible there are expressions like _similes sunt ut si qui dicant_, 'they are like as if some men should say.' -- SCANDANT: '_cum_ is used with the subjunctive when it expresses a kind of comparison, and especially a contrast, between the contents of a leading proposition and a subordinate ("whereas", etc.)' Madvig, 358, Obs. 3. The underlying idea in this use is generally cause, sometimes concession. -- PER FOROS 'over the deck'. -- ILLE: for the omission of _sed_ or _autem_ (_asyndeton adversativum_) see n. on 3 _librum_, etc. -- CLAVUM: 'tiller'. With this passage Lahmeyer well compares what Cicero says of himself in Fam. 9, 15, 3 _sedebamus in puppi et clavum tenebamus; nunc autem vix est in sentina locus_. -- VELOCITATE: _velocitas_ and _celeritas_ differ very slightly; the former means rather speed of movement in one line the latter rather power of rapid motion with frequent change of direction. The emphatic word in this clause is _corporum_. Cf. Off. 1, 79 _honestum ... animi efficitur non corporis viribus_. -- CONSILIO ... SENTENTIA: _consilio_, advice; _auctoritate_, weight of influence; _sententia,_ an opinion or vote formally given. -- QUIBUS: in twofold relation; with _orbari_, abl. of separation, with _augeri_ of specification.
18. NISI FORTE: ironical, used to introduce a possible, but absurd objection to something which has gone before. The verb that follows is always in the indicative. -- MILES etc.: 'as common soldier'; see n. on 10. -- IN VARIO GENERE: we use the plural, 'in different kinds'. Cf. Acad. 2, 3 _in omni genere belli_; Deiot. 12 _in omni genere bellorum_. -- CESSARE: cf. n. on 13. -- AT SENATUI etc.: exactly the same ideas are expressed, with the same mention of Cato's activity in Off. 1, 79. -- MALE COGITANTI: 'which has now for a long time been plotting mischief'; A. 290, _a_; G. 671, 221; H. 549, 4; 467, III. 2. Cf. pro Sulla 70 _nefarie cogitare_; for the use of the adverb see n. on 16 _sic_. On Cato's attitude toward Carthage see Introd. -- VERERI: the construction is unusual. _Vereor_ regularly takes after it an accusative, or else a clause with _ne_ or _ut_. A passage much resembling this is Rab. Post. 10 _omnes qui aliquid de se verebantur_; cf. also Att. 10, 4, 6 _de vita sua metuere_; Verg. Aen. 9, 207 _de te nil tale verebar_; in all these examples the ablative with _de_ denotes the quarter threatened, not, as here, the quarter from which the threat comes. -- EXSCISAM: from _exscindo_; most edd. _excisam_, but to raze a city is _urbem exscindere_ not _excidere_; _e.g._ Rep. 6, 11 _Numantiam exscindes_.
19. QUAM PALMAM etc.: a prophecy after the event, like that in Rep. 6, 11 _avi relliquias_, the finishing up of the Punic wars. For the use of _relliquias_ cf. Verg. Aen. 11, 30 _Troas relliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli_; ib. 598; ib. 3, 87. -- TERTIUS: so all our MSS. This places the elder Scipio's death in 183, which agrees with Livy's account in 39, 50, 10. But the year before Cato's censorship was 185 not 183, hence some edd. read _quintus_ and some _sextus_ in place of _tertius_. P. 9. -- NOVEM ANNIS: as Cato's consulship was in 195 these words also apparently disagree with _tertius_ above. _Novem annis post_ means nine _full_ years after, _i.e._ 185 not 186; cf. 42 _septem annis post_. -- ENIM: implies that the answer 'no' has been given to the question and proceeds to account for that answer. -- EXCURSIONE: a military term = 'skirmishing'; Cf. Div. 2, 26 _prima orationis excursio_. -- HASTIS: loosely used for _pilis_. The long old Roman _hasta_, whence the name _hastati_, had long before Cato's time been discarded for the _pilum_ or short javelin, which was thrown at the enemy from a distance before the troops closed and used the sword. -- CONSILIUM: the repetition of consilium in a different sense from that which it had in the sentence before seems to us awkward; but many such repetitions are found in Cicero. _Consilium_ corresponds to both 'counsel' and 'council'; the senate was originally _regium consilium_, the king's body of advisers. Here translate _summum consilium_ 'the supreme deliberative body'. -- SENATUM: 'assembly of elders'. Cf. 56 _senatores, id est senes_. _Senatus_ implies a lost verb _sen[=a]-re_, to be or grow old from the stem of which both _sen[=a]-tus_ and _sen[=a]-tor_ are derived. This stem again implies a lost noun or adjective _senus_, old. The word _senatus_ was collective, like _comitatus_, a body of companions, _exercitus_, a trained band etc.
20. AMPLISSIMUM: 'most honorable'. -- UT SUNT ... SENES: the Spartan γερουσια, as it is commonly called, consisted of 28 members, all over 60 years of age. Herodotus uses the term γεροντες (_senes_) for this assembly; Xenophon γεροντια. In the Laconian dialect γερωια was its name; we also find γεροντευειν 'to be a senator'. For _ut ... sic_ cf. Academ. 2, 14, _similiter vos cum perturbare, ut illi rem publicam_, _sic vos philosophiam velitis_; also Lael. 19. -- AUDIRE: like ακουω, used especially of historical matters, since instruction in them was almost entirely oral. Cf. ανηκοος = 'ignorant of history'. -- VOLETIS: see note on 7 _faciam ut potero_; cf. Roby, 1464, _a_; Madvig, 339, Obs. 1; A. 278, _b_; G. 234, Rem. 1; H. 470, 2. -- ADULESCENTIBUS: Cic., when he wrote this, was possibly thinking of Athens and Alcibiades. -- LABEFACTATAS: the verb _labefacio_ is foreign to good prose, in which _labefacto_ is used. -- SUSTENTATAS: Cic. does not use _sustentus_. In Mur. 3 _sustinenda_ is followed by _sustentata_ in the same sentence. -- CEDO ... CITO: the line is of the kind called tetrameter iambic acatalectic (or octonarius), and is scanned thus: -- v v -' | - - | - -' | v - || - -' | - - | - -' | v -.
Lysimachus was the father of Aristides. -- SUNT: = _vivunt_, as often; so in 32 _esse = vivere_; 54 _fuit = vixit_; 56, 60, 69. -- SEPULCRA LEGENS: Cato was a great antiquarian; cf. 38 _Originum_. -- IN MEMORIAM REDEO MORTUORUM: the genitive as with _memini, recordari_ etc. For the phrase cf. Verr. 1, 120 _redite in memoriam, iudices, quae libido istius fuerit_; also below, 59 _in gratiam redire cum voluptate_. Here translate 'I refresh my memory of the dead'. -- QUEMQUAM SENEM: the best writers do not use _quisquam _as an adjective, but there is no need to alter _senem_ into _senum_ as some editors do, since _senem_ is a substitute for a clause _cum senex esset_; 'I never heard that anybody because he was an old man ...'. _Senes_ must be so taken in 22, since _pontifices_ etc. cannot stand as adjectives. Cf. n. on 10 _adulescentulus miles_. -- VADIMONIA: 'their appointments to appear in court, the debts due to them and the debts they owe'. When the hearing of a suit had to be adjourned, the defendant was bound over either on his own recognizance merely (_pure_) or along with sureties (_vades_) to appear in court on the day appointed for the next hearing, a sum or sums of money being forfeited in case of his non-appearance.
The engagement to appear was technically called _vadimonium_; when the defendant entered into the engagement he was said _vadimonium promittere_; if he kept the engagement, _v. obire_ or _sistere_; if he failed in it, _v. deserere_. The plural _vadimonia_ is here used because a number of suits is meant; the word _constituta_ is chosen as a more general term than _promissa_, and as referring to the circumstances of both plaintiff and defendant. Strictly speaking, it is the presiding judge who _vadimonia constituit_. On this account _vadimonia constituta_ should be translated as above 'appointments', and not _'bonds'_ or _'engagements_' to appear in court. P. 10. -- 22. QUID ... SENES: _sc. tibi videntur_; 'what do you think of old men as lawyers, etc.?' So without ellipsis, Fam. 9, 21, 1 _quid tibi ego in epistulis videor?_ -- INGENIA: = _suum cuique ingenium_; 'old men retain their wits'. -- PERMANEAT: A. 266, _d_; G. 575; H. 513, I. -- STUDIUM ET INDUSTRIA: 'earnestness and activity'; not a case of hendiadys, as some editors make it. Cf. n. on 15 _iuventute et viribus_. -- NEQUE EA SOLUM: = ουδε ταυτα μονον, 'and that not only'. -- HONORATIS: this does not correspond to our 'honored', but implies that the persons have held high offices (_honores_); cf. 61 _senectus honorata praesertim_. Here translate 'statesmen'. -- IN VITA ... QUIETA: 'in an unofficial and retired life'. There is chiasmus here, since _privata_ is contrasted with _honoratis_ and _quieta_ with _claris_. -- SUMMAM SENECTUTEM: Sophocles died at the age of 90 in 405 B.C. -- QUOD PROPTER STUDIUM: 'from his devotion to this occupation'. -- FILIIS: except Plutarch, who probably follows Cicero's words, all the authorities tell the story of the poet's eldest son Iophon only. The tale is full of improbabilities. -- REM: = _rem familiarem_ as in 1. -- PATRIBUS BONIS INTERDICI SOLET: 'fathers are often prevented from managing their property'.
For the construction cf. the expression _interdicere alicui aqua et igni: interdici_ is here used impersonally with _patribus_ in the dat.; A. 230; H. 384, 5; _bonis_ is abl. of separation (deprivation). The fragment of the XII tables here referred to is thus given in Dirksen's edition: _sei fouriosos aut prodicos (prodigus) escit (erit) adenatorum centiliomque (gentiliumque) eius potestas estod, i.e._ the agnates (male relatives whose kinship with the _furiosus_ is derived through males) and members of his _gens_ are to administer his property. We have preserved the form in which the judgment was made by the _praetor urbanus_ (Paulus, Sent. 3, 4a, 7): '_quando tibi tua bona paterna avitaque nequitia tua disperdis liberosque tuos ad egestatem perducis, ob eam rem tibi ea re commercioque interdico_'. -- QUASI DESIPIENTEM: '‛ως παραφρονουντα' says the author of the anonymous life of Sophocles. Cf. Xenophon, Mem. 1, 2, 49. -- IN MANIBUS HABEBAT: 'had on hand' _i.e._ in preparation. _Est in manibus_ in 12 has a different meaning. -- SCRIPSERAT: he had written it but not finally corrected it. -- RECITASSE: the common version of the story states that not the whole play was read but only the fine chorus beginning ευιππου, ξενε, τασδε χωρας. -- VIDERETUR: _sc. esse_; the infinitive is often omitted thus after verbs of desiring, thinking etc., also verbs of speaking and hearing; cf. Lael. 18 _eam sapientiam interpretantur_; ib. 29 _quam natam volunt_; ib. 64 _homines ex maxime raro genere iudicare;_ Acad. 2, 12 _viderenturne ea Philonis._
23. HESIODUM: see n. on 54. -- Simoniden: Simonides of Ceos (not S. of Amorgos), one of the greatest Greek lyric poets, lived from 556 to about 469 B.C. -- STESICHORUM: of Himera in Sicily, also a lyric poet; lived from about 630 to about 556 B.C. -- ISOCRATEN GORGIAN: nn. on 13. -- PHILOSOPHORUM PRINCIPES: 'in the first rank of philosophers'. -- PYTHAGORAN: neither the date of his birth nor that of his death can be determined; he 'flourished' about 530. He lived mostly in the Greek settlements of lower Italy, where his school existed for some centuries after his death. -- DEMOCRITUM: of Abdera, one of the originators of the theory of atoms; said to have lived from 460 to 361 or 357 B.C. -- XENOCRATEN after Plato, Speusippus was the first head of the Academic School; Xenocrates succeeded him. He lived from 397 to 315 or 313. -- ZENONEM: of Citium in Cyprus, founder of Stoicism, born about 357, is said to have lived to the age of 98. -- CLEANTHEN: he followed Zeno in the presidency of the Stoic school. His age at death is variously given as 99 and as 80 years. -- QUEM VIDISTIS: see Introd. It is rather curious that Cic. should make Cato speak with admiration of Diogenes, to whom he had shown great hostility. -- DIOGENEN: Cic. probably wrote in _-an, -en,_ not in _-am, -em_ the accusatives of Greek proper names in _-as, -es_. -- STOICUM: to distinguish him from Diogenes the Cynic. -- AGITATIO: Cic. uses _agitatio_ and _actio_ almost interchangeably; cf. _agitatio rerum_ in De Or. 3, 88 with _actio rerum_ in Acad. 2, 62 and elsewhere. _Actus_ in this sense occurs only in silver Latin.
24. AGE: a common form of transition to a new subject; brief for _'hoc age'_, 'do this', _i.e._ 'attend to this that I am going to say'. The common use of αγε in Greek is exactly similar. -- UT ... OMITTAMUS: Cf. n. on 52 _ut_. -- POSSUM NOMINARE: 'I am able to name'; in colloquial English 'I _might_ name'. The Latins occasionally use also a hypothetical form, where _possim_ or _possem_ stands in the apodosis of a conditional sentence, the protasis of which is not expressed; but the missing protasis is generally easily supplied and was distinctly present to the writer's mind. _E.g._ in Tusc. 1, 88 we have _dici hoc in te non potest; posset in Tarquinio; at in mortuo ne intellegi quidem (potest)_, where the reason for the change from _potest_ to _posset_ is quite evident. In translating from English into Latin it is far safer to use the indicative. Cf. 55 _possum persequi_. A. 311, _c_; G. 599, Rem. 3; H. 511, 1, n. 3, 476, 4. -- EX AGRO ... ROMANOS: 'country-bred Romans (_i.e._ Roman citizens) belonging to the Sabine district'. The words _ex agro Sabino_ form an attributive phrase qualifying _Romanos_ just as _rusticos_ does. -- NUMQUAM FERE: 'scarcely ever'. -- MAIORA OPERA: 'farm work of any importance'.
This use of _opera_ is common in Vergil's Georgics. -- NON: the repetition of the negative after _numquam_ is common in Latin; in English _never ... not_ is found in dialects only. Cf. Lael. 48 _non tantum ... non plus quam_. -- SERENDIS: ablative of respect, 'as regards sowing'. See Roby 1210; Kennedy, 149. -- PERCIPIENDIS: so 70; cf. N.D. 2, 156 _neque enim serendi neque colendi, nec tempestive demetendi percipiendi que fructus, neque condendi nec reponendi ulla pecudum scientia est_. -- IN ALIIS: see n. on 3 _ceteris_. Notice the proleptic use. -- IDEM: a better form of the plural than _iidem_, commonly found in our texts. For the use here cf. n. on 4 _eandem_. -- PERTINERE: present for future. -- SENT ... PROSINT: the line is given as Ribbeck prints it. He scans it as a '_bacchius_', consisting of four feet, with the measurement | v - - |, the last syllable of _saeclo_ seeming to be shortened. Cicero quotes the same line in Tusc. 1, 31 adding _ut ait (Statius) in Synephebis, quid spectans nisi etiam postera saecla ad se pertinere? Saeclo_ = 'generation'. For mood of _prosint_ see A 317; G. 632, H. 497, I. -- STATIUS NOSTER: 'our fellow-countryman Statius'. So Arch. 22 _Ennius noster_. Caecilius Statius, born among the Insubres, wrote Latin comedies which were largely borrowed from the Greek of Menander. The original of the _Synephebi_ was Menander's Συνε φηβοι 'young comrades'. See Sellar, Rom. Poets of the Rep., Ch. 7.
P. 11. -- 25. DIS: the spellings _diis_, _dii_ which many recent editors still keep, are probably incorrect, at all events it is certain that the nominative and ablative plural of deus formed monosyllables, except occasionally in poetry, where _dei_, _deis_ were used. Even these _dissyllabic_ forms scarcely occur before Ovid. -- ET: emphatic at the beginning of a sentence: 'aye, and'. -- MELIUS: _sc. dixit_. -- ILLUD: 'the following' A. 102, b, G. 292, 4; H. 450, 3. -- IDEM: _īdem_, not _ĭdem_. -- EDEPOL: literally, 'ah, god Pollux', _e_ being an interjection, _de_ a shortened form of the vocative of _deus, pol_ abbreviated from _Pollux_. The asseveration is mostly confined to comedy. The lines come from a play by Statius called Plocium (πλοκιον 'necklace'), copied from one by Menander with the same title; see Ribbeck's 'Fragmenta' The verses are iambic trimeters A. 365; G. 754, H. 622. -- NIL QUICQUAM: see n. on 21 _quemquam senem_, cf. the common expression _nemo homo_, 84 _nemo vir_, etc. where two substantival words are placed side by side. -- VITI: see n. on 1, l 3 _praemi Viti_ here = _mali_; cf. Ter. Andr.
73 _ei vereor ne quid Andria adportet mali_. -- SAT EST: _sat_ for _satis_ in Cicero's time was old-fashioned and poetical. -- QUOD DIU: these words must be scanned as a spondee. The _i_ in _diu_ here probably had the sound of our _y_. A. 347, _c_, G. 717; H. 608, III. n. 2. Allen well compares a line of Publilius Syrus _heu quam multa paenitenda incurrunt vivendo diu_. -- VOLT: indefinite subject. -- VIDET: Tischer quotes Herod. 1, 32 (speech of Solon to Croesus) εν γαρ τωι μακρωι χρονωι πολλα μεν εστιν ιδεειν, τα μη τις εθελει, πολλα δε και παθεειν. -- TUM EQUIDEM etc.: these lines, as well as those above, occurred in a play of Statius called _'Ephesio'_ see Ribbeck's 'Fragmenta'. -- SENECTA: not used by prose writers before the time of silver Latin. -- DEPUTO: this compound is used by the dramatists and then does not occur again till late Latin times. -- EUMPSE: like _ipse_ and _reapse_ (for which see n. on Lael. 47) this word contains the enclitic particle _pe_ (probably another form of _que_), found in _nem pe_, _quis-p-iam_ etc., along with _se_, which belongs to an old demonstrative pronoun once declined _sos_, _sa_, _sum_, the masc. and fem. of which are seen in ‛ο, ‛η. The form was no doubt originally _eumpsum_, like _ipsom_ (_ipsum_), but has passed into its present form just as _ipsos_ (nom.) became _ipso_, then _ipse_. The only difference in sense between _eumpse_ and the simple _eum_ is that the former is more emphatic. The pronoun _eumpse_ is the subject of the infinitive _sentire_, but the substantive, _senex_, to which the pronoun refers, is not expressed. -- ODIOSUM: cf. n. on 4.
26. IUCUNDUM ... ODIOSUM: elliptic, = _'iucundum' potius quam 'odiosum' senem esse dicendum est_. -- UT ... DELECTANTUR: cf. Lael. 101; also below, 29. -- SAPIENTES SENES: neither of these words is used as an adjective here; the whole expression = _sapientes, cum facti sunt senes_. -- LEVIOR: cf. the fragm. of Callimachus: γηρασκει δ' ‛ο γερων κεινος ελαφροτερον, τον κουροι φιλεουσι. -- COLUNTUR ET DILIGUNTUR: _colere_ rather implies the external marks of respect (cf. _coli_ in 7), _diligere_ the inner feeling of affection. -- PRAECEPTIS etc.: cf. Off. 1, 122 _ineuntis enim aetatis inscitia senum constituenda et regenda prudentia est_. -- ME ... IUCUNDOS: put for _me iucundum esse quam vos mihi estis iucundi_. The attraction of a finite verb into the infinitive after _quam_ is not uncommon; cf. n. on 1 _quibus me ipsum_ (Roby, 1784, _b_; A. 336, _b_, Rem.; H. 524, 1, 2). _Minus_, be it observed, does not qualify _intellego_, but _iucundos_. -- SED: here _analeptic_, _i.e._ it introduces a return to the subject proper after a digression, so in 31. -- VIDETIS, UT ... SIT: here _ut = quo modo_; 'how'. -- SENECTUS ... CUIUSQUE: the abstract _senectus_ is put for _senes_ as in 34; hence _cuiusque, sc. senis_.
So above _adulescentia_ = _adulescentes_. -- AGENS ALIQUID: this phrase differs from _agat_ in that while the subjunctive would express the _fact_ of action, the participial phrase expresses rather the constant _tendency_ to act. _Agens aliquid_ forms a sort of attribute to _senectus_, parallel with _operosa. Moliri_ differs from _agere_ in that it implies the bringing into existence of some object. Cf. Off. 3, 102 _agere aliquid et moliri volunt_; Acad. 2, 22 _ut moliatur aliquid et faciat_; N.D. 1, 2 _utrum di nihil agant, nihil moliantur_; Mur. 82 _et agant et moliantur_. -- QUID ... ALIQUID: for the ellipsis in _quid qui_ cf. n. on 22 _quid ... Addiscunt_ = προμανθανουσι = learn on and on, go on learning. -- UT ... VIDEMUS: put, as Allen observes, for _ut Solon fecit, quem videmus_. -- SOLONEM: see also 50. The line (_versibus_ here is an exaggeration; in 50 it is _versiculus_) is preserved by Plato in his Timaeus and by Plutarch, Sol. 31 γαερασκο δ' αει πολλα διδασκομενος. The age of Solon at his death is variously given as 80 or 100 years. -- VIDEMUS: the Latins frequently use 'we see' for 'we read'. See n. on Lael. 39, also below, 69 _ut scriptum video_. -- GLORIANTEM: A. 292, _e_; G. 536, 527, Rem.
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