of at least 33 years, so that it cannot well be translated by our 'lately';
say rather 'nearer our time'. The amount of time implied by _modo_ and
_nuper_ depends entirely on the context; for _modo_ see Lael. 6 with note,
for _nuper_ below, n. on 61, where it is used of Crassus as _modo_ is here.
-- PRAESCRIBEBANTUR: the meaning is that these lawyers practised in old age
as jurisconsults, _i.e._ according to old Roman custom, they gave audience
in the early hours of the day to all who chose to consult them about legal
difficulties. -- EST PROVECTA: literally 'was carried forward', _i.e._
'continued', 'remained'. Some wrongly take the phrase to mean 'made
progress', 'increased', a sense which would require the imperfect,
_provehebatur_. -- PRUDENTIA: here, as often, 'legal skill'.

28. ORATOR: emphatic position. -- SENECTUTE: causal ablative; not 'in age',
but 'owing to age'. -- OMNINO -- SED TAMEN: 'no doubt -- but still'.
_Omnino_ (literally, 'altogether') has two almost exactly opposite uses --
(1) the affirmative, cf. 9; (2) the concessive, which we have here and in
45. The circumstance which is contrasted with the admitted circumstance is
usually introduced by _sed tamen_ or _sed_ as in 45, but in Lael. 98 by the
less emphatic _autem_, while in Lael. 69 there is no introductory particle.
-- CANORUM ... SENECTUTE: _canorum_ implies the combination of power with
clearness in a voice. For the mixture of metaphors in _canorum splendescit_
edd. quote Soph. Phil. 189 αχω τηλεφανης; Cic. De Or. 2, 60 _illorum tactu
orationem meam quasi colorari_. -- NESCIO QUO PACTO: literally, 'I know not
on what terms'; quite interchangeable with _nescio quo modo_; cf. 82. A.
334, _e_; G. 469, Rem. 2; H. 529, 5, 3). -- ADHUC NON: purposely put for
_nondum_, because more emphasis is thus thrown both on the time-word and on
the negation. The common view that _nondum_ was avoided because it would
have implied that Cato _expected_ to lose the _canorum_ is certainly wrong.
-- ET VIDETIS: 'though you see my years'. The adversative use of _et_ for
_autem_ or _tamen_ after the negative is not very uncommon in Cicero, but