anachronism here; his words do not suit the circumstances of Cato's time.
Till nearly the end of the Republic the theatres were rude structures of
wood, put up temporarily; it is even doubtful whether they contained seats
for the audience. Cato himself frustrated an attempt to establish a
permanent theatre. -- PROPTER: 'close by'. The adverbial use of _propter_
(rarely, if ever, met with outside of Cicero) is denied by some scholars,
but is well attested by MSS. here and elsewhere. -- TANTUM ... EST: these
words qualify _delectatur_.

49. ILLA: put for _illud_, as in Greek ταυτα and ταδε are often put for
τουτο and τοδε. The words from _animum_ to the end of the sentence are
explanatory of _illa_. -- QUANTI: 'how valuable!' but the word may have
exactly the opposite meaning if the context require it; thus in N.D. 1, 55
and Rep. 6, 25 the sense is 'how worthless!' -- STIPENDIIS: 'campaigns'.
The four words from _libidinis_ to _inimicitiarum_ are to be taken in
pairs, while _cupiditatum_ sums them up and is in apposition to all. --
SECUM ESSE: cf. Tusc. 1, 75; Pers. 4, 52 _tecum habita_. -- SI ... ALIQUOD:
the sense is scarcely different from that of _si ... quod_; the distinction
is as slight as that in English between 'if' followed by 'some', and 'if'
followed by 'any'. Cf. n. on Lael. 24 _si quando aliquid_. -- PABULUM: for
the metaphorical sense rendered less harsh by _tamquam_, cf. Acad. 2, 127;
Tusc. 5, 66 _pastus animorum_. -- STUDI: an explanatory genitive dependent
on _pabulum_. -- OTIOSA SENECTUTE: 'leisured age'; _otium_ in the Latin of
Cicero does not imply idleness, but freedom from public business and
opportunity for the indulgence of literary and scientific tastes. --
VIDEBAMUS: for the tense cf. Lael. 37 _Gracchum rem publicam vexantem ab
amicis derelictum videbamus, i.e._ 'we saw over a considerable period'. See
also 50, 79. -- IN STUDIO etc.: 'busied with the task of almost measuring
bit by bit (_di-metiendi_) the heavens and the earth'. For the sense cf.
Hor. Od. 1, 28 (of Archytas). -- GALLUM: consul in 157 B.C., famous as an