subsequens_. -- AETATIS: here = _vitae_, life as a whole. Cf. 2 _omne
tempus aetatis_ and n.; also 13 _aetatis ... senectus_; 33, 64, 82. --
DESCRIPTAE: 'composed'; literally 'written out'. The reading _discriptae_,
which many editions give, does not so well suit the passage. _Discribere_
is to map out, plan, arrange, put in order (see 59 _discripta_ and
_discriptio_); the point here lies, however, not in the due arrangement of
the different scenes of a play, but in the careful working out of each
scene. _Ab ea_ must be supplied after _descriptae_ from _a qua_ above. --
ACTUM: the common comparison of life with a drama is also found in 64, 70,
85. -- INERTI: the sense of 'ignorant' 'inartistic' (_in, ars_), has been
given to this by some editors (cf. Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 126 _praetulerim scriptor
delirus inersque videri_, and Cic. Fin. 2, 115 _artes, quibus qui carebant,
inertes a maioribus nominabantur_), but the meaning 'inactive', 'lazy',
'slovenly' seems to suit _neglectum_ better. -- POETA: nature is here the
dramatist, the drama is life, the actors are human beings. -- SED TAMEN
etc.: 'but for all that it was inevitable that there should be something
with the nature of an end'. So 69 _in quo est aliquid extremum_, 43
_aliquid pulchrum_. -- ARBORUM BACIS: the word _baca_ (the spelling _bacca_
has little or no authority) is applied to all fruits growing on bushes or
trees, cf. Tusc. 1, 31 _arbores seret diligens agricola, quarum aspiciet
bacam ipse numquam_ -- TERRAEQUE FRUCTIBUS: here = cereals, roots,
vegetables and small fruits. No sharp distinction can be drawn between
_fruges_ and _fructus_ (_e.g._ in Div. 1, 116 we have _fruges terrae
bacasve arborum_) though _fructus_ as commonly used is the more general
word of the two. -- MATURITATE CADUCUM: 'a time of senility, so to speak
and readiness to drop, that comes of a seasonable ripeness'. _Vietus_ is
literally 'twisted' or bent', being originally the passive participle of
_viere_. The comparison of old age with the ripeness of fruit recurs in 71.
Cf. Plin. Ep. 5, 14, 5 _non tam aetatis maturitate quam vitae_. --
FERUNDUM: the form in _undus_ is archaic, and generally used by Cic. in