Cato Maior de Senectute with Introduction and Notes by Marcus Tullius Cicero
page 75 of 168 (44%)
page 75 of 168 (44%)
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Scipio, faciam quod voltis, ut potero_. -- SAEPE ENIM: _enim_ introduces a
reason, not for the words _ut potero_, but for _faciam_ -- 'I will grant your request because I have often heard complaints about old age and therefore have thought of the matter'. -- PARES AUTEM etc.: parenthetical. -- VETERE PROVERBIO: the saying is as old as Homer, Od. 17, 218 as âÏÏ Î±Î¹ÎµÎ¹ Ïον âομοιον αγει Î¸ÎµÎ¿Ï âÏÏ Ïον âομοιον; cf. also Plat., Rep. 329 A, Symp. 195 B, Phaedr. 240 C. P. 4. -- FACILLIME: 'most cheerfully', 'most eagerly'; a common meaning of the word in Cic., _e.g._ Fam. 2, 16, 2 _in maritimis facillime sum_, _i.e._ 'I find most pleasure in staying by the sea'. -- QUAE: a kind of explanation of _querellis_: -- 'lamentations, viz. such utterances as' etc.; see n. on Lael. 14 _quae_; cf. Fam. 2, 8, 2 _sermonibus de re publica ... quae nec possunt scribi nec scribenda sunt_. A. 199, _b_; G. 616, 3, I.; H. 445, 5. -- C. SALINATOR: probably C. Livius Salinator, praetor in 191 B.C. (Livy 35, 24), who was entrusted with the equipment of the Roman fleets during the war against Antiochus. He was born about 230, and was therefore a little younger than Cato; cf. _fere aequales_ below. Salinator was consul in 188, and died in 170. For the name Salinator cf. n. on 11. -- SP. ALBINUS: Sp. Postumius Albinus was consul in 186, and was with his colleague appointed to investigate the great Bacchanalian conspiracy of that year (Livy 39, CC. 1 seq.). Albinus died in 180. He was probably a little younger than Salinator. He can scarcely have been fifty years of age at his death. -- TUM ... TUM: 'now ... again'; so in 45. -- CARERENT: see n. on 3 _ferat_. -- VITAM NULLAM PUTARENT: 'they considered life to be not life at all'. For _vitam nullam_ cf. Lael. 86 _sine amicitia vitam esse nullam_; also the Greek phrase Î²Î¹Î¿Ï Î±Î²Î¹ÏÏοÏ; and below, 77 _vitam quae est sola vita nominanda_; also 82. A. 239; H. 373, 1, n. 2. _Putarent_ = 'thought, as they said'. -- ID QUOD ESSET ACCUSANDUM: the subjunctive _esset_ is used because a _class_ of things is referred to, 'nothing of a |
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