Cato Maior de Senectute with Introduction and Notes by Marcus Tullius Cicero
page 77 of 168 (45%)
page 77 of 168 (45%)
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includes all sources of power, influence, and authority as well as wealth.
Thus in Lael. 22 the end of _divitiae_ is said to be enjoyment; of _opes_, worship (_opes ut colare_). _Dignitas_ is social position. -- ID: remark the singular pronoun, which indicates that the preceding clause is now taken as conveying one idea. Trans. 'such fortune'. -- CONTINGERE: 'to fall to one's lot' is the phrase in English which most closely represents _contingere_. This verb is not, as is often assumed, used merely of _good_ fortune; it implies in itself nothing concerning the _character_ of events, whether they be good or bad, but simply that the events take place _naturally_ and were to be expected. See n. on Lael. 8, where the word is distinctly used in connection with _bad_ fortune, as it is, strikingly, in 71 below. -- EST ... OMNIA: 'your statement indeed amounts to something, but it by no means comprises every consideration'. The phrase _esse aliquid_, 'to be of some importance', is often used by Cic. both of things and of persons; cf. Tusc. 5, 104 _eos aliquid esse_, also n. on 17 _nihil afferunt_. So _esse aliquis_ of persons, as in the well-known passage of Iuvenal, 1, 72 _aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere dignum si vis esse aliquis_. For the general sense cf. Tusc. 3, 52 _est id quidem magnum, sed non sunt in hoc omnia_; so De Or. 2, 215; ib. 3, 221; Leg. 2, 24 _in quo sunt omnia_. -- ISTO: the use of the neuter pronoun in the oblique case as substantive is noticeable. -- THEMISTOCLES ETC.: Cicero borrows the story from Plato (Rep. 329 E _et seq_.), but it was first told by Herodotus, 8, 125 who gave a somewhat different version. Themistocles had received great honors at Sparta when Athenian ambassador there; an envious man declaring that the honors were paid really to Athens and not to Themistocles, the statesman answered Î¿Ï Ï Î±Î½ εγÏ, εÏν ÎελβινιÏÎ·Ï (_i.e._ an inhabitant of the small island of Belbina lying to the S. of Cape Sunium) εÏιμηθην Î¿Ï ÏÏ ÏÏÎ¿Ï Î£ÏαÏÏιηÏεÏν, Î¿Ï Ï Î±Î½ ÏÏ , ανθÏÏÏε, εÏν ÎθηναιοÏ. -- SERIPHIO: Seriphus is a small island belonging to the Cyclad group and lying almost due N. of Melos, and due E. of the Scyllaean promontory. Seriphus is often taken by |
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