Philippus, who was consul in 186 and took part in the suppression of the
great Bacchanalian conspiracy of that year. For the next 17 years he was a
leading senator and much engaged in diplomacy in the East. In 169 he was
again consul and commanded against Perseus in the early part of the war. --
CUM ... LEGEM VOCONIAM ... SUASISSEM: 'after I had spoken publicly in favor
of the law o£ Voconius'. For _suasissem_ cf. 10 _suasor_ with n. The _Lex
Voconia de mulierum hereditatibus_ aimed at securing the continuance of
property in families. By its provisions no man who possessed property
valued in the censors' lists at 100,000 sesterces or more, could appoint a
woman or women as his _heres_ or _heredes_; further, no person or persons,
male or female, could receive under the will legacies amounting in all to a
larger sum than that received by the principal heir or heirs. Every Roman
will named a _heres_ or _heredes_, on whom devolved all the privileges and
duties of the deceased, with such duties as were enjoined by the will;
particularly the duty of paying the legacies left to those who were not
_heredes_. See Maine, Ancient Law, Ch. 6; also Hunter, Introd. to Roman
Law, Ch. 5. -- MAGNA: in Latin the word _magnus_ is the only equivalent of
our 'loud'. -- LATERIBUS: 'lungs'. Cic. and the best writers rarely use
_pulmones_ for 'lungs'; the few passages in which it occurs either refer to
victims sacrificed at the altar, or are medical or physiological
descriptions. 'Good lungs' is always '_bona latera_' never _pulmones_. --
DUO ... SENECTUTEM: Ennius is said to have kept a school in his later days,
and to have lived in a cottage with one servant only.

15. ETENIM: this word generally introduces either an explanation or a proof
of a preceding statement. Here the words are elliptic, and the real
connection with what precedes can only be made clear by a paraphrase.
'Ennius seemed to delight in old age. And no wonder, since there are four
causes which make men think old age wretched, and no one of these will bear
examination'. _Etenim_ may generally be translated 'indeed', or 'in fact'.