Paradoxa stoicorum

Citation preview

C la s s ic a l ju r ie s

PARADOXA STOICORUM

M. TULLI CICERONIS

PABADOXA STOICOBUM W IT H IN T R O D U C T IO N AN D NOTES

BY A. G. L E E , M.A. FELLOW AND TUTOR OF st. Jo h n ’ s c o lleg e CAMBRIDGE

M AC M ILLA N AND CO. L IM IT E D ST. M A R T IN ’ S ST R E E T , LON DON 1953

This booh is copyright in all countries which are signatories to the Berne Convention

MACMILLAN AND COMPANY LIMITED London Bom bay Calcutta M adras Melbourne THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OP CANADA LIMITED Toronto ST MARTIN’ S PRESS INC N ew York

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

PREFACE This book pretends to do no more than provide a sensible commentary on an interesting minor work of Cicero that would not appear to have been edited before in English. The text, apart from one or two places mentioned in the notes and with a few minor variations in orthography, is that of Otto Plasberg (Leipzig, 1908). In composing the commentary I have consulted the editions of J. G. Graevius (Leyden, 1710), H. J. Borgers (Leyden, 1826), G. Munno (Naples, 1937), and S. Stella (Milan, 1940), and have quoted extensively from II. Rackham’s translation in the Loeb Classical Library. I was unfortunately unable to lay hands on the German editions of H. Anz (Gotha, 1890) and M. Schneider (Leipzig, 1891), but this deficiency in to some extent supplied by the fact that Stella !in,d both these commentaries before him. 1 should also acknowledge my debt to E. V. Amold’s Roman Stoicism, to M. Pohlenz’s Die Stoa9 and to Philippson’s article in Pauly-Wissowa, IIncoiid Series, vol. vii. 1, pp. 1122 f. finally, I am very grateful to Mr. J. R. Bamhmugh, Mr. J. A. Crook, Mr. E. J. Kenney and

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Mr. M. M. Willcock, for helping with the proofs, suggesting many improvements and pointing out a number of mistakes. A. G. L. C a m b r i d g e , 1951

CONTENTS PAG E

Preface I ntroduction—

A. B. C. D. E.

v

The Nature of the Work The Form of the Work The Date of Composition Ciceronian Clausulae Some Remarks on Word Order in Ciceronian Prose

Text N otes I ndex to

the

ix xxii xxviii xxix xxxii 1 25 93

N otes

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INTRODUCTION A THE NATURE OF THE WORK

1. Definition.—A paradox, in the original meaning of the word, is ‘ a statement or tenet contrary to received opinion or belief ’ ; in the second and now far commoner meaning the word is applied to a statement ‘ seemingly self-contradictory or absurd, though possibly well-founded or essentially true’ .1 Most additions to the body of knowledge are para­ doxical in the first sense, for they tend to con­ tradict what is generally believed. For example, the Copernican theory of the universe was a paradox on its first promulgation, since it contradicted the Ptolemaic theory which, until then, had held the field. The same may be said of the Darwinian theory of Natural Selection, or of Einstein’s theory of Relativity. In time such paradoxes become in their turn generally received beliefs. The second type of paradox, on the other hand, always retains some element of the seemingly contradictory or absurd, for the point of such paradoxes usually 1 See Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, ix

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lies in the use of familiar words in unexpected or specialized senses. For example, according to Heraclitus it is impossible to step into the same river twice.1 At the ordinary level of meaning this statement is demonstrably false, but in the refined sense in which Heraclitus is using the words 'the same river5 the statement is true. The Paradoxa Stoicorum fall within this second class. Paradox of the second type has always been of common occurrence in the sayings or writings of the great ethical and religious teachers of the world. The reason for this is twofold : in the first place, genius, of its very nature, views the world in a different light from that of the common man and this individual view is apt to find expression in teaching that rims clean counter to commonly held opinions ; in the second place, great teachers, and perhaps in particular those who do not write down their teaching but commit it to the memory of disciples, tend to cast it into as striking a form as possible, so that it may startle their audience into thought and at the same time be the more easily and accurately remembered. 2. Socrates and the Stoics.—Among the Greeks it is Socrates who provides the most famous example of such a teacher. To his contemporaries the 1 Plato, Gratylus 402 A : Aiyei ttov *Hpa/cAetro? o n udvra Xcupei Kai ovhev fjudvei, Kai ttotclixov pofj dneLKa^cov ra ovra Aeya cos Sts’ et? t o v clvtov TTorapLov ovk dv ififiaiTjs*

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whole tenor of his teaching must have appeared paradoxical in the highest degree. For example, he seems to have used the Greek word for life or consciousness {\bvxrj) m a completely novel way, and to have given it a connotation which resembles that of the English word soul. Moreover, that no one does wrong willingly, that the tyrant’s life is the extreme of unhappiness, that it is better to suffer wrong than to commit it, that friendship is only possible between good men— all these Socratic propositions, and others like them, are essentially paradoxical. Now the Stoics, like Socrates who called Philo­ sophy down from the sky and made human affairs her primary concern,1 and unlike the Ionian and Eleatic philosophers who had largely occupied themselves with problems of cosmology and logic, were intensely interested in ethics, in defining the nature of the good life and enabling men to do their best to live it. They emphasized the connexion of their teaching with that of Socrates and appear to have been particularly attracted by his use ot paradox. Zeno, the founder of the school (c. 300 b . c .), and Chrysippus, its head from 232 to 207 b . c ., both employed paradox in their teaching, and the Stoic Hecaton of Rhodes (2nd century B.c.) 1 Cf. Cic. Tusc. 5. 10 : Socrates . . . prim us philosophiam deuocauit e caelo et in urbibus collocauit et in domus etiam in ­ troduxit et coegit de uita et moribus rebusque bo%is et malis quaerere.

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composed a work on the subject.1 The Stoic para­ doxes soon became notorious, and their apparent absurdity aroused the ridicule not only of opposing philosophical schools but of the ordinary educated man. We find Horace making fun of them in his Satires,2 and in the Pro Murena (61 ff.) Cicero directs the shafts of his raillery against them and against Cato, who had wholeheartedly embraced the Stoic creed. But, as Seneca points out, none of the Stoic paradoxes is quite so surprising as would at first sight appear : Stoica paradoxa . . . quorum nullum esse falsum nec tam mirabile quam prima facie uidetur (Epist. 87. 1). 3. The Present Work.— The paradoxes that Cicero chose to handle in this work are six in number, or more probably seven : (i) what is morally right is the only good ; (ii) virtue alone is sufficient for happiness; (iii) all sins are equal, and so are all good actions; (iv) all fools are mad— it should be noted that there is a lacuna in our text after the opening words of this Paradox, and that the remainder of it is chiefly concerned with another Stoic dogma to the effect that all wise men are citizens and all fools exiles ; (v) only the wise man is free and all fools are slaves ; (vi) only the wise man is rich. Cicero tells us that he chose these six because 1 The H e pi Uapa$6£a)v: see Diogenes Laertius 7. 124. 2 E .g. Sat. 1. 3. 76 ff., 124 f f . ; Sat. 2. 3 and 2. 7.

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they seemed to him to be the most Socratic and by far the truest: maxime uidentur esse Socratica bngeque uerissima (4). It may strike us as sur­ prising that Cicero should, as we have seen, pour scorn on the Stoic paradoxes in his speech in defence of Murena and yet here come forward as their champion. In fact only two of the present Para­ doxes, viz. (iii) and (iv), are attacked in the course of that speech. Moreover, Cicero explains in the De Finibus (4. 74) that he was to some extent playing to the gallery on that occasion. And although in that same dialogue he proceeds to criticize the Stoic paradoxes once again, in par­ ticular the proposition that all sins are equal, the general implication of his remarks is that while he quarrels with the Stoics over their clumsy terminology and the concealed contradictions in­ herent in certain of their doctrines, none the less he regards the essential content of their teaching as being in harmony with his own philosophical position. The inconsistency on Cicero’s part is therefore by no means as great as would at first appear. But it must be confessed that his treat­ ment of the third Paradox is not very convincing and that the fourth Paradox as we now have it is, not so much the popular exposition of a philo­ sophical theme as a personal attack on a former political enemy. The remaining Paradoxes have a greater ring of truth and sincerity, and there is

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no reason to suppose that Cicero did not in sub­ stance agree with them. Whether he lived up to them is quite another matter. As regards his claim that these Paradoxes are the most Socratic, there is no evidence that Socrates ever held the view that all sins are equal; we cannot even show that it is Socratic in spirit, if not in fact. But the other Paradoxes do find a partial reflexion in Socratic thought. If we may believe Plato, Socrates made a threefold classification of goods into those of soul, body, and estate (xprjfJLCLra) (Gorg. 477 c ) ; he held that badness of soul was the worst evil that could befall a man. He would therefore so far agree with the first Paradox as to say that moral right, or virtue, is, if not the only, at least the highest, good. The second Paradox is closely connected with the first; here again Socratic teaching would not go so far as Stoic, but would maintain that virtue, if not sufficient for happiness, is at least the sine qua non of happiness. The Stoics, however, in support of their contention that virtue alone is sufficient, were accustomed to point to Socrates’ frugal manner of life, as tradition has recorded i t ; and indeed in Xenophon’s Memora­ bilia (1. 6. 10) Socrates asserts his belief that ‘ to have no wants is divine, to have as few as possible is next to the divine ; and since the divine is best, what is next to it is next best’. The nearest approach to the fourth Paradox is

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Xenophon’s statement that Socrates defined mad­ ness as the opposite of wisdom (oo^ia) ; ‘ on the other hand’, Xenophon continues, ‘ he did not identify madness with ignorance (avemGT^yiouvvrj), but he reckoned the state of a man who is ignorant of his true nature and who fondly imagines that he knows what he does not, as next door to madness’ (Mem. 3. 9. 6). As regards the fifth Paradox, descriptions of those who are slaves to pleasure and to various passions of the soul are frequently put into the mouth of Socrates by Xenophon and Plato. Such a discussion as that in Mem. 1. 5 on selfcontrol suggests that Socrates would have been in agreement with this Paradox. Finally, just as we can find the germ of the Stoic dictum that the wise man is a king in the remark of Socrates that "kings and rulers are not those who hold the sceptre nor those who are elected by the man in the street . . . but those who understand how to rule ’ (Mem. 3. 9. 10), so we can hear a hint of the sixth Paradox in his words to those who pride themselves on their wealth : "A man is a fool if he thinks that without knowledge he can distinguish between things useful and harmful; he is a fool if, without so distinguish­ ing, he thinks that his wealth will satisfy all his needs and enable him to act in his own best interests’ (Mem. 4. 1. 5).1 1 Cf. Plato, A'pol. 30 B : o v k e/c xprjfidrcov aperq ytyverai, dAA* aperijs xpiy/xara Kal ra aAAa ayada rots avdptbnoLS anavra Kal iSta Kal BqpLOOLQ.

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In view of such evidence as this, we can allow that, with one exception, all Cicero’s Paradoxes are Socratic in spirit. 4. Discussion of the Paradoxes in the Light of Stoic Doctrine. Paradoxes I and I I .—These are closely related. Diogenes Laertius attributes the first to Chrysippus (7. 101); Cicero attributes the second to Zeno (Fin. 5. 79). To understand them it is necessary to follow the train of thought that led to their formulation. The fundamental Stoic belief was in the ex­ istence of a beneficent Providence that made all things and governed them for the good of the whole. Nature expressed the will of this Providence, was indeed permeated by the Divine Spirit, and must therefore be good. For the Stoics the aim of human life was summed up in the phrase ‘ to live according to Nature’ (conuenienter naturae uiuere: Cic. Off. 3. 13).1 But this phrase does not mean that a man should indulge to the limit those natural instincts which he shares in common with the lower animals ; rather it means to live in 1 It is worth noting that not only the Stoics, but the Cynics and the Epicureans, made the life according to Nature their ideal; and similarly that all three aimed at achieving tran­ quillity (arapa£la) and self-sufficiency (avrapKeia). But each of the three schools chose different means to attain these ends, and moreover differed in their definition of the ends themselves, An analogy is provided by catch-words such as ‘ democracy’, ‘ liberty’, ‘ social justice’, etc., in our own day.

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accordance with the essential nature of man. Now the essential nature of anything is that which differ­ entiates it from all other things. But Reason (Aoyos*) is the special characteristic of man, and marks him off from the lower animals. For man, therefore, life in harmony with Nature is life in harmony with the dictates of Reason. Such a life is the only good life for men, and it can only be attained by those with perfect knowledge, perfect judgement, and perfect intention; only they are in possession of virtue, and only they are truly wise. Wisdom, or Virtue, or Honour,1—for the Stoic these terms are synonymous— is the only good, the only thing with absolute value ; Folly, Sin, Dishonour, is the only evil. All else is 'indifferent5 (dStdopov), that is, neither good nor evil, but neutral and capable of being used by men for good or bad ends. Thus wealth, poverty, health, sickness, change, and chance, everything in fact that depends on circum­ stances beyond our control, is neutral, neither good nor evil in itself, but indifferent. Virtue, however, since it depends on the right orienta­ tion of the Will, which is the one thing over which we have complete control—Virtue alone is good in itself. The one concession that the Stoics made to the popular valuation of good and evil was to subdivide this category o f neutral things into 1 to KaXov is almost untranslatable in English. The Latin equivalent is honestum . The opposite, to alaxpov, = turpe.

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those ‘ of high degree5 (rrporjypLeva, lit. ‘ promoted5) which are raised slightly above the zero line of neutrality, and those ‘ of low degree5(aTroTrporjypLeva, ‘ degraded5) 1 which are depressed below it. In the former class fall health, beauty, noble birth, wealth, and the like; in the latter, disease, pain, poverty: in between lie those things which are truly neutral, such as the colour of one5s hair or the date of one’s birth. Paradox I I I .— Of all the Stoic paradoxes, that which asserts the equality of sins was most calcu­ lated to arouse the scorn and ridicule of the ordinary m an ; it was first enunciated by Zeno.1 2 Here as elsewhere the Stoics were utterly uncompromising in their refusal to admit more than two mutually exclusive alternatives. Just as they maintained that Virtue is one and that a man is either wholly in possession of it or wholly without it, just as they divided men into two groups, the wise, who had perfect judgement and intention, and the foolish, who had no part in wisdom at all, so they asserted that Vice, like Virtue, is one and indivisible, and that all sins are equal in gravity. A musical instru­ ment is either in tune or out of tu n e; a mathe­ matical calculation is either right or wrong ; a fine is either straight or crooked ; a statement is either true or false : in the same way, it was argued, an 1 Zeno took these two terms from the Court vocabulary of the Hellenistic Age ; see Cic. F i n . 3. 52. 2 See Diogenes Laertius 7. 120.

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action is either a sin or it is not. A miss for the Stoics was as good as a mile. Once you have crossed over the line dividing what is lawful from what is not, you are, as it were, out of play, and the question of whether you are out by an inch or a yard is quite immaterial. At the same time, in saying that an action is either good or evil, the Stoics did not imply that the good or evil lay in the action itself; on the contrary it lay entirely in the state of mind, the intention, of the agent, since virtue is not an act but a right disposition of the soul. Of any act they enquired whether it was performed with a right motive, whether it sprang from right reason. This was the important p oin t; the consequences of the act, its circumstances, its content— all these were purely secondary considerations with no bearing upon the good or evil of the act regarded in itself. Nevertheless the Stoics were ready to concede that although sins are equal, they are not alike.1 Al­ though there is no quantitative difference between the gravity of one sin and that of another, there is a qualitative difference between the two, a difference not of degree but of kind. This is the point that Cicero appears to be trying to make in his discussion of the difference between parricide and the murder of a slave (25). 1 Stobaeus ii. 7, dfiaprTjfiaTa, ovkgti

p. 106. 21 S’ ofiota.

: lad t€ navra Xdyovacv elvai rd

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Paradoxes 7 7 , 7 , and 77.—In a similarly un­ compromising fashion the Stoics separated men into two groups—the Wise and the Foolish. But so lofty and inaccessible was their ideal Sapiens, W ise, perfect in himself, and all possessing, E qual to God . . ,1

that even Zeno, the founder of the school, did not presume to place himself in that category, and the Stoic Sage remained a pattern of virtue realized only in the remote figure of Heracles, though some few were found to advance the claims of Socrates and Diogenes to the title. This absolute division in theory between the Wise Man and the Fools made it necessary in practice to distinguish various grades of Folly. Granted that only the Sage, with his perfect intention, was capable of perfect actions (Karopdcofiara) and was wholly in possession o f virtue, yet the average man with his mixed motives and human frailties was bound to do his best to live according to the moral law and to perform the "common duties’ (ra KaOrjKovra) that life laid upon him. The per­ formance o f these common duties would enable him to make moral progress (TrpoKOTrrj) and lead him forth from the great multitude of the Foolish. For although all men were fools, some were further than others on the road to Wisdom and nearer to 1 Milton, Paradise Regained , iv. 302.

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the great divide between Wisdom and Folly. None the less, until the moment when a man had actually crossed that great divide, he did not deserve to be called ‘ wise5 in any but a popular sense. In illus­ tration of this the Stoics argued that a drowning man is no more able to breathe just below the surface of the water than if he were already at the bottom, and that a puppy on the point of opening its eyes is no less blind than one newly born. In the same way the man who has made much progress towards the state of wisdom is no less in a state of wretchedness than he who has made no progress at all.1 The last three paradoxes are connected together in that they describe various characteristics of the wise and of the foolish. Only the Sage deserves to be called sane, since only he is in a state of perfect mental health ; the rest of the world suffers from various maladies of the soul and to a greater or less extent displays a lack of mental balance. Of course this insanity is not always apparent, but, said the Stoics, "stir the mud, and it stin k s'; 2 touch the average man on his weak spot and he will show himself as unstable as his neighbour. In the same way only the Sage is free, since he alone is master 1 Cic. F i n . 3. 48. 2 Cic. T usc. 4. 5 4 : nunc autem ita disserunt, sic se dicere omnes stultos insanire ut male olere omne caenum . ‘ at non sem p er' com moUe: senties, sic iracundus non semper iratus e s t; lacesse: iam uidebis furentem .

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of himself and of his desires, and knows how to rise above the accidents of life and fortune. The rest of mankind are enslaved to their ruling passions' and buffeted this way and that by the changing circumstances o f their lives. Finally, the Wise Man is wealthy because only he knows how to set a right value on money and how to use it, and only he possesses virtue, the true riches. B THE FORM OF THE WORK

1. Cicero’s Intention.—From what Cicero says in his preface to Brutus it is clear that his interest in these six paradoxes was aroused not so much by their substantial truth or their Socratic ancestry as by the artistic problem which an attempt to cast them into a popular and persuasive form would present. It was for his own amusement (3 ludens) that he wished to tackle this problem. He tells us that he has cast them into the form of ccommon­ places’ (3 conieci in communes locos). These ‘ common-places ’ , or stock themes, so character­ istic of ancient rhetoric, were arguments of general application that could be inserted into a speech at some relevant point. Topics such as the unre­ liability of evidence extracted under torture, the degeneracy of the present times, the inconstancy of fortune, the evils of avarice, the advantages

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of honesty in political dealings, are examples of such stock themes. Philosophical topics might be treated in the same way, and Cicero mentions some of those that Cato brought into his speeches in the Senate (3 de magnitudine animi, de continentia . . .). Cicero, then, wished to discover whether these more recondite Stoic dogmas, to some of which the more liberal Stoic philosophers themselves found difficulty in giving wholehearted assent, could in fact be treated as common-places and be presented in an intelligible and convincing form to the lay­ man. Towards the end of his preface he expresses this aim in more technical language. He will give Brutus, he says, a sample of the rhetorical handling of topics whose pros and cons were normally debated in philosophical dialogues (5 ea quae dicuntur in scholis deriK&s ad nostrum hoc oratorium transfero dicendi genus). By an easy transference of mean­ ing the Greek word for ‘ leisure’ , came to be used also of that in which leisure is employed, and in particular, of a learned discussion or debate. This meaning is reflected in the Latinized schola, as is shown, for instance, by Cicero’s remark in the Tusculan Disputations (1. 8), that he had brought together the philosophical discussions of five days into as many books : dierum quinque scholas, ut Graeci appellant, in totidem libros contuli. In fact the Tusculans provide an excellent illustration of

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the phrase quoted above from his preface to the present work. Each of the five books is devoted to the detailed discussion of one general proposi­ tion {d iais); for example, in the first book the "thesis5 is : malum mihi uidetur esse mors, and in the second book it i s : dolorem existimo maximum malorum omnium. The thesis is then debated in dialogue and the case for and against it is presented. It was Cicero’s purpose in the Paradoxa to argue such theses rhetorically instead of dialectically, to reshape the discussions of a small and expert group into rhetorical monologues' designed for a large popular audience. 2. The Diatribe.— Since the time of Socrates, who had been convinced that truth was only to be elicited by the method of question and answer, by the contact and interplay of one mind with another, dialogue had been regarded as the chief medium for philosophical teaching, and Plato, by repre­ senting on paper the living conversations of his master, had created in literature the philosophical form par excellence. Monologue, on the other hand, fell within the province of rhetoric, a study which the Sophists had made peculiarly their own, and was associated with the law-courts and the political arena. I f the aim o f dialogue was truth, the aim of monologue was persuasion. But in the third century b .c. there arose an interesting fusion o f the two forms—the Cynic

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diatribe, or popular philosophical lecture.1 Though a monologue and strongly rhetorical in manner, it was at the same time philosophical in substance and preserved traces of dialogue, the established philosophical medium, in the objections that the speaker himself put into the mouth of an imaginary interlocutor. Here again the literary form re­ flected its oral precursor, for the Cynic philosopher, clad in a single coarse garment, armed with a staff and carrying a wallet for his meagre pro­ visions, would harangue groups of listeners in the market-place or at street corners on the virtues of the simple life- and inveigh against the pomps and vanity of the world. Bion the Borysthenite would appear to have been the first to reproduce the sermons of these vagrant preachers in a literary form, but of his work nothing has survived. The earliest examples of the diatribe that have come down to us are a few excerpts from the writings of Teles, a Cynic philosopher who flourished about 235 b . c . ; these have been preserved in the antho­ logy of Stobaeus. They display a lively and vigorous style in which humour is mingled with seriousness (cjirovhaioyeXoiov); objections are raised by a supposed opponent; anecdotes, pictures from everyday life, examples from fable, mythology, and 1 The basic meaning of the Greek word Siarpipy is simply ‘ a way of passing tim e’ . It could be used both of amusements and of serious occupations. In the Hellenistic Age it became a technical term for a lecture.

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history, are introduced. Full use is made of the resources of rhetoric ; rhetorical questions, word­ play, diminutives, exaggerations, and the piling up of synonyms, frequently occur. Later the dia­ tribe exercised a strong influence on Roman satire, and Horace refers to his writings in this style as ‘ talks in the manner of Bion’, Bionei sermones (Epist. 2. 2. 60). It lived on in the work of such writers as Dio Chrysostom, Musonius, Seneca, and Arrian, who reproduced the lectures of the Stoic philosopher Epictetus. 3. Resemblances to the Diatribe in the Paradoxa.— In giving a rhetorical treatment to these six Stoic paradoxes it is probable that Cicero was influenced by the diatribe as a literary form, for the work displays many of the characteristics of that form. Like the diatribe, it is a fusion of monologue with dialogue, rhetorical in form, but philosophical in content. Though probably never delivered as an actual speech, it is supposedly addressed to a popular audience, whose intelligence Cicero is careful to flatter (e.g. 33 si mihi apud aliquos agrestes haec habenda esset oratio . . .). Objections are put for­ ward by an imaginary opponent, whom Cicero often addresses directly and sometimes in a highly trucu­ lent tone (e.g. 14 tu, 17 nescis, insane, 20 parua, inquit, est res, 25 etiamne in minimis rebus?). Examples are cited from Roman history to illus­ trate the point at issue (e.g. 11-12,16, 24). We find

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an anecdote about Bias, one of the seven Wise Men of Greece (8), a quotation from an anonymous poet (34), analogies drawn from navigation (20), from drama (26), from poetry (26), and from domestic life (37). On the formal side we have frequent rhetorical questions (e.g. 11,30), the use of synonyms (36 leges imponit, praescribit, iubet; 42 nihil quaerat, nihil appetat, nihil optet, amplius), word-play (26 breuiora . . . leuiora, 36 amplissima familia, 37 bella gessi . . . gere igitur animum, 44 inanem), parataxis (36 poscit— dandum est, etc.), diminutives (11 urnulas, 38 matellionem, ib. barbatulos), and other turns of expression common in diatribe. 4. Literary Value o f the Paradoxa.— The Para­ doxa, though not one of Cicero’s major works, exhibits in brief compass most of the qualities of his mature style. The purity of language, the vigour and fire of expression, the sonority of tone, the forceful argumentation, the caustic invective, all combine to prove that this short essay proceeds from the hand of a master artist, of whom no less a judge than Quintilian later remarked: Me se profecisse sciat, cui Cicero ualde placebit.1 Standing as it does midway between the oratorical and the philosophical style of Cicero, it forms an excellent introduction to the manner of his major dialogues and treatises. But the interest of the work is by no means 1 Inst. Or. 10. 1. 112.

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purely stylistic. The Stoics, with their uncom­ promising moral sense and their faith in a beneficent Providence manifested in the universe, had faint glimpses and vague presentiments of the truth that found its fullest expression in the Christian religion. Not a few of the thoughts that Cicero here clothes in the ceremonial dress of rhetoric were to reappear, corrected and perfected, in the teaching o f our Lord and of His Apostles. C THE DATE OF COMPOSITION

This can be inferred with certainty from informa­ tion given in the preface to the work. Cato is there spoken of as being still alive (2 ‘ quod eo maius est illi . . . et ea sentit . . . in ea est haeresi ’). Now we know that Cato committed suicide in mid-April of 46 b .c. after the battle of Thapsus. This gives us our terminus ante quern. Further, Cicero dedi­ cates the book to Brutus, who returned from Asia in October 47 b .c., and remarks in doing so that a work of greater scope had already appeared in Brutus’ name (5 illud maiorum uigiliarum munus in tuo nomine apparuit). The expression in tuo nomine apparuit must refer to something more than a simple dedication, and exactly fits the B e Claris Oratoribus, a long dialogue whose alternative title is Brutus. It has been plausibly argued from internal and other evidence that the Brutus was

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finished by about January 46 b . c . Finally, Cicero states that the Paradoxa was written when the nights were growing shorter (5 lucubratum his iam contractioribus noctibus). We can therefore safely say that the work was composed in the early spring of 46 b . c . and had been completed before the news of Cato’s death reached Rome. In spite of Cicero’s clear indication of the period during which he wrote the Paradoxa, it has been held by some scholars that the fourth Paradox, which contains a virulent attack on Clodius, must have been written before Clodius’s death in January 52 b . c ., and that the sixth Paradox, in which Cicero addresses Crassus as though he were still alive, must have been written before the Roman disaster at Carrhae in 53 b . c . But these arguments are not convincing. We must draw a distinction between the mention of Cato in the preface, and the re­ ference to Clodius and Crassus in the body of the work. It is far more probable that Cicero took Clodius and Crassus as typical figures, and accord­ ing to the convention of the diatribe treated them for the sake of vividness as opponents present in the flesh. D CICERONIAN CLAU SU LA E

Ancient orators and writers set greater store by harmony of language than do those of modern

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times. By harmony of language is meant not only the musical beauty of words and their combina­ tions, but also the apt fitting together of one word,, phrase, or sentence, with another. Such con­ siderations were not confined to the poets, but weighed almost as much with writers of prose. Cicero lays it down that artistic prose ought to be ‘ not rigidly, but loosely rhythmical’ : orationem, quae quidem sit polita atque facta quodam modo, non astride sed remissius numerosam esse oportere (De Orat. 3. 184). That the ears of ancient audiences were sensitive to the finer points of rhythm and demanded a high standard of accuracy from public speakers can be proved from a remark that Cicero makes in section 26 of the present work. He there says that if an actor is guilty of a single false quantity in his pronunciation of a line o f verse, he is hissed off the stage. In Latin prose, rhythm shows itself chiefly in the endings to sentences and parts of sentences. Such rhythmical endings are known as clausulae, and it is important for the full appreciation of Cicero’s style, which owes not a little of its artistic effect to harmony of language, to know what are the chief varieties of clausula used by him. Two points in connexion with clausulae should be borne in mind : in the first place, these rhythmical endings make it clear that writing in the ancient world was never for the eye, but always for the e a r; anything

INTRODUCTION

xxxi

written was designed primarily to be beard, and we know that even when reading alone the ancients were in the habit of reading aloud. In the second place, clausulae were not mere ornament, but served as an aid to the better understanding of the sense, just as punctuation does in modern books. The commonest types of clausula in Cicero are listed below with examples. The rules for the scansion of syllables in a clausula are the same as for verse ; the last syllable of a clausula, like the last syllable of a line of verse, is common—that is, it may be long or short. I (a) Double Cretic : sen-tentiam ! diceret (1) ipse de / quo loquor (3) Ion-geque uejrissima (4) (b) A Molossus may replace the first Cretic: dicendi / copiam (2) in commujnes locos (3) exisse apjpareat (5) II. (a) Cretic and Spondee : - v -----aut tibi aut / nobis (2) pro-bantur in / uulgus (2) ut proba/rentur (4) (6) The Cretic is often resolved thus * -W V j

XXX11

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

producing the esse uideatur formula * —

~~

opini-one popu/lari (2). fu-isse uidejatur (12) tan-toque comijtatu (16) III. Double Trochee : excojlatur (3) esse I duxi (6) dispu/tantur (10) IV. Double Spondee : — '— argujmentum (2) appel/lantur (4) appel/landa (7)

,

E

SOME REMARKS ON WORD ORDER IN CICERONIAN PROSE 1

1. Words that belong together and form a unity, for example a noun and its adjective, are often separated from one another. This throws the separated words into relief, while the word or words inserted between them have less prominence. For instance : in ea est Tiaeresi, quae nullum sequitur florem orationis (2). Eoque hos locos scripsi libentius (4). Ad nostrum hoc oratorium transfero 1 These notes are not intended to be exhaustive. For an excellent general discussion of the order of words in Latin see Postgate, Sermo Latinus , London, 1913, pp. 35 ff.

xxxiii

INTRODUCTION

dicendi genus (5). Haec uideatur oratio (6). Omnia mecum porto mea (8). Quibus tandem Romulus gradibus . . . (11). In se uno sua ponit omnia (17). Inimicorum labefactaret iniuria (17). Nullum in delictis esse discrimen (23). Cum omnes te leges exsulem esse iubeant (31). Si quid in his studiis operae posuerim (33). Nullam condicionem recusant durissimae seruitutis (39). Quam dura est domina (40). Animus oportet tuus . . . (43). Diuitiarum est fructus in copia (47). It is to be noted that such separation most fre­ quently occurs (i) when an unimportant word or enclitic, such as a part of the verb esse, is inserted between the two prominent w ords; or (ii) at the end of a clause or sentence, when the arrangement is partly adopted for the sake of the clausula. 2. What we might call the bracketing order is often used. Between a noun and its adjective, or a preposition and its noun, are placed words, particu­ larly genitives, that qualify that noun or adjective, with the result that the whole complex forms a single compact block. For example : illud maiorum uigiliarum munus (5). Eas quibus maxime astricti sunt uoluptates (6). Felicatas aliorum pateras (11). Reliquos eiusdem consili socios (12). Istis mortis aut exsili minis (17). In gubernatoris inscitia (20). laetam et immissam a te nefariam in me iniuriam (28). Illa eloquentissimi uiri, L. Crassi, copiosa magis quam sapiens oratio (41). B

xxxiv

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3. Pronouns and demonstratives tend to be placed next to one another. For example : ego tibi ilia ipsa (3). Eum tu hominem terreto (17). Tuae tibi occurrunt iniuriae (18). M e tuo nomine ap­ pellas (30). Quorum tu te ducem esse profiteris (31). Suis ea cuique fingitur moribus (34). An ille mihi liber . . . (36). Suis se uiribus (49). Quid ego de me loquor (50). 4. In subordinate clauses pronouns tend to be placed immediately after the introductory word. For example : quod mihi ista irapaho^a . . . (4). Utrum se horum alicuius . . . (13). Cum tibi siue deus siue . . . (14). Qui mihi secundis rebus . . . (16). Qui se in aliqua lubidine . . . (21). Si mihi apud aliquos agrestes . . . (33). Qui se is­ tarum rerum cupiditatibus . . . (37). Qui sibi esse amplissimi uidebantur (40). Cum eum ne liberum quidem esse . . . (41). Dum te inanem uidebo (44). Ante quam tibi . . . (45). Nam ut eis . . . (46). 5. As regards the position of negatives, 'love of distinctness led the Latin writers in negative sen­ tences to stamp the negative form on the sentence as early as possible’ (Potts, Hints towards Latin Prose Composition, p. 59). Hence we find in the Paradoxa: non enim (5,16, 35), neque enim (6, 20), non igitur (27, 32), nec uero (16, 19), numquam me hercule ego (6), neque ego umquam (8), nescis insane (17), nihil neque meum est neque quoiusquam (29), and the like.

INTRODUCTION

XXXV

6. Igitur, enim, and autem, which normally stand second word in the sentence, may be postponed when two or even more words that go closely to­ gether precede them. This is particularly common when est and sunt are concerned. For example : quid est igitur . . . (9), quae uis est enim (23), quae est enim ciuitas (27), quid est enim (34), quo modo igitur (32), quid ualet igitur (41), iam fateris igitur (45). In 46 ‘ cui quaesito autem opus sit9the first two words do not go closely together, but the postponement o f autem seems to be due to a desire to place greater emphasis on quaesito.

M. TULLI CICERONIS PARA­ DOXA STOICORUM i

PROOEMIUM Animaduerti, Brute, saepe Catonem auunculum l tuum, cum in senatu sententiam diceret, locos graues ex philosophia tractare abhorrentes ab hoc usu fo­ rensi et publico, sed dicendo consequi tamen ut illa etiam populo probabilia uiderentur. quod eo maius' 2 est illi quam aut tibi aut nobis, quia nos ea philo­ sophia plus utimur quae peperit dicendi copiam et in qua dicuntur ea quae non multum discrepent ab opinione populari; Cato autem, perfectus mea sententia Stoicus, et ea sentit quae non sane pro­ bantur in uulgus, et in ea est haeresi quae nullum sequitur florem orationis neque dilatat argumen­ tum, minutis interrogatiunculis quasi punctis quod proposuit efficit. sed nihil est tam incredibile quod non dicendo 3 fiat probabile, nihil tam horridum, tam incultum, quod non splendescat oratione et tamquam excola­ tur. quod cum ita putarem, feci etiam audacius quam ille ipse de quo loquor. Cato enim dumtaxat de magnitudine animi, de continentia, de morte, de omni laude uirtutis, de dis immortalibus, de 1

2

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

caritate patriae, Stoice solet oratoriis ornamentis adhibitis dicere: ego tibi illa ipsa quae uix in gymnasiis et in otio Stoici probant ludens conieci 4 in communes locos, quae quia sunt admirabilia contraque opinionem omnium— ab ipsis etiam TrapdSo^a appellantur—temptare uolui possentne proferri in lucem, id est in forum, et ita dici ut probarentur, an alia quaedam esset erudita, alia popularis, oratio : eoque hos locos scripsi libentius quod mihi ista rrapaSo^a quae appellant maxime uidentur esse Socratica longeque uerissima. 5. accipies igitur hoc paruum opusculum lucu­ bratum his iam contractioribus noctibus, quoniam illud maiorum uigiliarum munus in tuo nomine apparuit, et degustabis genus exercitationum earum quibus uti consueui cum ea quae dicuntur in scholis derutus ad nostrum hoc oratorium trans­ fero dicendi genus, hoc tamen opus in acceptum ut referas nihil postulo; non enim est tale ut in arce poni possit quasi Minerua illa Phidiae, sed tamen ut ex eadem officina exisse appareat.

PARADOXON I OTI MONON TO K AAON A T A 0 O N Quod honestum sit id solum bonum esse

6

I. Vereor ne cui uestrum ex Stoicorum hominum disputationibus, non ex meo sensu, deprompta haec

PARADOXON I

3

uideatur oratio, dicam quod sentio tamen, et dicam breuius quam res tanta dici potest. numquam mehercule ego neque pecunias istorum, neque tecta magnifica, neque opes, neque imperia, neque eas quibus maxime astricti sunt uoluptates, in bonis rebus aut expetendis esse duxi, quippe cum uiderem rebus his circumfluentes ea tamen desiderare maxime quibus abundarent, neque enim umquam expletur nec satiatur cupiditatis sitis ; neque solum ea qui habent lubidine augendi cruciantur, sed etiam amittendi metu. in quo equidem continentissimorum hominum, 7 maiorum nostrorum, saepe requiro prudentiam, qui haec imbecilla et commutabilia pecuniae membra uerbo b on a putauerunt appellanda, cum re ac factis longe aliter iudicauissent. potestne bonum cuiquam malo esse ? aut potest quisquam in abundantia bonorum ipse esse non bonus ? atqui ista omnia talia uidemus ut etiam improbi habeant et absint probis, quam ob rem licet irrideat si qui 8 uult, plus apud me tamen uera ratio ualebit quam uulgi opinio ; neque ego umquam bona perdidisse dicam si quis pecus aut supellectilem amiserit, nec non saepe laudabo sapientem illum, Biantem ut opinor, qui numeratur in septem: cuius cum patriam Prienam cepisset hostis, ceterique ita fu­ gerent ut multa de suis rebus asportarent, cum esset admonitus a quodam ut idem ipse faceret, ‘ ego uero’ inquit ‘ facio ; nam omnia mecum porto

4

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

9mea\ ille haec ludibria fortunae ne sua quidem putauit, quae nos appellamus etiam bona. ‘ quid est igitur’ quaeret aliquis ‘ bonum ? 9 si, quod recte fit et honeste et cum uirtute, id bene fieri uere dicitur, quod rectum et honestum et cum uirtute est, id solum opinor bonum. 10 II. sed haec uideri possunt odiosiora cum lentius disputantur ; uita atque factis illustrata sunt sum­ morum uirorum haec quae uerbis subtilius quam satis est disputari uidentur. quaero enim a uobis, num ullam cogitationem habuisse uideantur ei qui hanc rem publicam tam praeclare fundatam nobis reliquerunt aut argenti ad auaritiam, aut amoeni­ tatum ad delectationem, aut supellectilis ad delicias, 11 aut epularum ad uoluptates.. ponite ante oculos unum quemque [regum], uultis a Romulo ? uultis post liberam ciuitatem ab eis ipsis qui liberauerunt ? quibus tandem Romulus gradibus escendit in caelum ? eisne quae isti bona appellant, an rebus gestis atque uirtutibus ? quid ? a Numa Pompilio minusne gratas dis Immortalibus capu­ dines ac fictiles urnulas fuisse quam felicatas aliorum pateras arbitramur ? omitto reliquos ; sunt enim omnes pares inter se, praeter Superbum. 12 Brutum si qui roget quid egerit in patria liberanda, si quis item reliquos eiusdem consili socios quid spectauerint, quid secuti sin t: num quis exsistat cui uoluptas, cui diuitiae, cui denique praeter officium fortis et magni uiri quicquam aliud pro-

PARADOXON I

5

positum fuisse uideatur ? quae res ad necem Porsennae C. Mucium impulit, sine ulla spe salutis suae ? quae uis Coclitem contra omnes hostium copias tenuit in ponte solum ? quae patrem Decium, quae filium, deuota uita, immisit in armatas hostium copias ? quid continentia C. Fabrici, quid tenuitas uictus M\ Curi sequebatur % quid duo propugnacula belli Punici, Cn. et P. Scipiones, qui Carthaginiensium aduentum cor­ poribus suis intercludendum putauerunt ? quid Africanus maior ? quid minor ? quid inter horum aetates interiectus Cato ? quid innumerabiles alii ?—nam domesticis exemplis abundamus— cogitasse quicquam in uita sibi esse expetendum, nisi quod laudabile esset et praeclarum, uidentur ? III. ueniant igitur isti irrisores huius orationis ac 13 sententiae, et iam uel ipsi iudicent utrum se horum alicuius qui marmoreis tectis ebore et auro ful­ gentibus, qui signis, qui tabulis, qui caelato auro et argento, qui Corinthiis operibus, abundant, an C. Fabrici, qui nihil habuit eorum, nihil habere uoluit, se similes malint. atque haec quidem quae modo huc, modo illuc, 14 transferuntur, facile adduci solent ut in bonis rebus esse negent: illud arte tenent accurateque de­ fendunt, uoluptatem esse summum bonum, quae quidem mihi uox pecudum uidetur esse, non homi­ num. tu, cum tibi siue deus siue mater ut ita dicam rerum omnium, natura, dederit animum quo nihil

6

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

est praestantius neque diuinius, sic te ipse abicies atque prosternes ut nihil inter te atque inter qua­ dripedem aliquam putes interesse ? quicquam bo­ num est quod non eum qui id possidet meliorem 15 facit ? ut enim est quisque maxime boni particeps, ita est laudabilis maxime ; neque est ullum bonum de quo non is qui id habeat honeste possit gloriari, quid autem est horum in uoluptate ? melioremne efficit aut laudabiliorem uirum ? an quisquam in potiundis uoluptatibus gloriando se et praedicatione ecfert ? atqui si uoluptas, quae plurimorum patro­ ciniis defenditur, in rebus bonis habenda non est; eaque, quo est maior, eo magis mentem ex sua sede et statu demouet, profecto nihil est aliud bene et beate uiuere nisi honeste et recte uiuere.

PARADOXON II OTI A Y T A P K H S H A PETH IIPOE EYAAIMONIAN In quo uirtus sit, ei nihil deesse ad beate uiuendum 16

-

Nec uero ego M. Regulum aerumnosum nec infelicem nec miserum umquam putaui. non enim magnitudo animi cruciabatur eius a Poenis, non grauitas, non fides, non constantia, non ulla uirtus, non denique animus ipse qui tot uirtutum praesi­ dio tantoque comitatu, cum corpus eius caperetur, capi certe ipse non potuit. C. uero Marium uidimus qui mihi, secundis rebus, unus ex fortunatis horni-

PARADOXON II

7

nibus, aduersis, unus ex summis uiris, uidebatur— quo beatius esse mortali nihil potest. nescis, insane, nescis quantas uires uirtus habeat. 17 nomen tantum uirtutis usurpas ; quid ipsa ualeat ignoras, nemo potest non beatissimus esse qui est totus aptus ex sese, quique in se uno sua ponit omnia, cui spes omnis et ratio et cogitatio pendet ex fortuna, huic nihil potest esse certi, nihil quod exploratum habeat permansurum sibi unum diem. eum tu hominem terreto, si quem eris nanctus, istis mortis aut exsili minis, mihi uero quicquid acciderit in tam ingrata ciuitate, ne recusanti quidem euenerit, non modo non repugnanti, quid enim ego laboraui, aut quid egi, aut in quo euigilarunt curae et cogitationes meae, si quidem nihil peperi tale, nihil consecutus sum, ut eo statu essem quem neque fortunae temeritas neque inimicorum labefactaret iniuria ? mortemne mihi minitaris 18 ut omnino ab hominibus, an exsilium ut ab im­ probis, demigrandum sit ? mors terribilis eis quo­ rum cum uita omnia exstinguuntur, non eis quorum laus emori non potest; exsilium autem illis quibus quasi circumscriptus est habitandi locus, non eis qui omnem orbem terrarum unam urbem esse ducunt. te miseriae, te aerumnae premunt omnes, qui te beatum, qui florentem, putas, tuae lubidines tor­ quentur, tu dies noctesque cruciaris, cui nec sat est quod est et id ipsum ne non diuturnum sit futurum times, te conscientiae stimulant maleficiorum tuo-

8

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

rum, te metus exanimant iudiciorum atque legum, quocumque aspexisti, ut Furiae, sic tuae tibi occur­ runt iniuriae, quae te suspirare libere non sinunt. 19 quam ob rem, ut improbo et stulto et inerti nemini bene esse potest, sic bonus uir et sapiens et fortis miser esse nemo potest, nec uero quoius uirtus moresque laudandi sunt, eius non laudanda uita est, neque porro fugienda uita est quae lau­ danda e s t; esset autem fugienda, si esset misera, quam ob rem, quicquid est laudabile, idem et beatum et florens et expetendum uideri decet. PARADOXON III OTI IS A T A AM A PTH M A TA K A I T A K A TO P0H M AT A

20

I. ‘ Parua’ inquit ‘ est res.’ at magna culpa; nec enim peccata rerum euentis sed uitiis hominum metienda sunt, in quo peccatur, id potest aliud alio maius esse aut m inus: ipsum quidem illud peccare, quoquo uerteris, unumst. auri nauem euertat gubernator an paleae, in re aliquantum, in gubernatoris inscitia nihil interest, lapsa est istius lubido in muliere ignota : dolor ad pauciores pertinet quam si petulans fuisset in aliqua generosa ac nobili uirgine ; peccauit uero nihilo minus, si quidem est peccare tamquam transire lineas, quod cum feceris, culpa commissa est. quam longe progrediare cum semel transieris, ad augendam transeundi culpam nihil pertinet.

PARADOXON III

9

peccare certe licet nemini, quod autem non licet, id hoc uno tenetur, si arguitur non licere, id si nec maius nec minus umquam fieri potest (quoniam in eo est peccatum si non licuit, quod semper unum et idem est), quae ex eo peccata nascantur aequalia sint oportet. quod si uirtutes sunt pares inter se, paria esse 21 etiam uitia necessest. atqui pares esse uirtutes, nec bono uiro meliorem, nec temperante temperantiorem, nec forti fortiorem, nec sapienti sapientiorem posse fieri, facillime potest perspici, an uirum bonum dices qui depositum nullo teste, cum lucrari impune posset auri pondo decem, reddiderit, si idem in decem milibus pondo auri non idem fecerit ? aut temperantem qui se in aliqua lubidine continuerit, in aliqua effuderit ? una uirtus est, consentiens cum ratione et perpetua 22 constantia ; nihil huc addi potest quo magis uirtus sit, nihil demi ut uirtutis nomen relinquatur, etenim si bene facta recte facta sunt, et nihil recto rectius, certe ne bono quidem melius quicquam inueniri potest, sequitur igitur ut etiam uitia sint paria, si quidem prauitates animi recte uitia di­ cuntur. atqui, quoniam pares uirtutes sunt, recte facta, quando a uirtutibus proficiscuntur, paria esse debent; itemque peccata, quoniam ex uitiis manant, sint aequalia necesse est. II. ‘ a philosophis’ inquit ‘ ista sumis.’ metue- 23 bam ne ‘ a lenonibus’ diceres. ‘ Socrates disputabat

10

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

isto m odo/ bene hercule narras; nam istum doctum et sapientem uirum fuisse memoriae traditum est. sed tamen quaero ex te, quoniam uerbis inter nos contendimus, non pugnis : utrum nobis est quaerendum quid baioli atque operarii, an quid homines doctissimi, senserint ? praesertim cum hac sententia non modo uerior, sed ne utilior quidem hominum uitae, reperiri ulla possit, quae uis est enim quae magis arceat homines ab impro­ bitate omni quam si senserint nullum in delictis esse discrimen, aeque peccare se si priuatis ac si magistratibus manus afferant, quamcumque in domum stuprum intulerint eandem esse labem lubidinis ? 24 ‘ nihilne igitur interest’—nam hoc dicet aliquis — 'patrem quis necet anne seruum ? 5 nuda ista si ponas, iudicari qualia sint non facile possint, patrem uita priuare si per se scelus est, Saguntini, qui parentes suos liberos emori quam seruos uiuere maluerunt, parricidae fuerunt, ergo et parenti non numquam adimi uita sine scelere potest, et seruo saepe sine iniuria non potest, causa igitur haec, non natura, distinguit, quae quoniam utro accessit id fit propensius, si utroque adiunctast paria fiant necesse est. 25 illud tamen interest, quod in seruo necando, si id fit iniuria, semel peccatur, in patris uita uiolanda multa peccantur, uiolatur is qui procreauit, is qui aluit, is qui erudiuit, is qui in sede ac domo atque

PARADOXON IV

11

in. re publica collocauit; multitudine peccatorum praestat eoque poena maiore dignus est. sed nos in uita non quae cuique peccato poena sit, sed quantum cuique liceat, spectare debemus, quicquid non oportet, scelus esse, quicquid non licet, nefas, putare debemus. 'etiamne in minimis rebus ? ’ etiam— si quidem rerum modum figere non possumus, animorum modum tenere possumus, histrio, si paulum se 26 mouit extra numerum, aut si uersus pronuntiatus est syllaba una breuior aut longior, exsibilatur, exploditur : in uita tu, quae omni gestu moderatior, omni uersu aptior, esse debet, in syllaba te peccasse dices ? poetam non audio in nugis, in uitae societate audiam ciuem, digitis peccata dimetientem sua ? 'si uisa sint breuiora, leuiora uideantur?’ qui possint uideri, cum, quicquid peccetur, perturba­ tione peccetur rationis atque ordinis, perturbata autem semel ratione et ordine, nihil possit addi quo magis peccari posse uideatur ?

PARADOXON IV OTI ITAS AOPON M AINETAI Omnes stultos insanire

I. Ego uero te non stultum ut saepe, non im- 27 probum ut semper, sed dementem. . . . . . . rebus ad uictum necessariis esse inuictum

12

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

potest; sapientis animus, magnitudine consili, tole­ rantia rerum humanarum, contemptione fortunae, uirtutibus denique omnibus, ut moenibus, saep­ tus, uincetur et expugnabitur, qui ne ciuitate quidem pelli potest ? quae est enim ciuitas ? omnisne conuentus etiam ferorum et immanium ? omnisne etiam fugitiuorum ac latronum congregata unum in locum multitudo ? certe negabis, non igitur erat illa tum ciuitas cum leges in ea nihil ualebant, cum iudicia iacebant, cum mos patrius occiderat, cum ferro pulsis magi­ stratibus senatus nomen in re publica non erat, praedonum ille concursus et te duce latrocinium in foro constitutum et reliquiae coniurationis a Catilinae Furiis ad tuum scelus furoremque con28 uersae, non ciuitas erat, itaque pulsus ego ciuitate non sum, quae nulla erat; accersitus in ciuitatem sum, cum esset in re publica consul, qui tum nullus fuerat, esset senatus, qui tum occiderat, esset con­ sensus populi liber, esset iuris et aequitatis, quae uincla sunt ciuitatis, repetita memoria. ac uide quam ista tui latrocini tela contempserim, iactam et immissam a te nefariam in me iniuriam semper d u x i: peruenisse ad me numquam putaui —nisi forte, cum parietes disturbabas, aut cum tectis sceleratas facesQinferebas, meorum aliquid 29 ruere aut deflagrare arbitrabare. nihil neque meum est neque quoiusquam quod auferri, quod eripi, quod amitti, potest, si mihi eripuisses diuinam

PARADOXON IV

13

animi mei constantiam., (si praeclaram illam con­ scientiam) meis c.uris, uigiliis, consiliis, stare te inuitissimo rem publicam, si huius aeterni benefici immortalem memoriam deleuisses, multo etiam magis si illam mentem unde haec consilia manarunt mihi eripuisses, tum ego accepisse me confiterer iniuriam. sed si haec nec fecisti nec facere potuisti, reditum mihi gloriosum iniuria tua dedit, non exitum calamitosum. ergo ego semper ciuis, et tum maxime cum meam salutem senatus exteris nationibus ut ciuis optimi commendabat: tu ne nunc quidem, nisi forte idem hostis esse et ciuis potest, an tu ciuem ab hoste natura ac loco, non animo factisque, dis­ tinguis ? II. caedem in foro fecisti; armatis 30 latronibus templa tenuisti; priuatorum domos, aedes sacras, incendisti: cur hostis Spartacus, si tu ciuis ? potes autem'esse tu ciuis, propter quem , aliquando ciuitas non fuit ? et me ttio nomine appellas cum omnes meo discessu exsulasse rem publicam putent ? numquamne, homo amentissime, te circumspicies ? numquam(ne> nec quid facias considerabis nec quid loquare ? nescis ex­ silium scelerum esse poenam, meum illud iter ob praeclarissimas res a me gestas esse susceptum ? omnes scelerati atque impii (quorum tu te ducem 31 esse profiteris) quos leges exsilio affici uolunt, exsules sunt, etiam si solum non mutarunt, an cum omnes te leges exsulem esse iubeant, non

14

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

appellet inimicus ? ‘ qui cum telo fuerit’— ante senatum tua sica deprensast; ‘ qui hominem occi­ derit’—plurimos occidisti; ‘ qui incendium fecerit’ —aedis Nympharum manu tua deflagrauit; ‘ qui 32 templa occupauerit’—in foro castra posuisti, sed quid ego communes leges profero, quibus omnibus es exsul? familiarissimus tuus de te priuilegium tulit ut, si in opertum Bonae Deae accessisses, exsulares : at te id fecisse etiam gloriari soles, quo modo igitur, tot legibus eiectus in exsilium, nomen exsulis non perhorrescis ? ‘ Komae sum’ inquit, et quidem in operto fuisti, non igitur, ubi quisque erit, eius loci ius tenebit, si ibi eum legibus esse non oportebit.

PAEADOXON Y OTI M 0 N 0 2 O 2 0 0 0 S E A E T 0E P O S KAI IIA S APON AOTAO S

•

Omnes sapientes liberos esse et stultos omnes seruos 33

I. Laudetur uero hic imperator aut etiam appel­ letur aut hoc nomine dignus putetur ? imperator quo modo ?. aut cui tandem hic libero imperabit, qui non potest cupiditatibus suis imperare ? re­ frenet primum libidines, spernat uoluptates, ira­ cundiam teneat, coerceat auaritiam, ceteras animi labes repellat, tum incipiat aliis imperare cum ipse improbissimis dominis, dedecori ac turpitudini,

PARADOXON V

15

parere desierit; dum quidem eis oboediet, non modo imperator, sed liber habendus omnino non erit. praeclare enim est hoc usurpatum a doctissimis — quorum ego auctoritate non uterer si mihi apud aliquos agrestes haec habenda esset oratio; cum uero apud prudentissimos loquar quibus haec inaudita non sint, cur ego simulem me si quid in his studiis operae posuerim perdidisse ?— dictumst igi­ tur ab eruditissimis uiris, nisi sapientem, liberum esse neminem, quid est enim libertas ? potestas 34 uiuendi ut uelis. quis igitur uiuit ut uult nisi qui recta sequitur ; qui gaudet officio ; cui uiuendi uia considerata atque prouisa est; qui ne legibus quidem propter metum paret, sed eas sequitur et colit quod id salutare esse maxime iudicat; qui nihil dicit, nihil facit, nihil cogitat denique nisi libenter ac libere ; cuius omnia consilia, resque omnes quas gerit, ab ipso proficiscuntur eodemque referuntur, nec est ulla res quae plus apud eum polleat quam ipsius uoluntas atque iudicium; cui quidem etiam, quae uim habere maximam dicitur, Fortuna ipsa cedit— si, ut sapiens poeta dixit, suis ea cuique fingitur moribus ? soli igitur hoc contingit sapienti, ut nihil faciat inuitus, nihil dolens, nihil coactus, quod etsi ita esse pluribus uerbis disserendumst, 35 illud tamen et breue et confitendumst, nisi qui ita sit affectus esse liberum neminem. serui igitur omnes improbi, serui, nec hoc tam re est quam dictu inopinatum atque mirabile, non

16

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

enim ita dicunt eos esse seruos ut mancipia, quae sunt dominorum facta nexo aut aliquo iure ciuili; sed si seruitus sit, sicut est, oboedientia fracti animi et abiecti et arbitrio carentis suo, quis neget omnes leues, omnes cupidos, omnes denique improbos, esse seruos ? 36 i i . an ille mihi liber cui mulier imperat, cui leges imponit, praescribit, iubet, uetat quod uidetur, qui nihil imperanti negare potest, nihil recusare audet ? poscit—dandum e st; uocat— ueniendum; eicit— abeundum ; minatur— extimescendum, ego uero istum non modo seruum sed nequissimum ^ seruum, etiam si in amplissima familia natus sit, appellandum puto. 37 atque in pari stultitia sunt quos signa, quos tabulae, quos caelatum argentum, quos Corinthia opera, quos aedificia magnifica, nimio opere de­ lectant. ‘ at sumus’ inquit ‘ principes ciuitatis.’ uos uero ne conseruorum quidem uestrorum prin­ cipes estis, sed ut in magna familia sunt alii lautiores, ut sibi uidentur, serui, sed tamen serui, ut atrienses, at qui tractant ista, qui tergent, qui unguunt, qui uerrunt, qui spargunt, non honestis­ simum locum seruitutis tenent; sic in ciuitate, qui se istarum rerum cupiditatibus dediderunt, ipsius seruitutis locum paene infimum optinent. ‘ magna ’ inquit ‘ bella gessi; magnis imperiis et prouinciis praefui.’ gere igitur animum laude dignum. Aetionis tabula te stupidum detinet, aut signum

PARADOXON V

17

aliquod Polycleti, mitto unde sustuleris, quo modo habeas; intuentem te, admirantem, clamores tol­ lentem cum uideo, seruum esse ineptiarum omnium iudico. ‘ nonne igitur sunt illa festiua ? 5 sint—nam nos 38 quoque oculos eruditos habemus— sed, obsecro te, ita uenusta habeantur ista non ut uincla uirorum sint, sed ut oblectamenta puerorum, quid enim censes ? si L. Mummius aliquem istorum uideret matellionem Corinthium cupidissime tractantem, cum ipse totam Corinthum contempsisset, utrum illum ciuem excellentem an atriensem diligentem putaret ? reuiuescat M\ Curius, aut eorum aliquis quorum in uilla ac domo nihil splendidum, nihil ornatum fuit praeter ipsos, et uideat aliquem, summis populi beneficiis usum, barbatulos mul-* los exceptantem de piscina et pertractantem, et murenarum copia gloriantem: nonne hunc ho­ minem ita seruum iudicet ut ne in familia quidem dignum maiore aliquo negotio putet ? an eorum seruitus dubiast qui cupiditate peculi 39 nullam condicionem recusant durissimae seruitutis ? hereditatis spes quid iniquitatis in seruiendo non suscipit ?

quem nutum locupletis orbi senis

non obseruat ?

loquitur ad u olu n tatem ; quicquid

denuntiatum st fa c it ; assectatur, assidet, munera­ tur :

quid horum est liberi ?

quid denique serui

non inertis ?

III.

quid ?

iam illa cupiditas, quae uidetur esse 40

18

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

liberalior, honoris, imperi, prouinciarum, quam dura est domina, quam imperiosa, quam uehemens! Cethego, homini non probatissimo, seruire coegit eos qui sibi esse amplissimi uidebantur, munera mittere, noctu uenire domum ad eum, Praeciae denique supplicare, quae seruitus est, si haec libertas existimari potest ? quid ? cum cupiditatis dominatus excessit et alius est dominus exortus ex conscientia pecca­ torum—timor, quam est illa misera, quam dura seruitus! adulescentibus paulo loquacioribus est seruiendum; omnes qui aliquid scire uidentur tamquam domini timentur, iudex uero quantum habet dominatum, quo timore nocentes afficit! an non est omnis metus seruitus ? 41 quid ualet igitur illa eloquentissimi uiri, L. Crassi, copiosa magis quam sapiens oratio ?— ‘ eripite nos ex seruitute’— quae est ista seruitus tam claro homini tamque nobili ? omnis animi debilitata et humilis et fracta timiditas seruitus est— ‘ nolite sinere nos cuiquam seruire’— in liber­ tatem uindicari uult ? minime; quid enim adiungit ?— ‘ nisi uobis uniuersis’— dominum mutare, non liber esse uult— ‘ quibus et possumus et debe­ mus’—nos uero, si quidem animo excelso et alto et uirtutibus exaggerato sumus, nec debemus nec possumus: tu posse te dicito, quoniam quidem potes ; debere ne dixeris, quoniam nihil quisquam debet nisi quod est turpe non reddere.

19

PARADOXON V I

sed haec hactenus, ille uideat quo modo im­ perator esse possit, cum eum ne liberum quidem esse ratio et ueritas ipsa conuincat.

PARADOXON V I OTI MONOS O SOOO S IIA O T SIO S Quod solus sapiens diues

I . Quae est ista in comm emoranda pecunia tua tam insolens ostentatio ?

42

solusne tu diues ? pro

di im m ortales, egone m e audisse aliquid et didicisse non gaudeam ? quidem ?

solusne diues ?

quid si pauper etiam ?

quid si ne diues quem enim in­

tellegim us diuitem , aut hoc uerbum in quo homine ponim us ?

opinor in eo quoi tan ta possessiost u t

ad liberaliter uiuendum facile contentus sit, qui nihil quaerat, nihil appetat, nihil optet, am plius.

animus oportet tuus se iudicet diuitem, non 43 hominum sermo neque possessiones tuae, nihil sibi deesse putat ? nihil curat amplius ? satiatus est, aut contentus etiam pecunia ? concedo, diues est. sin autem propter auiditatem pecuniae nullum quaestum turpem putas (cum isti ordini ne hones­ tus quidem possit esse ullus); si cotidie fraudas decipis, poscis pacisceris, aufers eripis; si socios spolias, aerarium expilas ; si testamenta amicorum exspectas, aut ne exspectas quidem atque ipse sup­ ponis : haec utrum abundantis, an egentis, signa

20

44 sunt ? so le t;

CICERO: PARADOXA STOICORUM

animus hom inis diues, non arca, appellari quam uis illa sit plena, dum

te inanem

uidebo, diuitem non putabo.

etenim ex eo quantum cuique satis est metiuntur homines diuitiarum modum, filiam quis habet ? pecuniast opus ; duas ? maiore ; pluris ? maiore etiam : si, ut aiunt Danaum, quinquaginta sint filiae, tot dotes magnam quaerunt pecuniam, quantum enim cuique opus est, ad id accommo­ datur, ut ante dixi, diuitiarum modus, qui igitur non filias plures, sed innumerabiles cupiditates habet, quae breui tempore maximas copias ex­ haurire possint, hunc quando ego appellabo diuitem, 45 cum ipse egere se sentiat ? multi ex te audierunt cum diceres neminem esse diuitem nisi qui exer­ citum alere posset suis fructibus— quod populus Romanus tantis uectigalibus iam pridem uix potest, ergo hoc proposito numquam eris diues ante quam tibi ex tuis possessionibus tantum reficietur ut eo tueri sex legiones et magna equitum ac peditum auxilia possis, iam fateris igitur non esse te diui­ tem, cui tantum desit ut expleas id quod exoptas. itaque istam paupertatem uel potius egestatem ac mendicitatem tuam numquam obscure tulisti. 46 II. nam, ut eis qui honeste rem quaerunt merca­ turis faciendis, operis dandis, publicis sumendis, intellegimus opus esse quaesito; sic, qui uidet domi tuae per te accusatorum atque indicum con­ sociatos greges; qui nocentes et pecuniosos reos

PARADOXON VI

21

eodem te actore corruptelam iudici molientes ; qui tuas mercedum pactiones in patrociniis, inpensas pecuniarum in coitionibus candidatorum, dimis­ siones libertorum ad . defaenerandas diripiendasque prouincias; qui expulsiones uicinorum; qui latrocinia in agris; qui cum seruis, cum libertis, cum clientibus, societates; qui possessiones uacuas; qui proscriptiones locupletium ; qui caedes muni­ cipiorum ; qui illam Sullani temporis messem recordetur; qui testamenta subiecta ( t o t ) ; tot qui sublatos homines ; qui denique omnia uenalia —dilectum, decretum ; alienam, suam sententiam; forum, domum ; uocem, silentium : quis hunc non putet confiteri sibi quaesito opus esse ? cui quae­ sito autem opus sit, quis umquam hunc uere dixerit diuitem ? etenim diuitiarum est fructus in copia ; 47 copiam autem declarat satietas rerum atque abun­ dantia : quam tu quoniam numquam assequere, numquam omnino es diues futurus. meam autem quoniam pecuniam contemnis— et recte, est enim ad uulgi opinionem mediocris, ad tuam nulla, ad meam modica— de me silebo, de re loquar, si censenda nobis sit atque aestimanda 48 res, utrum tandem pluris aestimemus pecuniam Pyrrhi, quam Fabricio dabat, an continentiam Fabrici, qui illam pecuniam repudiabat ? utrum aurum Samnitium an responsum M\ Curi ? here­ ditatem L. Paulli an liberalitatem Africani, qui eius hereditatis Q. Maximo fratri partem suam

22

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

concessit ? haec profecto, quae sunt summarum uirtutum, pluris aestimanda sunt quam illa, quae sunt pecuniae, quis igitur, si quidem ut quisque quod plurimi sit possideat, ita diuitissimus haben­ dus sit, dubitet quin in uirtute diuitiae sint, quo­ niam nulla possessio, nulla uis auri et argenti, pluris quam uirtus aestimanda est ? 49 III. o di immortales, non intellegunt homines quam magnum uectigal sit parsimonia ? uenio enim iam ad sumptuosos; relinquo istum quaes­ tuosum. capit ille ex suis praediis sescena ses­ tertia ; ego centena ex meis, illi, aurata tecta in uillis et sola marmorea facienti, et signa, tabulas, supellectilem, uestem infinite concupiscenti, non modo ad sumptum ille est fructus, sed etiam ad faenus, exiguus ; ex meo tenui uectigali, detractis sumptibus cupiditatis, aliquid etiam redundabit, uter igitur est diuitior ? cui deest an cui superat ? qui eget an qui abundat ? cui possessio, quo est maior, eo plus requirit ad se tuendam, an quae suis se uiribus sustinet ? 50 sed quid ego de me loquor, qui morum ac tem­ porum uitio aliquantum etiam ipse fortasse in huius saeculi errore uerser ? M\ Manilius patrum nos­ trorum memoria (ne semper Curios et Luscinos loquamur) pauper tandem fuit ? habuit enim aediculas in Carinis et fundum in Labicano, nos igitur diuitiores qui plura habemus ? utinam qui­ dem: sed non aestimatione census, uerum uictu

PARADOXON VI

23

atque cultu, terminatur pecuniae modus, non esse 51 cupidum pecuniast; non esse emacem uectigal est: contentum uero suis rebus esse maximae sunt certissimaeque diuitiae. etenim si isti callidi rerum aestimatores prata et areas quasdam magno aestimant, quod ei generi possessionum minime quasi noceri potest, quanti est aestimanda uirtus, quae nec eripi nec surripi potest, neque naufragio neque incendio amittitur, nec tempestatum nec temporum perturbatione mu­ tatur ? qua praediti qui sunt, soli sunt diuites. soli 52 enim possident res et fructuosas et sempiternas, solique, quod est proprium diuitiarum, contenti sunt rebus suis, satis esse putant quod est, nihil appetunt, nulla re egent, nihil sibi deesse sentiunt, nihil requirunt, improbi autem et auari,— quoniam incertas atque in casu positas possessiones habent et plus semper appetunt nec eorum quisquam adhuc inuentus est quoi quod haberet esset satis,—non modo non copiosi ac diuites, sed etiam inopes ac pauperes, existimandi sunt.

NOTES 1-5. (Prooemium.) Sum m ary.— 1. Cato, Brutus’ uncle, introduces philosophical subjects into his speeches in the Senate. 2. F or a Stoic such as Cato this is a notable achievement, since Stoic doctrine appeals to the few and the school does n ot cultivate the art of effective speaking. 3. B u t since oratory can lend plausibility to the most unlikely themes, Cicero wishes to outdo Cato b y treating certain less popular Stoic topics. 4. Can the Stoic Para­ doxes, which are thoroughly Socratic in spirit, be made to 6come home to m en’ s business and bosoms or are they only of interest to professional philosophers ? 5. In offering this essay to Brutus, to whom he has already dedicated a larger work, Cicero expresses the hope that its craftsman­ ship, though slighter, m a y prove it to have come from the same workshop as its greater predecessor. 1. B rute: M . Junius Brutus, the tyrannicide. H e has been characterized as ‘ a compound of tradition and philo­ sophy set in a rigid nature which imposed on Cicero by the attraction of opposites’ (Adcock in C .A .H . ix, p. 735). A good orator and a keen student of philosophy and law, he was the first to introduce the dialogue form into L atin literature, writing three books H e lu re C iu ili in the form of conversa­ tions with his son. saep e: best taken with animaduerti, since this produces a better balance between the first two members of the sentence. Cf. H er. 4. 33 saepe iudices animaduerti. C atonem : M . Porcius Cato Uticensis, great-grandson of the Censor, whose character was his ideal. In the Civil W a r he fought on the Pompeian side and committed suicide at U tica, after the battle of Thapsus in 46 B.c. ‘ H e stood alone am ong his generation in devotion to a cause and an ideal w ithout any thought for his own advance25

26

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

m e n t’ (Adcock in C .A .H . ix, p. 689). H is death ensured that the idea of the Republic lived on during the Principate. Lucan has summed up the man in the famous line uictrix causa deis placuit, sed uicta Catoni (Luc. 1. 128). auu ncu lu m : maternal uncle )( patruus, paternal uncle. ‘ Cato was half-brother to Brutus’ mother, Servilia. diceret: Cato was in Africa at the time when Cicero wrote, so that his speaking in the Senate is naturallyreferred to as in the past. locos grau es: ‘ important topics’ . Rem em ber the dis­ tinction between the plurals loci and loca. ex philosophia: there is no adjective for ‘ philosophical’ in Latin, so a substitute is used. So res publica m ay be employed to render ‘ political’, etc., e.g. de re publica libri ‘ political w orks’ , in re publica exercitatos ‘ experienced politicians’ . abhorrentes . . . publico: ‘ alien to common practice in legal and political oratory’ , publicus is another substitute for ‘ political’ . sed . . . ta m e n : the tamen reinforces s e d ; cf. 5 sed tamen ut ex eadem officina , . . ‘ but none the less’ . dicendo: ‘ by his exposition of them ’ . ilia : though neuter, refers to locos above. Such freedom in the use of pronouns is not uncommon ; cf. In v . 1. 109 uirtus et magnificentia in quo grauitas et auctoritas est etiam : usu. precedes the word it emphasizes, e.g. 3 etiam audacius, 9 etiam bona, 27 etiam ferorum . quoque, on the other hand, is always enclitic. probabilia: here ‘ acceptable’ rather than ‘ probable’ ; cf. B e Orat. 2 . 153 iucundior et probabilior huic populo orator. B u t the meaning ‘ probable’ is good Ciceronian, e.g. In v. 1. 46 probabile autem est id quod fere solet fieri. . . . 2. q u o d : ‘ and th is’, i.e. his successful handling of philo­ sophical subjects in his political speeches. eo m a iu s: libentius.

‘ the more remarkable’ ;

cf. 4 eoque . . .

NOTES— PROOEMIUM

27

plus u tim u r: ‘ we are more conversant w ith ’ , 'plus refers to quantity and e x te n t; magis to degree. In cases like this the distinction between them is very fine, and either could be used. In philosophy Cicero subscribed to the views of the New Academ y, founded b y Carneades in the second century B.c. The New A cadem y developed out of the Old Academ y, founded by Plato. Carneades believed that certain know­ ledge is impossible of attainment, and th at probability must be our guide. H is followers fully discussed the pros and cons of every philosophical question (disputatio in utramque partem ), and adhered to the view which had the greater balance of probability in its favour. This full dis­ cussion naturally called forth all the resources of argument, and, as Cicero goes on to say, peperit dicendi copiam . peperit: best taken as gnomic p erfe ct; nemo repente fu it turpissim us.

cf. Juv. 2 . 83

discrepent: generic subjunctive, for ea quae here= talia ut. The indicative could equally well have been used, cf. ea> . . . quae non sane probantur below, but the relative clause would then state a fact. ea sentit: ‘ holds convictions’ . non sa n e : ‘ not at a ll’ ; cf. H or. Sat. 2. 3. 138 nil sane fecit quod tu reprehendere p ossis. in uulgus : —uulgo ; cf. T usc. 2. 63 hoc euenit ut in uulgus insipientium opinio ualeat honestatis. haeresi: Gk. atpeois. The root meaning is ‘ choice’ ; then it comes to mean ‘ philosophical sect, or school ’ ; then, in the Christian Fathers, ‘ heresy’ . The native Latin word is secta or disciplina. sequitur: ‘ aims a t ’ ; a common meaning of the word in Cic. Cf. 12 quid secuti sint. dilatat: ‘ elaborates’ , ‘ develops ’ . minutis interrogatiunculis: adversative asyndeton— ‘ but by a string of petty questions . . . ’ . Cic. here refers dis­ paragingly to the severely logical approach of the Stoics. They cast their arguments into the form of syllogisms ; the

28

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

premises and conclusions of these syllogisms were often put in the form of questions (interrogationes) to which the opponent was forced to answer yes or no. Cf. Sen. E p ist. 82. 23 uerba mihi captiosa componis et interrogatiunculas nectis ? punctis: ‘ pin-pricks’ ; cf. F in . 4. 7 pungunt enim (sc. Stoici) quasi aculeis, interrogatiunculis angustis. quod proposuit efficit: ‘ prove their case’ ; the subject is haeresis. For this use of efficere cf. Tuse. 1. 77 unit efficere animos esse mortales. 3. quod n o n : ut non or quin could also have been used ; cf. Caes. B .G . 6. 39. 3 nemo est tam fortis quin rei nouitate perturbetur. excolatur: cf. Virg. A en . 6. 663 inuentas aut qui uitam excoluere per artes.— In this sentence notice the binary grouping so common in Cic. There are two parallel main clauses. In the second, horridum and incultum are balanced b y splendescat and excolatur. quod cum ita putarem : a L atin idiom in which the ita is really superfluous; cf. Off. 3. 62 idque uenditor ita fecisset. dum taxat: ‘ o n ly ’ ; a limiting particle formed from dum and the subjunctive of an obsolete verb taxo, which is related to tango as uiso is to uideo. Thus the word literally = ‘ as far as it m ay touch ’ , and then ‘ only ’, ‘ to this extent magnitudine a n im i: ‘ greatness of m in d ’ , or ‘ fortitude’ , the third o f the four cardinal virtues, the others being wisdom, justice, and temperance or self-control (con­ tinentia). In Off. 3. 100 Cic. explains that it means : nihil extimescere, omnia humana despicere, nihil quod homini accidere possit intolerandum putare. Cf. the Gk. peyaXoxfvxla. continentia: ‘ self-control’ = G k . iyKpdreia. Cf. 12 con­ tinentia C. Fabrici. The Gk. word occurs in Galatians 5. 23 and is translated ‘ temperance ’ in the A .V . The Vulgate renders it b y continentia. m o rte : cf. Bacon, Essa y I I , ‘ Certainly, the Stoihes be­

NOTES— PROOEMIUM

29

stowed too much cost upon Death, and b y their great preparations, made it appeare more fearefull’ . caritate patriae: in contrast to the Epicureans, the Stoics held it to be a duty to take a full part in the life of the community, to serve one’s country and one’s fellow men. This was one of the reasons w hy their creed appealed so strongly to m an y R om ans. Stoice: ‘ in the Stoic spirit’ . oratoriis ornamentis adhibitis: the participle has a slight concessive force— ‘ though using all the resources of rhetoric’ ; for Cic. has said above that the Stoics do not ‘ search for flowers of speech’ . ego : adversative asyndeton— ‘ but I . . . ’ . in gymnasiis et in otio: the repetition of in seems to show that this should not be taken as a hendiadys.— The gymnasium was a natural place for an ancient philosopher to choose to teach in, since all the youth of the city would gather there. The A cadem y and the Lyceum , where Plato and Aristotle taught, were both gymnasiums. Vitruvius describes how in the colonnades of the typical Greek palaestra there were seats in quibus philosophi rhetores reliquique qui studiis delectantur sedentes disputare possint (D e Arch. 5 .1 1 ) . probant: ‘ succeed in proving’ (Rackham ). Verbs like ‘ can’, ‘ m u st’ , ‘ w ill’ , ‘ know how t o ’ , are n ot expressed in L atin when th ey are n ot em p h atic; but we m ust insert them in English translation. E .g . 45 iam fateris ‘ you must now ad m it’ , non inuenio ‘ I cannot find’ , dignitatem suam tuetur ‘ he knows how to preserve his dign ity’, etc. ludens conieci . . . lo co s: see Introd. B . 1. 4. admirabilia: ‘ surprising’ . This is the L atin trans­ lation of 7Tapahoga as we see from F in . 4. 74 haec rrapaho^a illi, nos admirabilia dicamus. ab ipsis e tia m : etiam here= ‘ to o ’ , ‘ indeed’ . in lucem . . . fo ru m : )( in gymnasiis et in otio. Brut. 32 Isocrates . . . forensi luce caruit.

c

Cf.

30

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

d ic i: for the passive cf. 5 ea quae dicuntur in scholis, 6 dicam breuius quam res tanta dici potest, and 10 cum lentius disputantur. ut probarentur: ‘ to win acceptance’ (Rackham ). alia quaedam . . . alia / . ‘ whether the language of philosophers is quite different from that of ordinary people’ . Cf. Orat. 113 aliud uidetur oratio esse, aliud disputatio ; and 194 aliud enim quiddam est oratio. Here Cic. might have written aliud quiddam . . . aliud, but instead the neuter is attracted into the feminine to agree with oratio. quae appellant: ‘ so-called’ ; Spelaeum quod uocant.

cf. L iv y 45. 33. 8 ad

maxime . . . Socratica: see Introd. A . 3. longeque uerissim a: in classical L atin longe is used with superlatives, multo with comparatives. 5. accipies: as in English the future is often used to express a request or command. I t implies the conviction that the request will be carried o u t ; cf. F am . 14. 8 si quid accident noui, facies ut sciam. paruum opuscu lum : such pleonasm is n ot u n co m m o n ; cf. 2 minutis interrogatiunculis and N .D . 2. 123 pisciculi parui. lucubratum : lucubrare—(i) ‘ b u m the midnight oil’ ; (ii) ‘ compose something b y lamplight ’ . lucubrum is said to have been a taper or candle, made of tow and w ax. A busy man like Cic. would do m ost of his literary work at night. Cf. Quint. 10. 3. 27 occupatos in noctem necessitas agit. his . . . noctibu s: i.e. some tim e in early spring. Introd. C.

See

illud . . . m im u s : the dialogue called Brutus, siue D e Claris Oratoribus. See Introd. C. degustabis: ‘ you will sam ple’ (R a ck h a m ); cf. Tusc. 5. 61 uisne . . . quoniam te haec uita delectat, ipse eam de­ gustare ? genus exercitationum e a ru m : —id genus exercitationum. B y a common Latin idiom the adjective is transferred;

NOTES— PARADOX I

31

cf. Caes. B .G . 5. 12. 2 eis nominibus duita tu m —nominibus earum duitatum, Cic. F in . 3. 73 uetera praecepta sapientium. consueui: ‘ I memini, worn.

am accustom ed’— present p erfe ct;

ea quae dicuntur in scholis . . .

cf.

: see Introd. B . 1.

in acceptum ut referas: ‘ th at you should regard this work as putting you in m y d eb t’ , in acceptum referre is a metaphor from accountancy and = ‘ to enter as having received’ . n ih il: rather stronger than non— ‘ b y no m eans’ . Minerua illa Phidiae: the huge bronze statue of Athena the Champion (.Promachos) set up on the Acropolis at Athens to commemorate the Greek victory over the Persians. I t was probably about nine metres high. W e can get some idea of how it looked from pictures *of the Acropolis bn certain Greek coins ; see Baumeister, Denkmaler des klassischen Altertums, p. 1311. For ilia ‘ the fam ou s’ cf. 8 sapientem illum. sed tamen u t : understand tale est before ut. appareat: ‘ appear’ .

‘ it m ay be evid en t, not ‘ it m ay seem’ , or

PARADOX I W h a t is morally right is the only good The Greek title at the head of each Paradox m ay well be authentic. The authenticity of the Latin translations is less certain, since they appear to have been contained not in the text, but in the margin, of the archetype. 6-]L5. Summary.— 6. Cic. is personally convinced of the truth of this paradox. W ealth , for all its fine show, is not a real good. I t multiplies our needs. 7. Strange that early Romans should have called transitory possessions ‘ goods’ . 8. Bias, the Greek Sage, rated such things at their true value. 9. Virtue, or Righteousness, is the only good. 10. B u t stated in the abstract this truth is less vivid. 11-12. Consider the great figures in Rom an history. Did

32

CICERO: PARADOXA STOICORUM

they set their heart on anything save the attainm ent of a noble ideal ? 13. L et the sceptic choose whether he would n ot rather be a Fabricius than a millionaire. 14. Though the Epicureans agree th at mere chattels are n ot ‘ goods’ , they maintain th at the sovereign good is pleasure. Such a creed is purely animal, and degrades the dignity of man. 15. I f pleasure were a good, the pursuit of it would add to a man’ s moral stature and reputation. B u t it does not. Then if pleasure is not a good, to ‘ live w ell’ means to lead an upright life. 6. u estru m : is the partitive genitive, uestri the ob jective; thus multi uestrum, but oblitus sum uestri. So with nostrum and nostri. h o m in u m : not strictly necessary, b u t' often added pleonastically in such expressions ; e.g. homo adulescens, homo Romanus, homo histrio ‘ an actor’ . disputationibus: ‘ discussions’ , ‘ debates’ . L atin disputare never means ‘ dispute’ .

In classical

ex m eo se n su : ‘ from m y own convictions’ ; cf. 2 et ea sentit, dicam quod sen tio: i.e. what I am going to tell you is m y own real opinion, dicam quid sentiam would mean ‘ I shall tell you w hat m y opinion is ’ . The distinction can be seen more clearly in dic quod rogat ‘ give the answer to his question’, and die quid roget ‘ say what his question is ’ . ta m e n : for the postponement cf. 8 plus apud me tamen. breuius quam . . ..p o te s t: portant a subject dem ands’ .

‘ more briefly than so im ­

numquam . . . neque . . . n equ e: ‘ never . . . either . . . either’ . The double negative is regular in L atin in such sentences ; cf. 29 nihil neque . . . neque, 30 numquam nec . ♦ . nec. aut . . . aut is also good L atin but less co m m on ; cf. Caes. B .C . 3 . 61. 2 nemo aut miles aut eques . . . tran­ sierat. m ehercule: never first word in the sentence ; cf. 23 bene hercule. In Orat. 157 Cic. implies that this form is more

NOTES— PARADOX I

33

usual than mehercules. I t is an oath used only b y men, just as mecastor is used only b y women. pecunias : the plural is only used when speaking of more than one m an’s wealth. istoru m : refers to Cicero’ s imaginary op p on en ts; Introd. B . 2 and 3. tecta: here ‘ houses’ ; ceilings\

cf.

contrast 49 aurata tecta ‘ gilded

opes : wider in meaning than pecu n ia ; refers to resources both material and immaterial, and the power which they bring. im peria: military and civil powers. Under the R e­ public, imperium or the supreme administrative power was normally only held b y consuls, praetors, proconsuls, and propraetors, and in times of national emergency b y dictators for six months only. quibus : ablative.— astricti =deuincti. in bonis . . . a u t : not et, because of the negative pre­ ceding. quippe c u m : quippe qui, praesertim cum, or qui, all with the subjunctive, could also be used. ta m e n : the concessive idea with which this contrasts is contained in the participle circumfluentes. desiderare maxime : ‘ feel themselves m ost lacking in ’ . abundarent: subjunctive by attraction to the mood of uiderem above (Modal Attraction). cupiditatis sitis: Lucretius finely expresses this idea in 3. 1082/4 : sed dum abest quod auemus, id exsuperare uidetur / cetera; post, aliud, cum contigit illud, auemus / et sitis aequa tenet uitai semper hiantis. ‘ B u t so long as we have not what we crave, it seems to surpass all else ; after­ ward, when that is ours, we crave something else, and the same thirst for life besets us ever, open-mouthed ’ (Bailey). ea qui h ab en t: above.

ea refers to pecunias, tecta, opes, etc.,

34

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM amittendi metu : note chiasmus with lubidine augendi.

7. in q u o : ‘ and in this connexion’ ; in quo ei Pom peius gratias egerat. equidem : singular.

cf. Att. 2. 24. 2

in Cicero used exclusively w ith 1st person

requiro: ‘ I look in vain for’ , ‘ miss ’ . haec imbecilla . . . m em b ra: ‘ these insecure and tran­ sitory elements that constitute w ealth’ . For this use of membra cf. Sest. 98 huius . . . otiosae dignitatis haec funda­ menta sunt, haec membra and D e Orat. 2. 79 quinque faciunt quasi membra eloquentiae. uerbo b o n a : ‘ the nominal title of “ goods” ’ (Rackham ). re ac fa ctis: )( uerbo. cuiq uam : because the answer expected is N o ; cf. quisquam below. m a lo : best taken as agreeing with cuiquam, not as predicative dative. atqu i: often found after a question expecting the answer N o ; e.g. 15 atqui si uoluptas . . . Also frequently used to introduce the minor premise of a syllogism ; cf. 21 atqui pares esse uirtutes. absint probis: for abesse with the dative cf. D e Orat. 2. 281 quid huic abest nisi res et uirtus? 8. si qui u u lt: but si quis pecus . . . b e lo w ; cf. 12 si qui roget . . . si quis item. Cic. uses si qui and si quis without distinction. A s often, the combination here = q u i cumque, and the subject of the infinitive is to be understood from it. nec n o n : in classical L atin prose connects clauses, not single words, and then only when the preceding or the following clause is introduced by nec. Biantem : Bias of Priene in Ionia, who flourished in the 6th century b . c . Aristotle (Rhet. 1389 b) credits him with the advice to ‘ like, as if you would afterwards hate, and hate, as if you would afterwards like’ (cf. Soph. A ja x 678-

NOTES— PARADOX I

35

682), and w ith the saying th at ‘ office will show up the man ’ {Eth. N ic. 1130 a). ut opinor: Cic. knows perfectly well, bu t since he has a popular audience in mind, does not wish to parade his knowledge of things Greek, for the average R om an had a prejudice against the Graeculi.

septem: the Seven Sages. In Prot. 343 A Plato gives the list as Thales of Miletus, Pittacus of M ytilene, Bias of Priene, Solon the Athenian, Cleobulus of Lindus, M yson of Chenae, and Chilon the Lacedaemonian. There were other candidates, of whom Periander of Corinth was the strongest; see Diog. Laert. 1. 13. hostis : this collective singular is common in Cic. Others are Romanus, miles, eques, testis, ciuis. ita fugerent u t : i.e. they fled, but took m any of their possessions with them. This restrictive use of ita . . . ut is not uncommon ; cf. F in . 5. 65 haec ita iustitiae propria sunt ut sint uirtutum reliquarum communia ‘ these are attributes of justice, but they are attributes common to the other virtues’ . multa de suis rebu s: de and ex are often used instead of the partitive genitive, particularly after cardinal numbers and words like multi and com plures; cf. 16 unus ex for­ tunatis hominibus . . . unus ex summis uiris.— N otice too that Latin says multa de suis rebus, not m ultas; cf. Caes. B .G . 5. 1. 7 nihil earum rerum. asportarent: formed from abs + p o r to ; cf. the early Latin aspello.

uero : ‘ indeed ’ , ‘ b u t’ is common in answers and in com­ bination with a pronoun ; cf. 37 uos uero . . . inquit: never introduces indirect speech, and is always inserted after the beginning of the direct qu o tation ; e.g. 20, 23. omnia m ecum porto m e a : Valerius M axim us explains : pectore enim illa gestabat, non umeris, nec oculis uisenda sed aestimanda animo (vii. 2. 6, ext. 3). 9.

ludibria

fortunae:

‘ toys

of fortune’

(Rackham ).

36

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

Such things depend on Fortune and are not within our c o n tro l; she mocks us with them. Cf. H or. Carm. 3. 29. 49 ff. Fortuna saeuo laeta negotio et / ludum insolentem ludere pertinax. . . . quid est igitu r: for the position of igitur see Introd. E . 6. si, quod recte fit . . . :

the protasis ends at dicitur.

cum uirtu te: in the protasis this represents an adverb, in the apodosis an adjective. id . . . opinor b o n u m : double accusative is common with putare, existimare, arbitrari, e t c .; cf. putauit above. 10. odiosiora: ‘ rather tedious’ , odiosus has a milder meaning than one might e x p e c t; cf. M u r . 30 spernitur orator, non solum odiosus in dicendo ac loquax, uerum etiam bonus. lentius: ‘ in too pedestrian a fashion’ , lentus often means ‘ d u ll’ , ‘ unim aginative’ , ‘ phlegm atic’ ; cf. Att. 1. 18. 4 nihil est illo homine lentius. quaero . . . a u ob is: distinguish quaero ab (ex) aliquo ‘ I ask someone a question’ and quaero aliquem ‘ I look for som eone’ . ei qui . . . reliquerunt: indicative, though in indirect speech, because the relative clause is a circumlocution for a noun ; cf. 45 id quod exoptas. argenti: ‘ silver w are’ ; the meaning ‘ (silver) m o n ey’ is rare in Cic. The genitive depends on cogitationem. ad auaritiam : ad here = ‘ with a view t o ’ . their avarice ’ (R ackham ).

‘ T o gratify

am oenitatum : in Cic. always refers, like amoenus, to the beauty of natural scenery or works of art. Cf. M anil. 40 non amoenitas ad delectationem. ‘ Beautiful grounds ’ (Rackham ). 11. unum quemque [regu m ]: it seems best with M advig to regard regum as a gloss inserted to specify unum quemque. In fact, eorum qui hanc r. p . tam praedare fundatam nobis rdiquerunt is to be understood from the previous sentence. u ultis:

sc. incipere or incipiamus.

Such ellipses are

NOTES— PARADOX I

:r /

common in familiar sp eech ; cf. Fam . 16. 17. 2 ego hinc 'perendie mane cogito (sc. proficisci), Tuse. 5. 92 paululum a sole (sc. recede). Plasberg makes ponite . . . liberauerunt one sentence. 11e places a comma after quemque, regards regum as parallel l.o post liberam duitatem which he takes to mean ‘ of those after the liberation of the state and understands uultis . . . uultis as siue . . . siue. B u t (1) this use of uultis is unparalleled, (2) the sentence thus produced is an awk­ ward one. tandem : common in questions— ‘ p ra y ’, ‘ I w onder’ ; cf. 48 utrum tandem, 50 pauper tandem. quibus . . . gradibus: cf. B om . 75 quibus tamquam gradibus mihi uideor in caelum accendisse. escendit: it is difficult to draw any hard and fast dis­ tinction between ascendere and escendere, which are often confused in the MSS. eisne quae . . . : notice that quae does n ot agree in gender with its antecedent gradibus, bu t with bona in the relative clause. Such attraction of the relative is regular with demonstratives and relatives in L atin ; cf. Caes. B .G . 7. 68. 1 Alesiam , quod est oppidum M andubiorum9 iter facere coepit, and H or. Epist. 1 .1 . 6 0 hic murus aeneus esto ‘ let this be your wall of bronze is ti: cf. 6 istorum. atque : is always used before a vowel or h, and sometimes before a consonant, esp. a guttural, ac never stands before a vowel or h. a Numa P om pilio: to be taken with capudines ac fictiles urnulas ; the preposition expresses origin, c f. Lucilius F r. 251 (Marx) tres a Deucalione grabati ‘ three pallet-beds as old as the Flood *.— N um a was by tradition the second king of Rom e and renowned for his wisdom, p iety , and love of peace. Under the guidance of the n ym p h Egeria he is supposed to have established R om an religious ritual, founded the priestly colleges, and reformed th e calendar. capudines: a kind of large ladle used in sacrificial cere­ monies for holding wine (from capere).

38

CICERO

PARADOXA STOICORUM

felicatas : the word derives from felix (filix) ‘ fern’ , and refers to the engraving of fern leaves on the salvers. reliquos: sc. reges. Superbum: Tarquin the Proud, last king of R om e. H is traditional character is summed up in Ovid’s words uir iniustus, fortis ad arma tamen (Fast. 2. 688). 12. B rutum : Lucius Junius Brutus, traditionally first consul of the R om an Republic in 509 b . c . A fter the rape of Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius he was the chief mover in causing the expulsion of the king and his family. si qui . . .

si q u is : cf. 8.

quid egerit: ‘ his ob ject’ ; cf. id ago ut (ne). consili: t h e g e n i t i v e i n il f r o m n o u n s i n -ium a n d -iu d i d n o t c o m e i n t o g e n e r a l u s e u n t i l t h e fir s t c e n t u r y a . d . Cf. Fabrici, Curi b e l o w a n d 17 exsili, 28 latrocini, 29 bene­ fici, e t c . socios: according to L iv y (1. 58. 6) they were Spurius Lucretius, Lucretia’ s father, Tarquinius Collatinus, her husband, and Publius Valerius Poplicola. spectauerint: specto in the sense of ‘ have in view ’, ‘ in ten d ’, is common in C ic .; cf. A tt. 8. 7. 1 (Domitius) nihil spectat nisi fugam. secuti: cf. 2 nullum sequitur florem arationis and below sequebatur. num q u is: sc. eorum. exsistat: n ot quite sit. Its original meaning is ‘ emerge ‘ come fo r th ’ , appear’ ; cf. Lucr. 2. 796 neque in lucem exsistunt primordia rerum. ‘ W ou ld anyone be found among th e m ’ (Rackham ). denique: ‘ in a w ord’ , . ‘ in sh ort’ ; denique omnibus.

cf. 27 uirtutibus

ad n ecem : in classical L atin nex always signifies a violent death ; hence in the phrase ‘ to have power of life and death ’ nex is always used— uitae necisque potestatem habere.

NOTES— PARADOX I

39

Porsennae: king of the Etruscan city of Clusium (modern Chiusi) who attacked R om e in order to reinstate Tarquin the Proud (L ivy 2. 9). Lars Porsena o f Clusium B y the nine Gods he swore That the great house o f Tarquin Should suffer wrong n o more. (Macaulay.)

C. Mucium : tried to assassinate Porsena, but killed his scribe instead. W h en brought for trial, he thrust his right hand into a brazier lit for sacrifice, to show how Rom ans despised pain. In recognition of his bravery Porsena released him (L ivy 2. 12).

ulla

sine spe : the opposite would be non sine aliqua spe, the affirmative force of non sine making it necessary to use aliqua instead of ulla. Coclitem : the story of ‘ H ow Horatius kept the bridge In the brave days of o ld ’ is well enough known.

quae :

sc. uis.

Decium : Decius Mus, when consul, sacrificed his life in battle to ensure a victory against the Latins in 340 b . c . His son is said to have repeated the noble exploit of his father in a battle against Samnites and Gauls at Sentinum in 295 B.c. (See L iv y 8. 9 and 10. 2 8 .). deuota u ita : refers to the ritual of deuotio, whereby a Rom an general, losing in battle, might ‘ vow (deuouere) himself and the enemy’ s arm y with him to Tellus and the M anes’ . For details of the ceremony see the O .G .D . continentia: cf. 3. F abrici: A m ong the heathen . . . canst thou n ot remember Quintius, Fabricius, Curius, Regulus ? F o r I esteem those names o f men so p oor W h o could d o m ighty things, and could contem n Riches, though offered from the hand o f kings. (Milton, P .R . 2. 443 flf.)

Fabricius was a hero of the war against Pyrrhus. The king’s doctor came to Fabricius and promised to poison

40

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

his master for a suitable reward. Fabricius sent him back in chains to Pyrrhus who remarked : ille est Fabricius qui difficilius ab honestate quam sol a cursu suo auerti potest (Eutropius 2. 14). Pyrrhus had already offered Fabricius the fourth part of his kingdom if he would desert to him. Curi: like Fabricius, an example of the old Rom an virtues of simple living and incorruptibility. W h en the Samnites tried to bribe him he is said to have replied : non aurum habere praeclarum mihi uidetur, sed eis qui habeant aurum imperare. Cf. Cic. Sen. 55. propugnacula b e lli: so Achilles is called lp/co? . . . ttoAc[jloio kclkoZo, ‘ a bulwark of evil w ar’, by Hom er in II. 1. 284. Cn. et P. Scipiones : Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus and his younger brother Publius, both of whom were killed in Spain in 211 b . c . The latter was father of Africanus. Cato : t h e Censor, 2 3 4 -1 4 9

b .c .

domesticis exem plis: no need to cite Greek examples. For the R om an, history was a kind of Morality, a store­ house of examples, good and bad ; cf. L iv y Praef. 11 nulla umquam res publica . . . bonis exemplis ditior fu it. cogitasse . . . uidentur: ‘ did they really think . . . ? ’ . 13. isti irrisores: Cic. has the Epicureans in mind, as we see from 14 illud arte tenent . . . uoluptatem esse summum bonum. huius orationis ac sententiae: can best be rendered as a hendiadys— ‘ of the view expressed in this speech’ . et iam uel ipsi iudicent: ‘ and now (i.e. confronted b y these historical examples) let them judge for themselves, if they will . . . ’ . alicuius: depends on similes below. (dis)similis m ay take genitive or d a tiv e ; in classical L atin the genitive is always found with the personal pronouns mei, tui, sui, nostri, uestri and in ueri similis. marmoreis tectis: probably ‘ houses adorned with m arble’, for panel-ceilings (lacunaria) ornamented with ivory and gold were normally made of wood. Bpntley proposed :— qui solis marmoreis, qui tectis, e t c .; cf. 49.

NOTES— PARADOX I

41

caelato auro et a rgento: ‘ gold and silver p la te’ embossed or engraved with a chisel (cadum). Cf. 37 caelatum argen­ tum. Corinthiis operibus: Corinthian bronzes ; cf. 37 Corinthia opera, and Ovid M e t. 6. 416 nobilis aere Corinthos. nihil . . . eoru m : Cic. might have written earum reru m ; cf. quotation from Caesar in note on 8 multa de suis rebus. 9 , se sim iles: the se is strictly unnecessary after utrum se above, but has been put in for the sake of clarity. 14. atqu e: often introduces a new point in the argu­ ment, like the Gk. k o X p r j v ; cf. 28 ac uide, and 37 init. solent: subject isti irrisores. in bonis rebus esse n egen t: cf. 6 in bonis rebus . . . esse duxi. illud arte ten en t: ‘ but th ey hold fast to the belief th a t’ . N ote arte, sometimes spelt arcte; cf. D iv. 1. 59 arte dormire. quae qu id em : when the relative is thus used as a con­ nexion ( = e t ea) it cannot be combined with such words as enim, autem, uero, igitur, etc. quidem, on the other hand, simply adds emphasis like the Gk. ye. Cf. 7 in quo equidem. For the attraction of quod into quae see 11 n . eisne quae. uox pecudum : ‘ the utterance of beasts’ . N o te that animalium would include man. Although Atticus, his best friend, was a convinced Epicurean, Cic. had a rooted objec­ tion to Epicureanism and its relative, Cyrenaicism, and often expressed his contempt for the votaries of P leasu re; e.g. A c. Post. 1. 6 illi enim simpliciter pecudis et hominis idem bonum esse censent. deus . . . n atu ra: the Stoics believed th at God was present as a divine force infused into the natural w o rld ; cf. Sen. Benef. 4. 7. 1 quid enim aliud est natura quam deus et diuina ratio toti mundo partibusque eius inserta ? Their aim was to ‘ live in accordance with N a tu re’ (see Introd. A . 4). a n im u m : for the Stoics the human soul was a breath

42

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

or spark of the divine ; cf. Tuse. 1. 65 ergo animus, ut ego dico, diuinus est; ut Euripides dicere audet, deus, et quidem si deus aut anima aut ignis est, idem est animus heminis. quo nihil . . . : ablative of comparison is obligatory with the relative; cf. 16 quo beatius . . . For the thought cf. Milton, P .L . 11. 603 ff. Judge n ot what is best B y pleasure, though to Nature seeming meet, Created as thou art to nobler end, H oly and pure, conform ity divine.

sic te ipse . . . : ‘ of your own volition will you make yourself so cheap and sink so low . . . ’ . inter te atque in ter: this illogical repetition of inter is rare in Cic., but cf. A m ic. 95 intersit inter popularem . . . et inter constantem. quadripedem: feminine because some such word as bestia is understood. quicquam bonum est . . . : distinguish between (i) nihil bonum est quod non eum qui id possidet meliorem facit ‘ nothing, which does not make its possessor a better man, is go o d ’, and (ii) nihil bonum est quod non e. q. i. p . meliorem faciat ‘ there is no good thing which does not make its possessor a better m a n ’ . In (ii) e$£ = ‘ exists’ . 15. ut enim est quisque . . . ita . . . : for this idiom with superlatives cf. 48 ut quisque quod plurimi sit. . . . English idiom uses the comparative : ‘ the more . . . the m ore’ , and Latin too can express the same thing by quo . . . eo + comparatives. is qui id h ab ea t: subjunctive b y modal attraction ; cf. 6 abundarent. Indicative could s ta n d ; cf. 10 ei qui . . . reliquerunt. possit: for the explanation of .this consecutive sub­ junctive see note on 14 quicquam bonum est above. in uoluptate: a lm o st= a genitive of characteristic. ‘ W hich of these is characteristic of pleasure ? ’ Cf. 39 quid horum est liberi ? in potiundis uoluptatibus: potior, like fungor, fruor, utor,

NOTES— PARADOX II

43

uescor, can be used transitively in the gerundive, though in their other forms these verbs are intransitive and govern the ablative. a tq u i: cf. 7 n. patrociniis: plural because of plurimorum, patrocinium properly means the protection afforded b y a patron to his clientes; then generally, ‘ support’ , ‘ patronage’; cf. F in . 2. 67 aut haec tibi . . . sunt uituperanda, aut patrocinium uoluptatis repudiandum. eaque: we should render ‘ and indeed’ , ‘ and m oreover’ . ex sua sede . . . : because the reason is moved from its controlling place and superseded b y appetite.— N ote that sua ‘ proper ’ does not refer to the subject but to mentem ; cf. Rep. 3. 40 suis uirtutem praemiis spoliant. profecto: (from pro facto) ‘ certainly’ ; cf. 48 Tiaec profecto. The apodosis begins here. bene et beate u iuere: the subject of e s t ; cf. 24 patrem uita priuare. nihil aliud . . . n is i: it is doubtful whether Cic. ever uses nihil aliud . . . quam, which is preferred by L ivy .

P A R A D O X II Virtue by itself is sufficient for happiness 16-19. Sum m ary.— 16. Regulus, despite the Cartha­ ginian torture chamber, possessed a mind at peace. Marius rose to the height of his greatness in adversity. 17- True happiness is a state of mind, independent of the outward changes and chances of life. Cicero accepts political in­ gratitude with resignation. H is work and thought give him spiritual independence. 18. Death and exile hold no terrors for those who are confident that their name will live on, and who regard the whole world as their native land. Cicero’ s imaginary opponent, on the other hand, is a prey to hopes, passions, fears, and a guilty conscience. 19. Just as an evil man cannot be happy, so a good man cannot be miserable.

44

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

For the general thought cf. Pope, Essay on M a n , 4 . 3 0 9 /1 0 : K n ow then this truth (enough for Man to know) ‘Virtue alone is happiness below’ .

16. R e gu lu m : defeated in Africa b y the Carthaginians under the Spartan mercenary commander Xanthippus (255 B .C .). The story of his mission to R om e on parole to negotiate an exchange of prisoners, of his advice to the Senate to refuse the Carthaginian terms, and of his return to death by torture has been immortalised by Horace in Odes 3. 5. aerum nosum : a strong word with an archaic fla v o u r; cf. F in . 2 .1 1 8 . . . uel Herculis perpeti aerumnas, sic enim maiores nostri labores non fugiendos, tristissimo tamen uerbo a e r u m n a s , etiam in deo nominauerunt. magnitudo a n im i: cf. 3 n. Here heads a list of thoroughly Rom an virtues. eius : its position is rather unusual. grauitas: ‘ the seriousness of demeanour which is the outward token of a steadfast purpose’ (W arde Fowler, Rome, p. 11). The word defies translation. W e might render inadequately ‘ sense of responsibility’ .— fides : ‘ in­ tegrity’ .— constantia: ‘ firmness of purpose’, ‘ steadfast­ ness’ . non ulla uirtus : i.e. none of his outstanding qualities. animus ip se : Thou canst n ot touch the freedom o f m y mind W ith all thy charms, although this corporal rind T hou hast immanacled while Heaven sees good. (Milton, Comus, 664 ff.)

tot uirtutum . . . com itatu: ‘ defended by so strong a retinue of numerous virtues’ . Cf. F in . 2. I l l quid (opus est) tanto concursu honestissimorum studiorum, tanto uirtutum comitatu ? ca p i: there is a play on the secondary meaning = decipi. C f. M u r. 22 tu caues ne tui consultores, ille ne urbes aut castra, capiantur. C. uero M ariu m : 1 5 7 -8 6

b .c .

; f a m o u s f o r h is d e f e a t o f

NOTES— PARADOX II

45

Jugurtha, of the Teutones (102 B.C.), and of the Cimbri (101 B.c.), and for the military reforms th at made these victories possible. Cic. was a great admirer of his com­ patriot from Arpinum and wrote a poem, now lost, in his honour. N ote uero is n ot placed later than second word unless the first word is a preposition ; e.g. Off. 2. 29 rem uero 'publicam penitus amisimus, and T use. 5 .1 1 6 in surditate uero quidnam est mali ? unus ex . . . hom inibus: for unus ex cf. 8 n . multa de. N ote contrast between hominibus and uiris. aduersis: sc. rebus. quo beatius . . ‘ and th at is the highest happiness that can befall a m ortal’ (Rackham ). 17.

insane : Cic. turns on his imaginary opponent.

uirtus : coming as it does after the praise of Marius and the description of him as unus ex summis uiris, here has a touch of its common meaning ‘ manliness’ .— ‘ uirtus, manliness . . . originally m eant activity and courage, and with ripening civilization took on a broader and more ethical m eaning’ (W arde Fowler, Rome, p. 11). tantum : adverb. usurpas : in classical Latin usurpare sim p ly= uti ; it m ay sometimes be translated ‘ qu ote’ , ‘ cite ’ ; cf. 33 praeclare enim est hoc usurpatum a doctissimis . . . quid ipsa u a le a t: ‘ its real m eaning’ , ipsa opposes the thing in itself to the label given to it {n om en ); cf. 41 ueritas ipsa. nemo potest non beatissimus: i.e. everyone can be supremely happy. Contrast non nemo potest . . . ‘ m any a one can ’ , ‘ some ca n ’ . qui e s t: indicative because the relative clause is really part of the s u b je c t; cf. 14 n. quicquam. totus aptus ex se se : ‘ entirely self-dependent’ ; the original meaning of aptus is ‘ attached t o ’ , ‘ hanging from ’ . Cf. Tusc. 5. 36 cui uiro . . . ex se ipso apta sunt omnia

46

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

quae ad beate uiuendum ferunt, . . . huic optime uiuendi ratio comparata est. The words express the Stoic ideal of ‘ self-sufficiency’ (avrapKeta). in se u n o : as opposed to those who in casu positas pos­ sessiones habent (52). Cf. A m ic. 30 ut nullo egeat, suaque omnia in se ipso posita iudicet. ratio et cogitatio: ‘ his calculations and plans’ . quod exploratum h ab eat: habeo + perfect participle emphasizes the permanent result that follows from a com­ pleted action— so here ‘ nothing of which he has sure knowledge th at . . . ’ . This idiom is usually found in Cic. with verbs expressing knowledge and resolution—-per­ spectum, deliberatum, spectatum, cognitum, statutum, aliquid habere. terreto: the so-called Future or Second Im perative, common in legal documents and p recep ts; cf. 41 dicito. I t differs from the ordinary imperative in not insisting on the immediate execution of the co m m a n d ; hence here the future eris nanctus. istis: contemptuous, as often. m ih i: outside the quicquid clause to contrast more strongly with eum above. accid en t: future perfect. In classical L atin indefinite relatives do not take the subjunctive except by modal attraction ; cf. 18 quocumque aspexisti. in grata: Cic. had saved the Republic by suppressing the Catilinarian conspiracy. None the less Clodius was able to engineer his exile in 58 B.c. quid . . . laboraui: quid is an internal accusative— ‘ w h y ’ , ‘ for what purpose’ . For similar internal accusa­ tives in the neuter cf. utrumque laetor (F am . 7. 1. 1), id ipsum dubito (Att. 12. 27. 4), id consentire ‘ agree to th a t’ (F in . 2. 117). in quo eu igilan m t: i.e. I have been wasting m y time on matters of no importance, if indeed . . . etc. For in quo cf. Leg. 1. 13 in quo melius hunc consumam diem ? For euigilarunt cf. 29 manarunt, 30 exsulasse, 31 mutarunt. These

NOTES— PARADOX II

47

shortened forms of the perfect existed side by side with the full forms, but gradually became the more usual (see Orat. 157 and Quint. 1. 6. 17). si quidem . . . : ‘ if I have indeed produced nothing, achieved nothing, to place me in a position th at cannot be shaken by the blind vicissitudes of Fortune or the wanton attacks of m y enemies’ . F or eo statu esse cf. Caes. B .G . 6. 12. 9 eo turn statu res erat. quem is followed b y a Con­ secutive Subjunctive. 18. m initaris: ‘ do you think to threaten me . . 3 n. probant. demigrandum s it : Cic. several times uses demigrare as a euphemism for ‘ d ie’ ; cf. Tuse. 1. 74 uetat enim dominans ille in nobis deus iniussu hinc nos suo demigrare. cum u it a : = simul cum uita. laus em o ri: Cic. is not thinking of the im m ortality of the soul, but rather of an im m ortality of fame. The unworthy are forgotten. Cf. 29 huius aeterni benefici immortalem memoriam. The same thought occurs in Euripides, Fragment 7 3 4 : aperi} he, Kav Qavrj n s, ovk airoXKvrai, tfj 8’ ovKer ovros acoparos' KaKoloL he airavra povha ovvQavovQ' vtto xdovos. quibus quasi . . . lo c u s : i.e. to those who cannot look beyond the narrow confines of their immediate surround­ ings. omnem orbem . . . unam u rb em : Cic. tells a story of how Socrates, when asked his nationality, replied: ‘ A citizen of the universe’ (mundanus); totius enim mundi se incolam et ciuem arbitrabatur (Tuse. 5. 108). A similar story is told of Diogenes the Cynic (see Diog. Laert. 6. 63). For the play orbem . . . urbem cf. the fine line by Rutilius in praise of R om e (D e Reditu Suo 6 6 ) : urbem fecisti quod prius orbis erat. aerumnae : cf. 16 aerumnosum. florentem : cf. 19 beatum et florens and Rep. 1. 71 quis te possit esse florentior ?

cf.

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

48

tuae lubidines torquentur: so the best M SS. W e m ust render ‘ your desires torment them selves’ , te tuae lubidines torquent would be more natural and is adopted by some editors. In support of the reading in the te x t Plasberg compares Tusc. 3. 25 uoluptas gestiens et libido bonorum opinione turbantur. cui nec sat est . . . : explains the previous statement. nec sat est quod est refers to lubidines torquentur; id ipsum . . . times to crucians. ‘ Y o u are not satisfied with what you have, and you are afraid that even th at m ay not be permanent. ’ ne n o n : much commoner in Cic. than ut after verbs of fearing. sit fu tu ru m : this periphrastic tense brings out the future meaning here better than sit on its own would do. I t is most commonly used to express futurity in indirect ques­ tions, and after non dubito quin and the like. conscientiae : ‘ stings of conscience’ . The plural in Latin makes an abstract noun inore concrete b y calling attention to particular examples of its occurrence. Thus conscientia ‘ conscience’ ; conscientiae = particular occasions on which one feels conscience-stricken— ‘ twinges of conscience’ . So amantium irae ‘ lovers’ quarrels’, domesticae fortitudines ‘ brave actions in civil life ’ . Of. Rose. A m . 67 suae malae cogitationes conscientiaeque animi terrent. stim ulant: stimulus in its original meaning is a goad for driving c a ttle ; cf. Ter. Phorm. 78 aduorsum stimulum calces (sc. iactare) ‘ to kick against the pricks’ . quocumque aspexisti: perfect, not present, because L atin is more accurate here than English. F or the in­ dicative see 17 n . accident. F uriae: the Greek Erinyes, avenging deities who pursue the guilty and uphold the natural and moral order. Their names were Allecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. occurrunt: ‘ meet your gaze’ , ‘ appear before y o u ’ ; cf. D iv. 63 eis occurrunt plerumque imagines mortuorum.

1.

iniuriae: another abstract d oing’ ; iniuriae ‘ misdeeds’ .

plural,

iniuria

‘ wrong­

NOTES— PARADOX III

49

suspirare : cf. F in . 1. 53 (improbitas) numquam sinit m m respirare, numquam acquiescere. 19. improbo . . . nem in i: i.e. nemini improbo, etc., nemo is obligatory with adjectives used as nouns, and is often found instead of nullus with personal n o u n s ; e.g. nemo ciuis, nemo miles. Cf. in this sentence bonus uir . . . nemo. bene esse: + dative = ‘ be well w ith ’ , ‘ be h ap p y’ ; H or. Epist. 1 1 89 iurat bene solis esse maritis.

. .

cf.

quoius: the older form of cuius. I t is frequent in Republican inscriptions, and sometimes offered in Cice­ ronian M SS. laudandi: ‘ praiseworthy’ , not expressing any idea of obligation. This attributive use of the gerundive is common with verbs of emotion— metuendus, mirandus, contemnendus, etc. p orro: ‘ further’ , adding a link in a chain of argu m en t; cf. F in . 1. 32 neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum . . . amet. a u tem : here, like atqui, introduces the minor premise of a syllogism ; cf. 7 n. atqui, and 20 quod autem non licet. id e m : we should say ‘ also’ . uideri d ecet: ‘ is properly regarded as . .

P A R A D O X III A ll sins are equal in gravity, and all virtuous actions equally meritorious The L atin title of this Paradox is missing. W e m ay supply it from F in . 4 .5 5 : recte facta omnia aequalia; omnia peccata paria. 20-26. Summary.— 20. The gravity of sins is not to be measured b y their consequences; it consists simply in vicious intention. For (i) sin is like crossing a boundary lin e ; (ii) sin is unlawful, and there are no degrees of un­ lawfulness. 21. I f virtues are equal, vices must be so too. B u t one cannot conceive of anything better than goodness,

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

50

braver than bravery, more temperate than temperance, or wiser than wisdom. 22. In other words, virtue does not adm it of degrees and consequently neither does vice. B u t good actions proceed from virtue, sins from vice. There­ fore good actions m ust be equal, and so must sins. 23. To the objection that the argument is too academic, Cic. replies by asking whether in a rational enquiry one should apply to porters and labourers, or to the well educated. Furthermore, the argument in question is highly expedient, being a strong deterrent to wrong-doing of any sort. 24. Then is parricide on an equal footing with the murder of a slave ? T h at is purely a question of motive. Parricide m ay be justifiable; witness the Saguntines. 25. B u t given a wrong m otive in each case, the difference is one of kind, not of degree. Parricide is not one crime, bu t m any. However, we are not here concerned to assess penalties, but simply to consider whether any given action is lawful or unlawful. 26. Small offences are no less unlawful than great ones. B oth deviate from the norm of right reason, and of such deviations it cannot be said that one is more irrational than another. Cic. argues the case with considerable skill, but not even his powers as a pleader avail to make it really convincing. Horace’ s criticism in Sat, 1. 3. 96 ff. expresses the ^Epi­ curean v ie w : quis paria esse fere placuit peccata, laborant cum uentum ad uerum e s t : sensus moresque repugnant atque ipsa utilitas, iusti prope mater et aequi.

In Epist. 1. 16. 53 ff., however, he meets the Stoics half­ w ay, for he implies that intention is the measure of g u ilt : tu nihil admittes in te formidine poenae; sit spes fallendi, miscebis sacra profanis, nam de mille fabae modiis cum surripis unum, damnum est, non facinus, mihi pacto lenius isto.

4 Y ou will commit'no crime because you dread p u n ish m en t; suppose there’s a hope of escaping detection, you will make no difference between sacred and profane. For when from a thousand bushels of beans you steal one, m y loss in that case is less, but not your sin.’ (H . R . Fairclough.) 20.

inqu it: the imaginary opponent.

51

NOTES— PARADOX III

cu lp a: ‘ fau lt’ , ‘ offence’ ; cf. below culpa commissa est. rerum euentis : i.e. ‘ their consequences’ . uitiis h om in u m : tention’ .

‘ human wickedness ’, i.e.

‘ evil in­

in quo peccatur . . . : i.e. the external forms that sin takes differ from one another and may be of more or less gravity. ipsum quidem illud peccare: ‘ the act garded in itself’ , ‘ the essential nature of used as a noun ; cf. 15 bene et beate uiuere. cf. B e Orat. 2. 24 me hoc ipsum nihil agere

of offending re­ sin’ , peccare is For ipsum illud . . . delectat.

quoquo uerteris: Plasberg understands peccare as object — ‘ whichever way you twist your interpretation of offence’ . The translation ‘ whichever way you turn’ is tempting and m ay be right. B u t though L iv y uses uerto intransitively, Cic. only does so in the phrase annus uertens ‘ the turning year’ . In A m ic. 22 we find quoquo te uerteris. unum st: so the best M SS. and 44 pecuniast.

Cf. 21 necessest, 42 possessiost,

au ri: understand utrum as first word. The genitive expresses what the ship contained. Cf. F in . 4 . 76 guber­ nator aeque peccat si palearum nauem euertit et si auri. in r e : i.e. ‘ as regards the loss’ . in . . . inscitia: ‘ in respect of the helmsman’ s incom­ petence’ (Rackham). in is commonly used to mean ‘ with regard to . . . ’ ; cf. below in muliere ignota. istius: ipsius.

cf. 6 istorum.

Plasberg’s suggestion for MSS.

lapsa est lubido: = errauit lubido. ‘ Passion has made a slip in the case of a woman of no position’ (Rackham ). For this use of labi in cf. Tusc. 2. 12 in officio . . . labitur> Off. 2. 9 in quo uerbo lapsa consuetudo. dolor: ‘ the harm’, or possibly with Rackham ‘ resent­ m e n t’ . petulans fuisset: ‘ had played the wanton’ (Rackham ). The subject is iste understood from istius above, petulans

52

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

is much stronger than its English derivative a n d = G k . aaeXyrfs. generosa ac nobili: ‘ high-born nobilis ‘ w ell-know n’ )( ignota above.

and

distinguished*.

si quidem : often, like Gk. direp, = ‘ if as is indeed the case’, ‘ since’ ; cf. 22, 25, 41. transire lin eas: i.e. pass over a boundary, go beyond the mark. I t is difficult to determine the precise metaphor behind the expression., linea originally means ‘ flaxen thread’ , then any thread, string, or cord, and finally a line. Cic. m ay possibly refer to the white line marking the start and finish of a footrace, but the plural suggests that he has in mind cords or ropes such as those round a modern boxing­ ring, designed to prevent access to a place. This inter­ pretation seems to be supported by Quint. 11. 3. 133 aduersus hoc facientem (i.e. transeuntem in diuersa subsellia) lineas p op oscit; here the object is to prevent a pleader from walking over to the other side of the court. For the phrase cf. Varro L .L . 9. 1. 5 cum poeta transilire lineas impune possit. progrediare: Cic. regularly uses this short form except in the present indicative passive. Thus 30 loquare, 47 assequere, but 31 profiteris, 45 fateris. quod autem . . . licere: ‘ as regards what is unlawful, the crux of the m atter lies in this alone— th at it is proved to be unlaw ful’ , tenetur = continetur, hoc uno is explained b y the si clause following. id si n e c : i d —non licere, ‘ unlawfulness’ . in e o : looks forward to si non licuit. quae ex eo . . . : the order is oportet peccata, quae ex eo nascantur, sint aequalia♦ ex eo, i.e. from unlawfulness. nascantur b y Modal A ttraction. oportet: like necesse, is common with the subjunctive in direct dependence on i t ; cf. 22 sint aequalia necesse est, 43 oportet. . . iudicet.

21. quod s i : ‘ but if ’ ; so quod nisi, and more rarely quod cum, quod quoniam, quod ubi.

NOTES— PARADOX III

53

bono uiro : represents one of the four Cardinal Virtues— justice. The other three follow in temperante, forti, and sapienti. tem perante: participle used as adjective. In the 3rd declension the normal form of the ablative of a participle ends in -e, th at of an adjective in -i. H ence forti and sapienti here. a n : often employed, like num, to pose a question that the speaker re je c ts; cf. 29 an tu ciuem . . ., 31 an cum omnes . . ., 36 an ille miki . . ., 39 an eorum seruitus . . . d ices: = u o c d b is; cf. Off. 1. 124 talem enim solemus et sentire bonum ciuem et dicere, but this use of dicere with two accusatives is rare. q u i: ‘ because’ , hence perfect subjunctive reddiderit. depositum nullo teste: ‘ a sum entrusted to him without witnesses’ . cum lucrari . . . posset: ‘ although he pocketed without fear of punishment . . . ’ .

could

have

auri pondo d ecem : ‘ ten pounds of go ld ’ , pondo, old ablative of pondus, is used as an indeclinable noun. si idem . . . non id e m : the first idem is masculine, the second neuter. ‘ I f he does n ot also do the same in the case of . . . ’ . tem perantem : understand dices uirum from above. 22. u n a : predicate. ‘ Virtue is a unity, in harmony with reason and always consistent with itself.’ I t gives the best sense to take perpetua constantia as an ablative of descrip­ tion qualifying uirtus, and n ot to understand cum before it. h u e : i.e. to virtue ; cf. the phrase huc accedit quod . . . ut uirtutis nomen relinquatur: ‘ in such a w ay th at the nam e of virtue is le ft’, i.e. without destroying the concept of virtue. eten im : ‘ and indeed’ = G k . «m yap. The original mean­ ing of enim is ‘ indeed’ , etenim always stands first word in the sentence; cf. 44 etenim ex eo . . ., 51 etenim si isti . . .

54

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

The form of the syllogism is as follows : bene facta sunt recte facta. atqui nihil est rectius quam rectum. ergo nihil est melius quam bonum. sequitur igitur . . . : Cic. does not make his argument very clear at this point. Behind it lies a similar syllogism to the one above, uitia sunt praue facta (prauitates animi), atqui nihil est prauius quam prauum. ergo uitia sunt paria inter se. There is something of a pun in prauitates . . . recte, rectus originally = 4straight’, prauus ‘ crooked’ . atqui . . . : Cic. concludes they originate are equal, the

having premised th at virtues are equal, th at ‘ right actions’ m ust be equal too, since from virtues. In the same w ay, since vices sins th at proceed from them m ust be equal.

quando : is found with a causal meaning about a dozen times in Cic. In Lucretius this meaning is commoner than the temporal. m a n an t: manarunt.

lit. ‘ flow ’ ;

cf. 29 mentem unde haec consilia

23. in q u it: cf. 20 parua, inquit, est res. Cicero’s op­ ponent objects that philosophy is completely divorced from practical life and that his argument is simply the clever manipulation of words. metuebam . . . : ironical. I t is as though Cic. were to say ‘ W h o should I get m y arguments from, if n ot from the philosophers ? D o you expect me to get them from the pim p s?’— The lenones are always represented in Comedy as having the gift of the gab ; cf. lenocinari ‘ cajole’ , ‘ talk someone round’ . Socrates : for the uneducated view of Socrates as a mere spinner of words cf. P laut. Pseud. 4 64 /5 conficiet iam te hie uerbis ut tu censeas / non Pseudolum, sed Socratem tecum loqui. bene hercule narras: ‘ you are right . . 1. 10 male hercule narras.

cf. Tusc.

traditum e s t : the personal construction is not found in the compound tenses of the passive. W ith traditur, how­

NOTES— PARADOX III

55

ever, it is virtually always u s e d ; e.g. Rep. 2. 37 Seruius Tullius prim us iniussu populi regnauisse traditur. pugnis: from pugnus. utrum nobis est : n ot treated as an indirect question dependent on quaero, but placed alongside it (parataxis). baioli atque operarii: ‘ porters and labourers’ ; cf. Brut. 257 operarii . . . aut baioli. The verb baiulare is common in the V u lg a te ; e.g. occurret uobis homo lagenam aquae baiulans (Mark 14. 13). hac sententia: i.e. peccata esse paria. npn modo u erior: i.e. non modo non uerior. W h en the two negative clauses have a common predicate which appears in the second, it is usual to find non modo instead of non modo non in the first. Contrast id non modo non feci, sed ne passus quidem sum, where each clause has a different verb. ne . . . quidem : ‘ not . . . either’ . quae uis est e n im : for the position of enim see Introd. E 6. arceat: for the subjunctive cf. 14 n. quicquam. senserint: perfect subjunctive of an imaginary action anterior to that in the apodosis :— ‘ than the consciousness that . . . ’ . manus afferant: ‘ assault’ ; also with things as object, e.g. Off. 2. 54 alienis bonis manus afferre ‘ lay hands o n ’ , ‘ plunder’ . stuprum intulerint: ‘ they have brought dishonour’ . labem lubidinis : ‘ the stigma of licentiousness’ . 24. quis : this indefinite pronoun is enclitic ; hence the order patrem quis. I t usually stands after ne, si (nisi), and interrogatives. Here understand utrum before patrem. a n n e : much less common than an, but has perhaps been used here for the sake of the clausula (see Introd. D . I I I ). Cf. Orat. 206 quaerendum utrum una species . . . sit earum anne plures.

56

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM n u d a : ‘ without qualification’ (Rackham ), ‘ thus b a ld ly’ . p on a s: ‘ pose’ .

patrem uita priuare: subject of est and put outside the si clause for greater emphasis. per se : ‘ in itself ’ = su d natura. Saguntini: their resistance to Hannibal during the eight months’ siege of the town in 219 b . c . was to the death. M any of them preferred to kill themselves and their relatives rather than fall into his hands. Cf. L iv y 21. 14 inclusi cum coniugibus ac Uberis domos super se ipsos concremauerunt, and Silius 2. 617 inuitas maculant cognato sanguine dextras. . . . liberos emori . . . : Stella, the Italian editor, quotes D ante’s famous lines (Purg. 1. 7 1 -2 ) : Liberta, va cercando ch’ 6 si cara Come sa chi per lei vita rifiuta. Freedom he goes seeking that is so dear, as he knows who for her renounces life.

parricidae fu eru n t: the connexion of thought between this and the next sentence is : ‘ B u t clearly they were not parricides, for they had a sufficient m otive for w hat they did. ergo . . . ’ seruo : R om an masters had power of life and death over their slaves, but the social conscience was increasingly against the indiscriminate use of this power. A certain Vedius Pollio ordered one of his slaves who had broken a crystal vase to be flung into the fishpond to feed the lampreys. The slave appealed for mercy to Augustus who was dining with Pollio at the tim e. Augustus com­ manded all Pollio’s crystal to be smashed and the fishpond to be filled in (Sen. D ial. 5. 40). Much imperial legislation was devoted to mitigating the legal position of slaves. For an excellent treatment of the subject see Charlesworth, The Roman Em pire (H .U .L .), pp. 72 ff. causa . . distinguit: ‘ it is therefore (valid) m otive, not the nature of the action, th at makes the difference in these cases’ . For natura cf. per se above. For ca u sa 1good reason’, ‘ valid m o tive ’ , cf. cum causa, sine causa, nihil est

NOTES— PARADOX III

57

causae cur . . . So Juvenal, when comparing Nero’s matricide with that of Orestes, writes : f a r Agamemnonidae crimen, sed causa facit rem / dissimilem (8. 2 15 /6 ). quae quoniam . . . n ecesseest: quae refers to causa, the important word in the previous sentence. There is here a metaphor from weighing. Parricide and the murder of a slave are placed in the scales and weighed against one another. A s far as their nature goes, they are equal. B ut add a valid m otive to one side or the other and its weight turns the scale and justifies the crime. I f a valid motive is added to both sides, the scales are again equalised and both crimes equally justified.— ‘ A n d since, to whichever side a valid m otive is added, that side is made the weightier, if a valid m otive is placed on both sides, they must of necessity be made equal.’ u tr o : for this pronominal adverb cf. eo, quo, alio, eodem (34), etc. accessit: accedere often serves as the passive of addere. fit propensius : i.e. maius pondus habet. 25. If parricide and the murder of a slave when com­ mitted with a justifiable m otive are both equally good actions, when committed without such justification they are both equally heinous crimes. Nevertheless they are unlike, and in assessing the penalty for them it m ust be remembered th at parricide is, in fact, not one crime but m any. iniuria: ‘ unjustifiably’ ; similar adverbial ablatives are iure, casu, fraude, ui, ordine, uoluntate, etc. They are never used with cum. multa peccantur: in the active multa would be an in­ ternal accusative ; cf. N .D . 1. 31 eadem fere peccat. in sede ac domo : cf. Cluent. 188 eam sibi domum sedemque delegit. ... praestat: ‘ stands first’ (Rackham ). parricida understood.

The subject is

in u it a : ‘ in the conduct of life ’ (Rackham ).

58

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

oportet . . . lic e t: the first refers to moral, the second to legal, obligation. Cf. Balb. 8 est enim aliquid quod non oporteat etiam si licet; quicquid uero non licet, certe non oportet scelu s: strictly an offence against human laws, while nefas is an offence against divine. Cic. in effect maintains that to disobey one’ s conscience is an offence against human society, and th a tjm offence against human society is an offence against the gods. etia m : ‘ y e s ’ ; ‘ etiam ’ sileas,

cf. H or. S a t 2 . 5. 90/1 ultra / ‘ won’

rerum modum figere: so C. E . W . Mueller, following Lambinus ; Plasberg reads fingere ‘ shape’ , ‘ contrive’ with the M SS. The sense is ‘ Y e s , since we cannot set a limit to events, i.e. cannot control the external things that hap­ pen to us, but we can control our minds and impulses’ . Cf. H or. Carm. 3. 15. 2 tandem nequitiae fige modum tuae. animorum m odum tenere: = moderari animo. The plural of animus is to be explained b y the plural verb. 26. extra n u m eru m : ‘ out of tim e ’ , i.e. if he makes an awkward movem ent or gesture. The opposite is in numerum ; cf. Lucr. 2. 636 in numerum pulsarent aeribus aera. syllaba u n a : ablative of measure of difference. Same illustration in Orat, 173 in uersu quidem theatra tota ex­ clamant si fu it una syllaba aut breuior aut longior— i.e. if the actor gives a false quantity to a single syllable. m oderatior: ‘ better regulated ’ .— aptior : ‘ more precise ’ . Similar argument in Off. 1. 114 ergo histrio hoc uidebit in scaena, non uidebit sapiens uir in uita? poetam . . . dimetientem s u a : the sense is ‘ I do not tolerate a poet who counts on his fingers the metrical faults of his poetic trifles. A m I to tolerate a fellowcitizen who similarly counts up his faults in real life ? ’ non au d io: ‘ I refuse to listen to . . . ’ .

Cf. 3 n. probant

nugis : of poetry ; cf. Cat. 1 .3 /4 namque tu solebas / meas esse aliquid putare nugas.

NOTES— PARADOX IV

59

digitis peccata dimetientem sua: goes both with poetam and -with ciuem. The fingers were used to count the feet of a line and mark the ictus; cf. Hor. A.P. 274 legitimumque sonum digitis callemus et aure ‘ we understand the correct rhythm with the help of our fingers and ears breuiora: keeps up the metaphor from scansion. W e might keep the p lay on words thus : ‘ If they appeared less in quantity, would they appear less in gravity ? ’ . q u i: an old ablative of the relative pronoun, = quo modo. possint: possunt could also stand, since verbs of possi­ bility, propriety, and obligation regularly keep the in­ dicative. B u t the subjunctive is not uncommon in ques­ tions ; e.g. F in . 2 . 9 quis istud possit negare ? cum . . . uideatur: ‘ since, no matter what the offence, it is due to a disturbance of right reason, and when once right reason has been disturbed, nothing can be added so as to increase the gravity of the offence’. quicquid peccetur: subjunctive by Modal A ttra c tio n ; cf. 15 n. is qui habeat. rationis atque ordinis: best taken as a hendiadys— ‘ methodical reason’, ‘ right reason’. quo magis . . . uideatur: lit. ‘ by which it m ay be apparent that the offence can be increased’. PAKADOX IV A ll fools are mad This Paradox is largely an invective against Cicero’s personal and political enemy Publius Clodius Pulcher, who was killed in 52 b . c . in a fight on the Appian W a y between his own gang and th a t of Milo (cf. Fro Milone). After the opening words of the Paradox there is a lacuna in the MSS. W h a t remains is not concerned with the Stoic dogma that all fools are mad, but with two different Stoic paradoxes: (i) th a t all fools are exiles (cf. M u r. 61 ‘ nos, qui sapientes non sumus, fugitiuos, exsules, hostes, insanos denique esse d ic u n t’ ), and (ii) that the wise man cannot

60

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

be the victim of injury (cf. Sen. B enef. 2. 35 negamus iniuriam accipere sapientem ). 27-32. Sum m ary.— 27. The wise m an’ s mind is invulner­ able and cannot be driven into exile. The negative defini­ tion of civil society. During the tribunate of Clodius the state was in the hands of a band of robbers. 28. Since the state in the true sense of the word did not exist, Cic. was not an exile from it. H e was unharmed b y Clodius’ s attacks. 29. N othing which can be stolen or lost is truly one’s own property. Clodius was powerless to rob Cic: of his good conscience and strength of mind. I t was Clodius who had forfeited his citizenship, since he was a public enemy. 30. H e m ay have been a citizen in name, but his motives and actions prove th at he was his country’ s foe. 31. A ll who have committed crimes for which the penalty is exile, are exiles in the eyes of the law, even though they have not left their native land. Clodius had committed such crimes. 32. Moreover, a close friend of Clodius had proposed a special bill declaring him an exile, if he had violated the mysteries of the Bona Dea. B u t Clodius was guilty of such violation. Therefore, though he remained in R om e, he had no legal right to be there. 27. sed dementem . • we m a y finish the sentence with some such phrase as in rebus appello omnibus, guessing that the lacuna m ay perhaps have been caused b y haplography of rebus. rebus ad uictum necessariis: H elm gives the sense b y supplying ergo oppidum , loco manuque m unitum , suppedi­ tantibus as the beginning of the sentence. magnitudine con sili: ‘ depth of understanding’ . ablative, like those th at follow, goes w ith saeptus.

The

tolerantia rerum hum anarum : ‘ power to endure the vicissitudes of human life ’ ; cf. O ff. 1. 13 humanarum rerum contem ptio. The word tolerantia, formed like tem­ perantia, first occurs here in Latin. Cic. m ay have coined it to represent the Gk. Kaprepla. contemptione fortu n ae: for according to the Stoics the wise m an can rise superior to adversity b y the right direc­

NOTES— PARADOX IV

61

tion of his will, knowing that fortune has no power to hurt his soul or real self. denique: ‘ in short’ ; cf. 12 cui denique . . . ciuitate p elli: a simple ablative is often found with ;'pellere, cedere and mouere ; e.g. regno, tem plis, urbe pellere, loco, patria, uita cedere, statu, gradu, senatu m ouere. quae est enim ciuitas ? : but in 34 quid est enim libertas ? Such attraction is less common with interrogatives (cf. 11 n. eisne quae). ferorum et im m a n iu m : ‘ uncivilized savages ’ (Rackham ). The two words are often p aired ; e.g. N .D . 2. 161, Off. 1. 157, In v. 1. 2. fugitiuorum: ‘ runaway slaves’ , Gk. hpairerr^s. In military language ‘ deserter’ . Y e t the tradition was that Romulus populated R om e b y giving refuge to just such people. Cf. Juv. 8. 273 ff. ab infam i gentem deducis a sylo ;/ maiorum prim us, quisquis fu it ille, tuorum / aut pastor fu it aut illud quod dicere nolo. certe negabis: Cic. gives an excellent definition of populus ( = ciuitas) in R ep. 1. 39 :— populus autem non om nis hominum coetus quoquo modo congregatus, sed coetus m ultitudinis iuris consensu et utilitatis commwnione sociatus. t u m : in the tribunate of Clodius (58 b . c .). Acting as Caesar’s agent he caused as much disruption in the capital and as much damage to Pom pey and his supporters as he could. cum . . . ualebant: ‘ at R e tim e when . . W ith the subjunctive cum would = ‘ at a tim e when . . . ’ . The subjunctive answers the question quo statu rerum ? The indicative answers the question quando ? Cf. below cum esset in re publica consul. iacebant: ‘ were overthrown’ ; uacillat uel iacet potius.

cf. O ff. 3. 118 iustitia

occiderat: ‘ had fallen into disuse’ . ferro pulsis magistratibus: the tribune Q. Fabricius was attacked while presenting a bill to the people to secure Cicero’ s return from exile. In the same w ay Clodius’ D

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gang set upon the tribune P . Sestius when he tried to exercise the right of obnuntiatio (see Sest. 75 and 79). senatus n om en : ‘ the senate’ s au thority’ . The Senate ceased to exercise its essential function. The use of nomen in 22 uirtutis nomen is similar. praedonum ille concursus . . . : i.e. ille erat praedonum concursuSy erat latrocinium . . . erat reliquiae . . . non erat d u ita s. latrocinium : the word latro originally meant a Greek mercenary foot-soldier, and this is the sole meaning in Plautus. In classical L atin it means ‘ brigand’ , ‘ highwayrobber’ . Here the abstract ife used for the concrete; cf. Cat. 1. 31 si ex tanto latrocinio iste unus tolletur.— ‘ I t was a band of robbers drawn up in the Forum under your leadership.’ reliquiae coniurationis: Cic. pictures the followers of Clodius as the remnant of Catiline’s conspirators, who have been driven, as it were b y Catiline’s avenging spirits, to throw in their lot with the crimes of Clodius and thus bring about the downfall of the Republic which had condemned Catiline to death, conuersae agrees with reliquiae, not with coniurationis. 28. pulsus e g o : Clodius’ enm ity towards Cic. dated from the time when Cic. destroyed his alibi in the scandal of the Bona D ea (see note on 32 below). W h en he became tribune he secured the passage of a law condemning to exile any magistrate who had put a R om an citizen to death without trial. Cic., who had summarily executed some of Catiline’ s associates without legal process, was forced to go into exile. quae nulla e ra t: ‘ which did not exist at a ll’ , nulla is stronger than non. Cf. below qui him nullus fu er a t; Cat. 1. 16 m isericordia quae tibi nulla debetur, and A it. 11. 24. 4 Philotim us . . . nullus uenit. accersitus: we find both arcesso and accerso in classical L atin .— N ote the adversative asyndeton. cum esset: ualebant.

‘ at a time w hen’ ;

cf. 27 n. cum . . .

NOTES— PARADOX IV

63

co n su l: P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, Cicero’ s bene­ factor and friend, was consul in 57 and played a leading part in procuring his recall from exile.

b .c.

qui tum nullus fuerat

b .c.

: in fact the consuls for 58 were L . Calpurnius Piso, Caesar’s father-in-law, and Aulus Gabinius, who had been a legate of Pom pey in the E ast. Clodius squared them by promising Gabinius Syria and Piso Macedonia as provinces. Cic. regarded the whole transaction as illegal.

consensus populi liber:

in 57

b .c. Clodius was no

longer

tribune.

iuris et aequitatis

. . ‘ when law and equity, the bonds of civil society, were again called to m in d ’ , aequitas em­ bodies the principles of natural justice which m ay be invoked to supplement or correct ordinary law (iu s). For the attraction of the relative in quae uincla sunt d u itatis cf. 11 n. eisne quae. ac : a further p o in t; cf. 14 n. atque. ista : contemptuous ; cf. 17 istis m ortis aut exsili m inis. latrocini: abstract for concrete as in 27. iactam et im m issam : of Ciceronian s t y le ; cf. real distinction between Prayer Book, ‘ requisite cloke’ . Hendiadys is a atque ordinis.

such doublets are characteristic 3 n. excolatur. Often there is no the words so p a ired ; cf. in the and necessary’, ‘ dissemble nor different m a tte r; cf. 26 rationis

peruenisse : adversative asyndeton. For the expression cf. Sen. D ial. 2. 4. 1 non erit aliquis qui sapienti facere temptet iniuriam ? temptabit, sed non peruenturam ad eum. For the thought cf. M ilton, Cornus, 589 ff. : Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt, Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled : Yea, even that which Mischief meant m ost harm Shall in the happy trial prove m ost glory.

nisi fo rte : often used ironically, like n isi uero, to intro­ duce a p o s s i b i l i that the speaker rejects ; cf. 29 n isi forte idem hostis esse et ciuis potest.

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CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

parietes: and ret^os.

distinguish from m uros.

Cf. in Greek rotxos

disturbabas : much stronger than its English derivative — ‘ break dow n’ , ‘ dem olish’ ; cf. Phil. 5. 19 fabros se m issurum et domum meam disturbaturum esse dixit. Clodius demolished Cicero’ s town house on the Palatine, and dedi­ cated a shrine to Libertas on the site. H e also destroyed Cicero’ s villas at Tusculum and Eormiae. meorum aliquid: i.e. something that really belonged to me. Cic. here takes the view of Bias— omnia mecum porto mea (8). . arbitrabare: for this form cf. 20 n. progrediare• 29. nihil neque . . . n equ e: neque . . . neque.

cf. 6 n. numquam . . .

quoiusquam : older form of cuiusquam, offered here by the best MSS. Cf. 19 quoius. eripi: more forcible than auferri. diuinam animi mei constantiam : firmness of m in d ’ (Rackham).

‘ my

heaven-sent

< s i praeclaram illam conscientiam> : it is clear th at something has fallen out in the M SS. after constantiam, since the following accusative and infinitive cannot depend on that word. Moser proposed conscientiam for constantiam. B u t it is more likely that a short member ending with conscientiam was accidentally omitted owing to the re­ semblance of the two words. For the phrase cf. A lt. 1 0 .4 . 5 praeclara igitur conscientia sustentor, cum cogito m e de re publica aut m eruisse optim e, cum potuerim , aut certe num ­ quam nisi p ie cogitasse. Translate h e re : ‘ or the noble conviction th at, thanks to m y devotion . . .’ . stare: ‘ stood firm ’ )( iacere. Cf. Ennius’ famous line moribus antiquis res stat Romana uirisque. te inuitissimo : ‘ despite every effort of yours’ . deleuisses: the first meaning of delere is ‘ efface’ , ‘ obliter­ a te ’ ; cf. Gk. itjaXetyuj.

NOTES— PARADOX IV

65

unde : does duty for ex qua ; cf. D e Orat. 1. 203 fontes unde hauriretis. So quo m ay replace the relative with ad, ubi the relative with in. turn . . . confiterer: ‘ then indeed I would ad m it’ . si haec nec fecisti: ‘ since’ .

si is equivalent here to si quidem

exitu m : notice that Cic. does not use the word exsilium ; cf. meo discessu (30), meum illud iter (30). ego semper ciuis . . . tu ne nunc quidem : the omission of first and second person of the copula is rare, but cf. 42 solusne tu diues ? and 50 nos igitur diuitiores. m eam salutem . . . ut ciuis op tim i: ciuis optim i is in apposition to the genitive idea contained in m ernn; cf. P hil. 2. I l l tuum hom inis sim plicis pectus. nisi forte : cf. 28 n. a n : cf. 21 n. natura ac lo c o : ‘ by birth and place of habitation’ . This meaning of natura is very rare, but Plasberg compares P hil. 8. 13 qui natura d u es sunt, uoluntate hostes. A d d Lysias 31. 6 oooi Se voet fiev noXiraC elai. 30. tem p la: the original sense of templum (related to Gk. T€fM€vos), as of fanum , is a consecrated place or precinct, not necessarily built upon with a temple. Here Cic. m ost probably refers to the occupation of the Forum b y Clodius’ ruffians ; cf. 31 ‘ qui templa occupauerit’— in foro castra posuisti. The rostra in the Forum were regarded as a templum ; cf. Vatin. 24 in rostris, in illo, inquam, augurato templo ac loco. aedes sacras : the temple of the N ym phs ; see 31 n. plural is rhetorical.

The

Spartacus: a Thracian gladiator, leader of the famous revolt of slaves in 73 b . c . For two years he had the run of Italy and'defeated all Rom an armies that opposed him. The revolt was finally crushed by Crassus in 71 B.c. Spartacus and six thousand of his followers were crucified along the Xppian W a y . si tu ciuis : for omission of es cf. 29 tu ne nunc quidem. D 2

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CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

propter q u e m : propter is often, ob never, used with per­ sonal pronouns, ob of cause or object is m ostly used with rent and causam in Cic., e.g. quam ob rem, ob earn rem , ob hanc causam. aliquando : *at one tim e ’ . Like olim , can be used of past as well as future, non f u it : ‘ ceased to exist \ tuo n o m in e : i.e. exsulem or hostem. c u m : concessive. m eo discessu: ablative of time w hen; cf. Caesaris aduentu, solis ortu. exsulasse : for this form see 17 n . euigilarunt. homo amentissime: Cic. does not join disparaging epithets to uir unless there is a contrast with fem in a .' te circumspicies: ‘ look about y o u 5, i.e. learn caution. Cf. Sen. E p ist. 4 0. 11 Rom anus sermo magis se circum spicit. n u m q u a m < n e > : ne m ay well have fallen out before nec. Cf. 27 om nisne . . . om nisne. exsilium : was originally the voluntary self-banishment of a R om an citizen or peregrinus in order to escape capital sentence for a criminal offence. Under the late Republic it became legally recognised as a substitute for the death penalty. (See O .C .D . sub voc.) m eum illud ite r : adversative asyndeton, ob . . . res a m e gestas: ob a lm o s t= ‘ in return for’ here. I t can be used of th at for which reward or punish­ m ent is g iv e n : Ter. A n d . 610 pretium ob stultitiam fe r o ; Cic. M arcell. 18 di . . . poenas a populo R . ob aliquod delictum expetiuerunt.— Cic. refers to his suppression of the Catilinarian conspiracy during his consulship in 63 B.c. 31. exsilio affici: afficere + ablative is an extremely common periphrasis in Cic. Thus we find honoribus, dolore, timore, m orte, praem io, seruitute, sepultura, etc., aliquem afficere. uqlunt: ‘ m ean ’ , ‘ in ten d ’ . solum non m u taru n t: solum mutare is a euphemism for ‘ go into exile’ , solum uertere is also u s e d ; cf. Caec.

NOTES— PARADOX IV

67

100 qui uolunt poenam aliquam subterfugere . . . solum uertunt; hoc est sedem ac locum mutant. Compare also H or. E p ist. 1. 11. 27 caelum, non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt. an cum omnes . . . : ‘ Or despite the fact that every law prescribes your exile, is a personal enemy not to call you so ? ’. * qui cum telo fuerit ’ : the quotations are from an actual law laying down the offences punishable by exile ; under­ stand exsul esto in each case. A fter each of these legal provisions Cic. shows how Clodius has deserved its penalty. sica : h e r sicarius. One of Clodius’ slaves had been posted in the temple of Castor, where the senate were meeting at the tim e, with orders to assassinate Pom pey or at least to terrify him with the prospect of assassination ; cf. M il. 18 comprehensus est in templo Castoris seruus P . Clodi, quem ille ad C n. Pom peium interficiendum collocarat. extorta est ei confidenti sica de manibus. aedis N ym pharum : here in the Campus M artius were kept the Censor’s registers (tabulae censoriae). Clodius wished to destroy them. Cf. M il. 73 aedem N ym pharum incendit ut memoriam publicam recensionis, tabulis publicis impressam , exstingueret.— aedis is the regular form of the nominative singular in classical Latin. m anu t u a : ‘ b y your own h an d ’, or less likely ‘ by your band of ruffians’ . templa occupauerit: see 30 n . templa. 32. quibus om nibus: the simple ablative lege, legibus, ‘ according to the law s’, ‘ legally’ , is com m on ; cf. below si ibi eum legibus esse non oportebit. familiarissimus tu u s : M . Pupius Piso, consul in 61 b . c ., who indeed made this, special proposal in the Senate, but at the same tim e, as itfc. tells us in A tt. 1. 13. 3, did his best to ensure its rejection. priuilegium : a special bill to deal with an individual. in opertum : past participle of operio used as a noun— ‘ the secret ceremonies’, ‘ the m ysteries’ .

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CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

Bonae D e a e : a fertility goddess worshipped only b y women. E ach year her nocturnal rites were celebrated in the house of the Pontifex M aximus under the presidency of his wife. In December 62 b . c . the ceremony took place in Caesar’ s house under the leadership of his wife Pompeia.. Clodius, disguised as a flute-girl, succeeded in witnessing the proceedings, an act of sacrilege for which he was put on trial, but secured an acquittal by bribing the jury. I t was as a result of this scandal th at Caesar divorced P om ­ peia, w ith the famous remark ‘ Caesar’s wife m ust be above suspicion’ (Plut. Caes. 10. 6). Rom ae sum, inquit: quotes Clodius’ answer.

Cic. turns to his audience and

et quidem . . . : ‘ yes, and you were present at the secret rites’ , i.e. Clodius has no more right to be in R om e than he had to be at the mysteries of the Bona Dea. non igitur . . . : ‘ I t is not therefore true t h a t . . . ’ .— T he future is sometimes used as a gnomic tense to express a general rule or inference ; e.g. T usc. 3. 14 non cadet ergo in sapientem aegritudo.

PARADOX V Only the wise are free and all fools are slaves 33-41 . Sum m ary.— 33. This man who is saluted as commander-in-chief does not deserve the title. H e cannot command his own desires. W h ile he is at their mercy, he does not even deserve to be called a free m an. Only the wise man is free. 34. Liberty is the power to do as one wishes. B u t only the m an who follows the right, obeys the laws and regulates his life according to reason does as he wishes. E ven Fortune has no power over such a man. 35. A ll evil-doers have lost their liberty, so have the weakwilled and the dissolute. T hey are slaves of their passions. 36. Such is the m an who is subject to a wom an’s every whim. 37. Such are those who have a passion for works of art and fine houses. They are like the lower grades of slaves in a great household. 38. Such things are indeed

NOTES— PARADOX V

69

attractive, bu t should not occupy all the attention of grown men. W h a t would a M ummius or a Curius have thought of our connoisseurs ? 39. Love of m oney, too, enslaves men : witness the legacy-hunters. 40. So does ambition and the love of power ; it robs men of their selfrespect and renders them a prey to fear. 41. Criticism of a famous passage from a speech of Lucius Crassus. The man of lofty mind and character is no one’s slave. For the general thought cf. H or. S a t 2. 7. 83-88 : quisnam igitur liber ? sapiens, sibi qui imperiosus, quem neque pauperies neque mors neque uincula terrent, responsare cupidinibus, contemnere honores fortis, et in se ipso totus, teres atque rotundus, externi nequid ualeat per leue morari, in quem manca ruit semper fortuna. W ho then is free ? The wise man, who is lord over himself, whom neither poverty nor death nor bonds affright, who bravely defies his passions, and scorns ambition, who in him self is a whole, smoothed and rounded, so that nothing from outside can rest on the polished surface, and against whom Fortune in her onset is ever maimed. (H . R . Fair d ou g h .)

This Satire is concerned with the same theme as Cicero’ s Paradox, and m ost of Cicero’s illustrations reappear in Horace. 33. laudetur . . . appelletur . . . pu tetu r: indignant question: ‘ Is this m an to be praised as a commander or even addressed as such . . .’ .— imperator under the Republic was a title of honour b y which troops m ight acclaim their commander after an im portant victory. The general then added the title to his name until the end of his magistracy, or until after his triumph. See O .C .D . sub voc. tand em : cf. 11 n .

^

cupiditatibus suis imperare: cf. Sen. E p ist. 113. 30 imperare sibi m axim um im perium est. spernat uoluptates: uoluptates.

cf. H or. E p ist. 1. 2. 55 sperne

lab e s: cf. 23 labem lubidinis. One would have expected a different verb from repellat to keep up the metaphor, e.g. eluat

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

70

d u m : here—quamdiu ‘ as long as*. Since the extent of time expressed by the dum clause is of equal length to that in the main clause, the tenses in the two clauses are the same. Contrast dum ‘ w hile’, which overlaps the action of the main clause and takes the present indicative, non modo im perator: cf. 23 n . non modo uerior. h o c : looks forward to n isi sapientem , liberum neminem at the end of the sentence. usurpatum : ‘ is current’ (Rackham ).

esse

Cf. 17 usurpas.

non uterer: ‘ I should not appeal t o ’ , apud aliquos agrestes: Cic. is careful to play on the vanity of his audience. H e uses precisely the same turn in the P ro M urena when about to introduce a philosophical digression :— et quoniam non est nobis haec oratio habenda aut in im perita m ultitudine aut in aliquo conuentu agrestium (61). quibus haec inaudita non s in t: ‘ to whom these doctrines are no n o v e lty ’ (Rackham ). sint b y Modal A ttraction. perdidisse : ‘ w asted’ . The passive is provided b y perire, e.g. A tt. 2. 17. 1 ne et opera et oleum philologiae nostrae perierit. ig itu r: resumes after the parenthesis, used.

ergo is similarly

eruditissimis u iris: cf. doctissim is above. here he does n ot refer to the Stoics b y name. 34. here.

N o te that

quid est enim libertas ? : no attraction of quid to quae Contrast 27 quae est enim ciuitas ?

potestas uiuendi ut u e lis: a standing definition of liberty, cf. O ff. 1. 70 (libertas) cuius proprium est sic uiuere ut uelis. The subjunctive is potential. In Latin whenever the second person singular is used indefinitely in the sense of our ‘ on e’ its verb is in the subjunctive. Contrast quis . . . u iu itu tu u lt? quis . . . sequitur: the thought behind the argument is roughly this : ‘ B y our actions in life we all wish (intend) to gain some good for ourselves. B u t virtue is the only real good. Therefore it is only the virtuous man who can truly

NOTES— PARADOX V

71

be said to live as be wishes (intends).’ Compare the argu­ ment in the Gorgias of Plato (466 a — 469 e ) b y which Socrates shows that the tyrant, though he m ay do what he pleases (a Bokcl clvtco), does not do what he wishes (a /WAercu). officio : ‘ d u ty ’ ; the Stoic technical term is to KaOrjKov ‘ that which devolves upon on e’ . uiuendi u ia : cf. Off. 1. 118 rectam uitae secuti sunt uiam . ‘ W h o has a well-considered path of life mapped out before h im ’ (Rackham ). propter m e tu m : cf. Hor. Ejoist. 1 .1 6 .5 2 /3 oderunt peccare boni uirtutis amore ; j tu nihil admittes in te form idine poenae. salutare . . . m axim e: which is not found.

does duty for the superlative,

libenter: —ut libet ‘ to suit his own pleasure’ . eodemque referuntur: ‘ and are directed towards the same end F or eodem cf. 24 n. utro. I t is best taken here as —ad ipsum , though it might conceivably = a d uirtutem . polleat: for the subjunctive cf. bonum . . .

15 neque est ullum

s i : cf. 29 n. si haec nec fecisti. sapiens p o e ta : the anonymous poet whose line is quoted by Nepos in A tticu s 1 1 . 6 : sui cuique mores fingunt fortunam hominibus. Cicero freely adapts the quotation to suit the construction of his sentence. The line m ay perhaps be a translation from Greek N ew Comedy. suis ea cuique fingitur m o d b u s : lit. ‘ she is moulded for each man b y his own character’ . N o te th at here suis does not refer to the subject of the sentence; cf. 15 and Off. 1. 113 id . . . m axim e quemque decet quod est cuiusque m axim e suum . h o c : looks forward to the ut clause. contingit . . . u t : so accidit ut, fit ut, euenit ut, etc!, followed b y a Consecutive Subjunctive, quod can only be used when these verbs are qualified b y an adverb ex­ pressing a judgement, e.g. A tt. 1 . 1 7 . 2 accidit perincom m ode quod eum nusquam uidisti.

72

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

inuitus . . . dolens: cf. Sen. E p ist. 54. 7 nihil m uitus facit sapiens. necessitatem effugit quia uult quod coactura e s t— Adjectives, esp. those expressing emotion, are very frequently used in L atin where we should use a d v erb s; e.g. ego uiuo m iserrim us, tristis domum reuertit, etc. 35. quod etsi ita esse . . . : ‘ A n d though the fact that this is so deserves to be argued at greater len gth ’ . For the homoeoteleuton -endumst cf. 17 recusanti . . . repug­ nanti. nisi qui ita . . . : ‘ th at no one is free save the m an who has such a disposition ’ as that described in the previous sentence. se ra i: for the repetition Plasberg compares S u it 20 suscepi causam, Torquate, suscepi. nec hoc tam re . . . : ‘ N or is this really so startling a paradox as it sounds’ (Rackham ). F or re )( dictu cf. 7 uerbo )( re ac factis. ita dicu n t: ita goes with e sse ; dicunt has Stoici as its understood subject. ‘ F or they do not mean that they are slaves in the legal sense of property formally acquired.’ m ancipia: property, here slaves, acquired b y the formal transaction known as m ancipatio (from manus + capio). The transaction required the. presence of five R om an citizens as witnesses and a sixth to hold a pair of scales (libra) and a piece of copper (aes). The purchaser grasped the slave and spoke the fo rm u la : ‘ hunc ego hominem ex iure Quiritium meum esse aio, isque mihi emptus esto hoc aere aeneaque libra’ . Thereupon he struck the scales with the copper and gave it to the vendor. Hence the transaction was said to be per aes et libram. See Gaius, In st. i. 119, and Jolowicz, H istorical Introduction to Raman Law , 1932, p. 145. nexo : the noun nexum (from necto ‘ bin d ’ ) is constantly used by Cic. in the sense of m ancipatio (see note above). Originally the word was used of a procedure by which a debtor enslaved himself to his creditor in lieu of payment, but this practice was abolished by law in the late 4th century b . c .

NOTES— PARADOX V

73

aliquo: we should say ‘ some other’ ; cf. T im . 6. 19 pedes aut aliqua membra.— Cic. has in mind other forms of acquisition such as those by legacy, adiudicatio, usucapio, uenditio sub hasta, and in iure cessio. fracti animi . . . : ‘ a weak and degraded mind with no will-power of its own ’. F or fractus = ‘ enfeebled ’ cf. 41 and H or. Sat. 1 . 1 . 5 m iles . . . multo iam fractus membra labore. carentis s u o : suo refers to the subject of the participle; cf. 51 contentum . . . suis rebus esse. leu es: ‘ unstable’ ; mentem populus leuis.

cf. H or. E p ist. 2. 1. 108 mutauit

36. a n : cf. 21 n . m ih i: ethic dative. quod uidetur: preceding verbs.

‘ as she thinks fit’ goes with the three

im peranti: though rare in the nominative, the p iise n t participle is very common in the oblique cases in L atin. N ote how it makes the insertion of ‘ her’ (ei or illi) un­ necessary here. poscit— dandum e s t : parataxis adds liveliness. istu m : disparaging— ‘ such a fellow ’ (Rackham ). non modo seru u m : contrast 33 non modo imperator. nequissim um : nequam is the stock word of blame for a slave, as frugi is of praise. Cf. the Vulgate version of Luke 19. 22 de ore tuo te iudico, serue nequam. in amplissima fam ilia: ‘ in a fam ily of the greatest splendour’ . There m ay be a pun, for the words might mean ‘ in a very numerous household of slaves’ , fam ilia (from fam ulus) in its first meaning refers to the slaves in a household; cf. 37 in magna fam ilia. F or amplus ‘ numerous’ cf. F on t. 8 am plissim ae copiae. natus s i t : subjunctive in subordinate clause in 0 . 0 . 37. The text of the first four sentences in this section is that suggested b y M advig and adopted b y C. F . W . Mueller in his edition. Plasberg keeps the less logical

74

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

arrangement of the best M SS. to discuss here.

The problem is too complex

atque : introducing a new p o in t ; cf. 14 n . in pari stultitia s u n t: *equally foolish are those . . . ’ . Cf. Off. 1. 62 in uitio est ‘ is w rong’ . tabulae: sc. pictae.

For the list cf. 13.

nimio opere: on the analogy of magno o p ere; so m aximo opere, summo opere, quanto opere. principes ciuitatis: ‘ the leading men in the state’ . princeps is common in Cic. in this sense. consenioru m : cf. Gk. ofwbovXot. phorical Stoic sense.

Here in

ut in m agna fa m ilia : duitate below.

Answered b y sic in

cf. 36 n .

the m eta­

lautiores: ‘ grander’ , lautus almost always has the metaphorical sense. The form lotus is used for ‘ washed’ . ut atrienses : ‘ as for example the steward (major-domo) ’ . atriensis was originally the slave who looked after the atrium, the most im portant room in the house. The word was later applied to the head slave. ista : refers to signa, etc., above. qui ungu u n t: the unctores who anointed their masters after exercise or the bath. qui uerrunt: the scoparii (scopa, ‘ a broom ’ ). qui spargunt: refers to the sprinkling of water to keep down the d u s t ; cf. Plaut. Stichus 354 consperge ante aedis. non honestissim um : understatement (litotes) for m honestissim um ; cf. 40 non probatissim o. Such slaves were in the class of m ediastini, being placed as it were in m edio, i.e. at anyone’ s beck and call. istarum re ru m : genitive of ista above, be ambiguous.

istorum would

ipsius seruituti?; ‘ even among their fellow-slaves’ .

NOTES— PARADOX V

75

infimum : Cic. only uses im us, the other superlative of inferus, in proverbial expressions, e.g. R ose. Com . 20 ab im is unguibus usque ad uerticem summ um . magnis . . praefui: it is probably best to translate praefui b y tw o verbs— ‘ I have held great commands and ruled great provinces’ . gere . . . animum : with a play on bella gessi. F or the phrase cf. Virg. A en . 9. 311 ante annos animumque gerens curamque uirilem (of Iulus). A etio n is: a fourth-century Greek painter whose m ost celebrated work was ‘ The Marriage of Alexander and R o x a n a ’, only known to us from a description in Lucian (21. 5 stupidum: cf. H or. Sat. 1. 4. 28 stupet A lbiu s aere ‘ bronzes hold Albius spell-bound’ . Polycleti: the famous fifth-century Argive sculptor. M any copies of his works were made in Hellenistic and R om an tim es. One of his best known statues was The Spear-bearer (D oryphorus)— see Baumeister, Denkmdler, p. 1347. mitto unde sustuleris: ‘ never mind where you picked them u p ’ . Cic. insinuates th at they were illegally come

t>y-

ineptiarum : only used in the p lu ra l; cf. reliquiae (27), deliciae, insidiae, facetiae, inim icitiae, etc. om n iu m : ‘ every kind o f ’ ; cf. L iv y 6. 22. 6 materia ad omnem laudem. 38. festiu a: a fashionable word of approval— *delight­ fu l’ . Cf. Verr. 4. 49 festiuum acroama, A tt. 2. 6. 1 festiuam copiam (librorum ). oculos eruditos: ‘ the eye of a connoisseur’ . Though in the Verrines (4. 3-4) Cic. pretends to have mugged up a knowledge of art for the purposes of his speech, so as not to shock the anti-Hellenists among his audience, in fact references to art and artists are frequent in his rhetorical and philosophical works, and reveal him as no mean connoisseur.

76

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

sed obsecro te : ‘ but regard their attraction, I beg you, as something suited to appeal to -children, bu t not to engage the whole attention of grown m en ’ . F or the restrictive use of ita . . . ut cf. 8 n. ita fugerent ut . . . N ote pueri ‘ children’ as regards a g e ; liberi ‘ children’ in relation to their parents. L. Mummius : destroyer of Corinth in 146 B.c. In spite of what Cic. says here M ummius was interested enough in Greek art to ship the art-treasures of Corinth over to Ita ly wholesale. m atellion em : ‘ a p o t’ , disparaging diminutive intention­ ally chosen by Cic. to suggest matella ‘ a cham ber-pot’ . cupidissime: ‘ covetously’ . superlatives than English.

L atin is far more lavish of

diligentem: ‘ conscientious’ )( neglegentem. reuiuescat: more vivid than si reuiuesceret. Curius: cf. 12 n. in uilla ac d o m o : uilla is the country-house, dom us the town-house. For the thought cf. O ff. 1. 139 nee domo dom inus, sed domino domus honestanda est. summis populi beneficiis u su m : ‘ enjoying the highest favours of the people ’, i.e. holding the highest offices th at the popular vote can bestow, usum probably present, not past, here— a sense that perfect participles of deponents often have ; e g. ratus, arbitratus, ueritus, etc. barbatulos m u llo s : R om an epicures had a very high opinion of the red mullet. Cic. mentions their popularity with the wealthy in A tt. 2 . 1. 7 nostri . . . principes digito se caelum putant attingere, si m ulli barbati in piscin is sunt, qui ad manum accedunt.— barbatulos here is scorn fu l; the fleshy filaments hanging from the m outh of the fish look like a beard. exceptantem : does not differ in meaning from excipientem, but belongs to everyday speech (cf. accepto, incepto). The form better expresses Cicero’ s scorn. pertractantem: ‘ feeling them all over ’ (Rackham ).

NOTES— PARADOX V

77

m urenarum : ‘ lam preys’ ; from the Gk. fivpcuva. A kind of eel with a sucker mouth. W ea lth y R om ans were very fond of them. Pliny (N .H . 9. 171-2) records how Hortensius, the great orator, wept over the death of a favourite lamprey, and how A nton ia, the mother of Drusus, adorned one of hers with ear-rings. ita seru u m : ‘ so mean a slave’ . in fam ilia: ‘ among his fellow-slaves ’ . 39.

a n : cf. 21 n.

p eculi: = pecuniae, but Cic. has chosen peculium because it is the technical word for the m oney of a sla v e ; cf. Virg. B uc. 1. 32 nec spes libertatis erat nec cura peculi. nullam condicionem . . . : ‘ submit to all the harshest conditions th at slavery could lay upon th e m ’ . hereditatis spes : = is qui hereditatem sperat. Though in general Latin prefers concrete to abstract, human feelings and motives are often personified and made the subject of the sentence. See P otts, H in ts towards Latin Prose Com position, pp. 35-6. quid iniquitatis . . . : i.e. ‘ what unreasonable demands upon its servility . . . ’ . n u tu m : cf. H or. E p ist. 1. 18. 11 sic nutum diuitis horret. locupletis orbi sen is: no et since orbi senis forms a single idea ; cf. Jf. 2. 71 bonus uir pauper, i.e. a good man who is poor. ad uoluntatem : ad here = ‘ according to ’ ; cf. 47 ad uulgi opinionem , ad arbitrium, ad nutum , etc. denuntiatumst: cf. 20 n . unum st. assectatur: ‘ dances attendance upon h im ’ . Often used of attending candidates for office on their electioneering rounds. One’ s own attendant friends are assectatores, those of one’s political opponent asseclae. assidet: used of looking after people who are ill or in difficulties ; cf. Sen. B enef. 4. 20. 3 aegro assedit quia testa­ mentum facturus est.

78

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM h o r u m : no am biguity here ; contrast 37 istarum rerum . liberi: genitive of characteristic.

denique: here = ‘ even ’ , ‘ indeed’ ; cf. P is. 45 nemo bonus, nemo denique ciuis est qui . . . and below Praeciae denique (40). non inertis: i.e. diligentis, fru gi. 40. q u id : often introduces a new example or argu m en t; cf. next para. . , ia m : also frequent in transitions.— For illa cupiditas . . . . cf. Lucr. 3. 59 honorum caeca cupido and the fine passage that follows. liberalior: =h om in e libero dignior. im periosa: ‘ tyrannical’ .— uehem ens: ‘ passionate’ . Cethego: P . Cornelius Cethegus, a follower first of , Marius, then of Sulla, gained great political influence after the latter’s death b y his mastery of intrigue and his oratorical ability. F or the latter cf. B rut. 178. non probatissimo: cf. 37 non honestissim um . coegit: subject cupiditas h on oris; cf. n . on 39 hereditatis spes. For the thought cf. Burton, Anatom y o f M elancholy, p. 281 (Dent’s Double Volum e e d n .): ‘ I t is a wonder to see how slavishly these kind of men subject themselves, when they are about a suit, to every inferior person ; what pains they will take, run, ride, cast, plot, countermine, protest and swear, vow , promise, w hat labours undergo, early up, down l a t e ; how obsequious and affable they are, how popular and courteous, how they grin and fleer upon every man they meet . . .’ . Praeciae : Cethegus’ mistress, as we know from Plutarch, Luc. 6. N ote that supplicare governs the dative in classical Latin. • denique : see 39 n. quae seruitus . . . haec libertas: for the attraction of quid to quae and hoc to haec see 27 n. quae est enim ciuitas. alius . . . dominus : explained b y tim or, which probably

NOTES— PARADOX V

79

refers in the main to fear of legal action de ambitu and de repetundis. adulescentibus: governor’s staff.

esp. the young men on the provincial

paulo loquacioribus: ‘ rather too apt to b la b ’ . The suffix -ax is often pejorative, e.g. emax (51), audax, dicax, pugnax. quantum dom inatum : ‘ w hat great pow er’ , dominatus would mean ‘ how much pow er’ .

quantum

an non est omnis metus seruitus ? : cf. H or. E p ist. 1 .1 6 . 66 qui metuens uiuet, liber m ihi non erit umquam. 41. eloquentissimi u ir i: the uiri is essential in Latin in such expressions. Thus ‘ the wise Socrates’ =Socratec ille (or uir) sapientissim us, never Socrates sapientissim us. L . Crassi: 1 4 0 -9 1 b . c . The best R om an orator of the generation before Cic. Cic. had the highest respect for him and introduced him as one of the principal speakers into his dialogue D e Oratore. The quotation that follows comes from the speech th at Crassus made in 106 b . c . on behalf of the L ex Servilia Caepionis, which was designed to deprive the Equites of absolute control of the jury-courts and to establish mixed juries of Senators and Equites. The passage is again criticised for the same reason as here in D e Orat. 1. 225. copiosa: ‘ fluent’ . A s an alternative to copiosa magis quam sapiens Cic. could have written copiosior quam sapientior, L atin idiom then using a comparative in both members. ista seruitus: incredulous.

‘ this so-called slavery’ .

The

tone is

tam claro h om in i: dative of interest. fracta: cf. 35 n. fracti anim i. in libertatem uindicari u u lt: ‘ Does he wish to be emanci­ pated in the true sense ? ’ . et possumus et debem us: sc. seruire. si quidem : cf. 20 n.

80

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

animo excelso: ablative of description, or quality. is only used when accompanied by an adjective.

It

exaggerato: the original meaning of ex-agger-are is ‘ raise up a mound, or ram part’ , ‘ heap u p ’ . W e might here render ‘ fortified b y every virtue ’ . dicito : cf. 17 n. terreto. debere . . . debet: there is a play on ‘ ou gh t’ and ‘ ow e’ . turpe: ‘ morally w rong’ , ‘ dishonourable’ )( honestum. The G k. equivalents are alaxpov and koXov. sed haec hactenus : a frequent formula of conclusion and transition in Cic. There is an ellipse of some such verb as dicta sint. file . . . imperator: takes sentence of the Paradox.

us

back

to

the

opening

u id eat: ‘ let him see to i t ’ , ‘ let him consider’ . ueritas ip sa: ‘ strict tru th ’ , ‘ essential tru th ’ . quid ipsa ualeat, 20 ipsum . . . illud peccare.

Cf. 17

PARADOX VI Only the wise man is rich I t m ay be inferred from 45 m ulti ex te audierunt . . . that Cicero’s imaginary opponent in this Paradox is M . Licinius Crassus, the Triumvir. H e was the wealthiest man of his day owing a considerable part of his fortune to gains from the Sullan proscriptions. H e was treacher­ ously done to death b y the Parthians after the R om an defeat a t Carrhae in 53 b . c . 4 2-52 . Sum m ary.— 42. The truly rich is he who has enough to live as befits a free m an, and who desires nothing more. 4 3. A m an’ s mind, not public opinion or the amount of his capital, is the measure of his wealth. Avarice is simply another form of w ant. 44. T o be rich is to have enough for one’ s needs and responsibilities. T o be a prey to innumerable desires is poverty. 45. Crassus declared th at no one was rich who could n ot maintain an arm y out

81

NOTES— PARADOX VI

of his own pocket. B u t even he failed to reach this stan­ dard, and never made a secret of his need of money. 46. H is shady dealings in civil and political life prove that he was out for gain. B u t such a man cannot truly be called rich. 47. For the reward of wealth is plenty and the satis­ faction th at goes with it. 48. The example of Fabricius, Curius, and others shows that virtue is of far greater value than money. Virtue is in fact the true riches. 49. Thrift is a fruitful source of income. 50. The life of M*. Manilius teaches that wealth lies in character and tastes, not in a large bank balance. 51. T o be content with w hat one has is the surest wealth. Material possessions are subject to the accidents of fortune ; virtue alone is solid and lasting. 52. Those who possess it find the contentment which true riches bring. 42. insolens : passes from its original meaning ‘ unusual ’, ‘ unaccustom ed’ , to ‘ excessive’, ‘ extravagant’ . solusne tu diues ? : for the omission of speech cf. 29 tu ne nunc quidem.

es

in animated

pro di im m ortales: in this phrase pro, an interjection expressing indignation, is used with the v o c a tiv e ; cf. Phil. 2. 32 pro sancte Iuppiter. Otherwise it is only found with the accusative fidem, e.g. pro deum fidem; in this latter case there is probably an ellipse of imploro. egone m e . . . : ‘ M ay I not be glad of such education as I have received ? In other words, material possessions are not the only form of w ea lth ; there is such a thing as intellectual riches and Cic. makes a modest claim to them. A s he says below in 4 4, animus hominis diues, non area, appellari solet. F or audisse aliquid et didicisse referring to education cf. Aeschines 1. 141 tv* clhrjre on koX rjii€is n rjSrj 7}Kovcra[i,€V koLifiaOofiev. Others take the phrase ironically th u s : ‘ A m I not to congratulate m yself on hearing a piece of news ? But this is less sa tisfa ctory; it misses the emphatic contrast between tu and ego. etia m :

we m ay here render ‘ actually’ , ‘ in fa c t’ ; cf. antea non erat,

Verr. 4 . 22 ‘ Mamertina ciuitas improba etiam erat inimica im proborum ’ .

d

3

82

CICERO: PARADOXA STOICORUM

intellegimus: for intellego with double accusative cf. F in . 2. 50 quid hoc loco intellegit honestum ? hoc uerbum . . . : ‘ to what kind of m an do we apply this word ? ’ . Cf. nomen im ponere alicui. q u o i: = cui ; cf. 29 n . quoiusquam. possessiost: cf. 20 unum st. ut ad liberaliter uiuendum . . . : ‘ that as regards living in a style suited to a free man he is well satisfied’ . For ad ‘ as regards’ cf. 49 ad sumptum. For facile = here ‘ willingly, readily’ , rather than ‘ easily’ , cf. O ff. 2 . 66 ‘ diserti . . . hominis eb facile laborantis’ . am plius: m ost commonly used in negative, or virtually negative, sentences ; cf. 43 nihil curat am plius ? and H or. Sat. 2 . 6. 4 nil am plius oro. 43. oportet: for the subjunctive in direct dependence cf. 20 sint oportet. ‘ For no m an is poor th at does not think himself so : bu t if, in a full fortune, with impatience he desires more, he proclaims his wants and his beggarly condition’ (Jeremy Taylor, H oly L ivin g, Sect. vi). p u ta t: subject anim us. aut . . . e tia m : ‘ or even ’ in the sense of ‘ or at least’ ; cf. A tt. 4 . 1. 4 ‘ omnia aut scripta esse a tuis arbitror aut etiam nuntiis ac rumore perlata ’ . sin a u tem : sin (from *si-n e) or sin autem ‘ but if on the other h an d’ is used to introduce the second of two mutually exclusive hypotheses. Here the first of these is contained in nihil sibi deesse putat . . . ? = s i nihil sibi d. p . Contrast 21 quod si ‘ but if ’ . propter: see 30 n . propter quern. isti ordini: ‘ th at order of yours’ = senatorio ordini. Rom an senators were forbidden to engage in trade ; it was expected th at th ey would draw their revenue from pro­ perty and land ; cf. L iv y 21. 63. 4 quaestus om nis patribus indecorus u isu s. In fact the rule was circumvented by the em ploym ent of equites and,others as agents. esse u llu s: sc. quaestus. N o te th at quisquam is n ot used adjectivally except w ith nouns referring to persons ; e.g.

NOTES— PARADOX VI quicquam genus hominum, quaequam legatio, coquus, etc. Cf. 19 n. improbo . . . nem ini.

83

'

quisquam

fraudas decipis : the verbs go in pairs, as often in such lists, and refer to deceit, illegal bargaining, and extortion. socios: in view of the strong word spoliare it is m ost natural to take this as = ‘ allies5 ; in Ciceronian times socii was used of any com m unity received in fidem popu li Rom ani. B u t the word m ight also refer to business partners, or a company of farmers of the public revenue. atque: we should translate ‘ b u t’ after the preceding, negative. supponis: uox propria for fraudulent substitution and forgery, esp. of wills. 4 4. area : strOng-box, money-chest. Cf. Horace’s miser in Sat. 1 .1 . 6 6 /7 m ihi plaudo / ipse dom i9 sim ul ac n u m m os; contemplor in area, dum . . . uidebo: cf. 33 n. dum. There is probably a pun on inanem = ( i) ‘ vain, foolish’ , cf. H or. Sat. 1. 4. 76/7 inanes / hoc iuuat, and (ii) ‘ e m p ty ’ in the sense of without money, cf. Plaut. M ost. 571 hie homo inanis est. ex eo . . . : ‘ according to the .standard of what is sufficient for each individual . . For this meaning of ex cf. ex lege, e uirtute uiuere. m o d u m : ‘ lim it’ , i.e. the optimum amount. filiam quis habet ? : quis is here the indefinite pronoun = aliquis. Its use in a main sentence is rare but classical; cf. F in . 3. 71 iniuriam cui facere. See too 24 n . : d u a s: sc. filia s quis habet. plu ris: older form of the accusative plural, restricted to those nouns and adjectives that make genitive plural in -ium . ut aiunt D a n a u m : sc. habuisse from habet a bove. Danaus, according to the m yth, had fifty daughters; his brother, Aegyptus, fifty sons. Danaus, not liking the proposal that the cousins should marry one another, fled to Argos. The sons of Aegyptus pursued him and forced his consent to the

84

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

alliance, but he arranged with his daughters that each should kill her husband on the wedding night. A ll obeyed save Hyperm nestra. T hey were punished in Hades by being made to fill leaky pitchers with water. Cf. Tib. 1. 3. 7 9 /8 0 et Danai proles, Veneris quod num ina laesit, / in caua Lethaeas dolia portat aquas. sint . . . quaerunt: indicative in the apodosis, follow­ ing subjunctive in the protasis, is very rare except with verbs expressing possibility, propriety, or obligation. For a parallel cf. In v . 1. 62 ‘ infirma est propositio, nisi adiuncta sit approbatio \ quantum enim cuique . . . : the order is m odus enim diuitiarum , ut a. d ., accommodatur ad id quantum c. o. e. N ote that with opus est the thing needed stands in the nominative only if it is a neuter pronoun or a d je ctiv e ; exceptions to this rule are rare. hunc quando . . . : i.e. I shall never call him rich. I t is common in oratorical L atin to express statements b y means of rhetorical questions. N ote hunc before quando for emphasis. 45. multi ex te audierunt . . . : ‘ m any once heard you say . . . ’ . Cf. D e Orat. 2. 365 ‘ audiui . . . Metrodorum cum de his ipsis rebus disputaret ’ . cum takes the sub­ junctive in this idiom because no stress is laid on the precise time when. So m em ini cum + indic. = ‘ I remember the occasion when\ + subjunctive = ‘ I remember a time w hen’ . Cf. 27 n . cum . . . ualebant. neminem esse diuitem . . . : Cic. refers again to this remark of Crassus in O ff. 1. 25. Pliny quotes Crassus as saying ‘ legion’ , not ‘ a rm y’ : M . Crassus negabat locupletem esse n isi qui reditu annuo legionem tueri posset (N .H . 33. 134). quod populus Romanus . . . : ‘ a thing which the R om an people . . . id quod is also used in such cases. tantis uectigalibus: ‘ despite their large revenues’ . English ‘ in spite o f ’ is regularly im plied in Latin. potest: 6has been able’ . The present tense is used in L atin to express actions begun in the past and continued

NOTES— PARADOX VI

85

into the present. T o express our ‘ had been’ Latin uses the imperfect, e.g. iam dudum . . . tibi / non inprudens aduorsabar, Plaut. M en . 4 1 9 /2 0 . hoc proposito: ‘ on this principle’ . reficietur: ‘ is brought in ’, ‘ accrues’ ; a term from the language of business. F or the futures in this sentence expressing an inference cf. 32 non igitur . . . tu eri: = alere ; cf. the quotation from P liny in the note above on nem inem esse diuitem . sex legiones : the only passage that seems to im ply that there was a minimum establishment of six legions to a Rom an exercitus. A t this time the full establishment of a legion was 6000 men. magna . . . au xilia: n ot multa because, though auxilia is plural in form, it refers to a single collective entity— ‘ auxiliary force’ . Similarly Latin says magnae and tantae copiae, not multae or tot copiae. iam fateris igitur: cf. 3 n . probant.

‘ you must therefore now a d m it’ ;

cui tantum d esit: causal. “ id quod exoptas: indicative, though in a subordinate clause in Or. Obi., because it is equivalent to a noun (e.g. uotum ). Cf. 10 n. ei qui . . . reliquerunt. paupertatem: the pauper has enough to live on but little to spare ; the egenus has not enough for the necessities of life ; the m endicus is down and out. obscure tu listi: ‘ made a secret o f ’ ; cf. Cluent. 54 neque id obscure ferebat nec dissim ulare ullo modo poterat. 46. r e m : ‘ m on ey’ ; cf. H or. E p ist. 1. 1. 6 5/6 ‘ rem facias, rem, / si p ossis, recte, si non, quocumque modo rem \ ‘ Make m oney, money, if you can, by fair means, if not, b y hook or by crook, m on ey’ . mercaturis faciendis: ‘ b y commerce’ .— operis d a n d is: ‘ b y rendering services’ .— publicis su m en d is: ‘ b y under­ taking state contracts’, such as the farming of taxes, the building of roads, harbours, and other public works ; cf. H or. E p ist. 1. 1. 77 pars hominum gestit conducere publica.

8 6.

CICERO: PARADOXA STOICORUM

, opus esse quaesito: ‘ need to make a profit’ , quaesito is ablative of the neuter participle used as a noun ( —qu aestu ); cf. M il. 49 cur properato opus esset, ‘ w hy there was need of haste’ . per t e : Plasberg’ s conjecture for M SS. partem . C. F . W . Mueller reads pariter, but Plasberg is doubtful whether pariter . . . atque is Ciceronian.— Take p er te with con­ sociatos. accusatorum : from accusator.

Cf. Verr. 2 . 135.

, indicum : index or quadruplator is classical L atin for ‘ informer’ , delator Silver Latin. qui nocentes . . . : the verb in this and the following qui clauses is uidet understood. ; eodem te actore : ‘ likewise at your instigation’ , picks up per te above. For the ablative absolute cf. m e auctore, m e inuito, me puero, etc. corruptelam: ‘ scheming to pervert justice’ b y bribery. For the formation of the word cf. cautela, tutela, clientela from cautus, tutus, cliens. pactiones : cf. 43 pacisceris. ‘ Y ou r bargains for profits in defending actions’ (Rackham ). The Lex Cincia (204 B.c.) de donis et m uneribus forbade advocati and patroni to accept gifts or remuneration for their services, but it was a dead letter. inpensas: ‘ expenditure’ is Birt’s conjecture for the meaningless intercidas of the best M SS. The other M SS. read intercessiones ‘ guarantees’ . Plasberg thinks th at something m ay have fallen out, and suggests in t e r g iv e r ­ sationibus quaestus inhonestos, intercessiones sordi>da s pecuniarum . . . . . . . . ' coitionibus: coitio was an illegal agreement between candidates at elections, to shut out competitors. Such deals were ‘ most commonly carried out between two men to get an office like the consulship or aedileship for which there were only two places’ and depended on bribery (L. R . Taylor, P a rty Politics in the A g e o f Caesar, p. 68). . Cf. Q .F r. 3. 1. 16 quod scribis te audisse in candidatorum consularium coitione m e interfuisse, id falsum est.

NOTES— PARADOX VI

87

libertorum: libertus is a freedman in relation to his patron, here Crassus ; libertinus a freedman from the point of view of civic status. Thus pater H orati libertus erat = ‘ the father was a freedman of H orace’ ; pater H orati liber­ tinus erat = 4Horace’s father was a freedman’ . expulsiones u icinorum : Horace finely describes such an eviction in Garm. 2. 18. 26 ff. pellitur paternos / in sinu ferens deos / et uxor et uir sordidosque natos. latrocinia in ag ris: probably refers to the exactions made in country districts b y Crassus’ agents. societates: business partnerships. u acu as: because of the death of their owners in the proscriptions next to be mentioned. proscriptiones: it was largely to Crassus th at Sulla owed his victory at the Colline Gate, and the D ictator rewarded him well. m essem : the metaphor, strong in L atin , is n ot quite strong enough in English. W e might increase its force with an adjective, e.g. ‘ the cruel harvest’ . recordetur: the mood has changed since uidet above. The length of the sentence caused Cic. to forget th at he used uidet and not uideat as he might equally well have done. subiecta: = supposita, cf. 43 testamenta . . . supponis. ( t o t ) ; tot qui . . . : the insertion of tot is suggested b y Plasberg. Balance seems to demand it. sublatos: ‘ put out of the w a y ’ (Rackham ). Cf. Horace’ s famous ‘ me truncus illapsus cerebro / sustulerat nisi . . .’ (C a m . 2. 17. 2 7 /8 ). dilectum : this implies th at in levying recruits for his legions Crassus granted exemption from service to those who were prepared to pay for the privilege. decretum: ‘ deere t ' = senatus consultum. This implies that Crassus was able to engineer measures through the Senate. sententiam : in the Senate, or in a court of law; forum , d o m u m : public )( private, life.

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

88

h u n c : having addressed Crassus directly in the early part of this long sentence, Cic. now turns to his audience. cui . . . opus s i t : the antecedent of cui is hunc following. u e re : with dixerit, not diuitem . Cic. denies that Crassus is rich in any sense. Cf. O ff. 3. 13 honestum quod proprie uereque dicitur . . . dixerit: piam ).

perfect su b ju n ctive;

cf. dixerit aliquis (quis­

47. fructus: ‘ advan tage’ , ‘ rew ard’ . copiam : note its position immediately after copia. T o reproduce this in English turn declarat by a passive, etc. satietas rerum atque abundantia: ‘ having enough and to spare of everything’ . assequere : future ; cf. 20 n. progrediare. es . . . futurus: the periphrastic future in a main clause usually means ‘ be on the point of . . . ’ . Here it simply replaces eris, probably to fill out the final member and produce a more emphatic clausula. Contrast 18 n. sit futurum . m e a m : note its emphatic position. ad uulgi opinionem : cf. 39 n . ad uoluntatem. m o d ica: it does not exceed nor fall short of the m odus— ‘ just righ t’, ‘ sufficient’ )( m ediocris ‘ quite ordinary’, ‘ insignificant’ . de me silebo, de re loquar: i.e. I shall n ot discuss m y personal affairs, but stick to the point. There is probably a double meaning in de re ‘ about the m atter in h an d ’ and ‘ about possessions’ (cf. res in the next sentence). 48. censenda . . . atque aestim anda: a typical Cicero­ nian d o u b le t; cf. 28 n. lactam et im m issam . utrum tan d em : cf. 11 quibus tandem . . . gradibus. F abricio: see 12 n. dabat: conative ‘ tried to giv e ’ , i.e. ‘ offered’ . This meaning also occurs with the imperfect subjunctive, the present indicative and the present participle.

NOTES— PARADOX VI

89

repudiabat: ‘ steadfastly refused’ , ‘ insisted on refusing’ . The imperfect has a different shade of meaning here. The offer was repeated, but Fabricius remained firm in his refusal. C u ri: see 12 n. hereditatem L. P au lli: L . Aemilius Paullus, conqueror of Macedon, had two sons, Quintus and Publius. Publius was adopted b y P . Cornelius Scipio, son of Africanus M a jo r ; Quintus was adopted b y Q. Fabius M axim us. P . gave Q. his own share of their father’ s bequest (see P lu t. A em ilius Paullus 39. 5). h a e c: refers to the second alternative in each of the three examples quoted, ilia to the first. profecto : cf. 15 n . . summarum uirtu tu m : genitive of characteristic. si quidem : here n ot ‘ since’ but ‘ assuming th a t’ ; cf. 17 si quidem nihil peperi tale . . . ut quisque . . . : ‘ the more valuable a m an’s possessions are, the richer he should be considered’ . Cf. 15 n . diuitissimus : ditissim us is preferred in later prose. u i s : ‘ qu a n tity’ , ‘ am ou n t’ ; magna pulueris.

cf. Caes. B .G . 2. 26 uis

49. non intellegunt h om in es: we should say ‘ cannot people understand’ ; cf. 3 n. probant. quam m a g n u m : one would have expected quantum. uenio enim . . . : ‘ for I now come to the spenders of m oney and leave your profiteer who makes i t ’ (Rackham ). praediis: ‘ property’ , of estates in town or country. sescena sestertia: = sescenta m ilia sestertiorum. The distributive sescena is used probably not in order to im ply each year's income, but because sestertia is regarded as a plurale tantum like castra ; cf. bind castra ‘ tw o cam ps’ . centena: sc. sestertia—centum m ilia sestertiorum. It would probably be rash to take this literally as evidence of Cicero’ s income. Though his wealth could not compare

90

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

with that of a Crassus, he was none the less a rich m an. W e know that he owned seven villas in the country and a magnificent house on the Palatine. In addition he was left sums amounting to tw enty million sesterces in legacies (P hil. 2. 40). so la : ‘ floors’ )( tecta. supellectilem, u estem : the best M SS. read et between these two words and Plasberg follows t h e m ; but it is extremely doubtful whether Cic. ever breaks the rule that in such lists et should be repeated throughout or omitted altogether (see M advig, B e F in ibu s, p. 562). Therefore most editors have followed Lambinus in deleting the et here.— In classical L atin uestis, like supellex, is only used in the singular. I t includes not only clothes (uestitus), but rugs, blankets, carpets, etc. Contrast uestimentum which means a single article of clothing and has a plural. ad sum ptum : for ad — i as regards’, ‘ in respect o f ’ , cf. 42 n. ut ad liberaliter uiuendum . ille . . . fru ctu s: i.e. sescena sestertia. faen u s: usually the interest on m oney lent, bu t here = interest on m oney borrowed, for which usura is more common.— 600,000 H S , so far from being enough for the expenses of the sum ptuosus, is hardly enough to pay the interest on what he has borrowed. te n u i: cf. H or. E p ist. 1 .2 0 . 20 ‘ me libertino natum patre et in tenui re\ detractis . . . cupiditatis: ‘ after deducting m y ex­ penditure on luxuries’ . Cic. in sec. 50 confesses that he is not altogether free from the prevailing habit of extra­ vagance ; but a t least he lives within his income. superat: = supere s t; cf. D e Orat. 2. 83 ‘ et deesse aliquam partem et superare mendosum e s t’ . an quae : = a n cui ea possessio est quae . . . very slight anacoluthon. suis se uiribus: for the order cf. Introd. E . 3. 50. q u id : cf. 17 quid . . . laboraui. q u i: ca u sal; cf. 6 n. quippe cum.

There is a

NOTES— PARADOX VI

91

morum ac temporum u itio : m ay be taken as hendiadys — ‘ through the fault of our present fashions’ . For uitio ‘ fa u lt’ cf. Caes. B .C . 3. 57. 2 id uitio factum eorum. aliquantum : ‘ to some e x te n t’ .

Silver L atin aliquatenus.

in huius saeculi errore uerser: ‘ am involved in the errors of this modern ag e’ . M \ Manilius : consul in 149 b . c . Fam ous as an orator and jurisconsult. The R om an jurist Sextus Pomponius, writing in the time of Hadrian, described him as one of the three men who laid the foundations of the ius ciuile9 the others being P . Mucius Scaevola and M . Junius Brutus ( Digesta, 1. 2. 2. 39). patrum nostrorum m em oria: ‘ in our fathers’ tim e ’ ; cf. Balb. 28 superiori memoria, M a n ii. 54 usque ad nostram m emoriam. ; Curios et Luscinos: generic plural— ‘ men like Curius . . . ’ . Cf. Virg. Georg. 2. 169 D ecios, M a rios magnosque Cam illos. Luscinus was the cognomen of Fabricius. loquam ur: loquor sometimes takes an accusative. D iv . 1. 68 tragoedias loqui uideor et fabulas.

Cf.

aediculas: ‘ a small house’ or ‘ a fla t ’ )( tecta magnifica of the wealthy among Cicero’s contemporaries. Carinis: Carinae was the fashionable quarter of R om e, between the Caelian and the Esquiline. L abican o: sc. agro. Labici was a tow n some 15 miles S .W . of R om e, near Tusculum. nos ig itu r: for the omission of sum us cf. 29 ego sem per ciuis. utinam quidem : sc. essem us.

Cf. D iv. 2 . 5 pauci utinam /

sed non aestimatione census . . . : ‘ bu t it is n ot the value of our possessions, bu t our manner of life and our tastes th at determine the limits of our w ealth ’ . 5 1. non esse cupidum : subject. em a c em : cf. 40 n. paulo loquacioribus. suis : ‘ one’ s ow n ’— refers to the subject of the infinitive, not to th at of the main sentence ; cf. 35 arbitrio carentis suo.

92

CICERO : PARADOXA STOICORUM

su n t: attracted to the number of the predicate diuitiae; cf. Ter. Andr. 555 ‘ amantium irae amoris integratio est ’ . The Epicurean Lucretius expresses the same th o u g h t: diuitiae grandes homini sunt uiuere parce / aequo a n im o; neque enim est umquam penuria parui (5. 1118/9). are as: area is vacant ground, especially in towns— ‘ urban sites’ . quasdam : ‘ particular’ .

Distinguish from nescioquas.

m agno aestim ant: with aestimare Cic. occasionally uses magno and paruo, but m ost com m only magni and parui. minime q u asi: = minime fere ‘ hardly at all ’. E or this use of quasi cf. Lucr. 3. 256 in summo quasi corpore ‘ alm ost on the surface of the b o d y ’ , and Orat. 41 quasi in extrema pagina Phaedri ‘ on about the last page of the Phaedrus\ T hat quasi does not go with noceri seems plain from N .D . 2. 117 quibus form is . . . minime noceri potest, and ib. 167 si segetibus aut uinetis . . . tempestas nocuerit. eripi nec surripi: we m ight represent the play in English b y alliteration— ‘ seized or stolen’ . tem pestatum : of weather— temporum, of politics. 52. q u a : sc. uirtute. re s: ‘ property’ . q u o d : cf. 45 n. quod populus Romanus . . . satis esse putant quod e s t: ‘ they think th at w hat they have is enough’ ; cf. 18 nec sat est quod est. nulla r e : in classical Latin prose the use of nihilo is virtually confined to comparatives (e.g. nihilo minus) and pro nihilo ducere, putare. etc. The use in Tusc. 5. 93 ‘ satiari posse paene nihilo ’ is very rare indeed, nihil requirunt: ‘ miss nothing’ , incertas atque in casu positas: predicative, q u o i: cf. 42 quoi tanta possessiost. copiosi ac diuites: aut (nec) diuites would be more usual after the preceding negative (cf. 6 n . in bonis . . . aut), but the adjectives here form a u n it y ; cf. D e Orat. 1. 18 neque legum ac iuris ciuilis scientia neglegenda est.

INDEX TO THE NOTES The numbers refer to pages anne, 55 aptus ex sese, 45 areas, 92 asportarent, 35 assectatur, 77 assidet, 77 asyndeton, adversative, 27, 29, 63 atque, 37, 41 atqui, 34 atrienses, 74 attraction of mood, 33 of neuter interrogative, 61 of relative, 37, 63 of verb to number of predi­ cate, 92 aut after negative, 33 aut . . . etiam ‘ or at least’ , 82 autem, 49 auunculus ) ( patruus, 26

ab of origin, 37 abesse with dative, 34 ablative of description, 80 of measure of difference, 58 with pellere, 61 accusative double with putare, etc., 36, 53, 82 internal, 46, 57 ad ‘ according t o ’, 77 ‘ as regards’ , 82, 90 ‘ with a view t o ’, 36 adjective for adverb, 72 in -ax pejorative, 79 substitute for, 26 transferred, 30 admirabilia = irapabo^a, 29 aediculas, 91 aedis Nympharum, 67 aequitas, 63 aerumnosum, 44 Aetion, 75 afficere, 66 aliquantum, 91 aliqui ‘ some other’ , 73 amoenus use in Cic., 36 amplius, 82 an introducing direct ques­ tion, 53 anacoluthon, 90

Bacon, 28 baioli, 55 barbatulos mullos, 76 bene esse with dative, 49 Bentley, 40 Bias of Priene, 34 Bible, 28, 55, 73 Birt, 86 Bona Dea, 68 Brutus, 25, 38 Burton, 78 93

94

CICERO: PARADOXA STOICORUM

caelato, 41 capi = decipi, 44 capudines, 37 Carinae, 91 caritate patriae, 29 Carneades, 27 Cato, 25, 40 causa ‘ valid motive’ , 56 Cethegus, 78 chiasmus, 34 Cocles, 39 coitionibus, 86 concord illa referring to locos, 26 conscientiae, 48 continentia = tyfcpdreia, 28 Corinthiis operibus, 41 corruptelam, 86 Crassus, 79, 80 cum = simul cum, 47 ctm uirtute, adjectival and adverbial, 36 Curius, 40 Dante, 56 dative ethic, 73 of interest, 79 de partitive, 35 Decius Mus, 39 decretum = senatus consultum, 87 degustare ‘ sample’ , 30 demigrare euphemism, 47 denique ‘ in short’ , 38 ‘ indeed’, 78 deuotio, 39 dicere with two accusatives, 53 diligens )( neglegens, 76 disputatio ‘ debate’, 32 disturbare ‘ demolish’, 64 diuitissimus, 89

doublets, Ciceronian, 63, 88 dum—quamdiu, 70, 83 dumtaxat ‘ only’, 28 efficere ‘ prove’, 28 ellipse of es, 65, 81 of essemus, 91 of habuisse, 83 of incipiamus, 36 of sumus, 91 of verb of saying, 80 eodem, 71 eorum for earum rerum, 41 equidem, 34 etenim, 53 etiam ‘ in fact’, 81 position of, 26 ‘ yes’, 58 ex ‘ according to ’, 83 exaggerare, 80 exceptare, 76 exitus euphemism, 65 exsilium, 66 exsistere, 38 extra numerum ‘ out of time 58 Fabricius, 39, 91 faenus = usura, 90 felicatas, 38 festinus ‘ charming’ , 75 figere modum, 58 fugitiui, 61 Furiae, 48 genitive in apposition to meam, 65 in -ii, 38 of characteristic, 78, 89 with similis, 40 gerundive attributive use, 49

INDEX TO' THE NOTES habeo with perfect participle, 46 haeresis, 27 Helm, 60 hendiadys, 40, 91 homoeoteleuton, 72 igitur resumptive, 70 imperator, 69 imperium, 33 in acceptum referre, 31 in quo, 34 in uulgus=uulgo, 27 in ‘ with regard to ’, 51 ineptiae only in plural, 75 infimus and imus, 75 infinitive used as noun, 51 iniuria adverbially, 57 inpensas, 86 inquit enclitic, 35 insolens ‘ excessive’, 81 interrogatiunculae, 27 ita . . . ut restrictive, 35, 76 labi iri, 51 Labici, 91 Lambinus, 58, 9 0 . latro original meaning, 62 latrocinium= manus latronum, 62 lautus ) ( lotus, 74 lentus ‘ dull’, 36 liberalior, 78 libertus )( libertinus, 87 litotes, 74 longe with superlative, 30 lucubrare, 30 ludibria fortunae, 35 Luscinus, 91 Macaulay, 39 Madvig, 36, 73, 90 magna auxilia, 85

95

magnitudo animi= ficyaXoipv\la, 28 magno aestimare> 92 mancipia, 72 Manilius, 91 Marius, 44 matellio, 76 mehercule, 32 membra ‘ constituent parts’, 34 Milton, 39, 42, 44, 63 Minerua Phidiae, 31 modica )( mediocris, 88 moods attraction of, 33, 42, 52, 59, 70 future imperative, 46 indicative in apodosis after sub­ junctive protasis, 84 in O.O., 36, 85 infinitive used as noun, 51 subjunctive consecutive, 42, 47, 71 generic, 27 in indignant question, 69 in subordinate clause in O.O., 73 potential, 70 Moser, 64 Mucius, 39 Mueller, C. F . W ., 58, 73, 86 Mummius, 76 murenarum, 77 natura ‘ by birth’, 65 negative double, 32, 64 ne non, 48 nec non, 34 nemo non )( non nemo, 45 nemo with personal nouns, 49 nihil ‘ by no means’ , 31

96

CICERO: PARADOXA STOICORUM

nihil aliud nisi, 43 non modo {non), 55, 70 non sane, ‘ not at ali’, 27 nulla for non, 62 nequam of slaves, 73 New Academy, 27 nex )( mors, 38 nexum = mancipatio, 72 nimio opere, 74 nisi forte, 63 nugae of poetry, 58 Numa, 37 oh causal, 66 ‘ in return for’, 66 obscure ferre ‘ make a secret o f’, 85 odiosus ‘ tedious’, 36 omnis ‘ every kind o f’, 75 opertum as noun, 67 oportet opposed to licet, 58 with dependent subjunc­ tive, 52 opus est with nominative, 84 orbem )( urbem, 47 pactiones, 86 parataxis, 55, 73 participle concessive, 29, 33 patrocinium, 43 Paullus, 89 pauper )( egenus, 85 peculium, 77 petulans, 51 Plasberg, 37, 51, 58, 65, 72, 73, 87, 90 pleonasm paruum opusculum, 30 quod cum ita putarem, 28 Stoicorum hominum, 32 plural generic, 91

of abstract nouns, 48 of pecunia, 33 plus )( magis, 27 Polycletus, 75 pondo indeclinable noun, 53 Pope, 44 porro, 49 Porsena, 39 potior transitive, 42 Praecia, 78 priuilegium, 67 pro interjection, 8 i probabilia, 26 profecto, 43 propter with personal pro­ noun, 66 propugnacula belli, 40 punctis, 28 quadripes, 42 quae appellant ‘ so-called’ , quaesito = quaestu, 86 quando causal, 54 quasi ‘ roughly’, 92 qui=quo modo, 59 quippe cum, 33 quis indefinite pronoun, 83 quisquam in a question, 34 with personal nouns, 82 quod ‘ a thing which’, 92 quod si, 52 re )( dictu, 72 re )( uerbo, 34 reficietur, 85 Regulus, 44 relative causal, 53, 85 connexion, 41 in comparison, 42 requiro ‘ miss’, 34, 92

30

' 55,

84,

IN D E X TO THE NOTES res ‘ money’ , 85 ‘ property’, 92 Saguntini, 56 salutare superlative of, 71 scelus )( nefas, 58 Scipiones, 40 senatus nomen, ' 62 sequor ‘ aim a t’ , 27, 38 sescena sestertia, 89 Seven Sages, 35 short form of 2nd person singular, 52 si = si quidem, 65 si gm and si #wis, 34 si quidem, 52, 89 sica = sicarius, 67 siw autem, 82 singular, collective, 35, 90 Socrates, 54 soto )( tecto, 90 solum mutare, 66 Spartacus, 65 spectare ‘ intend’, 38 stare )( iacere, 64 stimulus, 48 Stoic doctrine, 41, 60 subjunctive, see moods superat = superest, 90 supponere of wills, 83 suus free use, 43, 71, 73, 91

97

templa, 65 tenses future of inference, 68, 85 of request, 30 periphrastic, 48, 88 imperfect, conative, 88 perfect, gnomic, 27 present of continuance from past, 84 perfect, 31 tolerantia, 60 torquentur middle use, 48 traditur use, 54 transire lineas, 52 tueri —alere, 85 turpe )( honestum, 80 uero in answers, 35 position of, 45 uerto when intransitive, 51 uestrum )( uestri, 32 uilla )( domus, 76 unde = ex qua, 65 unus ex, 45 usurpare = uti, 45 ut quisque . . . ito with su­ perlatives, 42 utro adverb, 57 Vulgate, 28, 55, 73

tandem ‘ I wonder’, 37 Tarquin, 38 Taylor, Jeremy, 82 tempestates )( tempora, 92

Warde Fowler, 44, 45 word-play, 44, 47, 54, 59, 73, 75, 80, 83, 88 THE E O

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