Page municated. The date always expressed the day, frequently 21 the year, and sometimes the hour. They used no signature, or subscription, unless when writing to emperors. There was very rarely an inscription on the outside, the letter being delivered to a letter-carrier, (Tabellarius,) who was made acquainted with the person for whom it was intended. The letter was tied round with a string, the knot of which was sealed. The seal was, generally, a head of the letter-writer, or of some of his ancestors, impressed on wax or chalk. Hence the phrases for "to open a letter,” are “vinculum solvere," "incidere linum," "epistolam solvere." It was usual also for the bearer of the letter, before it was opened, to request the person to examine the seal, that he might be sure there was no imposture. Crombie's Gymnasium, vol. 1, p. 283, 3d ed. Lipsii Op. vol. 2. Gruter. Thes. vol. 5. 7. Egregia tua fides, &c., "Your distinguished integrity, known to me by experience, has given a pleasing confidence to my present recommendation," i. e. has inspired me with a pleasing confidence in recommending my concerns to your care. 8. Quamobrem defensionem, &c., Defensio is here opposed to satisfactio, and signifies a formal defence in the presence of one's enemies, while satisfactio denotes a general explanation, such as may satisfy a friend. The whole passage may hence be rendered as follows: "Wherefore, as regards the novel step which I have taken, I have resolved not to prepare a formal defence of it against my enemies, but, without any consciousness of misconduct, have determined to lay before you such an explanation as may remove the doubts of a friend." The phrase "ex nulla conscientia DE CULPA," Burnouf considers a rem- nant of earlier Latinity, when the preposition, as in our modern tongues, was used to identify individual cases. de culpa being here equivalent to culpae. We doubt the correctness of this explanation. The preposition appears to be here used with the ablative for the purpose of expressing the slightest possible relation between conscientia and culpa in the mind of the writer. Page. 21 9. Quam. Referring to satisfactionem. 10. Me dius fidius, &c., "which, upon my honour as a man, you will find to be true." As regards the expression dius fi"the son of dius, Festus makes it the same as Aios filius, Jove," i. e. Hercules. He states, at the same time, two other explanations; one, which makes it equivalent to divi fides, and the other to diei fides. All these etymologies are decidedly erroneous. A passage in Plautus, (Asin. 1. 1. 8.) furnishes a safer guide. It is as follows: "Per deum fidium quaeris; From jurato mihi video necesse esse eloqui, quidquid roges." this passage we may fairly infer, that, in the phrase under consideration, dius is the same as deus or divus, and fidius an adjective formed from fides. Hence dius fidius, "the god of honour," or "good faith," will be the same as the Zeus miorios of the Greeks; and, if we follow the authority of Varro, (L. L. 4. 10.) identical with the Sabine Sancus, and Roman Hercules so that me dius fidius is nothing more than me deus fidei (i. e. Hercules) adjuvet, or, in other words, mehercule. Respecting the Hercules of the earlier mythology, some curious remarks will be found in Ritter's Vorhalle, p. 375. seqq. 11. Fructu laboris. Alluding to the consulship, which he had sought ineffectually. 12. Statum dignitatis, "that station in the republic to which I was fairly entitled." Compare chap. 18. "Post paullo Catilina, pecuniarum repetundarum reus, prohibitus erat consulatum -petere," &c. -alienis 13. Meis nominibus, " of my own contracting." nominibus, "contracted by others, and for which I had become surety." Among the Romans, it was a customary formality, in borrowing money, to write down the sum and subscribe the person's name in the banker's books. Hence nomen is put for a debt, for the cause of a debt, for an article of account, &c. 14. Non dignos homines, &c, "unworthy men graced with honour;" i. e. raised to high preferment. 15. Falsa suspicione alienatum, "alienated from public favour through groundless suspicion ' Page. 16. Hoc nomine, &c., " On this account I have pursued a 21 course sufficiently honourable, considering my calamitous situation, and one which leads me to entertain the hope of preserving what consideration there is left me." 17. Eam ab injuria defendas, &c., "Defend her from injury, being intreated so to do by the love you bear to your own offspring." Catullus uses this 18. Haveto. An archaism for Aveto. form (101. 10.) "Have atque Vale." Comp. Quintilian, 1. 6. 21. ed. Spalding. Whiter's etymology of the word is extremely ingenious: " Have or Ave is nothing but Habe, have, possess,-riches, honours, health." 19. In agro Arretino. The common text has Reatino. As Reate, however, was a town of the Sabines, and as Catiline was proceeding along the Aurelian way, under the pretence of retiring to Massilia, but in reality to join Manlius, it is far preferable to adopt Arretino as the lection, Arretium (now Arezzo) being an ancient city of Etruria. 20. Cum fascibus, &c. Compare the language of Cicero, (2. Cat. 6.) "Quum haesitaret, quum teneretur, quaesivi quid dubitaret proficisci eo, quo jampridem pararet; quum arma, quum secures, quum fasces, quum tubas, quum signa militaria, quum aquilam illam argenteam, cui ille etiam sacrarium scelerum domi suae fecerat, scirem esse praemissam.”- -Hostes, "public ene mies." Hostis denotes an avowed and public enemy, either to an individual, or to a people, or party. Inimicus (i. e. non amicus,) is a man bearing enmity to another individually, that enmity being of a private nature. A similar distinction prevails in Greek. Thus Ammonius (Περὶ διάφ. λεξ. s. v. έχ θρός.) observes: Ἐχθρὸς μὲν ἐστιν ὁ πρότερον φίλος· Πολέμιος δὲ ὁ μεθ ̓ ὅπλων χωρων πέλας. (Compare Valck. ad loc. Hence Toxiμos will be equivalent to hostis, and ix9gs to inimicus. The original meaning of hostis is thus explained by Cicero: "Hostis apud majores nostros is dicebatur quem nunc peregrinum dicimus." (De Off. 1. 12. 1. ed. Heus.) To the same effect is the remark of Varro, (L. L. 4. pr.) "Mulla verba aliud nunc ostendunt, aliud ante significabant, ut hostis. Nam tum en verbo dicebant peregrinum, qui suis legibus uteretur: nunc dicunt eum, Page. 21 quem tum dicebant perduellem." So that hostis originally meant nothing more than "a foreigner," and the term for "public enemy," in that state of the language, was " perduellis." This change of meaning furnishes a good comment on the tardy civilization of the Romans. 22 21. Sine fraude, "with impunity," or "with the assurance of safety." Compare the words of Ulpian, (leg. 131. de V. S.) "Aliud fraus est, aliud poena. Fraus enim sine poena esse potest: poena sine fraude esse non potest. Poena est noxae vindieta; fraus et ipsa noxa dicitur, et quasi poenae quaedam praeparatio." 22. Praeter condemnatis. In this clause, condemnatis depends on liceret, and praeter is used adverbially for praeterquam. The instances, however, of such a usage are not of very frequent occurrence. We have one in Justin, (13. 5.) " Alexander epistolas in Graeciam scripserat, quibus omnium civitatum exules, praeter caedis damnati, restituebantur." (vid. Graev. ad loc.) Another example is found in Suetonius, though not so conclusive as the first: "reliquerit eum nullo, praeter auguralis sacerdotii, honore impertitum." (Claud. 4. vol. 2, p. 10. ed. Crus.) 1. Dilectum. Some editions prefer delectum. The orthography, however, is hardly indifferent; delectus is from deligo; dilectus, from dilego "to choose from various quarters ;" (diversim and lego.) In Oudendorp's edition of Caesar, dilectus is always preferred, and so also in that of Oberlin, who states in the Index Latinitatis that the greater number of MSS. give this latter form. The manner of holding a dilectus, or "levy," was as follows. The consuls appointed a day, on which all those who were of the military age, were to be present in the capitol. When the day arrived, the consuls, seated in their curule chairs, held a levy, by ordering such as they pleased to be cited out of each tribe, and every one was obliged to answer to his name under a severe penalty. They were careful to choose those first who had what they thought lucky names, as Valerius, Salvius, Statorius, &c. Their names were written down on tables, hence scribere, "to enlist," " to Page. levy," or "raise." It was determined by lót in what manner 22 the tribes should be called. 2. Paterent. Some editions have parerent, which appears pleonastic after domita armis. 3. Duobus senati decretis, "notwithstanding two decrees of the senate." Though two decrees of the senate had been made. There is here an ellipsis of factis. The first of these ordinances is mentioned in chap. 30. 4. Tanta vis morbi, uti tabes, “so violent a malady, like some corroding poison," &c. The distemper or malady, here alluded to, is the desire of a change which influenced, at that period, the minds of so large a number, and produced a disaffection to the state. Burnouf and others make tabes here equivalent to contagio, but with little propriety as we conceive. Some editions have tanta vis morbi atque uti tabes, which Beauzée adopts, and renders the passage as follows: "Tant la violence, et, pour ainsi dire, la contagion de cette espèce de maladie, avoit infecté," &c. 5. Aliena, “alienated from the public welfare."" in general." -omnino, 6. Adeo, "indeed." The primitive meaning of adeo is "so," "so far," "to such a degree." In the present instance, however, its use appears peculiarly elegant, and Burnouf paraphrases it by "ita enim se res habent," or, as we would express it in English," indeed," "in fact," "without doubt," &c. Compare Cic. in Verr. 6. 64. "Id adeo ex ipso senatus consulto cognoscite." and also, pro Caccin. 30. “Id adeo, si placet, considerate." To which we may add the remark of Turseliinus, (de partic. p. 36. ed. Lips.-p. 29. ed. Bailey.) Vis, quae est in hoc usu, sane elegantissimo, hujus particulae, vix potest uno verbo exprimi, quod in omnia loca conveniat, sentiturque facilius quam exprimitur. Interdum enim significat aliquam consequentiam, interdum explicationi, narrationi, &c., servit." vid. Jug. chap. 65. ibid. chap. 110. 7. Quis opes nullae sunt, “ 'they who have no resources of their own, look with an evil eye on the higher class of citizens, elevate to office those who are of the same stamp with themselves." Quis is put for quibus. By bonos are here |