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1. Telamo. Cicero is quoting a line from some tragedy in which Telamon is one of the characters. A play of Pacuvius called Teucer' is often quoted by Cicero, in which Telamon is one of the characters, and from which this verse is probably taken. Cp. de Orat. 2. 46, Tusc. Disp. 5.37.

Locum totum conficit, sums up the whole argument.' 'Locus,' in the sense in which it is used here, is a translation of the Greek τόπος. τόποι in Aristotle are general heads of argument.'

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Cur. The use of 'cur' here is peculiar, for the verse which follows does not give the reason why the gods pay no regard to men, but the grounds upon which the writer believed it to be the case that they did so disregard them. It may be translated, the whole argument which proves that the gods pay no regard to man.'

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3. Curent-sit. A bare supposition, like ei with opt. followed by an opt. with av in Greek. If they were to care for man, it would be well,' &c. Quod nunc abest, which, as things are, is far from being the case.' 8. Extulit, 'buried.' Maximus here means Q. Fabius Maximus Cunctator, the hero of the early part of the second Punic War. His loss of his son is mentioned in Pt. 1. Sect. I. 10, 30 foll., where Cicero records that he spoke his funeral oration (laudatio).

II. Africanum. He means Scipio Africanus Minor, who was believed to have been murdered in his bed by agents of the popular party, whom he opposed, B. C. 129. Cp. Scipio's Dream, note on 1. 50.

13. Meus. The speaker is C. Aurelius Cotta, a distinguished orator. His mother was Rutilia.

14. Rutilius. This was P. Rutilius Rufus. He was a man of great integrity and firmness, and when serving as Legatus in Asia, under Q. Mucius Scaevola, he incurred the hostility of the Publicani by the vigour with which he repressed their extortions, and was in consequence impeached and convicted on a false charge of malversation, got up against him by those whose robberies he had interfered with, and compelled to go into banishment. He was famous as an orator.

15. Drusus. M. Livius Drusus who was assassinated B. C. 91.

17. Scaevola. Q. Mucius Scaevola, who perished in the Proscription of Marius and Carbo B. c. 82.

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20. Quibus bonis male evenerit, all the good men who have been unfortunate.'

25. At, but, it will be said.' 'At' here introduces a supposed objection which the speaker answers. At enim' is more usual in this sense.

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See

note on Pt. 1. Sect. I. 25. 44. Melius fuit, it would have been better.' The English idiom with such expressions as this is adapted to the fact that that which ought to or might have happened, did not happen, and implies this by the use of the subjunctive mood. The Latin idiom, more strictly accurate, expresses that the expediency or possibility was real, although the event did not happen. This is the regular Latin construction with such words and phrases as oportet,' ' necesse est,' 'par,' 'fas,' 'justum est,' 'debeo,' 'possum,' licet.' See Zumpt, Lat. Gr. § 518.

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27. Varius. Q. Varius Hybrida, a native of Sucro in Spain, who was tribune of the plebs in B. c. 90. He was put to death in the following year under a law which he himself had carried for punishing all who had aided

the Socii in taking up arms against Rome. Nothing more is known of his having been the murderer of Drusus and Metellus beyond Cicero's assertion here.

28. Si, supply 'periit.' The argument is, 'If you mean to say that Varius' punishment is a proof of the interference of the Gods, then I reply that they had better have prevented the crime than punished it.'

32. In ipso Graeciae flore. Two different meanings are assigned to this expression, I. ' when Greece was just at its prime,' 2. 'in the choicest city of Greece,' i. e. at Athens. The latter seems to give most tone to the sen

tence.

33. At, same as above, 'but, you will say.'

Apollodorus. The sentence does not run very regularly. If he repeats the name of Phalaris in the supposed objection, it would have been consistent to have repeated that of Pisistratus also, instead of substituting a fresh instance. Apollodorus was a tyrant of Cassandreia, formerly Potidaea, in Pallene. He lived in the earlier part of the third century B. C. He is thus described by Polyaenus, τύραννος ἐγένετο φονικώτατος καὶ ὠμότατος πάντων, ὅσοι παρ' Ἕλλησιν ἢ παρὰ βαρβάροις ἐτυράννησαν.

Multis quidem ante cruciatis et necatis, 'yes, but not till they had first tortured and put to death numbers.'

36. Anaxarchum. Anaxarchus was a philosopher, a native of Abdera. He was a friend of Alexander the Great, and accompanied him to Asia.

37. Cyprio tyranno. Nicocreon, king of Salamis in Cyprus. According to the story, Anaxarchus had offended Nicocreon, when visiting Alexander, and when Anaxarchus fell into his hands by being wrecked on his coast, he pounded him to death in a mortar.

Zenonem. Not the famous Stoic philosopher, who was a native of Citium in Cyprus, but an earlier philosopher, who also took part in the politics of his native city, Elea, or Velia, on the west coast of Lucania. He is said to have perished in an attempt to deliver his city from a tyrant, but the details are uncertain.

40. Discrimen, distinction between good and bad.'

44. Contra deos testimonium dicere, i. e. he was a living proof that the gods could not care for man.

56. Quum id-diceret, 'as that, he said, was suitable all the year round.' The 'quum' really belongs to 'esse' and not to 'diceret,' which is superfluous. Cp. Pt. 1. Sect. 2. 12; 12. 45, 90.

60. Pater. Apollo.

61. Quod-esset. Subjunctive as being oratio obliqua, included in the words attributed to Dionysius.

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63. Victoriolas, little figures of Victory.' It was common for statues of the gods to be made with outstretched hands, holding out little figures of Victory, or garlands. An instance occurs in Pt. 3. II. ch. 12, l. 65, p. 255, where a statue is described as representing Ceres, holding in her hand a figure of Victory.

67. Precaremur, subjunctive because in oratio obliqua.

70. Quod-haberet,' anything that any one had which belonged to the gods.'

76. Atque. We should perhaps rather have expected 'at' here: but the copulative particle is preferred to the adversative, because his dying in his own bed a further degree of good fortune, beyond, rather than contrasted

with, his escaping everything which could be regarded as a punishment from heaven.

78. Hereditatis loco, as an heir-loom.'

Invita in hoc loco versatur oratio, 'I dwell unwillingly on this topic.❜

79. Auctoritatem peccandi, 'encouragement to do wrong.' See note on auctor' Pt. 1. Sect. I. I.

81. Sine ulla divina ratione, 'without taking any account of the gods.'

83. Quadam is not to be connected with the negative, in which case 'ulla' would be required, but it qualifies ratione.' The positive sentence would run thus, et domus et respublica ratione quadam et disciplina designata videtur,' where quadam' implies that ratione' is to be taken with some modification, and is not used in its full literal significance. Then the negatives imply that the whole sentence would under certain circum

stances be untrue.

88. At, as before, in the sense of 'at enim.'

94. Ita fit, inquit, 'true, said he.'

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96. Vectores, the passengers.' An irregular use of a verbal substantive in-or' with a passive signification.

SECTION V.

ROME'S RULE OF HER PROVINCES.

I. AN IDEAL OF A ROMAN GOVERNOR.

Cicero's Letter to his brother Quintus on his duties as Pro-praetor of Asia.

II. SOME SPECIMENS OF PRACTICE.

Extracts from the evidence produced on the impeachment of Verres for malversation in his Office of Pro-praetor of Sicily.

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