Immagini della pagina
PDF
ePub

praevalentis populi vires se ipsae conficiunt. Ego contra 5 hoc quoque laboris praemium petam, ut me a conspectu malorum, quae nostra tot per annos vidit aetas, tantisper certe dum prisca illa tota mente repeto, avertam, omnis expers curae, quae scribentis animum etsi non flectere a vero, sollicitum tamen efficere posset.

Quae ante conditam condendamve urbem poeticis 6 magis decora fabulis quam incorruptis rerum gestarum monumentis traduntur, ea nec adfirmare nec refellere in animo est. Datur haec venia antiquitati, ut miscendo 7 humana divinis primordia urbium augustiora faciat, et si cui populo licere oportet consecrare origines suas et ad

tory of them are confounded; to the account of these new deeds in which, etc.

praevalentis: cf. magnitudine laboret, above.

ipsae: see Gr. 195. 7.

THE INWARD COMPENSATION.

5. quoque i.e. besides any success in the undertaking.

malorum: i.e. the civil war. omnis: cf. sine omni, without any. But here the idiom is like

our own.

curae : i.e. the fear of giving offence in the treatment of recent Occurrences. Cf. Hor. Od. II. 1. 6, plenum opus aleae. - scribentis: cf. note on legentium, 4. flectere: i.e. so as to warp his account through fear or favor: 'It could not make the historian untrue, but might worry him.'. -posset: contrary to fact; i.e. if I were not expers curae.' Livy is speaking now only of the earlier history, and in this he is expers curae.

HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE
EARLY HISTORY.

6. conditam condendamve: i.e.

built or building; the first referring to the accounts of the immediate founders; the second, to the adventures of Æneas and their consequences. For construction, see Gr. 292 a, 300, and cf. inter bibendum and the like, and ante domandum, Georg. III. 206. The construction is no doubt an old one retained in colloquial use. - decora, becoming. poeticis: i.e. when truth is not required. incorruptis, unfalsified; i.e. untainted by any suspicion of untrustworthiness. monumentis, records, as the sources of history. adfirmare, refellere not merely affirm and deny, but establish and attempt to refute.

7. datur, we grant (emphatic). It is an indulgence not denied to early times to invent such myths, and so they are justifiable, whether we believe them or not. ut... faciat: see Gr. 317. a.

divinis: the neuter in the cases which are alike in all genders is rare in Cicero, but becomes common later. Here it is more natural on account of humana preceding.

si cui populo, etc., if ANY people ought to be ALLOWED.—consecrare,

deos referre auctores, ea belli gloria est populo Romano ut, cum suum conditorisque sui parentem Martem potissimum ferat, tam et hoc gentes humanae patiantur aequo animo quam imperium patiuntur.

8 Sed haec et his similia, utcumque animadversa aut existimata erunt, haud in magno equidem ponam dis9 crimine; ad illa mihi pro se quisque acriter intendat animum, quae vita, qui mores fuerint, per quos viros quibusque artibus domi militiaeque et partum et auctum imperium sit, labente deinde paulatim disciplina velut desidentis primo mores sequatur animo, deinde ut magis magisque lapsi sint, tum ire coeperint praecipites, donec ad haec tempora, quibus nec vitia nostra nec remedia 10 pati possumus, perventum est. Hoc illud est praecipue

add sanctity to..
referre: sc. ori-
gines. ea, etc. i.e. they have
such fame as a warlike people, that
the nations of the earth, having
been conquered by them, may well
allow their claim. suum: the
position continues an implied em-
phasis on the Roman people, and
at the same time opposes suum to
conditoris. - potissimum, rather
than any other; precisely the god
of war. - ferat, claims. — et hoc:
i.e. this claim as well as their actual
sovereignty.-patiuntur: the repe-
tition of the verb implies as we see
they are willing to do.'

[ocr errors]

8. animadversa, etc., criticised or appreciated. - haud: modifying in magno.—in magno discrimine ponam, attach any great weight to. Cf. aequa in laude ponendum est, Cic. Top. 18. 71; in honore ponunt, Cluent. 20. 57; and nullo discrimine habebo, Aen. X. 108. No doubt the expression is derived from bookkeeping (cf. lucro appone), and discrimen is used in the sense of controversy.equidem, I'm sure.

INSTRUCTION TO BE GOT FROM
LATER HISTORY.

9. ad illa, to the point; i.e. the following (as more generally interesting) questions. mihi: ethical dative; almost as much as 'my feeling is.'

vita, private life; mores, public morals.-per, by the instrumentality of, not by, which would be a.-artibus, means, but referring to the personal conduct and qualities of the Romans. Ideinde: used to connect the decline with the growth. - labente disciplina, as their principles were sapped.

[ocr errors]

velut desidentis primo mores, the first giving way, as it were, of morals. desidentis: of a gradual subsidence, as opposed to magis lapsi sunt, and finally to praecipites, etc. The whole figure is derived from a decaying edifice. — deinde: the second moment. ut, how. - vitia, etc. : the figure is from the healing art. Sufficiently active remedies would kill the patient.

10. hoc illud est, this is the

in cognitione rerum salubre ac frugiferum, omnis te exempli documenta in inlustri posita monumento intueri, inde tibi tuaeque rei publicae quod imitere capias, inde foedum inceptu, foedum exitu quod vites.

Ceterum aut me amor negotii suscepti fallit, aut nulla umquam res publica nec maior nec sanctior nec bonis exemplis ditior fuit, nec in quam civitatem tam serae avaritia luxuriaque immigraverint, nec ubi tantus ac tam diu paupertati ac parsimoniae honos fuerit; adeo quanto rerum minus, tanto minus cupiditatis erat. Nuper divi- 12 tiae avaritiam et abundantes voluptates desiderium per luxum atque libidinem pereundi perdendique omnia in

thing.

cognitione rerum, the study of history, as we should call it.omnis te, etc.: the emphasis gives the force: Every example should have a personal application, getting force from the conspicuousness of the case where it occurs.'. tibi, etc. (continuing the emphasis of te): i.e. personally and politically (rei publicae).

inde inde: the clauses are rather loosely opposed. It is only in a free sense that capias can be used of foedum. It would rather correspond to vites; but this is made to correspond to imitere. Still the turn, or, if we like, zeugma, is not unnatural, as capias takes the place of something like notes.

RICHNESS OF MATTER FOR EXAM-
PLES.

II. ceterum, but (now, if it becomes a question of that).—aut... aut as usual, exclusive. A modest form of asseveration, where the first alternative is stated, but evidently not believed possible.

me: the emphasis gives a force like I feel sure, unless, etc.' amor i.e. his fondness for the subject he has himself chosen.

nulla unquam, etc., there NEVER was ANY. - nec... nec: Gr. 209. a. 2. - maior, grander. sanctior, more devoted to justice and piety. ditior: and hence more valuable for the purpose expressed in 10.

civitatem, etc. : Cicero would probably say nec ulla civitas in quam. The change is irregular, but natural in a careless writer.

serae: a somewhat poetical use of adjective for adverb; Gr. 191. -immigraverint, gained an entrance; as if they were of foreign origin. For mood, see Gr. 320. a.

paupertati: Livy is thinking of the Cincinnati, Fabricii, and Curii of ancient times.

[blocks in formation]

vexere. Sed querellae, ne tum quidem gratae futurae cum forsitan necessariae erunt, ab initio certe tantae 13 ordiendae rei absint. Cum bonis potius ominibus votisque et precationibus deorum dearumque, si, ut poetis, nobis quoque mos esset, libentius inciperemus, ut orsis tanti operis successus prosperos darent.

[blocks in formation]

TITI LIVI

AB VRBE CONDITA

LIBER I.

Iam primum omnium satis constat Troia capta in 1 ceteros saevitum esse Troianos; duobus, Aeneae Antenorique, et vetusti iure hospitii et quia pacis reddendaeque Helenae semper auctores fuerunt, omne ius belli Achivos abstinuisse; casibus deinde variis Antenorem cum mul- 2 titudine Enetum, qui seditione ex Paphlagonia pulsi et sedes et ducem rege Pylaemene ad Troiam amisso quaerebant, venisse in intimum Hadriatici maris sinum, Euga- 3 neisque, qui inter mare Alpesque incolebant, pulsis

AENEAS IN ITALY.

(Cf. Virg. Aen. V. 827 seq., VII. 25 seg.)

1. iam, well then; forming the transition from the preface.-satis constat, it is sufficiently settled, generally agreed; not necessarily that Livy believed it. Cf. Pref. 6 and 8. saevitum esse, the Greeks vented their rage; i.e. the others were slain. - duobus: a poetic dative instead of ablative; cf. arcere, depellere.Antenori: cf. Aen. I. 242 seq.

hospitii: Ulysses and Menelaus were entertained by Antenor when they came to demand Helen. This, of course, implies some relation of the kind mentioned.

[blocks in formation]

2. casibus variis, through various vicissitudes; they were alike spared, but their later destiny was different; cf. Virg. Aen. I. 242 seq. Antenorem: continuing the story in indirect discourse. - multitudine, a large colony; regularly used of the common people; the population.

Enetum: shorter form for Enetorum. There seems to have been a tribe of this name in Asia. Il. II. 852.

seditione, revolution; such as was common in Athens and many Greek cities. Such disturbances usually produced many exiles.

:

rege, etc. explaining ducem ... quaerebant: cf. II. V. 576. venisse the emphasis may be represented by 'finally landed' or 'immigrated,' as opposed to his wanderings on the way.

3. Euganeis: a tribe once settled about the Italian lakes. They may have been of Italian stock.

See

« IndietroContinua »