Chapter XXVI: Book V: Whether Virtue Alone Be Sufficient For A Happy Life (3)

“I had determined to include no living persons in my dialogues; but
since you inform me that Varro is desirous of it, and sets a great
value upon it, I have composed this work, and completed the whole
Academical Discussion in four books; I know not how well, but with
such care that nothing can exceed it. In these, what had been
excellently collected by Antiochus against the doctrine of
incomprehensibility, I have attributed to Varro; to this I reply in
my own person, and you are the third in our conversation. If I had
made Cotta and Varro disputing with one another, as you suggest in
your last letter, my own would have been a mute character....

“The Academics, as you know, I had discussed in the persons of
Catulus, Lucullus, and Hortensius; but in truth the subject did not
suit their characters, being more logical than what they could be
supposed ever to have dreamt of. Therefore, when I read your letter
to Varro, I seized on it as a sort of inspiration. Nothing could be
more adapted to that species of philosophy in which he seems to take
particular delight; or to the support of such a part that I could
manage to avoid making my own sentiments predominant. For the
opinions of Antiochus are extremely persuasive, and are so carefully
expressed as to retain the acuteness of Antiochus with my own
brilliancy of language, if indeed I possess any.”—Ep. 19.

The Antiochus mentioned above was a native of Ascalon, and the
founder of the fifth Academy; he had been the teacher of Cicero
while he studied at Athens; and he had also a school in Syria and
another in Alexandria. Cicero constantly speaks of him with great
regard and esteem. The leaders of the Academy since the time of
Plato, (and Cicero ranks even him among those philosophers who
denied the certainty of any kind of knowledge,) had gradually fallen
into a degree of scepticism that seemed to strike at the root of all
truth, theoretical and practical. But Antiochus professed to revive
the doctrines of the old Academy, maintaining, in opposition to
Carneades and Philo, that the intellect had in itself a test by
which it could distinguish between what was real and what existed
only in the imagination. He himself appears to have held doctrines
very nearly coinciding with those of Aristotle; agreeing however so
far with the Stoics as to insist that all emotions ought to be
suppressed. So that Cicero almost inclines to class him among the
Stoics; though it appears that he considered himself as an Eclectic
philosopher, uniting the doctrines of the Stoics and Academics so as
to revive the old Academy.

2 Titus Pomponius Atticus was three years older than Cicero, with whom
he had been educated, and with whom he always continued on terms of
the greatest intimacy; his daughter was married to Agrippa. He was
of the Epicurean school in philosophy. He died B.C. 32.

3 Marcus Terentius Varro was ten years older than Cicero, and a man of
the most extensive and profound learning. He had held a naval
command against the pirates, and against Mithridates, and served as
lieutenant to Pompey in Spain, at the beginning of the civil war,
adhering to his party till after the battle of Pharsalia, when he
was pardoned, and taken into favour by Cæsar. He was proscribed by
the second triumvirate, but escaped, and died B.C. 28. He was a very
voluminous author, and according to his own account composed four
hundred and ninety books; but only one, the three books De Re
Rusticâ, have come down to us, and a portion of a large treatise De
Linguâ Latinâ.

In philosophy he had been a pupil of Antiochus, and attached himself
to the Academy with something of a leaning to the Stoics.

4 Amafanius was one of the earliest Roman writers of the Epicurean
school. He is mentioned by no one but Cicero.

5 We do not know who this Rabirius was.

6 Lucius Ælius Præconinus Stilo was a Roman knight, and one of the
earliest grammarians of Rome. Cicero in the Brutus describes him as
a very learned man in both Greek and Roman literature; and
especially in old Latin works. He had been a teacher of Varro in
grammar, and of Cicero himself in rhetoric. He received the name of
Stilo from his compositions; and of Præconinus because his father
had been a herald.

7 Menippus was originally a slave, a native of Gadara in Cœle Syria,
and a pupil of Diogenes the Cynic. He became very rich by usury,
afterwards he lost his money and committed suicide. He wrote nothing
serious, but his books were entirely full of jests. We have some
fragments of Varro’s Satyræ Menippeæ, which were written, as we are
here told, in imitation of Menippus.

8 Cicero ranges these poets here in chronological order.

Ennius was born at Rudiæ in Calabria, B.C. 239, of a very noble
family. He was brought to Rome by M. Porcius Cato at the end of the
second Punic war. His plays were all translations or adaptations
from the Greek; but he also wrote a poetical history of Rome called
Annales, in eighteen books, and a poem on his friend Scipio
Africanus; some Satires, Epigrams, and one or two philosophical
poems. Only a few lines of his works remain to us. He died at the
age of seventy.

Pacuvius was a native of Brundusium, and a relation, probably a
nephew, of Ennius. He was born about B.C. 220, and lived to about
the year B.C. 130. His works were nearly entirely tragedies
translated from the Greek. Horace, distinguishing between him and
Accius, says—

“Aufert
Pacuvius docti famam senis; Accius alti.”—Epist. II. i. 55.

9 From περιπατέω, to walk.

10 This Lucius Lucullus was the son of Lucius Licinius Lucullus, who
was prætor B.C. 103, and was appointed by the senate to take the
command in Sicily, where there was a formidable insurrection of the
slaves under Athenion and Tryphon. He was not however successful,
and was recalled; and subsequently prosecuted by Servilius for
bribery and malversation, convicted and banished. The exact time of
the birth of this Lucullus his son is not known, but was probably
about B.C. 109. His first appearance in public life was prosecuting
Servilius, who had now become an augur, on a criminal charge, (which
is what Cicero alludes to here.) And though the trial terminated in
the acquittal of Servilius, yet the part Lucullus took in it appears
to have added greatly to his credit among his contemporaries. The
special law in his favour mentioned a few lines lower down, was
passed by Sylla with whom Lucullus was in high favour; so much so
that Sylla at his death confided to him the charge of revising and
correcting his Commentaries. Cicero’s statement of his perfect
inexperience in military affairs before the war against Mithridates
is not quite correct, as he had served with distinction in the
Marsic war. The time of his death is not certainly known, but Cicero
speaks of him as dead in the Oration concerning the consular
provinces, delivered B.C. 56, while he was certainly alive B.C. 59,
in which year he was charged by L. Vettius with an imaginary plot
against the life of Pompey. His second wife was Servilia,
half-sister to Cato Uticensis.

11 From σωρὸς, a heap.

12 From μύρμηξ an ant.

13 It is not even known to what work Cicero is referring here.

14 In the Heautontimorumenos. Act i. Sc. 1.

15 Cæcilius Statius was the predecessor of Terence; by birth an
Insubrian Gaul and a native of Milan. He died B.C. 165, two years
before the representation of the Andria of Terence. He was
considered by the Romans as a great master of the art of exciting
the feelings. And Cicero (de Opt. Gen. Dic. 1.) speaks of him as the
chief of the Roman Comic writers. Horace says—

Vincere Cæcilius gravitate, Terentius arte.

16 Marcus Atilius, (though Cicero speaks of him here as a tragedian,)
was chiefly celebrated as a comic poet. He was one of the earliest
writers of that class; but nothing of his has come down to us. In
another place Cicero calls him “duris simusscriptor.” (Epist. ad
Att. xiv. 20.)

17 Diogenes was a pupil of Chrysippus, and succeeded Zeno of Tarsus as
the head of the Stoic school at Athens. He was one of the embassy
sent to Rome by the Athenians, B.C. 155, and is supposed to have
died almost immediately afterwards.

18 Antipater was a native of Tarsus, and the pupil and successor of
Diogenes. Cicero speaks in very high terms of his genius. (De Off.
iii. 12.)

19 Mnesarchus was a pupil of Panætius and the teacher of Antiochus of
Ascalon.

20 Panætius was a Rhodian, a pupil of Diogenes and Antipater, which
last he succeeded as head of the Stoic school. He was a friend of P.
Scipio Æmilianus, and accompanied him on his embassy to the kings of
Egypt and Asia in alliance with Rome. He died before B.C. 111.

21 Posidonius was a native of Apamea, in Egypt, a pupil of Panætius,
and a contemporary of Cicero. He came to Rome B.C. 51, having been
sent there as ambassador from Rhodes in the time of Marius.

22 Lucius Afranius lived about 100 B.C. His comedies were chiefly
_togatæ_, depicting Roman life; he borrowed largely from Menander,
to whom the Romans compared him. Horace says—

Dicitur Afranî toga convenisse Menandro.

Cicero praises his language highly (Brut. 45).

23 Caius Lucilius was the earliest of the Roman satirists, born at
Suessa Aurunca, B.C. 148; he died at Naples, B.C. 103. He served
under Scipio in the Numantine war. He was a very vehement and bold
satirist. Cicero alludes here to a saying of his, which he mentions
more expressly (De Orat. ii.), that he did not wish the ignorant to
read his works because they could not understand them: nor the
learned because they would be able to criticise them.

Persium non curo legere: Lælium Decimum volo.

This Persius being a very learned man; in comparison with whom
Lælius was an ignoramus.

24 Polyænus, the son of Athenodorus was a native of Lampsacus: he was a
friend of Epicurus, and though he had previously obtained a high
reputation as a mathematician, he was persuaded by him at last to
agree with him as to the worthlessness of geometry.

25 Hieronymus was a disciple of Aristotle and a contemporary of
Arcesilaus. He lived down to the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus.

26 Trabea was a Roman comic poet, who flourished about 130 B.C.

27 Dark, obscure.

28 We know nothing more of Callipho than what we derive from this and
one or two other notices of him by Cicero.

29 The Hymnis was a comedy of Menander, translated by Cæcilius.

30 It is hardly possible to translate this so as to give the force of
the original. Cicero says, If _cupiditas_ is in a man he must be
_cupidus_, and we have no English word which will at all answer to
this adjective in this sense.

31 The Latin is “quicum in tenebris,”—the proverb at full length being,
“Dignus quicum in tenebris mices.” Micare was a game played, (much
the same as that now called _La Mora_ in Italy,) by extending the
fingers and making the antagonist guess how many fingers were
extended by the two together.

32 This was Quintus Pompeius, the first man who raised his family to
importance at Rome. He was consul B.C. 141. Being commander in
Spain, he laid siege to Numantia; and having lost great numbers of
his troops through cold and disease, he proposed to the Numantines
to come to terms. Publicly he required of them an unconditional
surrender, but in private he only demanded the restoration of the
prisoners and deserters, that they should give hostages and pay
thirty talents. The Numantines agreed to this, and paid part of the
money, but when Popilius Lænas arrived in Spain as his successor, he
denied the treaty, though it had been witnessed by his own officers.
The matter was referred to the senate, who on the evidence of
Pompeius declared the treaty invalid, and the war was renewed.

33 The Voconia lex was passed on the proposal of Quintus Voconius Saxa,
one of the tribunes, B.C. 169. One of its provisions was, that a
woman could not be left the heiress of any person who was rated in
the census at 100,000 sesterces; though she could take the
inheritance _per fidei commissum_. But as the law applied only to
wills, a daughter could inherit from a father dying intestate,
whatever the amount of his property might be. A person who was not
_census_ could make a woman his heir. There is, however, a good deal
of obscurity and uncertainty as to some of the provisions of this
law.

34 There appears to be some corruption in the text here.

35 Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus, the father of Lucretia, was made
consul as the colleague of Valerius Publicola, in the place of
Brutus, who had been slain in battle by Aruns, one of the sons of
Tarquin.

36 Themista was a female philosopher, wife of a man named Leonteus, or
Leon, and a friend and correspondent of Epicurus.

37 He means when he was banished, and when Torquatus joined in
promoting the measures for his recal.

38 Cicero alludes here to the story of Damon, who, when his friend
Pythias was condemned to death by Dionysius of Syracuse, pledged his
life for his return in time to be put to death, if the tyrant would
give him leave to go home for the purpose of arranging his affairs,
and Pythias did return in time.—See Cic. de Off. iii. 10; Just. Div.
v. 22.

39 B.C. 363.

40 B.C. 480.

41 The Greek line occurs in the Orestes, 207.

Ὡ πότνια λήθη τῶν κακῶν ὡς εἶ γλυκύ.

Virgil has the same idea—

Vos et Scyllæam rabiem, penitusque sonantes
Accêtis scopulos, vos et Cyclopia saxa
Experti; revocate animos, moestumque timorem
Pellite: forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit.—Æn. i. 200.

Which Dryden translates—

With me the rocks of Scylla have you tried,
Th’ inhuman Cyclops and his den defied:
What greater ills hereafter can you bear?
Resume your courage and dismiss your care;
An hour will come with pleasure to relate
Your sorrows past as benefits of fate.

42 That is, of the past, the present, and the future.

43 This seems to refer to the Greek epigram—

Τὸν γαίης καὶ πόντου ἀμειφθείσαισι κελεύθοις,
Ναύτην ἠπείρου, πεζόπορον πελάγους.
Ἐν τρίσσαις δοράτων ἑκατοντάσιν ἔστεγεν Ἄρης
Σπάρτης αἰσχυνεσθ᾽ οὔρεα καὶ πελάγη.

Which may be translated—

Him who the paths of land and sea disturb’d,
Sail’d o’er the earth, walk’d o’er the humbled waves,
Three hundred spears of dauntless Sparta curb’d.
Shame on you, land and sea, ye willing slaves!

44 The Latin is _ærumnæ_: perhaps it is in allusion to this passage
that Juvenal says—

Et potiores
Herculis _ærumnas_ credat, sævosque labores
Et Venere et cœnis, et pluma Sardanapali.

Sat. x. 361.

45 The great Lucullus, father of this young Lucullus, was married to
Servilia, half-sister to Cato, and daughter of Quintus Servilius
Cæpio, who was killed in the Social war, having been decoyed into an
ambush by Pompædius, B.C. 90. The young Lucullus was afterwards
killed in the battle of Philippi.

46 “Malitia, badness of quality ... especially malice, ill-will, spite,
malevolence, artfulness, cunning, craft.”—Riddle and Arnold, Lat.
Dict.

47 The Greek proverb was, ἐμοῦ θανόντος γαῖα μιχθήτω πυρί.

48 The Curia Hostilia was built by Tullus Hostilius, and was originally
the only place where a Senatus Consultum could be passed, though the
senate met at times in other places. But, under Cæsar, the Curia
Julia, an immense edifice, had been built as the senate-house.

49 Pope’s Homer, Odys. xii. 231.

50 Archilochus was a native of Paros, and flourished about 714-676,
B.C. His poems were chiefly Iambics of bitter satire. Horace speaks
of him as the inventor of Iambics, and calls himself his pupil.

Parios ego primus Iambos
Ostendi Latio, numeros animosque secutus
Archilochi, non res et agentia verba Lycamben.

Epist. I. xix. 25.

And in another place he says—

Archilochum proprio rabies armavit Iambo.—A. P. 74.

51 This was Livius Andronicus: he is supposed to have been a native of
Tarentum, and he was made prisoner by the Romans, during their wars
in Southern Italy; owing to which he became the slave of M. Livius
Salinator. He wrote both comedies and tragedies, of which Cicero
(Brutus 18) speaks very contemptuously, as “Livianæ fabulæ non satis
dignæ quæ iterum legantur,”—not worth reading a second time. He also
wrote a Latin Odyssey, and some hymns, and died probably about B.C.
221.

52 C. Fabius, surnamed Pictor, painted the temple of Salus, which the
dictator C. Junius Brutus Bubulus dedicated B.C. 302. The temple was
destroyed by fire in the reign of Claudius. The painting is highly
praised by Dionysius, xvi. 6.

53 For an account of the ancient Greek philosophers, see the sketch at
the end of the volume.

54 Isocrates was born at Athens, B.C. 436. He was a pupil of Gorgias,
Prodicus and Socrates. He opened a school of rhetoric, at Athens,
with great success. He died by his own hand at the age of 98.

55 So Horace joins these two classes as inventors of all kinds of
improbable fictions—

Pictoribus atque poetis
Quidlibet audendi semper fuit æqua potestas.—A. P. 9.

Which Roscommon translates—

Painters and poets have been still allow’d
Their pencil and their fancies unconfined.

56 Epicharmus was a native of Cos, but lived at Megara, in Sicily, and
when Megara was destroyed, removed to Syracuse, and lived at the
court of Hiero, where he became the first writer of comedies, so
that Horace ascribes the invention of comedy to him, and so does
Theocritus. He lived to a great age.

57 Pherecydes was a native of Scyros, one of the Cyclades; and is said
to have obtained his knowledge from the secret books of the
Phœnicians. He is said also to have been a pupil of Pittacus, the
rival of Thales, and the master of Pythagoras. His doctrine was that
there were three principles, Ζεὺς, or Æther, Χθὼν, or Chaos, and
Χρόνος, or Time; and four elements, Fire, Earth, Air, and Water,
from which everything that exists was formed.—Vide Smith’s Dict.
Gr., and Rom. Biog.

58 Archytas was a native of Tarentum, and is said to have saved the
life of Plato by his influence with the tyrant Dionysius. He was
especially great as a mathematician and geometrician, so that Horace
calls him

Maris et terræ numeroque carentis arenæ
Mensorem—Od. i. 28. 1.

Plato is supposed to have learnt some of his views from him, and
Aristotle to nave borrowed from him every idea of the Categories.

59 This was not Timæus the historian, but a native of Locri, who is
said also in the De Finibus (c. 29) to have been a teacher of Plato.
There is a treatise extant bearing his name, which is, however,
probably spurious, and only an abridgment of Plato’s dialogue
Timæus.

60 Dicæarchus was a native of Messana, in Sicily, though he lived
chiefly in Greece; he was one of the later disciples of Aristotle.
He was a great geographer, politician, historian, and philosopher,
and died about B.C. 285.

61 Aristoxenus was a native of Tarentum, and also a pupil of Aristotle.
We know nothing of his opinions except that he held the soul to be a
_harmony_ of the body; a doctrine which had been already discussed
by Plato in the Phædo, and combated by Aristotle. He was a great
musician, and the chief portions of his works which have come down
to us are fragments of some musical treatises.—Smith’s Dict. Gr. and
Rom. Biog., to which source I must acknowledge my obligation for
nearly the whole of these biographical notes.

62 The Simonides here meant, is the celebrated poet of Ceos, the
perfecter of Elegiac poetry among the Greeks. He flourished about
the time of the Persian war. Besides his poetry, he is said to have
been the inventor of some method of aiding the memory. He died at
the court of Hiero, B.C. 467.

63 Theodectes was a native of Phaselis, in Pamphylia, a distinguished
rhetorician and tragic poet, and flourished in the time of Philip of
Macedon. He was a pupil of Isocrates, and lived at Athens, and died
there at the age of 41.

64 Cineas was a Thessalian, and (as is said in the text) came to Rome
as ambassador from Pyrrhus after the battle of Heraclea, B.C. 280,
and his memory is said to have been so great that on the day after
his arrival he was able to address all the senators and knights by
name. He probably died before Pyrrhus returned to Italy, B.C. 276.

65 Charmadas, called also Charmides, was a fellow pupil with Philo, the
Larissæan of Clitomachus, the Carthaginian. He is said by some
authors to have founded a fourth academy.

66 Metrodorus was a minister of Mithridates the Great; and employed by
him as supreme judge in Pontus, and afterwards as an ambassador.
Cicero speaks of him in other places (De Orat. ii. 88) as a man of
wonderful memory.

67 Quintus Hortensius was eight years older than Cicero; and, till
Cicero’s fame surpassed his, he was accounted the most eloquent of
all the Romans. He was Verres’s counsel in the prosecution conducted
against him by Cicero. Seneca relates that his memory was so great
that he could come out of an auction and repeat the catalogue
backwards. He died B.C. 50.

68 This treatise is one which has not come down to us, but which had
been lately composed by Cicero in order to comfort himself for the
loss of his daughter.

69 The epigram is—

Εἴπας Ἥλιε χαῖρε, Κλεόμβροτος Ὅμβρακιώτης
ἥλατ᾽ ἀφ᾽ ύψηλοῦ τείχεος εἰς Ἀίδην,
ἄξιον οὐδὲν ἰδὼν θανάτου κακὸν, ἀλλὰ Πλάτωνος
ἔν τὸ περὶ ψύχης γράμμ᾽ ἀναλεξάμενος.

Which may be translated, perhaps—

Farewell, O sun, Cleombrotus exclaim’d,
Then plung’d from off a height beneath the sea;
Stung by pain, of no disgrace ashamed,
But mov’d by Plato’s high philosophy.

70 This is alluded to by Juvenal—

Provida Pompeio dederat Campania febres
Optandas: sed multæ urbes et publica vota
Vicerunt. Igitur Fortuna ipsius et Urbis,
Servatum victo caput abstulit.—Sat. x. 283.

71 Pompey’s second wife was Julia, the daughter of Julius Cæsar; she
died the year before the death of Crassus, in Parthia. Virgil speaks
of Cæsar and Pompey as relations, using the same expression (socer)
as Cicero—

Aggeribus socer Alpinis atque arce Monœci
Descendens, gener adversis instructus Eois.—Æn. vi. 830.

72 This idea is beautifully expanded by Byron:—

Yet if, as holiest men have deem’d, there be
A land of souls beyond that sable shore
To shame the doctrine of the Sadducee
And sophist, madly vain of dubious lore,
How sweet it were in concert to adore
With those who made our mortal labours light,
To hear each voice we fear’d to hear no more,
Behold each mighty shade reveal’d to sight,
The Bactrian, Samian sage, and all who taught the right.

_Childe Harold_, ii. 8.

73 The epitaph in the original is,—

Ὥ ξεῖν᾽ ἀγγεῖλον Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε
κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων πειθόμενοι νομίμοις.

74 This was expressed in the Greek verses—

Ἀρχὴν μὲν μὴ φῦναι ἐπιχθονίοισιν ἄριστον,
φύντα δ᾽ ὅπως ὤκιστα πύλας Ἀίδαο περῆσαι;

which by some authors are attributed to Homer.

75 This is the first fragment of the Cresphontes.—Ed. Var. vii. p. 594

Ἔδει γὰρ ἡμᾶς σύλλογον ποιουμένους
Τὸν φύντα θρηνεῖν, εὶς ὅσ᾽ ἔρχεται κακά.
Τὸν δ᾽ αὖ θανόντα καὶ πόνων πεπαυμένον
χαίροντας εὐφημοῖντας ἐκπέμπειν δόμων.

76 The Greek verses are quoted by Plutarch—

... Ἤπου νήπιε, ἠλίθιοι φρένες ἀνδρᾶν
Εὐθύνοος κεῖται μοιριδίῳ θανάτῳ
Οὐκ ἦν γὰρ ζώειν καλὸν αὐτῷ οὄτε γονεῦσι.

77 This refers to the story that when Eumolpus, the son of Neptune,
whose assistance the Eleusinians had called in against the
Athenians, had been slain by the Athenians, an oracle demanded the
sacrifice of one of the daughters of Erechtheus, the King of Athens.
And when one was drawn by lot, the others voluntarily accompanied
her to death.

78 Menœceus was son of Creon, and in the war of the Argives against
Thebes, Teresias declared that the Thebans should conquer if
Menœceus would sacrifice himself for his country; and accordingly he
killed himself outside the gates of Thebes.

79 The Greek is,

μήδε μοι ἄκλαυστος θάνατος μόλοι, ἀλλὰ φίλοισι
ποιήσαιμι θανὼν ἄλγεα καὶ στοναχάς.

80 Soph. Trach. 1047.

81 The lines quoted by Cicero here, appear to have come from the Latin
play of Prometheus by Accius; the ideas are borrowed rather than
translated from the Prometheus of Æschylus.

82 From Exerceo.

83 Each soldier carried a stake, to help form a palisade in front of
the camp.

84 Insania—from _in_, a particle of negative force in composition, and
_sanus_, healthy, sound.

85 The man who first received this surname was L. Calpurnius Piso, who
was consul, B.C. 133, in the Servile War.

86 The Greek is—

Ἀλλά μοι οἰδάνεται κραδίν χόλω ὅπποτ ἐκείνου
Μνήσομαι ὅς μ᾽ ἀσύφηλον ἐν Ἀργείοισιν ἔρεξεν.—Il. ix. 642.

I have given Pope’s translation in the text.

87 This is from the Theseus—

Ἐγὼ δὲ τοῦτο παρὰ σοφοῦ τινος μαθὼν
εἰς φροντίδας νοῦν συμφοράς τ᾽ ἐβαλλόμην
φυγάς τ᾽ ἐμαυτῷ προστιθεὶς πάτρας ἐμῆς.
θανάτους τ᾽ ἀώρους, καὶ κακῶν ἄλλας ὁδοὺς
ὥς, εἴ τι πάσχοιυμ᾽ ὦν ἐδοξαζόν ποτε
Μή μοι νέορτον προσπεσὸν μᾶλλον δάκοι.

88 Ter. Phorm. II. i. 11.

89 This refers to the speech of Agamemnon in Euripides, in the
Iphigenia in Aulis—

... Ζηλῶ σε, γέρον,
ζηλῶ δ᾽ ἀνδρῶν ὅς ἀκίνδυνον
βίον ἐξεπέρασ, ἀγνὼς, ἀκλεής.—v. 15.

90 This is a fragment from the Hypsipyle—

Ἔφυ μὲν οὐδεις ὅστις οὐ πονεῖ βροτῶν;
θάπτει τε τέκνα χάτερ᾽ αὖ κτᾶται νεὰ,
αὐτός τε θνήσκει. καὶ τάδ᾽ ἄχθονται βροτοὶ
εἰς γῆν φέροντες γῆν; ἀναγκαιως δ᾽ ἔχει
βίον θερίζειν ὦστε κάρπιμον στάχυν.

91 Πολλὰς ἐκ κεφαλῆς προθελύμνους ἕλκετο χαίτας.—Il. x. 15.

92 Ητοι ο καππεδιον το Αληιον οιος αλατο
ον θυμον κατεδων, πατον ανθρωπων αλεεινων.—Il. vi. 201.

93 This is a translation from Euripides—

Ὥσθ᾽ ἵμερος μ᾽ ὑπῆλθε γῇ τε κ᾽ οὐρανῷ
λέξαι μολούσῃ δεῦρο Μηδείας τύχας.—Med. 57.

94 Λίην γὰρ πολλοὶ καὶ ἐπήτριμοι ἤυατα πάντα
πίπτουσιν, πότε κέν τις ἀναπνεύσειε πόνοιο?
ἀλλὰ χρὴ τὸν μὲν καταθαπτέμεν, ὅς κε θάνησι,
νηλέα θυμὸν ἔχοντας, ἔπ᾽ ἤματι δακρυσάντας.—Hom. Il. xix. 226.

95 This is one of the fragments of Euripides which we are unable to
assign to any play in particular; it occurs Var. Ed. Tr. Inc. 167.

Εἰ μέν τόδ᾽ ἦμαρ πρῶτον ἦν κακουμένω
καὶ μὴ μακρὰν δὴ διὰ πόνων ἐναυστόλουν
εἰκὸς σφαδάζειν ἦν ἄν, ὡς νεόζυγα
πῶλον, χάλινον ἀρτίως δεδεγμένον;
νῦν δ᾽ ἀμβλύς εἰμι, καὶ κατηρτυκὼς κακῶν.

96 This is only a fragment preserved by Stobæus—

Τοὺς δ᾽ ἄν μεγίστους καὶ σοφωτάτους φρενὶ
τοιούσδ᾽ ἴδοις ἄν, οἷός ἐστι νῦν ὅδε,
καλῶς κακῶς πράσσοντι συμπαραινέσαι;
ὅταν δὲ δαίμων ἀνδρὸς εὐτυχοῦς τὸ πρὶν
μάστιγ᾽ ἐρείση τοῦ βίου παλίντροπον,
τὰ πολλὰ φροῦδα καὶ κακῶς εἰρημένα.

97 Ωκ. Οὐκοῦν Προμηθεῦ τοῦτο γιγνώσκεις ὅτι
ὀργῆς νοσούσης εἰσὶν ἰατροὶ λόγοι.
Πρ. ἐάν τις ἐν καιρῷ γε μαλθάσση κέαρ
καὶ μὴ σφριγῶντα θυμὸν ἰσχναίνη βίᾳ.

Æsch. Prom. v. 378.

98 Cicero alludes here to Il. vii. 211, which is thus translated by
Pope—

His massy javelin quivering in his hand,
He stood the bulwark of the Grecian band;
Through every Argive heart new transport ran,
All Troy stood trembling at the mighty man:
E’en Hector paused, and with new doubt oppress’d,
Felt his great heart suspended in his breast;
’Twas vain to seek retreat, and vain to fear,
Himself had challenged, and the foe drew near.

But Melmoth (Note on the Familiar Letters of Cicero, book ii. Let.
23) rightly accuses Cicero of having misunderstood Homer, who “by no
means represents Hector as being thus totally dismayed at the
approach of his adversary; and indeed it would have been
inconsistent with the general character of that hero to have
described him under such circumstances of terror.”

Τὸν δὲ καὶ Ἀργεῖοι μέγ᾽ ἐγήθεον εἰσορόωντες,
Τρωὰς δὲ τρόμος αἶνος ὑπήλυθε γυῖα ἕκαστον,
Ἕκτορι δ᾽ αὐτῷ θυμὸς ἐνὶ στήθεσσι πάτασσεν.

But there is a great difference, as Dr. Clarke remarks, between
θυμὸς ἐνὶ στήθεσσι πάτασσεν and καρδίη ἔξω στηθέων ἔθρωσκεν, or
τρόμος αἶνος ὑπήλυθε γυῖα.—_The Trojans_, says Homer, _trembled_ at
the sight of Ajax, and even Hector himself felt some emotion in his
breast.

99 Cicero means Scipio Nasica, who in the riots consequent on the
re-election of Tiberius Gracchus to the tribunate, B.C. 133, having
called in vain on the consul, Mucius Scævola, to save the republic,
attacked Gracchus himself, who was slain in the tumult.

100 Morosus is evidently derived from mores—“Morosus, mos, stubbornness,
selfwill, etc.”—Riddle and Arnold, Lat. Diet.

101 In the original they run thus:—

Οὔκ ἐστιν οὐδὲν δεινὸν ὧδ᾽ εἰπεῖν ἔπος,
Οὐδὲ πάθος, οὐδὲ ξυμφορὰ θεήλατος
Ἦς οὐκ ἄν ἄροιτ᾽ ἄχθος ἀνθρώπου φύσις.

102 This passage is from the Eunuch of Terence, Act i. sc. 1, 14.

103 These verses are from the Atreus of Accius.

104 This was Marcus Atilius Regulus, the story of whose treatment by the
Carthaginians in the first Punic War is well known to everybody.

105 This was Quintus Servilius Cæpio, who, B.C. 105, was destroyed, with
his army, by the Cimbri,—it was believed as a judgment for the
covetousness which he had displayed in the plunder of Tolosa.

106 This was Marcus Aquilius, who, in the year B.C. 88, was sent against
Mithridates as one of the consular legates: and being defeated, was
delivered up to the king by the inhabitants of Mitylene. Mithridates
put him to death by pouring molten gold down his throat.

107 This was the elder brother of the triumvir Marcus Crassus, B.C. 87.
He was put to death by Fimbria, who was in command of some of the
troops of Marius.

108 Lucius Cæsar and Caius Cæsar were relations (it is uncertain in what
degree) of the great Cæsar, and were killed by Fimbria on the same
occasion as Octavius.

109 M. Antonius was the grandfather of the triumvir; he was murdered the
same year, B.C. 87, by Annius, when Marius and Cinna took Rome.

110 This story is alluded to by Horace—

Districtus ensis cui super impiâ
Cervice pendet non Siculæ dapes
Dulcem elaborabunt saporem,
Non avium citharæve cantus
Somnum reducent.—iii. 1. 17.

111 Hieronymus was a Rhodian, and a pupil of Aristotle, flourishing
about 300 B.C. He is frequently mentioned by Cicero.

112 We know very little of Dinomachus. Some MSS. have Clitomachus.

113 Callipho was in all probability a pupil of Epicurus, but we have no
certain information about him.

114 Diodorus was a Syrian, and succeeded Critolaus as the head of the
Peripatetic School at Athens.

115 Aristo was a native of Ceos, and a pupil of Lycon, who succeeded
Stratton as the head of the Peripatetic School, B.C. 270. He
afterwards himself succeeded Lycon.

116 Pyrrho was a native of Elis, and the originator of the sceptical
theories of some of the ancient philosophers. He was a contemporary
of Alexander.

117 Herillus was a disciple of Zeno of Cittium, and therefore a Stoic.
He did not, however, follow all the opinions of his master: he held
that knowledge was the chief good. Some of the treatises of
Cleanthes were written expressly to confute him.

118 Anacharsis was (Herod, iv. 76) son of Gnurus and brother of Saulius,
king of Thrace. He came to Athens while Solon was occupied in
framing laws for his people; and by the simplicity of his way of
living, and his acute observations on the manners of the Greeks, he
excited such general admiration, that he was reckoned by some
writers among the seven wise men of Greece.

119 This was Appius Claudius Cæcus, who was censor B.C. 310, and who,
according to Livy, was afflicted with blindness by the gods for
persuading the Potitii to instruct the public servants in the way of
sacrificing to Hercules. He it was who made the Via Appia.

120 The fact of Homer’s blindness rests on a passage in the Hymn to
Apollo, quoted by Thucydides as a genuine work of Homer, and which
is thus spoken of by one of the most accomplished scholars that this
country or this age has ever produced:—“They are indeed beautiful
verses, and if none worse had ever been attributed to Homer, the
Prince of Poets would have had little reason to complain.

“He has been describing the Delian festival in honour of Apollo and
Diana, and concludes this part of the poem with an address to the
women of that island, to whom it is to be supposed that he had
become familiarly known by his frequent recitations:

Χαίρετε δ᾽ υμεῖς πᾶσαι, ἐμεῖο δὲ καὶ μετόπισθε
μνήσασθ᾽, ὅπποτέ κέν τις ἐπιχθονίων ἀνθρώπων
ἐνθάδ᾽ ἀνείρηται ξεῖνος ταλαπείριος ἐλθὼν
ὦ κοῦραι, τίς δ᾽ ὕμμιν ἀνὴρ ἥδιστος ἀοιδῶν
ἐνθάδε πωλεῖται καὶ τέῳ τέρπεσθε μάλιστα?
ὑμεῖς δ᾽ εὖ μάλα πᾶσαι ὑποκρίνασθε ἀφ᾽ ἡμῶν,
Τυφλὸς ἀνὴρ, οἰκεῖ δὲ Χίῳ ἐνὶ παιπαλοέσσῃ,
τοῦ πᾶσαι μετόπισθεν ἀριστεύουσιν ἀοιδαί.

Virgins, farewell,—and oh! remember me
Hereafter, when some stranger from the sea,
A hapless wanderer, may your isle explore,
And ask you, “Maids, of all the bards you boast,
Who sings the sweetest, and delights you most?”
Oh! answer all,—“A blind old man, and poor,
Sweetest he sings, and dwells on Chios’ rocky shore.”

—_Coleridge’s Introduction to the Study of the Greek Classic Poets._