M. TULLI CICERONIS ACADEMICORUM POSTERIORUM LIBER PRIMUS. I. IN Cumano nuper cum mecum Atticus noster esset, nun- 1 tiatum est nobis a M. Varrone uenisse eum Roma pridie uesperi et, nisi de uia fessus esset, continuo ad nos uenturum fuisse. Quod cum audissemus, nullam moram interponendam putauimus 5 quin uideremus hominem nobiscum et studiis eisdem et uetustate 4 audissemus: codd. omnes; edd. nonnullae audiuissemus, Burn. Harl.; etiam H; edd. nonnullae iisdem. I. cum mecum: the cum in mecum, being so slightly separated from the conjunction, has an awkward sound; but parallels are very numerous in Cicero; see my n. on Balb. 1. noster: here apparently for meus, in spite of the preceding me; cf. Fat. 2 cum essem in Puteolano Hirtiusque noster eisdem in locis; Fam. 2, 8, 3 cum Athenis fuissem multumque mecum Gallus noster Caninius; ib. 9, 2, 1 Caninius tuus et idem noster cum ad me uenisset. In ed. 1, I took Cic. to mean 'our common friend,' referring to Varro and himself, but this proleptic use of noster is hardly likely. The employment of nos, noster, for ego, meus, often causes ambiguity in Cic. Thus, in the present passage, the plurals nos, nobiscum and the plural verbs down to reduximus seem to refer to both Atticus and Cicero, but in 2 percontantibus nobis, nobis = me again. esset: 'was staying'; so in 2, 61. nuntiatum: the spelling nunciatum is mistaken; see Corssen, Ausspr. 12, P. 51. 5 eisdem : Al. 2. a M. Varrone: not by M. Varro' (in which case se must have been written, not eum) but 'from M. Varro's house news came.' 3. de uia fessus: cf. Phil. 1,12 cum de uia (al. e uia) languerem; Rep. 6, 10 me et de uia et qui ad multam noctem uigilassem, artior quam solebat_somnus complexus est (so the MSS and recent edd.; older edd. fessum de uia). With de uia cf. in uia, 'on a journey,' Att. 3, 5; in uiam se dare, Fam. 14, 12. 4. audissemus: for the form see n. on 2, 77 definisse. moram: 'obstacle', rather than 'delay'. The use of the word in reference to time is secondary and never very prominent in the best Latin. 5. eisdem : this spelling and in a less degree isdem have authority for the time of Cic., but iisdem is to be rejected. The word was almost certainly pronounced as a dissyllable, and the dat. abl plur. of is (eis) as a monosyllable. uetustate amicitiae: so in Fam. 4, 7, 1; but uetustas is often used alone without amicitiae; cf. Fam. 10, 10, 2 amicitiae coniunctum. Itaque confestim ad eum ire perreximus, paulumque cum ab eius uilla abessemus, ipsum ad nos uenientem uidimus: atque illum complexi, ut mos amicorum est, satis eum 2 longo interuallo ad suam uillam reduximus. Hic pauca primo, atque ea percontantibus nobis ecquid forte Roma noui, tum At- 5 2 ab eius: deest ab in codicibus omnibus; e coniectura Wesenbergii receperunt HBM. 3 satis eum: sic codd. omnes; se uisentium Dau. coniecit, H in textum recepit. Satis tum B, e coniectura Maduigii. M uerba satis eum obelisco notauit. 5 atque ea: uocem ea (ut uoluit Durandius) uncinis incluserunt BH, edd. Rom. Ven. 1494 secuti; obelisco notauit M; deest in Harl. 3. Harl. Burn. G (ex Halmii silentio); percuntantibus ; percunctantibus PVE. uetustate coniuncti; ib. 13, 32, 2; ib. II, 16, 2; ib. 5, 15, 2; 11, 27, 2. Cf. also uetustas amicorum, Arch. 31; Q. Cic. pet. cons. 16; u. necessitudinis, Fam. 10, 3, 2. 2. ab eius uilla: Cic. probably did not allow the simple abl. without ab to follow on abesse, except in the case of city-names (as in Leg. 2, 2 Roma absis; Fam. 12, 15, 7 Laodicea afuisse, where some edd. insert the preposition). In three other passages (this and Fam. 5, 15, 4; and Fam. 4, 6, 2) all the MSS agree in omitting the preposition, but we cannot attribute much importance to their unanimity, when we reflect that there is a similar consensus of the MSS in favour of the construction discrepare aliqua re in Fin. 2, 100, and of other like constructions which no scholar would now think of defending. In Fam. 5, 15, 4 all the MSS read 'tu ea me abesse urbe miraris', except the Med. which has tuae for tu ca. Wesenberg reads tu ab ea, but tu ex ea would be a sounder correction; cf. Planc. 67; post red. in sen. 34. Wesenberg can hardly be right in retaining in Fam. 4, 6, 2 the reading et domo absum et foro, since there only do we find domo, foro abesse, elsewhere always a domo, a foro. On the other hand some passages have been wrongly suspected by editors who have misunderstood the perfectly well-attested dative construction with abesse; thus Leg. 1, 5 historia abest litteris nostris; Q. Cic. in Fam. 16, 8, I diutius nobis afuturus est (Wes. a nobis). In Off. 1, 43 abest officio has been long abandoned. The usage of the prose writers down to and including Livy agrees with that of Cic. ipsum: see n. on 2, 84 si ipse erit. 3. illum: vivid and emphatic; 'our dear friend'. complex: the embrace is here in percontantibus: Al. troduced to convey the impression of close friendship between Cic. and Varro; a touch which would be impaired or destroyed by the reading se uisentium farther on. Just in the same spirit Horace says of the famous meeting on the Appian way (Sat. 1, 5, 43) 'o qui complexus et gaudia quanta fuerunt!' For the clause ut mos amicorum est, cf. De Or. 2, 13 qui cum inter se, ut ipsorum usus ferebat, amicissime consalutassent. · satis eum: the reading se uisentium is objectionable, causing, as it does, Cic. to apologize for the embrace, whereas he evidently intends to describe it as an ordinary courtesy between himself and Varro. On diplomatic grounds it is egregiously improbable that se uisentium should have been changed to satis eum. The position of eum as second word in the clause, separating satis from the word it qualifies, speaks for the text; cf. n. on 1, 25 quanto id magis; also Liu. 1, 10, 3 satis se impigre; 1, 48, 3 satis illum diu. It is impossible to make sense of the passage if interuallo be taken of space (as Goer.). Some edd. too misunderstand satis, which means not 'sufficiently', but only 'tolerably'; the phrase 'satis longum interuallum '=' a tolerably long time' occurs elsewhere; see Fam. 5, 17, 1; Clu. 177; Arch. 6; also cf. Caes. B. C. 3, 69, 1 hac satis longa interiecta mora; ib. 3, 84, 1; Cic. Flac. 47 neque ita longo int.; Sen. ep. 46, 2 interuallo surgere (after an int.'). The succession of pronouns eum, eius, illum, eum all referring to the same person, should be noticed; cf. n. on 2, 27 ea...ea and on 2, 29 haec...eis. 4. suam uillam: but above eius uilla, as usual. The use of suus here, though rather colloquial, is far from uncommon, particularly in oratio obliqua; see Draeger, Hist. synt. 12 §§ 28, 29; also Rie ticus 'omitte ista, quae nec percontari nec audire sine molestia possumus, quaeso, inquit, et quaere potius ecquid ipse noui. Silent enim diutius Musae Varronis quam solebant, nec tamen istum cessare, sed celare quae scribat existimo'. 'Minime uero' inquit ecquid: et si quid MSS omn. noti, excepto U (?) et cod. Eliens. Dauisii. [De G tacet H.] Corr. Man. Lamb. tum Atticus: tum om. codd. omn. Hanc coniecturam primus in textum recepi; falso eam Goer. ascripsit Lambino, qui reapse coniecit Atticus autem. 6 percontari: Al. Harl. 1, 3, Burn. GE; percuntari ↓ ; percunctari PV Harl. 2. 7 quaere: MSS omn. quare. ecquid: et quid codd. plerique. 8 istum: ipsum E et edd. nonnullae. mann, Études sur Tite-Live (Paris 1879) p. 95, where numerous exx. will be found. The difference between eius and suus here is just that between 'his' and 'his own'. reduximus: see n. on 9 deduxe runt. pauca primo: sc. locuti sumus, an ellipse too common to need illustration. For the context cf. Fin. 1, 14 cum ad me in Cumanum salutandi causa uterque uenisset, pauca primo inter nos de litteris, deinde Torquatus...; ib. 3, 8 deinde prima illa, quae in congressu solemus; Fat. 2 cum ad me uenisset, primo illa quae erant cotidiana et quasi legitima nobis, de pace et de otio; quibus actis, quid ergo?' inquit; Tusc. 4, 49; Sall. hist. 1, 23 (ed. Dietsch) inde ortus sermo percontantibus utrimque satin salve?' 5. atque ea: Kal TaÛтa: So idque below. percontantibus: the spelling percunctari rests on the false assumption that the word originally meant per cuncta ire'; see Corssen, Ausspr. 12 36. ecquid forte: the reading et si quid has arisen from a common MSS corruption, etquid for ecquid. Though si in indirect questions is rare in Cic. and always implies an ellipse, it would not be impossible here; see Draeger 11' § 553, to whose exx. add Att. 13, 9, 2. Roma: most probably nominative, and subject of the same verb with ipse below (ecquid ipse novi); i. e. agat or faciat. So Plin. ep. 1, 3, 1 quid agit Comum? also Catull. 10, 5 huc ut uenimus incidere nobis Sermones uarii, in quibus quid esset Iam Bithynia, quo modo se haberet ; where see Ellis' n. For the ellipse of a verb of movement or activity cf. n. on 2, 13 tum ad hos. Turnebus and others take Roma to be an ablative, and supply attulisset. If Romae be read cf. Suet. Ner. 48 ecquid in urbe noui de Nerone? Both these last methods have the disadvantage of introducing a change of construction in passing from ecquid Roma noui to ecquid ipse noui. tum Atticus: if tum be not added, we are forced to assume a most awkward ellipse above, after hic pauca primo, (instead of the simple ellipse assumed in my n.) either of a nominativus pendens locuti, or of a clause such as cum locuti essemus. Cf. deinde in Fin. 1, 14 and quibus actis in Fat. 2 quoted in n. on pauca primo above. It was characteristic of Atticus to avoid politics; he similarly stops a political discussion in Brut. 157. 6. quae percontari: de quibus p.; see n. on 2, 93 ultimum...respondere. 7. inquit: for the position cf. n. on § 14. ecquid ipse noui: cf. De Or. 2, 13 quid uos tandem? Crassus, numquidnam, inquit, noui? Brut. 10 quos postquam salutaui, quid uos, inquam, Brute et Attice, noui? So Fam. 11, 27, I. silent Musae: cf. Brut. 19 iampridem conticuerunt tuae litterae; Off. 2, 3. It has been supposed that Musae alludes specially to Varro's many-sidedness; the expression, however, is quite general, like mansuetiores Musae in Fam. 1, 9, 23, and Plato's Ιάδες καὶ Σικελαὶ Μοῦσαι in Sophist.; cf. also Fam. 16, 10, 2 tu Musis nostris para ut operas reddas. 8. istum: 'your friend'. Ipsum here would be decidedly out of place, as neither emphasis nor contrast is needed. = 9. cessare: nihil scribere, as in Fam. 16, 22, 1 ego hic cesso quia nihil ipse scribo; Att. 2, 7, 1 aliquid exstabit ne tibi plane cessasse uideamur. In the best Latin cessare is a verb of rest, not of motion; not to come to a standstill', but to be at a standstill'. quae scribat: the subj. seems due to the class-notion, 'such things as he writes'. ille, 'intemperantis enim arbitror esse scribere quod occultari uelit, sed habeo opus magnum in manibus, idque iam pridem : ad hunc enim ipsum-me autem dicebat-quaedam institui, quae 3 et sunt magna sane et limantur a me politius'. Et ego 'ista quidem', inquam, 'Varro, iam diu exspectans, non audeo tamen 5 flagitare: audiui enim e Libone nostro, cuius nosti studium— I arbitror esse: esse arbitror Hieronymus in Rufinum 1. col. 379. 2 uelit: uelis Hieron. ; idem coniecit Walker. idque: sic (post Christii coniecturam) 3 hunc enim HBM; MSS que uel quae, nisi quod P qui praebet; U quo. 1. intemperantis: cf. Tusc. 1, 6 mandare quemquam litteris cogitationes suas, qui eas nec disponere nec illustrare possit, hominis est intemperanter abutentis et otio et litteris. occultari: for the passive see n. on 2, 42 condemnari. Occultare is 'to conceal studiously', so is stronger than celare above. 2. uelit: the subject is easily supplied from intemperantis above. The indefinite subject is very often omitted by Cic., as in Lael. 59 ita amare oportere ut si aliquando esset osurus; De Or. I, 30 uoluntates impellere quo uelit = quo quis uelit, where Sorof has a good many exx.; see others in Wopkens, Lect. Tull. p. 3 (ed. Hand). A similar usage is common in Greek. Scholars are often rash in emending passages like the present; thus in Lael. 1. 1. Cobet writes esses. [Cf. n. on 2, 79 inquit.] opus magnum: used exactly as in 2, 121 opere magno, where see n. Not until the time of younger Pliny was the word opus freely used like our 'work' to denote a literary composition. [Plin. ep. 4, 3, 5; 4, 26, 3; 5, 5, 4; 7, 25, 1; also opusculum in 4, 13, 1; 4, 14, 10.] Opus is however commonly used of works of art. For our passage cf. Prop. 4, 3, 4 tantum operis. On the work in question here see Introd. p. 33. in manibus: 'on hand'. For this later writers use inter manus (Plin. ep. 5, 5, 7) which in Cic. has quite another sense; see Verr. 5, 28. In manibus often has also the meaning 'close at hand'; cf. Lael. 96 with my n. idque: Kai TOUTO: SO Fam. 10, 14, 2 exspectabam tuas litteras idque cum multis; ib. 13, 16, 4 studiis deditum, idque a puero; Phil. 1, 34 audisti, eaque saepissime; ib. 2, 23; Leg. 2, 34 (et id); Brut. 244 tu quidem de faece hauris idque iamdudum Tusc. 2, 50; 4, 27; Fam. 10, 3, 3; Suet. Tib. 38; Gram. 24; Hor. Sat. 1, 4, 73; Plin. n. h. 33, 147 copia argenti furit uita, idque iampridem, etc. 3. ad: 'dedicated to'. The constr. is elliptic, in imitation of the title-page of the book: 'De lingua Latina ad M. Ciceronem'. Cf. Cat. m. 3 hunc librum ad te de senectute misimus; so Fin. 1, 8; Diu. 2, 3; Att. 8, 12, 6; Lael. 4 in Catone maiore, qui est scriptus ad te de se nectute. hunc enim ipsum: the reading hunc eum ipsum is vainly defended by Wopkens and Goer. on the strength of passages like Att. 2, 1, 11 me, illum ipsum uindicem aeris alieni. In that place, as in Flac. 52 huic illi legato; Att. 1, 18, 3 instat hic nunc ille annus egregius (Wes. om. ille); Tac.A. 14, 22 hunc illum numine deum destinari, the second demonstrative comes in as explanatory of the first in a special sense, the famous', 'the well known'. The common phrase hoc illud est is similar. Only by epexegesis of some sort can two demonstratives in the same construction refer to the same person. me autem dicebat: a like parenthesis in Fin. 5, 7; Brut. 253; N. D. 2, 104, also 1, 17, where Schömann quotes Isocrates, Panath. c. 85 σὺ μὲν πεποίησαι τοὺς byovs (èμè λéywv). Cf. also below, 2, §§ 13 and 17 and 61 me autem appellabat. extensive, I can assure you'. Cf. Phil. 2, 106 magna sane multitudo. Varro gives two reasons for not fulfilling his promise to Cic., (1) the size of the work, (2) the finish of the workmanship. 4. magna sane: limantur: n. on 2, 66 elimatas. politius: the comparative of polite also occurs in De Or. 1, 5. et: whereupon'; like atque in § 1. Ac in this sense is far commoner, but could not stand here before the vowel; see n. on 2, 34. |