2. The meaning of the word siticines in a speech of Marcus Cato's. THE word siticines is found in a speech of Marcus Cato entitled Let not a Former Official retain his power, when his Successor arrives. He speaks of siticines, liticines and tubicines. But Caesellius Vindex, in his Notes on Early Words, declares that he knows that liticines played upon the lituus, or “clarion,” and tibicines on the tuba, or “trumpet,” but, being a man of conscientious honesty, he says that he does not know what instrument the siticines used. But I have found in the Miscellanies of Ateius Capito that those were called siticines who played in the presence of those who were “laid away” (sitos), that is, who were dead and buried; and that they had a special kind of trumpet on which they played, differing from those of the other trumpeters.
2. Vocabulum “siticinum” in M. Catonis oratione quid significet. “SITICINES” scriptum est in oratione M. Catonis, quae scribitur Ne Imperium sit Veteri, ubi Nouus Venerit. “Siticines,” intuit, “et liticines et tubicines.” Sed Caesellius Vindex in Conmentariis Lectionum Antiquarum scire quidem se ait, “liticines” lituo cantare et “tubicines” tuba; quid istuc autem sit, quo “siticines” cantant, homo ingenuae veritatis scire sese negat. Nos autem in Capitonis Atei Coniectaneis invenimus, “siticines” appellatos qui apud “sitos” canere soliti essent, hoc est vita functos et sepultos, eosque habuisse proprium genus tubae, qua canerent, a ceterorum tubicinum differens.
3. Why the poet Lucius Accius in his Pragmatica said that sicinnistae was a “nebulous word.” THOSE whom the vulgar call sicinistae, persons who speak more accurately have called sicinnistae with a double n. For the sicinnium was an ancient form of dance. Moreover, those who now stand and sing formerly danced as they sang. Lucius Accius used this word in his Pragmatica, and says that sicinnistae are so called by a “nebulous” (nebuloso) term, using the word “nebulous,” I suppose, because the reason for the term sicinnium was obscure.
3. Quam ob causam L. Accius poeta in Pragmaticis sicinnistas “nebuloso nomine” esse dixerit. Quos “sicinistas” vulgus dicit, qui rectius locuti sunt,“sicinnistas” littera n gemina dixerunt. “Sicinnium” enim genus veteris saltationis fuit. Saltabundi autem canebant, quae nunc stantes canunt. Posuit hoc verbum L. Accius poeta in Pragmaticis appellarique “sicinnistas” ait “nebuloso nomine,” credo propterea “nebuloso,” quod, “sicinnium” cur diceretur, obscurum esset.
4. That devotion to play-actors, and love of them, was shameful and disgraceful, with a quotation of the words of the philosopher Aristotle on that subject. A WEALTHY young man, a pupil of the philosopher Taurus, was devoted to, and delighted in, the society of comic and tragic actors and musicians, as if they were freemen. Now in Greek they call artists of that kind oi( peri\ Dio/nuson texni=tai or “craftsmen of Dionysus.” Taurus, wishing to wean that youth from the intimacy and companionship of men connected with the stage, sent him these words extracted from the work of Aristotle entitled Universal Questions, and bade him read it over every day: “Why are the craftsmen of Dionysus for the most part worthless fellows? Is it because they are least of all familiar with reading and philosophy, since the greater part of their life is given to their essential pursuits and much of their time is spent in intemperance and sometimes in poverty too? For both of these things are incentives to wickedness.”
4. Artificum scaenicorum studium amoremque inhonestum probrosumque esse; et super ea re verba Aristotelis philosophi adscripta. COMOEDOS quispiam et tragoedos et tibicines dives adulescens, Tauri philosophi discipulus, ut liberos homines in deliciis atque in delectamentis habebat. Id genus autem artifices Graece appellantur οἱ περὶ τὸν Διόνυσον τεχνῖται. Eum adulescentem Taurus a sodalitatibus convictuque hominum scaenicorum abducere volens, misit ei verba haec ex Aristotelis libro exscripta, qui Προβλήματα Ἐγκύκλια inscriptus est, iussitque uti ea cotidie lectitaret: Διὰ τὶ οἱ Διονυσιακοὶ τεχνῖται ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ πονηροί εἰσιν; ἢ ὅτι ἥκιστα λόγου καὶ φιλοσοφίας κοινωνοῦσι διὰ τὸ περὶ τὰς ἀναγκαίας τέχνας τὸ πολὺ μέρος τοῦ βίου εἶναι, καὶ ὅτι ἐν ἀκρασίαις τὸν πολὺν χρόνον εἰσίν, ὁτὲ δὲ ἐν ἀποριαις; ἀμφότερα δὲ φαυλότητος παρασκευαστικά.
5. Specimens of letters of King Alexander and the philosopher Aristotle. just as they were written; with a rendering of the same into Latin. THE philosopher Aristotle, the teacher of king Alexander, is said to have had two forms of the lectures and instructions which he delivered to his pupils. One of these was the kind called e)cwterika/, or “exoteric,” the other a)kroatika/, or “acroatic.” Those were called “exoteric” which gave training in rhetorical exercises, logical subtlety, and acquaintance with politics; those were called “acroatic” in which a more profound and recondite philosophy was discussed, which related to the contemplation of nature or dialectic discussions. To the practice of the “acroatic” training which I have mentioned he devoted the morning hours in the Lyceum, and he did not ordinarily admit any pupil to it until he had tested his ability, his elementary knowledge, and his zeal and devotion to study. The exoteric lectures and exercises in speaking lie held at the same place in the evening and opened them generally to young men without distinction. This he called deilino\s peri/patos, or “the evening walk,” the other which I have mentioned above, e(wqino/s, or “the morning walk”; for on both occasions he walked as he spoke. He also divided his books on all these subjects into two divisions, calling one set “exoteric,” the other “acroatic.” When King Alexander knew that he had published those books of the “acroatic” set, although at that time the king was keeping almost all of Asia in a state of panic by his deeds of arms, and was pressing King Darius himself hard by attacks and victories, yet in the midst of such urgent affairs he sent a letter to Aristotle, saying that the philosopher had not done right in publishing the books and so revealing to the public the acroatic training, in which he himself had been instructed. “For in what other way,” said he, “can I excel the rest, it that instruction which I have received from you becomes the common property of all the world? For I would rather be first in learning than in wealth and power.” Aristotle replied to him to this purport: “Know that the acroatic books, which you complain have been made public and not hidden as if they contained secrets, have neither been made public nor hidden, since they can be understood only by those who have heard my lectures.” I have added copies of both letters, taken from the book of the philosopher Andronicus. I was particularly charmed with the slender thread of elegant brevity in the letter of each."Alexander to Aristotle, Greeting. “You have not done right in publishing your acroatic lectures; for wherein, pray, shall I differ from other men, if these lectures, by which I was instructed, become the common property of all? As for me, I should wish to excel in acquaintance with what is noblest, rather than in power. Farewell.”"Aristotle to King Alexander, Greeting. “You have written to me regarding my acroatic lectures, thinking that I ought to have kept them secret. Know then that they have both been made public and not made public. For they are intelligible only to those who have heard me. Farewell, King Alexander.” When trying, in the phrase cunetoi\ ga\r ei)sin, to express the word cunetoi/ by a single Latin term, I found nothing better than what is written by Marcus Cato in the sixth book of his Origins: “Therefore I think the information is more comprehensible (cognobilior).”
5. Exempla epistularum Alexandri regis et Aristotelis philosophi, ita uti sunt edita; eaque in lingua Latinam versa. COMMENTATIONUM suarum artiumque quas discipulis tradebat Aristoteles philosophus, regis Alexandri magister, duas species habuisse dicitur. Alia erant, quae nominabat ἐξωτερικά, alia, quae appellabat ἀκροατικά. Ἐξωτερικά dicebantur, quae ad rhetoricas meditationes facultatemque argutiarum civiliumque rerum notitiam conducebant, ἀκροατικά autem vocabantur, in quibus philosophia remotior subtiliorque agitabatur quaeque ad naturae contemplationes disceptationesve dialecticas pertinebant. Huic disciplinae, quam dixi, ἀκροατικῇ tempus exercendae dabat in Lycio matutinum nec ad eam quemquam temereternere admittebat, nisi quorum ante ingenium et eruditionis elementa atque in discendo studium laboremque explorasset. Illas vero exotericas auditiones exercitiumque dicendi eodem in loco vesperi faciebat easque vulgo iuvenibus sine dilectu praebebat, atque eum δειλινὸν περίπατον appellabat, ilium alterum supra ἐωθινόν; utroque enim tempore ambulans disserebat. Libros quoque suos, earum omnium rerum conmentarios, seorsum divisit, ut alii “exoterici” dicerentur, partim “acroatici.” Eos libros generis “acroatici” cum in vulgus ab eo editos rex Alexander cognovisset atque ea tempestate armis exercitam omnem prope Asiam teneret regemque ipsum Darium proeliis et victoriis urgeret, in illis tamen tantis negotiis litteras ad Aristotelem misit, non eum recte fecisse, quod disciplinas acroaticas, quibus ab eo ipse eruditus foret, libris foras editis involgasset: “Nam qua,” inquit, “alia re praestare ceteris poterimus, si ea quae ex te accepimusaccelimus omnium prosus fient communia? Quippe ego doctrina anteire malim quam copiis atque opulentiis.” Rescripsit ei Aristoteles ad hanc sententiam: “Acroaticos libros, quos editos quereris et non proinde ut arcana absconditos, neque editos scito esse neque non editos, quoniam his solis cognobiles erunt, qui nos audiverunt.” Exempla utrarumque litterarum sumpta ex Andronici philosophi libro subdidi; amavi prosus in utriusque epistula brevitatis elegantissimae filum tenuissimum: Ἀλέξανδρος Ἀριστοτέλει εὖ πράττειν. Οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἐποίησας, ἐκδοὺς τοὺς ἀκροατικοὺς τῶν λόγων· τίνι γὰρ δὴ διοίσομεν ἡμεῖς τῶν ἄλλων, εἰ καθʼ οὓς ἐπαιδεύθημεν λόγους, οὗτοι πάντων ἔσονται κοινοί; ἐγὼ δὲ βουλοίμην ἂν ταῖς περὶ τὰ ἄριστα ἐμπειράαις ἢ ταῖς δυνάμεσιν διαφέρειν. ἔρρωσο. Ἀριστοτέλης βασιλεῖ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ εὖ πράττειν. Ἔγραψάς μοι περὶ τῶν ἀκροατικῶν λόγων, οἰόμενος δεῖν αὐτοὺς φυλάττειν ἐν ἀπορρήτοις. ἴσθι οὖν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐκδεδομένους καὶ μὴ ἐκδεδομένουσ· ξυνετοὶ γάρ εἰσιν μόνοις τοῖς ἡμῶν ἀκούσασιν. ἔρρωσο, Ἀλέξανδρε βασιλεῦ. Hoc ego verbum ξυνετοὶ γὰρ εἰσιν quaerens uno itidem verbo dicere, aliud non repperi quam quod est scriptum a M. Catone in sexta Origine: “Itaque ego,” inquit, “cognobiliorem cognitionem esse arbitror.”
6. It is asked and discussed whether it it is more correct to say habeo curam vestri, or vestrum. I ASKED Sulpicius Apollinaris, when I was studying with him at Rome in my youth, on what principle people said habeo curam vestri, or “I have care for you,” and misereor vestri, or “I pity you,” and what he thought the nominative case of vestri was in such connections. Thereupon he answered me as follows: “You ask something of me about which I too have long been in a state of uncertainty. For it seems to me that one ought to say, not vestri, but vestrum, just as the Greeks say e)pimelou=mai u(mw=n and kh/domai u(mw=n, where u(mw=n is translated by vestrum more fittingly than by vestri, having vos for the naming case, or the 'direct' case, as you called it. Yet in not a few places,” said he, "I find nostri and vestri, not nostrum or vestrum. Thus Lucius Sulla says, in the second book of his Autobiography: “But if it is possible that even now you think of me (nostri), and believe me worthy to be your fellow citizen rather than your enemy, and to fight for you rather than against you, this will surely be due to my services and those of my forefathers.” Also Terence in the Phormio:Of such a nature are we almost all,That with ourselves (nostri) we discontented are.Afranius wrote in an Italian play:At last some god or other pitied us (nostri).And Laberius in the Necyomantia:Detained for many days, he us (nostri) forgot. “There is no doubt,” said he,that in all these phrases: 'we are discontented,' he forgot us,' 'he pitied us' (nostri), the same case is used as in 'I repent' (mei paenitet), 'he pitied me' (mei miseritus est), ' he forgot me' (mei oblitus est). But mei is the case of questioning, which the grammarians call 'genitive,' and comes from ego; and the plural of ego is nos. Tui also is formed from tu, and the plural of this is vos. For Plautus has thus declined those pronouns in the Pseudolus, in the following lines:O Sir, could I be told without your wordsWhat wretchedness so grievous troubles you,I would have spared the trouble of two men:My own (mei), of asking you, and yours (tis = tui), of answering.For Plautus here uses mei, not from meus, but from ego. Therefore if you should choose to say patrem mei instead of patrem meum, as the Greeks say to\n pate/ra mou, it would be unusual, but surely correct, and on the same principle that Plautus used labori mei, 'the trouble of me,' for labori meo, ' my trouble.' The same rule applies also in the plural number, where Gracchus said misereri vestrum and Marcus Cicero contentio vestrum, and contention nostrum, and on the same principle Quadrigarius in the nineteenth book of his Annals wrote these words: 'Gaius Marius, when pray will you pity us (nostrum) and the State?' Why then should Terence use paenitet nostri, not nostrum, and Afranius nostri miseritus est, not nostrum? Indeed,said he,no reason for this occurs to me except the authority of a certain ancient usage, which was not too anxious or scrupulous in the use of language. For just as vestrorum is often used for vestrum, as in this line from the MustellariaMostellaria of Plautus,The greatest part of you (vestrorum) know that is true(where vestrorum is for vestrum), in the same way vestri also is sometimes used for vestrum. But undoubtedly one who desires to speak very correctly will prefer vestrum to vestri. And therefore,said he, “those have acted most arbitrarily who in many copies of Sallust have corrupted a thoroughly sound reading. For although he wrote in the Catiline: 'Often your forefathers (maiores vestrum), pitying the Roman commons,' they erased vestrum and wrote vestrz over it. And from this that error has grown and found its way into more manuscripts.” This is what I remember hearing from Apollinaris, and I noted down his very words at the time, exactly as they were spoken."
6. Quaesitum atque tractatum utrumn siet rectius dicere “habeo curam vestri,” an “vestrum.” PERCONTABAR Apollinarem Sulpicium, cum eum Romae adulescentulus sectarer, qua ratione diceretur “habeo curam vestri” aut “misereor vestri” et iste casus “vestri” eo in loco quem videretur habere casum rectum. Is hic mihi ita respondit: “Quaeris,” inquit, “ex me, quod mihi quoque est iamdiu in perpetua quaestione. Videtur enim non ‘vestri’ oportere dici, sed ‘vestrum,’ sicuti Graeci locuntur: ἐπιμελοῦμαι ὑμῶν, κήδομαι ὑμῶν, in quo loco ὑμῶν aptius ‘vestrum’ dicitur quam ‘vestri’ et habet casum nominandi, quem tu ‘rectum’ appellasti, ‘vos.’ ” “Invenio tamen,” inquit, “non paucis in locis ‘nostri’ atque ‘vestri’ dictum, non ‘nostrum’ aut ‘vestrum.’ L. Sulla Rerum Gestarum libro secundo: ‘Quod si fieri potest, ut etiam nunc nostri vobis in mentem veniat, nosque magis dignos creditis quibus civibus quam hostibus utamini quique pro vobis potius quam contra vos pugnemus, neque nostro neque maiorum nostrorum inmmerito ’ nobis id continget.” “Terentius in Phormione:Ita plérique ingenió sumus omnes, nóstri nosmet paénitet.” “Afranius in togata:Nescío qui nostri míseritust tandém deus.” “Et Laberius in Necyomantia:Dum diútius retinétur, nostri oblitus est.” “Dubium porro,” inquit, “non est, quin eodem haec omnia casu dicantur: ‘nostri paenitet,’ ‘nostri oblitus est,’ ‘nostri misertus est,’ quo dicitur: ‘mei paenitet,’ ‘mei misertus est,’ ‘mei oblitus est.’” “‘Mei’ autem casus interrogandi est, quem ‘genetivum’ grammatici vocant, et ab eo declinatur, quod est ‘ego’; huius deinde plurativum est ‘nos.’ ‘Tui’ aeque declinatur ab eo, quod est ‘tu’; huius itidem plurativum est ‘vos.’” “Sic namque Plautus declinavit in PseuduloPseudolo in hisce versibus:Si ex té tacente fíeri possem cértior,Ere, quaé miseriae té tam misere mácerent,Duorúm labori ego hóminum parsissém lubens:Mei té rogandi et tís respondendí mihi.‘Mei’ enim Plautus hoc in loco non ab eo dixit, quod est ‘meus,’ sed ab eo, quod est ‘ego.’” “Itaque si dicere velis ‘patrem mei’ pro ‘patrem meum,’ quo Graeci modo τὸν πατέρα μου dicunt, inusitate quidem, sed recte profecto eaque ratione dices, qua Plautus dixit ‘labori mei’ pro ‘labori meo.’” “Haec autem ipsa ratio est in numero plurativo, qua Gracchus ‘misereri vestrum’ dixit et qua M. Cicero ‘contentio vestrum’ et ‘contentione nostrum’ dixit quaque item ratione Quadrigarius in Annali undevicesimo verba haec posuit: ‘C. Mari, ecquando te nostrum et reipublicae miserebitur!’ Cur igitur Terentius ‘paenitet nostri,’ non ‘nostrum,’ et Afranius ‘nostri miseritus est,’ non ‘nostrum’?” “Nihil hercle,” inquit, “mihi de ista re in mentem venit, nisi auctoritas quaedam vetustatis non nimis anxie neque superstitiose loquentis. Nam sicuti multifariam scriptum est ‘vestrorum’ pro‘vestrum,’ ut in Plauti MustellariaMostellaria in hoc versu:Vérum illud esse máxima párs vestrorum intéllegit,cum vellet ‘maxima pars’ dicere ‘vestrum,’ ita nonnumquam ‘vestri’ quoquc dictum est pro ‘vestrum.’” “Sed proculprocu dubio qui rectissime loqui volet ‘vestrum’ potius dixerit quam ‘vestri.’” “Et idcircoideirco inportunissime,” inquit, “fecerunt, qui in plerisque Sallusti exemplaribus scripturam istam sincerissimam corruperunt. Nam cum ita in Catilina scriptum esset: ‘Saepe maiores vestrum miseriti plebis Romanae,’ ‘vestrum’ obleverunt et ‘vestri’ superscripserunt. Ex quo in plures libros mendae istius indoles manavit.” Haec memini mihi Apollinarem dicere, eaque tunc ipsa, ita ut dicta fuerant, notavi.
7. How the opinions of the Greeks differ as to the number of Niobe's children. A STRANGE and indeed almost absurd variation is to be noted in the Greek poets as to the number of Niobe's children. For Homer says that she had six sons and six daughters; Euripides, seven of each; Sappho, nine; Bacchylides and Pindar, ten; while certain other writers have said that there were only three sons and three daughters.
7. Quam diversae Graecorum sint sententiae super numero Niobae filiorum. MIRA et prope adeo ridicula diversitas fabulae apud Graecos poetas deprenditur super numero Niobae filiorum. Nam Homerus pueros puellasque eius bis senos dicit fuisse, Euripides bis septenos, Sappho bis novenos, Bacchylides et Pindarus bis denos, quidam alii scriptores tres fuisse solos dixerunt.
8. Of things which seem to have sumptwsi/a, or “coincidence,” with the waning and waxing moon. THE poet Annianus owned an estate in the Faliscan territory, where he used to celebrate the vintage season with mirth and jollity. On one occasion he invited me, along with some other friends. As we were dining there one day, a large quantity of oysters were sent from Rome. When they were set before us and proved to be indeed numerous, but neither rich nor very plump, Annianus said: “Of course the moon is waning just now; therefore the oyster also, like some other things, is thin and juiceless.” When we asked what other things wasted away with the waning moon, he answered: "Don't you remember that our Lucilius says:The moon makes oysters fat, sea-urchins full,And bulk and substance to the mussels adds? Furthermore, those same things which grow as the moon waxes grow less as it wanes. The eyes of cats also become larger or smaller according to the same changes of the moon. This too," said he, “is much more greatly to be wondered at, which I read in the fourth book of Plutarch's Commentary on Hesiod: ' The onion grows and buds as the moon wanes, but, on the contrary, dries up while the moon waxes. The Egyptian priests say that this is the reason why the people of Pelusium do not eat the onion, because it is the only one of all vegetables which has an interchange of increase and decrease contrary to the waxing and waning of the moon.'”
8. De his quae habere συμπτωσίαν videntur cum luna iuvenescente ac senescente. ANNIANUS poeta in fundo suo, quem in agro Falisco possidebat, agitare erat solitus vindemiam hilare atque amoeniter. Ad eos dies me et quosdam item alios familiaris vocavit. Ibi tum cenantibus nobis magnus ostrearum numerus Roma missus est. Quae cum adpositae fuissent et multae quidem, sed inuberes macriusculaeque essent: “Luna,” inquit Annianus, “nunc videlicet senescit; ea re ostrea quoque, sicuti quaedam alia, tenuis exsuctaque est.” Cum quaereremus quae alia item senescente luna tabescerent, “Nonne Lucilium,” inquit, “nostrum meministis dicere:Luna alit ostrea et implet echinos, muribus fibrasEt iecur addit?” “Eadem autem ipsa quae crescente luna gliscunt, deficiente contra defiunt.” “Aelurorum quoque oculi ad easdem vices lunae aut ampliores fiunt aut minores.” “Id etiam,” inquit, “multo mirandum est magis, quod apud Plutarchum in quarto In Hesiodum Commentario legi: ‘Cepetum revirescit et congerminat decedente luna, contra autem inarescit adolescente. Eam causam esse dicunt sacerdotes Aegyptii, cur Pelusiotae cepe non edint, quia solum olerum omnium contra lunae augmenta atque damna vices minuendi et augendi habeat contrarias.’”
9. A passage in the Mimiambi of Gnaeus Matius, in which Antonius Iulianus used to delight; and the meaning of Marcus Cato in the speech which he wrote on his own uprightness, when he said: “I have never asked the people for garments.” ANTONIUS JULIANUS used to say that his ears were soothed and charmed by the newly-coined words of Gnaeus Matius, a man of learning, such as the following, which he said were written by Matius in his Mimiambi:Revive your cold love in your warm embrace,Close joining lip to lip like amorous dove (columbulatim).And this also he declared to be charmingly and neatly devised:The shorn rugs now are drunken with the dyeWith which the shell has drenched and coloured them...
9. Qualibus verbis delectari solitus sit Antonius Iulianus, positis in mimiambisMamiambis Cn. Matii; et quid significetsigniificet M. Cato in oratione quam scripsit de innocentia sua, cumcurl ita dictitat: “numquam vestimentavestirnenta a populo poposcipeposci.” Delectari mulcerique aures suas dicebat Antonius Iulianus figmentis verborum novis Cn. Matii, hominis eruditi, qualia haec quoque essent, quae scripta ab eo in Mimiambis memorabat:Sinuque amicam refice frigidam caldo,Columbulatim labra conserens labris.Item id quoque iucunde lepideque fictum dictitabat: Iam tonsiles tapetes ebrii fuco,Quos concha purpura imbuens venenavit … Quid vocabulum “ex iure manuni consertum” signiticet.
10. The meaning of the phrase ex iure manum consertum. Ex iure manum consertum, or “lay on hands according to law,” is a phrase taken from ancient cases at law, and commonly used to-day when a case is tried before the praetor and claims are made. I asked a Roman grammarian, a man of wide reputation and great name, what the meaning of these words was. But he, looking scornfully at me, said: “Either you are making a mistake, youngster, or you are jesting; for I teach grammar and do not give legal advice. If you want to know anything connected with Virgil, Plautus or Ennius, you may ask me.” “It is a question from Ennius then, master,” said I, “that I am asking. For it was Ennius who used those words.” And when the grammarian said in great surprise that the words were unsuited to poetry and that they were not to be found anywhere in the poems of Ennius, I quoted from memory the following lines from the eighth book of the Annals; for it chanced that I remembered them because of their particularly striking character:Wisdom is driven forth and force prevails;They scorn the speaker good, the rude soldier love.Contending not with learning nor abuse,They join in strife, not laying claim by law,But, seeking with the sword both wealth and power,With force resistless rush. When I had recited these verses from Ennius, the grammarian rejoined: “Now I believe you. But I would have you believe me, when I say that Quintus Ennius learned this, not from his reading of the poets, but from someone learned in the law. Do you too then go and learn from the same source as Ennius.” I followed the advice of this teacher, when he referred me to another from whom I could learn what he ought to have taught me himself: And I thought that I ought to include in these notes of mine what I have learned from jurists and their writings, since those who are living in the midst of affairs and among men ought not to be ignorant of the commoner legal expressions. Manum conserere, “to lay on hands.”... For with one's opponent to lay hold of and claim in the prescribed formula anything about which there is a dispute, whether it be a field or something else, is called vindicia, or “a claim.” A seizing with the hand of the thing or place in question took place in the presence of the praetor according to the Twelve Tables, in which it was written "If any lay on hands in the presence of the magistrate." But when the boundaries of Italy were extended and the praetors were greatly occupied with legal business, they found it hard to go to distant places to settle claims. Therefore it became usual by silent consent, though contrary to the Twelve Tables, for the litigants not to lay on hands in court in the presence of the praetor, but to call for “a laying on of hands according to law”; that is, that the one litigant should summon the other to the object in question, to lay hands on it according to law, and that they should go together to the field under dispute and bring some earth from it to the city to the praetor's court, for example one clod, and should lay claim to that clod, as if it were the whole field. Accordingly Ennius, wishing to describe such action, said that restitution was demanded, not by legal processes, such as are carried on before a praetor, nor by a laying on of hands according to law, but by war and the sword, and by genuine and resistless violence; and he seems to have expressed this by comparing that civil and symbolic power which is exercised in name only and not actually, with warlike and sanguinary violence.
10. “Ex iure manum consertum” verba sunt ex antiquis actionibus, quae, cum lege agitur et vindiciae contenduntur, dici nunc quoque apud praetorem solent. Rogavi ego Romae grammaticum, celebri hominem fama et multo nomine, quid haec verba essent. Tum ille me despiciens: “Aut erras,” inquit, “adulescens, aut ludis; rem enim doceo grammaticam, non ius respondeo; si quid igitur ex Vergilio, Plauto, Ennio quaerere habes, quaeras licet.” “Ex Ennio ergo,” inquam, “est, magister, quod quaero.” “Ennius enim verbis hisce usus est.” Cumque ille demiratus aliena haec esse a poetis et haud usquam inveniri in carminibus Ennii diceret, tumturn ego hos versus ex octavo Annali absentes dixi, nam forte eos tamquam insigniter praeter alios factosPellitur e medio sapientia, vi geritur res;Spernitur orator bonus, horridus miles amatur.Haut doctis dictis certantes nec maledictis,Miscent inter sese inimicitiam agitantes.Non ex iure manum consertum, sed magis ferroRem repetunt regnumque petunt, vadunt solida vi. Cum hos ego versus Ennianos dixissem, “Credo,” inquit grammaticus, “iam tibi. Sed tu velim credas mihi, Quintum Ennium didicisse hoc non ex poeticae litteris, set ex iuris aliquo perito. Eas igitur tu quoque,” inquit, “et discas unde Ennius didicit.” Usus consilio sum magistri, quod docere ipse debuerat a quo discerem praetermonstrantis. Itaque id quod ex iureconsultis quodque ex libris eorum didici inferendum his commentariis existimavi, quoniam in medio rerum et hominum vitam qui colunt ignorare non oportet verba actionum civilium celebriora. “Manum conserere” … Nam de qua re disceptatur in iurelure in re praesenti, sive ager sive quid aliud est, cum adversario simul manu prendere et in ea re sollemnibus verbis vindicare, id est “vindicia.” Correptio manus in re atque in loco praesenti apud praetorem ex Duodecim Tabulis fiebat, in quibus ita scriptum est: “Si qui in iure manum conserunt.” Sed postquam praetores, propagatis Italiae finibus, satis iurisdictionis negotiis occupati, proficisci vindiciarum dicendarum causa ad longinquas res gravabantur, institutum est contra Duodecim Tabulas tacito consensus, ut litigantes non in iure apud praetorem manum consererent, sed “ex iure manum consertum” vocarent, id est alter alterum ex iure ad conserendam manum in rem de qua ageretur vocaret atque profecti simul in agrum de quo litigabatur, terrae aliquid ex eo, uti unam glebam, in ius in urbem ad praetorem deferrent et in ea gleba, tamquam in toto agro, vindicarent. Idcirco Ennius significare volens gestum, non, ut ad praetorem solitum est, legitimis actionibus neque ex iure manum consertum, sed bello ferroque et vera vi atque solidasolid rem repeti dixit; quod videtur dixisse, conferens vim illam civilem et festucariam, quae verbo diceretur, non quae manu fieret, cum vi bellica et cruenta.
11. The meaning of the word sculna, used by Marcus Varro. PUBLIUS LAVINIUS is the author of a carefully written book, entitled On Vulgar Words. In it he wrote that scublna was a colloquial form for seculna, “for which,” says he, “more elegant speakers use sequester, or' arbiter.'” Each of these words is derived from sequor, because both parties “follow” the decision of the arbiter who is chosen. Lavinius reminds us in the same book that sculna was written in the division of Marcus Varro's Logistorica entitled Caius. But that which was deposited with the arbiter they spoke of as sequestro positum, “deposited for arbitration,” using the adverb sequestro. Cato, in his speech On Ptolemy, against Thermus, says: “By the immortal gods, do not....”
11. Quid sit “sculuae” verbum positum apud M. Varronem. P. LAVINI liber est non incuriose factus. Is inscriptus est De verbisVerhis Sordidis. In eo scripsit “sculnam” vulgo dici, quasi “seculnam”; “quem qui elegantius,” inquit, “loquuntur ‘sequestrem’ appellant.” Utrumque vocabulum a sequendo factum est, quod eiuscius qui electus sit utraque pars fidem sequatur. “Sculnam” autem scriptum esse in Logistorico M. Varronis, qui inscribitur Catus, idem Lavinius in eodem libro admonet. Sed quod apud sequestrem depositum erat, “sequestro positum” per adverbium dicebant. Cato De Ptolomaeo contra Thermum:“Per deos immortalis, nolite vos atque … ”