Noctes Atticae
Gellius, Aulus
Gellius, Aulus. The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius. Rolfe, John C., translator. Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, 1927 (printing).
Of certain new words which I had met in the Miimiambics of Gnaeus Matius.
GNAEUS MATIUS, a learned man, in his Mimiambics properly and fitly coined the word recentatur for the idea expressed by the Greek a)nai eou=tai, that is
it is born again and is again made new.The lines in which the word occurs are these: [*](Frag. 9, Bährens.)
Matius too, in the same Mimiarmbics, says edulcare, meaning
- E'en now doth Phoebus gleam, again is born (recentatur)
- The common light to joys of mortal men.
to sweeten,in these lines: [*](Frag. 10, Bährens.)
- And therefore it is fit to sweeten (edulcare) life,
- And bitter cares with wisdom to control.
In what words the philosopher Aristotle defined a syllogism; and an interpretation of his definition in Latin terms.
ARISTOTLE defines a syllogism in these lines: [*](Topic. i. 1, p. 100. 25.)
A sentence in which, granted certain premises, something else than these premises necessarily follows as the result of these premises.The following interpretation of this definition seemed to me fairly good:
A syllogism is a sentence in which, certain things being granted and accepted, something else than that which was granted is necessarily established through what was granted.
The meaning of comitia calata, curiata, centsriata, and tribulta, and of concilium, and other related matters of the same kind.
IN the first book of the work of Laelius Felix addressed To Quintus Mucius it is said [*](Frag. I ff., i. p. 70, Bremer.) that Labeo wrote [*](Frag. 22, Huschke; inc. 187, Bremer.) that the comitia calata, or
convoked assembly,was held on behalf of the college of pontiffs for the purpose of installing the king [*](That is, the rex sacrorum; see note on x. 15. 21.) or the flames. Of these assemblies some were those
of the curies, others those
of the centuries; the former were called together (calari being used in the sense of
convoke) by the curiate lictor, the latter by a horn blower.
In that same assembly, which we have said was called calata, or
convoked,wills were customarily made and sacrifices annulled. For we learn that there were three kinds of wills: one which was made in the
convoked assemblybefore the collected people, a second on the battle-field, [*](See Mommsen, Staatsr. iii, p. 307, n. 2.) when the men were called into line for the purpose of fighting, a third the symbolic sale of a householder's property by means of the coin and balance. [*](See note on xv. 13. 11.)
In the same book of Laelius Felix this is written:
One who orders a part of the people to assemble, but not all the people, ought to announce a council rather than an assembly. Moreover, tribunes do not summon the patricians, nor may they refer any question to them. Therefore bills which are passed on the initiative of the tribunes of the commons are properly called plebiscita, or 'decrees of the commons,' rather than 'laws.' In former times the patricians were not bound by such decrees until the dictator Quintus Hortensius passed a law, providing that all the Quirites should be bound by whatever enactment the commons should pass.[*](In 287 B.C.) It is also written in the same book:
When voting is done according to families of men, [*](The comitia curiata were organized on the basis of the thirty curiae of the three original Roman tribes. These curiae included the patrician gentes, which, before the time of the military assembly (comitia centuriata) attributed to Servius Tullius, alone had the full rights of citizenship.) the assembly is called 'curiate'; when it is according to property and age, ' centuriate'; when according to regions and localities, 'tribal.' Further it impious for the assembly of the centuries to be held within the pomerium, because the army must be summoned outside of the city, and it is not lawful for it to be summoned within the city. Therefore it was customary for thev3.p.121assembly of the centuries to be held in the field of Mars, and the army to be summoned there for purposes of defence while the people were busy casting their votes.
That Cornelius Nepos was in error when he wrote that Cicero defended Sextus Roscius at the age of twenty-three.
CORNELIUS NEPOS was a careful student of records and one of Marcus Cicero's most intimate friends. Yet in the first book of his Life of Cicero he seems to have erred in writing [*](Frag. 1, Peter2.) that Cicero made his first plea in a public trial at the age of twenty-three years, defending Sextus Roscius, who was charged with murder. For if we count the years from Quintus Caepio and Quintus Serranus, in whose consulship Cicero was born on the third day before the Nones of January, [*](January 3, 106 B.C.) to Marcus Tullius and Gnaeus Dolabella, in whose consulate he pleaded a private case In Defence of Quinctius before Aquilius Gallus as judge, the result is twenty-six years. And there is no doubt that he defended Sextus Roscius on a charge of murder the year after he spoke In Defence of Quinctius; that is, at the age of twenty-seven, in the consulship of Lucius Sulla Felix and Metellus Pius, the former for a second time.
Asconius Pedianus has noted [*](p. xv, Kiessling and Schöll.) that Fenestella also made a mistake in regard to this matter, in writing [*](Frag. 17, Peter2.) that he pleaded for Sextus Roscius in the twenty-sixth year of his age. But the mistake of Nepos is greater than that of Fenestella, unless anyone is inclined to believe that Nepos, led by a
This also has been noted and recorded by the admirers of both orators, that Demosthenes and Cicero delivered their first brilliant speeches in the courts at the same age, the former Against Androtion and Against Timocrates at the age of twenty-seven, the latter when a year younger In Defence of Quinctius and at twenty-seven In Defence of Sextus Roscius. Also, the number of years which they lived did not differ very greatly; Cicero died at sixty-three, Demosthenes at sixty. [*](In 322 B.C.)
A new form of expression used by Lucius Piso, the writer of annals.
THE two following modes of saying
my name is Juliusare common and familiar: mihi nomen est Iulius and mihi nomen est Iulio. I have actually found a third, and new, form in Piso, in the second book of his Annals. His words are these: [*](Frag. 19, Peter2.)
They feared his colleague, Lucius Tarquinius, because he had the Tarquinian name; and he begged him to leave Rome of his own free will.[*](Cf. Livy, ii. 2. 3.)
Because,says he,
he had the Tarquinian name; this is as if I should say mihi nomen est Iulium, or
I have the Julian name.
Whether the word petorritum, applied to a vehicle, is Greek or Gallic.
THOSE who approach the study of letters late in life, after they are worn out and exhausted by some other occupation, particularly if they are garrulous and of only moderate keenness, make themselves exceedingly ridiculous and silly by displaying their would-be knowledge. To this class that man surely belongs, who lately talked fine-spun nonsense about petorrita, or
four-wheeled wagons.For when the question was asked, what form of vehicle the petorritum was, and from what language the word came, he falsely described a form of vehicle very unlike the real one; he also declared that the name was Greek and interpreted it as meaning
flying wheels,[*](Making a hybrid word, from pe/tomai, fly, and rota. See crit. note 1.) maintaining that pelorritum was formed by the change of a single letter from pelorrotum, and that this form was actually used by Valerius Probus.
When I had got together many copies of the Commentaries of Probus, I did not find that spelling in them, and I do not believe that Probus used it anywhere else. For petorritum is not a hybrid word derived in part from the Greek, but the entire word belongs to the people across the Alps; for it is a Gallic word. It is found in the fourteenth book of Marcus Varro's Divine Antiquities, where Varro, speaking of petorritum, says [*](Frag. 108, Agahd.) that it is a Gallic term. [*](Gellius is right; petorrita, like several other words connected with horses and carriages, is borrowed from the Gallic. In Celtic, as also in Oscan and Umbrian, Latin qu is represented by p; hence petor or petora = quattuor.) He also says that lancea, or
lance,is not a Latin, but a Spanish word.
A message sent by the Rhodians about the celebrated picture of Ialysus to Demetrius, leader of the enemy, at the time when they were besieged by him.
THE island of Rhodes, of ancient fame, and the fairest and richest town in it were besieged and assaulted by Demetrius, a famous general of his time, who was surnamed Poliorkhth/s, or
the taker of cities,from his skill and training in conducting sieges and the cleverness of the engines which he devised for the capture of towns. On that occasion he was preparing in the course of the siege to attack, pillage and burn a public building without the walls of the town, which had only a weak garrison.
In this building was that famous picture of Ialysus, [*](Grandson of Helios, the Sungod, and brother of Lindus and Cameirus, with whom he possessed the island of Rhodes. The city of Ialysus on that island was named from him as its founder.) the work of Protogenes, [*](A famous painter of Caunus in Caria, a contemporary of Apelles, flourished about 332 B.C. See Pliny, N. H. xxxv. 101 ff.) the distinguished painter; and incited by anger against them, Demetrius begrudged the Rhodians the beauty and fame of that work of art. The Rhodians sent envoys to Demetrius with this message:
What on earth is your reason for wishing to set fire to that building and destroy our painting? For if you overcome all of us and take this whole town, through your victory you will gain possession also of that painting, uninjured and entire; but if you are unable to overcome us by your siege, we beg you to take thought lest it bring shame upon you, because you could not conquer the Rhodians in war, to have waged war with the dead Protogenes.Upon hearing this message from the envoys, Demetrius abandoned the siege and spared both the picture and the city.
A saying of Musonius, the Greek philosopher, which is of practical value and worth hearing and bearing in mind; and a remark of equal value made by Marcus Cato many years before to the knights at Numantia.
WHEN I was still young and a schoolboy, I heard that this Greek sentiment which I have subjoined was uttered by the philosopher Musonius, and since it is a true and brilliant saying, expressed briefly and roundly, I very willingly committed it to memory: [*](p. 273, Peerlkamp.) "If you accomplish anything noble with toil, the toil passes, but the noble deed endures. If you do anything shameful with pleasure, the pleasure passes, but the shame endures."
Later, I read that same sentiment in the speech of Marcus Cato which he delivered At Numantia to the Knights. Although it is expressed somewhat loosely and diffusely compared with the Greek which I have given, yet, since it is prior in time and more ancient, it ought to seem worthy of greater respect. The words in the speech are as follows: [*](p. 38, 11, Jordan.)
Bear in mind, that if through toil you accomplish a good deed, that toil will quickly pass from you, the good deed will not leave you so long as you live; but if through pleasure you do anything dishonourable, the pleasure will quickly pass away, that dishonourable act will remain with you for ever.