Noctes Atticae

With what quantity the first syllable of the frequentative verb from ago should be pronounced.

FROM ago and egi are derived the verbs actito and actitavi, which the grammarians call

frequentatives.

That the leaves of the olive tree turn over at the summer and the winter solstice, and that the lyre at that same season produces sounds from other strings than those that are struck.

IT is commonly both written and believed that at the winter and the summer solstice the leaves of olive trees turn over, and that the side which had been underneath and hidden becomes uppermost and is exposed to sight and to the sun. And 1 myself was led to test this statement more than once, and found it to be almost exactly true.

But about the lyre there is an assertion that is less often made and is even more remarkable. And this both other learned men and also Suetonius Tranquillus, in the first book of his History of the Games, [*](The title as given in full by Suidas is On the Festivals and Games of the Romans, two books. See Fr. 181, Reiff.)

That it is inevitable that one who has much should need much, with a brief and graceful aphorism of the philosopher Favorinus on that subject.

THAT is certainly true which wise men have said as the result of observation and experience, that he who has much is in need of much, and that great want arises from great abundance and not from great lack; for many things are wanted to maintain the many things that you have. Whoever then, having much, desires to provide and take precaution that nothing may fail or be lacking, needs to lose, not gain, and must have less in order to want less.

I recall that Favorinus once, amid loud and general applause, rounded off this thought, putting it into the fewest possible words: [*](Fr. 81, Marres. We may compare Hor. Epist. i. 6. 40 ff.)

It is not possible for one who wants fifteen thousand cloaks not to want more things; [*](ad ea quae habet tuenda; see § 1.) for if I want more than I possess, by taking away from what I have I shall be contented with what remains.

What method should be followed in translating Greek expressions; and on those verses of Homer which Virgil is thought to have translated either well and happily or unsuccessfully.

WHENEVER striking expressions from the Greek poets are to be translated and imitated, they say that

For example, when very recently the Bucolics of Theocritus and Virgil were being read together at table, we perceived that Virgil had omitted something that in the Greek is, to be sure, wonderfully pleasing, but neither could nor ought to have been translated. But what he has substituted for that omission is almost more charming and graceful. Theocritus writes: [*](Idyls v. 88 f; the translation is that of Edmonds, L.C.L.)

1. But when her goatherd boy goes by you should see my Cleärist
2. Fling apples, and her pretty lips call pouting to be kissed.

1. My Phyllis me with pelted apples plies,
2. Then tripping to the woods the wanton hies,
3. And wishes to be seen before she flies.

1. O Tityrus, well-belovéd, feed my goats,
2. And lead them to the fount, good Tityrus;
3. But 'ware yon buck-goat yellow, lest he butt.

well-beloved

1. Till I return—not long—feed thou my goats;
2. Then, Tityrus, give them drink, but as you go,
3. Avoid the buck-goat's horn—the fellow butts'

And since I am speaking on the subject of translation, I recall hearing from pupils of Valerius Probus, a learned man and well trained in reading and estimating the ancient writings, that he used to say that Virgil had never translated Homer less successfully than in these delightful lines which Homer wrote about Nausicaa: [*](Odyss. vi. 102 ff., translation by Dryden.)

1. As when o'er Erymanth Diana roves,
2. Or wide Taÿgetus' resounding groves,
3. A silver train the huntress queen surrounds,
4. Her rattling quiver from her shoulder sounds;
5. Fierce in the sport, along the mountain's brow
6. They bay the boar or chase the bounding roe;
7. High o'er the lawn, with more majestic pace,
8. Above the nymphs she treads with stately grace;
9. Distinguished excellence the goddess proves,
10. Exults Latona as the virgin moves:
11. With equal grace Nausicaa trod the plain,
12. And shone transcendent o'er the beauteous train.

1. As on Eurotas' banks or Cynthus' heights
2. Diana guides her dancing bands, whose train
3. A thousand Oreads follow, right and left;
4. A quiver bears she on her shoulder fair,
5. And as she treads, the goddesses o'ertops;
6. Joys thrill Latona's silent breast.

pressing on the work of her rising kingdom,

Leto rejoiced in heart,

1. And shone transcendent o'er the beauteous train. [*](Literally, "And is readily recognized, though all are fair.")

The low and odious criticism with which Annaeus Cornutus befouled the lines of Virgil in which the poet with chaste reserve spoke of the intercourse of Venus and Vulcan.

THE poet Annianus, [*](A name of Celtic origin, according to Schulze, Eigenn. 426.) and with him many other devotees of the same Muse, extolled with high and constant praise the verses of Virgil in which, while depicting and describing the conjugal union of Vulcan and Venus, an act that nature's law bids us conceal, he veiled it with a modest paraphrase. For thus he wrote: [*](Aen. viii. 404 ff.)

1. So speaking, the desired embrace he gave,
2. And sinking on the bosom of his spouse,
3. Calm slumber then he wooed in every limb.

maiden girdle

the right of the couch

love's labours

But Annaeus Cornutus, a man in many other respects, to be sure, lacking neither in learning nor taste, nevertheless, in the second book of the work which he compiled On Figurative Language, defamed the high praise of all that modesty by an utterly silly and odious criticism. For after expressing approval of that kind of figurative language, and observing that the lines were composed with due circumspection, he added:

Virgil nevertheless was somewhat indiscreet in using the word membra.

Of Valerius Corvinus and the origin of his surname,

THERE is not one of the well-known historians who has varied in telling the story of Valerius Maximus, who was called Corvinus because of the help and defence rendered him by a raven. That truly remarkable event is in fact thus related in the annals: [*](e.q. Claud. Quad. Fr. 12, Peter2.) In the consulship of Lucius Furius and Appius Claudius, [*](349 B.C.) a young man of such a family [*](That is, as had been described in what preceded.) was appointed tribune of the soldiers. And at that time vast forces of Gauls had encamped in the Pomptine district, and the Roman army was being drawn up in order of battle by the consuls, who were not a little disquieted by the strength and number of the enemy. Meanwhile the leader of the Gauls, a man of enormous size and stature, his armour gleaming with gold, advanced with long strides and flourishing his spear, at the same time casting haughty and contemptuous glances

To that Corvinus the deified Augustus caused a statue to be erected in his Forum. [*](In the colonnades of his Forum Augustus placed statues of the leaders who had raised the estate of the Roman people from obscurity to greatness: see Suetonius, Aug. xxxi. 5.) On the head of this statue is the figure of a raven, a reminder of the event and of the combat which I have described.

On words which are used with two opposite meanings, both active and passive.

As the adjective formidulosus may be used both of one who fears and of one who is feared, invidiosus of

But the meaning which I gave first surely needs no illustration, so many are there who use infestus in the sense of hostile and adverse; but that second meaning is less familiar and more obscure. For who of the common run would readily call a man infestus to whom another is hostile? However, not only did many of the earlier writers speak in that way, but Marcus Tullius also gave the word that meaning in the speech which he wrote In Defence of Gnaeus Plancius, saying: [*](§ 1.)

I were grieved, gentlemen of the jury, and keenly distressed, if this man's safety should be more endangered (infestior) for the very reason that he had protected my life and safety by his own kindliness, protection and watchfulness.

Infestus is derived from festinare,

for one who threatens anyone, and is in haste to attack him, and hurries eagerly to crush him; or on the other hand one whose peril and ruin are being hastened— both of these are called infestus from the urgent imminence of the injury which one is either about to inflict on someone, or to suffer.

Now, that no one may have to search for an example of suspiciosus, which I mentioned above, and of formidulosus in its less usual sense, Marcus Cato, On the properly of Florius, used suspiciosus as follows: [*](lvii. 1, Jordan.)

But except in the case of one who practised public prostitution, or had hired himself out to a procurer, even though he had been ill-famed and suspected suspiciousus, they decided that it was unlawful to use force against the person of a freeman.

suspected,

suspecting.

To such men consequently no labour was unfamiliar, no region too rough or too steep, no armed foeman to be dreaded (formidulosus).

Gaius Calvus also in his poems uses laboriosus, not in the ordinary sense of

one who toils,

1. The hard and toilsome (laboriosum) country he will
2. shun.

1. By Castor! sleepy (somniculosum) wine!

1. As Punic Psyllus doth [*](Some such word as handle is to be supplied.) the sleepy (somniculosam) asp. [*](The Psylli, according to Pliny, Nat. Hist. vii. 14, were an African people whose bodies contained a poison deadly to serpents, and gave out an odour which put snakes to flight; see also Nat. Hist. viii. 93; Dio Cassius, li. 14. Psyllus came to be a general term for snake-charmers and healers of snakebites, as in Suetonius, Aug. xvii. 4.)

Metus also and iniuria, and some other words of the kind. may be used in this double sense; for metus hostium,

fear of the enemy,

the fear of Pompey,

That war was aroused by the fear of the victorious Pompey, who was restoring Hiempsal to his kingdom.

After the fear of the Carthaginians had been dispelled and there was leisure to engage in dissensions.

injuries,

The following passage from Virgil affords a similar instance of this kind of double meaning; he says: [*](Aen. ii. 436.)

1. Slow from Ulysses' wound,

1. In unknown (nesciis) realms are we where hope
2. knows naught (nescia). [*](That is, not knowing what to expect )

With the natural desire of mankind to visit unknown (ignara) places.

1. Unknown (ignarum) the Laurentine shore doth Mimas hold.

A passage from the history of Claudius Quadrigarius, in which he pictured the combat of Manlius Torquatus, a young noble, with a hostile Gaul, who challenged the whole Roman army.

TITUS MANLIUS was a man of the highest birth and of exalted rank. This Manlius was given the surname Torquatus. The reason for the surname, we are told, was that he wore as a decoration a golden neck-chain, a trophy taken from an enemy whom he had slain. But who the enemy was, and what his nationality, how formidable his huge size, how insolent his challenge, and how the battle was fought all this Quintus Claudius has described in the first book of his Annals with words of the utmost purity and clearness, and with the simple and unaffected charm of the old-time style. When the philosopher Favorinus read this passage from that work, he used to say that his mind was stirred and affected by no less emotion and excitement than if he were himself an eye-witness of their contest.

I have added the words of Quintus Claudius in which that battle is pictured:

In the meantime a Gaul came forward, who was naked except for a shield and two swords and the ornament of a neck-chain and bracelets; in strength and size, in youthful vigour and in courage as well, he excelled all the rest. In the very height of the battle, when the two armies were fighting with the utmost ardour, he began to make signs with his hand to both sides, to cease fighting. The combat ceased. As soon as silence was secured, he called out in a mighty voice that if anyone wished to engage him in single combat,

v2.p.197

he should come forward. This no one dared do, because of his great size and savage aspect. Then the Gaul began to laugh at them and to stick out his tongue. This at once roused the great indignation of one Titus Manlius, a youth of the highest birth, that such an insult should be offered his country, and that no one from so great an army should accept the challenge. He, as I say, stepped forth, and would not suffer Roman valour to be shamefully tarnished by a Gaul. Armed with a foot-soldier's shield and a Spanish sword, he confronted the Gaul. Their meeting took place on the very bridge, in the presence of both armies, amid great apprehension. Thus they confronted each other, as I said before: the Gaul, according to his method of fighting, with shield advanced and awaiting an attack; Manlius, relying on courage rather than skill, struck shield against shield, and threw the Gaul off his balance. While the Gaul was trying to regain the same position, Manlius again struck shield against shield, and again forced the man to change his ground. In this fashion he slipped in under the Gaul's sword and stabbed him in the breast with his Spanish blade. Then at once with the same mode of attack he struck his adversary's right shoulder, and he did not give ground at all until he overthrew him, without giving the Gaul a chance to strike a blow. After he had overthrown him, he cut off his head, tore off his neck-chain, and put it, covered with blood as it was, around his own neck. Because of this act, he himself and his descendants had the surname Torquatus.

From this Titus Manlius, whose battle Quadrigarius described above, all harsh and cruel commands are

Manlian;