THE END.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Cicero, Marcus Tullius and Yonge, Charles Duke
48
Ωκ. Οὐκοῦν Προμηθεῦ τοῦτο γιγνώσκεις ὅτι
ὀργῆς νοσούσης εἰσὶν ἰατροὶ λόγοι.
Πρ. ἐάν τις ἐν καιρῷ γε μαλθάσσῃ κεάρ
καὶ μὴ σφριγῶντα θυμὸν ἰσχναίνη βιᾳ.—
Æsch. Prom. v. 378.
49 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 καρδέη 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.
50 Cicero means Scipio Nasica, who, in the riots consequent on the reelection of Tiberius Gracchus to the tribunate, 133 b.c., having called in vain on the consul, Mucius Scævola, to save the republic, attacked Gracchus himself, who was slain in the tumult.
51Morosus is evidently derived from mores—“Morosus, mos, stubbornness, self-will, etc.”—Riddle and Arnold, Lat. Dict.
52 In the original they run thus:
Οὔκ ἐστιν οὐδὲν δεινὸν ὧδ’ εἰπεῖν ἔπος,
Οὐδὲ πάθος, οὐδὲ ξυμφορὰ θεήλατος
ἧς οὐκ ἂν ἀροιτ’ ἄχθος ἀνθρώπον φύσις.
53 This passage is from the Eunuch of Terence, act i., sc. 1, 14.
54 These verses are from the Atreus of Accius.
55 This was Marcus Atilius Regulus, the story of whose treatment by the Carthaginians in the first Punic War is well known to everybody.
56 This was Quintus Servilius Cæpio, who, 105 b.c., 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.
57 This was Marcus Aquilius, who, in the year 88 b.c., 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.
58 This was the elder brother of the triumvir Marcus Crassus, 87 b.c. He was put to death by Fimbria, who was in command of some of the troops of Marius.
59 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.
60 M. Antonius was the grandfather of the triumvir; he was murdered the same year, 87 b.c., by Annius, when Marius and Cinna took Rome.
61 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.