Helps to Latin Translation at Sight Part 18

613. +reserat+ = _un-bars_. For _sero_ = _join_, cf. our _series_.]

+Parallel Pa.s.sages.+ Ovid, _F._ i. 115-132. Cf. Hor. _Od._ iv. 15. 9.

Verg. _Aen._ i. 293-4.

+Numa Pompilius.+ 'The name of Numa is significant, and denotes an organiser or _lawgiver_. (For _Numa_ cf. +numerus+, +nummus+, ????.) As Romulus was the founder of the State and of political and military order, so the legend regards Numa as the founder of the national religion.' --Ihne.

D4

TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS, 534-509 B.C.

_The Purchase of the Sibylline Books._

In antiquis annalibus memoria super libris Sibyllinis haec prodita est.

a.n.u.s hospita atque incognita ad Tarquinium Superb.u.m regem adiit, novem libros ferens, quos esse dicebat divina oracula: eos velle venundare.

Tarquinius pretium percontatus {5} est: mulier nimium immensum poposcit.

Rex, quasi a.n.u.s aetate desiperet, derisit. Tum illa foculum coram eo c.u.m igne apposuit, et tres libros ex novem deussit; et, ecquid reliquos s.e.x eodem pretio emere vellet, regem interrogavit. Sed enim {10} Tarquinius id multo risit magis dixitque anum iam procul dubio delirare. Mulier ibidem statim tres libros alios exussit; atque id ipsum denuo placide interrogavit, an tres reliquos eodem pretio emat. Tarquinius ore iam serio, atque attentiore animo fit; eam {15} constantiam confidentiamque non insuper habendam intelligit: libros tres reliquos mercatur nihilo minore pretio, quam quod erat pet.i.tum pro omnibus. . . . Libri tres in sacrarium conditi Sibyllini appellati. Ad eos, quasi ad oraculum, quindecimviri {20} adeunt, c.u.m dii immortales publice consulendi sunt.

AULUS GELLIUS (fl. 143 A.D.), i. 19.

[Linenotes: 1, 2. +libris Sibyllinis+, i.e. a collection of prophecies uttered by the legendary prophetess who lived at c.u.mae, near Naples.

5. +venundare+ = _to sell_. Cf. _ven-eo_ (= _venum + eo_), _ven-do_, and our _vendor_.

12. +delirare+ = _to be out of her mind_. Lit. to make a crooked furrow in ploughing; _de + lira_ (a furrow).

19. +sacrarium+ = _the place for the keeping of holy things_, i.e.

the Capitol. The original Sibylline Books were burnt in the fire on the Capitol, 82 B.C., but a fresh collection was made by Augustus, and deposited in the temple of Apollo on the Palatine.

20. +quindecimviri+ (_sacris faciundis_), i.e. a college of priests who had charge of the Sibylline Books.]

+Parallel Pa.s.sages.+ Verg. _Aen._ vi., espec. ll. 42-101, for the c.u.maean Sibyl.

+The Sibylline Books.+ 'There existed also Etruscan +libri fatales+ (_Books of Fate_), and these, together with the Sibylline Books, were kept in the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter. Nothing seemed more natural than to suppose that Tarquin, who built that temple, purchased also the sacred books of the Sibyl.' --Ihne.

D5

TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS, 534-509 B.C.

A. _s.e.xtus Tarquinius at Gabii._

Inde in consilia publica adhiberi. . . . Ita c.u.m sensim ad rebellandum primores Gabinorum incitaret, ipse c.u.m promptissimis iuvenum praedatum atque in expeditiones iret, et dictis factisque omnibus ad fallendum instructis vana accresceret fides, dux ad {5} ultimum belli legitur. Ibi c.u.m inscia mult.i.tudine, quid ageretur, proelia parva inter Romam Gabiosque fierent, quibus plerumque Gabina res superior esset, tum certatim summi infimique Gabinorum s.e.x. Tarquinium dono deum sibi missum ducem credere. {10} Apud milites vero obeundo pericula ac labores pariter, praedam munifice largiendo tanta caritate esse, ut non pater Tarquinius potentior Bomae quam filius Gabiis esset.

LIVY, i. 54.

[Linenotes: 1. +Inde+, i.e. after the tale he told of his father's cruelty had gained credit with the men of Gabii.

+adhiberi+ = _he was admitted_. Historic Infin.

2. +ad rebellandum+ = _to renew the war_.

4-5. +ad fallendum instructis+ = _were framed to deceive_.

8. +Gabina res+ = _the cause of Gabii_. For +res+ cf. p. 11 (2).

[[Introduction 13 (2)]]

11. +obeundo pariter+ = _by facing alike ..._]

B. _The Sequel: the Fall of Gabii._

Iamque potens misso genitorem appellat amico, Perdendi Gabios quod sibi monstret iter.

Hortus odoratis suberat cultissimus herbis, Sectus humum rivo lene sonantis aquae. 4 Illic Tarquinius mandata latentia nati Accipit, et virga lilia summa met.i.t.

Nuntius ut rediit, decussaque lilia dixit, Filius 'Agnosco iussa parentis' ait. 8 Nec mora: principibus caesis ex urbe Gabina, Traduntur ducibus moenia nuda suis.

OVID, _Fasti_, ii. 543-552. H. [II. 701-710]

[Linenotes: 1. +genitorem appellat ...+ = _he calls on his father (to tell him)_ ...

6. +virga+ = _with a switch_.

+summa+ = _the tallest_.

10. +ducibus suis+, abl., after _nuda_ = _deprived of_.]

+Reference.+ Hor. _Ep._ ii. 1. 23-27. Horace refers to the treaty made by Tarquinius with Gabii.

+Historic Parallel.+ Compare the extraordinary self-sacrifice of Zopy?rus, which enabled him to betray Babylon to his master Darius.

Herod, iii. 153-158.

D6

_The Position of Rome, the future Mistress of the World._

Urbi autem loc.u.m Romulus incredibili opportunitate delegit. Neque enim ad mare admovit--quod ei fuit illa manu copiisque facillimum, ut in agrum Rutulorum Aboriginumve procederet, aut in ostio Tiberino, quem in loc.u.m multis post annis rex {5} Ancus coloniam deduxit, urbem ipse conderet,--sed hoc vir excellenti providentia sensit ac vidit, non esse opportunissimos situs maritimos urbibus eis quae ad spem diuturnitatis conderentur atque imperi. Itaque urbem perennis amnis et aequabilis et {10} in mare late influentis posuit in ripa, quo posset urbs et accipere ex mari, quo egeret, et reddere, quo redundaret: ut mihi iam tum divina.s.se ille videatur, hanc urbem sedem aliquando et domum summo esse imperio praebituram: nam hanc rerum tantam {15} potentiam non ferme facilius alia in parte Italiae posita urbs tenere potuisset. Urbis autem ipsius is est tractus ductusque muri c.u.m Romuli tum etiam reliquorum regum sapientia definitus ex omni parte arduis praeruptisque montibus.

Loc.u.mque delegit {20} et fontibus abundantem et in regione pestilenti salubrem.

CICERO, _De Rep._ ii. 3. 5, 6 (selected).

[Linenotes: 3-6. +quod ei fuit ...+ = lit. which he might very easily have done with that band (of men) and those forces, so that ...

4. +Rutulorum.+ S. of Rome. Turnus their King. Capital, Ardea.

6. +coloniam+, i.e. Ostia, the harbour of Rome and chief naval station.

7-8. +non esse opportunissimos+, e.g. as exposed to sudden attacks, and likely to contain a too large foreign element.

12-13. +quo redundaret+ = _its own superabundance_.

17-18. +is tractus ductusque+ = _the plan and direction_.

19. +definitus+ = _bounded_.

20. +arduis praeruptisque montibus.+ 'The amphitheatre of seven hills which encloses the meadows (afterwards the Campus Martius) in the bend of the Tiber, varying from 120 to 180 feet above the stream, offered heights sufficiently elevated and abrupt for fortification, yet without difficulties for the builder or cultivator.']

N.B.--In this pa.s.sage be careful to translate Cicero's long, periodic sentences by two or more separate sentences in English.

+The Position of Rome.+ 'There was no place better fitted for an emporium of the Tiber and sea traffic, and for a maritime frontier fortress than Rome. It combined the advantages of a strong position and of immediate vicinity to the river.' Mommsen.

D7

THE PRAISE OF ITALY.

_'Salve, magna parens frugum, Saturnia tellus.'_