The Republic and The Laws (Oxford World's Classics) (36 page)

by some advantage or benefit
: these words suggest that Cicero still has the Epicureans in mind; for they maintained that ethics was a matter of pleasure or pain. But the argument also recalls the thesis presented by Glaucon in Plato,
Republic z
. 359–61, viz. that injustice, if undetected, is preferable to justice.

the notorious Thirty
: in Athens in the spring of 414, at the end of the Peloponnesian War, the democrats were ousted by the oligarchs. A committee of thirty was formed which set up a new council filled with their own supporters, and abolished the lawcourts. At the same time they instituted a reign of terror in which hundreds were murdered or driven out. At the end of the year the Thirty were defeated by a band of exiles under Thrasybulus; and in 403 democracy was restored.

our interrex
: in 82, L. Valerius Flaccus as interrex introduced a bill which appointed Sulla dictator with unlimited powers—and not just for the usual six months. Sulla then brought in his constitutional reforms, designed to re-establish the power of the senatorial oligarchy. The system lasted little more than a decade. It was finally dismantled by Pompey and Crassus in 70.

our opponents
: again, the Epicureans. For an exposition, and a critique, of their theology see Cic.
De Natura Deorum
1. 18ff.

justice and injustice are differentiated by nature
: this is denied in Horace’s Epicurean satire (i. 3): ‘One has to admit that laws were invented out of the fear of injustice . . . Nor can nature distinguish just from unjust in the way that she separates good things from their opposites, things to be sought from things to be shunned’ (113–14). By ‘good things’ Horace means ‘beneficial things’; thus nature can distinguish edible from poisonous fungi, but justice is a balance of advantages and disadvantages which is not ‘given’ but has to be worked out.

so-called ‘virtue’
: Cicero is dissatisfied in translating the Greek
arete
(excellence) by the Latin
virtus
; for the latter was derived from
vir
(man) and originally meant ‘manliness’.

a tree or a horse
: the virtues, or good qualities, of a tree (e.g. its height, hardness, or straightness) can all be objectively assessed. The same applies to a horse’s strength, speed, or stamina.

the qualities of young men
: moral qualities (honesty, generosity, courage, etc.) are equally objective; i.e. everyone knows what is meant by those terms.

honourable
: that which is honourable is ‘a praiseworthy good’
laudabile bonum)
. But we have already shown that a good is objectively good; therefore that which is honourable is objectively honourable.

the variety and incompatibility of men’s opinions
: Cicero concedes that the character of an actual person may be controversial. But he points out
(a)
that conflicting opinions may arise from ill-informed or biased judgements, and
(b)
that the person under consideration may not be
uniformly
or
invariably
honest, generous, courageous, etc. (unless he is that unlikely creature, a Stoic sage).

duty
: the English word often implies reluctance. But
offcium
carried the idea of kindly service as well as obligation. ‘

for its advantages, not for itself
: in this section Cicero argues like the Stoics, whose moral judgements tended to be categorical (either-or). He does not consider the case where an action performed for someone else’s sake
also
involves an element of self-interest, however small.

if people are not seen to be grateful etc.
: this reproduces the general sense of the passage. The text is corrupt.

that holy thing, friendship
: Kenter sees this as a satirical swipe at the Epicureans—perhaps rightly, in view of the next sentence.

those philosophers who think it is honourable etc.
: I have translated
qui velle iudicium vitare nisi vitio ipso vitato (honestum) putant
. So Watt (2) 242, on the basis of Eussner and Mueller.

the ultimate good
: in
Tusculan Disputations
5.85 Cicero divides the opinions of the various schools into simple and composite. The former
are represented by the Stoics (what is honourable—
honestum)
, the Epicureans (pleasure—
voluptas)
, Hieronymus of Rhodes, a third-century ex-Peripatetic (freedom from pain), and Carneades (the enjoyment of the primary gifts of nature). In
De Finibus
5. 20 and
Academica
2. 131 we hear that this was not Carneades’ own view; nor, we may add, does it sound like a simple opinion. Composite opinions are represented by the Peripatetics (mental goods, physical goods, external goods), the Old Academy (much the same), Dinomachus and Calliphro (pleasure and what is honourable), Diodorus (what is honourable and freedom from pain).

an arbitrator
: the magistrate could appoint an arbitrator (a professional lawyer) rather than one of the panel of judges, who, though respectable citizens, were not necessarily expert in questions of law. See Crook 80.

the Old Academy
: see note on 37–9 above; and cf.
De Finibus
5. 7, where we hear that Antiochus used to group Aristotle with the Old Academy. In
De Natura Deorum
1.16 we are told that Antiochus held that the Stoics agreed in substance with the Peripatetics, differing from them only in terminology. When Cicero minimizes the differences between some of the schools, he is following Antiochus’ line; cf. 54 below.

Antiochus
: for an account of Antiochus see Barnes and Glucker (1).

advantageous things
: the others thought of such things as lesser goods. Zeno acknowledged their value, but (since he allowed only one ‘good’)he called them ‘advantageous’. Therefore, says Cicero, the dispute is a matter of terminology.

ultimate ends
: the Latin
fines
meant both ‘ethical ends’ and ‘local boundaries’. Cicero proceeds to play on the two senses.

rights of possessors
: Zeno is said to claim certain
fines
belonging to the Academy. Marcus, Quintus, and Atticus will act as arbitrators as laid down for disputes over
fines
in the Twelve Tables. Ownership as a result of uninterrupted possession
(usucapio)
, as distinct from strict legal title, was recognized by Roman law. See the Twelve Tables, 6. 3;
ROL
iv. 461; Crook 141–2.

within five feet
: a strip of land five feet wide ran between one property and another. The strip could be used for turning the plough, but possession could not be acquired on the strip itself.

the Mamilian Law
: in 109 a tribune called Mamilius set up a court to try those who had accepted bribes from Jugurtha. Sallust
(Jugurtha
40) gives his name as Gaius Mamilius Limetanus (‘the boundary man’). So it is probable that he was the man mentioned by Cicero, and that at this time he also brought in his law reducing the three arbitrators to one in disputes over boundaries.

the markers laid down by Socrates
: as the views of Socrates were
represented (whether faithfully or not) by Plato, this indicates that the decision has gone in favour of the Old Academy. Zeno receives rougher treatment in
De Finibus
4. 19ff.

the highest good
: by presenting the alternatives in these terms Quintus seems to be suggesting that the distinction between the two positions is so subtle that a final decision cannot be made.

means the same as this
: reading
idem ac hoc valet
on the suggestion of Watt (in a letter).

a good man . . . a happy one
: the realization is said to come as a result of wisdom or philosophy in general. But it was open to question, as we see from De
Finibus
5. 11, 70, 79, 84. As so often, the dispute turns out to be a matter of terminology (and perhaps a certain amount of self-deception).

a citizen of the whole world
: ‘Although the idea of world citizenship may be ascribed to Socrates
(Tusc
. V. 108), it owes its dissemination to the Stoa.’ So Kenter. He cites,
inter alia, De Finibus
3. 64, 4. 7; Seneca,
Epistulae
28. 4.

disdain, despise, and count as nothing
: cf.
R. 6. 16
.

a kind of stockade
: according to D.L. 7. 40, this was a Stoic image.

a more expansive . . . style
: i.e. rhetoric. See De
Finibus
2. 17, where dialectic is contrasted with rhetoric. Cicero now goes on to embrace the three types of rhetoric: deliberative, judicial, and demonstrative (i.e. the rhetoric of display).

BOOK 2

Euripuses
: the Euripus was the strait between Euboea and the Greek mainland.

nothing here except rocks
: such wild scenery, which thrills the romantic, would not have given pleasure to Atticus. He was happy to find a gentler place with features to which a human being could relate.

that eminently sensible man
: Ulysses, who refused the immortality offered by Calypso so that he might return home
(Odyssey
1. 55–9, 5. 135–6).

Tusculum
: 15 miles (24km.) south-east of Rome, 2,000 feet (nearly 610 m.) above sea level; a fashionable resort where several important Romans (including Cicero) had villas.

The last seven words in the text of section 5 have been deleted as a gloss.

her two saviours
: Marius and Cicero.

Plato’s Phaedrus
: in
Phaedrus
230b Socrates dips his feet in the Ilissus.

Tyamis
: the river Tyamis flows into the sea opposite to Corcyra (Corfu).

Amaltbeum
: a shrine to Amalthea (see Index of Names). Cicero built one for himself at Arpinum
(Att.
1. 16. 15).

my version of Aratus’ poem
: for fragments of Cicero’s version see Traglia, 65–111.

the best authorities
: in particular the Stoics.

an eternal force etc.
: cf.
L.
1. 21 and 33.

If [plaintiff] summon [defendant] to court
: Twelve Tables 1. 1
(ROL
iv. 425). The defendant was summoned to a preliminary hearing before the praetor, which is what Cicero has in mind here. If the issue was not resolved there, the case went to trial. See Crook 75–7.

the idea of choosing
:
see L. t.
19.

those gentlemen
: philosophers using Socrates’ method of interrogation.

a measure of consent
: see Plato,
Laws,
4. 720–3.

the procession of the stars etc.
: this recalls the eloquent passage in
De Natura Deorum
2. 87–119, which contains a translation of Aristotle’s
De Philosophia
(95); see Pease’s notes.

it has to he admitted etc.
: the reasoning is fallacious. This becomes clear when ‘superior’
(praestare)
is taken to mean ‘superior in intelligence’ and one attempts to set out the propositions in the form of a syllogism. Cf.
De Natura Deorum
3. 22–3.

the preamble to the legal code
: see Plato,
Laws
4. 722–3.

although our discussion and its setting are private
: reading
quamquam
for
quoniam
with Watt (t)
266, following Rath.

Sacred Laws
: the
leges sacratae,
which went back to the early fifth century
BC
, were collective resolutions of the plebs, reinforced by an oath (Cornell 262). An important example was the proclamation that the tribunes of the plebs should be immune from violence. Anyone who contravened this law was pronounced accursed
(sacer);
i.e. he was dedicated as a sacrifice to one of the gods, along with his family and property. Later, the condemned man, instead of being killed, was declared an outlaw; see Greenidge (1) 55.

Liber
: ‘The Free’, i.e. Bacchus. Cf.
De Natura Deorum
2. 62.

in the company of
: reading
cum
with Watt (1) 266.

flamines
: a
flamen
was a priest assigned to carry out the ritual of a particular deity.

patches of withies
: flexible twigs would be used for the lictors’ rods and also for baskets and fences.

the safety of the people
: a reference to the
augurium salutis,
in which the augur tested whether the gods would permit prayers to be offered for the safety of Rome. See Dio 37. 24 and Cic.
De Divinatione
1. 105 with Pease’s note.

fixed quarters of the sky
: the sky was divided into sixteen sections, assigned to various deities. So the observer was supposed to know from what god any particular sign came; see Pallottino t45, fig. 5.

The fetial priests
: for references see section 34 below (the law governing war).

in the name of the people
: reading
indices populi nomine sunto
with Watt (2) 242.

Etruscan soothsayers
: their divination involved the inspection of animal entrails
(haruspicium).
This, and the interpretation of lightning, were important features of the Etruscan
disciplina
(art or training): see Pallottino 143–7.

except those … on behalf of the people
: Cicero is thinking of the nocturnal rites of the Bona Dea, a fertility goddess from whose festival on 1 May men were strictly excluded. At her ritual, sacrifice was offered ‘On behalf of the people’ (Cicero,
De Haruspicum Responso
37; Seneca,
Epistulae
97. 2). See further section 36 below.

except those of Ceres etc.
: the mysteries of Eleusis in Attica included an enactment of the story of Demeter (Ceres) and Persephone (Proserpina), a myth which ‘explained’ why corn remained under the earth for part of the year and above it for the rest. To the initiate the perennial rebirth of the crops gave promise of survival. The worship of Ceres had been imported into Rome as early as 493. She had a temple on the Aventine, and special games were held in her honour.