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).
On the Enigma.
THE kind of composition which the Greeks call
enigmas,some of our early writers called scirpi, or
rushes.[*](Apparently so called from the involved pattern of plaited rushes.) An example is the enigma composed of three iambic trimeters which I recently found— very old, by Jove! and very neat. I have left it unanswered, in order to excite the ingenuity of my readers in seeking for an answer. The three verses are these:
He who does not wish to puzzle himself too long will find the answer [*](The answer is Terminus. Once minus and twice minus = thrice (ter) minus. In the cella of Jupiter on the Capitolium, or possibly in the pronaos, there was a terminal cippus, representing Terminus, who refused to be removed from his original site.) in the second book of Varro's Latin Language, addressed to Marcellus. [*](Fr. 55. G. & S.)
- I know not if he's minus once or twice,
- Or both of these, who would not give his place,
- As I once heard it said, to Jove himself.
Why Gnaeus Dolabella, the proconsul, referred to the court of the Areopagus the case of a woman charged with poisoning and admitting the fact.
WHEN Gnaeus Dolabella was governing the province of Asia with proconsular authority, a woman of Smyrna was brought before him. This woman had killed her husband and her son at the same time by secretly giving them poison. She confessed the crime, and said that she had reason for it, since her husband and son had treacherously done to death another son of hers by a former husband, an excellent and blameless youth; and there was no dispute about the truth of this statement. Dolabella referred the matter to his council. No member of the council ventured to render a decision in so difficult a case, since the confession of the poisoning which had resulted in the death of the husband and son seemed to call for punishment, while at the same time a just penalty had thereby been inflicted upon two wicked men. Dolabella referred the question to the Areopagites [*](A very ancient court at Athens, so called because it held its meetings on the Areopagus, or Hill of Mars.) at Athens, as judges of greater authority and experience. The Areopagites, after having heard the case, summoned the woman and her accuser to appear after a hundred years. Thus the woman's crime was not condoned, for the laws did not permit that, nor, though guilty, was she condemned and punished for a pardonable offence. The story is told in the ninth book of Valerius Maximus' work on Memorable Occurrences and Sayings. [*](viii. 1 amb. 2, Kempf; Gellius' reference is wrong.)
Noteworthy reconciliations between famous men.
PUBLIUS AFRICANUS the elder and Tiberius Gracchus, father of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, men illustrious for their great exploits, the high offices which they held, and the uprightness of their lives, often disagreed about public questions, and for that reason, or some other, were not friends. When this hostility had lasted for a long time, the feast was offered to Jupiter on the appointed day, [*](On the 13th of September, which was also the anniversary of the founding of the Capitoline Temple. See Fowler, .Roman Festivals, pp. 217 f.) and on the occasion of that ceremony the senate banqueted in the Capitol. It chanced that the two men were placed side by side at the same table, and immediately, as if the immortal gods, acting as arbiters at the feast of Jupiter, Greatest and Best of Gods, had joined their hands, they became the best of friends. And not only did friendship spring up between them, but at the same time their families were united by a marriage; for Publius Scipio, having a daughter that was unwedded and marriageable at the time, thereupon on the spot betrothed her to Tiberius Gracchus, whom he had chosen and approved at a time when judgment is most strict; that is, while he was his personal enemy.
Aemilius Lepidus, too, and Fulvius Flaccus, men of noble birth, who had held the highest offices, and occupied an exalted place in public life, were opposed to each other in a bitter hatred and enmity of long standing. Later, the people chose them censors at the same time. Then they, as soon as their election was proclaimed by the herald, in the Campus Martius itself, before the assembly was
What is meant by
ambiguouswords; and that even honos was such a word.
ONE may very often see and notice in the early writings many words which at present in ordinary conversation have one fixed meaning, but which then were so indifferent and general, that they could signify and include two opposite things. Some of these are well known, such as tempestas (weather), valitudo (health), facinus (act), dolus (device), gratia (favour), industria (activity). [*](Tempestas means good or bad weather; valitudo, good or ill health, etc.) For it is well-nigh a matter of general knowledge that these are ambiguous and can be used either in a good or in a bad sense.
That periculm (trial), too, and venenum (drug) and contagium (contagion) were not used, as they now are, only in a bad sense, you may learn from many examples of that usage. But the use of honor as an indifferent word, so that people even spoke of
bad honour,signifying
wrongor
injury,is indeed very rare. However, Quintus Metellus Numidicus, in a speech which he delivered On his Triumph, used these words: [*](O. B. F., p. 275, Meyer.2)
In this affair, by as much as the whole of you are more important than my single self, by so much he inflicts upon you greater insult and injury than on me; and by as much as honest men are more willing to suffer wrong than toHe says,v2.p.391do wrong to another, by so much has he shown worse honour (peiorem honorem) to you than to me; for he wishes me to suffer injustice, Romans, and you to inflict it, so that I may be left with cause for complaint, and you may be open to reproach.
he has shown worse honour to you than to me,and the meaning of the expression is the same as when he himself says, just before that,
he has inflicted a greater injury and insult on you than on me.
In addition to the citation of this word, I thought I ought to quote the following saying from the speech of Quintus Metellus, in order to point out that it is a precept of Socrates; the saying in question is:
It is worse to be unjust than to suffer injustice.[*](Plato, Gorgias, p. 473 A; 489 A; 508 B.)
That aeditumus is a Latin word.
Aeditimus[*](So the MSS.; aeditumus is a variant spelling.) is a Latin word and an old one at that, formed in the same way as finitimus and legilimus. In place of it many to-day say aedituus by a new and false usage, as if it were derived from guarding the temples. [*](That is, from aedes and tueor.) This ought to be enough to say as a warning [*](There is a lacuna in the text.) . . . because of certain rude and persistent disputants, who are not to be restrained except by the citation of authorities.
Marcus Varro, in the second book of his Latin Language addressed to Marcellus, thinks [*](Fr. 56, G. & S.) that we ought to use aedituus rather than aedituus, because the latter is made up by a late invention, while the former is pure and of ancient origin. Laevius too,
one who guards the temples,is made. In the most reliable copies of Marcus Tullius' Fourth Oration against Verres I find it written: [*](ii. 4. 96.)
The custodians (aeditumi) and guards quickly perceive it,but in the ordinary copies aeditui is read. There is an Atellan farce of Pomponius' entitled Aeditumus. In it is this line: [*](v. 2, Ribbeck. 3)
Titus Lucretius too in his poem [*](vi. 1273.) speaks of aedituentes, instead of aeditui. [*](Both aeditumus and aedituus are good Latin words. The former is made like finitumus and originally meant belonging to a temple; it derived its meaning guardian of a temple from aedituus (aedes and tueor).)
- As soon as I attend you and keep your temple-door (aeditumor).