302. attenderis: sc. ad eam, you give your attention to it.
304. intellegendum: sc. est; impers. pass.
306. celandi et occultandi: from celare and occultare; both mean to hide, conceal (here, one’s actions).
opinio: here, thought, expectation.
307. nobis…persuasum esse debet (308): impers. pass.; lit., it ought to have been persuaded to us = we should have been persuaded.
profecimus: proficere,to gain, accomplish.
308. celare: here, to hide from, escape the attention of.
nihil…nihil (309): ANAPHORA (repetition) and ASYNDETON (omission of conjunctions) add emphasis to the point.
309. incontinenter: adv., immoderately, intemperately.
311. hinc: i.e., for purposes of illustrating this point.
312. Gyges: king of Lydia in the 7th cent. B.C.; antecedent of qui.
a Platone: in Book II of the Republic.
discessisset:had gone apart = had opened up.
313. imbribus: imber, violent rain, storm; ABL. OF CAUSE.
hiatum: hiatus,opening, gap.
aeneum:bronze.
314. lateribus: latus, side.
fores: foris,door, usually pl. referring to folding doors.
316. invisitata: not seen = unusual.
anulum: anulus,ring.
317. induit: induere, to put on.
pastor:shepherd.
se…recepit (318):he took himself, i.e., he went.
318. palam: pala, bezel, mounted gem (of a ring).
319. rursus: adv., again.
321. stuprum: dishonor, (illicit) sexual intercourse; with intulit (+ dat.) = he seduced.
adiutrice: adiutrix,assistant, here, accomplice; ABL. ABS.
322. interemit: interimere, to kill.
(b) In every action three tenets should be observed: (1) restraint of appetites, (2) proportion, (3) moderation. In omni autem actione suscipienda tria sunt tenenda: primum ut appetitus rationi pareat, quo nihil est ad officia conservanda accommodatius; deinde ut animadvertatur quanta illa res sit quam 295 efficere velimus, ut neve maior neve minor cura et opera suscipiatur quam causa postulet; tertium est ut caveamus ut ea, quae pertinent ad liberalem speciem et dignitatem, moderata sint. Modus autem est optimus decus ipsum tenere, de quo ante diximus, nec progredi longius. Horum tamen trium praestantissimum 300 est appetitum obtemperare rationi. (I.141)
Expediency and moral right.
Cum igitur aliqua species utilitatis obiecta est, commoveri necesse est; sed si, cum animum attenderis, turpitudinem videas adiunctam ei rei quae speciem utilitatis attulerit, tum non utilitas relinquenda est, sed intellegendum, ubi turpitudo sit, ibi 305 utilitatem esse non posse. Atque etiam ex omni deliberatione celandi et occultandi spes opinioque removenda est. Satis enim nobis, si modo in philosophia aliquid profecimus, persuasum esse debet, si omnes deos hominesque celare possimus, nihil tamen avare, nihil iniuste, nihil libidinose, nihil incontinenter 310 esse faciendum.
Illustrated by Plato’s story about the ring of Gyges. Hinc ille Gyges inducitur a Platone, qui, cum terra discessisset magnis quibusdam imbribus, descendit in illum hiatum aeneumque equum, ut ferunt fabulae, animadvertit, cuius in lateribus fores 315 essent. Quibus apertis, corpus hominis mortui vidit magnitudine invisitata anulumque aureum in digito; quem ut detraxit, ipse induit (erat autem regius pastor), tum in concilium se pastorum recepit. Ibi cum palam eius anuli ad palmam converterat, a nullo videbatur, ipse autem omnia videbat; idem rursus videbatur, 320 cum in locum anulum inverterat. Itaque, hac opportunitate anuli usus, reginae stuprum intulit; eaque adiutrice, regem dominum interemit, sustulit quos obstare arbitrabatur, nec in his eum facinoribus quisquam potuit videre. Sic repente, anuli beneficio, rex exortus est Lydiae.
323. facinoribus: facinus, deed, misdeed, crime.
324. exortus est: exoriri, to arise, rise (to become), emerge (as).
327. bonis viris: DAT. OF REF., with somewhat more emotional force than the more factual ABL. OF AGENT, in the case of good men.
328. hoc loco: here, on this point.
philosophi quidam: possibly an allusion to the Epicureans, who would assert that one should avoid immoral or criminal acts simply in order to avoid punishment or the other consequences of having one’s misdeeds discovered.
329. fictam: fingere, to mold, fashion, imagine.
commenticiam:invented, fictitious.
330. quasi…defendat (331): CL. OF IMAGINED COMPARISON.