335. negant…posse: i.e., that an immoral act can be concealed from both men and gods.
336. quidnam: quisnam, quidnam, interrog. pron., who/what in the world.
337. tamquam…adhibemus (338): we are, so to speak, applying.
338. tormenta: tormentum, an instrument of torture.
340. omnia…concedant: i.e., they would have to concede Cicero’s (and the Stoics’) point.
341. incidunt: incidere, to happen, occur.
causae: here, cases, situations.
342. hoc: explained by the appos. cl. (an IND. QUEST.) relinquendane…magnitudinem.
344. illud: parallel to hoc, i.e., cum illud deliberetur, explained by the cl. possitne…turpiter.
346. Collatino collegae: DAT. OF SEPARATION; Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus was one of the Roman republic’s first two consuls, along with his colleague, Lucius Junius Brutus, who led the uprising against the city’s last king, Tarquinius Superbus.
imperium abrogabat (347):was taking away the imperium, which was the supreme power of command possessed by the consuls.
349. consilium hoc: explained by the following appos. inf. phrase.
cognationem:family, kindred.
351. quod: the antecedent is id.
354. in: in the case of.
356. solum: sc. se, subj. of regnare.
fratrem: Remus; for the story, see Livy’s account in “Legends of Early Rome,” below.
325The point of the story. Hunc igitur ipsum anulum si habeat sapiens, nihilo plus sibi licere putet peccare, quam si non haberet; honesta enim bonis viris, non occulta quaeruntur. Atque hoc loco philosophi quidam, minime mali illi quidem, sed non satis acuti, fictam et commenticiam fabulam prolatam dicunt a 330 Platone—quasi vero ille aut factum id esse aut fieri potuisse defendat! Haec est vis huius anuli et huius exempli: si nemo sciturus, nemo ne suspicaturus quidem sit, cum aliquid divitiarum, potentiae, dominationis, libidinis causa feceris, si id dis hominibusque futurum sit semper ignotum, sisne facturus? 335 Negant id fieri posse. Sed quaero, quod negant posse, id si posset, quidnam facerent. Cum enim quaerimus si celare possint, quid facturi sint, non quaerimus possintne celare, sed tamquam tormenta quaedam adhibemus ut, si responderint se impunitate proposita facturos quod expediat, facinorosos se esse fateantur, 340 si negent, omnia turpia per se ipsa fugienda esse concedant. (III.35–39, excerpts)
Some examples of expediency vs. justice.
Incidunt multae saepe causae quae conturbent animos utilitatis specie, non, cum hoc deliberetur—relinquendane sit honestas propter utilitatis magnitudinem (nam id quidem improbum est)—sed illud—possitne id quod utile videatur fieri non 345 turpiter.
Brutus and Collatinus. Cum Collatino collegae Brutus imperium abrogabat, poterat videri facere id iniuste; fuerat enim in regibus expellendis socius Bruti consiliorum et adiutor. Cum autem consilium hoc principes cepissent—cognationem Superbi 350 nomenque Tarquiniorum et memoriam regni esse tollendam—quod erat utile, patriae consulere, id erat ita honestum ut etiam ipsi Collatino placere deberet. Itaque utilitas valuit propter honestatem, sine qua ne utilitas quidem esse potuisset.
Romulus. At in eo rege qui urbem condidit non item; species 355 enim utilitatis animum pepulit eius; cui cum visum esset utilius solum quam cum altero regnare, fratrem interemit. Omisit hic et pietatem et humanitatem ut id, quod utile videbatur neque erat, assequi posset; et tamen muri causam opposuit, speciem honestatis nec probabilem nec sane idoneam. Peccavit igitur—pace 360 vel Quirini vel Romuli, dixerim.
357. pietatem: pietas, loyalty, devotion (to family and friends, to country, to the gods).
358. muri causam: the excuse of the wall (over which Remus is said to have leaped to show his scorn of Romulus’ modest fortifications on the Palatine).
360. pace…Quirini: lit., with the peace of Quirinus = with all due respect to Quirinus (the name given to Romulus after his death and deification).
dixerim: POTENTIAL SUBJUNCT., I would say.
362. suae cuique utilitati…serviendum est (363): lit., it should be served by each person to his own advantage.
363. quod…fiat: REL. CL. OF CHARACTERISTIC, with the antecedent implied in the main cl., whatever may be done, as far as one may do.
364. scite: adv., cleverly.
Chrysippus ut multa…inquit: = Chrysippus inquit ut multa dicit, i.e., in his colorful, vivid language. Chrysippus (ca. 280–207 B.C.), head of the Stoic school after Zeno and Cleanthes, was famous for his systematization of Stoic doctrine.
stadium:a race in the stadium.
eniti:to struggle.
365. supplantare: to trip up.
366. certet: certare, to struggle, contend, compete.
369. illa: sc. exempla sunt.
371. cum…tum: not only…but also; Latin is fond of stating the general idea first and then following with a specific example.
372. Cannensi: Cannensis, at Cannae, a town in Apulia where, during the second Punic war in 216 B.C. the Romans suffered a calamitous loss at the hands of Hannibal; see Livy’s account in “Hannibal and the Second Punic War,” below.
376. impetum: the allusion is to the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., which the Greeks lost to the invading Persians and their king Xerxes but which was made famous by the heroic stand and death of the Spartan king Leonidas and his men.
378. Troezene: loc.; Troezen, an old city across the Saronic Gulf southwest of Athens.
conscenderent: conscendere,to ascend, go on board.