iure: sc. iurando.
decem illi (471): subj. of redierunt and vituperandi (sunt) in 473.
471. Cannensem: see Livy’s account of Rome’s defeat at the battle of Cannae in “Hannibal and the Second Punic War,” below.
472. se…redituros: IND. STATE. depending on iuratos.
quorum: potiri,to gain possession of, takes the gen. (sometimes the abl.); castra…ea is the antecedent.
473. redimendis: redimere, to buy back, ransom.
redierunt: a simple fact condition, since there were varying accounts of the incident and whether the 10 men all returned or not.
vituperandi: sc. sunt; from vituperare, to blame, censure.
474. non omnes: sc. auctores, i.e., historians.
Polybius: a Greek historian of the 2nd century B.C. who lived at Rome as a political hostage 167–151 B.C.; he wrote in Greek a sober and reliable history of Rome’s rise to imperial power during the period of the Punic wars.
477. paulo: ABL. OF DEGREE OF DIFFERENCE, with post quam as with comparatives, = a little after.
478. reditu: reditus, return.
479. interpretabatur: interpretari, to explain, interpret.
fraus:deceit, fraud.
480. adstringit: adstringere, to bind, tighten; here, by contrast with dissolvit (to loosen, absolve), = to aggravate, make worse.
calliditas:skill, shrewdness, cunning.
482. veterator: experienced person, old hand (often, as here, pejorative).
vinctus: vincire,to bind.
483. illud maximum: sc. est; i.e., the most important part of the story.
485. Paulo…Varrone: Lucius Aemilius Paulus and Gaius Terentius Varro were the two consuls whose army was crushed by Hannibal at Cannae; see Livy’s “Hannibal and the Second Punic War,” below.
487. insitum: inserere, + dat., to implant, instill.
emori:to die.
489. idem: the same man, i.e., Polybius.
adflictis: adfligere,to dash down, shatter.
excelso:lofty, high; the CHIASMUS in rebus afflictis…excelso animo emphasizes the intended contrast.
Two examples after the defeat of the Romans at Cannae in the Second Punic War.
470 Sed, ut laudandus Regulus in conservando iure, sic decem illi quos post Cannensem pugnam iuratos ad senatum misit Hannibal se in castra redituros ea, quorum erant potiti Poeni, nisi de redimendis captivis impetravissent, si non redierunt, vituperandi. De quibus non omnes uno modo: nam Polybius, bonus 475 auctor in primis, ex decem nobilissimis, qui tum erant missi, novem revertisse dicit, re a senatu non impetrata; unum ex decem, qui, paulo post quam erat egressus e castris, redisset quasi aliquid esset oblitus, Romae remansisse; reditu enim in castra liberatum se esse iure iurando interpretabatur—non recte, fraus 480 enim adstringit, non dissolvit periurium. Fuit igitur stulta calliditas, perverse imitata prudentiam. Itaque decrevit senatus ut ille veterator et callidus, vinctus, ad Hannibalem duceretur. Sed illud maximum: octo hominum milia tenebat Hannibal, non quos in acie cepisset aut qui periculo mortis diffugissent, sed 485 qui relicti in castris fuissent a Paulo et a Varrone consulibus. Eos senatus non censuit redimendos (cum id parva pecunia fieri posset) ut esset insitum militibus nostris aut vincere aut emori. Qua quidem re audita, fractum animum Hannibalis scribit idem quod senatus populusque Romanus rebus adflictis tam excelso 490 animo fuisset. Sic honestatis comparatione ea, quae videntur utilia, vincuntur. (III. 113–14)
“The Oath of Hannibal” Johann Heinrich Schoenfeld, 17th century Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Germany
Scala/Art Resource, NY.
1. Scaevola: Quintus Mucius Scaevola (ca. 170–87 B.C.) was consul in 117 B.C., an augur, and a famous Roman jurist, with whom Cicero studied for about two years (ca. 90–88 B.C.); a son-in-law of Gaius Laelius, after whom the De Amicitia was titled, both men are characters in the dialogue that follows. Scaevola is depicted as relating the conversation to Cicero in 88 B.C.
Laeli:Gaius Laelius (born ca. 190 B.C.), consul in 140, a celebrated orator, and, as the closest friend of Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus (victor over the Carthaginians in the Third Punic War), a member of the so-called “Scipionic Circle” the principal figure in this dialogue, he also appeared in Cicero’s De Republica.
2. genero: gener, son-in-law.
C. Fannio:Gaius Fannius, consul in 122, a student of the philosopher Panaetius of Rhodes, son-in-law of Laelius, and the third character in the dialogue.
3. diebus: ABL. OF DEGREE OF DIFFERENCE.
post mortem Africani: i.e., the younger Africanus, Scipio Aemilianus, who died in 129 B.C. (the dramatic date of the dialogue Scaevola reports). He earned the honorary title Africanus for his victory over Carthage in 146 B.C.; his illustrious adoptive grandfather, P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus Maior, had been given the same title because of his victory over Hannibal in 202 B.C.
sententias: i.e., the ideas rather than the exact words.
4. mandavi: mandare, to commit, entrust.
5. coram: adv., face to face, personally.
6. ageres: here, you were pleading; the subj. is Titus Pomponius Atticus (born 110 B.C.), Cicero’s dearest friend from their childhood days and the addressee of this work.