Attic Nights (16.18-17.3)

Some interesting and instructive remarks about that part of Geometry which is called

Optics

; of another part called

Harmony,

and also of a third called

Metric.

A PART of Geometry which relates to the sight is called o)ptikh/ or

Optics,

another part, relating to the ears, is known as kanonikh/ or

Harmony,

which musicians make use of as the foundation of their art. These are concerned respectively with the spaces and the intervals between lines and with the theory of musical numbers.

Optics effect many surprising things, such as the appearance in one mirror of several images of the same thing; also that a mirror placed in a certain position shows no image, but when moved to another spot gives reflections; also that if you look straight into a mirror, your reflection is such that your head

appears below and your feet uppermost. [*] This science also gives the reasons for optical illusions, such as the magnifying of objects seen in the water, and the small size of those that are remote from the eye.

Harmony, on the other hand, measures the length and pitch of sounds. The measure of the length of a tone is called r(uqmo/s, or rhythm of its pitch, me/los, or

melody.

There is also another variety of Harmony which is called metrikh/, or

Metric,

by which the combination of long and short syllables, and those which are neither long nor short, and the verse measure according to the principles of geometry are examined with the aid of the ears.

But these things,

says Marcus Varro, [*]

we either do not learn at all, or we leave off before we know why they ought to be learned. But the pleasure,

he says,

and the advantage of such sciences appear in their later study, when they have been completely mastered; but in their mere elements they seem foolish and unattractive.

[*]

A story about the lyre-player Arion, taken from the work of Herodotus.

HERODOTUS has written [*] of the famous lyre-player Arion in terse and vigorous language and in simple and elegant style.

Arion,

says he,

in days of old was a celebrated player upon the lyre. The

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town in which he was born was Methyma, but from the name of his country and the island as a whole he was a Lesbian. This Arion for the sake of his art was held in friendship and affection by Periander, king of Corinth. [*] Later, he left the king, to visit the famous lands of Sicily and Italy. On his arrival there he charmed the ears and minds of all in the cities of both countries, and there he was enriched as well as being generally admired and beloved. Then later, laden with money and with wealth of all kinds, he determined to return to Corinth, choosing a Corinthian vessel and crew, as better known to him and more friendly.

But Herodotus says that those Corinthians, having received Arion on board and put to sea, formed the plan of murdering him for the sake of his money. Then he, realizing that death was at hand, gave them possession of his money and other goods, but begged that they should at least spare his life. The sailors were moved by his prayers only so far as to refrain from putting him to death with their own hands, but they bade him at once, before their eyes, leap headlong into the sea.

Then,

says Herodotus,

the poor man, in terror and utterly hopeless of life, finally made the one request that before meeting his end he might be allowed to put on all his costume, take his lyre, and sing a song in consolation of his fate. The sailors, though savage and cruel, nevertheless had a desire to hear him; his request was granted. Then afterwards, crowned in the usual way, robed and adorned, he stood upon the extreme stern and lifting up his voice on high sang the song called 'orthian.' [*] Finally, having finished his song, with his lyre and all his equipment, just as he stood and sang, he

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threw himself far out into the deep. The sailors, not doubting in the least that he had perished, held on the course which they had begun. But an unheard of, strange and miraculous thing happened.

Herodotus asserts that a dolphin suddenly swam up amid the waves, dove under the floating man, and lifting his back above the flood, carried him and landed him at Taenarum in the Laconian land, with his person and adornment uninjured. Then Arion went from there straight to Corinth and, just as he was when the dolphin carried him, presented himself unexpectedly to king Periander and told him exactly what had occurred. The king did not believe the story but ordered that Arion be imprisoned as an impostor. He hunted up the sailors, and in the absence of Arion craftily questioned them, asking whether they had heard anything of Arion in the places from which they had come. They replied that the man had been in the land of Italy when they left it, that he was doing well there, enjoying the devotion and the pleasures of the cities, and that both in prestige and in money he was rich and fortunate. Then, in the midst of their story, Arion suddenly appeared with his lyre, clad in the garments in which he had thrown himself into the sea; the sailors were amazed and proved guilty, and could not deny their crime. This story is told by the Lesbians and the Corinthians, and in testimony to its truth two brazen images are to be seen near Taenarum, the dolphin carrying the man, who is seated on his back.

That Asinius Gallus and Largius Licinus criticized a saying of Cicero's in the speech which he delivered For Marcus Caelius; and what may be said with truth and propriety in defence of that saying, in reply to those most foolish critics.

JUST as there have been monsters of men who expressed impious and false opinions about the immortal gods, so there have been some so extravagant and so ignorant that they have dared to say that Marcus Cicero spoke without correctness, propriety, or consideration; among these are Asinius Gallus and Largius Licinus, and the latter's book even bears the outrageous title of The Scourge of Cicero. Now the other things that they have censured are certainly not worth hearing or mentioning; but let us consider the value of this stricture of theirs, in which particularly they are, in their own opinion, very keen critics of language.

Marcus Cicero in his speech For Marcus Caelius [*] writes as follows:

As to the charge made against his chastity and published by all his accusers, not in the form of actual charges, but of gossip and calumnies, Marcus Caelius will never take that so much to heart, as to repent that he was not born ugly.

They think that Cicero has not used the proper word in saying paeniteat, or

repent,

and they go so far as to add that it is almost absurd;

for,

they say,

we regularly use paenitere when things which we ourselves have done, or which have been done in accordance with our wish and design, later begin to displease us and we change our opinion about them.

But that no one correctly says that he

repents being born

or

repents being mortal,

or

because he feels pain from any chance injury or wound inflicted upon his body

; for in such cases there is no design or choice on our part, but such things happen to us against our will by some necessity or force of nature.

In the same way,

they continue,

it was not a matter of choice with Marcus Caelius with what person he was born; yet he says that ' he did not repent this,' as if there were in that circumstance ground for a feeling of repentance.

This is in fact, as they say, the force of that word, and paenitere is strictly used of none but voluntary acts, although our forefathers used that same word also in a different sense and connected paenitere with the words paene (almost) and paenuria (want). But that is another question, and will be spoken of in another place. [*] But with regard to the point at issue, giving to paenitere this same meaning which is commonly recognized, what Marcus Cicero said is not only not foolish, but in the highest degree elegant and witty. For since the adversaries and detractors of Marcus Caelius, inasmuch as he was of handsome person, made use of his appearance and figure to throw doubt upon his chastity, therefore Cicero, making sport of such an absurd charge as to impute to him as a fault the good looks which nature had given him, has deliberately adopted that very same false charge of which he is making fun, saying:

Marcus Caelius is not sorry

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for not having been born ugly

; so that by the very fact of speaking thus he might reproach his accusers and wittily show that they were doing an absurd thing in making Caelius' handsome person an accusation against him, just as if the person with which he was born depended upon his own volition.

Certain words from the first book of the Annals of Quintus Claudius, noted in a hasty reading.

WHENEVER I read the book of an early writer, I tried afterwards, for the purpose of quickening my memory, to recall and review any passages in the book which were worthy of note, in the way either of praise or censure; and I found it an exceedingly helpful exercise for ensuring my recollection of elegant words and phrases, whenever need of them should arise. For example, in the first book of the Annals of Quintus Claudius, which I had read on the preceding two days, I noted these passages:

The greater number,

says he, [*]

threw away their arms and hid themselves unarmed.

The verb inhatebrant, for

hid themselves,

seemed poetic, but neither improper nor harsh.

While these things were going on,

he says, [*]

the Latins, their spirits raised because of their easy victory, form a plan.

Subnixo animo is. significant and carefully chosen expression with the force of

raised and elevated in spirit

; and it indicates loftiness and confidence of spirit, since we are, as it were, raised and lifted up by that upon which we depend.

He bids each one,

he says, [*]

go to his own house and enjoy his possessions.

Frunisci, meaning

enjoy,

was somewhat rare in the days of Marcus Tullius and became still rarer after that time, and its Latinity was questioned by those who were unacquainted with our early literature. However, fruniscor is not only good Latin, but it is more elegant and pleasing than fruor, from which it is formed in the same way as fatiscor from fateor. Quintus Metellus Numidicus, who is known to have used the Latin tongue with purity and simplicity, in the letter which he sent when in exile To the Domitii, wrote as follows:

They indeed were cut off from every right and honour, I lack neither water nor fire and I enjoy (fruiscor) the greatest glory.

Novius, in his Atellan farce entitled The Miser, uses this word: [*]

What eagerly they sought they can't enjoy (frunisci);

Who does not spare, enjoys the goods he has.

And the Romans,

says Quadrigarius, [*]

get possession of (copiantur) many arms and a great supply of provisions, and enormous booty.

Copiantur is a soldier's word, and you will not readily find it in the pleaders of civil suits; it is formed in the same way as lignantur, or

gather wood,

pabulantur, or

forage,

and aquantur, or

get water.

Quadrigarius uses sole occaso for

at sunset.

[*] This expression has a flavour of antiquity which is not without charm, if one possesses an ear that is not dull and commonplace; furthermore the phrase occurs in the Twelve Tables in the following passage: [*]

Before midday let them hear the case, with both parties making their pleas in person. After midday, decide the ease in favour of the one who is present. If both are present, let sunset be the limit of the proceedings.

We,

says he, [*]

will leave it undecided (in medium).

The common people say in medio; for they think that in medium is an error, and if you should say in medium ponere (to make known), [*] they consider that also a solecism; but if anyone examines these words with some care, that expression will seem to him the more correct and the more expressive; moreover in Greek qeinai ei)s me/son, is not an error. "After it was announced," he says, [*]

that a battle had been fought against the Gauls (in Gallos), the State was troubled.

In Gallos is nester and finer than cum Gallis or contra Gallos; for these are somewhat awkward and out of date.

At the same time,

he says, [*]

he excelled in person, in exploits, in eloquence, in position, in energy, and confidence alike, so that it was easily seen that he possessed from himself and in himself a great equipment (magnum viaticum) for overthrowing the republic.

Magnum viaticum is a novel expression for great ability and great resources, and Claudius seems to have followed the Greeks, who transferred e)fo/dion from the meaning of

money for a journey

to preparation for other things, and often say e)fodi/ason for

prepare

and

make ready.

For Marcus Manlius,

said he, [*]

who, as I have shown above, saved the Capitol from the Gauls, and whose service, along with that of Marcus Furius the dictator, the State found especially (cumprime) valiant and irresistible against the Gauls, yielded to no one in race, in strength and in warlike valour.

Adprime is more frequent for

especially

; cumprime is rarer and is derived from the expression cumprimis with the force of inprimis. Quadrigarius says [*] that

he has no need for riches (divitias).

We use the ablative divitiis with opus. But this usage of his is not a mistake in grammar, nor is it even what is termed a figure; for it is correct Latin and the early writers quite frequently used that case; moreover, no reason can be given why divis opus esse is more correct than divitias, except by those who look upon the innovations of grammarians as oracular responses.

For herein especially,

says he, [*]

lies the injustice of the gods, that the worst men are the least subject to injury, and that they do not allow the best men to remain long (diurnare) with us.

His use of diurnare for diu vivere is unusual, but it is justified by the figure by which we use perennare (to last for years). He says: [*]

He conversed (consermonabatur) with them.

Semocinari seems somewhat rustic, but is more correct; sermocinari is more common, but is not such pure Latin.

That he would not do even that,

says he, [*]

which he then advised.

He has used ne id quoque for ne id quidem; the former is not common now in conversation, but is very frequent in the books of the earlier writers.

Such is the sanctity (sanctitudo) of the fane,

says he, [*]

that no one ever ventured to violate it.

Sanctitas and sanctimonia are equally good Latin, but the word sanctitudo somehow has greater dignity, just as Marcus Cato, in his speech Against Lucius Veturius, thought it more forcible to use duritudo than duritia, saying, [*]

Who knew his impudence and hardihood (duritudinem).

Since the Roman people,

says Quadrigarius, [*]

had given such a pledge (arrabo) to the Samites.

He applied the term arrabo to the six hundred hostages and preferred to use that word rather than pignus, since the force of arrabo in that connection is weightier and more pointed; but nowadays arrabo is beginning to be numbered among vulgar words, and arra seems even more so, although the early writers often used arra, and Laberius [*] has it several times.

They have spent most wretched lives (vitas),

says Quadrigarius, [*] and, [*]

This man is worn out by too much leisure (otiis).

In both cases elegance is sought by the use of the plural number.

Cominius,

says he, [*]

came down the same way he had gone up and so deceived the Gauls.

He says that Cominius

gave words to the Gauls,

meaning

deceived them,

although he had said nothing to anybody; and the Gauls who were besieging the Capitol had seen him neither going up nor coming down. But

he gave words

is used with the meaning of

he escaped the notice of, and circumvented.

Again he says: [*]

There were valleys and great woods (arboreta).

Arboreta is a less familiar word, arbusta [*] the more usual one.

They thought,

says he, [*]

that those who were without and those that were within the citadel were exchanging communications (commutationes) and plans

Commutationes, meaning

conferences and communications,

is not usual, but, by Heaven! is neither erroneous nor inelegant.

These few notes on that book, such things as I remembered after reading it, I have now jotted down for my own use.

The words of Marcus Varro in the twenty fifth book of his Humran Antiquities, in which he has interpreted a line of Homer contrary to the general opinion.

IT happened in the course of conversations which we carried on about the dates of various inventions for human use, that a young man not without learning observed that the use of spartum or

Spanish broom

also was for a long time unknown in the land of Greece and that it was imported from Spain many years after the taking of Ilium. One or two half-educated fellows who were present there, of the class that the Greeks call a)goraioi, or

haunters of the market-place,

laughed in derision of this statement, and declared that the man who had made it had read a copy of Homer which happened to lack the following verse: [*]

And rotted the ship's timbers, loosed the ropes (spa/rta).

Then the youth, in great vexation, replied:

It was not my book that lacked that line, but you who badly lacked a teacher, if you believe that spa/rta in that verse means what we call spartum, or 'a

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rope of Spanish broom'

They only laughed the louder, and would have continued to do so, had he not produced the twenty-fifth book of Varro's Human Antiquities, in which Varro writes as follows of that Homeric word: [*]

I believe that spa/rta in Homer does not mean sparta, or 'Spanish broom,' but rather spa/rtoi, a kind of broom which is said to grow in the Theban territory. In Greece there has only recently been a supply of spartum, imported from Spain. The Liburnians did not make use of that material either, but as a rule fastened their ships together with thongs, [*] while the Greeks made more use of hemp, tow, and other cultivated plants (sativis), from which ropes got their name of sparta.

Since Varro says this, I have grave doubts whether the last syllable in the Homeric word ought not to have an acute accent; unless it be because words of this kind, when they pass from their general meaning to the designation of a particular thing, are distinguished by a difference in accent.