THE ABLATIVE.

1. THE ABLATIVE OF LIMITATION.

(Exercises, p. 43.)

I.

Asia is so rich and fruitful, that it far excels all lands, both in the fertility of its fields, in the variety of its fruits, in the extent of its pasture-land, and in the number of those things which are exported. The whole oration ought to be simple and dignified, and more ornate in point of thoughts than words. It is the part of a young man to respect his elders. This place has always seemed to me the most honourable for pleading, the most illustrious for (public) speaking. There are innumerable acquirements necessary for the maintenance of life.1 It seems to be the part of a hard-hearted man, or rather of (one who is) scarcely a man (at all), to accuse many of capital crimes; 2 for it is both dangerous to one's self, and bad for one's reputation, to draw on one's self the name of accuser.3 The Greeks far excelled, in learning and every kind of literature, the Romans, who had excelled them in arms.

1 Sustenance and life.-2 To bring danger of death (capital punishment) on many.-3 To give cause that one be called an accuser.

II.

Homines, etsi multis aliis, tamen hoc uno a bestiis plurimum differunt, quod rationem habeant a natura datam. Apes eligunt sibi reginam, quae omnibus magnitudine et formae praestantia excellit. De multis hominibus, genere praeclaris, silet historia. Duo juvenes Castori et Polluci forma similes erant. Aristoteles omnibus ingenio longe antecellit. Graecia floruit doctrina, multis artibus, bellica virtute. Si patrem crudelitatis accusamus, qui filium brachio laedit aut crure aut aliqua corporis parte, ille certe indulgens non habendus est, qui mentem filii detorquet et depravat.

II. THE ABLATIVE OF THE INSTRUMENT.

(Exercises, p. 44.)

I.

What hope can there be in that state in which all rights have been crushed by the arms of a man whose ambition knows no bounds,1 and in which neither the senate nor the people have any power. The light of a lamp is obscured and darkened by the light of the sun. The legate of the Roman people was subjected to 2 bonds and stripes, and every kind of punishment. Those who are at the head of the state have no better means of gaining 3 the good-will of the multitude, than disinterestedness and moderation. Great forces have been routed not only by the clash of shields, the actual conflict, the hand-to-hand attack, the hurling of missiles, but often by the mere shouting of the soldiers, and by the drawing up and appearance of the standards. Our bodies, which are composed of earthy elements,5 kindle with the glow of the soul. Nature has given us small sparks (of truth), which we speedily quench with evil practices and corrupted notions, so that the light of nature is nowhere visible. My age prevented me,6 as yet, from approaching the dignity of this place, and I resolved to bring nothing hither except what was finished with (all my) ability, and wrought out with (all) diligence. We often see men subdued by shame, who would not be overcome by reason. There is something which allures 7 us to itself by its own power; not leading us on by any (hope of) gain, but attracting us by its worth, of which kind are virtue, knowledge, truth. Virtue is communicated to men by education and instruction; not by threats, violence, and fear. Offences are not to be measured by the issue of events, but by the faults of men. Hatred may either be mitigated by entreaties, or may be laid aside from the exigencies of the state, and for the common advantage; or may be kept in check by the difficulty of obtaining revenge; or may be allayed by length of time. It is not right to circumscribe the memory of a benefit by any limits of time. I consider that fortune, fickle and weak (as it is), ought to be broken by a firm and constant mind, as a wave by a rock.-Cicero. He appears to me to be the most honourable, who reaches a higher position by his own merit, not he who rises by the loss and misfortune of his

- 1 Of a most ambitious and immoderate man.-2 Was tortured with.-3 Can gain, &c., by nothing better than by.-4 The dashing together of bodies.5 The earthy kind of elements.-6 I have formerly, by means of my age, not yet ventured.-7 For the subjunctive, see Gram., § 360.

neighbour. Hasdrubal, trusting more to prudence than to force, raised the position of Carthage rather by leagues of hospitality with the princes, and by gaining over new tribes through the friendship of their leading men, than by war and arms.— Livy, xxi. 2.

8 Doing or carrying on more things by prudence than by force.

II.

Contra metum et vim suis se armis quaeque bestia defendit. Cornibus tauri, apri dentibus, morsu leones, aliae fuga se, aliae occultatione tutantur. Nostris manibus in rerum natura quasi alteram naturam efficere conamur. Campaniae luxuries Hannibalem, armis etiam tum invictum, voluptate vicit. Multi quum in potestate essent hostium ac tyrannorum, multi in custodia, multi in exsilio, dolorem suum doctrinae studiis levarunt. Demosthenes impedimenta naturae diligentia industriaque superavit. Epicurus omne malum dolore definit, bonum voluptate. Male se res habet, quum, quod virtute effici debet, id tentatur pecunia. Nemo mirari debet humana consilia divina necessitate esse superata. Honestis consiliis justisque factis, non fraude et malitia, ea, quae vultis, consequi potestis. Non est consentaneum, qui metu non frangatur, eum frangi cupiditate, nec qui invictum se a labore praestiterit, vinci a voluptate. Tu saepissime curam et angorem animi mei sermone et consilio levasti tuo. Luctus exsilii et sensu praesentis miseriae augetur et praeteritae vitae recordatione. Jugurtha per Sullam captus est. Cicero per fautores Clodii patria expulsus est.

III. ABLATIVE OF CAUSE.

(Exercises, p. 46.)

I.

Relatio criminis (retorting the accusation) is when the accused party, confessing the fact, shews that he did it lawfully, being led to it by the offence of the other party. Those who bring another to trial for the sake of the state, being urged to it by no enmity, wounded by no private injury,2 induced by no (hope of) reward, ought to consider beforehand, not only what a burden they take on their shoulders for the present, but also how much trouble they are trying to impose on themselves 3 for the whole life. For they appoint to themselves a law of innocence, self-restraint, and all virtues, who call others to account for

1 Confessing that, which is the matter in question, about which the question is.-2 Wounded by no injury privately.-3 To undertake.

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their lives; and the more so, if they do this, impelled by nothing else than the public advantage. Men form many more judgments from hatred, or love, or passion, or anger, or grief, or joy, or hope, or fear, or error, or some excitement of the mind, than from (a regard to) truth, precept, any rule of right, or judicial formulary, or the laws. We have thus been taught by 5 the greatest and most learned men, that the studies of all other matters depend on instruction and precepts and art; but that the poet derives his strength from nature itself, and is roused by the forces of the mind, and is animated, as it were, by a kind of divine inspiration. The love of one's country is, in my6 opinion, the greatest virtue. Oh, the bitter7 memory of that time and place, when Plancius fell upon and embraced me, covered me with tears, and could not speak for grief. Nothing is honourable except what is right and praiseworthy in itself absolutely. There was around the king a crowd of Phrygians and of Macedonians: the former, in a suspense of hope;9 the latter, anxious from the rash confidence of the king.—Curt. iii. 3. There was a settled and strong opinion, which had taken possession of the minds of the barbarian tribes, that our army had been brought into those regions for the purpose of plundering the very rich and sacred temple. Boys are attracted by processions, games, and spectacles of that kind, and for the sake of them endure even hunger and thirst. Some things are to be sought, not on account of their own worth and nature, but on account of the profit and advantage (to be derived from them), and of this kind is money. It is not consistent with the character of a good man to lie for the sake of his own advantage. We approve of the science of physicians, not for the sake of the art itself, but for the sake of good health. Those are most easily corrected in learning, whose faults their teachers imitate for the purpose of putting them right.

4 Require from another an account of life.-5 We have thus heard or learned from. Quidem, indeed, at least, throws the emphasis on my.-7 Bitter to me.8 Sua vi, by its own force; sua sponte, by virtue of itself.-9 Suspended, kept in suspense, with expectation.

II.

Saepe etiam tristes firmitate et constantia sunt beati. Saepe exercitus metu ae tenui suspicione periculi fugerunt. Ut non omne vinum, sic non omnis natura, vetustate coacescit. Quae voluptate, quasi mercede aliqua, ad officium impellitur, ea non est virtus, sed fallax imitatio simulatioque virtutis. Vidimus eos, qui, nisi odissent patriam, nunquam inimici nobis fuissent, ardentes tum cupiditate, tum metu, tum conscientia. Protagoras, Atheniensium jussu, urbe atque agro exterminatus est. Saepe

Mali

a me quaeris, Hortensi, quibus inimicitiis aut qua injuria adductus, Verrem accusaverim. Saepe res parum est intellecta longitudine magis quam obscuritate orationis. Neque prae lacrimis loqui possum, et Milo se lacrimis defendi vetat. volentia est voluptas ex malo alterius sine emolumento suo. Ex natura vivere summum bonum est. Ex haruspicum responsis et ludi decem per dies facti sunt, neque res ulla, quae ad placandum deos pertineret, praetermissa est. Chrysippus censet, ut clypei causa involucrum, vaginam autem gladii, sic eas fruges atque fructus, quos terra gignit, animantium causa generatos esse, animantes autem hominum, ut equum vehendi causa, arandi bovem, venandi et custodiendi canem. Ut vestis frigoris depellendi causa reperta primo, post adhiberi coepta est ad ornatum etiam corporis, sic verbi translatio instituta est inopiae causa, frequentata delectationis. Non modo labores excipiendi communis commodi causa, sed etiam vita amittenda. Adeunda sunt quaevis pericula decoris honestatisque causa. Voluptates omittantur majorum voluptatum adipiscendarum causa et dolores suscipiantur majorum dolorum effugiendorum gratia. Quidam voluptatis causa omnia sapientes facere dixerunt. Patientia est honestatis aut utilitatis causa rerum difficilium voluntaria ac diuturna perpessio. Neque contra rempublicam, neque contra jusjurandum, amici causa, vir bonus faciet quidquam. Nos non imperium neque divitias petimus, quarum rerum causa bella atque certamina omnia inter mortales sunt, sed libertatem, quam nemo bonus nisi cum anima simul amittit.

IV. THE ABLATIVE OF MANNER OR CONCOMITANT

CIRCUMSTANCE.

(Exercises, p. 48.)

I.

The Roman people thought, Quintus Hortensius, that you, with a good intention, spoke your real sentiments.1 Demosthenes, as is related,2 was wont to put pebbles into his mouth, and then to pronounce with a loud voice, many lines with one breath, and that not standing still on (one) spot, but walking about and going up a steep ascent. No good man wishes to kill, even with justice. As those who are too much cast down with trouble, so those who are too much elated with joy are

1 Those things which you thought or felt.-2 As has been delivered to memory. Pebbles being thrown into his mouth, to pronounce, &c.-1 With his highest voice.