alios aiebat esse oportere.' Tum ille 'iocabatur' inquit 'Catulus, 234 praesertim cum ita dicat ipse, ut ambrosia alendus esse videatur. Verum te, Caesar, audiamus, ut ad Antonii reliqua redeamus.' Et Antonius 'perpauca quidem mihi restant,' inquit 'sed tamen 5 defessus iam labore atque itinere disputationis meae requiescam in Caesaris sermone quasi in aliquo peropportuno deversorio.' 'Atqui' inquit Iulius 'non nimis liberale hospitium meum 58 dices; nam te in viam, simulac perpaulum gustaris, extrudam et eiciam. 10 Ac ne diutius vos demorer, de omni isto genere quid sentiam 235 perbreviter exponam. De risu quinque sunt, quae quaerantur: unum, quid sit; alterum, unde sit; tertium, sitne oratoris risum. velle movere; quartum, quatenus; quintum, quae sint genera ridiculi. Atque illud primum, quid sit ipse risus, quo pacto concitetur, ubi sit, quo modo exsistat atque ita repente erumpat, ut eum cupientes tenere nequeamus, et quo modo simul latera, os, venas, oculos, voltum occupet, viderit Democritus; neque enim ad hunc sermonem hoc pertinet, et, si pertineret, nescire 15 'Sus Minervam in proverbio est, ubi quis id docet alterum, cuius ipse inscius est. Quam rem in medio, quod aiunt, positam Varro et Euhemerus ineptis mythis involvere maluerunt, quam simpliciter re ferre.' I. esse (from edo): i. e. all others compared with him were but pecudes. Crassus replies that, so far from Catulus deserving the food of brute beasts, he ought rather to be treated to that of the gods. 9. eiciam: the only form found in any good MSS. Cp. Prof. J. E. B. Mayor on Juv. xv. 17; Munro on Lucret. ii. 951; Lachmann on Gaius, iii. 119 (p. 258)' adiicere per duo i scriptum ante saeculum xii non facile reperietur : ' Brambach, p. 201; Neue, ii.2 438; Ribbeck, Verg. Prol. p. 138-9. In the face of this evidence as to the practice of the best writers, it cannot be right for Prof. J. B. Mayor, on the strength of the theories of Gellius (iv. 17) and some grammarians, to retain eiicio etc., in Cicero (De Nat. D. Introd. p. lxvi). cc. 58-60: §§ 235-247. Caesar now proceeds to divide his subject into five heads: (1) the nature, (2) origin, (3) rhetorical appropriateness, (4) extent, and (5) divisions of the laughable. The first he puts on one side, as not concerning the present inquiry. The laughable is said to originate in what is disgraceful, pointed out in a manner not disgraceful. It is proper for the orator, but neither crime nor misery are fit subjects for ridicule. Personal defects are, if not treated scurrilously. There are two main divisions of wit, one turning upon the matter, the other on the form of the expression. The former includes anecdotes and caricature, which are both illustrated, and their limitations pointed out. 14. quid sit risus: Quintil. vi. 3. 7 'neque enim ab ullo satis explicari puto, licet multi temptaverint, unde risus, qui non solum facto aliquo dictove, sed interdum quodam etiam corporis tactu lacessitur.' For the most complete discussion of the ludicrous cp. Bain's Emotions, pp. 282 ff. 16. latera, i. 25. 114 (note). 17. viderit, i. 58. 246 (note). Democritus: the authorities for the character of the laughing philosopher' are collected, with his usual exhaustive completeness, by Prof. Mayor on Juv. x. 28; e. g. Sen. de Ira, ii. 10. 5' Democritum aiunt numquam sine risu in publico fuisse.' It is hard to believe (with Ell., Pid., and Sorof) that Democritus is introduced here rather because of his fame as a physicist, than as the γελασίνος. me tamen id non puderet, quod ne illi quidem scirent, qui pol236 licerentur. Locus autem et regio quasi ridiculi-nam id proxime quaeritur turpitudine et deformitate quadam continetur; haec enim ridentur vel sola vel maxime, quae notant et designant turpitudinem aliquam non turpiter. Est autem, ut ad illud 5 tertium veniam, est plane oratoris movere risum; vel quod ipsa hilaritas benevolentiam conciliat ei, per quem excitata est; vel quod admirantur omnes acumen uno saepe in verbo positum maxime respondentis, non numquam etiam lacessentis; vel quod frangit adversarium, quod impedit, quod elevat, quod deterret, 10 quod refutat; vel quod ipsum oratorem politum esse hominem significat, quod eruditum, quod urbanum, maximeque quod tristitiam ac severitatem mitigat et relaxat odiosasque res saepe, quas argumentis dilui non facile est, ioco risuque dissolvit. 237 Quatenus autem sint ridicula tractanda oratori, perquam dili- 15 genter videndum est, id quod in quarto loco quaerendi posueramus. Nam nec insignis improbitas et scelere iuncta nec rursus miseria insignis agitata ridetur: facinorosos maiore quadam vi quam ridiculi volnerari volunt; miseros inludi nolunt, nisi se forte iactant; parcendum autem maxime est caritati hominum, 20 59 ne temere in eos dicas, qui diliguntur. Haec igitur adhibenda est primum in iocando moderatio, itaque ea facillime luduntur, quae neque odio magno neque misericordia maxima digna sunt; quam ob rem materies omnis ridiculorum est in eis vitiis, quae sunt in vita hominum neque carorum neque calamitosorum 25 I. ne illi quidem KS: ne ipsi quidem illi P. 238 12. maximeque PS: maxime codd. mut. K 24. in eis vitiis KS: in istis vitiis P. I. scirent... pollicerentur: the subj. is due only to the attraction of 'puderet.' 3. turpitudine: Cicero is borrowing Aristotle's definition (Poet. c. 6) Tò yap γελοῖόν ἐστιν ἁμάρτημά τι καὶ αἶσχος ἀνωδύνον οὐ φθαρτικόν ; on which Bain remarksHe would have been nearer the mark if he had expressed it as causing something to appear mean that was formerly dignified: for to depict what is already under a settled estimate of meanness, has little power to raise a laugh; it can merely be an occasion of reflecting our own dignity by comparison.' 6. est plane oratoris: it is quite within the province of an orator.' 9. respondentis. . . lacessentis: cp. i. 5. 17. 10. frangit, &c. Wit breaks' the neque eorum, qui ob facinus ad supplicium rapiendi videntur ; eaque belle agitata ridentur. Est etiam deformitatis et corporis 239 vitiorum satis bella materies ad iocandum; sed quaerimus idem, quod in ceteris rebus maxime quaerendum est, quatenus; in quo 5 non modo illud praecipitur, ne quid insulse, sed etiam, si quid perridicule possis, vitandum est oratori utrumque, ne aut scurrilis iocus sit aut mimicus. Quae cuius modi sint facilius iam intellegemus, cum ad ipsa ridiculorum genera venerimus. Duo sunt enim genera facetiarum, quorum alterum re tractatur, 10 alterum dicto: re, si quando quid tamquam aliqua fabella narratur, 240 ut olim tu, Crasse, in Memmium, comedisse eum lacertum Largi, cum esset cum eo Tarracinae de amicula rixatus: salsa, ac tamen a te ipso ficta narratio; addidisti clausulam: tota Tarracina tum omnibus in parietibus inscriptas fuisse litteras L.L.L.M.M.; cum 15 quaereres id quid esset, senem tibi quendam oppidanum dixisse : 'lacerat lacertum Largi mordax Memmius.' Perspicitis genus 241 hoc quam sit facetum, quam elegans, quam oratorium, sive habeas vere quod narrare possis, quod tamen est mendaciunculis aspergendum, sive fingas. Est autem haec huius generis virtus, ut ita quid om. K cum ABy. 5. modo om. K cum codd. mut. cum Ay: veniemus K cum codd. plurimis. sed videtur esse lacuna. 2. belle, 'neatly,' i. § 247 (note). deformitatis et corporis vitiorum: Cicero's practice in his speeches, and many of the witticisms quoted in the following chapters, show how widely his canons of good taste differed from those now universally recognized. His speeches in Vatinium' and in Pisonem' especially abound with the coarsest personal abuse. 4. quatenus: Acad. ii. 29. 92 'rerum natura nullam nobis dedit cognitionem finium, ut ulla in re statuere possimus quatenus.' Or. 21. 73 in omnibusque rebus videndum est quatenus.' 7. mimicus, 'farcical.' Or. 26. 88 'illud admonemus tamen, ridiculo sic usurum oratorem, ut nec nimis frequenti, ne scurrile sit, nec subobsceno, ne mimicum.' 9. re tractatur, 'turns upon some fact.' 10. fabella, 'anecdote.' 11. Memmium, the tribune of B.C. III; 'vir acer et infensus potentiae nobilitatis' (Sall. Jug. 27). Cicero describes him (Brut. 36. 156) as 'orator mediocris, accusator acer atque acerbus' (cp. § 283). Crassus may have been brought into 8. venerimus PS 15. oppidanum incl. K: non habet A, collision with him in his 'suasio legis Serviliae' (Introd. p. 9); to ridicule the ferocious character of the man, he invented a story that M. had bitten the arm of a man with whom he had quarrelled about a mistress, and gave a humorous confirmation of his story by asserting that he had seen the walls of the houses in Tarracina covered with the letters L. L. L. M. M.: these were doubtless intended for an election placard, in the abbreviated form of which the Pompeian graffiti supply many instances (cp. Zangemeister, C. I. L. iv. Index, pp. 249 ff.): but Crassus asserted that an old townsman explained them as an iambic trimeter describing this assault. 12. rixatus: a verb used nowhere else by Cicero: a rixa is properly a quarrel that comes to blows, a brawl: cp. Tac. Hist. i. 64 'iurgia primum, mox rixae.' luv. xv. 52. 18. mendaciunculis, fictitious embellishments.' Cicero's remark here furnishes a standard by which to test the truth of many of his charges against Catilina, Clodius, and others of his enemies, facta demonstres, ut mores eius, de quo narres, ut sermo, ut voltus omnes exprimantur, ut eis, qui audiunt, tum geri illa fierique 242 videantur. In re est item ridiculum, quod ex quadam depravata imitatione sumi solet, ut idem Crassus: 'per tuam nobilitatem, per vestram familiam!' quid aliud fuit, in quo contio rideret, nisi 5 illa voltus et vocis imitatio? 'per tuas statuas!' vero cum dixit et extento brachio paululum etiam de gestu addidit, vehementius risimus. Ex hoc genere est illa Rosciana imitatio senis: 'tibi ego, Antipho, has sero, inquit; senium est, cum audio.' Atqui ita est totum hoc ipso genere ridiculum, ut cautissime trac- 10 tandum sit; mimorum est enim ethologorum, si nimia est imitatio, sicut obscenitas. Orator surripiat oportet imitationem, ut is, qui audiet, cogitet plura, quam videat; praestet idem ingenuitatem et ruborem suum verborum turpitudine et rerum obscenitate 10. atqui P post Fleckeis. Krit. Misc. p. 26. atque KS. 3. depravata imitatione, 'caricature.' 4. per tuam nobilitatem: doubtless a caricatured imitation of the way in which Domitius talked of his high birth: contio is then used in its proper sense for the popular meeting before which the censors attacked each other. To interpret it as referring to Brutus, as many editors do, would require us to put a forced and unexampled meaning upon contio, as the audience in the law court, before which Plancus was arraigned. 9. seniumst quom audio. It is best to take these words as part of the comic iambic trimeter. Roscius in acting the part of Antipho had to represent him as quoting a favourite saying of his father's, and in doing so imitated very amusingly the tone and voice of an old man. """Tis for you I plant these trees, Antipho," says he. It is a nuisance to hear him.' The transferred meaning of senium is recognized by the grammarians, and suits the passage well: cp. Nonius, p. 1 'senium est taedium et odium: Fest. p. 339 M.; Charis. p. 195. Others, not so well, take 'seniumst quom audio' as said by Caesar : 'it is old age itself (that seems to be speaking) when I hear him.' 10. Atqui, etc. Yet while this is in its very nature amusing (§ 245), it must be handled with great care.' II. ethologorum, i. e. actors in farces, who depicted characters (on). For the 'mimes' cp. Mommsen, iv. 579-80: 'the artistic charm depended wholly, as in the Atellana, on the portraiture of the manners of low and common life.' The aretalogi whom Ell. couples with these, were quite different, and were not actors at all. Cp. Mayor on Juv. xv. 16. 12. sicut obscenitas: Quint. vi. 3. 29 'oratori minime convenit distortus vultus gestusque, quae in mimis rideri solent : obscenitas vero non a verbis tantum abesse debet, sed etiam a significatione:' cp. § 252. Obscenus is one of the words (cp. i. § 98, note) in which the best established orthography is not that which is etymologically correct. While the good MSS. in Vergil (Georg. i. 470; Aen. iv. 455, Ribbeck), Horace (Ep. 5. 98; Sat. i. 2. 96; 8. 5; Ep. ii. 1. 127, Keller), Tacitus (Ann. xv. 37), and here give obscenus, it can hardly be doubted that the word is for ob-scaev-nu-s. (Fest. p. 201 'quom apud antiquos omnes fere obscaena dicta sint, quae mali ominis habebantur '). surripiat, 'suggest in passing:' some of Lord Beaconsfield's happiest parliamentary hits are said to have gained much force from a touch of mimicry. 13. audiet: for the tense cp. § 178. 14. verborum turpitudine et rerum obscenitate: another instance of an abstract substantive with the genitive, where we should rather use an adjective in agreement with a substantive: cp. § 237; de Off. iii. 29. 106 'in deformitate corporis' in deformi corpore.' In de Off. i. 29. 104 we have the more common conjunction 'si rerum turpitudini adhibetur verborum obscenitas:' cp. § 236. = 243 vitanda. Ergo haec duo genera sunt eius ridiculi, quod in re 60 positum est, quae sunt propria perpetuarum facetiarum, in quibus describuntur hominum mores et ita effinguntur, ut aut re narrata aliqua quales sint intellegantur aut imitatione brevi iniecta in 5 aliquo insigni ad inridendum vitio reperiantur. In dicto autem 244 ridiculum est id, quod verbi aut sententiae quodam acumine movetur; sed ut in illo superiore genere vel narrationis vel imitationis vitanda est mimorum ethologorum similitudo, sic in hoc scurrilis oratori dicacitas magno opere fugienda est. Qui 10 igitur distinguemus a Crasso, a Catulo, a ceteris familiarem vestrum Granium aut Vargulam amicum meum? Non mehercule in mentem mihi quidem venit: sunt enim dicaces; Granio quidem nemo dicacior. Hoc, opinor, primum, ne, quotienscumque potuerit dictum dici, necesse habeamus dicere. Pusillus testis 245 15 processit. 'Licet' inquit 'rogare?' Philippus. Tum quaesitor properans 'modo breviter.' Hic ille 'non accusabis: perpusillum 6. ridiculum incl. K post Henrichs. 2. perpetuarum facetiarum, 'a continuous vein of humour.' 4. in aliquo . . . reperiantur, 'they are discovered to possess some striking and ridiculous failing.' 9. scurrilis: placed in a position of emphasis, because it is not dicacitas, but scurrilis d. which is to be avoided. In Cicero scurra never seems to retain the favourable sense of 'wit,' in which it is used by Plautus (e.g. Trin. 202, with Brix's note), and even by Catullus (xxii. 12, Ellis), but always carries a notion of blame with it. II. Granium, a praeco by occupation: (Lucil. ap. Gell. iv. 17 'conicere in versus dictum praeconis volebam Grani'). Lucilius referred to an occasion on which Crassus during his tribuneship dined with him (Brut. 43. 160). Cp. ib. 46. 172 'Ego memini T. Tineam Placentinum, hominem facetissimum cum familiari nostro Q. Granio praecone dicacitate certare. Eon', inquit Brutus, de quo multa Lucilius? Isto ipso: sed Tineam non minus multa ridicule dicentem Granius obruebat nescio quo sapore vernaculo:' p. Planc. 14. 30 ille [Granius] L. Crassi, ille M. Antonii voluntatem asperioribus facetiis saepe perstrinxit impune.' See below, §§ 254, 281, 282. In Ep. Fam. ix. 15. 2, Cicero uses the name almost proverbially: 'itaque, te [Paetus] cum video, omnes mihi Granios, omnes Lucilios, vere ut dicam 12. venit: perf. not present. 'Really I have never thought of it before:' the form of expression seems chosen merely to retain the freedom of conversational discussion. Caesar goes on 'I should say, by this, in the first place, that we (orators) must not always consider it necessary to say a good thing whenever there is a chance.' I do not think it necessary with Sorof to insert item before 'dicaces: the meaning required is rather 'for they are all witty." The second distinction is given in § 247, where after a resumé of the first, Cicero adds 'et quod,' etc. and also by the fact that,' etc. = summa 15. Philippus, § 220. Cp. Brut. 47. 173 erant ea in Philippo libertas in oratione, multae facetiae: satis creber in reperiendis, solutus in explicandis sententiis erat etiam . . . in altercando cum aliquo aculeo et maledicto facetus.' quaesitor the president of the court in a criminal case: Primer,' p. 88 ff.; Mommsen, Hist. i. 68. 81, 159; Röm. Staatsr. ii. 504 ff. (cp. Ramsay, Rom. Ant. p. 288 f.) 16. perpusillum, might be understood as neut. 'a very short question;' or as masc. a very short witness.' |