Oppianici et ipsius mulieris multi, homines honesti atque omnibus rebus ornati. Tormentis omnibus vehementissime quaeritur. Quum essent animi servorum et spe et metu tentati ut aliquid in quaestione dicerent, tamen, ut arbitror, auctoritate advocatorum et vi tormentorum adducti, in veritate manserunt neque se quidquam scire dixerunt. Quaestio illo die de amicorum sententia dimissa est. Satis longo intervallo post iterum advocantur. Habetur de integro quaestio: nulla vis tormentorum acerrimorum praetermittitur adversari advocati et jam vix ferre posse, furere crudelis atque importuna mulier sibi nequaquam ut sperasset ea quae cogitasset procedere. Quum jam tortor atque essent tormenta ipsa defessa, neque tamen illa finem facere vellet, quidam ex advocatis, homo et honoribus populi ornatus et summa virtute praeditus, intelligere se dixit non id agi ut verum inveniretur, sed ut aliquid falsi dicere cogerentur. Hoc postquam ceteri comprobarunt, ex omnium sententia constitutum est satis videri esse quaesitum. Redditur Oppianico Nicostratus: Larinum ipsa proficiscitur cum suis, maerens quod jam certe incolumem filium fore putabat, ad quem non modo verum crimen sed ne ficta quidem suspicio perveniret, et cui non modo aperta inimicorum oppugnatio sed ne occultae quidem matris insidiae nocere potuissent. Larinum postquam venit, quae a Stratone illo venenum antea viro suo datum sibi persuasum esse simulasset, instructam ei continuo et ornatam Larini medicinae exercendae caussa tabernam dedit. LXIV. Unum,

Greece or Rome ever did, even the persecutions of the emperors. The torture was applied to the accused by the Holy Office to make him confess his guilt. The crimes of paganism were not so great as the crimes of Christianity, which has shed more innocent blood in direct violation of the rule by which the Christian professes to live.

ut arbitror] This is said sarcastically. The presence of the people who were invited and the pain of the torture would naturally make the slaves eager to admit something and so be released from the torture. But Cicero chooses sarcastically to say that these two things made them persist in the truth, and so they were tortured more. I take this to be the true explanation of the passage, not Ernesti's. Ernesti says that if the reading is not corrupt, the sense is: "by the very force of the torture with which they were racked without any reason by a wicked woman, and moved by the indignity of the thing, they strengthened their reso

lution against pain and persisted in the truth." A man might do this, but we must suppose him to have strength enough to be as calm under pain as he might be if he were not tortured. The common notion is, and perhaps it is true, that most people if put to the torture would try to get relieved of the torture in any way that they could, whether it was by telling the truth or by lying.

adversari] The MSS. have adversarii,' which is easily corrected. Many editions have aversari;' they turned their faces away.' But they turned their faces to the torture, and opposed it, saying they could stand it no longer.

medicinae exercendae] Strato knew something of medicine, and the woman gave him a physic shop supplied with the necessary stock (instructam, that is, cum instrumento) and fitted up. Strato was a slave and the shop belonged to his mistress, who would reap the profit, for it was a rule of

alterum, tertium annum Sassia quiescebat, ut velle atque optare aliquid calamitatis filio potius quam id struere et moliri videretur. Tum interim Hortensio, Q. Metello consulibus, ut hunc Oppianicum, aliud agentem ac nihil ejusmodi cogitantem, ad hanc accusationem detraheret, invito despondit ei filiam suam, illam quam ex genero susceperat, ut eum nuptiis alligatum simul et testamenti spe devinctum posset habere in potestate. Hoc ipso fere tempore Strato ille medicus domi furtum fecit et caedem ejusmodi. Quum esset in aedibus armarium in quo sciret esse nummorum aliquantum et auri, noctu duos conservos dormientes occidit in piscinamque dejecit ipse armarii fundum exsecuit, et H-S.** et auri quinque pondo abstulit, uno ex servis puero non grandi conscio. Furto postridie cognito, omnis suspicio in eos servos qui non comparebant commovebatur. Quum exsectio illa fundi in armario animadverteretur, quaerebant homines quonam modo fieri potuisset. Quidam ex amicis Sassiae recordatus est, se nuper in auctione quadam vidisse in rebus minutis aduncam ex omni parte dentatam et tortuosam venire serrulam, qua illud potuisse ita circumsecari videretur. Ne multa; perquiritur a coactoribus: invenitur ea serrula ad Stratonem pervenisse. Hoc initio suspicionis orto, et aperte insimulato Stratone, puer ille conscius pertimuit: rem omnem dominae indicavit, homines in piscina inventi sunt: Strato in vincula conjectus est, atque etiam in taberna ejus nummi nequaquam omnes reperiuntur. Constituitur quaestio de furto. Nam quid quisquam suspicari aliud potest? An hoc dicitis, armario expilato, pecunia ablata, non omni recuperata, occisis hominibus, institutam esse quaestionem de morte Oppianici? cui probatis? quid est quod minus veri simile proferre potuistis? Deinde, ut

Roman law that what a slave acquired he got for his owner; and a slave could always get for his owner, though he could not impose on him a loss. The slave was the agent of his master, and thus a great part of the law of principal and agent was worked out and made (Savigny, System ii. § 65, and Beylage iv; and iii. § 113, Handlungen durch Stellvertreter).

64. aliud agentem] This is explained by the words that follow. See c. 57.Classen added the 'praenomen' Q. to Metello, and it is found in all the MSS.; but he says that this is no reason for adding the 'praenomen to Hortensio, as Orelli did, for it was necessary to distinguish Q. Metellus the consul of B. C. 69 from L. MeVOL. II.

tellus the consul of the following year, who had Q. Marcius Rex for his colleague.

.

furtum fecit] The money was Sassia's, as it appears. The 'armarium' was used for keeping any thing, books, money, and the like.. -dentatam:' this reading is from Priscian. The MSS. have dentum' or 'dentium,' but Sylvius said that dentatam was the true reading. This saw was toothed all round.-'coactoribus:' those who got in the money for the things sold at sales, as some explain it. They assisted at the sale; they were not the auctioneers, as some would have it.

Such men would know all about a sale, who bought each article and what he gave for it. Horace's father was a' coactor' (1 Sat. 6. v. 86). B b

omittam cetera, triennio post mortem Oppianici de ejus morte quaerebatur. Atque etiam incensa odio pristino Nicostratum eundem illum tum sine caussa in quaestionem postulavit. Oppianicus primo recusavit. Posteaquam illa abducturam se filiam, mutaturam esse testamentum, minaretur, mulieri crudelissimae servum fidelissimum, non in quaestionem tulit, sed plane ad supplicium dedit. LXV. Post triennium igitur agitata denique quaestio de viri morte habebatur; et de quibus servis habebatur? Nova, credo, res objecta, novi quidam homines in suspicionem vocati sunt? De Stratone et de Nicostrato. Quid, Romae quaesitum de istis hominibus non erat? Itane tandem mulier jam non morbo sed scelere furiosa, quum quaestionem habuisses Romae, quum de T. Annii, L. Rutilii, P. Saturii et ceterorum honestissimorum virorum sententia constitutum esset satis quaesitum videri, eadem de re triennio post, iisdem de hominibus, nullo adhibito, non dicam viro, ne colonum forte adfuisse dicatis, sed bono viro, in filii caput quaestionem habere conata es. An hoc dicitis-mihi enim venit in mentem quid dici possit, tametsi ab hoc non esse dictum mementote-quum haberetur de furto quaestio, Stratonem aliquid de veneno esse confessum. Hoc uno modo, judices, saepe multorum improbitate depressa veritas emergit, et innocentiae defensio interclusa respirat, quod aut ii, qui ad fraudem callidi sunt, non tantum audent quantum excogitant; aut illi, quorum eminet audacia atque projecta est, a consiliis malitiae deseruntur. Quod si aut confidens astutia aut

Posteaquam-minaretur,] This is the MSS. reading. See the note on this word 'posteaquam,' De Imp. Cn. Pomp. c. 4. We must suppose that Oppianicus was now the husband of Sassia's daughter, and the mother threatened to take her away from him. The threat must have been that she would persuade the daughter to leave her husband, for the mother had not the power over a daughter that a father had.

65. habuisses] S. T. A., Classen, Baiter. The other reading is 'habuisset.' In place of conata es,' S. T., there is also a reading 'conata est.' I have followed Baiter in the pointing of this sentence, Itane tandem' &c. Adfuisse' is the MSS. reading, and the meaning is so plain that the commentators ought not to have changed it to 'abfuisse.' Cicero says: "I will not say man, for fear you should reply that the 'colonus' was there, but I will say no good man was there." There was a man there, as Manutius says, Sassia's man, Albius. If

tametsi ab hoc] S. T. Baiter has 'tametsi adhuc.' The rest of this sentence tametsi-mementote' is spoiled in some editions, where the reading is "tametsi ab hoc non esset dictum-quum," &c. After 'esse' was changed to ' esset,'' mementote,' which had then no meaning, was omitted in the Juntine, and this edition was followed by others.

ii, qui ad fraudem-aut illi,] S. has 'hi' in both cases; but that can hardly be right. Classen and Baiter have 'ii qui-aut ii.' The opposition of 'is' and 'ille' is one of the commonest forms in Cicero (see c. 29. 31); and I believe that this is the true form here. The opposition of 'is' and 'ille,' and of 'hic' and 'ille,' is the opposition of two different sets of things, and so far, it is the same kind of opposition. But hic' and 'ille' present the things also in a con

callida esset audacia, vix ullo iis obsisti modo posset. Utrum furtum factum non est? At nihil clarius Larini [fuit]. An ad Stratonem suspicio non pertinuit? At is et ex serrula insimulatus, et a puero conscio est indicatus. An id actum non est in quaerendo? Quae fuit igitur alia caussa quaerendi? an, id quod vobis dicendum est, et quod tum Sassia dictitavit; quum de furto quaereretur, tum Stratonem iisdem in tormentis dixisse de veneno. En hoc illud est quod ante dixi: mulier abundat audacia, consilio et ratione deficitur. Nam tabellae quaestionis plures proferuntur, quae recitatae vobisque editae sunt, illae ipsae quas tum obsignatas esse dixit; in quibus tabellis de furto nulla littera invenitur. Non venit in mentem, primum orationem Stratonis conscribere de furto, post aliquod dictum adjungere de veneno, quod non percontatione quaesitum sed per dolorem expressum videretur. Quaestio de furto est, veneni jam suspicio superiore quaestione sublata; quod ipsum haec eadem mulier judicarat: quae ut Romae de amicorum sententia statuerat satis esse quaesitum, postea per triennium maxime ex omnibus servis Stratonem illum dilexerat, in honore habuerat, commodis omnibus affecerat. Quum igitur de furto quaereretur, et eo furto quod ille sine controversia fecerat, tum ille de eo quod quaerebatur verbum nullum fecit? De veneno statim dixit? de furto, si non eo loco quo debuit, ne in extrema quidem aut media aut aliqua denique parte quaestionis verbum fecit ullum? LXVI. Jam videtis illam nefariam mulierem, judices, eadem manu, qua, si detur potestas, interficere filium cupiat, hanc fictam quaestionem con

trast of nearness and remoteness, real or supposed and 'is' and 'ille' simply present the things as different.

Cicero has many remarks founded on the common understanding and common observation of men; which remarks, when they are appropriate, give life to an orator's address. Cunning is generally not audacious; and audacity often fails for want of skill. It is certainly rare to find combined the boldness and the art which are necessary for the accomplishment of a malicious design. There are more cunning men than bold men; lies and slender are the arms of the cunning, and are more dangerous than the violence and fury of the audacious.

The expression a consiliis malitiae deseruntur is singular. In our language it cannot be tolerated. But the Romans were used to personify qualities, as Fides, Pudicitia, and the like. So Malitia becomes a

person; and the audacious are deserted by the prudence of Malitia, of her whose characteristic is the badness of the purpose. Or Cicero may mean that they fail in the prudence or the plan which is necessary to accomplish their wicked design. It is not easy to explain this passage.

dixisse de veneno.] Dixisse' is Schütz's conjecture, confirmed by S. T. The common reading is 'dixit.' If we take 'dixisse,' the sentence assumes a different form. Classen says: · Confirmant h. 1. (quod vix iterum factum esse credo) egregii codd. nostri conjecturam Schützii."

tabellae quaestionis] We learn that the evidence obtained by torture was taken down in writing, and sealed with the seals of the witnesses who were present (c. 66).— 'suspicio:' S. T. The other reading is 'suspicione.'

scripsisse. Atque istam ipsam quaestionem dicite quis obsignarit? Unum aliquem nominate. Neminem reperietis, nisi forte ejusmodi hominem quem ego proferri malim quam neminem nominari. Quid ais, T. Atti? Tu periculum capitis, tu indicium sceleris, tu fortunas alterius litteris conscriptas in judicium afferas, neque earum auctorem litterarum, neque obsignatorem neque testem ullum nominabis; et quam tu pestem innocentissimo filio de matris sinu deprompseris, hanc hi tales viri comprobabunt? Esto: in tabellis nihil est auctoritatis. Quid, ipsa quaestio judicibus, quid, amicis hospitibusque Oppianici, quos adhibuerat antea, quid, huic tandem ipsi tempori cur non reservata est? Quid istis hominibus factum est Stratone et Nicostrato? Quaero abs te, Oppianice, servo tuo Nicostrato quid factum esse dicas; quem tu, quum hunc brevi tempore accusaturus esses, Romam deducere, dare potestatem indicandi, incolumem denique servare quaestioni, servare his judicibus, servare huic tempori debuisti. Nam Stratonem quidem, judices, in crucem esse actum exsecta scitote lingua; quod nemo

66. quis obsignarit ?] The reading of the MSS., and it is necessary. But some editions have 'quis obsignavit.' The letters vr are often confounded in these verbal forms.

quam neminem] This is Albius again, the strong colonus.' Cicero would rather it should be said that Albius was a witness to the evidence than that nobody was; for if Albius was a witness, it was a proof of the villainy of Sassia..—'tu indicium :''tu judicium,' Classen.

afferas,] This is the reading of the MSS. The reading afferes' is of course Latin, but there is a nice distinction between the two tenses. "Inest admiratio quaedam in conjunctivo" (Classen). I do not think that this is exactly the true explanation. The future is definite, and Cicero uses it in this sentence (nominabis, comprobabunt). The conjunctive (afferas) is indefinite. It means: "would you do such a thing as to consign to writing and bring before a court that which puts in peril a man's condition (periculum capitis), that which is evidence of crime, all his interests, and will you not give the names of those who vouch for what is written, will you not name either sealer or witness?" -'reservata:''servata,' S. T. Baiter.

in crucem] The punishment of slaves, as it has been explained before. The power of putting a slave to death was taken away by a constitutio' of Antoninus: qui sine caussa servum suum occiderit, non minus

66

teneri jubetur quam qui alienum servum occiderit” (Gaius i. 53). The same emperor also gave a certain privilege of sanctuary to slaves who were ill-treated by their

masters.

The monstrous crime of Sassia appears almost incredible, but modern times have had their Sassias too. Cruelty is not confined to time or country. The Roman woman's crime was surpassed by the cruelty of a French court of justice in the eighteenth century, which condemned a young man to a horrible punishment for not taking off his hat when a procession passed, and for singing an indecent song, and a few matters of that kind, which were proved by very insufficient evidence. The judgment of the court of Abbeville was that one of the accused, who was only eighteen years of age, should have his tongue cut off to the root; and the way of doing this was that, if the patient did not present his tongue himself, it was laid hold of with iron pincers and pulled out his right hand was to be cut off at the door of the principal church; he was then to be taken in a tumbril to the market-place, to be fastened to a stake with a chain, and to be burnt slowly. Luckily the young man escaped. But another victim, who was involved in the same charges, the Chevalier de la Barre, was executed after being cruelly tortured. (Rélation de la mort du chevalier de la Barre, Voltaire, Oeuvres Complètes. Politique et Législation.)