section 33
Cicero summons Caecus
1 - sed tamen ex ipsa
sed tamen ex ipsa quaeram prius utrum me secum severe et graviter et prisce agere malit, an remisse et leniter et urbane.
- quaeram futr
- utrum ... malit indirect question introduced by utrum & quaeram
- me ... agere nested indirect statement introduced by malit
- ipsa in ex ipsa refers to Clodia
- prius adv previously, before - maybe take it as prius ago..?
- secum = se + cum (se refers to Clodia)
- prisce - old fashionedly, as it was in the past
- urbane - in the new way, coming from "in the city", where people do things in a new way
But however, before [this], I will ask from Clodia, whether she would prefer that I deal with her severely and gravely and strictly, or gently and slowly and politely.
2 - si illo austero more ac modo
2.1
si illo austero more ac modo, aliquis mihi ab inferis excitandus est ex barbatis illis, non hac barbula qua ista delectatur, ...
- si - conditional clause with implied verb. The "full" clause would be "si malit agere illo austero more ac modo".
- how do you distinguish between conditional clauses with implied verbs and stuff like "if true, then..."
- austerus: gloomy; serious
- mos, moris: nature, manner;
- illo austero more ac modo abl.manner
- mihi dative of agent, with gerundive excitandus
- ista referring to Clodia
- he would've pointed to her at this point
- qua referring to barbula
- relative pronouns have to match gender and number, but not necessarily case
- ablative, nominative is quae
- abl.agent
- [non hac barbula] [qua ista delectatur]
- hac barbula
- ablative of description
- the adjective is hac
- non aliquis cum hac barbula
- Romans were also people, so like Cicero would've been clean shaven because it's the style for men his age. Younger people would be more trendy
- ablative of description
- qui referring to aliquis, or the inferred aliquis that illa horrida describes
If with that serious manner and method, someone from the underworld must be summoned by me, from those bearded people, not [someone] with this little beard, which Clodia is delighted by, ...
small commentary
hac barbula ... illa horrida one would imagine that Cicero would point to various beards in the court, to embarrass Clodia like "oooh that guy with that beard's your type haha"
2.2
... sed illa horrida quam in statuis antiquis atque imaginibus videmus, qui obiurget mulierem et pro me loquatur ne mihi ista forte suscenseat.
- horrida - bristling.
- imago - a bust or a death mask, contrasted with statua, which is a full-body statue.
- qui obiurget ... loquatur relative clause(s) of purpose. "qui ... obiurget ... et [qui] loquatur"
- loquatur subjunctive
- mihi dative with compound verb - suscenseat
- suscenseat
- innate passive meaning
- compound because: sub + cendo → succendo → succensus (PPP) → succensus + eo → succenseo (new verb) → suscenseo
- ne ... suscenseat nested purpose clause
Death masks - wax masks (like plaster casts of people's faces when they died). They would've been hung in the atrium like in a row. And they were probably like painted and coloured. It could also be a bust instead of a mask that was in the atrium.
... but [someone] with that rough one, which we see in ancient statues and pictures, so that he scolds the woman and speaks for me, so that she would not, by chance, get angry at me.
3 - exsistat igitur ex hac ipsa familia
exsistat igitur ex hac ipsa familia aliquis ac potissimum Caecus ille; minimum enim dolorem capiet, qui istam non videbit.
- existat subjunctive, indirect command
- potissimum adverb - in this sense "most appropriately [out of everyone]"
- Caecus - Appius Clodius Caecus. He was blind and cognomen'd caecus because he was blind. caecus as a word means something hidden or something that can't see. Here Cicero is punning on Caecus' name, it means both "that Caecus" and "that blind person"
- censor 312 BC, consul 307 & 296
- approximately 250 years ago
- for us in 2026, approximately someone in the 1770s. So like George Washington
- why does Cicero choose Caecus to "raise from the dead"?
- censor 312 BC, consul 307 & 296
Therefore, someone from this exact family should appear, and chiefly, that Caecus, for the person will take the smallest sadness [out of everyone], will not be able to see her.
4 - mulier, quid tibi cum Caelio
qui profecto, si exstiterit, sic aget ac sic loquetur: "mulier, quid [est] tibi cum Caelio, quid cum homine adulescentulo, quid cum alieno?
- mulier - dismissive, aka not "my dearest granddaughter!!! uwu"
- exstiterit perf active subjunctive OR ftpf active indicative
- but it's ftpf because the rest of the sentence is futr indicative
- aget futr active indicative
- loquetur futr active indicative
- but it's ftpf because the rest of the sentence is futr indicative
- tibi - dative of interest
- adulescentulo - doesn't have to be a teenager, could be in his twenties. Cicero's point is that Caelio is too young for Clodia.
- alieno - relating to someone else. You can take it as "someone not related to you" or "someone else' man"
Indeed, if he were here, he will do such and say such: "woman, what [is there] for you with Caelius, what with a young man, what a stranger?
5 - cur aut tam familiaris
cur aut tam familiaris fuisti ut aurum commodares, aut tam inimica ut venenum timeres?
- tam adverb
- ut ... commodares
- familiaris ... inimica nom adjectives describing Clodia
Why were you either so familiar [with Caelius] that you lent gold [to him], or so hostile [to Caelius] that you feared poison?
6 - non patrem tuum videras
non patrem tuum videras, non patruum, non avum, non proavum, non abavum, non atavum audieras consules fuisse; ...
- [patrem, patruum ... atavum] ... consules fuisse indirect statement introduced by videras and audieras
- videras pluperfect active indicative
As mentioned before, Clodia's home would've had the imagines of all these people in the atrium.
You had not seen that your father, had not heard that your father's brother, your grandfather, your great-grandfather, your great-great-grandfather, your great-great-great-grandfather, had been consuls; ...
Cicero, as an equestrian/new guy, couldn't say the "DID YOU KNOW THAT EVERYONE IN YOUR FAMILY WERE CONSULS???" to Clodia, because Clodia could just rightfully reply "lmao at least they were consuls"
Point of saying this: Clodia is letting her ancestral dignity down, she is bringing shame to the Clodii.
Since the jurors were rich people, they would've cared about the family dignity a lot. So Cicero doing this is a great way to give the jurors bad vibes about Clodia.
Prosopopoeia - not ad hominem. HSC only point - they had an In Catalinam section where if you didn't acknowledge it as a prosopopoeia you could only get 13/15
prosopos - Greek for character (basically persona but in greek).
"poseia" - to make
In analysis - why does cicero say the things he does?