nah Cicero ate and left no crumbs
0 - Q Metelli matrimonium
... non denique modo te Q. Metelli matrimonium tenuisse sciebas, clarissimi ac fortissimi viri patriaeque amantissimi, qui simul ac pedem limine extulerat, omnes prope cives virtute, gloria, dignitate superabat?
- te ... matrimonium tenuisse
- clarissimi ... fortissimi ... amantissimi genitive bc agreeing with Metelli
- doesn't mean "the most" - because saying Metellus was the most famous man in the state would've been a lie
- non goes with sciebas and modo goes with tenuisse. Metellus died 3 years ago, not very recent. But this is like implying that
- patriae genitive - objective genitive. Could take it as dat.advantage but the idiom is genitive. syllabus - "genitive with adjective"
- virtute, gloria, dignitate abl respect
- virtus - originally what makes men good men - masculinity
- gloria -
... besides, did you not know that recently, you held the marriage of Quintus Metellus, a man very distinguished and strong and most loving of the fatherland, and who, as soon as he had carried his foot from the threshold, had surpassed almost all citizens in virtue, glory, and dignity?
context
Met
mini commentary
"did you not know that you were married" Cicero simultaneously insults Clodia's intelligence and fidelity
omnes prope: "all citizens nearby", or "almost all citizens"??
1-4 - cum ex amplissimo genere
cum ex amplissimo genere in familiam clarissimam nupsisses, cur tibi Caelius tam coniunctus fuit? cognatus, adfinis, viri tui familiaris? nihil eorum. quid igitur fuit nisi quaedam temeritas ac libido?
- nupsisses plpf
- ex amplissimo genere in familiam clarissimam - the Metelli were also one of the aristocratic illustrious families like the Clodii.
- tibi dative with compound verb
- cognatus: related by blood, adfinis: related by marriage, also be a client in clientela
- eorum partitive genitive
- libido - the older Latin meaning was broader than "sex drive"
- temeritas, libido nominative
Since you married from a very esteemed family into a very distinguished household, why had Caelius been so intimate with you? [Was he] a relation, a neighbour, a friend of your husband? None of these. Then, what was it, if not a certain disgrace and passion?
The Romans love this sort of thing with ancestors doing virtuous things - mos maiorum
5 - te Q. illa Claudia admonebat
nonne te, si nostrae imagines viriles non commovebant, ne progenies quidem mea, Q. illa Claudia, aemulam domesticae laudis in gloria muliebri esse admonebat, non virgo illa Vestalis Claudia [admonebat], quae patrem complexa triumphantem ab inimico tribuno plebei de curru detrahi passa non est?
- nonne expects yes.
- nostrae imagines viriles - "images of male ancestors" from commentary - how?? - literally "our manly exemplars/images"
- ne - can mean indeed
- Quinta Claudia
- granddaughter of Caecus
- There was a sacred stone of the Magna Mater or something, that only really sacred people could go near. They sent this guy called Scipius to move the stone and he put it on a ship but the ship ran aground. Then the prophecy people said that they needed the most chaste Roman woman to go and move the ship. So Quinta was like "I'm the most chaste woman!" and then she went to the ship and prayed like "goddess (Magna Mater), if I'm chaste then move the ship" and the ship moved really easily
- Vestalis Claudia
- vestal virgin sacrosanctity vs plebian tribune sacrosanctity, fight
- triumpantem - pronounced tri-um-FAN-tem
- hearth - pronounced haarth
Surely, if our manly exemplars did not affect you, (then) certainly that Quinta Claudia—indeed my descendant—reminded you to be a rival of domestic praise and in feminine glory; that Vestal Virgin Claudia—who having embraced her triumphing father, did not permit [him] to be dragged from the chariot by the enemy tribune of the plebs—did she not remind you?
6 - aquam adduxi ut ea tu inceste uterere
cur te fraterna vitia potius quam bona paterna et avita et usque a nobis cum in viris tum etiam in feminis repetita moverunt?
- bona noun virtues
- bona paterna et avita et usque a nobis cum in viris tum etiam in feminis repetita - take this as a chunk
- cum ... tum ... = et ... et ...
- repetita = found repeatedly
Why do fraternal sins move you more than the virtues of your father and of your grandfather and also [the virtues] found repeatedly since our time [lit. from us] both in men and also especially in women?
7
ideone ego pacem Pyrrhi diremi ut tu amorum turpissimorum cotidie foedera ferires, ideo aquam adduxi ut ea tu inceste uterere, ideo viam munivi ut eam tu alienis viris comitata celebrares?"
- Pyrrhi genitive, "peace offered by Pyrrhus"
- pacem Pyrrhi ... foedera lmaoooo Cicero is like juxtaposing the "pact" Caecus didn't allow
- incestus a um - in Latin, simply means unchaste, unclean
- uterere = utereris
- comitata in this specific case, from comito, not comitor
- pacem Pyrrhi diremi ... aquam adduxi ... viam munivi
- Romans were about to sign a peace treaty with someone called Pyrrus or whatever and then Caecus came to the whatever and shouted at everyone to not sign it
- Caecus built the Via Appia and the Aqua Appia
- Appia from his praenomen Appius
Was it for this that I destoyed the peace of Pyrrhi, so that you can strike bargains every day with most disgraceful lovers, was it for this that I lead the water here, so that it can be used by you unchastely, was it for this that that I fortifed the road, so that you can frequent it, accompanied by other people's men?
- [ideo, tam, etc...] + ut + subjunctive → result clause.