QUESTIONS ARISING FROM 75th. MEETING – 24/2/17 (the record of earlier meetings can be downloaded from the main Circulus page as can the version of Ciceronis Filius with illustrations added)
We dined on cicera aromatica (chana massala), carium angīnum cum solānīs (alu lamb curry), spīnācia cum caseō, (saag panir), iūs lentium butyrātum (daal makhani), fragmenta gallīnācea aromatica (chicken tika massala), gallīnācea oxygalactīna (chicken korma), melanogēna (brinjal, eggplant) with the usual pānis Persicus (naan) and orӯza (rice), all washed down with three bottles of vīnum rubrum/sanguineum, one of them kindly provided free of charge by the management,.
A large South Asian party descended on the restaurant for a buffet meal whilst we were there but finished and left rapidly. To misquote Julius Caesar, a definite case of vēnērunt, ēdērunt, ēvanuērunt (`They came, they ate, they vanished’).
Conversation turned again to member’s travels, including Zhang Wei’s Chinese New Year trip to Spain, where he visited Cordoba, Granada and Santa Fe. Granada was the capital of the Moorish kingdom of Andalusia and Santa Ffe the small town first built as part of the final Spanish campaign to reconquer the region. It was also the site where the agreement was made between Columbus and the `Catholic monarchs (Isabelle and Ferdinand) that laid the foundation for Spanish colonization of the Americas. The fall of Granada and Colombus’s landing in the Bahamas both took place in 1492. ,
Pat, recently returned from the Caucasus, mentioned the reputation of Armenian brandy, which, unfortunately, cannot be brought away by tourists. This had apparently been greatly praised by Winston Churchill when offered it by Stalin at the Yalta conference and the Armenians allegedly sent him a number of bottles each year for the rest of his life – 200 according to the version Pat heard but Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArArAt_(brandy) , which describes the story as `undocumented, gives a figure of 400.
Mention of Churchill prompted Chris and John to remember two other anecdotes. He is said once to have been accosted in the House of Commons bar by Bessie Braddock, a famous, amply proportioned Labour M.P., with the words `Winston, you’re drunk!’, to which he ungallantly replied, `Bessie, you’re ugly, and in the morning I shall be sober!’ On a considerably earlier occasion, Churchill received two complimentary tickets from Bernard Shaw for the opening night of his latest play. Sham added the message `For you and a friend – if you have one’, to which Churchill replied `Regret I cannot make the first night. Will come to the second night – if you have one.’
The region said to produce the best grapes for Armenian brandy production is around Van, formerly an important centre of Armenian culture but subject to ethnic cleansing under the Ottoman Empire and now part of Turkey. We were unsure whether this episode took place in the 19th century or during World War I but it appears that it was the latter date and that it formed part of the wider `Armenian Genocide’ that has been the subject of so much controversy between Turkey and other countires in recent years. One dispute is whether atrocities against the Armenian population were a response to its collaboration with the Ottoman Empire’s Riussian enemies or whether the rebellion was itself triggered by earlier Turkish repression. See for more details https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van,_Turkey . The city of Van stands on the lake of the same name and Kurds now form the majority of the population.
We discussed the etymological connection between the words whole and holy , both of which seem to derive from a Proto-Indo-European root *koilos (whole, complete, which is also reflected in the word health.). The phonetic similarity wih hole is merely coincidental, as this is connected to another PIE root, *kel (hide, conceal). The most authoritative reference for this kind of query is the full edition of the Oxford English Dictionary but the on-line version is behind a pay-wall (unless you have membership of a university library) and the freely available www.etymonline.com is normally reliable enough.
Before the start of the meeting proper, Pat and John discussed the words pӯthō (-ōnis, m) and ariolus (-ī m) in II Kings 23: 24, which refers to Josiah’s elimination of idolatrous practices on becoming king of Judaea:
Sed et pythones, et ariolos, et figuras idolorum, et immunditias, et abominationes, quæ fuerant in terra Juda et Jerusalem, abstulit Josias: ut statueret verba legis quæ scripta sunt in libro quem invenit Helcias sacerdos in templo Domini.
The first word is used in Late Latin for the demon (or `familiar spirit’) that possesses the body of a soothsayer, whilst ariolus, more often written as hariolus means a prophet or soothsayer. The original Hebrew terms (which are conveniently given as glosses to the text of the King James English version on the `Polyglot Bible’ site) mean `bottle’ or `familiar spirit’ and `wizard’ respectively. Possibly pӯthō is connected with Pythia, the title of the priestess at Delphi who was supposedly possessed by the god Apollo.
There was a brief discussion of homosexuality in the ancient world, beginning with the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus in the Iliad. John linked the prevalence and acceptability of this to the difficulty of access to women of one’s own social class, something that was probably more pronounced at Athens than at Rome. This was also certainly a factor in some more conservative societies today, for example in Afghanistan.. We had in previous meetings noted that, for the Romans, there was no stigma against being the active partner in such a relationship but there was a strong one agains accepting the passive role as a pathicus, and for this reason gay sex between serving legionatries was a capital offence.
Chris noted the prevalence of the double entendre in Voltaire’s Candide including the reference to Dr. Pangloss giving a prolonged `lesson in physiology’ to a young girl who returned home `full of enthusiasm for science.’ Coming right up-to-date, Chris mentioned in addition that he was himself a remote relative of Nobel laureate, J.M.Coetzee, probably the living author with the greatest number ofprestigious awards under his belt. Still in the realm of high culture, Chris, who has authored learner’s manuals on several musical instruments, highly recommended Anna Russell’s parody-summary of the plot of Wagner’s `Ring’ cycle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07E5sLsJQe0
Chris aso recalled the highly stressful experience of giving a lesson in basic Korean to other foreigners whilst being observed by native speakers of the language. John had suffered similarly when in London he had given an elementary Nepali lesson to a British Council employee in the presence of a young Nepali he had only just met. John’s anxiety was not so much fear that he would make a mistake – he had previously been frank with the student on his own limitations – but rather that he would not be able to understand the native speaker’s explaining in Nepali what the mistakes were. Luckily, the observer only commented on the way he had written one character of the Devanagari script and, though he didn’t fully understand what was being said, he was able to guess correctly what the problem was! One great advantage of Latin, of course, is that, since all the native speakers are conveniently dead, we need not fear embarrassment.
We are also relatively safe when teaching our native language, but regional differences in pronunciation from the dictionary standard remain a pitfall. When giving a phonetics lesson to Nepali school teachers, John unthinkingly transcribed on the board his own Nottingham pronunciation of `path’ (with the vowel of cat’ rather than `part’) and was instantly corrected by a young man in a Nehru jacket. Northern `mistakes’ in fact generally represent earlier pronunciations which have changed more radically in the English of southern Britain: Henry V addressing his troops at Agincourt would have sounded more like a Yorkshire coal miner than Elizabeth II. Pat (who is from Somerset) pointed out that early pronunciations are also preserved in some southern dialects.
John had recently seen a short article on literary portrayals of Thomas More and his antagonist, Thomas Cromwell. Robert Bolt’s play `A Man for All Seasons’, made into a film in the 1960s, makes More into a noble idealist and Cromwell an unprincipled schemer, whilst Hilary Mantel’s book Wolf Hall makes More the villain and casts Cromwell in a more favourable light..The article suggests that neither man deserves idealization and that Mantel may have been influenced by reaction against her own Catholic upbringing. There is no doubt that More, eventually executed for upholding his own Cathoic beliefs, had previously been an enthusiastic persecutor of `heretics’, at least two of whom had been burned at the stake whilst he was Lord Chancellor. Pat pointed out, however, that Cromwell was no idealist. The article is at http://www.historytoday.com/paul-lay/no-more-heroes-thomas-cromwell-and-thomas-more and Hilary Mantel’s own response at http://www.historytoday.com/hilary-mantel/hilary-mantel-thomas-more.
Whatver the truth in all this, `A Man for All Seasons’ is a very fine film and also has one short scene in Latin, where Henry VIII attempts to test Margaret More’s scholarship, only to rapidly retreat into English and the topic of dancing when he realizes he is no match for her. See http://linguae.weebly.com/latin--greek.html for the scene, with transcript and translation, whilst More’s Latin treatise Utopia, which, with the exception of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathmatica Naturalis Philosophiae and Darwin’s Origin of Species, is arguably the most influential book ever published in Britain in any language, is briefly discussed at http://linguae.weebly.com/circulus-latinus-honcongensis.html
We read as usual six sections of Ciceronis Filius see the text below), discovering in the process the usual crop of vowel length mistakes. In John’s defence, the profound words of N.R.R. Oulton can be cited:
`It is a brave man who inserts a macron over a vowel in a book which is to be read outside his immediate family. Or chooses not to do so, for that matter. Just think of the hoots of derision that will be heard, ringing through the countryside, as the errors are spotted and chortled over,’ (So you ReallyWant to Learn Latin, Bk 1, pg. 101)
The first part of the extract dealt with Roman writing materials and Pat pointed out that tabulae (wooden trays containing wax in which characters were incised) remained in use well into the Middle Ages. Papyrus, also frequently employed in the ancient world, remained important down to the 7th century. Paper, which in its modern form is a Chinese invention, was introduced into Spain in the 11th century but not adopted fully throughout Europe until the 14th. See for details the article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_paper
The book also mentioned the use of minium (either cinnabar or the less expensive red lead) as a red pigment. This continued in use in the Middle ages, particularly for decorative work in literary manuscripts, and the modern word `miniature’ (for a small-scale painting) derives from the Latin word. Pat explained that cinnabar was also extensively used in traditional Chinese `chops’, which should be handled with care as the substance was highly poisonous.
Black ink was made from soot (fūlīgō) produced by burning pitch or resin. The word fūlīgō is cognate with fūmus (smoke) and has no connection with connection with fulgur (lightning, thunderbolt). The latter is the source for English `fulgurite’, hollow glass tubes produced by the action of lighning strikes on sand with high silica content. These etymological queries prompted someone to ask why Latin lūdus means both `play, game’ and `school.’ The semantic development seems to have been game > training > school and it should be noted that the term lūdus was normally used only for a primary school, though schola (a greek loan-word with the original meaning of `leisure’ could refer to schools for more advanced learning. With both lūdus and schola a fundamental idea may have been the contrast between practical activity geared directly to survival and leisure which could be devoted either to learning or to amusement.
Finally, we noted the reference in the last chapter of the extract to Cato the Elder (234-149 B.C.) the conservative statesman who opposed hellenization and called constantly for preventative war against Carthage.Chris, who had recently completed a dissertation on Cicero’s philosophical writng, pointed out that the orator always wrote very respectfully about this man, probably out of the wish to retain the support of his great-grandson, Cato the Younger (95-46 B.C.).
CICERŌNIS FĪLIUS p.41-44
Calamus, scalprum, ātramentum, cērae,[1] stilus Scrīptōrius calamus parva brevisque harundō erat, cuius pars extrēma sīc scalprō acuēbātur[2] ut in cuspidem exīret. Ātramentum solidum erat, colōre, ut verbum ipsum significat, plērumque nigrō; ex fūlīgine fīēbat, pice vel rēsīnā exustīs. Nec miniī[3] ūsus in litterīs exarandīs incognitus erat, sed ruber ille color in librōrum indicibus[4] adhibēbātur. Discipulī in lūdīs id tantum ātramentī aquā solvēbant quod cōtīdiānus ūsus posceret. Membrānās[5] vel chartās ātramentō illinēbant,[6] at cērās stilō exarābant, Stilī caput alterum acūtum erat, alterum quadrātā lāminā[7] terminābātur: illud ad exarandam cēram ūtile erat, hoc ad cēram exaequandam scrīptūramque dēlendam.
Cicerō in morbum incidit[8] M. Cicerōnī Terentia uxor nūntiāvit aliquot iam diēs fīliolum nōn bene valēre. Sollicitam[9] dē illō sē esse fatēbatur. `Cibum aspernātur,’ aiēbat;[10] `noctū rārō quiēscit; difficilis et anxius est illī somnus. Interdiū dormītat vel lentō collō bracchiōque pendente sedet. Animadvertī[11] etiam vesperī illum febriculā labōrāre.’ [12] Quibus rēbus audītīs, M. Cicerō, magnā ipse sollicitūdine adfectus, familiārem[13] medicum, quem, ut Rōmānōrum mōs erat, in numerō servōrum habēbātur, statim arcessīvit, eiusque cōnsiliō[14] est ūsus; deinde, cum Cicerōnis morbus ingravēsceret, medicōs aliōs advocāvit.[15]
NOTES: [1]cēra, -ae f, wax-covered tablet [2]harundō, harundinis f, reed; acuō. –ere, acuī, acūtum, sharpen. [3]fūlīgo, fūlīginis f, soot; pix, picis f, pitch; exūrō, -ere, exussī, exustum, burn up; minium, -ī n referred both to cinnabar (mercury sulphide) and to the less expensive red lead, which is produced by roasting white lead and still known as minium in English. Both minerals were used as red pigment and the name derives from the river Minius (modern Minho) on the present Portuguese-Spanish border near the Romans’ principal cinnabar mines. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minium_(pigment) [4]exarō, -āre, -āvī, -ātum, plough up, note down (sc. by `ploughing up’ a wax tablet); index, indicis m, title, list. [5]solvō, sovere, solvī, solūtum, dissolve, untie; cōtīdiānus, -a, -um, daily (the ink was kept in solid form until the day it was required); membrāna, -ae f skin, parchment; poscō, -ere, poposcī, demand, require. [6]charta, -ae f, sheet of paper; illinō, illinere, illēuī, illitumverb smear over; anoint [7]quadrātus, -a, -um, square (adj.); lāmina, -ae, thin piece of metal, wood etc. [8]morbus, -ī m, illness; incidō, -ere, incidī, incāsum, fall into (distinguished by short stem vowel from incīdo, -ere, incīdī, incīsum, cut into) [9]sollicitus, -a, -um, worried. [10]fateor, fatērī, fassus sum, say; aspernor, -ārī, aspernātus sum, despise, spurn; aiō (defective verb), say (ai before a consonant was pronounced as two short vowels, before a vowel as a diphthong plus glide - `ai-y’) [11]interdiū, during the day; dormītō, -āre, -āvī, sleep frequently; lentus, -a, -um, slow, sluggish; collum, -ī n, neck, bracchium, -ī n, arm; pendeō, penēre, pependī, hang (down); animadvertō, -ere, -vertī, -versum, notice. [12]vesperī, in the evening; febricula, -ae f, slight fever; labōrō, -āre, -āvī, be in trouble, suffer (from). [13]adficiō (afficiō), -ficere, -fecī, -fectum, affect, influence; familiāris, -e, belonging to the family. [14]in numerō servōrum habēbātur, `was kept as one of the slaves’; cōnsilium, -ī n, advice. [15]ingravēscō, -ere, grow more serious; advocō, -āre, -āvī, -ātum, call, summon;
Dē Rōmānōrum medicīs Eō tempore magna erat Rōmae medicōrum peregrīnōrum multitūdō; nam ab aetāte[1] bellī Pūnicī secundī coeperant ex orientis sōlis partibus[2] Graecī medicī Rōmam frequentēs convenīre. Adliciēbat eōs et splendor urbis et quaestūs[3] cupiditās; nūlla enim ars erat frūctuōsior, cum praesertim illī nōn omnibus aegrōtīs sē subvenīre posse profitērentur,[4] sed certōs tantum morbōs, certās tantum corporis partēs singulī medicī cūrārent. Hic febrim[5] levābat, laterum dolōrem ille; alius cutī medēbātur,[6] alius dentibus, alius gutturī, alius oculīs; nec quī chīrūrgus frācta ossa compōnēbat, vulneribus īdem medēbātur aut ventris[7] dēfōrmitātēs manū corrigēbat. Neque vērō medicae dēerant quae aegrōtantēs mulierēs[8] cūrārent.[9]
Quōmodo Rōmānōrum medicī artem suam exercuerint[10] Medicōrum aliī operam suam apud prīvātōs praebēbant, ūnī familiae, ut quī servī essent,[11] addictī, aut mīlitēs apud exercitum cūrābant vel in lūdīs gladiātōriīs gladiātōrēs; mercēde[12] aliī artem suam exercēbant, sī quis illōrum officium posceret. Illī quī clīnicī [13] dīcēbantur cubentēs aegrōtōs adībant; cēterī in tabernīs quibusdam, sīc ōrnātīs et īnstructīs[14] ut ad medicīnam exercendam idōneae essent, vel cōnsulentēs[15] audiēbant vel aegrōtōs cūrābant. Eae tabernae medicīnae dīcēbantur. Sērō apud Rōmānōs archiatrī exstitērunt,[16] quī mercēdem dē pūblicō ideō acciperent, ut cīvēs omnēs, vel pauperrimōs,[17] dīligenter cūrārent. Haec cōnsuētūdō, ē Graecīs prōvinciīs trānslāta, aetāte nostrā ita est vulgāta,[18] ut nihil aliud pōpulōrum cultum[19] atque hūmānitātem manifestius indicet.
NOTES: [1]peregrīnus, -a, -um, foreign; aetās, aetātis f, age, era [2]bellī Pūnicī secundī: the second Punic War (218-201 B.C) was one of three fought between Rome and the Cathaginians , who were called Pūnicī because of their Phoenician origin; coepī, began (defective verb used only in perfect tenses); ex orientis sōlis partibus, `from the regions of the rising sun’ (i.e the East). [3]adliciō (alliciō), -lexī, -lectum, entice, attract; quaestus, -ūs m, income, paid employment [4]praesertim, especially; aegrōtus, -a, -um, sick; subvenīō, -īre, -venī, -ventum, assist; profiteor, -fitērī, professus sum, claim. [5]tantum, only; febris, febris f, fever. [6]levō, -āre, -āvī, -ātum, relieve, alleviate; latus, lateris n, side; cutis, cutis f, skin; medeor, medērī, cure, remedy. [7]chīrūrgus, –ī m, surgeon (nec quī…..īdem: nor was the surgeon who …. the same as the one who; compōnō. -ere, -posuī, -positum, place together, set; vulnus, vulneris n, wound; venter, ventris m, stomach. [8]medica, -ae f, female doctor; dēsum, -esse, -fuī, be wanting, be lacking; aegrōtō, -āre, -āvī, be sick; mulier, mulieris f, woman. [9]quae…cūrārent: subjunctive in a clause of characteristic (of they type that…) [10]exercuerint: perfect subjunctive is used as a title including an interrogative word is normally regarded as indirect speech. [11]praebeō, -ēre, praebuī, praebitum, provide; ut…essent: subjunctive as the relative clause is causal (they worked for one family because they were slaves)/ [12] addictī: attached to (governing ūnī familiae); mercēs, mercēdis f, hire, pay [13]officium, -ī n, service; poscō, -ere, poposcī, demand, require (the subjunctive here expresses general possibility -`should anyone require their servicse’); clīnicus, -ī m, doctor who visited people in bed (Greek clīnē). [14]cubentēs: lying down (i.e. confined to bed); ōrnō, -āre, -āvī, -ātum, decorate; īnstruō, -ere, -strūxī, -strūctum, equip, furnish, [15]ut ad medicīnam idōneae essent: `so as to be suitable for the practice of medicine’ (gerundive construction, literally, `suitable for medicine being practiced’) [16]medicīnus, a, -um, medical (the feminine form of the adjective could be used on its own with taberna understood, as patria for terra patria etc.; sērō, late (adverb); arciātrus, -ī m, chief physician; existō, -ere, exstitī, exist [17]ideō…ut, `for the purpose that…’; pauperrimus, -a, -um, superlative of pauper, pauperis, poor. [18]trānsferrō, -ferre, -tulī, -lātum, carry across, adopt; vulgō, -āre, -āvī, -ātum, make commmon [19]cultus, -ūs m, civilization, culture.
Cicerō ā peregrīnīs medicīs cūrātur Frequentēs igitur Cicerōnis domum peregrīnī medicī vēnērunt, quibus omnibus maiōrem inānitātem inesse patuit quam doctrīnam. Parvum illī Cicerōnem stantem auscultāvērunt,[1] iacentem perspexērunt, ventre semel atque iterum compressō.[2] Notāvērunt etiam quōmodo vēnae movērentur, quī calor cutis esset; ex ipsā exsertā linguā signa habuērunt.[3] Ut brevī praecidam, ea omnia fēcērunt quae nostrā quoque aetāte medicī adsolent. [4] Dēcrēvērunt dēnique nōn ante febrim esse discessūram, quam Cicerō febrī caruisset,[5] neque fore ut ille convalēsceret,[6] nisi prius morbō ēvāsisset. Ōrāculō ēditō[7] magnāque mercēde acceptā exiērunt. Cum domō ēgressūrī [8]essent, ūnus ex illīs, omnibus cōnsentientibus, adiēcit: [9]`Si forte, quod dī āvertant, ille dēcesserit, certum id indicium erit hunc morbum mortiferum fuisse.’ [10]
Cicerōnis ancillae maledīcō sermōne[11] dē Graecīs medicīs iudicium faciunt. Graecī medicī tandem discessērunt; quōs vetus quaedam[12] ancilla, cui Phrygis nōmen erat, vultū nōn benevolō ac velut irrīdēns abeuntēs est prōsecūta. Crēverat illa Arpīnī[13] Cicerōnis in aedibus, ac dominī familiae amantissima erat; set nātūrā morōsior, quod vītium[14] aetās prōvecta auxerat, et linguā tam garrulā, ut omnium aurēs anīlī loquācitāte obtunderet.[15] Tum vērō cōnservam quandam adlōcūta.[16] `Et opera et oleum,’ inquit, `dominō nostrō perībit,[17] sī in fīliolō suō cūrandō suādentibus medicīs aurēs praebēbit.’[18] `Cui illa:[19] `Et pecūniam magnam, opīnor, est effūsūrus. Nōvī enim Graeculōs istōs: [20]medicīnam profitentur, lucrum ligurriunt. Nummōs concupīscunt, nec quicquam aliud: ut mel[21] muscae, ut puerī nucēs.’[22] `Tum Phrygia: `Rēctē, hercle, id dīcis, Num antequam istī ex Graeciā vēnērunt plūrēs hominēs Rōmae moriēbantur? Num malā valētūdine[23] Rōmānī perpetuō labōrābant? At Catō ille sapiēns, quem memorant Graecōs medicōs ōdisse, integrīs vīribus,[24] ut saepe dominum nostrum commemorantem audīvī, ad extrēmam senectūtem pervēnit. Quīn[25] etiam sī quis forte es familiāribus suīs in morbum inciderat, ipse medendī ratiōnem inveniēbat,[26] ipse parābat emplastra, vel purgātōria medicāmenta aegrōtīs sorbenda porrigēbat.’[27]
NOTES: [1]inānitās, -inānitātis f, uselessness; doctrīna, -ae f, learning; auscultō, -āre, -āvī, -ātum, listen to [2]iaceō, -āre, iacuī, lie (down); perspiciō, -ere, -spexī, -spectun, look at thoroughly; ventre .. compressō: ablative absolute, `after pressing his stomach [3]Quī calor cutis esset: `what temperature (calor, calōris m) his skin was’ (subjunctive in this clause and the previous one for indirect questions); ex(s)erō, exserere, exseruī, exsertum , thrust out (`had signs from the stuck-out tongue itself’, i.e. got him to stick out his tongue and examined it). [4]praecīdō, praecīdere, praecīdī, praecīsum, cut back, cut short (ut brevī praecidam, `to cut a long story short’, literally `that I may cut short briefly); adsoleō, -ēre, be accustomed [5] crēvērunt …. caruisset: `they finally determined (dēcernō, -ere, -crēvī, -crētum) that the fever would not depart before Cicero was without (careō, -ēre, caruī plus dative) a fever.’ The pluperfect subjunctive represents a future perfect in direct speech. [6]neque fore ut ill convalēsceret: literally `and it would not happen that he got well’; this paraphrase with the future infinitive of esse and the subjunctive is regularly used when, like convalēscō, a verb lacks a future participle to use in an accusative and infinitive construction; it is also used to avoid using the future passive infinitive, which the Romans thought was inelegant (e.g. fore ut Marcus superārētur for Marcum superātum īrī ) [7]nisi prius morbō evāsisset: `if he had not first got away (ēvādō, -ere, -vāsī, -vāsum) from the disease; ōrāculō ēditō: `after the oracle had been proclaimed’ (literally `given’ out); ablative absolute with perfect participle from ēdō [8]domō, from the house; ēgressūrī: about to go out (future participle from egredior, -gredī, -gressus sum). [9]adiciō, -icere, -iēcī, iectum: add [10]Sī forte…fuisse: `If by chance he dies (literally `will have died’) – may the gods prevent that -, it will be a sure indication that this illness was fatal.’ [11]maledīcus, -a, -um abusive, slanderous; sermō, sermōnis m, speech conversation [12]vetus, veteris, old; quīdam, quaedam, quoddam, a certain. [13]irrīdeō, irrīdēre, irrīsī, irrīsum, mock; prōsequor, -sequī, -secūtus sum, follow; crēscō, crēvī, crētum; grow, grow up; Arpīnum (-ī n), Arpino, Cicero’s home town about 100km SE of Rome. [14]dominī familiae amantissima: very fond of the master’s family; vītium, -ī n, fault [15]prōvectus, -a, um, advanced; augeō, -ēre, auxī, auctum; garrulus, -a, -um, garrulous, gossipy; anilis, -e (adj.), of an old womanī; loquācitās, -tātis f, talkativenesss; obtundō, obtundere, obtudī, obtūsum, strike, make blunt,deafen [16]cōnserva, -ae f, fellow (female) slave; adloquor, -loquī, lōcūtus sum, address, speak to [17]opera et oleum: `work and oil’, i.e. time and effort ( the phrase is used several times in Cicero’s own letters and in Plautus’s plays); pereō, -īre, periī, perish. be wasted. [18]suadentibus medicīs aurēs praebēbit: `he listens to the doctor’s urgings’ (literally `will provide ears for the urging doctors’). [19]cui illa: ` the other maid replied to her’ (literally `to whom that one’).) [20]effundō,-funder, -fūdī, -fūsum, poou out, spend; nōvī , I know (perfcet of nōscō, -ere, get to know, find out); Graeculus, -ī m, little Greek ( pejorative); iste, ista, istud, that (often implying contempt). [21]ligūrriō, ligūrrīre, ligūrrīuī/ligūrriī, ligūrrītum, lick, lick up; nummus, -ī m, coin; concupīscō, -ere, -cuīvī.-cupiī, want badly, covet;, mel, mellis n, honey [22]musca, -ae f, fly; nux, nucis f, nut [23]Num…moriēbantur: `Surely people did not die in Roma in greater numbers before they came from Greece’; valētūdō, valētūdinis f, health [24]Catō, Catōnis m, Cato (referring her to Cato the Elder (234-149 B.C.), well-known for his conservative views and as the author of a handbook on farm management, Dē Agrī Culturā; memorō, -āre, -āvī, -ātum, relate, remind; ōdī, ōdisse (defective verb), hate (the perfect tense is used with present meaning); integrīs vīribus, in full vigour (literally `with whole strength’). [25]quīn: here meaning `indded’ or `more than that’ [26]medendī rationem: `method of treatment’ [27] emplastrum, -ī n, plaster (medical); purgātōrius, -a, -um, purgative; aegrōtīs sorbenda, for drinking up by the sick (gerundive construction); porrigō, porrigere, porrēxī, porrēctum, put forward, offer.