t was not brought as a
bribe, since the incident took place after the war. Curius had become
_patronus_ of the Samnites, and they were bringing the customary offering
of _clientes_; see Rep. 3, 40. -- NE: here = num, a rare use; so Fin. 3,
44; Acad. 2, 116. -- SED VENIO AD: so in 51 _venio nunc ad. Redeo ad_ (see
n. on 32) might have been expected here. -- IN AGRIS ERANT: 'lived on their
farms'. For _erant_ cf. n. on 21 _sunt_. -- ID EST SENES: cf. 19 n. on
_senatum_. -- SI QUIDEM: often written as one word _siquidem_ = [Greek:
eiper]. -- ARANTI: emphatic position. -- CINCINNATO: L. Quinctius
Cincinnatus is said to have been dictator twice; in 458 B.C., when he saved
the Roman army, which was surrounded by the Aequians, and ended the war in
sixteen days from his appointment; in 439, when Maelius was killed and
Cincinnatus was eighty years old. In our passage Cic. seems to assume only
one dictatorship. The story of Cincinnatus at the plough is told in Livy 3,
26. -- FACTUM: the technical term was _dicere dictatorem_, since he was
nominated by the consul on the advice of the senate. -- DICTATORIS: in
apposition with _cuius_.

P. 24. -- MAELIUM: a rich plebeian, who distributed corn in time of famine
and was charged with courting the people in order to make himself a king.
Ahala summoned him before the dictator, and because he did not immediately
obey, killed him with his own hand. For this, Ahala became one of the
heroes of his nation. See Liv. 4, 13. Cicero often mentions him with
praise. Cf. in Catil. I. 3; p. Sestio 143, etc. -- APPETENTEM: = _quia
appetebat_; so _occupatum_ = _cum occupasset_. -- VIATORES: literally
'travellers', so 'messengers'. They formed a regularly organized
corporation at Rome and were in attendance on many of the magistrates.
Those officers who had the _fasces_ had also lictors, who, however,
generally remained in close attendance and were not despatched on distant
errands. The statement of Cic. in the text is repeated almost _verbatim_ by
Plin. N.H. 18, 21. -- MISERABILIS: 'to be pitied'. The word does not quite
answer to our 'miserable'. -- AGRI CULTIONE: a rare expression, found
elsewhere only in Verr. 3, 226; then not again till the 'Fathers'. -- HAUD
SCIO AN NULLA: since _haud scio an_ is affirmative in Cicero, not negative
as in some later writers, _nulla_ must be read here, not _ulla_. Cf. 73
_haud scio an melius Ennius_, 'probably Ennius speaks better'; also 74
_incertium an hoc ipso die