Pro S. Roscio Amerino

CH. XV.] NOTES. 87
elder Rosciua allowed his son to enjoy the usufructof certain farms
on the estate. This made the young man's position an honourable
and independent one, since according to Roman law even a grownup
son (Jiliiis familias), if he had not been emancipated, remained
entirely under the control of liis fatlier (patria potestas), and could
neither own nor acquire property. The father might allow him a
separate estate (peculium), but had power to take it back at any
time.
20. haec . . . vita : subjeot. nisticanarelegatioatqueamandatio:
secondary predicate after appellahitur.
22. ipsa : emphasises both re and veritate.
23. benevolentia . . . odio : ablatives of (efficient) cause.
24. honoris causa : see note on 2, 13.
adeo non.
26. usque eo non : =
27. arguas : consecutive subjunctive.
28. renun naturam " : the natural course of things."
XVI., §§ 45-48. Argument.— You say that u^hile he lcept one son
with him in Bome, he allowed the other to stay in the country. But,
as we may gather even from the old comic poets, fathers have quite as
much affectionfor sons who live in the country as for those whom they
keep in the city. You impute to Se.ctus Boscius as a crime that which
is infact his greatest claim to pjraise.
[See the Index for Caecilius, Umbria, Veiens ager.]
Ch. XVI.— 1. at enim : used to introduce an opponenfs objection,
" but you will say that."
2. ruri : locative.
3. hoc : i.e. " what I am going to say."
5. ut patre certo nascerere : substantival clause, object of dedit.
Cicero is probably here alluding to the fact tliat Erucius was a
freedman (as was also his employer Chrysogonus), and therefore
in strict law had no father.
6. posses: consecutive subjunctive. qui: predicative, "whatit
was." esset : subjunctive in indirect question. at . . . certe :
"yet at any rate."
7. humanitatis : " innate human feeling"; here contrasted with
doctrina, wliich is acquired.
8. ne . . . quidem : "not even " ; the words ne quidem are always
separated, and the word to be emphasised is placed between them.
9. senex ille Caecilianus : " that old gentleman in Caecilius' play."
See Index, s. v. Caecilius.
10. minoris : genitive of value.
11. utopinor: Cicero avoids the appearance of accurate knowledge
of such unpractical matters.
12. hoc nomine : ablative of description.
13. quid abis ad : " why do you wander off into . . . ? "
14. quasi ... sit : qiiasi "as if " ; tamquam, velut ai, ete., are
used to introduce conditional clauses of comparison, whioh put an