Knowledge, Theory of -- Early works to 1800; Philosophy -- Early works to 1800
90 be pressed, the _sumenda_ are made to include
both _producta_ and _reducta_, in _D.F._ III. 16 _appeterent_ includes
_fugerent_, _ibid._ II. 86 the opposite of _beata vita_ is abruptly
introduced. So _D.F._ II. 88 _frui dolore_ must be construed together, and
_ibid._ II. 73 _pudor modestia pudicitia_ are said _coerceri_, the writer's
thoughts having drifted on rapidly to the vices which are opposite to these
virtues.
I now pass on to a second class of difficulties. Supposing that by _ex iis_
Cic. means _mediis_, and not _sumendis_, about which he had intended to
talk when he began the sentence; I believe that _pluris aestimanda_ and
_minoris aestimanda_ simply indicate the αξια and απαξια of the Greek,
_not_ different degrees of αξια (positive value). That _minor aestimatio_
should mean απαξια need not surprise us when we reflect (1) on the
excessive difficulty there was in expressing this απαξια or negative value
in Latin, a difficulty I have already observed on 36; (2) on the strong
negative meaning which _minor_ bears in Latin, e.g. _sin minus_ in Cic.
means "but if not." Even the Greeks fall victims to the task of expressing
απαξια. Stobaeus, in a passage closely resembling ours makes ελαττων αξια
equivalent to πολλη απαξια (II. 6, 6), while Sext. Emp. after rightly
defining αποπροηγμενα as τα ‛ικανην απαξιαν εχοντα (_Adv. Math._ XI.
62--64) again speaks of them as τα μη ‛ικανην εχοντα αξιαν (_Pyrrhon.
Hypot._ III. 191) words which usually have an opposite meaning. Now I
contend that Cicero's words _minoris aestimanda_ bear quite as strong a
negative meaning as the phrase of Sextus, τα μη ‛ικανην αξιαν εχοντα. I
therefore conclude that Cicero has striven, so far as the Latin language
allowed, to express the Stoic doctrine that, of the αδιαφορα, some have
αξια while others have απαξια. He may fairly claim to have applied to his
words the rule "_re intellecta in verborum usu faciles esse debemus_"
(_D.F._ III. 52). There is quite as good ground for accusing Sextus and
Stobaeus of misunderstanding the Stoics as there is for accusing Cicero.
There are difficulties connected with the terms ‛ικανη αξια and ‛ικανη
απαξια which are not satisfactorily treated in the ordinary sources of
information; I regret that my space forbids me to attempt the elucidation
of them. The student will find valuable aid in the notes of Madv. on the
passages of the _D.F._ quoted in this note. _Non tam rebus quam vocabulis_:
Cic. frequently repeats this assertion of Antiochus, who, having stolen the
clothes of the Stoics, proceeded to prove that they had never properly
belonged to the Stoics at all. _Inter recte factum atque peccatum_: Stob.
speaks II. 6, 6 of τα μεταξυ αρετης και κακιας. (This does not contradict
his words a little earlier, II. 6, 5, αρετης δε και κακιας ουδεν μεταξυ,
which have regard to divisions of men, not of actions. Diog. Laert.,
however, VII. 127, distinctly contradicts Cic. and Stob., see R. and P.
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