P. 3. -- AIUNT: _sc. stulti_. -- PUTASSENT: the subjunctive is due to the indirect discourse. Where we say 'I should not have thought,' the Latins say, in direct narration, '_non putaram_,' _i.e._ 'I never had thought' (so Off. 1, 81 and often in Cicero's letters). Translate, 'more quickly than they had ever expected'. Cf. Att. 6, 1, 6 _accipiam equidem dolorem mihi ilium irasci sed multo maiorem non esse eum talem qualem putassem_. See Zumpt, Gram., 518. -- FALSUM PUTARE: 'to form a mistaken judgment'. For _falsum_ as noun equivalent to ψευδος, cf. 6 _gratissimum_; also n. on 3 _ceteris_. -- QUI CITIUS: lit. 'in what way quicker'; cf. Tusc. 5, 89 _qui melius_. H. 188, II. 2. -- ADULESCENTIA ... SENECTUS ... PUERITIA: babyhood was generally at Rome supposed to last till the 17th year (the time for assuming the _toga virilis_ and for beginning military service). _Iuventus_ is usually the age from 17 to 45, during which men were liable to be called on for active service. Ordinarily, in colloquial language, _adulescentia_ is the earlier portion of _iuventus_, say the years from 17 to 30 (cf. 33), but Cicero seems here to make _adulescentia_ co-extensive with _iuventus_. From 45 to 60 is the _aetas seniorum_, the period during which citizens in early Rome might be called out for the defence of the city, but not for active service. _Senectus_ was commonly reckoned as beginning at 60; but in § 60 Cicero includes in _senectus_ the _aetas seniorum_, and probably intended to include it here. In Tusc. 1, 34 Cic. reckons three ages _pueritia adulescentia senectus_ as here; below in 74, four periods, or five. -- QUAMVIS: = _quantumvis_. -- EFFLUXISSET: subjunctive because the mood of _posset_, to which it stands in subordinate relation _Cum_ here is purely temporal. See Roby, 1778; A. 342; G. 666; H. 529, II. -- POSSET: see n. on _esset_ above, 3.