5. SI ... SOLETIS ... SUMUS: the apodosis and protasis do not exactly correspond; the sense really required is 'if that wisdom for which you admire me does exist, it lies in this', etc. -- UTINAM ... ESSET: _esset_ here gives a greater appearance of modesty than would been expressed by _sit_: 'would it were, as it certainly is not'. A. 267; G. 253; H. 483, 2. -- COGNOMINE: Cato bore the title _sapiens_, even in his lifetime; see Introd. _Cognomen_ is used in good Latin to denote both the family name and the acquired by-name; in late Latin this latter is denoted by _agnomen_. -- IN HOC SAPIENTES: but above, 4 _rerum sapientiam_, not _in rebus_. The genitive construction is not found with _sapiens_ used as noun or adjective till late Latin times. -- NATURAM DUCEM etc.: Cato's claim to the title of _sapiens_ does not rest on any deep knowledge of philosophy, but on practical wisdom or common sense and experience in affairs. Cf. Lael. 6 and 19. In this passage Cicero has put into Cato's mouth phrases borrowed from the Stoic philosophy, which declared the life of virtue to be life in accordance with nature (_naturae convenienter vivere_ or ‛ομολογουμενως τη φυσει ζην). Cf. 71, n. on _secundum naturam_. -- TAMQUAM DEUM: observe _deum_ not _deam_, because nature is compared with, and not identified with, a divine being. Cf. Fin. 5, 43 _eam (rationem) quasi deum ducem subsequens_. -- AETATIS: here = _vitae_, life as a whole. Cf. 2 _omne tempus aetatis_ and n.; also 13 _aetatis ... senectus_; 33, 64, 82. -- DESCRIPTAE: 'composed'; literally 'written out'. The reading _discriptae_, which many editions give, does not so well suit the passage. _Discribere_ is to map out, plan, arrange, put in order (see 59 _discripta_ and _discriptio_); the point here lies, however, not in the due arrangement of the different scenes of a play, but in the careful working out of each scene. _Ab ea_ must be supplied after _descriptae_ from _a qua_ above. -- ACTUM: the common comparison of life with a drama is also found in 64, 70, 85. -- INERTI: the sense of 'ignorant' 'inartistic' (_in, ars_), has been given to this by some editors (cf. Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 126 _praetulerim scriptor delirus inersque videri_, and Cic. Fin. 2, 115 _artes, quibus qui carebant, inertes a maioribus nominabantur_), but the meaning 'inactive', 'lazy', 'slovenly' seems to suit _neglectum_ better. -- POETA: nature is here the dramatist, the drama is life, the actors are human beings. -- SED TAMEN etc.: 'but for all that it was inevitable that there should be something with the nature of an end'. So 69 _in quo est aliquid extremum_, 43 _aliquid pulchrum_. -- ARBORUM BACIS: the word _baca_ (the spelling _bacca_ has little or no authority) is applied to all fruits growing on bushes or trees, cf. Tusc. 1, 31 _arbores seret diligens agricola, quarum aspiciet bacam ipse numquam_ -- TERRAEQUE FRUCTIBUS: here = cereals, roots, vegetables and small fruits. No sharp distinction can be drawn between