-- CUPIENS: after _quasi_ a finite verb _(cuperem)_ would have been more usual, as in 12 _ita ... quasi divinarem_. Cf. however 22 _quasi desipientem_. -- EA IPSA MIHI: for the juxtaposition of pronouns, which is rather sought after in Latin, cf. 72 _ipsa suum eadem quae_. -- EXEMPLIS: = _pro exemplis_, or _exemplorum loco_ (cf. n. on 21 _Lysimachum_), so that those editors are wrong who say that we have here an example of the antecedent thrust into the relative clause, as though _ea ipsa quibus exemplis_ were put for _ea ipsa exempla quibus_. -- QUOD: = _ut cum iam senex esset disceret_. -- SOCRATEN: Cic. probably learned this fact from Plato's Menexenus 235 E and Euthydemus 272 C where Connus is named as the teacher of Socrates in music. In the Euthydemus Socrates says that the boys attending Connus' lessons laughed at him and called Connus γεροντοδιδασκαλον. Cf. also Fam. 9, 22, 3 _Socraten fidibus docuit nobilissimus fidicen; is Connus vocitatus est_; Val. Max. 8, 7, 8. -- IN FIDIBUS: 'in the case of the lyre'. Tücking quotes Quintilian 9, 2, 5 _quod in fidibus fieri vidimus_. The Greek word _cithara_ is not used by Cicero and does not become common in Latin prose till long after Cicero's time, though he several times uses the words _citharoedus, citharista_, when referring to Greek professional players. The word _lyra_ too is rare in early prose; it occurs in Tusc. 1, 4 in connection with a Greek, where in the same sentence _fides_ is used as an equivalent. -- AUDIREM: for _audire = legendo cognoscere_ see n. on 20. -- VELLEM: _sc. si possem_. -- DISCEBANT ... ANTIQUI: doubts have been felt as to the genuineness of the clause. In Tusc. 4, 3 a passage of Cato is quoted which refers to the use of the _tibia_ among the ancient Romans; immediately afterwards the antiquity of practice on the _fides_ at Rome is mentioned, though not expressly on Cato's authority. The words cannot be said to be unsuited either to the person or to the occasion. -- DISCEBANT ... FIDIBUS: the verb _canere_, which means 'to play' as well as 'to sing', must be supplied; _fidibus_ is then an ablative of the means or instrument. There is the same ellipsis of _canere_ in the phrases _docere fidibus_ (Fam. 9, 22, 3) and _scire fidibus_ (Terence, Eunuchus 133). Cf. Roby, 1217.