-- EX TE: Cato here identifies a man's person with his soul and intellect, the body being regarded as a mere dress; cf. Rep. 6, 26 _mens cuiusque is est quisque_. _Ex te_, literally, 'out of yourself', _i.e._ 'from your real self's resources'. -- LATERIBUS: see n. on 14. -- AELIUS: his _cognomen_ was Paetus; he was consul in 198, and censor in 194 B.C. He was one of the earliest and most famous writers on Roman Law. His great commentary on the XII tables is often referred to by Cicero, who several times quotes Ennius' line about him. -- _egregie cordatus homo catus Aelius Sextus_. -- TALE: _sc. dixit_. -- CORUNCANIUS: n. on 15. -- P. CRASSUS: consul in 205 B.C. with the elder Africanus; pontifex maximus from 212 to his death in 183. He was famous both as a lawyer (see below, 50; also Liv. 30, 1, 5 _iuris pontifici peritissimus_) and as a statesman (see 61). _Modo_ therefore covers a space of at least 33 years, so that it cannot well be translated by our 'lately'; say rather 'nearer our time'. The amount of time implied by _modo_ and _nuper_ depends entirely on the context; for _modo_ see Lael. 6 with note, for _nuper_ below, n. on 61, where it is used of Crassus as _modo_ is here. -- PRAESCRIBEBANTUR: the meaning is that these lawyers practised in old age as jurisconsults, _i.e._ according to old Roman custom, they gave audience in the early hours of the day to all who chose to consult them about legal difficulties. -- EST PROVECTA: literally 'was carried forward', _i.e._ 'continued', 'remained'. Some wrongly take the phrase to mean 'made progress', 'increased', a sense which would require the imperfect, _provehebatur_. -- PRUDENTIA: here, as often, 'legal skill'.