refers to _oratio_ in the widest sense, not to the special style of oratory mentioned in the last sentence. With _si nequeas_ cf. _nisi exerceas_ in 21 with n. -- SCIPIONI ET LAELIO: '_a_ Scipio and _a_ Laelius'; _i.e._ 'young friends such as Scipio and Laelius are to me'. -- PRAECIPERE: here absolute, = _praecepta dare_; usually an accusative follows. -- STUDIIS IUVENTUTIS: 'the zeal of youth'. _Studiis_ does not imply here the deference of youth to age; the studia meant are the _virtutum studia_ of 26. 29. NE ... INSTRUAT: _docere_ is to impart knowledge, _instituere_ (literally 'to ground' or 'establish') is to form the intellect and character by means of knowledge, _instruere_, to teach the pupil how he may bring his acquirements to bear in practical life. -- OFFICI MUNUS: 'performance of duty'; cf. 35, 72; Fam. 6, 14. In scores of passages in Cicero we find _officium et munus_, 'duty and function', as in 34. -- CN. ET P. SCIPIONES: in Cic. the plural is always used where two men of the same family are mentioned and their names connected by et. In other writers the plural is regular, the singular exceptional, as in Sall. Iug. 42, 1 _Ti. et C. Gracchus_; Liv. 6, 22 _Sp. et L. Papirius_. Even with other nouns the plural is regular; e.g. Cic. Phil. 2, 101 _arationes Campana et Leontina_, though a little above we have _mense Aprili atque Maio_. [See Draeger, Hist. Synt. 1², p. 1.] Gnaeus (_not_ Cnaeus -- see n. on Lael. 3) Cornelius Scipio was consul in 222 B.C. and was sent to Spain at the outbreak of the Second Punic war to command against Hasdrubal. Publius was consul in 218, and after being defeated by Hannibal at the Ticinus, joined his brother in Spain. At first they won important successes, but in 212 they were hemmed in and killed, after a crushing defeat. -- L. AEMILIUS: the father of Macedonicus. He was consul in 219 and defeated the Illyrii; but when consul again in 216 was defeated and killed at Cannae. See 75. For _avi duo_ cf. 82. -- CONSENUERINT ... DEFECERINT: _coniunctio_, for which see n. on 16. For the mood see A. 313, _a_; G. 608; H. 515, III. and n. 3. -- ETSI: see n. on 2. -- SENECTUTE: MSS. and edd. have _senectutis_, but the sense requires the abl.