Valerius Flaccus was the life-long friend of Cato, and his colleague in the consulship and in the censorship. He entirely favored Cato's political views. See Introd. -- IMPERI DEDECUS: Flamininus was at the time Roman governor of the district. 43. AUDIVI E: Cic. uses _audire ex, ab_, and _de aliquo_, almost indifferently. -- PORRO: 'in turn'; literally 'farther on', here = 'farther back'; cf. Livy 27, 51. -- C. FABRICIUM: see n. on 15. -- CINEA: the famous diplomatist, minister of Pyrrhus. He was a pupil of Demosthenes and himself one of the most famous orators of his time. Cineas was the ambassador who tried to negotiate peace on the occasion mentioned in 16. -- SE SAPIENTEM PROFITERETUR: the omission of _esse_ is common in such phrases; _e.g._ Fin. 5, 13 _Strato physicum se voluit_. Epicurus, who is here meant (born 342 B.C., died 270), was blamed for calling himself σοφος or _sapiens_. Others, says Cicero, who had borne the title had waited for the public to confer it on them (Fin. 2, 7). -- EUMQUE: 'and yet he'; cf. n. on 13 _vixitque_. -- FACEREMUS: for the tense cf. n. on 42 _efficeret_; also _expeteretur_ below. -- AD ... REFERENDA: 'ought to be judged by the standard of pleasure', _i.e._ anything which brings pleasure may be regarded as good, and its opposite bad. So in Greek επαναφερειν τι εις τι. On the moral teachings of Epicurus consult Zeller, Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics, Ch. 19; Ueberweg, History of Philosophy, § 59; Guyan, La morale d'Épicure et ses rapports avec les doctrines contemporaines. -- CURIUM ... CORUNCANIUM: see n. on 15. -- ID ... PERSUADERETUR: intransitive verbs are used in the passive only impersonally (Roby, 1422; A. 230; G. 199, Rem. 1; H. 301, 1); when so used the dative may follow as in the active (see Madvig, 244, _b_; G. 208; H. 384, 5). A neuter pronoun in the singular sometimes, as here, accompanies the passive, and may be regarded as an adverbial accusative of respect or extent, or as a nominative qualifying the impersonal subject. The former is probably the real construction. Cf. Roby, 1423, and Madvig, 229, _b_, Obs. 1. -- SAMNITIBUS: then in alliance with Pyrrhus. -- VIXERAT ... CUM: not to be taken literally of living in the same house; the phrase merely indicates close friendship. In Acad. 2, 115 Cic. writes _Diodoto qui mecum vivit tot annos, qui habitat apud me_, clearly showing that the phrases _vivere cum aliquo_ and _habitare apud aliquem_ are not equivalent. -- P. DECIO: this is P. Decius Mus, who at the battle of Sentinum in 295 gave his life as a propitiatory offering to the powers of the unseen world, in order to bring victory to the Roman arms. His father had sacrificed himself in the same way at the battle of Veseris (close to Vesuvius) in 340, fought against the Latins and Campanians. -- DEVOVERAT: Liv. 10, 28, 13 (speech of Decius) _datum hoc: nostro generi est ut luendis periculis publicis piacula simus; iam ego mecum hostium legiones mactandas Telluri et dis Manibus dabo_.