Humanitext Reader

Cornelius Nepos · Atticus §3.1-3.3

Popular Esteem in Athens and Refusal of Honors

Passage 3 of 22 · Latin

Summary

This passage describes how Atticus was loved in Athens by all classes, declined their citizenship, but was highly esteemed as an adviser and honored with statues. It also extols his fortune of being born in Rome and his prudence in becoming so beloved in Athens.

§3.1Hic autem sic se gerebat, ut communis infimis, par principibus videretur.
Here, moreover, he conducted himself in such a way that he appeared affable to the lowest, and equal to the highest.
quo factum est ut huic omnes honores, quos possent, publice haberent civemque facere studerent: quo beneficio ille uti noluit. §3.2quamdiu affuit, ne qua sibi statua poneretur, restitit, absens prohibere non potuit.
As a result of this, they publicly conferred on him all the honors they could and strove to make him a citizen; but he refused to avail himself of this benefit. As long as he was present, he resisted any statue being erected to him; when absent, he could not prevent it.
itaque aliquot ipsi et Phidiae locis sanctissimis posuerunt: hunc enim in omni procuratione rei publicae actorem auctoremque habebant potissimum. §3.3igitur primum illud munus fortunae, quod in ea urbe natus est, in qua domicilium orbis terrarum esset imperii, ut eandem et patriam haberet et domum; hoc specimen prudentiae, quod, cum in eam se civitatem contulisset, quae antiquitate, humanitate doctrinaque praestaret omnes, unus ei fuit carissimus.
Therefore they erected several statues to him and Phidias in the most sacred places; for they regarded him as their chief agent and adviser in every administration of the state. Therefore, first, there was that gift of fortune, that he was born in that city in which was the seat of the empire of the world, so that he had the same city both as his fatherland and his home; and this proof of his prudence, that when he had betaken himself to that city which excelled all others in antiquity, politeness, and learning, he became individually the dearest of all to it.

Notes

  1. §3.1quo factum est ut — A combination of the connecting relative pronoun quo (ablative of cause or means referring to the preceding clause) with the impersonal verb factum est and a noun clause of result introduced by ut with the subjunctive.
  2. §3.2ne qua — After the negative conjunction ne, the indefinite pronoun qua is used instead of aliqua (meaning 'lest any...'). Here it modifies the feminine singular nominative noun statua.
  3. §3.3domicilium orbis terrarum esset imperii — An instance of hyperbaton (interrupted word order), where the genitive phrase orbis terrarum ('of the world') is inserted between the noun domicilium and its governing genitive imperii ('the seat of the empire').
  4. §3.3unus ei fuit carissimus — The pronoun ei is a dative of reference pointing back to the preceding feminine singular noun civitatem (meaning the city of Athens), indicating that he became 'to it' (or to its citizens) individually the dearest of all.
  5. §3.3igitur primum illud munus fortunae — An elliptical construction where the copula fuit is omitted in an enumerative style. The quod clauses function appositively, explaining the contents of the noun phrases munus and specimen respectively.

Cite this passage

Cornelius Nepos, Atticus §3.1-3.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0588.abo025.humanitext-lat2:3.1-3.3

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.