M. C. 15

226 BOOK § CHAXLIIE (S 120;
viros et magna exempla daturos, vervecum in patria crassoque sub aere nasci with Mayor’s n.; the first instance of its proverbial use is in Cic. Att. Iv 16 § 6, hie (Romae) Abdera non tacente me, and vit 7 § 4 td est ABSnperekov. Hirzel (in //erm. xiv p. 402) thinks that Abdera got its character from D.’s habit of ridiculing the follies of his neighbours; thus we have several fragments (Mullach 16, 31, 51—56) commencing with dvonpoves, e. g. ‘fools, though they hate life, wish to live from fear of Hades’, ‘fools learn nothing all their life long’, &. He thinks that the reproach had reference rather to inconsistency (rutat) than stupidity.
§ 121. dis—gratiam sustulit. There seems no need for Ba.’s inser- tion of dz before dis: the dative is simply ‘for the gods’, ‘as far as they are concerned’, cf, Att. x11 6 mihi quidem omnem dubitationem tolleret. So we find a dative with azfero, ertpio, extorqueo, absolvo (Verr. 1 2 § 22 Dionem Veneri absolvit, sibi condemnat ‘releases D. from his obligation to Venus’). The reference is to the xupia d0€a quoted on § 45. Aristotle while allowing that God took care of men (£th. V. X 8 ef tis émipédera TOV avOpwriver vo Oeov yiverat, worep Soxei), denied that there could be any friendship between God and man, both on account of the inequality, and because God has no need of a friend, Ath. V. vit 9, Lth. Hud. vit 12, M. JM. 1 11 Groovy yap dy etn et Tis hain dire rov Ala.
cum enim—naturae: ‘while asserting the perfection of the divine nature, he at the same time (¢dem, cf. § 30) denies to it the attribute of kindness, and thereby does away with that which is the essential character- istic of a perfect nature’. Heind. reads dicit after Walker, but that would imply the identity of the two actions, ‘in asserting he denies’. For the usyndeton, cf. § 70.
quid praestantius bonitate: a Stoic utterance, as we learn from Plut. I. 1075, od yap a@avatov kat paxdpov povov, adda Kai pitavOpwrrov Kat KnOepovekov Kat @eAtpov mpodauBavec Oat kai voeicOat TOY Oeov.
amari: used of the feeling, di/igi of the judgment.
Ch. xiiv. censent autem: so dé sometimes, where we might expect yap, giving a sort of side explanation instead of a reason; ‘they hold, you know’, nin is reserved to give the proof of melius.
sapientes sapientibus—amicos. Schwencke (p. 60) quotes Stob. Lv. 11 204 wavras rovs orovdaiovs wpedeiv GdAjAovs, OVTE Gidrouvs dvTas GAAnAwY TaVTWS OUTE EVVOUS...Tapa TO pHTE KaTaAauaverOa pHTE ev TavT@ KarToLKely TOTM, EUVONTLKOS pevToLye Tpos adAnAovs SraketoOar Kai piiixas, cf. Sext. Emp. 1x 181, Zeller Stozes, p. 298 tr., on the Stoical view of friendship, Arist. Ath. vit 7.
nihil est—diligetur. So Lael. 28 nihil est enim amahilius virtute, nihil quod magis alliciat ad diligendum, quippe cum propter virtutem et probitatem eos etiam quos numquam vidimus quodam modo diligamus with Seyffert’s n. who quotes Eurip. #7. ap. Porson Adv. p. 27 cody yap dvdpa, Kav éxas vain Xxpovos, Kav pnmoT dacots cicidw, kpivw pirov. Cf. OF. 155, 1 17.