se _aequus animus_
(Horace, '_aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem_'), cf. Tusc. 1,
97 _hanc maximi animi aequitatem in ipsa morte._ said of Theramenes'
undisturbed composure before his execution. -- ANIMI TUI: for the position
of these words between _moderationem_ and _aequitatem_, to both of which
nouns they refer (a form of speech called by the Latin grammarians
_coniunctio_), see note on Laelius 8 _cum summi viri tum amicissimi_. --
COGNOMEN: _i.e._ the name _Atticus_, which Cicero's friend did not inherit,
but adopted. For the word _cognomen_ cf. n. on 5. -- DEPORTASSE: it should
be noted that the verb _deportare_ is nearly always in the best writers
used of bringing things from the provinces to Italy or Rome, and not _vice
versa_, the Romans using 'down' (_de_) of motion towards the capital.
_Italia deportare_ occurs in Tacitus and late writers, but only in the
sense of banishing a person (cf. Ann 14, 45). So _decedere de provincia_ is
common, but not _Roma decedere_. As to the form _deportasse_, it may be
remarked that Cic. in the vast majority of instances uses the contracted
and not the full forms of the infinitives corresponding to perfects in
-_avi_. So _putassent_ in 4. An extensive collection of examples of this
and similar contractions may be found in Frohwein, Die Perfectbildungen auf
-vi bei Cicero; Gera, 1874. -- HUMANITATEM: 'culture', _i.e._ learning
resulting in gentleness and refinement of character. -- PRUDENTIAM: [Greek:
phronesin] or practical wisdom. Corn. Nepos (or his imitator) in his life
of Atticus 17, 3 says of him _principum philosophorum ita percepta habuit
praecepta ut his ad vitam agendam non ad ostentationem uteretur_. -- ISDEM
REBUS: _i.e._ the state of public affairs at the time, see Introd. --
QUIBUS ME IPSUM: strictly speaking the construction is inaccurate, since
_suspicor commoveri_ must be supplied, and Cicero does not really mean to
say that he merely _conjectures_ himself to be seriously affected by the
state of public affairs; _ego ipse commoveor_ would have accurately
expressed his meaning. The accusative is due to the attraction of _te_
above. -- MAIOR: = _difficilior_ as often; _e.g._ Lael. 29 _quod maius
est_. -- VISUM EST MIHI CONSCRIBERE: = _placuit mihi_, 'I have determined
to write'. The best writers rarely use the impersonal _videtur etc._
followed by an infinitive. When the usage occurs _videtur mihi etc._
generally have the meaning (as here) of [Greek: dokei