m_ cf. Lael. 52 _in tyranni vita nullus locus est
amicitiae_. -- CONSISTERE: 'find a foothold'. Cf. Fin. 4, 69 _sapientia
pedem ubi poneret non habebat_. -- FINGERE ANIMO: 'to imagine'. -- TANTA
... QUANTA ... MAXIMA: 'the greatest that could possibly be enjoyed'. The
form of expression is common, _e.g._ Lael. 74 _tanta quanta maxima potest
esse distantia_. -- TAM DIU DUM: this is not exactly equivalent to the
ordinary _tam diu quam_, but there is ellipsis -- 'so long as this, I mean
while, etc.'. Cf. Cat. 3, 16 _tam diu, dum urbis moenibus continebatur_;
Off. 1, 2 _tam diu ... quoad ..._ -- MENTE ... RATIONE ... COGITATIONE: 'by
thought, by reasoning, by imagination'. _Cogitatio_ like [Greek: dianoia]
has often the sense of 'imagination'. The close juxtaposition of words
nearly synonymous is quite characteristic of Cicero's Latin. -- QUIDEM:
concessive, as in 32 and often. -- MAIOR ATQUE LONGIOR: 'very intense and
protracted'. Superlatives might have been expected, in view of _quanta
percipi posset maxima_ above. _Longus_ in the sense of 'long-continued' is
rare in Ciceronian Latin, excepting when, as in 66 _longa aetate_, it is
joined with a word distinctly referring to time. For the general drift of
the passage cf. Cic. Hortensius (fragment) _congruere cum cogitatione magna
voluptas corporis non potest; quis enim, cum utatur voluptate ea qua nulla
possit maior esse, attendere animum, inire rationes, cogitare omnino
quidquam potest_? -- ANIMI LUMEN: a common metaphor; _e.g._ Cic. Rep. 6, 12
_tu, Africane, ostendas oportebit patriae lumen animi tui_. Cf. 36 _haec
... exstinguuntur_; also below, 42 _mentis oculos_. -- C. PONTIO: C.
Pontius Herennius, the father of C. Pontius Telesinus who defeated the
Romans at the Caudine Forks during the Second Samnite war, in 321 B.C. The
father is several times mentioned by Livy 9, cc. 1 and 3; cf. especially 1,
Sec. 2 _C. Pontium, patre longe prudentissimo natum_. -- NEARCHUS: mentioned
by Plutarch, Cato 2, as a Pythagorean and friend of Cato. -- PERMANSERAT:
_i.e._ during the siege of Tarentum. -- INTERFUISSET: not in accordance
with English idiom; cf. n. on 4 _putassent_; also 44 _devicerat_. -- PLATO
etc.: although Plato made two journeys to Italy and Sicily (or, as some
authorities say, three) it is scarcely likely that he was present at
Tarentum in the year mentioned, 349 B.C., two years before his death, when
he was of advanced age. The latest date assigned by other authorities f