A Latin Reader

38. Who Takes Precedence — Father or Son?

Ad philoso­phum Tau­rum Athēnās vēn­er­at prae­ses Crē­tae prōvin­ci­ae, et cum eō simul eius­dem prae­sidis pater. Tau­rus, sec­tātōribus dīmis­sīs, sēdē­bat prō cubiculī suī foribus et cum nōbīs sermōcinābātur.

Introīvit prōvin­ci­ae prae­ses et cum eō pater. Adsur­rēx­it placidē Tau­rus et post mūtu­am salūtātiōnem resēdit. Adlā­ta mox ūna sel­la est, quae in prōmp­tū erat, atque, dum ali­ae prōme­ban­tur, apposi­ta est. Invītāvit Tau­rus patrem prae­sidis utī sedēret. Atque ille ait: “Sedeat hīc potius, quī pop­ulī Rōmānī mag­istrā­tus est.” “Absque praeiūdi­ciō,” inquit Tau­rus, “tū intereā sedē, dum īnspicimus quaer­imusque utrum con­ve­ni­at tē potius sedēre, quī pater es, an fīli­um, quī mag­istrā­tus est.” Et ubi pater adsēdit apposi­tumque est ali­ud fīliō quoque eius sedīle, ver­ba super eā rē Tau­rus facit.

Eōrum ver­bōrum sen­ten­tia haec fuit: In pūblicīs locīs atque mūner­ibus atque āctiōnibus patrum iūra cum fīliōrum quī in mag­istrātū sunt potestātibus con­lā­ta, interquiēscere paul­u­lum, sed extrā rem pūbli­cam, in domes­ticā rē atque vītā, in con­vīvīo quoque famil­iārī, inter fīli­um mag­istrā­tum et patrem prīvā­tum pūblicōs honōrēs cessāre, nātūrālēs exorīrī. “Hoc igi­tur,” inquit, “quod ad mē vēnis­tis, quod con­lo­quimur nunc, prīvā­ta āctiō est. Itaque sequi­mi­ni apud mē hōs honōrēs prius quōs domī quoque ves­trae vōs sequī decet.”

Tau­rum: an Athen­ian philoso­pher to whom Aulus Gel­lius went for instruc­tion. This selec­tion and the five fol­low­ing are tak­en from the “Nodes Atti­cae” of Aulus Gel­lius, a Latin writer of the sec­ond cen­tu­ry A.D., who has left us many inter­est­ing bits of infor­ma­tion con­cern­ing antiquity.

Athēnās: Lim­it of Motion; as this is the name of a city, no prepo­si­tion is used.

sec­tātōribus dīmis­sīs: hav­ing dis­missed his pupils, Abla­tive Absolute.

cūm nōbīs: with me. The plur­al of the pro­noun is some­times used in Latin, as in Eng­lish, to denote one person.

in prōmp­tū: at hand.

sedeat hīc potius: let this man rather take the seat.

absque praeiūdi­ciō: with out prej­u­dice, i.e. with­out pre­judg­ing the ques­tion we are going to discuss.

utrum con­ve­ni­at: whether it is fit­ting, an Indi­rect Ques­tion. The sub­ject of con­ve­ni­at is the infini­tive following.

sen­ten­tia, etc.: the sub­stance of those words is as fllows. The argu­ment, as far as exorīrī, is giv­en in indi­rect form; that is, in Indi­rect Discourse.

patrum iūra … : the rights of fathers com­pared (con­lā­ta) with the pow­ers of sons who are in pub­lic office relax somewhat.

extrā rem pūbli­cam: out­side pub­lic life.

decet: it is fit­ting. The Sub­ject is sequī.