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Arellius Fuscus

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Arellius Fuscus

Augustan declaimer. Seneca says he was one of the 4 best orators of his day and cites from him more than any other declaimer; famous students including the poet Ovid studied at his school in Rome. He declaimed in Latin and Greek, but Seneca says he preferred to declaim in Greek and was one of the Asiani: that may refer to his ethnic origin (Greek from Asia Minor) or to the style of his oratory. It is possible that he was a Roman from the Greek East, whose family had been settled there for a while as businesspeople.

His style is very poetic and one of his favourite poetic models is Virgil, whose influence can be seen on this passage. According to Seneca he did so in part to appeal to Maecenas, the patron of Virgil (Suasoriae 3.4-5). Seneca discusses him at length at Controversia VII Praef 1-9.

Translation Aid – Seneca the Elder, Suasoriae VI.6

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Arelli Fusci Patris

nihil aliud intercidet quam corpus fragilitatis caducae; morbis obnoxium, casibus expositum, proscriptionibus obiectum

nihil: indeclinable neuter noun, either nominative subject or accusative object of verb. See “intercidet” below.

aliud: singular neuter adjective modifying “nihil”; either nominative subject or accusative object of verb. See “intercidet” below.

intercidet: 3rd person, singular, future, active, indicative verb. Either transitive or intransitive.

  • if transitive, intercidet=subject+verb, nihil =object; i.e.: “he will kill nothing” or “he will cut nothing to pieces”
  • if intransitive, nihil =subject, intercidet=verb; i.e.: “nothing will die”

quam: adverb, indeclinable. Used to indicate comparison; i.e.: “than”

  • when “quam” is used, the two things compared are put into the same case (A&G 407)
  • “alius” is sometimes followed by “quam” in formal prose (A&G 407d); i.e.: “nothing other than the body…”

corpus: singular neuter noun, matching “nihil” and “aliud” in case; either nominative or accusative, depending on whether “intercidet” is transitive or intransitive.

morbis obnoxium, casibus expositum, proscriptionibus obiectum: series of appositives. “obnoxium”, “expositum”, and “obiectum” all modify “corpus”, matching it in case, gender and number.

nec potes non videri nimis vixisse qui moreris rei publicae superstes

potes: 2nd person, singular, present, active, indicative verb; main verb of the sentence.

            – potes=subject+verb; i.e.: “you are able”

 

videri: passive present infinitive verb. “videri” in the passive can be understood as “to seem” rather than “to be seen”

qui moreris: relative clause

  • qui: nominative singular masculine relative pronoun, matching subject “you” contained in “potes”
  • moreris: 2nd person, singular, present, active, indicative. Appears passive because it is a deponent verb.

superstes: can be either: 2nd person, singular, present, active, subjunctive verb, “you shall stand over”; or nominative, masculine, singular, 3rd declension noun, “survivor” or “support”

  • if “superstes” is a subjunctive verb, rei publicae take dative indirect object with the compound verb “supersto” (A&G 370); i.e.: “you shall stand over the republic”
    • in this case, “rei publicae superstes” becomes a main clause separate from the rest of the sentence, with “superstes” acting as a main use subjunctive
  • if “superstes” is a 3rd declension noun, rei publicae goes with nominative noun “supetstes”; i.e.: “a survivor of the state” or “a support for/of the state”
    • in this case, “rei publicae superstes” becomes a noun phrase, acting as an appositive that modifies the implied subject “you” in the main verb “potes”

note: the definition we take for “superstes” affects our understanding of its case use:

  •  if we take superstes to mean “survivor”, then it may be considered an objective genitive. I.e.: “a survivor of the republic”, as in: “you (Cicero) survive the republic”. Here, “survive” functions in the sense “to out live (or stand over)”, suggesting that even though Cicero himself may die, his legacy will survive or outlive the republic. Although now we tend not to use “survive” in this sense in everyday speech, you can still find it in this form in obituaries, such as: “Jane Doe is survived by her children”
  • if we take superstes to mean “supporter”, then it may be considered a dative of reference. I.e.: “a supporter for/of the republic”.

Translation aid – Seneca Suasoria VI.5

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Arelli Fusci Patris

Ab armis ad arma discurritur; foris victores domi trucidamur, domi nostro sanguini intestinus hostis incubat; quis non hoc populi Romani statu Ciceronem ut non vivat cogi putat?

Armis/arma: literally ‘weapons’ but can be taken as metonymy for ‘battles’

Discurritur: an impersonal form used in poetry. It suggests a general activity, i.e. ‘there is a rushing about’. However, the 1st person plural verb in the next clause implies a personal reading, i.e. ‘we rush about’

Incubat: This figurative use may derive from OLD 1c ‘to rest or be placed (upon)’, 1d ‘to brood (over) or 2a ‘to have as one’s abode or lair’

Quis…putat: Reorder as quis non putat Ciceronem cogi ut non vivat, hoc statu populi Romani.

Hoc populi Romani statu: Ablative absolute with implied present participle of esse

Ut non vivat: Result clause