Loci immutati #17

Textbooks Wheelock's Latin
1

I just want to be sure I understand correctly the last phrase of this excerpt.

…et in cuius laudes persequendas Cicerone laudatore opus fuerit.

I was not sure how to interpret the preposition in with the accusative, but I looked in Lewis and saw that it can express purpose. I take persequendas to be the gerundive with an active sense. So, my translation would be “…to set forth his praises we would need Cicero (himself) as the praiser.” It seemed to me rather unseemly that Cicero would praise himself or his achievements, but then I thought perhaps the meaning is that one would need the oratorical gifts of Cicero in order to praise him adequately. I would be interested in your thoughts.

2

Hi Charlie,

I think you’ve got it right. This is from a fragment of Livy Book 120.50. Here’s the full text from the Loeb:

Si quis tamen virtutibus vitia pensarit, vir magnus acer memorabilis fuit, et in cuius laudes persequendas Cicerone laudatore opus fuerit.
However, if one balances his faults against his virtues, he was a man of greatness, energy, and distinction—a man, the complete exposition of whose merits would demand a Cicero as eulogist.

So this is Livy praising Cicero and cleverly playing on laus and laudator and Cicero( in apposition to laudator) to say that in order to praise Cicero effectively, you’d have to be a Cicero.

3

Thank you very much.