Pro Caelio 38

Latin Learning Latin
1

Salvete! In this passage:

Nihil iam in istam mulierem dico; sed, si esset aliqua dissimilis istius, quae se omnibus pervolgaret, quae haberet palam decretum semper aliquem, cuius in hortos, domum, Baias iure suo libidines omnium commearent, quae etiam aleret adulescentes et parsimoniam patrum suis sumptibus sustentaret; si vidua libere, proterva petulanter, dives effuse, libidinosa meretricio more viveret, adulterum ego putarem, si quis hanc paulo liberius salutasset?

I don’t really understand the meaning of “paulo liberius” in this context.
Loeb translates it as “should I regard any man guilty of misconduct if he had been somewhat free in his attentions to her?” while Cavarzere as “forse dovrei considerare adultero uno, per il solo facto che l’ha salutata con un po’ trope confidenza?” but I still have no idea what the concept is. Could anybody help me?

2

līberius is the comparative of the adverb līberē (līber), the adverb paulō from paulus modifies the līberē.

3

@bedwere maybe I didn’t explain myself well enough. I know what those words mean - but I don’t understand why p a o l o liberius as opposed to just libere. Why comparative? And why paulo?

4

When you use the comparative by itself, it indicates an excess from a certain standard. paulō indicates that the threshold of this excess is barely crossed.

See also Allen and Greenough /Latin Grammar 291 and 414