MOKGAN. — THE PREFACE OF VITRUVIUS. 155 



into English? I think not. If we employ "emperor," it carries with 

 it later Roman and modern ideas. And even if it did not, "emperor 

 Caesar " in the vocative is not idiomatic English. Nobody would say 

 "Emperor William" to the Kaiser, though we use the phrase when 

 we speak about him. The word "general " sometimes suits an im- 

 perator of the republican period, but by no means always, since its 

 scope is too narrow. And to print "General Caesar" here would 

 certainly be an absurdity. The word imperator, therefore, cannot be 

 translated here, but must be transliterated like other Roman titles, 

 such as "consul" and "praetor." 



2. imperio orbis terrarum: "the right to command the world." 

 There is nothing necessarily "imperial " in this expression, any more 

 than in Ad Herenn. 4, 13, cited below on imperium transtulisset 

 (2, 1); cf. Vitruvius, 138, 11, cited below on potiretur. And the 

 word imperium, aside from its technical sense when applied to a high 

 military official (cf. Cic. Phil. 5, 45, demus imperium Caesari, sine 

 quo res militaris administrari, teneri exercitus, bellum geri non potest), 

 had also the general meaning of "right to rule," "supreme power," 

 from Plautus down. Cf. Plaut. Men. 1030, iubeo hercle, siquid 

 imperist in te mihi; Caes. B. G. 7, 64, 8, civitati imperium totius 

 provinciae pollicetur ; Cic. Font. 12, sub popidi Romani imperium 

 dicionemque ceciderunt. 



potiretur: "engaged in acquiring." This is a true imperfect in 

 sense, as in 31, 7, cum Alexander rerum potiretur, though in 161, 13, 

 cum Demetrius Phalereus Athenis rerum potiretur, it has no doubt a 

 completed meaning. With orbis terrarum imperium it occurs also in 

 138, 11, ita divina mens civitatem populi Romani egregia temper a- 

 taque regionem conlocavit, uti orbis terrarum imperii potiretur. True 

 imperfects are also gloriarentur (line 3), spectarent (4), and gubernaretur 

 (6) in our preface, like the main verb audebam (6). For such imper- 

 fect subjunctives combined with the imperfect indicative, where the 

 cum clause, coincident in time, is circumstantial, cf. Vitr. 156, 26 ; 250, 

 16; 251, 14 and 21; 283, 9; Cic. D. N. 1, 59, Zenonem cum Athenis 

 essem, audiebam frequenter; Fin. 2, 61, Decius cum se devoveret, . . . 

 cogitabat? The circumstances to which Vitruvius refers are of course 

 the struggle with Caesar's murderers, and then with Antony, ending 

 with Actium, the conquest of Egypt, the days of formal triumphs in 

 Rome, and the beginning of the rule of Octavian there. This pas- 

 sage shows that Vitruvius 's work could not have been published be- 

 fore August 13-15 (the days of the triple triumph) in 29 B. c. 



4. tuum spectarent nutum: "awaiting your nod," "your beck and 

 call." Vitruvius has nutus elsewhere only in its literal sense (33, 22), 



