MORGAN. — ON THE LANGUAGE OF VITRUVIUS. 473 



the subject of the importance of proportionate measurements as has 

 Vitruvius. 10 



Continuing his remarks about abstracts, Ussing says : ' Striking plu- 

 rals are conscriptiones (103, 14; 155, 10), eruditiones (2, 18; 36, 23), 

 scientiae (10, 24; 62, 23; 233, 2), sollertiae (158, 12).' — Here we need 

 only remark that conscriptiones occurs in Cicero, Cluent. 191, and sci- 

 entiae in Cicero, D. 0. 1, 61 ; C. M. 78, conscientiae in Cic, R. A. 67. 

 Iu the last two passages in Cicero the plurals are no doubt influenced 

 by the other plurals iu the passage (C. M. 78: tot artes, tot scientiae, tot 

 inventa • R.A. 67 : suae malae cogitationes conscientiaeque animi terrent), 

 and the same may be observed in the Vitruvian usages of this plural and 

 of eruditiones and sollertiae^- ; cf. the similar use of eruditiones in Gell. 

 praef. 3. But why delay over such a point? The use of the plural of 

 abstracts, though great in late authors, is no proof of late authorship, for 

 it is found at all periods : ' besonders bei Plautus in verhaltnissmassig 

 grosser Zahl ; in klass. Zeit erweitert sich dieselbe wesentlich durch 

 Cicero' (Schmalz, Lat. Gramm., 3 p. 431). Seneca {Bp. 114, 19) criti- 

 cises the plural famas in Sallust and his imitator Arruntius. See also 

 a list of the plurals used by Mela, in Zimmermann, De Pomponii Melae 

 sermone, p. v ff. 



Neither is a late date assured by the usage to which Ussing next draws 

 attention : ' Sometimes these abstract nouns retain so much of their ver- 

 bal character that the author finds it sufficient to add only est instead of 

 factum est, as in cum fuerit fundamentorum ad solidum depressio (15, 19), 

 and cum erit moenium conlocandorum explicatio (20, 24).' — See Schmalz 

 again, p. 430, where this use is shown to be not foreign to Cicero, and cf. 

 also Cic. Pis. 84 (accessio), Rab. 4 (consensio), Cat. 1, 32 (consensio). 



Ussing's next point appears to be based upon a misunderstanding. 

 He says : ' One of the words frequently occurring in Vitruvius is sym- 

 metria ; according to Nohl's Index, it is found about a hundred times. 

 At the time of Pliny this word is still a stranger to the Latin language ; 

 comp. Hist. Nat. 34, 65 : non habet Latinum nomen symmetria. Pliny no 

 doubt appreciated his own Latin style, but he does not carry his purify- 

 ing tendencies so far as to exclude every foreign word, if it was generally 

 adopted in the language ; his apology testifies to the fact that such was 



10 See also on symmetria, p. 474, n. 12. 



11 It must also be observed that sollertiae in 158, 12, means 'instances of skill': 

 cf. Cic. Q. F. 1, 1, 39: iracundiae, and 40: avaritiae. The whole passage is mis- 

 understood by the translators. It means 'by compiling from antiquity remarkable 

 instances of the skill shown by genius.' 



