﻿THE AGE OF PETROXIfS ABBITEB. 71 



same Asiatic stj-Ie of eloquence •which, in the opinion of Cicero, vras one of the 

 causes that prevented Hortensius from being as much esteemed as an orator when old, 

 as he had been when young. This being the case, much depends upon the meaning 

 of the adverb " nuper." This word has undoubtedly, in conformity with its etjTnology, 

 the signification "lately," a time not far removed from the present. But length of 

 time being a relative notion, we find the word applied to periods varjing from a few 

 days to several centuries. I will illustrate this by a few examples. Cic. pro Ligario, 

 12. 37: "Fac igitur, quod de homine nobilissimo et clarissimo M. Marcello fecisti 

 nuper in curia, nunc idem in foro de optimis et huic omni frequentiae probatissumis 

 fratribus.' The three letters of Cicero to M. Marcellus (ad FamiL 4. 7, 8, 9), in which, 

 as is with good reason supposed, at the instance and with the encouragement of Caesar, 

 he endeavors to persuade Marcellus, who was then a voluntary exUe in Mytilenae, to 

 return to Rome, and which were written in the course of September, 46 B. C. (708 

 U. C), preceded the meeting of the senate in which the senators requested and ob- 

 tained from Caesar the recall of Marcellus. This meeting may have occurred as late 

 as October or November. The speech of Cicero in defence of Ligarius, after he had 

 first privately tried to intercede in hLs behalf, was probably delivered in November, so 

 that not more than four weeks, perhaps less than two, elapsed between the pardon of 

 Marcellus and the defence of Ligarius. "Nuper" is therefore, in this instance, used as 

 referring to a period of from two to four weeks. 



Cic. pro P. Sestio, 5. 13: "Hunc igitur animum ad tribunatum adtulit P. Sestius; 

 ut quaesturam Macedoniae relinquam et aliquando ad haec propiora veniam. Quam- 

 quam non est omittenda singularis ilia integritas provincialis, cujus ego nuper in Mace- 

 donia vidi vestigia non pressa le-\-iter ad exigui praedicationem temporis, sed fixa ad 

 memoriam illias proAinciae sempitemam." Cicero defended P. Sestius the 10th of 

 February, 56 B. C. (698 U. C). He had been exiled in the beginning of April, 

 58 B. C. (696 U. C), and while absent from Eome remained from the end of May to 

 the end of November of the same year in Macedonia (Thessalonica), as the guest of 

 the quaestor Cn. Plancius, where he had an opportunity of hearing of Sestius's official 

 conduct in that province. " Nuper," in this instance, therefore, refers to a period of 

 from fourteen to twenty months. 



Caes. Bell. GaU. 1. 6: "Alterum per pro'sinciam nostram, multo facilius atque expe- 

 ditius, propterea quod Helvetiorum inter fines et Allobrogum. qui nuper pacati erant. 

 Rhodanus fluit," etc. The defeat of the Helvetii by Caesar near Bibracte, of which this 

 passage speaks, occurred 58 B. C. (696 U. C), and that of the Allobroges was efiected 

 by C. Pomtinius, who was propraetor of Gatd 63 and 62 B. C. (691 and 692 U. C.) ; 

 " nuper," therefore, implies here a period of from four to five years. 



