512 CRITICAL NOTES. 



pensed with ; lie ■would read, qiijce constet vexandis. . . . Bake 

 (who is, I think, right iii so far as he maintains that " constat" here 

 means " is recognized or made manifest "), like the others evidently 

 considers that it is the " pcena divina" which Cicero says is "two- 

 fold;" in which case his rendering of ^'constat" hardly suits the 

 &ense so well as the ordinary rendering " consists of," because, if we 

 understand Cicero to say that the " po&na divina" is two-fold, it is 

 natural to expect that he will tell us why it is so, viz., "that it con- 

 sists of a troubled conscience diii-ing life and infamy after death." 

 Madvig proposed, divinam eamque constare et ex, . . . and 

 although this conjecture has been, I think, justly rejected, and does 

 not throw any light \ipon the meaning of the passage, it nevertheless 

 points the way to what seems to me to be the tiaie reading, viz., 

 duplicem poenam esse, divinamque constare et vexandis vivorum 

 animis et eafama mortuorimi, etc. In the preceding sections, Cicero 

 endeavoured to show that offences against religion are always punished 

 sooner or later ; as a proof of this he instances the dreadful disasters 

 which had befallen those unhappy men who had driven him, " the 

 saviour of his country,", into exile ; and, in order to give himself an 

 opportunity of explaining an apparent anomaly, he makes his brother 

 Quintus say, " I acknowledge the truth of what you say, but still we 

 too often see it turn out far otherwise." This, Cicero tells us, is 

 owing to a mistaken idea of the nature of punishment, which men 

 are too apt to confuse with afflictions such as even good men are 

 liable to incur, for instance, bodily or mental suffering, and death, 

 etc. Whereas the sin itself is its own true punishment, et prceter eos 

 evenlus qui sequunt%ir per se ipsa maxima est. The immediate con- 

 sequences of sin are said to be comparatively of little importance. , 

 We see that the distinction, which Cicero wishes to draw, is between 

 the '■'■poena divina" and the '■'poena humana," divine and human 

 punishment — the former of which, he says, is too often lost sight of. 

 Accordingly I would translate the passage in question, as follows :— r 

 " So much I will briefly state, that punishment (or " retribution ") is' 

 of a two-fold nature, and that the divine punishment is manifested 

 both by the consciences of (wicked) men being troubled during their 

 lives ; and by their character being such after death, that their de- 

 struction is fully approved as well by the judgment as by the joy of 

 the living." 



