This reference from Cicero's "On Divination seems fairly funny, and it might not even be demeaning to Epicurus, as Cicero can often be. But I bet there is more to the reference of "corn rising on the market" than is immediately obvious to me, so I thought I would post and maybe over time we can consult the Latin and track down a more precise meaning. As it is, this translation reference to corn (I think by Yonge) seems a little broad, so probably there's some subtlety to be dug out of it. I was just scanning over this looking for references to Epicurus and it's not immediately clear to me whether this is Cicero speaking for himself, or someone else speaking...
A Ciceronian Witticism Referencing Epicurus
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I take it as:
- The mice eat Epicurus's work on Pleasure.
- The mice become obsessed with the pleasure of the belly.
- The mice eat up all the grain in the market.
- Grain is scarce.
- The price goes up.
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Yes this is not quite at Epicurus' expense, as Cicero is of course primarily attacking divination here.
Cicero, On Divination, 2.27.59: But are we simple and thoughtless enough to think it a portent for mice to gnaw something, when gnawing is their one business in life?... if my book by Epicurus On Pleasure had been eaten – should I have thought that the yearly produce in the market will be more expensive?
Nos autem ita leues atque inconsiderati sumus, ut si mures corroserint aliquid, quorum est opus hoc unum, monstrum putemus?… si Epicuri De Voluptate liber rosus esset – putarem annonam in macello cariorem fore?
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The mice are "ingesting" that malicious philosophy of pleasure! Time to clutch your pearls!
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Maybe a non-charitable take would go something like:
Plato knows a lot about laws, so if the mice eat Plato, then there will be no laws.
Epicurus knows a lot about delicacies, so if the mice eat Epicurus, there will be no delicacies (only a bunch of people desperate for corn). As in, something like scarcity.
The idea being, I suppose, that a mouse's dietary choices are an omen presaging a social decline of sort.
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Cassius
May 31, 2024 at 4:47 PM Moved the thread from forum General Discussion to forum General Discussion of Cicero.
