XXIV
Genus spectaculorum unum atque in omni coetu idem. Nudi (nudi: the word need not be taken at face value, as noted in ch. 6.) juvenes, quibus id ludicrum est, inter gladios se atque infestas frameas saltu jaciunt. (se … saltu jaciunt: saltu (from salto, saltare, ‘to dance’) is abl. of instrument: ‘they rush in with a dancc’, ‘they throw themselves in their role with a dance’.) Exercitatio artem paravit, ars decorem: non in quaestum tamen aut mercedem; quamvis audacis lasciviae pretium est voluptas spectantium. (quamvis audacis lasciviae pretium est voluptas spectantium: ‘the reward of the pastime, no matter how risky, is the pleasure of the spectators’; quamvis is here adverb, not subordinating conjunction: it modifies audacis. See also quamvis iuvenior, quamvis robustior below. Incidentally, the above appears to be the best ancient record of what was later referred to as the ‘sword dance’, practiced down to recent times.) Aleam, quod mirere, (quod mirere: ‘which you may wonder at’ or ‘something you may wonder at’; mirere is the alternate form of mireris, potential present subjunctive of miror. The second person singular is indefinite subject.) sobrii inter seria (inter seria: ‘among their serious occupations’) exercent tanta lucrandi perdendive temeritate, ut, cum omnia defecerunt, (cum … defecerunt: for iterative cum see ch. 14 at the outset.) extremo ac novissimo jactu de libertate ac de corpore contendant. (exercent tanta lucrandi perdendive temeritate, ut … de libertate ac de corpore contendant: consecutive sentence introduced by the correlatives tanta …ut: lit. ‘they display so much temerity of winning or losing that they stake their liberty and person’. lucrandi perdendive temeritate: objective genitive gerunds after certain nouns; the enclitic –ve replaces aut.) Victus voluntariam servitutem adit: quamvis juvenior, quamvis robustior, alligari se ac venire patitur: ea (ea: here with the heightened sense of talis, ‘such’; cf. G. 308, R, 1.) est in re prava pervicacia: ipsi fidem vocant. Servos conditionis hujus per commercia tradunt, ut se quoque pudore victoriae exsolvant. (ut se … pudore victoriae exsolvant: ‘to rid themselves of the shame of the victory’)