Panaetius Fragments in Fowler’s Edition Carrier unit 30

30. [Cicero, De Republ. I, 10, 15.] Hic Scipio: quam vellem Panaetium nostrum 103

nobiscum haberemus! qui cum cetera tum haec caelestia vel studiosissime solet
quaerere. sed ego, Tubero, ; nam tecum aperte quod sentio loquar, ; non nimis Extra. oct.

adsentior in omni isto genere nostro illi familiari, qui quae vix coniectura qualia sint
possumus suspicari, sic adfirmat ut oculis ea cernere videatur aut tractare plane manu.

30. [Cicero, On the Republic I, 10, 15.] Here Scipio said: How I wish we had our dear Panaetius with us! For, among his other inquiries, he is especially fond of investigating these celestial matters. But I, Tubero, for I shall tell you frankly what I think, do not entirely agree in this whole field with that friend of ours, who makes such confident assertions about things whose nature we can scarcely surmise by conjecture that he seems to see them with his eyes or actually touch them with his hand.

30. [Cicéron, De Republ. I, 10, 15.] Scipion dit alors : Comme je voudrais que notre Panétius fût ici avec nous ! Lui qui, parmi tous les autres sujets, a coutume d’étudier avec le plus grand zèle ces phénomènes célestes. Mais moi, Tubéron, car je te dirai franchement ce que je pense, je ne partage pas tout à fait, sur toute cette question, l’avis de notre ami : sur des choses dont nous pouvons à peine conjecturer la nature, il se prononce comme s’il lui semblait les voir de ses yeux ou les toucher nettement de la main.