Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 30

Cum Ciceronis librum de Re Publica prendit hinc philologus aliquis, hinc grammaticus, hinc philosophiae deditus, alius alio curam suam mittit. Philosophus admiratur contra iustitiam dici tam multa potuisse. Cum ad hanc eandem lectionem philologus accessit, hoc subnotat: Duos Romanos reges esse, quorum alter patrem non habet, alter matrem. Nam de Servi matre dubitatur; Anci pater nullus, Numae nepotis, dicitur.

Qu’un philologue, un grammairien et un philosophe prennent tous trois la République de Cicéron, chacun porte ses réflexions sur un point différent. Le philosophe s’étonne qu’on ait pu avancer tant de paradoxes contre la justice ; quand le philologue aborde la même lecture, il note avec soin qu’il y a deux rois de Rome dont l’un n’a point de père et l’autre point de mère : car on varie sur la mère de Servius ; pour Ancus, on ne lui donne pas de père ;

When Cicero’s book On the State is opened by a philologist, a scholar, or a follower of philosophy, each man pursues his investigation in his own way. The philosopher wonders that so much could have been said therein against justice. The philologist takes up the same book and comments on the text as follows: There were two Roman kings - one without a father and one without a mother. For we cannot settle who was Servius’s mother, and Ancus, the grandson of Numa, has no father on record.