B.C. 45, ÆT. 61 sent on to you. I am expecting to hear from Quintus. For as I was starting from Tusculum on the 25th, as you know, sent letter-carriers to him.
Now to return to business: the word inhibere suggested by you,[1] which I thought very attractive, I am now strongly against. For it is an entirely nautical word. Of course I knew that, but I thought that the vessel was "held up" (sustineri) when the rowers were ordered inhibere. But that that is not the case I learnt yesterday, when a ship was being brought to land opposite my villa. For when ordered inhibere the rowers don't hold up the vessel, they backwater. Now that is a meaning as remote as possible from [Greek: epochê] ("suspension of judgment"). Wherefore pray let it stand in the book as it was. Tell Varro this also, if by any chance he has made an alteration. One can't have a better authority than Lucilius: "Bring to a halt (sustineas) chariot and horses, as oft doth a skilful driver." Again, Carneades always uses the guard ([Greek: probolê]) of a boxer and the pulling up (retentio) of a charioteer as metaphorical expressions for "suspension of judgment" ([Greek: epochê]): but the inhibitio of rowers connotes motion, and indeed an unusually violent one—the action of the oars driving the vessel backwards.
You see how much more eager and interested I am on this point than either about rumours or about Pollio. Tell me too about Pansa, whether there is any confirmation—for I think it must have been made public: also about Critonius, whatever is known, and at least about Metellus and Balbinus.and [Greek: epochê], the technical terms of the Academies for "suspension of judgment" in consequence of the impossibility of arriving at scientific certainty.]
- ↑ The question is as to the right Latin equivalent for [Greek: epechein
