rotundi

Updated: May 14, 2025

QUI ... PETUNT: these are the αυταρκεις, men sufficient for themselves, 'in se toti teretes atque rotundi'. We have here a reminiscence of the Stoic doctrine about the wise man, whose happiness is quite independent of everything outside himself, and is caused solely by his own virtue. Cicero represents the same Stoic theory in Lael. 7. Cf. Juv. Sat. 10, 357-362; also Seneca, De Cons. Sap.

Marcus Tullius Cicero - Cato Maior de Senectute with Introduction and Notes

There are numerous figures of towns, animals, birds, and fish, with grotesque customs, such as the mediæval geographers believed to exist in different parts of the world; Babylon with its famous tower; Rome, the capital of the world, bearing the inscription—’Roma, caput mundi, tenet orbis frena rotundi’; and Troy as ’civitas bellicosissima.’ In Great Britain most of the cathedrals are mentioned; but of Ireland the author seems to have known very little.

A. Hugh (Alfred Hugh) Fisher - Bell’s Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Hereford, A Description: Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal See