AULUS GELLIUS


Aulus Gellius lived c. 123-165 AD, and had a legal career in Rome. The Noctes Atticae (Attic Nights) is a collection of essays on literary, historical and philosophical themes, and was written in Athens.


Noctes Atticae XVIII,1
(A description of a visit to Ostia by three philosophers)
1-3. Familiares Favonni erant duo quidam non incelebres in urbe Roma philosophi. Eorum fuit unus Peripateticae disciplmae sectator, alter Stoicae. His quondam ego acriter atque contente pro suis utrimque decretis propugnantibus, cum essemus una omnes Ostiae cum Favormo, interfui. Ambulabamus autem in litore, cum iam advesperasceret, aestate anni novi.
...
16. Sed cum iam prima fax noctis et densiores esse tenebrae coepissent, prosecuti Favorinum in domum, ad quam devertebat, discessimus.
1-3. There were two friends of Favorinus, philosophers of no little note in the city of Rome; one of them was a follower of the Peripatetic school, the other of the Stoic. I was once present when these men argued ably and vigorously, each for his own beliefs, when we were all with Favorinus at Ostia. And we were walking along the shore in springtime, just as evening was falling.
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16. But when the first night-lights appeared and the darkness grew thicker, we escorted Favorinus to the house where he was putting up; and when he went in, we separated.

Translation: Loeb, J.C. Rolfe.