Book 17
2
We, says he, Frag. 25, Peter2. will leave it undecided (in medium). The common people say in medio; for they think that in medium is an error, and if you should say in medium ponere (to make known), The phrase in medium has various meanings, according to the context and the verb with which it is used; cf. Cic. ad Fam. xv. 2. 6, se . . . eam rem numquam in medium propter periculi metum protulisse; Cluent. 77; Virg. Aen. v. 401. If the lexicons are to be trusted, in medium ponere is rare, and the usual expression is in medio ponere, e.g. Cic. Nat. Deor. i. 13, ponam in medio sententias philosophorum. they consider that also a solecism; but if anyone examines these words with some care, that expression will seem to him the more correct and the more expressive; moreover in Greek qei=nai ei)s me/son, is not an error. "After it was announced," he says, Frag. 1, Peter2. that a battle had been fought against the Gauls (in Gallos), the State was troubled. In Gallos is nester and finer than cum Gallis or contra Gallos; for these are somewhat awkward and out of date.
