Kitap 7
16
But Catullus was not alone in using this word with that meaning. Indeed, the books are full of cases of its occurrence in the same sense, and of these I have quoted one or two which had come to mind. Quintus Ennius in the Erectheus, not differing greatly from Catullus, says: 128, Ribbeck3. Who now win freedom by my own distress For those whose slavery I by woe avert (deprecor). He means I drive away and remove, either by resort to prayer or in some other way. Similarly in the Chresphontes Ennius writes: 121, Ribbeck3. When I my own life spare, may I avert (deprecer) Death from mine enemy. Cicero, in the sixth book of his Republic, wrote: 2.2. Which indeed was so much the more remarkable, because, while the colleagues were in the same case, they not only did not incur the same hatred, but the affection felt for Gracchus even averted (deprecabatur) the unpopularity of Claudius. Here too the meaning is not earnestly entreated, but warded off unpopularity, so to speak, and defended him against it, a meaning which the Greeks express by the parallel word paraitei=sqai.
