§ 1.Praef  Preface: I have resolved to collect together the deeds and sayings of most note, and most worthy to be remembered, of the most eminent persons both among the Romans and other nations, taken out of the most approved authors, where they lie scattered so widely, that makes them hard to be known; to save the trouble of a tedious search, for those who are willing to follow their examples. Yet I have not been over-desirous to comprehend everything. For who in a small volume is able to set down the deeds of many ages? Or what wise man can hope to deliver the course of domestic and foreign history, which our predecessors have done in such happy styles, either with greater care, or more abounding eloquence? Therefore, Caesar, your country's only safety, I invoke you at the beginning of my undertaking, whom the consent of gods and men has ordained the great commander both of sea and land; by whose divine providence those virtues, of which I am to discourse, are most favourably cherished, and vices most severely punished. For if the ancient orators did well to begin from omnipotent Jove, if the most excellent poets did always call some particular deity to assist them; much the rather does my little work fly to your protection. For other gods we adore only in opinion, you we behold equal to your father's and your grandfather's stars in brightness, whose resplendent lustres have added not a little to the ceremonies of our religion. Others we receive for gods, Caesars we make such. And because it is my intention to begin with the worship of the gods, I shall discourse briefly of its nature.

§ 1.1.1  Our ancestors appointed that the set and solemn ceremonies should be ordered by the knowledge of the pontiffs; the right administration of these ceremonies, and authority for so doing, by the observations of the augurs; the predictions of Apollo should depend upon the books of the seers; but that the mysteries of portents should be unfolded according to the rules of the Etruscan discipline. For by the ancient institutions, when we were to commend anything to the gods, we gave ourselves to prayer; when anything was earnestly to be desired of the gods, then to vows; when anything to be paid, to thanksgiving; when enquiry after future success was made, to obtain by request; when any solemn sacrifice was to be done, to sacrifice. By which means the significations of portents and thunders were likewise discovered.
So great also was the care of our ancestors, not only to observe, but to increase religion, that by decree of senate, ten of the sons of the chief men were sent out of their most flourishing and opulent city to the several peoples of Etruria, to learn the order and discipline of sacred lore. And when they had resolved to worship Ceres after the Greek manner, they sent for Calliphana, from Velia, which had not yet received citizenship, to be their priestess, that they might not lack a skilful mistress of the ancient ceremonies of the goddess.
To Ceres in the city a most stately temple was dedicated; and being warned in the Sibylline Books to appease the ancient goddess Ceres in the time of Gracchus' tumult, they sent ten persons to Henna, where they believed her sacred rites were first instituted, to make an atonement for themselves. And many times our emperors and commanders, having obtained great victories, have gone themselves to Pessinus, there to perform their vows to the Mother of the Gods.

§ 1.1.2  Metellus the pontifex maximus, when Postumius the consul, and also a flamen of Mars, desired Africa for his province to make war in, commanded him under a penalty not to depart the city, and thereby to desert his function; believing that Postumius could not safely commit himself to martial combats, when the ceremonies of Mars were neglected.

§ 1.1.3  Praiseworthy was the reverence of the twelve fasces, but more to be extolled, the obedience of the twenty-four fasces: for Tiberius Gracchus sent letters to the college of augurs out of his province, by which he gave them to understand, that having perused certain books concerning the sacred rites of the people, he found that the augural tent was erroneously sited at the consular elections, which he had caused to be made; which thing being reported to the senate, by their command C. Figulus returning out of Gaul, and Scipio Nasica from Corsica, both laid down their consulships.

§ 1.1.4  For the same reason, P. Cloelius Siculus, M. Cornelius Cethegus, and C. Claudius, because the entrails were less reverently brought to the altars of the gods than they ought to have been, at different times, and in different wars, were commanded and compelled to leave the office of flamen.

§ 1.1.5  And because the cap fell from the head of Sulpicius while he was sacrificing, he lost the priesthood. The peeping of a mouse being overheard, was the reason that Fabius Maximus quitted the dictatorship, and that C. Flaminius ceased to be Master of the Horse.

§ 1.1.6  To this we may add, that P. Licinius the pontifex maximus thought fit to give the lash to a Vestal Virgin, for that one night she had been negligent of the holy fire.

§ 1.1.7  But Vesta herself saved the handmaid of Aemilia the Vestal, who had let the fire out; for while she was worshipping, and had laid her veil which was very fine upon the hearth, the fire promptly caught hold of it.

§ 1.1.8  No wonder then that the indulgence of the gods was so great in preserving and increasing their empire: for such a scrupulous care seemed to examine the smallest details of religion, so that our city is to be thought never to have had her eyes off from the most exact worship of the gods. And therefore when Marcellus, five times consul, having taken Clastidium, and after that Syracuse, would have in performance of his vows, erected a temple to Honour and Virtue, he was opposed by the college of pontiffs, who denied that one shrine could be rightly dedicated to two gods. For if any prodigy should happen, it would remain doubtful to which deity should be made address: nor was it the custom to sacrifice at once to two deities, unless in some particular cases. Upon which admonition of the pontiffs, Marcellus in two separate temples set up the images of Honour and Virtue; whereby it came to pass, that neither the authority of so great a man was any hindrance to the college, nor the addition of expense any impediment to Marcellus, but that all justice and observation was given to religion.

§ 1.1.9  Lucius Furius Bibaculus has hardly any example to parallel him, unless that of Marcellus. Nor is he to be deprived of the praise of a most pious and religious mind, who while he was praetor, being commanded by his father, principal of the college of the Salian priests, carried the ancilia, six lictors going before him; though he might have pleaded an excuse from that duty, by virtue of his position. But our city valued religion above all things, preferring it before the authority of all sovereign majesty: therefore their magistrates have not scrupled to obey in sacred matters; believing they should the more easily obtain the sole command of human things, if they were constantly and truly obedient to the divine power.

§ 1.1.10  Which resolution hath been also bred within the breasts of private persons. For when the city was taken by the Gauls, and the Quirinal flamen and the Vestal Virgins were forced to carry the sacred objects, taking every one a share of the burden. Having now passed the Sublician Bridge, and ready to descend the rock that leads to Janiculum, they were spied by L. Albanius, who was driving a cart wherein he had put his wife and children, who no sooner saw them in that condition, but regarding public religion more than private charity, he commanded them to alight; and then placing the holy objects, and ordering the Vestals to get in, he left his own intended journey, and drove them till he came to the town of Caere; where, because they were courteously and reverently received, we testify our thanks, and honour the memory of their humanity. For thence it came to be instituted, that those sacred rites were called ceremonies, because the Caeretans worshipped and observed them as well in the low as in the flourishing state of the commonwealth. And that mean and country cart, on a sudden the receptacle of so much honour, came to equal, if not surpass, the glory of a triumphal chariot.

§ 1.1.11  About the same time, memorable was the example of observed religion which Gaius Fabius Dorsuo gave us: for when the Gauls besieged the Capitol, lest the accustomed sacrifice of the Fabii should be put off, clad in a Gabine habit, and carrying the sacred objects in his hands and upon his shoulders, he at length passed through the midst of the enemy to the Quirinal hill, where having performed what was to be done, he returned to the Capitol with divine adoration of his victorious achievement, as if he had been a victor indeed.

§ 1.1.12  Great also was the care of preserving religion among our ancestors, when Publius Cornelius and Baebius Tamphilus were consuls [181 BCE]. For the labourers that were digging a field of L. Petillius the scribe, at the foot of Janiculum, delving somewhat deeper than ordinary, found two little stone-chests; in one whereof was some writing, declaring that it was the body of Numa Pompilius, son of Pomponius. In the other were seven books in the Latin language, treating of the law of the pontiffs; and as many books in Greek, discoursing of wisdom. For the preservation of the Latin books they took especial care; but the Greek ones, (for there seemed to be some things therein prejudicial to their religion) Q. Petillius the praetor by decree of senate caused to be burnt in a public fire made by the attendants of the sacrifices: for the ancient Romans could not endure that anything should be kept in the city, which might be a means to draw the minds of men from the worship of the gods.

§ 1.1.13  Tarquinius the king caused Marcus Tullius the duumvir to be sewed in a sack after the ancient manner, and to be thrown into the sea, because he had for a bribe delivered to Petronius Sabinus a certain book containing the mysteries of the civic sacred rituals committed to his keeping: most justly, seeing that violation of trust deserves the same punishment among men, as from the gods.

§ 1.1.14  But as to those things which concern the observation of religion, I know not whether Atilius Regulus has not excelled all that ever went before him. Instead of a famous conqueror being now made a captive, through the wiles and ambuscades of Hasdrubal and Xanthippus the Lacedaemonian, he was sent to the senate and people of Rome, to try if he could get himself - being but one, and old - redeemed for several young and noble Carthaginians. When he came, he advised the senate to the contrary, and went back to Carthage, well knowing to what, cruel and inveterate enemies he returned; but he had sworn so to do, if he could not obtain the release of their captives. Surely the immortal gods had reason to have mitigated their fury; but that the glory of Atilius might be the greater, they permitted the Carthagians to take their own inhumane courses - as those who in the Third Punic War would severely recompense the death of so noble a soul with the destruction of their city.

§ 1.1.15  How much more religious toward the gods did our senate show themselves! After the fatal defeat at Cannae, they decreed that no women should mourn longer than thirty days, to the end that the rites of Ceres might be by them performed. For now, the greatest part of the men lying slain upon the bloody accursed earth, there was no family in the city that did not partake of the general calamity. And therefore the mothers and daughters, wives and sisters of the slain were compelled to put off their mourning-clothes, and put on their white garments, and to perform the office of priests. Through which constancy of observing religion, they forced the deities themselves to blush, and be ashamed of raging any more against such a nation, that could not be drawn from adoring them that had with so much cruelty destroyed them.

§ 1.1.16  It is believed, that the reason why Varro fought with so much ill success at Cannae against the Carthaginians, was through the wrath of Juno: for when he presented the Circensian Games, being aedile, he put a young player of extraordinary beauty in the chariot of Jupiter, to hold the appurtenances: which fact being called to mind after some years, was expiated with sacrifices.

§ 1.1.17  Hercules also is reported to have very severely avenged the abuse of his worship: for when the family of the Potitii had entrusted entrusted his ceremonies, the ministry whereof belonged to them as it were by inheritance, to be performed by servants and persons of mean degree - which was caused by Appius the censor - all the flower of the family, who were above thirty young men, died within the space of one year; and the name of the Potitii, that was branched into twelve families, became almost extinct; also Appius the censor was stricken blind.

§ 1.1.18  A sharp avenger also was Apollo, of an injury done to himself, who after he was spoiled of his robe of gold at the sack of Carthage, never ceased till the hands of the sacrilegious soldier were found cut off among the broken pieces of his image.

§ 1.1.19  Nor was Apollo's son Aesculapius a less violent avenger of flouted religion, who, not enduring to behold a wood consecrated to his temple cut down by Turullius in order to build ships for the use of M. Antonius, by a strange power so ordered it, that Turullius was by the command of Caesar judged to death while he was in the midst of this business, and executed in the very wood: And so the god ordained it, that being in that place slain by Caesar's soldiers, with the same death he expiated the loss of those trees that were cut down, and secured the safety of those that were standing.

§ 1.1.20  Nor did Q. Fulvius Flaccus go unpunished, who in his censorship transferred the marble tiles from the temple of Lacinian Juno to the temple of Fortuna Equestris, which he was then building at Rome: for he no sooner had done it, but he fell mad, and for very grief expired, hearing that of his two sons, both soldiers in Illyria, one of them was dead, the other slain; by whose misfortune the senate being warned, ordered the tiles to be carried back to Locri.

§ 1.1.21  Much after the same manner did they punish the covetousness of Q. Pleminius, legate to Scipio, in robbing the treasure of Proserpina: for when he was brought in fetters to Rome, before he could come to his trial, he died in prison of a most filthy disease. The goddess, by command of the senate, had not only her money restored, but double the sum.

§ 1.1e.1  As to the deed of Pleminius, it was well punished by the conscript fathers. But against the sordid violence of king Pyrrhus, the goddess herself defended herself well enough: for after the Locrians were compelled to give him money out of her treasury, while he was sailing upon the sea laden with his impious booty, by force of a mighty tempest his whole fleet was cast upon the shore adjoining to the said city; where the money being found entire, was restored to the most sacred treasury of the goddess.

§ 1.1e.2  But the act of Masinissa was of another nature, whose admiral had landed in Melita, and taken out of the shrine of Juno certain ivory-tusks of an immense proportion, and given them as a present to the king; Masinissa no sooner understood from whence they came but he commanded them to be carried back in a quinquereme, and put in the place whence they were taken, having caused certain words to he carved upon them, signifying that the king had received them in ignorance, and willingly restored them.

§ 1.1e.3  But why should manners be judged by nationality? Masinissa, brought up in the midst of a barbarians, undid another man's sacrilege; but Dionysius, born at Syracuse, used to make jests of his sacrileges, of which he committed more than we have now room to recount: for having plundered the temple of Proserpina at Locri, and sailing upon the sea with a prosperous gale, laughing to his friends, he said, “What a pleasant voyage have the gods granted to us sacrilegious robbers!” Having taken also a golden cloak of great weight from Olympian Jupiter, which Hieron the tyrant had dedicated to him out of the spoils of the Carthaginians; and throwing over the statue a woollen mantle, told his companions that a cloak of gold was too heavy in the summer, too cold in the winter; but a woollen cloak would serve for both seasons. The same person commanded the golden beard of Aesculapius to be taken from his statue in his temple at Epidaurus, saying that it was not appropriate for Apollo the father to be without a beard, and the son to have so large a one. He also took away the silver and golden tables out of other temples, where finding certain inscriptions, after the manner of Greece, that they belonged to the good gods, then said he, “Through their goodness we will make use of them.” He also took away the little statues of Victory, cups and crowns which they held in their hands being all of gold, saying that he did but borrow them, not take them quite away, saying that was an idle thing, when we pray to the gods for good things, not to accept them when they hold them forth to us. Who in his own person though he was not punished according to his deserts, yet in the infamy of his son, he suffered after death what in his life-time he had escaped. For divine anger proceeds at a slow pace to avenge itself, and compensates for the slowness with the gravity of the punishment.

§ 1.1e.4  In avoiding such a punishment Timasitheus, a leading man of the Liparitans, by his wisdom provided for his own and his country's safety: for when certain of his citizens, using piracy, had taken a golden cup of a very great weight, and the people were gathered together to divide the spoil, he, understanding that is was consecrated to Pythian Apollo in lieu of their tithes by the Romans, took it from them, and carefully sent it to Delphi.
[There is a long gap in the manuscripts starting here; the text is only available in epitomes ]

§ 1.1e.5  Milesian Ceres, when Miletus was taken by Alexander, and several soldiers broke into her temple to plunder it, suddenly deprived them all of their sight.

§ 1.1e.6  The Persians coming to Delos with a fleet of a thousand ships, behaved themselves more religiously than rapaciously toward the temple.

§ 1.1e.7  The Athenians banished Protagoras the philosopher, because he ventured to affirm that he knew not whether there were any gods or no; or if there were any, of what nature they were. They also condemned Socrates, because he endeavoured to introduce a new religion. They endured Phidias when he affirmed that it was better to make the statue of Minerva of marble rather than of ivory, because it was more lasting; but when he added, that it was also cheaper, they commanded him silence.

§ 1.1e.8  Diomedon was one of the ten captains who at Arginusae won a great victory for the Athenians, but for himself received the reward of condemnation; being now led to his undeserved execution, he said nothing else, but only that the vows which he had made for the safety of the army might be performed.

§ 1.2.1  Numa Pompilius, so that he might oblige his people to the observance of holy things, feigned to have familiarity by night with the goddess Egeria; and that by her direction only, the appropriate worship of the gods which he proposed was instituted.

§ 1.2.2  Scipio surnamed Africanus, never went about any private or public business, till he had been for some while in the shrine of Capitoline Jupiter; and was therefore thought to have been begot by Jove.

§ 1.2.3  Lucius Sulla, whenever he resolved to give battle, embracing a little image of Apollo, which was taken out of the temple of Delphi, in the sight of all his soldiers, asked the deity to bring to pass what he had promised.

§ 1.2.4  Q. Sertorius had a tame white hart, which he taught to follow him over all the cragged mountains of Lusitania, by which he feigned himself instructed what to do, or what not.

§ 1.2e.1  Minos king of Crete used to withdraw every ninth year into a deep and anciently-consecrated den; and there staying some time, he brought forth new laws, which he feigned were delivered to him by Jupiter, whose son he claimed to be.

§ 1.2e.2  Pisistratus, to recover the tyranny of Athens, which he had lost, pretended that Minerva herself had led him into the citadel; deceiving the Athenians by showing an unknown woman who was called Phya, in the costume of Minerva.

§ 1.2e.3  Lycurgus persuaded the people that the laws which he composed for the grave city of Lacedaemon, were made by the counsel of Apollo.

§ 1.2e.4  Zaleucus, in the name of Minerva, was accounted the wisest man among the Locrians.

§ 1.3.1  The new custom which was introduced in the Bacchanalia, when it grew to madness, was quite eliminated.

§ 1.3.2  Lutatius Cerco, who finished the First Punic War, was forbidden by the senate to go to Praeneste to consult Fortune; they judged it right that the affairs of the commonwealth should be governed by their own national auspices, and not those of foreign countries.

§ 1.3.3  C. Cornelius Hispallus, a praetor of foreigners, in the time when M. Popilius Laenas and L. Calpurnius were consuls [139 BCE], by edict commanded the Chaldeans to depart out of Italy, who by their false interpretations of the stars cast a profitable mist before the eyes of shallow and foolish characters. The same person banished those who with a counterfeit worship of Jupiter Sabazius sought to corrupt Roman customs.

§ 1.3.4  Lucius Aemilius Paulus the consul, when the senate had decreed that the temples of Isis and Serapis should be destroyed, and none of the workmen dared lay hands upon the work, laying his consular costume aside, and taking a hatchet, was the first that broke open the gates.

§ 1.4.1  Lucius Tarquinius the king, having a mind to add other troops of knights to the troops which Romulus had enrolled in accordance with the auspices, was opposed by the augur Attus Navius, and in a great fury asked him, if that which he thought of might be done. When Attus took the auspices and answered that it might, the king commanded him to cleave a whet-stone with a razor. As soon as it was brought, Attus achieved this incredible task, and made the king admire the effect of his profession.

§ 1.4.2  Tiberius Gracchus, planning tumult and sedition, sought for auspices in his home at dawn; which fell out very sad, and contrary to his expectation: for as he was going out of doors, he stumbled in such sort, that he broke one of his toes. Then three crows cawing on the wrong side, let fall a piece of a tile just before him. But he, disregarding all these signs, was expelled from the Capitol by Scipio Nasica the pontifex maximus, and fell down after he was struck on the head with a piece of a bench.

§ 1.4.3  P. Claudius, in the First Punic War, being ready to join battle, yet wishing to know the auspices in the traditional manner, when he that kept the birds told him that the chickens would not come out of the pens, commanded them to be cast into the sea, saying, “If they will not eat, let them drink.”

§ 1.4.4  L. Junius, the colleague of P. Claudius, lost the Roman fleet in a storm after ignoring the auspices. He avoided the ignominy of condemnation by killing himself.

§ 1.4.5  When Metellus the pontifex maximus was travelling towards Tusculum, two crows flew directly towards his face, as if they went to stop his journey; and eventually they prevailed on him to return home. The next night the temple of Vesta was burnt, and Metellus saved the Palladium out of the fire.

§ 1.4.6  M. Cicero had his death foretold by an unlucky omen: for when he was at the village of Caieta, a crow struck off the gnomon of a sun-dial before his eyes, and by and by flying towards him, it held him by biting the hem of his garment, till his servants came and told him that certain soldiers were come to kill him.

§ 1.4.7  When M. Brutus had rallied the remains of his army against Caesar and Antonius, two eagles flew out - one from one camp, and the other from the other camp - and encountering one another, the eagle which came out of Brutus' camp was worsted and fled.

§ 1.4e.1  When Alexander was about to build a city in Egypt, Dinocrates the architect for lack of chalk laid out the streets with barley groats. By and by a vast number of birds from the nearby lake devoured the barley; from which the Egyptian priests made this interpretation, that that city should in time supply provisions to a great number of strangers.

§ 1.4e.2  King Deiotarus, who almost always acted in accordance with auspices, was preserved by the sight of an eagle: for seeing the place whence she came out, he would by no means go in there; and the house fell the next night down to the ground.
[The manuscripts resume at this point.]

§ 1.5.1  The observation of omens is founded upon a certain connection with religion, because the omens depend not upon any fortuitous chance, but upon divine providence. So it came to pass, that after the city was destroyed by the Gauls, the senate was consulting whether they should move to Veii, or rebuild their own walls; but then some cohorts returned from their post, and a centurion cried out in the assembly place to his eagle-bearer, “Fix your standard, we'd best stay here.” The Senate hearing his voice, took it for a good omen, and abandoned their plan of going for Veii. In how few words was the choice of domicile for the future empire of the world decided? The gods disdained that the Roman name, sprung from happy omens, should be changed to adopt the name of the city of Veii, or that the glory of victory itself should lie buried in the ruins of a city recently overthrown.

§ 1.5.2  The author of that most famous deed, Camillus, while he was praying, that if the happiness of the people of Rome seemed to any of the gods to be too great, that they would satisfy their envy by any harm done to himself, at the end of his prayer suddenly stumbling fell down. This omen is thought to have related to the condemnation which he afterwards underwent. But deservedly did the victory and the prayers of this great man vie with each other for praise: for he showed equal virtue in increasing the good fortune of his country, and in wishing that all its evil fortune might fall upon his own head.

§ 1.5.3  How memorable was that omen which befell L. Paullus the consul! After he was appointed by lot to make war with Perseus king of Macedonia, on his return to his house met his youngest daughter at the door, and observing her to look something sad, kissed her, and asked the cause of her discontent. She answered that Persa was dead: that was the name of a little dog which she highly esteemed, which died a little before. Paullus laid hold of the omen, and upon a fortuitous saying, built his hopes of a glorious triumph.

§ 1.5.4  But Caecilia the wife of Metellus, when after the ancient custom she sought at night-time a nuptial-omen for her sister's daughter, a virgin of adult years, gave occasion to the omen herself: for after she had stayed in a certain shrine for some time, but had heard no word suitable to her purpose, the virgin, wearied with long standing, asked her aunt to let her have some place to sit down for a while; to whom her aunt replied, “I freely give you my seat.” This saying proceeded out of kindness, but proved ominous in the event; for not long after Caecilia died, and Metellus married the virgin of whom I have spoken.

§ 1.5.5  The observation of omens certainly brought about the preservation of Gaius Marius, at the time when, being adjudged an enemy by the senate, he was staying at the house of one Fannia at Minturnae for his security. For he observed that an donkey, when he gave him food, neglected that, and ran still to the water. At which sight, thinking that what had been offered by the providence of the gods, was to be followed, being himself otherwise very skilful in religious interpretations, he asked of the multitude that came to his aid, that he might be conducted to the sea; and so getting aboard a little ship, he sailed to Africa, and so avoided the victorious arms of Sulla.

§ 1.5.6  Pompey the Great, when he was defeated by Caesar at the battle of Pharsalia and sought to save himself by flight, directed his course to the island of Cyprus, to gather more forces there; and approaching the city of Paphos, and viewing a stately building, he asked the pilot the name of it; when he answered that it was called King's Evil, Pompey promptly lost all that little hope which he had remaining, nor could he dissemble it; turning his head another way, and weeping, he betrayed the grief which he conceived from so dire an omen.

§ 1.5.7  To M. Brutus an outcome befitting the parricide which he had committed, was indicated by an omen. For after that wicked deed, as he was celebrating his birthday, and looking for some convenient Greek verse, by accident he happened upon one in Homer: “Me cruel Fate and the son of Leto slew.” This god - being given by Caesar and Antonius as a password at the battle of Philippi - seemed as it were to be the cause of his overthrow.

§ 1.5.8  With a similarly strange saying, Fortune astonished the ears of Cassius, who when the Rhodians begged of him that they might not be deprived of all the images of the gods, answered that he had left them the Sun - so that he worsened the harshness of his rapacious victory with the arrogance of his speech. Having lost the battle in Macedonia, he was not only forced to leave the effigies of the Sun, which he had granted them as suppliants, but also the sun itself.

§ 1.5.9  Worthy of remark is that omen under which Petillius fell in the Ligurian War: for being about to assail a mountain that was called Letum["death"], he boasted in his exhortation to his soldiers, saying, “This day I will surely take Letum.” And fighting recklessly, he confirmed by his death the truth of his fortuitous speech.

§ 1.5e.1  To our own examples, we may add two foreign examples of the same nature. The Samians when the men of Priene sent to them for aid against the Carians, instead of ships and men, being puffed up with arrogance, sent them in mockery a Sibyl. The men of Priene interpreted this as an aid sent from heaven; they willingly received her, and by her true prediction of the fates, found her to be the leader of their victory.

§ 1.5e.2  Nor did the men of Apollonia repent; for being pressed in war against the Illyrians, they begged aid of the Epidamnians, and received the answer, that they would lend the river Aeas, running by the walls, for their assistance. They replied, “We accept your gift”; and so gave Aeas the first place in their army, as if their general. After which, having unexpectedly vanquished their enemies, they attributed their success to the acceptance of the omen. From then onwards they sacrificed to Aeas as a god, and made him their general in all their battles.

§ 1.6.1  Of prodigies also, whether lucky or unlucky, it is appropriate for our purpose to discourse. While Servius Tullius was an infant and asleep, his attendants beheld a flame upon his head. Tanaquil the wife of Ancus Marcius, admiring this prodigy, brought up Servius, who was the son of a servant, instead of her own son, and advanced him to the throne.

§ 1.6.2  Equal happiness in outcome did that flame promise which blazed upon the head of Lucius Marcius, captain of the two armies, which the deaths of P. and Cn. Scipio had much weakened in Spain, while he was speaking to his soldiers. For upon the sight of that, the soldiers, who before were fearful, were now encouraged to recover their customary fortitude; after slaughtering thirty-eight thousand men, and taking a great number of prisoners, they captured two camps of the Carthaginians, crammed with spoil.

§ 1.6.3  Also when after a long and bitter war the people of Veii could not be taken, though besieged within their own walls, and that the delay was no less terrible to the besiegers than the besieged, the gods themselves opened the way to an unexpected victory. For on a sudden the Alban lake, neither augmented by any showers, nor assisted by the inundation of any other stream, rose far above its usual hight. To know the reason for this, messengers were sent to the oracle at Delphi, who brought the answer, that they should let the waters that over-swelled the lake into the fields: for thus the people of Veii would come into the power of the Romans. Before the messengers could bring back this answer, a soothsayer of Veii, taken by one of our soldiers - because we lacked our own interpreters - and brought into the camp, had declared the same; so that the senate, doubly admonished, both obeyed the gods, and got possession of the city.

§ 1.6.4  Nor was the following an omen of bad success. Lucius Sulla, proconsul in the Social War, while he was sacrificing before the praetorium in the territory of Nola, on a sudden beheld a snake glide from the lower part of the altar. At the sight of this, by the advice of Postumius the soothsayer, he led forth his army, and captured the strong camp of the Samnites. This victory was the first foundation and step to his future greatness.

§ 1.6.5  Very remarkable are those prodigies which happened in our city, when P. Volumnius and Ser. Sulpitius were consuls, amidst the first stirrings of war. An ox, his lowing being changed into human speech, troubled the minds of all people with the strangeness of the occurrence. Little pieces of flesh also fell like showers of rain from the sky, of which a great part was devoured by the birds; the rest lay many days upon the ground, neither offensive to the smell, nor irksome to the sight.
During another crisis, prodigies of the same nature were to be seen. A child of half a year old in the Forum Boarium, proclaimed a triumph. Another child was born with an elephant's head. In Picenum it rained stones. In Gaul a wolf came and took a sword out of the sentinel's scabbard. In Sicily two shields sweated blood. Bloody ears of corn dropped among the sheaves, as men were reaping near Antium. The waters of Caere were mixed with blood. And in the Second Punic War, an ox belonging to Cn. Domitius was heard to say, “Beware, O Rome.”

§ 1.6.6  When Gaius Flaminius, being inauspiciously made consul, was preparing to fight with Hannibal at Lake Trasimene, he commanded the standards to be taken up, but immediately his horse stumbling, he was thrown to the ground and pitched upon his head. Giving no regard to this prodigy, when the standard-bearers told him they could not stir the standards, he threatened to punish them if they did not dig them out. But of this rashness of his, would that only he himself, and not the whole people of Rome had felt the doleful outcome: for in that battle fifteen thousand Romans were slain, six thousand captured, and twenty thousand put to flight. The headless body of the consul was sought out by Hannibal, in order to have it buried, who had done what he could to bury the Roman empire.

§ 1.6.7  The headlong obstinacy of Flaminius was followed by C. Hostilius Mancinus with a vain obstinacy, to whom these prodigies happened as he was going as consul to Spain. When he resolved to sacrifice at Lavinium, the chickens being let out of the coop, flew to the neighbouring wood, and though sought for with all diligence imaginable, could never be found. And when he was about to go aboard at the Port of Hercules, whither he went on foot, he heard a strange voice, crying, “Stay, Mancinus.” When, frightened by this, he went by another route to Genua, and there went aboard a little boat, a snake of a prodigious size appeared, and suddenly vanished out of sight. Which three prodigies he equalled with the number of calamities which befell him; an unsuccessful battle, a shameful truce, and a most dismal surrender.

§ 1.6.8  The sad end of Gracchus, a most resolute citizen, makes the rashness of an inconsiderate person less surprising. He was forewarned, but could take no counsel to avoid it. For when being proconsul, he was sacrificing among the Lucanians, two snakes on a sudden creeping out of some hidden place, having eaten the liver of the beast which he had sacrificed, withdrew to their lurking holes. And when by reason of this occurrence the sacrifice was renewed, the same prodigy happened again. The third sacrifice being slain, and the entrails more diligently inspected, neither could the serpents be driven away when they came, not be hindered in their flight. Though as the soothsayers affirmed, this signified that the general was to be careful of his own safety, yet Gracchus was not so careful, but that by the treachery of Flavius, at whose house he stayed, he was drawn to a place where the Carthaginian general Mago was hidden with an armed force, who slew him unarmed and without defence.

§ 1.6.9  The misfortune of the consuls, an equal error, and an end not differing from that of Ti. Gracchus, draws me to the memory of Marcellus. He, inflamed with the glory of having taken Syracuse, and first of all driven Hannibal from the walls of Nola, resolved either to overthrow the Carthaginians, or at least to drive them out of Italy; and to that end he intended with a most solemn sacrifice to inquire into the will and pleasure of the gods. Of the first beast that was slain before the fire, the liver was found without a head; the next had a liver with a double head: which being viewed, the soothsayer with a sad countenance said that the entrails did not please him: the first were altogether bad, the second were not so good. Thus Marcellus being warned not to do anything rashly, the next night he ventured to go out with a few men to view the enemy's camp. Surrounded by a multitude of his enemies in the country of the Bruttii, by his death he caused much sorrow and detriment to his country.

§ 1.6.10  As for Octavius the consul, though he feared a most direful omen, he could not avoid it; for finding the head of the image of Apollo broken, and so pitched in the ground that it could not be pulled up, being at that time in arms against his colleague Cinna, he from thence prognosticated his own ruin. In the midst of this fear he came to a sad end, and then the fixed head of the image was easily put back in its place.

§ 1.6.11  Nor must we pass over in silence Marcus Crassus, who is to be reckoned one of the greatest losses of our empire, who was warned by many and most remarkable blows of fate, before so great a disaster. As he was drawing his army out of Carrhae against the Parthians, he had a black garment brought him; whereas they should have brought him either a white or a purple robe, when he was going to battle. The soldiers marched sad and silent to their places, whereas they were wont to run with loud acclamations. One of the eagles could scarcely be pulled up out of the ground; another being pulled up, turned itself quite the contrary way to which it ought to have been carried. These prodigies were very great, but the calamities of the defeat were far greater; the slaughter of so many fair legions, so many standards, so much of the glory and beauty of the Roman army trodden to the ground by the horsemen of the barbarians; a father splashed with the blood of his promising son; and the body of their commander among the confused heaps of the slain, thrown a common prey to the fowls of the air. I wish I could say something more delightful; but I relate the truth. Thus the gods, being despised, become furious in their anger; thus the counsels of men are chastised, when they think to outbrave the warnings of heaven.

§ 1.6.12  Mighty Jupiter had also abundantly warned Cn. Pompeius that he should not try the utmost hazard of war with C. Caesar, casting his lightning full in front of his battalions marching from Dyrrachium, covering his standards with swarms of bees, frightening his whole army with nocturnal terrors, and the flight of the sacrifices from the altars. But the laws of invincible necessity would not suffer a mind, otherwise remote enough from folly, to weigh those prodigies with a due consideration. And therefore while he might extol his great power, his wealth above private use, and all those honours which from his youth he had contracted so as even to excite envy, in the space of one day he lost them all. In the temples of the gods, the statues turned about of themselves. Such a noise of men shouting, such clattering of arms, was heard at Antioch and Ptolemais, that the soldiers ran to the walls. There was a great noise of drums in the inmost recesses of Pergamum: in the temple of Victory a palm suddenly sprang up under the statue of Caesar, in the pavement between the stones. Whereby it is plain that the gods did favour Caesar, and wished to restrain Pompeius in his error.

§ 1.6.13  To your altars and most holy temples I address myself, most divine Julius, that you would favourably allow the falls of so many great men to lie hidden under the defence and tuition of your example. For we read that on the day when you sat in the golden seat, clothed in purple, so that you might not seem to have despised the honours which the senate had with so much diligence designed, and with so much duty offered, before you would publicly show your wished-for presence to the people, you spent some time in that religious worship which was shortly to be offered to you; and offering a fat ox which lacked a heart, Spurinna the soothsayer told you that the omen concerned your life, and to care of your own preservation, Then was that parricide committed by those persons, who while they sought to remove you from the number of men, added you to the number of the gods.
Let us conclude the domestic account of such prodigies with this example, lest by dilating further upon those of the Romans, I should seem to transfer such customs from the temples of the gods to unsuited private habitations. I shall therefore touch upon foreign examples, which being related in Latin, as they are of less authority, yet they bring with them something of a grateful variety.

§ 1.6e.1  In the army of Xerxes which he had gathered up against Greece, a mare is said to have brought forth a hare, before the army had yet passed Mount Athos: by which kind of monstrous birth, the outcome of such vast preparations was plainly shown. For he that had covered the sea with his fleets, and the land with his armies, was forced, like the most timorous animal, with shameful flight to go back to his own kingdom.
Before he had destroyed Athens, while he was deliberating how to invade Lacedaemon, a most remarkable prodigy happened while he was at dinner. For when the wine was poured forth into the cup, more than once, twice, or thrice, nay a fourth time, it was changed into blood. Whereupon the Magi being consulted, advised him to desist from his purpose. And had he had the least trace of reason in his vain breast, he might have prevented his disaster, being so often warned to take heed of Leonidas and the Spartans.

§ 1.6e.2  When Midas, to whose sceptre all Phrygia once was subject, was a child, a company of ants laid a heap of wheat in his mouth as he lay asleep. His parents desiring to know what the meaning of the prodigy should be, the augurs answered that he should be the richest of all men. Nor was the prediction vain; for Midas exceeded all the princes of his time, in abundance of money; and the cheap gift of the gods, which was given in the cradle of the infant, was balanced by great treasures of gold and silver.

§ 1.6e.3  I should have by right and deservedly preferred Plato's bees before Midas's ants; for the latter were only prognostications of frail and fading fortune, but the former of solid and eternal felicity, as they brought honey and laid it upon the lips of the little infant, sleeping in his cradle. When this was reported, the interpreters of prodigies declared that a most singular grace of utterance should hereafter drop from his mouth. But to me those bees, not bred upon Hymettus covered with fragrant flowers of thyme, but on the verdant Heliconian hills of the Muses, flourishing with all sorts of learning, seemed to distil into his mouth the sweetest nourishment of eloquence.

§ 1.7.1  Now, because I have touched upon the riches of Midas, and the eloquence of Plato in their sleep, I will show you how the quiet and safety of many men has been foreshadowed in certain apparitions. And where should I sooner begin, than from the most sacred memory of divine Augustus? His physician Artorius being asleep, the night before the day when the Romans fought against each other in the plains of Philippi, the appearance of Minerva told him to warn Augustus, then lying very ill, that notwithstanding his sickness he should not abstain from the battle. When Caesar heard this he caused himself to be carried in a litter into the field of battle, where, while he laboured above his strength for the victory, his camp was taken by Brutus. What else can we think then, but that divine benevolence so ordained it, that a man destined to immortality, should not be subject to a fate unworthy of his divinity?

§ 1.7.2  Nor was it only the dream of Artorius that gave warning to Augustus, who had a natural perspicacity and vigour to judge of everything, but also a recent and domestic example. For he had heard that Calpurnia the wife of his father Julius, the last night that he lived upon earth, dreamed that she saw her husband lie stabbed and bleeding in her bosom; and being frightened by the strangeness of the dream, she earnestly begged him to abstain from going to the senate the next day. But he, lest he should have been thought to have been moved by a woman's dream, went even so to the senate-house, where the murderers quickly laid violent hands upon him. It is not necessary to make any comparison between the father and the son, both equal in their divinity: for the one had already made way for himself to heaven by his own works, and the other was to let the world enjoy his virtues for a long time. Therefore the gods were only willing that the first should know the approaching change, which the other was to defer; it being enough that one honour should be given to heaven, and another promised.

§ 1.7.3  Remarkable also was that dream, and clear in its outcome, which the two consuls P. Decius Mus and T. Manlius Torquatus dreamed, when they lay encamped not far from the foot of Mount Vesuvius, at the time of the Latin War, which was very fierce and dangerous. For a certain person foretold to both of them, that the Manes and Terra Mater claimed as their due the general of one side, and the whole army of the other side; but whichever general should assail the forces of the enemy, and devote himself as a victim for the good of his army, would obtain the victory. The entrails of the sacrifices confirmed this on the next morning to both consuls, who endeavoured either to expiate the misfortune, if it might be averted, or else resolved to undergo the decision of the gods. Therefore they agreed, that whichever wing should begin to give way, there the commander should with his own life appease the Fates; which while both undauntedly ventured to perform, Decius happened to be the person whom the gods required.

§ 1.7.4  The dream which follows, seems equally to concern public religion. A certain head of a family caused his servant to be whipped, and brought him to the execution at the fork in the Flaminian Circus, at the time of the Plebeian Games, a little before the show was about to begin. Jupiter, in a dream, commanded Titus Latinius, one of the common people, to tell the consuls, that the front-dancer at the last Circus Games in no way pleased him; and that unless the fault were expiated by an exact repetition of the games, there would ensue not a little vexation and trouble to the city. He, fearing to involve the commonwealth in a duty of religion to his own disadvantage, held his peace. Immediately his son, taken with a sudden fit of sickness, died. Afterwards being asked by the same god in his sleep whether be thought himself punished enough for the neglect of his command - yet remaining obstinate - he was stricken with a general weakness of body. At length, by the advice of his friends, he was carried in a horse-litter to the consuls' tribunal, and fully declared the cause of his misfortunes; then, to the wonder of all men recovering his former strength, he walked on foot to his house.

§ 1.7.5  Nor must we pass over in silence, that when M. Cicero was banished from the city by the conspiracy of his enemies, he went aside into a certain country house in the territory of Atina, and falling asleep there, he thought that he was wandering through strange places and uncouth regions, and that he met C. Marius in his consul's robes, who asked him why he was wandering unsurely there with so sad a countenance. Whereupon Cicero making his condition known to him, the consul took him by the right hand and delivered him to the principal lictor, to conduct him to Marius's own monument, telling him that there there was a joyful hope of a better condition laid up for him. Nor did it fall out otherwise; for the senate made a decree for his return in the temple of Jupiter built by Marius.

§ 1.7.6  But C. Gracchus was most openly and clearly forewarned in a dream, of the mischief of approaching misfortune: for being asleep, he saw the likeness of his brother Tiberius, who told him that there was no way for him to avoid the same fate which he had undergone, when he was killed. This many heard from the mouth of Gracchus himself, before he had undertaken the tribuneship, wherein he perished. And one Caelius, a Roman historian, said that he had heard talk of this while Gracchus was still living.

§ 1.7.7  But what follows exceeds the dire aspect of that dream. After Antonius had lost the battle of Actium, Cassius Parmensis, who had taken his side, fled to Athens; where he fell asleep in the night, being tired with care and trouble. He thought there came to him a person of a very great stature, with dark complexion, his beard bedraggled, and long hanging hair, who being asked what he was answered, “Cacodaemon [Evil Genius]”. Being frightened by so horrid a sight, and so terrible a name, he called for his servants, and asked them if they had seen anyone of such an appearance, either come in or go out of the chamber: When they affirmed that no such person had come there, he again betook himself to his rest; and immediately the same figure appeared to him again. Awaking completely, he called for a light, and commanded the servants to depart. Between this night and his execution, to which Caesar condemned him, there was only a very short space of time.

§ 1.7.8  The dream of Haterius Rufus, a Roman knight, was more plainly hinted to him: for he dreamed one night, at a time when there was a great gladiatorial show at Syracuse, that he saw himself slain: which he told the next day to those that sat by him in the theatre. It happened afterwards, that near to the knight's place, a retiarius was introduced with a murmillo, whose face when he saw, he said, that he was to be slain by the retiarius and immediately would have departed. Those who endeavoured by conversation to put away his fear, were the cause of the destruction of this miserable man. For the retiarius drove the murmillo thither and cast him upon the ground, but while he was endeavouring to strike his opponent on the ground, he ran Haterius thorough the body with his sword.

§ 1.7e.1  The dream also of Hannibal, much as it was detestable to Roman blood, so it was a sure prediction; not only in his waking, but also in his sleeping he was fatal to our empire. He had a dream apposite to his purpose, and fitted to his wishes: for he fancied a young man of human appearance, taller than ordinary, was sent to him by Jupiter, to be his guide and conductor in his invasion of Italy. By his command at first he followed his foot-steps, without casting his eyes either one way or another: afterwards, out of the eager desire in mortals to do what is forbidden, looking behind him, he saw a serpent of an immense magnitude destroying all before it. After that he beheld prodigious showers of hail, with thunder and dark clouds. Being astonished, he asked what that monster meant - to which his conductor said, “Behold the waste and devastation of Italy; therefore be silent, and commit the rest to fate.”

§ 1.7e.2  How well was Alexander king of Macedonia warned to take more care of his life, had Fortune given him enough wisdom to avoid the danger! For he knew that the right hand of Cassander would be fatal to him, long before he felt it by the event: for he believed he should be slain by him, although he had never seen him. After some time, upon sight of him, beholding the resemblance of his nocturnal fear, as soon as he found him to be the son of Antipater, he repeated the Greek verse which dismisses the credibility of dreams, and banished from his thoughts all suspicion of the poison already had prepared against him, with which - as was commonly believed - he was killed by Cassander.

§ 1.7e.3  More indulgent were the gods to the poet Simonides, confirming their warning by the strength of repeated advice. For he, coming ashore and finding the dead body of a man, buried it; whereupon he was by the same body admonished, that he should not set sail the next day: he believed this and stayed ashore, but those that went to sea were all cast away. He was not a little glad that he had trusted his life to the security of a dream, rather than to the mercy of the sea. And being mindful of the benefit received, he immortalised the memory of the person in a living poem, raising up for him a better sepulchre in the memories of men, than that which he had bestowed upon him on the deserted and remote shore.

§ 1.7e.4  Of great efficacy also was that apparition to Croesus in his sleep, which first occasioned in him great fear, and afterwards greater grief. For it seemed to him that Atys, one of his sons, the most excellent for strength of body and endowments of mind, and his designated successor, was murdered with iron. Thereupon whatever could be done to avert the predicted disaster, all was done through the care of his father. The young man, though he was usually sent to the wars, was kept at home. He had also an armoury stored with all sorts of weapons, and that was removed from him. He had companions that used to go about armed: they were also forbidden to come near him. Yet necessity found a way to cause the misfortune. For there being a wild boar, of an incredible size, that wasted the tilled fields of Mount Olympus, and killed several of the country-people, and the aid of the king being implored, the son obtained from his father leave that he might be sent to deliver the people from their calamity. Croesus more readily granted this, because the mischief was not threatened from tusks, but from iron. But while everyone was intent and eager in killing the wild beast, obstinate destiny, persisting in her intended violence, directed a spear into his body, which was intended against the boar, and chose particularly that the guilt of the murder lay on no other than the right hand of him, to whose charge and tuition the father had chiefly committed his son. This suppliant's hand - contaminated with the blood of involuntary homicide - Croesus, in reverence for the gods of hospitality, purified by sacrifice.

§ 1.7e.5  Neither was Cyrus a small argument of the inevitable necessity of fate. His birth, to which the empire of all Asia was promised, Astyages his grandfather by the mother's side sought in vain to hinder, after the predictions of a dream. He married his daughter Mandane, because he had dreamed that she had overwhelmed all the nations of Asia with her urine, not to one of the nobles, lest the right of dominion might fall to his family, but to one of a lesser fortune among the Persians. When Cyrus was born he caused him to be exposed, having dreamed that a vine growing out of the secret parts of Mandane, should cover all his dominions. But he was frustrated in all his endeavours and human counsels, not being able to hinder the good fortune of his grandson, which the gods had so fully determined.

§ 1.7e.6  While Dionysius of Syracuse still lived a private life, a woman in Himera, of no mean parentage, fancied in her sleep that she ascended into heaven, and having there viewed the seats of all the gods, she saw a strong man, with yellow hair and a freckled faced, bound in iron chains to the throne of Jupiter, and lying at his feet. She asked a young man who was her guide the meaning of this, she was told that he was the ill fate of Sicily and Italy; and when his chains should be taken off, many towns would be ruined. She disclosed this dream in her talk the next day. Afterwards seeing Dionysius, an enemy to the liberty of Syracuse and the lives of the innocent - with the help of Fortune freed from his celestial chains and hurled like a thunderbolt against peace and tranquillity - entering the walls of Himera, she cried out that this was he whom she had seen in her dream. When this was related to Dionysius, he caused her to be put to death.

§ 1.7e.7  Safer was the dream of the mother of the same Dionysius; who, when she had conceived him, fancied that she was giving birth to a great Satyr: and consulting the interpreter of prodigies, she understood that he should be the greatest and most powerful of all the Greeks of his time.

§ 1.7e.8  But Hamilcar general of the Carthaginians, while he was besieging Syracuse, thought that he heard a voice proclaiming to him, that he should dine the next day in that city. With great joy, as if victory were promised him from heaven, he prepared his army for the assault. But at this time, dissension arising between the Carthaginians and Sicilians, the Syracusans sallied out, took his camp, and brought him bound into the city. Thus deluded by his hope, not by his dream, he dined a captive in Syracuse, not, as he had conceived, a victor.

§ 1.7e.9  Alcibiades also beheld his lamentable end in a dream, no way fallacious. For being slain and unburied, he was covered with the same cloak of his concubine, that he had seen himself wearing in his sleep.

§ 1.7e.10  The following dream, for its manifest precision, though somewhat longer, demands not to be omitted. Two Arcadian companions travelling together came to Megara; one of which went to lie at his friend's house, the other at a public inn. He that lay at his friend's house dreamed that he heard his companion entreating his help, because he was plotted against by the inn-keeper, whose villainy he might prevent by his speedy presence. Leaping out of his bed, he endeavoured to find the inn where his friend lay. But fate condemned his human purpose as needless; and believing that what he had heard was but a dream, he went to bed again and to sleep. Then the same person came wounded and beseeched, that since he had neglected to assist him in his life-time, he would not delay to avenge his death; for his body, slain by the inn-keeper, was being carried out at the gate in a cart, covered with dung. His friend, moved by his prayers, made haste to the gate, and stopped the cart which was described to him in his sleep; then he apprehended the inn-keeper, and brought him to punishment by death.

§ 1.8.1  Many accidents also happen to men awake, and by day, as well as those which are involved in the clouds of darkness and dreams; because it is hard to understand whence they proceed, or upon what reason they are grounded, they are deservedly called miracles. Among the great multitude of miracles, this first occurs. When the dictator Aulus Postumius and Mamilius Octavius, leader of the Tusculans, were fighting at Lake Regillus, with great forces on both sides, and for some time neither side gave ground, Castor and Pollux took the Romans side and overthrew the forces of the enemy.
Likewise in the Macedonian War, P. Vatinius, a magistrate of Reate, when he was returning towards the city by night, thought he met two handsome men sitting upon white horses, who told him that the day before Perseus had been taken by Paullus. When he related this to the senate, he was by them committed to prison, as one who demeaned their majesty and power with his idle talk. But afterwards, when they understood by letters from Paullus that Perseus was taken on that same day, he was not only delivered out of custody, but honoured with a gift of land, and exemption from duties.
It was also further found that Castor and Pollux did watch over the safety of the commonwealth, and worked hard for its good, because they were seen to wash themselves and their horses in the Lake of Juturna, and their temple adjoining the spring opened of its own accord, not being unlocked by the hand of any person.

§ 1.8.2  But then we may relate how favourable the rest of the gods were to our city. For when our city was visited with a three-year pestilence, and neither through divine compassion or human aid could any remedy be found for so long and lasting a calamity, the priests consulted the Sibylline Books and observed, that there was no other way to restore the city to its former health but by fetching the image of Aesculapius from Epidaurus. The city therefore sent ambassadors thither, hoping that by its authority, the greatest then in the world, they might prevail to obtain the only remedy against the fatal misery. Neither did hope deceive them. For their desire was granted with as much willingness, as it was requested with earnestness. For immediately the Epidaurians conducted the ambassadors to the temple of Aesculapius (distant from the city some five miles) and told them to take out of it whatever they thought appropriate for the preservation of Rome. Their liberal goodwill was imitated by the god himself in his celestial compliance, approving the kindness of mortals. For that snake, seldom or never seen except to their great benefit, which the Epidaurians worshipped equally to Aesculapius, began to glide with a mild aspect and gentle motion through the chief parts of the city; and being seen for three days to the religious admiration of all men, without doubt taking in good part the change to a more noble seat, it hastened to the Roman trireme, and while the mariners stood frightened by so unusual a sight, crept aboard the ship. It peaceably folded itself into several coils, and quietly remained in the cabin of Q. Ogulnius, one of the ambassadors. The envoys returned due thanks, and being instructed by those who were skilful in the due worship of the serpent, like men who had obtained their hearts' desire, joyfully departed. When after a prosperous voyage they put in at Antium, the snake, which had remained in the ship, glided to the porch of the temple of Aesculapius, adorned with myrtle and other boughs, and twisted itself around a palm-tree of a very great height, where it stayed for three days in the temple of Antium. The ambassadors with great care put out those things wherewith he used to be fed, for fear he should be unwilling to return to the ship: and then he patiently allowed himself to be transported to our city. When the ambassadors landed upon the shore of the Tiber, the snake swam to the island where the temple was dedicated, and by his coming dispelled the calamity, for which he had been sought as a remedy.

§ 1.8.3  Equally willing was the coming of Juno to our city. When Veii was captured by Furius Camillus, the soldiers by command of the general went about to remove the image of Juno Moneta, which was most worshipped there, and endeavoured to remove it from the place where it stood. Among the rest, one of the soldiers jokingly asked the goddess, whether she wanted to go to Rome; when the goddess replied that she did want it, the jest was turned into wonderment. And then, believing that they not only carried the image, but Juno herself, with great joy they placed her in that part of the Aventine hill, where now we see her temple stand.

§ 1.8.4  The image also of Fortuna Muliebris, about four miles from the city along the Via Latina, which was consecrated together with her temple at the same time that Coriolanus was diverted from destroying the city by his mother's tears, was heard, not once but twice, to speak these words: “In due manner have you seen me, matrons, and in due manner dedicated me.”

§ 1.8.5  Valerius Publicola the consul, after the expulsion of the kings, waged war with the Veientes and Etruscans; while the one sought to restore Tarquinius to his kingdom, the other sought to retain their new-recovered liberty. At this time, while the Etruscans and Tarquinius had the upper hand on the right wing, there happened such a sudden panic, that not only the victors began to fly, but also drew the Veientes, struck with the same fear, along with them. A miracle is adduced as the cause of this panic: on a sudden a loud voice had been heard from the adjoining Arsian Wood, said to be uttered from the mouth of Silvanus as follows: “But one more of the Etruscans shall fall: the Roman army shall obtain the victory.” The truth of the miracle appeared when the number of the dead bodies was counted.

§ 1.8.6  What do you say about the assistance of Mars, which facilitated the victory of the Romans - is it not worthy of lasting memory? When the Bruttians and Lucanians with most inveterate hatred and great forces sought the destruction of the city of Thurii, C. Fabricius Luscinus the consul on the other side endeavoured with all his might to preserve the city. The outcome seemed dubious, the forces of both sides meeting in one place, and the Romans not daring to venture battle. A young man of a comely stature began to exhort them to take courage; when he found them not very forward, taking hold of a ladder, he passed through the middle of the enemy's force to the opposite camp, and setting up his ladder scaled the fortifications. Then, crying out with a loud voice, that there was a step made towards victory, he drew our men to assail, and the Lucanians and Bruttians to defend their own camp. There they joined battle, but the outcome was doubtful until the same man, by the onslaught of his arms, delivered the enemy over to be slain and taken by the Romans. Twenty thousand were slain, and five thousand captured, together with Statius Statilius, general of both peoples, and twenty three military standards. The next day, when the consul was rewarding those who had fought strenuously for him, he told the soldiers that he had reserved a crown for the man who had shown so much courage in taking the camp, but no young man was to be found to claim it. Then it was known and believed that Mars had supported the Romans side. And among other demonstrations of the truth of the thing, there was a helmet found with two plumes, which had covered his sacred head. Therefore by command of Fabricius there was proclaimed a supplication to Mars, and thanks returned to him with great joy by the soldiers, crowned with laurel, in testimony of the assistance which they had received from him.

§ 1.8.7  I shall relate now what being known in that age was faithfully passed on to those which succeeded. Aeneas, bringing his household-gods with him from Troy, placed them in Lavinium. From thence they were by his son Ascanius removed to Alba, which himself had built: lest this should seem a force put upon them by the hands of men, they resolved to testify their goodwill. Wherein I am not ignorant how opinion hesitates in the asserting the truth of the motion and voice of the immortal gods. However, because we do not relate new things, but only repeat what has been passed on, let the first authors vindicate the truth. It is our part not to refuse as vain, what the sacred monuments of history have consecrated for certain.

§ 1.8.8  Having made mention of the city of Alba, from whence our own had its first origin, heavenly Julius the glorious offspring thereof comes into our mind, whom C. Cassius (never to be named without remembering his public parricide) while he was labouring courageously at the battle of Philippi, saw a figure of above mortal stature, clad in a purple robe, and an angry countenance, making toward him with full speed; at which sight affrighted he fled, having first heard these words uttered, “What more would you do, if it be too little to have killed? Did you not murder Caesar, O Cassius? But no deity can be prevailed against; therefore by injuring him whose mortal body still burns, you hast deserved to have a god so much your enemy.”

§ 1.8.9  Lentulus passed by the shore where the body of Cn. Pompeius Magnus, murdered by the treachery of king Ptolemy, was then burning; altogether ignorant of his death, he cried out to his soldiers, “How do we know but that Pompeius may be now burning in that flame?” The miracle was that he should in ignorance speak so great a truth, as it were by inspiration.

§ 1.8.10  This was only the saying of a man; but that which came from the mouth of Apollo himself was more miraculous, and clear evidence of Delphic prophesy, foretelling the death of Appius. During the civil war, wherein Pompey had abandoned his friendship with Caesar, through advice no less baneful to himself than disadvantageous to the commonwealth, Appius wished to know the outcome of so great a crisis. By the power of his command (for he was governor of Achaia) he caused the priestess of the Delphic oracle to descend into the innermost part of the holy shrine, where as more certain answers are demanded, so the over-abundance of the divine exhalation becomes more noxious to those who give the answer. The virgin therefore through the impulse of this divine inspiration, with a most dreadful tone, among other obscure terms and enigmas, thus replied to Appius: “The war does not concern you, O Roman. You shall have for your lot, the place in Euboea called the Hollows.” He, believing that Apollo had forewarned him to avoid the danger of the war, withdrew into the region which lies between Rhamnus - a noble part of Attica - and Carystus by the strait of Chalcis; this region is called Hollow Euboea. There he was consumed with sickness before the battle of Pharsalia, and so possessed the place predicted for his burial.

§ 1.8.11  The following things may also be accounted as miracles. When the shrine of the Salii was burnt down, there was nothing that survived the fire except the augural staff of Romulus. The statue of Servius Tullius remained untouched, when the temple of Fortune was consumed by fire. The statue of Quinta Claudia, placed near the entry into the temple of the Mother of the Gods, although that temple was twice consumed by fire, once when P. Scipio Nasica and L. Bestia were consuls [111 BCE], another time when M. Servilius and L. Lamia were consuls [3 CE], stood firm upon its base and untouched.

§ 1.8.12  The funeral pyre of Acilius Aviola brought no small astonishment to our city, who - being taken for dead both by the physicians and by his friends - when he had been laid out for some time upon the ground, as soon as the flames came near his body, rose up and affirmed himself to be alive. He called for the assistance of his tutor, who alone remained with him, but being encompassed with the flames, he could not be rescued from them.

§ 1.8.13  L. Lamia also, a person of praetorian rank, is said to have cried out upon his funeral pyre.

§ 1.8e.1  But the fate of Er of Pamphylia has rendered the foregoing stories less surprising; who, as Plato affirmed, after he was thought to have been slain in battle, and had lain in the field for ten days, when he came to be taken away and laid upon the funeral pyre, revived and described the strange things, which he saw while he lay dead.

§ 1.8e.2  And since we have come to foreign examples, there was a certain learned man at Athens, who having received a blow from a stone upon his head, though he retained his memory as to all other things quite perfectly, yet forgot his learning, which he had followed all his lifetime. It was a dire and fatal wound to the soul of the wounded man, as if having deliberately sought through every sense, it had chosen that particularly wherein the sufferer most delighted, burying the singular doctrine and learning of the person in the perpetual grave of indignation. Since he was not able to enjoy those studies, it would have been better for him that he had never obtained a taste of them, than to lack the sweetness of what he once had possessed.

§ 1.8e.3  But more lamentable is the story of the following misfortune. For the wife of Nausimenes, an Athenian, happened to catch her son and daughter in the act of incest. Struck with horror at so monstrous a sight, she became suddenly dumb, so that she neither could express her present indignation, nor ever afterwards speak a word. Her children punished themselves for their own wicked act, with voluntary death.

§ 1.8e.4  Thus savage Fortune took speech away from her, but she granted it to this man, most appropriately. Echecles, a Samian athlete who was born mute, when he saw the rewards of a victory that he had won taken from him, out of indignation for the injury done him, recovered his speech.

§ 1.8e.5  Remarkable also was the birth of Gorgias of Epirus, a brave and famous man, who coming forth of his mother's womb as she was going to be buried, with his crying caused them that carried the bier to stop. He afforded a strange spectacle to his country, as one that received his birth and life from the funeral pyre of his mother. For at the same moment she after her death gave birth, and her son was taken for burial before he was born.

§ 1.8e.6  A fortunate wound was that which a certain person gave to Jason of Pherae, while endeavouring to slay him. For striking at him with his sword, he pierced a boil of such a sort, that could neither be pierced nor cured by any skilled physician, and delivered him from an incurable disease.

§ 1.8e.7  Equally beloved of the immortal gods was Simonides, who being saved from (?) shipwreck, was also preserved from a building's collapse. For while he was at dinner with Scopas in Crannon, a city of Thessaly, news was brought to him that two young men were at the door, earnestly desiring to speak with him. When he came to the gate, he found nobody there. But at the same moment, the roof of the dining-room fell down, and killed both Scopas and all his guests. What greater wealth could there be than so much good fortune, which neither the rage of the sea or land could take away from him?

§ 1.8e.8  I am not unwilling to add to this the story of Daphnites, so that men may understand how much more profitable it is to sing the praises of the gods, than to disparage their divinity. By profession he was one of those who are called sophists, of a silly and sarcastic disposition, and resolved to ask a frivolous question of the oracle of Apollo. In derision he asked whether he would find the horse that he had lost - when in truth he had none at all. To which the oracle answered that he would find his horse, but be killed with a fall off its back. Upon his return home, being merry and laughing at the trick he had played on the oracle, he fell into the hands of Attalus the king, whom he had often abused with his scurrilous verses, when he was out of his reach. By the king's command he was thrown headlong down a rock, which was called The Horse, and he received the reward deserved by one who would cavil with the gods.

§ 1.8e.9  Philip king of Macedonia, because he had been warned by the same oracle to beware of the violence of a four-horse chariot, caused all the chariots in his kingdom to be cut to pieces, and always carefully shunned that place in Boeotia which is called Harma (Chariot). And yet he could not avoid that kind of death which was foretold for him: for Pausanias, who slew him, had a chariot engraved on the hilt of his sword.

§ 1.8e.10  And this remorseless fate, which the father could not avoid, was just as severe to his son Alexander. For when Calanus the Indian was about to throw himself, of his own accord, upon his own funeral pyre, he was asked by Alexander whether he had anything to command or tell him; to which he made no other reply, but “I shall see you shortly.” Nor was his answer amiss, for the sudden death of Alexander soon followed his voluntary decease.

§ 1.8e.11  The deaths of these kings are equalled as a miracle by the fortune of a rower, who, while standing at the pump in a Tyrian hexeris, was thrown out of it by the violence of a wave, but then the force of a contrary wave washed him back into the vessel again. He was congratulating and bewailing, at the same time, his miserable and happy condition.

§ 1.8e.12  What more? Are we not to believe that there are certain mockeries of Nature in the bodies of men? These are tolerable indeed, because they are not cruel; yet no less miraculous, because unusual. The son of Prusias king of Bithynia, bearing the same name as his father, instead of an upper row of teeth, had one continuous bone, though neither deformed nor unfit for use.

§ 1.8e.13  Drypetine also the daughter of Mithridates, born of Laodice the queen, had her mouth deformed with a double row of teeth above and below; she was her father's companion when he fled from Pompey.

§ 1.8e.14  No less remarkable were the eyes of that person, who is reported to have had so sharp a sight, that he was able to discern the ships going out of the port of Carthage, from the promontory of Lilybaeum in Sicily.

§ 1.8e.15  More remarkable than his eyes was the heart of Aristomenes the Messenian; when the Athenians, because of his remarkable craftiness, caused it to be cut out (for they had often captured him, yet still by his cunning he escaped them), they found it to be hairy all over.

§ 1.8e.16  The poet Antipater of Sidon every year on his very birthday had a fever; and having lived to a great age, upon his birthday he died of the fever.

§ 1.8e.17  Here we may very conveniently take notice of Polystratus and Hippoclides, the philosophers, who were born the same day, followed the precepts of the same teacher Epicurus, shared the same property, went to the same school, and after living long as friends together, at length both died the same day. So equal was the fortune and friendship of their relationship, that who would not think them born, bred, and deceased in the very bosom of divine Concord herself?

§ 1.8e.18  Why all this should come to pass, either to the children of kings, or to a most famous leader himself, or to a poet of a great genius, or be so remarkable in the lives of learned men, or among the common people, Nature itself, so fruitful in good or evil, has never given a reason. No more than why she so has favoured the wild goats, which are bred in Crete, that when they are wounded with arrows, they fly for present help to the herb dittany, which being eaten immediately forces the arrow and poison out of their wounds. Or how it comes to pass that on the island of Cephallenia, whereas all beasts in other places are refreshed by drinking water, in that place they are accustomed to quench their thirsts by receiving the wind into their mouths. Or why at Croton, in the temple of Lacinian Juno, the ashes on the altar should remain undisturbed, whatsoever wind blows. Or why one spring in Macedonia, and another in the territory of Cales, should have so much likeness to wine, as to intoxicate men. These things should not so much amaze us, as be thought worthy of remembrance, because we know well that Nature may be allowed some license, when she has the difficult task of begetting all things.

§ 1.8e.19  And now seeing we are talking of things that exceed common reason, let us give an account of that serpent, which Livy has so elegantly described. For he says that upon the banks of the river Bagradas in Africa, so great a serpent appeared, as to prevent the whole army of Atilius Regulus from using the water. Many soldiers she swallowed down her wide mouth, many she killed with the hideous coils of her tail, and when they could not pierce her with javelins, at length they were forced to bring up their catapults against her, and she collapsed under the blows of many heavy stones; and to all the cohorts and legions she seemed more terrible than Carthage itself. Because the river was then defiled with her blood, and the air infected with the stench of her body, the Roman camp was forced to be moved. The skin of this monster, Livy says, was a hundred and twenty feet long, and it was sent to Rome.

§ 2.1.1  BOOK 2
Having searched into the rich and potent kingdom of Nature, it will not be out of place to take notice of the ancient and memorable institutions of our own city, as well as of other nations. For it is worth our while to know the first origin of this happy way of living which we now enjoy under the best of princes, seeing that the consideration of them may perhaps be profitable to present morals. Among the ancients there was nothing either publicly or privately undertaken, unless they had first observed the auspices; from which custom, even now the soothsayers are invited to marriages. And though they have desisted from seeking the auspices, yet nominally they follow the footsteps of the old custom.

§ 2.1.2  The women dined sitting with the men, but the men lay down: which custom among men was observed in heaven. For Jupiter is said to dine lying on his couch, while Juno and Minerva are invited to sit. This kind of austere custom our age more diligently observes in the Capitol than in their houses - it being more important to adhere to the correct etiquette of goddesses than of women.

§ 2.1.3  Those women who were content to be married but once, were honoured with a crown of chastity. For they believed a married woman to have an uncorrupted mind, and sincere loyalty, if she would not leave the chamber where she had first lost her virginity: and they thought the experience of many different marriages to be a sign of some incontinence.

§ 2.1.4  There was no divorce between man and wife until five hundred and twenty years after the city was founded. The first was Spurius Carvilius, who divorced his wife for being barren. Though he appeared to have a good excuse for what he did, yet there were those who blamed him enough, being such as believed that conjugal loyalty was to be preferred above desire for children.

§ 2.1.5  So that the honour and modesty of married women might be more sacred, when they were called into court, no man was permitted to touch them, so that their garments might not be defiled by the contact of a strange hand.
The use of wine was formerly unknown to Roman women, for fear that it might bring them into any disgrace, because the first step to forbidden love is from father Liber. Yet so that their chastity might not always lead to impolite withdrawal, but they might appear in a comely garb of affability, through the indulgence of their husbands they wore purple, and ornaments of gold; and in order to make their appearance more attractive, they carefully dyed their hair red with ashes. For then corrupters of marriages were not feared, but women might modestly behold, and chastly be beheld.

§ 2.1.6  When there was any difference between husband and wife, they went to the shrine of the goddess Viriplaca, which is on the Palatine: and having liberty to say whatever they had in mind, after the heat was over, they returned home very good friends. This goddess is said to have acquired her name from appeasing men; she is indeed worthy of adoration, and to be worshipped with choice and exquisite sacrifices. She was the keeper of everyday and family peace, rendering to men and women, under the same yoke of peace, what is due to the dignity of men, and the honour of women.

§ 2.1.7  This modesty among wives, is it not necessary among other relationships? I may by a small example, set forth its great force: formerly neither father used to wash with his adult son, nor father-in-law with son-in-law. Whence it appears, that there was as much respect attributed to family relations and consanguinity, as to the immortal gods; while amongst those that were thus connected, it was as sinful to strip themselves, as it would be in a temple.

§ 2.1.8  Our ancestors also instituted a sacred feast, which was called Caristia, where none were admitted but family members; so that if there were any difference among relatives, there might be a reconciliation with the help of their associates, in the midst of their sacred rites and good humour.

§ 2.1.9  Youth gave to old age such circumspect and manifold honour, as if the elders were the common fathers of the younger. Upon a senate-day, if any young man accompanied any senator, relative, or friend of his father, to the senate, they waited outside till the other came out, to perform the same duty home again. By which voluntary attendance they accustomed their bodies and minds to undertake public duties, and in a short time their virtues became apparent, as they became more experienced in labour and meditation.
When they were invited to a feast, they diligently enquired who was to be there, so that they might not recline before their elder arrived. When the meal was finished, they always rose and went away first; and through all the time of dinner, being in the presence of their elders, they were very sparing and modest in their discourse.

§ 2.1.10  The elders used to sing the famous deeds of their ancestors, in verse accompanied by a flute, at their dinners, in order to stir up the youths to imitate them. What could be more splendid or more profitable than this kind of contest? Youths honoured grey hairs, and superannuated age encouraged and nourished those who were ready to enter into action with the their favour. What Athens, what school, what foreign education could I prefer to this domestic training? This raised the Camilli, Scipios, Fabricii, Marcelli, and Fabii: and - so that I may not be tedious in recounting all the lights of our noble empire - thus the divine Caesars obtained their place in the most glorious part of heaven.

§ 2.2.1  So great a love had all our ancestors for their country, that there was not a senator for many ages, who would reveal the transactions of the conscript fathers. Q. Fabius Maximus only, and he also not deliberately, when he went into the country and met P. Crassus by the way, told him what was done in order to proclaim the Third Punic War, remembering that he had been quaestor three years before, and not knowing that he was not yet put into the senate by the censors, who were the only persons that gave admittance into the senate to those who had held office. However, though this was but a harmless error in Fabius, yet he was severely reprimanded for it by the consuls. For they would by no means suffer silence, the best and safest security of government, to be violated in the least part.
Therefore when Eumenes king of Asia gave information to the senate, that Perseus was preparing to make war against the Roman people, it could not be known either what Eumenes said, or what the fathers answered, till Perseus was captured. The senate-house was the trusty and deep breast of the commonwealth, surrounded and fortified with silence; those who entered there soon cast off private affections, clothing themselves with public zeal. So I may say, that one would have thought, that no man heard what was committed to the ears of so many.

§ 2.2.2  But how our ancient magistrates behaved themselves in upholding the majesty of the Roman people, may be observed from this, that among all their other marks of care for dignity, they punctually maintained this rule, to talk with the Greeks only in the Latin language. And also causing them to lay aside the volubility of their own language, they forced them to speak by an interpreter, not only in our own city, but in Greece and Asia, so that the honour of the Latin language might be spread with greater veneration among other nations. They did not neglect the study of learning, but they did not hold it appropriate that the toga should in any way be subject to the Greek cloak. They believed it a poor and demeaning thing, that the weight and authority of government should be tamed by the charms of eloquence.

§ 2.2.3  And therefore, Gaius Marius, you are not to be condemned for foolish rigour, not to let your old age, crowned with double laurels, illustrious with German and Numidian trophies, be softened and overcome by the eloquence of a vanquished nation. Perhaps you feared lest, if you appeared a foreigner in the exercise of your wit, you might seem to desert your native customs. Who therefore opened the way to the Greek pleadings that now deafen the senate's ears? It was Molon the rhetorician, as I am persuaded - who likewise sharpened the studies of M. Cicero. For he was the first foreigner that was ever heard in the senate without an interpreter; which honour he received not undeservedly, having greatly advanced the force of the Roman eloquence. Of conspicuous felicity is Arpinum, whether you respect the one man as a great despiser of learning, or the other as its abounding fountain.

§ 2.2.4  With great diligence this custom also was observed by our ancestors, that no person might walk between the consul and the principal lictor, even if someone went along to perform his duty, except that a child, being his son, was allowed to walk in front of the consul. This custom was so rigorously maintained, that Q. Fabius Maximus, five times consul, and besides of the highest authority, and in extreme old age, when he was asked to go between the consul and the lictor, so that he should not be jostled by the crowd of Samnites, with whom he was going to treat, yet refused the privilege.
The like was done by the same Fabius when he was sent as legate by the senate to his son the consul at Suessa. For when he observed that his son had come outside the city to pay his respects, because none of the eleven lictors told him to dismount, he angrily continued to sit on his horse; but his son, noticing this, sent the principal lictor to him, commanding him to alight and come on foot, if he had anything to say to the consul. Fabius readily obeyed him, saying, “Son, I did not do this in contempt of your authority, but only to test whether you knew how to conduct yourself like a consul. I am not ignorant of the respect due to a father; but I prefer public institutions above private piety.”

§ 2.2.5  Now we have praised Q. Fabius, the men of admirable constancy offer themselves, who were sent to Tarentum by the senate to demand restitution of certain things; after they had received many injuries - one of them had a chamber pot thrown upon his clothes - they were brought to the theatre, in accordance with Greek custom, and conducted the business of their embassy. But as to what they had suffered, they uttered not a word, lest they might seem to talk outside what they had been instructed. For it was impossible that any indignation at the affronts which they had received, could make them alter the respect which they had for ancient traditions. You seemed to be seeking, O city of Tarentum, an end to the enjoyment of the riches, in which you had long abounded; puffed up with the splendour of your present fortune, you despised the self-reliant stability of unpolished virtue, and you threw yourself, blind and senseless, onto the sword-point of our empire.

§ 2.2.6  But I will pass from manners corrupted through vice, to the most severe institutions of our ancestors. Previously the senate sat regularly in that place which was called the little senate-house; they never were assembled by edict, but when summoned they came immediately. For they thought the praise of that citizen to be very dubious, who had to be compelled to show his duty to his country. For whatever is forced by compulsion, is looked upon as being to the credit of the one who compels it, rather than the one who does it.

§ 2.2.7  We likewise should remember, that it was not lawful for the tribunes of the plebs to be admitted into the senate house; but being placed upon seats before the doors, there it was their duty diligently to hear and examine the decrees that were under vote, so that if there were anything which they disliked, they might hinder it from being passed. And therefore the letter T used to be written at the bottom of all the ancient decrees of the senate: by which mark it was understood that the tribunes had consented. Although it was their business to keep watch for the good of the people, and to suppress the ambitions of those in power; yet they allowed them to use silver vessels, and to wear gold rings given them at the public expense, in order by the sight of such things to render the authority of their magistracy the more conspicuous.

§ 2.2.8  As their authority increased, so their abstinence was still strictly constrained. For the entrails of their sacrifices offered were brought to the quaestors of the treasury and sold. The worship of the gods, and human restraint, was shown in those sacrifices of the Roman people, where our leaders learned at the altars what holy hands they ought to come prepared with. And such honour did they give to restraint, that many times the debts of those that had conducted themselves well in the government of the provinces, were paid by the senate. For they esteemed it an unworthy thing, that the dignity of those men should suffer at home, by whose industry the commonwealth had obtained splendour abroad.

§ 2.2.9  The youth of the order of knights, twice every year, used to give a public spectacle of themselves, for which they had great authority. The custom of the Lupercalia was begun by Romulus and Remus, at such a time as they were making merry, because their grandfather Numitor, king of the Albans, had permitted them to build a city in the place where they were brought up, under Mount Palatine, which Evander of Arcadia had consecrated, by advice of Faustulus their foster-father. For thereupon they made a sacrifice, and having slain several goats, and eaten and drunk somewhat more than usual, they divided up their pastoral band, and girt with the skins of the sacrificial victims they sportively struck the bystanders The memory of this pastime is celebrated within the annual succession of holidays. Q. Fabius instituted that the knights should ride past, dressed in equestrian robes, upon the Ides of July.
He also, when he was censor with P. Decius, in commemoration of a sedition which he had quelled, when the comitia [election of magistrates] had almost fallen into the hands of the meanest people, divided the whole urban populace into four tribes, which he called city-tribes. As a result of this wholesome act, being a man otherwise famous in warlike deeds, he obtained the name of Maximus ["Greatest"].

§ 2.3.1  The restraint of the people is also to be commended, who by freely offering themselves to the labours and dangers of war, prevented their commanders from enlisting the capite censi, whose extreme poverty aroused suspicion, and made it impossible to trust them to bear public arms. This custom, confirmed by long use, was first broken by C. Marius, who enlisted soldiers from the capite censi. He was a noble citizen, but he was conscious of his own low birth, and so not favourable to antiquity. He was not unmindful, that if military pride should persist to despise those of humble birth, he himself might be deemed by a malicious judge of virtues to be a commander risen from the capite censi. Therefore he thought it best to obliterate that proud method of choice among the Roman armies, lest the contagion of that stigma should spread itself to obscure his own glory.

§ 2.3.2  Training in handling weapons was recommended to the soldiers by P. Rutilius the consul, the colleague of Cn. Mallius. For not following the example of any commander before him, he called together the teachers of the gladiators, from the school of C. Aurelius Scaurus, and he was the first to make the legions learn more skilful ways of avoiding and giving blows. By mixing virtue with skill, and skill with virtue, he strengthened virtue with the force of skill, and encouraged skill with the force of strength.

§ 2.3.3  The use of the velites, or light-armed troops, was first practiced when Fulvius Flaccus besieged Capua. For when our cavalry, being in number fewer, were not able to resist the frequent excursions of the Campanian cavalry, Q. Naevius a centurion, choosing out of the infantry certain men who were nimble of body, armed them with seven curved spears and small shields, and ordered them with a swift running jump to join themselves to the cavalry, and by and by as swiftly to withdraw; whereby the infantry being mingled with the cavalry, might attack with their weapons not only the men, but the horses likewise. This unusual way of fighting overthrew the mainstay of the Campanian revolt. For this reason Naevius, the author of it, is still held in great honour.

§ 2.4.1  From military institutions we next to come to the city-camps, that is to say, the theatres, because they have often displayed dauntless combats, devised both for the recreation of men, and worship of the gods; not without some shade of blushing upon the face of Peace, to see pleasure and religion contaminated with civil blood, merely for ostentation in games.

§ 2.4.2  They were begun by Messalla and Cassius, the censors; but by the authority of Scipio Nasica, all the furniture from their work was publicly sold. Afterwards a decree of the senate was passed, that no one should have any seats in the city, nor within a mile thereof, or behold the plays sitting, to the end that manhood in standing, joined with relaxation of the mind, might be a mark of the Roman fortitude.

§ 2.4.3  For five hundred and fifty-eight years, the senators were mingled among the common people when they watched the public shows. But this custom Atilius Serranus and L. Scribonius as aediles abrogated, when they held games for the Mother of the Gods, following the judgment of the elder Africanus, and setting up seats for the senators distinct from the people. This action alienated the affection of the common people, and weakened the high esteem which they had of Scipio.

§ 2.4.4  Now I shall relate the beginning and original institution of games. At the time when C. Sulpicius Peticus and C. Licinius Stolo were consuls [361 BCE], a most violent pestilence had afflicted our city, then at peace abroad, with new concern for preservation from internal calamity. Since there was no help in any human advice, all reliance was put upon the strict and new worship of religion. Therefore they lent their vacant ears to the verses composed for the appeasement of the heavenly gods, although until the time they had been content with the circus show, which Romulus, upon his ravishing the Sabine virgins, consecrated with particular festivals, and which he called Consualia. Now as it is the habit of men to pursue small beginnings with an ardent persistence, the young men added gestures to the pious and reverent words which they used towards the gods, though with a rustic and uncomposed motion of their bodies. This occasioned the summoning of a performer from Etruria, whose comely swiftness after the manner of the Curetes and Lydians - from whom the Etrurians had their origin - was a pleasing novelty to the eyes of the Romans; and because a performer was among them called “histrio”, therefore all actors were afterwards called histriones. Gradually the art of acting advanced itself to the rhythms of the saturae: whence first of all the poet Livius won the affections of the people with the themes of his plays. He, being often recalled the people, so that he injured his voice, at length with the accompaniment of a boy and a musician performed his action in silence: for he always acted his own works himself. The Atellan plays were introduced by the Oscans; this sort of entertainment, being tempered by Italian severity, continued without any blemish; for the actors were neither removed from their tribe, nor debarred from military service.

§ 2.4.5  And because it is clear from their names whence the other games had their derivation, it may not seem out of place to relate the beginning of the Secular Games, which is not so commonly known. At a time when the city and country was afflicted with a most violent pestilence, one Valesius, a rich man who led a country-life, his two sons and his daughter being all desperately sick, as he was fetching some hot water for them from the fire, kneeling on his knees, prayed to his family's Lares that they would turn the evil from his children upon his own head. Presently he heard a voice, which told him that his children would recover, if he carried them down the river Tiber to Tarentum, and there refresh them with hot water from the altar of Dis and Proserpina. He was troubled at this prediction, because it was a long and dangerous voyage; yet hope overcoming his present fear, he carried the children to the banks of the Tiber, (for he lived in a house of his own, in a village called Eretum, adjoining to the district of the Sabines) and sailing in a little vessel towards Ostia, he put in about the middle of the night at the Campus Martius. At which time, the children being thirsty and there being no means to relieve them, because there was no fire on the vessel, the pilot told him, that he had noticed some smoke not far off. Being instructed by the pilot therefore to go ashore at Tarentum, which was the name of the place, he hastily took a cup, and as soon as he had filled it out of the river in that place where the smoke arose, he returned very cheerful, believing that now he had obtained the means of a remedy sent from heaven, and in a field that seemed to smoke rather than have any remains of fire. He got such fuel as by chance he met with, and steadfastly pursuing the omen, with continual blowing, he kindled a fire, and brought warm water to the children. As soon as they had drunk of it, they fell into a healing sleep, and suddenly recovered from their lengthy illness. Waking, they related to their father, that they had seen they knew not what gods, who wiped their skins with a sponge, and commanded them that they should offer sacrifices of black victims at the altar of father Dis and Proserpina, where the drink of water was first brought to them, presenting also nocturnal games and lectisternia. The father, because he saw no altar there, believing that it was expected that he should build one, went to the city to buy one, leaving upon the place certain workmen to dig the foundations. They in carrying out their master's command, having dug as far as twenty feet deep, at length found an altar inscribed to father Dis and Proserpina. When this was told to Valesius by his slave, he abandoned his plan of buying an altar, and sacrificed black victims - which in ancient times were called “dusky” - at Tarentum, and provided games and lectisternia for three whole nights together, because he had three children.
This example Valerius Publicola, who was the first consul, followed, out of a desire to assist his fellow citizens. He made public vows at the same altar, offered certain black oxen (male for Dis and female for Proserpina), and caused games to be performed and lectisternia prepared for three nights together, and then covered the altar with earth as it was before.

§ 2.4.6  As wealth increased, pomp and magnificence was added to the religion of games. To which purpose Q. Catulus, imitating Campanian luxury, was the first to cover the seats of the spectators with an awning. Cn. Pompeius before any other tempered the heat of summer, by bringing little streams to run along channels. Claudius Pulcher was the first to adorn the stage with a variety of colours, when it had previously consisted of unpainted boards. Afterwards C. Antonius covered it with silver, Petreius with gold, Q. Catulus with ivory. The Luculli made it revolve, and P. Lentulus Spinther adorned it with silver ornaments. For the procession, which was previously dressed in Punic cloaks, M. Scaurus introduced a more exquisite kind of garment.

§ 2.4.7  A gladiator shows was first presented in Rome in the Forum Boarium, when Ap. Claudius and Q. Fulvius were consuls [212 BCE]. It was given by Marcus and Decimus, the sons of Brutus Pera, to honour their father's funeral. An athletic contest was presented by the munificence of M. Scaurus.

§ 2.5.1  No man ever beheld a golden statue either in the city, or in any other part of Italy, till an equestrian statue was erected by M'. Acilius Glabrio in honour of his father, in the temple of Piety. This temple his father had dedicated in the consulship of P. Cornelius Lentulus and M. Baebius Tamphilus [181 BCE], for the fulfilment of a vow he made, when he defeated Antiochus at the battle of Thermopylae.

§ 2.5.2  The civil law was for many ages concealed among the most sacred rituals and ceremonies of the immortal gods, and only known to the pontiffs; but at last it was published by Cn. Flavius, a scribe, whose father was a freedman. He, being made curule aedile, to the great offence and indignation of the nobility who were free-born, first displayed the fasti in almost the whole forum. When he came to visit his colleague who was sick, and none of the nobles, of whom the room was full, rose to let him sit, he commanded his curule chair to be brought him; and so in vindication of his own honour, and scorn of their contempt, sat down.

§ 2.5.3  The investigation of poisoning, formerly unknown to the customs and laws of the Romans, came into existence upon the detection of several crimes committed by certain married women. They had secretly poisoned their husbands, and when they were at length discovered by the evidence of a maidservant, about a hundred and seventy were put to death.

§ 2.5.4  The guild of musicians drew the eyes of the common people upon them, being accustomed to play during private and public actions of a serious nature, in multi-coloured clothes and masks. This liberty arose as follows. Once they were forbidden to dine in the temple of Jupiter, which was the ancient custom, and in great discontent they withdrew to Tibur. But the senate, not brooking the lack of their services at the sacred festivals, by their ambassadors requested of the Tiburtines, that they would send them back to the temples of Rome. When they refused to go, the Tiburtines invited them to a great banquet, and while they were overcome with sleep and drink, put them in carts, and sent them away. When they returned, they were restored to their former honour, and the privilege of playing in this way was granted to them. They used masks, being ashamed of how they were circumvented in drink.

§ 2.5.5  The plain food of the ancients was a most certain sign of their humanity and restraint. For then the greatest men took it for no discredit to eat their lunch and dinner in open view. Nor had they any banquets which they were ashamed to reveal to the eyes of the people. They were so addicted to restraint, that the use of gruel was more frequent than bread. And therefore that cake (called mola), which was used in their sacrifices, was made only of barley and salt. The entrails were sprinkled with barley; and they fed the chickens, whence they took their auspices, with gruel. For of old, they thought the offerings of their food, by how much the plainer it was, so much the more efficacious in appeasing the Gods.

§ 2.5.6  Other gods they worshipped, so that the gods might do them good. But to Fever they built temples, so that she might do them less hurt. Of these there was one on the Palatine, another in the court of the Marian monuments, and a third at the upper end of Vicus Longus (long street). In them were many remedies stored up, appropriate for the sick. These were found out by experience to assuage the heats of the human spirit; but besides they preserved their health by the most certain assistance of hard work. Frugality was as it were the mother of their health, an enemy to luxurious banquets, and altogether averse from riotous drinking, and immoderate love-making.

§ 2.6.1  The city of Sparta followed the same rules, being the nearest to the gravity of our ancestors. They continued for many years most obedient to the severe laws of Lycurgus, and would by no means permit the eyes of their citizens to behold the delicacies of Asia; lest being tempted with the allurements of that country, they should degenerate into a voluptuous life. For they had heard that all manner of excess, and all kind of unnecessary pleasures did there abound. And the Ionians were the to use anointing and giving crowns and garlands at feasts, and introduced the custom of a second course - no small incitements to luxury. And it is no wonder, that men delighting in labour and patience, would not wish that the most indissoluble sinews of their country should be weakened and broken by the contagion of foreign delicacies; for it would be easier to decline from virtue to luxury, than to recede from luxury to virtue. That this was no vain fear of theirs, their general Pausanias made apparent, who after he had performed great deeds, was not ashamed to allow his courage to be softened with the effeminate behaviour and apparel of Asia.

§ 2.6.2  The armies of the same city never used to join battle, till they had heated their courage with the sound of their flutes, whose tunes were all composed in anapaestic metres, whereby they were taught to assail their enemies with sharp and rapid blows. They also used to wear scarlet coats, to hide the blood of their wounds; not because the sight thereof was any terror to them, but so that their enemies should gain no heart or courage thereby.

§ 2.6.3  Remarkable was the valour of the Lacedaemonians in war; yet no less memorable were the most prudent customs of the Athenians in peace. Among them, sloth was ferreted out of her lurking holes, and dragged as a sin into the market-place - a shameful fault even if (?) not a crime.

§ 2.6.4  There was also among them a most sacred council, called the Areopagus, where diligent enquiry used to be made about what course of life everyone took, and what everyone did to maintain themselves; so that men might be induced to follow an honourable course, finding so severe an account was taken of their actions.

§ 2.6.5  This council first introduced the custom of giving crowns to virtuous citizens, encircling first the famous brows of Pericles, with two wreaths of olive. A noble institution, whether we look at the thing, or the person. For honour is the most fruitful nourishment of virtue; and Pericles a most worthy person for posterity to take as the origin of giving honour to those who deserve it.

§ 2.6.6  What shall we say of that most memorable institution among the Athenians? When a slave was manumitted by his master, and afterwards convicted by him of ingratitude, the slave was thereupon deprived of his liberty. “We dismiss you,” said the council, “who impiously despises so great a gift. Nor could they be induced to believe that he would prove a profitable member of the city, who was so wicked in his own family. Be gone therefore, and be a slave, who do not know the value of being free.”

§ 2.6.7  The Massilians likewise to this day retain a very great strictness in discipline, through their observance of ancient customs, eminent for their love of the Romans. They permit a man to make void the liberty which he has given to his slave three times, if they find the slave to have deceived the master. The fourth time they give no relief to the master, whose own fault it was to let himself be injured so often.
The same city is also a most strict observer of severity; for they give no permission to mimes to come upon the stage, the subject of whose plays consists generally in relations of adulteries, lest the custom of beholding should beget a custom of committing the crime. They shut their doors against all those who beg under pretence of religion; regarding dissimulation and superstition as two things not to be endured.
The sword with which criminals are put to death, has been there ever since the city was built, so rusty that it is scarce fit for the purpose, but still remains to show the great veneration which they give to ancient monuments.
There are also two coffins at their gates, in the one of which they put the bodies of free men, in the other of slaves, and so put them in a cart to be carried to the grave; the funeral is performed without lamentations or crying for the dead, making only a private sacrifice on the day of the funeral, and providing a banquet for the family. For what avails it to indulge human passion, or to envy the gods, because they would not share their immortality with us?
A poison mixed with hemlock is also kept in the city, and is given to those who give sufficient reason to the Six Hundred (that is the name of their senate) why they desire to die. Manly courage is tempered by kindness; the senate takes care that they do not inconsiderately make an end to themselves, yet are willing to give as easy a death as may be to those that upon good grounds desire it. Therefore those who have experienced an excess of fortune - bad or good, for either can provide a reason for departing from life, lest the former persists or the latter ceases - can put an end to it with an approved manner of death.

§ 2.6.8  This custom I believe not to have had its origin in Gaul, but to have been brought out of Greece, finding it to have been observed in the island of Cea, at the time when, while going to Asia with Sextus Pompeius, I [Valerius Maximus came to the city of Iulis. It happened that there was in the city a woman of high rank, but very aged, who had resolved, after giving an account to the senate why she desired to live no longer, to make herself away with poison, thinking her death would be more famous through the presence of Pompeius. Nor could he, a person full of all virtue, and of a sweet disposition, refuse her petition. And therefore after he had in a most eloquent oration, that dropped from his lips like honey, used all the persuasions that might be to dissuade her from her purpose, and saw he could not prevail, he permitted her to take her course. So having passed the ninetieth year of her age, with a great magnanimity and cheerful countenance, she threw herself upon a bed, which was more elegantly trimmed than ordinary, and and leant upon her elbow. “Sextus Pompeius,” said she, “the gods whom I leave behind, not those to which I am going, give you thanks; because you exhorted me to live, but did not refuse to see me die. As for myself, who have always been in fortune's favour, lest out of a desire of life I should find her frowns, I am willing to change the remnant of my breath for a happy conclusion, leaving behind me two daughters, and seven grandchildren.” After that, exhorting them all to unity, and dividing her estate among them, entrusting her adornment and the domestic rites to her eldest daughter, with a wonderful cheerfulness she took the cup wherein the poison was mixed, in her right hand. Then pouring out her offerings to Mercury, and invoking his deity to grant her a pleasant journey to the best part of the underworld, she promptly drank the potion off. Then as the poison seized her particular parts, she told us; and when she found it approaching to her bowels and heart, she called her daughters to do their last duty of closing her eyes. Our people, astonished at so strange a sight, departed with tears in their eyes.

§ 2.6.9  But let us return to the city of the Massilians, from whence this digression made us wander. There no person may enter their city with a weapon. But when they leave, he that received it is ready to return it again, endeavouring thereby to make their hospitality both safe and courteous.

§ 2.6.10  Going outside their walls, we meet an ancient custom of the Gauls, who used to lend money, and then to receive it again in the other world, being persuaded of the truth of the immortality of the soul. I should call these men fools, except that in their trousers they were of the same opinion as Pythagoras in his cloak.

§ 2.6.11  The philosophy of the Gauls was covetous and usurious; that of the Cimbri and Celtiberians courageous and resolute; who in battle-array rejoiced that they should gloriously and happily die, but upon their death beds lamented that they should perish thus in shame and misery. For the Celtiberians thought it a crime to survive in battle, when any friend was slain, to whose preservation he had devoted his life. The prompt courage of these peoples is to be praised, because they both thought that the security of their homeland should be defended courageously, and the latter thought that loyalty to friends should be provided unswervingly.

§ 2.6.12  But the people of Thrace deservedly demand for themselves the praise of wisdom, who at the birth of children weep, at the funerals of men rejoice; taught by no other precepts than the true condition of human nature. And therefore, all creatures should extinguish in themselves the love of life, which compels them to act and suffer many ugly things, especially when it lies in their power to make a happy and blessed end of living.

§ 2.6.13  Therefore the Lycians, when they have any occasion of lamentation, put on women's apparel: so that, being moved by the deformity of the clothing, there might be a motive to them to make a quicker end of their sorrow.

§ 2.6.14  But why should I insist any longer upon the praise of most courageous men in this kind of wise action? Let us observe the Indian women, where it is the custom for one man to have many wives. As soon as the husband dies, there is accustomed to be great strife and contention among the wives, as to who was the best beloved by the deceased. She that wins the victory, triumphing for joy, is led by her family to her husband's funeral pyre; which being set on fire, with a cheerful and smiling countenance, she throws herself into the midst of the flames, and is burnt with her husband, accounting herself most happy in her end, while the defeated wives remain alive, in sadness and misery. Bring forth the Cimbrian boldness, add to that the Celtiberian loyalty, to this join the generous wisdom of Thrace, not forgetting the cunning custom of the Lycians in mourning; none of these excels the Indian funeral, into which the pious wife, assured to die, enters, as into her nuptial bed.

§ 2.6.15  To their glory I will add the infamy of the Carthaginian women, that by comparison it may appear more odious. They had among them the temple of Venus at Sicca, where the married women used to meet. From there they went out to collect dowries by allowing outrages to their bodies; accounting it no dishonour, to tie a respectable marriage-knot with such an indecent bond.

§ 2.6.16  But the custom of the Persians was more laudable, who never used to see their children, till they were seven years old; so that they might the more easily bear their loss, if they died in infancy.

§ 2.6.17  Nor was the custom of the Numidian kings to be blamed, who were accustomed never to give a kiss to any mortal. They thought it fitting, that the sovereign authority should be void of all common and familiar customs, that might lessen the reverence due to their majesty.

§ 2.7.1  I now come to the principal glory, and chief establishment of the Roman empire, remaining to this day in a healthy continuation of inviolable liberty, knitted together with the most firm and lasting cords of her military discipline, in the safeguard of whose bosom peace and tranquillity securely repose. P. Cornelius Scipio, who earned his grandfather's surname from the ruin of Carthage, was sent as consul to Spain, so that he might curb the insolent spirit of the citizens of Numantia, who were grown proud and lofty through the fault of the previous generals. As soon as he entered the camp, he made a law, that they should throw away all things whatsoever which they had about them, that were brought only for pleasure, and otherwise unnecessary. Thereupon more than two thousand whores, sutlers and pedlars were turned out of the camp. As a result, the soldiers, being cleared of all that luggage and filth, although recently for fear of death they had shamed themselves with an ignominious truce, were now refreshed; recovering new vigour and courage, in a short time they razed the fierce and haughty Numantia level to the ground. Thus Mancinus, miserably surrendering himself, was an example of discipline neglected; Scipio, gloriously triumphing, displayed the reward of discipline revived.

§ 2.7.2  Metellus, following his example, when as consul in the war with Jugurtha he took the command of the army, which had been corrupted through the laxity of Sp. Albinus, laboured with all his might to restore the ancient discipline. Nor did he merely aim at particular parts, but immediately reduced the whole into order. First he removed the sutlers out of the camp, and forbade the sake of cooked meat. He permitted none of the soldiers to have servants or horses to carry their arms on the march, or to fetch and provide them victuals. Then he frequently changed the place of his camp, and fortified it in the same manner, as if Jugurtha had been at hand, with ditches and breastworks. Now what was the outcome of continence restored, and toil revived? It obtained frequent victories, and innumerable trophies from that enemy, whose back the Roman soldiers had not chanced to see under their previous ingratiating commander.

§ 2.7.3  And those men had great concern for military discipline, who not regarding the affectionate ties of family, did not refuse to avenge the breach and neglect of discipline to the dishonour of their families. For P. Rupilius the consul, in that war which he waged in Sicily against the fugitive slaves, banished his son-in-law Q. Fabius out of the province, for negligently losing the citadel of Tauromenium.

§ 2.7.4  C. Cotta the consul caused P. Aurelius Pecuniola, his close relative, to be publicly flogged and to serve as a common infantryman afterwards, because through his fault the fortification was burnt and the camp almost taken, when he was left in command of the siege of Lipara by the consul, who was going to Messana to consult the auspices.

§ 2.7.5  Q. Fulvius Flaccus as censor turned his brother out of the senate, because he had presumed to send home a cohort of the legion in which he was a tribune, without the leave of the consul. These examples would not deserve to be told so briefly, if I were not hastening to include other greater examples. What could be more difficult for a man to do, than to send back with ignominy to his country a person so closely related by family and marriage; or to use the severity of stripes to a person connected in a long series of blood and kinship; or to turn his censor's frown upon brotherly affection?

§ 2.7.6  If any one of these were given to a state, however famous, it would then seem to be abundantly furnished with military discipline. But our city, which has filled the world with wonderful examples of all sorts, with a dubious face beholds her axes reeking with the blood of her own commanders - which, lest the disturbance of military discipline should go unpunished, is splendid abroad, but it is the cause of private grief enough, to those who are uncertain whether to perform the office of congratulating or comforting. And therefore with doubtful thoughts have I coupled you two together, most severe observers of warlike discipline, Postumius Tubertus and Manlius Torquatus. For I am fearful of sinking under that weight of praise which you have merited, and revealing the weakness of my wit, while I presume to represent your virtue as it should be. For you, Postumius, as dictator, caused your victorious son A. Postumius to be beheaded - your son whom you begot to propagate the succession of your renowned family and your household rites; the charm of whose infancy you had cherished in your bosom and with your kisses; whom as a child you had instructed in learning, as a man in weapons - to be good, courageous, and obedient both to you and to his country; and only because without your command, without your leave, he had defeated his enemies, your fatherly command was to send him to the executioner [431 BCE]. For I am certain that your eyes, overwhelmed with darkness in the brightest light, could not look upon the great work of your mind. But you, Manlius Torquatus, consul in the Latin War, commanded your son to be carried away by the lictor, and to be slain like a sacrifice, though he obtained a noble victory, because he had presumed to fight with Geminus Maecius, general of the Tusculans, when provoked to combat by him. You thought it better that a father should lack a courageous son, than that your country should lack military discipline.

§ 2.7.7  Again, what great spirit do you think that Quintus Cincinnatus the dictator had, at that time when, after the Aequiculi were vanquished, he compelled Minucius to lay down the consulship, because the enemies had besieged his camp? For he thought him unworthy of the greatest command, whom not his virtue, but his trenches and his breastworks secured, and who was not ashamed to see the Roman arms, trembling for fear, shut up in their fortifications. Thus those imperious twelve fasces, with whom remained the chief honour of the senate, of the order of knights, of all the people, at whose nod all Latium, and all the strength of Italy was governed, were now shattered and broken, and submitted to the punishing authority of the dictatorship. And so that the breach of military honour should not go unpunished, the consul, punisher of all crimes, must himself be punished. By these propitiatory sacrifices, if I may so say, O Mars the father of our empire, when we degenerated from your auspicious discipline, your deity was appeased. By the infamy of kinsmen, relatives and brothers, by the murder of sons, and the ignominious degrading of consuls.

§ 2.7.8  To the same purpose is that which follows. Papirius the dictator, when Q. Fabius Rullianus master of the horse had contrary to his command brought forth the army to battle, even though he returned a victor over the Samnites, yet was neither moved by his virtue, with his success, nor with his nobility; he caused the rods to be made ready, and the conqueror to be stripped. A spectacle of wonder! to behold Rullianus, master of the horse, and a victorious general, his clothes pulled off, his body naked, being lacerated with blows, to no other end than to sprinkle the glorious honour of his victories, so lately obtained, with the fresh blood of those wounds, which he had received in the field of battle, drawn from his body by the knotted stripes of the lictor. At length the army, moved by his entreaties, gave him the opportunity of fleeing to the city, where in vain he implored the aid of the senate; for Papirius nevertheless persevered in requiring his punishment. Therefore his father, after having been dictator, and three times consul, was compelled to appeal to the people, and upon his knees to beg the assistance of the tribunes of the plebs on the behalf of his son. But neither by this means could the severity of Papirius be restrained; but being entreated by the whole city, and by the tribunes themselves, he announced that he remitted the punishment not to Fabius, but to the city of Rome, and the authority of the tribunes.

§ 2.7.9  L. Calpurnius Piso also, who as consul was making war in Sicily against the runaway slaves, when C. Titius the prefect of the cavalry was surrounded by the multitude of the enemy and forced to surrender his weapons, proceeded to punish the prefect with several marks of ignominy. He commanded him to stand by the headquarters, from morning till night, barefoot with the fringes of his gown cut off, and his tunic unloosened: he forbade him also to meet with other men, or to use the baths; and the troops which he commanded, having taken away their horses, he divided among the slingers. Thus by the disgrace of those who were guilty did Piso avenge the great dishonour of his country, having brought it so to pass, that they who out of a desire of life had allowed their weapons to become the trophies of fugitives - men fit to be crucified - and who were not ashamed to permit the ignominious yoke of servitude to be laid upon their liberty by the hands of slaves, might experience a life full of bitterness, and covet that death which they had so effeminately avoided.

§ 2.7.10  Not less remarkable than that of Piso was the action of Q. Metellus; at the battle of Contrebia he placed five cohorts in a certain position, and when he saw them withdraw on account of the multitude of their enemies, he commanded them immediately to endeavour to recover their ground again. He added severely, that if any of them were found to have fled into the camp, he would be treated as an enemy; he did not hope by this means to regain what they had lost, but to punish them with the manifest hazards of the ensuing combat: Yet they, having received this reprimand, weary as they were, having no other encouragement but despair, renewed the fight, and with the slaughter of their enemies recovered their position. Thus there is nothing like necessity to harden human weakness.

§ 2.7.11  In the same province, Q. Fabius Maximus, wishing to crush the fierce pride of a most haughty people, forced his gentle disposition for a time to lay aside all clemency, and to accustom himself to utmost rigour and severity. For he cut off the hands of all those that ran away from any garrison of the Romans and were taken, so that the sight of their maimed limbs might breed in others a fear of revolting. For those rebellious hands cut from their bodies, and scattered upon the bloody earth, taught others to beware of committing similar desertions.

§ 2.7.12  Nothing could be more mild than the elder Africanus; yet for the establishment of military discipline, he thought it appropriate to borrow something of severity that was alien to his own natural kindness. For having conquered Carthage, and captured all those that had fled from the Romans to the Carthaginians, he more severely punished the Roman than the Latin deserters. For the former, as traitors of their country, he nailed to the cross; the latter, as perfidious allies, he merely beheaded. I shall not urge this act any farther, both because it was Scipio's, and because it is not fitting that a punishment designed for slaves should insult over Roman blood, though deservedly shed, especially when we may pass to other narratives not dipped in civil blood.

§ 2.7.13  For the younger Africanus, having destroyed the Carthaginian power, made the deserters of other nations to fight with beasts in the public shows which he presented for the people.

§ 2.7.14  L. Paullus, after he had vanquished Perseus, caused all those that he had taken, who were guilty of this same crime, to be thrown to the elephants, so that by them they might be trod to death. A most profitable example, if we may be permitted modestly to judge of the actions of the greatest men without reproof. Military discipline requires a severe and quick method of punishment. For force consists of armed men, who when they grow disobedient will soon oppress others, unless they be brought low themselves.

§ 2.7.15  But it is now time to make mention, not of what has been done by particular men, but what measures the whole senate took to preserve and defend their military discipline. L. Marcius, a military tribune, having with wonderful courage got together the remains of the two armies of P. and Cn. Scipio, which the victorious Carthaginians had almost destroyed in Spain, and being by them unanimously made general, wrote to the senate an account of his transactions, in which he began thus: “L. Marcius propraetor.” The senate would not permit him to take this usurped title, knowing that it was the custom for the people, not the armies, to choose the general. Because this was a time when the commonwealth was in great danger, and had sustained great losses, one would have thought they should have rather flattered the tribune, who they saw so fairly acting for the restoration of their former honour. But no success, no merit could sway the senate more than their military discipline.
And they may have remembered what courageous severity their ancestors used in the Tarentine war. In this war, when the forces of the commonwealth were very much weakened and broken, they received a great number of their captive fellow-citizens, whom Pyrrhus had sent to them of his own accord; but they decreed, that they who had served on horseback, should serve among the infantry; and they who had served as foot-soldiers, should be enlisted among the slingers. Moreover, they enacted that none of them should come within the camp, nor be permitted to fortify the place assigned them outside the camp, nor any of them make use of a tent made from skins. But they offered the restoration of their previous status to all those that took double spoils from the enemy. These punishments made them, who were recently the dishonourable gifts of Pyrrhus, to be his most eager and fierce enemies.
The same rigour was used by the senate towards those who deserted the commonwealth at Cannae. For when by the strictness of their decree they had reduced them to a worse condition than those who are dead, and at the same time had received letters from Marcellus asking that they would send them to him, to assist him in the siege of Syracuse; the senate wrote back, that they were not worthy to be admitted into his camp. But they would send them to him provided that he would deal with them as he judged fitting for the honour of the commonwealth, that they should never be freed from service, that they should never receive any military reward, nor be permitted to return into Italy while there were any enemies remaining there. Thus has virtue always despised pusillanimous minds.
How heinously was the senate offended that the soldiers permitted Q. Petillius the consul, most courageously fighting against the Ligurians, to be slain! For they would neither let the legion continue to be paid, nor give them any arrears, because they had not exposed their bodies to the missiles of their enemies in order to ensure the safety of their general. And that decree of so noble an order remains also a glorious and eternal monument of Petillius, under which his ashes rest, renowned in the field of battle by his death, and in the senate by their vengeance.
With the same courage, when Hannibal offered them the liberty to redeem six thousand Romans who had been captured by him and were prisoners of war in his camp, they scorned his proposal; well knowing, that if six thousand young men had resolved to die bravely, they could not have been taken so abjectly. So that it was hard to say, which redounded most to their ignominy, that their country had so little esteem and care of them, or that their enemies showed so little fear of them; whether they fought for one side, or against the other, was considered of little consequence.
But if at any time the senate showed themselves severe in the maintenance of military discipline, then certainly they did so in a high measure, when they imprisoned the soldiers who had rebelliously taken possession of Rhegium, and after the death of Vibellius their leader, had of their own accord chosen M. Caesius his secretary as their next leader; and although M. Fulvius Flaccus, tribune of the plebs, declared that these proceedings against Roman citizens were contrary to ancestral custom, yet they persisted in their resolution. However, so that their actions might cause less offence, they ordered fifty men each day to be whipped and then beheaded; they forbade that their bodies should be buried, or that any lamentation should be made for them.

§ 2.7e.1  This, conscript fathers, was gentle and full of mildness, if we consider the violence of the Carthaginian senate in ordering their military affairs; if their generals imprudently managed a war, even though it proved successful, they were nevertheless nailed to the cross. They imputed what the generals did well, to the assisting favour of the gods; what they did amiss, to their own misconduct.

§ 2.7e.2  Clearchus, general of the Lacedaemonians, preserved his military discipline by a famous and notable saying, continually dinning into the ears of his soldiers, that they ought to fear their general far more than the enemy. He openly declared, that they must expect to suffer the same doom in flight, which they were fearing to receive in battle. Nor were they surprised to be thus threatened by their general, when they called to mind their mothers' language, who when they went to battle used to admonish them, that they should either return alive with their shield, or else be brought back dead upon their shield. Thus instructed within their own homes, the Spartans went out to fight. But enough of these foreign examples - having more plentiful, and those more joyful, examples to celebrate of our own.

§ 2.8.1  Military discipline, being vigorously maintained, was what won all Italy to the Roman empire, together with the command of many cities, great kings, and mighty nations; it opened the straits of the Pontic sea, it delivered up the barricades and fortresses of the Alps and of Mount Taurus; and starting from the little hut of Romulus, made it the pillar of the whole world. Since so many triumphs have flowed out of its bosom, it seems appropriate now to discourse upon the right of triumphing. Some commanders have requested triumphs to be decreed them for trifling battles: and therefore there was a law made, that no general should triumph unless he had slain five thousand of his enemies in one set battle. For our ancestors believed that the glory of our city consisted not in the number, but in the splendour and magnificence of her triumphs. And lest so brave a law might come to be obliterated by too greedy a desire for laurels, it was supported by another law, which L. Marius and M. Cato brought in as tribunes of the plebs. For that made it criminal for any general to exaggerate in their letters to the senate, the number of enemies slain or citizens lost. And they were also commanded as soon as they entered into the city, to swear before the city quaestors to the truth of what they had written to the senate.

§ 2.8.2  Having mentioned these laws, it will be appropriate to relate what was adjudged thereupon, when the right of triumphing was discussed and debated among the most worthy men. C. Lutatius the consul and Q. Valerius the praetor had defeated and utterly destroyed a very great fleet of the Carthaginians near the coast of Sicily, whereupon the senate decreed a triumph to Lutatius the consul. But when Valerius requested that a triumph might be granted to him also, Lutatius opposed it, lest through the honour of triumph, the lesser authority should be made equal to the greater. The contention growing greater and greater, Valerius challenged Lutatius, claiming that the Carthaginian fleet was not defeated by his leadership. Lutatius did not hesitate to stipulate against this. When Atilius Calatinus, by agreement, sat as judge between them, Valerius claimed that the consul had been lame and lay in his litter, and that he himself performed all the duties of the commander. Then Calatinus, before Lutatius made his defence, said: “Tell me, Valerius, if you two were of contrary opinions whether to fight or not, whether were the command of the consul or the praetor to be obeyed?” Valerius answered that he could not deny that the consul was chiefly to be obeyed. “Again,” said Calatinus, “if the consul's and your auspices were different, which were first to be followed?” “The consul's,” replied Valerius. “Then,” said the judge, “seeing that upon these two questions, about the chief command and the priority of auspices, you Valerius have admitted your adversary to be superior in both, I cannot make any further doubt. And therefore, Lutatius, though you have as yet made no defence, I give judgment on your behalf.” A noble judge, who in a business that was so clear, would not waste and trifle away his time. More deserving and justifiable was the cause of Lutatius, who defended the right of a most sovereign honour. Yet it was not ill done of Valerius to require the reward of a prosperous and courageously fought battle; but it was not so lawfully demanded by him as by the other.

§ 2.8.3  What shall we say to Cn. Fulvius Flaccus, who when the senate had decreed him the honour of a triumph, so much coveted by others, yet disregarded and refused it? He had enough to do with other things that befell him. For he no sooner entered the city, but he was vexed with public prosecutions, and at length was sent into exile, to expiate the offences which he had committed against religion.

§ 2.8.4  Wiser therefore were Q. Fulvius and L. Opimius, the first of whom having taken Capua, and the latter having forced the Fregellans to a surrender, both requested of the senate permission to triumph. Both had done great things, yet both failed to attain their desire. Not out of any ill will that the conscript fathers had against them, but out of their care of preserving the mandate of the law; wherein it was enacted, that triumphs should be only decreed to those that had enlarged the empire, not to those who had only recovered what was in the possession of the Roman people beforehand. For there is as much difference between adding what was not, and restoring what was, as there is between the beginning of a good turn and the end of an injury.

§ 2.8.5  This law whereof I speak was so carefully observed, that triumphs were denied to P. Scipio and M. Marcellus, though the first had recovered both Spains, and the latter had taken Syracuse; by reason that they were sent to the management of those affairs, without being appointed to any public magistracy. Now let them be approved, who in their longing for glory of any kind, with grasping hands pluck off ignoble twigs of laurel for victories over desert mountains and the beaks of pirate galleys! Spain had been torn off from the empire of Carthage, and the capital of Sicily cut down, yet the commanders could not ride on their triumphal chariots. But to whom was this refused? To Scipio and Marcellus, whose very names resembled an eternal triumph. But the senate, though they coveted nothing more than to see crowned those men of solid and true virtue, carrying upon their shoulders the safety of their country, thought better to reserve them for more justly merited laurels.

§ 2.8.6  In this place I am to add, that it was the custom for the general that triumphed to invite the consuls to dinner, and for them, although invited, not to go; so that no person on the day of triumph should appear of greater authority, at the same feast, than the triumpher.

§ 2.8.7  A commander in a civil war, even if he had done great things and very profitable to the commonwealth, was not permitted to have the title of imperator, neither were any supplications or thanksgivings decreed for him, nor was he permitted to triumph either in a chariot or in an ovation. For though such victories were necessary, yet they were full of calamity and sorrow, not obtained with foreign blood, but with the slaughter of their own countrymen. Mournful therefore were the victories of Nasica over Ti. Gracchus, and of Opimius over C. Gracchus. And therefore Catulus having vanquished his colleague Lepidus, with the rabble of all his followers, returned to the city, showing only a moderate joy. Gaius Antonius also, the conqueror of Catiline, brought back his army to their camp with their swords washed clean. Cinna and Marius greedily drank up civil blood, but did not then approach the altars and temples of the Gods. Sulla also, who made the greatest civil wars, and whose success was most cruel and inhumane, though he triumphed in the height of his power, yet as he carried many cities of Greece and Asia, so he showed not one town of Roman citizens.
I am grieved and weary of ripping open the wounds of the commonwealth. The senate never gave a triumph to anyone, nor did anyone desire it, while part of the city was weeping . But everyone stretched out his hand for the crown of oak, which was the reward of him that had saved the life of a fellow citizen. This crown has been affixed to the doorposts of the house of Augustus, so that it has the eternal glory of a triumph.

§ 2.9.1  The most indissoluble bond of military discipline, and its strict observation, demand me to pass from thence to the censorship, the mistress and guardian of peace. For as the wealth of the people of Rome, by virtue of their commanders, increased to such a vast extent; so their modesty, continence and relationships were examined by the censors' severity - a work equalling the glory of military actions. For what avails it to be courageous abroad, and live badly at home? What avails it to take cities, conquer nations, and lay violent hands on kingdoms, unless there be reverence, justice and honour in the forum and the senate house? For unless that exists, riches heaped unto the sky will have no stable foundation. Necessary it is therefore to know these things, and to record the acts of the censors' authority. Camillus and Postumius, being censors, commanded them that lived unmarried till they were old, to bring a sum of money into the treasury by way of penalty: and they judged them worthy of further punishment, if they should complain of so just a decree. They justly criticised them for not observing the law of Nature in begetting, seeing they had received Nature's benefit in being born; seeing also that their parents, by bringing them up, had put them under a debt to continue their offspring. To this they added, “Fortune has given you a long time to exercise that duty, and yet you continue to deprive yourselves of the name both of a father and a husband. Go therefore, and pay that which may be useful to the numerous posterity of others.”

§ 2.9.2  This severity was imitated by M. Valerius Maximus and C. Junius Bubulcus Brutus in a punishment of the same nature, who expelled L. Antonius from the senate, because he had repudiated a virgin whom he had married, without consulting any of his friends. But whether this crime were greater than the former, I know not well how to determine: though this may be said, that by the former the sacred rites of matrimony were merely despised, by the latter they were injured. With great prudence therefore the censors thought him unworthy to have admission into the senate.

§ 2.9.3  Thus Porcius Cato removed L. Flamininus out of the number of the senators, because he had in his province caused a condemned person to be beheaded; choosing the time of execution at the will and for the sight of a woman with whom he was in love. He might have been forgiven in respect of the consulship which he had held, and the authority of his brother T. Flamininus. But the censor - and Cato, to show a double example of severity - thought him the rather to be degraded, because he had with so notorious and foul a crime defiled the majesty of so great and high an authority; and because he had thought it a slight matter, that the eyes of an harlot delighting in human blood, and the suppliant hands of king Philip, should be attributed to the same family.

§ 2.9.4  What shall I say of the censorship of Fabricius Luscinus? All ages have told us, and will still declare to us, that Cornelius Rufinus, who had served as consul twice and as dictator with great renown, was by him expelled from the senate, because he had bought some silver house-ware, weighing ten pounds, that was deemed a bad example of luxury. Indeed the very letters of our age seem to be astonished, when they are compelled to record such severity, and to fear that they will be thought to be commemorating some other city; for it is hard to believe that within the same city ten pounds of silver was then thought disgraceful luxury, and is now considered contemptible poverty.

§ 2.9.5  M. Antonius and L. Flaccus removed Duronius from the senate, because he had abrogated a law, whereby the costs of banquets were limited - and they had very good reason for so doing. For how impudently did Duronius on the rostra utter these words! “There are bridles put into your mouths, most worthy senators, by no means to be endured. You are bound and constrained in the bitter shackles of servitude. For there is a law made, that you ought to be frugal. Let us abrogate therefore that edict, so deformed with the rust of nasty antiquity. For what need is there of liberty, if they that wish to ruin themselves with luxury, may not do so?”

§ 2.9.6  Let us now produce a pair, linked together with the same chain of virtue, and sharing in goodness, yet dissenting when they came to be struck with the desire of emulation. Claudius Nero and Livius Salinator, in the Second Punic War, were strong supports of the commonwealth; yet how divided was their censorship! For when they counted the centuries of the knights, to which number, by reason of their age, they themselves still belonged, when they came to the Pollian tribe, the herald seeing the name of Salinator, began to doubt with himself whether he should call him or no; when Nero realised this, he caused his colleague not only to be cited, but to lose his horse, because he had been found guilty by the judgement of the people. Salinator also stigmatised Nero with the same severity, giving this for a reason: because he had not sincerely returned into friendship with him. If any of the celestial deities had revealed to them that their offspring, through a long series of posterity, would lead to the birth of our princeps and saviour, they would soon have entered into a strict league of indissoluble kindness, and would have been content to leave the country they preserved to their common offspring.
But Salinator attempted to cast thirty-four tribes among the aerarii, because after having condemned him, they then made him consul and censor - pretending they must either be guilty of very great rashness or perjury. The Maecian tribe only he left free from disgrace, who by their votes judged him neither to merit condemnation, nor worthy of office. How constant and resolute a spirit had that man, who neither by the sad event of condemnation, nor by the multiplication of honours, could be brought to conduct himself otherwise than severely in the administration of the commonwealth!

§ 2.9.7  Four hundred young men also of the order of knights, being a great portion of that order, patiently underwent the censors' mark of disgrace; M'. Valerius, and P. Sempronius, taking their horses from them, reduced them all to the rank of aerarii, because when they were commanded to go to Sicily to work on the fortifications, they neglected to go.

§ 2.9.8  Shameful cowardice was likewise severely punished by the censors. For M. Atilius Regulus and L. Furius Philus caused the quaestor Metellus, and several Roman knights, to be degraded to the rank of aerarii, and took their horses from them, because after the defeat at Cannae, they had decided to leave Italy together. And they set a great mark of infamy upon some other men, who had been taken by Hannibal, and afterwards sent by him as ambassadors for exchange of prisoners, in which they failed to obtain their request, but then refused to return. It was fitting for everyone of Roman blood to keep their faith, and therefore M. Atilius Regulus the censor punished them for perjury, whose father had chosen rather to suffer utmost torment, than break his word with the Carthaginians. This censorship reached out of the city into the camp, which desired that the enemy should neither be feared nor deceived.

§ 2.9.9  Two examples, being alike, we have thought fit to add. C. Geta, who was removed by the censors L. Metellus and Cn. Domitius from the senate, was afterwards made censor himself. Also M. Valerius Messalla, who had been disgraced by the censor, was afterwards advanced to the office of censor. For their disgrace sharpened their virtue; shame stirred them up to use all their endeavours to become worthy citizens, and to show that the censorship ought to be rather offered to them, than used against them.

§ 2.10.1  There is also that majesty in illustrious men, as it were a private censorship, without the honour of tribunals, without the attendance of officers, but powerful in the obtaining of greatness. It glides into the minds of men, a welcome and happy presence, covered by a veil of admiration. It could rightly be described as a long and glorious honour, without any formal award of honour. For what greater honour could be given to a consul, than what was given to Metellus, though he stood accused of a crime? For when he pleaded for himself upon a charge of bribery, and his accounts were demanded by his accusers, and were brought forth to be inspected by the jurors, they all refused to look upon them, lest they should seem to doubt of the truth of anything that was contained in them . For the jurors looked upon the life of Q. Metellus, as an argument that he had prudently administered his province. And they thought it an unworthy thing to balance a little wax and a few writings against the integrity of so famous a person.

§ 2.10.2  But what wonder that due honour was given to Metellus by his fellow-citizens, which an enemy did not refrain to render to the elder Africanus? For Antiochus, in the war which he made against the Romans, having taken Scipio's son prisoner, not only treated him honourably, but also sent him to his father, laden with royal gifts, though Antiochus had been by then almost driven out of his kingdom by him. But the enraged king rather chose to reverence the majesty of so great a man, than avenge his own misfortune.
When the same Africanus withdrew to his country-house in the village of Liternum, several pirate captains being in the same place, came to visit him. He believed that they came to do him some mischief, and placed a guard of his household servants upon the top of his house, being well prepared with force and courage to beat them off. When the said captains perceived this, they immediately sent back their soldiers, and laying down their weapons, they approached the great man. Declaring themselves to be his friends, they requested the sight and company of so great a man, as it had been a favour from heaven, and they asked him to vouchsafe them safety in beholding his greatness. When the servants related these words to Scipio, he commanded the doors to be unlocked, and the captains to be let in. They, paying reverence to the threshold as it had been some sacred altar, or holy temple, with great eagerness approached to kiss his hands. And after they had spent a long time in admiration of him, they left great gifts in the porch, such as they used to offer to the immortal gods, and they departed to their ships. What could be more noble than this effect and fruit of majesty? What more pleasing to behold or enjoy? He appeased his enemies' wrath by their admiration of him. His presence astonished the joyful eyes of the pirates. Should the stars falling from heaven offer themselves to men, they could not be capable of greater adoration.

§ 2.10.3  This happened to Scipio while he was alive; the following happened to Aemilius Paullus when he was dead. For when his funeral was celebrated, and by chance certain prominent men of Macedonia were then staying at Rome as ambassadors to the senate, they willingly offered themselves to carry the funeral bier. This will seem so much the greater honour, if one considers that the forepart of the bier was adorned with the trophies of his conquest of Macedonia. For how great must be the honour which they gave to Paulus, whom they would not refuse to carry, with the emblems of their own calamity in front of all the people! This spectacle added to his funeral the resemblance of another triumph. For thus did Macedonia render you, O Paulus, twice illustrious in our city, first by their spoils, secure and victorious; and then venerable in your death, by their shoulders.

§ 2.10.4  Nor was it a small honour shown to your son Scipio Aemilianus, whom you gave in adoption, so that he was the ornament of two families. For being but a young man, and sent by Lucullus the consul from Spain into Africa to seek aid, the Carthaginians and king Masinissa made him arbiter of peace terms, as if he had been consul and imperator. Carthage was ignorant of her own destiny. For the glory of his aspiring youth, by the indulgence of gods and men, was preserved for the ruin of that city; and just as previously by its defeat, it had given the surname of Africanus to the Cornelian gens; so now by its destruction, it gave the surname for a second time to the same family.

§ 2.10.5  What is more miserable than condemnation and exile? Yet the plots of the publicani could not avail to diminish the authority of Publius Rutilius. When he withdrew into Asia, all the cities of that province, hearing where he had gone, sent their ambassadors to meet him. Could he then be judged be an exile, rather than to be triumphing?

§ 2.10.6  Marius also, being cast down into the depth of utmost misery, escaped out of the jaws of danger, by the benefit of his authority. For a public slave, a Cimbrian by birth, who was sent to kill him, while he was detained in a private house in Minturnae, did not dare to attack him, with his sword drawn, though Marius was an old man, unarmed, and almost famished; instead, being struck blind by the brightness of his countenance, he flung away his sword, and ran away, astonished and trembling. For the slaughter of the Cimbrians presented itself before his eyes; and the calamity of his vanquished nation suppressed his courage. The immortal gods deemed it an unworthy thing, that Marius should be slain by one single person from a nation, of which had subdued the whole. The Minturnians were also struck with the majesty of his person, and though he was now under the burden of misery and unavoidable destiny, yet they preserved him safe. Nor could the savage victory of Sulla daunt them from doing this; though Marius himself might have been sufficient to deter them from preserving Marius.

§ 2.10.7  The admiration also of the upright and virtuous life of Porcius Cato, rendered him so respected by the senate, that when he was delaying the day's business by a long speech against the publicani, contrary to the consul Caesar's will, and was therefore by his command taken away by the lictor to prison, the whole senate was not ashamed to follow him; and this thing did not a little soften the perseverance of Caesar's divine spirit.

§ 2.10.8  At another time, while Cato was watching the Games of Flora which Messius the aedile presented, the people were ashamed to request that the actresses should appear naked; and when he was informed of this by Favonius, his great friend, who was sitting close by him, he departed out of the theatre, lest his presence should interfere with the customs of the show. The people, after loudly applauding his departure, renewed the ancient custom of merriment on the stage; confessing that they attributed more to the majesty of one man, than they claimed for the sake of their multitude. To what riches, to what power, to what triumphs, was this privilege granted? To a small patrimony, manners restrained within the bounds of continence, a small retinue, a house closed against ambition, one image amongst his paternal genealogy - not the most comely of aspects, but a virtue heightened with all perfections. Hence it was, that whoever would indicate a just and famous citizen, described him by the name of Cato.

§ 2.10e.1  We must give some place also to foreign examples, so that being mixed with those of our own nation, the variety may appear more delightful. Xerxes, after taking the city of Athens, carried away to his own kingdom the bronze statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton, who had endeavoured to free that city from tyranny. A long time afterwards Seleucus took care to return them to their proper places. When they came into the harbour of Rhodes, the Rhodians invited those who brought them into their city, and laid the statues upon the sacred couches of the gods. Nothing could be more blessed than such a memory, that caused so much veneration to be given to a little bronze.

§ 2.10e.2  What great honour was also given by the Athenians to Xenocrates, famous for his equal piety and wisdom! When he approached the altar, being obliged in giving his testimony to confirm that all which he had spoken was true, all the jurors rose and proclaimed that he should not take the oath, believing it proper to grant that to his truthfulness, which they would not permit to themselves when it came to giving sentence.

§ 3.1.1  BOOK III
will now touch upon the childhoods of some men and the elements of their virtue, and of a soul that in process of time would advance to the height of glory, relating the foretastes of it given by sure tests of natural disposition. Aemilius Lepidus, while yet a boy, went into battle, killed an enemy, and saved a citizen; in memory of which action there is on the Capitol a statue wearing a bulla and a toga praetexta, placed there by order of the senate , who esteemed it unjust that he should not be of age for honour, who was so adult in virtue. Lepidus preceded what was to age ordained, by his earliness in acting bravely; carrying away a double honour out of the battle, of which his years scarcely admitted him to be a spectator. For the arms of men preparing for combat, drawn swords, the flight of missiles, the noise of cavalry charging, and the furious violence of armies joining, strike terror even into young men. Among all this the childhood of the Aemilian family was able to earn a crown, and carry away the spoils of the enemy.

§ 3.1.2  Similar courage was not lacking in the childhood of M. Cato. For he was being brought up in the house of M. Drusus his uncle, the tribune of the plebs, when the Latins came to him, requesting citizenship. At this time the boy was asked by Q. Poppaedius, the leader of the Latins, who was staying at Drusus' house, to speak on their behalf to his uncle, but with an unperturbed countenance he replied that he would not: and being called on again and again, he continued in his resolve. Then Poppaedius taking him up into the highest part of the house, threatened to throw him down headlong, unless he would yield to his request; but nothing could make him alter his mind. This made the man cry out, “Happy is it for us Latins, and allies, that this is but a youth, from whom, if he were a senator, it would be impossible for us to obtain citizenship.” For in his tender years Cato attained the gravity of the whole senate-house, and by his perseverance frustrated the Latins, who wished to possess the rights of our state.
The same person, coming in his toga praetexta to visit Sulla, and seeing the heads of the proscribed persons brought into the porch of his house, moved by the horror of the spectacle, asked his tutor Sarpedon why there was nobody to be found who would kill so great a tyrant? He answered, that men did not lack the will, but the opportunity, because Sulla's person was so strongly guarded. The lad requested that he might be given a sword, affirming that he could easily kill him, as being accustomed to sit by his couch. His tutor perceived his courage, but would not allow of his intention; and afterwards he always searched Cato before bringing him to Sulla. Nothing could be more admirable than this. A lad, taken to the very workshop of cruelty, did not fear the victor, who at that time murdered consuls, whole towns, legions, and the greater part of the order of knights. Had Marius been there himself, he would have sooner consulted his own safety, than the death of Sulla.

§ 3.1.3  Sulla's son Faustus had a good cuff on the ear given him by C. Cassius his school-fellow, for saying in support of his father's proscriptions, that he would do the same, when he became a man. Such a hand should never have soiled itself with a public parricide.

§ 3.1e.1  And to relate a story of the Greeks about Alcibiades, of whom whether his virtues or his vices were most pernicious to his country, we cannot say -for with the one he deceived his citizens, with the other he oppressed them - when he was a youth, coming to his uncle Pericles, he saw him sitting gloomily in a secluded place, and asked him, why he showed so much trouble in his countenance. He replied that he had by command of the city built the Propylaea of Minerva - that is, the gateway to the citadel - and did not know how to give any account of the vast amount of money spent in the task, and that therefore he was troubled. “Rather should you endeavour,” said the boy, “to find out a way, how you should give no account of it.” Thus a most great and wise man, not able to counsel himself, followed the advice of a child, and so ordered it, that the Athenians, being engaged in a sharp war with their neighbours, had no time to look after accounts. But let the Athenians consider, whether they have most reason to lament or be glad for the birth of Alcibiades; since the mind hesitates in a doubt between admiration and detestation of the man.

§ 3.2.1  Having dealt with the beginnings and growth of virtue, we will now proceed to the thing itself, whose most weighty force and efficacious nerves consist in courage. Nor am I ignorant, great founder of our city, Romulus, that the first honour of this nature ought to be assigned to you. But first permit me, I pray you, to relate another example, to which you yourself owe something of admiration; seeing that without the benefit of it Rome itself, your own work, would not have survived to be famous. When the Etruscans made an incursion into the city over the Sublician Bridge, Horatius Cocles defended the further end of it, and with an indefatigable fight withstood the whole body and force of the enemy, till the bridge was broken behind him; and when he saw his country freed from imminent danger, he flung himself armed into the Tiber. The immortal gods, in admiration for his courage, rewarded him with a safe retreat, so that he was neither hurt with the height of the fall, nor pressed down by the weight of his armour, nor swept away by the current of the river, nor touched by the missiles that flew upon every side of him. And thereby he drew the eyes of all his fellow-citizens and of all his enemies upon his own single person; the one struck with admiration, the other in a trance between joy and fear. And he alone separated two great armies that were closely engaged, repelling the one, and defending the other. And lastly, by his single strength he was as great a guard to our city with his shield, as the Tiber was with its stream. And therefore the Etruscans as they departed might well say that they had vanquished the Romans, but were defeated by Horatius alone.

§ 3.2.2  Cloelia makes me almost forgetful of my purpose; she dared a most noble enterprise at the same time, against the same enemy, and in the same Tiber. For being given as hostage among other maidens to Porsenna, she escaped the guards in the night-time, and getting a horse, she quickly reached the river which she swam over; freeing her country not only from a siege, but from fear of danger - a girl, holding out a light of virtue to men.

§ 3.2.3  I now return to Romulus, who being challenged to combat by Acro king of the Caeninenses, though he believed himself superior both in the number and the courage of his soldiers, and that it was safer for him to fight with his whole army than in single combat, yet preferred with his own right hand to seize the omen of victory. Nor did fortune fail his undertaking; for having slain Acro, and vanquished his enemies, he brought away rich spoils and trophies, which he offered to Jupiter Feretrius. About this let these words suffice: for virtue consecrated by public religion, needs no private praise.

§ 3.2.4  Next to Romulus is Cornelius Cossus, who consecrated his spoils to the same deity, when being master of the horse, he had slain the general of the Fidenates in battle. Great was Romulus in the commencement of this glory: and much was gained by Cossus, because he wished to imitate Romulus.

§ 3.2.5  Nor ought we to separate the memory of M. Marcellus from these examples, who had so great a courage, that he attacked the king of the Gauls, who was surrounded by a great army near the river Po, with only a few horsemen; forthwith he cut off his head, and despoiled him of his arms, which he dedicated to Jupiter .

§ 3.2.6  The same virtue, and the same manner of combat was used by T. Manlius Torquatus, Valerius Corvinus, and Aemilianus Scipio: for they voluntarily challenged the generals of the enemy, and slew them; but because they did those actions under the auspices of others, they did not dedicate their spoils to Jupiter Feretrius.
The same Scipio Aemilianus, being in Spain under the command of Lucullus, at the time when the strong town of Intercatia was besieged, was the first that got upon the walls. Neither was there any person in the whole army, considering his nobility, his hopeful youth, and future deeds, whose safety ought to have been more regarded and consulted. But in those days the most noble young men, in order to enlarge and defend their country, sustained the greatest pains and perils, deeming it below themselves to excel in dignity and not in virtue. Therefore Aemilianus chose a warlike life, which others avoided because of its dangers.

§ 3.2.7  To be added to these, antiquity offers a most famous example of courage. When the Romans were defeated by the army of the Gauls, and forced to withdraw into the Capitol and the citadel, well knowing that the walls of these hills were not able to receive their whole number, they took a necessary decision to leave their old people in the lower part of the city, so that the young men might be the better enabled to defend what was left. Yet at that most miserable and calamitous time, our city was not forgetful of their ancient virtue: for those who had served as magistrates sat with their doors open, on their curule chairs, with the emblems of their magistracy and priesthood, that in their night of sorrow they retained the splendour and ornaments of their past life, and might encourage the people more courageously to undergo the burden of their calamity. Their aspect was venerable in the sight of their enemies, who were not a little moved at the novelty of what they saw, considering the magnificence of their ornaments, and their strange kind of bravery. But who could doubt that the Gauls, now victors, would soon turn their admiration into laughter, and into all manner of insults? Therefore C. Atilius would not wait to endure that injury; for he fiercely struck his stick across the head of a Gaul who too familiarly stroked his beard, offering his body freely to the soldier that out of anger came rushing to kill him. Thus virtue knows not how to be captured, and scorns to suffer indignity. To yield to fortune it accounts sadder than any death; and it invents new and honourable ways of perishing, if he may be said to perish who comes to such an end.

§ 3.2.8  We must now give due honour and glory to the Roman youth, who when C. Sempronius Atratinus the consul had fought unsuccessfully at the battle of Verrugo against the Volsci, lest our army, just upon the point of fleeing, should be turned into a rout, dismounted from their horses, and formed themselves into centuries. After breaking through the enemy's ranks and forcing them to withdraw; they took possession of the next hills, and so brought it about that the Volsci turned all their force upon them, giving our legions in the meantime a respite to recover their courage. And thus while they hoped to obtain the trophies, the night separated both armies, uncertain whether they parted victors or vanquished.

§ 3.2.9  The noble flower of the order of knights were they also, by whose wonderful courage Fabius Maximus Rullianus, master of the horse, was released from the reproach which he was likely to have faced, of loosing a battle to the Samnites. For when Papirius Cursor had gone to the city to seek new auspices, he was left in command in his absence. And although he had been told not lead the army out to battle, yet at length he joined battle with the enemy, and fought not so unsuccessfully as rashly, for without question he had the worst of the battle. Then the young nobles pulled the bridles off their horses, and spurred them with all their might into the ranks of the enemy. By their obstinate gallantry they obtained a victory wrung out of the grasp of the enemy, and gave fresh hope to Rullianus, to be one of the greatest of our citizens.

§ 3.2.10  But of what a prodigious strength were those soldiers, who wading the slippery sea as they had been on firm land, hauled back the Punic fleet by main strength to the shore, though they were endeavouring to fly with the labour of all their oars?

§ 3.2.11  About the same time, and of the same great repute was that soldier, who at the battle of Cannae, where Hannibal rather broke the power than the courage of the Romans, when his wounded hands were unable to hold his weapons, grasping around the neck a Numidian that came to strip him, bit off his ears and his nose, expiring in the midst of that revenge. An odd kind of outcome in a fight, where the party killed is stronger than he that kills him! For the Carthaginian, vulnerable in victory, gave pleasure to the dying person, and the Roman was his own avenger at the very conclusion of his life.

§ 3.2.12  The outstanding and courageous spirit of that soldier in adversity is similar to the action of a general, which I am about to describe. Publius Crassus, while making war in Asia against Aristonicus, was trapped by the Thracians, of which Aristonicus had a great number as his allies, between Smyrna and Elaea. Fearing that he would come into their power, he avoided the shame by resolving to die. For he thrust his riding crop into the eye of one of the barbarians, who enraged with the pain, pierced Crassus in the side with his sword; and while he avenged himself, freed the Roman general from the shame of losing his honour. Crassus showed Fortune that she intended to punish a person altogether unworthy of so great an indignity, as being one that not only wisely but courageously broke out of the snares which she had laid for his liberty, and restored his own dignity to himself, although now given over to Aristonicus.

§ 3.2.13  The same resolution was used by Scipio, who having unsuccessfully defended the cause of Pompey his son-in-law in Africa, endeavoured to escape into Spain. Understanding that the ship wherein he was sailing was about to be taken by the enemy, he ran himself through; and calling out upon the poop, when Caesar's soldiers asked where the commander was, he made answer, “The commander is well” - having power only to speak so much as to testify, to his eternal praise, the greatness of his mind.

§ 3.2.14  No less the monument of Utica was your last breath, mighty Cato; out of whose wounds flowed more glory than blood. For with a fierce resolution falling upon your sword, you were a most noble example of instruction, that to all good men dignity and honour without life, is far better than life without honour.

§ 3.2.15  His daughter had no womanish spirit: knowing the resolution that her husband Brutus had taken to kill Caesar, the night before the day when that most horrid act was committed, as soon as Brutus was gone out of the chamber, she called for a razor, pretending to pare her nails; and as if she had let it fall by chance, gave herself a wound with it. Upon the cry of her maids Brutus came in, and began to chide her that she had taken the barber's trade out of his hands. To whom she privately whispered, “This is no rash action of mine; but as things now stand, a most certain proof of my love towards you. For I was resolved to try, if your purpose should not succeed according to your desire, how bravely and patiently I could kill myself.”

§ 3.2.16  More happy in his offspring was the elder Cato, out of whose loins sprang the Porcian family. When his son was in battle sorely pressed upon by his enemy, his sword fell out of the scabbard, which though he saw it was surrounded with such numbers of his enemies, yet such was his obstinacy to recover it, that he would not give up till he had it: so that at length he seemed not to have wrung it out of the hands of danger, but to pick it up in security. The sight of this so amazed his enemies, that the next day they came to him to sue for peace.

§ 3.2.17  The courage of the toga may be mixed in with warlike actions, deserving the same honour in courts of justice as in the camp. When Ti. Gracchus, having got the favour of the people by his generosity, endeavoured to oppress the commonwealth, he openly declared that the senate ought to be put to death, and all things be transacted by the people. The senate, being summoned into the temple of Public Faith by Mucius Scaevola the consul, began to consult what at such a time should be done: and all being of opinion, that the consul ought to protect the commonwealth by force of arms, Scaevola denied that he would do any thing by force. Then replied Scipio Nasica, “Because the consul, while he follows the course of law, does that which will bring both the law and all the Roman empire in jeopardy, I as a private person offer myself to take the lead according to the senate's will.” Then wrapping his left hand in the upper part of his toga, and lifting up his right, he openly proclaimed, “They who desire the safety of the commonwealth, let them follow me”; at which words he was followed without delay by the upright part of the citizens, and brought Gracchus and his villainous supporters to the punishment which they deserved.

§ 3.2.18  Also when Saturninus, tribune of the plebs, the praetor Glaucia, and Equitius, designated tribune of the plebs, had raised a most terrible sedition in our city, and nobody dared to stand against the fury of the people, M. Aemilius Scaurus was the first that urged C. Marius, consul for the sixth time, that he should defend the laws and liberty by the sword. Presently he commanded arms to be brought, and when they arrived, put them upon his aged body, now almost quite wasted with age; and then leaning upon his spear, stood before the door of the senate-house. With the small remnants of his life, he kept the commonwealth from expiring. For the constancy of his mind encouraged the senate and the order of knights to take revenge.

§ 3.2.19  But as we have hitherto related the courage of arms and the toga, let us remember the divine Julius, the chief glory of all the stars, the truest pattern of virtue. When he saw his men almost giving way to the innumerable multitude and fury of the Nervii, taking a shield out of a soldier's hand, whom he beheld fighting but weakly, he began under its cover to behave with great vigour; by which act he infused courage into the whole army, and restored the tottering fortune of the battle. The same person seeing the eagle-bearer of the Martian legion with his back turned in a posture of flight, caught him by the throat and brought him back to his place again; and then stretching his right hand toward the enemy, he cried out, “Why do you go that way? There is the enemy that you should be fighting.” Thus with his hands he corrected one soldier, but with that severe reprimand, he corrected the timorousness of all the legions, and taught them who were ready to be overcome, how to vanquish.

§ 3.2.20  But we may proceed to another act of human valour: when Hannibal besieged the Roman army in Capua, Vibius Acceus, prefect of a Paelignian cohort, threw a standard over the Carthaginian rampart, cursing himself and his fellow-soldiers if ever they let the enemy get possession of it. To recover it again, he was the first that made the assault, and the whole cohort followed him. When Valerius Flaccus, a tribune of the third legion, saw this, he turned to his own men and said, “I see we are come here to be spectators of other mens' virtue; but for be it from us to suffer the glory of the Romans to yield place to the valour of the Latins. For my own part, I desire either an honourable death, or a happy issue of my boldness; therefore I am resolved to charge ahead though I am alone.” Hearing these words, Pedanius the centurion picked up the standard, and holding it in his right hand, “This,” said he, “shall be with me within the enemy's rampart: let them follow that are unwilling it should be captured.” With that he rushed into the Carthaginian camp, drawing the whole legion after him. Thus the courageous audacity of three men made Hannibal, who thought himself master of Capua, hardly able to be safe in his own camp.

§ 3.2.21  Neither was Q. Curius upon any way behind them in courage, who for his bravery was surnamed Achilles. For not to reckon up all his famous actions, we shall make it clear by two achievements only, how great a warrior he was. At the time when Metellus was consul, he was sent as a legate into Spain, to fight in the Celtiberian War under the command of consul. Hearing that he was challenged out to fight by a certain young man of that nation, though he were then just going to dinner, he caused his arms and his horse to be secretly conveyed out of the camp - lest the consul should forbid him, or otherwise hinder him - and following the Celtiberian, who was vauntingly riding to and fro about the field, slew him, and taking the spoils of his dead enemy, returned triumphant to the camp. He also compelled Pyresus, one of the most noble and brave among the Celtiberians, who also gave him a personal challenge, to yield to him. Nor was that noble youth ashamed to give him his own sword and soldier's cloak in full view of both armies; and he also requested that, as soon as there was peace between the Celtiberians and the Romans, there might be a strict bond of friendship between them.

§ 3.2.22  Nor must we pass over Acilius; who being a soldier of the tenth legion, and fighting on C. Caesar's behalf in a naval engagement, when they had cut off his right hand with which he held a ship of the Massilians took hold of the vessel with his left: nor did leave fighting till the ship was taken and sunk. This achievement is less well known that it deserves; but the valour of Cynegirus the Athenian, whose pertinacity in pursuit of the enemy was not unlike this, Greece, so fluent in extolling the praises of her own heroes, has sufficiently inculcated into the memory of posterity.

§ 3.2.23  After the naval glory of Acilius, we will relate the terrestrial praise of M. Caesius Scaeva, a centurion under the command of the same general. For in defending a fort which was committed to his charge, and which Justuleius, a prefect of Pompey, endeavoured to take with a great number of men, he slew all who ventured to come near; and fighting on foot without the least retreating, at length he fell upon a vast heap of men that he had slain. His head, shoulders, and thighs were cut and mangled, his eyes poked out, his shield pierced through in a hundred and twenty places. Such soldiers did the discipline of the divine Julius breed; of which the one with the loss of his right hand, the other with the loss of his eyes, terrified their enemies; the one after his loss a victor, the other a loser, yet not vanquished.
But your invincible courage, O Scaevius, in both parts of nature, I know not how to extol with admiration enough, because by your excellent virtue you have left it doubtful, whether you made a more noble fight at sea, or spoke a braver speech by land. For in the war wherein Caesar, not content to limit his fame within the bounds of the Ocean, laid his celestial hands upon the island of Britain, he was carried with four of his soldiers, and set ashore upon a rock near the land, which the enemy had occupied with a very strong army. After the ebb tide, by the falling of the water, had made the passage easy from the island to the rock, which was separated before, he was assaulted by a very great number of the barbarians. The other Romans returned to the shore by ship, but Scaevius alone kept his position immoveable, the missiles flying about his ears, and the enemy every way endeavouring to assail him; he hurled at the bodies of his adversaries as many javelins with his single right hand, as would have served five soldiers for a whole day's battle: at length, drawing his sword and beating back his enemies, sometimes with his sword point, and sometimes with the shield boss, he became such a spectacle of wonder, not only to the Romans, but to the Britons also, that none but those that beheld it, could have imagined. At length, anger and shame forced them that were tired to do their utmost, while he, run through the thigh, his face battered with stones, his helmet broken in several places, committed himself to the sea, and laden with two coats of armour, escaped through the waves, which he had dyed with the blood of his enemies. Coming to his general, not having lost his arms, but having well employed them, although he deserved his praise, he begged his pardon - great in fight, but greater in the remembrance of military discipline. Therefore both his deeds and his words were rewarded, by the best estimator and judge of virtue, with the honour of a centurion's command.

§ 3.2.24  But let us conclude all the examples of the courage of Roman warriors, by remembering L. Siccius Dentatus; whose deeds, and the rewards of his actions, may be thought to exceed the limits of belief, if it were not for the trustworthiness of the authors, among whom we find M. Varro, who attest the same in their accounts. They affirm that he was in an hundred and twenty pitched battles, being endued with such courage of mind and strength of body, that he seemed to carry away the greatest share of the victory. Of these battles, there were eight wherein he fought in single combat, while both armies looked on. He is said to have saved fourteen citizens, to have received forty five wounds upon his breast, not having a single scar upon his back. He followed nine separate triumphal chariots of different generals, drawing the eyes of the whole city towards him by the number and glory of his rewards. For he had eight golden crowns, fourteen civic-crowns, and three mural-crowns, together with one siege garland, eighty-three collars, one hundred and sixty armlets, eighteen spears, twenty-five bosses, and decorations sufficient for a legion, rather than for the use of a single soldier.

§ 3.2e.1  Blood from many bodies was mingled together, casing great amazement, in the town of Cales, where Fulvius Flaccus had condemned the chief men of the city to be executed for their treachery in Campania, but he was by letters from the senate ordered to put an end to the executions. T. Vibellius Taurea a Campanian freely offered himself up, crying out as loud as he could, “Because, O Fulvius, you are so eager to shed blood, why do you delay to plunge your sword into my bowels, so that you may have an occasion to boast, that you once killed a man who was braver than yourself?” Fulvius replied that he would gladly do it, but that he had been ordered otherwise by the senate. “Behold me, then,” replied the other, “upon whom the conscript fathers have laid no commands - performing an action pleasing to your eyes, and with a greater spirit than yours.” And immediately he killed his wife and children, and fell upon his own sword. What kind of person must we believe him to be, who was so willing with the slaughter of himself and his family to testify, that he would rather vilify the cruelty of Fulvius, than make use of the mercy of the senate?

§ 3.2e.2  Again, how great was the courage of Darius, who, when he freed the Persians from the sordid and cruel tyranny of the Magi, having cast down one of the Magi in a secluded place, and pressing with all his weight upon him, perceived that one of his companions in this noble enterprise was afraid to strike the tyrant, for fear of hurting Darius. He cried out, “Do not use your sword at all timidly for my sake; rather thrust it through us both, that this fellow may die the more speedily.”

§ 3.2e.3  In this place we meet with Leonidas, a noble Spartan - nothing could be more courageous than his resolution, enterprise and end. For being placed in the narrows of Thermopylae against the whole force of Asia, only with three hundred of his countrymen, through the obstinacy of his virtue, he drove Xerxes to despair, though a little before he was a burden both to sea and land, not only terrible to men, but one that threatened to chain the sea, and darken the heavens. But when Leonidas through the treachery of the local inhabitants was deprived of the advantage of the place, he resolved to die, rather than leave the position where his country had sent him. And therefore he exhorted his men with much cheerfulness to that battle, where they were sure to perish, crying out, “Fellow-soldiers, let us eat like those whose next meal will be in the other world.” Death was all they could expect, yet fearlessly they obeyed their leader, as if sure of victory.

§ 3.2e.4  The glorious fight and death of Othryades, makes Thyreatis seem larger in renown than it is in extent. He deprived the enemy of victory, by letters written with his own blood; and after his own death, as it were brought back into the bosom of his country the trophies inscribed in his blood.

§ 3.2e.5  But a sad outcome comes next, after those most excellent efforts of Spartan valour. Epaminondas, the chief glory of Thebes, and the foremost scourge of Lacedemonians, when he had broken the ancient glory and until then invincible public glory of that city, in the two battles of Mantinea and Leuctra, was run through with a spear, and grew faint for lack of blood and breath. He asked those who endeavoured to revive him, firstly, whether his shield were safe; and next, whether the enemy was completely defeated. When he heard the answers that he desired, “Fellow-soldiers,” said he, “this is not the end of my life, but a fortunate and auspicious beginning. For your Epaminondas is now born, because he thus dies. I see Thebes by my conduct and command the head of all Greece. The strong and courageous city of Sparta submits, vanquished by our arms, and Greece is freed from its bitter tyranny. Not having children, yet I do not die without offspring; I leave Leuctra and Mantinea behind me.” Then he commanded that the spear should be pulled out of his body, and expired. If the immortal gods had allowed him to enjoy his victories, a more glorious protector would never have entered the walls of any city.

§ 3.2e.6  Nor was the courage of Theramenes the Athenian inconsiderable; he was compelled to die in prison, where without any sign of fear he drank the poison prepared for him by the Thirty Tyrants; he jokingly splashed the remains of it on the ground, and smiling upon the public officer that brought it, “Tell Critias,” he said, “I pledge to him, and therefore take care that you carry the cup to him, as soon as you can.” Now this Critias was the cruellest of all the tyrants. Certainly, to endure punishment so easily is to free oneself from punishment. And thus Theramenes, as if he had died in his bed, departed this life; by his enemies he was thought to have been punished, but in his own opinion he yielded only to common fate.

§ 3.2e.7  Theramenes received his courage from learning and education. But the untamed nature of his people taught Rhoetogenes the Numantine to take the same course. For when the affairs of Numantia were in a ruined and hopeless condition, he, who excelled all others of his people in wealth, honour and nobility, collected a great quantity of combustible matter and set fire to his own block of buildings, which was the fairest in the whole city. Laying a naked sword in the middle, he commanded the people to fight together two by two, so that the body of the loser, with his throat cut, might be cast upon the flames. And having by this bitter combat consumed everybody else, at length he threw himself into the fire.

§ 3.2e.8  And that I may relate the destruction of a city that had an equal enmity towards us: when Carthage was taken, the wife of Hasdrubal accused him of disloyalty because he begged only for his own life at Scipio's hands. Taking her children which she had by him in her right and left hand - they were willing to die - she flung herself into the flaming ruins of her city.

§ 3.2e.9  To this example of female valour, I will add the brave death of two maidens. When through the most virulent sedition of the Syracusans, the whole family of king Gelon, having been afflicted with endless calamities, was reduced to one daughter, a maiden named Harmonia, and the enemy made several attempts of violence upon her, then her nurse took a child somewhat like her, and having dressed her in royal apparel, exposed her to the fury of her enemies. Even when she was about to be slain, the child would not reveal her true identify. Harmonia admired her courage, and not willing to outlive so much loyalty, called back the murderers, and admitted who she was, by which she caused her own death. Thus a concealed deception was the doom of one maiden, and the open truth the destruction of the other.

§ 3.3.1  Courage has been made apparent to the eyes of men by the famous deeds of both men and women: and by her incitement, endurance comes next, which is grounded upon similarly firm foundations, not being endued with a less generous soul, but so like the one to the other, that she seems to have received her birth either with her or from her. For what has a greater resemblance to what I have previously related, than the act of Mucius, who grieving to see our city vexed with a long and arduous war by Porsenna king of the Etruscans, secretly went armed into his camp, and attempted to slay him as he was sacrificing before the altar. But failing in that enterprise, and being arrested, he did not conceal the reason for his coming; and besides that, with a wonderful endurance showed how little he feared any torment they could put him to. For as it were out of an enmity to his right hand, because he could not use it in killing the king, he held it in the fire, enduring it to be burnt off. Certainly the immortal gods never beheld with more heedful eyes any offering made them. And it forced Porsenna himself, forgetful of the danger, to turn his vengeance into admiration. “Return,” he said, “to your own friends, and tell them how I have given you your your life though you were seeking mine.” Mucius, who in no way flattered the king's clemency, being more sorry to see him still alive than grateful for his own life, returned to the city with a surname of eternal glory, being called Scaevola.

§ 3.3.2  Most commendable also is the virtue of Pompeius; who being sent upon an embassy, was captured on the way by king Gentius, and when he was commanded to reveal the intentions of the senate, instead he thrust his finger into a burning candle. His endurance made the king not only despair of getting anything out of him by force, but also very desirous of the friendship of the Romans. But lest, in enumerating more domestic examples of this sort, I should be forced to embroil myself in the description of our civil discords, I shall be content with these two examples - which bring glory to the most illustrious families, without causing any public grief - and I shall pass on to those of foreign nations.

§ 3.3e.1  In accordance with the ancient custom of Macedonia, the sons of the most eminent noblemen always used to attend upon king Alexander when he sacrificed. Among them there was one who, while he stood before the king holding the censer, had a live coal fall upon his arm; and though this burnt his flesh so vehemently that the stink thereof offended the nostrils of all the bystanders by, yet the lad would by no means reveal his pain, fearing to disturb the sacrifice by dropping the censer, or to offend the king's ears by complaining. The king, well pleased with the endurance of the youth, and willing to test it further, prolonged the sacrifice beyond its usual time; yet nothing would alter the determination of the lad. Had Darius cast his eyes upon this marvel, he would have known that soldiers of such a race were not to be overcome, when in their tender age he beheld them endued with such a strength.
There is that vehement and constant discipline of the mind, I mean philosophy excelling in learning, ruler of the venerable mysteries of wisdom, which when it is received into the breast of men, they presently lay aside all dishonest and unworthy affections, and being armed with the true weapons of virtue, they rise above all fear and thought of pain.

§ 3.3e.2  I will begin from Zenon of Elea; who being a most wise observer of the nature of things, and most sedulous to kindle courage and vigour in the minds of youth, gave credit to his precepts by the example of his own virtue. For leaving his country, where he might have lived secure in liberty, he went to Agrigentum, then groaning under a most miserable servitude. He confided in his conversations that he was in good hopes to induce the tyrant, though he was Phalaris, to abandon the savagery of his rude nature. After some time, observing that the habit of despotism moved him more than wholesome counsels, he stirred up and inflamed the minds of the most noble youths with a desire of recovering their liberty. When this was revealed to the tyrant, he called the people into the market-place, and in their presence began to punish Zenon with most exquisite torments. But though the tyrant often asked him who were his associates in the conspiracy, Zenon would name none of them, but only those that were the tyrant's chief friends and supporters. Then, upbraiding the Agrigentines for their sloth and fearfulness, he raised such a sudden commotion in their minds, that they fell upon the tyrant and stoned him to death. This was not a suppliant voice, the miserable cries of an old man upon the rack, but a strong and serious exhortation, that changed the courage and fortune of the whole city.

§ 3.3e.3  A philosopher of the same name, being put upon the rack by Nearchus the tyrant, whom he had conspired to kill, not only appeared a conqueror of his pain and punishment in concealing his associates, but showed himself eager for revenge; and therefore telling the tyrant that he had something to declare, which it was fit that nobody else should hear, he was thereupon loosened from the rack, and pretending to whisper in the tyrant's ear, when he saw his opportunity, caught his ear in his teeth, nor would let go, till along with the loss of his life, the tyrant had lost a part of his body.

§ 3.3e.4  Anaxarchus imitating the same endurance, and being put upon the rack by Nicocreon, tyrant of Cyprus, could by no means be restrained from casting the most bitter taunts and reproaches imaginable against the tyrant. When at length the tyrant threatened to cut out his tongue, “This part of my body also,” said he, “effeminate young man, shall be outside your power” - and presently biting it off with his teeth, when he had sufficiently chewed it, he spat it into the mouth of the tyrant, who was gaping from anger. That tongue had wonderfully impressed the ears of many, especially of Alexander the king, as it previously so wisely and eloquently described the condition of the earth, the situation of the sea, the motion of the stars, and lastly the nature of the whole world. Yet he died more gloriously than he lived, seeing such a courageous conclusion confirmed the splendour of his profession, and adorned it with such a noble end. And his tongue not only embellished the life of Anaxarchus, but also rendered his death more glorious.

§ 3.3e.5  In vain did Hieronymus the tyrant weary the hands of the executioners with the tortures of Theodotus, a most eminent person. For the tyrant was forced to break his whips, loosen the strings, take him from the rack, and quench the burning plates, before he could make him confess any of his associates. At length, by accusing one of the tyrant's guards, upon whose shoulders as upon hinges the whole weight of the government hung, he remove one of the tyrant's most faithful friends. And by the benefit of his endurance he not only concealed the secrets of the conspiracy, but occasioned his own revenge. For Hieronymus, while he covetously tore his enemy's flesh, rashly lost his friend.

§ 3.3e.6  Among the Indians the exercise of endurance is reported to be so persistently observed, that are some who go naked all their days, hardening their bodies in the extreme cold of Mount Caucasus, sometimes walking through fire without any complaint. And by this contempt of pain, they gain no small honour, receiving from thence the title of wisdom.

§ 3.3e.7  Such things as those arise from minds high and full of knowledge: but this is no less to be admired in a slave. A barbarian slave, grieving at the killing of his master, forthwith set upon Hasdrubal, and slew him. And although after being arrested he was tormented in all manner of ways, yet he constantly retained in his mouth the joy which he had in his revenge.
Virtue therefore, not fastidious in how it is attained, allows itself to be possessed by those who have vigorous spirits; nor does it afford a portion of itself large or thrifty according to the difference of the persons, but being open equally to all, it values the aspirations that you have more than your worth. And therefore it leaves you to determine the weight of its benefits, so that you may carry away with you just as much as your spirit is able to bear.

§ 3.14.1  Therefore it happens many times, that men born of humble parentage reach the highest places of honour and preferment; and on the contrary, that men of most noble extraction, falling into some disgrace, change that splendour which they received from their ancestors into darkness. This will appear more apparent by the examples. I shall begin with those whose change, from a low to a high position, provides a pleasing subject for narration.

§ 3.4.1  A poor country hut held the infancy of Tullus Hostilius. His youth was employed in keeping sheep, his riper years governed the Roman empire, and doubled it in size; his old age, embellished with most splendid honours, stood at the highest pinnacle of majesty.

§ 3.4.2  Though Tullus was a great man, and admirable in his growing great, yet he was only a local example. But Tarquinius Priscus was brought by Fortune to our city to possess the kingdom of Rome. He was a foreigner, because he was born at Corinth; to be scorned, because he was the son of a merchant; and one to be ashamed of, because his father Demaratus was an exile. But his vigour made the prosperous outcome of his condition glorious rather than invidious. For he extended the bounds of the empire, and reformed the worship of the gods with new priesthoods. He increased the number of senators, and amplified the order of knights. And - what was the perfection of his praises - his most eminent virtues were such, that the city had no cause to repent that it had rather borrowed a king from her neighbours, than chosen one of its own.

§ 3.4.3  But in Servius Tullius Fortune showed her greatest power, by giving a slave-born king to this city; who happened to rule for many years, to appoint a lustrum four times, and to triumph thrice. In brief, whence he came, and how far he proceeded, is sufficiently demonstrated by the inscription of his statue, which contains a servile surname and a royal title.

§ 3.4.4  By a remarkable rise Varro ascended to the consulship, from his father's butcher stall. Yet Fortune thought it not enough to bestow the twelve fasces upon one brought up by the gains of the most sordid merchandise, unless she had given him L. Aemilius Paullus to be his colleague. And he so insinuated himself into her favour, that when by his rashness he had ruined the power of Rome at the battle of Cannae, yet she suffered Aemilius - who had opposed giving battle - to be slain, but brought Varro safe back to Rome. What is more, she brought forth the senate to meet him outside the gates, to give him thanks that he was willing to return; and so advanced him, that the dictatorship was awarded to the author of their greatest calamity.

§ 3.4.5  M. Perperna was no small disgrace to the consulship, because he was made consul before he was a citizen; but in war he was more a profitable general for the commonwealth than Varro. For he captured king Aristonicus, and avenged the slaughter of Crassus and his army. Yet though in life he had triumphed, in death he was condemned by the Papian Law: for his father, who was not able to claim the privileges of a Roman citizen, was prosecuted therefore by the Sabelli, and compelled to return to his original station. Thus was the name of Perperna hidden in shadows, his consulship a foggy kind of authority, and his fading triumph like an interloper in a city where he did not belong.

§ 3.4.6  But the advancement of Porcius Cato should have been sought with public vows. He rendered his name most famous at Rome, although it was scarcely known in Tusculum. By him the lasting monuments of the Latin language were adorned, military discipline reformed, the majesty of the senate increased, and his family established - to which the last Cato was no small honour.

§ 3.4e.1  But to join foreign examples to the Romans: Socrates, who was not only by common consent of all persons, but also by the oracle of Apollo judged to be the wisest among men, was born of Phaenarete a midwife, and Sophroniscus a stone-cutter; yet he came to be one of the most resplendent lights of glory, and deservedly so. For when the wits of most learned men were busied in pointless disputations - who endeavoured to set forth the measurements of the sun, moon, and the rest of the stars, rather by multiplicity of words, than certain arguments, for they undertook to tell the dimensions of the whole world - he diverted men from these unlearned errors, and taught them to dive into the nature of man, and the secret thoughts that lay hidden in his breast. So that if virtue should be esteemed for itself, he was the master who best taught the rules of life.

§ 3.4e.2  What father Euripides had, or what mother Demosthenes had, was unknown even to the age in which they lived in. Yet the most certain opinion of the learned is, that the mother of the one sold vegetables, and the father of the other dealt in knives. However, what can be more famous than the tragedies of the one, and the orations of the other?

§ 3.5.1  Here follows the second part of a double promise, to be made good by relating the stains on the families of illustrious men. Because we are about to relate the stories of those that have degenerated from the glory of their ancestors - noble portents steeped in the filth of sloth and iniquity. For what could be more monstrous than the son of the elder Scipio Africanus? He, who took his origin from so illustrious a family, could endure to allow himself to be captured by a small detachment of king Antiochus. It would have been better for him to have died a voluntary death, than between two of the most famous surnames - the one obtained by the defeat of Africa, and the other about to be got by the conquest of Asia, which had already been mostly achieved - to suffer his hands to be bound by the enemy, and for a pitiful life to depend on the mercy of a king, over whom L. Scipio was soon to obtain a triumph, most glorious in the sight of gods and men.
Coming to claim the praetorship, the same man appeared in the Campus with a white toga so stained by his depravity, that had it not been for the favour of Cicereius, who was his father's secretary, he would not have obtained the honour. But it made no great difference whether he was rejected or gained the praetorship in such a way; for when the bystanders saw what dishonour he brought on the praetorship, they made sure that would not dare to set down his chair, nor to hear legal cases. Moreover, they took a ring off his finger, upon which the head of Africanus was engraved. Good gods! From what lightning did you suffer so much darkness to be born!

§ 3.5.2  Again, Q. Fabius Maximus, the son of Q. Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus - an illustrious citizen and general - what a luxurious and dissolute life he led! To ignore his other vices, yet might his character be seen by one act of disgrace, that Q. Pompeius, the city praetor, would not allow him to possess his father's goods. Neither was there any person in so great a city, that would speak against this decree. For men grieved to see that that money, which ought to maintain the splendour of the Fabian family, should be spent in debauchery and excess. Thus the one whom his father's indulgence left as heir, the state's severity disinherited

§ 3.5.3  Clodius Pulcher was in great favour with the people; yet his wife Fulvia, who wore a dagger, showed that he allowed military honour to be subject to the commands of a woman. Their son, called also by the name of Pulcher, as well as leading a slothful and effeminate life in his youth, was also infamous for his vile love of the most common whores, and died a most shameful death. For his belly being eaten up, he surrendered his life to the greedy appetite of his own intemperance.

§ 3.5.4  Hortensius Corbio also, the grandson of Quintus Hortensius - who among a great crowd of gifted and illustrious citizens, attained the highest degree of eloquence and authority - led a life more obscure and sordid, than all the strumpets put together. At length his tongue was as ready for the pleasure and lust of everyone in the brothel, as his father's oratory was diligently employed in the forum for the good of his fellow-citizens.

§ 3.6.1  I am not ignorant what a dangerous path I have taken. Therefore I will recall myself, lest while I continue to pursue the remaining shipwrecks and abominations of the same nature, I should involve myself in useless narratives. I will therefore retreat, and suffer those deformed shadows to lie hid in the deep abyss of their own shame. I think it is more apt to tell which illustrious personages have given themselves some liberty in their appearance and clothing, introducing new fashions.
P. Scipio, when he was in Sicily, there intent upon reinforcing and transporting his army into Africa, with the sole purpose of destroying Carthage, was at the same time accustomed to use the gymnasium, and wore a pallium and sandals. Yet he did not in any way handle the Carthaginians the more softly for that. For his recreation made him more eager, seeing that strong and active wits, the more they use relaxation, the more vehement they are in command. Thereby perhaps he also thought to win the favour of the allies, while he followed their habitual clothing and pastimes. For to those exercises he applied himself, when he had much and long tired himself, and had constrained his other limbs to prove their strength by military labours. He was wearied by the one, and refreshed by the other.

§ 3.6.2  We likewise behold the statue of L. Scipio on the Capitol, wearing a chlamys and sandals. Clearly he would have wished his image be made in an outfit that he used to wear.

§ 3.6.3  L. Sulla also, when he was general, thought it no disgrace to walk the streets of Neapolis wearing a chlamys and sandals.

§ 3.6.4  C. Duilius also, who first celebrated a naval triumph over the Carthaginians, when he had been feasting, used to return home with burning torches and a flute-player and a lyre-player going before him, causing his noble success in war to be celebrated by his nocturnal revelling.

§ 3.6.5  Papirius Masso also, not being able to obtain a triumph, though he conducted a successful campaign, began a new way of triumphing on the Alban Mount, and set a precedent for others to follow afterwards. When he was present at any show, he wore a myrtle instead of a laurel crown.

§ 3.6.6  Unusual also was the act of C. Marius, who having triumphed over Jugurtha, the Cimbri, and the Teutones, was always accustomed to drink out of a cup called a cantharus, because father Liber, returning out of Asia in triumph from India, was said to have used that sort of cup - so that while he drank, he might seem to compare his victories with those of the god.

§ 3.6.7  Marcus Cato also, when he was praetor, conducted the trials of Scaurus and the other defendants, without his tunic, wearing only his toga praetexta.

§ 3.7.1  These, and other examples like them, are marks of a virtue assuming something to itself, by a new form of liberty. But by the examples that follow, it shall appear how confident virtue is of itself. When P. and Cn. Scipio with the greatest part of their army were destroyed by the Punic forces, and all the people of that province sided with the Carthaginians, no other of our generals dared to venture thither. Publius Scipio, being then in his twenty-fourth year, proffered himself. This confidence of his afforded both security and victory to the Romans.
The same confidence which he had at home, he used in Spain. For when he was besieging the city of Badia, he caused all those that came to his tribunal, on matters of law, to put in sureties to appear at a certain temple within the walls of the town on the next day; and promptly taking the city, at the same time and place that he had appointed, he caused his chair to be set down, and there he sat in judgement. Nothing could be more heroic than such confidence, nothing more true than such a prediction, nothing more effective than such rapidity, nothing more worthy than such authority.
Not less courageous, nor less prosperous was his crossing into Africa: into which he transported his whole army, contrary to the command of the senate. If he had not trusted more to his own opinion, than to the counsel of the conscript fathers in this matter, there would have been no end of the Second Punic War.
Equal to this was that confidence of his, when after he landed in Africa, he captured several of the scouts of Hannibal's army; he neither put them to death, nor in prison, nor enquired anything into the state and condition of the enemy; but he caused them to be led through all parts of his army. And then, after he had asked them whether they had taken a sufficient view of what they were commanded to observe, he ordered provisions to be given to them and their horses, and freely dismissed them in safety. By this confidence of mind he dampened the spirits of the enemy, before he had vanquished them in combat.
But let us come to the acts of his sublime confidence as a private citizen. When he was called to provide an account of forty million sesterces of the money received from Antiochus, he took the book wherein his expenses were wrote down, and by which he might have cleared himself from the accusation of his enemies, and tore it publicly; disdaining that any doubt should be made of how he had acted, when he was acting as legate. He defended himself in this manner: “I shall not give an account of forty million sesterces to your treasury, conscript fathers, as the servant of another authority, when by my command and auspices, I have made the treasury richer by two hundred million sesterces. Neither do I think that you are come to such a height of malice, as to doubt of my innocence. For when I had brought Africa completely under your jurisdiction, I took away nothing thence that I could call mine own, except a surname. I was nor rendered covetous by the Punic treasure, nor was my brother by the Asiatic treasure; seeing that we are both more wealthy in reputation, than in money.” This stout defence of Scipio was approved by the whole senate.
Like this was another act of his. When he found that the urgent needs of the commonwealth required money to be taken out of the public treasury, but the quaestors were reluctant to open it, because it seemed to be something against the law; although he was a private citizen, he demanded the keys, and compelled the law to yield to necessity. This confidence grew from the assurance which he had, that all the laws had been preserved by him.
I will not tire of relating his actions of this nature, seeing that he himself never wearied of doing them. M. Naevius, tribune of the plebs, or as some relate, the two Petillii, had summoned him to appear on trial before the people. When the people had appeared in great multitudes in the forum, he ascended the rostra, and putting a triumphal crown upon his head, he said: “On this day, citizens, I compelled Carthage, though hoping great things, to submit to your laws. And therefore I hold it just that you go with me to the Capitol, to give thanks to the gods.” This most splendid speech of his had an equally impressive success. For immediately the whole senate, the whole order of knights, and all the people followed him to the temple of Jupiter the Best and Greatest. The tribune remained alone to address the people after the people had left, being deserted in the forum through their great contempt of his calumny. At length, to avoid the shame, he went also to the Capitol himself; and instead of an accuser, he became a great admirer of Scipio.

§ 3.7.2  Scipio Aemilianus, the famous heir of his father's courage and magnanimity, when he was besieging a strong city, was advised by some to place round about the walls of the city sharp iron spikes, and to block all the open passages with planks covered with lead, and topped with spikes, in order to hinder the sudden sallies of the enemy. He replied, that it was not fitting for him to fear those whom he sought to capture.

§ 3.7.3  Wherever I turn among the memorable examples me, I am forced, in any case, to remain in the family of the Scipios. For how can we in this place pass over Scipio Nasica, illustrious for his magnanimous spirit and speech? When the price of corn was rising, Curiatius the tribune of the plebs compelled the consuls to appear in a public assembly, where he urged them to propose a motion in the senate about the buying of corn, and sending out ambassadors for that purpose. In order to hinder this proposal, which would be of little profit, Nasica began to speak in opposition; upon which a great clamour arose among the people, but he said, “Romans, be quiet, for I understand much better than you do, what the necessities of the commonwealth require.” These words of his, as soon as they were heard, caused a silence full of veneration, and they made it clear, how much respect they had for his authority, which was greater than their own lack of nourishment.

§ 3.7.4  The brave spirit also of Livius Salinator is to be consigned to eternal memory; who, when he had defeated Hasdrubal and the army of the Carthaginians in Umbria, and he was told that the Gauls and Ligurians were disordered - they had lost their leaders and were scattered away from their standards - and could easily be defeated by a small detachment; he replied that they should be spared, so that the enemy would have some messengers to take home the news of their great defeat.

§ 3.7.5  The courage that Furius Philus showed in the senate, though in a person of the toga, was no less praiseworthy than courage in war. For he compelled Q. Metellus, and Q. Pompeius, men of consular rank, who were his professed enemies, and censured him because he was so eager to go into Spain, the province which he had been allotted, to go thither with him as legates, and upon his departure from Rome to march along with him. This confidence was not only courageous, but almost rash, that dared to have so close to him two of his greatest adversaries; and to trust the management of affairs to his opponents, which was scarcely to be entrusted to his friends.

§ 3.7.6  Anyone who approves the act of that person, must surely approve the conduct of L. Crassus, who was the most eloquent among our ancestors. He obtained the province of Gaul after his consulship, into which province came Carbo, whose father he had convicted, with the intention of inspecting his actions. He not only did not send him away, but he assigned to him a place on the tribunal, and made no decision without his presence in council. So that sharp and vehement Carbo achieved nothing by his Gallic expedition, but only learnt that his guilty father had been banished by a just and honest man.

§ 3.7.7  The elder Cato was often called to plead for himself, but never convicted of any crime, and at length reposed so much confidence in his innocence, that when he was summoned to a public court, he asked for Gracchus as his judge, who was his particular enemy in public affairs. Thus by his outstanding courage he abated the hostility of his prosecutors.

§ 3.7.8  M. Scaurus had the same fortune, the same length of years, the same courage of mind. When he was accused from the rostra of taking money from Mithridates to betray the commonwealth, he made his defence in this manner: “It is unjust, O Romans, that I who have lived among one sort of people, should come to give an account of my actions among another; yet I will dare to ask you all, the greatest part of whom could not possibly be present at the deeds which I have done, and the honours which I have attained. Varius Severus of Sucro says that Aemilius Scaurus was bribed by the king, and has betrayed the commonwealth. Aemilius Scaurus says that he is not guilty of this. Whom of the two do you believe?” The people were moved with admiration at his saying, and with their loud cries forced Varius to desist from his wild and insane prosecution.

§ 3.7.9  M. Antonius, the orator, did the opposite. For he, not by refusing, but by embracing his own defence, testified how innocent he was. When he was going as quaestor to Asia, he went on his journey as far as Brundisium, where being informed by letters that he was accused of incest before the praetor L. Cassius, whose tribunal, because of his severity, was called the rock of the guilty. Though he might have avoided it by the benefit of the Memmian Law, which forbids prosecutions to be made against those who are absent on public business, yet he returned to the city. By this display of good confidence, he not only obtained a quick acquittal, but a more honourable departure.

§ 3.7.10  These that follow, are also splendid examples of public confidence. For in the war which was undertaken against Pyrrhus, when the Carthaginians had sent a fleet of an hundred and thirty ships to Ostia, to assist the Romans, the senate decided to send messengers with instructions to tell their admiral, that the Romans did not enter into wars which they were unable to carry on without the help of foreigners; and that therefore he might return with his fleet to Carthage.
The same senate some few years later, when the Roman power was almost broken by the defeat at Cannae, sent reinforcements to the army in Spain; and, when Hannibal was with his army at the Capene Gate, they ensured that the site of his camp should sell for no less, than if the Carthaginians were not occupying it. By acting thus in adversity, what else did they do, but compel Fortune, overcome with shame, to return to their side?

§ 3.7.11  It is a great jump to descend from the senate to the poet Accius. But that we may pass from him more reasonably to foreign examples, let us produce him. When Julius Caesar, a great and powerful man, came into the college of poets, he would not so much as rise. He was not forgetful of Caesar's authority, but he believed himself superior in comparison of their literary studies. And therefore he was not guilty of the crime of insolence, seeing the contest was about books, not statues.

§ 3.7e.1  Nor was Euripides to be accounted insolent at Athens, who, when the people required him to remove a sentence from a certain tragedy, appeared upon the stage, and told them that he composed plays to teach them, not by them to be taught. Such confidence is certainly to be praised, which weighing a man's worth, arrogates so much to itself, as to keep distant from contempt and insolence.
Thus his answer can be approved, which he gave to Alcestis when the tragic poet taunted him, because he had not been able to compose more than three verses in the last three days, and that with a great deal of labour too, while the other boasted that he had easily written a hundred lines. “The reason is,” said Euripides, “because yours are only to last three days, and mine are to last for eternity.” For the fluent writing of the one, perished within the first bounds of memory; but the polished and constant style of the other will be carried through all ages upon the wings of time.

§ 3.7e.2  I will add another example from the stage. Antigenidas the musician in everyone's hearing said to one of his pupils, who was outstanding in his art but not approved by the people, “Sing to me and the Muses. ” For perfect art, even if it lacks the flattery of Fortune, should not therefore lack a just confidence in itself. Because it knows that it deserves praise, if it does not receive it from others, it should be content with its own opinion.

§ 3.7e.3  But Zeuxis having painted Helen, did not think it fitting to await what men would say of his work, but presently added to it these verses: “I cannot blame the man that for her strives, Like an immortal god she is - ”[ Iliad, 3.156 ] So did not the painter claim so much for his art, that he had drawn such beauty, as Leda might assume through her celestial birth, or Homer express by his divine wit?

§ 3.7e.4  Phidias also alluded to the verses of Homer in a notable saying. For having finished the statue of Olympian Jupiter, the most outstanding and famous thing that ever human hand did make, he was asked by his friend, where he received his inspiration when he formed the ivory face of Jupiter, because he seemed to fetch it from heaven; he replied that he made use of these following verses: " - With his black brows he to her nodded, Wherewith displayed were his locks divine; Olympus shook at the stirring of his Godhead."

§ 3.7e.5  But now the most renowned generals will no longer permit me to linger upon lesser examples. For Epaminondas, when his fellow-citizens in anger commanded him in contempt to take care of paving the streets in the city (which was one of the lowest offices they had) without any hesitation took it upon him, promising in a short time to make the city most beautiful. By his wonderful exertions he made the most humble office to be admired as a great honour.

§ 3.7e.6  But Hannibal, while he was staying in exile with king Prusias, urged the king to give battle; when the other told him that the entrails portended no good success; he made this reply: “Would you rather, then, believe a little calf's flesh, than an old general?” A brief and concise answer, considering the number of the words; considering the sense, a copious reply, and of great authority. For he that had wrung out of the hands of the Romans both Spains, and having reduced the forces of Gaul and Liguria under his subjection, had opened a new passage through the Alps, laying at the king's feet the dire memory of Lake Trasimene, the famous monument of the Punic victory at Cannae, Capua taken, and all Italy ravaged, could not endure that his glory, witnessed by long experiment, should be put in competition with the liver of one sacrifice. And certainly, as to what concerned the exploring of military sacrifices, and giving advice on warlike actions, the breast of Hannibal was far above all the little fires, all the altars of Bithynia, in the judgment of Mars himself.

§ 3.7e.7  That saying also of King Cotys, was the mark of a most noble spirit, who so soon as he understood that the Athenians had given him citizenship, made answer, that he would give them the rights of his nation. Thereby he equalled Thrace to Athens, lest by accounting himself unable to reciprocate such a benefit, he should have been considered to have thought too meanly of his origin.

§ 3.7e.8  Nobly also was it said by both these Spartans. One of them, being blamed because he went to battle although he was lame, replied that it was his intention to fight, and not to run. The other, being told that the sun would be obscured with the darts of the Persians, said: “That is good, for we shall fight better in the shade.” Another man, of the same city and the same courage, answered to his host, who was showing him the high and broad walls of his city: “If you made them for your women, you did well; but if they are for your men, it was an ignominious thing to do.”

§ 3.8.1  After describing an open and courageous breast endued with good confidence, there remains the necessary task, as it were, of dealing with pertinacity. For Nature has provided that whoever believes himself to have understood anything rightly and justly in his mind, should resolutely defend it, and put it into action against any opposition; or if it is not done, should bring it to effect without delay despite all resistance. But while I seek for an example of what I propound, looking all around me, before all the rest, the pertinacity of Fulvius Flaccus offers itself. He at that time had captured Capua, which through the false promises of Hannibal, had resolved by their vile revolt to put the rule of Italy into the conqueror's hands. Having therefore made a true estimate of the enemies' crime, he decided wholly to exterminate the Campanian senate, who were the authors of that wicked plan. To this intent he sent them all in chains to Teanum and Cales, into two separate prisons, with the intention of carrying out his purpose, when he had done some other things which were more urgent. In the meantime a rumour was spreading that the senate intended a more lenient treatment of them. Lest they should escape their deserved punishment, he took horse in the night-time, directly to Teanum, where he put to death all that were in custody there; and thence he hastened to Cales, where he finished carrying out his severe decision. For though while the Campanians were still bound to the stake, he had received a letter from the conscript fathers instructing him to spare them, he notwithstanding held the letter unopened in his left hand, and commanded the lictor to do his duty; nor would he open the letter, till he knew it was too late to obey it. By this pertinacity he surpassed the glory of his victory. For if we make an estimate of him by dividing up his praise, we shall find him greater in punishing Capua, than in capturing Capua.

§ 3.8.2  This was a pertinacity in severity. That which follows is a most admirable pertinacity in patriotism, which Fabius Maximus rendered indefatigably for the good of his country. He paid out the money to Hannibal for the captives; and then, being publicly defrauded of it, he said nothing. When the senate made Minucius, the master of the horse, equal in authority to him as dictator, he held his tongue. And although provoked with many other injuries, he persisted in the same habit of mind; nor would ever give his passion liberty to be angry with the commonwealth, so steadfast was the love he bore for his fellow-citizens. In his managing the war, was not his pertinacity the same? The Roman empire was broken by the defeat at Cannae, and seemed scarcely able to provide another army. Therefore, believing it to be better to delay and weary the force of the Carthaginians, than to come to battle with all his power, though provoked by the frequent taunts of Hannibal, though he had many times a fair opportunity of success offered, yet he would never abandon from his own wholesome intention, not so much as to hazard a skirmish; and, what is most difficult, he everywhere appeared to be above both anger and hope. And therefore, he relieved his country by not fighting, just as Scipio did by fighting. For the latter destroyed Carthage by his swiftness, the former by his delay took care that Rome should not be destroyed.

§ 3.8.3  From the following story it will also appear, that C. Piso, who was consul at a time of much turbulence and uproar in the commonwealth, conducted himself with a wonderful pertinacity. The fury of the people who had been highly moved by the false promises of M. Palicanus, a seditious person, endeavoured to commit a most foul act at the elections for choosing consuls; they intended to give into his hands the highest power, although his vile actions required rather the utmost severity of punishment, than any mark of honour. Nor was the furious flame of the tribune's authority lacking in anything to inflame the passions of the multitude. When the city was in this miserable and shameful condition, Piso was placed on the rostra, almost by the hands of the tribunes. Everyone flocked around him; and demanded that he should declare Palicanus as consul, who had now been chosen by the votes of the people. He answered, firstly, that he did not believe the commonwealth had been overwhelmed with so much darkness, as to do something so unworthy. And when the people still urged him to declare the result of the election, crying out, “Come, what if it has been done?” he replied, “I will not declare it.” With this short answer he took the consulship away from Palicanus, before he had obtained it. Thus Piso ignored many terrible hazards, as he disdained to renounce the splendid rigour of his mind.

§ 3.8.4  Metellus Numidicus, from perseverance of the same nature, endured a storm most unworthy of his majesty and noble conduct. For when he perceived what Saturninus in his designs of mischief was aiming at, and what ruin they would bring to the commonwealth, if they were not soon prevented, he rather chose banishment, than to submit to the laws of Saturninus. Could any person be thought more constant than this man? Rather than act contrary to his judgment, he suffered to be deprived of his own country, where he had reached the highest ranks of dignity.

§ 3.8.5  However, though I prefer no-one before him, yet may I not undeservedly compare with him Scaevola the augur. Sulla, after scattering and completely defeating his opponents, got possession of the city. Armed as he was, he compelled the senate to accomplish his most eager desire, that Marius should be declared by them a public enemy. No-one dared to resist him, except Scaevola alone, who, when he was asked, refused to give his opinion on the motion. And when Sulla began with a frowning look to threaten him, he said: “Though you may show me the bands of soldiers with which you have surrounded the senate, though you may constantly threaten death, you shall never make me yield, just to for the sake of my little and aged blood, to declare Marius an enemy, by whom this city and all Italy has been preserved.”

§ 3.8.6  What has a woman to do with public assemblies? If the custom of our country be observed, nothing. But when domestic peace and quiet is tossed upon the waves of sedition, the authority of ancient custom gives way. And that which violence compels avails more than what modesty persuades and directs. And therefore, O Sempronia, sister of Ti. and C. Gracchus, wife of Scipio Aemilianus, I would not involve you in a malicious narrative, as if incongruously inserting you among the most weighty examples of virtue. But because when you were brought to answer before the people by a tribune of the plebs, you did not degenerate from the greatness of your ancestors in such a confusion, I will commemorate you. You were forced to stand in that place, where the most important persons in the city used to be confronted. The leaders in authority poured out their threats against you with a severe and cruel countenance, backed by the cries of the rude mob. The whole forum eagerly sought that you should acknowledge with a kiss Equitius, whom they unjustly attempted to impose upon the Sempronian family, as being the son of Tiberius your brother. Yet you thrust him away from you, a monster brought out of I know not what pit of darkness, approaching with an execrable boldness, to usurp a position of kinship, where he had no connection whatsoever.

§ 3.8.7  The great luminaries of our city will not take it amiss, if in the number of their shining stars the virtue of centurions also make bold to show itself. For as humble rank ought to reverence greatness, so ancient nobility ought rather to cherish than despise those who are but newly advanced, by their own acts of virtue. Therefore Titius ought not to be driven out of the company of these examples, who while acting as a sentinel in Caesar's army, was surprised by a detachment of Scipio's army. There was only one way left for him to save himself, if he would serve under Cn. Pompeius, Scipio's son in-law, but he fearlessly made this answer: “Scipio, I thank you for your kindness, but I have no desire to hold my life upon any such condition.” A noble spirit, even without a distinguished family!

§ 3.8.8  Mevius, a centurion of the divine Augustus, observed the same pertinacity of resolution, having distinguished himself by many personal acts of valour in the war with Antony. At length he was captured in an ambush by the enemy, and brought before Antony in Alexandria. When he was asked what punishment he deserved, he said: “Command me to be killed, for neither the benefit of pardon, nor present death shall compel me to cease to serve as a soldier of Caesar, nor now to begin to serve on your side.” But the more constantly he disregarded his life, the more easily he obtained it. For Antony immediately set him free on account of his virtue.

§ 3.8e.1  There are many other Roman examples of this nature; but I must avoid tediousness, and therefore allow my pen to move on to foreign examples. At the front of them let Blassius appear, than whose pertinacity nothing could be more steadfast. He planned to restore Salapia, where he was born, to the Roman empire, when at that time it was garrisoned by the Carthaginians. To this end, with more desire to carry out his plan, than hope of obtaining his goal, he boldly ventured to draw in Dasius, who most fiercely disagreed with him in the administration of affairs and was wholly devoted to Hannibal, but without whose assistance he could not succeed in his plan. This man presently reported to Hannibal all that had passed between him and Blassius, adding of his own what he thought would increase his own commendation, and render his enemy more odious. Hannibal called them both before him; the one to propound, the other to defend what he stood accused of. Now it happened that the matter was brought before the tribunal, while other matters of more moment were being discussed. Blassius with a fair face and low voice earnestly admonished Dasius, to favour and assist the Romans: whereupon Dasius cried out, that he was impudently solicited in the very presence of the general by the prisoner. Because this seemed incredible, and was heard by no-one else, and was spoken by an opponent, the truth was not believed. But not long after the wonderful pertinacity of Blassius drew Dasius to his side, by which means he delivered up Salapia to Marcellus, with five hundred Numidians who were in garrison there.

§ 3.8e.2  Phocion the Athenian, when the Athenians had had prosperous success in the management of an affair contrary to his advice, even so obstinately defended his own opinion, and he told them in his speech, that though he rejoiced in their success, yet his advice was much the better, if they had followed it. For he did not condemn what he saw he had done rightly, when what they undertook by poor advice had turned out successfully; he accounted the one course fortunate, the other wisely advised. Fortune makes rashness to be approved when it prospers on bad advice, and as the good it brings is the unexpected, so also as it causes more vehement damage,. The character of Phocion, pleasing, liberal and endued with all sweetness, was the cause that he was by the consent of all men honoured with the surname of Good. And therefore pertinacity, which by nature seems rather rigid, flowed more gently out of his mild breast.

§ 3.8e.3  But the mind of Socrates, clad with the strength of virility, produced a more rugged example of firm resolution. The whole city of Athens, being carried away by a most wicked and barbarous error, had pronounced a dire sentence against the ten generals, who had defeated the fleet of the Lacedemonians at Arginusae. It happened that Socrates was then in such a position of authority, that it was at his discretion that the people made their public edicts. He, thinking it an unworthy thing, that so many and so well deserving persons should unworthily be dispatched by the violence of envy, opposed his own pertinacity to the rashness of the mob. Nor could he be compelled by the clamours and violent threats of the people, to give his consent to their public madness. Being thus by his opposition hindered from raging in a lawful manner, they persevered unjustly to drench their hands in the innocent blood of the generals. Yet Socrates was not moved by fear that his own death would make an eleventh victim of his country's fury.

§ 3.8e.4  The next example, though not of the same splendour, yet is to be accounted as an equal proof of pertinacity. Ephialtes, an effective speaker of known integrity, at Athens was commanded to accuse several persons, and among the rest to set down the name of Demostratus, whose son was Democrates, a youth of great beauty, who was ardently loved by him. The accuser therefore was cruel by reason of his duty, but considering his private affection miserable and guilty. When the boy came to entreat for mitigation of his father's punishment, prostrating himself at his lover's feet, Ephialtes could not endure to behold him; but with his head covered, weeping and lamenting, he allowed him to pour forth his prayers in vain. Yet nevertheless he secured the conviction of Demostratus, whom he had accused with true integrity. He got this victory, I cannot say whether with greater praise or torment, because before he inflicted punishment upon the guilty, he vanquished himself.

§ 3.8e.5  Dion of Syracuse outdoes him in the weight of his example. He was advised by certain persons to be more wary of Heraclides and Callippus - in whom he had placed great confidence - as they were now plotting against him. He made answer, that he would rather lose his life, than out of fear of a violent death, make no distinction between his friends and his enemies.

§ 3.8e.6  The story which follows is not only remarkable for the thing itself, but also illustrious, when we consider the author. Alexander, king of the Macedonians, having in a very great battle routed the forces of Darius, being in Cilicia almost roasted by the heat of the weather and his exertions, threw himself into the Cydnus, a river running through Tarsus, eminent for the excellence of the water. Upon a sudden, with drinking over-much, his nerves became numb and his arteries were deadened. He was carried in that condition into the town, close by his camp, to the great consternation of the whole army. While he lay ill at Tarsus, suffering from this sickness, the hopes arising from the recent victory became uncertain. And therefore he called his physicians, and they sought for all remedies that might restore his health. They all decided upon one potion, which was made and given to him by the hands of Philippus, his friend and companion. At the same time he received a letter from Parmenion, advising him to beware of the treachery of Philippus, whom Darius had certainly corrupted. Nevertheless, after he had read the letter he drank off the potion, and then gave the letter to Philippus for him to read. For this unswerving opinion of the loyalty of his friend, he received a most worthy reward from the immortal gods, because he would not permit the remedy for his health to be hindered by any false suspicion of treachery in the delivery of it.

§ 4.1.1  BOOK IV
I shall pass on to a most wholesome aspect of the mind: moderation, which will not suffer our minds to be diverted from the right way by the assaults of rashness. And this happens to be not only without blame, but most abounding in the treasures of praise; therefore let us show the effects of it in famous men. And that I may begin from the cradle of the greatest honour, P. Valerius, who for the respect he bore for the majesty of the people was called Publicola, when the kings were driven out of Rome, seeing the whole strength of their power and the emblems of their authority transferred to himself under the title of consul, reduced the invidious loftiness of his magistracy to a custom easily to be endured. He removed the axes from the fasces, and lowered them in all public assemblies of the people. He brought the number of the fasces to be less by one half, and of his own accord took Sp. Lucretius to be his colleague in authority; before whom he caused the fasces to be carried first, because he was the elder. He also enacted a law in the centuriate assembly, that no magistrate should flog or kill a Roman citizen; so that the more liberty the city obtained, the more he by little and little lessened his own authority. He also pulled down his own house because, being situated in a higher part of the city, it seemed to have the resemblance of a castle. Thus though lower in his house, did he not appear higher in his glory?

§ 4.1.2  I can no sooner forsake Publicola, than I gladly come to Furius Camillus. His change of fortune from great ignominy to the highest command, was so moderate, that when his fellow-citizens, after Rome was taken by the Gauls, required his assistance, although he was then an exile in Ardea, he did not begin his journey to Veii, there to take charge of the army, until he learnt that all things had been confirmed in most solemn manner in relation to his being made dictator. Magnificent was the triumph of Camillus over Veii, famous was his victory over the Gauls, but much more admirable was this delay. For it was a harder labour for him to overcome himself than the enemy; neither to escape from adversity with too much haste, nor to meet prosperity with too much joy.

§ 4.1.3  Equal to Furius in moderation was Marcius Rutilus Censorinus. For being a second time created censor, he called the people together to an assembly, and in a speech most sharply upbraided them, because they had twice conferred that office upon him; seeing that their ancestors thought more fitting to abridge and confine the duration of the magistracy, as being too great for one man. Both did well, both Censorinus and the people: for the one instructed them to bestow their high honour with moderation, the other entrusted themselves to the hands of a moderate person.

§ 4.1.4  Come, what a consul was L. Quinctius Cincinnatus! When the conscript fathers would have prolonged his office, not only for his exceptional acts, but because the people intended to continue the same tribunes again the next year, neither of which could be legally done; he hindered the endeavours of both, not only restraining the endeavours of the senate, but forcing the tribunes to follow the example of his own modesty. He alone was the reason that both the senate and the people were kept free from the reproach of acting illegally.

§ 4.1.5  But Fabius Maximus, observing that he himself had been consul five times, and also often his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, at the assembly of the people, where his son was created consul, pleaded very firmly with the people, that they would permit the family of the Fabii to have a respite from honours. He did not mistrust the virtues of his son, who was a very honourable man, but he was unwilling that the supreme honour of the commonwealth should remain within one family. What could be more powerful than this moderation, that overcame even his fatherly affections, which are generally so strong in parents?

§ 4.1.6  Gratitude was not lacking among our ancestors to give due rewards to the elder Africanus; seeing that they endeavoured to adorn his greatest enterprises with equal honours. They were willing to place his statues in the comitium, on the rostra, in the senate-house, and even in the temple of Jupiter the Best and Greatest; they wanted to adorn his statue with triumphal regalia, and place it next to the couches of the gods on the Capitol. They would have given him the consulship as long as he lived, or a perpetual dictatorship. But he would not permit any act of the people, or edict of the senate to be passed in his favour, and carried himself with more glory in refusing those honours, than he had got in obtaining them.
With the same strength of mind he defended the cause of Hannibal in the senate, when Hannibal's own citizens through their ambassadors accused him of causing a sedition among them. He added that it did not become the conscript fathers to meddle in the affairs of the Carthaginians. With great moderation he ensured the safety of the one, and the dignity of the other; he was content to have acted as the enemy of both, only until victory was achieved.

§ 4.1.7  But M. Marcellus, who was the first that taught that the Carthaginians could be defeated, and Syracuse captured, when in the time of his consulship the Syracusans came into the city to make complaints against him, would not permit the senate to hear the case, because his colleague Valerius Laevinus was by chance absent, lest the Sicilians should grow fearful or remiss in their accusation. But as soon as his colleague returned, he himself was the first that reminded the senate to call in the Syracusans; and he patiently listened to them while they made their complaints. And though they were commanded by Laevinus to depart, yet he caused them to stay, so that they might be present at his defence. Afterwards when both parties had been heard, he followed them going out of the senate-house, so that the senate might be the more free in passing their sentence. And when their accusations were rejected, he courteously embraced them, as they humbly entreated him to receive them as his clients. Moreover, having drawn Sicily by lot, he yielded that province to his colleague. And indeed it is difficult to vary the praise of Marcellus, as often as he made use of various degrees of moderation toward the allies.

§ 4.1.8  How admirably did Ti. Gracchus conduct himself! For being tribune of the plebs, though he bore a professed hatred towards the two Scipios, Africanus and Asiaticus; yet when Scipio Asiaticus, not being able to pay the fine which had been imposed on him, was therefore commanded by the consul to be taken to prison, upon his appeal to the college of tribunes, when no-one would intercede for him, he dissented. He went away from the college and composed a decree, in writing which everyone thought that he would use the words and expressions of an angry enemy. In the first place he swore that he was not friends with Scipio, and then recited this decree in his own words: that whereas L. Cornelius Scipio had cast into prison the generals of the enemy, whom he had led before his chariot on the day of his triumph; it was unworthy and unbecoming of the majesty of the Roman people, that he should be led to prison himself. And therefore he would not suffer it to be done. Then gladly the Roman people saw how Gracchus had deceived them in their opinion, and extolled his moderation with fitting praise.

§ 4.1.9  C. Claudius Nero is also to be numbered among the best examples of outstanding moderation. He shared with Livius Salinator the glory of defeating Hasdrubal. Yet he chose rather to follow his triumphing colleague on horseback, than himself to accept of the honour of a triumph, which the senate had equally voted for him; because the battle was fought in Salinator's province. Therefore he triumphed without a chariot, so much the more gloriously, because only the victory of the one, but the moderation of the other was thereby commended.

§ 4.1.10  Nor does the younger Africanus permit us to pass him by in silence. When he was censor, he was concluding the lustrum, and at the customary sacrifice, the scribe was singing a solemn hymn of praise as set down in the public records, in which the gods were supplicated to prosper and advance the affairs of the Roman people. “They are,” said Africanus, “in a condition good and great enough, and therefore I desire the gods to preserve them safe as they are.” And therefore he ordered the song to be amended accordingly in the public records. This modest form of prayer was used by the censors when they concluded the lustrum for ever after. Prudently he believed, that the increase of the Roman empire was to be sought, in the days when they fought for triumphs just seven miles from the city. But when they now possessed the greater part of the world, that it was a greediness to desire more. They should be happy if they lost nothing of what they had already won.
Nor did his moderation appear less on his tribunal as censor. For when he was mustering the centuries of the knights, he saw C. Licinius Sacerdos appear according to his summons. “I know,” said he, “that he has perjured himself explicitly. And therefore if anyone would accuse him, I will be a witness.” But when no man came forward to accuse him, “Lead your horse across,” said he, “Sacerdos, and escape the censor's mark, lest I be forced to act all the parts of an accuser, witness and judge against you.”

§ 4.1.11  This attitude of mind is also noteworthy in Q. Scaevola, a most excellent person. For when he was produced as a witness against a defendant, he had given answers that seemed to be highly damaging to the accused man, but he added as he went away, that they ought not to give credence to him only, unless many others stated the same thing; for to believe the testimony of a single person, seemed to be a very bad precedent. By this he fulfilled the obligation of his oath, and at the same time gave wholesome advice for the common good.

§ 4.1.12  I am conscious what citizens, and what deeds and sayings of theirs I am forced to describe within a narrow compass of speech; but when many and great things are to be spoken concerning the renown of great men, there is no narrative concerning an infinite number of persons and deeds that can perform both functions. And therefore our purpose is not to praise, but to record them all; and therefore the two Metelli, Macedonicus and Numidicus, two of the greatest ornaments of their country, ask permission to be briefly remembered. Metellus Macedonicus had most forcefully quarrelled with Scipio Africanus; and this contention, arising out of an emulation of each other's virtue, grew into most grievous and terrible dislike of each other. But when he heard it reported that Scipio was slain, he ran into the public street with a sad countenance and disordered voice, crying out, “Come together, citizens come, the walls of our city are defaced and ruined. For Scipio has been violently slain at home in his sleep.” Oh unhappy commonwealth on the death of Africanus, but happy in the generous and kind lamentation of Macedonicus. For at the same time he made known how brave a leader Rome had lost, and how brave a one it still enjoyed. He ordered his sons also to be the supporters of Scipio's bier, adding this words of honour to his funeral, that it would never be their fortune to perform that office for a greater man. Where now were those many quarrels in the senate-house, those many dissentions on the rostra? Where those almost 'battles in togas' of such great leaders and statesmen? All these his most praiseworthy moderation utterly abolished.

§ 4.1.13  Metellus Numidicus, expelled from his country by a populist faction, withdrew into Asia. There he received letters, as he was at Tralles beholding certain games, reporting that with the universal consent of senate and people, he was freely permitted to return to his own country; but he would not stir out of the theatre till the play was ended. He did not show any change of gladness to those that sat next him on any side, but contained his great joy within himself, carrying the same countenance in his exile, as at his restoration. So indistinguishably did he conduct himself between adversity and prosperity, by reason of his moderation.

§ 4.1.14  When so many families are being listed as famous for this kind of virtue, is it right that we leave out the Porcian name, as lacking its share in this part of glory? The younger Cato will not so permit it, trusting in a conspicuous example of his own moderation. He had brought the money of Cyprus with great diligence and integrity back to the city; for this achievement the senate ordained, that he should be allowed to stand as a candidate at the next elections for praetors, outside the regular time; but he would not allow it to be done, affirming it to be unjust, that what was never decreed to any other, should be decreed to him. And lest any new custom should arise on his account, he rather chose the hazards of an open election, than to accept the kindness of the senate.

§ 4.1.15  While I am endeavouring to pass on from here to foreign examples, Marcus Bibulus, a person of great dignity, and venerable for his high honours, lays hands upon me. When he was in Syria, he received news that two of his sons, of high hopes, had both been slain by the soldiers of Gabinius. Their murderers were afterwards sent to him in chains by Cleopatra, so that he could take revenge as he pleased for such a great calamity. He, notwithstanding as great an opportunity was offered him, as could be desired by any person who had suffered wrong, yet caused his grief to give way to his moderation. He immediately sent back to Cleopatra these murderers of his own flesh and blood, informing her that the power of revenge did not belong to him, but to the senate.

§ 4.1e.1  Archytas of Tarentum immersed himself at Metapontum in the precepts of Pythagoras, and after long labour and study, having absorbed the whole body of learning, returned into his own country. When he came to inspect his estate, he found that, through the negligence of his steward, it were very much decayed and ruined. Then, looking at his ill-deserving servant, “I would most certainly,” said he, " have punished you according to your desert, if I were not angry with you." And therefore he preferred to let him go unpunished, rather than in his anger punish him more severely than was just.

§ 4.1e.2  The moderation of Archytas was over-liberal, that of Plato more reasonable. For being vehemently annoyed by a slave who had done wrong, fearing that he himself would be excessive in his punishment, he committed it to his friend Speusippus; deeming it unbecoming, if he had over-reacted, that the fault of his slave and the punishment by Plato should both deserve the same reproof.
This makes me less surprised that he was so constantly moderate toward Xenocrates his pupil. Plato was informed that he had spoken ill of him many times. He without hesitation ignored the accusation. The informer very intently asked him why he did not believe him. He replied that it was not credible that he whom he loved so well should not love him as well again. At length when the malice of the mischief-maker sought to confirm his story with oaths, Plato did not say that he he was lying; but that if Xenocrates did say such things of him, he would not have said them, if he did not think it helpful to speak so. One would have thought his soul was not residing in a mortal body, but in a celestial tower, and as it were armed, so that it could so invincibly ward off the incursions of human vices, keeping the whole range of virtues in the fortress of his breast.

§ 4.1e.3  Dion of Syracuse does not deserve a commendation equal with Plato for literary studies, but of his moderation he gave a greater proof. He was expelled his country by the tyrant Dionysius, and went to Megara. There he went to visit Theodorus, the leader of that city, but when he had still not been admitted after a long and tedious wait, he said to his friend, “This is patiently to be endured, for perhaps when we were in authority, we ourselves did something like this.” By this placidity of mind he made his own exile more bearable for himself.

§ 4.1e.4  Thrasybulus is next to be recorded. When the people of Athens were forced to leave their homes through the cruelty of the thirty tyrants, and to live miserably scattered and wandering, he brought them back to their own country. However, he made the victorious restoration of their liberty more renowned by his most praiseworthy moderation. For he made a law, that no mention should be made of past actions. This act of forgetting, which the Athenians call amnesty, restored the shaken and decaying state of the city to its former condition of glory.

§ 4.1e.5  No less admirable is what follows. Stasippus of Tegea, when his friends advised him by any means to kill or remove a person, who was his rival in the administration of the commonwealth though otherwise he was a just and upright person, refused to do any such act, fearing lest the place in government, which was now held by a good man, would be taken over by someone of a perverse and evil disposition. He preferred that he should be vigorously challenged by his opponent, rather than that his country should lack such an outstanding advocate.

§ 4.1e.6  The breast of Pittacus was well endued with moderation. He became an absolute tyrant over his country, but when Alcaeus the poet abused him not only with an inveterate hatred, but with the strength of his sharp wit, he merely put his hand upon his lips, to made him understand what was in his power to do.

§ 4.1e.7  The mention which I have made of this man, brings to our consideration the moderation of the seven sages. A certain person had bought a catch from some fishermen in the territory of Miletus; but when they brought up a golden Delphic tripod of exceedingly great weight, a dispute arose; these affirmed that the sale was only of fish, while the person affirmed he bought the catch in general. By reason of the unusualness of the occurrence, and the value of the treasure, the dispute was referred to the judgment of all the city. The city thought it appropriate to consult Apollo at Delphi: the god answered, that it was to be given to whoever excelled in wisdom, in these words: “Who first in wisdom all excels, to him the tripod give.” Thereupon the Milesians by general consent gave the tripod to Thales: he yielded it to Bias, Bias to Pittacus, and so from one to another, until at length it came to Solon, who gave the title of greatest wisdom, as also the reward, to Apollo himself.

§ 4.1e.8  And let us bear witness to the moderation of Theopompus, king of the Lacedaemonians. He caused the creation of the ephors, which were to be a curb to the kingly power in Lacedaemon, as the tribunes were a curb to the consular authority in Rome. When his wife remarked that he had done something which would leave less power for his children. “I shall leave it less,” said he, “but more lasting.” That was rightly said; for that power is most lasting which gives limits to itself. Therefore Theopompus, by binding his kingship in legal fetters, the more he moved it away from unbridled power, the more he fixed it in the goodwill of his subjects.

§ 4.1e.9  But Antiochus, when the boundaries of his kingdom were driven back by L. Scipio beyond Mount Taurus, so that he lost Asia and all the adjacent kingdoms, thought himself bound, without dissimulation, to return thanks to the Romans, because they had freed him from great cares, by compelling him to govern a moderate extent of territory. And indeed there is nothing so illustrious or magnificent, that it may not be tempered by moderation.

§ 4.2.1  Now that we have demonstrated this by many and most renowned examples, let us pass to a most admirable transformation of the mind, the change from hatred to friendship; and let us pursue it in a cheerful style. For if the boisterous sea turning calm, and the stormy sky appearing with a serene aspect, and war making a change for peace, are no small cause of comfort, the softening of the bitterness of hatred is to be celebrated with a sincere description. Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, twice consul, and pontifex maximus, equal in the splendour of his honours to the rectitude of his life, bore an inveterate and continual hatred to Fulvius Flaccus, a person of the same dignity. As soon as they were both declared censors together, he laid the hatred aside in the Campus. He believed it inappropriate for those to be privately at odds, who were coupled together in the supreme public authority. That judgment of his mind was approved by his contemporaries, and the old writers of annals have recorded to us as a thing most worthy of praise.

§ 4.2.2  Nor would they let the illustrious decision of Livius Salinator to end a quarrel remain unknown to posterity. For though he went into exile with a burning hatred against Claudius Nero, angered at the evidence which he gave against him; yet when the people had recalled him, and made him colleague with Nero in the consulship, he commanded himself to forget his own disposition, which was most fiery, and the heavy injury which he had received - lest by denying to take a partnership in government, through the inward disaffection of his mind, he should have acted the part of an evil consul, by showing his hatred towards his opponent. This inclination of his mind to a better disposition, in an dangerous and difficult state of affairs, produced no small advantage to the city and all Italy; for the consuls, supported by their equal strength of virtue, were the first that broke the force and turned the fortune of the Carthaginians.

§ 4.2.3  A good example of enmity laid aside we find also in the elder Africanus and Ti. Gracchus. For they came to the rites of a sacred table with a boiling hatred towards each other, and from the same table they departed entire friends. For Scipio at the urging of the senate entered into friendship with Gracchus on the Capitol at the feast of Jupiter; but not content with that, he there also espoused his daughter Cornelia to him.

§ 4.2.4  This gentle affection appeared chiefly in M. Cicero. For he vigorously defended A. Gabinius, who had expelled him from the city during his consulship. And the same person preserved P. Vatinius in two public trials, though Vatinius was always an enemy to his authority - without any imputation of levity, and so also with some praise. For it is more splendid to overcome injuries with benefits, than to retaliate with obstinate animosity.

§ 4.2.5  This act of Cicero's seemed so laudable, that P. Pulcher, his deadly enemy, did not disdain to follow it. Although he had been accused of incest by the three Lentuli, he received one of them into his protection, when he was accused of bribery; although he could see the judge, the praetor, and the temple of Vesta, where Lentulus in a hostile speech had endeavoured to ruin his reputation with a foul accusation.

§ 4.2.6  Caninius Gallus also acted remarkably both as defendant and prosecutor. For he married the daughter of C. Antonius, whom he had convicted; and he made M. Colonius, by whom he had been prosecuted, the steward of his estate.

§ 4.2.7  As for Caelius Rufus, though his life was infamous, yet the pity that he showed to Q. Pompeius was laudable. Pompeius had been crushed by him in a public trial, but when his mother Cornelia would not restore to him the estates, which had been conveyed to her in trust, and he earnestly sought his help in a letter, Caelius strenuously assisted him in his absence. He read out the letter in court, which testified to the desperate need of Pompeius; and by this he overcame the impious avarice of Cornelia - an act to be praised for its compassionate humanity, even though it was done by Caelius.

§ 4.3.1  With great care and especial zeal are we now to relate, how those impetuous desires of lust and avarice have been banished from the spirit of great persons by means of reason and counsel. For that city, that family, that kingdom easily remains in a lasting state of firmness, where lust and avarice have the smallest influence. For where those plagues of humankind have got a footing, there injury prevails, infamy rages, violence dwells and wars arise. But with due approval, let us call to mind behaviour that was contrary to those most pestilent vices. Scipio in the twenty-fourth year of his age, having captured New Carthage in Spain, and conceiving in his mind good hopes of taking the greater Carthage, had brought into his power many hostages, which the Carthaginians kept confined in that city, and among the rest an adult maiden of most surpassing beauty. Although he was young, unmarried and a conqueror, yet understanding that she was of a noble family among the Celtiberians, and engaged to Indibilis, one of the leading men of that country, he sent for her parents and her fiancé, and returned her untouched to her own family, adding to her dowry the gold that was brought for her ransom. This restraint and generosity of his so moved Indibilis, that he persuaded the Celtiberians to side with the Romans, thereby proving himself truly grateful for so great a favour.

§ 4.3.2  As Spain was a witness of Scipio's abstinence, so did Epirus, Achaia, the Cyclades islands, the coast of Asia, and the province of Cyprus, all give testimony to the continence of Cato. When he had the task of sending great sums of money from this region, he showed himself as free from wantonness, as from desire of gain, though he had opportunity enough to have been intemperate in both. For the royal treasury was all at his disposal, and he was forced everywhere to take up his lodgings in Greek cities which were most abundant in all pleasures. And this is testified in writing by Munatius Rufus, his faithful companion in the Cyprian expedition. Though I rely not altogether upon his testimony; the subject itself is a sufficient proof, seeing that Cato and Continence were both born from the same womb of Nature.

§ 4.3.3  Most certain it is that Drusus Germanicus, the glory of the Claudian family, an outstanding ornament of his country, and above all, for the greatness of his actions relative to his age, near approaching the grandeur of his imperial stepfather and brother, the two divine eyes of the commonwealth, was eminently known to have confined his love of women to his particular and single affection for his own wife. Antonia also, a woman who surpassed in merits the renown of the men in her family, requited the love of her husband with a similar fidelity. And after his death, in the flower of her age and beauty, she attached herself to the house of her mother-in-law instead of remarrying, so that in the same bed the vigorous youth of the one was extinguished, and the experienced widowhood of the other grew old. And so let their bedchamber form the end of these examples.

§ 4.3.4  Let us now spend some time upon examples of those who never craved for money. Cn. Marcius was a young man of a patrician family, a renowned descendant of king Ancus. He took his surname from Corioli, a town of the Volsci which had been captured. When for his noble acts of bravery, he was praised in a speech in front of the army by Postumus Cominius the consul, and rewarded with military awards, besides a hundred iugera of land, his choice of ten prisoners, as many horses with their trappings, a herd of a hundred oxen, and a great weight of silver. Yet he refused all, accepting of nothing but the liberty of one captive who had been his host, and one horse for service in war. Through this restrained moderation of mind, it is hard to judge whether he merited most in deserving or refusing those rewards.

§ 4.3.5  M'. Curius, a most upright specimen of Roman frugality, as well as a perfect example of courage, was not ashamed to show himself sitting upon a rustic stool before the fire eating from a wooden platter - you may guess at his how simple the food was. He despised the riches of the Samnites, and the Samnites wondered at his poverty. For when they brought him a great weight of gold, sent to him by their countrymen as a present, and politely asked him to accept it, he fell into laughter, and presently said, “You have come here upon a needless, if I may not call it foolish embassy. Go tell the Samnites that Curius had rather command rich men than be rich himself; and carry back that precious gift invented for the evil of mankind; and remember that I can neither be overcome in battle, nor be corrupted with money.”
The same person when he had driven Pyrrhus out of Italy, nevertheless would not touch the least part of all those royal spoils with which he had so enriched the army and the city. Moreover, he would not exceed the usual measure of public allotment, though the senate gave him fifty iugera of land, while the rest of the people had but seven iugera; he esteemed him no good citizen, who could not be content with what was given to others.

§ 4.3.6  Of the same opinion was Fabricius Luscinus, who was greater than any person of his time in honour and authority; but in estate not above the poorest. When the Samnites, who were under his protection, sent him a present of ten thousand bronze coins and five pounds of gold, and the same number of slaves, he sent them back to Samnium; with the benefit of his continence he was rich without money, and well attended without a large household; so much did he abound in honour earned by the contempt of those things. Therefore his house lacked any bronze or silver or slaves given by the Samnites, but it was full of the glory that they brought him.
The prayers of Fabricius were in agreement with those spurned gifts. For when he went as ambassador to Pyrrhus, and heard Cineas the Thessalian telling the king of a certain Athenian famous for his wisdom, who was of opinion that men should do nothing except for pleasure's sake, he regarded it as a monstrous saying, and immediately made a prayer that such wisdom might grip Pyrrhus and the Samnites. Though the Athenians might glory in their learning, yet there is no prudent person who would not rather choose to follow the self-denial of Fabricius, than the precepts of Epicurus. This was proved true by the outcome. For that city which indulged so much in pleasure, lost a very large empire, but the hard-working country took its own; and the latter city could bestow that liberty, which the former could not defend.

§ 4.3.7  One might easily conjecture that Q. Tubero, surnamed Catus, was the disciple of Curius and Fabricius. When he was consul, the Aetolians sent him a large gift of silver plate, not only of a very great weight, but also most exquisitely made; because their ambassadors, whom they had formerly sent to congratulate him, upon their return had related how they saw him eating only on earthenware dishes. He immediately told them to take their things away, warning them that they should not think that continence needed the same help as poverty. How well did he prefer his own domestic poverty rather than the Aetolian splendour; if only the succeeding ages would have followed his example! But now to such a height of luxury have we grown, that slaves refuse to make use of that houseware, which previously a consul did not blush to use.

§ 4.3.8  After the overthrow of Perseus, Paullus had so glutted the old traditional poverty of our city with wealth, that at that time the Roman people first freed itself from the burden of paying taxes. Yet he in no way enriched his own family, accounting it enough that by his victories he got the glory, while others got the money.

§ 4.3.9  To this sound judgment of his, Q. Fabius Gurges, N. Fabius Pictor, and Q. Ogulnius subscribed, who were sent as ambassadors to king Ptolemy. They conveyed those gifts, which they had personally received from the king, into the public treasury, before they would give an account of their embassy to the senate; because they judged that there was nothing due for faithful public service, but the reward of praise. But the senate showed their gratitude, and the righteous behaviour of our ancestors. For what they had laid up in the treasury was restored to the ambassadors not only by the decree of the senate, but by the consent of the people; and the quaestors willingly paid out what was awarded by that law. Thus the liberality of Ptolemy, the abstinence of the ambassadors, the fairness of the senate and people, had in all an equal share of a praiseworthy action.

§ 4.3.10  That Calpurnius Piso was an imitator of the Fabii and Ogulnii, this story makes manifest. When in his consulship he had freed Sicily from the bloody war against the runaway slaves, as the commander he rewarded those with gifts, whose had given him exceptional service; among the rest he gave to his son, who had conducted himself valiantly, a crown of gold weighing three pounds. He said also, that the chief magistrate should not take money out of the public treasury to spend upon his own family; and therefore he would leave so much gold in addition to the young man in his will, as to pay for it; so that though he received his honour publicly, he should receive the money privately from his father.

§ 4.3.11  Let us see if we can find any great person in this age that makes use of goatskins for his coverlet, and while he governs all Spain, has but three slaves to attend him; that spends no more than five hundred asses and somewhat over in his preparation for his journey; that drinks the same drink, and eats the same food which the sailors feed upon; would that person not be thought pitiable? Yet all this did the elder Cato patiently endure, confining himself with an extraordinary delight to a pleasing habit of frugality.

§ 4.3.12  The younger Cato was born long after the abstinence of ancient times, coming into the world at a time, when the city abounded in riches and all manner of luxury. Yet when he was a commander in the civil wars, having his son along with him, nevertheless he had only twelve slaves with him; in number more than the former Cato used, but if the alteration of the times is considered, fewer.

§ 4.3.13  I take much delight in recording the deeds of illustrious heroes. Scipio Aemilianus, after he had held two consulships, and had celebrated two triumphs for his own conquests, yet went upon a great embassy accompanied by no more than seven slaves. And I think that he might have purchased more with the spoils of Carthage and Numantia, if he had not preferred that the praise of his great deeds should accrue to himself, and the spoils to his country. And therefore when he travelled through the countries of our allies and other foreign nations, they took account not of his slaves, but of his victories. Nor did men consider how much gold and silver, but how much weight of worth he carried with him.

§ 4.3.14  This self-restraint appeared in the very breasts of the common people, but it shall suffice to relate two examples of widely different times. Pyrrhus ,when he saw the violence of his onslaught at a standstill, and the hearts of his Epirotes beginning to fail, hoped to buy the goodwill of the Roman people, whose virtue he could not overcome. He transported almost all the wealth of his treasury into our city. But when his ambassadors went from house to house with large gifts fit for the use of men and women, they could not find a door open to them. Thus Pyrrhus, more bold than prosperous in defence of the arrogance of Tarentum, was repelled and defeated as well by the morals as by the arms of the city; nor can I determine which of these was the greatest victory.
In that storm also, with which Marius and Cinna infested the commonwealth, the people displayed remarkable abstinence. For when they gave the people liberty to ransack the houses of those whom they had proscribed, there was no man to be found that would lay hands upon the spoils of other citizens' grief. For everyone abstained from seizing them, as from things consecrated to the gods. This compassionate abstinence of the common people was a tacit reproach to the cruelty of the victors.

§ 4.3e.1  And lest we should be thought to begrudge the same praise for foreigners: Pericles, the leader of the Athenians, when he observed that Sophocles the tragedian, who was his colleague as general, was over-lavish in his words of praise for a beautiful boy that passed by, reprehended him in these words: “A magistrate ought to keep his eyes free from lustful desires, as well as his hands free from unlawful gain.”

§ 4.3e.2  Sophocles himself, being now advanced in years, and being asked by someone whether he still indulged in amorous dalliances, replied, “The gods have taught me better, for I gladly fled from it, as from some furious tyranny.”

§ 4.3e.3  Of equal abstinence was Xenocrates in his old age; of whose opinion the following account is sufficient proof. Phryne, a famous courtesan of Athens, while he was in drink, laid herself upon the couch by him, having received a sum of money from some young men to try if she could tempt him. But though he neither refused to hear her flattering allurements, nor to let her stroke and handle him, but let her lie dallying in his bosom, yet he at length he sent her away without any success in her scheme. That was the abstemious act of a mind endued with wisdom. But the saying of the courtesan was very witty: when the young men derided her because although she was so beautiful and charming, she could not win the affection of an old man, and refused to give her what they had promised, she replied that the bargain was to deal with a man, and not with a statue. Could this abstinence of Xenocrates be more truly or aptly be demonstrated by anyone, than by this expression of the courtesan herself? For Phryne with all her beauty could not weaken nor sway the most persistent abstinence of the philosopher.
What of king Alexander - could he tempt Xenocrates with his riches? You would have thought that he too was assailing a statue, just like the courtesan. The king sent ambassadors to him with a gift of several talents; they were brought into the Academy, and entertained according to his habits, in a sparse and humble fashion. The next day the ambassadors asked him whether he would like to have his money counted out. “I thought,” said he, “that by your meal yesterday, you would understand that my condition does not require money.” Thus while the king desired to buy the friendship of the philosopher, the philosopher refused to sell it to him.

§ 4.3e.4  The same Alexander, who had obtained the name of Invincible, could not defeat the continence of Diogenes the Cynic. As he was sitting in the sun, Alexander came to him and asked how he might do him a favour. Diogenes, who was sitting on a step, a man of poor title, but of robust steadfastness, replied, “As to the rest, later on; but in the meantime, do not stand between me and the sun.” These words carried a deeper sense within them: that Alexander might sooner overcome Darius by his arms, than move Diogenes by his riches.
The same Diogenes, when Aristippus, seeing him washing vegetables in Syracuse, told him that if only he could flatter Dionysius he need not eat such trash, made this reply, “No - if you could eat this simple food, you would not need to flatter Dionysius.”

§ 4.4.1  That children are the greatest ornaments to married women, we find written by Pomponius Rufus in his book of Collections, as follows. When a Campanian lady staying at the house of Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, showed her her jewels and other ornaments, which were the fairest of any at that time, Cornelia remained talking with her till her children returned from school. “And these,” she said when they appeared, “are my ornaments.” For he has everything that covets nothing, and much more certainly than he that possesses all things. For great possessions often fail, but a good habit of mind is above the storms of Fortune. And therefore why should we put riches in the highest part of happiness, or poverty in the lowest degree of misery? Especially when the chearful countenance of wealth is full of many concealed sorrows; and the more rugged and deformed aspect of poverty often abounds with many sure and solid pleasures. This will be better demonstrated by persons than by words. After the pride of Tarquinius had led to the end of government by kings, Valerius Publicola with Junius Brutus as his colleague auspiciously instituted the office of consulship. The same person was subsequently consul on three occasions to the great content of the people, and by many and most renowned actions enlarged the glory of his reputation. And yet this great pillar of history died, not leaving a patrimony sufficient for the cost of his funeral, which were therefore defrayed at public expense. There is no need to make any further search into the poverty of so great a person, for it is apparent how little he possessed while he lived, when after his death he lacked both a bier and funeral-pyre.

§ 4.4.2  We may well guess how high in dignity Agrippa Menenius was, whom the senate and people chose to be the arbitrator of their differences, and to make peace between them - that he was as great as he ought to be, who was judge of the public welfare. This man, if the people had not gathered among themselves one sextans each to make up the sum, could not have defrayed his simple funeral expenses, dying so poor that he could not afford a decent burial. Yet the state, rent by a pernicious sedition, was content to be reconciled by the hands of Agrippa, because it had observed that they were be pure, even though they were poor. Although he had nothing while he lived that could be publicly taxed, yet after his death he has as his patrimony, even today, the concord and unity of Rome.

§ 4.4.3  I cannot deny that there was silver in the houses of C. Fabricius and Q. Aemilius Papus, the principal men of their times. Each of them had a dish for the worship of the gods and a salt-cellar. Fabricius seemed more opulent, because he had a base of horn to his dish. But Papus seemed more spirited, who having received his vessels as an inheritance, for religion's sake would not part with them,.

§ 4.4.4  Those rich men who were called from the plough to be made consuls - did they plough the sandy and barren soil of Pupinia for pleasure's sake, and break those vast clods with continual sweat and labour for entertainment? No, those men, whom the perils of the commonwealth called to be generals, were compelled by their poverty at home to lead the the life of (for why should truth conceal the proper name?) ploughmen.

§ 4.4.5  They who were sent by the senate to call Atilius to undertake the government of the Roman people, found him sowing seeds. But those hands, hardened with rustic labour, established the safety of the commonwealth, and defeated mighty armies of the enemies; and those hands that lately held the ox-plough, now held the reins of the triumphal chariot. Nor was he ashamed, when he had laid down his ivory sceptre, to return again to the plough-handle. Well may Atilius comfort the poor, but much more may instruct the rich, how unnecessary is the troublesome care of gathering wealth, for the sincere desire of purchasing solid honour.

§ 4.4.6  Of the same name and blood, Atilius Regulus, the greatest glory and the greatest calamity of the Punic War, when in Africa he had destroyed the prosperity of the most insolent Carthaginians by the success of his many victories, learnt that his authority was continued for the next year, on account of his worthy deeds. He wrote to the consuls, that the steward of his little farm of seven iugera that he had in the territory of Pupinia was dead, and that a man whom he had hired had run away with the farm equipment, and therefore he desired that a successor might be sent him, because if his land remained untilled, his wife and children would be without food. When the consuls had reported this to the senate, they caused his farm to be let, and provided sustenance for his wife and children, and ordered those things that he had lost to be publicly redeemed. Such was the cost to our treasury of Atilius's virtue, that every age will boast of among the Romans.

§ 4.4.7  Equally large was the estate of L. Quinctius Cincinnatus. For he possessed only seven iugera of land, and of these he had lost three, which he had given to the treasury as surety for a friend, in payment of a fine. And with the rest of this little land he paid another fine for his son Caeso, who had not appeared when he was summoned to a lawsuit. And yet when he was ploughing only four iugera of this land, he not only upheld the dignity of his family, but had the dictatorship conferred upon him. He accounts himself to live splendidly now, whose house stands upon as much ground as all Cincinnatus' farm contained.

§ 4.4.8  What shall I say of the Aelian family? How rich were they? There were sixteen of that name, whose little house stood where now the Marian monuments are located, and a small farm in the territory of Veii, that needed fewer men to till it than it had owners, and spectators' places in the Circus Maximus and Circus Flaminius; these places were publicly bestowed upon them on account of their virtue.

§ 4.4.9  That family had not one scruple of silver, before Paullus, after he had utterly defeated Perseus, gave to Aelius Tubero, his son-in-law, five pounds of silver, out of the spoils that were taken. I omit, that the chief person of the city gave his daughter in marriage to one whose family and estate was so exceeding meagre. And he himself died so very poor, that if he had not sold the one farm which he had left, there would not been sufficient for his wife to recover her dowry. The minds of men and women were then most vigorous in the city, and the worth of every man was then in all things weighed against his good character. It was this that earned high offices, that brought together marriage alliances, that had the greatest influence in the forum and within the walls of a private home. For everyone made it his business to increase the prosperity of his country, not of himself; and they rather chose poverty in a rich empire, than riches in a poor empire. And to this noble resolution this reward was given, that it was not possible to buy any of those things which were earned by virtue; and the needs of illustrious men were supplied out of public funds.

§ 4.4.10  And therefore, during the Second Punic War Cn. Scipio wrote from Spain to the senate, desiring that a successor might be sent to him, because he had a daughter now fit for marriage, and no dowry could be provided for her, unless he was present. The senate, lest the commonwealth should lose a good general, performed the duty of a father, and having with the advice of his wife and relatives agreed upon the dowry, caused it to be paid out of the public treasury. The dowry was (?) four thousand asses: from which not only the kindness of the conscript fathers is apparent, but the usual size of ancient estates may be guessed at. For they were so small, that Tuccia the daughter of Caeso was said to have brought her husband a large dowry, when she brought him ten thousand asses. And Megullia, who entered her husband's house with fifty thousand asses, was called for that reason, the girl with the dowry. And therefore the senate rescued the daughters of Fabricius Luscinus and Scipio, from lacking dowries, by their own liberality, seeing that their parents had nothing to give them but their abundant honours.

§ 4.4.11  What inheritance M. Scaurus received from his father, he himself relates in the first book that he wrote concerning his life. For he says that he had only six slaves, and the whole value of his estate was only thirty five thousand sesterces. This is the wealth that nurtured the spirit of the man who later became the princeps senatus.
These examples therefore we ought to observe, and calm our minds with the consolation from them, when we are always complaining of the scantiness or our own fortunes. We find no silver, or a very small quantity, few slaves, seven iugera of barren land, domestic poverty, funeral expenses publicly defrayed, daughters without dowries. But we behold famous consulships, remarkable dictatorships, and innumerable triumphs. Why do we therefore with continual reproaches condemn a poor livelihood, as the chief evil of humankind? This is what, not with superfluously flowing, yet with faithful breasts, nourished the Publicolae, the Aemilii, the Fabricii, the Curii, the Scipios, the Scauri, and all the other pillars of virtue equal to these. Let us rather raise our spirits, and comfort our minds, which are debilitated by the sight of money, with the memory of former times. For I swear, by the hut of Romulus and the humble roofs of the ancient Capitol and the eternal flames of Vesta, which even now are content with earthenware utensils, no riches could possibly be preferred to the poverty of such men.

§ 4.5.1  From this it seems appropriate to pass on to Modesty (verecundia); for she taught the most upright men to disregard their own private property, and to have concern only for the public. She is a virtue worthy to have temples built and consecrated to her, as to a celestial deity; as being the parent of all good counsel, the guardian of the most solemn offices, the mistress of innocence; dear to her own people, acceptable to strangers, and in all places, and at all times, carrying a favourable aspect. But let us return from praises to actions. From the founding of the city, to the time that Africanus and T. Longus were consuls [193 BCE], the senate and people sat mixed together when they watched shows and games: yet not one of the people would venture to take a place in front of any of the senate. So circumspect was the modesty of our citizens; a most certain proof of this occurred on that day, when L. Flamininus, having been removed from the senate by the censors M. Cato and L. Flaccus, stood at the back of the theatre, though he had been consul and was the brother of T. Flamininus, the conqueror of Philip king of Macedonia. As soon as the people saw this, they compelled him to take that place which his dignity demanded.

§ 4.5.2  Terentius Varro sorely wounded the commonwealth, by rashly giving battle at Cannae. Yet he refused to take upon himself the dictatorship, which had subsequently been decreed to him by the full consent of the senate and people. By his restrained modesty, he made amends for the fault of a most fatal defeat: and through his modest behavior, made them impute the public calamity, not to him, but to the anger of the gods. And the dictatorship refused can be inscribed on his statue with more renown than the dictatorship held by some others.

§ 4.5.3  Let us now look at a splendid act of modesty. Fortune, not without some ill will, had brought Cn. Scipio, the son of the elder Africanus, together with C. Cicereius the scribe, into the Campus for the election of praetors; and he was very much reprehended by the common people for his insolent behaviour, because he had abused the family and patronage of such a great man, by appearing in the contest of the elections. But Cicereius turned Scipio's blame into his praise. For when he saw himself preferred by all the centuries above Scipio, he went down from the temple, and throwing off his candidate's white toga, he came in again and transferred his support to his rival Scipio. He was more willing to yield the praetorship to the memory of Africanus, than to claim it for himself. Nor was the reward of his modesty small; for though Scipio obtained the praetorship, yet Cicereius won all the praise.

§ 4.5.4  And so that we may not immediately leave the subject of elections, when L. Crassus stood for the consulship, and was advised by everyone after the usual manner of candidates, to go around the forum and canvas the votes of the people, he could not by any means be induced to do it, while Q. Scaevola his father-in-law, a most wise and grave person, was present with him. He therefore asked Scaevola to depart, before he carried out such a foolish activity; he had more regard for the modesty due to Scaevola's dignity, than concern for his own white toga.

§ 4.5.5  Pompey the Great, on the day after he was defeated at the battle of Pharsalia, when all the people came forth to greet him, as he was entering into the city of Larissa, said, “Go and perform this duty to the victor.” He was not deserving to be defeated, had he not been vanquished by Caesar, for he was most gentle in misfortune. Because he could not now use his authority, he made use of his modesty.

§ 4.5.6  This virtue often appeared very clearly in C. Caesar, and most remarkably at his death. For being attacked by the blades of many parricidal weapons, when his divine soul was separated from his mortal body, after he had received above twenty-three wounds, he could not be moved from his regard for modesty. For he let down the lower part of his toga with both hands, so that he might fall with the lower part of his body covered. In this manner men do not die, but the immortal gods return to their own habitations.

§ 4.5e.1  That which follows, I will ascribe to foreigners, because it happened before citizenship was granted to Etruria. There was in that country one Spurinna, a young man of surpassing beauty, whose handsome appearance allured the eyes of the most illustrious ladies. He therefore believed himself to be suspected of unchastity by the husbands and parents of those women; and therefore with many wounds he spoiled the beauty of his face. He preferred deformity as the guardian of his fidelity, rather than that his beauty should be the incitement of others' lust.

§ 4.5e.2  At Athens, when a very aged person came into the theatre to watch a show, there were none that would rise to give him a seat, until he came at length to where the ambassadors of the Lacedaemonians sat. They were moved by the age of the person, and showed their reverence for his aged years not only by rising up, but also by allowing him to sit in the most honourable place among them. When the people beheld this, with great applause they approved the modesty of a foreign city. And it is reported that one of the Lacedaemonians said that the Athenians knew what was well done, but neglected to do it themselves.

§ 4.6.1  From a gentle and mild affection, I will proceed to another equally honourable, yet somewhat more fervent, and of a more vehement nature; and offer not without great veneration, as it were certain images of lawful love, for the contemplation of the reader, relating the actions of established and firm fidelity between married people, which are difficult to imitate, but profitable to be known; seeing that when a man knows the most excellent examples, it will be shameful for him to follow poorer ones. When Ti. Gracchus caught two snakes in his own house, a male and female, he was told by the soothsayer, that if he let go the male, it portended the death of his wife; but that if he let go the female, he himself would suddenly die. Following that part of the prediction that portended his own death, rather than the death of his wife, he caused the female snake to be released; and was so resolute as to watch his own destruction when the snake was killed in his presence. And therefore I cannot determine whether Cornelia was more happy that she had such a husband, or more miserable in his loss. O Admetus, cruel king of Thessaly, and by a great judge condemned of an unpardonable crime! You were content to exchange your own life for the death of your wife, and could endure to enjoy the comfort of this light, after she had voluntarily submitted to die, only to prolong your days. And indeed you had previously tried to exploit the indulgence of your parents.

§ 4.6.2  A humbler victim to misfortune than Ti. Gracchus, though of senatorial rank, was C. Plautius Numida - yet as to affection of this nature, his equal. For hearing news of the death of his wife, impatient of grief, he stabbed himself in the breast with his sword; but by the timely coming in of his servants, he was hindered from carrying out his purpose, and the wound was dressed and bound up. As soon as he found an oportunity, he cut off his bandages, and tearing open the wound again, with a determined right hand he dragged his spirit, oppressed with grief, out from his heart and his bowels. He testified by the violence of his death, how strong a conjugal flame he had shut up in his breast.

§ 4.6.3  Of the same name, and endued with the same love, was M. Plautius. He was commanded by the senate to lead back the allied fleet of sixty ships to Asia, and he sailed into Tarentum. His wife Orestella came to visit him there, but fell sick and died. After she was laid upon her funeral pyre, amongst the last duties of anointing and kissing her, he fell upon his naked sword. His friends laid him, as he was in his toga and shoes, next to his wife, and then putting torches underneath they burnt both of them. Their monument is still to be seen at Tarentum, with this inscription: The Two Lovers' Tomb. And it is not to be doubted, if there is any sense left in departed souls, that Plautius and Orestilla entered the world of shades joyful in each other's company. And certainly, when love is so great and so honourable, it is better to be joined in death than to be separated by life.

§ 4.6.4  The same affection was notable in Julia, the daughter of C. Caesar. When she saw the garment of her husband Pompey the Great brought home sprinkled with blood from the Campus during the elections for aediles, in her fear that Pompey had been the victim of violence, she swooned away, and from the suddenness of the fright and her severe bodily pain she had a miscarriage; this was a great loss for the whole world, whose tranquility would not been disturbed with so severe a fury of so many civil wars, if the friendship of Caesar and Pompey had been bound by the ties of a common family relationship.

§ 4.6.5  All ages will also with due admiration revere your chaste fires, O Porcia, daughter of M. Cato. When you learnt that your husband Brutus was defeated and slain at the battle of Philippi, not having a weapon at hand, you swallowed burning coals; your feminine soul imitated the masculine death of your father; and perhaps your death was braver, because he chose a common method, but you chose a novel method of dying.

§ 4.6e.1  There are some foreign loves, righteous and not obscured by the shadow of ignorance, of which it will be sufficient to touch upon a few. How much Artemisia queen of Caria mourned the death of her husband Mausolus, it would be frivolous to dispute, considering the most exquisite honours of all sorts which she did him, and the magnificence of that monument, which became one of the Seven Wonders. For why should you labour to recount all those honours, or insist upon the glory of that monument, when she herself would not be satisfied without being the living and breathing sepulchre of Mausolus, according to the testimony of those who report that she drank up his ashes mixed in a certain potion?

§ 4.6e.2  Hypsicratea the queen also so entirely loved Mithridates her husband, that she gave full rein to her affections. For love of him she clothed her beauty in a man's costume and accustomed herself to virile exercises, cutting her hair, and using a horse and weapons, so that she might the more easily share in his labours and dangers; and not only that, but after he was defeated by Cn. Pompeius, she followed him with an indefatigable body and spirit in his flight through many rough and barbarous nations. Her faithful company was a great comfort and solace for Mithridates when he was distressed by misfortunes and calamities. For he seemed to have his home and family together with him wherever he wandered, while his wife shared in his exile.

§ 4.6e.3  But why should I rummage though Asia, or the immense solitudes of barbarous countries, or the recesses of the Pontic Sea? Lacedaemon, the most splendid glory of Greece, lays before our eyes a foremost example of conjugal fidelity, a remarkable act to be compared with the greatest wonders of that city.
The Minyans settled in the island of Lemnos, deriving their origin from the ancient companions of Jason. Having stayed there for several centuries, eventually they were expelled by the Pelasgians, and lacking the help of others, they made their home as suppliants in the high Taygetan Mountains. The Spartans welcomed them as descendants of the Tyndaridae, because in that renowned ship the noble pair of brothers had displayed their splendour, which later was transferred to the stars. Thus the Minyans mingled with them, and enjoyed the same laws and privileges. But they responded to this good turn by plotting against the well-deserving city, and trying to seize the kingship. Therefore they were committed to the public prison, there to await capital punishment. When they were about to suffer their punishment, in the night-time as is the custom of the Lacedaemonians, their wives, of noble lineage, asked permission from the jailers to take leave of their husbands before their death. They entered the prison, and changing their clothes, gave their husbands the opportunity, having covered their faces as if in sorrow, to depart. Now what more need I add in this place, except that they were wives worthy to be married to the Minyans?

§ 4.7.1  Let us now consider the bond of friendship, potent and mighty, and no way inferior to the strength and force of blood relations. In this it is more certain and demonstrable, that the one is a fortuitous occurrence, produced by the chance of birth; the other is contracted by the uncompelled mind, upon grounds and reasons of solid judgment. And therefore it is an easier thing, and less subject to reprehension, to spurn a family member than a friend. For while severance from the one is [not] a sign of an unjust disposition, the other betokens some levity of mind. For when the life of man lies as it were in solitude, if it does not have the guard of friendship, so necessary an assistance ought to be chosen carefully, but being once approved, ought not in any way to be despised. But the most sincere friendship always becomes clear in adversity, when whatever good acts are performed, proceed from a constant kindness and affection. The adulation of good fortune, which can be attributed more to flattery than love, is very suspect, and still desires more than it gives. For men of troubled fortunes have more need of friends, either for protection, or for consolation. For affairs that go well and prosperously, as being favoured with heavenly success, have less need of assistance from others. And therefore their names have lasted longer in the memory of posterity, who have not deserted their friends in adversity, rather than those who have only been the companions of prosperity. No man talks of the friends of Sardanapallus. Orestes is better known by his friend Pylades, than by Agamemnon his father. For the friendship of the one was consumed by participation in luxury and delight; but the companionship of the other, in a sad and hard condition, grew famous by the trial of their miseries. But why do I mention foreigners, having first to do with our own countrymen? Ti. Gracchus was considered to be an enemy to his country: and not undeservedly so, because he valued his own authority above the welfare of his country. Yet in this evil design of his, how faithful a friend he had in C. Blossius of Cumae, it will be worth our while to relate. Though an adjudged enemy, suffering the greatest punishment, not permitted the honour of burial, he did not however lack kindness from Blossius. For when the senate commanded Rupilius and Laenas the consuls [132 BCE] to proceed against all those that had been associates of Gracchus, Blossius presented himself before Laelius, on whose advice the consuls particularly relied, to beg pardon for himself, urging his familiarity with Gracchus as an excuse. Laelius asked him, “If Gracchus had commanded you to set fire to the temple of Jupiter, would you have obeyed him, from that friendship of which you boast?” That, said he, Gracchus would never have commanded. He had done enough and more, for he ventured to defend the behaviour of someone whom the whole senate had condemned. But that which followed was much more confident and more dangerous; for being still pressed by Laelius to make an answer to his question, he resolutely persisted, affirming, that if Gracchus had commanded him to burn the temple, he would have done it. Who could have thought he had been so wicked, had he held his peace? Who would not have accounted him wise, had he been less free in his speech, considering the necessity of the time? But Blossius neither with an honourable silence, nor with a prudent answer cared to preserve himself, lest he should be thought to have silenced the memory of his unhappy friendship.

§ 4.7.2  In the same family equally powerful examples of friendship arise. For when the plots and enterprises of C. Gracchus were utterly defeated and all his conspiracy brought to light, he was deserted of all assistance, except for his two friends Pomponius and Laetorius, who by interposing their own bodies, protected him from the missiles that fell around him. And of these two, Pomponius, so that Gracchus might more easily escape, withstood a whole body of soldiers that eagerly pursued him at the Trigeminal Gate; nor could he be moved while he lived, till at length having received many wounds, he fell, and (though I am apt to believe unwillingly) was forced to permit them passage over his dead body. Laetorius made a stand upon the Sublician Bridge, and till Gracchus had passed over guarded it with the passion of his courage, till at length overpowered by the multitude, turning his sword upon himself, he made a nimble leap into Tiber, and so perished, showing that kindness to the friendship of one person by his voluntary death, which Horatius Cocles, in the same place, had shown to his whole country. What renowned soldiers might the Gracchi have had, if they had followed the courses which their father or mother's father had done! With what a courageous fury might Blossius, Pomponius and Laetorius have assisted them in the gaining trophies and triumphs, the brave associates of such wild enterprises! By taking part in an inauspicious friendship, as how much the more miserable, also so much are they the more certain examples of a generous loyalty.

§ 4.7.3  If you examine L. Reginus as to his sincerity towards the public, he was much to be blamed by posterity; but if you look upon the faithful pledge of his loyalty, we are to leave him in the safe harbour of a praiseworthy conscience. When Caepio was thrown into prison, because it was through his fault that our army was defeated by the Cimbri and Teutones, Reginus as tribune of the plebs set him at liberty, remembering the ancient friendship between them; and not content to have shown himself so much a friend, he accompanied him also in his exile. O friendship, a great and most invincible deity! When the commonwealth laid hands on him on one side, on the other side you pulled him out with your right hand; and when the commonwealth required him to be sacrosanct, you impelled him into banishment. So gentle is your power, to make men prefer punishment before honour.

§ 4.7.4  Wonderful was that work of yours, but more praiseworthy what follows. For call to mind, how you have celebrated the persistent love of Volumnius for his friend, without any damage to the commonwealth. By descent he belonged to the order of knights, and having a complete affection for M. Lucullus, whom M. Antony slew for siding with Brutus and Cassius, although he was at liberty to flee, he stuck close to his dead friend. He gave himself so much over to tears and lamentations, that by his extreme devotion to his friend, he was the cause of his own death. For by reason of his continued and constant sorrow, he was brought before Antony: and standing before him, “Command me,” said he, “O general, to be carried back to the body of Lucullus, and there slain. For he being dead, I ought not to stay behind, being myself the cause of his unhappily going to war.” What could be more faithful than so much love? He sought to make his his friend in death less odious to the enemy, by implicating himself in the guilt of persuading him; and in order to render him more pitiable, made himself more hated. Nor did Antony shut his ears: for being led where he desired, having kissed the dead body of Lucullus, and embraced his severed head, which he lifted up to his breast, he laid down his own neck to receive the victor's blow. Let Greece now boast of Theseus supporting the unlawful love of Pirithous, and for his sake entering into the dominions of Father Dis. They are liars that relate it, and fools that believe it. To see the mingled blood of friends, wounds sticking upon wounds, and death sticking upon death, these are the true signs of Roman friendship; those, the stories of a people accustomed to invent ridiculous falsehoods.

§ 4.7.5  L. Petronius also righty claims to have a share in this praise; for as he was equally courageous in his friendship, he deserves an equal portion of glory. He by the favour of Coelius, being of a very humble extraction, came to be promoted into the order of knights, and had a very distinguished military career beside. For which, because he could not pay his thanks when Coelius was in prosperity, he showed himself nobly grateful to him in his adversity. Coelius was made governor of Placentia, by Octavius the consul. When the town was taken by Cinna's army, he, being old and sickly, and not wanting to fall into the hands of the enemy, resolved to die by Petronius's hand. When Petronius found that he could not persuade him to change his mind, according to his wish he killed him first, and then joined his own death to his; that he might not survive him, by whom he had attained to all his honour; and so magnanimity caused the death of the one, and loyalty the demise of the other.

§ 4.7.6  We should join Ser. Terentius to Petronius, though it fell out that he did not die for his friend, as was his desire. A noble intention is not to be judged by the fruitless outcome; for he did as much as he could to ensure that he himself was slain, and D. Brutus escaped the danger. When Brutus was fleeing from Mutina, and learnt that certain horsemen had been sent by Antonius to kill him, he endeavoured in a certain place, by the benefit of the night, to take away that life of his which deserved just punishment. There, as the soldiers broke in, Terentius in a loyal deception, favoured by darkness itself, feigned himself to be Brutus, and offered his body to the fury of the soldiers. But being recognised by Furius, who had been commanded to perform the task of revenge, he could not hinder the punishment of his friend by his own death; and so against his will he was compelled by fortune to live.

§ 4.7.7  From this dreadful and horrid face of friendship, let us pass on to the more serene and placid countenance of affection; and having brought it forth where all things are full of tears, lamentation and slaughter, let us now place it in a prosperous home, shining with beauty, honour, and abounding wealth. Come forth therefore from those seats that are believed to be consecrated to the shades of the blessed, here D. Laelius, there M. Agrippa, having wisely and prosperously chosen as friends the one the greatest of the gods, and the other the greatest of men; and bring along with you the whole company of those who under your leadership, laden with praises and rewards, have received the honourable rewards of sincere loyalty. For succeeding ages, beholding your resolute minds, your brave enterprises, your unassailable tact, your diligent and watchful care for the dignity and safety of your friends, the public testimonies of your mutual love, and lastly, its most plentiful fruits, the more willingly and the more religiously shall devote themselves to maintaining and respecting the laws of friendship.

§ 4.7e.1  I would desire to continue still in the examples of my native country, but the generosity of the Roman city advises me to relate the gallantry of other nations. Damon and Phintias, instructed in the sacred rites of Pythagorean wisdom, had contracted such a faithful friendship between themselves, that when Dionysius of Syracuse intended to put one of them to death, and he that was to suffer had got leave to go home to his house, to settle his affairs, the other was not afraid to be surety to the tyrant for his return. So now he was free from the peril of death, who recently had his neck under the axe; and he was now in danger, who was free before. Therefore all people, and Dionysius especially, awaited the outcome of an occurrence so novel and unpredictable. When the ordained day came, the condemned man did not return; and therefore everyone accused him of folly, who had so rashly undertaken surety for the other; though he himself remained certain of the loyalty of his friend. At the very hour and minute which Dionysius had prefixed, the other appeared. The tyrant, admiring the courage of them both, gave a full pardon to such great loyalty; further he asked them to receive him into the society of their friendship, promising to maintain it most carefully. Such is the power of friendship, to beget contempt of death, take away the sweet desire of life, tame cruelty, turn hatred into love, and to balance punishment with kindness: to which there is almost as much reverence due, as to the ceremonies of the gods. For they are the bonds of public security, as friendship is of private security. And as the temples are sacred edifices of the gods, so the faithful breasts of men are temples filled with a certain holy spirit.

§ 4.7e.2  King Alexander certainly believed this to be true. When he captured the camp of Darius, where all his family resided, he came with Hephaestion his dearest friend by his side, to speak to them. At his approach the mother of Darius took heart, and lifting up her head as she lay prostrate upon the ground, she saluted Hephaestion, flattering him after the manner of the Persians, mistaking him for Alexander, because he was more impressive for his stature and comeliness. When she was made aware of her error, in great fear she sought for words to excuse it. “There is no reason,” replied Alexander, “to be troubled by this, for he is another Alexander also.” Whom shall we congratulate - him that said it, or him that heard it? The king, endued with a great soul, having already grasped the whole world, either in his victories or in his thoughts, in so few words made an equal division of it with his companion. O the gift of a royal tongue, as fair to the receiver as to the giver!
I too as a private man revere friendship, having had the experience of the bounty of a most wise and renowned person toward myself. And I do not doubt that it may be fitting for me to think my Pompeius to be like Alexander, who would have his Hephaestion to be another Alexander. And therefore I should be liable to a very great error, to pass over this example of constant and kind friendship, without any mention of him: in whose mind, as in the breast of most loving parents, my prosperous condition of life has flourished and my misfortunes have found comfort. From him I have received all increase in my welfare freely offered; by his support I have stood more firmly against mishap; by his own prosperous conduct and good omens, he has rendered our studies more pleasant and delightful. And therefore I nourished the envy of some with the loss of my best friend, just as no doubt I had tortured them with the benefits of our friendship - not that I deserved that, because I always shared my favour such as it was with anyone who wanted to make use of it. But there is no prosperity so modest, that it can escape the teeth of envy. By what retirement can you avoid them, or by what allurements of kindness can you restrain their hostility? There is no remedy, but they will rejoice and be merry at the misfortunes of others, as if it were at their own good fortune. They are rich in the losses, wealthy in the calamities, immortal in the funerals of other men. But while they crow over the miseries of others, as yet inexperienced in their own, let them beware of the best avenger of their insolence, the changeability of the human condition.

§ 4.8.1  Let us recall our work, that has strayed into a pious digression by exposing our own grievances, to its former course, and now take liberality into consideration; which has two probable sources, true judgment, and honourable benevolence. For it is properly founded, only when it springs from these. A gift is acceptable by its size, but somewhat more efficacious, when it is opportune; for the inestimable force of the timing is added to its value. Therefore the expense of a small sum of money has made Fabius Maximus highly praised through many ages until now. He had recovered the prisoners from Hannibal, for an agreed sum of money. When the senate would not pay it, he sent his son to the city to sell the only farm which he had in the world, and thereby sent Hannibal the money. If we consider the sum, it was but small, as being the price of only seven iugera of land, situated in Pupinia; but if we consider the spirit of the giver, it was a very great sum, far exceeding any money. For he would rather lack his patrimony, than that his country should fail to pay its debt. It is so much the more to be commended, because it is a more certain sign of real commitment, to stretch beyond ability, than to do the same act out of ease. For the one gives what he can, the other more than he is able.

§ 4.8.2  Therefore a woman of the same time, Busa by name, the richest in the region of Apulia, won herself an ample reputation for liberality; though perhaps not so great, if we compare her abundant wealth to the poverty of Fabius. For though she sustained about ten thousand of our citizens, the remnants of the battle of Cannae, within the walls of Canusium, yet she showed herself munificent to the Romans, without impoverishing her estate. But Fabius for the good of his country exchanged poverty for destitution.

§ 4.8.3  We find also in Quinctus Considius a most wholesome example of liberality, not without some profit to himself. When the fury of Catiline had brought all the commonwealth into such a tumult, that even the rich, with the price of property falling, were not able to pay their creditors; he having the sum of fifteen million sesterces lent out, would not allow any of his debtors to be called upon, either for principal or for interest: and as much as in him lay, lessened the bitterness of public upheaval by his personal tranquility. He thereby demonstrated that he made profit only from his money, not from civil blood. Now they who act with rigour in business of this nature, when they carry blood-soaked money home, may realise from him, with what an accursed and impious joy they rejoice, if they do not disdain to read the decree of the senate, which gave Considius public thanks.

§ 4.8.4  The people of Rome seem to complain of me, that while I am reporting the munificence of particular persons, I am silent about theirs. For it is apposite to their great praise, that is should be reported, what noble minds they have borne towards kings, cities and countries, because the glory of all renowned acts flourishes and revives by often being remembered. After they had conquered Asia, they handed it over it as a gift for king Attalus to possess; believing the future empire of our city would be more exalted and splendid, if they should invest the richest and fairest part of the world, rather in the treasury of gratitude than in profit. This gift was more auspicious than the victory itself. For to possess much, might cause envy; to have given away so much, could never lack a glorious esteem.

§ 4.8.5  It is impossible to praise sufficiently in writing the divine spirit of the Roman people in the following liberality. After Philip king of Macedonia was defeated, when all Greece flocked to watch the Isthmian games, T. Quinctius Flamininus, having caused silence to be made by the sound of trumpets, commanded a herald to proclaim these words: “The senate and people of Rome, and T. Quinctius Flamininus their general, command that all the cities of Greece, which were under the jurisdiction of king Philip, shall be free and exempt from taxes.” When they heard this, the people were at first struck with a sudden unexpected joy, and, not believing what they had heard, were for a while silent. But when the proclamation was repeated by the herald, they filled the sky with such a cheerful din, that it is certainly reported, that the birds, which at that moment were flying overhead, fell down astonished and terrified with the noise. The Roman people had great souls, to remove the yoke of servitude from the necks of so many prisoners, and to give liberty to so many noble and wealthy cities.
The majesty of the people requires, that not only what they freely gave, but also what they received by the generosity of others, should be commemorated for ever. In the former is the accolade of [liberality] bestowed, in the latter of [liberality] repaid.

§ 4.8e.1  Hieron, king of Syracuse, when he learnt of the defeat which the Romans had suffered at the Lake Trasimene, sent to Rome three hundred thousand modii of wheat, two hundred thousand modii of barley, and two hundred and forty pounds of gold. Because he was aware of the restraint of the Romans in receiving such gifts, he presented it as an image of Victory, so that he might compel them, moved by religion, to accept his munificence. He was both liberal in his readiness to send, and prudent in taking care that it should not be sent back.

§ 4.8e.2  I will add to him Gillias of Agrigentum, who may be thought to have had the very heart of liberality. He was extremely rich, but more wealthy in the generosity of his spirit than in his riches; and he was always more busily employed in spending and finding ways to bestow, than in gaining money; and so his house seemed to be a kind of store of munificence. For there all monuments fit for public use were erected, there all shows were set out for the delight of the people, there were all preparations made for feasting, and from there the scarcity of corn was alleviated. This he did for the community; privately also the sick were relieved, dowries provided to poor girls, and assistance given to those who were broken by misfortune; guests and foreigners were courteously received both in the city and the country, and given generous gifts when they departed. On one occasion, among the rest, he fed and clad five hundred Gelan horsemen, who by a tempest were forced into his territories. What more? You would have said he had no mortal breast, but the very bosom of propitious Fortune herself. For what Gillias possessed, seemed to be the common property of all men. Not only the city of Agrigentum, but all the neighbouring regions continually prayed for his prosperity and increase in wealth. Place on the other side the money-chests locked away by some, inexorable to all pity; do you not think his expenses far more laudable than their careful parsimony?

§ 5.1.1  BOOK V
What better companions could I have found out for liberality, than humanity and clemency? The first of which shows itself in poverty, the second in opportunity, the third in misfortune. Now when we know not which of them to esteem best, yet the commendation of that seems to crave precedence, which takes its name from (?) man himself. I will begin with the most humane and merciful acts of the senate. When the ambassadors of the Carthaginians came to the city about the redemption of prisoners, they immediately, without receiving their money, restored to them more than two thousand seven hundred and forty-three young men. I may well think that the ambassadors themselves were amazed to see such an army of enemies set at liberty, so much money spurned, and so many Punic wrongs forgiven, and that they thus said to themselves, “O munificence equal to the favour the gods show to the Romans; and happy our embassy beyond our hopes, for we have received a kindness which we would never have given!”
This also was no small testimony of the senate, that when Syphax, formerly a most prosperous king of Numidia, but now their prisoner, died in prison at Tibur, they ordered him to be interred at public expense; so that to whom they had granted life, they might also add the honour of burial.
The same clemency they used toward Perseus, when he died at Alba where he was imprisoned; they sent down a quaestor to bury him at public expense, not permitting his royal remains to lie disregarded.
These things they performed to enemies and prisoners after their death. The following were their favours shown to their friends in prosperity, while still living. After the end of the Macedonian War, Misacenes, Masinissa's son, was sent back to his father by Paullus, with those horsemen which which he had brought to the assistance of the Romans; but after his fleet was scattered by a tempest, he himself put in sick at Brundisium. As soon as the Senate learnt of this, they sent a quaestor thither, not only to defray the expenses of him and his retinue, but also to take care for the providing all things necessary for the restoration of his health: and so that they might not lack ships to carry them safe and well into Africa, they ordered to be given to each horseman a pound of silver, and five hundred sesterces. This prompt and complete humanity of the conscript fathers, might perhaps have so far prevailed upon Masinissa, that had his son died in the expedition, he would have grieved less for it.
The same senate, when they heard that Prusias king of Bithynia had come to congratulate them on their victory over Perseus, sent P. Cornelius Scipio, then quaestor, to meet him as far as Capua: and ordered that the best house in Rome should be hired for him; and that he and his retinue should be maintained at public expense. And indeed in the reception of that great king, the whole city seemed to have the appearance of a single complete friend; so that he, who came as a good friend to our city, returned with a double affection for us.
Neither was Egypt ignorant of Roman clemency. For king Ptolemy, when he was thrown out of his kingdom by his younger brother, and came to Rome with a small retinue and in humble attire, to crave aid of the senate, took a lodging in the house of an Alexandrian painter. When when the senate realised this, they sent for the young man, and they made a very great apology, for not having sent a quaestor to meet him after the traditional custom, and for not providing maintenance for him; this had not happened through their negligence, but through his sudden and private arrival. After this, accompanying him to a public house, they asked him to lay aside his humble attire, and arrange a day to meet with them. They also took that care that gifts should be sent to him by the quaestor every day; and by these marks of kindness they advanced him from exile to the royal throne, so that he had more hope in the assistance of the Roman people, than fear for his own misfortune.

§ 5.1.2  To come now from the conscript fathers in general to particular senators: L. Cornelius the consul in the First Punic War, when he had taken the city of Olbia, after Hanno the general of the Carthaginians had been slain valiantly fighting for its relief, gave Hanno's body a burial, carrying it out from his own tent, and bestowing a noble funeral upon it. Nor was he ashamed to appear at the funeral rites of an enemy, believing that his victory would be the less envied by both gods and men, when there was so much of humanity mixed in with it.

§ 5.1.3  What shall I say of Quinctius Crispinus, whose gentleness and mild disposition could not be disturbed by the potent passions of anger and glory? He had entertained with great civility Badius of Campania at his house, and with great care revived him from a dangerous illness. After the Campanians had revolted, Badius challenged Crispinus to fight with him in front of the army. Crispinus, who knew himself to be superior to him in both strength and courage, chose rather to give him good counsel than to overcome him. “What are you trying to do, madman?” he said. “Or where are your foolish desires carrying you? Must you not only rage with public impiety, but also fall away from private friendship? Could you find no-one among all the Romans, upon whom to hurl your villainous weapons, but only Quinctius, to whose household-gods you owe a requital of both honour and safety? The bonds of friendship and our gods of hospitality, with us sacred pledges, though with you of no account, will not permit me to fight with you. Nay, if in the clashing of both armies, I should have perceived you knocked down by the force of my shield-boss, I would have recalled my sword from thy neck. And therefore it is your crime, that you wished to kill a guest-friend; but the death of a guest shall not be mine. And therefore seek out somebody else for the courage of your right hand, for mine has learnt to save.” But heaven gave to both a deserved outcome; for Badius was slain in the battle, and Quinctius valiantly fighting came safe away with honour.

§ 5.1.4  And now the clemency of M. Marcellus: how famous and how memorable an example ought we to reckon it? After he had taken Syracuse, from the citadel he took a view of the city below, which was once flourishing, but now almost miserably ruined. When he beheld the pitiful state of it, he could not refrain from tears. So that if some person who did not know him had seen him, he might have been thought the vanquished, not the victor. This consolation you had in your calamity, fair city, that though it was not right for you to remain safe, yet your downfall was gentle under such a conqueror.

§ 5.1.5  Quintus Metellus, warring in Spain against the Celtiberians, was besieging Centobriga. When the siege engine was in position, and he was just ready to beat down that part of the wall which was most suitable for battering, he preferred clemency rather than an approaching victory. For when the Centobrigenses had exposed the sons of Rhoetogenes, who had fled to him, to all the force of the engine, lest the children should be cruelly killed in order to distress their father (though Rhoetogenes himself told him not to be afraid to go on with his attack regardless) he raised his siege. By this act of clemency, though he did not take that one city, yet he took the hearts of all the Celtiberians, and thereby so far prevailed, as not to need many sieges in order to bring them under the sway of the Romans.

§ 5.1.6  The humanity of the younger Africanus also appeared splendid. When he had taken the city of Carthage, he sent to all the cities of Sicily, telling them to fetch the ornaments of their temples, which the Carthaginians had taken from them, and to take care to restore them to their proper places. This was a kindness acceptable to both gods and men.

§ 5.1.7  Equal to this was the humanity of (?) the same man. His quaestor, who was selling off the prisoners of war, sent him a boy of a most excellent beauty, and well attired. When he learnt that the boy had been left an orphan by his father, and educated under the tuition of his uncle Masinissa, and that without his leave he had recklessly taken arms against the Romans; he not only thought it appropriate to pardon the error of the youth, but to give him that respect which was due to the friendship of a king so deserving of the Roman people. And therefore having bestowed a ring, a gold brooch, a tunic with a broad stripe, a Spanish cloak, and a horse with all its trappings upon him, he sent him to Masinissa with an escort to accompany him. The Romans believed these to be the greatest fruits of victory: to restore to the temples their ornaments, and to kings their kindred.

§ 5.1.8  Nor is the memory of L. Paullus to be forgotten. When he heard that Perseus, now a prisoner, but previously a king, had been brought to him, he went to meet him wearing all the emblems of a Roman magistrate, and with his right hand raised up the king, who was endeavouring to cast himself at his feet, and in the Greek tongue bade him be of good cheer. Bringing him into his tent, he made him to sit next him in the council, and did not think him beneath the honour of his table. Bring into view the battle, in which Perseus was conquered, and the story which I have just related, and it may be doubted which sight would be most delectable. For though it be a renowned thing to overcome an enemy, yet is it no less praiseworthy to have compassion on him in distress.

§ 5.1.9  This humanity of L. Paullus reminds me not to forget the clemency of Cn. Pompeius. When he had defeated Tigranes king of Armenia, who not only fought severe wars against the Romans himself, but also protected Mithridates, a most inveterate enemy of our city, after he had been driven out of Pontus, he would not allow Tigranes to lie prostrate at his feet; but giving him words of comfort, caused him to put the diadem, which he had cast away, upon his head again. And having laid certain commands upon him, he restored him to his former dignity; for he thought it equally fine to conquer kings and to create kings.

§ 5.1.10  How noble an example of clemency bestowed was Cn. Pompeius, but how miserable an example of pity not shown! For he that had crowned the head of Tigranes with regal emblems, his head despoiled of three triumphal crowns, could not find a burial-place in the world, which but recently he owned. But cut from his body, lacking a funeral-pyre, his head was presented as a gift of Egyptian perfidy, lamentable to the very eyes of the victor. For as soon as Caesar beheld it, forgetful of his enmity, he put on the countenance of a father-in-law; and then, as befitted him, he caused the head of Pompeius to be burnt with most precious scents, and paid his tears to the memory of him and his daughter. For if the mind of that divine leader had not been so tender, he that a little before was accounted the pillar of the Roman empire (so Fortune turns the scales of human affairs) would have lain without burial.
Caesar also hearing of the death of Cato, was heard to say, that he envied Cato's glory, as Cato had envied his; and he gave Cato's estate safe and whole to his children. And certainly it would have been no small part of Caesar's divine achievements, to have caused the safety of Cato.

§ 5.1.11  And certainly the soul of Mark Antony could understand equal humanity. For he gave the body of M. Brutus to his own freedman to bury. And so that he might be the more honourably burnt, he caused him to be covered with his general's cloak; believing him as he lay, not an enemy, but a citizen, all hatred now forgotten. And when he learnt that the freeman had taken away the general's cloak, in great anger he commanded him to be punished immediately, speaking first as follows: “Did you not know how great a man he was whose funeral I committed to your charge?” His brave and pious victory at Philippi the gods willingly beheld, nor could they stop their ears at these words of generous indignation.

§ 5.1e.1  From commemorating Roman examples, being led into Macedonia, I am compelled to set forth the character of Alexander. Just as his bravery in war deserved infinite renown, so his clemency merited high respect and love. He, while he passed through all nations with an indefatigable swiftness, being overtaken at a certain place with a storm of snow, observed a Macedonian soldier, decrepit with age, almost numbed with cold, while he himself was sitting in a raised chair near the fire. Therefore considering not the rank, but the age of both, he descended from his seat, and with those hands with which he had crushed the power of Darius, he took the benumbed soldier and led him to his own seat, saying that would be better for him - which would be a capital offence among the Persians - to sit in the king's chair. What wonder then if they thought it a pleasure to serve such a general for so many years, to whom the safety of a common soldier was more dear than the grandeur of his own person?
The same person also, yielding not to any mortal man but to Nature and Fortune, though faint with the violence of his disease, yet leaning upon his elbow, reached out his right hand to all that would take their leave of him. Who would not run to embrace that hand, which though now oppressed by fate, sufficed to embrace an army, with an humanity as lively as his courage?

§ 5.1e.2  Humanity is of no robust nature, yet we may proclaim the clemency of Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens. When a young man inflamed with love of his maiden daughter, meeting her in the street, kissed her, and therefore his wife wanted him to punish the man with death, he replied, “If we punish those that love us, what must we do to those that hate us?” It is incongruous to have to add, that this saying came out of the mouth of a tyrant.
Thus he tolerated the affront offered his daughter; and he tolerated this injury done to himself even more commendably. For being incessantly taunted and reviled by his friend Thrasippus at dinner, he so restrained his anger and his tongue, as if he had been a courtier reviled by the tyrant: and as he went away, thinking he had withdrawn sooner than ordinary for fear, he kindly invited him to stay. Thrasippus being in the heat of his drink, spat full in his face, and yet he could not move him to revenge. Pisistratus pulled away his sons also, who wanted to intervene against the abuses suffered by their father. The next morning when Thrasippus intended to punish himself with a violent death, the tyrant came to him, and giving him his faith that he should still remain in the same degree of favour with him, kept him from the execution of his purpose. Had he done nothing else worthy of honour or memory, yet by these very acts of his he would have sufficiently recommended himself to posterity.

§ 5.1e.3  Patient and gentle also was the mind of king Pyrrhus. When he heard that some of the Tarentines at a great feast had spoken disparagingly about him, he called for those that were present, and asked them, if they had spoken those things which he had been told. Whereupon one of them made answer, “If our wine had not come to an end, those things which we spoke of you, would have been nothing, compared to what we should have said.” This so pleasant excuse of their drunkenness, and simple confession of the truth, turned the king's anger into laughter. By this clemency he so far prevailed, that the sober Tarentines gave him thanks, and those that had been drunk wished him well.
The same height of humanity caused him to send Lycon the Molossian with an escort for the greater safety of the Roman ambassadors, who he heard were coming towards him to ransom their prisoners. And to make their reception more honourable, he himself with a body of cavalry richly attired went out from the camp to meet them. He was not so much corrupted with the success of prosperity, as to hinder all prospect of respect from those with whom he was at greatest enmity.

§ 5.1e.4  He received the due reward for his mild temper at the last hour of his death. For when he had invaded the city of Argos with most dismal omens, and Alcyoneus the son of king Antigonus had with great joy brought his severed head, as a most happy act of victory to his father, who was labouring in the defence of the city, Antigonus rebuked his son for gloating over the demise of so great a man, forgetful of human calamities. He picked up his head from the ground, and covering it with the broad-rimmed hat wherewith his own head was covered, after the manner of the Macedonians, he caused it, reunited with the body, to be honourably burnt. And when his son Helenus was brought a prisoner to him, he commanded him to bear a royal spirit, and to remain in his regal attire, and moreover gave him the bones of Pyrrhus, enclosed in a golden casket, to carry to his brother Alexander in his country of Epirus.

§ 5.1e.5  The Campanians also, when our army was compelled by the Samnites to pass under the yoke at Caudium, and entered their city not only unarmed but even naked, received them as kindly as if they had entered in triumph, bearing the spoils of their enemies before them. They immediately presented the consul with all the emblems of his honour, and they bestowed upon the soldiers clothes, arms, horses and provisions, by which they took away the neediness and deformity of the Roman defeat. If they had been as constant against Hannibal for the Roman empire, they would not have given any cause for the rage of the cruel axes.

§ 5.1e.6  Having made mention of a most bitter enemy, I shall make an end of the subject in hand, with those actions of kindness which he performed to the Romans. For Hannibal, having sought the body of Aemilius Paullus, who was slain at Cannae, with all diligence, as much as in him lay, would not permit it to lie unburied. He also caused the body of Ti. Gracchus, who fell unfortunately into an ambush of the Lucanians, to be honourably buried, and delivered his bones to our soldiers, to be carried into his own country. When Marcellus was slain in the territory of the Brutii, while with more eagerness than consideration he endeavoured to spy on the actions of the Carthaginians, he sought him out, and laid him upon a funeral-pyre, clad in a Punic cloak, and adorned with a crown of gold. And therefore the sweetness of humanity penetrates into the very breasts of rude barbarians, mollifies the cruel and severe eyes of enemies, and bends the most insolent pride of victory. Nor is it a difficult thing for clemency to find an easy passage through hostile weapons, and swords drawn for combat. It overcomes anger, throws down rage, and mingles hostile blood with hostile tears. It produced that admirable speech of Hannibal, delivering his judgment at the funerals of the Roman generals . . . Therefore Paullus, Marcellus and Gracchus brought him more honour by their funerals, than by their deaths. For he deceived them with his Punic trickery, but honoured them with Roman clemency. And you, brave and pious souls, have enjoyed obsequies not to be repented of; for you fell most desirably in your country, and also more nobly for your country; so you received the honour of that last office due to you, which by misfortune you had lost.

§ 5.2.1  Next let us take a view of the grateful and ungrateful effects and actions of the mind, that virtue and vice may receive their due reward, from a due estimate of the value of either. However, because they are distinguished by contrary ends and designs, we also intend to separate them in writing. And therefore let us begin with those things, that rather deserve praise than reprehension. And so that we may start with public actions, let us take into consideration Marcius, who invading his own country, and having brought a very great army of the Volsci to the very gates of the city, threatened the utter destruction of the Roman empire. But at the intercession of his mother Veturia, and his wife Volumnia, he was persuaded to abandon his violent enterprise. In memory of this, the senate gave very great privileges to the Roman matrons. For they ordered that men should give way to women in the street, as acknowledging the women's garment to have been a greater safety to their city than their arms. They added also a new distinction of wool bands to the adornments of their ears; they also permitted them to wear purple clothes and gold trimmings; and more then all this, they erected a temple and an altar to Fortune of Women, in the very same place where Coriolanus's wrath was appeased, to testify their grateful acknowledgment of so great a benefit, by their religious respect and reverence that they had of it.
The Senate was no less famous for gratitude at the time of the Second Punic War. For when Capua was besieged by Fulvius, there were two women in the town who would by no means be dissuaded from showing eminent signs of goodwill toward the Romans. The one was named Vestia Oppia, a lady of a good family, the other Cluvia Facula, a prostitute; the former sacrificed daily for the success of the Roman army, and the latter regularly supplied provisions to the Roman prisoners. When the town was captured, the senate restored to them both their liberty and their goods; and if they wanted any other reward, bade them freely demand it, for they were willing to give it. It was remarkable that the senate had leisure, in a time of so much celebration, to return thanks to two common women, and moreover that they did it so readily.

§ 5.2.2  What example could be more commendable than that of the Roman youths, who in the consulship of Nautius and Minucius nominated themselves voluntarily to give assistance to the Tusculans, whose territory had been invaded by the Aequi, because shortly before the Tusculans had most stoutly defended the Roman empire. This was a novel thing to hear: the whole army enlisting themselves, lest their country should seem to lack a grateful spirit.

§ 5.2.3  A great example of gratitude was that of the people toward Q. Fabius Maximus. When he died after holding five consulships, with great success and advantage to the commonwealth, they strove as to who should contribute the most money to enhance the splendour and magnificence of his funeral. Let us prize the rewards of virtue, when we find brave men to be more happy in their burials, than the slothful in their lives.

§ 5.2.4  With no small glory was gratitude shown to this Fabius, while he was still living. For Minucius, master of the horse, who was made equal in authority with him as dictator, by a decree of the senate - which had never been done before - divided the army and fought separately with Hannibal in Samnium. Yet Minucius, seeing the great defeat he would have suffered by his own rashness, if Fabius had not come promptly to his relief, promptly acknowledged Fabius as his father, and commanded him to be hailed as patron by his own legions. Laying down his entitlement to equality, he submitted his office of master of the horse to the dictatorship of Fabius, as of right it ought to be; and he corrected the impudent error of the populace, by the grateful indication of his feelings.

§ 5.2.5  A story to be related upon equally good grounds, is that Q. Terentius Culleo, born of a praetorian family, and of distinguished rank among the senators, should follow as he did the triumphal chariot of the elder Africanus, wearing a cap of liberty, because after being a prisoner of the Carthaginians, he had been recovered by him. And therefore he deservedly paid back, in view of the whole people, his acknowledgment of a benefit received from him, as if from his former master, who was the author of his liberty.

§ 5.2.6  But when Flamininus triumphed over Philip, there was not only one, but two thousand Roman citizens who followed his chariot wearing caps of liberty. They having been captured in the Punic Wars, and enslaved in Greece, were by his care gathered together and restored to their former freedom. The honour of the general seemed redoubled that day, who at the same time let the people see their enemies defeated by him, and their fellow-citizens preserved by him. Also their preservation was doubly acceptable to all, seeing that so many, and those so grateful persons, had recovered their deserved liberty.

§ 5.2.7  Metellus, as famous for his tears as others for their victories, obtained the name of Pious, for his passionate and constant love of his father in exile. This man being consul, was not ashamed to entreat the people on the behalf of Q. Calidius, candidate for the praetorship, because he as tribune, was author of the law by which his father was recalled. He always afterwards called Calidius the patron of his house and family. Nor did he thereby any way diminish the greatness which he had obtained; seeing that it was not the humility of his spirit, but the gratefulness of his mind, which made him submit the grandeur of his dignity to the great deserts of an inferior person.

§ 5.2.8  And therefore the spirit of gratitude of C. Marius was not only eminent, but also powerful. For observing that two cohorts of the Camertes had bravely withstood the fury of the Cimbri, contrary to the terms of the treaty he immediately gave them Roman citizenship. This act of his he both truly and nobly excused, saying that in the noise and bustle of battle, he could not hear the words of the civil law. And indeed that was a time, when there was more need to defend, than to hear the law.

§ 5.2.9  Sulla in the contest for praise every where follows the footsteps of Marius. For being dictator, he not only uncovered his head to Pompey, who was a private person, but also rose from his chair, and alighted from his horse. And in a public assembly he declared that he had done this willingly, remembering that Pompey when he was only eighteen years of age had fought on his side, with his father's army. There were many remarkable things in Pompey, but I know not whether anything happened to him more remarkable than this, that the abundance of his benefactions caused Sulla at length to forget himself.

§ 5.2.10  And while we talk of men of great splendour, let there be some place for humbler gratitude. For when Cornutus the praetor was commanded by the senate to let out contracts for the funerals of Hirtius and Pansa, they who provided all the necessities for the funerals, belonging to the temple of Libitina, promised the use of their equipment and their attendance without charge; because the two men had been slain fighting for their country. And by their constant and earnest requests they procured, that the funeral arrangements should be assigned to them, at the charge of one sesterce. The terms of the contract rather augmented than extenuated their praise; seeing that they disregarded gain, who lived by no other thing than gain.
Let not their ashes take it ill, if the kings of foreign nations come next in order to be mentioned after this sordid class, which either was not to be mentioned at all, or else to be placed in the last rank of domestic examples. But since honourable acts done by the meanest ought not to slip our memory, while they obtain a distinct and proper place, they neither seem to be added to the one group, nor preferred before the other.

§ 5.2e.1  Darius, when he was still a private person, was mightily impressed by a mantle of Syloson the Samian; and by his more curious viewing of it, caused Syloson to give it him freely and gladly. But how great a value Darius put upon that small gift, he soon made known. When he gained control of the empire, he gave to Syloson the whole city and island of the Samians for his possession. Not that he honoured the price, but the opportunity and season of the gift; and rather considered from whom the gift came, than to whom it was given.

§ 5.2e.2  Magnificently grateful also was King Mithridates, who made an exchange of all his prisoners taken from the enemy, for one Leonicus, a most courageous preserver of his own person from eminent danger, who was taken in a sea-fight by the Rhodians. He reckoned it more noble to give his most bitter enemies an advantage, than to be unmindful of someone who had deserved so well of him.

§ 5.2e.3  More liberal still were the people of Rome, for they gave all Asia as a gift to king Attalus. But Attalus was not inferior in the justice of his last will and testament, by which he returned it to them all back again. So that the munificence of the one, and the gratitude of the other, cannot be set down in so many words of praise, as the vast cities given in friendship and piously restored.

§ 5.2e.4  But the breast of Masinissa was perhaps outstandingly replete with feelings of gratitude. For when by the generosity of Scipio and the Roman people he was given possession of a very large kingdom, by a most constant and loyal goodwill he continued the memory of that noble gift to the very end of his life, which he enjoyed to a very great age, so that not only all Africa, but all other nations knew him to be more faithful to the family of the Cornelii, and the city of Rome, than to himself. He, though he were very hard put to it by the Carthaginians, and was hardly able to defend his own kingdom, delivered to Scipio Aemilianus, grandson of the other Scipio, a large part of the Numidian army, to take as reinforcements to the consul Lucullus in Spain; for he thought more of former benefits than of the present danger. And when he was near his end and confined to bed, leaving his kingdom's great resources to his fifty-four sons, he asked M'. Manilius, then proconsul in Africa, to send Scipio Aemilianus, who then was under his command, to him; believing he should die more happy, could he but commit his last words and breath to his embraces. But since his death occurred before Scipio could arrive, he instructed his wife and children to acknowledge but one people in the world, the Romans; and but one family among the Romans, that of the Scipios. They should leave all matters for Aemilianus to decide, giving him the sole power of making a division, and whatever he ordained, they should observe as inviolable, as if he had left it by will. Thus died Masinissa, having prolonged his life through many diverse varieties of change to the hundredth year, with unflagging loyalty.
By these and such other examples, is well-doing increased and continued among men. These are the motives, these the incentives, for which we burn with a desire of well-deserving. And certainly these are the greatest and the most splendid sort of riches, to be reckoned opulent in bestowing riches. Since we have so far described the pious regard of gratitude, let us now show how it has been despised, that we may the better know the difference, by our censure.

§ 5.3.1  The senate was placed by the father of our city in the highest rank of honour, yet miserably tore him in pieces in the senate-house; and thought it no crime to take away his life, who had given life to the Roman empire. The notable piety of posterity cannot dissemble: that rude and fierce generation was contaminated with the blood of their founder.

§ 5.3.2  The following ungrateful error of a faulty spirit shortly afterwards caused sad repentance in our city. Camillus, the most triumphant enlarger and the most certain defender of the Roman power, yet could not preserve himself in his own city, whose safety he had established, increased and enlarged. For being accused by L. Appuleius, tribune of the plebs, of having embezzled the spoils of the Veientes, he was by a hard, and as I may say iron sentence, condemned and sent into exile. And this happened at such a time, when having lost a most hopeful son, he was rather to have been relieved with comfort, than to have been laden with calamities. But his country, unmindful of the extraordinary merits of so great a person, heaped the affliction of exile upon the loss of his son. “But,” one might say, “the tribune of the plebs complained that fifteen thousand asses were missing from the treasury.” That was an unworthy sum, for the Roman people to deprive themselves of so great a leader.
While my previous protest is still shaking, another one rises to follow it.The elder Africanus, when Rome was almost quite broken by the Punic arms, when she was almost bleeding to death, restored her again, and made her mistress of Carthage. In recompense for this, his countrymen confined him to a poor village near a stinking lake, which he seemed to resent until his death, causing this inscription to be put upon his tomb: “Ungrateful country, you do not even have my bones.” What could be more unworthy than the necessity of doing this, what more just than his complaint, or more moderate than his revenge? He denied his ashes to a city, which he had preserved from being reduced to ashes. Therefore this revenge was a greater unkindness to ungrateful Rome, than the violence which Coriolanus offered to it. For he only frightened Rome, but Africanus made Rome ashamed: not being willing, such was his piety, to complain of their severity, until after his death.
No doubt, it was a kind of comfort to him, that his brother had suffered the same before; who, after he had defeated Antiochus, made Asia subject to the Roman people, and celebrated a most splendid triumph, was by the people accused of diverting public money for his own private use, and thrown into prison.
By no means inferior in virtue was the younger Africanus, nor any more fortunate in his end. For after he had utterly destroyed two cities, Numantia and Carthage, both threatening destruction to the Roman empire, he was murdered at home, without anyone to avenge his death in all the forum.
Who can be unaware that Scipio Nasica was as famous in the toga, as the other two Scipios were in war? He prevented Ti. Gracchus from strangling the commonwealth with his violent hands; yet, because of the low esteem which the citizens had of his virtue, he went, under the specious pretence of an embassy, into a voluntary exile, as far as Pergamum, and there spent the remainder of his days, without any longing for his ungrateful country.
I remain in the same name, not having yet done with the complaints of the Cornelian gens. For P. Lentulus, a most famous citizen and eminently loyal to his country, after he had piously and bravely overthrown C. Gracchus in a pitched battle on the Aventine hill, in which he received serious wounds, as a reward for that victory, whereby he had preserved the laws, peace and liberty of his country, was not permitted to live peacefully in the city, and therefore wearied with envy and slander, he begged the senate for a posting abroad; and having made a set speech, wherein he prayed to the immortal gods that his ungrateful country might never have occasion to use him again, he went into Sicily, and there spent the remainder of his days. So a series of five Cornelii provided five examples of an ungrateful country.
These men withdrew voluntarily, but Ahala, when as master of the horse he killed Sp. Maelius who was seeking royal power, was punished with exile for preserving the liberty of his fellow-citizens.

§ 5.3.3  The spirit of the senate and the people can be moved as if by a sudden storm, and therefore should be pursued with moderate complaints; but the ungrateful deeds of individuals should be criticised with fuller censure. They were capable of reason, with the freedom to consider each course of action, but then chose injustice rather than piety. What cloud or storm of words could be severe enough to express the ingratitude of Sextilius? He was defended and successfully brought off from an accusation of a serious crime by C. Caesar, yet he did hesitate to betray and deliver him up to the cruelty of his enemies, dragging him away from the rites of his treacherous table and from the altars of his shameful household gods, when Caesar came to his house near Tarquinii for shelter in the time of Cinna's proscription - as he could rightly claim because of his past assistance. Had his accuser been forced by public events to implore the same kindness upon his knees, it would have been inhuman to have denied him; for those whom wrongs cause us to hate, misery makes us to pity. But Sextilius betrayed not his accuser, but his protector, to the cut-throat hand of his most inveterate adversary; if he did this for fear of death, it was unworthy of life, if for hope of reward, most worthy of death.

§ 5.3.4  I will relate another example of the same nature. M. Cicero had defended C. Popillius Laenas, of the territory of Picenum, at the request of M. Caelius, with no less care than eloquence; although the outcome of the case had been very doubtful, he restored him safely to his household gods. This Popillius afterwards, being neither in word or deed harmed by Cicero, of his own accord begged of M. Antonius, that he might be the person to be sent to slay Cicero when he was proscribed. Having obtained that detestable commission, away he ran over-joyed to Caieta; and that very person, I need not say who was the author of his dignity and safety, but also one who ought to have been respected by him to the utmost, that very person did he command patiently to offer his throat to be cut. And thus he cut off the head of Roman eloquence, and the celebrated right hand of peace, in perfect leisure; and he returned with joy to the city bearing them, as if he had brought along with him the spoils of any enemy commander. It did not occur to him, as he carried this wicked load, that he was holding the head that had once pleaded for the safety of his own head. Words are too imperfect to describe this monster, seeing there is not another Cicero living to bewail his unhappy fate.

§ 5.3.5  What to say of you, Pompey the Great, I do not know, when I consider the vastness of your great fortune and renown, that once spread over the sea as well as the land, and when I recall that your downfall was so great that I cannot attempt to describe it. But even if we were silent, the death of Cn. Carbo, by whom you were protected in your youth, when you were contesting in the forum for your estate, but who was later slain by your command, will still be remembered, not without some censure. By this ungrateful deed, you seemed more to stand in awe of Sulla's power, than to consider your own honour.

§ 5.3e.1  But lest other states should taunt us, after we have confessed our own weaknesses; we find that the Carthaginians intended to kill or banish Hannibal, when for their honour and for the enlargement of their empire, he had slain so many of our generals, and cut to pieces so many of our armies, that had he slain only so many common soldiers of his enemies, it would have won him sufficient renown.

§ 5.3e.2  Lacedaemon never bred a greater or more useful citizen than Lycurgus. He was a person that Pythian Apollo did not disdain to speak to, when he consulted the oracle, and told him that he knew not whether to account him a man or a god. Yet neither the integrity of his life, nor the constant love which he bore for his country, nor all the wholesome laws which he had made, could preserve him from the hatred of his fellow citizens. For sometimes they threw stones at him in the streets; sometimes they drove him out of the market-place; they put out one of his eyes, and at last utterly banished him from his country. What may we think of other cities, when a city so famous as this for steadfastness, moderation and gravity, proved so ungrateful against a citizen so well deserving?

§ 5.3e.3  Take Theseus from Athens, and either there would have been no such thing as Athens, or else not half so famous. For he combined his scattered countrymen into one city: and gave the shape and form of a city to people who were wild and rustic before. When he was but a youth, he quelled the cruel tyranny of Minos; he tamed the boundless insolence of the Thebans; he assisted the sons of Hercules; and wherever wickedness was grown headstrong and monstrous, he overcame it by his virtue and his strength. Yet was he banished by the Athenians, and the island of Scyros, too small for the exile, became famous only for his tomb.
Also Solon made such wholesome laws, and indeed so famous, that if the Athenians had continued using them, they would still be the masters of great territories; he captured Salamis, a strong fortress that threatened their ruin and was only a little distance from them; he foresaw the tyranny of Pisistratus, and was the first that dared to advise the people to resist him by force of arms; but in his old age he lived an exile in Cyprus. Nor was it his lot to be buried in his own country, of which he had so well deserved.
The Athenians would have done Miltiades a favour if, after the battle of Marathon, in which he defeated the Persians with their three hundred thousand men, they had sent him immediately into exile, and not kept him chained up in prison till he died. But surely after that they thought that they had maltreated this well-deserving man sufficiently? Not so! They would not suffer his body to be buried, till Cimon his son had surrendered himself into the same prison. Chains and a prison were a sad inheritance for the son of so great a general, who was himself afterwards one of the greatest generals of that age.
Aristides also, who was the measure of justice all over Greece, and the greatest example of moderation that ever was, was commanded to leave his country. Happy Athenians, if they could find anyone who was either a good man, or a patriot, after this man was gone, with whom sanctity itself seemed to depart!
Themistocles was a most notable example of those who experienced the ingratitude of their country. When he had brought Athens to safety, and raised it to be the most famous, the most wealthy, the leading city of all Greece, he found his countrymen so incensed against him, that he was forced to flee to the mercy of Xerxes, whom he had ruined before.
Phocion, who was endowed with two qualities which are the best to appease wrath and fury, I mean clemency and liberality, was almost put to torture by the Athenians; and when he was dead, he was not permitted so much as one piece of Athenian earth to cover his bones. They ordered him to be cast out beyond the borders of the land where he had lived as one of their best citizens.
Certainly then it must be looked upon as a piece of public madness, by common consent to punish the greatest virtues as if they were the greatest crimes, and to repay benefactions with insults. This should not be endured anywhere, and ought to have been more especially abominated in Athens; where there is a law against ingratitude - and not without reason, because it diminishes the exchange of doing and receiving benefits, which is the support of human life, by neglecting to return kindness for kindness. How severely therefore are they to be reprehended, who having most just laws, but being very wickedly inclined, rather choose to obey their depraved character, than their laws? So that if it could have happened that those great persons, whose misfortunes I have related, were able to appeal against their country to other states, reciting that law about ingratitude, do you not think they would quickly have silenced those talkative people, however ingenious they were? This is what they would say: “Your disparate hearths and huts separated in villages have been transformed into the pillar of Greece; Marathon glitters with the Persian trophies; Salamis and Artemisium beheld the destruction of Xerxes' fleet; those walls that were pulled down, rose up more glorious from their ruins. But what has become of all those great men that did these great things? You, Athens, should answer for yourself. You have allowed Theseus to be buried on a little rock, Miltiades to die in prison, and Cimon his son to be bound in his father's chains; Themistocles the victor to prostrate himself at the knees of that very person whom he had vanquished; Solon also, with Aristides and Phocion, to leave behind their household-gods. While our ashes are foully and wretchedly scattered, at the same time you give honour to the bones of Oedipus, infamous for the death of his father and for marrying his mother, in the manner of a sacrosanct hero, with an altar between the very hill of Ares - the venerable home of human and divine disputes - and the lofty citadel of Minerva the guardian; and so the wickedness of foreigners is more pleasing to you than the good deeds of your citizens. Therefore read your own law, which you are bound by oath to observe; and since you did not give due reward to virtue, make proper atonement to those you have injured.” Their ghosts may be silent, bound by the necessity of fate - but a tongue that is free to speak openly will not fail to condemn the dreadful ingratitude of Athens.

§ 5.4.1  But let us leave these ingrates, and talk of those that have been reckoned pious; for honourable subjects are more pleasing than stories of the wicked. Let us come then to those, who have been so fortunate in their offspring, as never to repent of their child-rearing. Coriolanus, a person of great courage and profound wisdom, and well-deserving of his country, yet was almost ruined by the cruelty of unjust condemnation, and fled to the Volsci, who were enemies of the Romans. For virtue is esteemed wherever it goes, so that where he only sought for refuge, in a short time he obtained the chief command of all things. And it happened that he, whom the Romans had rejected as their leader, could have proved to be their most fatal enemy. For the Volsci having often defeated our armies, by his leadership and valour, came up and besieged the very walls of Rome. For this reason the people, who had been so arrogant, as not to value their own happiness, were forced to beg mercy from an exile, whose misdemeanour they previously refused to pardon. Ambassadors were sent to appease him, but they could do no good: the priests went in their religious habits, but returned without obtaining any favour: the senators were at their wits' end and the people trembled: both men and women bewailed their approaching calamity. But then Veturia, Coriolanus's mother, taking along with her Volumnia his wife, and their children also, went to the camp of the Volsci. As soon as her son saw them, “O my country, you have captured and overcome my anger,” said he, “by virtue of this woman's tears; and for the sake of the womb that bore me, I forgive you, though you have been my enemy,” and immediately he withdrew his army from the Roman territories. And so his piety withstood and overcame all obstacles - revenge for the wrong he had received, his hopes of victory, shame at leaving his venture unfinished, and fear of death. And thus the sight of one parent changed a most severe war into a timely peace.

§ 5.4.2  The same piety roused the elder Africanus, when he was hardly past the age of childhood, to go to the aid of his father, and armed him with manly strength in the midst of battle. For he saved the consul, who was desperately wounded in the battle which he lost to Hannibal upon the river Ticinus. He was not terrified either by the tenderness of his age, the rawness of his skill in warfare, or the outcome of an unfortunate fight, which would have daunted an older soldier. By this he merited a crown conspicuous for its double honour, having rescued from the jaws of death, a father and a general.

§ 5.4.3  Those famous examples the Roman citizens only learnt by hearsay; the following they beheld with their eyes. Pomponius the tribune of the plebs had accused L. Manlius Torquatus before the people, on the charge that he had exceeded the time of his commission, out of hope of putting an successful end to the war, and that he had sent his son, who was a young man of very great hopes, away from public service, to work on his own farm. When the young Manlius heard this, he came to the city, and went at break of day to Pomponius's house. Pomponius, believing that he came to enlarge on his father's crimes, because he had been ill used by him, commanded all the people out of the room, so that he might more easily make his accusations without any onlookers. The son having thereby got an opportunity so fit for his purpose, drew his sword which he had brought concealed under his clothes, and by his threats compelled the terrified tribune to swear, that he would forsake any further prosecution of his father: so that Torquatus was never brought to trial. Piety towards mild parents is commendable: but Manlius, as his father was severe to him, merited greater praise, by the assistance which he gave him. He was induced by no allurement of indulgence, but only by natural affection to love him.

§ 5.4.4  This sort of piety was imitated by M. Cotta, on the very same day that he put on the toga of manhood. As soon as he came down from the Capitol, he made an accusation against Cn. Carbo, who had condemned his father; and bringing him to trial, he convicted him; thus making an auspicious start to his youth, and his public career, with a famous achievement.

§ 5.4.5  Paternal authority was equally respected by C. Flaminius. For he as tribune of the plebs published a law for giving portions of the Gallic land to every individual man, in opposition to the senate, and quite against their will, ignoring both their threats and their pleas, and not at all terrified by the menace of an army, which they threatened to raise against him, if he persisted in his obstinacy. He went onto the rostra, and submitted his law to the people; but when his father pulled him away, he came down in obedience to his paternal command: and no man complained in the least to see him break off in the midst of his speech.

§ 5.4.6  These were great acts of manly piety; but perhaps the action of Claudia, the Vestal Virgin, was more forcible and courageous. When she saw her father pulled out of his triumphal chariot, by the rude hand of a tribune of the plebs, with remarkable speed she interposed herself between them, and resisted the highest authority in the city, who was inflamed with anger and malice. So the father rode in triumph to the Capitol, and the daughter to the temple of Vesta. Nor could it be easily decided to which of them the most praise was due, whether to him whom victory, or her whom piety attended.

§ 5.4.7  Pardon me most ancient hearths, pardon me eternal fires, if the course of our work leads us from your most sacred temple, to a more necessary rather than magnificent part of the city. For no misfortune, no poverty cheapens the price of piety. Rather the proof of it is more certain, by how much it is more wretched. The praetor had delivered to the triumvir a free-born woman to be put to death in prison, after she had been convicted of some heinous crime. But the jailer, pitying her circumstance, did not strangle her immediately. He continued to give her daughter liberty to visit her, after he had diligently searched that she carried her no food, believing that in a little time the mother would be starved to death. But seeing her live many days without any alteration, he began to wonder by what means she kept herself alive; thereupon, watching the daughter more carefully, he observed her giving her breast to her mother, and allaying her hunger with her milk. The novelty of this wonderful sight was reported by him to the triumvir, by the triumvir to the praetor, and by the praetor to the panel of judges, who granted the woman her pardon. What will not piety invent, which for the preservation of a parent in prison, discovered so strange a means as this? For what could be more unusual, what more extraordinary, than that a mother should be nourished by the breasts of a child? One would say that this was against the course of nature, except that nature commands us in the first place to love our parents.

§ 5.4e.1  The same can be said of the piety of Pero, who preserved her father Mycon, who had fallen into the same misfortune, and was in prison, nourishing him like a baby, in his extreme old age, with the milk of her breasts. Mens' eyes are transfixed in wonder, when they behold this act of piety represented in painting, and renew the existence of this ancient event by their admiration of its present depiction, believing that in the mute drawing of their limbs they are looking at living bodies. And this of necessity happens in the mind, which is brought to consider ancient deeds as if they are recent, more effectively by a picture than by a written account.

§ 5.4e.2  Nor can I forget you Cimon, who did not hesitate to purchase the burial of your father, with the voluntary surrender of your own person to imprisonment. For though afterwards it happened, that you were both a famous citizen and a renowned general, yet you got more honour in the prison than in the senate-house. For other virtues deserve admiration, but piety merits a great deal of love.

§ 5.4e.3  Nor must I forget the two brothers, whose courage was more noble than their birth. They were born of low parentage in Spain, and became famous by their deaths, laying down their lives for the support of their parents. For they agreed that after their death twelve thousand sesterces should be paid to their parents by the Paciaeci, on condition that they killed their father's killer Etpastus, the tyrant of their country; and they not only performed this exploit, but died bravely in performing it. With the same hands they avenged their countrymen, punished Etpastus, provided maintenance for their aged parents, and gained renown for themselves. Therefore now they live on in their tombs, because they chose rather to support their fathers near the end of their life, than to preserve their own.

§ 5.4e.4  More famous pairs of brothers were Biton and Cleobis, and Amphinomus and Anapius: the former, because they pulled their mother's chariot to the temple of Juno, in order to perform the ceremonies there: and the latter, because they carried their father and their mother upon their shoulders, through the midst of Aetna's flames, although neither of them intended to lose their lives.

§ 5.4e.5  I do not want to detract from the honour of the Argives, or to cloud the glory of Mount Aetna, but I wish to hold the light of knowledge to illuminate a lesser known piety: which makes me renew the memory of an act of Scythian piety. For when Darius invaded their territories with a mighty army, they retreated before him to the remotest wildernesses of all Asia. Thereupon, being asked by his ambassadors, when they would make an end of fleeing, or when they would begin to fight; they replied that they had neither agricultural land, nor any cities which were worth fighting for, but when they came to the monuments of their ancestors, then he would know how the Scythians were accustomed to fight. By this pious answer, that fierce and barbarous nation redeemed themselves from the charge of savagery. Therefore Nature is the first and best mistress of piety, which does not need the help of speech, nor the use of letters, but through her own silent and proper power infuses love into the breasts of children. What is then the profit of learning? That their manners should be more polite, but not more honourable. For true virtue is rather born than acquired.

§ 5.4e.6  For who taught these people, who travel around in carts, shelter their naked bodies in the woods, and live by tearing cattle apart like dogs, to give Darius such an answer? She that taught Croesus's son, who was born dumb, to speak out for the preservation of his father. For when the city of Sardis was captured by Cyrus, one of the Persians, not knowing who the person was, was going violently to kill his father, but the son - as if forgetting that Fortune had given him no voice when he was born - cried out aloud to the soldier that he should not kill king Croesus, by which he called back the sword that was already at his throat. And so he, who till that time was mute, recovered his speech for the safety of his father.

§ 5.4e.7  The same affection armed a young man of Pinna, called Pulto, in the Italian War, with the same strength of body and mind. He was commander of the city when it was besieged. When the Roman general caused his father to be brought forth, surrounded by soldiers with drawn swords, and threatened to put him to death before his eyes, unless he would deliver up the town, on his own he made a sally, and rescued his aged father out of the enemy's hands. He was doubly illustrious for his piety, because he preserved his father, and yet did not betray his country.

§ 5.5.1  Next to this kind of piety follows fraternal benevolence. For as it may be reckoned the first bond of friendship, to have received many and great benefits; the next tie is, that we have received them together. For how abundantly pleasant is the remembrance of those things! Before I was born I lived in the same house, my infancy lay in the same cradle, the same persons were parents to both, the same vows were made for both, and we enjoy the same honour from our ancestors. A wife is dear to a husband, children dear to a parent, friends are pleasant, and relatives are delightful; but no later acquaintance ought to exceed brotherly loving kindness.
And this I speak by the testimony of Scipio Africanus, who, though he had contracted a very close friendship with Laelius, yet implored the senate that they would not transfer to him the province allotted to his brother, which they had taken away from him; he promised to go himself as legate to his brother L. Scipio. And so that the elder became inferior to the younger brother, the steadfast and courageous to the faint-hearted, the renowned to a person of no fame; and, what is more, he that was already Africanus, to him that was not yet Asiaticus - so that he acquired one of the most noble surnames, and donated the other. He received the general's cloak of one triumph, and donated the other; and he was greater by the assistance he gave, than his brother by his superior command.

§ 5.5.2  M. Fabius the consul having defeated the Veientes and Etruscans in a most remarkable battle , would not accept a triumph, which was offered to him with the full consent of the senate, and eager desire of the people, because his brother Q. Fabius, a person of consular dignity, was killed bravely fighting in that battle. How great was the zeal of fraternal love that was lodged in that breast, that could not be extinguished even by the splendour of so great an honour?

§ 5.5.3  Antiquity is famous for that example, but which follows has been no small ornament to our own age, who have had the honour to see the fraternal pair of the Claudian family, who are now also the glory of the Julian family. For so great a love had our princeps and parent for his brother Drusus, that when he understood at Ticinus, whither he came as conqueror to embrace his parents, that his brother Drusus lay dangerously ill in Germany, in terrible shock he rushed out of town. And the journey which he made from there seems to have been so swift, as if he rode it at one breath; for passing the Alps and the Rhine, he rode day and night, changing his horses, for over two hundred miles, through several barbarous but newly conquered nations, in the company of only Antabagius, who was his guide. But in all that hazard and danger, when he had forsaken the company of men, the most sacred name of piety, and the gods who are the supporters of all laudable virtues, even Jupiter himself, the faithful preserver of the Roman empire, accompanied him. Drusus also, faint and weak, at that very moment when there is little or no distinction to be made between life and death, ordered the legions with their standards to go out and meet his brother, proclaiming him as imperator. He also ordered a praetorium to be constructed for him upon the right hand side of his own, and would make him take the titles of consul and imperator. At the same moment he submitted to the majesty of his brother, and to the stroke of death. Nor can any precedent of fraternal love be compared to these, unless it be the example of Castor and Pollux.

§ 5.5.4  However it cannot be a dishonour to the memory of the most famous generals, to mention here the extraordinary love of a certain soldier for his brother. For he was serving under Cn. Pompeius, and having slain a soldier of Sertorius, who fought him very hard, when he came to strip him, and found him to be his own brother, he cursed the gods for giving him the victory. He carried the body near his own camp, and putting a rich garment upon him, laid him upon a funeral pyre. As soon as he had lit it, with the same sword wherewith he had slain his brother, he stabbed himself in the heart, and falling upon his brother, was burnt in the same flames. He might have lived without blame, if he had pleaded ignorance; but he rather chose to take heed of his own piety, than the pardon of others; and for that reason he accompanied his brother in death.

§ 5.6.1  We have seen piety to personal relatives, and we will now show it towards our native country; to whose majesty paternal authority, though almost equal to that of the gods, has ever submitted, and to which brotherly affection willingly yields, and for good reason too. For a family may be ruined, and yet the commonwealth could be safe; but the ruin of the commonwealth necessarily draws with it the destruction of every family. But how can we express in words, what so many have testified at the expense of their own lives? Brutus the first consul meeting Arruns the son of Tarquinius Superbus, whom he had expelled from his kingdom, in battle rushed at him with such fury, that running each other in the body with their spears, they fell both dead at the same time. I may very well add, that the Roman people paid dearly for their liberty.

§ 5.6.2  When the earth suddenly sank in the middle of the forum, leaving a wide hole, the oracle gave a response, that nothing could fill up that hole, except what the Roman people valued most. Curtius, a young man noble in both birth and mind, realised that our city was pre-eminent in virtue and martial prowess. He put on all his military equipment, and getting on horseback, he put spurs to his horse, and rode full speed into the dark precipice. The citizens in his honour threw grain on top of him, and then the earth miraculously closed up again. Many remarkable things have afterwards adorned the forum, but never did anyone come close to the piety of Curtius towards his country. Next to this, which deserves the chief place of honour, I will add another example somewhat like it.

§ 5.6.3  When Genucius Cipus the praetor had just come out of the city in his genera's cloak, there befell him a most extraordinary prodigy. For suddenly something grew out of his forehead like horns, and a voice proclaimed that he should be king, if he returned into the city again. Lest this should happen, he condemned himself to perpetual banishment. This was a noble act of piety, which considering the honour it deserves, is to be deemed greater than the seven kings. In testimony of this, a bronze statue of his head was set up upon the gate through which he left the city, and was Rauduscula: for at one time bronze objects were called raudera.

§ 5.6.4  Genucius bequeathed the inheritance of his praise, as great as could be, to Aelius the praetor. For when a woodpecker came and sat upon his head, as he was sitting in judgment, the soothsayers announced, that if he preserved the bird, his family would flourish, but the condition of the commonwealth would be most wretched; but if the bird were slain, the reverse would happen to them both. Then he took the woodpecker and wrung its neck in the view of all the senate. His family lost seventeen soldiers, all brave men, at the battle of Cannae. But the commonwealth soon afterwards recovered its glory. These are the examples, no doubt, that Sulla, Marius and Cinna despised as ridiculous.

§ 5.6.5  P. Decius, the first who brought the consulship into his own family, when he saw the Roman army ready to flee and almost overthrown in the Latin War, vowed his own life for the safety of the army, and promptly, putting spurs to his horse, rushed into the midst of his enemies, seeking both his own death and the safety of the commonwealth. Having made a great slaughter, at length he was overwhelmed by the multitude of missiles, and fell on top of his dead enemies. From his blood and wounds sprang an unexpected victory.

§ 5.6.6  There might have been but one example of such a general, if he had not begotten a son who was his equal in courage. For he in his fourth consulship, with the same devotion and courage in fight, and with the same turn of fortune, sustained the weak and sinking power of our city. And therefore it was a difficult thing to decide, whether it was more profitable for the Roman city to have the Decii as commanders, or to lose them. For living, they kept the city from being vanquished, but by their death it was victorious.

§ 5.6.7  The elder Scipio did not lose his life for the commonwealth, but with remarkable virtue he contended against the destruction of the commonwealth. For when our city, after the battle of Cannae, expected nothing else but to be the prey of the victor Hannibal, and therefore by advice of Q. Metellus, the remains of the broken army were planning to forsake Italy, he being a young military tribune, drew his sword, and threatened death to any man who would not take an oath never to forsake his country. Thereby he not only showed an example of piety himself, but summoned it back, when it was just leaving the breasts of others.

§ 5.6.8  To come from private individuals to the whole state: how thoroughly was the entire community inflamed with the love of their country! For when the treasury was empty during the Second Punic War, so that there was not enough money for the performance of the divine rites, the publicani went to the censors and urged them to let out contracts, in the same quantity as if money was abundant in the city, promising to fulfil all the requirements but not to demand a single as till the war was ended. Also the owners of the slaves, whom Sempronius Gracchus had set free, as a reward for fighting so bravely at Beneventum, declined to ask for any money from the general. In the army itself there was not a knight, nor a centurion that demanded any pay. The men and women also brought what gold and silver they had, and even the children brought the emblems of their free birth[ bullae ] to support the needs of the occasion. Nor would anyone take advantage of the benefit conferred by the senate's decree, in which those who had performed certain duties were freed from paying a tax. For they were aware that, after Veii was taken, when the gold which Camillus had vowed as the tenth of their spoil should have been sent to the oracle of Apollo, but could not be purchased, the matrons brought all their golden ornaments into the treasury. They had also heard, that the thousand pounds of gold, which was to be paid to the Gauls after the siege of the Capitol, was made up from the matrons' jewellery. And therefore out of their own goodness, and admonished by the example of antiquity, they thought they should not neglect any means of helping.

§ 5.6e.1  I will touch upon a few foreign examples on the same topic. The king of the Athenians, Codrus, when he saw the territory of Attica invaded and ravaged by a vast number of his enemies, despairing of human assistance, sent to the oracle of Apollo, and by his ambassadors desired to know, in which way he might be rid of that terrible war. The god responded, that it would be ended when he fell by his enemy's hand. News of this spread about not only among his own people, but in the camp of the enemy, who therefore commanded that no-one should injure the body of Codrus. When the king learnt this, he threw off his royal robes, and in a servant's clothes threw himself into the midst of a squadron of the enemy, who were out foraging. He wounded one of them with a scythe, so as to provoke the soldier to kill him; and by his death Athens escaped destruction.

§ 5.6e.2  From the same fountain of piety flowed the soul of Thrasybulus. For when he, wishing to free his country from the oppression of the Thirty Tyrants, was going about this weighty enterprise with a small number of men, one of them said to him, “How much will Athens be indebted to you, if they regain their liberty by means of you!” “May the gods grant,” answered he, “that I will then have repaid what I owe to them.” With this wish he heaped a greater honour upon his renowned work of destroying the tyranny.

§ 5.6e.3  But Themistocles, whose virtue made him a conqueror, but his country's ingratitude made him the general of the Persians; in order that he might not be forced to invade it, having performed a sacrifice, drank up a full cup of the bull's blood, and fell before the altar like a renowned victim of piety. By such a memorable death, he ensured that Greece had no need of another Themistocles.

§ 5.6e.4  There follows another example of the same nature. When Carthage and Cyrene contended most obstinately for a piece of land, at length it was agreed to send certain young men from both sides, and wherever they met, that place would be the boundary between both their territories. But the two Carthaginian brothers, called Philaeni, deceitfully set out ahead of the agreed time, and hastened to set the border far away. When the young men of Cyrene understood this, they for a long time complained of the treachery; but at length they resolved to make up for the injury by proposing a severe condition. For they proposed to the Carthaginians, that that place should be the boundary agreed upon, provided the Philaeni would suffer themselves to be buried there. But the outcome disappointed their expectation; for the Carthaginian brothers without any delay delivered their bodies to be buried. So they, because they rather desired large limits to their country, than a large extent of life, lie entombed in honour, the Punic empire being enlarged by the sacrifice of their bones.
Where are now the proud walls of Carthage? Where is the maritime glory of that famous port? Where is their navy, so terrible upon every shore? Where are all their armies? Where their numerous squadrons of cavalry? Where those souls that were not satisfied with the vast tract of Africa? All these things Fortune divided between two Scipios. But the destruction of their country did not abolish the memory of that noble act performed by the Philaeni; because mortal courage or strength can purchase nothing immortal, except virtue alone.

§ 5.6e.5  That piety was inflamed with youthful zeal. But Aristotle, hardly able to maintain the remnants of old age within his wrinkled limbs in his literary pastimes, laboured so strongly for the safety of his own country, that as he lay in his little bed in Athens, he raised his city up again, when it had been levelled to the ground by its enemies, by the hands of the same Macedonians who had destroyed it; so that Stagira was equally famous for being demolished by Alexander, and for being restored by Aristotle.
Hence it is apparent, how kind, nay how profuse in their patriotism, all ages, all ranks of men have been. A wealth of remarkable examples, evident to the world, has endorsed the sacred laws of Nature.

§ 5.7.1  Let the indulgence of pious and dear affection of parents toward their children set sail; and carried with a fair wind, return home laden with a grateful offering of charm. Fabius Rullianus after he had been five times consul, and every time had discharged his office with honour, was admired for all the virtues and merits of his life; but he did not disdain to go as legate to his son Fabius Gurges, who was then marching to put an end to a difficult and dangerous war. He went into the field of battle, as it were with a mind but without a body, because his old age was more suited to the ease of a bed, than to the labour of combat. He considered it a great joy to follow on horseback the triumphal chariot of the son, whom he had formerly carried as a young boy in his own; and he appeared to be not the companion, but the author of the triumph.

§ 5.7.2  The fate of Caesetius, a Roman knight, was not altogether so glorious, but his indulgence towards his son was no less remarkable. When he was commanded by Caesar, now victor over all his foreign and domestic enemies, to disinherit and disown his son, because he, being tribune of the plebs, with his colleague Marullus had maliciously accused Caesar of seeking to become king, he ventured to give him this reply: “You shall rather take from me, O Caesar, all my sons, than compel me by my own actions to disinherit any one of them.” He had two other sons, young men of high hopes, to whom Caesar had liberally promised great preferment. The father remained safe, through the clemency of the divine princeps. Yet who would not think that he dared with a spirit that was more than human, who would not stoop to him, who had subdued all the world under his command?

§ 5.7.3  But perhaps Octavius Balbus was more strongly and ardently affectionate towards his son. For when he was proscribed by the triumvirs, he got away through the back door of his house, and had already started on his escape; but upon hearing a false report that his son had been killed at home, he returned to the doom which he had avoided, and delivered himself up to be murdered by the soldiers. The moment wherein he saw his son safe, was of more value to him than his own preservation. Oh unfortunate eyes of that young man, with which he could not avoid beholding a most loving father dying for his sake!

§ 5.7e.1  But let us come to things more pleasant to the ear. Antiochus, the son of king Seleucus, was utterly in love with his step-mother Stratonice, but considering with how unlawful a passion he burnt, he covered up the impious wound of his breast with a pious dissimulation. Thereupon, as different emotions were constricted within the same marrow and bowels, unlimited desire and excessive modesty caused his body to almost waste away. He kept to his bed, like one ready to expire. His relatives mourned; his father was overwhelmed with sadness, lamenting the loss of his only son, and his own bereavement; and the face of the whole court was rather funereal, than royal. But this cloud of sadness was soon dispelled by the perceptiveness of Leptines the astrologer, or as others say, of Erasistratus the physician. He, when sitting beside Antiochus's bed, observed him to blush when Stratonice entered the room, and that his breathing became more lively; but that he turned pale, and let out deep sighs, when she departed again. At length by careful investigation he found out the truth; for when Stratonice entered the room and again when she left, by casually taking hold of his arm he felt the pulse in his veins become now more lively and then more sluggish, so that he became certain that the boy was suffering from this kind of illness. He immediately reported it to Seleucus. The king without any more ado handed over his dearest wife to his son: attributing his love to Fortune, but the concealing of it until death to his modesty. Let us now consider Seleucus as a king, an old man, and a lover, and then it will appear how many and how difficult obstacles were overcome by paternal indulgence.

§ 5.7e.2  Seleucus parted only with his wife, but Ariobarzanes parted with the kingdom of Cappadocia to his son in Pompey's presence. When he ascended Pompey's tribunal, and at his invitation sat down also in a curule chair, he beheld his son sitting by the secretary in a seat that was beneath his dignity. Thereupon he promptly descended from the curule chair, and taking his diadem from his own head, put it upon his son's head, and began to urge him to go up to the place whence he had come. The young man wept, his body trembled, the diadem fell down, nor could he go where he was told. And, what was almost incredible, he that parted with a kingdom was glad; he that was to accept it, sad and sorrowful. Nor would that extraordinary contest have come to an end, had not Pompey interposed his authority. For he called the prince king, commanded him to take the diadem, and constrained him to sit down by him in the curule chair.

§ 5.8.1  The indulgence of the foregoing parents was comic, but the severity of these that follow was tragic. L. Brutus equalled Romulus in honour; for the latter founded Rome, and the former founded Roman liberty. When Brutus assumed the supreme power, he learnt that his sons were attempting to restore Tarquinius, whom he himself had expelled. He caused them to be arrested, and to be whipped with rods before his tribunal; and after that, he caused them to be tied to a stake, and beheaded. He put off the affections of a father, that he might act like a consul: and rather chose to live childless, than to be remiss in public discipline.

§ 5.8.2  His example was followed by Cassius, whose son was a tribune of the plebs, and was the first that promulgated an agrarian law, and by many other popular acts had won the hearts of the people; when he had laid down his office, by advice of his family and friends, Cassius condemned his son in his own house for seeking to be king: and after he had been whipped, commanded him to be put to death; and consecrated his property to Ceres.

§ 5.8.3  Titus Manlius Torquatus, famous for his many great honours, and a person of great experience in the civil law and the pontifical rites, did not think it necessary to consult his friends in an act of the same nature. For when the Macedonians had by their ambassadors complained to the senate about D. Silanus his son, who was governor of that province, he besought the senate, that they would determine nothing in that affair, till he had heard the dispute between his son and the Macedonians. Then with the general consent of the conscript fathers, and of those who came to complain, he sat and heard the case in his own house, wherein he spent two whole days alone, and on the third day, after he had diligently examined the evidence on both sides, he pronounced this sentence. “Whereas it has been proved, that Silanus my son has taken bribes from our allies, I think him unworthy to live either in the commonwealth, or in my house, and I command him forthwith to get out of my sight.” Silanus, struck with the sharp and cruel sentence of his father, would not endure to live any longer, but the next night he hanged himself. Now Torquatus had done the duty of a severe judge; he had made satisfaction to the commonwealth; the Macedonians had their revenge; and one would have thought, that the father's rigour might have been mollified by the unfortunate end of his son. But he refused to be present at his funeral, and at the same time as his son's burial, he gave audience to those who came to consult him. For he saw that he was sitting in a hall where there was a statue of Torquatus Imperiosus, who was so famous for his severity as a father; and this wise man remembered that the effigies of ancestors are customarily put in the front part of houses, so that their descendants can not only read about their virtues, but also imitate them.

§ 5.8.4  M. Scaurus, the light and ornament of his country, when the Roman cavalry was defeated by the Cimbri at the river Athesis, and deserting the proconsul Catulus, fled in terror towards the city, sent someone to tell his son, who was one of those that fled, that he had rather meet with his carcass slain in the field, than see him guilty of such a shameful flight. And therefore if there were any shame remaining in his breast, degenerate as he was, he should shun the sight of his enraged father. For by the remembrance of his own youth, he was admonished what kind of son should be owned or condemned by such a father as M. Scaurus. When this message was delivered to him, the young man was forced to make a more lethal use of his sword against himself, than he had against his enemies.

§ 5.8.5  A. Fulvius, a man of senatorial rank, restrained his son from going into the field of battle, no less resolutely than Scaurus chided his son for running away from it. For he caused his son, who was eminent among his equals for his wit, learning and good looks, to be put to death, because he ill-advisedly entered into friendship with Catiline. Having brought him back by force, as he was recklessly going out to Catiline's camp, he put him to death, uttering these words beforehand: “I did not beget you to join with Catiline against your country, but to serve your country against Catiline.” He might have kept him shut inside till the heat of the war had passed; but that would have been only the act of a cautious father - this was the deed of a severe father.

§ 5.9.1  But let us temper this angry and sharp severity with an admixture of clemency, and join acts of pardon to keenness of punishment. L. Gellius, a person who had gone through all the offices of honour, as far as the censorship, when he suspected his son to be guilty of most heinous crimes, by committing adultery with his step-mother, and plotting with her to take away his father's life, did not promptly rush to take revenge. He consulted almost the whole senate, and after he had charged his son, gave him the liberty to speak for himself. Then after a strict examination and trial, he acquitted him by the verdict both of his council and of himself. Had he hastened to act cruelly in the heat of anger, he would have committed as great a crime, as that which he sought to punish.

§ 5.9.2  Quintus Hortensius, who in his time was the ornament of Roman eloquence, showed a singular example of patience towards his son. For when he knew him to be so debauched, that he could not endure his impiety, and for that reason he was about to make his sister's son Messalla his heir, he told the senate, while he was defending his son against an accusation of bribing the people's votes, that if they condemned him, he would have nothing left but the kisses of his grandchildren. He intimated by these words which he inserted in his speech, that he considered his son rather as a torment of his mind, than as one of his pleasures. Yet so that he might not subvert the order of Nature, he left his estate to his son, and not to his grandchildren. He showed moderation in his emotions; for in his life he gave an impartial testimony of his character, and being dead he did him the honour which was due to his blood.

§ 5.9.3  Q. Fulvius, a man of great fame and dignity, did the same thing - but to a rather more vile son. For when he had besought the senate that his son, who had gone into hiding after being suspected of parricide, might be sought for by the triumvir, and arrested on the senate's command, he not only declined to prosecute him, but also left him all his estate after his death. He appointed the person whom he had begot, not the person whose wickedness he had experienced, as his heir.

§ 5.9.4  To these merciful acts of great men, I will add one novel and unusual example of an unknown parent. When he found that his son was plotting against his life, not believing that any true-born and truly-begotten child could ever harbour such impious and wicked thoughts, he took his wife aside one day, and asked her very seriously, whether the child were supposititious, or whether she had conceived him by another man. But being assured by her oaths and assurances, that he had no reason to suspect anything of that kind; at length he took his son with him into a secluded place, gave him a sword which he had secretly brought along with him, and bade him cut his throat; telling him also, that he did not need to use either poison nor hired killers to complete his parricide. Then proper consideration of the act, not gradually, but most suddenly possessed the breast of the young man, so that he flung away the sword and said, “Live father, live; and if you are so pious, as to permit such a son to pray, may you surpass me in length of days. But I beseech you, let not this my love seem the more ignoble, because it proceeds from penitence.” O solitude more sacred than bloodshed! O woods more free from cruelty than home itself! O sword more kind than nourishment! O more auspicious benefit of death offered, than of life bestowed!

§ 5.10.1  Having given an account of those parents who patiently brooked the wrongs committed by their children, let us speak of such as have borne their death courageously. When Horatius Pulvillus as pontifex was about to dedicate the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitol, as he was holding the doorpost, and ready to pronounce certain solemn words, news was brought him that his son had died. But he neither took his hand off the door post, nor made the least interruption in the dedication of that great temple, nor altered his countenance from public solemnity to his private grief; lest he might seem rather to have acted the part of a father, than a pontifex .

§ 5.10.2  That was a great example, and no less renowned is what follows. Aemilius Paullus, the pattern of a most happy, but then a most unfortunate father, out of four sons which he had, all hopeful and handsome youths, had given away two for adoption into the Cornelian family, and only reserved two to himself. One of them died four days before his father's triumph. The other, after riding in the triumphal chariot, expired on the third day after. Thus he that was so liberal in bestowing children upon others, was himself left childless within a short time. How magnanimously he endured this misfortune, he made plainly apparent in a speech which he made to the people, concerning his achievements on their behalf, by adding this passage: “When in the highest success of my felicity, I was afraid, most noble Romans, that Fortune would do me some mischief or other; I prayed to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, that if anything calamitous threatened the Roman government, they would expend it all upon my family. And therefore it has turned out well; for according to my wishes, they have so ordered it, that you should rather pity my personal losses, than I bewail your public losses.”

§ 5.10.3  I will add only one more domestic example, and then permit my narrative to wander abroad. Q. Marcius Rex, the colleague of Cato the elder in the consulship, lost a son of eminent hopes and piety, and - which added to his calamity - his only child. Yet although he saw himself ruined and overturned by his son's death, he so suppressed his grief by the depth of his prudence, that immediately he went from his son's funeral pyre to the senate-house; and as it was his duty that day, immediately summoned the senators to assemble. If he had not nobly sustained his sorrow, he could not have equally divided the light of one day between a sad and mournful father, and a steadfast consul; not having omitted the proper duties of either.

§ 5.10e.1  Pericles, the leader of the Athenians, in four days lost two most incomparable young sons; at the very same time, without any alteration in his countenance or discomposure in his voice, he made a public speech. And indeed, according to custom, he went with his chaplet upon his head, so that he might not omit any of the traditional customs because of the loss suffered by his family. Therefore was it not without cause, that a person of his magnanimous spirit, obtained the surname of “Olympian”.

§ 5.10e.2  Xenophon, amongst the pupils of Socrates next to Plato in the highest rank of happy eloquence, when he was performing a solemn sacrifice, received news that the eldest of his sons, named Gryllus, had been slain in the Battle of Mantinea. However, he would not abandon the appointed worship of the gods, but was content only to lay aside his garland; which yet he put on again upon his head, when he understood that Gryllus had died fighting courageously; calling the gods to which he sacrificed to witness, that he more rejoiced at the noble manner of his death, than sorrowed for his loss. Another person would have removed the sacrifice, would have thrown away the ornaments of the altars, and cast away the incense all drenched with tears. But Xenophon's body stood immoveable in the practice of religion, and his mind remained constant by the guidance of prudence. For he thought it a thing far more sad to submit to grief, than to think of the loss which he had sustained.

§ 5.10e.3  Neither must Anaxagoras be suppressed. For hearing the news of his son's death, he said: “You tell me nothing new or unexpected; for I knew, that the son born to me was mortal.” These expressions were the voice of virtue, seasoned with most wholesome precepts, which whosoever rightly understands, will realise that when we beget children, we must remember, that the law of Nature has prescribed them a law of receiving and yielding up their breath, both at the same moment; and just as no man can ever die who did not live, so no man can ever live who will not die.

§ 6.1.1  BOOK VI
Whence shall I summon you forth, fair Chastity, the chief support of men and women? For you inhabit the hearths consecrated to Vesta by ancient religion. You lean upon the cushions of Capitoline Juno. You are the pillar of the Palatine, and render famous the most illustrious household-gods, and the most sacred marriage bed of Julia, by your fixed habitation there. You are the guardian who protects the honour of youth. And out of respect to your deity, riper age continues immaculate. Under your protection the matron's stola is revered. Come hither then, and hear what you yourself wished to be done. Lucretia is the first example of Roman chastity, whose manlike soul was, by an error of Fortune, enclosed in a female body. She was constrained to suffer herself to be ravished by Sext. Tarquinius, the son of king Tarquinius Superbus. When she had among an assembly of her family lamented in most passionate terms the injury which she had received, she stabbed herself with a dagger, which she had concealed under her garment. By this dauntless death she gave the people occasion to alter government by kings into government by consuls.

§ 6.1.2  Neither would Verginius brook an injury of this nature; he was a person of common extraction, but of a patrician spirit. For lest his family should be dishonoured, he did not spare even his own flesh and blood. When Ap. Claudius, the decemvir, trusting in the power of his office, insistently pursued his daughter, he brought her forth publicly into the forum and slew her, choosing rather to be the murderer of a chaste daughter, than the father of a defiled daughter.

§ 6.1.3  Nor was Pontius Aufidianus, a Roman knight, endued with less courage of mind. When he found that the virginity of his daughter had been betrayed by her tutor to Fannius Saturninus; not content to have put the wicked servant to death, he killed his own daughter. In order that she might not celebrate a dishonourable marriage, he married her to a bitter funeral.

§ 6.1.4  What shall I say of P. Maenius? What a strict guardian of chastity was he! For he punished a freedman of his, for whom he had great fondness, only because he had kissed his adult daughter; though it might seem not to have been done so much out of lust, as by a mistake in his behaviour. But Maenius thought fit to imprint the discipline of chastity into the mind of the tender maid, by the severity of the man's punishment; and taught her by so severe an example, that she was not only to preserve her virginity, but her lips uncontaminated for her husband.

§ 6.1.5  Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus, after he had served in many great offices with renown, coming to the censorship, punished his only son for his dubious chastity; and the son endured the punishment, by banishing himself out of sight of his fatherland.

§ 6.1.6  I might have said that the censor was too rigid, if P. Atilius Philiscus, who as a boy was forced by his master to offer his body for gain, had not proved so severe a father afterwards; for he slew his daughter, because she had defiled herself with fornication. How sacred then ought we to think chastity was in our city, where the procurers of lust then so severely punished it?

§ 6.1.7  The example of a most excellent person and a memorable act follows. M. Claudius Marcellus, one of the curule aediles, accused C. Scantinius Capitolinus a tribune, and summoned him to answer before the people on a charge of corrupting his son. When Scantinius averred that he could not be compelled to appear, because of his sacrosanct power, and called the tribunes to come to his assistance; the whole college of tribunes refused to intercede in a case where chastity was called in question. Scantinius therefore being summoned, was condemned by that very witness, whom he had assaulted. For it is said that when the young man was produced on the rostra, with his eyes fixed upon the ground, he kept a most resolute silence; by which modest silence he most of all prevailed in his revenge.

§ 6.1.8  Metellus Celer also was a most severe chastiser of lustful intent; he summoning Cn. Sergius Silus to answer before the people, merely for promising a sum of money to the mother of the family, and condemned him for that single crime. For then not the deed alone, but the very intention was brought into question; and it was more harm, to have proposed an error, than it was helpful not to have offended.

§ 6.1.9  That was justice in a popular assembly: here follows justice in the senate-house. T. Veturius, son of that Veturius, who in his consulship was delivered bound to the Samnites for making a dishonourable truce with them, when by reason of the ruin of his household, and the great debts of his family, he was forced in his youth to yield himself bound to Plotius, and was by him severely whipped, because he would not permit him to abuse his body, complained of his treatment to the consuls. They acquainted the senate of the matter, and the senate sent Plotius to prison. Thus they endeavoured to preserve the chastity of the Roman people secure, in whatever state or condition they were.

§ 6.1.10  And what wonder if all the conscript fathers made this decree? C. Pescennius, triumvir for capital punishments, publicly imprisoned C. Cornelius, a most noted soldier, who had been four times advanced to be a centurion of the first rank; because he had had intimate familiarity with a youth born of free parents. Cornelius appealed against this to the tribunes; but when he said nothing about the facts, but only said that he was ready to put in bail, and to allege that the boy had openly made a public prostitution of his body for money, they absolutely refused to pay any attention to the matter. As a result Cornelius died in prison. For the tribunes thought it improper for our commonwealth to make bargains with men, however brave, so that they could buy domestic pleasure at the price of danger abroad.

§ 6.1.11  After the punishment of a lustful centurion, the severe treatment of M. Laetorius Mergus, a military tribune, and his ignominious death, is next to be related. He was summoned before the people by Cominius, tribune of the plebs, being accused by his adjutant of seeking to violate his body. Nor would Laetorius await the trial; but first he secretly fled before the verdict, and then he slew himself. Yet though he had satisfied nature's debt by his death, yet he was condemned by the people for the crime of indecency. The severe discipline of the army, which was the most certain guardian of the consecrated eagle and of the Roman empire, prosecuted him even in his tomb; because he had tried to defile the body of him, whose instructor in virtue he should have been.

§ 6.1.12  This discipline moved C. Marius, when he pronounced C. Lusius his sister's son, and a military tribune, to have been legally slain by C. Plotius, a common soldier; because Lusius had tried to defile him.

§ 6.1.13  I will give a short account of those, who have made use of their own revenge instead of the public law, in the vindication of their chastity. Sempronius Musca caused C. Gallius to be whipped, for being caught in adultery. C. Memmius also caused L. Octavius to be whipped with (?) thigh-bones for the same act. Carbo Attienus was castrated by Vibienus, and Pontius by P. Cerennius, being both caught in the act. A certain person also caught Cn. Furius Brocchus in the act, and delivered him over to be violated by his household slaves. None of these men were blamed for indulging their own anger.

§ 6.1e.1  And so that I may add foreign to domestic examples, a Greek woman named Hippo, being taken by the enemy's fleet, flung herself into the sea, in order to preserve her chastity by her own death. Her body drifted to the shore of Erythrae, where it was buried by the sea-shore, and lies covered with a little mound till this day. But Greece, having committed to eternal memory the glory of her sanctity, by its praises makes her every day more famous.

§ 6.1e.2  That was a vehement example of chastity; what follows was more considered. When the whole army of the Gallograecians was either defeated or captured by Cn. Manlius upon Mount Olympus, the wife of the chieftain Ortiagon, a woman of extraordinary beauty, was taken and raped by the centurion, to whose custody she had been committed. When she came to that place, where the centurion had arranged through a messenger for the friends of the woman to bring her ransom, while the centurion was weighing the gold, with his eyes fixed upon the quantity, the Gallograecian woman in her own language commanded those of her own nation to kill him; and then with the head cut off in her hand, she went to her husband, and casting it at his feet, she related the injury done her, and her own revenge. What part of this woman can any one say was in the power of the enemy, except her body? For neither could her mind be vanquished, nor her chastity taken.

§ 6.1e.3  The wives of the Teutones besought Marius their conqueror, that they might be sent by him as a present to the Vestal Virgins, affirming that they would abstain from the company of men as sacredly as they did. When that request was refused, the next night they all hanged themselves. It was fortunate that the gods did not infuse the same courage into their husbands in the field of battle. For if they had imitated the virtue of their wives, they would have brought the triumphs of the Teutonic victory into doubt.

§ 6.2.1  Though I did not invite liberty, which is attested as well by the words as by the deeds of vehement spirits, yet I will not exclude it when it comes in my way. It is situated between virtue and vice: if it keeps itself within the bounds of moderation, it may deserve praise; but if it launches out further than the limits of due respect, is to be reprehended, becoming thereby more grateful to the ears of the common folk, than approved by wise men; and it is often more secure in the pardon of others, than in the foresight of the person committing it. But since we have resolved to describe all parts of human activity, let us relate the stories in good faith, and let others judge as they think fit. When Privernum was captured, and the instigators of the town's rebellion had been put to death, the senate, moved with indignation, considered what they should do with the rest of the inhabitants. Thus their safety was in a fluctuating condition, being subject at the same time to the victors, and to their anger. But although they saw there was no way but to plead for mercy, they could not forget that they had some Italian blood in their veins. For when their leader was asked in the senate-house, what punishment they deserved, he replied, “The punishment they deserve, who think themselves worthy of liberty.” He had taken up arms in words, and inflamed the incensed minds of the senators. Plautius the consul, who favoured the cause of the Privernates, offered a way back from his bold answer, and asked him again, what kind of peace the Romans would have with them, if they granted pardon to them. But he with a resolute countenance replied again, “If you grant us good conditions, let the peace be perpetual, but if the conditions are bad, as short as you please.” By this unflinching response he brought it to pass, that the vanquished were not only pardoned, but enjoyed the privileges of our citizenship.

§ 6.2.2  That is how the leader of the Privernates spoke in the senate. But L. Philippus the consul did not forbear to make use of the same liberty against the same order. For upbraiding their sloth on the rostra, he declared that the commonwealth needed another senate; and was so far from repenting of what he had said, that he commanded L. Crassus, a man of great dignity and eloquence, to be arrested for complaining about it in the senate-house. But he, thrusting back the lictor, said, “You are no consul of mine, because I am no senator of yours.”

§ 6.2.3  What? Were the people safe from the assaults of liberty? No, it both assailed them, and found them patiently suffering. Carbo, tribune of the plebs, who was a most turbulent supporter of the recently suppressed Gracchan sedition, and a most absolute firebrand of the growing civil strife, having dragged P. Africanus from the very gate of the city to the rostra, as he returned in triumph from the destruction of Numantia, asked him there for his opinion on the death of Ti. Gracchus, whose sister he had married; so that by the authority of so eminent a person, he might add fuel to the fire already begun. He did not doubt that in regard of his near relative, Scipio would speak somewhat affectionately on behalf of his brother-in-law who had been put to death; but he answered that Gracchus was rightly slain. Upon which saying, when the whole assembly, aroused by the tribunician fury, began to make a great clamour. “Hold your peace,” said he, “you, to whom Italy is but a stepmother.” And when they began to make yet more noise, he said, “You shall never make me afraid of you - the freedmen, whom I brought here in chains.” Thus were the whole people twice reprimanded by one man with contempt. But - such is the honour they gave to virtue - they soon were mute. The Numantine victory fresh in memory, his father's conquest of Macedonia, his grandfather's Carthaginian trophies, and the necks of two kings, Perseus and Syphax, chained to their triumphal chariots, closed the mouths of the whole forum. Nor did their silence proceed from fear, but because through the aid of the Cornelian and Aemilian families, many fears of the city and Italy were brought to an end. The people of Rome were not free to protest, in respect of Scipio's free speech.

§ 6.2.4  And therefore we need wonder the less that the vast authority of Pompey struggled so often with liberty of speech. Nor was it without great applause that he took things patiently, because it was his fortune to be a laughing-stock to the license of all sorts of men. Cn. Piso, when he had indicted Manilius Crispus, and saw him, though apparently guilty, to be protected by Pompey's influence, was carried on with a youthful heat and desire of accusation, and accused the powerful protector of many great and heinous crimes. Being then asked by Pompey, why he did not accuse him himself, he said, “If you can assure the commonwealth that, if you are accused, you will not raise a civil war, then I will cause the judges to decide about your life, before they decide about the life of Manilius.” Thus in the same trial he prosecuted two persons: Manilius by his accusation, and Pompey by his liberty of speech; the former he assailed by law, the latter by public declarations, which was all he could do.

§ 6.2.5  What then is liberty without Cato? No more than Cato without liberty. For when he sat as judge upon a senator, who was very guilty and infamous, and there were documents produced from Pompey in favour of the defendant, he promptly caused them to be laid aside, quoting the law, wherein it was enacted that no senator should make use of any such assistance. The fact is not perhaps remarkable, considering the person; for what might seem recklessness in another, was in Cato known to be his self-confidence.

§ 6.2.6  Cn. Lentulus Marcellinus the consul, when he was complaining in a public speech about the exceptional power of Pompeius Magnus, and all the people began to shout in agreement with him; “Shout,” said he, “shout while you may, brave Romans; shortly it will not be lawful for you to do so, without being punished.” Thus was the authority of a powerful citizen punctured, on the one side by resentful complaint, on the other side by a sad lamentation.

§ 6.2.7  To this eminent citizen, when he had his thigh bound about with a white bandage, Favonius said, “It matters not, upon which part of the body the diadem is worn.” He disparaged his royal power, by cavilling at a little piece of cloth. But Pompey, changing his expression neither in one way nor the other, was very careful how he acknowledged his power by any cheerfulness in his looks, or how he showed his anger by any severity: and by that patience laid himself open to persons of the lowest rank and fortune. It will be enough to relate two examples of this.

§ 6.2.8  Helvius Mancia Formianus, the son of a freedman, in his old age accused L. Libo before the censors. In this dispute, when Pompey the Great reproached him with his low status, and his old age, and told him, that he was sent from the underworld to be an accuser; he replied, “You tell the truth, Pompey, for I come from the infernal regions to accuse Libo. But while I was there, I saw Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus all bloody and weeping; because being of a noble extraction, of an upright life and conduct, and a great patriot, he was put to death in the flower of his youth at your command. I saw there also M. Brutus, famous in the same manner, hacked and slaughtered, complaining that the same calamity befell him, first through your perfidy, and then by your cruelty. I saw Cn. Carbo, a keen defender of your youth and of your paternal property, in his third consulship, laden with those chains which you caused to be put upon him; and reproaching you, that contrary to all equity and justice, he was slain by you, a private Roman knight, when he held the greatest office in the commonwealth. I saw in the same condition, a man of praetorian rank, Perpenna, cursing your cruelty; and all of them with one voice bewailing their hard fate, that they should be killed without trial, under such a young executioner as you. It was lawful for a citizen of a municipal town, who still had a twang of his father's servitude, with an unbridled recklessness and an insufferable malice to call to mind the gaping wounds which had been received in the civil war, now grown dry with age. Therefore at that time he was very brave to reproach Pompey, and also very safe. But the even humbler rank of the next person does not permit us to extend this complaint any further.

§ 6.2.9  Diphilus the tragic actor, when at the Apollinares he came to that verse, which says, ”To our misery you are Great," declaimed the words pointing straight at Pompey. And when he was recalled several times by the people, he immediately represented him by his continual gestures, as a person whose power was overweening and intolerable. With the same petulance he repeated these other words, “The time shall come when you will bewail that virtue.”

§ 6.2.10  The mind of M. Castricius was also inflamed with liberty, who being the chief magistrate at Placentia, at the time when Cn. Carbo the consul caused a decree to be made, that the Placentines should give hostages, neither obeyed his authority, nor submitted to his mighty force. And when Carbo told him, “I have many swords,” he answered, “And I years.” The legions were amazed to behold such a brave remnant of old age. And Carbo's anger ceased of itself, having so little matter to rage upon, knowing how small a part of his life he should deprive him of.

§ 6.2.11  But the accusation of Ser. Galba was strangely presumptuous. He dared to taunt the divine Julius himself after all his victories, as he sat in judgement in the forum. “C. Julius Caesar, said he, ”I pledged money to Pompey the Great, your son-in-law, in his third consulship; I am now summoned for this amount. What shall I do? Must I pay?" He deserved to be turned out of court, for reproaching him so openly with the sale of Pompey's goods. But Caesar, more mild than Clemency itself, caused Pompey's debt to be paid him out of his own treasury.

§ 6.2.12  Cascellius was a famous expert in civil law, yet how reckless and impertinent! For no favour, no authority could compel him to make a formula for those goods which the triumvirs had given away. By that judgement of his he excluded the benefits granted by them in victory out of all course and form of law. The same person, after he had spoken many things about the state of the times, when his friends advised him to be silent, replied that there were two things most bitter to most men, that gave him the boldness which he took; that was to say, old age and lack of children.

§ 6.2e.1  A woman of a foreign country intrudes among so many men. When she was unjustly condemned by king Philip while he was drunk, she said, “I appeal to Philip - when he is sober.” This smart saying aroused him from his stupor; and by her prompt courage she compelled the king to examine the business more thoroughly, and to give a juster sentence. So that she exacted that justice which she could not get by fair means: borrowing her assistance rather from her frankness of speech, than from her innocence.

§ 6.2e.2  The next example is not only a brave, but also a humorous freedom of speech. A very old woman, when all the Syracusans prayed for the death of Dionysius the tyrant because of his cruelty and oppression, prayed every day to the gods for his life and safety. When the tyrant learnt this, admiring her unexpected goodwill, he sent for her, and enquired of her what merit of his made her so considerate of him? Then she replied, “Truly, sir, the reason for my actions is very well grounded. For when I was a girl, and a very severe tyrant ruled over us, I desired his death; but when he was slain, another cruel man came in his place: then I prayed that he too might be taken out of the way; after him, we began to realise that you, the third tyrant, were worse than all the rest. And therefore, fearing lest if you should die, a man worse than you should rule instead, I pray to the gods for your safety.” This witty boldness, Dionysius himself had not the insolence to punish.

§ 6.2e.3  Between these women and Theodorus of Cyrene there might be a kind of contest for courage of mind; he was as virtuous, though not so fortunate. For when Lysimachus threatened to put him to death, he said, “Truly, you think you have a great power, because you can do the same as a Spanish fly.” And when the king, incensed at his reply, commanded him to be nailed to the cross, he said, “Frighten your courtiers with that punishment; for it's all the same to me, whether I rot under ground or above.”

§ 6.3.1  It is necessary that we should arm ourselves with callousness, while we treat of terrible and horrid acts of severity; so that having laid our more humane thoughts aside, we may be at leisure to give ear to rigour. For such inexorable revenge, such different sorts of punishment will be described, as though they may be accounted the fortresses of the law; yet they should hardly be inserted into a collection of peaceful pages. M. Manlius was thrown headlong down from the place from whence he had repelled the Gauls, because he attempted wickedly to suppress the liberty, which he had so courageously defended. This was no doubt was the pronouncement of that severe punishment: “I looked upon you as Manlius, when you drove the Senones headlong down from the rock; when you changed your character, I looked upon you as one of the Senones themselves.” There is a type of eternal memory stamped upon his punishment. For, on account of him it was enacted, that no patrician should reside in the Capitol or in the citadel, because he had a house, where now stands the shrine dedicated to Juno Moneta
The same indignation of the city broke forth against Sp. Cassius. The suspicion of desiring sovereignty did him more harm, than three magnificent consulships and two glorious triumphs did him good. For the senate and people of Rome, not content with putting him to death, pulled down his house down when he was dead, so that he might be punished also with the destruction of his household-gods. Upon the land they built a temple to Tellus. Thus the home of a powerful man, is now a monument of religious severity.
Sp. Maelius met the same end, being punished by his country for the same crime; the site of his house, so that the justice of his punishment might be better known to posterity, was called Aequimelium. So we find how great an antipathy the ancient Romans had against the enemies of their liberty, by the destruction of the very walls and roofs of their houses. And therefore the houses of M. Flaccus and L. Saturninus, most seditious citizens, were razed to the ground after they were slain. At length the site of Flaccus's house, after it had long remained unbuilt, was adorned by Q. Catulus with the spoils of the Cimbri.
Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus were eminent in our city for their nobility, and for the hope which was conceived of them: But because they attempted to subvert the commonwealth, their bodies lay unburied, and the last rites due to mortality were lacked by the sons of Gracchus, and the grandsons of Africanus. Their associates also, lest there should be any friends of the commonwealth's enemies left, were cast down from the rock.

§ 6.3.2  P. Mucius, a tribune of the plebs, thought it lawful to do the same thing, as the people and the senate had done before. He burnt all his colleagues alive; because, being urged on by Sp. Cassius, they strove to hinder the election of magistrates, endangering the common liberty of the state. Never was anything more confidently performed than this severity. For he, a single tribune, dead to inflict a punishment upon nine of his colleagues, which the nine tribunes did not dare to exact from one tribune.

§ 6.3.3  Severity, hitherto a most rigid guardian and protector of liberty, was equally as fierce also in the preservation of discipline and dignity. For the senate delivered M. Claudius to the Corsicans, because he had concluded an ignominious peace with them. And because they would not receive him, they caused him to be put to death in prison. When once the majesty of the empire was impaired, in how many ways did obstinate anger vindicate it! They nullified the accord, they deprived him of his liberty and life, and dishonoured his body with the ignominious contumely of the prison, and the Gemonian Steps.
And indeed he had deserved this chastisement by the senate. But Cn. Cornelius Scipio, the son of Hispalus, had the experience of it, before he deserved it. For when the province of Spain fell to him by lot, they made a decree, that he should not go thither, with a reason added: because he could not conduct himself as he ought to do. And so Cornelius, because of his dishonourable mode of life, was virtually convicted under the extortion law, without even serving in a province.
Neither was the senate any less severe to C. Vettienus, who cut off the fingers of his left hand, so that he would not be forced to serve in the Italian War. For they confiscated his estate, and imprisoned him for life; causing him to spend his days and waste that life ignominiously in a jail, which he refused to risk gloriously in the field of battle.

§ 6.3.4  This example was imitated by M'. Curius the consul. When he was forced to proclaim a sudden enlistment of soldiers, but none of the young men came forward, he caused lots to be drawn for all the tribes, and commanded the first name that was drawn for the Pollia, the tribe which had come first, to be summoned. And because this man did not answer to his name, he made a public sale of all his possessions. As soon as the young man heard of this, he ran to the consul's tribunal, and appealed to the college of tribunes. But then M'. Curius declared that the commonwealth had no need of a citizen who was incapable of obedience; and so he sold both his goods and the young man as well.

§ 6.3.5  L. Domitius was equally tenacious in his attitude. For when he was praetor governing Sicily, a boar of extraordinary size was presented to him. He commanded the shepherd who had killed him to be brought before him: and enquired of him with what weapon he had killed the beast. When he found he had killed him with a hunting-spear, he caused him to be crucified: because he had previously published a decree, in order to suppress the robberies that were committed in the island, that no person should carry a weapon. Some would take this to be the height of all severity; for it may be disputed on both sides. But the reason and necessities of public government will not suffer the praetor to be reckoned over-rigorous.

§ 6.3.6  Thus severity was exercised in the punishment of men. Nor was it less persistent in the chastisement of women. Horatius, one of that those that fought the three Curiatii, being by the terms of the combat victor over all the rest of the Albans, when he was returning home from that renowned fight, found his maiden sister bewailing the death of one of the Curiatii, to whom she was betrothed, more bitterly than became her age. He ran her through with the sword which he had used so well for his country: not thinking them chaste tears, which were shed with a fond and immature emotion. When he was accused before the people for this action, his father defended him. Thus the inclination of the maiden towards the memory of her fiancé, was punished by a fierce brother, while the father approved and defended the chastisement.

§ 6.3.7  The senate afterwards followed the same example of severity. They commanded Sp. Postumius Albinus and Q. Marcius Philippus, the consuls, to enquire into those women who behaved sinfully in the rites of the Bacchanalia. When many of them were convicted by the consuls, their families punished them all at home; and the widespread disgrace of the public scandal was avenged by the severity of their chastisement. Although the women had shamed our city by their lewd conduct, they brought it equal fame by the gravity of their punishment.

§ 6.3.8  But Publicia who poisoned the consul Postumius Albinus, and Licinia who poisoned Claudius Asellus, both their husbands, were strangled by order of their families. For those severe men did not think it necessary, where the crime was so evident and notorious, to spend time in a public trial. And therefore as they would have defended the innocent, they were the prompt punishers of the guilty.

§ 6.3.9  The crime of these women was great, that aroused severity to so sharp a revenge: but Egnatius Mecennius exercised his severity in a much lesser matter, when he beat his wife to death for drinking wine. For this act, he was so far from being accused, that he was not so much as reprehended. Everyone believed, that for good example's sake, she had undergone the punishment for insobriety very justly. For indeed, whatever woman covets the immoderate use of wine, shuts the door to all virtues, and opens it to all vices.

§ 6.3.10  Terrible also was the matrimonial rigour of C. Sulpicius Gallus, who divorced his wife, because he understood that she went outside with her head unveiled. This was a harsh sentence; and yet there was some reason for it. “For the law,” said he, “confines you to have no other judge of your beauty but my eyes; for these adorn yourself, make yourself fair only to these, and believe their judgment. Any further sight of you, where it is needless, must of necessity be suspicious and improper.”

§ 6.3.11  Nor did Q. Antistius Vetus think otherwise, who divorced his wife, because he saw her talking in the street with a common freedwoman. He was stirred as it were by the infancy and nurture of a fault, rather than the fault itself; and he prevented an offence so that he did not have to avenge it.

§ 6.3.12  To these examples we must add P. Sempronius Sophus, who divorced his wife, because she went to see the games without informing him of it. While such care was taken of old to prohibit the crimes of women, they were free from offending.

§ 6.3e.1  Though the Roman examples might suffice to instruct the whole world, yet it will not be irksome to know what foreigners have done. The Lacedaemonians caused the books of Archilochus to be thrown out of their city, because they thought them not modest and chaste enough to be read. For they would not have the minds of their children affected by those things, which would be a greater mischief to their manners than a profit to their intellect. And therefore they punished the greatest poet, or the next to the greatest in the world, by exiling his verses, because he wrote smutty satires against a family who had wronged him.

§ 6.3e.2  The Athenians put Timagoras to death, because in the homage which he gave to Darius, he flattered him after the manner of his country: they regarded it with indignation, that the honour of their whole city should be enslaved to Persian dominion by the flatteries of one single citizen.

§ 6.3e.3  But the severity of Cambyses was more extraordinary, who caused the skin of a certain corrupt judge to be flayed from his body, and nailed upon the seat, where he commanded the man's son to take his place. However by this savage and unusual punishment of a judge, he - a king and a barbarian - ensured that no judge in future could be corrupted.

§ 6.4.1  Tenacious memory keeps in strict remembrance, as a great and glorious part of their renown, those things which were gravely said or done by eminent men. Among the plentiful examples of this, let us select, neither with too sparing or too liberal a hand, those which may rather satisfy than overload expectation. When our city was in a dreadful confusion after the defeat at Cannae, the safety of the commonwealth hung with a slender thread upon the fidelity of our allies. So that they might remain steadfast in the defence of the Roman empire, the majority of the senate moved, that the leaders of the Latins should be admitted among their number. Annius the Campanian even urged, that one of the consuls ought to belong to Capua, and the other to Rome: so sick was then the condition of the Roman empire. Then Manlius Torquatus, son of the Manlius who had defeated the Latins near the river Veseris in a memorable battle, with a loud voice declared, that if any of the allies dared to state his opinion among the conscript fathers, he would kill him with his own hand. The threats of this one single person both restored their pristine passion to the languishing spirits of the Romans, and prevented Italy from claiming equal privileges with our city. For as before they were broken by the weapons of the father, so now they yielded, vanquished by the words of the son.
Equal to this was the gravity of another Manlius. For when the consulship was conferred upon him by the consent of all men, he refused it by reason of the infirmity of his eyes; yet even so he was vehemently urged to accept it. “Choose,” said he, “some other person upon whom to confer this honour; for if you compel me to take it upon myself, neither shall I endure your manners, neither will you endure the severity of my government.” If the voice of a private person was so weighty, what would the fasces of the consul have done?

§ 6.4.2  No less impressive was the gravity of Scipio Aemilianus, both in the senate-house and in assemblies. When Mummius was his colleague in the censorship, who though noble was yet effeminate and weak, he declared in a public speech on the rostra, that he would have acted for the good of the commonwealth, if his citizens had either given him a colleague or not given one.
The same person, when Ser. Sulpicius Galba and Aurelius Cotta, the consuls, disputed in the senate which of the two should be sent against Viriathus into Spain, and there happened to be a great dissension among the conscript fathers, while they all waited for him to declare his opinion, said: “I think it wrong that either of them should be sent, because the one possesses nothing, and the other never knows when he has enough.” He believed, that poverty and covetousness were both alike mistresses unfit to teach good government. By this saying he obtained that neither of them was sent into the province.

§ 6.4.3  C. Popillius was sent as ambassador to Antiochus, to command him to cease the war which he was waging against Ptolemy; when he came to him, and the king with a cheerful and friendly countenance held out his right hand to him, he would not give him his own hand, but delivered to him the tablets containing the senate's decree. When Antiochus had read it, he told him, he would consult with his friends. But Popillius, incensed at the delay, marked the ground around where he stood with a stick, and said, “Before you go out of this circle, give me the answer which I shall take back to the senate.” You would not have thought him an ambassador that spoke, but the whole body of the senate; and immediately the king declared, that he would give no further cause for Ptolemy to complain about him. Then at length Popillius took him by the hand as an ally. Behold the force of a concise and effective gravity of mind and speech! At the same time it overawed the kingdom of Syria, and protected Egypt.

§ 6.4.4  I cannot tell whether I should admire most the words or deeds of P. Rutilius, for there is an admirable weight in both. When he rejected the urgent request of a certain friend, and the other, being very much offended, reproached him in these words, “What need have I then of your friendship, if you will not do for me what I ask?”, he replied, “What need I of your friendship, if for your sake I should do something improper?” Consistent with those words were his deeds, when rather through the dissension of the two orders, than through any fault of his own, he was brought to trial. He neither put on squalid clothes nor laid aside his senatorial insignia, nor made any appeal to the judges, nor spoke anything unworthy of his previous splendour. But he so arranged it, that his trial was rather a test of his gravity, than any hindrance to it. And when Sulla's victories gave him liberty to return to his own country, he chose rather to remain in banishment, than to do anything against the laws. And therefore more justly might we have given the title of Fortunate to the character of this grave man, than to the prosperous weapons of a violent man. Sulla usurped the title, but Rutilius deserved it.

§ 6.4.5  M. Brutus, the murderer of his own virtues, before he killed the Parent of his country (for by one foul deed he overthrew all his virtues, and defiled his memory with an irredeemable detestation), as he was going into his last battle, said to someone who told him it was not opportune to fight, “Boldly I go into the battle; for on this day either all things will be well, or I shall have nothing left to care for.” For he considered that he could not live without victory, nor die without freedom from care.

§ 6.4e.1  The person just mentioned reminds me to relate what was said to D. Brutus in Spain. For when all of Lusitania had surrendered to him, and only the city of Cinginnia obstinately held out, the consul proposed to leave them upon receiving a payment; but they promptly made answer to his envoys, that their ancestors had only left them their swords to defend their city, but no money to purchase their liberty from a covetous general. It was a saying more fitting for Romans to have spoken, than to have heard from others.

§ 6.4e.2  Nature led them along that path of gravity. But Socrates, the most famous pillar of the Greek learning, when he was about to plead in his own defence at Athens, and Lysias had recited to him a speech composed by himself, for him to make use of in the law-court, said, “Take it away, for if I could find any place where I might repeat it, even in the furthest deserts of Scythia, there I should think I deserved death.” He despised life, so that he might not lack gravity; and chose rather to die like Socrates, than to live like Lysias.

§ 6.4e.3  Alexander - as great in war, as Socrates was in wisdom - uttered this noble saying. Darius, having experienced his force in two battles, therefore offered him a part of his kingdom as far as Mount Taurus, and his daughter in marriage with a million talents. When Parmenion told him, that if he were Alexander he would accept the conditions, he replied, “And so would I, if I were Parmenion.” It was an expression worthy of the two victories, and deserving the third which he obtained.

§ 6.4e.4  That was the effect of a magnanimous mind in prosperity. Glorious rather than enviable was the saying, by the which Lacedaemonian ambassadors demonstrated to Alexander's father the miserable condition of their courage. For when he imposed most intolerable burdens upon their city, they replied to him, that if he persisted in commanding things more grievous than death, they would prefer death rather than his commands.

§ 6.4e.5  No less grave was the saying of that Spartan, who excelled both in nobility and in piety, but failed to obtain the magistracy which he sought. “I rejoice exceedingly,” said he, “that my country produces men more worthy than myself.” By this speech he rivalled the honour for which he had been rejected.

§ 6.5.1  It is now time to enter the sacred recesses of Justice, where always respect for just and honest actions is religiously observed; where ambition gives way to modesty, and desire gives way to reason; and there nothing is reputed profitable that is not honourable. Of this our city among all nations is the most certain and principal example. When Camillus the consul besieged Falerii, a school-master brought over to the Roman camp several boys, amongst the most noble in the city, under pretence of taking them fo a walk outside. He did not doubt that if they were in the power of the Romans, the Falisci would submit to our general. After consultation, the senate decreed concerning this affair, that the boys should be sent home, flogging their master with rods along the way, while his hands were tied behind him. This justice of theirs overcame the minds of those, whose walls they were unable to storm. For the Falisci, overcome by their kindness, not by their arms, opened their gates to the Romans.
The same city, often rebelling but always broken by adverse fortune, was at length constrained to yield to Q. Lutatius the consul. The Roman people intended to take the extremity of revenge against the city, but when they learnt from Papirius, who by the consul's command had composed the terms of surrender, that the Falisci had surrendered themselves to the faith, not to the power of the Romans, they laid aside all their anger, lest they should be found lacking in justice. They suppressed the force of their hatred, which is not easily overcome; and the pride of victory, which easily begets lawlessness.
Another time when P. Claudius, having by a successful campaign captured the Camerini, had sold them into slavery according to custom, though by this means they saw their treasury filled with money, and their empire enlarged; yet because it did not seem to be done according to the rules of honour and justice, they sought the Camerini out diligently, and redeemed them to liberty. They assigned them a place to dwell on the Aventine, and restored their property to them. They also gave them money, not for a senate-house, but for building shrines and making sacrifices; and by their justice they gave these miserable persons a cause to rejoice in their destruction, because they were raised up again in this manner.
What I have related was confined within our own walls and the neighbouring regions. What I shall now relate has spread over all the world. Timochares the Ambracian promised Fabricius the consul, that he would poison Pyrrhus with the assistance of his son, who was his cup-bearer. When the senate was informed of this, they sent ambassadors to inform Pyrrhus about it, warning him to beware of this kind of treachery. They remembered that their city was built by the son of Mars[ Romulus ], and that war was to be carried on by arms, and not by poison. However they suppressed Timochares' name; and thus they acted fairly in both respects, because they were unwilling either to get rid of an enemy in a disreputable way, or to betray someone who wished to give them assistance.

§ 6.5.2  Admirable also was the justice of four tribunes of the plebs at the same time. When L. Hortensius their colleague had summoned L. Atratinus ( under whose command they along with the rest of the cavalry had rallied the Roman army, and renewed the battle against the Volsci at Verrugo ) to appear before the people; they swore on the rostra, that it would be a disgrace to them, if their general should be found guilty. For these noble men would not endure, while they were still in office, to behold him as a civilian under threat of death, whose life, in battle, they had defended with their own wounds and blood. This justice of theirs so moved the assembly, that they forced Hortensius to desist.

§ 6.5.3  Nor did they show themselves less noble in that which follows. When Ti. Gracchus and C. Claudius had exasperated the greatest part of the city, by acting so severely in their censorship, P. Popillius the tribune of the plebs accused them before the people of high treason. He was moved to do this not only by the public disquiet, but also by his own private interest, because they had ordered his relative Rutilius to pull down a wall in a public place. In this trial, when many centuries of the first class openly condemned Claudius, but all agreed to acquit Gracchus; Gracchus cried out aloud, that if his colleague was condemned, he would undergo the same punishment of exile as he did. This justice of his diverted the storm from both their heads and fortunes. For the people absolved Claudius, and Popillius withdrew his action against Gracchus.

§ 6.5.4  Another college of tribunes also deserved great praise. For when one of them, L. Cotta by name, under the protection of his sacrosanct authority, refused to pay his creditors, they decreed, that if he would neither pay his debts nor give surety, they would assist the creditors in their appeal. They thought it unjust, that his public authority should be a cover for private misconduct. Thus the justice of the tribunes dragged out Cotta when he was hiding in the sanctuary of his office.

§ 6.5.5  In another equally splendid example, Cn. Domitius, a tribune of the plebs, summoned M. Scaurus before the people. Scaurus was then the leading man in the state, and Domitius hoped to ruin him, if he was successful, or at least to damage his reputation by a criminal accusation. While he was thus eagerly thirsting for the blood of Scaurus, a slave of Scaurus came to him by night, and promised to reveal to him many great and heinous crimes, to assist his accusation. As a slave-master and an opponent, he considered and judged the information with very different feelings, but justice overcame his hostility. For immediately he shut his own ears, and the informer's mouth; and he caused the slave to be taken back to Scaurus. He was an accuser, I will not say, to be loved, but rather to be admired by the person accused; and the people, for this as well as for his other virtues, created him consul, censor, and pontifex maximus.

§ 6.5.6  Nor did L. Crassus act differently, in a similar display of justice. He brought an accusation against Cn. Carbo, who was his greatest enemy; and yet when a slave of Carbo brought him a box belonging to his master, containing several documents, which Crassus might have made use of to condemn him, he sent the box back, locked as it was, and the slave in chains, to his master. What justice may we suppose then flourished among friends, when enemies and prosecutors behaved so nobly towards each other!

§ 6.5.7  Sulla desired not even his own safety, as much as the ruin of Sulpicius Rufus, whose tribunician fury continually vexed him. When Sulpicius was proscribed, Sulla was told that he had been betrayed by his own slave, where he lay hiding in a country house. In order that the fidelity of his decree might be preserved, he freed the informant, but then caused him for his disloyalty to be thrown down from the Tarpeian Rock, with his freedman's cap, which he had purchased by his treachery. Sulla was a most insolent victor at other times, but then most just in his authority.

§ 6.5e.1  So that we may not seem to forget the justice of foreigners: Pittacus of Mitylene was one to whose merits his fellow citizens were either so much indebted, or else had so much confidence in his virtues, that they offered him absolute power over their city; he kept this so long as a war continued with the Athenians about Sigeum. But after he had by a victory secured peace, he presently resigned his authority against the will of the Mitylenians, so that he might not be the lord of his city any longer than the necessity of affairs required. And when by the consent of all the people half of the recovered land was offered to him, he utterly refused the gift; esteeming it below himself, to lessen the glory of his virtue by the greatness of his plunder.

§ 6.5e.2  I must now relate the cleverness of one man, so that I may also relate the justice of another. When Themistocles had given the Athenians wholesome advice to withdraw to their ships, and after that Xerxes and his army had been driven out of Greece, he went about restoring the ancient dignity of the city. He increased its resources by secret means in order to raise the city to dominion over all of Greece; and he told the people in public, that he had thought of a plan, whereby if fortune would permit it to be achieved, there could be nothing greater or more for powerful than the Athenian people, but that it was not a thing to be divulged. Therefore he asked them to appoint some person, to whom he might privately reveal it, and Aristides was appointed. When he learnt that Themistocles intended to burn all the Lacedaemonian navy that lay in the harbour of Gytheum, so that when it was destroyed, the dominion of the sea might belong to the Athenians; he returned to his fellow citizens, and told them, that Themistocles was proposing something that was very profitable, but very unjust. Upon this the whole Assembly, when they heard it was unjust, said that it should not be done, and commanded Themistocles to desist from his enterprise.

§ 6.5e.3  Nothing could be more powerful than the following examples of justice. After Zaleucus of Locri had strengthened his city with most profitable and wholesome laws, his son, convicted of adultery, according to the law made by himself, was due to have both his eyes put out. When all the city interceded for the son, out of respect for his father, for some time he obstinately refused; but at length, constrained by the pleas of the people, first putting out one of his own eyes and then one of his son's, he left the use of sight to both of them. Thus he rendered to the law the punishment which it claimed, with a most admirable mixture of justice; dividing himself into a merciful father and a just legislator.

§ 6.5e.4  More severe was the justice of Charondas of Thurii. He had pacified the assemblies of his fellow citizens, which were seditious even as far as blood and violence, by making a law that if any person entered the assembly-place with his sword on, he should be promptly put to death. Some time afterwards, when having been far away in the country he had just come home, an assembly was suddenly summoned, and forgetting himself he entered the assembly with his sword on. Whereupon, being reminded that he had breached his own law, by someone who stood next him; “Well,” said he, “the same person shall ratify it;” and immediately drawing his sword, he fell upon it and died. When it was possible for him to have defended or excused his error, he rather chose to make the punishment public, than detract from justice.

§ 6.6.1  When her image is set before our eyes, the venerable divinity of Trust stretches out her right hand, which is the most certain pledge of human safety. How it has flourished in our city, all nations have observed, and we shall make evident in a few examples. When Ptolemy the king had left the people of Rome to take responsibility for the tuition of his son, the senate appointed M. Aemilius Lepidus, the pontifex maximus, to be guardian of the young boy, and sent him to Alexandria for that purpose. They made use of the sanctity of a famous and most upright person, experienced in public affairs and sacred rites; and required him to make time for a foreign mission, so that the credit and dignity of the city should not in any way be impaired. This became not only the preservation, but the ornament of the royal child, so that when he came of age, he knew not of which he had most to boast, whether in the fortune of his father, or the majesty of his tutor.

§ 6.6.2  Famous also was the following piece of Roman integrity. After a great fleet of the Carthaginians was defeated near the coast of Sicily, the generals of the enemy, quite out of heart, began to think of making some overtures for peace. But when it was discussed who should go, Hamilcar refused, for fear lest the Romans should treat him as the Carthaginians had treated Cornelius Asina the consul, whom they had detained as a prisoner in chains. But Hanno, better understanding Roman trustworthiness, very confidently proffered himself. While he was conferring with the Romans, a military tribune said that he should beware lest he suffer same fate as as the consul Cornelius had; but both the consuls commanded the tribune to be silent: “Hanno,” they declared, “from that fear the reputation of our city frees you.” It would have made them famous, to seize so great a general of their enemies; but it made them much more famous, that they chose not to do it.

§ 6.6.3  With regard to the same enemies, the conscript fathers maintained equal fidelity in defending the privileges of ambassadors. For when M. Aemilius Lepidus and L. Flaminius were consuls, M. Claudius the praetor by an order of the senate caused L. Minucius and L. Manlius to be handed over to the Carthaginian ambassadors by the fetiales, because they had laid violent hands upon the ambassadors. The senate regarded more their own honour, than the persons for whose sake they performed justice.

§ 6.6.4  The elder Africanus followed these examples, when he had captured a ship wherein were many persons, and several of the most eminent men among the Carthaginians. He sent them all away untouched, because they told him that they were sent as ambassadors to him, though he knew it to be an excuse of their own framing, to avoid the present danger. He preferred that the faith of a Roman general might seem to be deceived, rather than entreated in vain.

§ 6.6.5  Let us not forget a noble act of the senate, by no means to be omitted. Q. Fabius and Cn. Apronius, former aediles, because of a tumult that arose, had assaulted the ambassadors who came from Apollonia to Rome. As soon as the senate were informed of this, they caused the men to be handed over to the ambassadors by the fetiales, and sent a quaestor to escort them to Brundisium, lest they should receive any injury from the relatives of the men during their journey. Could such a senate-house as that be said to be a council of mortal men, and not rather the very temple of Faith?
Trustworthiness has been no less resolute in our allies, than it was religiously observed in our city.

§ 6.6e.1  After the miserable slaughter of the two Scipios in Spain, and the destruction of the two armies of the Roman nation, the Saguntines were restrained within their own walls by the victorious arms of Hannibal. When they could no longer resist the Carthaginian power, they brought forth all their most precious things into the market-place, and kindling a pyre, threw themselves into this common and public fire, so that they might not be accounted false to their alliance with us. I can only believe that Faith herself, surveying human affairs, looked with a sorrowful countenance, beholding such a religious observance of her laws condemned by the verdict of unjust Fortune to such a sad demise.

§ 6.6e.2  By an act of the same nature, the people of Petelia obtained the same measure of praise. When they were besieged by Hannibal, because they would not forsake our alliance, they sent ambassadors to the senate, imploring relief. But the Romans, because of their losses at Cannae, were unable to assist them, and gave them liberty to provide the best they could for their own safety. Therefore they were free to accept terms from the Carthaginians. However, having turned their women and their aged and infirm people out of the city, to enable the armed men to evade starvation for longer, they obstinately defended their walls to the last; so that their whole city expired, before they would lay aside their devotion to the Roman alliance. Hannibal did not capture Petelia, but the sepulchre of Petelian loyalty.

§ 6.7.1  We should not omit the fidelity of women in marriage . Aemilia, the wife of the elder Africanus and the mother of Cornelia who was mother of the Gracchi, was so dutiful and patient, that though she knew her husband had an attachment to one of her maidservants, she took no notice of it; because she would not sully the conqueror of Africa with the stain of adultery. And so far she was from revenge, that after her husband's death, she set her maidservant free, and gave her in marriage to a freedman of his.

§ 6.7.2  When Q. Lucretius was proscribed by the triumvirs, Turia his wife kept him out of harm's way, between the ceiling and the roof of their bedroom, with the aid of a single maidservant, and not without great danger to herself. And so loyal was she to him, that while others who were banished, as he was, wandered about suffering in body and mind, in remote countries amongst enemies, he all the while lay safe in the bosom of his wife.

§ 6.7.3  Sulpicia was guarded very carefully by her mother Julia, for fear that she would follow her husband Lentulus Cruscellio, who had been proscribed by the triumvirs, into Sicily. Nevertheless she made her escape disguised as a servant, and with only two maidservants and two slaves she came safely to him. She banished herself, that she might not fail in her duty towards her husband.

§ 6.8.1  It remains for us to relate the loyalty of slaves to their masters, which is so much the more praiseworthy because it was least expected from them. Marcus Antonius, a most celebrated orator in the days of our ancestors, was accused of incest. His accusers obstinately demanded from the judges that his slave might be examined as a witness; because they claimed that he carried the lantern before him, when he went to commit the crime. The slave was standing in the audience; he was at that time a beardless youth, and saw that he was about to be sent to the rack, but did not run away from it. When he came home, and saw Antonius very much troubled about the business, he earnestly begged of his master, that he might be put to the rack; affirming, that they would not force a word out of his mouth to do Antonius any harm. And with a wonderful endurance he kept his promise. For despite being lashed with many stripes, set upon the rack, and seared with burning plates of iron, he undermined the whole force of his master's accusation, by standing firm to preserve his master. Fortune might be deservedly blamed, for having imprisoned so pious and courageous a soul in the body of a slave.

§ 6.8.2  The consul C. Marius, who came to such a miserable end at the siege of Praeneste, tried in vain to escape through a little mine under ground. After being slightly wounded by Telesinus, with whom he had intended jointly to die, he was run through and slain by his slave, to save him from the cruelty of Sulla; though the slave could have expected a large reward, if he delivered him up to the victor. The timely assistance of his right hand, in no way seems inferior to the piety of those who have protected their masters in safety; because at that time not life, but death was most beneficial to Marius.

§ 6.8.3  Equally illustrious was the following example. Gaius Gracchus, to avoid falling into the power of his enemies, offered his neck to be cut off by his slave Philocrates. When he had cut it off with a swift blow, he thrust the sword still wet with his master's blood into his own bowels. Others call the slave Euporus: I will not argue about the name, I only admire the bravery of a faithful slave. If the noble youth had imitated his fearlessness, he would have avoided the threatening danger, by the benefit of his own and not his servant's hand. But instead he allowed that the body of Philocrates should lie in more splendour than that of Gracchus his master.

§ 6.8.4  There follows another sort of fury, and another noble family, but the same example of faithfulness. For Pindarus, the freedman of Cassius, by slaying his master at his command, after he had lost the battle of Philippi, saved him from the insults of his enemies; and then he removed himself from the sight of men by a voluntary death - nor was his body ever found. Which of the gods, avenger of the most heinous crimes of mortals, so benumbed the valour which ventured to destroy the Parent of the empire, that it should so abjectly trembling submit itself at the knees of Pindarus, to avoid punishment for a public parricide, which it deserved from the hands of a most pious victor? You, you it was, most divine Julius, who exacted the revenge due to thy celestial wounds, compelling that proud head, so treacherous towards you, to implore the sordid aid of a freedman, driven to such an extremity of fury, that he neither desired to live, nor dared to die by his own hand.

§ 6.8.5  C. Plotius Plancus, the brother of Munatius Plancus who was both consul and censor, was a sad participant in these calamities. While he was lurking in the territory of Salernum, after he had been proscribed by the triumvirs, he revealed his hiding place by his effeminate way of living, and the odours of his sweet perfumes. For by this means the industrious care of those who search for condemned men smelled out his secret haunts. His slaves were apprehended by them, and long tortured, but denied they knew where their master was. Then Plancus could not endure that his slaves, so faithful and exemplary, should be any longer tormented; but he revealed himself, and offered his throat to the soldiers' swords. This contest of mutual goodwill makes it difficult to decide, whether the master were more worthy, who experienced such resolute loyalty in his servants; or the slaves, who were freed from the severity of the rack by the just compassion of their master.

§ 6.8.6  What shall I say of the slave of Urbinius Panapio, who was so admirable in his loyalty? When he learnt that certain soldiers, having found where his master was, through the treachery of his other slaves, had come to his country house near Reate to kill him, exchanging his garments with him, and putting on his ring, he let his master out through a back door, and himself withdrew into his master's room and into his master's bed, where he patiently allowed himself to be killed instead of Panapio. The act is soon related, but the commendation which it deserves is longer. If one considers the sudden incursion of the soldiers, the breaking of the door locks, their menacing shouts, their savage faces, and the flashing of their weapons, he will make a true estimate of the deed; nor think that in the time it takes to say “he chose to die for another man,” the actual deed could be done. However, Panapio showed how much he was beholden to his slave, by building him a large tomb, with a grateful inscription.

§ 6.8.7  I might be content with these examples; but a remarkable deed compels me to relate one more. Antius Restio, after he was proscribed by the triumvirs, when he saw all his slaves intent upon looting and ransack, on a stormy night fled from his house as secretly as possible. His escape was observed by a slave whom he had kept bound in chains, and whom he had branded on the forehead with demeaning letters. The slave followed in his footsteps benevolently, as he wandered here and there, until he caught up with him, in order to accompany him in his misery. By this most intense and perilous care, he displayed a full measure of most exceptional piety. For while the other slaves, whose condition was better at home, thought of nothing but the ransack of their master's possessions, he considered the safety of that person, who had been so cruel to him, to be the greatest profit he could enjoy. And when it would have been enough to have laid aside his anger, he added affection. Nor did his goodwill end there, but he used a stratagem to save his master. For when he perceived that bloodthirsty soldiers were nearby, he hid his master, and making a funeral pile, he seized a poor old man, whom he slew and threw into the flames. When the soldiers asked him for Antius; pointing to the pyre, he said, “I have thrown him into that pyre, in revenge for his cruelty to me.” The soldiers, thinking the story was probable, went on their way; and so Antius had time to make a safe escape.

§ 6.9.1  Consideration of change in the behaviour and fortune of illustrious men can either add much to our hope, or diminish our cares, whether we reflect on our own condition, or the nature of others. For when we perceive some to have risen to greatness from low and contemptible beginnings, why should we not then have better hopes for ourselves? We know that it is a foolish thing to expect nothing but perpetual misfortune, and to exchange hope, which sometimes rightly favours uncertain things, for certain despair. Manlius Torquatus, when he was a youth, was considered to have so dull and awkward a disposition, that he was sent into the countryside by his father L. Manlius, a person of great worth, to toil on his farm, as being unfit for either public or private business. Afterwards he pleaded in defence of his father, who was accused of some misdemeanour, and won the case for him. He later cut off his son's head, though he was a victor, because he had fought with the enemy against his command; and with a most splendid triumph, he revived his country, which had been worn out by the Latin War. Thus, his adverse fortune clouded him in his youth, only so that he might shine more gloriously in his mature years.

§ 6.9.2  Scipio Africanus the elder, whom the immortal gods decreed to be born, so that there might be a person in whom virtue might show itself in all its variety, is reported to have led a rather lax life in his younger years. He was far from the crime of luxury, but still too soft and idle for his Punic trophies, or the yoke placed on the conquered Carthaginians.

§ 6.9.3  C. Valerius Flaccus also, at the time of the Second Punic War, began in a dissipated course of life. But he was chosen to be flamen by P. Licinius the pontifex maximus, in order to reclaim him from his vices. Then he applied himself to the care of the sacred things, and the observation of the religious rites, using religion itself as a guide to frugality. Eventually he became as great an example of sobriety and piety, as he he had been before of luxury.

§ 6.9.4  No person led a more debauched life than Q. Fabius Maximus, who afterwards by the great victory which he obtained over the Gauls, earned for himself and his descendants the surname of Allobrogicus. Yet in his later years, he was the chief ornament of our city, and no-one was so renowned as he.

§ 6.9.5  Who does not how high the authority of Q. Catulus was raised, at that time when there was a crowd of famous men living? In his younger years you will find him to have been guilty of much luxury and idleness. This however did nor prevent him from becoming the leading man of his country. He had the honour to have his name emblazoned upon the roof of the Capitol; and by his own courage he suppressed a civil war that had been rising up with mighty force.

§ 6.9.6  L. Sulla, till he became quaestor, led a life that was infamous for his whoring, drinking and gaming. Therefore it was reported, that Marius being engaged in a very serious war in Africa, complained because they had sent him such an effeminate quaestor. But his virtue, having as it were broken down the fences of wickedness, made a shift to bind the hands of Jugurtha, quell Mithridates, withstand the billows of the Social War, break the power of Cinna, and compel the man who had despised him, when he was quaestor in Africa, to flee as a proscribed exile into the same province for safety. By such varied and contrary acts, he would bring anyone carefully considering the matter, to believe that there were two Sullas in one man: a dissipated youth, and the man whom I would have called brave, if he had not himself assumed the title of Fortunate.

§ 6.9.7  And as we have advised those of noble birth to look to themselves with the benefit of repentance, let us add a few examples of those who dared to aim higher from humble beginnings. T. Aufidius, who once had the role of collecting merely a small part of the Asian tribute, afterwards governed all Asia, as proconsul. Nor did our allies disdain to obey the fasces of a man whom they had seen flattering the tribunals of others. For he behaved himself virtuously and nobly: plainly demonstrating, that his former way of living was only the effect of Fortune; but that the present advancement of his dignity was to be attributed to the greatness of his character.

§ 6.9.8  P. Rupilius was not one of the tax-collectors in Sicily, but only a humble official working for them; he was so miserably poor, that he depended upon providing services to the allies, to survive. Yet subsequently it was from him, as consul, that all the Sicilians received their laws, after he had freed them from a bitter war against the pirates and runaway slaves. I believe that the very ports themselves, if there be any sense in mute things, would have been astonished by the remarkable change in the status of that man. For the same person that they had seen searching for his daily income, they later saw giving laws and commanding fleets and armies.

§ 6.9.9  To this increase in dignity I will add a greater one. When Asculum was captured, Cn. Pompeius, the father of Pompey the Great, led before the eyes of the people P. Ventidius, a beardless youth, in the triumph that he celebrated. Yet it was this Ventidius, who afterwards triumphed in Rome over the Parthians, and avenged the death of Crassus, miserably slain in a foreign country. Thus he that as a captive lived in dread of imprisonment, now as a victor crowned the Capitol with his success. And this is further remarkable fact about the same person, that he was made both praetor and consul in one and the same year.

§ 6.9.10  Now let us consider the variability in men's circumstances. L. Lentulus after his consulship was convicted of extortion under the Caecilian Law, and yet was created censor with L. Censorinus. Thus Fortune shuffled him between honour and disgrace; condemning him after his consulship, and yet honouring him with the office of censor after he was convicted; it neither allowed him to enjoy a lasting happiness, nor long to abide in a miserable condition.

§ 6.9.11  Fortune showed her power also in Cn. Cornelius Scipio Asina. When he was consul, he was captured by the Carthaginians at Lipara, and by the rules of war lost everything; yet by the favour of Fortune he recovered all, and was again created consul. Who would have thought he could have been brought from the twelve fasces to the fetters of the Carthaginians? Who would have thought again, that from the Punic chains he could have advanced to the highest degrees of honour? Yet he was from a consul made a captive, and from a captive became consul.

§ 6.9.12  Did not the vastness of Crassus' wealth give him the surname of Rich [Dives]? Yet poverty afterwards imposed upon him the shameful title of a bankrupt; his goods were sold by his creditors, because he could not pay his debts; and there was also the bitter sarcasm with which everyone who met him, saluted him, calling him still, Crassus the Rich.

§ 6.9.13  Q. Caepio surpassed Crassus in the extent of Fortune' s inconsistency. For he obtained the splendour of the praetorship, the renown of a triumph, the dignity of a consulship, the glory of being pontifex maximus, insomuch that he was called patron of the senate; and yet he died in jail, and his body, tortured and torn by the cruel hand of the executioner on the Gemonian steps, became a spectacle of horror to the whole Roman forum.

§ 6.9.14  The life of Marius was a strange contest with Fortune; for he withstood all her opposition with steadfastness of mind and body. Being thought unworthy of receiving honours at Arpinum, he ventured to stand for the quaestorship at Rome. And by his patience in bearing rejections, he forced his way, rather than was admitted into the senate. He had the same rejections when he stood in elections for the tribuneship and aedileship. Standing for the praetorship, he gained the lowest rank, which however he obtained with great risk; for being accused of bribing voters, he was barely acquitted by the judges. Yet from that Marius, so meanly born at Arpinum, so despised at Rome, and so detested a candidate, sprang that Marius who subdued Africa and led king Jugurtha before his chariot in triumph, who utterly subdued the armies of the Teutones and Cimbri, whose two trophies are seen in the city, and whose seven consulships were recorded in the annals; who had the luck to be created consul after returning from exile, and to proscribe his proscriber. What could be more mutable or inconsistent than his condition? Among the miserable he was most miserable, and yet among the fortunate he was found most fortunate.

§ 6.9.15  C. Caesar, whose virtues gave him admission into heaven, at the beginning of his youth went to Asia, where he was taken by pirates near the island of Pharmacussa and was forced to redeem himself for fifty talents. For so small a sum as that, Fortune would have sold off the brightest star of the world, in a pirate ship. Why then should we complain of her, when she does not even spare the associates of her divinity? But Caesar's celestial power avenged his own injury: for promptly, after pursuing the slaves and capturing them, he crucified every one of them.

§ 6.9e.1  We have been fervent in relating our own examples, but let us be more relaxed in the narration of some foreign examples. Polemon, a young Athenian man, who was infinitely debauched and gloried in his shame, departed from a banquet, not after sun-set, but after sun-rise. As he went home, he saw Xenocrates the philosopher's door standing wide open. Drunk as he was, richly perfumed, flimsily clad, and with a garland upon his head, he entered the school, that was full of grave and learned men. Not ashamed of the manner of his entry, he sat down to throw his drunken jests upon the wise words and wholesome precepts that were then being uttered. The company was offended by this, but Xenocrates kept his temper, and began to speak of modesty and temperance. The gravity of his speech caused Polemon to repent; he first threw his garland to the ground, soon afterwards he covered his arms underneath his cloak; shortly after that he abandoned his drunken mirth; and finally, he laid aside all his debauchery. He was cured by the wholesome medicine of one speech, and from an infamous glutton became a famous philosopher. For his mind was only a visitor in wickedness, not an inhabitant.

§ 6.9e.2  It troubles me to remember Themistocles in his youth; whether I consider his father who disinherited him, or his mother who hanged herself, seeing the wicked course of life her son led. But he himself afterwards became the most famous person that ever Greece brought forth; and was the pledge either of hope or despair between Asia and Europe. For the latter had him as the patron of her safety, but the other held him as an assurance of victory.

§ 6.9e.3  Cimon in his youth was looked upon as a fool; but the Athenians later found the benefit of his foolish commands. He compelled them to condemn themselves of stupidity, who had accused him of folly.

§ 6.9e.4  Two different Fortunes shared Alcibiades between them. The one assigned him a splendid nobility, vast wealth, incomparable good looks, strength of body, a most penetrating wit, and the passionate love of his compatriots. The other inflicted upon him condemnation, banishment, the sale of his property , poverty, the hatred of his country, and a violent death. Neither the one nor the other held him for long, but only by intermission, like the ebbing and flowing of the sea.

§ 6.9e.5  Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos, lived in such a prodigality of Fortune's favours, that he was admired even to envy, and not without cause; for his endeavours all prospered; his hopes reaped the fruit of what they desired; and his wishes were no sooner named than granted. To desire, and be able to achieve, was the same thing for him. Once only Fortune changed her aspect, when he threw a ring, which he highly esteemed, into the sea, so that he might not be said to have undergone no misfortune. However he soon recovered the ring, when the fish was caught, which had swallowed it. But he could not always hold this prosperous course of felicity, that swelled his full sails. For Orontes, one of Darius's commanders, captured him and caused him to be crucified upon the highest peak of Mount Mycale. There the city of Samos, long oppressed by his severe tyranny, with the joyful eyes of free men beheld his rotting corpse, his limbs smeared with blood, and that left hand, to whom Neptune had restored the ring by means of the fisherman, now miserably decayed.

§ 6.9e.6  Dionysius also when he had entered upon the tyranny of Syracuse and almost all of Sicily, which he inherited from his father, was the lord of vast wealth, a general of armies, an admiral of fleets, and powerful in cavalry. Yet he was forced to teach at a school in Corinth, for his livelihood. And at the same time, from a tyrant having now become a school-master, he warned their elders by such a change, how little they were to trust in Fortune.

§ 6.9e.7  Next to him follows king Syphax, who underwent the same extreme change of Fortune. At one and the same time, Rome through Scipio, and Carthage through Hasdrubal, came to him to request his friendship. But although he stood thus courted, so that he seemed to be an arbiter of victory between the greatest and most powerful peoples in the world; shortly afterwards he was brought in chains by Laelius the legate to Scipio the general, and now lay prostrate at the feet of him, whom he had thought it kind enough before, as he sat upon his throne, to take by the hand.
Thus merely vain, and fragile, and like the toys children play with, are those renowned things which we call human power and wealth. On a sudden they abound, and vanish just as soon. In no place or person are they fixed upon a stable foundation; but tossed hither and thither by the uncertain state of Fortune, miserably they cast them down into the depths of calamity, when but recently they had exalted them as high as heaven. And therefore they are neither to be esteemed nor accounted as true felicity; because in order to increase the desire of enjoying them, [they are likely to oppress with a heavier weight, those that they blessed before with their most indulgent favours].

§ 7.1.1  BOOK 7
We have related several examples of the inconsistency of Fortune; for there are very few that display her as thoroughly propitious. Therefore it is evident that she is generous and free with adversity, but very sparing with prosperity; but when she decides to put aside her malice, she heaps up blessings that are not only great and numerous, but also enduring. Let us see then with how many marks of favour she accompanied Metellus from his infancy to his death, with an incessant indulgence. She gave him his birth in the capital city of the world. She gave him most noble parents. She furnished him with admirable gifts of mind, and strength of body, so that he was equal to the challenges he faced. She gave him a wife who was conspicuous for her chastity and fertility. She graced him with the honour of a consulship, the dignity of a military command, and the splendour of a renowned triumph. She so ordered it, that at the same time he had three sons living, all of consular rank; one of them had also served as censor and celebrated a triumph; and his fourth son was a praetor. She gave him three married daughters, whose children he received into his own bosom. And among all these children born, so many youths coming to age, so many nuptial torches, such an abundance of honour, power and congratulations, there was not one funeral, not one tear, or the least cause of sadness. Consider the heavens, and we shall hardly meet with so permanent a condition there; while we find the greatest poets placing grief and pain in the very breasts of the gods. Nor was his end any different from the course of his life. For after he had lived to a good age, an easy death carried him off from the last farewells and embraces of his family; and he was carried through the city to his funeral pyre upon the shoulders of his sons and sons-in-law.

§ 7.1.2  That was a famous example of felicity; the following is less well known, but was preferred by the god himself. For Gyges, puffed up with the riches and power of his kingdom of Lydia, went to enquire of Pythian Apollo, whether any mortal was happier than himself. The god made answer with a low voice, from the hidden cavern of his sanctuary, that Aglaus of Psophis was more happy than him. Aglaus was the poorest of the Arcadians, and quite elderly: he had never gone outside the bounds of his own land; and he was content with the income of a poor farm. But Apollo by the wisdom of his oracle meant the true, not the shadowy goal of a happy life: and therefore gave that answer to one that insolently gloried in the splendour of his fortune, because he preferred a rural hut in the calm security of content, rather than the cares and anxieties of a court; a few clods of earth void of fear, rather than all the fertile acres of Lydia encumbered with continual dread; and one or two pairs of oxen easily maintained, rather than armies of cavalry and infantry, burdensome with vast expenses; and a small larder subject to no man's envy, rather than treasuries exposed to the covetous desires and rapacious violence of all men. Thus while Gyges tried to induce the god to agree with his vain opinion, he learnt of what true and solid happiness consists.

§ 7.2.1  I will now treat of that sort of felicity, which is altogether in the attitude of the mind, and is not to be obtained by wishes, but is bred in the breasts of wise men, and displays itself by things famously said or done. It is reported that Appius Claudius often used to say, that the people of Rome were better to be trusted with business than with idleness; because although he understood the pleasure of a calm condition, he found that great empires were excited to virtue by the vicissitude and agitation of human affairs, but lulled into slothfulness by excessive quiet. And certainly business, that has an irksome name, preserved the customs of our city in their best condition but leisure, that has a softer name, first filled it full of vice.

§ 7.2.2  Scipio Africanus used to say, that in military affairs, it was a shameful thing to say, “I had not expected it.” He believed that the military affairs ought to be carried on with a serious and well-examined deliberation. He was clearly right, for that error is never to be retrieved, that is committed in the heat of war. The same person denied that an enemy was to be fought with, except when there was a favourable opportunity, or a pressing necessity. Both of these were prudently said. For to omit an opportunity of acting with success, is the greatest madness in the world. And he that is compelled to the necessity of giving battle, yet abstains from fighting, shows a piece of sloth with dire consequences. And of those that commit these mistakes, one part knows not how to make use of the benefit of Fortune, the other knows not how to resist the malice of Fortune.

§ 7.2.3  It was also both a grave and a lofty saying, which Q. Metellus spoke in the senate. Upon the destruction of Carthage he plainly confessed, that he knew not whether that victory would bring more advantage or more mischief to the commonwealth. For as it was advantageous by the peace which it occasioned, so by removing Hannibal, it had done harm. For by his march into Italy, the dormant courage of the Romans was roused up. And it was to be feared, that being freed from so formidable a rival, it would relapse into its former drowsiness. So that he reckoned it to be as great a mischief for the sinews of their ancient strength to be weakened, as for their houses to be burnt, their lands to be laid waste, and their treasuries to be emptied.

§ 7.2.4  How prudent an act was that of Fimbria the ex-consul! When he was made an arbitrator by M. Lutatius Pinthia, a Roman knight, upon a wager that he had made with an adversary of his, “that he was an honourable man,” he refused to deliver his judgment, lest he should injure the fame of a unblemished person by pronouncing against him, or affirm him to be a good man, when that depended on so many different qualities.

§ 7.2.5  Moving away from the forum, we will relate a military act of prudence. Papirius Cursor, as consul, desired to rise from the siege of Aquilonia and give battle to the enemy. He was told by the keeper of the sacred chickens that the auspices were good, when that was not true. Afterwards being informed of the error, he took it however for a good omen to him and his army, and gave battle. But he placed the miscreant in the fore-front, so that the gods, if angry, might take revenge upon the right person. And it happened so, whether by chance or by divine providence, that the first weapon which was thrown by the enemy, hit the chicken-keeper's breast, and struck him dead. When the consul was told of this, with renewed confidence, he fell upon the enemy and captured Aquilonia. So quickly did he apprehend, which way the wrong done to him as general was to be avenged; how violated religion was to be expiated; and how victory was to be obtained. He acted as a strict man, and a religious consul, and a courageous general: with one kind of thought forcing at the same time the limits of fear, the manner of punishment, and the means of hope.

§ 7.2.6  Now I will pass on to the acts of the senate. Claudius Nero and Livius Salinator were sent as consuls against Hannibal; these two men were equal in virtue, but they were very hostile towards each another. The senate set out to make them friends, so that they might not neglect the public good because of their private dissensions. For unless there be a true concord in such commands, there is a greater desire to keep another from doing good, than to act well themselves. But where there is an inveterate hatred, they are greater opponents to one another, than the enemy they go to fight with.
These same men were accused by Cn. Baebius, a tribune of the plebs, on account of their severity in their censorship, but by decree of the senate they were freed from coming to trial. The senate relieved from the fear of judgment that high honour, which ought to demand, not to give an account.
The same wisdom of the senate put Ti. Gracchus the tribune to death, for daring to promulgate an agrarian law: yet the senate most prudently ordered, that the land should be divided among each of their people by the triumvirs, in accordance with the law. Thus, at the same time, they removed both the instigator and the cause of a most turbulent sedition.
How prudently did the Senate behave towards to king Masinissa! For when they had experienced the faithful and ready service which he had provided to them against the Carthaginians, and observed that he was quite eager to extend his kingdom, they made a law, whereby they gave Masinissa complete freedom from the power of the people of Rome. By which act, they not only reclaimed the kindness of a person, who had so well deserved of them, but secured themselves from the barbarity of the Numidians, Mauritanians and other adjoining nations, who previously would never rest at peace.
I would need a great length of time to relate all our domestic examples; for our empire increases and protects it self, not only by strength of body, but by vigour of mind. Therefore let Roman prudence be put aside for the most part in silent admiration, and give way to foreign examples of this nature.

§ 7.2e.1  Socrates, a kind of earthly oracle of human wisdom, used to say, that there was nothing else to be asked of the immortal gods, except that they would be pleased to give us what things were good for us; because they know what is profitable for everyone; but for our part, we often crave those things, which it were better we should be without. For, oh mortal mind, wrapped up in thick clouds of darkness, how do you spread your blind prayers into wide error! You covet riches, so pernicious to many. You desire honours, fatal to multitudes. You grasp at royal power, which is often overwhelmed with calamity. You lay hands on splendid marriages, which as they ennoble, as oftentimes destroy whole families. Cease then foolishly to yearn for the future causes of many mischiefs, as if they were the only happinesses to be enjoyed, but submit yourself to the judgment of heaven. For they that are able to give blessings, are also able to make the best choice.
Socrates also used to say, that they took a very short and direct way to honour, who so behaved themselves, as to be really such, as they would seem to be. By this he openly admonished us, that men should rather follow virtue itself, than the mere shadow of virtue.
The same person, when a young man asked him whether he should marry, or altogether abstain from wedlock, answered that whichever he did, he would be sure to repent. For on the one hand, he, said there is solitude, lack of children, extinction of family, and a man's property inherited by a stranger. On the other hand, there is perpetual worry, continual wrangling, haggling about the dowry, the frowns of relatives, the prattling of the mother-in-law, and the snares of cuckoldry, with uncertain hopes of children. Thus he would not suffer the young man, in a context of difficulties, to make his choice as if in a matter of pleasure and delight.
The same person, when the wicked fury of the Athenians had pronounced sentence against his life, and he had received the deadly poison given to him by the hand of the public executioner, with a brave and constant resolution, put the cup to his mouth, and replied to his wife Xanthippe, who was crying out in the midst of tears and lamentations that he would die though he was innocent, “What then? Would you prefer that I should die as an offender?” Oh profound wisdom, that! It would not forget itself, even at the very end of life.

§ 7.2e.2  How wisely did Solon declare, that no man could be reckoned happy, while he was yet alive - because he was subject to the doubtful chances of fortune, even until the last gasp. Therefore the funeral pyre consummates the end of human felicity, protecting it from any further assaults of misfortune.
The same person, when he beheld one of his friends afflicted with grief, brought him to a high tower, and bid him survey every part of the buildings below: when he had done this, “Consider now,” said Solon, “how many reasons for lamentation formerly there were, still are, and will be in future under those lowly roofs; and cease to bewail the common misfortunes of mortals, as if they were unique to you.” By which act of consolation he showed, that cities were but the miserable cages of human woes. The same person use to say, that if all people were forced to make a heap of their misfortunes in one place, it would so happen, that every man would rather carry his own home again, than bear a share of the common heap. From this he concluded, that we ought not to reckon as especially and intolerably bitter those things, which we happen to suffer.

§ 7.2e.3  Bias, when the enemy had invaded his native country of Priene, and all people who were able to get safe away from the ravage of war were fleeing, laden with the weight of what they esteemed most precious, was asked why he carried away none of his own goods. “But I,” said he, “am carrying all my goods around with me.” For he carried them in his breast, not upon his shoulders; they were not to be seen by the eye, but to be prized by the mind. Because they are preserved in the little sanctuary of the mind, they are not to be injured by the hands either of gods or mortals: and just as they are always at hand for those who are at home, so they never desert those who flee away.

§ 7.2e.4  Short in words, but abounding in sense was the saying of Plato, who said that the world would then be happy, when wise men reigned, or kings began to be wise.

§ 7.2e.5  Perceptive also was that king, who, as they report, when the diadem was brought to him, before he put it upon his head, held it in his hand; and having a long time contemplated it, said: “Oh noble rather than fortunate cloth, which he who knew what cares, dangers, and miseries it carried, would not even lift up from the ground.”

§ 7.2e.6  How much to be applauded was the answer of Xenocrates! When he was listening to the rancorous speeches of others in absolute silence, and was asked why he alone kept a rein on his tongue, he answered, “Because I have sometimes repented of speaking, but never of holding my tongue.”

§ 7.2e.7  The precept of Aristophanes is also extremely prudent, who in one of his comedies brings in Pericles the Athenian, sent back from the underworld, to advise that a lion must not to be nurtured in the city, but if it is, it would be wise to take comply with it. He means, that the active wits of noble and stirring youth ought to be curbed: but being fed with over-much favour and profuse indulgence, let them not be hindered from gaining power. For it is a vain and unprofitable thing to resist the force which has been fostered by yourself.

§ 7.2e.8  It was wonderfully said by Thales; who when he was asked whether the deeds of men escaped the knowledge of the gods, replied, “Not [even] their thoughts.” He implied that we ought not only to preserve our hands clean, but our minds pure, if we believe our thoughts to be known to the gods.

§ 7.2e.9  No less prudent is that which follows. The father of an only child consulted Themistocles, whether he should marry her to an accomplished poor man, or a rich man of no ability? He responded, “I would rather choose a man, said he, lacking money, than money wanting a man.” By this saying he advised a fool to choose a son-in-law, rather than the wealth of a son-in-law.

§ 7.2e.10  Much to be applauded was the letter of Philip, in which he chides Alexander, for attempting to ingratiate himself with large gifts into the favour of some of the Macedonians. “What reason, son, brought you to this vain hope, that you should think those persons will be faithful to you, whose goodwill you have to purchase with money?”. This was spoken with fatherly affection, but also from experience; for Philip himself was more often a purchaser, than a victor of Greece.

§ 7.2e.11  Aristotle, when he sent his pupil Callisthenes to Alexander, advised him either to say nothing to the king, or else to speak pleasantly, evidently so that in the hearing of the king he would be either safer by his silence or more acceptable by what he said. But Callisthenes, when he reproved Alexander, because he prided himself to have the Macedonians salute him after the manner of the Persian flattery, and sought to reclaim him against his will to the ancient customs of his forefathers, was ordered to be put to death, and too late repented his neglect of the wholesome advice that had been given him.
Aristotle also taught, that it was not becoming to speak either way of oneself. For to praise oneself was a vanity; to speak ill of oneself, a folly. Another most wholesome precept it of his was, that we should consider pleasures as they depart from us. By representing them in this way he diminished their power; for so he showed them as fainting and full of repentance, which rendered them the less desirable.

§ 7.2e.12  No less prudent was Anaxagoras, who was asked whom he thought the happiest person. “None of those,” said he, “whom you imagine to be happy; but you will find him among the number of those whom you reckon unfortunate.” Not the person that abounds in riches, but the one who cultivates a small farm, or the faithful and steadfast follower of unassuming studies; more happy in withdrawal than in outward show.

§ 7.2e.13  Wise also was the saying of Demades. For when the Athenians refused to attribute divine honours to Alexander; “Beware, ”said he, “lest while you are so careful in preserving heaven, you may lose the earth.”

§ 7.2e.14  How subtly did Anacharsis compare the laws to spiders' webs! For as they detained the weaker creatures, and let go the stronger; so the laws bound the poor and needy, and let go the rich and powerful.

§ 7.2e.15  Nothing could be more prudent than this act of Agesilaus. For when he discovered a conspiracy against the Lacedaemonian state by night, he promptly abrogated the laws of Lycurgus, that forbade the punishment of those who were not convicted. After having apprehended and put to death the offenders, he promptly restored the laws again: providing both ways, that wholesome punishment should not be thought unjust, nor be prevented by law. Therefore so that the laws might exist for ever, it was necessary, that for some time they should not exist.

§ 7.2e.16  But perhaps the advice of Hanno was even more eminently prudent. For when Mago related the outcome of the battle of Cannae to the senate of Carthage, and produced as evidence of the success three modii of gold rings taken from the fingers of our citizens who had been killed, he asked whether any of their allies had revolted from the Romans after so great a defeat. When he heard that none had deserted to Hannibal, he promptly advised, that ambassadors should be sent to Rome to treat for peace. If this advice had been followed, Carthage would not have been defeated in the Second, nor destroyed in the Third Punic War.

§ 7.2e.17  Nor did the Samnites pay less severely for the same error, when they neglected the wholesome advice of Herennius Pontius. He, excelling the rest in authority and prudence, was consulted by the army, and his own son, who was commander of the army, as to what they should do with the Roman legions trapped at the Caudine Forks. He replied, that they should be sent home untouched. The next day being asked the same question, he replied, that they should be all killed. - so that either they might merit the goodwill of an enemy by an extraordinary kindness, or impair his force by a considerable loss. But the insolent rashness of the victors, despising both counsels of profit and advantage, by putting the Romans under the yoke, inflamed them to their own ruin.

§ 7.2e.18  To many and great examples of prudence, I will add one small one. The Cretans when they would most vehemently curse those they hate, wish that they may take pleasure in bad habits. And in the modesty of their wish, they find a most efficacious event for their revenge. For to desire something pointless, and to persevere in that desire, is a pleasure next to ruin.

§ 7.3.1  There is another sort of saying and deed, coming down from wisdom to the name of cunning: which would not meet with approval of what is propounded, if it did not assume the force of craftiness; and it seeks for praise rather in a hidden path, than in an open way. In the reign of Servius Tullius, a certain father of a household in the Sabine territories had a cow of an extraordinary size and beauty. The interpreters of oracles said that this was sent into the world by the immortal gods, to the end that whoever offered it to Diana on the Aventine, his country would obtain the empire over the whole world. The master, rejoicing to hear such news, drove the beast with all speed to Rome, and presented it before the altar of Diana on the Aventine, with the hope of giving supreme power over the human race to the Sabines. When the high priest of the temple learnt of this, he advised the owner, that before he slew the sacrifice, he should wash himself in the water of the nearby river. When for that reason he hastened to the channel of the Tiber, in his absence the high priest offered the beast, and by his pious theft of the sacrifice, rendered our city the mistress of so many cities and nations.

§ 7.3.2  For sharpness of intellect, Junius Brutus is in the first place to be commended. For when he observed that all the promising noblemen were being cut down by king Tarquinius, his uncle, and his brother had been put to death by him because of his high intelligence, he pretended to be a fool; and by that pretence he concealed his own great abilities. Going also to Delphi with the sons of Tarquinius, whom their father sent thither with rich presents and sacrifices in honour of Pythian Apollo, he carried gold as a present to the god, hid in a hollow stick; fearing that it was not safe to worship the celestial deity with overt lavishness. After that, the young men, having performed their father's commands, consulted Apollo, which among them all would be the person who ruled over Rome. The god made answer, that he should obtain the sovereignty, who gave his mother the first kiss. Then Brutus threw himself down, as if he had fallen by chance, and kissed the earth, as the common mother of all things. This crafty kiss, given to the earth, gave liberty to our city, and the first place in our fasti to Brutus.

§ 7.3.3  The elder Scipio also used the aid of cunning. For when he was going to sail from Sicily into Africa, he wanted to create a squadron of three hundred cavalrymen out of the bravest men in the Roman infantry. Though he did not have sufficient time to equip them, he overcame the shortness of time and attained his objective by a clever ruse. For out of the young men he had with him, who were the noblest and the richest in all of Sicily but were unarmed, he chose three hundred, whom he ordered to equip themselves with splendid weapons and select horses as quickly as possible, as if he intended to take them along with him to attack Carthage. When they obeyed his command, promptly but with some anxiety about a distant and dangerous war, Scipio told them, he would release them from the expedition, upon condition they would hand over their weapons and horses to his soldiers. The young men, being effeminate and fearful, eagerly accepted the condition, and willingly handed over their equipment to our soldiers. By this the clever general ensured, that what would have been considered severe, if abruptly commanded, was looked upon as a great benefit, when the fear of military service was removed.

§ 7.3.4  That which follows is also worth relating. Q. Fabius Labeo was appointed by the senate as an arbitrator to settle the boundaries between Nola and the Neapolis. When they came to the business, he warned both sides separately, that laying aside all greed, they should rather yield, than grasp for too much. When both sides had agreed to this, persuaded by his authority, there was still some ground in the middle left spare. Thereupon, setting the boundaries as they had agreed to, he awarded what was left to the people of Rome. Though neither the Nolans nor the Neapolitans could in justice complain, because the decision had been given with their consent; yet it was a shameless piece of trickery that brought new revenues to our city.
This same person, when according to the treaty he was entitled to have half the fleet of king Antiochus, whom he had defeated in war, cut all the ships in two, and so deprived him of the whole fleet.

§ 7.3.5  We should perhaps excuse M. Antonius, who said, that he never published any speech, in order that if any previous statement of his should happen to work against the man whom he next defended, he might claim that he never spoke it. This seemed like a reasonable excuse for an act that was hardly creditable. For he was ready not only to make use of his eloquence, but to diminish his sense of honesty in order to save his client.

§ 7.3.6  Sertorius, upon whom Nature had with an equal indulgence bestowed both strength of body, and wisdom in strategy, was compelled to become general of the Lusitanians by the proscription of Sulla. When he could by no means persuade them not to fight with the whole army of the Romans, by a crafty scheme he brought them to do as he intended. For he placed in the sight of all the Lusitanians two horses, one a strong beast, the other weak and feeble. Then he caused the tail of the strong horse to be pulled hair by hair from him, by a weak old man; and the tail of the weak horse to be torn all at once from him, by a young fellow of exceptional strength. When his commands were obeyed, the young man toiled in vain, but the decrepit old man achieved his task. Then to let the assembly of barbarians understand the meaning of this spectacle, he added that the Roman army was like the tail of the horse, which might be easily overcome in parts; but that whoever assailed the whole body, would lose rather than gain the victory. Thus that barbarous rough-hewn nation, rushing on to their own destruction, saw with their eyes the advantages which their ears had ignored.

§ 7.3.7  Fabius Maximus, whose role it was to overcome by abstaining from fighting, had in his camp a Nolan infantryman of great courage, yet of dubious loyalty, and a Lucanian cavalryman, who served vigorously but was in love with a courtesan. In order that he might not lose the assistance of two such soldiers by punishing them, he hid his suspicion of the former, and as to the latter he somewhat exceeded the bounds of just discipline. For by praising the one on his public tribunal, and loading him with all manner of commendations, he made him loyal to the Romans, and an enemy to the Carthaginians; and the other he allowed to redeem his mistress privately, so that he might become even more keen and active on our side.

§ 7.3.8  I will come now to those that saved themselves by cunning. When M. Volusius, a plebeian aedile, was proscribed, he disguised himself in the costume of a priest of Isis, begging as he travelled along the road, and thus kept himself from being recognised. In this disguise he reached the camp of M. Brutus. What could be more miserable than the necessity, which constrained a magistrate of the Roman people, laying aside the honour of his position, under the disguise of a foreign religion to beg as he went from town to town? But all such men were either too fond of life, or too covetous of the death of others, who could either endure such things themselves, or compel others to undergo such difficulties.

§ 7.3.9  Somewhat more noble was the ploy used to escape from doom by Sentius Saturninus Vetulo, who upon hearing that his name was among those proscribed by the triumvirs, promptly grasped the emblems of authority held by the praetor, and hired some men to walk in front of him in the guise of lictors and attendants. He seized vehicles, occupied lodgings, and forced bystanders to move out of his way; and he did it all with such conviction, that in the midst of all his enemies, he hid himself from their sight in plain daylight. After that, coming to Puteoli and pretending that he was there on public business, he acted in such a way, that he persuaded a vessel to carry him without hindrance into Sicily, the safe refuge of proscribed men at that time.

§ 7.3.10  One more small example, and then on to foreigners. A certain person, who was extraordinarily indulgent towards his son, wished to rescue him from a dangerous and illicit love affair, and combined his paternal indulgence with the cunning of wholesome scheme. For he asked him before he went to his mistress, to make use of that sort of intercourse which was common and permitted. Whereupon the young man, in obedience to his father's request, found himself satiated by a lawful act, and ceased to pursue any farther the unlawful object of his passions.

§ 7.3e.1  Alexander king of the Macedonians, was warned by an oracle that he should put to death whoever he met first coming out of the gate. He met a driver of asses, whom he promptly commanded to be carried off to execution. The ass-driver thereupon asked him, why he wanted to kill an innocent person, who had done him no offence? When the king repeated the command of the oracle to him, “If it be so, O king,” said the ass-driver, the oracle intended another to die, and not me: for the ass that I drove met you before I did." Alexander was pleased with the crafty response of the poor fellow, and willing to be recalled from his error, took the opportunity to satisfy religion with the death of a lesser animal. Here was extraordinary mildness joined with cleverness; but what follows is even more extraordinary cleverness in another king's groom.

§ 7.3e.2  When the sordid regime of the magi was overthrown, Darius the king, joining with six others of the same dignity, made a noble contract with them, that they should go on horseback by sunrise to a certain place, and that he should become king, whose horse was the first to neigh. But while the other competitors for so great an honour only waited upon Fortune, Darius by the pure imagination of Oebaris the groom of his horse, attained his wish. For when they came to the place, he put his hand which he had but a little before thrust into the privy parts of a mare, up to the nostrils of his master's stallion, who was excited by the scent and immediately neighed. As soon as the other competitors heard this, they immediately leapt from their horses, and prostrating themselves upon the ground ( as is the custom of the Persians ) they saluted Darius as king. How vast an empire was thus obtained by one small piece of cunning!

§ 7.3e.3  Bias, whose reputation for wisdom has been more lasting among men than his city of Priene, (for the one still remains, but the vestiges of the other are close to the extinction) used to say, that men ought so to engage in matters of friendship, as to remember, that it might change into the severest enmity. This precept at first sight seems to be rather devious, and not in keeping with the sincerity, which is the delight of friendship. But look upon it with a more careful consideration, and it will be found very profitable.

§ 7.3e.4  The safety of the city of Lampsacus was ensured by one act of cunning. When Alexander was wholly intent on destroying it, he saw his teacher Anaximenes coming towards him outside the walls; and in case his pleas should assuage his anger, he swore not to grant whatever he petitioned for. “Then,” said Anaximenes, “my petition is, that you should destroy Lampsacus.” His quick wits saved the city, so famous for its antiquity, from the destruction which was destined for it.

§ 7.3e.5  The cunning of Demosthenes was also a notable help to a maid, who had received money from two guests to keep, upon condition that she should return the money to them when they came both together. After some time, one of them in mourning clothes, as if his friend had died, came and deceitfully took the whole of the money. When she had given it, the other came and demanded his share. The poor girl was at a loss, not only for the money deposited, but also for sufficient money to defend herself at law; and she thought of hanging herself. But fortunately for her, Demosthenes undertook her case. “The woman,” said he, “is ready to pay the money deposited in her custody; but unless you can bring the other person along with you, the contract forbids her to pay it. For it was agreed between you, that the money should not be paid back, until you both came together.”

§ 7.3e.6  Nor was the following imprudently done. A certain Athenian, hated by all the people, expected to have to plead for his life before them. Suddenly he came forward as a candidate for the highest magistracy among them; not that he expected to obtain his desire, but so that the people might have a means of blunting the initial sharpness of their anger, which is usually the keenest. Nor did this plan deceive him: for when the people had spent all their malice in hissing him out the assembly, and had disgraced him by their rejection, when he came to plead for his life, their malice turned into compassion, as if they had done enough against him already. But if he had defended his life among them while they were thirsting after revenge, he would have found their ears closed to all mercy.

§ 7.3e.7  Similar was the following piece of cunning. The elder Hannibal, after being defeated by the consul Duilius in a naval battle, feared that the loss of his fleet would be punished severely; but by an remarkable act of cleverness, he mitigated his crime. For before the news of his defeat reached home, he sent one of his friends, who was suitably prepared, to Carthage. This friend came into the senate house, and said, “Hannibal has sent me to discuss with you whether, if he meets the Roman admiral and finds him arrayed with a large number of ships, he should fight with him or not.” When the whole senate were unanimously in favour of fighting, “Then,” said he, “he has indeed fought, and has been defeated.” By then it was too late for them to condemn the action, which they themselves had approved.

§ 7.3e.8  The other Hannibal, finding that Fabius Maximus's policy of delay was hindering his victories, in order to make him suspected of spinning out the war, spared only the farm of Fabius, while he was ravaging all other parts of Italy with fire and sword. And this cunning act of kindness would have taken effect, had not the honesty of Fabius and the wily tricks of Hannibal been too well known to the city of Rome.

§ 7.3e.9  The Tusculans also saved themselves by the cleverness of their plans. For when by their frequent rebellions they deserved the total destruction of their city, and Furius Camillus was sent for this purpose with a very powerful army, they all came forth to meet him wearing their togas, bringing him provisions, and offering him all other acts of peace and friendship. They even allowed him to enter their walls while armed, without changing either their countenance or their clothes. By this persistence of theirs, they not only obtained our friendship, but also also were granted citizenship of our city. They practised a wise restraint, since they knew that it was easier to disguise their fear with favours than to protect it with arms.

§ 7.3e.10  But the stratagem of Tullus, general of the Volsci, was wicked. He was eager to make war upon the Romans, but found that after losing several battles, his own people were more inclined to peace. By a deceitful plan, he made them do what he wanted. For when a great multitude of the Volsci had gone to Rome to behold the games, he told the consuls that he was afraid they would cause some mischief, being so numerous; and he advised them to be careful, and promptly left the city himself. The consuls related this to the Senate, who though they had no suspicion of it, yet upon Tullus's words, voted that the Volsci should be made to depart from the city before nightfall. The Volsci were incensed by this contemptuous treatment, and were easily induced to start a rebellion. Thus by a lie, masked as kindness, a cunning general deceived two nations: the Romans were persuaded to mistreat the innocent, and the Volsci were misled into avenging the insult.

§ 7.4.1  But this part of cunning is to be praised, as being free from all reproof: because we have no word to describe such deeds, we are forced to borrow the word 'stratagem' from the Greek. Fidenae, a city that kept the growing infancy of our city alert, and after nourishing her virtue with trophies and triumphs over her neighbours, taught her to aspire further afield, was attacked by Tullus Hostilius with all his forces. At that time Mettius Fufetius, the general of the Albans, when the two sides were ready to join battle, revealed the disloyalty in his heart, which he had a long time kept concealed. For leaving the wing of the Roman army, he withdrew to a hill, where he resolved to be a spectator rather than a participant; intending either to triumph over the vanquished, or to fall upon the weary victors. No doubt it discouraged our soldiers to see themselves deserted by their allies, at the very moment when they were going to fight their enemies. To counter this, Tullus rode swiftly around the battalions, crying out that Mettius had withdrawn at his command, and that he was to fall upon the rear of the Fidenates when he gave the signal. And by that cunning ruse of an expert general, he changed their fear into confidence, and filled their breasts with eagerness instead of consternation.

§ 7.4.2  And so that I may not immediately leave our kings: Sextus Tarquinius, the son of Tarquinius, who was disturbed to see that the Gabii could not be taken by his father's army, found out a trick more powerful than weapons themselves, whereby he overpowered the town, and joined it to the Roman empire. For he went over to the men of Gabii, pretending that he had escaped from his father's stripes and severity, which he had deliberately inflicted on himself. After that, procuring the goodwill of everyone by his kind and winning behaviour, so that he achieved great influence, he sent one of his attendants to his father, to tell him how he had everything in hand, and to ask what he should do. The crafty old man was equal to the young man's cunning. For Tarquinius, who was pleased with the news but did not venture to confide in the messenger, gave no answer, but taking him into the garden, struck off the heads of the highest and biggest poppies with his cane. The young man, when he was told of his silence, and what he had done, concluded there was another meaning in the thing: which was, that he should either banish or put to death all the leading men of the Gabii. By doing this he delivered up the city empty of defenders, even though the people's hands were not tied.

§ 7.4.3  Prudent also and successful was the action of our ancestors, when after the capture of our city, the Capitol was attacked by the Gauls, who despaired of taking it in any other way than by starving the besieged. For by a cunning ploy they deprived the victors of their only motive to that obstinacy, by throwing loaves of bread out of the Capitol into several parts of the besiegers' line. At the sight of this they were so astonished and thought us to be so well stocked that they were persuaded to raise their siege. Certainly Jupiter himself took compassion on Roman courage, which at that time took assistance from craft; he saw that in the greatest shortage, they threw away the support of life; and therefore he favoured the cunning but risky stratagem with a successful outcome.

§ 7.4.4  The same Jupiter afterwards looked kindly on the clever ploys of our generals. For when Hannibal harassed one side of Italy, and Hasdrubal had invaded the other; so that the combined forces of two brothers might not too heavily and sorely oppress the already weakened condition of our state, Claudius Nero offered his vigorous advice, and Livius Salinator providently prepared for it. For while Nero was curbing Hannibal in the territory of the Lucanians, though making a pretence of still watching the enemy, he hastened with long and speedy marches to the assistance of his colleague - for so the conduct of the war required. Salinator, who was then in Umbria by the river Metaurus, and had resolved to fight on the next day, with extraordinary secrecy received Nero by night. For he ordered the tribunes to be received by the tribunes, the centurions by the centurions, the cavalry by the cavalry, the infantry by the infantry; and so without any disruption, he merged two armies into one, in the same space that was hardly able to contain the army which he had before. Therefore it happened that Hasdrubal was not aware that he was fighting with two consuls, before he had been defeated by the virtue of them both. And thus Punic trickery, so infamous over all the world, was itself outwitted: while Roman prudence delivered up Hannibal to the wiles of Nero, and Hasdrubal to the deceit of Salinator.

§ 7.4.5  Memorable also was the ruse of Q. Metellus, who as proconsul was fighting against the Celtiberians in Spain, and found himself unable to capture by force Contrebia, the capital city of that country. After turning over many ideas in his mind, at length he found a way to achieve his objective. He made tedious marches, sometimes he fell upon one region, sometimes upon another; sometimes he assailed some mountains, and then sometimes others: and all the while, even his own officers, as well as the enemy, were amazed to see him whirl from one place to another in that manner. Therefore he was asked by one of his intimate friends, why he waged such a haphazard and scattered kind of war. “Do not ask,” said he, “for if I thought my shirt knew the meaning of my plan, I would cause it to be burnt.” How far did this dissimulation extend? Or what was the outcome of it? When he had drawn both his own army and the enemy into the same error, pretending to march another way, he suddenly turned back and fell upon Contrebia, which he took unawares. But if he had not allowed his thoughts to search after tricks and stratagems, he might have remained outside Contrebia for all the days of his life.

§ 7.4e.1  Agathocles, king of the Syracusans, was bold in his cunning. For when the Carthaginians had occupied the greater part of his city, he transported his army into Africa, to dispel fear by fear, and force by force - and not without success. For the Carthaginians, frightened by his sudden arrival, willingly reclaimed their own security by granting the safety of the enemy; so that it was agreed, that at the same time Africa should be freed from the Sicilians, and Sicily from the Carthaginians. If he had persevered to defend the walls of Syracuse, they would have still been vexed with the miseries of war, while Carthage was enjoying the benefits of peace. But now he threatened her with the same ruin, while he invaded the wealth and property of others, rather than defending his own; and because he sensibly deserted his own kingdom, so he received it back again more safely.

§ 7.4e.2  What about Hannibal at the battle of Cannae - did he not ensnare the Roman army in many entanglements of clever stratagems, before he went to fight? In the first place he took care to have the sun and wind, which causes storms of dust, facing them. Then at the very time of fighting, he caused a great part of his army to pretend to flee; and when a Roman legion followed in pursuit, as they were separated from the rest of the army, he ensured that they should be cut to pieces by the ambush which he had laid to entrap them. Then he ordered four hundred cavalrymen to go to the consul in the guise of deserters; they were commanded to lay aside their weapons, and to withdraw to the rear of the army, as is customary for deserters; but in the heat of the battle, they drew their swords, which they had hidden between their tunics and their breastplates, and cut the hams of the Roman soldiers. Thus was Punic courage supplied with deceit, ambush, and trickery; which excuses our own courage for being so circumvented, because we were rather deceived, than defeated.

§ 7.5.1  If the character of the Campus Martius is well represented, it may also instruct ambitious men more strenuously to withstand the unsuccessful outcome of elections. When the rejections suffered by eminent and famous men are set before their eyes, they may stand for office not with less hope but with a more prudent attitude of mind; and they may remember, that it is no crime for something to be denied by all to one man, when sometimes single persons have thought it lawful to resist the wishes of all; and they may know that what cannot be obtained by favour, must be sought with patience. Q. Aelius Tubero, when he was asked to fit out a banqueting hall by Fabius Maximus, who was giving a feast to the people in the name of P. Africanus his uncle, spread Punic couches with goat-skins; and instead of silver dishes, brought forth Samian ware. By which stinginess he so offended all the people, that when he stood for praetor, depending upon L. Paullus his grandfather, and P. Africanus his uncle, he was forced to undergo the shame of a rejection. For though privately they approved thriftiness, yet publicly they were very keen to be lavish. And therefore the city, believing that not just the guests of one banquet, but all her inhabitants had reclined upon goat-skins, avenged the dishonour of the banquet, by the shame of not giving him their votes.

§ 7.5.2  P. Scipio Nasica, the glory of the toga, who as consul proclaimed war against Jugurtha, whose holy hands received the Idaean Mother when she left Phrygia to grace our altars and our dwelling-places, who by the strength of his authority suppressed many dangerous seditions, who was princeps senatus for many years, when he was a young man, stood as a candidate to be curule aedile. He took a certain person by the hand, whom he grasped with his own, and finding his friend's hand to be hardened with labour, he asked him, whether he used to walk upon his hands. This question being heard by the bystanders, came to be known by all the people, and caused Scipio to be rejected. For all the rustic tribes thought that he was mocking their poverty, and discharged their anger against his insulting jest. Thus our city, by restraining the wit of noble youths from insolence, made them great and profitable citizens; and added a due weight to honours, by not allowing those who sought them to be certain of success.

§ 7.5.3  There was no such error to be found in Aemilius Paullus; and yet several times he stood for the consulship in vain. However, the same person, who had wearied the field with his rejections, was afterwards made twice consul and censor, and reached the highest peak of honour. His misfortunes did not break his virtue , but sharpened it; for being inflamed at the dishonour, he brought to the field a more eager desire to obtain the supreme dignity, so that he might overcome the people by his perseverance, since he could not stir them by the splendour of his nobility and the capabilities of his mind.

§ 7.5.4  Only a few, and those disconsolate friends, accompanied Q. Caecilius Metellus as he went home, ashamed and full of grief, after he suffered rejection in his bid to be consul; and yet afterwards the whole senate and people followed him readily and jovially to the Capitol, when he triumphed over Pseudo-Philip. The greatest part also of the Achaean War, to which Mummius lent the finishing touches, was accomplished by this person. Could the people then deny the consulship to him, to whom they owed, or were likely to owe two most famous provinces? And yet that action they made him a better citizen; for he thought he should carry himself the more industriously in the consulship, because he found it so hard to be obtain it.

§ 7.5.5  Who was more powerful or more prosperous than L. Sulla? He disposed of empires and kingdoms; he abrogated old laws, and made new ones; and yet in that field of which he was afterwards master, he was rejected from the praetorship when he stood for it. He would have obtained all the places of the office that he sought, if by chance some god had revealed to the Roman people the form and appearance of his future greatness.

§ 7.5.6  But to relate the greatest crime of the elections: M. Porcius Cato, who was more likely to grace the praetorship with the gravity of his conduct, than to receive any addition of splendour from it, once failed to obtain it from the people. These were the votes of madmen, and how well were they paid for the error they committed! For the honour which they denied to Cato, they were forced to give to Vatinius. And therefore to speak the truth, the praetorship was not then denied to Cato, but Cato was denied to the praetorship.

§ 7.6.1  Most bitter are the laws of abominable Necessity, and most severe her commands, which have compelled not only our city, but also foreign nations to suffer many things that are grievous, not only to comprehend, but even to hear. In the Second Punic War, when after several defeats there were no more young Roman men of military age available, the senate, on the motion of Ti. Gracchus the consul, decreed that slaves might be bought by the state, to fight against the enemy. When the tribunes reported this to the people, three persons were appointed, who collected twenty four thousand slaves. After the slaves took an oath that they would be true, faithful and courageous, while the Carthaginians remained in Italy, they sent them away to the camp. Out of Apulia also, two hundred and seventy men were bought from the Paediculi to supplement the cavalry. How great is the strength of bitter Fortune! That city which till that time loathed to have soldiers who were exempt from tax even though they were freeborn, that very city was now constrained to summon the bodies of slaves from their servile hovels, and other slaves from the huts of shepherds, to be the chief strength of their army. Proud spirits therefore must sometimes give way to convenience, and submit to the power of Fortune; he who does not choose the safest advice, while he tries to follow a more dignified course, meets with disaster. * https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/From_the_Founding_of_the_City/Book_22#57 Livy 22_57
The carnage of Cannae so alarmed our city, that by the efforts of M. Junius Pera, then managing the affairs of the commonwealth as dictator, the enemy spoils displayed in the temples consecrated to the gods, were taken down for the service of the war, and boys still in their toga praetexta were forced to take up arms; and six thousand debtors and condemned men were also enlisted out of necessity. These things considered in themselves, may seem rather discreditable; but weighed in the balance of necessity, they appear to be suitable aids for the savage situation at that time. * https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/From_the_Founding_of_the_City/Book_23#14 Livy 23.14
Because of the same defeat, the senate wrote back in answer to Otacilius and Cornelius Mammula, the one propraetor of Sicily, the other of Sardinia, who both complained that the allies were not providing either pay or provisions for their fleets and armies, while they themselves did not have the resources to provide them: that the senate had no money in the treasury for foreign expenses, and therefore instructed them to take the best course they could to provide for themselves. In this way the senate moved the government quite out of their own hands, and in a few words abandoned Sicily and Sardinia, which were two of the kindest nurses of our city, the strength and support of their wars, subdued with so much blood and sweat, because of the severe demands of necessity.

§ 7.6.2  The men of Casilinum, who were suffering from lack of provisions, when they were closely besieged by Hannibal, took all the leather thongs from their everyday uses, and the leather covers from their shields, and boiling them in water were forced to feed upon them. Consider the bitterness of the calamity, and what could be more miserable? But if you consider their endurance, what greater mark of loyalty? Rather than desert the Romans, they chose to maintain themselves on this a sort of diet, when such fruitful fields, and such a fertile soil, lay so close to their walls. And so Casilinum, famous for the virtue of its residents, by the pledge of its steadfast friendship stung the eyes of the nearby city of Capua, which with its delights fostered the Punic savagery.

§ 7.6.3  When their town was so closely besieged, and so faithfully held out, it happened that one among the three hundred defenders of Praeneste caught a mouse, but preferred to sell it for two hundred denarii, rather than eat it himself, notwithstanding the famished condition he was in. But fate allotted both to the buyer and the seller, the end which they both deserved. For the covetous person starved to death, and could not enjoy the spoils of his avarice; but he who paid so much for his own preservation survived; though it was so expensive, yet that food was purchased out of necessity.

§ 7.6.4  In the consulship of C. Marius and Cn. Carbo, who fought against Sulla in a civil war, men did not strive for the victory of the commonwealth, but the commonwealth was to be the victor's prize. By a decree of the senate, the gold and silver ornaments of the temples were melted down, to pay the soldiers. That was a worthy cause for robbing the immortal gods, to decide which side would be permitted to satiate their cruelty with a proscription of the citizens! But it was not the will of the conscript fathers, but yours, dire Necessity, that caused that order to be made.

§ 7.6.5  When the divine Julius's army - the unconquered right hand of an unconquered general - besieged Munda, and they lacked timber to raise up a rampart, they made up the height, which they needed, with the bodies of their dead enemies. And because they lacked stakes, they drove in their spears and javelins to strengthen them, as Necessity taught them a new method of fortification.

§ 7.6.6  And to add a mention of the divine son, to the remembrance of the celestial father: when it seemed that Phraates king of the Parthians was about to invade our provinces, and the adjoining regions were terrified at the sudden threat of a conflict, there was such a famine in the region of Bosporus, that the soldiers paid six thousand denarii for a single jar of oil, and exchanged one slave for each modius of wheat. But the care of Augustus, under whose protection the world then lay, soon provided a remedy for that calamity.

§ 7.6e.1  The Cretans had no such help. When they were besieged by Metellus, and reduced to the utmost extremity, they rather tormented than quenched their thirst with their own urine and the urine of their cattle. For in order to avoid defeat, they suffered something that the victors would not have forced them to endure.

§ 7.6e.2  The Numantines, when Scipio besieged them with a rampart and a mound, after they had consumed all other things, at length were forced to feed upon human flesh. So that when their city was captured, there were many of them were found with the joints and limbs of the slain in the folds of their clothes. But Necessity was no excuse for this; for there was no need for them to live like that, when it was possible for them to die.

§ 7.6e.3  But their obstinacy was surpassed by the horrid impiety of the people of Calagurris, in a similar evil. In order that they might appear more faithful to the ashes of the dead Sertorius, when they were besieged by Pompey, after devouring all other creatures in their city, they turned to feast upon their wives and children. And in order that the young soldiers might nourish their flesh with their own flesh for longer, they were not afraid to salt up the unfortunate remnants of their dead bodies. These were soldiers that you might urge in battle, to fight for the safety of their wives and children! It was more fitting for so great a general to punish such an enemy, than to seek for victory; for revenge would have brought him more (?) dignity, than victory could win him honour. In comparison with them snakes and wild beasts were gentle and merciful creatures. For the dear pledges of life are more precious to those creatures than their own lives, but to the men of Calagurrris they were their dinners and suppers.

§ 7.7.1  Let us now go to that sort of business, which among all the actions of men, is the last thing done, and their chiefest care. And let us consider, which wills have been cancelled after they were legally made; or which might have been cancelled but still stood firm; and which transferred the honour of inheritance to others than those who expected it. So that I may do this according to the order which I have proposed, I will begin with the father of a certain soldier, who hearing a false report of the death of his son from the army, appointed other as heirs in his will, and then died. When the young man returned home after the war had ended, he found the doors shut against him, on account of the error of his father, and the impudence of his friends. For how could they have shown themselves more shameless than they did? The soldier had spent the flower of his youth in his country's service, had undergone most dreadful labours and dangers, displayed the wounds which he had received in battle, and (?) they demanded that his ancestral inheritance might belong to themselves - lazy idlers who were a mere burden to the city. Therefore laying aside his arms, he was forced to commence a civil action in the forum. He contended against the wicked heirs for his father's estate in the court of the centumviri, where the judges gave not only their opinions, but all their votes in his favour.

§ 7.7.2  The son of M. Anneius of Carseoli, an illustrious Roman knight, who was adopted by his uncle Sufenas, rescinded the will of his natural father, who had excluded him from it, by the verdict of the centumviral court, before whom he brought the case; even though Tullianus, the close friend of Pompey the Great, who was a witness to it, had been made an heir. Therefore he had to contend more with the power of an influential person, than with the ashes of his father. Yet though they both did what they could to hinder him, he obtained his father's estate. For L. Sextilius and P. Popillius, whom M. Anneius, as being his nearest relatives, had made heirs equally with Tullianus, did not venture to oppose the young man on oath, though they might have been tempted at that time by the great authority of Pompey, to have defended the written will, and it was some advantage to the heirs, that M. Anneius had been adopted into the family of Sufenas. But the strong tie of parenthood overcame both the father's will, and the authority of so great a personage.

§ 7.7.3  C. Tettius, a son born to Petronia, who was the wife of Tettius for as long as she lived, was disinherited by his father while he was an infant, but was restored to his inheritance by decree of the divine Augustus, who acted as the father of his country; because Tettius had so unjustly abrogated his name as the father of a son, who was (?) legally born to him.

§ 7.7.4  Septicia also, the mother of the Trachali of Ariminum, being angry with her sons, out of spite when she was now past child-bearing age married Publicius an old man, and left both her children out of her will. They appealed to the divine Augustus, who both disapproved of the marriage, and annulled the will. For he decreed that the sons should have their mother's estate, and ordered the husband to restore her dowry; because she did not marry in expectation of having children. If Justice herself had given sentence in this case, could she have pronounced a fairer or weightier sentence? You despise your own children; you marry past child-bearing age; you break the custom of wills out of a violent temper and do not blush to give all your estate to a man, to whose feeble body you have prostituted your old age. And therefore, while you behave in this way, you have been cast down to hell by a heavenly thunderbolt.

§ 7.7.5  Famous is the judgment of C. Calpurnius Piso, the urban praetor. For when Terentius complained before him, that out of the eight sons whom he had raised to be men, one whom he had given away in adoption, had disinherited him; he gave him possession of the young man's estate, and would not allow the heirs to go to law. No doubt the paternal authority of the man moved Calpurnius, together with the gift of life, and the benefit of an upbringing: but what moved him more, was the number of his other children that stood by, seeing seven brothers and a father impiously disinherited by one child.

§ 7.7.6  How weighty was the decree of Mamercus Aemilius Lepidus the consul! Genucius, a gallus of the Great Mother, obtained an edict from the urban praetor, Cn. Orestes, that the property of Naevius Anus should be restored to him, after the praetor had granted him possession of the property according to the will. Mamercus, upon receiving an appeal from Surdinius, whose freedman had left Genucius as his heir, revoked the praetor's decision, saying that Genucius, who had of his own accord allowed himself to be castrated, was not to be reckoned either a man or woman. This was a decree befitting Mamercus, and befitting the princeps senatus; by which he ensured that the tribunals of magistrates should not under the pretext of a legal claim be polluted by the obscene presence and scandalous voice of Genucius.

§ 7.7.7  Q. Metellus was a much more severe urban praetor than Orestes. He would not allow Vecilius the pimp to take possession of the property of Juventius, which had been left to him by will. For that noble and grave man considered that the condition of the forum and the brothel-house should be kept separate. Neither would he approve the act of that man, who had thrown away his property into a filthy house of ill repute; nor would he give the same rights to one who had abandoned every honourable form of life, as to a citizen of a good conduct.

§ 7.8.1  Being content with these examples of cancelled wills, let us touch upon those that have been confirmed, when there was reason enough for them to have been cancelled. How publicly and notoriously was Tuditanus known as a madman! He was a man who scattered coins among the people, and trailed his cloak after him in the forum, as if it was the garment of a tragic actor, to the amusement of all who beheld him; and besides he did many other things of the same nature. When he left his daughter as heir in his will, Ti. Longus in the court of the centumviri attempted to have it rescinded, since he was the next of kin - but without success. For the centumviri thought it more important to consider what was written in the will, than who had written it.

§ 7.8.2  The behaviour of Tuditanus was crazy, but Aebutia, who was the wife of L. Menenius Agrippa, made a will that was madness itself. For though she had two daughters of equal virtue, Plaetoria and Afronia, by her personal inclination rather than for any offence or miscarriage, she made only Plaetoria her heir; and to the children of Afronia, out of her vast estate, she left only twenty thousand sesterces. However Afronia would not contend at law with her sister, rather choosing patiently to honour her mother's will, than to overturn it in court. In this she showed herself all the more unworthy of such wrong treatment, by how patiently she bore it.

§ 7.8.3  Q. Metellus committed a womanish error that was less surprising. For he, though there were several eminent and famous young men of the same family living in our city at that time, and the family of the Claudii, to whom he was closely related, were then very numerous, left Carrinas as his sole heir; nor did anyone attempt to question his will.

§ 7.8.4  Likewise Pompeius Reginus, a man of the Transalpine region, was excluded by his brother from his will. To prove the injustice, in a full assembly of both orders he opened the two tablets of his own will in the comitium, and recited their contents, by which this brother was made heir of the greatest share, and further there was left to him the sum of fifteen million sesterces. After he had long complained to his friends who consoled him in his indignation, he decided not to trouble the ashes of his brother in a court of law. Yet the men, whom his brother had made his heirs, were so far from being as closely related as Reginus, that they were not even the next after him; but strangers and poor as well. So that his silence seemed to be shameful, and his preference to be insolent.

§ 7.8.5  The following wills were equally fortunate in their impunity, but they were perhaps even more offensive. Q. Caecilius by the diligent endeavour and great liberality of L. Lucullus, had attained to some degree of dignity, and ample wealth. He had always maintained that Lucullus alone would be his heir, and on his death-bed had given him his rings; but in his will he adopted Pomponius Atticus, and made him heir to all his estate. The Roman people tied a rope about the neck of the body of that deceitful and fallacious person, and dragged him along the streets. Thus the wicked wretch had a son and heir, such as he desired, but a funeral and a grave, such as he deserved.

§ 7.8.6  Nor was T. Marius of Urbinum worthy of anything better; who by the favour of the divine emperor Augustus, was raised from the lowest condition of a common soldier, to the highest commands in the army. Being enriched by these commands, he not only at other times declared that he would leave his wealth to the one who had bestowed it on him, but even on the day before he died he said the same thing to Augustus himself. However he had not so much as mentioned his name in his will.

§ 7.8.7  L. Valerius, surnamed Heptachordus, had experienced the enmity of Cornelius Balbus in the toga, and was plagued with several private lawsuits through his devices and management. At length a witness suborned by Balbus accused him of a capital offence. But leaving out his advocates and patrons, he left him as his sole heir; clearly he had been cowed by such a dread, as to turn his feelings upside down. For he loved his disgrace, loved the dangers, and seemed to wish that he had been condemned: when he was so kind to the author of those mischiefs, and so uncaring to his defenders.

§ 7.8.8  T. Barrus upon his death-bed delivered his rings to Lentulus Spinther, whose kindness and friendship he had felt, as if to his only heir; yet he left him nothing at all. How strangely at that very moment of time did Conscience (if it has that power which we believe it to have) punish that abominable creature! For between the very thoughts of his ingratitude and deceit, he yielded up his last breath, as if some tormenter had crucified his soul within him. For he knew that his passage from life to death was hateful to the gods above, and would be detested by the gods below.

§ 7.8.9  M. Popillius, a senator, upon his death-bed received Oppius Gallus, with whom he had been familiar from his youth, as the laws of ancient friendship required, and gave him the most loving words imaginable. For he thought him only, of all that stood by him, worthy of his last embrace and kiss: moreover he delivered to him his rings, to ensure him of that inheritance which he was never likely to enjoy. Oppius was diligent [in his affection], but a mere object of derision to his dying friend The rings were assigned to him, sealed by those that were present, and he kept them in his purse; but then he had to disinherit himself, and returned them diligently to the heirs. What could be more dishonourable or more inappropriate at such a time and place? A senator of the Roman people, on the point of departure, not only as a man from the world, but also as a public person from the senate-house, chose to play such a shabby trick against all the sacred laws of friendship, when death was pressing down on his eyes, and he was drawing his last breath.

§ 8.1.1  BOOK 8
Now, so that the doubtful motions of legal judgments may more easily be endured, let us relate for what causes persons who laboured under envy, were either acquitted or condemned.
M. Horatius was condemned by king Tullus for having slain his sister, but was acquitted on appeal to the people. The king was incensed by the cruelty of the murder, but the people were more inclined to mercy because of the reason for the deed: they believed that the punishment of the immature love of the girl was severe rather than impious. And thus the brother's right hand, being saved from punishment for his bold action, reaped as much honour from the blood of his sister, as from the blood of an enemy.

§ 8.1.2  On that occasion the Roman people showed themselves fierce preservers of chastity; later they were milder judges than justice itself required. For Servius Galba was vigorously accused on the rostra by Libo, a tribune of the plebs, because when he was a praetor in Spain, he had put to death a great number of the Lusitanians, contrary to his pledge given to them. Cato, at that time very advanced in age, in a speech that he recorded in his 'Origins', supported the tribune's action, so that the party accused had not a word to say for his own defence. Yet when with tears in his eyes he only recommended to the assembly his little children, and the young son of Gallus, who was closely related to him, he so appeased the wrath of his judges, that he, who just before was about to be condemned by all their votes, in an instant had hardly a single vote against him. Pity, not justice, brought about that decision; since the acquittal that could not be granted to innocence, was given out of compassion for the children.

§ 8.1.3  Similar to that was what follows. A. Gabinius, in the height of infamy, was by the accusation of C. Memmius subjected to the votes of the people, and seemed to be past all hope. For the indictment was full, the defence weak, and his judges such as would angrily desire his punishment. The officers and imprisonment hovered before his eyes, and then vanished again by the intervention of propitious Fortune. For Sisenna, the son of Gabinius, driven by consternation, threw himself as a suppliant at the feet of Memmius, and sought for some lessening of his troubles, from the very source of the whole fury of the storm. The victor looked at him with a stern countenance, and knocking his ring from his finger, allowed him for some time to lie grovelling upon the ground. This sad spectacle had such an effect, that Laelius the tribune by general consent ordered the prisoner to be set free. This teaches us, that no man ought insolently to abuse the successes of his prosperity, nor over-weakly to succumb to adversity.

§ 8.1.4  This is made manifest by the next example. Publius Claudius - I cannot tell whether to the greater detriment of religion or his country, for he despised the ancient customs of the one, and lost a magnificent fleet of the other - was subjected to the anger of the people. When it was thought that there was no way he could avoid the punishment that he deserved, he saved himself from condemnation, by the benefit of a sudden storm. After the trial had been postponed because of the storm, the people decided never to start it again, as if the gods themselves had forbidden it. Thus was he saved by a land-storm, whom a sea-storm was likely to have brought to condemnation.

§ 8.1.5  By the same sort of assistance the chastity of Tuccia, a Vestal Virgin who was accused of incest, escaped from a black cloud of infamy. Trusting in the sincerity of her innocence, she ventured the hope of her safety upon a doubtful proposition. For, snatching up a sieve, “Vesta,” said she, “If I have always attended your rites with clean and chaste hands, grant that I may take up water out of Tiber in this, and carry it to your temple.” Nature yielded to the rash and bold prayers of the priestess.

§ 8.1.6  L. Piso also, being accused by C. Claudius Pulcher of having caused great and intolerable harm to the Roman allies, by a lucky chance escaped the fear of certain ruin. For at the same time that they were about to give a severe judgment against him, there fell a sudden shower, which filled his mouth full of mud, as he lay prostrate at the feet of his judges. This spectacle changed the whole trial from severity into pity and clemency. For they believed he had given full satisfaction to their allies, by being compelled to prostrate himself so submissively, and rise again so squalidly.

§ 8.1.7  I will add two who escaped through the fault of their accusers. Q. Flavius the augur was accused by C. Valerius the aedile before the people; and when he had been condemned as guilty by the votes of fourteen tribes, he cried out that he was condemned though he was innocent. Valerius replied to him with a loud voice, that he cared not whether he was guilty or innocent, so long as he perished. This violent outburst brought over the rest of the tribes to his adversary's side. He had cast down his enemy: but when he thought him certainly ruined, he re-established him; and lost the victory, even in the victory itself.

§ 8.1.8  C. Cosconius was prosecuted under the Servilian Law, and shown to be guilty of many evident and notorious crimes, but was saved by one poem of Valerius Valentinus his accuser, which was recited in court, suggesting in humorous verse that he had defiled a noble youth and a free virgin. For they thought it unjust that he should go away as the victor, who rather deserved that prize to be taken from himself, than to take it from another. Therefore was Valerius rather condemned by the acquittal of Cosconius, than Cosconius freed from the accusation.

§ 8.1.9  I will touch upon those also whose crimes, having ruined all their hopes, have been pardoned though the renown of their relatives. A. Atilius Calatinus was prosecuted for having betrayed the town of Sora, and was a person otherwise infamous, but a few words of Q. Maximus, his father-in-law, saved him from the threatening danger; Maximus affirmed, that if he had found him guilty of that crime, he would have broken off his relationship. Promptly the people yielded up their own judgment to the judgment of a single man; they believed it an unworthy thing, not to believe the testimony of a man, whom they had trusted in the greatest dangers of the commonwealth.

§ 8.1.10  M. Aemilius Scaurus, who was also guilty of bribery, made so lame and pitiful a defence at his trial, that his accuser said openly, that he would be able to name an hundred and twenty witnesses for himself; and that he would be content to have the defendant acquitted, if he could produce so many in the province, from whom he had never taken anything. Yet, though he could not make use of so fair an offer, he was freed because of his nobility, and the recent memory of his father.

§ 8.1.11  But as the fame of great men has prevailed to protect the guilty, so has it has sometimes been of little avail in convicting them: rather it has been a safeguard to opponents in the midst of prosecution. P. Scipio Aemilianus accused L. Cotta before the people; this case, though it concerned serious crimes, was seven times adjourned, and the eighth sitting acquitted him. For those wise men did not wish it to be thought that he had been condemned, only because his accuser was so great a person. And therefore I believe they reasoned thus amongst themselves: “we must not allow a man who seeks a capital sentence against another, to bring triumphs, trophies and beaks of captured ships into the court. Let him be terrible to our enemies, but let him not, trusting in his high merits and great honour, threaten the safety of another citizen.”

§ 8.1.12  Those judges were steadfast against a most noble accuser, but these that follow were mild toward a criminal of a far lower degree. Calidius of Bononia, being caught by night in a husband's bedroom, was brought to court for adultery. He buoyed himself up among the greatest and most violent waves of infamy, floating around like fragments in a shipwreck, and laid hold of a very slight kind of defence. For he pleaded, that he came there out of love of a slave-boy. The place was suspicious, the time suspicious, the character of the wife was suspected, and his youth was suspected. But the confession of a more unseemly lust freed him from the crime of adultery.

§ 8.1.13  The next example is of more concern. The two Cloelii brothers, born from a noble family in Tarracina, were brought to trial for parricide, after their father was killed in his bed, while the sons lay asleep in the same room, and neither slave nor free person could be found upon whom to fasten the suspicion of the murder. They were both acquitted, only for this reason, that it was made apparent to the judges, that they were both found fast asleep when the door was opened. Sleep, the certain mark of innocent security, saved the unfortunate men. For it was adjudged impossible, that having murdered their father, they could have slept so soundly over his wounds and blood.

§ 8.1d.1  Now we will briefly touch upon those, to whom incidental things did more harm, than their own innocence did good. L. Scipio, after a splendid triumph over king Antiochus, was condemned for taking money off him. Not that I think he was bribed to confine beyond Mount Taurus the man who was until then lord of all Asia, and intending to lay his victorious hands upon Europe. But being otherwise a man of a most upright life, and free far enough from any such suspicion, he could nor resist the envy that surrounded the two famous surnames of the two brothers.

§ 8.1d.2  Scipio was damaged by his great renown. But Decianus, a person of spotless integrity, was undone by his own tongue. For when he accused on the rostra P. Furius, a man of a lewd life, because in one part of his speech he ventured to complain about the death of Saturninus, he not only failed to condemn the defendant, but paid the penalty appointed to him.

§ 8.1d.3  The same reason overthrew Sex. Titius. He was innocent, and in favour with the people, on account of his agrarian law. But because he had a statue of Saturninus in his house, the whole assembly with one accord condemned him.

§ 8.1d.4  We may to these add Claudia; though she was innocent of a crime, an impious exclamation brought her to ruin. For when she was surrounded by crowds, as she returned home from the games, she said she wished that her brother, who had caused the greatest loss of our naval forces, were alive again, so that being often made consul, he might by his foolhardy leadership rid the city of the multitude of people.

§ 8.1d.5  We may pass to those whom savage condemnation dragged away for slight causes. M. Mulvius, Cn. Lollius, L. Sextilius the triumvirs, because they did not come as quickly as they ought, to quench a fire that happened in the Via Sacra, were brought to trial before the people by the tribunes of the plebs, and were convicted.

§ 8.1d.6  Publius Villius also, a nocturnal triumvir, was accused by P. Aquillius the tribune of the plebs, and convicted by the sentence of the people, because he was negligent in performing his watch.

§ 8.1d.7  Very severe was that sentence of the people, when they heavily fined M. Aemilius Porcina, who was accused by L. Cassius, for having built his country house in the district of Alsium a little too high.

§ 8.1d.8  Nor is this condemnation to be omitted: a man, being over-fond of his little boy, and being asked by him to buy him some tripe for supper, because there were none to be found in the neighbourhood, killed an ox, to satisfy the boy's appetite. For this reason he was brought to public trial; he would have been innocent, if he had not lived in ancient times.

§ 8.1a.1  Now we will say something of those, who being tried for their lives, were neither acquitted not condemned. There was a woman brought before M. Popillius Laenas the praetor, for having beaten her mother to death with a club. But the praetor adjudged nothing against her, neither one way nor the other. For it was plain that she did it to avenge the death of her children, whom their grandmother, being angry with her daughter, had poisoned. The first killing was judged [to deserve] revenge, but the second killing was not judged to deserve acquittal.

§ 8.1a.2  The same ambivalence was shown by P. Dolabella the proconsul of Asia. A woman of Smyrna killed her husband and her son, understanding that they had killed another son of hers, a promising young man whom she had by a former husband. Dolabella would not make a judgement on the case, but sent it to be determined by the Areopagus at Athens. He was unwilling to set at liberty a woman defiled with two murders, nor to punish her whom a just grief had moved to do so. The Roman magistrate acted considerately and mildly; nor did the Areopagite act less wisely, who on examining the cause, bound the accuser and the defendant to appear a hundred years later, upon the same grounds as Dolabella had acted. He by transferring the trial, and they by deferring it, delayed the difficult decision of condemnation or acquittal.

§ 8.2.1  To public judgments I will add private ones, in the hope that the fairness of the decisions will delight the reader more than their multitude annoys him. Claudius Centumalus, who was commanded by the augurs to reduce the height of his house, which he had built upon the Caelian hill, because it hindered them from observing their auguries from the citadel, sold it to Calpurnius Lanarius, but concealed the command of the augurs. When Calpurnius was compelled by them to pull down part of his house, he brought in Marcus Porcius Cato, father of the famous Cato, as an arbitrator between himself and Claudius, under the formula, “Whatever he ought to give to him or do in good faith.” Cato, understanding that Claudius had deliberately suppressed the augurs' edict, promptly judged against him in favour of Calpurnius, with all the justice in the world. For they that sell with honesty and fairness, ought neither to exaggerate the advantages of the bargain, nor conceal the inconveniences.

§ 8.2.2  I have recited a judgment which was famous in those times; and the one I am about to relate has not been buried in silence. C. Visellius Varro, when he was seriously ill, agreed to record a debt of three hundred thousand sesterces, as if he had borrowed it from Otacilia, wife of Laterensis, with whom he had an illicit relationship. He intended, that if he died, she might claim that sum off his heirs; disguising the liberality of his lust, under the title of a debt. After that, Visellius, contrary to Otacilia's expectations, recovered. Offended that she had lost her loot by his recovery, she began to act like a common money-lender instead of a obliging mistress, and challenged for the money, which she shamelessly sought through the fictitious contract. C. Aquillius, a man of great authority and knowledge in the civil law, was chosen to be judge of the matter. He consulted with the principal men of the city, and by his prudence and good faith he thwarted the woman. If under the same formula Varro had been condemned, and the adversary absolved, he would undoubtably have willingly punished his foul and unwarrantable folly. But now Aquillius stifled the calumny of the private lawsuit, and left the crime of adultery to public justice.

§ 8.2.3  Much more vigorously, as was fitting for a soldier, did C. Marius conduct himself in a judgment of the same nature. For C. Titinius of Minturnae took Fannia as his wife, although he knew her to be unchaste, and then divorced her for the same crime, but intended to keep her dowry. Marius was chosen as judge, and having examined the business, he took Titinius aside, and urged him to proceed no farther, but to return the dowry to the woman; but finding that all his advice was in vain, and being forced to pronounce sentence, he fined the woman one sestertius for adultery, and Titinius the whole sum of the dowry. He told them, that he had used that method of judgment, because it seemed to him apparent, that Titinius had married Fannia, whom he knew to be a lewd woman, so that he might cheat her of her property. This was the Fannia who afterwards, when Marius was proclaimed a public enemy, received him into her house at Minturnae, all smeared with the mud of the swamp from which he had been dragged, and assisted him as far as she was able. She remembered that he had convicted her of unchastity because of her manner of life, but that he had saved her dowry because of his piety.

§ 8.2.4  That judgment was also much discussed, by which a certain person was condemned for theft, because having borrowed a horse to carry him to Aricia, he rode it to a hill on the far side of that city. What can we do here but praise the rigour of that age, when such minute departures from honesty were punished?

§ 8.3.1  Nor must we omit those women, whom the condition of their sex, and the modesty of a woman's robe could not hinder from appearing and speaking in the forum and the courts. Maesia of Sentinum, being accused, before a great concourse of people pleaded her own case, when Titius the praetor then presided over the court. She observed all the parts and stages of a true defence, not only diligently but courageously, and was acquitted at the first hearing by the votes of all. And because under the body of a woman she carried a manly resolution, they called her Androgyne.

§ 8.3.2  Afrania, the wife of Licinius Buccio the senator, being extremely eager for law-suits, always pleaded for herself before the praetor; not because she lacked advocates, but because she abounded in insolence. By her perpetual vexing of the tribunal with her bawling, to which the forum was unaccustomed, she grew to be a noted example of female vindictiveness. So the name of Afrania was given as a reproach to all contentious women. She died when C. Caesar was consul (for the second time) with P. Servilius[48 B.C.]. For it is better to remember when such a monster departed from the world, than when she came in.

§ 8.3.3  Hortensia, the daughter of Q. Hortensius, when the order of wives was too heavily taxed by the triumvirs, and none of the men dared undertake to speak on their behalf, pleaded the wives' case before the triumvirs, not only with boldness, but with success. By reviving the image of her father's eloquence she obtained, that the greatest part of the imposition was remitted. Q. Hortensius then lived again in the female sex, and breathed in the words of his daughter. If his male descendants had copied her force and vigour, so great an inheritance of Hortensian eloquence would not come to an end in the speech of a woman.

§ 8.4.1  And so that we may complete all forms of judgments, let us recite those interrogations, to which either no credit at all was given, or else rashly too much faith. Alexander, the slave of the banker M. Agrius, was accused of murdering the slave of A. Fannius, and when he was for that reason tortured by his master, he constantly affirmed, that he did commit the deed. Thereupon he was delivered up to Fannius, and put to death. A little while later, the slave who was thought to be slain, returned home.

§ 8.4.2  On the other side, the slave of P.Atinius, being accused of murdering C. Flavius, a Roman knight, was tortured six times but denied that he was in any way guilty of it. But just as if he had confessed it, he was convicted by the judges, and crucified by L. Calpurnius the triumvir.

§ 8.4.3  When Fulvius Flaccus was prosecuted, Philippus his slave, upon whom the whole testimony lay, was tortured eight times, but would not utter a word against his master. And yet Flaccus was condemned as guilty, when one man eight times tortured had given a more certain argument of his innocence, than eight once tormented would have afforded.

§ 8.5.1  It follows that I should relate pertinent examples concerning witnesses. Cn. and Q. Servilius Caepio, both born of the same parents, had risen through all the ranks of honour to great eminence. Similarly the two brothers Q. and L. Metellus, had both been consul and censor, and one of them had triumphed. They all gave severe testimony against Q. Pompeius son of Aulus, who stood accused of extortion. The trustworthiness of their testimony was not quite denied by the acquittal of Pompeius; but it was done so that an opponent might not seem to have been overwhelmed by their power.

§ 8.5.2  M. Aemilius Scaurus, princeps senatus, prosecuted C. Memmius for extortion, with strong evidence. As a witness he attacked C. Flavius, accused by the same law, with the same fierceness; he openly endeavoured to ruin C. Norbanus, who was brought to trial for treason. Yet neither by his authority, which was very great, nor by his piety, which no man doubted, could he inflict damage on any of them.

§ 8.5.3  L. Crassus also was as great among the judges, as Aemilius Scaurus was among the conscript fathers. For he governed their opinions and judgments by the potent and felicitous ventures of his eloquence. He was the leading man of the forum, just as Scaurus was of the senate. Yet when he shot a thunderbolt of testimony against the defendant M. Marcellus, it fell heavily indeed, but then vanished in smoke.

§ 8.5.4  Again, there was Q. Metellus Pius, L. and M. Lucullus, Q. Hortensius, and M. Lepidus: with what weight did they not only threaten the life of C. Cornelius, who was accused of treason, but even demanded it, by denying that the commonwealth could survive, so long as he were safe! Those ornaments of the city, it shames me to relate it, were all rebuffed by the shield of Justice.

§ 8.5.5  What! M. Cicero, who by the warfare of the forum attained to the highest honours and the noblest position of dignity, was he not as a witness thrown out of the very camp of his eloquence, when he swore that Clodius was at his house in Rome? For by that single argument of his absence, the defendant fended off the accusation of sacrilege And so the judges chose to acquit Clodius of impiety, rather than Cicero of the suspicion of perjury.

§ 8.5.6  Among so many witnesses of high rank, I will relate one, whose authority was confirmed by a new manner of reasoning in court. Publius Servilius, who was consul and censor, who celebrated a triumph, who added the name of Isauricus to that of his ancestors, while walking by in the forum saw several witnesses being produced against a defendant. He placed himself among the witnesses, and to the great surprise of the defendant's friends and accusers, began to speak thus: “This person, most reverend judges, who is accused, where he comes from, or what course of life he leads, or whether he be deservedly or wrongfully accused, I do not know. But this I know, that meeting me once in the Laurentine Way, as I was travelling along, in a very narrow passage, he would not alight from his horse. Whether it is relevant to you in performing your duty, I know not - you should consider that. I thought it right not to conceal this fact.” Soon the judges condemned the man, scarcely listening to any other witnesses. For the grandeur of the speaker prevailed upon them, and his indignation at the contempt show to his dignity. They believed that he, who scorned to show respect to eminent men, would not hesitate to stoop to any kind of wickedness.

§ 8.6.1  Nor must we pass over in silence those, who committed themselves what they condemned in others. C. Licinius, surnamed Hoplomachus, requested of the praetor that his father should be deprived of his estate, as one who squandered it. His request was granted. But he himself, a short time afterwards, when the old man was dead, promptly squandered the great sum of money that had been left to him. He escaped punishment in his turn, because he preferred to use up all his estate, rather than find an heir for it.

§ 8.6.2  C. Marius had acted the part of a great and faithful citizen, in destroying L. Saturninus, who held forth a cap of liberty to the slaves, like an ensign, inviting them to take up arms. But when Sulla invaded the city with his army, he himself fled to the assistance of slaves, by holding forth the cap of liberty, as the other had done. Therefore while he imitated a deed which he had punished, he found another Marius to destroy himself.

§ 8.6.3  C. Licinius Stolo, by whom the plebeians were empowered to seek the consulship, when he had made a law that no man should possess above five hundred iugera of land, purchased a thousand for himself; and to disguise the matter, made over half of it to his son. For this reason he was prosecuted by M. Popillius Laenas, and he was the first to be convicted by his own law. He taught us that nothing ought to be imposed on others, which is not first imposed upon oneself.

§ 8.6.4  Q. Varius, because of the his dubious claim to citizenship, was surnamed Hybrida. As tribune of the plebs, he passed a law, despite the intercession of the other tribunes, which ordered an investigation to discover who had treacherously impelled the allies to take up arms, to the great detriment of the commonwealth - for first they stirred up the Social War, and then the Civil War. But while he was acting like a noxious tribune of the plebs, rather than a true citizen, his own law brought him down, and he was entangled in snares of his own making.

§ 8.7.1  Why do I delay to commemorate the value of diligence? By its active spirit the conduct of warfare is strengthened, and the glory of the forum is enflamed. All studies are cherished in its faithful breast. Whatever is performed by the hand, by the mind, by the tongue, by this achieves more praise. By this even the most perfect virtue is enhanced through its tenacity. Cato in the eighty-sixth year of his age, while he persisted with a youthful vigour in defending the commonwealth, was accused of a capital crime by his enemies, and pleaded in his own defence. Yet no man ever observed so firm a memory, a greater strength of body, or less hesitation of speech; because he kept all those things in equally good condition, and perpetually exercised by toil. And at the very conclusion of his long life, he delivered his own accusations on behalf of Spain in opposition to the defence of the most eloquent orator Galba.
The same person wished to learn the Greek language - how late, we may guess from the fact that he was an old man before he learnt to read Latin. And when he had won great honour by his eloquence, he managed to make himself skilful in civil law as well.

§ 8.7.2  His admirable descendant, nearer to our age, Cato also burned with such a desire of learning, that even in the senate house, while the senate was assembling, he would be reading Greek books. By this industry he showed that some lack time, but others are above time.

§ 8.7.3  Terentius Varro was an example of human life, and one that might be truly called a span; not so much for his years, which were equal to a century, as for the extent of his writing. For in the same bed his spirit, and the course of his exceptional works expired.

§ 8.7.4  Livius Drusus was a man of the same perseverance, who although defective in vigour of age and eye-sight, most plentifully interpreted the civil law to the people, and composed most profitable books for them that desire to learn it. For though Nature might make him old, and Fortune blind, yet neither could prevent him from being vigorous and quick-witted in mind.

§ 8.7.5  Publilius a senator, and Lupus Pontius a Roman knight, who were famous pleaders in their times, having both lost their sight, with the same diligence continued to be active in the forum. Therefore they also had a larger number of listeners, when among the crowds there were some who were delighted with their skill, and others who admired their tenacity. For men who suffer such misfortunes generally desire retirement, and add voluntary to fortuitous darkness.

§ 8.7.6  Now P. Crassus, when he came as consul into Asia against king Aristonicus, stored knowledge of the Greek language in his mind with so much care, that he understood it, though it was divided into five dialects, in all its variety and parts. This certainly won him the love of the allies, when he answered everyone in the dialect they used to make their requests before his tribunal.

§ 8.7.7  Let not Roscius be left out, a notable example of theatrical diligence, who never displayed to the people any other action or gesture, except what he had practiced before at his own house. Therefore the art of acting did not make Roscius esteemed, but Roscius made the art of acting esteemed; whereby he obtained not only the favour of the people, but the friendship of eminent men. These are the rewards of intent, eager, and never-ceasing study. Therefore the character of an actor can be inserted without impudence among the praises of so many great men.

§ 8.7e.1  Greek diligence also, because it has been very advantageous to ours, ought to receive the reward which it deserves in the Latin language. Demosthenes, the mention of whose name implies in the thoughts of the hearers the perfection of the greatest eloquence, when in his youth he could not pronounce the first letter of the profession which he so much affected, with so much labour vanquished this defect of delivery, that no man ever pronounced that letter more clearly. Then again, having a shrill squeaking voice, harsh to the ear, he brought it at length to a grave and acceptable tone. Then although he had weak lungs, he borrowed from labour and practice, that strength of body which nature had denied him. For he contained several sentences in one breath, and pronounced them walking up hill at a swift pace. And standing upon the sea-shore, he uttered his declamations to the roaring of the waves, that he might accustom his ears to withstand the clamours and noises of tumultuous assemblies. He is reported also to have accustomed himself to speak much and long with stones held in his mouth, that he might speak with more freedom when it was empty. He warred against Nature, and came off victor, because with a most obstinate strength of mind he overcame her malignity. Therefore his mother gave birth to one Demosthenes, and his diligence gave birth to another.

§ 8.7e.2  And to go back to a more ancient example of industriousness, Pythagoras, a most perfect specimen of a wisdom from his childhood, and inflamed with a desire of understanding all knowledge and virtue, went into Egypt, where becoming acquainted with the language, he searched the commentaries of all the ancient priests, and learned the observations of innumerable ages. Then travelling into Persia, he delivered himself up to be taught by the thorough wisdom of the magi. From them he gathered in his receptive mind the motions of the stars; as their courses, their effects, properties, and force, were liberally explained to him. From there he visited Crete and Lacedaemon, and investigated their laws and customs; and then he went to the Olympic Games, where, to the admiration of all the Greeks, he gave a clear demonstration of his wide-ranging knowledge. When he was asked, by what title he should be called, he replied, that he was not wise, (for that title belonged only to the seven most excellent men) but a lover of wisdom, which is in Greek a philosopher. He also travelled into that part of Italy, which was then called Magna Graecia, where in many of the richest cities he exhibited the results of his studies. Metapontum beheld his funeral pyre with eyes full of veneration - a town more famous for Pythagoras' tomb, than the monument of its own ashes.

§ 8.7e.3  Plato had Athens as his birthplace, and Socrates as his teacher, both place and man fertile in learning. He himself was acknowledged to have a celestial abundance of intelligence, while he was accounted the wisest of all mortals, to such an extent, that if Jupiter should descend from heaven, he could not make use of a more elegant or abundant eloquence. He travelled through Egypt, where he learnt from the priests of that nation the manifold secrets of geometry, and the details of their celestial observations. And at the same time that the studious men of Athens sought for Plato, whom everyone strove to have as his tutor, he by visiting the intricate banks of the Nile, and the vast regions, extended (?) barbarism, and winding canals of a foreign country, became a pupil of elderly Egyptians. No wonder then that he travelled into Italy, to learn there the precepts of Pythagoras, from Archytas of Tarentum, and Timaeus, Arion and Echecrates of Locri. For he had to collect so great a quantity, so great an abundance of learning from everywhere, that it might then be dispersed and spread throughout the whole world. He also had under his head in his eighty-first year, when he lay dying, the mimes of Sophron; so that even the last hour of his life was not free from the exercise of study.

§ 8.7e.4  Democritus, although he was notable for his vast wealth, which was so great, that his father was able to give a banquet to the army of Xerxes, yet so that his mind might be more free for the study of learning, kept a small pittance to himself and gave all the rest to his country. Then abiding at Athens for several years, he spent all his time in gaining and using learning, and lived unknown in the city, as he himself says in a certain book. I am amazed at so much labour, and therefore must pass on.

§ 8.7e.5  Carneades was a laborious and persistent soldier of wisdom. For after completing ninety years, he made a joint end of living and philosophising. He had so devoted himself to the works of learning, that when he sat down to eat, busy in his thoughts, he would forget to reach for his food. But Melissa, whom he kept as a wife, made it her duty to relieve his hunger, and fed him without interrupting his studies; so that he lived only in his soul, which was surrounded by a superfluous body. When he was going to dispute with Chrysippus, he purged his body beforehand with hellebore, so that he could express his own mind more effectively, and repel his adversary more powerfully. What strange potions did diligence make desirable to those who sought after genuine praise!

§ 8.7e.6  How great should we think was the zeal of Anaxagoras for learning? When he returned home after a long journey, and saw that his estate lay untilled and deserted, he said: “I could not have been safe, unless these things were ruined.” That was a fitting expression of widely-sought wisdom. For if he had laboured more in the cultivation of his lands than of his mind, he would have remained master of his property at home, but would not have returned to his home as the great Anaxagoras.

§ 8.7e.7  I might say that the diligence of Archimedes was very profitable, except that just as it gave him life, it also took it away from him again. For when Syracuse was captured, Marcellus, who was aware that his victory had been much delayed by his machines, yet being greatly impressed by the cleverness of the person, commanded the soldiers to spare the life of Archimedes - reckoning there to be almost as much glory in saving him, as in destroying Syracuse. But while Archimedes was drawing diagrams, with his mind and eyes fixed upon the ground, a soldier who broke into his house for plunder, with his sword drawn over his head asked him who he was. Archimedes was so engrossed in his thoughts, that he did not state his name, but covering the dust with his hands, “Be careful,” said he, “not to spoil this diagram.” Thereupon, because he seemed to disregard the victor's command, the soldier cut off his head, and mixed his blood with the drawings of his art. Thus the same study gave him his life, and deprived him of it again.

§ 8.7e.8  Most certain it is that Socrates, when he was advanced in years, began to learn to play the lyre; believing it better to learn that art late rather than never. How little an accession of knowledge was that to Socrates! Yet the obstinate diligence of that man, on top of so much wealth and treasure of learning, wished also to add the petty elements of music. Thus while he thought himself poor in learning, he made himself rich in teaching.

§ 8.7e.9  And so that we may gather together the examples of long and successful labour into one person: Isocrates composed that most noble book, entitled Panathenaikos, when he was ninety-four years of age, and yet it is work full of life and spirit. This shows, that the bodies of learned men may grow old, yet their minds, by the benefit of diligence, retain the full vigour of youth. Nor did he end his days, till for another five years he had enjoyed the fruit of the admiration of his work.

§ 8.7e.10  Lesser bounds terminated the life of Chrysippus, yet he was not short-lived; for he left behind him the thirty-ninth book of his 'Logica', a book of great subtlety, begun in the eightieth year of his age. His zeal in recording the results of his wisdom took up so much time and labour, that a longer life would be needed to understand the depth of his writings.

§ 8.7e.11  You also, Cleanthes, were so industrious in searching after, and laboriously transmitting wisdom, that the deity of diligence could not but admire; when she beheld you in your youth, maintaining yourself despite your poverty by carrying water at night, while in the day you were a diligent hearer of Chrysippus; and until your ninety-ninth year, with attentive care you instructed your pupils. With a double labour you filled up the length of a century, making it uncertain, whether you were more admirable as a pupil or a master.

§ 8.7e.12  Sophocles had also a glorious contest with Nature, as liberal in his wonderful works, as she was liberal in giving him such a long time to compose them. For he lived nearly a hundred years, and he wrote his Oedipus Coloneus just before his death. By this single tragedy he preempted the glory of all poets in that genre. Iophon, the son of Sophocles, did not want this to be concealed from posterity, and therefore caused it to be inscribed upon his father's tomb.

§ 8.7e.13  Simonides the poet at eighty years of age boasted himself, that he taught verses, and contended for prizes throughout those years. Nor was it wrong that he should for long cherish the pleasure of his own genius, since he was himself to pass it on for the benefit of eternity.

§ 8.7e.14  As for Solon, how industrious he was, he himself has declared in his verses. In them he indicates, that he grew old, learning something new every day; and the last day of his life confirmed it. For as his friends were sitting by him, and discoursing among themselves upon some subject or other, he lifted up his head, which was then just about to yield to fate; and being asked why he did so; “So that when I have understood,” said he, “what it is you are disputing upon, then I may die.” Certainly sloth would be banished from among mankind, if all men come into the world with the same spirit that Solon had when he left it.

§ 8.7e.15  How great was the diligence of Themistocles! Though he had the management of the greatest affairs of his country upon his shoulders, yet he was able to remember the individual names of all his fellow-citizens. And when through great injustice he was banished from his country, and compelled to flee to Xerxes, whom a little before he had vanquished in battle, before he come into his presence, he acquainted himself with the Persian language, so that having gained commendation by labour, he might render the tone of his voice familiar and customary to the king's ear.

§ 8.7e.16  Two kings divided between them the praise for both those kinds of industriousness. Cyrus remembered all the names of his soldiers; Mithridates learned twenty-two different languages spoken within his dominions. The former did this, so that he might speak to his army without a guide; the latter, so that he might discourse to the people, whom he governed, without an interpreter.

§ 8.8.1  Leisure, because it seems to be contrary to toil, but chiefly to diligence, ought to be briefly mentioned - not the kind that extinguishes virtue, but the kind that refreshes it. For the slothful ought to avoid the former, and the brave and steadfast may desire the latter; the former, so that they may not live like drones, and the latter, so that by an appropriate rest from toil, they may be fitter for their labours. Scipio and Laelius were a famous pair of friends, united together not only by the bond of love, but by an association of all other virtues; as they performed the journey of an active life with equal steps, so they together relaxed from business. For it is certain, that at Caieta and Laurentum, they used to gather up shells and pebbles upon the shore. And L. Crassus often recalled this, having heard it from the mouth of his father-in-law Scaevola, who was son-in-law to Laelius.

§ 8.8.2  As for Scaevola, just as he was the most trustworthy witness of their relaxation, so he himself was a skilful ball player; he used to delight himself in that sort of exercise, when the weight of his business was over. Sometimes he used to spend his time with a gaming-board and counters, after he had spent a long time managing the rights of his citizens, and the rituals of their gods. For he acted as Scaevola in serious things, but he showed himself an ordinary man in his sports and recreations, as one whom Nature will not permit to abide continual labour.

§ 8.8e.1  This was known by Socrates, to whom no part of wisdom was obscure: and therefore he did not blush, when Alcibiades laughed at him for setting a reed between his legs as he played with his little children.

§ 8.8e.2  Homer, a poet of divine wit, seemed to be of the same mind, when he fitted the tuneful harp to the martial fingers of Achilles, in order to ease their military rigour with the soft recreations of peace.

§ 8.9.1  Although we have already remarked that eloquence has enormous power, it is fitting that we should examine it with some specific examples, so that its strength may be better demonstrated. After the kings had been expelled, the plebeians in dissension with the Fathers, had recourse to arms, and camped by the banks of the river Anio, upon the Mons Sacer; so that the state of the commonwealth was not only bad, but in a most miserable condition, the rest of the body being divided from the head. And if Valerius had not come to the rescue with his eloquence, the hopes of so great an empire would have been ruined in its infancy. For by his speech he reduced the people, who were glorying in their new and unaccustomed freedom, to obedience to the senate, and convinced them to take a more sensible point of view, and joined the city to the city. Therefore wrath, confusion and weapons yielded to eloquent words.

§ 8.9.2  This also restrained the swords of Marius and Cinna, raging with a reckless desire of shedding civil blood. For certain soldiers, who were sent by their savage leaders to kill M. Antonius, were stupefied by his eloquence, and returned their drawn swords into their scabbards, unstained with blood. When they had gone, P. Annius, who was standing at the entrance and so had not heard the speech of Antonius, carried out the cruel command, barbarously obedient to his masters. How eloquent therefore may we think him to be, whom none of his enemies dared to try to kill, if they let his charming language enter into their ears!

§ 8.9.3  The divine Julius, the perfect pillar of both celestial deity and human genius, aptly demonstrated the force of eloquence, saying in his speech against Cn. Dolabella, whom he was prosecuting, that his excellent case had been wrenched from him by the advocacy of C. Cotta. For then the greatest eloquence complained [about the force of eloquence]. Having made mention of this, because I cannot bring up greater examples at home, we must pass on to foreigners.

§ 8.9e.1  Pisistratus is reported to have prevailed so much by speaking, that the Athenians, persuaded only by his words, permitted him to have royal power; and, what was more, he achieved this when Solon, the greatest of patriots, endeavoured all he could to resist him. But while the speeches of the latter were more wholesome, the speeches of Pisistratus were more eloquent; and so it happened that a state, which otherwise was very prudent, then preferred servitude to liberty.

§ 8.9e.2  Pericles, together with his happy endowments of Nature, which had been carefully polished and instructed by his master Anaxagoras, placed a yoke of servitude upon the free necks of the Athenians. For he swayed the city, and carried affairs whichever way he pleased. And even when he spoke against the will of the people, his language nevertheless was pleasing and popular, and therefore the scurrilous wit of the Old Comedy, though it would be snarling at his power, yet confessed, that there was an eloquence sweeter than honey that hung upon his lips; and that it left stings in the minds of those who heard it. It is reported that a certain person, when very old, happened to hear the very first speech of Pericles as a young man; the same person had heard Pisistratus then advanced in age, and he could not contain himself from crying out, “Beware of that citizen, because his speech is very much like the speech of Pisistratus.” Neither did this man fail in his judgment of the speech, nor in the prediction of his intentions. For what was the difference between Pisistratus and Pericles, but that the first held the government by force of arms, and the other governed without force?

§ 8.9e.3  What may we think of the eloquence of Hegesias, the Cyrenaic philosopher? He so represented the miseries of life, that his words took deep root in the hearts of his hearers, and caused many to desire a voluntary death. And therefore he was prevented by king Ptolemy from speaking any further upon that subject.

§ 8.10.1  The adornments of eloquence consist in apt motion of the body, and proper delivery. When she has furnished herself with these, she assails men three ways; by infiltrating their minds, and delivering up the ears to be charmed by the one, and the eyes by the other. To make this clear in famous men: C. Gracchus was more fortunate in his eloquence than his aspirations, because he strove with an ardent spirit to disturb rather than to defend the commonwealth. Whenever he spoke to the people, he had a slave that was skilled in music behind him, who with an ivory pipe regulated the tone of his voice, raising the note when it was too low, and pitching it lower when it was too high and eager; because the heat and passion of action did not permit him to be a true judge of the proper level.

§ 8.10.2  Quintus Hortensius thought there was very much to be ascribed to a decent and comely motion of the body, and spent more time in practising that, than in studying eloquence itself; so that it was hard to know, whether the crowds were keener to hear or see him; so mutually did his appearance serve his words, and his words his appearance. And therefore it is certain, that Roscius and Aesopus, two of the most skilful actors, would always be in court when Hortensius pleaded, to transfer his gestures from the forum to the stage.

§ 8.10.3  Now as for M. Cicero, he himself has declared, how great a value he set upon both these things, which we have discussed, in his speech for Gallius. He reproached M. Calidius the accuser, because when he affirmed that he would prove by witnesses, documents, and questioning, that the defendant had prepared poison for him, he did it with an unruffled countenance, a quiet voice, and a calm manner of speaking. In this Cicero detected both a fault of the orator, and a proof of his weak case, concluding thus; “Could you act thus, M. Calidius, unless you were merely inventing these things?”

§ 8.10e.1  In agreement with this was the judgment of Demosthenes, who being asked what was the most effective part of speaking, replied, “the delivery.” Being again and a third time asked the same question, he gave the same answer; confessing that he owed almost everything to it. Therefore was it rightly said by Aeschines, who left Athens because of the judicial disgrace imposed on him, and went to Rhodes. There at the request of the citizens he recited his own speech against Ctesiphon, and the opposing speech of Demosthenes with a loud and pleasing voice, so that all admired the eloquence of both, although they somewhat preferred that of Demosthenes. “What would you have said,” he said, “if you had heard the man himself?” So highly did so great an orator, and also so inveterate an enemy, admire the force and efficacy of his adversary's eloquence; confessing himself not to be a competent declaimer of his works, after having experienced the vigour of his eyes, the power of his expression, and the persuasive motions of his body. And therefore although nothing can be added to his work, yet a great part of Demosthenes is absent, when Demosthenes is read, rather than heard.

§ 8.11.1  The narration of the effects of the arts may also provide something of pleasure. By this it will immediately appear how profitably they were invented. Things worthy of remembrance will be placed in full light; and the labour of bringing them forth, will not lack is reward. The great care of Sulpicius Gallus to furnish himself with all manner of learning, was very beneficial to the commonwealth. For when he was legate of L. Paullus, in the war against Perseus, the moon happened to be eclipsed on a clear night, and our army was so terrified by this, looking upon it as some strange prodigy, that they almost lost all their confidence. But Gallus by a skilful description of the order of the heavenly bodies, and the nature of the stars, encouraged them so that they were eager to go into battle. Therefore the liberal arts of Gallus were to some extent the cause of that famous victory of Paullus; for if he had not vanquished our soldiers' fear, the Roman general could not have overcome his enemies.

§ 8.11.2  The knowledge of Spurinna in interpreting the warnings of the gods was more accurate than the city of Rome would have desired. For he foretold to C. Caesar, that he should beware of the deadly aspect of the next thirty days, the last of which was the Ides of March. Upon that day in the morning, when they were both in the house of Calvinus Domitius, Caesar exclaimed to Spurinna, “Do you realise that the Ides of March have now come?” And he replied, “Do you realise, that they have not yet passed? The one had cast off all fear, believing the time of danger was over; though the other did not think even the last minute to be void of danger. Would to heaven the diviner had rather failed in his augury, than that the Parent of our country had been mistaken in his security!

§ 8.11e.1  But to examine foreign examples: when the sun was suddenly eclipsed, the Athenians were all alarmed by the unusual darkness, believing their own ruin to be foretold by the celestial portent. Pericles went in front of the crowd, and explained what he had learnt from his teacher Anaxagoras, regarding the courses of the sun and moon; nor did he permit his fellow-citizens to tremble any further with a vain fear.

§ 8.11e.2  How great was the honour that Alexander the king gave to art! He would not permit himself to be painted by any other but Apelles, nor to be represented in sculpture by any other than Lysippus.

§ 8.11e.3  The statue of Vulcan, made by the hands of Alcamenes, fixed the eyes of all Athens upon it. For among all the other exceptional marks of careful workmanship, they admired also this, that he stands with one foot, hiding under his garment his disguised lameness: by which the sculptor deftly signified not a deformity, but a certain and proper attribute of the god.

§ 8.11e.4  Praxiteles portrayed the wife of Vulcan in marble in the temple of the Cnidians, as if she were breathing, by reason of his workmanship, so that she was not even safe from lustful embraces. This makes more excusable the error of a stallion, who seeing a painting of a mare, neighed at it: and the barking of dogs, at the sight of a dog painted; and the bull moved to lust, upon sight of the brazen cow in Syracuse, because it was so lifelike. For why should we wonder to see irrational creatures deceived by art, when we find the sacrilegious desire of a man aroused at the sight of a dumb stone?

§ 8.11e.5  But Nature as she allows art sometimes to emulate her works, so sometimes she dismisses it, when it is quite exhausted by labouring in vain. The hands of the famous artist Euphranor experienced this. For when he painted the twelve gods at Athens, he finished the picture of Neptune with the most majestic colours he could invent, intending yet to outdo that in the picture of Jupiter. But all his invention had been used up in the former work, and his later endeavours could not come near to his expectation.

§ 8.11e.6  What shall we say of that other famous painter, who in representing the doleful sacrifice of Iphigenia, placed about the altar Calchas sad, Ulysses sorrowful, and Menelaus lamenting; then by wrapping up Agamemnon's face did he not confess, that the bitterness of the height of grief could not be expressed by art? Therefore when his picture was moistened with the tears of the soothsayer, the friend and the brother, he left it to imagination to judge the extent of the father's grief.

§ 8.11e.7  And to add one more example of the same art: a famous painter had painted a horse, just after being hard exercised, so remarkably that all that could be said was, that the horse appeared almost alive. But when he came to add the froth to his nostrils, so great an artist spent many days without achieving anything that satisfied him. At length, vexed to see himself failing, he took up a sponge that lay next him bedaubed with all sorts of colours, and started to rub out his own work. But Fortune directed his hand first to the nostrils of the horse, and the sponge produced by chance the effect that the artist had desired; so that what his art could not portray, Fortune completed.

§ 8.12.1  Now so that we may not doubt that everyone is the best performer and instructor in his own art, let us make it apparent by a few examples. Q. Scaevola, a most famous and most skilful interpreter of the law, whenever he was consulted concerning property law, sent his clients to Furius and Cascellius, who were experts in that topic. By this he commended his own moderation, rather than lessened his authority; he confessed that those men were best able to give advice in that matter, whose daily practice it was. Therefore they are the wisest teachers of their art, who have a modest esteem of their own expertise, and a suitable respect for the expertise of others.

§ 8.12e.1  This opinion was held by the learned breast of Plato. When the contractors came to confer with him about the manner and form of a sacred altar, he sent them to Euclides the geometrician, yielding to his knowledge and indeed to his profession.

§ 8.12e.2  Athens glories in its arsenal, and not without cause; for it is a work worthy to be seen for its costliness and elegance. The architect of it, Philon, is said to have given so eloquent an account of his proposal in the theatre, that the most eloquent of people were swayed as much by his eloquence, as by his expertise.

§ 8.12e.3  It was well done by the artist, who allowed himself to be corrected by a cobbler, as to the shoes and loops; but when he began to talk about the shin, forbade him to go beyond the foot.

§ 8.13.1  Let old age, prolonged to the extreme, have a place in this work, among the examples of diligence, but with its own heading; so that we may not seem to have forgotten those, to whom the gods were exceptionally indulgent. At the same let us give some supports as it were to the hope for a longer life, relying on which one may become more confident by considering ancient examples of felicity. And may the tranquility of our own age, than which none was ever more happy, be confirmed by prolonging the welfare of a wise and great princeps, to the longest bounds of human life. M. Valerius Corvus completed his hundredth year; and there were forty six years between his first and sixth consulships. And he retained his full strength of body, not only in the highest offices of the commonwealth, but also in the cultivation of his land: a most desirable example of a statesman, and the father of a family.

§ 8.13.2  Metellus equalled his number of years. In the fourth year after his consulship, he was created pontifex maximus when he was already quite old, and oversaw the rituals of religion for twenty-two years. His tongue never tripped in pronouncing the prayers, not did his hand tremble in preparing the sacrifices.

§ 8.13.3  Q. Fabius Maximus for sixty-two years held the position of augur, having obtained it when he was already a in the prime of life. Which two times being added together, will easily complete a lifetime of a hundred years.

§ 8.13.4  What shall I say of M. Perpenna? He outlived all those whom he summoned in the senate, when he was consul; and saw only seven remaining of the conscript fathers, whom as censor with L. Philippus he had chosen; so that he lasted longer than the entire honourable order.

§ 8.13.5  I might conclude the life of Appius with his misfortune, because he lived long after he became blind; except that he had four sons and five daughters, and a multitude of clients under his protection, and in that condition most steadfastly guided the commonwealth. At length, weary with living, he caused himself to be carried into the senate-house in a litter, to prevent peace from being made with Pyrrhus upon dishonourable terms. Can this man be thought blind, by whom his country, seeing clearly what was honourable, was compelled to open its eyes?

§ 8.13.6  Several women have been no less eminent for their long life, whom it shall be sufficient merely to name. For Livia the wife of Rutilius lived for ninety-seven years, Terentia the wife of Cicero a hundred and three years, and Clodia the wife of Ofilius, having outlived fifteen children, a hundred and fifteen years.

§ 8.13e.1  To these I will add two kings, whose long life was very advantageous to the people of Rome. The king of Sicily, Hieron, lived for ninety years. Masinissa king of Numidia, lived for even longer; he reigned for sixty years and was superior to all men in vigour of old age. Cicero in his book on Old Age, reports of him, that no rain or cold could compel him to cover his head. He was accustomed also to remain standing in one position for several hours, and would never stir from hard labour, till he had tired the young men. And if it was necessary for him to do anything sitting, he would often for a whole day sit in the same posture, without moving his body for ease, either one way or the other. When he led his army on horseback, he often continued through day and night; and omitted none of those labours, which youth is wont to endure, when he was extremely old. And so vigorous was he in regards to women, that he begot his son Methymnus, when he was eight-six years of age. The country also which he found uncultivated, by perpetual farming he left very fruitful.

§ 8.13e.2  Also Gorgias also of Leontini, the teacher of Isocrates and several other great men, by his own account was most fortunate. For when he had lived for a hundred and seven years, being asked why he had lived so long, he relied, ”Because I have no complaints to make against my old age." What could be longer or more fortunate than such a span of life? For after entering into the second century of his life, he neither found any cause of complaint in it, nor left any complaint in the previous century.

§ 8.13e.3  Xenophilus of Chalcis lived for two years less, but he was not inferior in the enjoyment of health. For Aristoxenus the musician says of him, that free from all the inconveniences of old age, he died in the full splendour of consummate learning.

§ 8.13e.4  Arganthonius of Gades reigned for so long, as would have been sufficient for others to live. For he ruled his kingdom for eighty years, being forty years of age before he came to the throne. This is attested by most reliable and trustworthy authors. Asinius Pollio, not the least part of Roman eloquence, in the third book of his History, records that he lived for a hundred and thirty years, which is no mean example of bodily vigour.

§ 8.13e.5  The Ethiopians render the long life of this king less remarkable. Herodotus writes that they have lived for more than a hundred and twenty years: and Ctesias relates the same the Indians. And Theopompus reports that Epimenides of Cnossus lived for a hundred and fifty-seven years.

§ 8.13e.6  Hellanicus also states, that some of the Epii, who [are] a people of Aetolia, lived for two hundred years; with whom Damastes agrees, adding this moreover, that one Litorius among them, of exceedingly great strength and stature, completed three hundred years.

§ 8.13e.7  Alexander, in his book on the region of Illyria, affirms, that one Dando lived for fully five hundred years, without the least complaint of old age. But much more liberal is Xenophon, in his 'Periplus', who assigns to the king of the island of Latmos eight hundred years of life; and so that his father might not be affronted, he allows him six hundred years.

§ 8.14.1  Whence glory arises, or what is its nature, or how it ought to be obtained, and whether it should be neglected by virtue, as unnecessary - I leave these questions for those who contemplate such things, and who are able eloquently to express what they have wisely observed. I in this work am content to match doers with deeds, and deeds with doers; and I shall endeavour to reveal by suitable examples, how great the desire of glory is accustomed to be. The elder Africanus wished the effigy of Ennius to be placed among the monuments of the Cornelian family, because he thought that his deeds had been illuminated by the poet's genius. He was aware, that as long as the Roman empire might flourish, and Africa lay captive at the feet of Italy, and the Capitol possessed the peak of the whole world, the memory of his deeds could not be extinguished; but he also thought it important that they were lit up by the rays of learning. He was a man more worthy of praise from Homer, than of a clumsy and unpolished eulogy.