Valerius Maximus: FACTORVM ET DICTORVM MEMORABILIVM LIBRI NOVEM

4.1.init. Transgrediar ad saluberrimam partem animi, moderationem, quae mentes nostras inpotentiae temeritatis incursu transuersas ferri non patitur. quo euenit ut reprehensionis morsu sit uacua et laudis quaestu sit opulentissima.

4.1.init. I will cross over to the most salubrious part of the mind, moderation, which does not allow our minds, skewed by the incursion of incontinence and temerity, to be borne away. Wherefore it comes about that it is void of the bite of censure and most opulent in the gain of praise.

itaque effectus suos in claris uiris recognoscat.

and so let it review its effects in illustrious men.

4.1.1 Atque ut incunabulis summi honoris incipiam, P. Valerius, qui populi maiestatem uenerando Publicolae nomen adsecutus est, cum exactis regibus imperii eorum uim uniuersam omniaque insignia sub titulo consulatus in se translata cerneret, inuidiosum magistratus fastigium moderatione ad tolerabilem habitum deduxit fasces securibus uacuefaciendo et in contione populo summittendo. numerum quoque eorum dimidia ex parte minuit ultro Sp. Lucretio collega adsumpto, ad quem, quia maior natu erat, priorem fasces transferri iussit. legem etiam comitiis centuriatis tulit, ne quis magistratus ciuem Romanum aduersus prouocationem uerberare aut necare uellet.

4.1.1 And so, that I may begin from the cradle of the highest honor: P. Valerius, who by venerating the majesty of the people attained the name Publicola, when, the kings having been expelled, he saw the whole force of their dominion and all its insignia transferred to himself under the title of the consulship, by moderation led down the odious height of magistracy to a tolerable condition, by emptying the fasces of their axes and lowering them to the people in a public assembly. He also reduced their number by half, of his own accord taking Sp. Lucretius as colleague, to whom, because he was older, he ordered the first fasces to be transferred. He likewise carried a law in the centuriate assemblies that no magistrate should beat or kill a Roman citizen against the right of appeal.

ita, quo ciuitatis condicio liberior esset, imperium suum paulatim destruxit. quid quod aedes suas diruit, quia excelsiore loco positae instar arcis habere uidebantur, nonne quantum domo inferior, tantum gloria superior euasit?

thus, in order that the condition of the commonwealth might be freer, he gradually dismantled his own imperium. What of the fact that he demolished his own house, because, situated on a more exalted site, it seemed to have the likeness of a citadel—did he not, by as much as he was lower in house, by so much emerge higher in glory?

4.1.2 Vix iuuat abire a Publicola, sed uenire ad Furium Camillum libet, cuius tam moderatus ex magna ignominia ad summum imperium transitus fuit, ut, cum praesidium eius ciues capta urbe a Gallis Ardeae exulantis petissent, non prius Veios ad accipiendum exercitum iret quam de dictatura sua omnia sollemni iure acta conperisset. magnificus Camilli Veientanus triumphus, egregia Gallica uictoria, sed ista cunctatio longe admirabilior: multo enim multoque se ipsum quam hostem superare operosius est, nec aduersa praepropera festinatione fugientem nec secunda effuso gaudio adprehendentem.

4.1.2 Hardly does it please to depart from Publicola, but it is pleasing to come to Furius Camillus, whose passage from great ignominy to the highest command was so moderate that, when his fellow citizens, with the city captured by the Gauls, sought the protection of him exiled at Ardea, he would not go to Veii to take over the army before he had ascertained that everything concerning his dictatorship had been transacted with all solemn law. Magnificent was Camillus’s Veientine triumph, outstanding his Gallic victory, but that delay was far more admirable: for by much—and much more—it is more toilsome to overcome oneself than an enemy, neither pursuing adverse things with precipitous haste as they flee nor, in prosperous things, grasping with effusive joy.

4.1.3 Par Furio moderatione Marcius Rutilus Censorinus: iterum enim censor creatus ad contionem populum uocatum quam potuit grauissima oratione corripuit, quod eam potestatem bis sibi detulisset, cuius maiores, quia nimis magna uideretur, tempus coartandum iudicassent. uterque recte, et Censorinus et populus: alter enim ut moderate honores crederent praecepit, alter [se] moderato credidit.

4.1.3 Equal to Furius in moderation was Marcius Rutilus Censorinus: for, created censor a second time, he rebuked the people, summoned to the assembly, with the most grave oration he could, because they had twice conferred that power upon him, the power whose ancestors, because it seemed too great, had judged that its time was to be constricted. Each acted rightly, both Censorinus and the people: the one, indeed, enjoined that they should entrust honors moderately; the other trusted [himself] to a moderate man.

4.1.4 Age, L. Quintius Cincinnatus qualem consulem gessit! cum honorem eius patres conscripti continuare uellent non solum propter illius egregia opera, sed etiam quod populus eosdem tribunos in proximum annum creare conabatur, quorum neutrum iure fieri poterat, utrumque discussit senatus simul studium inhibendo et tribunos uerecundiae suae exemplum sequi cogendo atque unus causa fuit, ut amplissimus ordo populusque tutus esset ab iniusti facti reprehensione.

4.1.4 Come now, L. Quintius Cincinnatus—what a consulship he bore! When the Conscript Fathers wished to continue his office, not only on account of his outstanding deeds, but also because the people were attempting to create the same tribunes for the next year—neither of which could lawfully be done—the senate dashed aside both, at once by curbing its zeal and by compelling the tribunes to follow the example of his modesty; and he alone was the cause that the most distinguished Order and the people were safe from the censure of an unjust act.

4.1.5 Fabius uero Maximus, cum a se quinquies et a patre, auo, proauo maioribusque suis saepe numero consulatum gestum animaduerteret, comitiis, quibus filius eius summo consensu consul creabatur, quam potuit constanter cum populo egit ut aliquando uacationem huius honoris Fabiae genti daret, non quod uirtutibus filii diffideret, erat enim inluster, sed ne maximum imperium in una familia continuaretur. quid hac moderatione efficacius aut ualentius, quae etiam patrios adfectus, qui potentissimi habentur, superauit?

4.1.5 But Fabius Maximus, when he observed that the consulship had been held five times by himself and, many times over, by his father, grandfather, great‑grandfather, and his elders, at the elections at which his son was being created consul with the highest consensus, dealt with the people as steadfastly as he could that some respite from this honor be at last granted to the Fabian gens—not because he distrusted his son’s virtues (for he was illustrious), but lest the greatest imperium be continued in a single family. What is more efficacious or more potent than this moderation, which even overcame paternal affections, held to be most powerful?

4.1.6 Non defuit maioribus grata mens ad praemia superiori Africano exsoluenda, si quidem maxima eius merita paribus ornamentis decorare conati sunt. uoluerunt illi statuas in comitio, in rostris, in curia, in ipsa denique Iouis optimi maximi cella ponere, uoluerunt imaginem eius triumphali ornatu indutam Capitolinis puluinaribus adplicare, uoluerunt ei continuum per omnes uitae annos consulatum perpetuamque dictaturam tribuere: quorum sibi neque plebiscito dari neque senatus consulto decerni patiendo paene tantum se in recusandis honoribus gessit, quantum egerat in emerendis..

4.1.6 A grateful mind was not lacking to our elders for paying out rewards to Africanus the Elder, since indeed they tried to decorate his greatest merits with equal ornaments. They wished to set up statues in the Comitium, on the Rostra, in the Curia, and finally in the very cella of Jupiter Optimus Maximus; they wished to place his image, clothed in triumphal adornment, upon the Capitoline pulvinars; they wished to grant to him an unbroken consulship through all the years of his life and a perpetual dictatorship: of which nothing, by allowing neither to be given to him by plebiscite nor to be decreed by a senatorial decree, he managed to do almost as much in refusing honors as he had done in earning them..

Eodem robore mentis causam Hannibalis in senatu protexit, cum eum ciues sui missis legatis tamquam seditiones apud eos mouentem accusarent. adiecit quoque non oportere patres conscriptos se rei publicae Karthaginiensium interponere altissimaque moderatione alterius saluti consuluit, alterius dignitati, uictoria tenus utriusque hostem egisse contentus.

With the same firmness of mind he protected Hannibal’s cause in the senate, when his own citizens, having sent legates, were accusing him as stirring up seditions among them. He added also that it did not behoove the senators to interpose themselves in the commonwealth of the Carthaginians; and with the loftiest moderation he took thought for the safety of the one party and the dignity of the other, content to have acted as the enemy of each only up to the point of victory.

4.1.7 At M. Marcellus, qui primus et Hannibalem uinci et Syracusas capi posse docuit, cum in consulatu eius Siculi de eo questum in urbem uenissent, nec senatum illa de re habuit, quia collega Valerius Laeuinus forte aberat, ne ob id Siculi in querendo timidiores essent, et, ut is rediit, ultro de his admittendis retulit querentisque de se patienter sustinuit. iussos etiam a Laeuino discedere remanere, ut suae defensioni interessent, coegit, ac deinde, ~ utraque parte perorata excedentes curia subsecutus est, quo liberius senatus sententias ferret. inprobatis quoque eorum querellis supplices et orantes ut ab eo in clientelam reciperentur clementer excepit.

4.1.7 But M. Marcellus, who first showed that both Hannibal could be conquered and Syracuse could be taken, when in his consulship the Sicilians had come into the city to complain about him, did not hold a session of the senate on that matter, because his colleague Valerius Laevinus happened by chance to be absent, lest on that account the Sicilians should be more timid in complaining; and, as soon as he returned, he of his own accord brought up the question of admitting them and patiently endured those complaining about himself. Even those who had been ordered by Laevinus to depart he forced to remain, so that they might be present at his defense, and then, ~ after both sides had finished speaking, he followed them as they were leaving the Curia, in order that the senate might cast its opinions more freely. Although their complaints were disapproved, when they as suppliants begged that they be received by him into clientship, he graciously welcomed them.

super haec Siciliam sortitus ea prouincia collegae cessit. totiens laudatio Marcelli uariari non potest, quotiens ipse nouis gradibus moderationis aduersus socios usus est.

Over and above these things, having obtained Sicily by lot, he ceded that province to his colleague. So many times cannot the praise of Marcellus be varied, as many times as he himself employed new degrees of moderation toward the allies.

4.1.8 Quam Ti. etiam Gracchus admirabilem se exhibuit! tribunus enim pl., cum ex professo inimicitias cum Africano et Asiatico Scipionibus gereret, et Asiaticus iudicatae pecuniae satisdare non posset atque ideo a consule in uincula publica duci iussus esset appellassetque collegium tribunorum, nullo uolente intercedere secessit a collegis decretumque conposuit. nec quisquam dubitauit quin in eo scribendo ira tinctis aduersus Asiaticum uerbis usurus esset.

4.1.8 How admirable even Tiberius Gracchus showed himself! For, a tribune of the plebs, since he was conducting avowed enmities with the Scipios, Africanus and Asiaticus, and since Asiaticus could not furnish surety for adjudged money and therefore had been ordered by the consul to be led into the public prison, and had appealed to the college of tribunes, when no one was willing to intercede he withdrew from his colleagues and composed a decree. Nor did anyone doubt that in writing it he would use words against Asiaticus dyed with anger.

at is primum iurauit se cum Scipionibus in gratiam non redisse, deinde tale decretum recitauit: cum L. Cornelius Scipio die triumphi sui ante currum actos hostium duces in carcerem coniecerit, indignum et alienum maiestate rei publicae uideri, eodem ipsum duci: itaque id non passurum fieri. libenter tunc opinionem suam populus Romanus a Graccho deceptam cognouit moderationemque eius debita laude prosecutus est.

but he first swore that he had not returned into favor with the Scipios, then he recited such a decree: since L. Cornelius Scipio, on the day of his triumph, had cast into the prison the leaders of the enemies driven before his chariot, it seems unworthy and alien to the majesty of the republic that he himself be led to that same place; and so he would not suffer that to be done. Gladly then the Roman people learned that their opinion about Gracchus had been mistaken, and they followed up his moderation with the praise due.

4.1.9 C. quoque Claudius Nero inter cetera praecipuae moderationis exempla numerandus est. Liui Salinatoris in Hasdrubale opprimendo gloriae particeps fuerat. tamen eum triumphantem equo sequi quam triumpho, quem senatus ei aeque decreuerat, uti maluit, quia res in prouincia Salinatoris gesta erat.

4.1.9 C. likewise Claudius Nero is to be numbered among the other examples of outstanding moderation. He had been a partner in the glory of crushing Hasdrubal with Livius Salinator. Yet he preferred to follow him, as he was triumphing, on horseback rather than to make use of the triumph which the senate had equally decreed to him, because the affair had been carried out in Salinator’s province.

atque ita sine curru triumphauit, eo quidem clarius, quod illius uictoria tantummodo laudabatur, huius etiam moderatio.

and thus he triumphed without a chariot, so much the more illustriously, because that man's victory was praised only, but this man's moderation as well.

4.1.10 Ne Africanus quidem posterior nos de se tacere patitur. qui censor, cum lustrum conderet inque solitaurilium sacrificio scriba ex publicis tabulis sollemne ei precationis carmen praeiret, quo di immortales ut populi Romani res meliores amplioresque facerent rogabantur, 'satis' inquit 'bonae et magnae sunt: itaque precor ut eas perpetuo incolumes seruent', ac protinus in publicis tabulis ad hunc modum carmen emendari iussit. qua uotorum uerecundia deinceps censores in condendis lustris usi sunt: prudenter enim sensit tunc incrementum Romano imperio petendum fuisse, cum intra septimum lapidem triumphi quaerebantur, maiorem autem totius terrarum orbis partem possidenti ut auidum esse quicquam ultra adpetere, ita abunde felix, si nihil ex eo, quod optinebat, amitteret.

4.1.10 Not even the later Africanus permits us to be silent about himself. He, as censor, when he was concluding the lustrum and, at the sacrifice of the solitaurilia, the scribe from the public tablets was reciting to him the customary formula of prayer, in which the immortal gods were asked to make the affairs of the Roman people better and larger, said: “they are good and great enough: and so I pray that they keep them perpetually unharmed,” and immediately ordered the formula to be emended in the public tablets in this way. With this modesty of vows the censors thereafter used in conducting lustrums: for he wisely perceived that increase for the Roman imperium ought then to have been sought when triumphs were being sought within the seventh milestone, but that for one possessing the greater part of the whole world to be greedy in grasping at anything beyond—he would be abundantly fortunate if he lost nothing of what he held.

Neque alia eius in censura moderatio pro tribunali apparuit. centurias recognoscens equitum, postquam C. Licinium Sacerdotem citatum processisse animaduertit, dixit se scire illum uerbis conceptis peierasse: proinde, si quis eum accusare uellet, usurum testimonio suo. sed nullo ad id negotium accedente 'transduc equum' inquit, 'Sacerdos, ac lucrifac censoriam notam, ne ego in tua persona et accusatoris et testis et iudicis partes egisse uidear'.

Nor did his moderation in the censorship show itself otherwise before the tribunal. Reviewing the centuries of the equestrians, after he noticed that Gaius Licinius Sacerdos, having been summoned, had come forward, he said that he knew that man had perjured himself in set words; accordingly, if anyone wished to accuse him, he would make use of his own testimony. But since no one came forward for that business, “Lead your horse across,” he said, “Sacerdos, and count as a profit the censorial mark, lest I seem in your person to have played the parts of accuser and witness and judge.”

4.1.11 Quod animi temperamentum etiam in Q. Scaeuola excellentissimo uiro adnotatum est: testis namque in reum productus, cum id respondisset, quod salutem periclitantis magnopere laesurum uidebatur, discedens adiecit ita sibi credi oportere, si et alii idem adseuerassent, quoniam unius testimonio aliquem cadere pessimi esset exempli. et religioni igitur suae debitam fidem et communi utilitati salubre consilium reddidit.

4.1.11 This moderation of mind was noted also in Q. Scaevola, a most excellent man: for, when brought forward as a witness against a defendant, after he had answered something that seemed likely greatly to injure the safety of the one in peril, as he was departing he added that he ought to be believed on this condition—if others too asserted the same—since for someone to fall by the testimony of one person would be of the worst example (precedent). And thus he rendered both to his own conscientiousness the faith due, and to the common utility a salutary counsel.

4.1.12 Sentio quos ciues quaeue facta eorum ac dicta quam angusto ambitu orationis amplectar. ðsed cum magna mihi atque permulta breuiter dicenda sint, claritate excellentibus infinitis personis rebusque circumfusus utrumque praestare non potuit. itaque propositi quoque nostri ratio non laudanda sibi omnia, sed recordanda sumpsit.

4.1.12 I realize which citizens, and what deeds and sayings of theirs, I am embracing within how narrow a compass of discourse. But since great and very many things must be said by me briefly, surrounded as I am by countless persons and matters excelling in renown, it has not been possible to furnish both. And so the method of our design has undertaken for itself not to laud everything, but to recall it.

quapropter bona cum uenia duo Metelli, Macedonicus et Numidicus, maxima patriae ornamenta strictim se narrari patientur.

wherefore, with good leave, the two Metelli—Macedonicus and Numidicus—the greatest ornaments of the fatherland, will permit themselves to be recounted briefly.

Acerrime cum Scipione Africano <Metellus> Macedonicus dissenserat, eorumque ab aemulatione uirtutis profecta concitatio ad graues testatasque inimicitias progressa fuerat: sed tamen, cum interemptum Scipionem conclamari audisset, in publicum se proripuit maestoque uultu et uoce confusa 'concurrite, concurrite' inquit, 'ciues! moenia nostrae urbis euersa sunt: Scipioni enim Africano intra suos penates quiescenti nefaria uis allata est'. o rem publicam pariter Africani morte miseram et Macedonici tam humana tamque ciuili lamentatione felicem! eodem enim tempore et quantum amisisset principem et qualem haberet recognouit.

Most bitterly had <Metellus> Macedonicus dissented with Scipio Africanus, and their agitation, sprung from the emulation of virtue, had progressed to grave and attested enmities: but yet, when he had heard it proclaimed that Scipio had been slain, he rushed into the public, and with a mournful countenance and a broken voice said, “Run together, run together, citizens! the walls of our city have been overthrown: for upon Scipio Africanus, resting within his own household, nefarious violence has been brought.” O commonwealth at once wretched by Africanus’s death and happy by Macedonicus’s so humane and so civil lamentation! For at the same time it recognized both how great a princeps it had lost and what kind it had.

idem filios suos monuit ut funebri eius lecto humeros subicerent, atque huic exequiarum illum honorem uocis adiecit, non fore ut postea id officium ab illis maiori uiro praestari posset. ubi illa tot in curia iurgia? ubi tot [multae] pro rostris altercationes?

the same man advised his sons to put their shoulders under his funeral bier, and he added to the exequies that honor of utterance, that it would not be possible thereafter for that duty to be rendered by them to a greater man. where are those so many wrangles in the Curia? where are the so many [many] altercations before the Rostra?

ubi maximorum ciuium et ducum tantum non togata proelia? omnia nimirum ista praecipua ueneratione prosequenda deleuit moderatio.

Where are the all but toga-clad battles of the greatest citizens and commanders? Surely moderation, to be followed with preeminent veneration, has obliterated all those things.

4.1.13 Numidicus autem Metellus populari factione patria pulsus in Asiam secessit. in qua cum ei forte ludos Trallibus spectanti litterae redditae essent, quibus scriptum erat maximo senatus et populi consensu reditum illi in urbem datum, non e theatro prius abiit quam spectaculum ederetur, non laetitiam suam proxime sedentibus ulla ex parte patefecit, sed summum gaudium intra se continuit. eundem constat pari uultu et exulem fuisse et restitutum.

4.1.13 But Metellus Numidicus, driven from his fatherland by the popular faction, withdrew into Asia. And there, when by chance, as he was watching games at Tralles, letters had been delivered to him, in which it had been written that, by the greatest consensus of the senate and the people, a return to the city had been granted to him, he did not depart from the theater before the spectacle was presented, he in no respect disclosed his gladness to those sitting nearest, but contained his highest joy within himself. It is agreed that the same man was of equal countenance both as an exile and when restored.

adeo moderationis beneficio medius semper inter secundas et aduersas res animi firmitate uersatus est.

So much, by the benefit of moderation, he always carried himself—by firmness of mind—in the middle between prosperous and adverse circumstances.

4.1.14 Tot familiis in uno genere laudis enumeratis Porcium nomen uelut expers huiusce gloriae silentio ~ praetereundum se negat fieri debere posterior Cato non paruo summae moderationis fisus indicio. Cypriacam pecuniam maxima cum diligentia et sanctitate in urbem deportauerat. cuius ministerii gratia senatus relationem interponi iubebat, ut praetoriis comitiis extra ordinem ratio eius haberetur.

4.1.14 With so many families in one kind of praise enumerated, the Porcian name, as though devoid of this glory, he denies ought to be passed over in silence ~ the later Cato, relying on no small indication of supreme moderation. He had carried the Cypriot money into the city with the greatest diligence and sanctity. For the sake of this service the senate ordered a relatio to be interposed, so that at the praetorian elections his case might be considered out of order.

sed ipse id fieri passus non est, iniquum esse adfirmans quod nulli alii tribueretur sibi decerni, ac ne quid in persona sua nouaretur, campestrem experiri temeritatem quam curiae beneficio uti satius esse duxit.

but he himself did not allow this to be done, asserting that it was iniquitous that what was granted to no other should be decreed to himself; and, lest anything be innovated in his own person, he judged it better to try the campestral temerity than to make use of the Curia’s favor.

4.1.15 Ad externa iam mihi exempla transire conanti M. Bibulus uir amplissimae dignitatis et summis honoribus functus manus inicit. qui, cum in Syria prouincia moraretur, duos egregiae indolis filios suos a Gabinianis militibus Aegypti occisos cognouit. quorum interfectores ad eum uinctos regina Cleopatra misit, ut grauissimae cladis ultionem arbitrio suo exigeret.

4.1.15 As I now attempt to pass over to external examples, M. Bibulus, a man of the most ample dignity and who had performed the highest honors, lays his hands on me. While he was staying in the province of Syria, he learned that his two sons, of outstanding inborn quality, had been slain by the Gabinian soldiers of Egypt. Their killers Queen Cleopatra sent to him in chains, that he might exact vengeance for the most grievous disaster at his own discretion.

at ille oblato beneficio, quo nullum maius lugenti tribui poterat, dolorem moderationi cedere coegit carnificesque sanguinis sui intactos e uestigio ad Cleopatram reduci iussit, dicendo potestatem huius uindictae non suam, sed senatus esse debere.

But he, with the benefit offered—than which no greater could be granted to a mourner—forced his grief to yield to moderation and ordered the executioners of his own blood to be returned unharmed on the spot to Cleopatra, declaring that the power of this vengeance ought to be not his own, but the Senate’s.

4.1.ext.1 Tarentinus Archytas, dum se Pythagorae praeceptis Metaponti penitus inmergit, magno labore longoque tempore solidum opus doctrinae conplexus, postquam in patriam reuertit ac rura sua reuisere coepit, animaduertit neglegentia uilici corrupta et perdita intuensque male meritum 'sumpsissem' inquit 'a te supplicium, nisi tibi iratus essem': maluit enim inpunitum dimittere quam propter iram iusto grauius punire.

4.1.ext.1 Archytas the Tarentine, while he plunged himself deeply into the precepts of Pythagoras at Metapontum, having, with great labor and a long time, encompassed a solid edifice of doctrine, after he returned to his homeland and began to revisit his fields, noticed that they had been corrupted and ruined by the negligence of his steward; and, looking upon the ill-deserving man, he said, 'I would have exacted punishment from you, had I not been angry with you': for he preferred to dismiss him unpunished rather than, on account of anger, to punish more grievously than was just.

4.1.ext. 2 Nimis liberalis Archytae moderatio, temperatior Platonis: nam cum uersus delictum serui uehementius exarsisset, ueritus ne ipse uindictae modum dispicere non posset, Speusippo amico castigationis arbitrium mandauit deforme sibi futurum existimans, si conmisisset ut parem reprehensionem culpa serui et animaduersio Platonis mereretur.

4.1.ext. 2 Too liberal was Archytas’s moderation, more temperate Plato’s: for when he had flared up more vehemently against the slave’s delinquency, fearing that he himself might not be able to discern the measure of vengeance, he entrusted to his friend Speusippus the arbitration of the castigation, thinking it would be disgraceful for himself if he had allowed that the slave’s fault and Plato’s animadversion should deserve equal reprehension.

Quo minus miror quod in Xenocrate discipulo suo tam constanter moderatus fuit. audierat eum de se multa inpie locutum: sine ulla cunctatione criminationem respuit. instabat certo uultu index causam quaerens, cur sibi fides non haberetur: adiecit non esse credibile ut, quem tantopere amaret, ab eo inuicem non diligeretur.

So much the less do I marvel that he was so constantly self‑moderated in the case of Xenocrates, his disciple. He had heard that he had spoken many things impiously about him: without any hesitation he repudiated the crimination. The informer, with a fixed countenance, kept pressing, seeking the reason why no credence was given to him: he added that it was not credible that the one whom he loved so greatly was not in turn loved by him.

postremo, cum ad ius iurandum inimicitias serentis malignitas confugisset, ne de periurio eius disputaret, adfirmauit numquam Xenocratem illa dicturum fuisse, nisi ea dici expedire sibi iudicasset. non in corpore mortali, sed in arce caelesti et quidem armatum animum eius uitae stationem putes peregisse, humanorum uitiorum incursus a se inuicta pugna repellentem cunctosque uirtutis numeros altitudinis suae sinu clausos custodientem.

finally, when the malignity of one sowing enmities had taken refuge in an oath, so as not to dispute about his perjury, he affirmed that Xenocrates would never have said those things, unless he had judged that it was expedient for himself that they be said. you would think that his mind, not in a mortal body, but in a celestial citadel—and indeed armed—had carried out the station of life, repelling from himself by unconquered combat the assaults of human vices, and guarding all the numbers of virtue shut within the bosom of his loftiness.

4.1.ext.3 Nequaquam Platoni litterarum commendatione par Syracusanus Dio, sed quod ad praestandam moderationem adtinuit, uehementioris experimenti. patria pulsus a Dionysio tyranno Megaram petierat ubi cum Theodorum principem eius urbis domi conuenire uellet neque admitteretur, multum diuque ante fores retentus comiti suo 'patienter hoc ferendum est' ait: 'forsitan enim et nos, cum in gradu dignitatis nostrae essemus, aliquid tale fecimus'. qua tranquillitate consilii ipse sibi condicionem exilii placidiorem reddidit.

4.1.ext.3 By no means equal to Plato in the commendation of letters was Dion the Syracusan, but as regards furnishing moderation, he was of more compelling proof. Driven from his homeland by Dionysius the tyrant, he had made for Megara, where, when he wished to meet Theodore, the chief of that city, at his house and was not admitted, detained much and for a long time before the doors, he said to his companion: 'This must be borne patiently: for perhaps we too, when we were in the rank of our dignity, did something of the kind'. By this tranquillity of counsel he rendered the condition of his exile more placid for himself.

4.1.ext.4 Thrasybulus etiam hoc loci adprehendendus est, qui populum Atheniensem xxx tyrannorum saeuitia sedes suas relinquere coactum dispersamque et uagam uitam miserabiliter exigentem, animis pariter atque armis confirmatum in patriam reduxit. insignem deinde restitutione libertatis uictoriam clariorem aliquanto moderationis laude fecit: plebei enim scitum interposuit, ne qua praeteritarum rerum mentio fieret. haec obliuio, quam Athenienses amnestian uocant, concussum et labentem ciuitatis statum in pristinum habitum reuocauit.

4.1.ext.4 Thrasybulus too is to be taken up in this place, who brought back into the fatherland the Athenian people—forced by the savagery of the 30 tyrants to relinquish their seats and to pass a dispersed and wandering life in misery—after he had strengthened them alike in spirits and in arms. Then he made a victory, distinguished by the restitution of liberty, somewhat more illustrious by the praise of moderation: for he interposed a plebeian scitum (plebiscite), that no mention at all be made of past matters. This oblivion, which the Athenians call amnesty, restored the shaken and collapsing condition of the state to its former condition.

4.1.ext.5 Non minoris admirationis illud. Stasippus Tegeates hortantibus amicis ut grauem in administratione rei publicae aemulum, sed alioqui probum et ornatum uirum qualibet ratione uel tolleret uel summoueret negauit se facturum, ne quem in tutela patriae bonus ciuis locum obtineret, malus et inprobus occuparet, seque potius uehementer aduersario urgueri quam patriam egregio aduocato carere praeoptauit.

4.1.ext.5 That is of no less admiration. Stasippus the Tegeate, though friends were urging him to remove or displace by whatever method a weighty rival in the administration of the republic—yet otherwise an upright and accomplished man—said he would not do it, lest a place in the guardianship of the fatherland, which a good citizen held, be seized by a bad and depraved man; and he preferred rather to be vehemently pressed by an adversary than that the fatherland be without an excellent advocate.

4.1.ext.6 Pittaci quoque moderatione pectus instructum. qui Alcaeum poetam et amaritudine odii et uiribus ingenii aduersus se pertinacissime usum tyrannidem a ciuibus delatam adeptus tantum modo quid in opprimendo posset admonuit.

4.1.ext.6 Pittacus too had a breast equipped with moderation. Having obtained the tyranny handed over by the citizens, while Alcaeus the poet had most pertinaciously employed against him both the bitterness of hatred and the powers of genius, he only admonished what he could do to crush .

4.1.ext.7 Huius uiri mentio subicit ut de septem sapien tium moderatione referam. a piscatoribus in Milesia regione euerriculum trahentibus quidam iactum emerat. extracta deinde magni ponderis aurea Delphica mensa orta controuersia est, illis piscium se capturam uendidisse adfirmantibus, hoc fortunam ductus emisse dicente.

4.1.ext.7 The mention of this man suggests that I should report about the moderation of the seven sages. From fishermen dragging a sweep‑net in the Milesian region, a certain man had bought a cast. When there was then drawn up a golden Delphic table of great weight, a controversy arose, they asserting that they had sold the catch of fish, this one, led by Fortune, saying that he had bought the cast.

qua cognitione propter nouitatem rei et magnitudinem pecuniae ad uniuersum ciuitatis eius populum delata placuit Apollinem Delphicum consuli cuinam adiudicari mensa deberet. deus respondit illi esse dandam, qui sapientia ceteros praestaret, his uerbis:

upon this cognition, on account of the novelty of the matter and the magnitude of the money, having been referred to the entire populace of that city, it pleased them that the Delphic Apollo be consulted as to whom the table ought to be adjudged. the god replied that it was to be given to him who excelled the others in wisdom, in these words:

t§w sof§& pr´tow p“ntvn; to tü tr§pod' a»d´. tum Milesii consensu Thaleti mensam dederunt. ille cessit ea Bianti, Bias Pittaco, is protinus alii, deincepsque per omnium vii sapientium orbem ad ultimum ad Solonem peruenit, qui et titulum amplissimae prudentiae et praemium ad ipsum Apollinem transtulit.

“The first of all the wise; the tripod to him.” Then, by the consensus of the Milesians, they gave the table to Thales. He yielded it to Bias, Bias to Pittacus, he forthwith to another, and in succession through the circle of all the 7 sages it at last came to Solon, who transferred both the title of very great prudence and the prize to Apollo himself.

4.1.ext.8 Atque ut Theopompo quoque Spartanorum regi moderationis testimonium reddamus, [qui] cum primus instituisset ut ephori Lacedaemone crearentur, ita furi regiae potestati oppositi, quemadmodum Romae consulari imperio tribuni pl. sunt obiecti, atque illi cum uxor dixisset id egisse illum, ut filiis minorem potestatem relinqueret, 'relinquam' inquit, 'sed diuturniorem'. optime quidem: ea enim demum tuta est potentia, quae uiribus suis modum inponit. igitur Theopompus regnum legitimis uinculis constringendo, quo longius a licentia retraxit, hoc ad beniuolentiam ciuium propius admouit.

4.1.ext.8 And that we may render to Theopompus also, king of the Spartans, a testimony of moderation, who, when he had first instituted that ephors be created at Lacedaemon—thus set in opposition to the future royal power, just as at Rome the tribunes of the plebs are set against the consular imperium—and when his wife had said to him that he had done this in order to leave less power to his sons, “I shall leave it,” he said, “but more enduring.” Excellent indeed: for that power is in the end safe which imposes a measure upon its own forces. Therefore Theopompus, by constraining the kingship with legitimate bonds—the further he drew it back from license, the nearer he brought it to the benevolence of the citizens.

4.1.ext.9 Antiochus autem a L. Scipione ultra Taurum montem imperii finibus summotis, cum Asiam prouinciam uicinasque ei gentes amisisset, gratias agere populo Romano non dissimulanter tulit, quod nimis magna procuratione liberatus modicis regni terminis uteretur. et sane nihil est tam praeclarum aut tam magnificum, quod non moderatione temperari desideret.

4.1.ext.9 But Antiochus, after by L. Scipio the boundaries of his imperium had been shifted beyond Mount Taurus, when he had lost the province of Asia and the gentes adjacent to it, quite openly gave thanks to the Roman people, because, released from an over-great procuratio, he would make use of modest termini of a kingdom. And indeed there is nothing so illustrious or so magnificent as not to desire to be tempered by moderation.

4.2.init Quae quoniam multis et claris auctoribus inlustrata est, transgrediamur ad egregium humani animi ab odio ad gratiam deflexum et quidem eum laeto stilo persequamur: nam si placidum mare ex aspero caelumque ex nubilo serenum hilari aspectu sentitur, si bellum pace mutatum plurimum gaudii adfert, offensarum etiam acerbitas deposita candida relatione celebranda est.

4.2.init Since these things have been illuminated by many and famous authors, let us cross over to an outstanding turning of the human spirit from hatred to favor, and indeed let us pursue it with a joyful style: for if a placid sea out of roughness and a sky serene out of cloud is perceived with a cheerful aspect, if war changed into peace brings very much joy, the bitterness of offenses too, once laid aside, ought to be celebrated by a candid relation.

4.2.1 M. Aemilius Lepidus, bis consul et pontifex maximus splendorique honorum par uitae grauitate, diutinas ac uehementes inimicitias cum Fuluio Flacco eiusdem amplitudinis uiro gessit. quas, ut simul censores renuntiati sunt, in campo deposuit existimans non oportere eos priuatis inimicitiis dissidere, qui publice summa iuncti essent potestate. id iudicium animi eius et praesens aetas conprobauit et nobis ueteres annalium scriptores laudandum tradiderunt.

4.2.1 M. Aemilius Lepidus, twice consul and pontifex maximus, with the gravity of his life equal to the splendor of his honors, maintained long-standing and vehement enmities with Fulvius Flaccus, a man of the same eminence. Which, as soon as they were both proclaimed censors, he laid aside in the Campus, thinking that those who were publicly joined in the highest power ought not to be at variance through private enmities. This judgment of his spirit both the present age approved, and the ancient writers of the annals have handed down to us as praiseworthy.

4.2.2 Sicuti Liui quoque Salinatoris finiendarum simultatium inlustre consilium ignotum posteritati esse noluerunt: is namque, etsi Neronis odio ardens in exilium profectus fuerat testimonio eius praecipue adflictus, tamen, postquam eum inde reuocatum ciues collegam illi in consulatu dederunt, et ingenii sui, quod erat acerrimum, et iniuriae, quam grauissimam acceperat, obliuisci sibi imperauit, ne, si dissidente animo consortionem imperii usurpare uoluisset, pertinacem exhibendo inimicum malum consulem ageret. quae quidem mentis ad tranquilliorem habitum inclinatio in aspero ac difficili temporum articulo plurimum salutis urbi atque Italiae attulit, quia pari uirtutis inpetu conisi terribilis Punicas uires contuderunt.

4.2.2 Just as the Livii too did not wish the illustrious counsel of Salinator for ending animosities to be unknown to posterity: for he, although blazing with hatred of Nero and having set out into exile, having been afflicted chiefly by his testimony, nevertheless, after the citizens, when he had been recalled thence, gave him as colleague to that man in the consulship, commanded himself to forget both his own disposition, which was most sharp, and the injury, which he had received most grievous, lest, if with a dissenting mind he had wished to usurp the partnership of imperium, by exhibiting a stubborn enemy he should act as a bad consul. And indeed this inclination of mind toward a more tranquil habit brought very great safety to the city and to Italy at a harsh and difficult juncture of the times, because, having exerted themselves with an equal onset of virtue, they crushed the dread Punic forces.

4.2.3 Clarum etiam in Africano superiore ac Ti. Graccho depositarum inimicitiarum exemplum, si quidem ad cuius mensae sacra odio dissidentes uenerant, ab ea et amicitia et adfinitate iuncti discesserunt: non contentus enim Scipio auctore senatu in Capitolio Iouis epulo cum Graccho concordiam communicasse filiam quoque ei Corneliam protinus ibi despondit.

4.2.3 A famous example also in Africanus the Elder and Tiberius Gracchus of laid-aside enmities, since indeed to whose table’s sacred rites, dissenting in hatred, they had come, from it they departed joined both by friendship and by affinity: for Scipio, not content, with the senate as author, to have shared concord with Gracchus at the banquet of Jupiter on the Capitol, immediately there betrothed to him his daughter Cornelia as well.

4.2.4 Sed huiusce generis humanitas etiam in M. Cicerone praecipua apparuit: Aulum namque Gabinium repetundarum reum summo studio defendit, qui eum in consulatu suo urbe expulerat, idemque P. Vatinium dignitati suae semper infestum duobus publicis iudiciis tutatus est, ut sine ullo crimine leuitatis, ita cum aliqua laude, quia speciosius aliquanto iniuriae beneficiis uincuntur quam mutui odii pertinacia pensantur.

4.2.4 But humanity of this very kind appeared in especial measure in M. Cicero: for he defended with the highest zeal Aulus Gabinius, a defendant for extortion, who had driven him from the city in his own consulship; and likewise he safeguarded Publius Vatinius—always hostile to his dignitas—in two public trials; so that, without any charge of levity, yet with some praise, because injuries are conquered far more splendidly by benefactions than the pertinacity of mutual hatred is weighed in the balance.

4.2.5 Ciceronis autem factum adeo uisum est probabile, ut imitari id ne inimicissimus quidem illi P. Pulcher dubitauerit. qui incesti crimine a tribus Lentulis accusatus unum ex his ambitus reum patrocinio suo protexit atque in animum induxit et iudices et praetorem et Vestae aedem intuens amicum Lentulo agere, inter quae ille salutem eius foedo crimine obruere cupiens hostili uoce perorauerat.

4.2.5 Moreover, Cicero’s deed seemed so probable that not even his most inimical foe, P. Pulcher, hesitated to imitate it. He, accused of the crime of incest by three Lentuli, protected one of these, a defendant for ambitus (electoral bribery), by his own advocacy, and brought himself—gazing upon the judges and the praetor and the Temple of Vesta—to act as a friend to Lentulus; meanwhile that man, eager to overwhelm his safety with a foul charge, had perorated with an enemy’s voice.

4.2.6 Caninius autem Gallus reum pariter atque accusatorem admirabilem egit, et C. Antonii, quem damnauerat, filiam in matrimonium ducendo et M. Colonium, a quo damnatus fuerat, rerum suarum procuratorem habendo.

4.2.6 Caninius Gallus played an admirable part alike as defendant and as accuser, both by leading into matrimony the daughter of Gaius Antonius, whom he had condemned, and by having Marcus Colonius, by whom he had been condemned, as the procurator of his own affairs.

4.2.7 Caeli uero Rufi ut uita inquinata, ita misericordia, quam Q. Pompeio praestitit, probanda. cui a se publica quaestione prostrato, cum mater Cornelia fidei commissa praedia non redderet, atque iste auxilium suum litteris inplorasset, pertinacissime absenti adfuit: recitauit etiam eius epistolam iudicio ultimae necessitatis indicem, qua impiam Corneliae auaritiam subuertit. factum propter eximiam humanitatem ne sub Caelio quidem auctore repudiandum.

4.2.7 But as the life of Caelius Rufus was defiled, so the compassion which he showed to Q. Pompeius is to be approved. When, after he himself had laid him low by a public prosecution, his mother Cornelia did not restore the estates committed to her trust, and that man implored his aid by letters, he most stubbornly stood by him though he was absent: he even read aloud in court his letter, an index of utmost necessity, whereby he subverted the impious avarice of Cornelia. A deed, on account of exceptional humanity, not to be repudiated even with Caelius himself as author.

4.3.init. Magna cura praecipuoque studio referendum est quantopere libidinis et auaritiae furori similis impetus ab inlustrium uirorum pectoribus consilio ac ratione summoti sint, quia ii demum penates, ea ciuitas, id regnum aeterno in gradu facile steterit, ubi minimum uirium ueneris pecuniaeque cupido sibi uindicauerit: nam quo istae generis humani certissimae pestes penetrarunt, iniuria dominatur, infamia flagrat, uis habitat, bella gignuntur. fauentibus igitur linguis contrarios his tam diris uitiis mores commemoremus.

4.3.init. With great care and with particular zeal it must be recorded how greatly the impulses of lust and of avarice, akin to fury, have been removed from the breasts of illustrious men by counsel and reason; for only that household, that city, that kingdom will have stood easily in an eternal station, where the desire of the powers of Venus and of money has claimed the least for itself: for wherever those most certain plagues of the human race have penetrated, injustice rules, infamy blazes, violence dwells, wars are engendered. With tongues, then, in favor, let us commemorate morals contrary to these so dire vices.

4.3.1 Quartum et uicesimum annum agens Scipio, cum in Hispania Karthagine oppressa maioris Karthaginis capiendae sumpsisset auspicia multosque obsides, quos in ea urbe Poeni clausos habuerant, in suam potestatem redegisset, eximiae inter eos formae uirginem aetatis adultae et iuuenis et caelebs et uictor, postquam comperit inlustri loco inter Celtiberos natam nobilissimoque gentis eius Indibili desponsam, arcessitis parentibus et sponso inuiolatam tradidit. aurum quoque, quod pro redemptione puellae allatum erat, summae dotis adiecit. qua continentia ac munificentia Indibilis obligatus Celtiberorum animos Romanis adplicando meritis eius debitam gratiam retulit.

4.3.1 Scipio, being in his twenty-fourth year, when in Spain, with Carthage there suppressed, he had taken the auspices for seizing the greater Carthage and had brought into his own power many hostages whom the Carthaginians had held confined in that city, among them a maiden of exceptional beauty and of full age—he, though a young man, unmarried, and a victor—after he learned that she had been born of illustrious rank among the Celtiberians and was betrothed to Indibilis, the most noble of that nation, summoned her parents and fiancé and handed her over inviolate. The gold also that had been brought for the girl’s ransom he added to the sum of her dowry. By this continence and munificence Indibilis, being obligated, by attaching the spirits of the Celtiberians to the Romans, rendered the thanks due to his merits.

4.3.2 Verum ut huius uiri abstinentiae testis Hispania, ita M. Catonis Epiros, Achaia, Cyclades insulae, maritima pars Asiae, prouincia Cypros. unde cum pecuniae deportandae ministerium sustineret, tam auersum animum ab omni uenere quam a lucro habuit in maxima utriusque intemperantiae materia uersatus: nam et regiae diuitiae potestate ipsius continebatur et fertilissimae deliciarum tot Graeciae urbes necessaria totius nauigationis deuerticula erant. atque id Munatius Rufus Cypriacae expeditionis fidus comes scriptis suis significat.

4.3.2 But as Spain is a witness of this man’s abstinence, so are Epirus, Achaea, the islands of the Cyclades, the maritime part of Asia, the province Cyprus, when from these places he was bearing the charge of transporting money: he held a mind as averse from all venery as from lucre, though he was engaged amid the greatest material for both forms of intemperance; for both royal riches were contained in his own power, and the very fertile-in-delights cities of all Greece were the necessary stopping-places of the whole voyage. And this Munatius Rufus, a faithful companion of the Cypriot expedition, signifies in his writings.

cuius testimonium non amplector: propio enim argumento laus ista nititur, quoniam ex eodem naturae utero et continentia nata est et Cato.

whose testimony I do not embrace: for that praise rests upon its own argument, since from the same womb of nature both continence and Cato were born.

4.3.3 Drusum etiam Germanicum, eximiam Claudiae familiae gloriam patriaeque rarum ornamentum, et quod super omnia est, operum suorum pro habitu aetatis magnitudine uitrico pariter ac fratri Augustis duobus rei publicae diuinis oculis mirifice respondentem, constitit usum ueneris intra coniugis caritatem clausum tenuisse. Antonia quoque, femina laudibus uirilem familiae suae claritatem supergressa, amorem mariti egregia fide pensauit, quae post eius excessum forma aetate florens conuictum socrus pro coniugio habuit, in eodemque toro alterius adulescentiae uigor extinctus est, alterius uiduitatis experientia consenuit. hoc cubiculum talibus experimentis summam inponat.

4.3.3 Drusus too, the Germanicus, an exceptional glory of the Claudian family and a rare ornament of the fatherland, and—what is above all—marvelously answering, in the divine eyes of the commonwealth, to his stepfather and equally to his brother, the two Augusti, by the greatness of his deeds proportioned to the habitus of his age, has been established to have kept the use of Venus shut within the love of his spouse. Antonia likewise, a woman who in praises surpassed the manly renown of her family, balanced the love of her husband with out-standing faithfulness; who, after his departure, flourishing in beauty in age, held the cohabitation of a mother-in-law in place of marriage, and on the same bed the vigor of one youth was extinguished, the experience of another’s widowhood grew old. Let this bedchamber set the final sum upon such proofs.

4.3.4 Deinceps et his uacemus, quorum animus aliquo in momento ~ ponendi pecuniam numquam uacuit. Cn. Marcius patriciae gentis adulescens, Anci regis clara progenies, cui Corioli Volscorum oppidum capti cognomen adiecerunt, cum editis conspicuae fortitudinis operibus a Postumo Cominio consule accurata oratione apud milites laudatus omnibus donis militaribus et agri centum iugeribus et x captiuorum electione et totidem ornatis equis, centenario boum grege argentoque, quantum sustinere ualuisset, donaretur, nihil ex his praeter unius hospitis captiui salutem equumque, quo in acie uteretur, accipere uoluit. qua tam circumspecta animi moderatione nescias utrum maiore cum laude praemia elegerit an reiecerit.

4.3.4 Next, let us also give our attention to those whose spirit was at no moment ~ for the putting down of money. Gnaeus Marcius, a young man of patrician clan, illustrious progeny of King Ancus— to whom the captured town of Corioli of the Volsci added the cognomen— after works of conspicuous bravery had been performed, and when by Postumus Cominius, the consul, he was praised before the soldiers with a carefully wrought oration, was to be presented with all the military gifts and with 100 iugera of land and the choice of 10 captives and just so many adorned horses, a herd of 100 oxen, and silver as much as he could carry. He wished to accept nothing of these except the safety of a single guest‑friend who had been taken captive, and the horse which he would use in the battle line. By such circumspect moderation of mind, you cannot tell whether he chose the rewards or rejected them with the greater praise.

4.3.5 M'. autem Curius, exactissima norma Romanae frugalitatis idemque fortitudinis perfectissimum specimen, Samnitium legatis agresti se in scamno adsidentem foco eque ligneo catillo cenantem++quales epulas apparatus indicio est++spectandum praebuit: ille enim Samnitium diuitias contempsit, Samnites eius paupertatem mirati sunt: nam cum ad eum magnum pondus auri publice missum attulissent, benignis uerbis inuitatus ut eo uti uellet, uultum risu soluit protinus 'superuacuae' inquit, 'ne dicam ineptae legationis ministri, narrate Samnitibus M'. Curium malle locupletibus imperare quam ipsum fieri locupletem, atque istud ut pretiosum, ita malo hominum excogitatum munus refertote et memento me nec acie uinci nec pecunia corrumpi posse'. Idem, cum Italia Pyrrum regem exegisset, nihil omnino ex praeda regia, qua exercitum urbemque ditauerat, adtigit. decretis etiam senatu septenis iugeribus agri populo, sibi autem quinquaginta, popularis adsignationis modum non excessit parum idoneum rei publicae ciuem existimans qui eo, quod reliquis tribueretur, contentus non est.

4.3.5 M'. moreover Curius, the most exact norm of Roman frugality and likewise the most perfect specimen of fortitude, offered himself for viewing to the legates of the Samnites sitting on a rustic bench by the hearth and dining from a wooden little bowl++what kind of banquet the preparations are an indication++: for he despised the riches of the Samnites, the Samnites marveled at his poverty: for when they had brought to him a great weight of gold sent publicly, invited with kindly words to be willing to use it, he relaxed his expression with a smile immediately said, 'ministers of a superfluous— not to say inept— embassy, report to the Samnites that M'. Curius prefers to command the wealthy rather than to become wealthy himself, and carry back that gift, as precious, so a device contrived by the evil of men, and remember that I can be conquered neither in the battle line nor corrupted by money.' The same man, when he had driven King Pyrrhus out of Italy, touched nothing at all from the royal booty, with which he had enriched the army and the city. even with a decree of the senate of seven iugera of land apiece to the people, but fifty to himself, he did not exceed the measure of the popular assignment, thinking a citizen little suitable to the republic who should not be content with that which was being assigned to the rest, nor es<se>t.

4.3.6 Idem sensit Fabricius Luscinus honoribus et auctoritate omni ciuitate temporibus suis maior, censu par unicuique pauperrimo, qui a Samnitibus, quos uniuersos in clientela habebat, x aeris et v pondo argenti et decem seruos sibi missos in Samnium remisit, continentiae suae beneficio sine pecunia praediues, sine usu familiae abunde comitatus, quia locupletem illum faciebat non multa possidere, sed modica desiderare. ergo domus eius quemadmodum aere et argento et mancipiis Samnitium uacua, ita gloria ex iis parta referta fuit. Consentanea repudiatis donis Fabricii uota extiterunt: legatus enim ad Pyrrum profectus, cum apud eum Cineam Thessalum narrantem audisset quendam Athenis esse clarum sapientia suadentem ne quid aliud homines quam uoluptatis causa facere uellent, pro monstro eam uocem accepit continuoque Pyrro et Samnitibus istam sapientiam deprecatus est.

4.3.6 The same sentiment held Fabricius Luscinus, greater than the whole citizenry of his times in honors and authority, in census equal to any most-poor man, who from the Samnites—whom he held all in clientship—sent back into Samnium 10 asses of bronze and 5 pounds of silver and ten slaves that had been sent to him; by the beneficence of his continence wealthy without money, amply attended without the service of a household, because what made him rich was not to possess many things, but to desire moderate things. Therefore his house, just as empty of the Samnites’ bronze and silver and slaves, so was stuffed with glory won from these. Consonant with the gifts repudiated were Fabricius’s vows: for, having set out as legate to Pyrrhus, when at his court he had heard Cineas the Thessalian relating that there was at Athens a certain man famous for wisdom, advising that men should wish to do nothing other than for the sake of pleasure, he took that utterance as a prodigy, and forthwith he prayed that such “wisdom” be kept away from Pyrrhus and the Samnites.

licet Athenae doctrina sua glorientur, uir tamen prudens Fabricii detestationem quam Epicuri malu<er>it praecepta. quod euentus quoque indicauit: nam quae urbs uoluptati plurimum tribuit, imperium maximum amisit, quae labore delectata est, occupauit, et illa libertatem tueri non ualuit, haec etiam donare potuit.

Although Athens may boast in its doctrine, yet a prudent man would prefer Fabricius’s detestation to the precepts of Epicurus. The outcome also indicated this: for the city which attributed the most to pleasure lost the greatest imperium; the one which took delight in labor seized it; and that one was not able to guard liberty, this one could even bestow it.

4.3.7 Curi et Fabrici Q. Tuberonem cognomine Catum discipulum fuisse merito quis existimauerit. cui consulatum gerenti cum Aetolorum gens omnis usus uasa argentea magno pondere et exquisita arte fabricata per legatos misisset, qui superiore tempore gratulandi causa ad eum profecti retulerant fictilia se in eius mensa uidisse, monitos ne continentiae quasi paupertati succurrendum putarent cum suis sarcinis abire iussit. quam bene Aetolicis domestica praetulerat, si frugalitatis eius exemplum posterior aetas sequi uoluisset!

4.3.7 One might rightly have thought that Q. Tubero, by the cognomen Catus, was a disciple of Curius and Fabricius. When he was holding the consulship, the nation of the Aetolians had sent through legates silver vessels for every use, of great weight and fabricated with exquisite art—these envoys having on a previous occasion, for the sake of offering congratulations, gone to him and reported that they had seen fictile ware on his table—he, after warning them not to think that succor should be brought to his continence as though to poverty, ordered them to depart with their own baggage. How well he had preferred domestic things to Aetolian, if a later age had wished to follow the example of his frugality!

nunc quo uentum est? a seruis impetrari uix potest ne eam supellectilem fastidiant, qua tunc consul uti non erubuit.

To what point have we come now? It can scarcely be obtained from slaves that they should not disdain that furniture, which then a consul did not blush to use.

4.3.8 At Perse rege deuicto Paulus, cum Macedonicis opibus ueterem atque hereditariam urbis nostrae paupertatem eo usque satiasset, ut illo tempore primum populus Romanus tributi praestandi onere se liberaret, penates suos nulla ex parte locupletiores fecit, praeclare secum actum existimans, quod ex illa uictoria alii pecuniam, ipse gloriam occupasset.

4.3.8 But with King Perseus defeated, Paulus, when with Macedonian resources he had to such an extent satisfied the ancient and hereditary poverty of our city that at that time for the first time the Roman people were freed from the burden of paying tribute, made his Penates in no respect richer, deeming that it had gone splendidly for him, because from that victory others had seized money, he himself glory.

4.3.9 Atque huic animi eius iudicio Q. Fabius Gurges, N. F Pictor, Q. Ogulnius subscripserunt. qui legati Ptolomaeum regem missi munera, quae ab eo priuatim acceperant, in aerarium, et quidem prius quam ad senatum legationem referrent, detulerunt, scilicet de publico ministerio nihil cuiquam praeter laudem bene administrati officii accedere debere iudicantes. iam illud humanitatis senatus et attentae maiorum disciplinae indicium est: data sunt enim legatis quae in aerarium reposuerant non solum patrum conscriptorum decreto, sed etiam populi permissu ~ rum at quem legata quaestores prompta uni cuique distribuerunt.

4.3.9 And to this judgment of his spirit Q. Fabius Gurges, N. F Pictor, [and] Q. Ogulnius subscribed. These, sent as legates to King Ptolemy, brought into the treasury the gifts which they had received from him privately, and indeed before they reported their legation to the Senate—plainly judging that from a public ministry nothing ought to accrue to anyone except the praise of a well-administered office. And that, moreover, is a sign of the humanity of the Senate and of the attentive discipline of our ancestors: for there were given back to the legates the things which they had deposited in the treasury not only by decree of the enrolled fathers, but also by the permission of the people ~ rum at quem the quaestors distributed the gifts, ready to hand, to each and every one.

ita in isdem Ptolomaei liberalitas, legatorum abstinentia, senatus ac populi aequitas debitam probabilis facti portionem obtinuit.

thus on that same occasion the liberality of Ptolemy, the abstinence of the envoys, and the equity of the senate and people obtained the due portion of a commendable deed.

4.3.10 Fabiorum et Ogulni continentiae Calpurnium Pisonem in consimili genere laudis aemulum fuisse res ipsa documento est. consul graui fugitiuorum bello a se liberata Sicilia eos, quorum praecipua opera usus fuerat, imperatorio more donis prosequebatur. inter quos filium suum aliquot locis proeliatum fortissime titulo trium librarum aureae coronae decorauit praefatus non oportere a magistratu e publica pecunia erogari quod in ipsius domum rediturum esset tantumque ponderis se testamento adulescenti legaturum promisit, ut honorem publice a duce, pretium priuatim a patre reciperet.

4.3.10 That Calpurnius Piso was an emulator, in a similar kind of praise, of the continence of the Fabii and of Ogulnius, the fact itself is proof. As consul, when Sicily had been freed by him from a grave war of fugitives, he, in imperatorial manner, pursued with gifts those whose outstanding service he had employed. Among them he adorned his own son, who had fought most bravely in several places, with the title of a golden crown of three pounds, premising that it was not proper for a magistrate to disburse from public money that which would return into his own house; and he promised that he would bequeath by will to the youth as much weight, so that he might receive the honor publicly from the commander, the price privately from the father.

4.3.11 Age, si quis hoc saeculo uir inluster pellibus haedinis pro stragulis utatur tribusque seruis comitatus Hispaniam regat et quingentorum assium sumptu transmarinam prouinciam petat, eodem cibo eodemque uino quo nautae contentus sit, nonne miserabilis existimetur? atqui ista patientissime superior Cato tolerauit, quia illum grata frugalitatis consuetudo in hoc genere uitae cum summa dulcedine continebat.

4.3.11 Come, if in this age some illustrious man were to use kid-skins for bed-covers and, accompanied by three slaves, govern Spain and seek a transmarine province at an expense of five hundred asses, being content with the same food and the same wine as the sailors, would he not be deemed pitiable? And yet the earlier Cato endured these things most patiently, because a welcome custom of frugality kept him in this manner of life with the greatest sweetness.

4.3.12 Multum a prisca continentia spatio annorum posterior Cato discedit, utpote in ciuitate iam diuite et lautitia gaudente natus. is tamen, cum bellis ciuilibus interesset, filium secum trahens xii seruos habuit, numero plures quam superior, temporum diuersis moribus pauciores.

4.3.12 The later Cato departs far from the pristine continence by the span of years, inasmuch as he was born in a state already rich and rejoicing in luxury. He, however, when he was engaged in civil wars, bringing his son along with him, had 12 slaves, more in number than the former, but, the manners of the times being different, fewer.

4.3.13 Exultat animus maximorum uirorum memoriam percurrens. Scipio Aemilianus post duos inclytos consulatus totidemque suae praecipuae gloriae triumphos septem seruis sequentibus officio legationis functus est. et, puto, Karthaginis ac Numantiae spoliis conparare plures potuerat, nisi operum suorum ad se laudem, manubias ad patriam redundare maluisset.

4.3.13 My spirit exults as it runs through the memory of the greatest men. Scipio Aemilianus, after two illustrious consulships and just as many triumphs of his especial glory, with seven slaves following, fulfilled the duty of a legation. And, I think, by the spoils of Carthage and Numantia he could have procured more, had he not preferred that the praise of his works should redound to himself, and the manubiae to his fatherland.

itaque, cum per socios et exteras gentes iter faceret, non mancipia eius, sed uictoriae numerabantur, nec quantum auri et argenti, sed quantum amplitudinis pondus secum ferret aestimabatur.

and so, when he made his journey through allies and foreign nations, it was not his slaves but his victories that were counted, and it was not how much gold and silver, but how great a weight of magnitude he carried with him that was assessed.

4.3.14 Continentia uero etiam in uniuersae plebis animis saepe numero cognita est, sed abunde erit ex his duo exempla longe inter se distantium saeculorum retulisse. Pyrrus impetus sui terrore soluto ac iam Epiroticis armis languentibus beniuolentiam populi Romani mercari, quia uirtutem debilitare nequiuerat, cupiens paene totum regiarum opum apparatum in urbem nostram transtulerat. ceterum cum et magni pretii et uarii generis a legatis eius tam uirorum quam feminarum apta usui munera circa domos ferrentur, nulla cuiquam dono ianua patuit, Tarentinaeque petulantiae animosus magis quam efficax defensor haud scio maiore cum gloria huius urbis moribus repulsus sit.

4.3.14 Continence indeed has often and many times been recognized even in the minds of the entire plebs, but it will be ample to have related from these two examples of ages far distant from each other. Pyrrhus, with the terror of his onrush dissolved and now with Epirote arms languishing, desiring to purchase the benevolence of the Roman people, since he had been unable to debilitate their virtue, had transferred almost the whole apparatus of royal resources into our city. Moreover, when gifts of great price and of various kinds, suitable for the use both of men and of women, were being carried about to the houses by his envoys, no door opened to any man’s gift, and the spirited rather than effective defender of Tarentine petulance—I hardly know whether with greater glory—was repulsed by this city’s morals .

In illa quoque procella, quam C. Marius et L. Cinna rei publicae inflixerant, abstinentia populi Romani mirifica conspecta est: nam cum a se proscriptorum penates uulgi manibus diripiendos obiecissent, inueniri nemo potuit, qui ciuili luctu praedam peteret: unus enim quisque se ab his perinde ac si a sacris aedibus abstinuit. quae quidem tam misericors continentia plebis tacitum crudelium uictorum conuicium fuit.

Even in that tempest which Gaius Marius and Lucius Cinna had inflicted upon the commonwealth, the marvelous abstinence of the Roman people was beheld: for when they had exposed the homes of the proscribed to be plundered by the hands of the mob, no one could be found who would seek booty in civil mourning; for each individual kept himself away from these things just as if from sacred buildings. And this indeed so merciful continence of the plebs was a silent reproach to the cruel victors.

4.3.ext.1 Ac ne eiusdem laudis commemorationem externis inuideamus, Pericles Atheniensium princeps, cum tragoediarum scriptorem Sophoclea in praetura collegam haberet, atque is publico officio una districtus pueri ingenui praetereuntis formam inpensioribus uerbis laudasset, intemperantiam eius increpans dixit praetoris non solum manus a pecuniae lucro, sed etiam oculos a libidinoso aspectu continentes esse debere.

4.3.ext.1 And lest we begrudge to foreigners the commemoration of the same praise, Pericles, leader of the Athenians, when he had Sophocles, the writer of tragedies, as colleague in the praetorship, and when that man, occupied together with him by public office, had praised with rather lavish words the form of a passing freeborn boy, rebuking his intemperance he said that not only should a praetor’s hands be continent from the profit of money, but his eyes also from a libidinous gaze.

4.3.ext.2 Sophocles autem aetate iam senior, cum ab eo quidam quaereret an etiam nunc rebus ueneriis uteretur, 'di meliora!' inquit: 'libenter enim istinc tamquam ex aliqua furiosa profugi dominatione'.

4.3.ext.2 But Sophocles, now elder in age, when someone asked him whether even now he made use of venereal matters, said, 'May the gods grant better! For I have gladly fled from that, as from some frenzied domination.'

4.3.ext.3 Aeque abstinentis senectae Xenocratem fuisse accepimus. cuius opinionis non parua fides erit narratio, quae sequitur. in peruigilio Phryne nobile Athenis scortum iuxta eum uino grauem accubuit pignore cum quibusdam iuuenibus posito, an temperantiam eius corrumpere posset.

4.3.ext.3 We have learned that Xenocrates was of an equally abstinent old age. No small credence to this opinion will be the account which follows. At an all-night vigil Phryne, a renowned courtesan at Athens, reclined next to him, heavy with wine, a wager having been placed with certain young men as to whether she could corrupt his temperance.

quam nec tactu nec sermone aspernatus, quoad uoluerat in sinu suo moratam, propositi inritam dimisit. factum sapientia inbuti animi abstinens, sed meretriculae quoque dictum perquam facetum: deridentibus enim se adulescentibus, quod tam formosa tamque elegans poti senis animum inlecebris pellicere non potuisset, pactumque uictoriae pretium flagitantibus de homine se cum iis, non de statua pignus posuisse respondit. potestne haec Xenocratis continentia a quoquam magis uere magisque proprie demonstrari quam ab ipsa meretricula expressa est?

whom he rejected neither by touch nor by speech; having lingered in his bosom as long as she wished, he sent her away, her purpose frustrated. A deed of a mind imbued with wisdom, abstinent; but the little prostitute’s remark too was exceedingly facetious: for when the young men were mocking her, because so beautiful and so elegant she had not been able to entice with allurements the mind of the drunken old man, and were demanding the price of the victory that had been agreed, she replied that she had laid the wager with them about a man, not about a statue. Can this continence of Xenocrates be shown by anyone more truly and more properly than it was expressed by the prostitute herself?

Phryne pulchritudine sua nulla parte constantissimam eius abstinentiam labefecit: quid? rex Alexander diuitiis quatere potuit? ab illo quoque statuam et quidem aeque frustra temptatam putes.

Phryne, by her beauty, in no part undermined his most constant abstinence: what then? Could King Alexander shake it with riches? From that man too you would think a statue—and indeed one attempted equally in vain—had been assailed.

legatos ad eum cum aliquot talentis miserat. quos in academiam perductos solito sibi, id est modico apparatu et admodum paruulis copiis excepit. postero die interrogantibus cuinam adnumerari pecuniam uellet, 'quid?

He had sent envoys to him with several talents. When they had been conducted into the Academy, he received them with what was customary for himself, that is, with modest apparatus and very small resources. On the next day, when they asked to whom he wished the money to be credited, "What?"

uos' inquit 'hesterna cena non intellexistis ea me non indigere?' ita rex philosophi amicitiam emere uoluit, philosophus regi suam uendere noluit.

'Did you,' he says, 'not understand from yesterday’s dinner that I do not need those things?' Thus the king wished to buy the philosopher’s friendship; the philosopher was unwilling to sell his to the king.

4.3.ext.4 Alexander uero cognomen inuicti adsecutus continentiam Diogenis cynici uincere non potuit. ad quem cum in sole sedentem accessisset hortareturque ut, si qua praestari sibi uellet, indicaret, quemadmodum erat in crepidine conlocatus, sordidae appellationis, sed robustae uir praestantiae, 'mox' inquit 'de ceteris, interim uelim a sole mihi non obstes'. quibus uerbis illa nimirum inhaesit sententia: Alexander Diogenen gradu suo diuitiis pellere temptat, celerius Dareum armis. Idem Syracusis, cum holera ei lauanti Aristippus dixisset, si 'Dionysium adulari uelles, ista non esses', 'immo', inquit 'si tu ista esse uelles, non adulare Dionysium'.

4.3.ext.4 Alexander, indeed, though he had attained the cognomen of the Unconquered, could not conquer the continence of Diogenes the Cynic. When he had approached him as he sat in the sun and was urging him to indicate, if there were anything he wished to be provided to him, being as he was situated on the step—a man of sordid appellation, but of robust excellence—he said, 'Presently about the rest; in the meantime I would like you not to stand in the way of my sun.' With these words, assuredly that sententia adhered: Alexander tries to drive Diogenes from his grade by his riches, Darius more quickly by arms. The same man at Syracuse, when Aristippus had said to him as he was washing vegetables, 'If you were willing to flatter Dionysius, you would not be this,' he said, 'Nay rather, if you were willing to be this sort, you would not flatter Dionysius'.

4.4.init. Maxima ornamenta esse matronis liberos, apud Pomponium Rufum collectorum libro * sic inuenimus: Cornelia Gracchorum mater, cum Campana matrona apud illam hospita ornamenta sua pulcherrima illius saeculi ostenderet, traxit eam sermone, e schola redirent liberi, et 'haec' inquit 'ornamenta sunt mea'. omnia nimirum habet qui nihil concupiscit, eo quidem certius ~ quam cuncta possidet, quia dominium rerum conlabi solet, bonae mentis usurpatio nullum tristioris fortunae recipit incursum. itaque quorsum attinet aut diuitias in prima felicitatis parte aut paupertatem in ultimo miseriarum statu ponere, cum et illarum frons hilaris multis intus amaritudinibus sit referta et huius horridior aspectus solidis et certis bonis abundet?

4.4.init. That the greatest ornaments for matrons are their children, in Pomponius Rufus’s book of Collections * thus we find: Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, when a Campanian matron, being a guest at her house, was showing her ornaments, the most beautiful of that age, drew her out with conversation, her children returned from school, and said, “these are my ornaments.” Plainly he has everything who covets nothing, and that indeed more surely ~ than he who possesses all things, because ownership of things is wont to slip away, whereas the use of a good mind admits no incursion of a sadder fortune. Therefore, to what end is it to place either riches in the first rank of happiness or poverty in the last state of miseries, since the cheerful brow of the former is crammed within with many bitternesses, and the rougher aspect of the latter abounds with solid and certain goods?

quod melius personis quam uerbis repraesentabitur.

which will be better represented by persons than by words.

4.4.1 Regio imperio propter nimiam Tarquinii superbiam finito consulatus initium Valerius Publicola cum Iunio Bruto auspicatus est idemque postea tres consulatus acceptissimos populo Romano gessit et plurimorum ac maximorum operum praetexto titulum imaginum suarum amplificauit, cum interim fastorum illud columen patrimonio ne ad exequiarum quidem inpensam sufficiente decessit, ideoque publica pecunia ductae sunt. non adtinet ulteriore disputatione tanti uiri paupertatem scrutari: abunde enim patet quid uiuus possederit, cui mortuo lectus funebris et rogus defuit.

4.4.1 With the royal power brought to an end on account of Tarquinius’s excessive arrogance, Valerius Publicola, together with Junius Brutus, inaugurated the beginning of the consulship; and the same man afterwards held three consulships most acceptable to the Roman people, and amplified the title of his images with the pretext of very many and very great works, while meanwhile that pillar of the Fasti died with his patrimony not even sufficient for the expense of the funeral rites, and so they were conducted at public expense. It is not pertinent by further disputation to probe the poverty of so great a man: for it is abundantly clear what he possessed while alive, for whom when dead a funeral couch and a pyre were lacking.

4.4.2 Quantae amplitudinis Menenium Agrippam fuisse arbitremur, quem senatus et plebs pacis in se faciendae auctorem legit? quantae scilicet esse debuit arbiter publicae salutis. hic, nisi a populo conlatis in capita sextantibus funeratus esset,++ita pecuniae inops decessit++sepulturae honore caruisset.

4.4.2 Of how great a magnitude do we judge Menenius Agrippa to have been, whom the senate and the plebs chose as the author of making peace between themselves? Of how great, to be sure, he ought to have been—the arbiter of the public safety. This man, unless he had been buried by the people with sextantes contributed per head, ++so destitute of money did he die++ would have lacked the honor of burial.

uerum idcirco perniciosa seditione diuidua ciuitas manibus Agrippae in unum contrahi uoluit, quia eas pauperes quidem, sed sanctas animaduerterat. cuius ut superstitis nullum fuit, quod in censum deferretur, ita extincti hodieque amplissimum est patrimonium Romana concordia.

But for this reason the city, divided by pernicious sedition, wished to be contracted into one by Agrippa’s hands, because it had observed them to be poor indeed, but sacred. Of him, while surviving, there was nothing to be entered in the census; so of him, now extinct, even today the most ample patrimony is Roman concord.

4.4.3 In C. uero Fabricii et Q. Aemilii Papi prin cipum saeculi sui domibus argentum fuisse confitear oportet: uterque enim patellam deorum et salinum habuit, sed eo lautius Fabricius, quod patellam suam corneo pediculo sustineri uoluit. Papus quoque satis animose, qui cum hereditatis nomine ea accepisset, religionis causa abalienanda non putauit.

4.4.3 Indeed, in the houses of Gaius Fabricius and Quintus Aemilius Papus, leaders of their age, it must be confessed that there was silver: for each had a dish of the gods and a salt-cellar, but Fabricius was the more “polished” in that he wished his dish to be supported by a little horn foot. Papus too acted quite spiritedly, who, when he had received these as an inheritance, did not think they ought to be alienated for reasons of religion.

4.4.4 Illi etiam praediuites, qui ab aratro arcessebantur, ut consules fierent, uoluptatis causa sterile atque aestuosissimum Pupiniae solum uersabant deliciarumque gratia uastissimas glebas plurimo cum sudore dissipabant? immo uero, quos pericula rei publicae imperatores adserebant, angustiae rei familiaris++quid cesso proprium nomen ueritati reddere?++bubulcos fieri cogebant.

4.4.4 Were even those very rich men, who were summoned from the plow so that they might become consuls, for the sake of pleasure turning the sterile and most sweltering soil of Pupinia, and for the sake of delights breaking up the most massive clods with very much sweat? Nay rather, those whom the dangers of the commonwealth were proclaiming as generals, the straits of their private estate++why do I delay to restore the proper name to truth?++were compelling to become oxherds.

4.4.5 Atilium autem, qui ad eum arcessendum a senatu missi erant ad imperium populi Romani suscipiendum, semen spargentem uiderunt. sed illae rustico opere adtritae manus salutem publicam stabilierunt, ingentes hostium copias pessum dederunt, quaeque modo arantium boum iugum rexerant, triumphalis currus habenas retinuerunt, nec fuit his rubor eburneo scipione deposito agrestem stiuam aratri repetere. potest pauperes consolari Atilius, sed multo magis docere locupletes quam non sit necessaria solidae laudis cupidini anxia diuitiarum conparatio.

4.4.5 But they saw Atilius, whom the men sent by the senate to summon him for assuming the imperium of the Roman people had come to fetch, scattering seed. Yet those hands, worn by rustic work, established the public safety, cast down to ruin vast forces of the enemies, and the same hands which just now had guided the yoke of plowing oxen held the reins of the triumphal chariot; nor was there for them any blush with the eburnean scepter laid aside to take up again the rustic plow-handle. Atilius can console the poor, but much more can teach the wealthy how an anxious accumulation of riches is not necessary for a solid desire for praise.

4.4.6 Eiusdem nominis et sanguinis Atilius Regulus, primi Punici belli qua gloria, qua clades maxima, cum in Africa insolentissimae Karthaginis opes crebris uictoriis contunderet ac prorogatum sibi ob bene gestas res in proximum annum imperium cognosset, consulibus scripsit uilicum in agello, quem vii iugerum in Pupinia habebat, mortuum esse, occasionemque nanctum mercennarium amoto inde rustico instrumento discessisse, ideoque petere ut sibi successor mitteretur, ne deserto agro non esset unde uxor ac liberi sui alerentur. quae postquam senatus a consulibus accepit, et agrum Atili ilico colendum locari et alimenta coniugi eius acliberis praeberi resque, quas amiserat, redimi publice iussit. tanti aerario nostro uirtutis Atilianae exemplum, quo omnis aetas Romana gloriabitur, stetit.

4.4.6 Atilius Regulus, of the same name and blood, in the First Punic War was marked as much by glory as by a very great disaster; when in Africa he was bruising the resources of most insolent Carthage with frequent victories and learned that, on account of his well-conducted deeds, his imperium had been prorogued into the next year, he wrote to the consuls that the bailiff on the little plot which he had of 7 iugera in Pupinia was dead, and that a hireling, having found the opportunity, after the rustic equipment had been removed from there, had departed; and therefore he sought that a successor be sent to him, lest, with the field abandoned, there be no source whence his wife and his children might be supported. After the senate received these things from the consuls, it ordered both that Atilius’s field be immediately leased out for cultivation and that sustenance be provided to his wife and children, and that the goods which he had lost be redeemed at public expense. So much did the example of Atilian virtue—whereof every Roman age will boast—cost our aerarium.

4.4.7 Aeque magna latifundia L. Quinti Cincinnati fuerunt: vii enim iugera agri possedit ex hisque tria, quae pro amico ad aerarium subsignauerat, multae nomine amisit. poenam quoque pro filio Caesone, quod ad causam dicendam non occurrisset, huius agelli reditu soluit. et tamen ei quattuor iugera aranti non solum dignitas patris familiae constitit, sed etiam dictatura delata est.

4.4.7 Equally “great” were the broad estates of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus: for he possessed 7 iugera of land, and of these three—which he had countersigned to the treasury on behalf of a friend—he lost by way of a fine. He also paid the penalty for his son Caeso, because he had not appeared to plead his case, with the revenue of this little field. And yet for him, as he was plowing four iugera, not only did the dignity of a paterfamilias stand firm, but even the dictatorship was conferred upon him.

anguste se habitare nunc putat cuius domus tantum patet, quantum Cincinnati rura patuerunt.

He now thinks he lives narrowly whose house extends only as far as Cincinnatus’s rural lands extended.

4.4.8 Quid Aelia familia, quam locuples! xvi eodem tempore Aeli fuerunt, quibus una domuncula erat eodem loci, quo nunc sunt Mariana monumenta, et unus in agro Veiente fundus minus multos cultores desiderans quam dominos habebat inque circo maximo et Flaminio spectaculi locus. quae quidem loca ob uirtutem publice donata possidebant.

4.4.8 What of the Aelian family, how wealthy! There were 16 Aelii at the same time, and they had a single little house in the same spot where now are the Marian monuments, and one estate in the Veientine countryside, needing fewer cultivators than it had owners, and in the Circus Maximus and the Flaminius a place for spectacle. Which places indeed they possessed as publicly donated on account of their virtue.

4.4.9 Eadem gens nullum ante scripulum argenti habuit quam Paulus Perse deuicto Q. Aelio Tuberoni genero suo quinque pondo argenti ex praeda donaret: taceo enim quod princeps ciuitatis filiam ei nuptum dedit, cuius pecunia tam ieiunos penates uidebat. qui ipse quodque adeo inops decessit, ut, nisi fundus, quem unum reliquerat, uenisset, unde uxor eius dotem reciperet non extitisset. animi uirorum et feminarum uigebant in ciuitate, eorumque bonis dignitatis aestimatio cunctis in rebus ponderabatur.

4.4.9 The same clan had not possessed even a scruple of silver until, Perseus having been conquered by Paulus, he gave to Q. Aelius Tubero, his son‑in‑law, 5 pounds of silver from the booty; I am silent about the fact that the foremost man of the state gave his daughter to him in marriage, though he saw his household so starved of money. He himself also died so destitute that, unless the farm, the only one he had left, had been sold, there would not have existed whence his wife might recover her dowry. The spirits of men and of women flourished in the commonwealth, and the estimation of dignity by their good qualities was weighed in all matters.

haec imperia conciliabant, haec iungebant adfinitates, haec in foro, haec intra priuatos parietes plurimum poterant: patriae enim rem unus quisque, non suam augere properabat pauperque in diuite quam diues in paupere imperio uersari malebat. atque huic tam praeclaro proposito illa merces reddebatur, quod nihil eorum, quae uirtuti debentur, emere pecunia licebat, inopiaeque inlustrium uirorum publice succurrebatur.

These secured commands, these joined affinities by marriage, these in the forum, these within private walls were most powerful: for each person was hastening to augment the fatherland’s interest, not his own, and the poor man preferred to be engaged in command over the rich rather than the rich in command over the poor. And to this so preeminent a purpose that recompense was rendered, that none of those things which are owed to virtue was permitted to be bought with money, and the want of illustrious men was succored publicly.

4.4.10 Itaque, cum secundo Punico bello Cn. Scipio ex Hispania senatui scripsisset petens ut sibi successor mitteretur, quia filiam uirginem adultae iam aetatis haberet, neque ei sine se dos expediri posset, senatus, ne res publica bono duce careret, patris sibi partes desumpsit consilioque uxoris ac propinquorum Scipionis constituta dote summam eius ex aerario erogauit ac puellam nuptum dedit. dotis modus xl milia aeris fuit, quo non solum humanitas patrum conscriptorum, sed etiam habitus ueterum patrimoniorum cognosci potest: namque adeo fuerunt arta, ut Tuccia Caesonis filia maximam dotem ad uirum x aeris attulisse uisa sit, et Megullia, quia cum quinquaginta milibus aeris mariti domum intrauit, Dotatae cognomen inuenerit. idem senatus Fabricii Luscini Scipionisque filias ab indotatis nuptiis liberalitate sua uindicauit, quoniam paternae hereditati praeter opimam gloriam nihil erat quod acceptum referrent.

4.4.10 And so, when in the Second Punic War Cn. Scipio had written from Spain to the senate, asking that a successor be sent to him, because he had a daughter, a virgin now of full-grown age, and her dowry could not be made ready without him, the senate, lest the commonwealth be deprived of a good leader, took upon itself a father’s part, and, with the counsel of Scipio’s wife and relatives, the dowry having been set, disbursed its sum from the public treasury and gave the girl in marriage. The measure of the dowry was 40,000 asses, from which not only the humanity of the enrolled fathers, but also the condition of ancient patrimonies can be known: for they were so straitened that Tuccia, daughter of Caeso, was seen to have brought to her husband the greatest dowry of 10 asses, and Megullia, because she entered her husband’s house with 50,000 asses, found the cognomen “Dotata.” The same senate rescued by its liberality the daughters of Fabricius Luscinus and of Scipio from undowered marriages, since in their paternal inheritance, besides opulent glory, there was nothing that they could set down as received.

4.4.11 M. autem Scaurus quantulam a patre hereditatem acceperit in primo libro eorum, quos de uita sua tres scripsit, refert: ait enim sibi sex sola mancipia totumque censum quinque atque xxx milium nummum relictum. in hac ille pecunia futurus senatus princeps nutritus est spiritus.

4.4.11 But M. Scaurus reports in the first book of those three which he wrote about his life: for he says that only six slaves and his whole estate of 35,000 coins were left to him. On this money his spirit, destined to be the future princeps of the senate, was nourished.

Haec igitur exempla respicere, his adquiescere solaciis debemus, qui paruulos census nostros numquam querellis uacuos esse sinimus. nullum aut admodum parui ponderis argentum, paucos seruos, vii iugera aridae terrae, indigentia domesticae inpensae funera, inopes dotum filias, sed egregios consulatus, mirificas dictaturas, innumerabiles triumphos cernimus. quid ergo modicam fortunam quasi praecipuum generis humani malum diurnis <atque> nocturnis conuiciis laceramus, quae ut non abundantibus, ita fidis uberibus Publicolas, Aemilios, Fabricios, Curios, Scipiones, Scauros hisque paria robora uirtutis aluit.

Therefore we ought to look back to these examples, to acquiesce in these consolations, we who never allow our modest means to be free of complaints. We behold no silver, or silver of very slight weight; a few slaves; 7 iugera of arid land; funerals carried out with indigent household outlay; daughters poor in dowries; yet distinguished consulships, wondrous dictatorships, innumerable triumphs. Why, then, do we lacerate moderate fortune, as though it were the chief evil of the human race, with daily and nightly revilings—she who, though not with abundant, yet with faithful breasts, nourished the Publicolae, the Aemilii, the Fabricii, the Curii, the Scipios, the Scauri, and strengths of virtue equal to these?

exurgamus potius animis pecuniaeque aspectu debilitatos spiritus pristini temporis memoria recreemus: namque per Romuli casam perque ueteris Capitolii humilia tecta et aeternos Vestae focos fictilibus etiam nunc uasis contentos iuro nullas diuitias talium uirorum paupertati posse praeferri.

Let us rather rise up in mind and refresh, by the memory of pristine time, spirits debilitated by the aspect of money: for by Romulus’s cottage, and by the humble roofs of the ancient Capitol, and the eternal hearths of Vesta, even now content with earthen vessels, I swear that no riches can be preferred to the poverty of such men.

4.5.init A qua tempestiuus ad uerecundiam transitus uidetur: haec enim iustissimis uirispraecepit ut priuatas facultates neglegerent, publicas quam amplissimas esse cuperent, digna cui perinde atque caelesti numini templa extruantur araeque consecrentur, quia parens est omnis honesti consilii, tutela sollemnium officiorum, magistra innocentiae, cara proximis, accepta alienis, omni loco, omni tempore fauorabilem prae se ferens uultum.

4.5.init From which a more seasonable transition to Modesty seems: for she instructed the most just men to neglect private means, to desire that public ones be as ample as possible, worthy that, just as to a celestial numen, temples be erected for her and altars consecrated, since she is the parent of every honest counsel, the tutelage of solemn offices, the schoolmistress of innocence, dear to neighbors, acceptable to outsiders, in every place, at every time bearing before her a favorable countenance.

4.5.1 Sed ut a laudibus eius ad facta ueniamus, a condita urbe usque ad Africanum et Ti. Longum consules promiscuus senatui et populo spectandorum ludorum locus erat. numquam tamen quisquam ex plebe ante patres conscriptos in theatro spectare sus tinuit: adeo circumspecta ciuitatis nostrae uerecundia fuit. quae quidem certissimum sui documentum etiam illo die exhibuit, quo L. Flamininus extrema in parte theatri constitit, quia a M. Catone et L. Flacco censoribus senatu m fuerat, consulatus iam honore defunctus, frater etiam T. Flaminini Macedoniae Philippique uictoris: omnes enim transire eum in locum dignitati suae debitum coegerunt.

4.5.1 But, so that we may come from his praises to deeds, from the city’s founding up to the consuls Africanus and Tiberius Longus there was a common place for the senate and the people for viewing the games. Nevertheless, never did anyone from the plebs endure to watch in the theater before the enrolled fathers: so circumspect was the modesty of our commonwealth. And indeed it displayed the surest proof of itself even on that day on which Lucius Flamininus stood in the farthest part of the theater, because he had been removed from the senate by the censors Marcus Cato and Lucius Flaccus—already having discharged the honor of the consulship, and even the brother of Titus Flamininus, the victor over Macedonia and Philip—for all compelled him to pass over into the place owed to his dignity.

4.5.2 Confregit rem publicam Terentius Varro Cannensis pugnae temerario ingressu. idem delatam ab uniuerso senatu et populo dictaturam recipere non sustinendo pudore culpam maximae cladis redemit effecitque ut acies deorum irae, modestia ipsius moribus imputaretur. itaque titulo imaginis eius speciosius non recepta dictatura quam aliorum gesta adscribi potest.

4.5.2 Terentius Varro shattered the Republic by a rash entry into the battle of Cannae. The same man, by a pudor that did not endure to receive the dictatorship offered by the entire Senate and People, redeemed the blame of the greatest disaster, and brought it about that the battle be imputed to the wrath of the gods, his modesty to his own morals. And thus to the title of his image it can be more splendidly ascribed: dictatorship not accepted, than the deeds achieved by others.

4.5.3 Nos autem ad praeclarum uerecundiae opus transgrediamur. magna cum inuidia fortuna praetoriis comitiis Africani superioris filium Cn. Scipionem et scribam C. Cicereium in campum deduxerat, utque nimis inpotens sermone uulgi carpebatur, quod tanti uiri sanguinem clientelamque comitiali certamine confuderat. ceterum crimen eius in suam laudem Cicereius conuertit: nam ut uidit omnibus se centuriis Scipioni anteferri, templo descendit abiectaque candida toga conpetitoris sui suffragatorem agere coepit, ut scilicet praeturam melius Africani memoriae concederet quam sibi uindicaret.

4.5.3 But let us pass over to a distinguished work of modesty. With great envy, Fortune had led down into the field at the praetorian comitia the son of Africanus the elder, Cn. Scipio, and the scribe C. Cicereius; and she was being attacked by the talk of the crowd as too over-mighty, because she had confounded the blood and clientage of so great a man with a comitial contest. But Cicereius turned that charge into his own praise: for when he saw that he was being preferred to Scipio by all the centuries, he came down from the temple, and, having cast off the white toga, began to act as the suffragator of his competitor, so that, plainly, he might better concede the praetorship to the memory of Africanus than claim it for himself.

~ nec maximum esse uerecundiae pretium: Scipio tunc honorem adeptus est, sed [si] Cicereio magis gratulati sunt.

~ nor is the reward of modesty the greatest: Scipio then obtained the office, but [si] they congratulated Cicereius more.

4.5.4 Ac ne protinus comitiis abeamus, consulatum petens L. Crassus, cum omnium candidatorum more circum forum supplex populo ire cogeretur, numquam adduci potuit ut id praesente Q. Scaeuola grauissimo et sapientissimo uiro, socero suo, faceret. itaque rogabat eum ut a se, dum ineptae rei inseruiret, discederet, maiorem uerecundiam dignitatis eius quam candidae togae suae respectum agens.

4.5.4 And lest we depart straightaway from the elections, L. Crassus, seeking the consulship, when, according to the custom of all candidates, he was compelled to go around the forum as a suppliant to the people, could never be induced to do that with Q. Scaeuola, a most grave and most sapient man, his father-in-law, present. And so he would ask him to withdraw from him while he was attending to that inept affair, paying greater modesty to his dignity than regard to his own white toga.

4.5.5 Pompeius autem Magnus Pharsalica acie uictus a Caesare, cum postero die Larisam intraret, oppidique illius uniuersus populus obuiam ei processisset, 'ite' inquit 'et istud officium praestate uictori', dicerem, non dignus qui uinceretur, nisi a Caesare esset superatus, certe modestus in calamitate: nam quia dignitate sua uti iam non poterat, usus est uerecundia.

4.5.5 But Pompey the Great, defeated by Caesar in the Pharsalic battle, when on the next day he entered Larissa, and the entire populace of that town had come out to meet him, said, 'go and render that duty to the victor'; I would say, not one worthy to be conquered—unless it were by Caesar—surely modest in calamity: for since he could no longer make use of his dignity, he made use of modesty.

4.5.6 Quam praecipuam in C. quoque Caesare fuisse et saepe numero apparuit et ultimus eius dies significauit: conpluribus enim parricidarum uiolatus mucronibus inter ipsum illud tempus, quo diuinus spiritus mortali discernebatur a corpore, ne tribus quidem et xx uulneribus quin uerecundiae obsequeretur absterreri potuit, si quidem utraque togam manu demisit, ut inferior pars corporis tecta conlaberetur. in hunc modum non homines expirant, sed di immortales sedes suas repetunt.

4.5.6 How preeminent it was in Gaius Caesar too both often appeared, and his last day made it manifest: for, pierced by the blades of parricides in great number, in that very moment when the divine spirit was being separated from the mortal body, not even by 23 wounds could he be deterred from yielding obedience to modesty, since indeed he let down his toga with both hands, so that, as he collapsed, the lower part of his body was covered. In this manner it is not men who expire, but the immortal gods revisit their seats.

4.5.ext.1 Quod sequitur externis adnectam, quia ante gestum est quam Etruriae ciuitas daretur. excellentis in ea regione pulchritudinis adulescens nomine Spurinna, cum mira specie conplurium feminarum inlustrium sollicitaret oculos ideoque uiris ac parentibus earum se suspectum esse sentiret, oris decorem uulneribus confudit deformitatemque sanctitatis suae fidem quam formam inritamentum alienae libidinis esse maluit.

4.5.ext.1 What follows I shall annex to the foreign examples, because it was done before citizenship was granted to Etruria. A youth of excellent beauty in that region by the name Spurinna, since with the wondrous appearance he was soliciting the eyes of several illustrious women and therefore perceived that he was suspected by their husbands and parents, confounded the comeliness of his face with wounds, and preferred that disfigurement be the proof of his sanctity rather than that his form be an incitement of another’s lust.

4.5.ext.2 Athenis quidam ultimae senectutis, cum spectatum ludos in theatrum uenisset, eumque nemo e ciuibus sessum reciperet, ad Lacedaemoniorum legatos forte peruenit. qui hominis aetate moti canos eius et annos adsurgendi officio uenerati sunt sedemque ei inter ipsos honoratissimo loco dederunt. quod ubi fieri populus aspexit, maximo plausu alienae urbis uerecundiam conprobauit.

4.5.ext.2 At Athens, a certain man of extreme old age, when he had come into the theater to watch the games and no one of the citizens would receive him to a seat, happened by chance to come to the envoys of the Lacedaemonians. They, moved by the man’s age, honored his gray hairs and years with the duty of rising, and gave him a seat among themselves in the most honorable place. When the people saw this being done, with the greatest applause they approved the deference of a foreign city.

ferunt tunc unum e Lacedaemoniis dixisse 'ergo Athenienses quid sit rectum sciunt, sed id facere neglegunt'.

they report that then one of the Lacedaemonians said, 'therefore the Athenians know what is right, but they neglect to do it'.

4.6.init. A placido et leni adfectu ad aeque honestum, uerum aliquanto ardentiorem et concitatiorem pergam legitimique amoris quasi quasdam imagines non sine maxima ueneratione contemplandas lectoris oculis subiciam, ualenter inter coniuges stabilitae fidei opera percurrens, ardua imitatu, ceterum cognosci utilia, quia excellentissima animaduertenti ne mediocria quidem praestare rubori oportet esse.

4.6.init. From a placid and gentle affect I shall proceed to one equally honorable, but somewhat more ardent and more agitated, and I shall set before the reader’s eyes, to be contemplated not without the greatest veneration, as it were certain images of legitimate love, running through the works of a faith valiantly established between spouses—hard to imitate, yet useful to be known—since, for one who observes the most outstanding, it ought not to be a cause of blush to present even mediocre things.

4.6.1 Ti. Gracchus anguibus domi suae mare femina deprehensis, certior factus ab aruspice mare dimisso uxori eius, femina ipsi celerem obitum instare, salutarem coniugi potius quam sibi partem augurii secutus marem necari, feminam dimitti iussit sustinuitque in conspectu suo se ipsum interitu serpentis occidi. itaque Corneliam nescio utrum feliciorem dixerim, quod talem uirum habuerit, an miseriorem, quod amiserit. o te, Thessaliae rex Admete, crudelis et duri facti crimine sub magno iudice damnatum, qui coniugis tuae fata pro tuis permutari passus es, eaque, ne tu extinguere, uoluntario obitu consumpta lucem intueri potuisti, et certe parentum prius indulgentiam temptaueras!

4.6.1 Tiberius Gracchus, when in his own house a male and a female snake had been caught, being made certain by a haruspex that, if the male were released, a swift death was pressing upon his wife, if the female, upon himself, following the part of the augury that was salutary for his spouse rather than for himself, ordered the male to be killed and the female to be released, and he endured, in his own sight, to be himself slain by the serpent’s doom. And so I know not whether I should call Cornelia happier, because she had such a husband, or more wretched, because she lost him. O you, Admetus, king of Thessaly, condemned before a great judge for the crime of a cruel and hard deed—you who allowed your wife’s fates to be exchanged for your own, and, with her consumed by a voluntary death so that you might not be extinguished, were able to look upon the light; and surely you had first tried the indulgence of your parents!

4.6.2 Vilior Graccho iniquae fortunae uictima, quamuis senatorii uir ordinis, C. Plautius Numida, sed in consimili amore par exemplum: morte enim uxoris audita doloris inpotens pectus suum gladio percussit. interuentu deinde domesticorum inceptum exequi prohibitus colligatusque, ut primum occasio data est, scissis fasceis ac uulnere diuolso constanti dextra spiritum luctus acerbitate permixtum ex ipsis praecordiis et uisceribus hausit, tam uiolenta morte testatus quantum maritalis flammae illo pectore clausum habuisset.

4.6.2 A more lowly victim of inequitable Fortune than Gracchus, though a man of the senatorial order, Gaius Plautius Numida—yet in a similar love an equal example: for, on hearing of his wife's death, powerless under grief, he struck his own breast with a sword. Then, prevented by the intervention of his domestics from carrying the attempt through and bound, as soon as an opportunity was given, the bandages torn and the wound ripped open, with a steady right hand he drained his life-breath, commixed with the bitterness of mourning, from his very heart and inwards, by so violent a death attesting how much of the marital flame that breast had enclosed.

4.6.3 Eiusdem ut nominis, ita amoris quoque M. Plautius: nam cum imperio senatus classem sociorum sexaginta nauium in Asiam reduceret Tarentumque appulisset, atque ibi uxor eius Orestilla, quae illuc eum prosecuta fuerat, morbo pressa decessisset, funerata ea et in rogum inposita inter officium unguendi et osculandi stricto ferro incubuit. quem amici, sicut erat, togatum et calceatum corpori coniugis iunxerunt ac deinde subiectis facibus utrumque una cremauerunt. quorum ibi factum sepulcrum est,++Tarenti etiam nunc conspicitur++quod uocatur TVN DUO FILOUNTVN.

4.6.3 Of the same not only in name but also in love was M. Plautius: for when, with the imperium of the Senate, he was bringing back an allied fleet of sixty ships into Asia and had put in at Tarentum, and there his wife Orestilla, who had accompanied him thither, oppressed by illness had died, after she was funerated and placed upon the pyre, in the midst of the office of anointing and kissing he sank down upon a drawn blade. His friends, just as he was, in toga and shod, joined him to the body of his consort and then, torches set beneath, cremated both together as one. Of whom a tomb was made there,++at Tarentum it is even now visible++which is called TVN DUO FILOUNTVN.

nec dubito quin, si quis modo extinctis sensus inest, Plautius et Orestilla fati consortione gestientes uultus tenebris intulerint. saneque, ubi idem et maximus et honestissimus amor est, aliquanto praestat morte iungi quam distrahi uita.

nor do I doubt that, if any sense at all is present to the extinguished, Plautius and Orestilla, exulting in the consortium of fate, brought their countenances into the darkness. and truly, where the same love is both greatest and most honorable, it is considerably better to be joined by death than to be torn apart by life.

4.6.4 Consimilis adfectus Iuliae C. Caesaris filiae adnotatus est. quae, cum aediliciis comitiis Pompei Magni coniugis sui uestem cruore respersam e campo domum relatam uidisset, territa metu ne qua ei uis esset adlata, exanimis concidit partumque, quem utero conceptum habebat, subita animi consternatione et graui dolore corporis eicere coacta est magno quidem cum totius terrarum orbis detrimento, cuius tranquillitas tot ciuilium bellorum truculentissimo furore perturbata non esset, si Caesaris et Pompei concordia communis sanguinis uinculo constricta mansisset.

4.6.4 A similar affectus was noted of Julia, daughter of Gaius Caesar. When, at the aedilician elections, she had seen the garment of Pompey the Great, her husband, besprinkled with gore, carried home from the field, terrified with fear lest some violence had been inflicted on him, she fell senseless and, by a sudden consternation of mind and severe pain of body, was forced to cast out the offspring she had conceived in her womb—indeed with great loss to the whole world, whose tranquility would not have been disturbed by the most truculent frenzy of so many civil wars, if the concord of Caesar and Pompey, bound by the bond of common blood, had remained.

4.6.5 Tuos quoque castissimos ignes, Porcia M. Catonis filia, cuncta saecula debita admiratione prosequentur. quae, cum apud Philippos uictum et interemptum uirum tuum Brutum cognosses, quia ferrum non dabatur, ardentes ore carbones haurire non dubitasti, muliebri spiritu uirilem patris exitum imitata. sed nescio an hoc fortius, quod ille usitato, nouo genere mortis absumpta e.

4.6.5 Your most chaste fires too, Porcia, daughter of M. Cato, all ages will accompany with the admiration that is due. You, when you learned that at Philippi your husband Brutus had been defeated and slain, because iron was not afforded, did not hesitate to drink with your mouth burning coals, with a womanly spirit imitating your father’s manly end. But I do not know whether this was stronger: in that he was taken off by a customary kind of death, while you were consumed by a new kind.

4.6.ext.1 Sunt et alienigeni amores iusti obscuritate ignorantiae non obruti, e quibus paucos attigisse satis erit. gentis Cariae regina Artemisia uirum suum Mausolum fato absumptum quantopere desiderauit leue est post conquisitorum omnis generis honorum monumentique usque ad vii miracula prouecti magnificentiam argumentari: quid enim aut eos colligas aut de illo inclito tumulto loquare, cum ipsa Mausoli uiuum ac spirans sepulcrum fieri concupierit eorum testimonio, qui illam extincti ossa potioni aspersa bibisse tradunt?

4.6.ext.1 There are also alien loves just, not buried by the obscurity of ignorance, of which it will be enough to have touched a few. The queen of the Carian nation, Artemisia—how greatly she longed for her husband Mausolus, consumed by fate—is easy to argue from the honors of every kind that were hunted out and from the magnificence of the monument advanced to the 7 wonders: for why either gather these or speak about that renowned tumult, when she herself desired to become Mausolus’s living and breathing sepulcher, by the testimony of those who hand down that she drank a potion sprinkled with the bones of the deceased?

4.6.ext.2 Hypsicratea quoque regina Mitridatem coniugem suum effusis caritatis habenis amauit, propter quem praecipuum formae suae decorem in habitum uirilem conuertere uoluptatis loco habuit: tonsis enim capillis equo se et armis adsuefecit, quo facilius laboribus et periculis eius interesset. quin etiam uictum a Cn. Pompeio per efferatas gentes fugientem animo pariter et corpore infatigabili secuta est. cuius tanta fides asperarum atque difficilium rerum Mitridati maximum solacium et iucundissimum lenimentum fuit: cum domo enim et penatibus uagari se credidit uxore simul exulante.

4.6.ext.2 Hypsicratea too, a queen, loved her husband Mithridates with the reins of affection let loose, on whose account she took it as a pleasure to convert the chief ornament of her beauty into a virile habit: for with her hair shorn she accustomed herself to the horse and to arms, that she might the more easily take part in his labors and perils. Indeed, even when he, defeated by Gnaeus Pompeius, was fleeing through savage nations, she followed with spirit and body alike indefatigable. Such faithfulness of hers, amid rough and difficult affairs, was to Mithridates a very great solace and a most pleasing leniment: for he believed that, with his home and Penates, he was wandering, since his wife was going into exile together with him.

4.6.ext.3 Verum quid Asiam, quid barbariae inmensas solitudines, quid latebras Pontici sinus scrutor, cum splendidissimum totius Graeciae decus Lacedaemon praecipuum uxoriae fidei specimen tantum non nostris ostentet oculis, plurimis et maximis patriae suae laudibus admiratione facti conparandum?

4.6.ext.3 But why do I probe Asia, the immense solitudes of barbarity, the hiding‑places of the Pontic bay, when Lacedaemon, the most splendid adornment of all Greece, almost displays to our very eyes a preeminent specimen of wifely fidelity, to be compared, by admiration of the deed, with the very many and greatest praises of its fatherland?

Minyae, quorum origo ex inclyto sociorum Iasonis numero Lemniorum in insula concepta per aliquot saeculorum uices stabili in sede manserat, ~ a Pelasgicis expulsi ramis, alienae opis indigentes excelsa Taygetorum montium iuga supplices occupauerunt. quos Spartana ciuitas respectu Tyndaridarum ++amque in illo nobilis famae nauigio destinatum sideribus par fratrum fulserat++deductos inde legibus commodisque suis inmiscuit. sed hoc tantum beneficium in iniuriam bene meritae urbis regnum adfectantes uerterunt.

The Minyae, whose origin—conceived on the island of the Lemnians from the illustrious number of Jason’s comrades—had remained through several turns of centuries in a stable seat, having been expelled by Pelasgic branches, in need of alien aid, as suppliants occupied the lofty ridges of the Taygetan mountains. Whom the Spartan commonwealth, out of regard for the Tyndaridae—and since on that voyage of noble fame the pair of brothers destined for the stars had shone—led down from there and mingled into its own laws and amenities. But they turned this so great a benefaction into an injury to the well‑deserving city by aspiring to kingship.

igitur publicae custodiae inclusi capitali adseruabantur supplicio. quod cum uetere instituto Lacedaemoniorum nocturno tempore passuri essent, coniuges eorum inlustris ibi sanguinis uelut adlocuturae perituros uiros inpetrato a custodibus aditu carcerem intrauerunt commutataque ueste per simulationem doloris uelatis capitibus eos abire passae sunt. hoc loco quid aliud adiecerim quam dignas fuisse quibus Minyae nuberent?

Therefore, shut up in public custody, they were being kept for capital punishment. And since, by the ancient institution of the Lacedaemonians, they were to suffer it at nocturnal time, their spouses—there of illustrious blood—as if to address their men doomed to perish, having obtained access from the guards entered the prison, and, clothing having been exchanged, under a simulation of grief, with their heads veiled, they allowed them to depart. At this point what else should I add, except that they were worthy brides for whom the Minyae should marry?

4.7.init. Contemplemur nunc amicitiae uinculum potens et praeualidum neque ulla ex parte sanguinis uiribus inferius, hoc etiam certius et exploratius, quod illud nascendi sors, fortuitum opus, hoc unius cuiusque solido iudicio inchoata uoluntas contrahit. itaque celerius sine reprehensione propinquum auersere quam amicum, quia altera diremptio non utique iniquitatis, altera utique leuitatis crimini subiecta est: cum enim deserta sit futura uita hominis nullius amicitiae cincta praesidio, tam necessarium subsidium temere adsumi non debet, semel autem recte adprehensum sperni non conuenit.

4.7.init. Let us contemplate now the bond of friendship, potent and very-strong, and in no part inferior to the powers of blood, and this even more certain and better-explored, because that one is the lot of being-born, a fortuitous work, while this one the will, initiated by the solid judgment of each individual, contracts. Therefore you may more readily, without reproach, turn away a kinsman than a friend, because the one sundering is not necessarily liable to the charge of injustice, while the other is certainly subject to the charge of levity: for since a man’s future life, deserted and girded with the protection of no friendship, would be forlorn, so necessary a succor ought not to be assumed rashly; and once rightly apprehended, it is not fitting that it be spurned.

sincerae uero fidei amici praecipue in aduersis rebus cognoscuntur, in quibus quidquid praestatur totum a constanti beniuolentia proficiscitur. felicitatis cultus maiore ex parte adulatione quam caritate erogatur, certe suspectus est perinde ac plus semper petat quam inpendat. accedit huc, quod infractae fortunae homines magis amicorum studia desiderant uel praesidii uel solacii gratia: nam laeta quidem et prospera negotia, utpote cum diuina subfragatione foueantur, humana minus indigent.

Truly, friends of sincere faith are especially recognized in adverse circumstances, in which whatever is rendered proceeds wholly from constant benevolence. The service of felicity is for the greater part dispensed by adulation rather than by charity; assuredly it is suspect, on the same ground as that it always seeks more than it expends. Add to this, that men of broken fortune more desire the endeavors of friends for the sake either of protection or of solace: for glad and prosperous affairs, inasmuch as they are fostered by divine suffrage, have less need of human aid.

tenacius igitur eorum nomina posteritatis memoria adprehendit, qui aduersos casus amicorum non deseruerunt quam qui prosperum uitae cursum comitati sunt. nemo de Sardanapalli familiaribus loquitur, Orestes Pylade paene amico quam Agamemnone notior est patre, si quidem illorum amicitia in consortione deliciarum et luxuriae contabuit, horum durae atque asperae condicionis sodalicium ipsarum miseriarum experimento enituit. sed quid externa attingo, cum domesticis prius liceat uti?

Therefore the memory of posterity more tenaciously apprehends the names of those who did not desert the adverse fortunes of their friends than of those who accompanied the prosperous course of life. No one speaks of the familiars of Sardanapalus; Orestes is almost better known by his friend Pylades than by his father Agamemnon, since indeed the friendship of the former wasted away in a consortium of delights and luxury, whereas the sodality of the latter, of hard and harsh condition, shone forth by the very experiment of their miseries. But why do I touch on externals, when it is permitted to use domestics first?

4.7.1 Inimicus patriae fuisse Ti. Gracchus existimatus est, nec inmerito, quia potentiam suam saluti eius praetulerat. quam constantis tamen fidei amicum etiam in hoc tam prauo proposito C. Blossium Cumanum habuerit operae pretium est cognoscere. hostis iudicatus, ultimo supplicio adfectus, sepulturae honore spoliatus beniuolentia tamen eius non caruit: nam cum senatus Rupilio et Laenati consulibus mandasset ut in eos, qui cum Graccho consenserant, maiorum animaduertent, et ad Laelium, cuius consilio praecipue consules utebantur, pro se Blossius deprecatum uenisset familiaritatisque excusatione uteretur, atque is dixisset: 'quid?

4.7.1 Tiberius Gracchus was thought to have been an enemy of his fatherland, and not without desert, because he had preferred his own power to its welfare. Yet it is worth the effort to learn how steadfast in loyalty a friend he had even in this so perverse a purpose: Gaius Blossius of Cumae. Though judged a public enemy, visited with the ultimate punishment, and despoiled of the honor of burial, nevertheless he did not lack his benevolence: for when the senate had mandated to the consuls Rupilius and Laenas that they should animadvert upon those who had agreed with Gracchus according to the custom of the ancestors ( maiorum animadvertent), and when Blossius had come to Laelius—whose counsel the consuls were especially using—to plead in deprecation on his own behalf and was employing the excuse of familiarity, and when he (Laelius) had said: “What?”

si te Gracchus templo Iouis optimi maximi faces subdere iussisset, obsecuturusne illius uoluntati propter istam, quam iactas, familiaritatem fuisti?' 'numquam istud' inquit 'Gracchus imperasset'. satis, immo etiam nimium: totius namque senatus consensu damnat<os ei>us mores defendere ausus est. uerum quod sequitur multo audacius multoque periculosius: conpressus enim perseueranti interrogatione Laeli in eodem constantiae gradu stetit seque etiam hoc, si modo Gracchus annuisset, facturum respondit. quis illum sceleratum putasset fuisse, si tacuisset?

'if Gracchus had ordered you to apply torches to the temple of Jupiter Best and Greatest, would you have obeyed his will on account of that familiarity which you vaunt?' 'Never would Gracchus have commanded that,' he says. Enough, nay even too much: for by the consensus of the whole senate condemning his conduct he dared to defend it. But what follows is much more audacious and much more perilous: for, pressed by the persevering interrogation of Laelius, he stood in the same grade of constancy and answered that he would do even this, if only Gracchus had assented. Who would have thought him criminal, if he had kept silent?

quis non etiam sapientem, si pro necessitate temporis locutus esset? at Blossius nec silentio honesto nec prudenti sermone salutem suam, ne qua ex parte infelicis amicitiae memoriam desereret, tueri uoluit.

Who would not even have judged him wise, if he had spoken in accordance with the necessity of the time? But Blossius wished to protect his safety neither by honorable silence nor by prudent speech, so that he might not, in any respect, abandon the memory of an ill‑fated friendship.

4.7.2 In eadem domo aeque robusta constantis amicitiae exempla oboriuntur: prostratis enim iam et perditis C. Gracchi consiliis rebusque, cum tota eius conspiratio late quaereretur, desertum omni auxilio duo tantum amici Pomponius et Laetorius ab infestis et undique ruentibus telis oppositu corporum suorum texerunt. quorum Pomponius, quo is facilius euaderet, concitatum sequentium agmen in porta trigemina aliquamdiu acerrima pugna inhibuit nec uiuus pelli potuit, sed multis confectus uulneribus transitum eis super cadauer suum, credo etiam post fata inuitus, dedit. Laetorius autem in ponte sublicio constitit et eum, donec Gracchus transiret, ardore spiritus sui saepsit ac ui iam multitudinis obrutus conuerso in se gladio celeri saltu profundum Tiberis petiit, quamque in eo ponte caritatem toti patriae Horatius Cocles exhibuerat, unius amicitiae adiecta uoluntaria morte praestitit.

4.7.2 In the same house there arise equally robust examples of constant friendship: for when the plans and affairs of Gaius Gracchus had now been laid low and ruined, and his whole conspiracy was being sought far and wide, abandoned of all aid, only two friends, Pomponius and Laetorius, shielded him from hostile missiles rushing from every side by the interposition of their bodies. Of these, Pomponius, in order that he might escape more easily, for some time at the Porta Trigemina held back the excited column of pursuers by a most fierce fight, nor could he be driven off alive; but, worn out by many wounds, he granted them a transit over his corpse—I believe unwilling even after death. Laetorius, however, took his stand on the Sublician Bridge and, until Gracchus might cross, hedged him about with the ardor of his spirit; and now overwhelmed by the force of the multitude, turning the sword upon himself, with a swift leap he sought the deep Tiber, and the devotion on that bridge which Horatius Cocles had exhibited to the whole fatherland he rendered to the friendship of one man, with voluntary death added.

quam bonos Gracchi, si aut patris aut materni aui sectam uitae ingredi uoluissent, habere milites potuerant! quo enim impetu, qua perseuerantia animi Blossius et Pomponius et Laetorius tropaea ac triumphos eorum adiuuissent, furiosi conatus tam strenui comites, sinistris quidem auspiciis amicitiae condicionem secuti, sed quo miseriora, hoc certiora fideliter cultae [nobilitatis] exempla.

how excellent soldiers the Gracchi could have had, if they had wished to enter upon the sect/discipline of life of their father or their maternal grandsire! for with what impetus, with what perseverance of spirit would Blossius and Pomponius and Laetorius have aided their trophies and triumphs—men so strenuous companions of a frenzied attempt—who indeed, under sinister auspices, followed the condition of friendship, but, the more pitiable they are, the more sure are they as examples of [nobility] faithfully cultivated.

4.7.3 L. autem Reginus, si ad debitam publico ministerio sinceritatem exigatur, posteritatis conuicio lacerandus, si amicitiae fido pignore aestimetur, in optimo laudabilis conscientiae portu relinquendus est: tribunus enim plebis Caepionem in carcerem coniectum, quod illius culpa exercitus noster a Cimbris et Teutonis uidebatur deletus, ueteris artaeque amicitiae memor publica custodia liberauit nec hactenus amicum egisse contentus etiam fugae eius comes accessit. pro magnum et inexuperabile tuum, numen, amicitia! cum ex altera parte res publica manum iniceret, ex altera tua illum dextera traheret, et illa ut sacrosanctus esse uellet exigeret, tu exilium indiceres++adeo blando uteris imperio++supplicium honori praetulit.

4.7.3 But L. Reginus, if he be measured by the sincerity owed to public ministry, is to be lacerated by the reproach of posterity; if he be appraised by the faithful pledge of friendship, he is to be left in the best harbor of praiseworthy conscience: for, as tribune of the plebs, he freed Caepio, who had been cast into prison because through that man’s fault our army seemed to have been destroyed by the Cimbri and Teutones, mindful of an old and close friendship; nor, content to have acted the friend thus far, did he stop, but even joined as a companion of his flight. O friendship, great and insuperable divinity! while on the one side the commonwealth was laying hands upon him, on the other your right hand was drawing him; and while that one, seeing that he was sacrosanct, was exacting its due, you proclaimed exile—so coaxing a command you wield—he preferred punishment to honor.

4.7.4 Admirabile hoc opus tuum, sed quod sequitur aliquanto laudabilius: recognosce enim quo usque Volumni constantem erga amicum suum caritatem sine ullarei publicae iniuria eueris. qui ortus equestri loco, cum M. Lucullum familiariter coluisset eumque M. Antonius, quia Bruti et Cassii partes secutus fuerat, interemisset, in magna fugiendi licentia exanimi amico adhaesit hucusque in lacrimas et gemitus profusus, ut nimia pietate causam sibi mortis arcesseret: nam propter praecipuam et perseuerantem lamentationem ad Antonium pertractus est. cuius postquam in conspectu stetit, 'iube me' inquit, 'imperator, protinus ad Luculli corpus ductum occidi: neque enim absumpto illo superesse debeo, cum ei infelicis militiae auctor extiterim'. quid hac fidelius beniuolentia?

4.7.4 Admirable is this work of yours, but what follows is by some measure more laudable: recognize, indeed, how far you have raised Volumnius’s constant charity toward his friend without any injury to the republic. He, sprung from the equestrian order, after he had familiarly cultivated M. Lucullus, and M. Antony had slain him because he had followed the party of Brutus and Cassius, in the midst of great license for fleeing clung to his exanimate friend, poured out into tears and groans to this point, that by excessive piety he drew upon himself a cause of death: for on account of his exceptional and persevering lamentation he was dragged to Antony. When he stood in his presence, he said, 'Order me, commander, to be led straightway to Lucullus’s body and be killed: for indeed I ought not to survive when he has been taken away, since I stood forth as the author of his unlucky soldiery.' What benevolence more faithful than this?

mortem amici hostis odio leuauit, uitam suam consilii crimine astrinxit, quoque illum miserabiliorem redderet, se fecit inuisiorem. nec difficiles Antoni aures habuit ductusque, quo uoluerat, dexteram Luculli auide osculatus, caput, quod abscisum iacebat, sublatum pectori suo adplicauit ac deinde demissam ceruicem uictori gladio praebuit. loquatur Graecia Thesea nefandis Pirithoi amoribus suscribentem Ditis se patris regnis commisisse: uani est istud narrare, stulti credere.

He lightened the death of his friend by hatred of the enemy, bound his own life with the crime of the counsel, and, that he might render him more pitiable, made himself more odious. Nor did he find Antony’s ears difficult; and, being led where he had wished, after greedily kissing Lucullus’s right hand, he lifted the head, which lay severed, and pressed it to his breast, and then offered his lowered neck to the victor’s sword. Let Greece say that Theseus, subscribing to the nefarious loves of Pirithous, committed himself to the realms of Father Dis: it is the part of a vain man to tell that, of a fool to believe it.

mixtum cruorem amicorum et uulneribus innexa uulnera mortique inhaerentem mortem uidere, haec sunt uera Romanae amicitiae indicia, illa gentis ad fingendum paratae monstro similia mendacia.

to see the mingled gore of friends, and wounds interlaced with wounds, and death adhering to death—these are the true indications of Roman friendship; those are the monster-like mendacities of a people prepared for feigning.

4.7.5 L. quoque Petronius huiusce laudis consortionem merito uindicat: paria enim in cultu amicitiae auso par gloriae portio adserenda est. admodum humili loco natus ad equestrem ordinem et splendidae militiae stipendia P. Caeli beneficio peruenerat. cui gratum animum, quia laeta in materia exhibere non contigerat, in ea, quam inicam fortuna esse uoluit, cum multa fide praestitit.

4.7.5 L. Petronius also rightly vindicates a consortship of this praise: for to one who has dared equal things in the cult/observance of friendship an equal portion of glory must be asserted. Born in a very humble station, he had, by the benefaction of P. Caelius, attained to the equestrian order and to the stipends of a distinguished soldiery. To him, since it had not fallen to his lot to exhibit a grateful spirit in a happy material, he showed it, with much fidelity, in that sphere which fortune willed to be unfriendly.

erat ob Octauio consule Placentiae praepositus Caelius. qua <a> Cinnano exercitu capta et senior iam et graui ualitudine adfectus, ne in potestatem hostium ueniret, ad auxilium dexterae Petroni confugit. quem is ab incepto consilio frustra conatus abstrahere in isdem perseuerantem precibus interemit caedique eius suam iunxit, ne eo iacente, per quem omnia dignitatis incrementa adsecutus fuerat, superesset.

Caelius had been placed in command at Placentia when Octavius was consul. When it was captured by Cinna’s army, being now an older man and afflicted with grave ill-health, lest he come into the power of the enemies, he fled to the aid of Petronius’s right hand. He tried in vain to draw him away from his undertaken plan; when he persisted in the same entreaties, he slew him, and he joined his own to his slaughter, so that he would not survive with him lying there, through whom he had attained all the increments of his dignity.

ita alterius fato uerecundia, alterius pietas causam praebuit.

Thus the modesty at the fate of the one, the piety of the other, furnished the cause.

4.7.6 Iungendus Petronio Ser. Terentius est, quamquam ei, sicut cupierat, pro amico suo perire contigit: incepto namque egregio, non inrito euentu aestimari debet, quia, quantum in illo fuit, et ipse extinctus est et D. Brutus periculum euasit mortis. qui fugiens a Mutina, ut ad se interficiendum ab Antonio missos equites aduenisse cognouit, quodam in loco iustae poenae debitum spiritum tenebris furari conabatur, eoque iam facta inruptione Terentius fideli mendacio obscuritate ipsa suffragante Brutum se esse simulauit et corpus suum trucidandum equitibus obiecit.

4.7.6 Ser. Terentius is to be joined to Petronius, although to him, as he had desired, it did not befall to perish for his friend: for he ought to be appraised by the distinguished inception, not by an ineffectual outcome, since, so far as was in him, both he himself was slain and D. Brutus escaped the peril of death. He, fleeing from Mutina, when he learned that horsemen sent by Antony to kill him had arrived for him, in a certain place was trying to pilfer into the shadows the breath owed to just penalty; and with an inrush already made into that place, Terentius, with a faithful mendacity, the very obscurity giving him suffrage, pretended that he was Brutus and threw his body before the horsemen to be butchered.

uerum cognitus a Furio, cui Brutianae ultionis officium mandatum fuerat, nece sua amici supplicium discutere non potuit. sic inuitus fortuna cogente uixit.

However, recognized by Furius, to whom the office of Brutian vengeance had been entrusted, he could not by his own death dispel his friend’s punishment. Thus, unwilling, with Fortune compelling, he lived.

4.7.7 Ab hoc horrido et tristi pertinacis amicitiae ad laetum et serenum uultum transeamus atque in eam euocatam, ubi omnia lacrimis, gemitu, caedibus fuerant referta, in eo, quo dignior est, felicitatis domicilio conlocemus, gratia, honore abundantissimisque opibus fulgentem. orere igitur ab illa, quae sanctorum umbris dicata esse creditur, sede hinc Decime Laeli, illinc M. Agrippa, alter uirorum, deorum alter maximum amicum et certa mente et secundis ominibus sortiti, totumque beatae turbae gregem, qui uestro ductu ueneranda sincerae fidei stipendia laudibus et praemiis onustus peregit, in lucem uobiscum protrahite: uestros enim constantis animos, uestra strenua ministeria, uestram inexpugnabilem taciturnitatem proque dignitate et salute amicorum perpetuam excubationem et stationem beniuolentiae et rursus harum rerum uberrimos fructus posterior intuens aetas in excolendo iure amicitiae qua libentius qua etiam religiosius erit operata.

4.7.7 From this horrid and sad portrait of pertinacious friendship let us pass to a cheerful and serene countenance, and, called back from that place where all things had been replete with tears, groaning, and slaughters, let us place her in that domicile of felicity wherein she is more worthy to be set, shining with favor, honor, and most abundant resources. Arise, then, from that seat which is believed to be dedicated to the shades of the saints—on this side, Decimus Laelius; on that, M. Agrippa—one the greatest friend of men, the other of gods, having obtained this with a sure mind and favorable omens; and draw forth into the light with you the whole flock of the blessed throng who, under your leadership, accomplished the venerable stipends of sincere faith, laden with praises and rewards. For your constant spirits, your strenuous ministries, your inexpugnable taciturnity, and, on behalf of the dignity and safety of friends, your perpetual excubation and station of benevolence—and again the most abundant fruits of these things—the later age, looking upon them, will have labored in cultivating the law of friendship both more willingly and even more religiously.

4.7.ext.1 Haeret animus in domesticis, sed aliena quoque bene facta referre Romanae urbis candor hortatur. Damon et Phintias Pythagoricae prudentiae sacris initiati tam fidelem inter se amicitiam iunxerant, ut, cum alterum ex his Dionysius Syracusanus interficere uellet, atque is tempus ab eo, quo prius quam periret domum profectus res suas ordinaret, impetrauisset, alter uadem se pro reditu eius tyranno dare non dubitaret. solutus erat periculo mortis qui modo gladio ceruices subiectas habuerat: eidem caput suum subiecerat cui securo uiuere licebat.

4.7.ext.1 The mind sticks to domestic matters, but the candor of the Roman city also urges us to recount others’ well-done deeds. Damon and Phintias, initiated into the sacred rites of Pythagorean prudence, had joined between themselves so faithful a friendship that, when Dionysius the Syracusan wished to kill one of them, and he had obtained from him a period of time, in order that, before he perished, having set out home he might arrange his affairs, the other did not hesitate to give himself as surety to the tyrant for his return. He who just now had had his neck laid bare to the sword was released from the peril of death: the same man to whom it was permitted to live secure had submitted his own head.

igitur omnes et in primis Dionysius nouae atque ancipitis rei exitum speculabantur. adpropinquante deinde finita die nec illo redeunte unus quisque stultitiae tam temerarium sponsorem damnabat. at is nihil se de amici constantia metuere praedicabat.

Therefore all, and Dionysius in the first rank, were watching for the outcome of the new and hazardous affair. Then, as the appointed day came to its end and he did not return, each man was condemning the sponsor of so rash a folly. But he kept proclaiming that he feared nothing concerning his friend’s constancy.

eodem autem momento et hora a Dionysio constituta et eam qui acceperat superuenit. admiratus amborum animum tyrannus supplicium fidei remisit insuperque eos rogauit ut se in societatem amicitiae tertium sodalicii gradum mutua culturum beniuolentia reciperent. hascine uires amicitiae?

But at the same moment and the hour appointed by Dionysius, even he who had obtained the leave arrived. The tyrant, admiring the spirit of both, remitted the punishment in deference to their faithfulness, and moreover asked them to receive him as a third into the society of friendship, to cultivate the fellowship with mutual benevolence. Are these the powers of friendship?

mortis contemptum ingenerare, uitae dulcedinem extinguere, crudelitatem mansuefacere, odium in amorem conuertere, poenam beneficio pensare potuerunt. quibus paene tantum uenerationis quantum deorum inmortalium caerimoniis debetur: illis enim publica salus, his priuata continetur, atque ut illarum aedes sacra domicilia, harum fida hominum pectora quasi quaedam sancto spiritu referta templa sunt.

they were able to engender contempt of death, extinguish the sweetness of life, tame cruelty, convert hatred into love, counterbalance penalty with a benefaction. To whom almost as much veneration is owed as is due to the ceremonies of the immortal gods: for in those the public salvation is contained, in these the private; and just as their shrines are sacred domiciles, so the faithful hearts of men are, as it were, certain temples filled with a holy spirit.

4.7.ext.2 Quod ita esse rex Alexander sensit. Darei castris, in quibus omnes necessarii eius erant, potitus Hephaestione gratissimo sibi latus suum tegente ad eos adloquendos uenit. cuius aduentu mater Darei recreata humi prostratum caput erexit Hephaestionemque, quia et statura et forma praestabat, more Persarum adulata tamquam Alexandrum salutauit.

4.7.ext.2 King Alexander perceived that this was so. Having gained possession of Darius’s camp, in which were all his intimates, with Hephaestion, most dear to him, covering his flank, he came to address them. At his advent, Darius’s mother, revived, raised from the ground her prostrated head, and, Hephaestion—because he excelled both in stature and in form—adulating in the Persian manner, she greeted as though he were Alexander.

admonita deinde erroris per summam trepidationem excusationis uerba quaerebat. cui Alexander 'nihil est' inquit 'quod hoc nomine confundaris: nam et hic Alexander est'. utri prius gratulemur? qui hoc dicere uoluit an cui audire contigit?

then, admonished of her error, in utmost trepidation she was seeking words of excusation. to whom Alexander said, 'it is nothing for which you should be confounded under this name: for this man too is Alexander.' to which of the two should we first offer congratulations? to the one who wished to say this, or to the one to whom it befell to hear it?

maximi enim animi rex et iam totum terrarum orbem aut uictoriis aut spe conplexus tam paucis uerbis se cum comite suo partitus est. o donum inclytae uocis danti pariter atque accipienti speciosum! quod priuatim quoque merito ueneror clarissimi ac disertissimi uiri promptissimam erga me beniuolentiam expertus.

For the king of the greatest spirit, and already having embraced the whole orb of lands either by victories or by hope, with so few words shared himself with his companion. O gift of illustrious voice, splendid equally to the giver and the receiver! Which I also deservedly revere in private, having experienced toward me the most prompt benevolence of a most illustrious and most eloquent man.

nec metuo ne parum conueniat mihi Pompeium meum instar esse Alexandri, cum illi Hephaestio suus alter fuerit Alexander. ego uero grauissimo crimini sim obnoxius, constantis et benignae amicitiae exempla sine ulla eius mentione transgressus, cuius in animo uelut in parentum amantissimorum pectore laetior uitae meae status uiguit, tristior adquieuit, a quo omnium commodorum incrementa ultro oblata cepi, per quem tutior aduersus casus steti, qui studia nostra ductu et auspiciis suis lucidiora et alacriora reddidit. itaque paui inuidiam quorundam optimi amici iactura, uidelicet quia fructu torseram, non quidem meo merito, gratiam meam, quantacumque fuit, cum his, qui ea uti uoluerunt, partitus.

Nor do I fear lest it suit me too little that my Pompey be an instar of Alexander, since to him his Hephaestion was a second Alexander. But I would indeed be liable to a most grave charge, if I were to pass by the examples of constant and benign friendship without any mention of him, in whose mind, as in the breast of most loving parents, the happier condition of my life flourished, the sadder found rest; from whom I took the increments of every advantage, proffered of their own accord; through whom I stood safer against adverse chances; who made our studies, under his leading and auspices, more lucid and more lively. And so I fed the envy of certain men at the expense of a best friend—evidently because, to my profit, not indeed by my own merit, I had wrung my favor, whatever it was, by sharing it with those who wished to use it.

uerum nulla tam modesta felicitas est, quae malignitatis dentes uitare possit. et quo secessu quosdam fugeris aut quibus infulis misericordiae permulseris, ne alienis malis perinde ac bonis suis laetentur et gestiant? diuites sunt aliorum iacturis, locupletes calamitatibus, immortales funeribus.

But no felicity is so modest as to be able to avoid the teeth of malignity. And by what seclusion could you flee certain people, or with what fillets of mercy could you soothe them, so that they not rejoice and exult in others’ evils as much as in their own goods? They are rich by others’ losses, wealthy by calamities, immortal by funerals.

sed illi quatenus alienis incommodis suorum adhuc expertes insultent optima uindex insolentiae uarietas humanae condicionis uiderit.

But as for them, inasmuch as—still unexperienced in their own—they exult over others’ inconveniences, let the variety of the human condition, the best avenger of insolence, see to it.

4.8.init. Nostrum opus pio egressu ad proprium dolorem prouectum in suum ordinem reuocetur, liberalitatisque conmemorationi uacemus. cuius duo sunt maxime probabiles fontes, uerum iudicium et honesta beniuolentia: nam cum ab his orietur, tunc demum ei ratio constat.

4.8.init. Let our work, carried by a pious digression into personal sorrow, be called back to its own order, and let us devote ourselves to the commemoration of liberality. Of which the two most credible sources are true judgment and honorable benevolence: for when it arises from these, then at last its rationale is established.

dono autem ipsi gratiam et magnitudo quidem sua, sed efficaciorem aliquanto opportunitas conciliat:

But to the gift itself, its own magnitude indeed conciliates favor, but timeliness, somewhat more efficaciously:

4.8.1 Accedit enim pretio rei inaestimabile momentum occasionis. quae Fabio Maximo tot ante saecula paruam pecuniae summam erogatam ad hoc usque tempus laudabilem fecit. captiuos ab Hannibale interposita pactione nummorum receperat.

4.8.1 For to the price of the thing there is added the inestimable momentum of occasion. This made for Fabius Maximus, so many ages before, a small sum of money disbursed praiseworthy down to this very time. He had received back captives from Hannibal, a paction of monies having been interposed.

qui cum a senatu non praestarentur, misso in urbem filio fundum, quem unicum possidebat, uendidit eiusque pretium Hannibali protinus numerauit, si ad calculos reuocetur, paruum, utpote septem iugeribus et hoc in Pupinia addictis redactum, si animo ~ praerogantis, omni pecunia maius: se enim patrimonii quam patriam fidei inopem esse maluit, eo quidem maiore cum commendatione, quod proni studii certius indicium est supra uires niti quam uiribus ex facili uti: alter enim quod potest praestat, alter plus etiam quam potest.

since these were not provided by the senate, having sent his son into the city he sold the farm, which alone he possessed, and immediately counted out its price to Hannibal—if it be brought back to the reckoning, a small sum, seeing that it had been reduced to seven iugera, and that assigned in Pupinia; if by the spirit of the praerogative-giver ~ praerogantis, greater than all money: for he chose rather to be poor in patrimony than that his fatherland be poor in good faith, and with this indeed the greater commendation, because a surer indication of eager zeal is to strive beyond one’s powers than to use one’s powers where it is easy: for the one renders what he can, the other even more than he can.

4.8.2 Itaque eiusdem temporis femina Busa nomine, regionis autem Apulae ditissima, merito quidem liberalitatis testimonium receperit, sed excellentes opes suas Fabianis rei familiaris angustiis non conparauerit: nam etsi circa x ciuium nostrorum, Cannensis proelii reliquias, benignissime intra Canusina moenia alimentis sustentauit, saluo tamen statu fortunarum suarum munificam se populo Romano praestitit: Fabius in honorem patriae paupertatem inopia mutauit.

4.8.2 And so a woman of the same time, by name Busa, and by region of Apulia most wealthy, did indeed deservedly receive a testimony of liberality, but she did not match her excelling resources to the straits of Fabius’s household estate: for although she very kindly sustained with provisions about 10 of our fellow citizens—the remnants of the battle of Cannae—within the Canusian walls, yet with the condition of her fortunes intact she proved herself munificent toward the Roman people: Fabius, in honor of his fatherland, exchanged poverty for indigence.

4.8.3 In Q. quoque Considio saluberrimi exempli nec sine paruo ipsius fructu liberalitas adnotata est. qui Catilinae furore ita consternata re publica, ut ne a locupletibus quidem debitae pecuniae propter tumultum pretiis possessionum deminutis solui creditoribus possent, cum centies atque quinquagies sestertii summam in faenore haberet, neque de sorte quemquam debitorum suorum neque de usura appellari a suis passus est, quantumque in ipso fuit, amaritudinem publicae confusionis priuata tranquillitate mitigauit, opportune mirificeque testatus se nummorum suorum, non ciuilis sanguinis esse faeneratorem: nam qui nunc praecipue negotiatione delectantur, cum pecuniam domum cruentam retulerunt, quam inprobando gaudio exultent cognoscent, si diligenter senatus consultum, quo Considio gratiae actae sunt, legere non fastidierint.

4.8.3 In Q. Considius as well a liberality of most salutary example, nor without a small fruit to himself, was noted. When, with the commonwealth so dismayed by Catiline’s frenzy that not even by the wealthy could the monies due be paid to creditors, because of the tumult and with the prices of properties diminished, although he had a sum of fifteen million sesterces out at interest, he allowed none of his debtors to be called upon by his own either for the principal or for the interest; and, so far as was in himself, he softened the bitterness of the public confusion by private tranquillity, timely and wondrously attesting that he was a money‑lender of his coins, not of the common blood. For those who now especially take delight in negotiation, when they have brought home blood‑stained money, will learn with what reprobate joy they exult, if they shall not disdain diligently to read the decree of the senate by which thanks were given to Considius.

4.8.4 Queri mecum iam dudum populus Romanus uidetur, quod, cum singulorum munificentiam consecter, de sua taceam: ad summam enim eius laudem pertinet quem animum regibus et urbibus et gentibus praestiterit recognosci, quod omne praeclari facti decus crebra memoria in se ipso reuirescit. Asiam bello captam Attalo regi muneris loco possidendam tradidit, eo excelsius et speciosius urbi nostrae futurum imperium credens, si ditissimam atque amoenissimam partem terrarum orbis in beneficio quam in fructu suo reponere maluisset. ipsa uictoria donum felicius, quia multum occupasse inuidiam habere potuit, tantum tribuisse gloria carere non potuit.

4.8.4 For some time now the Roman People seem to be complaining to me, that, while I pursue the munificence of individuals, I am silent about its own: for it pertains to the sum of its praise that it be recognized what spirit it has shown to kings and cities and nations, because the whole splendor of a distinguished deed, by frequent remembrance, revives in itself. It handed over Asia, captured in war, to King Attalus to be possessed as a gift, believing that our city’s imperium would thereby be loftier and more splendid, if it preferred to place the richest and most delightful part of the lands of the world in the category of a benefaction rather than among its own profit. The victory itself was a happier gift, because to have occupied much could have carried ill-will, whereas to have bestowed so much could not lack glory.

4.8.5 Illius uero Romanae liberalitatis caelestem spiritum nullae litterae satis dignis laudibus prosequentur: Philippo enim Macedoniae rege superato, cum ad Isthmicum spectaculum tota Graecia conuenisset, T. Quintius Flamininus tubae signo silentio facto per praeconem haec uerba recitari iussit: 'S. P. Q. R. et T. Quintius Flamininus imperator omnes Graeciae urbes, quae sub dicione Philippi regis fuerunt, liberas atque inmunes esse iubet.' quibus auditis maximo et inopinato gaudio homines perculsi primo ueluti non audisse se quae audierant credentes obticuerunt. iterata deinde pronuntiatione praeconis tanta caelum clamoris alacritate conpleuerunt, ut certe constet aues, quae superuolabant, adtonitas pauentesque decidisse. magni animi fuisset a tot captiuorum capitibus seruitutem detraxisse, quot tunc nobilissimis et opulentissimis urbibus populus Romanus libertatem largitus est.

4.8.5 But the celestial spirit of that Roman liberality no letters will accompany with sufficiently worthy praises: for, Philip, king of Macedonia, having been overcome, when to the Isthmian spectacle all Greece had come together, T. Quintius Flamininus, at the signal of the trumpet, a silence having been made, ordered these words to be recited by a herald: ‘The Senate and People of Rome and T. Quintius Flamininus, the commander, order all the cities of Greece which were under the dominion of King Philip to be free and exempt.’ On hearing this, men, smitten with the greatest and unlooked-for joy, at first fell silent, believing, as it were, that they had not heard what they had heard. Then, with the herald’s proclamation repeated, they filled the sky with such alacrity of shouting that it is certainly agreed that the birds which were flying above, astonished and panic-stricken, fell down. It would have been an act of great spirit to strip slavery from as many heads of captives as the Roman people at that time lavished liberty upon cities most noble and opulent.

Ad cuius maiestatem pertinet non solum quae ipse benigne tribuit, sed etiam quae alio tribuente sensit commemorari: ut enim illic meritae, ita hic redditae laudis conmendatio est.

To whose majesty it pertains that there be commemorated not only what he himself benignly bestowed, but also what, with another bestowing, he experienced: for as there the commendation of merited praise, so here of returned praise.

4.8.ext.1 Hiero Syracusarum rex audita clade, qua Romani apud Trasimennum lacum erant adflicti, ccc milia modium tritici et cc hordei aurique ducenta et xl pondo urbi nostrae muneri misit. neque ignarus uerecundiae maiorum nostrorum, ne aurum nollent accipere, in habitum id Victoriae formauit, ut eos religione motos munificentia sua uti cogeret, uoluntate mittendi prius, iterum prouidentia cauendi ne remitteretur liberalis.

4.8.ext.1 King Hiero of Syracuse, on hearing of the disaster by which the Romans had been afflicted at Lake Trasimene, sent as a gift to our city 300,000 modii of wheat and 200,000 of barley, and 240 pounds of gold. And, not ignorant of the modesty of our ancestors, lest they should be unwilling to accept gold, he formed it into the form of Victory, so that, moved by religion, he might compel them to make use of his munificence—first by the will of sending, then by the providence of taking care that a generous offering not be sent back.

4.8.ext.2 Subnectam huic Acragantinum Gillian, quem propemodum ipsius liberalitatis praecordia constat habuisse. erat opibus excellens, sed multo etiam animo quam diuitiis locupletior semperque in eroganda potius quam in corripienda pecunia occupatus, adeo ut domus eius quasi quaedam munificentiae officina crederetur: illinc enim publicis usibus apta monumenta extruebantur, illinc grata populi oculis spectacula edebantur, illinc epularum magnifici apparatus labentique annonae subsidia oriebantur. et cum haec uniuersis, priuatim alimenta inopia laborantibus, dotes uirginibus paupertate pressis, subsidia detrimentorum incursu quassatis erogabantur.

4.8.ext.2 I will subjoin to this the Acragantine Gillian, who is agreed to have had, as it were, the very heart of liberality itself. He was outstanding in resources, but much more opulent in spirit than in riches, and always occupied with disbursing rather than with seizing money, to such a degree that his house was believed to be a kind of workshop of munificence: from there monuments apt for public uses were built, from there spectacles pleasing to the people’s eyes were produced, from there magnificent apparatus of banquets and aids for the slipping grain-supply arose. And while these things were for all in common, privately there were disbursed nourishment for those laboring under want, dowries for maidens pressed by poverty, and subsidies for those shaken by the incursion of losses.

hospites quoque cum urbanis penatibus tum etiam rusticis tectis benignissime excepti, uariis muneribus ornati dimittebantur. quodam uero tempore d simul Gelensium equites ui tempestatis in possessiones suas conpulsos aluit ac uestiuit. quid multa?

Guests too, both at his urban penates and also beneath his rustic roofs, were received most kindly and were sent away adorned with various gifts. Indeed at a certain time he likewise fed and clothed 500 horsemen of the Geloans, driven by the force of a storm into his estates. Why say more?

non mortalem aliquem, sed propitiae Fortunae benignum esse diceres sinum. ergo quod Gillias possidebat omnium quasi commune patrimonium erat. pro cuius salute et incrementis cum Acragantina ciuitas tum etiam uicinae regiones uotis excubabant.

you would say not some mortal, but the kindly bosom of propitious Fortune. therefore, what Gillias possessed was, as it were, the common patrimony of all. for whose welfare and increases both the Acragantine city and also the neighboring regions kept vigil with vows.

conloca e contraria parte arcas inexorabilibus claustris obseratas, nonne praestantiorem aliquanto existimes illam inpensam quam hanc custodiam?

Place on the opposite side coffers fastened with inexorable locks; would you not consider that outlay somewhat superior to this custody?