us, and the
maid-servant having told him that Ennius was not at home, he perceived
she had said so by her master's order; and when, a few days afterwards,
Ennius called at Nasica's house, and inquired for him, Nasica cried out
that he was "not at home." "What!" says Ennius, "do I not know your
voice?" "You are an impudent fellow," replied Nasica, "I believed your
servant when she said you were not at home, and you will not believe
me."

A vein of humour seems to have run through the Caesar family. Caius
Julius Caesar Strabo Vopiscus was so noted for the gift that Cicero in
his work on Oratory makes him deliver his observations on the subject.
Julius Caesar himself was as remarkable for pleasantry as for clemency.
His "Veni, vidi, vici," in which his enemies saw so much arrogance, was
no doubt intended and understood by his friends to be humorous. In his
youth he was accused of effeminate habits, and when on his obtaining the
entire command of Gaul, he said that he would now make his enemies his
suppliants, and a senator replied sarcastically, "That will not be an
easy task for a woman." He rejoined with gaiety, "Semiramis reigned in
Assyria, and the Amazons possessed a great part of Asia." We have
already seen him lamenting over the loss of comic force in Terence as
compared with Menander, and in the triumphal games given in his honour
in the year 45, he commanded Decimus Laberius, though a man of sixty, to
appear on the stage in the contest of wit. This knight was a composer of
mimes--a light kind of comedy, somewhat to be compared to the
"entertainments" given by humorists at the present day. Julius Caesar
obliged him to perform in person--an act of degradation--but afterwards
gave him 500,000 sesterces, and restored him to his rank. This act of
Caesar's has been regarded as having a political significance, but it may
merely have shown his love of humour. He may have wished to bring out
the talent of the new mime, Publius, a young Syrian, who had acquired
great celebrity both for beauty and wit. It is said that when his master
first took Publius to see his patron, the latter observed one of his
slaves, who was dropsical, lying in the sunshine, and asking him angrily
what he was doing there, Publius answered for him "Warming water." On
the same visit, in jesting after supper, the question was asked, "What
is a disagreeable repose?" When many had attempted answers, Publius
replied, "That of gouty feet."

Some of the s