litary
labours of the camp, and the peaceful employment of the cabinet; in which
he either exercised his body in toils of war, or his mind in the study of
the sciences. By this he showed, that nothing does greater honour to a
person of distinction, of what quality or profession soever he be, than
the adorning his mind with knowledge. Cicero, speaking of Scipio,
says,(924) that he always had Xenophon's works in his hands, which are so
famous for the solid and excellent instructions they contain, both in
regard to war and policy.

He owed this exquisite taste for polite learning and the sciences, to the
excellent education which Paulus AEmilius bestowed on his children.(925) He
had put them under the ablest masters in every art; and did not spare any
expense on that occasion, though his circumstances were very narrow: P.
AEmilius himself was present at all their lessons, as often as the affairs
of the state would permit; becoming, by this means, their chief preceptor.

The intimate union between Polybius and Scipio put the finishing stroke to
the exalted qualities which, by the superiority of his genius and
disposition, and the excellency of his education, were already the subject
of admiration.(926) Polybius, with a great number of Achaeans, whose
fidelity the Romans suspected during the war with Perseus, was detained in
Rome, where his merit soon caused his company to be coveted by all persons
of the highest quality in that city. Scipio, when scarce eighteen, devoted
himself entirely to Polybius: and considered as the greatest felicity of
his life, the opportunity he had of being instructed by so great a master,
whose society he preferred to all the vain and idle amusements which are
generally so alluring to young persons.

Polybius's first care was to inspire Scipio with an aversion for those
equally dangerous and ignominious pleasures, to which the Roman youth were
so strongly addicted; the greatest part of them being already depraved and
corrupted by the luxury and licentiousness which riches and new conquests
had introduced in Rome. Scipio, during the first five years that he
continued in so excellent a school, made the greatest improvement in it;
and, despising the ridicule, as well as the pernicious examples, of
persons of the same age with himself, he was looked upon, even at that
time, as a model of discretion and wisdom.

From hence, the transition was easy and natural to generosity, to a noble
disregard of