riches, and to a laudable use of them; all virtues so
requisite in persons of illustrious birth, and which Scipio carried to the
most exalted pitch, as appears from some instances of this kind related by
Polybius, which are highly worthy our admiration.

AEmilia,(927) wife of the first Scipio Africanus, and mother of him who had
adopted the Scipio mentioned here by Polybius, had bequeathed, at her
death, a great estate to the latter. This lady, besides the diamonds and
jewels which are worn by women of her high rank, possessed a great number
of gold and silver vessels used in sacrifices, together with several
splendid equipages, and a considerable number of slaves of both sexes; the
whole suited to the opulence of the august house into which she had
married. At her death, Scipio made over all those rich possessions to
Papiria his mother, who, having been divorced a considerable time before
by Paulus AEmilius, and not being in circumstances to support the dignity
of her birth, lived in great obscurity, and never appeared in the
assemblies or public ceremonies. But when she again frequented them with a
magnificent train, this noble generosity of Scipio did him great honour,
especially in the minds of the ladies, who expatiated on it in all their
conversations, and in a city whose inhabitants, says Polybius, were not
easily prevailed upon to part with their money.

Scipio was no less admired on another occasion. He was bound, in
consequence of the estate that had fallen to him by the death of his
grandmother, to pay, at three different times, to the two daughters of
Scipio, his grandfather by adoption, half their portions, which amounted
to 50,000 French crowns.(928) The time for the payment of the first sum
being expired, Scipio put the whole money into the hands of a banker.
Tiberius Gracchus, and Scipio Nasica, who had married the two sisters,
imagining that Scipio had made a mistake, went to him, and observed, that
the laws allowed him three years to pay this sum in, and at three
different times. Young Scipio answered, that he knew very well what the
laws directed on this occasion; that they might indeed be executed in
their greatest rigour towards strangers, but that friends and relations
ought to treat one another with a more generous simplicity; and therefore
desired them to receive the whole sum. They were struck with such
admiration at the generosity of their kinsman, that in their return home,
they reproached(929