l crown, and when he raised
so many vast buildings in Rome, which not only surpassed all former
grandeur, but have been surpassed by none since? Did Octavius confer a
greater benefit upon his son, or the Emperor Augustus upon his father,
obscured as he was by the intervention of an adoptive father? What joy
would he have experienced, if, after the putting down of the civil war,
he had seen his son ruling the state in peace and security? He would not
have recognized the good which he had himself bestowed, and would hardly
have believed, when he looked back upon himself, that so great a man
could have been born in his house. Why should I go on to speak of others
who would now be forgotten, if the glory of their sons had not raised
them from obscurity, and kept them in the light until this day? In the
next place, as we are not considering what son may have given back to
his father greater benefits than he received from him, but whether a son
can give back greater benefits, even if the examples which I have quoted
are not sufficient, and such benefits do not outweigh the benefits
bestowed by the parents, if no age has produced. an actual example,
still it is not in the nature of things impossible. Though no solitary
act can outweigh the deserts of a parent, yet many such acts combined by
one son may do so.

XXXIII. Scipio, while under seventeen years of age, rode among the enemy
in battle, and saved his father's life. Was it not enough, that in order
to reach his father he despised so many dangers when they were pressing
hardest upon the greatest generals, that he, a novice in his first
battle, made his way through so many obstacles, over the bodies of so
many veteran soldiers, and showed strength and courage beyond his years?
Add to this, that he also defended his father in court, and saved him
from a plot of his powerful enemies, that he heaped upon him a second
and a third consulship and other posts which were coveted even by
consulars, that when his father was poor he bestowed upon him the
plunder which he took by military licence, and that he made him rich
with the spoils of the enemy, which is the greatest honour of a soldier.
If even this did not repay his debt, add to it that he caused him to
be constantly employed in the government of provinces and in special
commands, add, that after he had destroyed the greatest cities,
and became without a rival either in the east or in the west, the
acknowledged protector and s