delivered by his
reader, whereupon one of the company stopped him and made him read it
again. Said my uncle, 'I suppose you had caught the meaning?' The
friend nodded. 'Then why did you call him back? We have lost more than
ten lines by this interruption of yours.' So economical was he of
time. In summer he rose from dinner while it was still light, and in
winter within an hour after dark, as if compelled by some law. Such
was his day amid all his work and the roar of the city. But when on
holiday the only time he was not I studying was bath-time. By bath I
mean when he I was actually right inside; for while he was under
scraper and towel he would be read to or dictate. When travelling he
thought of nothing else: at his side was a shorthand writer with a
book and his tablets. In winter the writer's hands were protected by
mittens, so that not even the sharpness of the weather should rob him
of a moment. For the same reason even at Rome he used to ride in a
sedan-chair (and not in a litter). I remember how he once took me to
task for walking. Said he, 'You need not have wasted these hours;' for
he considered as wasted all hours not spent upon study. It was by
application like this that he completed all those volumes and also
left to me a hundred and sixty note-books full of selections, written
in very small hand on both sides of the paper. He used himself to say
that, when he was the emperor's financial agent in Spain, he could
have sold these note-books to Largius Licinus for L3000, and at that
time they were considerably less numerous." ... "And so," writes the
nephew, "I always laugh when certain people call _me_ studious, for,
compared to him, I am a most indolent person."

And yet what does this "most indolent person" himself do in the course
of a lifetime? After a complete oratorical education of the typical
Roman kind he enters upon a full public career. He undergoes his
minimum military service with the legions in Syria. He returns to Rome
and passes right up to the consulship, acquiring particular ability in
connection with the Treasury. Often he acts as adviser to other
officers. Apart from his public position he is a pleader before the
courts. He takes a prominent part in the debates of the senate. He
belongs to one of the priestly bodies. He does his share in providing
the public games. He is appointed "Minister for the regulation of the
Tiber and of the Sewerage." He is afterwards made governor of
Bithynia