iny's
works as to wish to have a complete collection of them. You will wonder
how a man so much occupied as he was could find time to write so many
books, some of them upon very difficult subjects. You will be still more
surprised when you hear that for a considerable time he practised at the
bar, that he died in his fifty-sixth year, and that from the time of his
retirement from the bar to his death he was employed in some of the
highest offices of state, and in the immediate service of the emperors.
But he had a very quick intelligence, an incredible power of
application, and an unusual faculty of doing without sleep. In summer he
used to begin to work at midnight; in winter, generally at one in the
morning, or two at the latest, and often at midnight. But he would
often, without leaving his studies, refresh himself by a short sleep.
Before daybreak he used to wait upon the Emperor Vespasian, who also was
a night worker, and after that attended to his official duties. Having
taken a light meal at noon, after the custom of our ancestors, he would
in summer, if unoccupied, lie down in the sun, while a book was read to
him from which he made extracts and notes. Indeed he never read without
making extracts; he used to say that no book was so bad as not to teach
one at least something. After this reading he usually took a cold bath,
then a light refreshment, and went to sleep for a little while. Then, as
if beginning a new day, he resumed his studies until dinner, when a book
was again read to him, upon which he would make passing comments. I
remember once, when his reader had pronounced a word wrongly, someone at
the table made him repeat it again; upon which my uncle asked his friend
if he had not understood it. He admitted that the word was clear enough.
"Why did you stop him then?" asked my uncle; "we have lost more than ten
lines by this interruption of yours." Even so parsimonious was he of
every moment of time! In summer he always rose from dinner by daylight,
and in winter as soon as it was dark; this was an invariable law with
him.

Such was his life amidst the noise and bustle of the city; but when he
was in the country his whole time, without exception, was given to study
except when he bathed. And by this exception I mean only the time when
he was actually in the bath, for all the time when he was being rubbed
and dried he was read to, or was himself dictating. Again, when
travelling he gave his whole time to s