ife of a few days that
had sprung up between us at your instigation, and expressed his
gratitude to me in the presence of so great a man? Suppose I had read
a report of what took place in Avitus' presence instead of reading
merely his letter. What is there in the whole affair that could give
you or any one else[29] a handle for accusing me? Pontianus himself
considered himself in my debt for the money given him by his mother;
Pontianus rejoiced with the utmost sincerity in his good fortune in
having me for his step-father. Ah! would that he had returned from
Carthage safe and sound! or since it was not fated that that should
be, would that you, Rufinus, had not poisoned his judgement at the
last! What gratitude he would have expressed to me either personally
or in his will! However, as things are, I beg you, Maximus,--it will
not take long--to allow the reading of these letters full of
expressions of respect and affection for myself, which he sent me,
some of them from Carthage, some as he drew near on his homeward
journey, some written while he still enjoyed his health, and some when
the sickness was already upon him. Thus his brother, my accuser, will
realize with what[30] lack of success he pursues his literary studies
compared with his brother of blessed memory. (_Pontianus' letters are
read._)

[Footnote 29: _quas vel tu vel quisquis_ (Van der Vliet). There is no
doubt as to the sense required: the precise correction must remain
doubtful.]

[Footnote 30: _quam in omnibus minor Minervae_ (H.E.B.).]

97. Did you hear the phrases which your brother Pontianus used in
speaking of me? He called me his father, his master, his instructor
not only on various occasions in his lifetime but actually on his
deathbed. I might follow this[31] by producing similar letters from
you, if I thought that the delay thus caused would be worth while. But
I should prefer to produce your brother's recent will, unfinished
though it may be, in which he made most dutiful and respectful mention
of myself. But Rufinus never allowed this will to be drawn up or
completed owing to his chagrin at the loss of the inheritance which he
had regarded in the light of a rich payment[32] for his daughter's
embraces during the few months in which he was Pontianus'
father-in-law. He had further consulted certain Chaldean soothsayers
as to what profit his daughter, whom he regarded in the light of an
investment, would bring him in. They, I am told, prophes