sidered sufficient discipline; the more talkative were
punished by exile from speech for as much as five years. I may add
that my master Plato deviates little or not at all from the principles
of this school, and in most of his utterances is a follower of
Pythagoras. And that I too might win from my instructors the right to
be called one of his followers, I have learned this double lesson in
the course of my philosophical studies--to speak boldly when there is
need of speech and gladly to be mute when there is need of silence. As
a result of this self-command, I think I may say that I have won from
your predecessors no less praise for my seasonable silence than
approval for the timeliness of my speech.

[Footnote 43: _qui_ vulgo.]

[Footnote 44: _Anacreonteum_ vulgo.]

[Footnote 45: _ceterum multum abest_ (MSS.).]

[Footnote 46: Omitting _illa_ before _Indiae gens est_.]

[Footnote 47: _statos ambitus_ (Krueger).]

[Footnote 48: _mortalibus_ MSS. _late pecuniis_ (Stewech).]

_An oration of thanks to Aemilianus Strabo and the senate of Carthage
for decreeing a statue in his honour._

16. Before I begin, illustrious representatives of Africa, to thank
you for the statue, with the demand for which you honoured me while I
was still with you, setting the seal upon your kindness by actually
decreeing its erection during my absence, I wish first to explain to
you why I absented myself for a considerable number of days from the
sight of my audience and betook myself to the Persian baths, where the
healthy may find delightful bathing, and the sick a no less welcome
relief. For I have resolved to make it clear to you, to whose service
I have dedicated myself irrevocably and for ever, that every moment of
my life is well spent. There shall be no action of mine, important or
trivial, but you shall be informed of it and pass judgement upon it.
Well then! to come to the reason for my sudden departure from the
presence of this most distinguished assembly, I will tell you a story
of the comic poet Philemon which is not so very unlike my own and will
serve to show you how sudden and unexpected are the perils that
threaten the life of man. You all are well acquainted with his
talents, listen then to a few words concerning his death, or perhaps
you would like a few words on his talents as well.

This Philemon was a poet, a writer of the middle comedy, and composed
plays for the stage in competition with Menander and contested