renowned among the virtuous, most virtuous among the renowned, most
learned amongst either, in what terms can I hope to thank or
commemorate the gracious thoughts you have entertained for me? How may
I hope adequately to celebrate the honour to which your kindness has
prompted you? How may my speech repay you worthily for the glory
conferred by your action? It baffles my imagination. But I will seek
earnestly and strive to find a way

_While breath still rules these limbs and memory
Is conscious of its being._

[Footnote 51: _unam gratiam_ vulgo.]

[Footnote 52: _vobis comprobari_ (Krueger).]

For at the present moment, I will not deny it, the gladness of my
heart is too loud for my eloquence, I cannot think for pleasure,
delight is master of my soul and bids me rejoice rather than speak.
What shall I do? I wish to show my gratitude, but my joy is such that
I have not yet leisure to express my thanks. No one, however sour and
stern he be, will blame me if the honour bestowed on me makes me no
less nervous[53] than appreciative, if the testimony to my merits,
delivered by a man of such fame and learning, has transported me with
exultation. For he delivered it in the senate of Carthage, a body
whose kindness is only equalled by its distinction; and he that spoke
was one who had held the consulship, one by whom it were an honour
even to be known. Such was the man who appeared before the most
illustrious citizens of the province of Africa to sing my praise!

[Footnote 53: _non minus uereor quam intellego_ (Krueger).]

I have been told that two days ago he sent a written request in which
he demanded that my statue should be given a conspicuous place, and
above all told of the bonds of friendship which began under such
honourable circumstances, when we served together beneath the banner
of literature and studied under the same masters; he then recorded[54]
all the good wishes for his success with which I had welcomed each
successive step of his advance in his official career. He had already
done me a compliment in remembering that I had once been his fellow
student: it was a fresh compliment that so great a man should record
my friendship for him as though I were his equal. But he went further.
He stated that other peoples and cities had decreed not only statues,
but other distinctions as well in my honour. Could anything be added
to such a panegyric as this, delivered by the lips of an ex-consul?
Yes: for h