er than for considering three freed men as a proof of my
wealth? Poor Aemilianus, you have not the least idea how to accuse a
philosopher: you reproach me for the scantiness of my household,
whereas it would really have been my duty to have laid claim, however
falsely, to such poverty. It would have redounded to my credit, for I
know that not only philosophers of whom I boast myself a follower, but
also generals of the Roman people have gloried in the small number of
their slaves. Have your advocates really never read that Marcus
Antonius, a man who had filled the office of consul, had but eight
slaves in his house? That that very Carbo who obtained supreme control
of Rome had fewer by one? That Manius Curius, famous beyond all men
for the crowns of victory that he had won, Manius Curius who thrice
led the triumphal procession through the same gate of Rome, had but
two servants to attend him in camp, so that in good truth that same
man who triumphed over the Sabines, the Samnites, and Pyrrhus had
fewer slaves than triumphs? Marcus Cato did not wait for others to
tell it of him, but himself records the fact in one of his speeches
that when he set out as consul for Spain he took but three slaves from
the city with him. When, however, he came to stay at a state
residence, the number seemed insufficient, and he ordered two slaves
to be bought in the market to wait on him at table, so that he took
five in all to Spain. Had Pudens come across these facts in his
reading, he would, I think, either have omitted this particular
slander or would have preferred to reproach me on the ground that
three slaves were too large rather than too small an establishment for
a philosopher.

18. Pudens actually reproached me with being poor, a charge which is
welcome to a philosopher and one that he may glory in. For poverty has
long been the handmaid of philosophy; frugal and sober, she is strong
in her weakness and is greedy for naught save honour; the possession
of her is a prophylactic against wealth, her mien is free from care,
and her adornment simple; her counsels are beneficent, she puffs no
man up with pride, she corrupts no man with passions beyond his
control, she maddens no man with the lust for power, she neither
desires nor can indulge in the pleasures of feasting and of love.
These sins and their like are usually the nurslings of wealth. Count
over all the greatest crimes recorded in the history of mankind, you
will find no poo