uttered by men of such
high fortune; resembling the parasites in a comedy, for as they puff up
bragging soldiers, attributing to them, as rivals of the heroes of old,
sieges of cities, and battles, and the death of thousands of enemies, so
these men admire the construction of the lofty pillars, and the walls
inlaid with stones of carefully chosen colours, and extol these grandees
with superhuman praises.

13. Sometimes scales are sent for at their entertainments to weigh the
fish, or the birds, or the dormice which are set on the table; and then
the size of them is dwelt on over and over again, to the great weariness
of those present, as something never seen before; especially when near
thirty secretaries stand by, with tablets and memorandum books, to
record all these circumstances; so that nothing seems to be wanting but
a schoolmaster.

14. Some of them, hating learning as they hate poison, read Juvenal and
Marius Maximus[168] with tolerably careful study; though, in their
profound laziness, they never touch any other volumes; why, it does not
belong to my poor judgment to decide.

15. For, in consideration of their great glories and long pedigrees,
they ought to read a great variety of books; in which, for instance,
they might learn that Socrates, when condemned to death and thrown into
prison, asked some one who was playing a song of the Greek poet
Stesichorus with great skill, to teach him also to do that, while it was
still in his power; and when the musician asked him of what use this
skill could be to him, as he was to die the next day, he answered, "that
I may know something more before I die."

16. And there are among them some who are such severe judges of
offences, that if a slave is too long in bringing them hot water, they
will order him to be scourged with three hundred stripes; but should he
intentionally have killed a man, while numbers insist that he ought to
be unhesitatingly condemned as guilty, his master will exclaim, "What
can the poor wretch do? what can one expect from a good-for-nothing
fellow like that?" But should any one else venture to do anything of the
kind, he would be corrected.

17. Their ideas of civility are such that a stranger had better kill a
man's brother than send an excuse to them if he be asked to dinner; for
a senator fancies that he has suffered a terrible grievance, equal to
the loss of his entire patrimony, if any guest be absent, whom, after
repeated deliberations