Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookand miserable neck to his owner's knife, long ago scorned[654] by the ungrateful plow. That was at all events the death of a human being: but his wife who survived him barked fiercely from the jaws of a bitch.[655] I hasten on to our own countrymen, and pass by the king of Pontus, and Crœsus,[656] whom the eloquent voice of the right-judging Solon bade look at the closing scene[657] of a life however long. Banishment, and the jail, and the marshes of Minturnæ,[658] and his bread begged in conquered Carthage, took their rise from this. What could all nature, what could Rome, have produced more blessed in the wide world than that citizen, had he breathed forth his soul[659] glutted with spoils, while the captive train followed around his chariot, in all the pomp and circumstance of war, when he was about to alight from his Teutonic[660] car! Campania,[661] in her foresight for Pompey, had given him a fever he should have prayed for. But the many cities and their public prayers prevailed. Therefore his own malignant fortune and that of Rome preserved him only that conquered he should lose his head. Lentulus[662] escaped this torment; Cethegus paid not this penalty, but fell unmutilated; and Catiline lay with corpse entire. The anxious mother, when she visits Venus' temple, prays for beauty for her boys with subdued whisper;[663] with louder voice for her girls, carrying her fond wishes[664] even to the verge of trifling. "But why should you chide me?" she says; "Latona[665] delights in the beauty of Diana." But, Lucretia[666] forbids a face like hers to be the subject of your prayers: Virginia would gladly give hers to Rutila, and receive her wen in exchange. But, a son possessed of exquisite person keeps his parents in a constant state of misery and alarm. So rare is the union[667] of beauty with chastity. Though the house, austere in virtue, and emulating the Sabines of old, may have handed down,[668] like an inheritance, purity of morals, and bounteous Nature with benignant hand may give, besides, a chaste mind and a face glowing with modest blood (for what greater boon can Nature bestow on a youth? Nature, more powerful than any guardian, or any watchful care!), still they are not allowed to attain to manhood. For the villainy of the corrupter, prodigal in its guilt, dares to assail with tempting offers the parents themselves. So great is their confidence in the success of bribes! No tyrant in his cruel palace ever castrated a youth that was deformed; nor did even Nero carry off a stripling if club-footed, or disfigured by wens, pot-bellied, and humpbacked! Go then, and exult in the beauty of your darling boy! Yet for whom are there greater perils in store? He will become the adulterer of the city, and dread all the punishments[669] that angry husbands inflict. Nor will he be more lucky than the star of Mars, even though he never fall like Mars into the net.[670] But sometimes that bitter wrath exacts even more than any law permits, to satisfy the husband's rage. One dispatches the adulterer with the sword; another cuts him in two with bloody lashes; some have the punishment of the mullet. But your Endymion, forsooth, will of course become the lover of some lady of his affections! But soon, when Servilia[671] has bribed him, he will serve her whom he loves not, and will despoil her of all her ornaments. For what will any woman refuse, to get her passions gratified? whether she be an Oppia, or a Catulla. A depraved woman has all her morality[672] concentred there. "But what harm does beauty do one that is chaste?" Nay, what did his virtuous resolve avail Hippolytus, or what Bellerophon? Surely she[673] fired at the rejection of her suit, as though treated with indignity. Nor did Sthenobæa burn less fiercely than the Cretan; and both lashed themselves into fury. A woman is then most ruthless, when shame sets sharper spurs[674] to her hate. Choose what course you think should be recommended him to whom Cæsar's wife[675] purposes to marry herself. This most noble and most beautiful of the patrician race is hurried off, poor wretched man, a sacrifice to the lewd eyes of Messalina. She is long since seated with her bridal veil all ready: the nuptial bed with Tyrian hangings is openly prepared in the gardens, and, according to the antique rites, a dowry of a million sesterces will be given; the soothsayer[676] and the witnesses to the settlement will be there! Do you suppose these acts are kept secret; intrusted only to a few? She will not be married otherwise than with all legal forms. Tell me which alternative you choose. If you refuse to comply, you must die before nightfall.[677] If you _do_ commit the crime, some brief delay will be afforded you, until the thing, known to the city and the people,[678] shall reach the prince's ears. He will be the last to learn the disgrace of his house! Do you meanwhile obey her behests, if you set so high a value on a few days' existence. Whichever you hold the better and the safer course, that white and beauteous neck must be presented[679] to the sword! Is there then nothing for which men shall pray? If you will take advice, you will allow the deities themselves to determine what may be expedient for us, and suitable to our condition. For instead of pleasant things, the gods will give us all that is most fitting. Man is dearer to them than to himself. We, led on by the impulse of our minds, by blind and headstrong passions, pray for wedlock, and issue by our wives; but it is known to them what our children will prove; of what character our wife will be! Still, that you may have somewhat to pray for, and vow to their shrines the entrails and consecrated mincemeat[680] of the white porker, your prayer must be that you may have a sound mind in a sound body. Pray for a bold spirit, free from all dread of death; that reckons the closing scene of life among Nature's kindly boons;[681] that can endure labor, whatever it be; that deems the gnawing cares of Hercules,[682] and all his cruel toils, far preferable to the joys of Venus, rich banquets, and the downy couch of Sardanapalus. I show thee what thou canst confer upon thyself. The only path that surely leads to a life of peace lies through virtue. If _we_ have wise foresight, _thou_, Fortune, hast no divinity.[683] It is we that make thee a deity, and place thy throne in heaven![684] FOOTNOTES: [550] _Gadibus._ Gades, now Cadiz, and Ganges were the western and eastern boundaries of the then known world. [551] _Nebulâ._ Cf. Plat., Alcib., ii., τῆς ψυχῆς ἀφελόντα τὴν ἀχλύν; from which many ideas in this Satire, particularly toward the close, are borrowed. "As treacherous phantoms in the mist delude, Shuns fancied ills, or chases, airy good." Johnson's imitation. [552] _Evertere._ These are almost Cicero's own words. "Cupiditates non modo singulos homines sed _universas familias evertunt_," de Fin., i. Cf. Shakspeare: "We, ignorant of ourselves |