1/8 PLINY'S NATTJBAL HISTOET. [BookVll. 



law for the regulation of the theatres, and, without any feelings 

 of resentment, allow a mark to be put upon themselves by allot- 

 ting them an inferior seat ; you entreat, and the sons of pro- 

 scribed men blush at having canvassed for public honours : be- 

 fore your genius, Catiline took to flight, and it was you who 

 proscribed M. Antonius. Hail then to thee, who wast the first 

 of all to receive the title of Father of thy country, 19 who wast 

 the first of all, while wearing the toga, to merit a triumph, 

 and who didst obtain the laurel for oratory. Great father, 

 thou, of eloquence and of Latin literature ! as the Dictator 

 CaBsar, once thy enemy, wrote in testimony of thee, 20 thou 

 didst require a laurel superior to every triumph ! How far 

 greater and more glorious to have enlarged so immeasurably the 

 boundaries of the Roman genius, than those of its sway ! 



(31.) Those persons among the Romans, who surpass all 

 others in wisdom, have the surnames of Catus and Corculus 21 

 given to them. Among the Greeks, Socrates was declared 

 by the oracle of the Pythian Apollo to be superior to all others 

 in wisdom. 



CHAP. 32. (32.) PEECEPTS THE MOST USEFUL IN LIFE. 



Again, men have placed on an equality with those of the 

 oracles the precepts uttered by Chilon, 22 the Lacedaemonian. 

 These have been consecrated at Delphi in letters of gold, and 

 are to the following effect : " That each person ought to know 

 himself, and not to desire to possess too much;" 23 and " That 

 misery is the sure companion of debt and litigation." He died of 



appropriate seats allotted to them. Cicero designates this oration, " De 

 Othone." B. 



1-9 This title was bestowed upon him by the general acclamation of the 

 people, at the end of his consulship. We have an account of it in Plu- 

 tarch. B. 



20 This remark is not found in any of Caesar's works now extant. B. 



21 These terms signify "acute" and "judicious;" they are derived re- 

 spectively from " cautus " and " cor." B. 



22 Son of Damagetus, and one of the Seven Sages. He flourished to- 

 wards the beginning of the sixth century B.C. Herodotus says that he 

 held the office of Ephor Eponymus in 01. 56. He was a man remarkable 

 for his wisdom and his sententious brevity, so characteristic of his Spartan 

 origin. 



23 It appears somewhat doubtful to which of the Grecian sages the credit 

 of this maxim is due. B. 



