162 PHYSICAL SCIENCE BK. iv 



him on every side. One began by paying homage 

 to his intellect, the greatest and worthiest of all, 

 which one had rather see consecrated to the service 

 of heaven than wasted in weak human effort ; he ran 

 away from one who talked thus. Or one began to 

 praise his thrift he was so indifferent to money that 

 he seemed neither to possess it nor to condemn it 

 he cut short the very first words of the panegyric. 



10 Or, again, one would admire his bonhomie and 

 unaffected grace of character, which charms even 

 those it passes unnoticed a service to every one he 

 meets, which costs the author nothing. No one in the 

 world, I may tell you, is such a favourite with his one 

 chosen friend as he is with all. At the same time 

 so great is his natural amiability that it is free from 

 all savour of artifice or pretence. No one, you would 

 think, can refuse credit for a goodness in which all 

 share. At this point, too, he successfully resisted 

 your blandishments, leading you to exclaim that 

 you had found a man absolutely impregnable to 

 assaults of the flattery which no one ever refuses 



11 to take to his bosom. You were forced to admit 

 that you respected his wisdom and determination 

 in escaping from that unavoidable plague, all the 

 more that you had hoped that your insinuating 

 words would be received with open ears because 

 they were true. Yet all the more he saw that he 

 must resist your wiles. For when truth is attacked 

 by falsehood, the attack always seeks the aid of 

 some measure of truth. Still, I would not have 

 the flatterer who tried his art upon my brother 

 displeased with his success, as if he had acted his 

 part ill while the other suspected some joke or 



12 trick. You had not been detected, your advances 

 had simply been rejected. Now do you, Lucilius, 



