PREFACE, 2-6 



of as not coming ofF — that it may result in something 

 getting done, and everyone may know on what equal 

 terms the empire Uves with you — you with a triumph 

 to your name and censorial rank, six times consul, 

 coUeague in tribune's authority, and (a service that 

 you have made more iUustrious than these in render- 

 ing it equaUy to your father and to the equestrian 

 order) commander of his bodyguard ; and aU this 

 in your pubUc Ufe — and then what a good comrade 

 to us in the companionship of the camp ! Nor 

 has fortune's grandeur made any change in you 

 save in enabUng you to bestow aU the benefit you 

 desire. Consequently as aU those methods of paying 

 you revei-ence are open to everybody else, to me is 

 left only the presumption of treating you with more 

 intimate respect. For that presumption therefore 

 you wiU debit the responsibiUty to yourself, and wiU 

 grant yourself pardon on the score of my offence. I 

 have tried to put on a bokl face, and yet have not 

 succeeded, as your grandeur meets me by another 

 route and the rods of office that your genius 

 bears make me move on yet further : in no other 

 person ever radiate more genuinely the dictatorial 

 power of oratory and the tribunician authority of 

 wit ! How eloquently you thunder forth your 

 father's praises and your brother's fame ! How 

 great you are in the poet's art ! O mighty fertiUty 

 of genius — you have contrived a way to imitate your 

 brother also ! 



But who could judge the value of these composi- 

 tions with confidence when about to submit to the 

 verdict of your talent, especiaUy when that verdict 

 has been invited ? for formal dedication of the 

 work to you puts one in a difFerent position from 



