BOOK VII. Lii. 176 178 



returned home on foot ; and that the same thing 

 occuned at Aquino ; and that also at Rome his 

 maternal aunt's husband Corfidius came to hfe again 

 after his funeral had bcen arranged for -with an under- 

 taker, and that he himself superintended the funeral 

 of the relativ^e vho had made the arrangement. He 

 adtLs some marvellous occurrences that it would be 

 suitable to have set out in their entirety : that there 

 ■svere two brothers Corfidius, of the rank of knights, 

 to the elder of whom it happened that he appeared 

 to have expired, and when his will was opened the 

 younger brother was read out as his heir, and set 

 about arranging his funeral ; in the meantime the 

 brother who appeared to be dead summoned the 

 servants by clapping his hands and told them that 

 he had come from his brother, who had entrusted his 

 daughter to liis care, and had also shown him where he 

 had without anybody's knowledge hidden some gold 

 in a hole dug in the ground, and had asked that the 

 preparations that he had made for his brother's 

 funeral might be used for himself. While he was 

 telHng this story his brother's servants hurriedly came 

 with the news that their master was dead ; and the 

 gold was found in the place where he liad said. More- 

 over hfe is full of these prophecies, but they are not 

 worth collecting, because more often than not they 

 arc false, as we will prove by an outstanding example. 

 In the SiciUanWar» the bravest man in Caesar's navies 

 Gabienus was taken prisoner by Sextus Pompeius, 

 by whose order his throat was cut and almost severed, 

 and so he lay a whole day on the shore. Then on 

 the arrival of evening, a crowd having been gathered 

 to the spot by his groans and entreaties, he besought 

 that Pompey should come to him, or send one of his 



625 



