BOOK XXXIII. xLvii. 135-XLV111. 138 



as if they were still in sovereign power,'^ there is 

 Gaius Caecilius Isidorus, the freedman of Gaius 

 Caecilius who in the consulship of Gaius Asinius g b.o. 

 Gallus and Gaius Marcius Censorinus executed a 

 will dated January 27 in which he declared that in 

 spite of heavy losses in the civil war he nevertheless 

 left 4116 slaves, 3600 pairs of oxen, 257,000 head of 

 other cattle, and 60 million sesterces in cash, and he 

 gave instructions for 1,100,000 to be spent on his 

 funeral. But let them amass uncountable riches, 

 yet what fraction will they be of the riches of the 

 Ptolemy ^ who is recorded by Varro, at the time 

 when Pompey was campaigning in the regions 63 b.o. 

 adjoining Judaea, to have maintained 8000 horse at 

 his own charges, to have given a lavish feast to a 

 thousand guests, with 1,000 gold goblets, which were 

 changed at every course ; and then what fraction 

 would his own estate have been (for I am not speaking 

 about kings) of that of the Bithynian Pythes,<^ who pre- 

 sented the famous gold plane tree and vine to King 

 Darius, and gave a banquet to the forces of Xerxes, iso b.c. 

 that is 788,000 men, with a promise of five months' 

 pay and corn on condition that one at least of his 

 five children when drawn for service should be left to 

 cheer his old age ? Also let anyone compare even 

 Pythes himself with King Croesus ! What madness 

 it is (damn it all !), to covet a thing in our Hfetime that 

 has either fallen to tlie lot even of slaves or has 

 reached no Hmit even in the desires of Kings ! 



XLVIII. The Roman nation begran lavishingr 

 donations in the consulship of Spurius Postumius 186 b.o. 

 and Quintus Marcius : so abundant was money at 

 that date that they contributed funds for Lucius 

 Scipio to defray the cost of games which he cele- 



103 



