BOOK XXXIII. Liii. 149-LIV. 152 



of time introduced the statues and pictures won in 

 the 608th year of the city. That nothing might be uc b.c. 

 lacking, luxury came into being simultaneously, 

 wlth the downfall of Carthage, a fatal coincidence 

 that gave us at one and the same time a taste for the 

 vices and an opportunity for indulging in them. 

 Some of the older generation also sought to gain 

 esteem from these sources. It is recorded that 

 Gaius Marius after his victory over the Cimbrians 101 b.c. 

 drank from Bacchic tankards, in imitation of Father 

 Liber — he, the ploughman of Arpino who rose to 

 the position of general from the ranks ! 



LIV. The view is held that the extension of suver 

 the use of silver to statues was made in the case of ^•^^"/*;,^ 

 statues of his late lamented Majesty Augustus, 

 owing to the sycophancy of the period, but this is 

 erroneous. We find that previously a silver statue 

 of Pharnaces the First,® King of Pontus, was carried 

 in the triumphal procession of Pompey the Great, 6I b.o. 

 as well as one of Mithridates Eupator,^ and also 

 chariots of gold and silver were used. Like^-ise 

 silver has at some periods even supplanted gold, 

 female luxury among the plebeians having its shoe 

 buckles made of silver, as wearing gold buckles 

 would be prohibited by the more common fashion. 

 We have ourselves seen ArelHus Fuscus, when he was 

 expelled from the Equestrian order on a singularly 

 false charge, wearing silver rings merely because 

 classes of students were attracted to him by his fame. 

 But what is the point of coUecting these instances, 

 when our soldiers' sword hilts are made of chased 

 silver, even ivory not being thought good enough; 

 and when their scabbards jingle with Httle silver chains 

 and their belts with silver tabs, nay now-a-days our 



113 



