16 Pliny s Epistle to T. Vespasian. [BooK L 



a Censor of this Work? When I first thought of this Enter- 

 prise of mine, I never reckoned you in the Number of those 

 Judges that should stoop to pass sentence upon these Writ- 

 ings. It is a common case, and incident to Men of deep 

 Learning, that their Judgment be rejected in this behalf. 

 Even that illustrious Orator, M. Tullius, who for Wit and 

 Learning had not his Fellow, useth the Benefit of this 

 Liberty : and (whereat we may well marvel) maintaineth the 

 Action by an Advocate, taking Example (for his Defence) 

 from Lucilius : for in one Part of his Works thus he saith, 

 / wish not the learned Persius to read these Books of mine ; 

 but I prefer Lcelius Decimus. Now if such a one as Lucilius, 

 who was the first that durst control the Writings of others, 

 had reason thus to say ; if Cicero borrowed the same Speech 

 in his Treatise of the Republic 1 , how much greater Cause 

 have I to decline the Censure of a competent Judge? But 

 I am cut off from this refuge, in that I expressly make 

 choice of you in this Dedication of my Work : for it is one 

 Thing to have a Judge, either selected by Plurality of 

 Voices, or cast upon a Man by drawing Lots ; arid another 

 Thing to choose and nominate him from all others : and 

 there is great Difference between that Provision which we 

 make for a Guest solemnly bidden and invited, and the 

 sudden Entertainment which is ready for a Stranger who 



1 This work of Cicero, entitled " De Republica," is more than once 

 referred to by Pliny. The high standard of morals which it upheld 

 caused it to be much respected by the most eminent Fathers of the Latin 

 Church : insomuch that it is thought to have suggested to St. Augustine 

 the idea of his celebrated work, " De Civitate Dei." During the. dark 

 ages, however, the Treatise " De Republica " was so completely lost, that 

 upon the revival of letters, not a single manuscript of it could be any 

 where discovered. At length, about thirty years since, a large portion of 

 it was found by Angelo Ma'i, then Librarian of the Vatican, in a parch- 

 ment manuscript. The parchment had been washed, and again used for 

 a manuscript ; but the original writing was so far from having been en- 

 tirely effaced by the ablution, that the large Roman letters were soon 

 rendered legible again by the aid of a peculiar process. The recovered 

 portion of this valuable work, being about one-third of the entire Trea- 

 tise, was printed in London in one volume, 8vo. 1823. Wern. Cluib. 



