24 Pliny s Epistle to T. Vespasian. [BoOK I. 



must set down the very Words of Cato the Censor, so perti- 

 nent to this purpose ; whereby it may appear, that even 

 Cato himself, who wrote of Military Discipline, who had 

 been trained to War under Scipio Africanus, or rather, in- 

 deed, under Hannibal; who, in the end, could not endure 

 Africanus himself, but was able to control him in martial 

 Affairs ; and who, besides having the Conduct, as Imperator, 

 of the Roman Army, achieved the Superiority over his Ene- 

 mies in the Field, and returned with Victory : this Cato 

 could not avoid such Slanderers ; but knowing that there 

 would be many of them ready to purchase to themselves 

 some Reputation by reproving the Knowledge and Skill of 

 others, brake out into a certain Speech against them : and 

 what was it ? "I know well" (says he, in that Book) "that if 

 these Writings be published to the World, many will step 

 forth to cavil at them, and those soonest who are themselves 

 void of all Praise. But I let their Words flow by." It was 

 well said by Plancus, when being informed that Asinius 

 Pollio was framing certain Orations against him, which 

 should be published either by himself or his Children, after 

 the Decease of Plancus, that they might not be answered by 

 him ; he remarked : " That none but Bugbears 1 fight with 

 the Dead :" with which Word he gave those Orations such a 

 Rebuff, that (by the Judgment of the Learned) none were 



as I have determined to build on the spot, I thought it necessary to 

 give this public notice, that such as choose to have recourse to this tree 

 for the aforesaid purpose, may repair to it before it is cut down.'" 

 Wem. Club. 



1 Bugbears. Larvae. It was supposed that the soul of man, when 

 freed from the bonds of the body, and not obliged to perform its func- 

 tions, became a kind of demon, and this was denominated generally 

 Lemur. Of these Lemures, those who were kind to their families, and 

 preserved them in peace, were called Lares familiar es, or domestic Lares; 

 but those who, for punishment of their crimes committed during life, 

 were condemned to continual wandering, without finding a place of rest, 

 frightening good men and plaguing the wicked, were denominated Larvce. 

 The sarcasm consisted in comparing Asinius Pollio to such a perturbed 

 spirit. In the singular number, Larva signifies a mask, used to terrify 

 children. Wern. Club. 



