178 
Pliny's natural histoet. 
[Book Yll. 
law for the regulation of the theatres, and, without any feelings 
of resentment, allow a mark to be put upon themselves by allot- 
ting them an inferior seat ; you entreat, and the sons of pro- 
scribed men blush at having canvassed for public honours : be- 
fore your genius, Catiline took to flight, and it was you who 
proscribed M. Antonius. Hail then to thee, who wast the first 
of all to receive the title of Father of thy country, who wast 
the first of all, while wearing the toga, to merit a triumph, 
and who didst obtain the laurel for oratory. Great father, 
thou, of eloquence and of Latin literature ! as the Dictator 
Caesar, once thy enemy, wrote in testimony of thee,^^ thou 
didst require a laurel superior to every triumph ! How far 
greater and more glorious to have enlarged so immeasurably the 
boundaries of the Roman genius, than those of its sway ! 
(31.) Those persons among the Eomans, who surpass all 
others in wisdom, have the surnames of Catus and Corculus^^ 
given to them. Among the Greeks, Socrates was declared 
by tbe oracle of the Pythian Apollo to be superior to all others 
in wisdom. 
CHAP. 32. (32.) PEECEPTS THE MOST USEFUL IN LIEE. 
Again, men have placed on an equality with those of the 
oracles the precepts uttered by Chilon,^'-^ the Lacedaemonian. 
These have been consecrated at Delphi in letters of gold, and 
are to the following effect : That each person ought to know 
himself, and not to desire to possess too much;"^^ and That 
misery is the sure companion of debt and litigation.'^ He died of 
appropriate seats allotted to them. Cicero designates ^lis oration, " De 
Othone." — B. j 
^■^ This title was bestowed upon him oy the general acclamation of thd 
people, at the end of his consulship. We have an account of it in Plu-^ 
tarch. — B. 
20 This remark is not found in any of Ciesar's works now extant. — B. 
21 These terms signify ''acute" and "judicious;" they are derived re- 
spectively from " cautus " and " cor." — B. 
22 Son of Damagetus, and one of the Seven Sages. He flourished to- 
wards the beginning of the sixth century b.c. Herodotus says that he 
lield the office of Ephor Eponymus in 01. 56. He was a man remarkable 
for his wisdom and his sententious brevity, so characteristic of his Spartan 
origin. 
23 It appears somewhat doubtful to which of the Grecian sages the credit 
of this maxim is due. — B. 
