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[12]
Many are the remarkable things I have observed
in that great man, but nothing more striking than
the manner in which he bore the death of his distinguished son, a former consul. The funeral oration
delivered by him on that occasion is in general
circulation, and, when we read it, what philosopher
does not appear contemptible? Nor was it merely
in public and under the gaze of his fellow-citizens
that he was great, but he was greater still in the
privacy of his home. What conversation! What
maxims! What a knowledge of ancient history!
What skill in augural law! He had also read much,
for a Roman, and knew by heart the entire history,
not only of our own wars, but of foreign wars as well.
I was, at that time, as eager to profit by his conversation as if I already foresaw what, in fact, came
to pass, that, when he was gone, I should have no
one from whom to learn.
Cicero: De Senectute De Amicitia De Divinatione. With An English Translation. William Armistead Falconer. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1923.
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