[57]
His
conclusion, too, is excellent: “This sort of amusement pleases children, silly women, slaves, and the
servile free; but a serious-minded man who weighs
such matters with sound judgment cannot possibly
approve of them.”
And yet I realize that in our country, even in the1
good old times, it had become a settled custom to
expect magnificent entertainments from the very
best men in their year of aedileship. So both Publius Crassus, who was not merely surnamed “The
Rich” but was rich in fact, gave splendid games in
his aedileship; and a little later Lucius Crassus (with
Quintus Mucius, the most unpretentious man in the
world, as his colleague) gave most magnificent entertainments in his aedileship. Then came Gaius
Claudius, the son of Appius, and, after him, many
others—the Luculli, Hortensius, and Silanus. Publius
Lentulus, however, in the year of my consulship,
eclipsed all that had gone before him, and Scaurus
emulated him. And my friend Pompey's exhibitions
in his second consulship were the most magnificent
[p. 231]
of all. And so you see what I think about all this
sort of thing.
1 Magnificent entertainments expected of an aedile.
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