Of true nobility.
NOT Maecenas, though of all the Lydians
1 that ever inhabited the Tuscan territories, no one is of a nobler family than
yourself; and though you have ancestors both on father's and mother's side, that in times past
have had the command of mighty legions; do you, as the generality are wont, toss up your nose
at obscure people, such as me, who had [only] a freed-man
2 for my father: since you affirm that it is of no consequence of what parents any man
is born, so that he be a man of merit. You persuade yourself, with truth, that before the
dominions of Tullius, and the reign of one born a slave, frequently numbers of men descended
from ancestors of no rank, have both lived as men of merit, and have been distinguished by the
greatest honors: [while] on the other hand Laevinus, the descendant of that famous Valerius,
by whose means Tarquinius Superbus was expelled from his kingdom, was not a farthing more
esteemed
3 [on account of his family, even] in the judgment of the people, with whose disposition
you are well acquainted; who often foolishly bestow honors on the unworthy, and are from their
stupidity slaves to a name: who are struck with admiration by inscriptions and statues. What
is it fitting for us to do, who are far, very far removed from the vulgar [in our sentiments]?
For grant it, that the people had rather confer a dignity on Laevinus than on Decius, who is a
new man; and the censor Appius would expel me [the senate-house], because I was not sprung
from a sire of distinction: and that too deservedly, inasmuch as I rested not content in in my
own condition. But glory drags in her dazzling car the obscure as closely fettered as those of
nobler birth. What did it profit you, O Tullius, to resume the robe that you [were forced] to
lay aside, and. become a tribune [again] Envy increased upon you, which had been less, if you
had remained in a private station. For when any crazy fellow has laced the middle of his leg
with the sable buskins,
4 and has let flow the purple robe from his breast, he immediately hears: "Who is this
man? Whose son is he?" Just as if there be any one, who labors under the same distemper as
Barrus does, so that he is ambitious of being reckoned handsome; let him go where he will, he
excites curiosity among the girls of inquiring into particulars; as what sort of face, leg,
foot, teeth, hair, he has. Thus he who engages
5 to his citizens to take care of the city, the empire, and
Italy, and the sanctuaries of the gods, forces every mortal to be solicitous,
and to ask from what sire he is descended, or whether he is base by the obscurity of his
mother. What? do you, the son of a Syrus,
6 a
Dama, or a Dionysius, dare to cast down the
citizens of
Rome from the [Tarpeian] rock, or
deliver them up to Cadmus [the executioner]? But, [you may say,] my colleague Novius sits
7 below me by one degree: for he is only what my father was. And therefore do you esteem
yourself a Paulus or a Messala? But he (Novius), if two hundred carriages and three funerals
were to meet in the forum, could make noise enough
8 to drown all their horns and trumpets:
9 this [kind of merit] at least has its weight with us.
Now I return to myself, who am descended from a freedman; whom every body nibbles at, as
being descended from a freed-man. Now, because, Maecenas, I am a constant guest of yours; but
formerly, because a Roman legion was under my command, as being a military tribune. This
latter case is different from the former: for, though any person perhaps might justly envy me
that post of honor, yet could he not do so with regard to your being my friend! especially as
you are cautious to admit such as are worthy; and are far from having any sinister ambitious
views. I can not reckon myself a lucky fellow on this account, as if it were by accident that
I got you for my friend; for no kind of accident threw you in my way. That best of men,
Virgil, long ago, and after him, Varius, told you what I was. When first I came into your
presence, I spoke a few words in a broken manner (for childish bashfulness hindered me from
speaking more); I did not tell you that I was the issue of an illustrious father: I did not
[pretend] that I rode about the country on a Satureian horse, but plainly what I really was;
you answer (as your custom is) a few words: I depart: and you re-invite me after the ninth
month, and command me to be in the number of your friends. I esteem it a great thing that I
pleased you, who distinguish probity from baseness, not by the illustriousness of a father,
but by the purity of heart and feelings.
And yet if my disposition be culpable for a few faults, and those small ones, otherwise
perfect (as if you should condemn moles scattered over a beautiful skin), if no one can justly
lay to my charge avarice, nor sordidness, nor impure haunts; if, in fine (to speak in my own
praise), I live undefiled, and innocent, and dear to my friends; my father was the cause of
all this: who though a poor man on a lean farm, was unwilling to send me to a school under
[the pedant] Flavius, where great boys, sprung from great centurions, having their satchels
and tablets swung over their left arm, used to go with money in their hands the very day it
was due;
10 but had the spirit to bring me a child to
Rome, to be taught those arts which any Roman knight and senator can teach his
own children. So that, if any person had considered my dress, and the slaves who attended me
in so populous a city, he would have concluded that those expenses were supplied to me out of
some hereditary estate. He himself, of all others the most faithful guardian, was constantly
about every one of my prcceptors. Why should I multiply words? He preserved me chaste (which
is the first honor of virtue) not only from every actual guilt, but likewise from [every] foul
imputation, nor was he afraid lest any should turn it to his reproach, if I should come to
follow a business attended with small profits, in capacity of an auctioneer, or (what he was
himself) a taxgatherer. Nor [had that been the case] should I have complained. On this account
the more praise is due to him, and from me a greater degree of gratitude. As long as I am in
my senses, I can never be ashamed of such a father as this, and therefore shall not apologize
[for my birth], in the manner that numbers do, by affirming it to be no fault of theirs. My
language and way of thinking is far different from such persons. For if nature were to make us
from a certain term of years to go over our past time again, and [suffer us] to choose other
parents, such as every man for ostentation's sake would wish for himself; I, content with my
own, would not assume those that are honored with the ensigns and seats of state; [for which I
should seem] a madman in the opinion of the mob, but in yours, I hope a man of sense; because
I should be unwilling to sustain a troublesome burden, being by no means used to it. For I
must [then] immediately set about acquiring a larger fortune, and more people must be
complimented; and this and that companion must be taken along, so that I could neither take a
jaunt into the country, or a journey by myself; more attendants and more horses must be fed;
coaches must be drawn. Now, if I please, I can go as far as
Tarentum on my bob-tailed mule, whose loins the portmanteau galls with his
weight, as does the horseman his shoulders. No one will lay to my charge such sordidness as he
may, Tullius, to you, when five slaves follow you, a praetor, along the Tiburtian way,
carrying a traveling kitchen, and a vessel of wine. Thus I live more comfortably, O
illustrious senator, than you, and than thousands of others. Wherever I have a fancy, I walk
by myself: I inquire the price of herbs and bread: I traverse the tricking circus,
11 and the forum often in the evening: I stand listening among the fortune-tellers:
thence I take myself home to a plate of onions, pulse, and pancakes. My supper is served up by
three slaves; and a white stone slab supports two cups and a brimmer: near the salt-cellar
stands a homely cruet
12 with a little bowl, earthen-ware from
Campania. Then I go to rest; by no means concerned that I must rise in the
morning, and pay a visit to the statue of Marsyas,
13 who denies that he is able to bear the look of the younger Novius. I lie a-bed to the
fourth hour; after that I take a ramble, or having read or written what may amuse me in my
privacy, I am anointed with oil, but not with such as the nasty Nacca, when he robs the lamps.
But when the sun, become more violent, has reminded me to go to baths, I avoid the
Campus Martius14 and the game of hand-ball. Having dined in a temperate manner, just enough to hinder
me from having an empty stomach, during the rest of the day I trifle in my own house. This is
the life of those who are free from wretched and burthensome ambition: with such things as
these I comfort myself, in a way to live more delightfully than if my grandfather had been a
quaestor, and father and uncle too.