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As
for Marcellus Eprius, whom I have just mentioned, and Crispus Vibius (it is
pleasanter to me to cite recent and modern examples than those of a distant
and forgotten past), I would venture to argue that they are quite as great
men in the remotest corners of the world as at Capua
or Vercellae, where they are said to have been born.
Nor do they owe this to the three hundred million sesterces of the one,
although it may seem that they must thank their eloquence for having
attained such wealth. Eloquence itself is the cause. Its inspiration and
superhuman power have throughout all times shown by many an example what a
height of fortune men have reached by the might of genius. But there are, as
I said but now, instances close at hand, and we may know them, not by
hearsay, but may see them with our eyes. The lower and meaner their birth,
the more notorious the poverty and the straitened means amid which their
life began, the more famous and brilliant are they as examples to show the
efficacy of an orator's eloquence. Without the recommendation of birth,
without the support of riches, neither of the two distinguished for virtue,
one even despised for the appearance of his person, they have now for many
years been the most powerful men in the state, and, as long as it suited
them, they were the leaders of the bar. At this moment, as leading men in
the emperor's friendship they carry all before them, and even the leading
man himself of the State esteems and almost reverences them. Vespasian
indeed, venerable in his old age and most tolerant of truth, knows well that
while his other friends are dependent on what he has given them, and on what
it is easy for him to heap and pile on others, Marcellus and Crispus, in
becoming his friends, brought with them something which they had not
received and which could not be received from a prince. Amid so much that is
great, busts, inscriptions, and statues hold but a very poor place. Yet even
these they do not disregard, and certainly not riches and affluence, which
it is easier to find men denouncing than despising. It is these honours and
splendours, aye and substantial wealth, that we see filling the homes of
those who from early youth have given themselves to practice at the bar and
to the study of oratory.
Complete Works of Tacitus. Tacitus. Sara Bryant. edited for Perseus. New York. : Random House, Inc. Random House, Inc. 1942.