Plutarch, De fortuna Romanorum, section 3

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And now, methinks, from my lofty look-out, as it were, from whence I survey the matter in hand, I can descry Fortune and Virtue advancing to be judged and tried one against the other.¹ The gait of Virtue is unhurried, her gaze unwavering ; yet the flush of ambition lends to her countenance some intimation regarding the contest. She follows far behind Fortune, who makes great haste, and in a throng conducting her and guarding her person are

Heroes slain in the conflict, wearing their blood-stained armour,²

men befouled with wounds in front, dripping blood with sweat commingled, trampling upon battered spoils. Is it your desire that we inquire what men are these? They declare themselves to be the Fabricii, the Camilli, the Decii, the Cincinnati, the Fabii Maximi, the Claudii Marcelli, and the Scipios. I see also Gaius Marius showing anger at Fortune, and yonder Mucius Scaevola is exhibiting his burning hand and crying, ‘Do you graciously attribute this also to Fortune?’ And Marcus Horatius, the hero of the battle by the Tiber, weighed down by Etruscan shafts and showing his limping limb, cries aloud from the deep whirl of the waters, ‘Then am I also maimed by Fortune's will?’ Of such character is Virtue's choir that advances to the lists,

Sturdy contender in arms, baleful to all that oppose.³

[p. 331]

1 This scene is perhaps imitated from Xenophon, Memorabilia, ii. 1. 21-34: Prodicus's Heracles and the contest of the goddesses, Virtue and Vice.

2 Homer, Od. xi. 41.

3 Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. ii. p. 242, or Edmonds, Elegy and Iambus, i. p. 420; cf. Moralia, 334 d, infra, 640 a; Compar. of Demosthenes and Cicero, ii. (887 b); cf. 337 d, infra.

Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. 4.

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Plutarch, De fortuna Romanorum
Frank Cole Babbitt, Ed.

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Plutarch, De fortuna Romanorum Frank Cole Babbitt, Ed.

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Plutarch, De fortuna Romanorum
Frank Cole Babbitt, Ed.