[93]
Publius
Naevius does not compare himself with you, O Sextus Naevius, he does not vie with you in
riches or power. He gives up to you all the arts by which you are great; he confesses
that he does not speak elegantly; that he is not able to say pleasant things to people;
that he does not abandon a friendship when his friend is in distress, and fly off to
another which is in flourishing circumstances; that he does not give magnificent and
splendid banquets; that he has not a house closed against modesty and holiness, but open
and as it were exposed to cupidity and debauchery; on the other hand he says that duty,
good faith, industry and a life which has been always austere and void of pleasure has
been his choice; he knows that the opposite course is more fashionable, and that by such
habits people have more influence. What then shall be done?
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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