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[22] But now the vain arrogance of some men regards everything born outside the pomerium 1 of our city as worthless, except the childless and unwedded; and it is beyond belief with what various kinds of obsequiousness men without children are courted at [p. 51] Rome. 2

1 Originally, the line within the city wall, marking the limit within which the auspices could be taken; the term pomerium was soon transferred to the strip of land between this line and the actual city wall. Here it means merely the wall of the city.

2 This “legacy hunting,” by paying court to childless men and women, is satirized by Horace (Sat. ii. 5). The “art” was in vogue as early as Plautus' time (see Miles, 705 ff.), but became a “profession” at the end of the Republic (cf. Cic., Paradoxa, v. 39) and under the Empire, followed even by some of the emperors (see Suet., Calig. 38, 2; Nero, 32, 2).

Ammianus Marcellinus. With An English Translation. John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935-1940.

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