Res Gestae

Other men, taking great pride in coaches higher than common and in ostentatious finery of apparel, sweat under heavy cloaks, which they fasten about their necks and bind around their very throats, while the air blows through them because of the excessive lightness of the material; and they lift them up with both hands and wave them with many gestures, especially with their left hands,[*](Probably to display their rings; cf. Pliny, N.H. xxxiii. 9, manus et prorsus sinistrae maximam auctoritatem conciliavere auro. ) in order that the over-long fringes and the tunics embroidered with party-coloured threads in multiform figures of animals may be conspicuous.

Others, though no one questions them, assume a grave expression and greatly exaggerate their wealth, doubling the annual yield of their fields, well cultivated (as they think), of which they assert that they possess a great number from the rising to the setting sun; they are clearly unaware that their forefathers, through whom the greatness of Rome was so far flung, gained renown, not by riches, but by fierce wars, and not differing from the common soldiers in wealth, mode of life, or simplicity of attire, overcame all obstacles by valour.

For that reason the eminent Valerius Publicola was buried by a contribution of money,[*](In 503 B.C.; see Livy, ii. 16, 7.) and through the aid of her husband’s friends[*](Valerius Maximus, iv. 4, 6, says that it was the senate that came to their aid.) the needy wife of

But now-a-days, if as a stranger[*](Ensslin, p. 7 (see Bibliography), refers this to Ammianus; cf. note on 6, 2, above.) of good position you enter for the first time to pay your respects to some man who is well-to-do[*](For bene nummatum, cf. Horace, Epist. i. 6, 38.) and therefore puffed up, at first you will be greeted as if you were an eagerly expected friend, and after being asked many questions and forced to lie, you will wonder, since the man never saw you before, that a great personage should pay such marked attention to your humble self as to make you regret, because of such special kindness, that you did not see Rome ten years earlier.

When, encouraged by this affability, you make the same call on the following day, you will hang about unknown and unexpected, while the man who the day before urged you to call again counts up his clients, wondering who you are or whence you came. But when you are at last recognized and admitted to his friendship, if you devote yourself to calling upon him for three years without interruption, then are away for the same number of days, and return to go through with a similar course, you will not be asked where you were, and unless you abandon the quest in sorrow, you will waste your whole life to no purpose in paying court to the blockhead.

And when, after a sufficient interval of time, the preparation of those tedious and unwholesome banquets begins, or the distribution of the customary doles, it is debated with anxious deliberation whether it will be suitable to invite a stranger, with the exception of those to whom a return of hospitality is due; and if, after full and mature deliberation, the decision is in the affirmative, the man who is invited is one who watches all night before the house of the charioteers,[*](Referring to a plebeian (cf. xxviii. 4, 29), a partisan of one of the colours. Cf. also Suet., Calig. 55, 3.) or who is a professional dicer, or who pretends to the knowledge of certain secrets.

For they avoid learned and serious people as unlucky and useless, in addition to which the announcers of names, who are wont to traffic in these and similar favours, on receiving a bribe, admit to the doles and the dinners obscure and low-born intruders.

But I pass over the gluttonous banquets and the various allurements of pleasures, lest I should go too far, and I shall pass to the fact that certain persons hasten without fear of danger through the broad streets of the city and over the upturned stones of the pavements as if they were driving post-horses with hoofs of fire (as the saying is), dragging after them armies of slaves like bands of brigands and not leaving even Sannio at home, as the comic writer says.[*](Terence, Eun., 780, solus Sannio servat domi. ) And many matrons, imitating them, rush about through all quarters of the city with covered heads and in closed litters.

And as skilful directors of battles place in the van dense throngs of brave soldiers, then light-armed troops, after them the javelin-throwers, and