The immoderate wealth acquired by Eprius
Marcellus
has been
mentioned in this Dialogue, section 8.
mentioned in this Dialogue, section 8.
Tacitus
epist.
6.
Between these two different opinions, a true poet
may be allowed to decide. Horace describes the noise and tumult of a
city life, and then says,
Scriptorum chorus omnis amat nemus, et fugit urbes.
Epist. lib. ii. ep. ii. ver. 77.
Alas! to grottos and to groves we run,
To ease and silence, ev'ry muse's son.
POPE.
[b] The expression in the original is full and expressive, _lucrosæ
hujus et sanguinantis eloquentiæ_; that gainful and blood-thirsty
eloquence.
The immoderate wealth acquired by Eprius Marcellus has been
mentioned in this Dialogue, section 8. Pliny gives us an idea of the
vast acquisitions gained by Regulus, the notorious informer. From a
state of indigence, he rose, by a train of villainous actions, to such
immense riches, that he once consulted the omens, to know how soon he
should be worth sixty millions of sesterces, and found them so
favourable, that he had no doubt of being worth double that sum.
_Aspice Regulum, qui ex paupere et tenui ad tantas opes per flagitia
processit, ut ipse mihi dixerit, cum consuleret, quam cito sestertium
sexcennies impleturus esset, invenisse se exta duplicata, quibus
portendi millies et ducenties habiturum. _ Lib. ii. ep. 20. In another
epistle the same author relates, that Regulus, having lost his son,
was visited upon that occasion by multitudes of people, who all in
secret detested him, yet paid their court with as much assiduity as if
they esteemed and loved him. They retaliated upon this man his own
insidious arts: to gain the friendship of Regulus, they played the
game of Regulus himself. He, in the mean time, dwells in his villa on
the other side of the Tiber, where he has covered a large tract of
ground with magnificent porticos, and lined the banks of the river
with elegant statues; profuse, with all his avarice, and, in the depth
of infamy, proud and vain-glorious. _Convenitur ad eum mirâ
celebritate: cuncti detestantur, oderunt; et, quasi probent, quasi
diligant, cursant, frequentant, utque breviter, quod sentio, enunciem,
in Regulo demerendo, Regulum imitantur. Tenet se trans Tyberim in
hortis, in quibus latissimum solum porticibus immensis, ripam statuis
suis occupavit; ut est, in summâ avaritia sumptuosus, in summâ
infamiâ gloriosus. _ Lib. iv. ep.
may be allowed to decide. Horace describes the noise and tumult of a
city life, and then says,
Scriptorum chorus omnis amat nemus, et fugit urbes.
Epist. lib. ii. ep. ii. ver. 77.
Alas! to grottos and to groves we run,
To ease and silence, ev'ry muse's son.
POPE.
[b] The expression in the original is full and expressive, _lucrosæ
hujus et sanguinantis eloquentiæ_; that gainful and blood-thirsty
eloquence.
The immoderate wealth acquired by Eprius Marcellus has been
mentioned in this Dialogue, section 8. Pliny gives us an idea of the
vast acquisitions gained by Regulus, the notorious informer. From a
state of indigence, he rose, by a train of villainous actions, to such
immense riches, that he once consulted the omens, to know how soon he
should be worth sixty millions of sesterces, and found them so
favourable, that he had no doubt of being worth double that sum.
_Aspice Regulum, qui ex paupere et tenui ad tantas opes per flagitia
processit, ut ipse mihi dixerit, cum consuleret, quam cito sestertium
sexcennies impleturus esset, invenisse se exta duplicata, quibus
portendi millies et ducenties habiturum. _ Lib. ii. ep. 20. In another
epistle the same author relates, that Regulus, having lost his son,
was visited upon that occasion by multitudes of people, who all in
secret detested him, yet paid their court with as much assiduity as if
they esteemed and loved him. They retaliated upon this man his own
insidious arts: to gain the friendship of Regulus, they played the
game of Regulus himself. He, in the mean time, dwells in his villa on
the other side of the Tiber, where he has covered a large tract of
ground with magnificent porticos, and lined the banks of the river
with elegant statues; profuse, with all his avarice, and, in the depth
of infamy, proud and vain-glorious. _Convenitur ad eum mirâ
celebritate: cuncti detestantur, oderunt; et, quasi probent, quasi
diligant, cursant, frequentant, utque breviter, quod sentio, enunciem,
in Regulo demerendo, Regulum imitantur. Tenet se trans Tyberim in
hortis, in quibus latissimum solum porticibus immensis, ripam statuis
suis occupavit; ut est, in summâ avaritia sumptuosus, in summâ
infamiâ gloriosus. _ Lib. iv. ep.
