For since he could not prevail
upon his colleague to refrain from battle, he, though against his better
judgment, took part in it, and disdained to fly; but when he who had
begun the contest fled from it, he stood firm, and died fighting the
enemy. This Aemilius had a daughter, who married Scipio the Great, and a
son who is the subject of this memoir. Born in an age which was rendered
illustrious by the valour and wisdom of many distinguished men, he
eclipsed them all, though he followed none of the studies by which young
men were then gaining themselves a reputation, but chose a different
path. He did not practise at the bar, nor could he bring himself to
court the favour of the people by the greetings, embraces, and
professions of friendship to which most men used to stoop to obtain
popularity. Not that he was by nature unfitted for such pursuits; but he
considered it better to gain a reputation for courage, justice, and
truth, in which he soon outshone his contemporaries.
[Footnote A: In Sintenis's text the chapter with which this life usually
begins is prefixed to the Life of Timoleon.]
III. The first honourable office for which he was a candidate was that
of aedile, for which he was elected against twelve others, who, they
say, all afterwards became consuls. When chosen a priest of the college
of Augurs, whom the Romans appoint to watch and register the omens
derived from the flight of birds, or the signs of the heavens, he so
carefully applied himself to learning the ancient customs and religion
of his ancestors, that the priesthood, hitherto merely considered as an
empty title of honour and sought after for that reason only, became
regarded as the sublimest craft of all, confirming the saying of the
philosophers, that holiness consists in a knowledge of how to serve the
gods.
Pages:
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651