consulship,--an honor which had never before been granted to any one,
even to one who had achieved some great end in war. Death, if it befell
me, would not be at all unseasonable, especially when you consider that
my consulship was so many years ago; yet remember that in that very
consulship I uttered the same sentiment, to make you feel that in any
and all business I despised death. To dread any one, however, that was
against you, and in your company to be a slave to any one would prove
exceedingly unseasonable to me. Wherefore I deem this last to be the ruin
and destruction not only of the body, but of the soul and reputation,
by which we become in a certain sense immortal. But to die speaking and
acting in your behalf I regard as equivalent to immortality.

[-47-] "And if Antony, also, felt the force of this, he would never have
entered upon such a career, but would have even preferred to die like his
grandfather rather than to behave like Cinna who killed him. For, putting
aside other considerations, Cinna was in turn slain not long afterward
for this and the other sins that he had committed; so that I am surprised
also at this feature in Antony's conduct, that, imitating his works as
he does, he shows no fear of some day falling a victim to a similar
disaster: the murdered man, however, left behind to this very descendant
the reputation of greatness. But the latter has no longer any claim to
be saved on account of his relatives, since he has neither emulated his
grandfather nor inherited his father's property. Who is unaware of the
fact that in restoring many who were exiled in Caesar's time and later, in
accordance forsooth with directions in his patron's papers, he did not
aid his uncle, but brought back his fellow-gambler Lenticulus, who was
exiled for his unprincipal life, and cherishes Bambalio, who is notorious
for his very name, while he has treated his nearest relatives as I have
described and as if he were half angry at them because he was born into
that family. Consequently he never inherited his father's goods, but has