kingship, to choose not to be a king when you might. Manlius
conquered his father, imperious [Footnote: There is an allusion to
the surname of both the father and the son, "Imperiosus" given them
on account of their severity.] though he was, when, in spite of his
having previously been banished for a time by his father on,
account of his dulness and stupidity as a boy, he came to an
interview which he had demanded with the tribune of the people, who
had filed an action against his father. The tribune had granted him
the interview, hoping that he would betray his hated father, and
believed that he had earned the gratitude of the youth, having,
amongst other matters, reproached old Manlius with sending him into
exile, treating it as a very serious accusation; but the youth,
having caught him alone, drew a sword which he had hidden in his
robe, and said, "Unless you swear to give up your suit against my
father, I will run you through with this sword. It is in your power
to decide how my father shall be freed from his prosecutor." The
tribune swore, and kept his oath; he related the reason of his
abandonment of his action to an assembly at the Rostra. No other
man was ever permitted to put down a tribune with impunity.

XXXVIII. There are instances without number of men who have saved
their parents from danger, have raised them from the lowest to the
highest station, and, taking them from the nameless mass of the
lower classes, have given them a name glorious throughout all ages.
By no force of words, by no power of genius, can one rightly
express how desirable, how admirable, how never to be erased from
human memory it is to be able to say, "I obeyed my parents, I gave
way to them, I was submissive to their authority whether it was
just, or unjust and harsh; the only point in which I resisted them
was, not to be conquered by them in benefits." Continue this