may use the word. He never assumed superiority over Philus, never over
Rupilius, never over Mummius, never over friends of an order lower than
his own. Indeed he always reverenced as a superior, because older than
himself, his brother Quintus Maximus [Footnote: Quintus Fabius Maximus
Aemilianus, the eldest son of Aemilius Paulus, and the adopted son of
Fabius Maximus.] a thoroughly worthy man, but by no means his equal, and
in fact he wanted to make all his friends of the more consequence by
whatever advantages he himself possessed. This example all ought to
imitate, that if they have attained any superiority of virtue, genius,
fortune, they may impart it to and share it with those with whom they
are the most closely connected; and that if they are of humble
parentage, and have kindred of slender ability or fortune, they may
increase their means of well-being, and reflect honor and worth upon
them,--as in fable those who were long in servile condition through
ignorance of their parentage and race, when they were recognized and
found to be sons either of gods or of kings, retained their love for the
shepherds whom for many years they supposed to be their fathers. Much
more ought the like to be done in the case of real and well-known
fathers; for the best fruit of genius, and virtue, and every kind of
excellence is reaped when it is thus bestowed on near kindred and
friends.

20. Moreover, as among persons bound by ties of friendship and intimacy
those who hold the higher place ought to bring themselves down to the
same plane with their inferiors, so ought these last not to feel
aggrieved because they are surpassed in ability, or fortune, or rank by
their friends. Most of them, however, are always finding some ground of
complaint, or even of reproach, especially if they can plead any service
that they have rendered faithfully, in a friendly way, and with a
certain amount of painstaking on their part. Such men, indeed, are