第131章 A.D.59-62(13)

They further alleged against him that he claimed for himself alone the honours of eloquence, and composed poetry more assiduously, as soon as a passion for it had seized on Nero."Openly inimical to the prince's amusements, he disparaged his ability in driving horses, and ridiculed his voice whenever he sang.When was there to be an end of nothing being publicly admired but what Seneca was thought to have originated? Surely Nero's boyhood was over, and he was all but in the prime of youthful manhood.He ought to shake off a tutor, furnished as he was with sufficiently noble instructors in his own ancestors."Seneca, meanwhile, aware of these slanders, which were revealed to him by those who had some respect for merit, coupled with the fact that the emperor more and more shunned his intimacy, besought the opportunity of an interview.This was granted, and he spoke as follows:-"It is fourteen years ago, Caesar, that I was first associated with your prospects, and eight years since you have been emperor.In the interval, you have heaped on me such honours and riches that nothing is wanting to my happiness but a right use of it.I will refer to great examples taken not from my own but from your position.Your great-grandfather Augustus granted to Marcus Agrippa the calm repose of Mitylene, to Caius Maecenas what was nearly equivalent to a foreign retreat in the capital itself.One of these men shared his wars; the other struggled with many laborious duties at Rome; both received awards which were indeed splendid, but only proportioned to their great merits.For myself, what other recompense had I for your munificence, than a culture nursed, so to speak, in the shade of retirement, and to which a glory attaches itself, because I thus seem to have helped on the early training of your youth, an ample reward for the service.

"You on the other hand have surrounded me with vast influence and boundless wealth, so that I often think within myself, Am I, who am but of an equestrian and provincial family, numbered among the chief men of Rome? Among nobles who can show a long succession of glories, has my new name become famous? Where is the mind once content with a humble lot? Is this the man who is building up his garden terraces, who paces grandly through these suburban parks, and revels in the affluence of such broad lands and such widely-spread investments? Only one apology occurs to me, that it would not have been right in me to have thwarted your bounty.

"And yet we have both filled up our respective measures, you in giving as much as a prince can bestow on a friend, and I in receiving as much as a friend can receive from a prince.All else only fosters envy, which, like all things human, sinks powerless beneath your greatness, though on me it weighs heavily.To me relief is a necessity.Just as I should implore support if exhausted by warfare or travel, so in this journey of life, old as I am and unequal even to the lightest cares, since I cannot any longer bear the burden of my wealth, I crave assistance.Order my property to be managed by your agents and to be included in your estate.Still I shall not sink myself into poverty, but having surrendered the splendours which dazzle me, I will henceforth again devote to my mind all the leisure and attention now reserved for my gardens and country houses.You have yet before you a vigorous prime, and that on which for so many years your eyes were fixed, supreme power.We, your older friends, can answer for our quiet behaviour.It will likewise redound to your honour that you have raised to the highest places men who could also bear moderate fortune."Nero's reply was substantially this:- "My being able to meet your elaborate speech with an instant rejoinder is, I consider, primarily your gift, for you taught me how to express myself not only after reflection but at a moment's notice.My great-grandfather Augustus allowed Agrippa and Maecenas to enjoy rest after their labours, but he did it at an age carrying with it an authority sufficient to justify any boon, of any sort, he might have bestowed.But neither of them did he strip of the rewards he had given.It was by war and its perils they had earned them; for in these the youth of Augustus was spent.

And if I had passed my years in arms, your sword and right hand would not have failed me.But, as my actual condition required, you watched over my boyhood, then over my youth, with wisdom, counsel, and advice.And indeed your gifts to me will, as long as life holds out, be lasting possessions; those which you owe to me, your parks, investments, your country houses, are liable to accidents.Though they seem much, many far inferior to you in merit have obtained more.Iam ashamed to quote the names of freedmen who parade a greater wealth.

Hence I actually blush to think that, standing as you do first in my affections, you do not as yet surpass all in fortune.

"Yours too is a still vigorous manhood, quite equal to the labours of business and to the fruit of those labours; and, as for myself, Iam but treading the threshold of empire.But perhaps you count yourself inferior to Vitellius, thrice a consul, and me to Claudius.

Such wealth as long thrift has procured for Volusius, my bounty, you think, cannot fully make up to you.Why not rather, if the frailty of my youth goes in any respect astray, call me back and guide yet more zealously with your help the manhood which you have instructed?