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autem urbanioris notae homines sustinetis semper mentiri, recta ad lucrum curritis. In hac
enim urbe non litterarum studia celebrantur, non eloquentia locum habet, non frugalitas
sanctique mores laudibus ad fructum perveniunt, sed quoscunque homines in hac urbe
videritis, scitote in duas partes esse divisos. am aut captantur aut captant. In hac urbe
nemo liberos tollit, quia quisquis suos heredes habet, non ad cenas, non ad spectacula
admittitur, sed omnibus prohibetur commodis, inter ignominosos latitat.
We gladly performed this last office, and then took up our proposed way, and in a
short while came sweating to a mountain top, from which we saw, not far off, a town set
on a high peak. We had lost ourselves, and did not know what it was, until we learned from
a farm-bailiff that it was Croton, a town of great age, and once the first city in Italy. When
we went on to inquire particularly what men lived on such honoured soil, and what kind of
business pleased them best, now that their wealth had been brought low by so many wars,
the man replied, “My friends, if you are business men, change your plans and look for
some other safe way of life. But if you profess to be men of a superior stamp and throughpaced
liars, you are on the direct road to wealth. In this city the pursuit of learning is not
esteemed, eloquence has no place, economy and a pure life do not win their reward in
honour: know that the whole of the men you see in this city are divided into two classes.
They are either the prey of legacy-hunting or legacy-hunter themselves. In this city no one
brings up children, because anyone who has heirs of his own stock is never invited to
dinner or to the theatre; he is deprived of all advantages, and lies in the obscurity among
the base-born. (M. Heseltine).
Petron. Sat. 117: “Quid vos” inquit “iumentum me putatis esse aut lapidariam
navem? Hominis operas locavi, non caballi.
“What’s wrong with you -he asked- do you think I am a beast of burden or a
stone carrier? I made arrangements for the services of a man, not a horse!” (D. Bartoli)
Plin. Ep. 10.41: C. PLIIUS TRAIAO IMPERATORI […] Est in icomedensium
finibus amplissimus lacus. Per hunc marmora fructus ligna materiae et sumptu modico
et labore usque ad viam navibus, inde magno labore maiore impendio vehiculis ad
mare devehuntur (...lacuna...) hoc opus multas manus poscit. [...] Superest ut tu
libratorem vel architectum si tibi videbitur mittas, qui diligenter exploret, sitne lacus
altior mari, quem artifices regionis huius quadraginta cubitis altiorem esse
contendunt. Ego per eadem loca invenio fossam a rege percussam, sed incertum utrum
ad colligendum umorem circumniacentium agrorum an ad committendum flumini
lacum; est enim imperfecta.
Pliny to Trajan. “There is a sizeable lake not far from Nicomedia, across which
marble, farm produce, wood, and timber for building are easily and cheaply brought by
boat as far as the main road; after which everything has to be taken on to the sea by
cart, with great difficulty and increased expense. (To connect the lake with the sea)
would require a great deal of labour, but there is no lack of it. […] It remains for you to
send an engineer or an architect, if you think fit, to make an accurate survey and
determine whether the lake is above sea-level. The local experts say that it is forty
cubits above. I have looked at the site myself and find there is a canal dug by one of
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