Pro S. Roscio Amerino

16
CICERO
against the convictions of all manlvind. But you will say
that altliougli lie had two sons he would not allow the one
to leave his side, but he permitted the other to live on the
estate.
I must request you, Erucius, to take this in good part
for I will not say it to reproach you, but merely by way of
a reminder : (46) if fortune has not given you the advantage
of being the son of any definite father, from whom you
could learn the feelings of a father towards his sons, yet
nature at least grauted you the possession of a fair amount
of human feeling. To that was added a taste for learning,
to save you from being quite a stranger to literature. Now
do you really think (to revert to comedy) that that old
gentleman in Caecihus vahied Eutychus, his country-bred
son, less than the other, Chaerestratus (I beheve that is his
name) , that he kept one with him in the city to show his
respect for him, and banished the other to his country
estate to punish him ?
47. " Why do you go out of your way to find such
frivolous instances ? " you will say. As if indeed it would
be difiicult for me to bring forward by name as many
instances as you like, not to go too far afield, from among
my fellow-townsmen or my neighbours who desire their
children, for whom they have the greatest regard, to settle
down as farmers. But it would be an oifensive proceeding
to take as instances men of our acquaintauce, since we
cannot be sure whether they would lilve to be mentioned or
not, and nobody is likely to be better known to you than
this Eutychus, and at any rate it makes no difference vdth
regard to the main question whether I mention a youth
from a comedy or one from the lands of Veii. For indeed
I consider these characters were invented by the poets
that we might see our own characters represented in
the persons of others, and a life-like picture of our daily
life.
48. Come now, please tum your attention to the facts of
the case, and reflect upon the pursuits that meet witli most
approval from heads of households, not only in Umbria and
in the surrounding districts, but also in old-established
townships neai- Eorae : at this point indeed I would have