Moral essays. With an English translation by J.W. Basore

ON FIRMNESS, xvii. 3-xvin. 2should any one be unable to do so, who, thanks to theliberal studies and the training of philosophy, hasattained to some growth ? Besides, it is a sort ofrevenge to rob the man who has sought to inflict aninsult of the pleasure of having done so. " Oh dearme " ! he will say, " I suppose he didn't understand."Thus the success of an insult depends upon thesensitiveness and the indignation of the \ictim. Theoffender, too, will one day meet his match ; someone will be found who will avenge you also.Gains Caesar, who amid the multitude of hisother vices had a bent for insult, was moved by thestrange desire to brand every one with some stigma,while he himself was a most fruitful source of ridicule ;such was the ugliness of his pale face bespeakinghis madness, such the wildness of his eyes lurkingbeneath the brow of an old hag, such the hideousnessof his bald head with its sprinkhng of beggarly hairs.And he had, besides, a neck overgrown with bristles,spindle shanks, and enormous feet. It would be anendless task were I to attempt to mention theseparate acts by which he cast insult upon hisparents and grandparents and upon men of everyclass ; I shall, therefore, mention only those whichbrought him to his destruction.Among his especial friends there was a certainAsiaticus \'alerius, a proud-spirited man who w^ashardly to be expected to bear with equanimityanother's insults. At a banquet, that is at a publicgathering, using his loudest voice. Gains tauntedthis man with the way his wife behaved in sexualintercourse. Ye gods ! what a tale for the ears ofa husband ! what a fact for an emperor to know ! andwhat indecency that an emperor should go so far as to99