Chapter 8

I am not able to display portraits of my ancestors in proof of good faith, as Marius says in Sallust:4 I cannot unroll a pedigree to show my descent from heroes, or that 1 am of the lineage of the gods: I cannot boast of uncounted wealth and ancestral estates dotted all over the kingdoms of the world: but 1 can mention without vaunting advantages which are less fabulous. I can mention my birthplace, a city not unrenowned; my family, of which I have no need to be ashamed; my unblemished home; my life passed of my own free will without a spot; my scanty means (though enriched with books and learning); my simple yet not stingy tastes; my liberal intellect; my not illiberal spirit; the unostentatious refinement of my diet, my dress and the appointments of my house; so that, if anyone should think me worthy of comparison with those famous consuls of past days (excluding from the comparison those war-like qualities which then flourished), let him deny me their wealth without belittling my diligence. But in this expression of gratitude, my subject has long overpowered me: you, Gratian, must come to the help of my words. You, Gratian, who have received this name by chance, yet by so happy a chance that no one out of flattery has ever tried to find one more appropriate—for Metellus was less rightly surnamed the Dutiful when he recalled his father (since he would have been undutiful had he kept him in exile), and Sulla was less exactly called the Lucky (since he was luckier before he was so named), than you are named Gratian; you, who besides this name also bear those titles of Metellus and Sulla, you, Gratian, I repeat, who have earned your name not by isolated deeds but by the continual kindliness of your gracious life, you who would have received this as a surname by general consent had you not inherited it from your grandfather, you, I repeat, must yourself render thanks to yourself on my behalf. It is a task for you and for your high powers: for that kindness, so frequently shown to all, and so continually to me; for that natural affection with which you guide your subject world, and which you proved by avenging your uncle's death, doubled by maintaining your brother, and redoubled by raising your tutor to distinction. Let that indulgence which you vouchsafe to mankind render you thanks; that generosity with which you enrich all; that courage which enables you to conquer; and that golden spirit which you have drawn more freely than any single man from the God of us all. So also let the voice of every province in the three Gauls render thanks on my behalf, since it is upon their prefect that you have bestowed this distinction. I go even farther—and this I add because you say you are in my debt: let that render you thanks which can best render it, I mean that voice which I have trained.