OF SCIPIO.

their feet opposite yours, has no connection with your race. But even if the offspring of future generations should wish to pass down the praises of each of us, as received from their fathers, to their own descendants, nevertheless, because of the floods and conflagrations original: "eluuiiones exustionesque"; Cicero refers to the Stoic belief that the earth is periodically destroyed and renewed by water and fire of the earth, which must happen at certain fixed times, we are unable to achieve a glory that is even long-lasting, let alone eternal. What does it matter, then, if you are talked about by those who are born after you, when there was no mention of you by those born before you—who were no fewer in number and were certainly better men? This is especially true since, among those very people by whom our name can be heard, no one can maintain a memory lasting for even a single "year." For men commonly measure a year only by the return of the Sun, which is the movement of a single star. However, when all the stars have returned to the same point from which they once set out, and have restored the same configuration of the entire sky after long intervals, then that can truly be called a Turning Year original: "annus uertens"; also known as the "Great Year" or "Platonic Year," the period of time it takes for all celestial bodies to return to their original relative positions; I hardly dare to say how many generations of men are contained within it. For just as the sun once seemed to fail and be extinguished for men, at the moment when the soul of Romulus entered these very celestial realms, so when the sun shall fail again at the same point and the same time, then you may consider a year to be complete, with all the signs and stars recalled to their original starting point. Know that not even a twentieth part of this year has yet turned. Therefore, if you should lose hope of returning to this place, where all things exist for great and excellent men, what then is that human glory worth, which can hardly pertain to a small fraction of a single year? If, therefore, you wish to look upward and contemplate this seat and eternal home, you should not surrender yourself to the talk of the common crowd, nor place the hope of your affairs in human rewards; Virtue herself, by her own charms, ought to draw you toward true honor. Let others see to what they say about you—though they will talk regardless. All such talk, however, is both...