Works and Other Worthy Writings (Aldine Edition)

nature. For these table-companions and flatterers, who measured happiness by the belly and obscene pleasures, would repeatedly remind him of the delights of the city, and now they would commemorate what things there would be to see and hear there, and now they would praise the abundance and affluence of all things. To this, they would criticize the banks of the Hister as always uncomfortable, which had neither fruit-bearing trees and were held by perpetual chills and clouds. Will you never, O emperor, they would say, cease to drink water that is frozen solid and dug from the earth? Others would enjoy the warm springs and the coldness of the flowing streams, and the air and that sky peculiar to Italy. By the mention of such enticements, they easily kindled the youth’s mind with desires for pleasures. Therefore, having immediately summoned his friends, he did not hide that he was held by a longing for his fatherland, though he was afraid to confess the causes of such a sudden change; he said he was anxious lest some wealthy man from the nobility might seize the house of the prince. Then, having collected his forces, as if from a most fortified citadel, he might claim the supreme power of affairs for himself, for a sufficiently large force of chosen youths could be gathered from the populace. While he was alleging such things, with the rest fixed by fear and looking at the ground with silent and sad countenances, Pompeianus arose, who preceded the rest in age and had the eldest sister of Commodus in marriage. "That you are held, O son and lord," he said, "by a longing for your fatherland is not at all to be wondered at. For the same desire for domestic affairs troubles us too, but we nevertheless resist it, because higher matters take precedence and we are more burdened by what is left to be expedited here. For you will be able to enjoy those things later, even for a longer time. But Rome is wherever the emperor is. Furthermore, to leave a war unfinished, besides appearing unseemly, is dangerous. For we instill audacity in the barbarians, and they will judge that we have not departed out of a desire to return, but have fled, struck by fear. But for you, what would be more beautiful than to return to the city in triumph after the enemies have been defeated and the boundaries of the empire have been extended as far as the ocean, and to lead the captured and bound barbarian kings and satraps before you? For by these arts, in previous centuries, Roman men have turned out great and illustrious. There is, however, nothing for you to fear, lest any of your affairs there be in peril. For every best senator is here with you, and the entire army before you fights for your empire. Moreover, the entire treasury of imperial money is with us. To this, the memory of your father has reinforced for you eternal faith and benevolence among any powers whatsoever." When Pompeianus had spoken in this manner, persuading the better course, he for a moment suppressed the efforts of the youth, who, having respected the old man’s words and having nothing which might at least seem honorable to reply, dismissed the council, affirming that he would consider the matter more diligently. But then afterward