not acquire; and there are others, who are not solicitous of acquiring. Of two brothers, why one prefers lounging, play, and perfume, to Herod’s rich palm-tree groves;[1] why the other, rich and uneasy, from the rising of the light to the evening shade, subdues his woodland with fire and steel: our attendant genius knows, who governs the planet of our nativity, the divinity [that presides] over human nature, who dies with each individual, of various complexion, white and black.
I will use, and take out from my moderate stock, as much as my exigence demands: nor will I be under any apprehensions what opinion my heir shall hold concerning me, when he shall, find [I have left him] no more than I had given me. And yet I, the same man, shall be inclined to know how far an open and cheerful person differs from a debauchee, and how greatly the economist differs from the miser. For there is some distinction whether you throw away your money in a prodigal manner, or make an entertainment without grudging, nor toil to accumulate more; or rather, as formerly in Minerva’s holidays,[2] when a school-boy, enjoys by starts the short and pleasant vacation.
Let sordid poverty be far away. I, whether borne in a large or small vessel, let me be borne uniform and the same. I am not wafted with swelling sail before the north wind blowing fair: yet I do not bear my course of life against the ad-
- ↑ Judea was famous for its woods of palm, from whence Herod drew a considerable revenue. He began to reign in 717; he reigned seventeen years, and died in 750, between the 13th and 28th of March, three months after the birth of our Saviour. San.
- ↑ Festis quinquairibtis. According to the mythological traditions, Minerva came into the world the 19th of March, and therefore that day was consecrated to her. Four days afterward there was another festival, called tubilustrium sacrorum, the purification of the musical instruments used in the sacrifices. These two festivals were afterward united, by including the three days which separated thorn, and they were from thence called quinquatrus or quinquatria. This festival was a joyful vacation for school-boys, and some of them diverted themselves at their master’s expense, by spending their Minerval, a present sent to him, in money by their parents. Dac. San.
