Other excellent men, also, had come to light during that period, of whom the most distinguished were Turbo and Similis, who, indeed, were honored with statues.
Turbo was a man of great qualities as a general, who had become prefect (or commander of the Pretorians). He committed no act of luxury or haughtiness, but lived like one of the multitude: the entire day he spent in proximity to the palace and often he would go there even shortly before midnight, when some of the others were beginning to sleep. A characteristic anecdote is that which brings in the name of Cornelius Fronto, at this time reputed to be the foremost Roman advocate in lawsuits. One evening very late he was returning home from dinner and ascertained from a man whose counsel he had promised to be that Turbo was holding court. Accordingly, just as he was, in his dress for dinner, he went into his courtroom and greeted him not with the morning salutation,
I wish you joy
, but with that belonging to the evening,
I trust your health continues good
.
Turbo was never seen at home in the daytime even when he was sick; and to Hadrian, who advised him to remain quiet, he replied: "The prefect ought to die on his feet."
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Similis, who was of greater age and more advanced rank, in character was second to none of the great men, I think. Very slight things may serve us as evidence. When he was centurion, Trajan had summoned him to enter his presence before the prefects, whereupon he said: "It is a shame for you, Caesar, to be talking with a centurion, while the prefects stand outside." And he took unwillingly at that time the command of the Pretorians, and after taking it resigned it. Having with difficulty secured his release he spent the rest of his life, seven years, quietly in the country, and upon his tomb he had this inscription placed: "Similis lies here, who existed so-and-so many years, but lived for seven."