S. Then there was a king in Rome four hundred years ago?
L. And a very superb one.
S. Who before him?
L. A most just one; and from that period up to Romulus, who reigned six hundred years from the present time.
S. Then he is not so very remote.
L. Not at all. The institutions of Greece were already on the wane.
S. I submit to you now, whether Romulus was the king of a barbarous people?
L. If as the Greeks say, all men were either Greeks or Barbarians; then I am afraid he must be esteemed a king of a barbarous people. But if that epithet is appropriate to a difference of manners, rather than to languages, I think the Greeks not less barbarians than the Romans.” “In relation to the matter of which we speak,” said Scipio, “it is intelligence we are looking for, rather than men. If a discreet people therefore, not of a very ancient period, have preferred the government of kings, I am availing myself of testimony which cannot be deemed savage, uncivilized, or of a barbarous antiquity.”
XXXVIII. “I perceive Scipio,” said Lælius, “that you are sufficiently provided with testimony. But with me, as with good judges, sound argument prevails more than witnesses.” “Make use of an argument then,” replied Scipio, “which your knowledge of yourself can suggest to you.” “What knowledge,” said he.
S. Why as when by chance it happens to you to be angry with some one.