["Do you believe the dead regard such things?"—AEneid, iv. 34.]
What sense have the two companions in greatest esteem amongst me, Epaminondas, of this fine verse that has been so many ages current in his praise,
"Consiliis nostris laus est attrita Laconum;"
["The glory of the Spartans is extinguished by my plans.
—"Cicero, Tusc. Quaes., v. 17.]
or Africanus, of this other,
"A sole exoriente supra Maeotis Paludes
Nemo est qui factis me aequiparare queat."
["From where the sun rises over the Palus Maeotis, to where it sets,
there is no one whose acts can compare with mine"—Idem, ibid.]
Survivors indeed tickle themselves with these fine phrases, and by them incited to jealousy and desire, inconsiderately and according to their own fancy, attribute to the dead this their own feeling, vainly flattering themselves that they shall one day in turn be capable of the same character. However:
"Ad haec se
Romanus Graiusque, et Barbaras induperator
Erexit; caucus discriminis atque laboris
Inde habuit: tanto major famae sitis est, quam
Virtutis."
["For these the Roman, the Greek, and the Barbarian commander hath aroused himself; he has incurred thence causes of danger and toil: so much greater is the thirst for fame than for virtue." —Juvenal, x. 137.]