Senex (quickly). "Cæcilius, who provoked the populace to such a degree, that Cicero could hardly restrain them from doing him violence." Do you want me to play the part of Cicero?
Juvenis (taken aback). Well—ahem!—hardly that, perhaps. But——
Senex (interrupting him). My dear Primula, as I have already said in response to an appeal from a friend of the modern Orbilius (not like Horace's pedagogue, "Plagosus," though), "After a contentious life of fifty-two years, I am naturally anxious to spend the remainder of my days in freedom from controversy."
Juvenis. Oh! Quite so—of course. But ahem!—the people are a little pressing——
Senex. Eh? To hurtful measures? What says Augustus's "pleasant mannikin" again, à propos?
[Thrums.
Justum et tenacem propositi virum
Non civium ardor prava jubentium,
Non vultus instantis tyranni,
Mente quatit solida neque Auster,
Dux inquieti turbidus Hadriae,
Nec fulminantis magna manus Jovis
Si fractus illabitur orbis,
Impavidum ferient ruinæ.
Juvenis. Doubtless. One such as yourself, "retired from business," like your beloved Horace on his Sabine farm.
"Ille potens sui
Lætusque deget, cui licet in diem
Dixisse Vixi;"