Eripere quivit, at virtutem non quit.[163]
Nullum est ingenium tantum, neque cor tam ferum,
Quod non labascat lingua, mitiscat malo.[164]
The following, again, like similar passages already quoted from Ennius and Pacuvius, is expressive of contempt for that form of superstition which had most practical hold over the minds of the Roman people:—
Nil credo auguribus, qui auris verbis divitant
Alienas, suas ut auro locupletent domos.[165]
Again, the view of common sense in regard to dreams is expressed by the interpreter to whom Tarquinius applies when alarmed by a strange vision—
Rex, quae in vita usurpant homines, cogitant, curant, vident,
Quaeque agunt vigilantes agitantque, ea si cui in somno accidunt
Minus mirum est.[166]