Esse ullam, sed temeritate res regi omnis autumant.
Id magis veri simile esse usus reapse experiundo edocet:
Velut Orestes modo fuit rex, factu'st mendicus modo.[141]
These lines again from the Chryses show that Pacuvius, like Ennius, exposed and ridiculed the superstition of his time—
Nam isti qui linguam avium intelligunt
Plusque ex alieno jecore sapiunt quam ex suo,
Magis audiendum quam auscultandum censeo;[142]
and this is to the same effect—
Nam si qui, quae eventura sunt, provideant, aequiparent Jovi.
This tendency to physical and ethical speculation may be the reason for which Horace applies to Pacuvius the epithet 'doctus.'