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2 2 Imaginary Conversatio7i. of Carthage hath shaken and scattered them. There are moments when, if we are quite contented with ourselves, we never can remount to what we were before. POLYBIUS. Panetius is absent. SCIPIO. Feeling the necessity, at the moment, of utter loneliness, I despatched him toward the city. There may be (yes, even there) some sufferings which the Senate would not censure us for assuaging. But here he returns. Come, tell me, Polybius, on what are you reflecting and meditating ? POLYBIUS. After the burning of some village, or the overleaping of some garden-wall, to exterminate a few pirates or highway- men, I have seen the commander'^s tent thronged with officers ; I have heard as many trumpets around him as would have shaken down the places of themselves ; I have seen the horses start from the pretorium, as if they would fly from under their trappings, and spurred as if they were to reach the east and west before sunset, that nations might hear of the exploit, and sleep soundly. And now do I behold in solitude, almost in gloom, and in such silence that, unless my voice prevents it, the grasshopper is audible, him who has levelled to the earth the strongest and most populous of cities, the wealthiest and most formidable of empires. I had seen Rome ; I had seen (what those who never saw never will see) Car- thage ; I thought I had seen Scipio : it was but the image of him : here I find him. SCIPIO. There are many hearts that ache this day : there are many that never will ache more : hath one man done it ? one man''s breath ? What air, upon the earth, or upon the waters, or in the void of heaven, is lost so quickly ! It flies away at the point of an arrow, and returns no more ! the sea-foam stifles it ! the tooth of a reptile stops it ! a noxious leaf sup- presses it ! What are we in our greatness ? whence rises it ? whither tends it ?