Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/37

 Book I.] DEDICATION. 3 enable you to imitate your Brotlier^ ! But who is there that is bold enough to form an estimate on these points, if he is to be judged by you, and, more especially, if you are chal- lenged to do so ? For the case of those Avho merely publish their works is very diiferent from that of those Avho ex- pressly dedicate them to you. In the former case I might say, Emperor ! why do you read these things ? They are written only for the common people, for farmers or mecha- nics, or for those who have nothing else to do ; why do you trouble yoiu-self with them ? Indeed, when I vmdertook this work, I did not expect that you would sit in judgement upon me" ; I considered your situation much too elevated for you to descend to such an office. Besides, we possess the right of openly rejecting the opinion of men of learning, M. Tullius himself, whose genius is beyond all competition, uses this privilege ; and, remarkable as it may appear, em- ploys an advocate in his own defence: — " I do not write for very learned people ; I do not wish my works to be read by Manius Persius, but by Junius Congus^." And if Lucilius, who first introduced the satirical style"*, applied such a re- mark to himself, and if Cicero thought proper to borrow it, and that more especially in his treatise " De E,epublica," how much reason have I to do so, who have such a judge to defend myself against ! And by this dedication I have de- prived myself of the benefit of challenge" ; for it is a very different thing whether a person has a judge given him by lot, or whether he voluntarily selects one ; and we always make more preparation for an invited guest, than for one that comes in unexpectedly. bitual dissimulation, vui. 2 ; see also the notes of Poinsinet, i. 26, and of Alexandre, in Lcmaire, i. 351. 2 " Non eras in hoc albo ;" see the note of Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 8. A passage in Quintihan, xii. 4, may seiTe to illustrate this use of the term ' album' ; "... quorimi alii se ad album ac rubricas transtulcront " 3 It appears that the passage in which Cicero makes this quotation from Lucihus, is not in the part of his treatise De Republica which was lately discovered by Angelus Mains ; Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 9. Cicero refers to this remark of Lucihus in two of his otlier works, although with a variation in the expression and in the individuals specilied ; De Orat. ii. 6, and De Fin. i. 3. ^ " Qui primus condidit styh nasum." ^ " Scd ha3c ego milii nunc patrocinia adenii nuncupatione." b2
 * Suetonius speaks of Domitian's taste for poetry, as a part of his ha-