Page:The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter (1922), vol. 2.djvu/201

 ered among the profane sceptics who impiously doubt or deny the existence of a celestial power.”

  “They either take in or else they are taken in.”

“Captare”’ may be defined as to get the upper hand of someone; and “captari” means to be the dupe of someone, to be the object of interested flattery; “captator” means a succession of successful undertakings of the sort referred to above. Martial, lib. VI, 63, addresses the following verses to a certain Marianus, whose inheritance had excited the avarice of one of the intriguers:

Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis, lib. XIV, chap. 1, writes in scathing terms against the infamous practice of paying assiduous court to old people for the purpose of obtaining a legacy under their wills. “Later, childlessness conferred advantages in the shape of the greatest authority and power; undue influence became very insidious in its quest of wealth, and in grasping the joyous things alone, debasing the true rewards of Rh