On the Fortunes of the Romans (4-5)

But swift is the pace of Fortune, bold is her spirit, and most vaunting her hopes; she outstrips Virtue and is close at hand. She does not raise herself in the air on light pinions, nor advance poised on tip-toe above a globe, in a precarious and hesitant posture, and then depart from sight. But even as the Spartans say that Aphroditê, as she crossed the Eurotas, put aside her mirrors and ornaments and her magic girdle, and took a spear and shield, adorning herself to please Lycurgus, even so Fortune, when she had deserted the Persians and Assyrians, had flitted lightly over Macedonia, and had quickly shaken off Alexander, made her way through Egypt and Syria, conveying kingships here and there; and turning about, she would often exalt the Carthaginians. But when she was approaching the Palatine and crossing the Tiber, it appears that she took off her wings, stepped out of her sandals, and abandoned her untrustworthy and unstable globe.[*] Thus did she enter Rome, as with intent to abide, and in such guise is she present to-day, as though ready to meet her trial.

For stubborn is she not,

as Pindar[*] says,

Nor is the rudder double that she plies ;

but rather is she

The sister of Good Order and Persuasion, and

The daughter of Foresight,

as Alcman[*] describes her lineage. And she holds that celebrated Horn of Plenty in her hand, filled not with fruits of everlasting bloom, but as many as are the products of the whole earth and of all the seas, rivers, mines, and harbours, these does she pour forth in unstinted abundance. Not a few splendid and distinguished men are seen in her company: Numa Pompilius from the Sabine country and Priscus from Tarquinii, whom as adventitious and foreign kings she set upon the throne of Romulus; and Aemilius Paulus, leading back his army without a wound[*] from Perseus and the Macedonians, triumphing for a tearless victory, magnifies Fortune. There magnifies her also the aged Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus,[*] borne to his grave by four sons of consular rank, Quintus Baliaricus, Lucius Diadematus,[*] Marcus Metellus, Gaius Caprarius, and by two sons-in-law of consular rank, and by grandsons made distinguished by illustrious deeds and offices. Aemilius Scaurus, a novus homo,[*] was raised by her from a humble station and a humbler family to be enrolled as the first man of the Senate,[*] Cornelius Sulla she took up and elevated from the embraces of his mistress, Nicopolis,[*] and designated him for a monarchy and dictatorship which ranked far above the Cimbrian triumphs and the seven consulships of Marius. Sulla used openly to declare himself, together with his exploits, to be the adopted child of Fortune, loudly asserting in the words of Sophocles’ Oedipus,[*]

And Fortune’s son I hold myself to be.

In the Latin tongue he was called Felix,[*] but for the Greeks he wrote his name thus: Lucius Cornelius Sulla Epaphroditus.[*] And the trophies at my home in Chaeroneia and those of the Mithridatic Wars are thus inscribed, quite appropriately; for not Night, as Menander[*] has it, but Fortune has the greater share in Aphroditê..

Might one, then, after proffering this as a suitable introduction, bring on the Romans once more as witnesses in behalf, of Fortune, on the ground that they assigned more to Fortune than to Virtue? At least, it was only recently and after many years that Scipio Numantinus built a shrine of Virtue in Rome; later Marcellus[*] built what is called the Temple of Virtue and Honour[*]; and Aemilius Scaurus,[*] who lived in the time of the Cimbrian Wars, built the shrine of Mens (Mind) so-called, which might be considered a Temple of Reason. For at this time rhetoric, sophistry, and argumentation had already found their way into the City; and people were beginning to

magnify such pursuits. But even to this day they have no shrine of Wisdom or Prudence or Magnanimity or Constancy or Moderation. But of Fortune there are splendid and ancient shrines,[*] all but coeval with the first foundations of the City. For the first to build a temple of Fortune was Ancus Marcius, the grandson of Numa[*] and king fourth in line from Romulus. He, perchance, it was who added the title of Fortis to Fortuna [*]; for in Fortune Manly Fortitude shares most largely in the winning of victory. They erected a temple of Fortuna Muliebris [*] before the time of Camillus, when, through the offices of their women, they had turned back Marcius Coriolano, who was leading the Volsci against the City. For a delegation of women, together with his mother and his wife, went to the hero and besought him and gained their request that he spare the City and lead away the foreign army. It is said that at this time, when the statue of Fortune was consecrated, it spoke and said, Women of the city, you have dedicated me by the holy law of Rome.

And it is a fact that Furius Camillus likewise, when he had quenched the Gallic conflagration and had removed Rome from the balance and scales when her price was being weighed in gold,[*] founded no shrine

of Good Counsel or of Valour, but a shrine of Report and Rumour[*] by New Street, where, as they assert, before the war there carne to Marcus Caedicius, as he was walking by night, a voice which told him to expect in a short time a Gallic war.

The Fortune whose temple is by the river they call Fortis,[*] that is, strong or valiant or manly, as having the power to conquer everything. And her temple they have built in the Gardens bequeathed by Caesar to the People,[*] since they believed that he also reached his most exalted position through good fortune, as he himself has testified.