rae?"

Cicero then turned to Chrysogonus, and attacked him with a boldness
which is surprising, when we remember how high he stood in the favor of
the absolute master of Rome, "See how he comes down from his fine
mansion on the Palatine. Yes, and he has for his own enjoyment a
delightful retreat in the suburbs, and many an estate besides, and not
one of them but is both handsome and conveniently near. His house is
crowded with ware of Corinth and Delos, among them that famous
self-acting cooking apparatus, which he lately bought at a price so high
that the passers-by, when they heard the clerk call out the highest bid,
supposed that it must be a farm which was being sold. And what
quantities, think you, he has of embossed plate, and coverlets of
purple, and pictures, and statues, and colored marbles! Such quantities,
I tell you, as scarce could be piled together in one mansion in a time
of tumult and rapine from many wealthy establishments. And his
household--why should I describe how many it numbers, and how varied are
its accomplishments? I do not speak of ordinary domestics, the cook, the
baker, the litter-bearer. Why, for the mere enjoyment of his ears he has
such a multitude of men that the whole neighborhood echoes again with
the daily music of singers, and harp-players, and flute-players, and
with the uproar of his nightly banquets. What daily expenses, what
extravagance, as you well know, gentlemen, there must be in such a life
as this! how costly must be these banquets! Creditable banquets, indeed,
held in such a house--a house, do I say, and not a manufactory of
wickedness, a place of entertainment for every kind of crime? And as for
the man himself--you see, gentlemen, how he bustles every where about
the forum, with his hair fashionably arranged and dripping with
perfumes; what a crowd of citizens, yes, of citizens, follow him; you
see how he looks down upon every one, thinks no one can be compared to
himself, fancies himself the one rich and powerful man in Rome?"

The jury seems to have caught the contagion of courage from the
advocate. They acquitted the accused. It is not known whether he ever
recovered his property. But as Sulla retired from power in the following
year, and died the year after, we may hope that the favorites and the
villains whom he had sheltered were compelled to disgorge some at least
of their gains.

CHAPTER IV.

A ROMAN MAGISTRATE.

Of all the base creatures who found