ughter, whose conduct
went beyond the shame of ordinary immodesty, and made public the
scandals of the imperial house.

Led away by his passion, he divulged all these crimes which, as emperor,
he ought to have kept secret with as much care as he punished them,
because the shame of some deeds asperses even him who avenges them.
Afterwards, when by lapse of time shame took the place of anger in his
mind, he lamented that he had not kept silence about matters which he
had not learned until it was disgraceful to speak of them, and often
used to exclaim, "None of these things would have happened to me, if
either Agrippa or Maecenas had lived!" So hard was it for the master
of so many thousands of men to repair the loss of two. When his legions
were slaughtered, new ones were at once enrolled; when his fleet was
wrecked, within a few days another was afloat; when the public buildings
were consumed by fire, finer ones arose in their stead; but the places
of Agrippa and Maecenas remained unfilled throughout his life. What am I
to imagine? that there were not any men like these, who could take
their place, or that it was the fault of Augustus himself, who preferred
mourning for them to seeking for their likes? We have no reason for
supposing that it was the habit of Agrippa or Maecenas to speak the
truth to him; indeed, if they had lived they would have been as great
dissemblers as the rest. It is one of the habits of kings to insult
their present servants by praising those whom they have lost, and to
attribute the virtue of truthful speaking to those from whom there is no
further risk of hearing it.

XXXIII. However, to return to my subject, you see how easy it is to
return the kindness of the prosperous, and even of those who occupy the
highest places of all mankind. Tell them, not what they wish to hear,
but what they will wish that they always had heard; though their ears be
stopped by flatteries, yet sometimes truth may penetrate them; give them
useful advice. Do you ask what service you can render to a prosperous
man? Teach him not to rely upon his prosperity, and to understand that
it ought to be supported by the hands of many trusty friends. Will you
not have done much for him, if you take away his foolish belief that
his influence will endure for ever, and teach him that what we gain by
chance passes away soon, and at a quicker rate than it came; that we
cannot fall by the same stages by which we rose to the height of