, libcriorum niediam, servorum ahquam, filiorum
nullam.--Paterculus, 1. ii. c. 67.

2 A compendious and comprehensive account of these and other
instances of filial piety, in the proscription of the second
triumvirate, will be found in Freinihemius; Suppununta
Liviania, cxx. 77-80.

_Mr. Falconer._ Well, that is a lottery in which every man must take his
chance. But my scheme of life was perfect.

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ Perhaps there is something to be said against
condemning seven young women to celibacy.

_Mr. Falconer._ But if such were their choice--

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ No doubt there are many reasons why they should
prefer the condition they are placed in to the ordinary chances of
marriage: but, after all, to be married is the natural aspiration of a
young woman, and if favourable conditions presented themselves--

_Mr. Falconer._ Conditions suitable to their education are scarcely
compatible with their social position.

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ They have been educated to be both useful and
ornamental. The ornamental need not, and in their case certainly does
not, damage the useful, which in itself would procure them suitable
matches.

Mr. Falconer shook his head, and, after a brief pause, poured out a
volume of quotations, demonstrating the general unhappiness of marriage.
The doctor responded by as many, demonstrating the contrary. He paused
to take breath. Both laughed heartily. But the result of the discussion
and the laughter was, that Mr. Falconer was curious to see Lord
Curryfin, and would therefore go to Gryll Grange.

CHAPTER XIII

LORD CURRYFIN--SIBERIAN DINNERS--SOCIAL MONOTONY

Ille potens sui
laetusque deget, cui licet in diem
dixisse, Vixi: eras vel atra
nube polum pater occupato,
vel sole puro: non tamen irritum
quodcumque retro est, efficiet; neque
diffinget infectumque reddet,
quod fugiens semel hora vexit.
--Hor. Carm. iii. 29.

Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call to-day his own:
He who, secure within, can say,
To-morrow do thy worst, for I have lived to-day.
Be storm, or calm, or rain, or shine,
The joys I have possessed in spite of fate are mine.
Not heaven itself upon the past has power,
But what has been has been, and I have had my hour.
--Dryde