h his fellow-citizens had conceived of
him as a child. He never was a candidate for the consulship, yet was
elected consul twice: the first time before the legal age; the second at
a time which, as far as he was concerned, was soon enough, but was near
being too late for the interests of the State. By the overthrow of two
cities which were the most bitter enemies of our Empire, he put an end
not only to the wars then raging, but also to the possibility of others
in the future. What need to mention the exquisite grace of his manners,
his dutiful devotion to his mother, his generosity to his sisters, his
liberality to his relations, the integrity of his conduct to every
one? You know all this already. Finally, the estimation in which his
fellow-citizens held him has been shown by the signs of mourning which
accompanied his obsequies. What could such a man have gained by the
addition of a few years? Though age need not be a burden,--as I remember
Cato arguing in the presence of myself and Scipio two years before he
died,--yet it cannot but take away the vigour and freshness which Scipio
was still enjoying. We may conclude therefore that his life, from the
good fortune which had attended him and the glory he had obtained, was
so circumstanced that it could not be bettered, while the suddenness
of his death saved him the sensation of dying. As to the manner of his
death it is difficult to speak; you see what people suspect. Thus much,
however, I may say: Scipio in his lifetime saw many days of supreme
triumph and exultation, but none more magnificent than his last, on
which, upon the rising of the Senate, he was escorted by the senators
and the people of Rome, by the allies, and by the Latins, to his own
door. From such an elevation of popular esteem the next step seems
naturally to be an ascent to the gods above, rather than a descent to
Hades.

4. For I am not one of these modern philosophers who maintain that our
souls perish with our bodies, and that death ends all. With me ancient
opinion has more weight: whether it be that of our own ancestors, who
attributed such solemn observances to the dead, as they plainly would
not have done if they had believed them to be wholly annihilated; or
that of the philosophers who once visited this country, and who by their
maxims and doctrines educated Magna Graecia, which at that time was in a
flourishing condition, though it has now been ruined; or that of the man
who was declared by