15
We must, therefore, also habituate ourselves to things like these: when a letter is brought to us, not to open it quickly or in a hurry, as most people do, who go so far as to bite through the fastenings with their teeth if their hands are too slow; when a messenger arrives from somewhere or other, not to rush up, or even to rise to our feet; when a friend says, I have something new to tell you, to say, I should prefer that you had something useful or profitable.
15
When I was once lecturing in Rome, that famous Rusticus,Probably Arulenus Rusticus, put to death in or after 93 a.d. for having in his biography of Paetus Thrasea called his subject sanctus (Dio, lxvii. 13. 2, cf. also Tacitus, Agricola, 2). whom Domitian later killed through envy at his repute, was among my hearers, and a soldier came through the audience and delivered to him a letter from the emperor. There was a silence and I, too, made a pause, that he might read his letter; but he refused and did not break the seal until I had finished my lecture and the audience had dispersed. Because of this incident everyone admired the dignity of the man.
