85
"I am not ignorant, that, if they were inclined to reply to me, they would make an abundant display of eloquent and artful language. Yet, since they attack both you and myself, on occasion of the great favor which you have conferred upon me, I did not think proper to be silent before them, lest any one should construe my forbearance into a consciousness of demerit. As for myself, indeed, nothing that is said of me, I feel assured,I feel assured] Ex animi sententiâ. "It was a common form of strong asseveration."Gerlach can do me injury; for what is true, must of necessity speak in my favor; what is false, my life and character will refute. But since your judgment, in bestowing on me so distinguished an honor and so important a trust, is called in question, consider, I beseech you, again and again, whether you are likely to repent of what you have done. I can not, to raise your confidence in me, boast of the statues, or triumphs, or consulships of my ancestors; but, if it be thought necessary, I can show you spears,Spears] Hastas. "A hasta pura, that is a spear without iron, was anciently the reward of a soldier the first time that he conquered in battle, Serv. ad Virg. Æn. vi. 760; it was afterward given to one who had struck down an enemy in a sally or skirmish, Lips. ad Polyb. de Milit. Rom. v. 17."Bernouf. a banner,A banner] Vexillum. "Standards were also military rewards. Vopiscus relates that ten hastœ purœ, and four standards of two colors, were presented to Aurelian. Suetonius (Aug. 25) says that Agrippa was presented by Augustus, after his naval victory, with a standard of the color of the sea. These standards therefore, were not, as Badius Ascensius thinks, always taken from the enemy; though this was sometimes the case, as appears from Sil. Ital. xv. 261: Tunc hasta viris, tunc martia cuique Vexilla, ut meritum, et prædæ libamina, dantur."Bernouf. caparisonsCaparisons] Phaleras. "Sil. Ital. xv. 255: Phaleris hic pectora fulget: Hic torque aurato circumdat bellica colla. Juvenal, xv. 60: Ut læti phaleris omnes et torquibus omnes. These passages show that phaleræ, a name for the ornaments of horses, were also decorations of men; but they differed from the torques, or collars, in this respect, that the phaleræ hung down over the breast, and the torques only encircled the neck. See Lips. ad Polyb. de Milit. Rom. v. 17." Bernouf. for horses, and other military rewards; besides the scars of wounds on my breast. These are my statues; this is my nobility; honors, not left, like theirs, by inheritance, but acquired amid innumerable toils and dangers.