29
At length leaving the philosophers, he recurred to the rest of mankind, and told about the uproar of the city, the crowding, the theatres, the races, the statues. of the drivers, the names of the horses, and the conversations in the streets about these matters. The craze for horses is really great, you know, and men with a name for earnestness have caught it in great numbers.
30
Next he touched upon another human comedy, played by the people who occupy themselves with life beyond the grave and with last wills, adding that sons of Rome speak the truth only once in their whole lives (meaning in their wills), in order that they may not reap the fruits of their truthfulness! A famous instance is the case of Petronius, who expressed his opinion of Nero in his will and made the emperor his executor. I could not help interrupting him with laughter when he said that they want to have their follies buried with them and to leave their stupidity on record, inasmuch as some of them leave instructions that clothing be burned with them which they prized in life, others that servants stay by their tombs, and here and there another that his gravestone be wreathed with flowers. They remain foolish even on their deathbeds.
