forum.  I was, at that time, a constant attendant on those eminent men.  I heard them, not only in their scenes of public business, but, feeling an inclination to the same studies, I followed them with all the ardour of youthful emulation.  I was admitted to their private parties; I heard their debates, and the amusement of their social hours:  I treasured up their wit, and their sentiments on the various topics which they had discussed in conversation.  Respected as they were, it must, however, be acknowledged that they did not escape the malignity of criticism.  It was objected to Secundus, that he had no command of words, no flow of language; and to Aper, that he was indebted for his fame, not to art or literature, but to the natural powers of a vigorous understanding.  The truth is, the style of the former was remarkable for its purity; concise, yet free and copious; and the latter was sufficiently versed in all branches of general erudition.  It might be said of him, that he despised literature, not that he wanted it.  He thought, perhaps, that, by scorning the aid of letters, and by drawing altogether from his own fund, his fame would stand on a more solid foundation.

III.  We went together to pay our visit to Maternus.  Upon entering his study, we found him with the tragedy, which he had read on the preceding day, lying before him.  Secundus began:  And are you then so little affected by the censure of malignant critics, as to persist in cherishing a tragedy which has given so much offence?  Perhaps you are revising the piece, and, after retrenching certain passages, intend to send your Cato into the world, I will not say improved, but certainly less obnoxious.  There lies the poem, said Maternus; you may, if you think proper, peruse it with all its imperfections on its head.  If Cato has omitted any thing, Thyestes [a], at my next reading, shall atone for all deficiencies.  I have formed the fable of a tragedy on that subject:  the plan is warm in my imagination, and, that I may give my whole time to it, I now am eager to dispatch an edition of Cato.  Marcus Aper interposed:  And are you, indeed, so enamoured of your dramatic muse, as to renounce your oratorical character, and the honours of your profession, in order to sacrifice your time, I think it was lately to Medea, and now to Thyestes?  Your friends, in the mean time, expect your patronage; the colonies [b] invoke your aid, and the municipal cities invite you to the bar.  And surely the weight of so many causes may be deemed sufficient, without this new solicitude imposed upon you by Domitius [c] or Cato.  And must you thus waste all your time, amusing yourself for ever with scenes of fictitious distress, and still labouring to add to the fables of Greece the incidents and characters of the Roman story?