Epistle XXII. To Sempronius.
by
the Same. [Mr. Henley]
[_]
On the hearing of a Cause before the Emperor.
I Was in Council lately, at a Hearing before His Imperial Majesty; a stated Prize was play'd at
Vienne, by the Will of a certain Person. Trebonius Rufinus,
a Man of great Merit, and my Friend, abolish'd it in his Diumvirate. It was deny'd,
that he did it by Publick Authority. He sollicited his Cause himself,
with a Success equal to his Eloquence. It recommended his Plea, that he spoke in a seasonable and weighty Manner,
like a true Roman and a worthy Citizen. When the Votes were gather'd,
Junius Mauricus (as steady and true a Man as any living) spoke to this Effect,
That the Game was not to be restor'd to the Viennois; he added,
I wish it could be remov'd at Rome likewise. Boldly you'll say,
and with Courage. Right; but this is no new Thing with Mauricus.
He express'd
himself with the same Spirit before the Emperor
Nerva.
Nerva
was at Supper with a few Intimates.
Vejento lay the nearest to him;
(I say all in naming the Man;) There happen'd a Conversation about
Catullus Messalinus; who, depriv'd as he was of his Eye-sight, added all the Ills of Blindness to the Cruelty of his Temper.
Fear, Shame, Mercy were Strangers to him; he was often flung, like a Dart,
(which is cast, it self void of Sight and Direction) at any Person of Consequence.
All in general talk'd at Suppertime of his Villany, and bloody Measures;
then the Emperor himself put the Question,
What do you think he would suffer if he had been alive?
Mauricus reply'd,
He would Sup with us. I have made a Digression too far;
yet with a good Will. It was thought proper, that the Game should be abolish'd,
which infected the Manners of the
Viennois, as our Sport of the same kind taints the Manners of all.
For the Faults of the
Viennois are confin'd to themselves, ours
are diffus'd far and wide. And as in the Body Natural, so in the Political,
that Disease is the most fatal, that is sent abroad from the Head.
