« Dio 44.36 | Dio 44.37 | Dio 44.38 | About This Work »
37“I shall speak first about his lineage, though not because it is the most brilliant. Yet this, too, has considerable bearing on the nature of virtue, that a man should become good, not through force of circumstances, but by inherited power. 2Those, to be sure, who are not born of noble parents may disguise themselves as noble men, but may also some day be convicted of their base origin by their inborn character; those, however, who possess the seed of a noble nature, handed down through a long line of ancestors, cannot possibly help possessing a virtue both spontaneous and enduring. 3Still, I am praising Caesar now, not so much because his recent lineage is through many noble men, his ancient origin from kings and gods, but because, in the first place, he is a kinsman of our whole city,—for those who founded his line also founded our city,— 4and, secondly, because he not only confirmed the renown of his forefathers who were believed to have attained divinity through their virtue, but actually enhanced it; so that if anyone was inclined formerly to argue that Aeneas could never have been born of Venus, let him now believe it. 5For, although in times past some unworthy sons have been imputed to the gods, yet no one could deem this man unworthy to have had gods for his ancestors. Indeed, Aeneas himself ruled as king and so did some of his descendants; but this man proved himself so much superior to them that, whereas they were monarchs of Lavinium and Alba, 6he refused to become king of Rome; and whereas they laid the foundation of our city, he raised it to such a height that he even established colonies greater than the cities over which they ruled.
« Dio 44.36 | Dio 44.37 | Dio 44.38 | About This Work »