19. King Athalaric to the Senate of the City of Rome.

[On the promotion of Felix.]

The same subject.

'As the sky with stars, or the meadow with flowers, so do we wish the Senate to be resplendent with the men of eminence whom we introduce into it. It is itself a seminary of Senators; but our favour and the dignities of our Court also rear them.

'The Quaestorship is the true mother of the senatorial dignity, since who can be fitter to take his seat in the Curia than he who has shared the counsels of his Sovereign?

'You know the eloquence of our candidate [Felix], his early triumphs, his modesty, his fidelity. To leave such a man unpromoted were a public loss; and he will always love the laws by the practice of which he has risen to eminence.

'Nor is he the first of his race to earn rhetorical distinction. His father shone so brilliantly in the Forum of Milan, that he bloomed forth with undying fruits from the soil of Cicero[536]. He stood against Magnus Olybrius, he was found equal in fluency to Eugenius[537] and many others whom Rome knew as foremost in their art. If the transmission of material wealth by long descent makes men noble, how much more should the inheritance of the treasures of the intellect give nobility.'