62 CICERO. acquaintances interceding for Vatinius, as desirous of reconciliation and friendship, for he was then his enemy, " What," he repHed, " does Vatinius also wish to come and sup with me ? " Such was his way with Crassus. When Vatinius, who had swellings in his neck, was pleading a cause, he called him the tumid orator ; and having been told by some one that Vatinius was dead, on hearing presently after that he was alive, " May the rascal perish," said he, " for his news not being true." Upon Caesar's bringing forward a law for the division of the lands in Campania amongst the soldiers, many in the senate opposed it ; amongst the rest, Lucius Gellius, one of the oldest men in the house, said it should never pass whilst he lived. " Let us postpone it," said Cicero, " Gellius does not ask us to wait long." There was a man of the name of Octavius, suspected to be of African descent. He once said, when Cicero was pleading, that he could not hear him ; " Yet there are holes," said Cicero, " in your ears." * When Metellus Nepos told him, that he had ruined more as a witness, than he had saved as an advocate, " I admit," said Cicero, " that I have more truth than eloquence." To a young man who was sus- pected of having given a poisoned cake to his father, and who talked largely of the invectives he meant to deliver against Cicero, "Better these," replied he, "than your cakes." Publius Sextius, having amongst others retained Cicero as his advocate in a certain cause, was yet desii'ous to say all for himself, and would not allow . anybody to speak for him ; when he was about to receive his acquittal from the judges, and the ballots were passing, Cicero called to him, " Make haste, Sextius, and use your time ; to-morrow you will be nobody." He cited Publius Cotta
- The marks of the ears having considered proof of his being of
been bored for ear-rings would be barbarian origin.
