Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 14

Attalum memini cum magna admiratione omnium haec dicere: Diu, inquit, mihi inposuere divitiae. Stupebam, ubi aliquid ex illis alio atque alio loco fulserat. Existimabam similia esse quae latercnt laterent, his, quae ostenderentur. Sed in quodam apparatu vidi totas opes urbis caclatas caelata et auro et argento et iis, quae pretium auri argentique vicerunt, exquisitos colores et vestes ultra non tantum nostrum, sed ultra finem hostium advectas; hinc puerorum perspicuos cultu atque forma greges, hinc feminarum, et aha, quae res suas recognoscens summi imperii fortuna protulerat.

Il me souvient de quelle admiration Attalus nous transportait tous, lorsqu’il disait : « Longtemps les richesses m’en ont imposé. J’étais fasciné, dès que j’en voyais briller çà ou là quelque parcelle : le fond, qui m’était caché, je me le figurais aussi beau que la superficie. Mais à l’une des exhibitions solennelles de tous les trésors de Rome, je vis des ciselures d’or, d’argent, de matières plus coûteuses que l’argent et que l’or, des teintures étrangères, des costumes venus de plus loin que nos frontières et même que celles de nos ennemis ; je vis défiler sur deux lignes des légions de jeunes esclaves mâles et femelles éclatants de luxe et de beauté ; je vis enfin tout ce qu’étalait, dans une fastueuse revue, la fortune du peuple-roi.

I remember some words of Attalus, which elicited general applause: “Riches long deceived me. I used to be dazed when I caught some gleam of them here and there. I used to think that their hidden influence matched their visible show. But once, at a certain elaborate entertainment, I saw embossed work in silver and gold equalling the wealth of a whole city, and colours and tapestry devised to match objects which sur- passed the value of gold or of silver - brought not only from beyond our own borders, but from beyond the borders of our enemies; on one side were slave-boys notable for their training and beauty, on the other were throngs of slave-women, and all the other resources that a prosperous and mighty empire could offer after reviewing its possessions.