Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.4, 1865).djvu/559

CA1US GRACCHUS. 551 raries in virtue and honor, afterwards was found incapable of keeping his hands from thieving ; and when he was sent ambassador to Jugurtha, king of Numidia, he was there corrupted by presents, and at his return being shamefully convicted of it, lost all his honors, and grew old amidst the hatred and the insults of the people ; who, though hum- bled, and affrighted at the time, did not fail before long to let everybody see what respect and veneration they had for the memory of the Gracchi. They ordered their stat- ues to be made and set up in public view ; they conse- crated the places where they were slain, and thither brought the first-fruits of every thing, according to the season of the year, to make their offerings. Many came likewise thither to their devotions, and daily worshipped there, as at the temples of the gods. It is reported, that as Cornelia, their mother, bore the loss of her two sons with a noble and undaunted spirit, so, in reference to the holy places in which they were slain, she said, their dead bodies were well worthy of such sepulchres. She removed afterwards, and dwelt near the place called Misenum, not at all altering her former way of living. She had many friends, and hospitably re- ceived many strangers at her house; many Greeks and learned men were continually about her ; -nor was there any foreign prince but received gifts from her and pre- sented her again. Those who were conversant with her, were much interested, when she pleased to entertain them with her recollections of her father Scipio Africanus, and of his habits and way of living. But it was most admira- ble to hear her make mention of her sons, without any tears or sign of grief, and give the full account of all their deeds and misfortunes, as if she had been relating the history of some ancient heroes. This made some im- agine, that age, or the greatness of her afflictions, had made her senseless and devoid of natural feelings. But they