One finding his shoes eaten with mice, in the morning when he rose, asked Cato, in great agitation, the meaning of the portent; who answered, _It is no prodigy that mice should eat shoes! had the shoes eaten the mice, it would have been indeed a prodigy_. When Brutus was dissuaded from his last battle, as the jeopardy was great, he only said, _To-day all will be well, or I shall not care_. * * * * * A large bull being produced in the amphitheatre, the hunter struck ten times, and missed. Gallienus, the emperor, who was present, sent the hunter a wreath: and all wondering, he said, _It is extremely difficult to miss such a mark so often_. * * * * * One saying, that in Sicily he had bought a lamprey five feet long, for a trifle; Galba, the orator, to reprove the lye, said, _No wonder. They are found there so long, that the fishers constantly use them for cables._ * * * * * Scipio Nasica going to visit Ennius the poet, was told by his maid-servant, that he was not at home, though he knew he was. A few days after Ennius came to see Nasica, who hearing his voice, called out, that he was not within. Then said Ennius, “What! Do not I hear your voice?” To which Nasica replied, _You are an impudent fellow. I believed your maid! and you will not believe myself_. * * * * * Sulpitius Galba the orator, pretended to sleep once, while Mecenas made love to his wife, but seeing, at the same time, a slave stealing wine from the side-board, he cried, _Friend, I do not sleep for all_. * * * * * From the collection of Poggio we get other Italian stories. * * * * * Some clowns going to Arezzo, to buy a crucifix for their church, the carver seeing them very stupid, said, Do you want a living or a dead crucifix? They requiring time to consider: after much deliberation, returned, saying, _Make us a living one! for if our neighbours be not pleased with that, we can easily kill it_. * * * * * An inhabitant of a maritime town, looking out at a window, and seeing the ocean in a violent storm, and many vessels tossing about, said to a friend who was with him, “I wonder so many people go to sea, when so many die there.” _Do not you wonder_, answered the friend, _why so many people go to bed, when so many die there?_ * * * * * Bardella da Mantoua, being led to execution, a priest, who was with him, said, “Be of good cheer, for to-night you will sup with the Virgin Mary, and with the apostles.” Bardella answered, _It will be a favour if you will go for me, for this is a fast-day with me_. * * * * *