His passion for gold increases--the only passion his mutilated body can indulge. Of what use was emasculation? The knife is powerless against reckless avarice. That hand so well practised in petty thefts, accustomed to rifle a cupboard or remove the bolt from the unwatched coffer, now finds richer spoils and the whole world to rob. All the country between the Tigris and Mount Haemus he exposes for sale at a fixed price, this huckster of empire, this infamous dealer in honours. This man governs Asia for the which his villa has paid. That man buys Syria with his wife’s jewels. Another repents of having taken Bithynia in exchange for his paternal mansion. Fixed above the open doors of his hall is a list giving the provinces and their * * * * * Page 154 tot Galatae, tot Pontus eat, tot Lydia nummis; si Lyciam tenuisse velis, tot millia ponas, si Phrygas, adde; parum! propriae solacia sorti 205 communes vult esse notas et venditus ipse vendere cuncta cupit. certantum saepe duorum diversum suspendit onus; cum pondere index vergit, et in geminas nutat provincia lances. Non pudet heu, superi, populos venire sub hasta? vendentis certe pudeat, quod iure sepultum 211 mancipium tot regna tenet, tot distrahit urbes. pollentem solio Croesum victoria Cyri fregit, ut eunucho flueret Pactolus et Hermus? Attalus heredem voluit te, Roma, relinqui, 215 restitit Antiochus praescripto margine Tauri, indomitos curru Servilius egit Isauros et Pharos Augusto iacuit vel Creta Metello, ne non Eutropio quaestus numerosior esset? in mercem veniunt Cilices, Iudaea, Sophene 220 Romanusque labor Pompeianique triumphi. Quo struis hos auri cumulos? quae pignora tantis succedent opibus? nubas ducasve licebit: numquam mater eris, numquam pater; hoc tibi ferrum, hoc natura negat. te grandibus India gemmis, 225 te foliis Arabes ditent, te vellere Seres: nullus inops adeo, nullum sic urget egestas, ut velit Eutropii fortunam et membra pacisci. Iamque oblita sui nec sobria divitiis mens * * * * * Page 155 prices: so much for Galatia, for Pontus so much, so much will buy one Lydia. Would you govern Lycia? Then lay down so many thousands. Phrygia? A little more. He wishes everything to be marked with its price to console him for his own fortune and, himself so often sold, he wants to sell everything. When two are rivals he suspends in the balance their opposed payment; along with the weight the judge inclines, and a province hangs wavering in a pair of scales.