[238] And could it be inquired of the fathers, etc.--_Ac, si jam ex patribus Alibini aut Bestiae quaeri posset_, etc. _Patres_, in this passage, is not, as Anthon imagines, the same as _majores_; as is apparent from the word _gigni_. The fathers of Albinus and Bestia were probably dead at the time that Marius spoke. The passage which Anthon quotes from Plutarch to illustrate _patres_, is not applicable, for the word there is [Greek: _pragonoi: Epunthaneto ton paronton, ei mae kai tous ekeinon oiontai progonous auto mallon an emxasthai paraplaesious ekgonous apolitein, ate dae maed autous di eugeneian, all ap aretaes kai kalon ergon endoxous genomenous_.] Vit. Mar. c. 9. "He would then ask the people whether they did not think that the ancestors of those men would have wished rather to leave a posterity like him, since they themselves had not risen to glory by their high birth, but by their virtue and heroic achievements?" _Langhorne_. [239] Abstinence--_Innocentiae_. Abstinence from all vicious indulgence. [240] Honorable exertion--_Virtutis_. See notes on Cat. c. 1, and Jug. c. 1. [241] They occupy the greatest part of their orations in extolling their ancestors--_Plerâque oratione majores suos extollunt._ "They extol their ancestors in the greatest part of their speech." [242] The glory of ancestors sheds a light on their posterity, Juvenal, viii.138: Incipit ipsorum contra te stare parentum Nobilitas, claramque facem praeferre pudendis. Thy fathers' virtues, clear and bright, display Thy shameful deeds, as with the light of day. [243] I feel assured--_Ex animi sententiâ_. "It was a common form of strong asseveration." _Gerlach._ [244] Spears--_Hastas_. "A _hasta pura_, that is a spear without iron, was anciently the reward of a soldier the first time that he conquered in battle, Serv. ad Virg. Aen. vi. 760; it was afterward given to one who had struck down an enemy in a sally or skirmish, Lips. ad Polyb. de Milit. Rom. v.17." _Burnouf_. [245] A banner--_Vexillum_. "Standards were also military rewards. Vopiscus relates that ten _hastae purae_, and four standards of two colors, were presented to Aurelian. Suetonius (Aug. 25) says that Agrippa was presented by Augustus, after his naval victory, with a standard of the color of the sea. These standards therefore, were not, as Badius Ascensius thinks, always taken from the enemy; though this was sometimes the case, as appears from Sil. Ital. x.v. 261: Tunc hasta viris, tunc martia cuique Vexilla, ut meritum, et praedae libamina, dantur." _Burnouf_. [246] Caparisons--_Phaleras_. "Sil. Ital. xv. 255: _Phaleris_ hic pectora fulget: Hic _torque_ aurato circumdat bellica collae. Juvenal, xv. 60: Ut laeti _phaleris_ omnes et _torquibus_ omnes.