Caesar's virtues and you demand his praises not half-heartedly, as if he were no relation, but out of deep affection as one of your very own. I shall strive therefore to meet your wishes to the fullest extent, and I feel sure that you will not criticise too closely my command of words or conception of the subject, but will, out of your kindness of heart, make up whatever is lacking in that respect. [-37-] "I shall speak first about his lineage, though not because it is very brilliant. Yet this too has considerable bearing on the nature of excellence, that a man should have become good not through force of circumstances but by inherent power. Those not born of noble parents may disguise themselves as honest men but may also some day be convicted of their base origin by innate qualities. Those, however, who possess the seed of honesty, descending through a long line of ancestors, cannot possibly help having an excellence which is of spontaneous growth and permanent. Still, I do not now praise Caesar chiefly because he was sprung from many noble men of recent times and kings and gods of ancient days, but because in the first place he was a kinsman of our whole city,--we were founded by the men that were his ancestors,--and secondly because he not only confirmed the renown of his forefathers who were believed by virtue to have attained divinity, but actually increased it; if any person disputed formerly the possibility of Aeneas ever having been born of Venus, he may now believe it. The gods in past times have been reported as possessing some unworthy children, but no one could deem this man unworthy to have had gods for his ancestors. Aeneas himself became king, as likewise some of his descendants. This man proved himself so much superior to them that whereas they were monarchs of Lavinium and Alba, he refused to become king of Rome; and whereas they laid the foundation of our city, he raised it to such heights that among other services he established colonies greater than the cities over which they ruled.