He will have it that the supreme magistracy is the natural reward of this, his desk and chambers [_assiduitatis_, etymologically _sitting-ness_] work; these daily labors of his. ‘What!’ quoth he, ‘you will have been with the army all these years; you will never have been seen in the Forum; and then, after such a disappearance, you pretend to compete for the highest dignities with men who have spent their lives in the Forum?’ In the first place, Servius, you are not aware how irksome, how wearisome to people, this _assiduity_ of ours is. To me, indeed, the ‘_in sight, in mind_’ brought with it its conveniences; but I surmounted the danger of tiring people by my immense laboriousness: you may have done the same; but a little less of our everlasting presence would have hurt neither of us. “However, passing over this, let us come to the comparison of your several studies and acquirements. How can there be any doubt, but that warlike glory carries with it far more likelihood than that of the law to win the Consulate? _You_ keep night-watches, that you may give an opinion to your consulting clients; _he_, that he may reach his destination in good time with his army. _You_ awake in the morning to the crowing of the cocks; _he_ is called by the battle-breathing trumpets. _You_ array pleadings; _he_, armies. You are careful not to let your clients be captured; he, to keep from capture cities and camps. He studies how the enemies’ forces, and you how neighbors’ drains and roof-rains, may be held at bay. He knows how to extend our boundaries; and you, how to litigate about our ‘boundings and buttings’”--_Cætera desunt, hic_. FOOTNOTE: [56] N. B.--Be it observed that what follows is an attempt to translate the untranslatable. Not only the idiomatic proprieties are lost, but the strain of public sentiment and public thinking which the speaker took into account in every remark is changed: and the rhythm defies reproduction, etc. A SALON IN PARIS BEFORE THE WAR. PART I. VANITY OF VANITIES. Mesdames Folibel occupied a double set of rooms _au premier_ on the Boulevard des Italiens. On a door to the right a large brass plate announced that Madame Augustine Folibel presided over “_lingerie et dentelles_,” and invited the public to “_tourner le bouton_.” To the left a large steel plate proclaimed Madame Alexandrine Folibel “_modiste_,” and invited the public to ring the bell. But after a certain hour every day both these invitations were negatived by a page in buttons, who, stationed at either door, kept the way open for the ceaseless flow of visitors passing in and out of the two establishments. My friend Berthe de Bonton was just turning in to the _lingerie_ department when I came up the stairs.