Struck by the reserve of the Marquis on the subject of his lawsuit, the councillor said, casting on his guest a penetrating look: "But this lawsuit, we forget that." . . . "The idea of thinking, sir, of sad material interests, when we are speaking of the object of our worship to one who shares our admiration!" "Hum! hum!" said the doctor, shaking his head; and smiling with a caustic air, he recited these verses: "'Mens bona, fama, fides! hæc clare, et ut audiat hospes; Illa sibi introrsum, et sub lingua immurmurat: Oh! si Ebullit patrui præclarum funus!'"[14] "Yes . . . yes . . . 'one says, aloud, I forget my lawsuit; . . . and, in a low tone, devote to the infernal gods the wicked councillor who will not give me a word of hope.' . . . Isn't that it?" "What do you mean, sir?" said the Marquis, smiling, and answering by a quotation from the same book: "'Messe tenus propria vive!'"[15] "And you believe you have reaped indifference, young man?" said the _savant_, laughing at this _apropos_ quotation. "Well, I will undeceive you. . . . It shall not be said that the voice of old Sphex will not, at least, protest against the judgment of an old tun-belly like Flachsinfingen, or an old he-goat of a centurion, a brutal gladiator like Henferester. In my opinion, your rights and those of the German princes are so perfectly balanced, that a breath only would turn the scale." "'Scis etenim justum gemina suspendere lance Ancipitis libræ,'"[16] said the Marquis. "Not doubting the integrity of my judge, I have never doubted the success of my cause before him." Enchanted with this new quotation, the councillor cried: "And you have done well, young man; my voice will be solitary; but thus it will protest more forcibly against a judgment that I shall regard as unjust, if it goes against you, as I fear it will. Adieu, then. . . . Day after to-morrow we pronounce on your cause . . . and may the gods be favorable to you! As for me, by Castor! I know what I have to do"--and the doctor brought this conversation to a close by another quotation: "'Ast vocat officium; trabe rupta, Bruttia saxa Prendit amicus inops; remque omnem surdaque vota Condidit Ionio! . . .'"[17] [Footnote 2: Who is not ashamed to live like a Natta.] [Footnote 3: With what cares is man occupied! Oh, what vanity in life!. . .] [Footnote 4: Mark this day, Macrinus, with a propitious stone.] [Footnote 5: Do not doubt, the gods have wished to unite us by certain affinities, and that we should be guided by the same constellation.] [Footnote 6: Oh that I could bring to the temple this offering, even barley will suffice to make my prayer heard.] [Footnote 7: Each one his own taste; no one resembles the other; one prefers to grow fat by the pleasures of the table and of sleep; another prefers the hardships of the chase.] [Footnote 8: What is the sovereign good for you? To junket every day?]