Pompey

And yet Flora is said to have flowered into such beauty, and to have been so famous for it, that when Caecilius Metellus was decorating the temple of Castor and Pollux with paintings and statues, he gave her portrait also a place among his dedications. Moreover, Pompey also treated the wife of Demetrius his freedman (who had the greatest influence with him and left an estate of four thousand talents) with a lack of courtesy and generosity unusual in him, fearing lest men should think him conquered by her beauty, which was irresistible and far-famed.

But though he was so extremely cautious in such matters and on his guard, still he could not escape the censures of his enemies on this head, but was accused of illicit relations with married women, to gratify whom, it was said, he neglected and betrayed many public interests. As regards his simplicity and indifference in matters pertaining to the table, a story is told as follows.

Once when he was sick and loathed his food, a physician prescribed a thrush for him. But when, on enquiry, his servants could not find one for sale (for it was past the season for them), and someone said they could be found at Lucullus’s, where they were kept the year round, What then, said he, if Lucullus were not luxurious must Pompey have died? and paying no regard to the physician he took something that could easily be procured.[*](Cf. the Lucullus, xl. 2. ) This, however, was at a later time.