[42]
Now, why did I quote Archytas? To make you
realize that if reason and wisdom did not enable us
to reject pleasure, we should be very grateful to old
age for taking away the desire to do what we ought
not to do. For carnal pleasure hinders deliberation,
is at war with reason, blindfolds the eyes of the mind,
so to speak, and has no fellowship with virtue.
It was a disagreeable duty that I performed in
expelling1 Lucius Flamininus from the senate, for
[p. 53]
he was a brother of that most valiant man, Titus
Flamininus, and had been consul seven years before;
but I thought that lust merited the brand of infamy.
For, when in Gaul during his consulship, at the
solicitation of a courtesan at a banquet, he beheaded
a prisoner then under condemnation for some
capital offence.2 While his brother, my immediate
predecessor, was censor, Lucius escaped punishment,
but Flaccus and I could by no means approve of
conduct so flagrant and abandoned, especially when
to his crime against an individual he added dishonour
to the state.
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