turned on Paccius Africanus, trying to hound him out in the same way.  He was supposed to have suggested to Nero the murder of the two brothers Scribonius,[346] who were famous for their friendship and their wealth.  Africanus dared not admit his guilt, though he could not very well deny it.  So he swung round on Vibius Crispus,[347] who was pestering him with questions, and tried to turn the tables by implicating him in the charges which he could not rebut, thus shifting the odium on to his accomplice.

On this occasion Vipstanus Messala[348] gained a great reputation, 42 both for dutiful affection and for eloquence, by venturing to intercede for his brother Aquilius Regulus,[349] although he had not attained the senatorial age.[350] Regulus had fallen into great disfavour for having brought about the ruin of the noble families of the Crassi and of Orfitus.  It was supposed that, though quite a young man, he had voluntarily undertaken the prosecution, not to escape any danger which was threatening him, but from purely ambitious motives.  Crassus’ wife, Sulpicia Praetextata, and his four sons were anxious to secure revenge if the senate would grant a trial.  Messala therefore made no attempt to defend the case or the accused, but tried to shelter his brother, and had already won over some of the senators.  Curtius Montanus now attacked him in a savage speech, and even went so far as to charge Regulus with having given money to Piso’s murderer after Galba’s death, and with having bitten Piso’s head.[351] ‘That,’ said he, ’Nero certainly did not compel you to do.  You purchased neither position nor safety by that savage piece of cruelty.  We may put up with the pleas of those wretches who prefer to ruin others rather than endanger their own lives.  But your father’s banishment had guaranteed your security.  His property had been divided amongst his creditors.[352] You were not of an age to stand for office.  Nero had nothing either to hope or to fear from you.  Your talents were as yet untried and you had never exerted them in any man’s defence, yet your lust for blood, your insatiable ambition, led you to stain your young hands in the blood of Rome’s nobility.  At one swoop you caused the ruin of innocent youths, of old and distinguished statesmen, of high-born ladies; and out of the country’s disaster you secured for yourself the spoils of two ex-consuls,[353] stuffed seven million sesterces into your purse, and shone with the reflected glory of a priesthood.  You would blame Nero’s lack of enterprise because he took one household at a time, thus causing unnecessary fatigue to himself and his informers, when he might have ruined the whole senate at a single word.  Why, gentlemen, you must indeed keep and preserve to yourselves a counsellor of such ready resource.  Let each generation have its good examples:  and as our old men follow Eprius Marcellus or Vibius Crispus, let the rising generation emulate Regulus.  Villainy finds followers even when it fails.  What if it