In the days of Republican Rome--how far back I cannot tell--they were famous, some as soldiers, some as civilians.

I can recall but one consul of the name; their rank was senatorial, and their patronage always sought because they were always rich.

Yet if to-day your friend boasted of his ancestry, you might have shamed him by recounting yours.
If he referred to the ages through which the line is traceable, or to deeds, rank, or wealth--such allusions, except when great occasion demands them, are tokens of small minds--if he mentioned them in proof of his superiority, then without dread, and standing on each particular, you might have challenged him to a comparison of records." Taking a moment's thought, the mother proceeded: "One of the ideas of fast hold now is that time has much to do with the nobility of races and families.

A Roman boasting his superiority on that account over a son of Israel will always fail when put to the proof.

The founding of Rome was his beginning; the very best of them cannot trace their descent beyond that period; few of them pretend to do so; and of such as do, I say not one could make good his claim except by resort to tradition.