Lindsey Davis citations

Page 2

“Luck is a wonderful luxury. What could better prove that some are born under a star of good fortune than the career (and the large, comfortable home) of the Great King?”

“I would rather see Rome ruled by a man who once had to ask his accountant tricky questions before his steward could pay the butcher’s bill than by some mad limb like Nero, who was brought up believing himself the son and the grandson of gods, and who thought wearing the purple gave him free rein to indulge his personal vanities, execute real talent, bankrupt the Treasury, burn half of Rome – and bore the living daylights out of paying customers in theatres!”

“She called me a rat.’ ‘Oh yes, I gathered you two were very close!”

“A wise partner does not come between her man and his best friend.”

“Curiosity is a terrible inducement.”

“The world is full of people slandering their birthplaces, as if they really believe that small-town life is different elsewhere.”

“They were not beggars; well, not in the usual sense. They were Christians, who wanted not just my nephews' money but their souls.”

“Have any sheep been seen walking out of the Library with seagoing adventurers clinging to their wool?”

“Do you kill people?'
'Not regularly. It's too much trouble making my peace with the gods afterwards.”

“Words are real if other people think they understand their meaning.”

“The plumber plodded along in silence, like a man who has learned to be polite to lunatics through dealing with civil engineers.”

“You could tell those two had been married by the way that she ignored him.”

“If being hit on the head by a falling flower tub could be worth cash to the victim, what price a child’s life under civil law?”

“I despise women who rely on men entirely for their own existence.”

“Some men are born lucky. Others are born Marcus Didius Falco.”

“He had the kind of personality that makes you think a boy will grow up to be a public torturer.”

“When I hear the words 'social order', I start looking around for somebody to pick a fight with.”

“Discovering that a fraud exists is only the first step. It has to be proved and the proof has to be absolutely watertight.”

“In my experience, men who sit in corners are the ones to watch.”

“We marched him to the turfy shack where he lived with his parents and while the youth sulked Petronius Longus put the whole moral issue in succinct terms to them: Ollia’s father was a legionary veteran who had served in Egypt and Syria for over twenty years until he left with double pay, three medals, and a diploma that made Ollia legitimate; he now ran a boxers’ training school where he was famous for his high-minded attitude and his fighters were notorious for their loyalty to him… The old fisherman was a toothless, hapless, faithless cove you would not trust too near you with a filleting knife, but whether from fear or simple cunning he co-operated eagerly. The lad agreed to marry the girl and since Silvia would never abandon Ollia here, we decided that the fisherboy had to come back with us to Rome. His relations looked impressed by this result. We accepted it as the best we could achieve.”

“Petronius would take his free bread buns and run. I happened to know that since Petro had been elected to the watch he had never cast a vote. He believed a man on a public salary should be impartial. I didn’t agree but I admired him being so stubborn in his eccentricities. Aufidius Crispus would be an unusual politician if he had allowed for such morality in the voters he was courting.”

“You're not bloody Aristophanes, and the people who are paying for tickets are not educated Athenians. We're acting for turnips who only come to talk to their cousins and fart. We have to give them a lot of action and low-level jokes, but you can leave all that to us on stage. We know what's required. Your job is to hone the basic framework and remember the simple motto: short speeches, short lines, short words.”

“I like my women in a few wisps of drapery: then I can hope for a chance to remove the wisps. If they start out with nothing I tend to get depressed because either they have just stripped off for someone else or, in my line of work, they are usually dead.”

“No woman who builds a career on hard work and talent will ever compliment a much younger one who uses the shallow gift of her looks.”

“Even the impetuous Helena Justina was an advocate of traditional family councils. However, every Roman matron knows that domestic councils were devised by our foremothers purely so the views of the matron of a household may prevail.”

“Intimidation and awe are how our rulers keep us respectful.”

“It struck me there might be a reason why Helena Justina whipped along at such a cracking pace: she did not want to be stuck in the wilderness with my corpse. I thanked Jove for her ruthless good sense. I did not want my corpse to be stuck with her in any case.”

““Afterwards, sometimes she dared to remember being in his arms. How, after only clumsy couplings with others, she and this man had straightaway come together as a perfect fit. How they moved together, in effortless synchronicity and with such deep pleasure. How when their exercise left them exhausted, she cried a little, so Vinius wiped her eye with his index finger, murmuring kindly, 'No tears!' before they both fell into profound sleep.
How her troubled mind had drowned in peace, her body melting against his…”

“But mere technical details can be worked out any time. All a hero needs is grit.”