As the grave closes alike over all whether important or insignificant, so in the roll of the Roman burgomasters the empty scion of nobility stands undistinguishable by the side of the great statesman.

Of the few records that have reached us from this period none is more venerable, and none at the same time more characteristic, than the epitaph of Lucius Cornelius Scipio, who was consul in 456, and three years afterwards took part in the decisive battle of Sentinum.( 49) On the beautiful sarcophagus, in noble Doric style, which eighty years ago still enclosed the dust of the conqueror of the Samnites, the following sentence is inscribed:-- -Cornelius Lucius--Scipio Barbatus, Gnaivod patre prognatus, -- fortis vir sapiensque, Quoius forma virtu--tei parisuma fuit, Consol censor aidilis--quei fuit apud vos, Taurasia Cisauna--Samnio cepit, Subigit omne Loucanum--opsidesque abdoucit.- _-'_-'_-'_||-'_-'_-'_ Innumerable others who had been at the head of the Roman commonwealth, as well as this Roman statesman and warrior, might be commemorated as having been of noble birth and of manly beauty, valiant and wise; but there was no more to record regarding them.

It is doubtless not the mere fault of tradition that no one of these Cornelii, Fabii, Papirii, or whatever they were called, confronts us in a distinct individual figure.

The senator was supposed to be no worse and no better than other senators, nor at all to differ from them.

It was not necessary and not desirable that any burgess should surpass the rest, whether by showy silver plate and Hellenic culture, or by uncommon wisdom and excellence.