Quoscumque in medium fortuna protulit, quicumque membra ac partes alienae potentiae fuerant, horum gratia viguit, domus frequentata est, dum ipsi steterunt: post ipsos cito memoria defecit. Ingeniorum crescit dignatio nec ipsis tantum honor habetur, sed quidquid illorum memoriae adhaesit excipitur.

Tie, kuriuos sėkmė iškelia, kurie esti dešinė svetimos valdžios ranka, gerbiami ir lankomi tol, kol gyvena, o kai jų nebelieka, miršta ir jų atminimas. Talentingųjų šlovė vis auga, ir gerbiami ne tik jie patys, bet ir visa, kas susiję su jų atminimu.

Whenever men have been thrust forward by fortune, whenever they have become part and parcel of anothers influence, they have found abundant favour, their houses have been thronged, only so long as they themselves have kept their position; when they themselves have left it, they have slipped at once from the memory of men. But in the case of innate ability, the respect in which it is held increases, and not only does honour accrue to the man hiniself, but whatever has attached itself to his memory is passed on from one to another.