The elder of the two, who is usually distinguished by the title of _Pius_,
is thus described by one of his biographers:--"He was externally of
remarkable beauty; eminent for his moral character, full of benign
dispositions, noble, with a countenance of a most gentle expression,
intellectually of singular endowments, possessing an elegant style of
eloquence, distinguished for his literature, generally temperate, an
earnest lover of agricultural pursuits, mild in his deportment, bountiful
in the use of his own, but a stern respecter of the rights of others; and,
finally, he was all this without ostentation, and with a constant regard
to the proportions of cases, and to the demands of time and place." His
bounty displayed itself in a way, which may be worth mentioning, as at
once illustrating the age, and the prudence with which he controlled the
most generous of his impulses:--"_Finus trientarium_," says the historian,
"_hoc est minimis usuris exercuit, ut patrimonio suo plurimos adjuvaret_."
The meaning of which is this:--in Rome, the customary interest for money
was what was called _centesimae usurae_; that is, the hundredth part, or one
per cent.
Pages:
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196