Atticus, one of the best Men of ancient Rome, was a very remarkable Instance of what I am here speaking.

Atticus was a wealthy and cultivated man who had lived many years in Athens.

Atticus could be a friend to men without engaging in their passions, disapprove their maxims without awaking their resentment, and be satisfied with his own virtue without seeking popular fame: he had the reward of his wisdom in his tranquillity, and will ever stand among the few examples of true philosophy, either ancient or modern....

Of these boys, until they took the toga virilis, he says hardly anything in his letters to Atticus, though Atticus was the uncle of the elder boy.