Lord Frederick Leighton Perseus and Andromeda paintingLord Frederick Leighton Daedalus and Icarus paintingLord Frederick Leighton Actaea the Nymph of the Shore painting
Germanicus stood up for me against my elders in a gentle persuasive way, but Postumus was a lion-like champion. He seemed not to care a fig for anyone. He even dared to speak out straight to my grandmother Livia herself. Augustus made a favourite of Postumus, so for a while Livia pretended to be amused at what she called his boyish impulsiveness. Postumus trusted her at first, being himself incapable of deceit. One day when I was twelve and he was fourteen he happened to be passing by the room where Cato was giving me my lessons. He heard the sound of blows and my cries for mercy and came bursting angrily in. "Stop beating him, at once!" he shouted.
Cato looked at him in scornful surprise and fetched me another blow that knocked me off my stool. Postumus said: "Those that can't beat the ass, beat the saddle." (That was a proverb at Rome.)
"Impudence, what do you mean?" roared Cato.
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