THERE are many ways to a title, my Marianus, and sure, it is my opinion that, were you to trace the history of any of them, you would find that none were noble, or very few, but owed it to some crime. For while we see those called noble that are very rich, when certainly wealth and virtue seldom go together, who will deny that the origin of nobility is ignoble? This man has grown rich on usury, that on spoils, another on treachery. Poison has filled this fellow’s pocket, and flattery that. Some acquire it through their wives, some through their children. Murder helps many. It is rarely we find anyone who has won his riches honestly. You’ll never fill your sack, unless you reap every blade of grass. Men pile up riches, and do not ask whence they come, but how much comes. This is a saying that applies to all—How you got it, nobody will enquire, but you must have it. And when your coffer is full, you claim a title which, won like that, is no better than the reward of iniquity.

My ancestors were considered noble, but I have no wish to flatter myself. I do not claim that my forbears were any better than others, who are justified only by antiquity, since their crimes have been forgotten. In my opinion, no one is noble unless he loves virtue. I am not dazzled by golden garments, horses, dogs, a tribe of servants, sumptuous tables, marble halls, country-seats, estates and fisheries, power, or deer-forests. Any of these a fool can obtain; and if you call him noble, you are a fool yourself. Procuration made our Pandalus noble.