impossible now to find one of their descendants, and, even should we

find one, it would be in some lowly and humble condition. Of

plebeian lineages I have nothing to say, save that they merely serve

to swell the number of those that live, without any eminence to

entitle them to any fame or praise beyond this. From all I have said I

would have you gather, my poor innocents, that great is the

confusion among lineages, and that only those are seen to be great and

illustrious that show themselves so by the virtue, wealth, and