1This much was published by us while Atticus was alive. 1Now, since fortune has willed that we should outlive him, we shall pursue the rest, and, as far as we can, shall teach our readers by examples drawn from events, as we indicated above, that it is generally a man's own character that wins him his fortune. 2For this man, content with the equestrian order into which he had been born, came into a connection by marriage with the general, the son of the deified Julius, having already earlier won his friendship by nothing else than the refinement of his life, by which he had captivated the other leading men of the state, equal in rank but humbler in fortune.
3For such great prosperity attended Caesar that fortune granted him everything she had ever bestowed on anyone before, and won for him what no Roman citizen had ever yet been able to attain. 4Now a granddaughter was born to Atticus by Agrippa, to whom he had given his maiden daughter in marriage. 4When she was scarcely a year old, Caesar betrothed her to Tiberius Claudius Nero, the son of Drusilla and his own stepson: this union sealed their bond and made their friendship more frequent.