Metamorphoses - Book 13:135

You shouldn't let Ajax's dullness of intellect count in his

favour

or hold my quickness against myself; it has always been

used

in your service, my lords. Don't grudge me my eloquence,

such as it is;

it has often pleaded for you in the past, and now it is bound

to plead for its master. We cannot ignore the gifts that we

have.

'Ancestry, forebears, titles we haven't achieved for

ourselves,

are scarcely points we can urge.