On the Shortness of Life, Section 13

Seneca — The Senator

Let's say it's also worth knowing how Valerius Corvinus was the first to conquer Messana. He took the city's name for himself and became known as Messana. Over time, people changed how they said it and called him Messalla instead. Or maybe you'd let someone get excited about how Lucius Sulla was the first to release lions in the circus — before that, they were just shown in chains. King Bocchus sent javelin throwers to kill them. Fine, let people be curious about these things. But what good does it do to know that Pompeius was the first to put eighteen elephants in the circus and make them fight prisoners in a fake battle?

Seneca — The Senator Original

Let us also allow that it is to the point to tell how Valerius Corvinus was the first to conquer Messana, and first of the family of the Valerii transferred the name of the captured city to his own, and was called Messana, and how the people gradually corrupted the pronunciation and called him Messalla: or would you let any one find interest in Lucius Sulla having been the first to let lions loose in the circus, they having been previously exhibited in chains, and hurlers of darts having been sent by King Bocchus to kill them? This may be permitted to their curiosity: but can it serve any useful purpose to know that Pompeius was the first to exhibit eighteen elephants in the circus, who were matched in a mimic battle with some convicts?