Florus

“ If any one, then, contemplates the Roman people as he would contenplate a man, and considers its whole age, how it had its origin, how it grew up, how it arrived at a certain vigour of manhood, and how it has since, as it were, grown old, he will observe four degrees and stages of its existence. ”

“ The Roman people, during seven hundred years, from the time of king Romulus to that of Caesar Augustus, performed such mighty acts both in peace and war, that if any one compares the greatness of their empire with its years, he will think it out of proportion to its age. [1] So far throughout the world have they extended their arms, that those who read their exploits, learn the fate, not of one people only, but of all mankind. ”