Sallust

“ Cæsar was celebrated for his great bounty and generosity: Cato for his unsullied integrity: the former became renowned by his humanity and compassion; an austere severity heightened the dignity of the latter. Cæsar acquired glory by a liberal, compassionate, and forgiving temper; as did Cato by never bestowing any thing. In the one the miserable found a sanctuary; in the other the guilty met with certain destruction. Cæsar was admired for an easy, yielding temper; Cato for his immoveable firmness. Cæsar, in a word, had formed himself for a laborious, active life ”

“ What goes by the name of passion only in others, when seen in men of power, is called pride and cruelty.
“As for me, Conscript Fathers, I look on all tortures as far short of what these criminals deserve. But most men remember best what happened last; and, forgetting the guilt of wicked men, talk only of their punishment, if more severe than ordinary. I am convinced that what Decius Silanus, brave and worthy man, said, was from his zeal to the state, and that he was neither biassed by partiality nor enmity; such is his integrity and moderation, as I well know. ”

“ Ease and riches, the grand objects of the pursuit of others, depressed and ruined those who had, without regret, undergone toils and hardships, distresses and dangers. First a love of money possessed their minds; then a passion for power; and these were the seeds of all the evils that followed. For avarice rooted out faith, probity, and every worthy principle; and, in their stead, substituted insolence, inhumanity, contempt of the gods, and a mercenary spirit. Ambition obliged many to be deceitful; to belie with their tongues the sentiments of their hearts ”

“ Then, indeed, ambition had no share in influencing the conduct of men; every one was satisfied with his own. But after Cyrus began in Asia, and the Lacedæmonians and Athenians in Greece, to conquer cities and nations; when the lust of power was thought a sufficient reason for commencing a war, and glory was measured by the extent of dominions, then it was discovered by experience that genius conduces most to success. And if kings and rulers would exert their abilities in peace as they do in war, the condition of human affairs would be much more steady and uniform ”

“ But as I have on many important occasions proved your bravery and attachment to me, I have dared to engage in an enterprise of the highest consequence and the greatest glory. It is an additional encouragement to me, when I consider the harmony of our desires and aversions, which is the firmest bond of friendship.
“Now the nature of my undertaking you have already heard severally; and my ardour to put it in execution increases daily, when I consider what must be our future lot, unless we recover our liberty. ”

“ Peace must be procured by victory alone, not by a grovelling cowardice. To hope for security from flight, where you have turned from the enemy the arms which serve to defend you, is the height of madness. ”

“ For since the government came under the power and management of a few, kings and princes have been tributary to them, and nations have paid them taxes; while all the rest of us citizens, however worthy or brave, noble or plebeian, have remained as a sorry mob, without interest or authority, slaves to those to whom we should be a terror, were the state but in its due vigour. All sway, preferment, interest, and riches are now in their hands, or those of their favourites ”

“ They were industrious at home, and exercised an equitable government abroad; their minds were free in council, neither swayed by crimes nor passion. Instead of these virtues, we have luxury and avarice; poverty in the state, and great wealth in the members of it: we admire riches, and abandon ourselves to idleness; we make no distinction between the virtuous and the wicked; and all the rewards of virtue are possessed by ambition. ”

“ This vice, as if impregnated with deadly poison, enervated both soul and body; is always boundless and insatiable; nor are its cravings lessened by plenty or want. But when Sylla had, by force of arms, made himself master of the state, and, from fair beginnings, brought matters to a bloody issue, his victorious troops gave themselves up to rapine and violence; one coveted a house, another lands: they observed neither measure nor moderation, but exercised the most enormous and inhuman outrages on the citizens. ”

“ How groundless such a fear is it is needless to show; especially when, by the diligence of so able a consul, such powerful forces are provided for our security: and as to the punishment, we may say, what indeed is the truth, that to those who live in sorrow and misery, death is but a release from trouble; that it is death which puts an end to all the calamities of men, beyond which there is no room for care and joy. [34] But why, in the name of the gods, did not you add to your proposal that they should be punished with stripes? ”

“ In like manner, Conscript Fathers, ought you to take care that the wickedness of Lentulus and the rest of the conspirators weigh not more with you than a regard to your own honour; and that while you gratify your resentment you do not forfeit your reputation. If a punishment indeed can be invented adequate to their crimes, I approve the extraordinary proposal made; but if the enormity of their guilt is such that human invention cannot find out a chastisement proportioned to it, my opinion is, that we ought to be contented with such as the law has provided. ”

“ VII This change in the form of their government produced a great alteration in their manners; every one now exerted the utmost of his capacity in the service of his country, and was ready to display his talents on all occasions: for under tyrants the worthy are more exposed to jealousy than the worthless, and great abilities are always dreaded by them. It is incredible to relate how much the city increased in a short time after the recovery of its liberty; so great was the ardour of its citizens for glory. ”

“ And having duly weighed every cause, I was convinced that all was owing to the great virtue of some particular persons; hence it was that poverty triumphed over riches, and a handful of men prevailed over great numbers. Nay, after Rome became depraved by luxury and sloth, the commonwealth still supported herself by her native strength, under the ambition and intrigues of her magistrates and generals; even when, like a superannuated matron, she did not produce, for a long time, any citizen of distinguished merit. ”

“ Such was the character of Catiline; who, after Sylla’s usurpation, was fired with a violent desire of seizing the government; and, provided he could but carry his point, he was not at all solicitous by what means. His spirit, naturally violent, was daily more and more hurried on to the execution of his design by his poverty and the consciousness of his crimes; both which evils he had heightened by the practices above mentioned. He was encouraged to it by the wickedness of the state, thoroughly debased by luxury and avarice; vices equally fatal, though of contrary natures. ”

“ III To act well for the state is glorious, and to write well for it is not without its merit. A man may become illustrious in peace or in war: many have been applauded for performing heroic actions, many for relating them. And though the character of the historian is not reckoned so glorious as that of the hero, yet to me it appears a very arduous task to write history well, since the style must be suited to the subject. Besides, many look on the censure of faults as the effect of malice and envy ”

“ Now, our faculties are twofold; those of the soul, and those of the body: the soul was designed for sovereign command, the body for subjection: the former we enjoy in common with the gods, the latter with the brute creation. So that to me it appears more agreeable to nature to pursue glory by the abilities of the mind than those of the body; and as our lives are but of short duration, it should be our study to render our memory immortal: for the splendour derived from riches and beauty is short-lived and frail, virtue [1] alone confers immortality. ”

“ The people have often taken arms, and separated from the senate, prompted either by a passion for power, or the insolence of their magistrates. As for us, we neither desire power nor riches, which are the sources of all the wars and contests among men: liberty is our aim; that liberty which no brave man will lose but with his life. Wherefore we conjure you and the senate to espouse the interests of your wretched fellow-citizens, to restore to us the protection of the laws, torn from us by the iniquity of the prætors ”

“ They appear to me to have reasoned only about the punishment of those who have entered into a combination to make war on their country, on their parents, on religion and private property; whereas our present circumstances warn us rather to guard against them than to consider in what manner we shall punish them. You make take vengeance for other crimes after they are committed; but if you do not prevent the commission of this, when it is once accomplished, in vain will you have recourse to the tribunals. When the city is once taken, no resource remains to the conquered citizens. ”

“ But I take gods and men to witness, that success is in our hands; our bodies and minds are in full vigour: on the other hand, they are on the decline in every respect, oppressed with years and riches. All that is necessary is, only to make the attempt; when once the undertaking is set on foot, every thing else will follow in course. For who, that has the spirit of a man, can bear with patience that they should have such a superfluity of riches as to lavish them in raising mighty edifices on the deep, and levelling mountains, while we have not so much as the necessaries of life ”

“ There was nothing but universal hurry and confusion; no place was thought secure; no person fit to be trusted; they neither enjoyed peace nor were at war; every one measured the public danger by their private fears. The women, too, full of apprehensions of war, which the great power of the state had formerly secured them against, gave themselves up to sorrow and lamentation ”

“ XI At first, indeed, the minds of men were less influenced by avarice than ambition, a vice which has some affinity to virtue; for the desire of glory, power, and preferment is common to the worthy and the worthless; with this difference, that the one pursues them by direct means; the other, being void of merit, has recourse to fraud and subtlety: avarice has money for its object, which no wise man ever coveted. ”

“ Which indignities how long will ye tamely submit to, ye bravest of men? Is it not better to die in a brave attempt than to drag a wretched and infamous life, and to lose it at last shamefully, after having been the sport of other men’s insolence? ”

“ A father could with impunity suffer his infant son to perish. When grown up, he could imprison, send him bound to work in the country, or even put him to death, without assigning a cause. A son could acquire no property without the consent of his father: so that with a parent of a cruel or capricious temper the condition of a slave was, in some respects, more tolerable. A slave could be freed or emancipated by a single act ”

“ Cæsar, when asked by the consul in his turn, spoke in substance as follows: [33]
L “It is the duty of all men, Conscript Fathers, in their deliberations on subjects of difficult determination, to divest themselves of hatred and affection, of revenge and pity. The mind when clouded with such passions cannot easily discern the truth; nor has any man ever gratified his own headstrong inclination and at the same time answered any valuable purpose. When we exercise our judgment only, it has sufficient force; but when passion possesses us, it bears sovereign sway, and reason is of no avail. ”

“ But, Conscript Fathers, different allowances are made to different persons: when such as live in obscurity are transported by passion to the commission of any offences, there are few who know it, their reputation and fortune being on a level: but those who are invested with great power are placed on an eminence, and their actions viewed by all; and thus the least allowance is made to the highest dignity. ”

“ For all those who were abandoned to gluttony and voluptuousness, and had exhausted their fortunes by gaming, feasting, and licentiousness; all who were overwhelmed with debts, contracted to purchase pardon for their crimes: add to this, parricides and sacrilegious persons from all quarters; such as were convicted for crimes, or feared conviction; nay, farther, all who lived by perjury and shedding the blood of citizens: lastly, all whom wickedness, indigence, or a guilty conscience disquieted,—were united to Catiline in the firmest bonds of friendship and intimacy. ”

“ But when, instead of industry, moderation, and equity, sloth, licentiousness, and pride prevail, the fortune of a state changes with its manners: and thus power always passes from him who has least merit to him who has most. ”

“ Romans of the highest quality have conspired to destroy their country, and are endeavouring to engage the Gauls, the sworn enemies of the Roman name, to join them. The commander of the enemy is hovering over us with an army, and yet at this very juncture you delay and hesitate how to proceed against such of the conspirators as are seized within your walls. ”