Quotes from Sallust

T]he public interest, as is too frequently the case, was defeated by private influence.

The renown that riches and beauty confer is fleeting and frail; mental excellence is a splendid and lasting possession.

He remembered that envy is the concomitant of glory, and thus, the more renowned he became, the greater was his caution and circumspection.

Frequent mobs, seditions, and at last civil wars, became common, while a few leading men on whom the masses were dependent, affected supreme power under the seemly pretence of seeking the good of senate and people; citizens were judged good or bad, without reference to their loyalty to the republic (for all were equally corrupt); but the wealthy and dangerously powerful were esteemed good citizens, because they maintained the existing state of things.

But many mortals, devoted to their stomachs and to sleep, have passed through life untaught and uncouth, like foreign travelers; and of course, contrary to nature, their bodies were a source of pleasure to them, their minds a burden. In the case of such people, I asses their life and death alike, since silence surrounds each. -p4

Memmius:) But perhaps you are not yet weary of the tyranny of these men; perhaps these times please you less than those when kingdoms, provinces, laws, rights, the administration of justice, war and peace, and indeed every thing civil and religious, was in the hands of an oligarchy; while you, that is, the people of Rome, though unconquered by foreign enemies, and rulers of all nations around, were content with being allowed to live; for which of you had spirit to throw off your slavery?

Memmius:) But who are these that have thus taken the government into their hands? Men of the most abandoned character, of blood-stained hands, of insatiable avarice, of enormous guilt, and of matchless pride; men by whom integrity, reputation, public spirit, and indeed every thing, whether honorable or dishonorable, is converted to a means of gain.

Jugurtha:) That it was a venal city, and would soon perish, if it could but find a purchaser!

In general, this is what destroys great states: one group wants to overcome the other in any possible way and then to take a bitter vengeance on the defeated.

Thus avarice, leagued with power, disturbed, violated, and wasted every thing, without moderation or restraint; disregarding alike reason and religion, and rushing headlong, as it were, to its own destruction. For whenever any arose among the nobility, who preferred true glory to unjust power, the state was immediately in a tumult, and civil discord spread with as much disturbance as attends a convulsion of the earth.

Denn nur wenige Menschen wollen die Freiheit, ein großer Teil aber gerechte Herren.

B]oth which officers, with the title of commanders, were waiting near the city, having been prevented from entering in triumph, by the malice of a cabal, whose custom it was to ask a price for every thing, whether honorable or infamous.

namque, uti paucis verum absolvam, post illa tempora quicumque rem publicam agitavêre, honestis nominibus, alii sicuti populi iura defenderent, pars quo senatûs auctoritas maxima foret, bonum publicum simulantes pro suâ quisque potentiâ certabant.

Caesar:) But in a large state there arise many men of various dispositions. At some other period, and under another consul, who, like the present, may have an army at his command, some false accusation may be credited as true; and when, with our example for a precedent, the consul shall have drawn the sword on the authority of the senate, who shall stay its progress, or moderate its fury?

The new recruits, in process of time, began to join in an encounter without fear; they saw that such as fled were taken prisoners or slain; that the bravest were the safest; that liberty, their country, and parents, are defended, and glory and riches acquired, by arms. Thus the new and old troops soon became as one body, and the courage of all was rendered equal.

consideres, quid tuae rationes postulent.

Cato:) Be assured, then, that when you decide on the fate of Lentulus and the other prisoners, you at the same time determine that of the army of Catiline, and of all the conspirators. The more spirit you display in your decision, the more will their confidence be diminished; but if they shall perceive you in the smallest degree irresolute, they will advance upon you with fury.

Nor was caution a sufficient protection to those who kept aloof; for darts, discharged from engines or by the hand, inflicted wounds on most of them; and thus the brave and the timid, though of unequal merit, were exposed to equal danger.

Indeed, Marius, as well at this as at other periods of the war, kept his men to their duty rather by the dread of shame than of severity; a course which many said was adopted from desire of popularity, but some thought it was because he took pleasure in toils to which he had been accustomed from his youth, and in exertions which other men call perfect miseries. The public interest, however, was served with as much efficiency and honor as it could have been under the most rigorous command.

But on the night preceding the day appointed for the conference, the Moor, after first assembling his friends, and then, on a change of mind, dismissing them, is reported to have had many anxious struggles with himself, disturbed alike in his thoughts and his gestures, which, even when he was silent, betrayed the secret agitation of his mind.

sed plerique mortales postrema meminêre

malis moribus, maxima spe

ita in maximâ fortunâ minima licentia est;

quae apud alios iracundia dicitur, ea in imperio superbia atque crudelitas appellatur.