Sallust
Sallust
Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust, was a Roman historian, politician, and novus homo from a provincial plebeian family. Sallust was born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines and was a popularis, an opponent of the old Roman aristocracy, throughout his career, and later a partisan of Julius Caesar. Sallust is the earliest known Roman historian with surviving works to his name, of which Catiline's War, The Jugurthine War, and the Historiesare still extant. Sallust was primarily...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionHistorian
fleeting wealth virtue
The glory of wealth and of beauty is fleeting and frail; virtue is illustrious and everlasting.
order cities expectations
That power of the Gods which orders for the good things which are not uniform, and which happen contrary to expectation, is commonly called Fortune, and it is for this reason that the Goddess is especially worshipped in public by cities; for every city consists of elements which are not uniform.
fear men mind
The man who is roused neither by glory nor by danger it is in vain to exhort; terror closes the ears of the mind. [Lat., Quem neque gloria neque pericula excitant, nequidquam hortere; timor animi auribus officit.]
grief
No grief reaches the dead.
rewards great-reward
Just to stir things up seemed a great reward in itself.
kings arms overcoming
In my opinion it is less shameful for a king to be overcome by force of arms than by bribery.
kings virtue mistrust
Kings are more prone to mistrust the good than the bad; and they are always afraid of the virtues of others.
extravagance greedy extravagant
Greedy for the property of others, extravagant with his own
men poorest seeking
To someone seeking power, the poorest man is the most useful.
brave victory boast
In victory even the cowardly like to boast, while in adverse times even the brave are discredited.
pride men animal
All men who would surpass the other animals should do their best not to pass through life silently like the beasts whom nature made prone, obedient to their bellies.
friendship desire aversion
To have the same desires and the same aversion is assuredly a firm bond of friendship.
principles oblivion fortune
But assuredly Fortune rules in all things; she raised to eminence or buries in oblivion everything from caprice rather than from well-regulated principle. [Lat., Sed profecto Fortuna in omni re dominatur; ea res cunctas ex lubidine magis, quam ex vero, celebrat, obscuratque.]
depressing justice fortune
Fortune rules in all things, and advances and depresses things more out of her own will than right and justice.