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
likes-and-dislikes identity likes
The firmest friendship is based on an identity of likes and dislikes.
unity unions states
By union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.
friendship loyalty kindness
Neither the army nor the treasury, but friends, are the true supports of the throne; for friends cannot be collected by force of arms, nor purchased with money; they are the offspring of kindness and sincerity.
kings arms overcoming
In my opinion it is less shameful for a king to be overcome by force of arms than by bribery.
rewards great-reward
Just to stir things up seemed a great reward in itself.
kings virtue mistrust
Kings are more prone to mistrust the good than the bad; and they are always afraid of the virtues of others.
depressing justice fortune
Fortune rules in all things, and advances and depresses things more out of her own will than right and justice.
change fall blessing
As the blessings of health and fortune have a beginning, so they must also find an end. Everything rises but to fall, and increases but to decay.
country sweet 4th-of-july
It is sweet to surve one country by deeds, and it is not absurd to surve her by words.
kindness giving allies
The Romans assisted their allies and friends, and acquired friendships by giving rather than receiving kindness. [Lat., Sociis atque amicis auxilia portabant Romani, magisque dandis quam accipiundis beneficiis amicitias parabant.]
essence space soul
The essences of the Gods never came into existence (for that which always is never comes into existence; and that exists for ever which possesses primary force and by nature suffers nothing): neither do they consist of bodies; for even in bodies the powers are incorporeal. Neither are they contained by space; for that is a property of bodies. Neither are they separate from the first cause nor from one another, just as thoughts are not separate from mind nor acts of knowledge from the soul.
money honour prize
But few prize honour more than money.
philosophy practice soul
One may call the world a myth , in which bodies and things are visible, but souls and minds hidden. Besides, to wish to teach the whole truth about the Gods to all produces contempt in the foolish, because they cannot understand, and lack of zeal in the good, whereas to conceal the truth by myths prevents the contempt of the foolish, and compels the good to practice philosophy.
class elements world
Of the cosmic Gods some make the world be, others animate it, others harmonize it, consisting as it does of different elements; the fourth class keep it when harmonized.