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
balance-and-harmony decay harmony-in-music
Harmony makes small things grow; lack of it makes great things decay.
intellectual fleeting wealth
The fame that goes with wealth and beauty is fleeting and fragile; intellectual superiority is a possession glorious and eternal.
kings honesty soldier
Neither soldiers nor money can defend a king but only friends won by good deeds, merit, and honesty.
likes-and-dislikes identity likes
The firmest friendship is based on an identity of likes and dislikes.
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.
likes-and-dislikes likes bonds-of-friendship
To have the same likes and dislikes, therein consists the firmest bond of friendship.
wicked
By the wicked the good conduct of others is always dreaded.
kings believe punishment
It is not unlikely, too, that the rejection of God is a kind of punishment: we may well believe that those who knew the Gods and neglected them in one life may in another life be deprived of the knowledge of them altogether. Also those who have worshipped their own kings as gods have deserved as their punishment to lose all knowledge of God.
excellence fleeting riches
The renown which riches or beauty confer is fleeting and frail mental excellence is a splendid and lasting possession.
hatred angry
He that will be angry for anything will be angry for nothing.
extravagance greedy extravagant
Greedy for the property of others, extravagant with his own
fleeting wealth virtue
The glory of wealth and of beauty is fleeting and frail; virtue is illustrious and everlasting.
brave victory boast
In victory even the cowardly like to boast, while in adverse times even the brave are discredited.