1Wealth is sought, moreover, both for the necessary uses of life and for the full enjoyment of pleasures. 1But in those of greater spirit the desire for money looks to power and to the means of bestowing favours, as Marcus Crassus lately used to say that no fortune was large enough for a man who wished to be the leading man in the state, if he could not maintain an army on its income. 1Magnificent display and a style of living marked by elegance and abundance also give delight; 1and through these things it has come about that the desire for money is without limit. 1Nor indeed is the increase of one's estate to be blamed if it harms no one, but wrongdoing must always be shunned.
26Most men, however, are led above all to forget justice when they have fallen into a desire for military commands, offices and glory. 26For what we find in Ennius, 'No fellowship is sacred, nor is faith, in kingship,' 26applies more widely. 26For whenever something is of such a kind that not many can excel in it, there is generally such rivalry over it that it is very difficult to preserve a 'sacred fellowship'. 26This was shown just now by the recklessness of Gaius Caesar, who overturned all laws divine and human for the sake of that supremacy which he had imagined for himself through an error of judgement. 26But what is troubling in this matter is that it is generally in the greatest spirits and the most brilliant talents that desires for office, command, power and glory arise.
26All the more must we take care that no wrong be committed in this kind. 27But in every injustice it makes a very great difference whether the wrong is done through some disturbance of the mind, which is generally brief and of the moment, or deliberately and with forethought. 27For those wrongs which happen through some sudden impulse are lighter than those which are inflicted after premeditation and preparation. 27And enough has been said about inflicting wrong.