1But among these, magistracies and military commands, and in short all concern with public affairs, seem to me least to be desired at this time, since neither is honour given to merit, nor are those who have gained power through fraud safe or any the more honourable for it. 2For to rule your country or your subjects by force, even though you may be able to and may correct abuses, is nevertheless harsh, especially since all changes of government portend slaughter, exile and other acts of hostility. 3And to strive in vain, and by wearing oneself out to gain nothing but hatred, is the height of madness; 4unless perhaps someone is possessed by a dishonourable and ruinous desire to sacrifice his own honour and liberty to the power of a few.
Lectitō › Sallust › The Jugurthine War (Bellum Iugurthinum)
Sallust · Bellum Iugurthinum
Bellum Iugurthinum 3
Why Sallust shuns politics
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Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum. Latin text: the Perseus digital text of Sallust's Jugurthine War, with chapter 79 onwards in part from A. W. Ahlberg (Teubner, 1919), public domain; digital text from the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA. Word analysis: drafted by our own tagger (trained on the hand-checked texts on this site), with every doubtful word checked by hand. English translation and section titles: written for this app, each checked against the Latin by a second reader.