But when, by perseverance and integrity, the republic had increased its power; when mighty princes had been vanquished in war; X. When mighty princes had been vanquished in war] Perses, Antiochus, Mithridates, Tigranes, and others. when barbarous tribes and populous states had been reduced to subjection; when Carthage , the rival of Rome 's dominion, had been utterly destroyed, and sea and land lay every where open to her sway, Fortune then began to exercise her tyranny, and to introduce universal innovation. To those who had easily endured toils, dangers, and doubtful and difficult circumstances, ease and wealth, the objects of desire to others, became a burden and a trouble. At first the love of money, and then that of power, began to prevail, and these became, as it were, the sources of every evil. For avarice subverted honesty, integrity, and other honorable principles, and, in their stead, inculcated pride, inhumanity, contempt of religion, and general venality. Ambition prompted many to become deceitful; to keep one thing concealed in the breast, and another ready on the tongue; To keep one thing concealed in the breast, and another ready on the tongue] Aliud clausum in pectore, aliud in linguâ promptum, habere. 
 Ἐχθρὸσ γάρ μοι κεῖνοσ ὁμῶσ Ἀΐδαο πύλῃσιν Ὃσ χ 
Il., ix. 313. 
 Who dares think one thing, and another tell, 
My heart detests him as the gates of hell. Pope . to estimate friendships and enmities, not by their worth, but according to interest; and to carry rather a specious countenance than an honest heart. These vices at first advanced but slowly, and were sometimes restrained by correction; but afterward, when their infection had spread like a pestilence, the state was entirely changed, and the government, from being the most equitable and praiseworthy, became rapacious and insupportable. At first, however, it was ambition, rather than avarice, XI. At first, however, it was ambition, rather than avarice, etc.] Sed primò magis ambitio quàm avaritia animos hominum exercebat. Sallust has been accused of having made, in this passage, an assertion at variance with what he had said before (c. 10), Igitur primò pecuniæ, deinde imperii cupido, crevit, and it will be hard to prove that the accusation is not just. Sir H. Steuart, indeed, endeavors to reconcile the passages by giving them the following "meaning," which, he says, "seems perfectly evident:" "Although avarice was the first to make its appearance at Rome , yet, after both had had existence, it was ambition that, of the two vices, laid the stronger hold on the minds of men, and more speedily grew to an inordinate height." To me, however, it "seems perfectly evident" that the Latin can be made to yield no such "meaning." How these passages agree," says Rupertus, " I do not understand; unless we suppose that Sallust, by the word primò does not always signify order." that influenced the minds of men; a vice which approaches nearer to virtue than the other. For of glory, honor, and power, the worthy is as desirous as the worthless; but the one pursues them by just methods; the other, being destitute of honorable qualities, works with fraud and deceit. But avarice has merely money for its object, which no wise man has ever immoderately desired. It is a vice which, as if imbued with deadly poison, enervates whatever is manly in body or mind. Enervates whatever is manly in body or mind] Corpus virilemque animum effæminat. That avarice weakens the mind, is generally admitted. But how does it weaken the body ? The most satisfactory answer to this question is, in the opinion of Aulus Gellius (iii. 1), that that those who are intent on getting riches devote themselves to sedentary pursuits, as those of usurers and money-changers, neglecting all such exercises and employments as strengthen the body. There is, however, another explanation by Valerius Probus, given in the same chapter of Aulus Gellius, which perhaps is the true one; namely, that Sallust, by body and mind, intended merely to signify the whole man. It is always unbounded and insatiable, and is abated neither by abundance nor by want. But after Lucius Sylla, having recovered the government Having recovered the government] Receptâ republicâ. Having wrested it from the hands of Marius and his party. by force of arms, proceeded, after a fair commencement, to a pernicious termination, all became robbers and plunderers; All became robbers and plunderers] Rapere omnes, trahere. He means that there was a general indulgence in plunder among Sylla's party, and among all who, in whatever character, could profit by supporting it. Thus he says immediately afterward, "neque modum neque modestiam victores habere." some set their affections on houses, others on lands; his victorious troops knew neither restraint nor moderation, but inflicted on the citizens disgraceful and inhuman outrages. Their rapacity was increased by the circumstance that Sylla, in order to secure the attachment of the forces which he had commanded in Asia , Which he had commanded in Asia ] Quem in Asiâ ductaverat. I have here deserted Cortius, who gives in Asiam, "into Asia ," but this, as Bernouf justly observes, is incompatible with the frequentative verb ductaverat. had treated them, contrary to the practice of our ancestors, with extraordinary indulgence, and exemption from discipline; and pleasant and luxurious quarters had easily, during seasons of idleness, enervated the minds of the soldiery. Then the armies of the Roman people first became habituated to licentiousness and intemperance, and began to admire statues, pictures, and sculptured vases; to seize such objects alike in public edifices and private dwellings; In public edifices and private dwellings] Privatim ac publicè I have translated this according to the notion of Bernouf. Others, as Dietsch and Pappaur, consider privatim as signifying each on his own account, and publicè, in the name of the Republic. to spoil temples; and to cast off respect for every thing, sacred and profane. Such troops, accordingly, when once they obtained the mastery, left nothing to be vanquished. Success unsettles the principles even of the wise, and scarcely would those of debauched habits use victory with moderation. When wealth was once considered an honor, and glory, authority, and power attended on it, virtue lost her influence, poverty was thought a disgrace, and a life of innocence was regarded as a life of ill-nature. XII. A life of innocence was regarded as a life of ill-nature] Innocentia pro malivolentiâ duci cæpit. "Whoever continued honest and upright, was considered by the unprincipled around him as their enemy; for a good man among the bad can never be regarded as of their party." Bernouf. From the influence of riches, accordingly, luxury, avarice, and pride prevailed among the youth; they grew at once rapacious and prodigal; they undervalued what was their own, and coveted what was another's; they set at naught modesty and continence; they lost all distinction between sacred and profane, and threw off all consideration and self-restraint. It furnishes much matter for reflection, It furnishes much matter for reflection] Operæ pretium est. after viewing our modern mansions and villas extended to the size of cities, to contemplate the temples which our ancestors, a most devout race of men, erected to the gods. But our forefathers adorned the fanes of the deities with devotion, and their homes with their own glory, and took nothing from those whom they conquered but the power of doing harm; their descendants, on the contrary, the basest of mankind, Basest of mankind] Ignavissumi mortales. It is opposed to fortissumi viri, which follows, "Qui nec fortiter nec bene quidquam fecere." Cortius. have even wrested from their allies, with the most flagrant injustice, whatever their brave and victorious ancestors had left to their vanquished enemies; as if the only use of power were to inflict injury. For why should I mention those displays of extravagance, which can be believed by none but those who have seen them; as that mountains have been leveled, and seas covered with edifices, XIII. Seas covered with edifices] Maria constructa esse. 
 Contracta pisces æquora sentiunt, Jactis in altum molibus, etc. Hor. Od., iii. 
 —The haughty lord, who lays 
His deep foundations in the seas, 
And scorns earth's narrow bound; 
The fish affrighted feel their waves 
Contracted by his numerous slaves, 
Even in the vast profound. Francis. by many private citizens; men whom I consider to have made a sport of their wealth, To have made a sport of their wealth] Quibus mihi videntur ludibrio fuisse divitiæ. "They spent their riches on objects which, in the judgment of men of sense, are ridiculous and contemptible." Cortius. since they were impatient to squander disreputably what they might have enjoyed with honor. But the love of irregular gratification, open debauchery, and all kinds of luxury, Luxury] Cultûs. " Deliciarum in victu, luxuries of the table; for we must be careful not to suppose that apparel is meant." Cortius. had spread abroad with no less force. Men forgot their sex; women threw off all the restraints of modesty. To gratify appetite, they sought for every kind of production by land and by sea; they slept before there was any inclination for sleep; they no longer waited to feel hunger, thirst, cold, Cold] Frigus. It is mentioned by Cortius that this word is wanting in one MS.; and the English reader may possibly wish that it were away altogether. Cortius refers it to cool places built of stone, sometimes underground, to which the luxurious retired in the hot weather; and he cites Pliny , Ep., v. 6, who speaks of a crytoporticus, a gallery from which the sun was excluded, almost as if it were underground, and which even in summer was cold nearly to freezing. He also refers to Ambros., Epist. xii., and Casaubon. ad Spartian. Adrian ., c. x., p. 87. or fatigue, but anticipated them all by luxurious indulgence. Such propensities drove the youth, when their patrimonies were exhausted, to criminal practices; for their minds, impregnated with evil habits, could not easily abstain from gratifying their passions, and were thus the more inordinately devoted in every way to rapacity and extravagance. In so populous and so corrupt a city, Catiline, as it was very easy to do, kept about him, like a body-guard, crowds of the unprincipled and desperate. For all those shameless, libertine, and profligate characters, who had dissipated their patrimonies by gaming, XIV. Gaming] Manu. Gerlach , Dietsch, Kritzius, and all the recent editors, agree to interpret manu by gaming. luxury, and sensuality; all who had contracted heavy debts, to purchase immunity for their crimes or offenses; all assassins Assassins] Parricidæ. "Not only he who had killed his father was called a parricide, but he who had killed any man; as is evident from a law of Numa Pompilius: If any one unlawfully and knowingly bring a free man to death, let him be a parricide. " Festus sub voce Parrici. or sacrilegious persons from every quarter, convicted or dreading conviction for their evil deeds; all, besides, whom their tongue or their hand maintained by perjury or civil bloodshed; all, in fine, whom wickedness, poverty, or a guilty conscience disquieted, were the associates and intimate friends of Catiline. And if any one, as yet of unblemished character, fell into his society, he was presently rendered, by daily intercourse and temptation, similar and equal to the rest. But it was the young whose acquaintance he chiefly courted; as their minds, ductile and unsettled from their age, were easily insnared by his stratagems. For as the passions of each, according to his years, appeared excited, he furnished mistresses to some, bought horses and dogs for others, and spared, in a word, neither his purse nor his character, if he could but make them his devoted and trustworthy supporters. There were some, I know, who thought that the youth, who frequented the house of Catiline, were guilty of crimes against nature; but this report arose rather from other causes than from any evidence of the fact. Than from any evidence of the fact] Quàm quòd cuiquam id compertum foret.