Conspiracy of Catiline (3)

To act well for the Commonwealth is noble, and even to speak well for it is not without merit.[*] Both in peace and in war it is possible to obtain celebrity; many who have acted, and many who have recorded the actions of others, receive their tribute of praise. And to me, assuredly, though by no means equal glory attends the narrator and the performer of illustrious deeds, it yet seems in the highest degeee difficult to write the history of great transactions; first, because deeds must be adequately represented[*] by words; and next, because most readers consider that whatever errors you mention with censure, are mentioned through malevolence and envy; while, when you speak of the great virtue and glory of eminent men, every one hears with acquiescence[*] only that which he himself thinks easy to be performed;

I myself, however, when a young man,[*] was at first led by inclination, like most others, to engage in political affairs;[*] but in that pursuit many circumstances were unfavorable to me; for, instead of modesty, temperance, and integrity,[*] there prevailed shamelessness, corruption, and rapacity. And although my mind, inexperienced in dishonest practices, detested these vices, yet, in the midst of so great corruption, my tender age was insnared and infected[*] by ambition; and, though I shrunk from the vicious principles of those around me, yet the same eagerness for honors, the same obloquy and jealousy,[*] which disquieted others, disquieted myself.