[28]
For there
is nothing more lovable than virtue, nothing that
more allures us to affection, since on account of
their virtue and uprightness we feel a sort of affection even for those whom we have never seen.
Is there anyone who does not dwell with some
kindly affection on the memory of Gaius Fabricius
[p. 141]
and Manius Curius, though he never saw them?
On the other hand, is there anyone who does not
hate Tarquin the Proud, Spurius Cassius, or
Spurius Maelius? Against two leaders we had
bitter struggles for the empire of Italy-Pyrrhus
and Hannibal; for the former, because of his
uprightness, we have no great enmity; for the
latter, because of his cruelty,1 this State will always
entertain hatred.
1 This was the traditional but unjust view held by the Romans. Cf. Livy xxi. 4. 9: Hor. Carm. iii. 6. 361; ib. iv. 4. 42; Juv. vii. 161.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.