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[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.

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