All nations and cities are ruled by the people, the nobility, or
by one man. A constitution, formed by selection out of these elements, it is
easy to commend but not to produce; or, if it is produced, it cannot be
lasting. Formerly, when the people had power or when the patricians were in
the ascendant, the popular temper and the methods of controlling it, had to
be studied, and those who knew most accurately the spirit of the Senate and
aristocracy, had the credit of understanding the age and of being wise men.
So
CONTEMPORARY HISTORY SORDID |
now, after a
revolution, when
Rome is nothing but the realm of a
single despot, there must be good in carefully noting and recording this
period, for it is but few who have the foresight to distinguish right from
wrong or what is sound from what is hurtful, while most men learn wisdom
from the fortunes of others. Still, though this is instructive, it gives
very little pleasure. Descriptions of countries, the various incidents of
battles, glorious deaths of great generals, enchain and refresh a reader's
mind. I have to present in succession the merciless biddings of a tyrant,
incessant prosecutions, faithless friendships, the ruin of innocence, the
same causes issuing in the same results, and I am everywhere confronted by a
wearisome monotony in my subject matter. Then, again, an ancient historian
has but few disparagers, and no one cares whether you praise more heartily
the armies of
Carthage or
Rome. But of many who endured punishment or disgrace
under Tiberius, the descendants yet survive; or even though the families
themselves may be now extinct, you will find those who, from a resemblance
of character, imagine that the evil deeds of others are a reproach to
themselves. Again, even honour and virtue make enemies, condemning, as they
do, their opposites by too close a contrast. But I return to my work.
