I have often heard that Quintus Maximus, Publius Scipio, and other eminent men of our country were accustomed to declare that their...

But within my own memory there were two men of towering merit, though of opposite character, Marcus Cato and Gaius Caesar: With respect...

Cato warning the nation: But, by the immortal gods, I call upon you, who have always valued your houses, villas, statues, and paintings...

The Cataline conspiracy: At that period the dominion of the Roman people, it seems to me, was by far the most pitiable. Although the...

Why should I speak of things which no one will believe except those who have seen them, that a great many individuals have leveled...

There it was that an army of the Roman people first became accustomed to indulge in women and wine; to admire statues, paintings, and...

Avarice (greed) entails the pursuit of money, which no wise man covets; avarice, as though steeped with noxious poisons, renders a manly...

Hence a craving first for money, then for power, increased: these were, as it were, the root of all evils. Sallust. Sallust, The War with...

For kings feel threatened more by good men than bad, and the merit of others always arouses fear in them. Sallust. Sallust, The War with...

All humans who are keen to surpass other animals had best strive with all their might not to pass through life without notice, like...

Cicero's advice to man who lost daughter: I am ashamed to write at greater length to you on this matter, lest I seem to doubt your good...

Yet I, your comforter, have felt my grief assuaged not so much by the books to which I have always been devoted as by the passing of...

In this connection I often admire Caesar’s responsibility, fairness, and good sense. He never mentions Pompey’s name except in the most...

Your charming boy should learn Hesiod by heart and never forget ‘Sweat before excellence,’ etc.8 8The Gods set sweat in front of...

I am extremely grateful for your letter giving the stages of your voyaging; it showed that you have not forgotten our friendly relations,...

Cicero to Caesar: But you are a man of sense, and as such you should pray for the best, contemplate the worst, and bear whatever happens....

There is a very well-worn form of consolation which we should always have on our lips and in our minds. We must remember that we are but...

Cicero to Servius Sulpicius Refus You ask my advice. It is such as I can more easily take myself than offer to another. What course could...

Perhaps it is not the world’s peace that corrupts great natures but much rather the endless warfare which besets our hearts, yes, and...

For emotion is always more telling when it seems not to be premediated by the speaker but to be born of the moment; and this way of...

However, to return to Plato, though the stream of his words flows as noiselessly as oil, he none the less attains sublimity. You have...

So, too, the lawgiver of the Jews, no ordinary man, having formed a worthy conception of divine power and given expression to it, writes...

In the first place, then, it is absolutely necessary to state whence greatness comes, and to show that the thought of the genuine orator...

There are, one may say, some five most productive sources of the sublime in literature, the common groundwork, as it were, of all five...