with greater freedom; for, with princes, the meritorious
are greater objects of suspicion than the undeserving, and to them the
worth of others is a source of alarm. But when liberty was secured, it
is almost incredible how much the state strengthened itself in a short
space of time, so strong a passion for distinction had pervaded it.
Now, for the first time, the youth, as soon as they were able to bear
the toils of war, acquired military skill by actual service in the
camp, and took pleasure rather in splendid arms and military steeds
than in the society of mistresses and convivial indulgence. To such
men no toil was unusual, no place was difficult or inaccessible, no
armed enemy was formidable; their valor had overcome everything. But
among themselves the grand rivalry was for glory; each sought to be
first to wound an enemy, to scale a wall, and to be noticed while
performing such an exploit. Distinction such as this they regarded as
wealth, honor, and true nobility. They were covetous of praise, but
liberal of money; they desired competent riches, but boundless glory.
I could mention, but that the account would draw me too far from my
subject, places in which the Roman people, with a small body of men,
routed vast armies of the enemy; and cities which, tho fortified by
nature, they carried by assault....

By these two virtues, intrepidity in war and equity in peace, they
maintained themselves and their state; of their exercise of which
virtues, I consider these as the greatest proofs: that, in war,
punishment was oftener inflicted on those who attacked an enemy
contrary to orders, and who, when commanded to retreat, retired too
slowly from the contest, than on those who had dared to desert their
standards, or, when prest by the enemy, to abandon their posts; and
that, in peace, they governed more by conferring benefits than by
exciting terror, and, when they received an injury, chose rather to
pardon than to revenge it.

But when, by perseverance and integrity, the republic had increased
its power; when mighty princes had been vanquished in war; when
barbarous tribes and populous states had been reduced to subjection;
when Carthage, the rival of Rome's dominion, had been utterly
destroyed, and sea and land lay everywhere open to her sway, Fortune
then began to exercise her tyranny, and to introduce universal
innovation. To those who had easily endured toils, dangers, and
doubtful and difficult circumstances, eas