rthy our
admiration had he not been born in a free State_."

And here two points should be noted. The first, that glory is to be
sought by different methods in a corrupt city, and in one which still
preserves its freedom. The second, which hardly differs from the first,
that in their actions, and especially in matters of moment, men must
have regard to times and circumstances and adapt themselves thereto. For
those persons who from an unwise choice, or from natural inclination,
run counter to the times will for the most part live unhappily, and
find all they undertake issue in failure; whereas those who accommodate
themselves to the times are fortunate and successful. And from the
passage cited we may plainly infer, that had Manlius lived in the days
of Marius and Sylla, when the body of the State had become corrupted, so
that he could have impressed it with the stamp of his ambition, he might
have had the same success as they had, and as those others had who after
them aspired to absolute power; and, conversely, that if Sylla and
Marius had lived in the days of Manlius, they must have broken down at
the very beginning of their attempts.

For one man, by mischievous arts and measures, may easily prepare the
ground for the universal corruption of a city; but no one man in his
lifetime can carry that corruption so far, as himself to reap the
harvest; or granting that one man's life might be long enough for this
purpose, it would be impossible for him, having regard to the
ordinary habits of men, who grow impatient and cannot long forego
the gratification of their desires, to wait until the corruption was
complete. Moreover, men deceive themselves in respect of their own
affairs, and most of all in respect of those on which they are most
bent; so that either from impatience or from self-deception, they rush
upon undertakings for which the time is not ripe, and so come to an ill
end. Wherefore to obtain absolute authority in a commonwealth and to
destroy its liberties, you must find the body of the State already
corrupted, and corrupted by a gradual wasting continued from generation
to generation; which, indeed, takes place necessarily, unless, as has
been already explained, the State be often reinforced by good examples,
or brought back to its first beginnings by wise laws.

Manlius, therefore, would have been a rare and renowned man had he
been born in a corrupt city; and from his example we see that citizens
seeking t