ars had passed he
fought his famous duel with the Gaul, from whom, when he had slain him,
he took the twisted golden collar which gave him the name of Torquatus.
Nor was this the last of his remarkable actions, for at a later period,
when he was of ripe years, he caused his own son to be put to death,
because he had fought without leave, although successfully. Which three
actions gained for him at the time a greater name, and have made him
more renowned through after ages than all his triumphs and victories,
though of these he had as large a share as fell to the lot of any other
Roman. The explanation of which is, that while in his victories Manlius
had many who resembled him, in these particular actions he stood almost
or entirely alone.

So, too, with the elder Scipio, all whose victories together did not
obtain for him so much reputation, as did his rescue, while he was yet
young, of his father at the Ticino, and his undaunted bearing after the
rout at Cannae, when with his naked sword he constrained a number of the
Roman youth to swear never to abandon their country, as some among them
had before been minded to do. It was these two actions, therefore,
which laid the foundation of his future fame and paved the way for his
triumphs in Spain and Africa. And the fair esteem in which men held him,
was still further heightened when in Spain he restored a daughter to her
father, a wife to her husband.

Nor is it only the citizen who seeks reputation as leading to civil
honours, who must act in this way; the prince who would maintain his
credit in his princedom must do likewise; since nothing helps so much to
make a prince esteemed as to give signal proofs of his worth, whether by
words or by deeds which tend to promote the public good, and show him
to be so magnanimous, generous, and just, that he may well pass into
a proverb among his subjects. But to return to the point whence I
digressed, I say that if a people, when they first confer honours on
a fellow-citizen, rest their judgment on any one of the three
circumstances above-mentioned, they build on a reasonable foundation;
but, when many instances of noble conduct have made a man favourably
known, that the foundation is still better, since then there is hardly
room for mistake. I speak merely of those honours which are bestowed on
a man at the outset of his career, before he has come to be known by
continued proof, or is found to have passed from one kind of conduct