Since we have received everything from the Gods, and it is right to pay the giver some tithe of his gifts, we pay such a tithe of possessions in votive offering, of bodies in gifts of (hair and) adornment, and of life in sacrifices.
SALLUSTNeither the army nor the treasury, but friends, are the true supports of the throne; for friends cannot be collected by force of arms, nor purchased with money; they are the offspring of kindness and sincerity.
More Sallust Quotes
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Not by vows nor by womanish prayers is the help of the gods obtained; success comes through vigilance, energy, wise counsel.
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Harmony makes small things grow; lack of it makes great things decay.
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Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.
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In battle it is the cowards who run the most risk; bravery is a rampart of defense.
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Those most moved to tears by every word of a preacher are generally weak and a rascal when the feelings evaporate.
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For harmony makes small states great, while discord undermines the mightiest empires.
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As the blessings of health and fortune have a beginning, so they must also find an end. Everything rises but to fall, and increases but to decay.
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It is impossible that there should be so much providence in the last details, and none in the first principles. Then the arts of prophecy and of healing, which are part of the cosmos, come of the good providence of the Gods.
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The poorest of men are the most useful to those seeking power.
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By the wicked the good conduct of others is always dreaded.
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Sovereignty is easily preserved by the very arts by which it was originally created. When, however, energy has given place to indifference, and temperance and justice to passion and arrogance, then as the morals change so changes fortune.
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But the case has proved that to be true which Appius says in his songs, that each man is the maker of his own fate.
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Small communities grow great through harmony, great ones fall to pieces through discord.
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Distinguished ancestors shed a powerful light on their descendants, and forbid the concealment either of their merits or of their demerits.
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When the prizes fall to the lot of the wicked, you will not find many who are virtuous for virtue’s sake.
SALLUST