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To someone seeking power, the poorest man is the most useful.

Sallust

But assuredly Fortune rules in all things; she raised to eminence or buries in oblivion everything from caprice rather than from well-regulated principle.
SALLUST

Assurance Bury Fate Fortune Principle Raise Rule
No man underestimates the wrongs he suffers; many take them more seriously than is right.
SALLUST

Himself Man Right Serious Suffering Wrong
No mortal man has ever served at the same time his passions and his best interests.
SALLUST

Best Interest Man Mortal Passion Serve Time
One can ever assume to be what he is not, and to conceal what he is.
SALLUST

Assume Conceal Himself
Deliberate before you begin; but, having carefully done so, execute with vigour.
SALLUST

Beginning Care Execution Zeal
A good man would prefer to be defeated than to defeat injustice by evil means.
SALLUST

Defeat Goodness Justice Man
Distinguished ancestors shed a powerful light on their descendants, and forbid the concealment either of their merits or of their demerits.
SALLUST

Advice Ancestor Help Light Powerful
Neither 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.
SALLUST

Army Collection Force Kindness Kingdom Money Sincere Support Treasure True
By union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.
SALLUST

Destroy Greatness Small State Thrive
Advise well before you begin, and when you have maturely considered, then act with promptitude.
SALLUST

Act Advice Beginning Mature
To like and dislike the same things that is indeed true friendship.
SALLUST

Bond Friendship True
Most honorable are services rendered to the State; even if they do not go beyond words, they are not to be despised.
SALLUST

Beyond Despise Honor Service State Word
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.
SALLUST

Body Gift God Pay Possession Received Sacrifice
Everything destroyed is either resolved into the elements from which it came, or else vanishes into not-being. If things are resolved into the elements from which they came, then there will be others: else how did they come into being at all?
SALLUST

Destroy Element Existence
The glory of riches and of beauty is frail and transitory; virtue remains bright and eternal.
SALLUST

Beautiful Bright Forever Fragile Glory Rich
But few prize honour more than money.
SALLUST

Honor Money Prize

To someone seeking power, the poorest man is the most useful.

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To someone seeking power, the poorest man is the most useful.

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