1. Omnes[1] homines, qui sese student[2] praestare ceteris animalibus, summa ope[3] niti decet, ne vitam silentio transeant veluti pecora, quae natura prona[4] atque ventri obedientia finxit. Sed nostra omnis vis in animo et corpore sita est; animi imperio, corporis servitio magis utimur; alterum nobis cum dis,[5] alterum cum beluis[6] commune est. Quo mihi rectius videtur ingenii quam virium opibus gloriam quaerere et, quoniam vita ipsa qua fruimur brevis est, memoriam nostri[7] quam maxime longam[8] efficere. Nam divitiarum et formae gloria fluxa atque fragilis est, virtus clara aeternaque habetur. Sed diu magnum inter mortales certamen fuit,[9] vine corporis an virtute animi res militaris magis procederet. Nam et prius quam incipias consulto, et ubi consulueris mature facto opus est.[10] Ita utrumque per se indigens, alterum alterius auxilio eget. [1] _Omnes_. Other editions have _omnis_ or _omneis_. The accusative plural of words of the third declension making their genitive plural in _ium_, varied in early Latin, sometimes ending in _is_, and sometimes in _eis_ or _es_. This fluctuation, however, afterwards ceased; and even in the best age of the Latin language it became generally customary to make the accusative plural like the nominative in _es_. The same was the case with some other obsolete forms, as _volt_ for _vult_, _divorsus_ for _diversus_, _quoique_ for _cuique_, _maxumus_ for _maximus_, _quom_ for _quum_, or _cum_, which are retained in many editions, but have been avoided in the present, in accordance with the orthography generally adopted during the best period of the Latin language. [2] _Studeo_, when the verb following has the same subject, may be construed in three ways--with the infinitive alone, as _studeo praestare_; with the accusative and infinitive, _studeo me praestare_, as in the present case; or with _ut_, as _studeo ut praestem_. [3] _Summa ope_, 'with the greatest exertion,' equivalent to _summa opere, summopere_; as _magno opere_, or _magnopere_, signifies 'with great exertion,' or 'greatly.' The nominative _ops_ is not in use, and the plural _opes_ generally signifies 'the means' or 'power of doing something.' [4] _Prona_, 'bent forward,' 'bent down to the ground,' in opposition to the erect gait of man. [5] _Dis_ for _diis_. See Zumpt, S 51, n. 5. [6] _Beluis_; another, but less correct mode of spelling, is _bellua, belluis_. [7] Instead of _memoriam nostri_, Sallust might have said _memoriam nostram_; but the genitive _nostri_ sets forth the object of remembrance with greater force. See Zumpt, S 423. [8] _Quam maxime longam_; that is, _quam longissimam_, 'lasting as long as possible.' Zumpt, S 108. [9] The author here makes a digression, to remove the objection that in war bodily strength is of greater importance than mental superiority. He admits that in the earlier times it may have been so, but