[252] For no man, by slothful timidity, has escaped the lot of mortals--_Etenim ignavia nemo immortalis factus. The English translators have rendered this phrase as if they supposed the sense to be, "No man has gained immortal renown by inaction." But this is not the signification. What Marius means, is, that _no man, however cautiously and timidly he may avoid danger, has prolonged his life to immortality_. Taken in this sense, the words have their proper connection with what immediately follows: _neque quisquam parens liberis, uti aeterni forent, optavit_. The sentiment is the same as in the verse of Horace: _Mors et fugacem persequitur virum_; or in these lines of Tyrtaeus: [Greek: Ou gar kos thanaton ge psygein eimarmenon estin Andr', oud' haen progonon hae genos athanaton Pollaki daeiotaeta phygon kai doupon akonton Erchetai, en d' oiko moira kichen thanaton.] To none, 'mong men, escape from death is giv'n, Though sprung from deathless habitants of heav'n: Him that has fled the battle's threatening sound, The silent foot of fate at home has found. The French translator, Le Brun, has given the right sense: "Jamais la lacheté n'a préservé de la mort;" and Dureau Delamalle: "Pour être un làche, on n'en serait pas plus immortel." _Ignavia_ is properly _inaction_; but here signifies _a timid shrinking from danger_. [253] Nor has any parent wished for his children, etc.--[Greek: _Ou gar athanatous sphisi paidas euchontai genesthai, all' agathous kai eukleeis_.] "Men do not pray that they may have children that will never die, but such as will be good and honorable." Plato, Menex. 20. "This speech, differing from the other speeches in Sallust both in words and thoughts, conveys a clear notion of that fierce and objurgatory eloquence which was natural to the rude manners and bold character of Marius. It is a speech which can not be called polished and modulated, but must rather be termed rough and ungraceful. The phraseology is of an antique cast, and some of the wordscoarse.----But it is animated and fervid, rushing on like a torrent; and by language of such a character and structure, the nature and manners of Marius are excellently represented." _Gerlach_. [254] LXXXVI. Not after the ancient method, or from the classes--_Non more majorum, neque ex classibus_. By the regulation of Servius Tullius, who divided the Roman people into six classes, the highest class consisting of the wealthiest, and the others decreasing downward in regular gradation, none of the sixth class, who were not considered as having any fortune, but were _capite censi_, "rated by the head," were allowed to enlist in the army. The enlistment of the lower order, commenced, it is said, by Marius, tended to debase the army, and to render it a fitter tool for the purposes of unprincipled commanders. See Aul. Gell., xvi. 10. [255] Desire to pay court--_Per ambitionem_.