*39* Ac mea quidem sententia omnis ratio atque institutio vitae
adiumenta hominum desiderat, in primisque ut habeat, quibuscum possit
familiares conferre sermones; quod est difficile, nisi speciem prae te
boni viri feras. Ergo etiam solitario homini atque in agro vitam agenti
opinio iustitiae necessaria est, eoque etiam magis, quod, eam si non
habebunt, [iniusti habebuntur,][201] nullis praesidiis saepti multis
afficientur iniuriis. *40* #I, 96# Atque iis[202] etiam, qui vendunt
emunt, conducunt locant contrahendisque negotiis implicantur, iustitia
ad rem gerendam necessaria est, cuius tanta vis est, ut ne illi quidem,
qui maleficio et scelere pascuntur, possint sine ulla particula
iustitiae vivere. Nam qui eorum cuipiam, qui una latrocinantur, furatur
aliquid aut eripit, is sibi ne in latrocinio quidem relinquit locum,
ille autem, qui archipirata dicitur, nisi aequabiliter praedam
dispertiat, aut interficiatur a sociis aut relinquatur; quin etiam leges
latronum esse dicuntur, quibus pareant, quas observent. Itaque propter
aequabilem praedae partitionem et Bardulis Illyrius latro, de quo est
apud Theopompum, magnas opes habuit et multo maiores Viriathus
Lusitanus; cui quidem etiam exercitus nostri imperatoresque cesserunt;
quem C. Laelius, is qui Sapiens usurpatur, praetor fregit et comminuit
ferocitatemque eius ita repressit, ut facile bellum reliquis traderet.
Cum igitur tanta vis iustitiae sit, ut ea etiam latronum opes firmet
atque augeat, quantam eius vim inter leges et iudicia et in constituta
re publica fore putamus?
[201] _iniusti habebuntur_ B H b; bracketed by Facciolati,
Edd.
[202] _iis_ Edd.; _his_ B H a b, not in c.
#Justice is the best way to popularity.#
*38* XI. As, then, this superiority of mind to such externals inspires
great admiration, so justice, above all, on the basis of which alone men
are called "good men," seems to people generally a quite marvellous
virtue--and not without good reason; for no one can be just who fears
death or pain or exile or poverty, or who values their opposites above
equity. And people admire especially the man who is uninfluenced by
money; and if a man has proved himself in this direction, they think him
tried as by fire.
Those three requisites, therefore, which were presupposed as the means
of obtaining glory, are all secured by justice: (1) good-will, for it
seeks to be of help to the greatest number; (2) confidence, for the same
reason; and (3) admiration, because it scorns and cares nothing for
those things, with a consuming passion for which most people are carried
away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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