C. Sallustius Crispus, Bellum Catilinae 2.7–9

Concluding his preface, Sallust declares that all human achievements — farming, sailing, building — depend on virtue, while those who devote themselves to appetite and sleep pass through life like wanderers; only the person who pursues glory through noble deeds or honorable skill truly lives, and nature shows each person a different path to that end.

 

Tier 1

Omnia magna quae viri faciunt, ex virtute veniunt.

Sed multi mortales qui indocti et inculti sunt, se dederunt ventri et somno, et vitam transierunt sicuti viatores,

viatores quibus corpus placet et anima onus fuit.

Ego vitam mortemque eorum virorum aeque aestimo, quoniam nemo de vita et morte aliquid dicit. Sed solus is mihi videtur vivere et frui anima, qui famam quaerit, aut nobile facto, aut arte bona.

Sed in multis laboribus natura itinera varia hominibus variis ostendit.

Written by Robert Amstutz