C. Sallustius Crispus, Bellum Catilinae 6.1–3

Sallust traces Rome's origins to the unlikely union of Aeneas's Trojan exiles and the native Aborigines, noting that two peoples of wholly different customs merged with remarkable speed into a harmonious state.

 

Tier 1

Ut intellexi, initio Troiani urbem Romam condiderunt et habuerunt,

Troiani qui profugi erant. Cum Aeneas dux eorum esset, Troiani errabant in incertis terris, sine domo. Cum Troianis erant Aborigines, genus rusticum hominum, sine legibus, sine imperio, liberum.

Postquam omnes hi in una urbe convenerunt, incredibile est memoratu quam facile hi populi coaluerint (grew together) etsi omnes hi populi dissimili sunt genere linguaque et alii vivent alio more: ita brevi dispersa multitudo errans facta erat civitas concordia.

Sed postquam civitas melior facta est civibus, moribus et civitas videbatur satis prospera et satis fortis, invidia (envy) venit ex opulentia, sicut saepe inter mortales fit.

Written by Robert Amstutz

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