[141] But the investigation, notwithstanding, was conducted, etc.—Sed quaes tuo exercita, etc. Scaurus, it is probable, did what he could to mitigate the violence of the proceedings. Cicero, however, says that Caius Gallus sacerdos, with four consulares, Bestia, Caius Cato, Albinus, and Opimius, were condemned and exiled by this law of Mamilius. See Brut., c. 34.
[142] XLI. Took, snatched, and seized—Ducere, trahere, rapere. "Ducere conveys the notion of cunning and fraud; trahere of some degree of force; rapere of open violence." Muller. The words chiefly refer to offices in the state, as is apparent from what follows.
[141] The parents and children of the soldiers, etc.—
Quid quod usque proximos
Revellis agri terminos, et ultra
Limites clientium
Salis avarus? Pellitur paternos
In sinu ferens deos
Et uxor et vir, sordidosque natos.
Hor. Od., ii. 18.
What can this impious av'rice stay?
Their sacred landmarks torn away.
You plunge into your neighbor's grounds,
And overleap your client's bounds,
Helpless the wife and husband flee,
And in their arms, expell'd by thee,
Their household gods, adored in vain,
Their infants, too, a sordid train.
[144] Among the nobility—Ex nobilitate. Cortius injudiciously omits those words. The reference is to the Gracchi.
[145] By means of the allies and Latins—See on, c. 40.
[146] But to a reasonable man it is more agreeable to submit, etc.—Sed bono vinci satius est, quam malo more injuriam vincere. Bono, sc. viro. "That is, if the nobility had been truly worthy characters, they would rather have yielded to the Gracchi, than have revenged any wrong that they had received from them in an unprincipled manner." Dietsch. Thus this is a reflection on the nobles; in which notion of the passage Allen concurs with Dietsch. Others, as Cortius, think it a reflection on the too great violence of the Gracchi. The brevity with which Sallust had expressed himself makes it difficult to decide. Kritzius, who thinks that the remark is in praise of the Gracchi, supplies the ellipse thus: "Sane concedi debet Gracchis non satis moderatum animum fuiase; quae res ipsis adeo interitum attulit; sed sic quoque egregii viri putandi sunt; nam bono vinci," etc. Langius and Burnouf join bono with more, but do not differ much in their interpretations of the passage from that given by Dietsch.
[147] XLIII. Of a character uniformly irreproachable—Famâ tamen aequabili et inviolatâ. Aequabilis is uniform, always the same, keeping an even tenor.