Uonestaterti aut solam aut pi^ae ceteris expeten
The True Nature of Nobility
True nobility is found in virtue rather than lineage, wealth, or social status.
Generosity holds a primary place in this, and conversely, greed is the greatest enemy of glory. Just as glory—which, as Cicero liked to say, is widespread fame accompanied by praise—arises from the root of virtue and is illuminated solely by its light, so too do ignominy, confusion, and anything else shameful draw their origin and growth from vice. Whether moral goodness is the only good, as some Stoics believe, or whether it is the primary good to be sought above all others, as the Peripatetics assert, it’s beyond doubt that nothing worth seeking is opposed to what is morally good. Other things are praised and not foolishly desired—such as good health, noble blood, or material abundance—but none of these makes a base or dishonest person worthy of praise. Indeed, from good health comes strength, from strength comes recklessness, from recklessness comes violence, and from violence comes the spark of vengeance—as if a torch of hatred and war were lit—followed by a contempt for justice, a corruption of laws, and the restless shaking of the public order. Noble blood breeds arrogance; it craves power, tramples the lowly, despises equals, disdains to have superiors, speaks grandly, and swells entirely with the pride of great ancestors—as if the person had done something themselves to deserve nobility. Forgetful of themselves, they overlook those who seem to be behind them, and like a ridiculous imitator of Thraso, they puff themselves up toward the future without any cultivation of virtue. The ethicist says: 'I would rather you have Thersites as a father, provided you are like Aeacides and take up Vulcan’s armor, than have Achilles produce a son like Thersites.' However, I don’t want our Simonides to think this is said to his injury; for he is indeed born of royal and Capitoline ancestors, more noble than the Marcelli and all those who watch from the podium, and—as if he had hatched from purer and happier eggs—he is far more noble than his own brothers and sisters, as they themselves attest. I would readily believe that whatever was sincere and of a more refined nature in the mass of his lineage from the beginning flowed into him, so that he might shine out like a star of his own people, while what was truly drossier and more obscure settled into his full and half-siblings. They should be content, however, with both his brilliance and their own lowliness, so that the nobility of their birth doesn't prevent them—should the matter require it—from marrying their neighbors due to kinship laws. Let the Simonidean kings, governors, princes, tribunes, centurions, and provincial leaders stop; content with their own mediocrity, let them rely on their own virtue, considering nothing in legitimate duties to be base or shameful. If the situation requires it, they shouldn't disdain to remember or practice the skills of the kitchen. They reflect on the fact that no one considers dumb animals to be noble unless they are strong. We praise a bird or a horse in this way, for whom much dust is stirred up, and whose victory is cheered in the noisy circus. But the offspring of Corinth and Hirpinus are just livestock for sale if they have rarely sat in the yoke of victory. They are ordered to trade their masters for a pittance, and they drag their carts with a worn-out neck. For nobility is virtue alone, and nothing else.
The Corruption of Greed
Greed is a destructive force that corrupts the soul, undermines justice, and enslaves the heart.
Nobility and the light of a famous lineage—though Simonides may boast that they are something great in themselves—are nothing more than a manifestation of character, glorious if the people are good, but shameful if they are evil. Yet in my judgment, whatever he may think, nobility has this one good quality: it imposes a necessity for integrity. But an abundance of resources now fuels greed, and now it drives luxury toward one's own ruin and destruction. Its appetite is ingenious: it turns votes toward plunder and the clamor of profit, so that the people are for sale, and the senate of the fathers is for sale. It dissolves strength and breaks both sexes into lust, resisting the authority of law and nature. It repeals, extinguishes, and buries it; it makes it foolish, drains it, and subverts it. Therefore, there is no law for it, and for it, nature is almost idle and drunk. Nature seeks itself and does not find it. Everyone, therefore, finds pleasure in prostitutes, in a broken and enervated gait, in loose hair, and in the endless new names for clothing and whatever else goes looking for a man. But I wish that in this reign of luxury, men could be found who are like women, yet still obedient to nature or to the law. From this, it's clear that the primary praise belongs not to health, nobility, or wealth, but to virtue, for which these things are merely tools and therefore worth seeking. Indeed, it doesn't befit nature—which has made virtue the one thing, or at least the chief thing, to be sought—to have made the tools for it things not worth seeking. In this, the Peripatetics seem to have a more correct view, because while they admit that virtue needs tools to exercise its actions, they also admit that the tools themselves are worth seeking, even if for a different reason. The Stoics, however, are pleased to think that virtue is sufficient for happiness; I'm not arguing that they're in error, but I do say that virtue is more effective when it has tools. Furthermore, as I remember saying elsewhere, while every virtue is gracious, generosity is the most gracious of all because it benefits the most people; and certainly, where the means are lacking, it pours out its very heart—that is, it gives of its own affection. Otherwise, how can charity remain in someone, according to the Apostle, if he shuts up his heart when the need of his neighbor is calling? On the contrary, it is a most ungrateful and hateful vice, which is useful to no one, neither in its effect nor in its affection. This is greed: a hunter of hidden gains, a voracious whirlpool for obvious plunder, satisfied neither by the fruit of having nor by the desire of seeking. What won't the cursed hunger for gold drive mortal hearts to do? Eriphyle sold her husband’s life for gold; she sold her own to Philip; Greece sold her liberty. Valerius Maximus attacks this very thing with these examples. When the very wealthy L. When someone in Greece had forged a false will for Munatius Basilius, and to confirm it had involved the most powerful men of our city, M. Crassus and Quintus Hortensius, to whom Mimicius had been unknown, were inserted into the will as heirs; although the fraud was evident, both of them, greedy for money, did not refuse the gift of another's crime. What a great crime, and how lightly I have recounted it! The luminaries of the court and the ornaments of the forum, who should have condemned such a crime, were instead lured by the prospect of dishonest gain and used their own authority to cover it up. He showed even greater strength in the case of Quintus Cassius, who had caught Sillius and Albinus Pumius in Spain with daggers, intending to kill him; yet, after bargaining for fifty sesterces from one and sixty from the other, he let them go. Could you doubt that if he were offered just as much, he would have calmly offered his own throat to them as well? But greed took hold of the heart of Vitilius Septimulius above all others; though he had been a close friend of Gaius Gracchus, he was willing to cut off his head and carry it through the city fixed on a spear, because the consul Opimius had proclaimed that he would pay its weight in gold. Some say he filled the hollowed-out skull with molten lead to make it heavier. Even if the man was a rebel and deserved to die as a warning to others, the wicked hunger of his client shouldn't have been so eager to feast upon such base outrages. The greed of Septimulius is to be met with hatred, but that of King Ptolemy of Cyprus with laughter. After amassing great wealth through anxious and sordid means, and realizing he would perish because of it, he loaded all his money onto ships and set out to sea, intending to scuttle the fleet and sink it all on a whim so his enemies would be deprived of the plunder. Yet he couldn't bring himself to sink the gold and silver, and instead brought it back home, where it became the prize of his own death. Without a doubt, this man didn't possess wealth; he was possessed by it—a king of an island in name, but in his heart, a miserable slave to money. That’s what Valerius says. But even worse examples of greed exist. Greed blinded the eyes of the prophets, and the apostle, corrupted by money, handed the innocent Lord over to the hands of the wicked to be crucified. It can indeed be described in words, but not adequately, because it is more deformed and shameful than human speech can express. Greed must be avoided all the more carefully because it clings more tenaciously under the guise of utility and does more damage by destroying charity. Hence it is that greed forms a ridiculous and miserable intimacy with the elderly, so that the less they need, the more greedily they crave, and the sooner they are to lose their possessions, the more sparingly they use them for any good purpose. For the hand that was open to give in youth is clenched in old age; and what was contracted in youth is either never or rarely expanded in the elderly.
The Freedom of Detachment
True freedom is found in detachment from material things and the cultivation of a just conscience.
Yet when freedom is within their reach by the gift of nature, they subject themselves through empty fear to a most miserable slavery. For Diogenes says: The poverty of nature does not fear fortune. The blessed Jerome also says: It's a great joy for the soul when you are content with bread, holding the world under your feet, and when you exchange all its power, its lustful feasts, and the things for which riches are sought, for simple food and a coarse tunic. These things are indeed praiseworthy if they're done not for fame, but for the sake of a conscience that bears all things with equanimity. For as Xenophon says: The conscience of the just person knows how to despise insults. The use of things is therefore either praiseworthy or blameworthy; it's only the things themselves that are indifferent. Hence Diaspenis says: Money is an ornament to the generous, but a torment to the miser. Macrobius says that we must flee and cut away by every means—with fire and iron and every possible art—languor from the body, ignorance from the mind, luxury from the belly, sedition from the city, discord from the home, and intemperance from all things in common.
Read the original Latin
dam et in ea tota liberalitati locum esse praecipuum et e contra auaritiam gloriae plurimum aduersari. Sicut autem gloria, quae est, ut Ciceroni placuit, frequens as fama cum laude, a radice uirtutis oritur et ipsius lumine dumtaxat illustratur, ita ignominia confusio et si quid aliud decet a uitio trahit originem et prouectum. Siue enim aut sola honestas bonum sit, ut Stoicis quibusdam placet, siue praecipuum et prae ceteris expetendum, sicut asserunt Peripathetici, hoc usquequaque indubium est, quia nichil expetendorum aduersatur honesto. Laudantur cetera et non insipienter optantur, ut bona ualitudo, clarus sanguis, rerum copia, sed nichil istorum turpem aut inhonestum hominem facit esse laudabilem. Siquidem de ualitudine bona uires, de uiribus temeritas, de temeritate uiolentia, de uiolentia stimulus ultionis, quasi odii et bellorum fax accensa inflammatur, sequiturque iustitiae contemptus, legum praeuaricatio et concussio inquieta publici status. Clarus sanguis elationem parit, potentiam aifectat, conculcat inferiores, pares contempnit, superiores habere dedignatur, loquitur grandia, totus tumet alto magnorum sanguine, tamquam fecerit ipse aliquid propter quod nobilis esse debeat, sui immemor, eorum qui retro esse uidentur obliuiscitur et se in anteriora sine cultu uirtutis i5 ridiculus Trasonis imitator extendit. Inquit ethicus; Malo pater tibi sit Tersites, dummodo tu sia Eachidae similis Vulcaniaque arma capessas, quam te Tersitae similem producat Achilles. Noio tamen ut in iniuriam suam dictum noster Simonides opinetur; atauis quidem editus regibus et Capitolinis generosior et Marcellis et omnibus ad podium spectantibus et, quasi a purioribus et felicioribus ouis exclusus eruperit, germanis et uterinis, ut ei attestantur, longe nobilior est.
Crediderim facile quicquid sincerum et defecatioris naturae in massa generis eius ab initio extitit in ipsum, ut quasi gentis suae stella praefulgeat, confluxisse, quod uero feculentius et obscurius resedisse in germanis et uterinis. Letantur tamen, sicut in claritate illius, sic in propria abiectione, ne nobilitate generis, cxmi res exegerit, ex causa cognationis prohibeantur cum finitimis matrimonio copulari. Cessenmt ergo Simonidae reges et praesides, principes, tribunos, centuriones et primos prouinciarum; sua mediocritate contenti nituntur uirtute sua, nichil in officiis legittimis uile ducunt aut ignominiosum; et culinae, si res exegerit, non dedignantur habere memoriam aut peritiam exercere. Recolunt quia animalia muta non generosa putat quis nisi fortia. Nempe uolucrem sic laudamus equum, facili cui plurima pahna feruet, et exultat rauco uictoria Circo. Sed uenale pecus Corinthi posteritas et Hirpini, si rara iugo uictoria sedit. Dominos pretiis mutare iubentur exiguis tritoque trahunt epiredia collo. Siquidem nobilitas sola est atque unica uirtus.
Ergo generositas et clari sanguinis lumen, etsi ea magnum quid esse per se Simonides glorietur, nichil aliud sunt quam morum manifestatio, gloriosa quidem si boni fuerint, ignominiosa si mali. Hoc tamen unum meo iudicio, quicquid ille sentiat, bonum habet generositas quod necessitatem indicit probitatis. At rerum copia nunc auaritiara accendit, nunc in exitium et exterminium sui luxuriam instruit. Huius ingeniosa gula est: Haec ad praedam strepitumque lucri suffragia uertit, ut sit uenalis populus, uenalis curia patrum. Haec uires soluit et utrumque sexum frangit in Venerem, legis et naturae imperio reluctatur. Hanc abrogat extinguit et sepelit; hanc infatuat eneruat et subuertit. Lex ergo ipsi non est, et ei natura fere otiosa et ebria est. a Quaerit se natura nec inuenit.
Omnibus ergo scorta placent fractique enerui corpore gressus et laxi crines et tot noua nomina uestis quaeque uirum quaerit. Sed utinam in hac dominatione luxuriae inueniantur uiri uel mulieribus similes, naturae tamen aut legi obtemperantibus. Ex his patet quia nec ualitudinis nec generositatis nec copiae est laus prima sed uirtutis, cuius haec instrum enta sunt et ideo appetenda. Siquidem non decet naturam, quae uirtutem aut solam aut fecit prae ceteris expetendam, ei non expetenda fecisse instrumenta. In eoque rectius uidentur sentire Peripathetici quod, cum uirtutem suis fateantur ad exercitium agendorum egere instrumentis, ipsa quoque instrumenta, etsi propter aliud, fatentur expetenda. Stoicis tamen placet sibi uirtutem sufficere ad beatitudinem; nec ego eos erroris arguo, sed expeditiorem dico per instrumenta uirtutem. Ceterum, ut alias dixisse me memini, cum omnis uirtus gratiosa sit, liberalitas gratissima est, eo quod plurimis prodest; et certe, ubi facultas deest, effundit uiscera, id est proprium largitur affectum. Alioquin quomodo iuxta Apostolum in eo caritas manet qui, pulsante necessitate proximi, mentis niscera elaudit?
E contra ingratissimum et odiosissimum uitium quod nec efFectu prodest aliis nec affectu. Haec est auaritia, latentium indagatrix lucronim, manifestae praedae auidissima uorago, neque habendi fructu felix et cupiditate quaerendi miserrima. Quid non mortalia pectora cogit auri sacra famesl Heriphile uiri uitam auro distraxit Suam Philippo uendidit Grecia libertatem. Et in ipsam Valerius Maximus his exemplis inuehitur. Cum admodum locupleti L. Municio Basilio falsum testamentum quidam in Grecia subiecisset, eiusdemque confirmandi gratia potentissimos ciuitatis nostrae uiros M. Crassum et Quintum Hortensium, quibus Mimicius ignotus fuerat, tabulis heredis inseruisset, quamquam euidens fraus erat, tamen uterque pecuniae cupidus facinoris alieni munus non repudiauit. Quantam culpam quam leuiter retuli!
Lumina curiae, omamenta fori, quod scelus uendicare debuerant, inhonesti lucri captura inuitati auctoritatibus suis texerunt. Venim aliquanto maiores uires in Quinto Cassio exhibuit qui in Hispaniam Sillium et Albinum Pumium occidendi sui gratia cum pugionibus deprehensos quinquagies sextertium ab illo, ab hoc sexagies pactus dimisit. Anne dubites, si altemm tantum daretur, iugulum quoque suum aequo animo illis fuisse praebiturum? Ceterum auaritia ante omnes Vitii Septimulii praecordia possedit qui, cum Gaii Gracci familiaris fuisset, caput eiua abscidere et per urbem pilo fixum ferre sustinuit quia Opimius consul auro ipsi repensurum edixerat. Sunt qui a tradant liquato plumbo eum cauatam partem capitis, quo ponderosius esset, explesse. Fuerit ille seditiosus, bono perierit exemplo, clientis tamen scelesta fames in has usque iacentis iniurias esurire non debuit. Odiis merita Septimulii auaritia, Tholomei autem regis Ciprorum risu prosequenda. Nam, cum anxiis sordibus magnas opes corripuisset,propterque eas periturum se uideret, et ideo omni pecunia imposita nauibus in altum processisset, ut classe perforata suo arbitrio perirent et hostes praeda carerent, non sustinuit mergere aurum et argentum, sed futurum necis suae praemium domum reuexit.
Proculdubio hic non possedit diuitias sed a diuitiis possessus est, titulo rex insulae, animo pecuniae miserabile mancipium. Haec Valerius. Sed possunt etiam nequiora auaritiae inueniri exempla. Siquidem prophetae oculos cupiditas excecauit, et pecunia corruptus apostolus Dominum innocentem crucifigendum tradidit manibus impiorum. Potest quidem deturpari uerbis sed non satis, quia deformior est et turpior quam ut ore humano possit exponi. Ideoque autem est auaritia studiosius declinanda, quia tenacius inheret ab imagine utilitatis et pemiciosius nocet ab exterminio caritatis. Inde est quod ridiculam et miserandam cum senibus contraxit familiaritatem, ut quo minus egent, auidius concupiscant, et quo rebus sunt citius carituri, eas parcius ministrent utilitati. Nam et manus in iuuentute porrecta ad dandum in senectute contrahitur; et quae in iuuentute contracta est aut numquam aut raro in senibus dilatatur.
Cum uero eis beneficio naturae libertas uicina immineat, seipsos uano timore miserrimae subiciunt seruituti. Siquidem Diogenes ait: Indigentia naturae fortunam non timet. Beatus quoque leronimus: Grandis, inquit, exultatio est animae, cum panio eontentus fueris mundum habere sub pedibus, et omnem eius potentiam, epulas libidinosas, et ea propter quae diuitiae comparantur uilibus mutare cibis et grossiori tunica compensare. Haec quidem laudabilia sunt, si non fiant ad famam sed ad conscientiam quae omnia aequanimiter portat. Vt enim ait Xenophon: Conscientia iusti scit maledicta contempnere. Vsus ergo rerum laudabilis aut culpabilis est, rerum dumtaxat indifierentia est. Vnde Diaspenis: Pecunia profuso decus, auaro supplicium est. Fugienda sunt, inquit Macrobius, omnibus modis et abscidenda igne et ferro totoque artificio separanda languor a corpore, imperitia ab animo, luxuria a uentre, a ciuitate seditio, a domo discordia, et in commune a cunctis rebus intemperantia.
Policraticus companion
Study the argument weekly; pray the tradition daily
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John of Salisbury argued that rulers must keep the law of God before their eyes daily; Chosen Portion gives modern readers that same daily discipline in five minutes a morning.
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