tuti aut eo magis honesti[17] sunt. Nam vi quidem regere patriam aut
parentes,[18] quamquam et possis et delicta corrigas,[19] tamen
importunum est; quum praesertim omnes rerum mutationes caedem, fugam,
aliaque hostilia portendant,[20] frustra autem niti,[21] neque aliud se
fatigando nisi odium quaerere, extremae dementiae est; nisi forte[22]
quem inhonesta et perniciosa libido[23] tenet, potentiae paucorum decus
atque libertatem suam gratificari.

[15] _Hac tempestate_, the same as _hoc tempore_. Sallust frequently uses
_tempestas_ in this sense, though certainly the time which he paints
in such dark colours--namely, the period after the murder of Caesar,
in B.C. 44--was an agitated and stormy one.
[16] 'Who have obtained by fraud an honour or honourable office,'
_quibus honos contigit_.
[17] _Honestus_, 'honoured,' or 'honourable;' for _honestus_ (from
_honor_) is both the one who is intrusted with an honourable office,
and in general he who is worthy of an honour. The persons here spoken
of were _honesti_ in the first, but not in the second sense.
[18] It might seem doubtful as to whether _parentes_ here means 'obeying
persons'--that is, subjects of the Roman state--or 'kinsmen,'
'relatives.' We believe the latter to be the case, because to control
subjects by force was not deemed improper by the ancients. Sallust
elsewhere also combines _patria et parentes_ (_Catil._ 6, _Jug._ 87),
thereby expressing the idea of a free and equal _civitas_, which is
to be convinced, not forced, and to be governed by magistrates chosen
by itself, and not by a despotic ruler. The word _importunus_
properly characterises the rudeness and unbearableness of a despot or
tyrant.
[19] 'Even if you have the power, and intend to punish actual crimes
in the state'--whereby Sallust intimates that a tyrannical government