clara aeternaque habetur_. The only one of our English translators who
has given the right sense of _virtus_ In this passage, is Sir Henry
Steuart, who was guided to it by the Abbe Thyvon and M. Beauzee.
"It appears somewhat singular," says Sir Henry, "that none of the
numerous translators of Sallust, whether among ourselves or among
foreign nations--the Abbe Thyvon and M. Beauzee excepted--have thought
of giving to the word _virtus_, in this place, what so obviously is the
meaning intended by the historian; namely, 'genius, ability,
distinguished talents.'" Indeed, the whole tenor of the passage, as well
as the scope of the context, leaves no room to doubt the fact. The main
objects of comparison, throughout the three first sections of this
Proemium, or introductory discourse, are not vice and virtue, but body
and mind; a listless indolence, and a vigorous, honorable activity.
On this account it is pretty evident, that by _virtus_ Sallust could
never mean the [Greek _aretae_], 'virtue or moral worth,' but that he
had in his eye the well-known interpretation of Varro, who considers it
_ut viri vis_ (De Ling. Lat. iv.), as denoting the useful energy which
ennobles a man, and should chiefly distinguish him among his
fellow-creatures. In order to be convinced of the justice of this
rendering, we need only turn to another passage of our author, in the
second section of the Proemium to the Jugurthine War, where the same
train of thought is again pursued, although he gives it somewhat a
different turn in the piece last mentioned. The object, notwithstanding,
of both these dissertations is to illustrate, in a striking manner, the
pre-eminence of the mind over extrinsic advantage, or bodily endowments,
and to show that it is by genius alone that we may aspire to a reputation
which shall never die. "_Igitur praeclara facies, magnae divitiae,
adhuc vis corporis, et alia hujusmondi omnia, brevi dilabuntur: at
ingenii egregia facinora, sicut anima, immortalia sunt_".