Dios Rome, Vol. 4 | Page 8

Lepidus, and would not have taken measures against
those very men. That you were right and were justified in doing all this
no one is unaware. If any slight errors have been committed, at least we
cannot safely make any further changes. Therefore for our own sakes
and for that of the city let us obey Fortune, who gives you the
supremacy. Let us be very thankful to her that she has not simply filled
us with civil woes, but has put the reorganization of the government in
your hands. By paying due reverence to her you may show all mankind
that whereas others wrought disturbance and injury, you are an upright
man.
"Do not, I beg you, fear the magnitude of the empire. The greater its
extent, the more are the preservative influences it possesses; also, to
guard anything is a long way easier than to acquire it. Toils and dangers
are needed to win over what belongs to others, but a little prudence
suffices to retain what is already yours. Moreover, do not be afraid that
you will not live quite safely in the midst of it and enjoy all the
blessings extant among men, if you are willing to arrange all the details
as I shall advise you. And do not think that I am making my appeal
depart from the subject in hand, if I shall speak at some length about
the project. I shall not do this merely to hear myself talk, but to the end
that you may be positively assured that it is both possible and easy, for
a man of sense at least, to govern well and without danger.
[-19-] "I maintain, therefore, first of all that you ought to pick out your

friends in the senatorial body and then subject it to a sifting process,
because some who are not fit have become senators on account of civil
disputes: such of them as possess any excellence you ought to retain,
but the rest you should erase from the roll. Do not, however, get rid of
any man of worth, because of poverty, but give him the money that he
needs. In the place of those who have been dropped introduce the
noblest, the best, the richest men obtainable, selecting them not only
from Italy but from the allies and subject nations. In this way you will
not be employing many assistants and you will insure a correct attitude
on the part of the chief men from all the provinces. These districts,
having no renowned leader, will not be disposed to rebel, and their
prominent men will entertain affection for you because they have been
made sharers in your empire.
"Take precisely these same measures in the case of the knights, by
enrolling in the equestrian class such as hold second place everywhere
in birth, excellence, and wealth. Register as many in both classes as
may please you, not troubling at all about their numbers. The more men
of repute you have as your associates, the more easily will you yourself
settle everything in case of need and persuade your subjects that you
are treating them not as slaves nor in any way as inferior to us, but are
sharing with them besides all the other blessings that belong to us the
chief magistracy also, that so they may be devoted to it as their own
possession. I am so far from assuming this to be a mistaken policy that
I say they ought all to be given a share in the government. Thus, having
an equal allotment in it, they might be faithful allies of ours, believing
that they inhabited one single city owned in common by all of us, and
this really a city, and regarding fields and villages as their individual
property. But about this and what ought to be done so as not to grant
them absolutely everything, we shall reflect in greater detail at another
time.
[-20-] "It is proper to put men on the roll of the knights at eighteen
years of age; for at that period of life physical condition is at its best
and suitability of temperament can be discerned. But for the senate they
should wait till they are twenty-five years old. Is it not disgraceful and
hazardous to entrust public business to men younger than this, when we
will commit none of our private affairs to any one before, he has
reached such an age? After they have served as quæstors and ædiles, or

tribunes, let them be prætors, when they have attained their thirtieth
birthday. These offices and that of consul are the only ones at home
which I maintain you ought to recognize; and that is for the sake of
remembrance of ancestral customs and in order not to seem to be