Even honor and virtue make enemies, condemning, as they do, their opposites by too close a contrast.
TacitusHe (Tiberius) was wont to mock at the arts of physicians, and at those who, after thirty years of age, needed counsel as to what was good or bad for their bodies.
TacitusWar will of itself discover and lay open the hidden and rankling wounds of the victorious party.
TacitusThe brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair though fear alone.
TacitusIt is found by experience that admirable laws and right precedents among the good have their origin in the misdeeds of others.
TacitusNeglected, calumny soon expires, show that you are hurt, and you give it the appearance of truth.
TacitusThe task of history is to hold out for reprobation every evil word and deed, and to hold out for praise every great and noble word and deed.
TacitusIt is of eloquence as of a flame; it requires matter to feed it, and motion to excite it; and it brightens as it burns.
TacitusThe solitude lends much appeal, because a sea without a harbour surrounds it. Even a modest boat can find few anchorage, and nobody can go ashore unnoticed by the guards. Its winter is mild because it is enclosed by a range of mountains which keeps out the fierce temperature; its summer is unequal. The open sea is very pleasant and it has a view of a beautiful bay.
TacitusEloquence wins its great and enduring fame quite as much from the benches of our opponents as from those of our friends.
TacitusAll those things that are now field to be of the greatest antiquity were at one time new; what we to-day hold up by example will rank hereafter as precedent.
TacitusSuch being the happiness of the times, that you may think as you wish, and speak as you think.
TacitusThen there is the usual scene when lovers are excited with each other, quarrels, entreaties, reproaches, and then fondling reconcilement.
TacitusEvery great example of punishment has in it some injustice, but the suffering individual is compensated by the public good.
TacitusThe principal office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.
TacitusIn stirring up tumult and strife, the worst men can do the most, but peace and quiet cannot be established without virtue.
TacitusThe sciences throw an inexpressible grace over our compositions, even where they are not immediately concerned; as their effects are discernible where we least expect to find them.
TacitusBenefits received are a delight to us as long as we think we can requite them; when that possibility is far exceeded, they are repaid with hatred instead of gratitude.
Tacitus