Great empires are not maintained by timidity.
So as you go into battle, remember your ancestors and remember your descendants.
The love of dominion is the most engrossing passion.
No hatred is so bitter as that of near relations.
There was more courage in bearing trouble than in escaping from it; the brave and the energetic cling to hope, even in spite of fortune; the cowardly and the indolent are hurried by their fears,' said Plotius Firmus, Roman Praetorian Guard.
In the struggle between those seeking power there is no middle course.