[21]
There is a fourth class, various, promiscuous and turbulent; who indeed are now
overwhelmed; who will never recover themselves; who, partly from indolence, partly from
managing their affairs badly, partly from extravagance, are embarrassed by old debts; and
worn out with bail bonds, and judgments, and seizures of their goods, are said to be betaking
themselves in numbers to that camp both from the city and the country. These men I think not
so much active soldiers as lazy insolvents; who, if they cannot stand at first, may fall, but
fall so, that not only the city but even their nearest neighbours know nothing of it. For I
do not understand why, if they cannot live with honour, they should wish to die shamefully;
or wily they think they shall perish with less pain in a crowd, than if they perish by
themselves.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1856.
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