Montesquieu, Considerations Concerning the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline (14)

There is no crueler tyranny than the one which is exercised in the shadow of the law with the colors of justice, when one comes, as it were, to drown the unfortunate under the same board on which they were saved.

And, since it is never happened that a tyrant was lacking instruments for his tyranny, Tiberius found at all times judges prepared to condemn as many people as he was able to suspect. At the time of the Republic, the Senate, which did not as a body judge private affairs, learned from a delegation of the people about crimes which were imputed to allies. Similarly, Tiberius delegated to it the judgment of everything which he called the crime of lèse-majesté against himself. This deliberative body fell into a state of baseness which cannot be expressed. The senators went out to meet with their servitude; under the favor of Sejanus, the most illustrious members of them went into business as informers.

Il n’y a point de plus cruelle tyrannie que celle que l’on exerce à l’ombre des lois et avec les couleurs de la justice, lorsqu’on va, pour ainsi dire, noyer des malheureux sur la planche même sur laquelle ils s’étaient sauvés.

Et, comme il n’est jamais arrivé qu’un tyran ait manqué d’instruments de sa tyrannie, Tibère trouva toujours des juges prêts à condamner autant de gens qu’il en put soupçonner. Du temps de la république, le Sénat, qui ne jugeait point en corps les affaires des particuliers, connaissait, par une délégation du peuple, des crimes qu’on imputait aux alliés. Tibère lui renvoya de même le jugement de tout ce qu’il appelait crime de lèse-majesté contre lui. Ce corps tomba dans un état de bassesse qui ne peut s’exprimer : les sénateurs allaient au-devant de la servitude ; sous la faveur de Séjan, les plus illustres d’entre eux faisaient le métier de délateurs.

Historia Augusta, Hadrian (§14-15):

Hadrian was excessively devoted to poems and literature, and thoroughly read-up on arithmetic, geometry, and paining. He also made a big show of his knowledge of the cithara and of singing. He was excessive in his pleasures, for he even composed many things in verse about his passions. (He wrote love poems.) This same man was most skilled in arms and most knowledgeable about military affairs, and even handled gladiatorial weapons. One and the same man was severe and happy, charming and grave, quick yet delaying, stingy yet liberal, unaffected yet lying, savage yet merciful, and in all things hard to pin down.
[…]
And although he could easily pour forth either verse or prose and was incredibly skilled in all the arts, yet he mocked, despised, and degraded the professors of all of them. He often battled with these professors and philosophers in books or poems which he published in his turn. And a certain Favorinus stopped using a a word that he liked because Hadrian had censured it, and he was able to excite much laughter among his friends who argued that he did wrong in yielding to Hadrian’s opinion about a word which many perfectly fine writers had employed. For Favorinus said, ‘Friends, you are not counseling me well if you do not allow me to believe that the man who has thirty legions is more learned than everyone else.’

Fuit enim poematum et litterarum nimium studiosissimus. Arithmeticae, geometriae, picturae peritissimus. Iam psallendi et cantandi scientiam prae se ferebat. In voluptatibus nimius. Nam et de suis dilectis multa versibus composuit. (amatoria carmina scripsit.) Idem armorum peritissimus et rei militaris scientissimus, gladiatoria quoque arma tractavit. Idem severus laetus, comis gravis, lascivus cunctator, tenax liberalis, <simplex> simulator, saevus clemens et semper in omnibus varius.
[…]
Et quamvis esset oratione et versu promtissimus et in omnibus artibus peritissimus, tamen professores omnium artium semper ut doctior risit, contempsit, obtrivit. Cum his ipsis professoribus et philosophis libris vel carminibus invicem editis saepe certavit. Et Favorinus quidem, cum verbum eius quondam ab Hadriano reprehensum esset atque ille cessisset, arguentibus amicis, quod male cederet, Hadriano de verbo, quod idonei auctores usurpassent, risum iocundissimum movit; ait enim : “non recte suadetis, familiares, qui non patimini me illum doctiorem omnibus credere, qui habet triginta legiones.”

Seneca, Letters to Lucullus (1.5):

I approve of the fact and even rejoice that you are diligently striving and, all else neglected, are doing this one thing: to make yourself better every day. I not only urge you, I even beg you to continue. But I do warn you not to do anything which might stand out in your appearance or mode of life, in the manner of those who wish not to succeed but to be seen. Avoid the shagginess, the uncut hair, the neglected beard, the pronounced hostility to money, the elbow placed on the ground, and whatever else ambition may pursue on a decidedly twisted path. The name of philosophy itself, even if it is conducted in a reasonable manner, inspires envy. What then if we should begin to withdraw ourselves from human interaction? Inwardly, all things are dissimilar, but our outward appearance should at least be suited to the masses. Your toga may not shine, but at least don’t let it go filthy; we may not have silver inlaid with gold, but let us not think it a mark of frugality to be without silver and gold altogether. Let us see to it that we pursue a better life than the crowd, but not a contrary one. Otherwise, we will chase away and repel those whom we wish to fix, and we will bring it about that they don’t wish to imitate anything of ours, fearing that they must imitate it all.

Quod pertinaciter studes et omnibus omissis hoc unum agis, ut te meliorem cotidie facias, et probo et gaudeo, nec tantum hortor ut perseveres sed etiam rogo. Illud autem te admoneo, ne eorum more qui non proficere sed conspici cupiunt facias aliqua quae in habitu tuo aut genere vitae notabilia sint; asperum cultum et intonsum caput et neglegentiorem barbam et indictum argento odium et cubile humi positum et quidquid aliud ambitio nempe perversa via sequitur evita. Satis ipsum nomen philosophiae, etiam si modeste tractetur, invidiosum est: quid si nos hominum consuetudini coeperimus excerpere? Intus omnia dissimilia sint, frons populo nostra conveniat. Non splendeat toga, ne sordeat quidem; non habeamus argentum in quod solidi auri caelatura descenderit, sed non putemus frugalitatis indicium auro argentoque caruisse. Id agamus ut meliorem vitam sequamur quam vulgus, non ut contrariam: alioquin quos emendari volumus fugamus a nobis et avertimus; illud quoque efficimus, ut nihil imitari velint nostri, dum timent ne imitanda sint omnia.

Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Chp. XXII):

But with the fopperies, Julian affected to renounce the decencies, of dress; and seemed to value himself for his neglect of the laws of cleanliness. In a satirical performance, which was designed for the public eye, the emperor descants with pleasure, and even with pride, on the length of his nails, and the inky blackness of his hands; protests that, although the greatest part of his body was covered with hair, the use of the razor was confined to his head alone; and celebrates with visible complacency, the shaggy and populous beard, which he fondly cherished after the example of the philosophers of Greece. Had Julian consulted the simple dictates of reason, the first magistrate of the Romans would have scorned the affectation of Diogenes as well as that of Darius.

Montesquieu, Considerations Concerning the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline (XIII):

I believe that Octavian is alone among Roman leaders who gained the affection of the soldiers in giving them, without interruption, tokens of natural cowardice. In those times, the soldiers made more of a case of the liberality of their general than of his courage. Perhaps even it was a good thing that he did not have that valor which could give him the empire, and maybe that very fact brought him power, because people were less afraid of him. It is not impossible that the things which dishonored him the most were those which served him the best. If he had shown, from the beginning, a great spirit, the whole world would have distrusted him, and if he had had any audacity, he would not have given Antony the time to engage in all the extravagances which ruined him.

Je crois qu’Octave est le seul de tous les capitaines romains qui ait gagné l’affection des soldats en leur donnant sans cesse des marques d’une lâcheté naturelle. Dans ces temps-là, les soldats faisaient plus de cas de la libéralité de leur général que de son courage. Peut-être même que ce fut un bonheur pour lui de n’avoir point eu cette valeur qui peut donner l’empire, et que cela même l’y porta: on le craignit moins. Il n’est pas impossible que les choses qui le déshonorèrent le plus aient été celles qui le servirent le mieux: s’il avait d’abord montré une grande âme, tout le monde se serait méfié de lui, et, s’il eût eu de la hardiesse, il n’aurait pas donné à Antoine le temps de faire toutes les extravagances qui le perdirent.