ome men's minds are disturbed by envy,
some blinded by ambition till they are ready to fling themselves on the
sword's point. In addition to this, one must reckon sluggishness of
mind and old age; and also the opposites of these, restlessness and
disturbance of mind, also excessive self-esteem and pride in the
very things for which a man ought to be despised. I need not mention
obstinate persistence in wrong-doing, or frivolity which cannot remain
constant to one point; besides all this, there is headlong rashness,
there is timidity which never gives us trustworthy counsel, and the
numberless errors with which we struggle, the rashness of the most
cowardly, the quarrels of our best friends, and that most common evil
of trusting in what is most uncertain, and of undervaluing, when we have
obtained it, that which we once never hoped to possess. Amidst all these
restless passions, how can you hope to find a thing so full of rest as
good faith?

XXVII. If a true picture of our life were to rise before your mental
vision, you would, I think, behold a scene like that of a town just
taken by storm, where decency and righteousness were no longer regarded,
and no advice is heard but that of force, as if universal confusion
were the word of command. Neither fire nor sword are spared; crime
is unpunished by the laws; even religion, which saves the lives of
suppliants in the very midst of armed enemies, does not check those who
are rushing to secure plunder. Some men rob private houses, some public
buildings; all places, sacred or profane, are alike stripped; some burst
their way in, others climb over; some open a wider path for themselves
by overthrowing the walls that keep them out, and make their way to
their booty over ruins; some ravage without murdering, others brandish
spoils dripping with their owner's blood; everyone carries off his
neighbours' goods. In this greedy struggle of the human race surely you
forget the common lot of all mankind, if you seek among these robbers
for one who will return what he has got. If you are indignant at
men being ungrateful, you ought also to be indignant at their being
luxurious, avaricious and lustful; you might as well be indignant with
sick men for being ugly, or with old men for being pale. It is, indeed,
a serious vice, it is not to be borne, and sets men at variance with one
another; nay, it rends and destroys that union by which alone our human
weakness can be supported; yet it is s