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To act well for the Commonwealth is noble, and even to speak well for it is not without merit.III. Not without merit] Haud absurdum. I have borrowed this expression from Rose, to whom Muretus furnished "suâ laude non caret." "The word absurdus is often used by the Latins as an epithet for sounds disagreeable to the ear; but at length it came to be applied to any action unbecoming a rational being." Kunhardt. Both in peace and in war it is possible to obtain celebrity; many who have acted, and many who have recorded the actions of others, receive their tribute of praise. And to me, assuredly, though by no means equal glory attends the narrator and the performer of illustrious deeds, it yet seems in the highest degeee difficult to write the history of great transactions; first, because deeds must be adequately representedDeeds must be adequately represented, etc.] Facta dictis sunt exæquanda. Most translators have regarded these words as signifying that the subject must be equaled by the style. But it is not of mere style that Sallust is speaking." He means that the matter must be so represented by the words, that honorable actions may not be too much praised, and that dishonorable actions may not be too much blamed; and that the reader may at once understand what was done and how it was done." Kunlhardt. by words; and next, because most readers consider that whatever errors you mention with censure, are mentioned through malevolence and envy; while, when you speak of the great virtue and glory of eminent men, every one hears with acquiescenceEvery one hears with acquiescence, etc.] Quæ sibi—æquo animo accipit, etc. This is taken from Thucydides, ii. 35. " For praises spoken of other are only endured so far as each one thinks that he is himself also capable of doing any of the things he hears; but that which exceeds their own capacity, men at once envy and disbelieve." Dale's Translation: Bohn's Classical Library. only that which he himself thinks easy to be performed; all beyond his own conception he regards as fictitious and incredible.Regards as fictitious and incredible] Veluti ficta, pro falsis ducit. Ducit pro falsis, he considers as false or incredible, veluti ficta, as if invented.
