Book 3
1
Then Favorinus asked to have the same words of Sallust read again, and when they had been read, he said: How then are we to explain the fact, that it is possible to find many men who are greedy for money, but nevertheless have strong and active bodies? To this the man replied thus: Your answer is certainly to the point. Whoever, said he, is greedy for money, but nevertheless has a body that is strong and in good condition, must necessarily be possessed either by an interest in, or devotion to, other things as well, and cannot be equally niggardly in his care of himself. For if extreme avarice, to the exclusion of everything else, lay hold upon all a man's actions and desires, and if it extend even to neglect of his body, so that because of that one passion he has regard neither for virtue nor physical strength, nor body, nor soul—then, and then only, can that vice truly be said to cause effeminacy both of body and of soul, since such men care neither for themselves nor for anything else except money. Then said Favorinus: Either what you have said is reasonable, or Sallust, through hatred of avarice, brought against it a heavier charge than he could justify. The reading of the MSS., potuit, might perhaps be supported by such expressions as Catull. lxxvi. 16, hocfacias, sire id non pote, sive pole.
