Kitap 27
11.4
Now it must be admitted that he had such natural greatness of spirit that he never ordered a client or a slave to do anything illegal; but, on the other hand, if he learned that any one of them had committed any crime, even though Justice herself cried out against the man, without investigating the matter and without regard to honour and virtue, he defended him. That is a fault which Cicero Philipp. ii. 12, 29. censures in the following words: For what difference is there between one who advises an act and one who approves it? Or what does it matter whether I wished anything to happen or rejoice that it has happened?
11.5
Yet he was suspicious, and fortified by his own character; he could smile rather bitterly and sometimes resorted to flattery in order to work harm.
11.6
He had, moreover, what is a conspicuous evil in such characters, especially when one thinks to be able to conceal it, in that he was so merciless and unbending, that if he had made up his mind to injure anyone, he could not be made to relent nor induced to pardon errors; indeed, his ears seemed to be stopped, not with wax,Cf. Odyss. xii. 47–9. but with lead. At the very height of riches and honours he was worried and anxious, and hence always troubled with slight illnesses. This was the course of events throughout the western regions.
