hic si omittamus antecedentium principum casus vel secutorum, solus iste peculiaris tuus Maximus maximo nobis ad ista documento poterit esse, qui quamquam in arcem praefectoriam patriciam consularemque intrepidus ascenderat eosque quos gesserat magistratus ceu recurrentibus orbitis inexpletus iteraverat, cum tamen venit omnibus viribus ad principalis apicis abruptum, quandam potestatis immensae vertiginem sub corona patiebatur nec sustinebat dominus esse, qui non sustinuerat esse sub domino.
Even if we here ignore the calamities of the rulers who preceded or succeeded him, this very Maximus whom you take as your hero will prove our point with the maximum of cogency; for although he had made his way up without faltering to the eminences of prefect, patrician and consul, and although, still unsatisfied, he had repeated the magistracies he had held as if they moved in recurring orbits, yet when by straining every nerve he reached the precarious peak of Imperial majesty, he felt beneath his crown dizziness, the result of boundless power; and the very man who had found it unbearable to be under a master could not bear to be a master himself.
final_alignments\Sidonius_Letters_Book2.json