Nam inter arma et lituos condicionis aequatio leviora facit pericula, et Martiae virtutis potestas, aut absumit quod occupat, aut nobilitat, et mors (si acciderit), nullum ignominiae continet sensum, finemque secum vivendi simul et dolendi perducit: ubi vero consiliis impiis iura quidem praetenduntur et leges, et Catonianae vel Cassianae sententiae fuco perliti residerint iudices, agatur autem, quod agitur, ad voluntatem praetumidae potestatis, et ex eius libidine, incidentium vitae necisque momenta pensantur, ibi capitalis vertitur pernicies et abrupta.
For amid arms and clarions, equality of condition makes dangers lighter; the force of martial valour either destroys what it attacks, or ennobles it; and death (if it comes) is attended with no sense of shame and brings with it at once an end of life and of suffering. But when the laws and statutes are pretexts for impious designs, and judges take their seats in false imitation of the character of a Cato or a Cassius, but everything is decided according to the will of men of swollen powers, and by their caprice the question of the life or death of all those who come before them is weighed, then, destruction results that is deadly and sudden.
final_alignments\Ammianus_Marcellinus_Book26.json