Varus Quintilius inlustri magis quam nobili ortus familia, vir ingenio mitis, moribus quietus, ut corpore, ita animo immobilior, otio magis castrorum quam bellicae adsuetus militiae, pecuniae vero quam non contemptor, Syria, cui praefuerat, declaravit, quam pauper divitem ingressus dives pauperem reliquit; is cum exercitui, qui erat in Germania, praeesset, concepit esse homines, qui nihil praeter vocem membraque haberent hominum, quique gladiis domari non poterant, posse iure mulceri.
Varus Quintilius, descended from a famous rather than a high-born family, was a man of mild character and of a quiet disposition, somewhat slow in mind as he was in body, and more accustomed to the leisure of the camp than to actual service in war. That he was no despiser of money is demonstrated by his governorship of Syria: he entered the rich province a poor man, but left it a rich man and the province poor. When placed in charge of the army in Germany, he entertained the notion that the Germans were a people who were men only in limbs and voice, and that they, who could not be subdued by the sword, could be soothed by the law.
final_alignments\Velleius_Paterculus_Compendium.json