9 Good morals,
accordingly, were cultivated in the city and in the camp. There was the
greatest possible concord, and the least possible avarice. Justice and probity
prevailed among the citizens, not more from the influence of the laws than from
natural inclination. They displayed animosity, enmity, and resentment only
against the enemy. Citizens contended with citizens in nothing but honor. They
were magnificent in their religious services, frugal in their families, and
steady in their friendships.
By these two virtues, intrepidity in war, and equity in peace, they maintained
themselves and their state. Of their exercise of which virtues, I consider these
as the greatest proofs; that, in war, punishment was oftener inflicted on those
who attacked an enemy contrary to orders, and who, when commanded to retreat,
retired too slowly from the contest, than on those who had dared to desert
their standards or, when pressed by the enemy, to abandon their posts; and
that, in peace, they governed more by conferring benefits than by exciting
terror, and, when they received an injury, chose rather to pardon than to
revenge it.
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