Sir TOtlfam {Temple 85 



many others had not only begun, but proceeded 

 very far, to change and violate them ; so as, in 

 what he did, he seems rather to have prevented 

 others, than to have done what himself de- 

 signed ; for though his ambition was vast, yet it 

 seems to have been raised to those heights, 

 rather by the insolence of his enemies than by 

 his own temper ; and that what was natural to 

 him was only a desire of true glory, and to 

 acquire it by good actions as well as great, by 

 conquests of barbarous nations, extent of the 

 Roman empire ; defending at first the liberties 

 of the plebeians, opposing the faction that had 

 begun in Sylla and ended in Pompey ; and, in 

 the whole course of his victories and successes, 

 seeking all occasions of bounty to his friends, 

 and clemency to his enemies. 



Atticus appears to have been one of the wisest 

 and best of the Romans ; learned without pre- 

 tending, good without affectation, bountiful 

 without design, a friend to all men in misfor- 

 tune, a flatterer to no man in greatness or 

 power, a lover of mankind, and beloved by 

 them all ; and by these virtues and dispositions, 

 he passed safe and untouched through all the 

 flames of civil dissensions that ravaged his 

 country the greatest part of his life ; and, 

 though he never entered into any public affairs 

 or particular factions of his state, yet he was 



