But the present detail,
however instructive, yet brings scanty delight. It is by the descriptions
and accounts of nations; by the variety of battles; by the brave fall of
illustrious captains, that the soul of the reader is engaged and
refreshed. For myself, I can only give a sad display of cruel orders,
incessant accusations, faithless friendships, the destruction of
innocents, and endless trials, all attended with the same issue, death and
condemnation: an obvious round of repetition and satiety! Besides that the
old historians are rarely censured; nor is any man now concerned whether
they chiefly magnify the Roman or Carthaginian armies. But, of many who
under Tiberius suffered punishment, or were marked with infamy, the
posterity are still subsisting; or if the families themselves are extinct,
there are others found, who from a similitude of manners, think that, in
reciting the evil doings of others, they themselves are charged: nay, even
virtue and a glorious name create foes, as they expose in a light too
obvious the opposite characters. But I return to my undertaking.
Whilst Cornelius Cossus and Asinius Agrippa were Consuls, Cremutius Cordus
was arraigned for that, "having published annals and in them praised
Brutus, he had styled Cassius the last of the Romans:" a new crime, then
first created.
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