abril 16, 2005
Ciência Política
[dedicado ao Quase em Português]
He [Tiberius] also gave certain senators finantial assistance. ... it was curious that he dealt ...with the appeal of Marcus Hortensius Hortalus, a young nobleman who was obviously poor.
... the emperor lost no time in objecting "If every poor man is to come here...and start requesting money for his children, the applicants will never be satisfied and the nation's finances will collapse.
...if we empty it [o Erário] by favoritism, we shall need criminal methods to fill it. Hortalus, the divine August gave you money, but he did so spontaneously - and with no guarantee of a permanent supply. For permanent concessions would mean an end of all effort and all entreprise, because their iniciatives, fear and ambition, would be gone. Everyone would look irresponsably elsewhere for relief, without lifting a finger for himself - a dead weight on the community".
This sort of argument was applauded by those who habitually applaud emperors, right or wrong. But the majority received it in silence or with suppressed mutters. Tiberius perceived this. After a pause, he announced that, though he had given the applicant his answer, he would ... bestow two hundred thousand sesterces on each of Hortalus's male children. There where grateful acknowledgements.
(meus negritos, claro está.)
[Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome, Penguin Books, 1996, pp. 94.96]
Publicado por jpt às abril 16, 2005 04:39 PM
Comentários
Convenceste-me de dedicar-me à leitura deste ilustre senhor!
Publicado por: Lutz às abril 16, 2005 07:23 PM