Maccari's depiction of Cicero, the grand orator, denouncing Catiline
Sallust, writing in his War with Catiline, describes modern Ireland:
‘As soon as riches came to he held in honour, when glory, dominion, and power followed in their train, virtue hegan to lose its lustre, poverty to be considered a disgrace, blamelessness to be termed malevolence.
Therefore as a result of riches, luxury, and greed, united with insolence, took possession of our young manhood. They pillaged, squandered; set little value on their own, coveted the goods of others; they disregarded modesty, chastity, everything human and divine; in short, they were utterly thoughtless and reckless.’
Ref. The War with Catiline, XII, 2-3.
The War with Catiline describes the Second Catiline Conspiracy, or what essentially amounted to a civil war in the Roman Republic in 63BCE.
This article was posted on
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at
19:06.
It is archived in Culture, History, Ireland and tagged complacent, greed, luxury, riches, Roma.
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Come to think of it that describes the attitudes of the financial elite globally, not just Ireland