Page:Dio's Roman History, tr. Cary - Volume 1.djvu/149

Rh fact that extreme poverty is a most grievous curse, and that the desperation which results from it, especially if shared by a large number of people, is very difficult to combat. This is why not a few politicians voluntarily choose the course which is expedient in preference to that which is absolutely just. Justice is often worsted in an encounter with human nature and sometimes suffers total extinction, whereas expediency, by parting with a mere fragment of justice, preserves the greater portion of it intact. Thus the uncompromising attitude of the rich class toward the poor was responsible for very many ills that befell the Romans. Indeed, among the many remedies afforded them against delays in the payment of debts, was one to the effect that in case several persons had been lending to one man, they had authority to divide his body piecemeal according to the proportionate amounts that he was owing. And yet, however

debtors, they both failed to secure the full amount and also lost many other advantages. For poverty with the resulting desperation is a grievous curse, and is, if shared by a large number of people, very difficult to combat. Thus the uncompromising attitude at this time of the rich toward the poor was responsible for very many ills that befell the Romans. For as the soldiery came to be hard pressed by dint of campaigns and was baffled out and out in frequent hopes frequently entertained, and the debtors were repeatedly abused and maltreated by the money-lenders, they became inflamed to such