Rank Wins No Respect

"But dignities make the one to whom they fall honorable and worthy of reverence. Surely magistrates do not have the power to plant virtues in the minds of those who hold them, and to drive out vices? On the contrary, they are wont not to banish wickedness but rather to make it conspicuous. So it comes about that we are indignant that these offices have often fallen to the most worthless of men. Hence Catullus, though Nonius sat in the curule chair, still called him a tumor. Do you see how much disgrace dignities add to bad men? And yet their unworthiness would be less exposed if they were not made famous by any honors. Could you yourself in the end have been brought, by all your dangers, to think you held office together with Decoratus, when you saw in him the mind of a most worthless buffoon and informer? For we cannot judge men worthy of reverence because of honors, when we judge them unworthy of the honors themselves. But if you saw someone endowed with wisdom, surely you could not think him unworthy of reverence, or of the wisdom with which he is endowed?"

"By no means."

"For there is a dignity proper to virtue, which it at once transfers into those to whom it is joined. And since popular honors cannot do this, it is clear that they do not have the proper beauty of dignity.

"And in this the following is more to be noted: for if a man is the more abject the more he is despised by many, then, since dignity cannot make those reverend whom it displays to the many, it rather makes the wicked more despised by exposing them. But not without cost: for the wicked pay dignities back in kind, staining them with their own contagion.

"And so that you may recognize that that true reverence cannot come about through these shadowy dignities: if a man who has held many consulships should happen to come among barbarous nations, will the office make him venerable to the barbarians? But if this were a natural gift belonging to dignities, they would in no way cease from their function anywhere among the peoples, just as fire never ceases to be hot anywhere on earth. But since it is not their own power but the deceitful opinion of human beings that attaches this to them, they vanish at once when they come to those who do not consider them to be dignities at all. But this is among foreign nations. Among those very people among whom they arose, do they last forever? Why, the praetorship was once a great power; now it is an empty name and a heavy burden on a senator's purse. If someone once managed the people's grain supply, he was held great; now what is more abject than that prefecture? For, as we said a little while ago, what has nothing of its own grace now receives splendor, now loses it, by the opinion of those who use it.

"If, then, dignities cannot make people reverend, if they grow filthy of their own accord by the contagion of the wicked, if they cease to shine with the change of the times, if they become cheap in the estimation of nations—what is there in them of beauty worth seeking, let alone any they could confer on others?"

'Well, but official dignity clothes him to whom it comes with honour and reverence! Have, then, offices of state such power as to plant virtue in the minds of their possessors, and drive out vice? Nay, they are rather wont to signalize iniquity than to chase it away, and hence arises our indignation that honours so often fall to the most iniquitous of men. Accordingly, Catullus calls Nonius an "ulcer-spot," though "sitting in the curule chair." Dost not see what infamy high position brings upon the bad? Surely their unworthiness will be less conspicuous if their rank does not draw upon them the public notice! In thy own case, wouldst thou ever have been induced by all these perils to think of sharing office with Decoratus, since thou hast discerned in him the spirit of a rascally parasite and informer? No; we cannot deem men worthy of reverence on account of their office, whom we deem unworthy of the office itself. But didst thou see a man endued with wisdom, couldst thou suppose him not worthy of reverence, nor of that wisdom with which he was endued?'

'No; certainly not.'

'There is in Virtue a dignity of her own which she forthwith passes over to those to whom she is united. And since public honours cannot do this, it is clear that they do not possess the true beauty of dignity. And here this well deserves to be noticed—that if a man is the more scorned in proportion as he is despised by a greater number, high position not only fails to win reverence for the wicked, but even loads them the more with contempt by drawing more attention to them. But not without retribution; for the wicked pay back a return in kind to the dignities they put on by the pollution of their touch. Perhaps, too, another consideration may teach thee to confess that true reverence cannot come through these counterfeit dignities. It is this: If one who had been many times consul chanced to visit barbaric lands, would his office win him the reverence of the barbarians? And yet if reverence were the natural effect of dignities, they would not forego their proper function in any part of the world, even as fire never anywhere fails to give forth heat. But since this effect is not due to their own efficacy, but is attached to them by the mistaken opinion of mankind, they disappear straightway when they are set before those who do not esteem them dignities. Thus the case stands with foreign peoples. But does their repute last for ever, even in the land of their origin? Why, the prefecture, which was once a great power, is now an empty name—a burden merely on the senator's fortune; the commissioner of the public corn supply was once a personage—now what is more contemptible than this office? For, as we said just now, that which hath no true comeliness of its own now receives, now loses, lustre at the caprice of those who have to do with it. So, then, if dignities cannot win men reverence, if they are actually sullied by the contamination of the wicked, if they lose their splendour through time's changes, if they come into contempt merely for lack of public estimation, what precious beauty have they in themselves, much less to give to others?'