Take,
for example, the conduct of this atrocious gang under Aemilius
Paulus, against Epirus and Greece generally after the defeat of
Perseus, all under the deliberate decrees of the senate: take that of
this gang under his son Scipio the younger, against Carthage and
Numantia; under Cato, at Cyprus--all in the same manner under the
_deliberate decrees of the senate_. Take indeed the whole of her
history as a republic, and we find it that of the most atrocious band
of robbers that was ever associated against the rest of their
species. In her relations with the rest of mankind Rome was
collectively devoid of truth; and her citizens, who were sent to
govern conquered countries, were no less devoid of truth
individually--they cared nothing whatever for the feelings or the
opinions of the people governed; in their dealings with them, truth
and honour were entirely disregarded. The only people whose
favourable opinion they had any desire to cultivate were the members
of the great gang; and the most effectual mode of conciliating them
was to plunder the people of conquered countries, and distribute the
fruits among them in presents of one kind or another.
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