# CHAPTER 28 — Why the Romans Were Less Ungrateful to Their Citizens Than the Athenians

Anyone who reads about the deeds of republics will find in all of them a bit of ingratitude against their own citizens, but he will find less in Rome than in Athens and perhaps than in any other republic. In seeking the reason for this, while speaking of Rome and Athens, I believe this came about because the Romans had less reason to suspect their citizens than did the Athenians. In Rome, considering the time from the expulsion of the kings down to the age of Sulla and Marius, the city was never deprived of its liberty by any of its citizens, so that there was no great reason to suspect them or, consequently, to offend them in a thoughtless way. The very opposite happened in Athens, for, after Pisistratus had taken away its liberty at the moment of its greatest prosperity under the guise of doing good, Athens later became free as before, and the city, remembering the injuries received and its past servitude, became a most ready avenger not only of the errors but even of the appearance of errors on the part of its citizens. Thus came about the exile and the death of so many excellent men; thus arose the practice of ostracism and every other kind of violence used against the city’s aristocrats at various times. What writers on civic life say is very true—that once it has recovered its liberty, a people bites more ferociously than when it has only managed to preserve it. Anyone considering, therefore, all that has been said will not criticize Athens or praise Rome in this matter, but he will blame necessity alone for the variety of events which arose in these two cities. Anyone who considers these matters closely will observe that if Rome had lost its liberty as Athens had, it would not have been more indulgent toward its citizens than Athens was. It is possible to speculate with some accuracy about what happened to Collatinus and Publius Valerius after the expulsion of the kings: the former * was sent into exile for no other reason than that he bore the name of the Tarquins, although he had helped to free Rome, while the latter was made an exile after having no more than aroused suspicion by building a home on the Caelian Hill. * Thus, having seen how suspicious and severe Rome was in these two instances, one can conclude that this city would have shown the same ingratitude as Athens if it, like Athens, in its beginnings and before its growth, had been injured by its own citizens. And so as not to be obliged to return to this topic of ingratitude, I shall say what needs to be said about it in the following chapter.