# CHAPTER XVII —_That we are not to offend a Man, and then send him to

CHAPTER XVII.—_That we are not to offend a Man, and then send him to
fill an important Office or Command._


A republic should think twice before appointing to an important command
a citizen who has sustained notable wrong at the hands of his
fellow-citizens. Claudius Nero, quitting the army with which he was
opposing Hannibal, went with a part of his forces into the March of
Ancona, designing to join the other consul there, and after joining him
to attack Hasdrubal before he came up with his brother. Now Claudius
had previously commanded against Hasdrubal in Spain, and after driving
him with his army into such a position that it seemed he must either
fight at a disadvantage or perish by famine, had been outwitted by his
adversary, who, while diverting his attention with proposals of terms,
contrived to slip through his hands and rob him of the opportunity for
effecting his destruction. This becoming known in Rome brought Claudius
into so much discredit both with the senate and people, that to his
great mortification and displeasure, he was slightingly spoken of by
the whole city. But being afterwards made consul and sent to oppose
Hannibal, he took the course mentioned above, which was in itself so
hazardous that all Rome was filled with doubt and anxiety until tidings
came of Hasdrubal’s defeat. When subsequently asked why he had played
so dangerous a game, wherein without urgent necessity he had staked the
very existence of Rome, Claudius answered, he had done so because he
knew that were he to succeed he would recover whatever credit he had
lost in Spain; while if he failed, and his attempt had an untoward
issue, he would be revenged on that city and On those citizens who had
so ungratefully and indiscreetly wronged him.

But if resentment for an offence like this so deeply moved a Roman
citizen at a time when Rome was still uncorrupted, we should consider
how it may act on the citizen of a State not constituted as Rome then
was. And because there is no certain remedy we can apply to such
disorders when they arise in republics, it follows that it is
impossible to establish a republic which shall endure always; since in
a thousand unforeseen ways ruin may overtake it.