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In negotiations with foreign ministers, remember the 'fortiter in re'; give up no point, accept of no expedient, till the utmost necessity reduces you to it, and even then, dispute the ground inch by inch; but then, while you are contending with the minister 'fortiter in re', remember to gain the man by the 'suaviter in modo'. If you engage his heart, you have a fair chance for imposing upon his understanding, and determining his will.
The 'suaviter in modo' alone would degenerate and sink into a mean, timid complaisance and passiveness, if not supported and dignified by the 'fortiter in re', which would also run into impetuosity and brutality, if not tempered and softened by the 'suaviter in modo': however, they are seldom united.
"Monsieur," said the ex-dyer, as soon as the illustrious Gaudissart had fired his first broadside, "I will not hide from you the great difficulties which my native place offers to your enterprise. This part of the country goes along, as it were, in the rough, 'suo modo. It is a country where new ideas don't take hold.
The ancient religion of a country has always many votaries, and sometimes not the fewer, because its origin is hidden in remoteness and obscurity. Men have a natural veneration for antiquity, especially in matters of religion. What Tacitus says of the Jewish was more applicable to the heathen establishment: "Hi ritus, quoquo modo inducti, antiquitate defenduntur."
In obedience to his very conscience he will temporize, and, finding no other way of achieving good, will do even evil that good may come of it. "Rem si possis recte; si non, quocunque modo rem." In judging of such a character as this, a hard and fast line will certainly lead us astray. In judging of Cicero, such a hard and fast line has too generally been used.
In fact it reveals Alfenus in the act of seizing an unreasonable amount of land. Vergil, of course, recognizes Alfenus' position as commissioner in his ninth Eclogue where he promises him great glory if he will show mercy to Mantua: Vare, tuum nomen, superet modo Mantua nobis ... And Vergil's appeal to him was reasonable, since he, too, was a man of literary ambitions.
Vidi egomet plurimos non modo aegrotorum in tentoriis otiari, verum etiam foedatus ita secure induere vestes aut iisdem in stragulis cubare, ac si optima ibi adesset sanitas.
Abl. abs.==when lighter offences are committed; or abl. of circum.==in case of lighter offences. Pro modo poenarum. Such is the reading of all the MSS. Pro modo, poena is an ingenious conjecture of Acidalius. But it is unnecessary.
The letter concludes with the following words, which Plutarch had apparently read: "Ego non rem familiarem modo, verum etiam fidem consumpsi. This Marius is mentioned in the Life of Lucullus, c. 8. He also adds that the character of Sertorius was changed, that he gave himself up to wine and women, and was continually sustaining defeats.
In Pennsylvania particularly, the constitution declares that the judges shall hold their commissions during good behaviour; yet it expressly authorizes the legislature to abolish the Court of Common Pleas, &c.; and of the precedents in the existing act of Congress, which is an exercise of the power sub modo.
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