He then had recourse to the Sallust, which he had at first sought for in vain.
As he opened the book, Nanty Ewart, who had been looking over his shoulder, made his own opinion heard.
'I think now, brother, if you are so much scandalized at a little piece of sculduddery, which, after all, does nobody any harm, you had better have given it to me than have flung it into the Solway.' 'I hope, sir,' answered Fairford, civilly, 'you are in the habit of reading better books.' 'Faith,' answered Nanty, 'with help of a little Geneva text, I could read my Sallust as well as you can;' and snatching the book from Alan's hand, he began to read, in the Scottish accent:--"'IGITUR EX DIVITIIS JUVENTUTEM LUXURIA ATQUE AVARITIA CUM SUPERBILI INVASERE: RAPERE, CONSUMERE; SUA PARVI PENDERE, ALIENA CUPERE; PUDOREM, AMICITIAM, PUDICITIAM, DIVINA ATQUE HUMANA PROMISCUA, NIHIL PENSI NEQUE MODERATI HABERE." [The translation of the passage is thus given by Sir Henry Steuart of Allanton:--'The youth, taught to look up to riches as the sovereign good, became apt pupils in the school of Luxury.

Rapacity and profusion went hand in hand.

Careless of their own fortunes, and eager to possess those of others, shame and remorse, modesty and moderation, every principle gave way.'-- WORKS OF SALLUST, WITH ORIGINAL ESSAYS, vol.
ii.

p.17.]--There is a slap in the face now, for an honest fellow that has been buccaneering! Never could keep a groat of what he got, or hold his fingers from what belonged to another, said you?
Fie, fie, friend Crispus, thy morals are as crabbed and austere as thy style--the one has as little mercy as the other has grace.

By my soul, it is unhandsome to make personal reflections on an old acquaintance, who seeks a little civil intercourse with you after nigh twenty years' separation.