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His high spirit was too easily roused by the insults by the insults of meaner men ; his known intrepidity was too quick in scorning the low-born subtleties of the fanatics and conspirators who had pledged themselves to his ruin ; and his alternate contempt of all advice , and deference to ill advisers , deprived him of that character of decision , which , in times of civil tumult , is the one essential to victory . And again , he need not make himself uneasy at incurring a reproach for those vices without which the state can only be saved with difficulty , for if everything is considered carefully , it will be found that something which looks like virtue , if followed , would be his ruin ; whilst something else , which looks like vice , yet followed brings him security and prosperity . But when we reflect upon the insidious arts of wicked and designing men , the various and plausible pretences for continuing and increasing authority , the incautious nature of the many , and the inordinate lust of power in the few , we shall no longer be surprised that free-born man hath been enslaved , and that those very means which were contrived for his preservation have been perverted to his ruin ; or , to borrow a metaphor from Holy Writ , that the kid hath been seethed in his mother 's milk . Wilson rode his unpopular League of Nations proposal to his ruin ; Hoover refused to let the federal government intervene to prevent or lessen a fiscal depression ; Johnson escalated U.S. involvement in Vietnam while misleading Americans ( thereby making himself unelectable ) ; and Nixon went down with his bogus defense of Watergate . " He wants time to reflect ; his hesitation is his ruin ; the enemy passes unmolested , or overwhelms him ; while on the other hand , the general of pluck , perseverance and self-reliance , goes into battle with a will , and , amid the clash of arms , the booming of cannon , the shrieks of the wounded , and the moans of the dying , you will see this man persevering , going on , cutting and slashing his way through with unwavering determination , inspiring his soldiers to deeds of fortitude , valor , and triumph . And this indeed was his ruin ; for Polyneices , who had fallen first , was still faintly breathing , and having in his grievous fall retained his sword , he made last effort and drove it through the heart of Eteocles . After Gallus [ 74 ] had perpetrated the tragedy with regard to Domitian the procurator and Montius , all the other participators in it naturally shared his ruin ; yet this man escapes , being acquitted from being punished along with them . Divitiacus , embracing Caesar , begins to implore him , with many tears , that " he would not pass any very severe sentence upon his brother ; saying , that he knows that those charges are true , and that nobody suffered more pain on that account than he himself did ; for when he himself could effect a very great deal by his influence at home and in the rest of Gaul , and he [ Dumnorix ] very little on account of his youth , the latter had become powerful through his means , which power and strength he used not only to the lessening of his [ Divitiacus ] popularity , but almost to his ruin ; that he , however , was influenced both by fraternal affection and by public opinion .