Quorum quemadmodum maiestas amplificabatur ita abstinentia artissime constringebatur: immolatarum enim ab iis hostiarum exta ad quaestores aerarii delata venibant, sacrificiisque populi Romani cum deorum immortalium cultus tum etiam hominum continentia inerat, imperatoribus nostris quam sanctas manus habere deberent apud ipsa altaria discentibus: continentiaeque tantum tribuebatur ut multorum aes alienum, quia provincias sincere administraverant, a senatu persolutum sit: nam quorum opera publicam auctoritatem splendorem suum procul obtinuisse viderant, eorum dignitatem domi collabi indignum sibique deforme esse arbitrabantur.
Even as their dignity was amplified, it was kept closely in check by restraint. The entrails of the victims they sacrificed were conveyed to the Treasury Quaestors and sold. Thus in the sacrifices of the Roman people the cult of the immortal gods went along with human continence and those in command of us learnt at the very altars how clean they should keep their hands. Such credit was given for continence that the senate paid the debts of many because they had administered their provinces incorruptibly. For they judged it unworthy and discreditable to themselves that persons through whom public authority had kept its lustre in far-off places should suffer collapse of standing at home.
final_alignments\Valerius_Memorable_Book2.json