ABSTRACT
When the author himself was a young man, his inclinations at first led him, like many another, into public life, and there he encountered many obstacles; for instead of modesty, incorruptibility and honesty, shamelessness, bribery and rapacity held sway. And although his soul, a stranger to evil ways, recoiled from such faults, yet amid so many vices his youthful weakness was led astray and held captive by ambition; for while he took no part in the evil practices of the others, yet the desire for preferment made him the victim of the same ill-repute and jealousy as they. However, the reasoning presented by Dietsch against the transmitted text has still some weight, the gist of his argument being: One may well say that a man vexat aliquem probris omnibus maledictisque, but it seems, at best, odd to say the same with honoris cupido as subject.
