"The more things change..."

                                                                     Sallust continues :

                            "But the nobility, thanks to its cliques, was more powerful, while the  strength of the people, dissipated and divided so many, was of less avail .   Military and domestic administration was in he hands of the minority; the treasury, the provinces, public office, military decorations, and triumphs were in the hands of the same men ;   the people bore the burden of military duty and poverty ; the generals divided up the spoils of war among the few ;   meanwhile the parents or the little children of the soldiers, if they had one of the nobles for a neighbor, were evicted from their homes .  So, along with power, selfishness without limit or discretion invaded, desecrated,  and laid waste everything, holding nothing important or sacred, until it wrought its own destruction .   For as soon as men from the noble class were found who preferred true glory to unjust power, here began  movements in the state, and strife between citizens began to arise like an earthquake ."