[20,13] Ὁ ὕπατος Φαβρίκιος τιμητὴς γενόμενος ἄνδρα δυσὶ μὲν ὑπατείαις, μιᾷ δὲ δικτατωρείᾳ κεκοσμημένον, Πόπλιον Κορνήλιον Ῥουφῖνον, ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τοῦ συνεδρίου τῆς βουλῆς, ὅτι πρῶτος ἐν ἀργυρῶν ἐκπωμάτων κατασκευῇ πολυτελὴς ἔδοξε γενέσθαι, δέκα λίτρας ἐκπωμάτων κτησάμενος· αὗται δ´ εἰσὶν ὀλίγῳ πλείους ὀκτὼ μνῶν Ἀττικῶν. Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν δόξης ἔτυχον, ὅτι τοὺς ῥᾳθύμους καὶ ἀργοὺς καὶ μηδὲν ἐπιτηδεύοντας τῶν χρησίμων ὡς ἀδικοῦντας τὸ κοινὸν ἐζημίουν, Λακεδαιμόνιοι δέ, ὅτι τοῖς πρεσβυτάτοις ἐπέτρεπον τοὺς ἀκοσμοῦντας τῶν πολιτῶν ἐν ὁτῳδήτινι τῶν δημοσίων τόπῳ ταῖς βακτηρίαις παίειν· τῶν δὲ κατ´ οἰκίαν γενομένων οὔτε πρόνοιαν οὔτε φυλακὴν ἐποιοῦντο, τὴν αὔλειον θύραν ἑκάστου ὅρον εἶναι τῆς ἐλευθερίας τοῦ βίου νομίζοντες. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ πᾶσαν ἀναπετάσαντες οἰκίαν καὶ μέχρι τοῦ δωματίου τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν τιμητῶν προαγαγόντες ἁπάντων ἐποίησαν ἐπίσκοπον καὶ φύλακα τῶν ἐν αὐταῖς γινομένων, οὔτε δεσπότην οἰόμενοι δεῖν ὠμὸν εἶναι περὶ τὰς τιμωρίας οἰκετῶν οὔτε πατέρα πικρὸν ἢ μαλθακὸν πέρα τοῦ μετρίου περὶ τέκνων ἀγωγὰς οὔτε ἄνδρα περὶ κοινωνίαν γαμετῆς γυναικὸς ἄδικον οὔτε παῖδας γηραιῶν ἀπειθεῖς πατέρων οὔτε ἀδελφοὺς γνησίους τὸ πλεῖον ἀντὶ τοῦ ἴσου διώκοντας, οὐ συμπόσια καὶ μέθας παννυχίους, οὐκ ἀσελγείας καὶ φθορὰς ἡλικιωτῶν νέων, οὐχ ἱερῶν ἢ ταφῶν προγονικὰς τιμὰς ἐκλιπούσας, οὐκ ἄλλο τῶν παρὰ τὸ καθῆκον ἢ συμφέρον τῇ πόλει πραττομένων οὐδέν. ἐληίζοντο τὰς κτήσεις τῶν πολιτῶν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ βασιλίζειν αἰτίαν.

[20,13] (20.1) The consul Fabricius, having become censor, expelled from the senatorial body a man who had been honoured with two consulships and one dictatorship, Publius Cornelius Rufinus, because he was believed to have been the first to be extravagant in supplying himself with silver goblets, having acquired ten pounds' weight of them; this is a little more than eight Attic minae. 2 (2) The Athenians gained repute because they punished as harmful to the state the indolent and idle who followed no useful pursuits, and the Lacedaemonians because they permitted their oldest men to beat with their canes such of the citizens as were disorderly in any public place whatever; be for what took place in the homes they took no thought or precaution, holding that each man's house-door marked the boundary within which he was free to live as he pleased. 3 (3) But the Romans, throwing open every house and extending the authority of the censors even to the bed-chamber, made that office (p425) the overseer and guardian of everything that took place in the homes; for they believed that neither a master should be cruel in the punishments meted out to his slaves, nor a father unduly harsh or lenient in the training of his children, nor a husband unjust in his partnership with his lawfully-wedded wife, nor children disobedient toward their aged parents, nor should own brothers strive for more than their equal share, and they thought there should be no banquets and revels lasting all night long, no wantonness and corrupting of youthful comrades, no neglect of the ancestral honours of sacrifices and funerals, no any other of the things that are done contrary to propriety and the advantage of the state. They plundered the possessions of the citizens on the ground that they were affecting the ways of a king.