The renown which riches or beauty confer is fleeting and frail; mental excellence is a splendid and lasting possession.

Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), a Roman senator-turned-historian writing in the late Republic (1st century BCE), frequently contrasts unstable external goods—wealth, status, physical attractiveness—with the more durable claims of virtue and intellect. The sentiment aligns with the moralizing prefaces and authorial reflections that frame his historical monographs, where he diagnoses Rome’s political crises as rooted in ambition, greed, and the pursuit of superficial glory. In this intellectual milieu, Sallust presents “mental excellence” (ingenium/virtus) as the only possession that can outlast fortune’s reversals and the decay of the body, offering a standard by which to judge both private character and public leadership.

The quote argues that fame derived from external advantages—money or beauty—is inherently unstable: it depends on circumstance, public opinion, and the inevitable erosion of physical and material conditions. By contrast, “mental excellence” names an inner capacity: intelligence, judgment, and moral seriousness. Sallust treats this as “splendid and lasting” because it can guide action, resist corruption, and endure in memory through deeds and writings even when fortune changes. The line participates in a classical ethical hierarchy that privileges cultivated character over possessions, implying that a society obsessed with display will be politically and morally brittle, while individuals grounded in intellect and virtue possess a more secure form of worth.