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The City of God

Chapter 6.--Concerning the Covetousness of Ninus, Who Was the First Who Made War on His Neighbors, that He Might Rule More Widely.

Justinus, who wrote Greek or rather foreign history in Latin, and briefly, like Trogus Pompeius whom he followed, begins his work thus: "In the beginning of the affairs of peoples and nations the government was in the hands of kings, who were raised to the height of this majesty not by courting the people, but by the knowledge good men had of their moderation. The people were held bound by no laws; the decisions of the princes were instead of laws. It was the custom to guard rather than to extend the boundaries of the empire; and kingdoms were kept within the bounds of each ruler's native land. Ninus king of the Assyrians first of all, through new lust of empire, changed the old and, as it were, ancestral custom of nations. He first made war on his neighbors, and wholly subdued as far as to the frontiers of Libya the nations as yet untrained to resist." And a little after he says: "Ninus established by constant possession the greatness of the authority he had gained. Having mastered his nearest neighbors, he went on to others, strengthened by the accession of forces, and by making each fresh victory the instrument of that which followed, subdued the nations of the whole East." Now, with whatever fidelity to fact either he or Trogus may in general have written--for that they sometimes told lies is shown by other more trustworthy writers--yet it is agreed among other authors, that the kingdom of the Assyrians was extended far and wide by King Ninus. And it lasted so long, that the Roman empire has not yet attained the same age; for, as those write who have treated of chronological history, this kingdom endured for twelve hundred and forty years from the first year in which Ninus began to reign, until it was transferred to the Medes. But to make war on your neighbors, and thence to proceed to others, and through mere lust of dominion to crush and subdue people who do you no harm, what else is this to be called than great robbery?

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput VI: De cupiditate Nini regis, qui ut latius dominaretur primus intulit bella finitimis.

Iustinus, qui Graecam uel potius peregrinam Trogum Pompeium secutus non Latine tantum, sicut ille, uerum etiam breuiter scripsit historiam, opus librorum suorum sic incipit: principio rerum gentium nationumque imperium penes reges erat, quos ad fastigium huius maiestatis non ambitio popularis, sed spectata inter bonos moderatio prouehebat. populi nullis legibus tenebantur, arbitria principum pro legibus erant; fines imperii tueri magis quam proferre mos erat; intra suam cuique patriam regna finiebantur. primus omnium Ninus rex Assyriorum ueterem et quasi auitum gentibus morem noua imperii cupiditate mutauit. hic primus intulit bella finitimis et rudes adhuc ad resistendum populos ad terminos usque Libyae perdomuit. et paulo post: Ninus, inquit, magnitudinem quaesitae dominationis continua possessione firmauit. domitis igitur proximis cum accessione uirium fortior ad alios transiret et proxima quaeque uictoria instrumentum sequentis esset, totius orientis populos subegit. qualibet autem fide rerum uel iste uel Trogus scripserit - nam quaedam illos fuisse mentitos aliae fideliores litterae ostendunt - , constat tamen et inter alios scriptores regnum Assyriorum a Nino rege fuisse longe lateque porrectum. tam diu autem perseuerauit, ut Romanum nondum sit eius aetatis. nam sicut scribunt, qui chronicam historiam persecuti sunt, mille ducentos et quadraginta annos ab anno primo, quo Ninus regnare coepit, permansit hoc regnum, donec transferretur ad Medos. inferre autem bella finitimis et in cetera inde procedere ac populos sibi non molestos sola regni cupiditate conterere et subdere, quid aliud quam grande latrocinium nominandum est?