After Bacon, we go back in time to the fourth century. Here we meet Aurelius Augustine, the bishop of Hippo, and The City of God. Saint Augustine analyzes ambition through the prism of Christianity and condemns it.

Book five speaks of the ancient Roman ambition. In chapter xii, St. Augustine refers to Sallust, and explains that glory was what the Romans most ardently loved: they were greedy of praise, willing to sacrifice their great fortunes and even their lives for it. They built their temples of Virtue and Honor in close proximity, and their love of honor made them industrious and disciplined in their pursuit of liberation. Achieving freedom and banishing kings was not enough: ambition pushed them toward domination and they expanded their empire: Caesar waged wars so that his genius could shine forth, commanders fought bloody battles so that there would be occasion to display their valor – they made war a theater for glory. Virgil tells that while other nations dealt with art and astronomy, Romans controlled.

Sallust wonders how Rome, often outnumbered and under-resourced, achieved so much. It must have been not due to the collective virtue, which united only under an external threat, but by the excellence of a few eminent men. But Rome grew so vast and its sheer size and momentum masked the actions of corrupt leaders and the decline of the state.

Out of two great rivals – Marcus Cato and Julius Caesar – the former was the one who was closest to true virtue. Over time, the pure ambition of Romans, such as Cato’s – rooted in integrity – degenerated into the pursuit of glory by any means: intrigue, fraud, deceit. Rome moved from a people who sacrificed private wealth for public glory to a people who drained the state for private gain. Ambition gave way to greed and luxury; avarice brought about Rome’s downfall.

Ambition depends on the opinions of others. It cannot be a true virtue, since it relies on human judgment and not solely on conscience. Virtue should not be a means to honor, but honor should be the reward of virtue.