According to Sallust, who had himself once been thrashed in public by the husband of a woman he was horsing around with, the Romans became weak and morally flabby once thismetus hostilisor fear of foreigners had been eradicated.

据塞勒斯特说，他曾经在公众面前被重创他调戏过的女人的丈夫打了他罗马变得虚弱不堪，道德也不再原来，这种对外国人的恐惧已经被彻底消除了。