“I did not wish therefore to go to Rome, because higher gains and higher dignities were warranted me by my friends who persuaded me to this (though even these things had at that time an influence over my mind).”

I sought Rome not for the Lord but for the applause of men who promised me rank. I let their vanity steer me when my soul trembled, thinking dignity was a ladder and forgetting it is often just a trap set by those who fear silence more than they love truth.