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| Marcus Tullius Cicero Post reditum in senatu IntraText CT - Text |
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| XIV. 34 I did not choose, after I had as
consul maintained the general safety of the state without having recourse to
arms, to take arms as a private individual in my own cause; I preferred that
virtuous men should grieve for my fortune rather than despair of their own; and
if I were slain by myself; that I thought would be a shameful end for me; but
if I were slain with many others, that I thought would be fatal to the
republic. If I had supposed that eternal misery was before me, I would rather
have endured death than everlasting agony. But I felt sure that I should not be
absent from this city any longer than the constitution itself was, and, while
that was banished, I thought it no longer desirable for myself that I should
remain in it; and in accordance with my expectation, as soon as ever the constitution
was restored, it brought me back in triumph as its companion. The laws were all
banished as well as I, the courts of justice were banished as well as I; the
prerogatives of the magistrates, the authority of the senate, the liberty of
the citizens, even the fruitfulness of the land, all piety and all religion,
whether it was with respect to men or gods, were all banished from the state
when I was banished. And if they had been lost to you for ever, I should mourn
over your fortunes rather than regret the loss of my home amongst you; but if
they were ever restored, I was quite sure that I should be enabled to return
with them. 35 And of these feelings of mine, he who was the protector of my life is also my most indisputable witness, namely Cnaeus Plancius, who, disregarding all the distinctions and emoluments which might have been derived from a province, devoted his whole quaestorship to supporting and preserving me. If he had been my quaestor when I was commander-in-chief; he would have stood in the relation of a son to me; now he surely shall be looked upon by me as a parent, since he has been my quaestor, not while in authority, but in grief. 36 Wherefore, O conscript fathers, since I have been restored to the republic at the same time with the constitution of the republic, in whatever I do for the defence of it, I will not only not in the slightest degree abridge my former liberty, but I will even increase it. |
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