III. 5 But when, by the singular and
admirable virtue of Publius Lentulus the consul, you began on the first of
January to see light arising in the republic out of the clouds and darkness of
the preceding year,—when the great reputation of Quintus Metellus, that most
noble and excellent man, and the virtue and loyalty of the praetors, and of
nearly all the tribunes of the people, had likewise come to the aid of the
republic,—when Cnaeus Pompeius, the greatest man for virtue, and glory, and
achievements that any nation or any age has ever produced, the most illustrious
man that memory can suggest thought that he could again come with safety into
the senate,—then your unanimity with respect to my safety was so great that my
body only was absent, my dignity had already returned to this country. 6 And that month you were able to
form an opinion as to what was the difference between me and my enemies. I
abandoned my own safety, in order to save the republic from being (for my sake)
stained with the blood of the citizens; they thought fit to hinder my return,
not by the votes of the Roman people, but by a river of blood. Therefore, after
those events, you gave no answers to the citizens, or the allies, or to kings;
the judges gave no decisions; the people came to no vote on any matter; this
body issued no declarations by its authority; you saw the forum silent the
senate-house mute, the city dumb and dispirited. 7 And then, too, when he had gone
away, who, being authorized by you, had resisted murder and conflagration, you
saw men rushing all over the city with sword and firebrand; you saw the houses
of the magistrates attacked, the temples of the gods burnt, the faces of a most
admirable man and illustrious consul burnt, the holy person of a most fearless
and virtuous officer, a tribune of the people, not only laid hands on and
insulted, but wounded with the sword and killed. And by that murder some
magistrates were so alarmed, that partly out of fear of death, partly out of
despair for the republic, they in some degree forsook my cause; but others
remained behind, whom neither terror, nor violence, nor hope, nor fear, nor
promises, nor threats, nor arms, nor firebrands, could influence so as to make
them cease to stand by your authority, and the dignity of the Roman people, and
my safety.
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