[35]
O ye immortal gods! what a difference is there between the minds and ideas of men!
So may your good opinion and that of the Roman people approve of my intentions, and
sanction my hopes for the rest of my life, as I have received those offices with
which the Roman people has as yet entrusted me with the feeling that I was bound to
a conscientious discharge of every possible duty. I was appointed quaestor with the
feeling that that honour was not given to me so much as lent and entrusted to me. I
obtained the quaestorship in the province of Sicily, and considered that every man's eyes were turned upon me
alone. So that I thought that I and my quaestorship were being exhibited on some
theatre open to the whole world; so that I denied myself all those things which seem
to be indulgences, not merely to those irregular passions, but even those which are
coveted by nature itself and by necessity.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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