[47]
As we are speaking of law and of legal disputes between men, when in
these matters we speak of violence, a very little violence must be considered enough. I have
seen armed men—as few as you please—that is great violence. I departed,
being alarmed at the weapon of one individual; I was driven away and put to flight. If you
establish this rule, there will not only be no instance here after of any one wishing to have
a battle for the sake of possession, but there will be no instance even of any one resisting.
But if you refuse to think anything violence where there has been no slaughter, no wounding,
no bloodshed, then it will follow that men ought to be more anxious about establishing their
ownership, than about saving their lives.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1856.
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