[102]
From which, O Romans, it may be
easily understood that there is nothing so popular, as that which I, the consul of the
people, am this year bringing to you; namely, peace, tranquillity and ease. All the things
which when we were elected you were afraid might happen, have been guarded against by my
prudence and caution. You not only will enjoy ease,—you who have always wished for
it; but I will even make those men quiet, to whom our quiet has been a source of annoyance.
In truth, however, power, riches, are accustomed to be acquired by them out of the tumults
and dissensions of the citizens. You, whose interest consists in the votes of the people,
whose liberty is based on the laws, whose honours depend on the courts of justice and on the
equity of the magistrates, and whose enjoyment of your properties depends on peace, ought to
preserve tranquillity by every means.
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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