[15]
These men I except, and I willingly set apart from the
rest; for I do not think that they should be classed in the number of worthless citizens, but
in that of the most bitter enemies. But, as for the rest, O ye immortal gods! in what crowds,
with what zeal, with what virtue do they agree in defence of the common dignity and safety.
Why should I here speak of the Roman knights? who yield to you the supremacy in rank and
wisdom, in order to vie with you in love for the republic,—whom this day and this
cause now reunite with you in alliance and unanimity with your body reconciled after a
disagreement of many years. And if we can preserve for ever in the republic this union now
established in nay consulship, I pledge myself to you that no civil and domestic calamity can
hereafter reach any part of the republic. I see that the tribunes of the
treasury—excellent men—have united with similar zeal in defence of the
republic, and all the notaries. 1 For as
this day had by chance brought them in crowds to the treasury, I see that they were diverted
from an anxiety for the money due to them, from an expectation of their capital, to a regard
for the common safety.
1 The notaries at Rome were in the pay of the state; they were chiefly employed in making up the public accounts. In the time of Cicero it seems to have been lawful for any one to obtain the office of scriba by purchase, (see Cic. in Verr. 2.79,) and freedmen and their sons frequently availed themselves of this privilege.
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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