[10]
Indeed, if my intimacy with you had prevented my appearing in this cause, and if the same
thing had happened to Quintus Hortensius and Marcus Crassus, most honourable men, and to
others also by whom I know that your affection is greatly esteemed, the consul elect would
have had no defender in that city in which our ancestors intended that even the lowest of the
people should never want an advocate. But I, O judges, should think myself wicked if I had
failed my friend,—cruel if I had failed one in distress,—arrogant if I had
failed the consul. So that what ought to be given to friendship shall be abundantly given by
me, so that I will deal with you, O Servius, as if my brother, who is the dearest of all men
to me, stood in your place. What ought to be given to duty, to good faith, to religion, that I
will so regulate as to recollect that I am speaking contrary to the wish of one friend to
defend another friend from danger.
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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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