[11]
I understand, O judges, that this whole accusation is divided into three parts, and that one
of them refers to find my fault with Murena's habits of life, another to his contest for the
dignity, and a third to charges of bribery and corruption. And of these three divisions, that
first which ought to have been the weightiest of all, was so weak and trifling, that it was
rather some general rule of accusing, than any real occasion for finding fault, which prompted
them to say anything about the way of life of Lucius Murena. For Asia has been mentioned as a
reproach to him, which was not sought by him for the sake of pleasure and luxury, but was
traversed by him in the performance of military labours; but if he while a young man had not
served under his father when general, he would have seemed either to have been afraid of the
enemy, or of the command of his father, or else to have been repudiated by his father. Shall
we say that, when all the sons who wear the praetexta
1 are accustomed to sit on the chariot of those who are celebrating a
triumph, this man ought to have shunned adorning the triumph of his father with military
gifts, so as almost to share his fathers triumph for exploits which they had performed in
common?
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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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