[24]
The highest dignity is in those men who excel in military glory. For all things which are in
the empire and in the constitution of the state, are supposed to be defended and strengthened
by them. There is also the greatest usefulness in them, since it is by their wisdom and their
danger that we can enjoy both the republic and also our own private possessions. The power of
eloquence also is no doubt valuable and full of dignity, and it has often been of influence in
the election of a consul to be able by wisdom and oratory to sway the minds of the senate and
the people, and those who decide on affair. A consul is required who may be able sometimes to
repress the madness of the tribunes, who may be able to bend the excited populace, who may
resist corruption. It is not strange, if, on account of this faculty, even men who were not
nobly born have often obtained the consulship; especially when this same quality procures a
man great gratitude, and the firmest friendship, and the greatest zeal in his behalf; but! of
all this there is nothing, O Sulpicius, in your profession.
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
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.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.