[6]
He says that it does not belong to the same severity of character, to have banished from the
city by words, and almost by express command, Catiline, when planning the destruction of the
republic within its very walls, and now to speak on behalf of Lucius Murena. But I have always
willingly acted the part of lenity and clemency which nature itself has taught me but I have
not sought the character of severity and rigour, but I have supported it when imposed upon me
by the republic as the dignity of this empire required at the time of the greatest peril to
the citizens. But if then, when the public required vigour and severity, I overcame my nature,
and was as severe as I was forced to be not as I wished to be; now, when all causes invite me
to mercy and humanity, with what great zeal ought I to obey my nature and my usual habits? and
concerning my duty of defending, and your method of prosecuting, perhaps I shall have again to
speak in another part of my speech.
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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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