[72]
Come now, compare with those men the life of Publius Sulla, well known as it is to you and
to all the Roman people; and place it, O judges, as it were before your eyes. Has there ever
been any act or exploit of his which has seemed to any one, I will not say audacious, but even
rather inconsiderate? Do I say any act? Has any word ever fallen from his lips by which any
one could be offended? Yes, even in that terrible and disorderly victory of Lucius Sulla, who
was found more gentle or more merciful than Publius Sulla? How many men's wives did he not
save by begging them of Lucius Sulla! How many men are there of the highest rank and of the
greatest accomplishments, both of our order and of the equestrian body, for whose safety he
laid himself under obligations to Lucius Sulla! whom I might name, for they have no objection;
indeed they are here to countenance him now, with the most grateful feelings towards him. But
because that service is a greater one than one citizen ought to be able to do to another, I
entreat of you to impute to the times the fact of his having such power, but to give him
himself the credit due to his having exerted it in such a manner.
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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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