[9]
There is, therefore, no pretence for your separating me from so numerous a company of most
honourable men. Duty is a plain thing, and the cause of all men is one and the same. You will
have no reason to marvel hereafter, whenever you see me on the same side as you observe these
men. For there is no side in the republic in which I have a peculiar and exclusive property.
The time for acting did belong more peculiarly to me than to the others but the cause of
indignation, and fear, and danger was common to us all. Nor, indeed, could I have been at that
time as I was the chief man in providing for the safety of the state if others had been
unwilling to be my companions. Wherefore it is inevitable that that which, when I was consul,
belonged to me especially above all other men, should, now that I am a private individual,
belong to me in common with the rest. Nor do I say this for the sake of sharing my
unpopularity with others, but rather with the object of allowing them to partake of my
praises. I will give a share of my burden to no one; but a share of my glory to
all good men.
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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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