[19]
Let
then, judges, this name of poet, this name which no barbarians even have ever disregarded, be
holy in your eyes, men of cultivated minds as you all are. Rocks and deserts reply to the
poet's voice; savage beasts are often moved and arrested by song; and shall we, who have been
trained in the pursuit of the most virtuous acts, refuse to be swayed by the voice of poets?
The Colophonians say that Homer was their citizen; the Chians claim him as theirs; the
Salaminians assert their right to him; but the men of Smyrna loudly assert him to be a citizen
of Smyrna, and they have even raised a temple to him in their city. Many other places also
fight with one another for the honour of being his birth-place.
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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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