[141]
He could not possibly (although the insolence of power
had elated his mind, and although he was armed by nature with incredible
audacity) fail to blunder in his proceedings, or to keep constantly making
mistakes, especially when he had a priest and teacher who was compelled to
teach before he had learnt himself. There is great power, not only in the
divinity of the immortal gods, but also in the republic itself. When the
immortal gods saw the guardian and protector of their temples driven away in
a most wicked manner, they were unwilling to quit their temples and to
remove into his house. Therefore they alarmed the mind of that most
insensible man with fear and anxiety. But the republic, although that was
banished at the same time with myself, was still constantly present to the
eyes of its destroyer, and from his excited and kindled frenzy was
constantly demanding my restoration and its own. What marvel then is it, if
he, urged on by the insanity of fear and drawn on headlong by wickedness,
was neither able properly to perform the ceremonies which he had begun, nor
to utter one single word in due order with proper solemnity?
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1891.
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