[134]
And when you saw this, then
you betook yourself to your kinsman,—not that he was selected by
you, but that he was left you by the rest. And yet I believe that
he,—if he is really descended from those men who, it is
traditionally reported, learnt their sacred ceremonies from Hercules
himself; after he had completed his labours,—would
not have been so cruel with respect to the distress of a brave man, as with
his own hands to place a tomb on the head of a man still living and
breathing; as he either actually said and did nothing at all, and bore this
as a punishment for the rashness of his mother, that he lent his presence
though mute, and his name to this sin; or, if he did say anything in a few
faltering words, and if he did touch the door-post with trembling hand, at
all events he did nothing regularly or solemnly, nothing according to proper
usages or established forms. He had seen Murena, his stepfather, the consul
elect in company with the Allobroges, bring to me when I was consul the
proofs of the conspiracy for the general destruction. He had heard from him
that he had twice received safety from me, once as an individual, and a
second time in common with the whole body of citizens.
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