[8]
First, I say that it is the duty of a virtuous senator at all times to attend
the senate; and I do not agree with those who determine that they themselves
will not come to the senate at unfavourable seasons, and who do not
understand that this excessive obstinacy of theirs is exceedingly pleasant
and acceptable to those men whose wishes they intend to counteract.
“But some departed out of fear, because they thought that they
could not remain with safety in the senate.” I do not name them,
nor do I ask whether they had any real reason for fearing anything. I
imagine that every one had a right to form his own opinion as to what
grounds he had for fear. Do you ask why I was not afraid? Why, because it
was known that you had gone away. Do you ask why, when some good men thought
that they could not remain with safety in the senate, I did not think so
too? or why, when I thought that it was impossible for me to remain in the
city at all with safety, they did not think so too? Are then others to be
allowed, and rightly enough, to have no fear for themselves at a time when I
am in danger; and yet am I bound to be afraid not only when I am myself in
peril, but when others are also?
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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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