[9]
Or am I to be blamed because I did not
express an opinion condemnatory of both the consuls? Ought I then to condemn
those men, of all men in the world, by whose law it was brought about that
I, who had never been condemned and who had deserved well of the republic,
should be saved from enduring the punishment of condemned criminals? Was I,
of all men in the world, I who had been restored to my former dignity by
their means, to denounce by my expressed opinion the admirable sentiments of
those men, who, even if they had been in error, ought to have been borne
with by me and by all good men, on account of their exceeding good-will
displayed in ensuring my preservation? And what were the opinions which I
delivered? In the first place, that one which the common conversation of the
people had already previously fixed in our minds; in the second place, that
one which had been discussed in the senate on the preceding days; and
thirdly, that which the senate in a very full house adopted, expressing its
agreement with me; so that so sudden or novel proposition was brought
forward by me, and moreover, if there be any fault in the opinion, it is sot
more the fault of the individual who advanced it than of all those men who
approved of it.
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