[146]
If this is not enough, because all this appears to be defaced by my return;
it were better—it were far better, I say, for me, O judges, to
fall back again into the same misfortune as before, than to bring such
calamity on my defenders and preservers. Would it be possible for me to
remain in this city after those men have been driven away from it, who alone
enabled me again to enjoy this city? I cannot do so—it will not be
possible for me, O judges,—nor shall this boy, who now, by his
tears, shows how great his filial affection is, ever behold me in safety if
he loses the presence of his father on account of his kindness to me; nor
shall he, as often as he sees me, groan, and say that he beholds a man who
has been the ruin of himself and of his father. I, in every fortune,
whatever may befall me, will cling to you; nor shall any
fortune ever separate me from those men whom you, O judges, behold in
mourning apparel for my sake. Nor shall those nations to whom the senate
recommended me, and to whom it gave thanks for their treatment of me, ever
see this man as an exile on account of his conduct to me, without seeing me
as his companion.
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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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