[97]
Who then are they? Every good man. If you ask what are their numbers, they
are innumerable. For if they were not, we could not stand. They are the
chief men of the public council; they are those who follow their school they
are the men of the highest orders of the state to whom the senate house is
open; they are the citizens of the municipal towns and Roman citizens who
dwell in the country; they are men engaged in business; there are even some
freedmen of the best party. The number, as I have said, of
this party is widely scattered in various directions; but the entire body
(to prevent all mistakes) can be described and defined in a few words. All
men belong to the best party, who are not guilty of any crime, nor wicked by
nature, nor madmen, nor men embarrassed by domestic difficulties. Let it be
laid down, then, that these men (this race, as you call them) are all those
who are honest and in their senses, and who are well off in their domestic
circumstances. Those who are guided by their wishes, who consult their
interests and opinions in the management of the republic, are the partisans
of the best men, and are themselves accounted best men, most wise and most
illustrious citizens, and chief men in the state.
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