[79]
And when you have given due consideration to the fact
of his youth, then place also before your eyes, I entreat you, the old age
of his miserable father whom you see before you; whose whole dependence is
on this his only son; who reposes on the hopes which he has formed of him;
who fears nothing but the disasters which may befall him. Support, I pray
you, that old man, now a suppliant for your mercy, the slave of your power,
who while he throws himself at your feet, so appeals more strongly still to
your virtuous habits, and to your kind and right feelings; support him, I
say, moved either by the recollection of your own parents, or by the
affection with which you regard your own children, so as, while relieving
the misery of another, to yield to your own pious or indulgent dispositions.
Do not, O judges, cause this old man, who is already, by the silent progress
of nature, declining and hastening to his end, to fail prematurely through a
wound inflicted by you, before the day which his natural destiny has
appointed for him.
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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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