[39]
We are warned by the bravest man and most admirable consul who has ever
existed in the memory of man, to take care that the nearer Gaul be not decreed against our will to
any one after the election of those consuls who are now about to be elected,
and that it be not for the future occupied forever by these men who are the
constant attackers of this order, by some turbulent system of currying
favour with the mob. And although I am not indifferent to the evil
consequences of such a measure, O conscript fathers, especially when warned
of them by a consul of the greatest wisdom, and one who is an especial
guardian of peace and tranquillity, still I think that there is an evil to
be regarded with even more apprehension than that,—the evil, I
mean, of diminishing the honours of most illustrious and powerful citizens,
and rejecting their zeal for the maintenance of this order.
For even supposing that Caius Julius, having been distinguished by all sorts
of extraordinary and unprecedented honours by the senate, were compelled to
deliver up this province to one whom you would be very unwilling to see
there, still I cannot possibly be induced to suspect that be would deprive
that body of liberty by which he himself had the greatest glory conferred on
him. Lastly, what disposition every one will have I know not; I am aware
only of what my own hopes are. I, as a senator, am bound to take care, as
far as I can, that no illustrious or powerful man shall appear to have any
right to feel offended with this body.
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