[18]
And, before I approach the law of the case and the cause of Cornelius, it
seems to me desirable to say a little about the common condition of all of
us, for the sake of deprecating the malevolence of any one. If, O judges,
whatever may be the rank in which any one is born or whatever the station in
which he is placed by birth in respect of fortune that same station he ought
to maintain to his old age, and if all men whom either fortune has raised or
whom their own labour or industry has ennobled, are to be visited with
punishment, then there does not appear to have been a more severe law or
condition of life imposed on Lucius Cornelius than on many other virtuous
and gallant men. But if the virtue and genius and humanity of many men,
though born in the meanest class of life, and in the lowest degree of
fortune, has not only obtained them friendship and a plentiful
estate, but has gained them also the greatest praise and honour and glory
and dignity, then I cannot understand why envy should be more prompt to
attack Lucius Cornelius, than your justice should to come to the assistance
of his modesty.
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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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