[82]
Caesar has brought things to such a pass, that even if
the mountains were to sink down, and the rivers to be dried up, we should
still have Italy fortified, not
indeed, by the bulwarks of nature, but by his victory and great exploits.
But as he courts me, and loves me, and thinks me worthy of every sort of
praise, will you call me off from my enmity against you to a quarrel with
him? Will you thus reopen the past wounds of the republic by your
enormities? Which, indeed, you, who were well acquainted with the union
subsisting between Caesar and me, sought to elude, when you asked
me,—with trembling lips, indeed, but still you did ask
me,—why I did not proceed against you? Although, as far as I am concerned—“
Never shall you from care or pain be freed
By my denial,—
”1 still I must consider how much anxiety and how great a burden I, being exceedingly friendly to him, am imposing on him, while embarrassed with such important affairs of the republic, and with so formidable a war. Nor do I despair, though the youth of the city is indolent, and does not concern itself with the desire of praise and glory as it should, that there will be some men who will not be unwilling to stop this prostrate carcass of its consular spoils, especially in the case of so contemptible, and powerless, and helpless a criminal in the case of you who have behaved in such a manner that you have been afraid of appearing utterly unworthy of kindness, unless you showed yourself, in all respects, like the man by whom you were despatched into that province.
By my denial,—
”1 still I must consider how much anxiety and how great a burden I, being exceedingly friendly to him, am imposing on him, while embarrassed with such important affairs of the republic, and with so formidable a war. Nor do I despair, though the youth of the city is indolent, and does not concern itself with the desire of praise and glory as it should, that there will be some men who will not be unwilling to stop this prostrate carcass of its consular spoils, especially in the case of so contemptible, and powerless, and helpless a criminal in the case of you who have behaved in such a manner that you have been afraid of appearing utterly unworthy of kindness, unless you showed yourself, in all respects, like the man by whom you were despatched into that province.
