[78]
Do you think that the judges will be the less inclined to do anything for my
sake, because you accuse me of gratitude? Or, when the senators themselves,
in that resolution of the senate which was passed in the monument of
Marius,1 in which my safety was recommended to all nations,
returned thanks to Plancius alone, (for he was the only defender of my
safety, of all the magistrates or vice-magistrates, to whom the senate
thought it proper to return thanks on my behalf,) shall I think that I
myself am not bound to show my gratitude to him? And when you see all these
things, what do you suppose must be my feelings towards you, O Laterensis?
Do you think that there is any danger, or any labour, or any
contest of so arduous a nature that I would shun it if it could advance not
only your safety, but even your dignity? And I am so much the more, I will
not say miserable, (for that is an expression which is inconsistent with the
character of a virtuous man) but severely tried not because I am under
obligations to many people, (for gratitude for kindness received is a very
light burden) but because circumstances often happen, on account of the
quarrels of some men who have deserved well of me with one another which
make me fear that it is impossible for me to appear grateful to them all at
the same time.
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1 The decree for Cicero's return was passed in a temple built by Marius, and called on that account Marius' monument, and this was a circumstance that had specially delighted Cicero, as being in accordance with a dream of his when he first left Rome, in which he fancied that Marius had appeared to him, and had ordered his lictor to conduct him to his monument, telling him that he should find safety there. Vide Cic. de Divin. i. 28.
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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