[33]
“He has
at times,” says he, “said some very harsh
things.” Perhaps he may have spoken rather freely. “But
that speaking freely, as you term it,” says he, “is not
to be borne.” Are then those men to be borne who complain that
they cannot bear the freedom of a Roman knight? Where are our old customs?
Where is our equality of privileges? Where is that ancient liberty, which,
having been overwhelmed by civil disasters, ought by this time to be raising
its head and to be at last recovered and assuming a more erect attitude
again? Need I recount the abuse directed by the Roman knights against even
the noblest men, or that of the harsh, ferocious, unbridled expressions of
the farmers against Quintus Scaevola, a man superior to all others in
genius, justice, and integrity?
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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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