[82]
And as this is the case, I will succumb, O
Laterensis, to your accusation; and in that very particular in which there
cannot by any possibility be any excess,—namely, in gratitude, I
will confess that I have gone to excess, since you insist upon it that it is
so. And I will entreat you, O judges, to bind that man to you by a kindness,
in whom the only fault that those who blame him find with him is that they
accuse him of being immoderately grateful. And that ought not to prevail
with you so as to make you think lightly of my gratitude, when he said that
you were neither guilty men nor litigious men, so that there was the less
reason for your allowing me any great influence over you: as if in my
intercourse with my friends I did not always prefer that these abilities of
mine (if indeed I have any abilities) should be at the service of my
friends, rather than they should become necessary to them. In truth, I do
venture to say this of myself, that my friendship has been a pleasure to
more men than those to whom it has been a protection; and I should greatly
repent of my past life; if there was no room in my friendship for any one
who was not either a litigious person or a guilty one.
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