[88]
I confess that it would have been a fine thing for the wicked to have been
conquered by the good, if I could have seen the end of the victory (which,
in truth I could not). For where should I have found to stand by me so brave
a consul as Lucius Opimius or as Caius Marius or as Lucius Flaccus? under
whom, as her leaders, the republic did put down wicked men with armed
citizens, or if I could not get men as fearless as those, yet where could I
find men as just as Publius Mucius, who, after Tiberius Gracchus had been
slain, defended Publius Scipio and asserted that the aims which he as a
private individual had taken up, had been taken up in strict accordance with
the law? We, then, should have had to fight with the consuls. I say no more,
except this one thing; I saw that there were formidable adversaries ready to
dispute the victory with us, and no one who would avenge us if we fell.
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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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