[11]
The people has decided wrongly. Still it has
decided. It ought not to have decided so. Still it had the power. I will not
bear it. But many most illustrious and wise citizens have borne it. For this
is the inalienable privilege of a free people, and especially of this the
chief people of the world, the lord and conqueror of all nations, to be able
by their votes to give or to take away what they please to or from any one.
And it is our duty,—ours, I say, who are driven about by the winds
and waves of this people, to hear the whims of the people with moderation,
to strive to win over their affections when alienated from us, to retain
them when we have won them, to tranquilize them when in a
state of agitation. If we do not think honours of any great consequence, we
are not bound to be subservient to the people; if we do strive for them,
then we must be unwearied in soliciting them.
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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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