[36]
It remains for me now to urge his natural disposition and his habits of life
in the defence of the one, and the very same things as an accusation against
the other. Clodius, I suppose, had never done anything by violence; Milo had
done everything by violence. What then shall I say, O judges? When, amid the
grief of all of you, I departed from the city, was I afraid of the result of
a trial? was I not afraid of slaves, and arms and violence? What, I pray
you, was the first ground of my restoration, except that I had been unjustly
driven out? Clodius, I suppose, had commenced a formal prosecution against
me; he had named a sum as damages; he had commenced an action for high
treason; and, I suppose too, I had cause to fear your decision in a cause
which was an unjust one, which was my own private cause, not one which was a
most righteous one, and which was, in reality, your cause, and not mine?
No,—I was unwilling that my fellow-citizens, who had
been saved by my prudence and by my own personal danger, should be exposed
to the arms of slaves and needy citizens and convicted malefactors.
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