[56]
And, indeed, Milo was never so
utterly unprepared for his violence, as not to be nearly sufficiently
prepared. He was always aware how greatly it concerned the interest of
Publius Clodius that he should be slain, how greatly he hated him, and how
great was his daring. Wherefore, he never exposed his life to danger without
some sort of protection and guard, knowing that, it was threatened, and that
a large price, as it were, was set upon it.
Add to this consideration all the chances; add the always uncertain result of
a battle, and the common fortune of Mars, who often overthrows the man who
is already exulting and stripping his enemy, and strikes him to the ground
by some mean agent; add the blundering conduct of a leader who had dined and
drank, and who was yawning and drowsy; who, when he had left his enemy cut
off in the rear, never thought of his companions on the outskirts of his
train; and then when he fell among them inflamed with anger, and despairing of saving the life of their master, he fell on that punishment
which the faithful slaves inflicted on him as a retribution for their
master's death. Why, then, has Milo emancipated 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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