[77]
Wherefore, if Titus Annius, holding
in his hand a bloody sword, had cried out “Come hither, I beg of
you, and listen to me, O citizens: I have slain Publius Clodius; with this
sword and with this right hand I have turned aside from your necks the
frenzied attacks of that man whom we were unable to restrain by any laws, or
by any judicial proceedings whatever; by my single efforts has it been
brought to pass that right and equity, and laws, and liberty, and modesty,
and chastity remain in this city;” would there in truth have been
any reason to fear in what manner the city would receive this announcement?
For now, as it is, who is there who does not approve of what has been done?
who does not praise it? who does not both say and feel that of all men to
whom recollection can reach back, Titus Annius has done the republic the
greatest service; that of all men he has diffused the greatest joy among the
Roman people, and over the whole of Italy, and throughout all nations? I
cannot form a conception of what would have been the old-fashioned joy of
the Roman people. Already our age has seen many, and those most illustrious
victories, won by consummate generals; but not one of them has brought with
it a joy that either lasted so long or that was so excessive while it did
last.
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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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