[21]
That was not the cause, O judges, it
was not indeed why Pompeius thought an investigation ought to be proposed by
him; but being a man wise and endowed with lofty and almost divine
intellect, he saw many things, that Clodius was his personal enemy, Milo his
intimate friend; he feared that if he were to rejoice in the common joy of
all men the belief in his reconciliation with Clodius would be weakened. He
saw many other things, too, but this most especially,—that in
whatever terms of severity he proposed the motion, still you could decide
fearlessly. Therefore he selected the very lights of the most eminent ranks
of the state. He did not, indeed as some are constantly saying, exclude my
friends in selecting the tribunal; for neither did that most just man think
of this, nor, when he was selecting good men, could he have managed to do
so, even had he wished for my influence would not be limited by my
intimacies which can never be very extensive, because one cannot associate
habitually with many people, but, if we have any influence, we have it on
this account, because the republic has associated us with the virtuous; and
when he was selecting the most excellent of them, and as he thought that it
especially concerned his credit to do so, he was unable to avoid selecting
men who were well disposed towards me.
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