[19]
To me, of a truth, O Caesar, your
services towards me, immense as they are, would certainly not appear so great, if I thought that I had been preserved by you while
you considered me a wicked man. And how could you possibly have deserved
well of the republic, if you had wished so many wicked men to remain with
all their dignity unimpaired? Originally, O Caesar, you considered that as a
secession, not as a declaration of war; you considered it as a demonstration
not of hostile hatred, but of civil dissension, in which both parties
desired the safety of the republic, but some departed from measures
calculated for the general welfare out of an error of judgment, and some out
of party spirit. The dignity of the leaders was nearly on a par; but that of
those who followed them was perhaps not quite equal; the justice of the
cause, too, was at that time doubtful, because there was something on each
side which deserved to be approved of; but now that is unquestionably
entitled to be thought the better cause which even the gods assisted. But
now that your clemency is known; who is there who does not think well of
that victory, in which no one has fallen except those who fell with arms in
their hands?
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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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