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[8]
Although, what games or what days were ever more joyful than those on which at
every verse that the actor uttered, the Roman people did honor to the memory of
Brutus, with loud shouts of applause? The person of their liberator was absent,
the recollection of their liberty was present, in which the appearance of Brutus
himself seemed to be visible. But the man himself I beheld on those very days of
the games, in the country-house of a most illustrious young man, Lucullus, his relation, thinking of nothing
but the peace and concord of the citizens. I saw him again afterward at
Velia, departing from Italy, in order that there might be no pretext
for civil war on his account. Oh what a sight was that! grievous, not only to
men but to the very waves and shores. That its savior should be departing from
his country; that its destroyers should be remaining in their country! The fleet
of Cassius followed a few days afterward; so that I was ashamed, O conscript
fathers, to return into the city from which those men were departing. But the
design with which I returned you heard at the beginning, and since that you have
known by experience.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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