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Sulla as consul carried on a civil war; he led his legions into the city and
expelled whomsoever he chose; he slew those whom he had in his power: there was
no mention made of any supplication. The violent war with Octavius followed.
Cinna the conqueror had no supplication voted to him. Sulla as imperator revenged the victory of Cinna, still no
supplication was decreed by the senate. I ask you yourself, O Publius Servilius,
did your colleague send you any letters concerning that most lamentable battle
of Pharsalia? Did he wish you to make any motion about a supplication? Certainly
not. But he did afterward when he took Alexandria; when he defeated Pharnaces; but for the battle of
Pharsalia he did not even celebrate a triumph. For that battle had destroyed
those citizens whose, I will not say lives, but even whose victory might have
been quite compatible with the safety and prosperity of the state.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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