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[13]
Although nature, indeed, has appointed death for all men: but valor is accustomed
to ward off any cruelty or disgrace in death. And that is an inalienable
possession of the Roman race and name. Preserve, I beseech you, O Romans, this
attribute which your ancestors have left you as a sort of inheritance. Although
all other things are uncertain, fleeting, transitory; virtue alone is planted
firm with very deep roots; it can not be undermined by any violence; it can
never be moved from its position. By it your ancestors first subdued the whole
of Italy; then destroyed Carthage, overthrew Numantia, and reduced the most mighty kings
and most warlike nations under the dominion of this empire.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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