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[18]
What will the man who murdered his friend in
this way, when he has an opportunity, do to an enemy? and if he did such a thing
as this for the fun of the thing, what do you think he will do when tempted by
the hope of plunder? Will he not again meet wicked men in the decuries? will he
not again tamper with those men who have received lands? will he not again seek
those who have been banished? will he not, in short, be Marcus Antonius; to
whom, on the occasion of every commotion, there will be a rush of all profligate
citizens? Even if there be no one else except those who are with him now, and
these who in this body now openly speak in his favor, will they be too small in
number? especially when all the protection which we might have had from good men
is lost, and when those men are prepared to obey his nod? But I am afraid, if at
this time we fail to adopt wise counsels, that that party will in a short time
appear too numerous for us.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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