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[29]
O ye immortal gods! how great an enterprise is it to uphold the character of a
leader in the republic; for it requires one to be influenced not merely by the
thoughts but also by the eyes of the citizens. To take to one's house the
ambassador of an enemy, to admit him to one's chamber, even to confer apart with
him, is the act of a man who thinks nothing of his dignity, and too much of his
danger. But what is danger? For if one is engaged in a contest where every thing
is at stake, either liberty is assured to one if victorious, or death if
defeated; the former of which alternatives is desirable, and the latter some
time or other inevitable. But a base flight from death is worse than any
imaginable death.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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