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For there
can be a “war” without a “tumult,” but
there can not be a “tumult” without a
“war.” For what is a “tumult,” but such
a violent disturbance that an unusual alarm is engendered by it? from which
indeed the name “tumult”1 is derived. Therefore, our ancestors spoke of
the Italian “tumult,” which was a domestic one; of the
Gallic “tumult,” which was on the frontier of Italy; but they never spoke of any other. And
that a “tumult” is a more serious thing than a war may be
seen from this, that during a war exemptions from military service are valid;
but in a tumult they are not. So that it is the fact, as I have said, that war
can exist without a tumult, but a tumult can not exist without a war.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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