[37]
As to Tiberius Gracchus,
when he began to stir up revolution against the
[p. 149]
republic,1 we saw him utterly deserted by Quintus
Tubero and by the friends of his own age. And
yet Gaius Blossius of Cumae, a protégé of your
family,2 Scaevola, came to me to plead for leniency,
because I was present as adviser to the consuls,
Laenas and Rupilius,3 and offered, as a reason for
my pardoning him, the fact that his esteem for
Tiberius Gracchus was so great he thought it was
his duty to do anything that Tiberius requested him
to do. Thereupon I inquired,“Even if he requested
you to set fire to the Capitol?” “He never would
have requested me to do that, of course,” said he,
“but if he had I should have obeyed.” You see
what an impious remark that was! And, by heavens!
he did all that he said he would do, or rather even
more; for he did not follow, but he directed, the
infatuation of Tiberius Gracchus, and he did not
offer himself as the comrade in the latter's fury,
but as the leader. And so, as a result of his madness,
being in fear of the special court of inquiry, he fled
into Asia, joined our enemies, and paid a heavy
and righteous penalty4 for his crimes against the
Republic.
Therefore it is no justification whatever of your
sin to have sinned in behalf of a friend; for, since
his belief in your virtue induced the friendship, it
is hard for that friendship to remain if you have
forsaken virtue.
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