[57]
But when with a rational spirit you have surveyed1
the whole field, there is no social relation among
them all more close, none more dear than that
which links each one of us with our country. Parents
[p. 61]
are dear; dear are children, relatives, friends; but
one native land embraces all our loves; and who that
is true would hesitate to give his life for her, if by
his death he could render her a service? So much
the more execrable are those monsters who have
torn their fatherland to pieces with every form of
outrage and who are2 and have been3 engaged in
compassing her utter destruction.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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