[13]
For what difference is there between the
special case where Cornelius,1 the tribune of the
people, is charged with reading the text of a proposed law, and the general question whether it is
lése-majestè for a magistrate himself to read the
law which he proposes to the people; what does it
matter whether we have to decide whether Milo was
justified in killing Clodius, or whether it is justifiable to kill a man who has set an ambush for his
slayer, or a citizen whose existence is a danger to
the state, even though he has set no such ambush?
What difference is there between the question
whether it was an honourable act on the part of
Cato to make over Marcia to Hortensius, or whether
such an action is becoming to a virtuous man? It is
on the guilt or innocence of specific persons that
judgement is given, but it is on general principles
that the case ultimately rests.
1 See IV. iv. 8; v. xiii. 26; VI. v. 10; II. iii. 3, 35.
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