[24]
In truth, if I have not only taken on myself the enmity of, but have declared
and waged open war against those men who wished to destroy all these things
with fire and sword; though some of them were my own personal acquaintances,
and some had been saved on capital trials through my defence of them; why
should not the same republic which was able to make me hostile to my
friends, be able also to reconcile me to my enemies? What reason had I for
hating Publius Clodius, except that I thought him likely to prove a
mischievous citizen to my country, inasmuch as, inflamed by the most
infamous lust, he trampled under foot by one crime two most holy
considerations, religion and chastity? Is it, therefore, doubtful from these
actions, which he has done and which he is doing every day, that I in
opposing him was consulting the interests of the republic more than my own
tranquillity; but that some others, who defended him, thought more of their
own ease than they did of the peace of the community?
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1891.
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