M. Tullius Cicero, On the Consular Provinces
C. D. Yonge, Ed.

Was not, I should like to know, was not that great man Marcus Lepidus, who was twice consul, and also Pontifex Maximus, praised not only by the evidence of men's recollection, but also in the records of our annals, and by the voice of an immortal poet, because on the day that he was made censor, he immediately in the Campus Martius reconciled himself to Marcus Fulvius his colleague a man who was his bitterest enemy in order that they might perform their common duty devolving on them in the censorship with one common feeling and union of good will? [21] And to pass over ancient instances, of which there is no end, did not your own father, O Philippus, did not he become reconciled at one and the same time with all his greatest enemies? to all of whom the same attachment to the republic now reconciled him which had previously separated him from them. [22] I pass over many instances because I see before me these lights and ornaments of the republic Publius Servilius and Marcus Lucullus; would that that great man, Lucius Lucullus, were still alive! What enmities were ever more bitter in this city that those which subsisted between the Luculli and the Servilii? But in those most gallant men the welfare of the republic, and their own dignity, not only put an end to that ill-feeling, but even changed it into friendship and intimacy. What? did not Quintus Metellus Nepos while consul in the temple of the all good and all powerful Jupiter, influenced by your authority and also by the incredible dignity of eloquence of that same Publius Servilius, become reconciled to me though I was far away, and do me the greatest possible service? Is it possible for me to be an enemy to this man, by whose letters, by whose glory, and by whose messengers my ears are every day saluted with previously unknown names of tribes, and nations, and places? [23] I burn, believe me, O conscript fathers, (as indeed you do believe of me, and as you feel yourselves,) with an incredible love for my country; which love compelled me formerly to encounter most terrible dangers which were hanging over it, at the risk of my own life; and again, when I saw every sort of weapon aimed from all quarters against my country, drove me to put myself in their way, and to expose myself singly to their blows on behalf of the whole body of citizens. And this, my ancient and perpetual disposition towards the republic, now reunites and reconciles me to and unites me in friendship with Caius Caesar. In short, let men think what they please; it is impossible for me to be other than a friend to one who deserves; well of his country.