60.
Certainly, I suppose I was anxious for violence, who, as long as there was
any violence going on, did nothing whatever, and who could not possibly have
been undermined and injured if it had not been for violence.
[128]
Was I to regret such a recall as this, which was
so honourable to me that I am almost afraid of seeming to have left the city
from a covetousness of glory, in order to return in such a manner? For what
citizen except me did the senate ever recommend to the protection of foreign
nations? For whose safety except mine did the senate ever publicly return
thanks to the allies of the Roman people? I am the only person concerning
whom the conscript fathers ever decreed that whoever went in command to any
of the provinces, whoever were quaestors or lieutenants, were to take care
of my safety and my life. Mine is the only cause since the foundation of the
city in which every one who had any regard for the safety of the republic
was summoned to Rome from every
part of Italy, by letters written
by the consuls in obedience to a resolution of the senate. That which the
senate never once decreed at a time of peril to the entire republic, they
thought it necessary to decree for the preservation of my individual safety.
Who was ever more regretted in the senate house? who was ever
more lamented in the forum? who was ever so much missed in the courts of
justice? At, and in consequence of my departure, every place immediately
became deserted, melancholy, mute, full of grief and lamentation. What spot
is there in all Italy in which
there is not imprinted on the public monuments some proof of the zeal of the
people for my safety, some testimony to my worth?
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.