4.
Wherefore your kindness towards us is so much the greater, in that you restored us not to a
multitude of relations, but to ourselves.
[9]
But, as I had no relations, since I could not make them for
myself, to stand forward and avert my misfortune by their entreaties, on the other hand, (and
that was no more than my virtue was entitled to procure for me,) I had so many men to urge and
promote my restoration, that in the number of them and in the credit derivable from their
numbers I far exceeded all those who had previously had a similar fate. Never was there any
mention made in the senate of Publius Popillius, a most illustrious and gallant citizen; nor
of Quintus Metellus, a most noble, wise, and consistent man; nor even of Caius Marius, the
guardian of your state and of your empire.
[10]
Those, my
predecessors in this fortune, were recalled by motions proceeding from the tribunes, and by no
authority of the senate. But Marius was not only not restored by the senate, but through the
ruin of the senate; nor was it the recollection of his mighty deeds that availed to further
the return of Caius Marius, but his own arms and his warlike preparations. But in my case the
senate always requested that its authority might prevail; and it brought about my effectual
recall the very first moment that it was practicable, by the numbers in which it assembled,
and by its legitimate authority. There were no commotions of municipal cities or colonies on
their return. But as for me, all Italy three times recalled me by its decrees back to my
country. They were restored after their enemies had been slain, and after a great slaughter of
the citizens had taken place; I was brought back when those men by whom I had been driven out
had obtained provinces, having as one of my enemies a most excellent and humane man, who, as
one of the consuls, himself seconded the motion for my recall; and after my chief enemy, who
had lent his voice to the common enemies of the country in order to injure me, was alive only
as far as breathing went, but in reality was thrust down below even the dead.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1856.
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