[10]
But what death can be unjust when inflicted on a
secret plotter and robber?
What is the meaning of our retinues, what of our swords? Surely it would
never be permitted to us to have them if we might never use them. This,
therefore, is a law, O judges, not written, but born with
us,—which we have not learnt or received by tradition, or read,
but which we have taken and sucked in and imbibed from nature herself; a law
which we were not taught but to which we were made,—which we were
not trained in, but which is ingrained in us,—namely, that if our
life be in danger from plots, or from open violence, or from the weapons of
robbers or enemies, every means of securing our safety is honourable.
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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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