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[21]
Another law was proposed, that men who had been condemned of violence and treason
may appeal to the public if they please. Is this now a law, or rather an
abrogation of all laws? For who is there at this day to whom it is an object
that that law should stand? No one is accused under those laws; there is no one
whom we think likely to be so accused. For measures which have been carried by
force of arms will certainly never be impeached in a court of justice. But the
measure is a popular one. I wish, indeed, that you were willing to promote any
popular measure; for, at present, all the citizens agree with one
mind and one voice in their view of its bearing on the safety of the republic.
What is the meaning, then, of the eagerness to pass the law which brings with it
the greatest possible infamy, and no popularity at all? For what can be more
discreditable than for a man who has committed treason against the Roman people
by acts of violence, after he has been condemned by a legal decision, to be able
to return to that very course of violence, on account of which he has been
condemned?
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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