[14]
And that
tribuneship has already been spoken of by Quintus Hortensius in such a way
that his speech not only appears to contain a complete defence to every
count of the accusation, but would even be worth recollecting as laying down
admirable rules for the principles and system on which a man ought to
proceed in discharging the duties of a public office. But still since the
entire tribuneship of Publius Sestius did nothing but uphold my name and my
cause, I think it necessary for me, O judges, if not to discuss the whole
matter with precision at all events to speak of it in a tone of lamentation.
And if while speaking on this subject I were inclined to inveigh against some
men with something like severity, who would not make allowance for my
attacking those men with some freedom of expression by whose wickedness and
frenzy I had myself been injured? But I will proceed with moderation, and I
will be guided rather by what is suitable to the present time than to my
indignation. If there be any people who secretly are vexed at my safety, let
them conceal themselves; if there be any who have at any time done anything
against me and who now are silent and quiet, let us also forget it; if there
be any who are puffed up to behave insolently, and who still wish to attack
me, we will bear with them as far as they can be borne with, nor shall my
language offend any one except those who so put themselves in my way that I
shall appear not to have attacked them, but to have run accidentally against
them.
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.