[172]
It would
therefore have been too bad to break my word and abandon fellow-creatures and
fellow-citizens in misfortune. Had I declined on oath, a private excursion to
Macedonia would have been neither
decent nor safe. Except for my strong desire to liberate those men, may I die
miserably before my time1 if any reward would have induced me to accept an embassy
with these men as my colleagues. I proved that by twice excusing myself when you
twice appointed me to the third embassy, and also by my constant opposition to
them on this journey.
1 The Greek phrase, which occurs also at the end of the De corona, suggests by its jingle the formula of some curse, but cannot be well reproduced in English.
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