[183]
Wherefore, O
judges, I earnestly wish that I may appear for the last time in the character of an
accuser, in the case of this criminal, when I shall have given satisfaction to the
Roman people, and discharged the duty due to the Sicilians my client, and which I
have voluntarily undertaken. But it is my deliberate resolution, if the event should
deceive the expectation which I cherish of you, to prosecute not only those who are
particularly implicated in the guilt of corrupting the tribunal, but those also who
have in any way been accomplices in it. Moreover, if there be any persons, who in
the case of the criminal have any inclination to show themselves powerful, or
audacious, or ingenious in corrupting the tribunal, let them hold themselves ready,
seeing that they will have to fight a battle with us, while the Roman people will be
the judges of the contest. And if they know that, in the case of this criminal, whom
the Sicilian nation has given me for my enemy, I have been sufficiently energetic,
sufficiently persevering, and sufficiently vigilant, they may conceive that I shall
be a much more formidable and active enemy to those men whose enmity I have
encountered of my own accord, for the sake of the Roman people.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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