[7]
Nor is it possible for me, knowing, as I do, that I have been made
consul, not by the zeal of the powerful citizens, nor by the preponderating influence of a
few men, but by the deliberate judgment of the Roman people, and that, too, in such a way as
to be preferred to men of the very highest rank, to avoid, both in this magistracy and
throughout my whole life, devoting myself to the interests of the people.
When, however, I speak of the interests of the people, I have great need of your wisdom in
giving the proper meaning and interpretation to this expression. For there is a great error
abroad, by reason of the treacherous pretences made by some people, who, though they oppose
and hinder not only the advantage but even the safety of the people, still endeavour by their
speeches to make men believe them zealous for the interests of the people.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1856.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
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.