1.
I see, O conscript fathers, that the looks and eyes of you all are turned towards me; I see
that you are anxious not only for your own danger and that of the republic, but even, if that
be removed, for mine. Your good-will is delightful to one amid evils, and pleasing amid
grief; but I entreat you, in the name of the immortal gods, lay it aside now, and, forgetting
my safety, think of yourselves and of your children. If indeed, this condition of the
consulship has been allotted to me, that I should bear all bitterness, all pains and
tortures, I will bear them not only bravely but even cheerfully, provided that by my toils
dignity and safety are procured for you and for the Roman people.
[2]
I am that consul, O conscript fathers, to whom neither
the forum in which all justice is contained, nor the Campus Martius, 1 consecrated to the consular assemblies, nor
the senate house, the chief assistance of all nations, nor my own home, the common refuge of
all men, nor my bed devoted to rest, in short, not even this seat of honour, this curule
chair has ever been free from the danger of death, or from plots and treachery. I have been
silent about many things, I have borne much, I have conceded much, I have remedied many
things with some pain to myself amid the alarm of you all. Now if the immortal gods have
determined that there shall be this end to my consulship that I should snatch you, O
conscript fathers, and the Roman people from miserable slaughter, your wives and children and
the vestal virgins from most bitter distress, the temples and shrines of the gods and this
most lovely country of all of us, from impious flames, all Italy from war and devastation,
then whatever fortune is laid up for me by myself it shall be borne. If, indeed, Publius
Lentulus, being led on by soothsayers believed that his name was connected by destiny with
the destruction of the republic, why should not I rejoice that my consulship has taken place
almost by the express appointment of fate for the preservation of the republic?
1 The Campus Martius was consecrated or restored to Mars after the expulsion of the Tarquins; the comitia centuriata at which all magistrates were created were held there.
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.
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