[118]
So that, if I am forced
to say anything of the reasons which they have given for their sentences, I shall say it with
these feelings, that I shall wish everything that I say considered as having reference not to
their individual conduct in particular, but to the whole principle of the censorial
animadversion. But from Lentulus, my intimate friend, who out of regard for his eminent virtue
and for the high honours which he has received from the Roman people, is named by me to do him
honour, I shall easily obtain this indulgence, that, as he himself is always accustomed to
employ the greatest good faith and diligence in matters affecting the safety of his friends,
and also the greatest vigour of mind and freedom of speech, so, in this instance, he will not
be offended with me for taking as much freedom my self, as I cannot forbear to take without
danger to my client. But, everything shall be said by me carefully and deliberately, as indeed
it ought to be, so that I shall not appear to have betrayed the cause entrusted to my good
faith for its defence, nor to have injured the dignity of any one, nor to have disregarded any
of the claims of friendship.
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
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.