7.
Since, therefore, you now know who wish Marcus Fonteius to be attacked, and who wish him to
be defended, decide now what your own regard for equity, and what the dignity of the Roman
people requires; whether you prefer trusting your colonists, your traders, your most friendly
and ancient allies, and consulting their interests, or the interests of those men, whom, on
account of their passionate disposition, you ought not to trust; on account of their
disloyalty you ought not to honour.
[16]
What, if I produce also
a still greater number of most honourable men to bear testimony to this man's virtue and
innocence? Will the unanimity of the Gauls still be of more weight than that of men of such
great authority? When Fonteius was governor of Gaul,
you know, O judges, that there were very large armies of the Roman people in the two Spains,
and very illustrious generals. How many Roman knights were there, how many military tribunes,
how many ambassadors came to them! what eminent men they were, and how frequently did they
come! Besides that, a very large and admirably appointed army of Cnaeus Pompeius wintered in
Gaul while Marcus Fonteius was governor. Does not
Fortune herself appear to have intended that they should be a sufficient number of
sufficiently competent witnesses of those things which were done in Gaul while Marcus Fonteius was praetor? Out of all that number
of men what witness can you produce in this cause? Who is there of all that body of men whose
authority you are willing to cite? We will use that very man as our panegyrist and our
witness.
[17]
Will you doubt any longer, O judges, that that
which I stated to you at the beginning is most true, that there is another object in this
prosecution, beyond causing others, after Marcus Fonteius has been overwhelmed by the
testimonies of these men, from whom many contributions have been exacted, greatly against
their will, for the sake of the republic, to be for the future more lax in governing, when
they see these men attacked, who are such men that, if they are crushed, the empire of the
Roman people cannot be maintained in safety
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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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