[77]
And by all these measures it was brought about
that he was prevented from abiding by what was notoriously his own opinion,
while certain men had (I will not say wholly alienated his affections from
me, but had) checked his eagerness to be of assistance to me.
Did not Lucius Lentulus, who was at that time praetor, did not Quintus Sanga,
did not Lucius Torquatus the father, did not Marcus Lucullus come to you?
All of whom, and many others, had come to him, at his house on the Alban
Hill, to pray and entreat him not to desert my fortune, which was bound up
with the safety of the republic. And he sent those men to you and to your
colleague, that you might espouse the public cause, and submit a motion to
the senate. He said, that he was unwilling to enter into a contest with a
tribune of the people in arms, unless he had a public resolution on his
side; but that if the consuls were defending the republic in obedience to a
resolution of the senate, then he would take up arms.
This text is part of:
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1891.
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