[8]
You have subdued nations, savage in their barbarism, countless in their
numbers, boundless, if we regard the extent of country peopled by them, and
rich in every kind of resource; but still you were only conquering things,
the nature and condition of which was such that they could be overcome by
force. For there is no strength so great that it cannot be weakened and
broken by arms and violence. But to subdue one's inclinations, to master
one's angry feelings, to be moderate in the hour of victory, to not merely
raise from the ground a prostrate adversary, eminent for noble birth, for
genius, and for virtue, but even to increase his previous dignity,
—they are actions of such a nature, that the man who
does them, I do not compare to the most illustrious man, but I consider
equal to God.
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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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