[9]
For what qualification is wanting in this man, that, if
he had it, we should consider that this liberty might lawfully be given and
allowed to him? Is it experience in affairs? a man who during
even the latter days of his childhood was beginning his course of the most
important wars and commands? most of whose equals in age have seen a camp
less frequently than he has celebrated a triumph? who has celebrated as many
triumphs as there are countries and parts of the world? who has won as many
victories in war as there are kinds of war in the nature of things? Is it
ability? when even the very results and terminations of transactions have
been, not the guides, but the companions of his counsels? a man in whom the
most extraordinary good fortune has so kept pace with extraordinary valour,
that, in the opinion of all men, more credit was due to the man than to the
goddess; Have modesty, or integrity, or religion, or diligence ever been
wanting in that man? a man than whom our provinces, and all free nations,
and all kings, and the very most distant people of the earth have not only
never seen one more chaste, more moderate, and more religious, but have
never in their hopes or wishes even imagined one.
This text is part of:
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.