4.
[9]
And as I did not only suspect these things, but clearly saw them, (for indeed there was no
secret made of what was being done,) I said in the senate that I would in this magistracy
prove a consul devoted to the interests of the people. For what is there so advantageous to
the people as peace? in which not only the animals to whom nature has given sense, but even
the houses and fields appear to me to rejoice. What is so advantageous to the people as
liberty? which is sought out and preferred to everything, not only by men, but even by the
beasts. What is so advantageous to the people as tranquillity? which is so delightful a
thing, that both you and your ancestors, and every brave man, thinks it worth his while to
encounter the greatest labours, in order at length to enjoy tranquillity, particularly if he
be a man in command, or a man of high rank. And we, therefore, are bound to give great praise
and to show great gratitude to our ancestors, because it is owing to their labours that we
are able to enjoy tranquillity without risk. How then can I avoid being devoted to the
interests of the people, O Romans, when I see all these things,—our peace abroad,
and the liberty which belongs to the Roman race and Roman name, and our domestic
tranquillity, and everything, in short, which is considered by you as valuable or honourable,
entrusted to the good faith, and, as it were, to the protection of my consulship?
[10]
And, O Romans, a promised liberality which, however you may be
encouraged by words to expect it, cannot be performed by any possible means without
exhausting the treasury, ought not to appear to you an agreeable measure, or one calculated
to promote your real interests. Nor are the disturbances of the courts of justice, and the
reversals of judicial decisions, and the restoration of convicted persons to be considered as
measures advantageous to the people; for they are rather the preludes to the total ruin of
cities whose affairs are already in a falling and almost desperate state. Nor, if any men
promise lands to the Roman people, or if they hold out to you, under false pretences, hopes
of such things, while in secret they are keeping entirely different objects in view, are they
to be thought devoted to the true interests of the people.
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