[103]
For if those men
who, on account of indolence, are living in tranquillity, still take pleasure in their own
base indolence; you, if in the calm quiet with which you govern fortune, you think such a
condition as you enjoy better, should maintain it diligently; not as one that has been
acquired by laziness, but as one that has been earned by virtue. 1 And I, by the
unanimity which I have established between myself and my colleague, have provided against
those men whom I knew to be hostile to my consulship both in their dispositions and actions.
I have provided against everything; and I have sought to recall those men to their loyalty. I
have also given notice to the tribunes of the people, to try no disorderly conduct while I am
consul. My greatest and firmest support in our common fortunes, O Romans, will be, if you for
the future behave, for the sake of it, to the republic in the same manner as you have this
day behaved to me in this most numerous assembly, for the sake of your own safety. I promise
you most certainly, and pledge myself to manage matters so that they who have envied the
honours which I have gained, shall at last confess, that in selecting a consul you all showed
the greatest possible foresight.
1 This and the next sentence are given up as corrupt by every one. Many different readings have been proposed; and I have endeavoured to extract what appears to have been Cicero's meaning from them, keeping as closely as possible to the text of Orellius.
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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