[2]
But if by chance there had existed at any time any detractor from this service, any enemy of
this virtue, and envier of this renown, still I thought that Lucius Flaccus would have to
encounter the judgment of an ignorant mob, (with no real danger, indeed,) rather than that of
most wise and carefully chosen men. I never, indeed, imagined that any one would bring danger
upon, or devise plots against, his fortunes, by means of those very men, by whose influence,
and under whose protection, the safety, not only of all the citizens, but even of all nations,
was at that time defended and preserved. And if it was fated ever to happen that any one
should devise mischief to Lucius Flaccus, still I never thought, O judges, that Decimus
Laelius, the son of a most virtuous man, himself a man of the fairest expectations and of the
highest dignity, would adopt an accusation which is more suitable to the hatred and madness of
wicked citizens than to his virtue and to the training of his early years. Indeed, as I had
often seen well-founded enmities with citizens who had deserved well of their country, laid
aside by the most illustrious men, I did not think that any friend of the republic, after the
affection of Lucius Flaccus had been thoroughly tried, would take up a fresh quarrel against
him without having received any injury.
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