[17]
And even this must not be neglected by you, which I had proposed to myself as the last thing
to be mentioned, when I was to speak of the kind of war, for it concerns the property of many
Roman citizens; whom you, as becomes your wisdom, O Romans, must regard with the most careful
solicitude. The publicans, 1 most honourable and
accomplished men, have taken all their resources and all their wealth into that province; and
their property and fortunes ought, by themselves, to be an object of your special care. In
truth, if we have always considered the revenues as the sinews of the republic, certainly we
shall be right if we call that order of men which collects them, the prop and support of all
the other orders.
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1 It has been said before that the publicans were taken almost exclusively from the equestrian order.
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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