[92]
But I have said enough about the cause; and, perhaps, too much that was
foreign to the cause. What remains, except for me to pray and entreat you, O
judges, to show that mercy to a most gallant man, which he himself does not
implore; but which I, even against his will, implore and demand in his
behalf? Do not if amid the tears of all of us you have seen no tears shed by
Milo,—if you see his countenance always the same, his voice and
language steady and unaltered,—do not, on that account, be the
less inclined to spare him. I know not whether he does not deserve to be
assisted all the more on that account. In truth, if in battles
of gladiators, and in the case of men of the very lowest class and condition
and fortune, we are accustomed to dislike those who are timid and suppliant,
and who pray to be allowed to live, and if we wish to save those who are
brave and courageous, and who offer themselves cheerfully to death; and if
we feel more pity for those men who do not ask our pity, than for those who
entreat it; how much more ought we to nourish those feelings in the case of
our bravest citizens?
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1891.
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