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[5]
And from this calamity Caesar has delivered the
republic by his own individual prudence (and, indeed, there were no other means
by which it could have been done). And if he had not been born in this republic
we should, owing to the wickedness of Antonius, now have no republic at all.
For this is what I believe, this is my deliberate opinion, that if that one young
man had not checked the violence and inhuman projects of that frantic man, the
republic would have been utterly destroyed. And to him we must, O conscript
fathers (for this is the first time, met in such a condition, that, owing to his
good service, we are at liberty to say freely what we think and feel), we must,
I say, this day give authority, so that he may be able to defend the republic,
not because that defense has been voluntarily undertaken by him, but also
because it has been entrusted to him by us.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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