[67]
Why did you not act
in this manner? Why was that pirate so concealed as if it were impiety to behold
him? Why did you not execute him? For what object did you reserve him? Have you ever
heard of any captain of pirates having been taken prisoner before, who was not
executed? Tell me one original whose conduct you imitated; tell me one precedent.
You kept the captain of the pirates alive in order, I suppose, to lead him in your
triumph in front of your chariot. For, indeed, there was nothing wanting but for the
naval triumph to be decreed to you on the occasion of a most beautiful fleet of the
Roman people having been lost, and the province plundered.
This text is part of:
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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