[2]
And if those days on which we are preserved are not less
pleasant to us, or less illustrious, than those on which we are born, because the joy of
being saved is certain, the good fortune of being born uncertain, and because we are born
without feeling it, but we are preserved with great delight; yes; since we have, by our
affection and by our good report, raised to the immortal gods that Romulus who built this
city, he, too, who has preserved this city, built by him, and embellished as you see it,
ought to be held in terror by you and your posterity; for we have extinguished flames which
were almost laid under and placed around the temples and shrines, and houses and walls of the
whole city; we have turned the edge of swords drawn against the republic, and have turned
aside their points from your throats.
This text is part of:
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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