[87]
Do not, in the name of the
immortal gods, O judges, deprive him not only of that office which he thought conferred
additional honour on him, and at the same time of all the honours which he had gained before,
and of all his dignity and fortune. And, O judges, what Lucius Murena is begging and
entreating of you is no more than this; that if he has done no injury unjustly to any one, if
he has offended no man's ears or inclination, if he has never (to say the least) given any one
reason to hate him either at home or when engaged in war, he may in that case find among you
moderation in judging, and a refuge for men in dejection, and assistance for modest merit. The
deprivation of the consulship is a measure calculated to excite great feelings of pity, O
judges. For with the consulship everything else is taken away too. And at such times as these
the consulship itself is hardly a thing to envy a man. For it is exposed to the harangues of
seditious men, to the plots of conspirators, to the attacks of Catiline. It is opposed
single-handed to every danger, and to every sort of unpopularity.
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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