[39]
But, now, why should I speak against the people of Gades, when the very thing which I am
defending is sanctioned by their desire, by their authority, and by a
deputation which they have sent hither on purpose? For they, from the very
first beginning of their existence as a separate people, and of their
republic, have turned all their affections from zeal for the
Carthaginians and eagerness in their cause, to the upholding of our empire
and name. And accordingly, when the Carthaginians were waging most
tremendous wars against us, they excluded them from their city, they pursued
them with their fleets, they repelled them with their personal exertions,
and with all their resources and power. They have at all times considered
that phantom of a treaty made by Marcius as more inviolable than any
citadel; and by this treaty and by that of Catulus, and by the authority of
the senate, they have considered themselves as most intimately connected
with us. Their ambition, and our ancestors' wish, has been, that their
walls, their temples, their lands, should be the boundaries of the Roman
name and Roman empire, as Hercules wished them to be of his journeys and of
his labours.
This text is part of:
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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