7.
[15]
And now that this is settled, the approach to the contest for this dignity, which was the
second part of the accusation, is more easy to me. I see that there is in you, O Servius
Sulpicius, the greatest dignity of birth, of integrity, of industry, and of all the other
accomplishments which a man ought to rely on when he offers himself as a candidate for the
consulship. I know that all those qualities are equal in Lucius Murena, and so equal that he
can neither be surpassed in worth by you, nor can himself surpass you in worth. You have
spoken slightingly of the family of Lucius Murena, you have extolled your own; but if you
dwell on this topic so as to allow no one to be considered as born of a good family, unless he
be a patrician, you will compel the common people again to secede to the Aventine Hill. 1 But if there are honourable and considerable families among the
plebeians,—both the great-grandfather of Lucius Murena, and his grand-father, were
praetors; and his father, when he had triumphed most splendidly and honourably for exploits
performed in his praetorship, left the steps towards the acquisition of the consulship more
easy, because that honour which was due to the father was demanded by the son.
[16]
But your nobility, O Servius Sulpicius, although it is most eminent yet it is known rather
to men versed in literature and history, but not much so to the people and to the voters. For
your father was in the rank of the knights, your grandfather was renowned for no conspicuous
action. So that the recollection of your nobility is to be extracted not from the modern
conversation of men, but from the antiquity of annals. So that I also am accustomed to class
you in our number, because you by your own virtue and industry, though you are the son of a
Roman knight, have yet earned the being considered worthy of the very highest advancement. Nor
did it ever seem to me that there was less virtue in Quintus Pompeius, a new man and a most
brave man, than in that most high-born man, Marcus Aemilius. Indeed, it is a proof of the same
spirit and genius, to hand down to his posterity, as Pompeius did, an honourable
name, which he had not received from his ancestors; and, as Scaurus did, to renew the
recollection of his family which was almost extinct.
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