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[35]
The only. 1
excuse, therefore, for going to war is that we may
live in peace unharmed; and when the victory is
won, we should spare those who have not been
blood-thirsty and barbarous in their warfare. For2
instance, our forefathers actually admitted to full
rights of citizenship the Tusculans, Aequians, Volscians, Sabines, and Hernicians, but they razed
Carthage and Numantia to the ground. I wish they
had not destroyed Corinth; but I believe they had
some special reason for what they did—its convenient situation, probably—and feared that its very
location might some day furnish a temptation to
renew the war. In my opinion, at least, we should
always strive to secure a peace that shall not admit
of guile. And if my advice had been heeded on
this point, we should still have at least some sort of
constitutional government, if not the best in the
world, whereas, as it is, we have none at all.
Not only must we show consideration for those
whom we have conquered by force of arms but we
must also ensure protection to those who lay down
their arms and throw themselves upon the mercy of
our generals, even though the battering-ram has
hammered at their walls. And among our countrymen justice has been observed so conscientiously in
[p. 39]
this direction, that those who have given promise of
protection to states or nations subdued in war become,
after the custom of our forefathers, the patrons of
those states.
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