[94]
Oh how empty all my thoughts! When as
tribune of the people, when the republic was oppressed, I had devoted myself
to the senate, which, when I came into office, was utterly extinct; and to
the Roman knights, whose power was enfeebled, and to the virtuous part of
the citizens, who had given up all their authority under the arms of
Clodius; could I ever have thought that I should fail to find protection
from the citizens? When I had restored you” (for he very
frequently converses with me and addresses me) “to your country,
could I ever suppose that I myself should have no place in my country? Where
now is the senate which we followed? where are those Roman knights, those
knights,” says he, “so devoted to you? where is the zeal
of the municipal towns? where is the voice of Italy? what, above all, has
become of that voice of yours, O Marcus Tullius, which has been an
assistance to many; what has become of your voice and defensive eloquence?
am I the only person whom it is unable to help, I who have so often exposed
myself to death for your sake?”
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