me. The senate entrusted
the defence of the republic to Caius Marius and Lucius Valerius, the
consuls; Lucius Saturninus, a tribune of the people, and Caius Glaucia
the praetor, were slain. On that day, all the Scauri, and Metelli, and
Claudii, and Catuli, and Scaevolae, and Crassi took arms. Do you think
either those consuls or those other most illustrious men deserving of
blame? I myself wished Catiline to perish. Did you who wish every one
to be safe, wish Catiline to be safe? There is this difference, O
Calenus, between my opinion and yours. I wish no citizen to commit
such crimes as deserve to be punished with death. You think that, even
if he has committed them, still he ought to be saved. If there is
anything in our own body which is injurious to the rest of the body,
we allow that to be burnt and cut out, in order that a limb may be
lost in preference to the whole body. And so in the body of the
republic, whatever is rotten must be cut off in order that the whole
may be saved. Harsh language! This is much more harsh, "Let the
worthless, and wicked and impious be saved, let the innocent, the
honourable, the virtuous, the whole republic be destroyed." In the
case of one individual, O Quintus Fufius, I confess that you saw more
than I did. I thought Publius Clodius a mischievous, wicked, lustful,
impious, audacious, criminal citizen. You, on the other hand, called
him religious, temperate, innocent, modest; a citizen to be preserved
and desired. In this one particular I admit that you had great
discernment, and that I made a great mistake. For as for your saying
that I am in the habit of arguing against you with ill-temper, that
is not the case. I confess that I argue with vehemence, but not with
ill-temper. I am not in the habit of getting angry with my friends
every now and then, not even if they deserve it. Therefore, I can
differ from you without using any insulting language, though not
without feeling the greatest grief of mind. For is the dissension
between you and me a trifling one, or on a trifling subject? Is it
merely a case of my favouring this man, and you that man? Yes; I
indeed favour Decimus Brutus, you favour Marcus Antonius; I wish a
colony of the Roman people to be preserved, you are anxious that it
should be stormed and destroyed.

VI. Can you deny this, when you interpose every sort of delay
calculated to weaken Brutus, and to improve the position of Antonius?
For how long will you keep on sayi