mortification which the
strictness of my consulship had branded in upon all the worst. And it is
once more I--for I do not feel as if I were boasting vaingloriously when
speaking of myself to you, especially in a letter not intended to be
read by others--it was I once more, I say, who revived the fainting
spirits of the loyalists, cheering and encouraging each personally.
Moreover, by my denunciations and invectives against those corrupt
jurors I left none of the favourers and supporters of that victory a
word to say for themselves. I gave the consul Piso no rest anywhere, I
got him deprived of Syria, which had been already plighted to him, I
revived the fainting spirit of the senate and recalled it to its former
severity. I overwhelmed Clodius in the senate to his face, both in a set
speech, very weighty and serious, and also in an interchange of
repartees, of which I append a specimen for your delectation. The rest
lose all point and grace without the excitement of the contest, or, as
you Greeks call it, the [Greek: agon]. Well, at the meeting of the
senate on the 15th of May, being called on for my opinion, I spoke at
considerable length on the high interests of the Republic, and brought
in the following passage by a happy inspiration: "Do not, Fathers,
regard yourselves as fallen utterly, do not faint, because you have
received one blow. The wound is one which I cannot disguise, but which I
yet feel sure should not be regarded with extreme fear: to fear would
shew us to be the greatest of cowards, to ignore it the greatest of
fools. Lentulus was twice acquitted, so was Catiline, a third such
criminal has now been let loose by jurors upon the Republic. You are
mistaken, Clodius: it is not for the city but for the prison that the
jurors have reserved you, and their intention was not to retain you in
the state, but to deprive you of the privilege of exile. Wherefore,
Fathers, rouse up all your courage, hold fast to your high calling.
There still remains in the Republic the old unanimity of the loyalists:
their feelings have been outraged, their resolution has not been
weakened: no fresh mischief has been done, only what was actually
existing has been discovered. In the trial of one profligate many like
him have been detected."--But what am I about? I have copied almost a
speech into a letter. I return to the duel of words. Up gets our
dandified young gentleman, and throws in my teeth my having been at
Baiae. It wasn't