You have not to war against an enemy with whom it is possible to make
peace on any terms whatever. For he does not now desire your slavery, as
he did before, but he is angry now and thirsts for your blood. No sport
appears more delightful to him than bloodshed and slaughter and the
massacre of citizens before his eyes. You have not, O Romans, to deal
with a wicked and profligate man, but with an unnatural, and savage
beast. And since he has fallen into a well let him be buried in it. For
if he escapes out of it there will be no inhumanity of torture which it
will be possible to avoid. But he is at present hemmed in, pressed, and
besieged by those troops which we already have, and will soon be still
more so by those which in a few days the new consuls will levy. Apply
yourselves then to this business, as you are doing. Never have you shown
greater unanimity in any cause, never have you been so cordially united
with the Senate. And no wonder: for the question now is not in what
condition we are to live, but whether we are to live at all, or to
perish with torture and ignominy.
Pages:
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244