mer; nor was that fo afflicting to the Public, as was the Ruin of others; yet, O Romans! all these Differences were of fuch a Nature, as tended not to an Abolition, but an Alteration of our Government. The Authors did not intend that no Government fhould exift, but that they themselves should be leading Men in that which should prevail; they defired not to fee Rome in Flames, but themselves powerful in Rome. Yet were all these Differences, of which none tended to an Extinction of the State, of fuch a Nature, that they were determined, not by an Accommodation of Interests, but by a Maffacre of Citizens. But in this War, a War, the greatest and fierceft that any Age has known, fuch a War as even Barbarity itself never waged within its own Dominions, a War in which Lentulus, Catiline, Caffius, and Cethegus, made it a ruling Principle, that all who could reconcile their own Safety to that of the City, fhould be refused Quarter; in this War, O Romans! I have fo behaved myself, that you are all preferved untouched. And though your Enemies imagined, that there fhould remain but just as many Romans as fhould furvive unlimited Maffacre, and as much of Rome, as fhould be unincircled by Flames; yet have I prefer

ved

Perfons and City ftill untouched and

ved your unharmed.

FOR these mighty Events, O Romans! I demand of you no Reward of Virtue; no Badge of Distinction; no Monument of Glory: All I require is, the eternal Commemoration of this Day. In your Minds I defire that all my Triumphs, that all my Trophies of Glory, that all my Badges of Diftinction, fhould be reared and depofited. Whatever is without Expreffion, whatever without Utterance, whatever of this Kind, in fhort, that can be compaffed by Men of inferior Merit, has for me no Charms. In your Remembrance, O Romans! fhall my Actions be cherished, on your Tongues fhall they grow, and on your Records fhall they arrive at Age and Strength; and the fame Day, if I am not deceived, which brought Deliverance to this City, (which I hope will be eternal) shall transmit to all Pofterity the Remembrance of my Confulate; and that at the fame Period two Citizens lived under this Government, one who fixed the Limits of YOUR Empire, not to the Extent

of

• The Romans rewarded their Generals with Triumphs, Statues, and Sirnames taken from their Services: Thefe Cicera difdains.

Pompey the Great, who at this Time was carrying on the War against the Arabians, and other Nations. in the Eaft.

of Earth, but of Heaven; and one whe preserved the Habitation, and the Seat of that Empire.

BUT as the Fortune and Circumftances of my Actions are different from those of your Generals who conduct your foreign Wars, in as much as I muft live with those whom I have conquered and fubdued, while these leave their Enemies either dead or enthralled, it is your Bufinefs, O Romans! to take Care, that if the meritorious Actions of others are advantageous to them, mine may never prove detrimental to me. I have taken care that the guilty and flagitious Intentions of these presumptuous Wretches fhould not affect you; it is your Part to take care that they never may affect me. Yet, O my Countrymen never can my Enemies hurt my Perfon, Strong is the Protection of the Good, a Protection of which I am for ever affured; great is my Dignity in the Republic, my continual and filent Defender; and great the Power of Conscience, which whoever shall flight, muft betray themfelves, while they attempt to injure me.

SUCH

Cicero faw plainly that there were many Noblemen who favoured the Party of Catiline, who might afterwards revenge the Defeat of their Scheme on Cicero. This afterwards happened, and Cicero was banished, but restored in a little Time to his former Honours.

SUCH a Spirit, O Romans! is likewise in me, that not only will I bear up against all the Attempts of Audacity, but even provoke and attack all the Profligate themselves. But if the whole Force of domeftic Enemies, when repelled from you, shall be pointed against my fingle Perfon, it must belong to you, O Romans! to reflect, upon what Terms you put thofe, who for the future fhall for your Preservation expose themselves to Malignity and Danger of every Kind.

As for myself, what can I further acquire towards the Enjoyment of Life, especially as I fee no higher Step of Promotion either in Dignity flowing from you, or in Glory derived from Virtue; at least, none that I should wish to afcend. This, O Romans! will I certainly effect: In my private Capacity, I will protect and grace whatever I have acted in my Confu-. lar; that if Malice is incurred from preferving the State, it may prove hurtful to the Malicious, but conducive to my Glory. In fhort, I shall behave fo in the Republic, as ever to keep in Memory my paft Actions, and to take care that they may appear, not the Effects of Chance, but of Virtue. You, O my Countrymen!

2

fince

fince it is now Night, worship that Jove who is the Guardian of you and this City; retire to your Dwellings; and though the Danger is now repelled, yet fet the fame Watch and Ward over your Houses this Night, as you did the laft: That you may have no Occafion to do it longer, but be able hereafter to live in uninterrupted Peace, I, my good Countrymen, will take care.

THE