he might have taken it, he was then stopped short by that speech and felt
a shudder of alarm.

"These, then are the deeds of Antony: he did not uselessly break a leg,
in order himself to escape, nor burn off a hand, in order to frighten
Porsenna, but by his cleverness and consummate skill he put an end to
the tyranny of Caesar better than any spear of Decius and better than the
sword of Brutus. [-20-] But you, Cicero, what did you effect in your
consulship, not to mention wise and good things, that was not deserving
of the greatest punishment? Did you not throw our city into uproar and
party strife when it was quiet and harmonious, and fill the Forum and
Capitol with slaves, among others, that you had called to your aid? Did
you not ruin miserably Catiline, who was overanxious for office, but
otherwise guilty of no violence? Did you not pitiably destroy Lentulus
and his followers, who were not guilty, not tried, and not convicted, in
spite of the fact that you are always and everywhere prating interminably
about the laws and about the courts? If any one should take these phrases
from your speeches, there is nothing left. You censured Pompey because
he conducted the trial of Milo contrary to legalized precedent: yet you
afforded Lentulus no privilege great or small that is enjoined in these
cases, but without a speech or trial you cast him into prison, a man
respectable, aged, whose ancestors had given many great pledges that he
would be friendly to his country, and who by reason of his age and his
character had no power to do anything revolutionary. What trouble did he
have that would have been cured by the change of condition? What blessing
did he possess that would not certainly be jeopardized by rebellion? What
arms had he collected, what allies had he equipped, that a man who had
been consul and was praetor should be so pitilessly and impiously cast
into a cell without being allowed to say a word of defence or hear a
single charge, and die there like the basest criminals? For this is what