Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches — Volume 1 by Baron Thomas Babington Macaulay Macaulay
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page 19 of 216 (08%)
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in itself the worst evils of every other system, and combines
more than Athenian turbulence with more than Persian despotism?" "Good Gods! Caesar. It is not safe for you to speak, or for us to listen to, such things, at such a crisis." "Judge for yourselves what you will hear. I will judge for myself what I will speak. I was not twenty years old when I defied Lucius Sylla, surrounded by the spears of legionaries and the daggers of assassins. Do you suppose that I stand in awe of his paltry successors, who have inherited a power which they never could have acquired; who would imitate his proscriptions, though they have never equalled his conquests?" "Pompey is almost as little to be trifled with as Sylla. I heard a consular senator say that, in consequence of the present alarming state of affairs, he would probably be recalled from the command assigned to him by the Manilian law." "Let him come,--the pupil of Sylla's butcheries,--the gleaner of Lucullus's trophies,--the thief-taker of the Senate." "For Heaven's sake, Caius!--if you knew what the Consul said"-- "Something about himself, no doubt. Pity that such talents should be coupled with such cowardice and coxcombry. He is the finest speaker living,--infinitely superior to what Hortensius was, in his best days;-- a charming companion, except when he tells over for the twentieth time all the jokes that he made at Verres's trial. But he is the despicable tool of a despicable |
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