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[10] But what death can be unjust when inflicted on a secret plotter and robber?

What is the meaning of our retinues, what of our swords? Surely it would never be permitted to us to have them if we might never use them. This, therefore, is a law, O judges, not written, but born with us,—which we have not learnt or received by tradition, or read, but which we have taken and sucked in and imbibed from nature herself; a law which we were not taught but to which we were made,—which we were not trained in, but which is ingrained in us,—namely, that if our life be in danger from plots, or from open violence, or from the weapons of robbers or enemies, every means of securing our safety is honourable.


M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1891.

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  • Cross-references to this page (8):
    • Harper's, Redarius
    • A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), CAL´CEUS
    • A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), DICTA´TOR
    • A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), FLAMEN
    • A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), PAE´NULA
    • A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), REDA
    • A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), REX
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LANU´VIUM
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