[21]
But the other did deceive many men in every point; for he was recommended to
men's favourable opinion by the fact of his high birth, which is of itself a
very powerful recommendation, for all virtuous men naturally look with
favour on noble birth, both because it is advantageous for the republic that
nobly born men should be worthy of their ancestors, and because the
recollection of men who are illustrious, and who have deserved well of the
republic, has its influence over us even after they are dead. And because
men saw him always morose, always taciturn, always neglectful of his
appearance and coarse-looking, and because his name was such that frugality
appeared a quality innate in his family, they favoured him, and rejoiced,
and in their hopes called him a man fashioned after the model of the
integrity of his ancestors, forgetting the family of his mother.
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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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