[23]
Oh, in the name of good faith, of gods,
and men! he who once refused to make a gain of three hundred thousand sesterces—for he certainly both could and would have earned three
hundred thousand sesterces if Dionysia 1 can earn two hundred thousand,—did
he seek to acquire fifty thousand by the greatest dishonesty, and wickedness and
treachery? And that sum was immense, this trifling; that was honourable, this sordid;
that was pleasant, this bitter; that would have been his own, this must have been stated
on an action and a trial. In these last ten years he might have earned six millions of
sesterces most honourably. He would not; he undertook the
labour entitled to gain, but refused the gain of his labour. He did not yet desist from
serving the Roman people; he has long since ceased to benefit himself.
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1 Dionysia was a celebrated dancer.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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