[13]
And whenever these things do take
place, their effect has been to cause popular or high-born men to be relieved from
punishment or exile; still, not by the very men who have passed the sentences;
still, not instantly; still, not if they have been convicted of those crimes which
affected the lives and property of all the citizens. Still this is an utterly
unprecedented step, and of such a character as to appear credible rather from
consideration of who the criminal is, than from consideration of the case itself
That a man should have released slaves; that that very man who had sentenced them
should release them; that he should release them, in a moment, out of the very jaws
of death, that he should release slaves convicted of a crime which affected the life
and existence of every free man—
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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