[40]
12. Therefore let this law be established in
friendship: neither ask dishonourable things, nor
do them, if asked. And dishonourable it certainly
is, and not to be allowed, for anyone to plead in
defence of sins in general and especially of those
against the State, that he committed them for the
sake of a friend. For, my dear Fannius and Scaevola,
we Romans are now placed in such a situation that
it is our duty to keep a sharp look-out for the troubles
that may befall our State. Our political practice
has already swerved far from the track and course
[p. 153]
marked out for us by our ancestors.
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