Thursday, June 09, 2022
For What?
Cicero, Letters to Atticus 7.7.7 (Formiae, 19 (?) December 50; tr. D.R. Shackleton Bailey):
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'Better fight than be a slave', you say. For what? Proscription if you're beaten and if you win slavery just the same? What am I going to do then? What stray cattle do when they follow droves of their own species. As an ox follows the herd, so I shall follow the honest men or whoever may be called such, even if they plunge.
'depugna' inquis 'potius quam servias.' ut quid? si victus eris, proscribare, si viceris, tamen servias? 'quid ergo' inquis 'acturus es?' idem quod pecudes, quae dispulsae sui generis sequuntur greges; ut hos armenta, sic ego bonos viros aut eos quicumque dicentur boni sequar, etiam si ruent.
