Laudator Temporis Acti

Cicero, Philippics 4.5.12-13 (tr. Walter C.A. Ker):

For the issue is, not on what terms we shall live, but whether we are to live at all, or perish in torture and ignominy. Nature has indeed appointed death for all men, yet against a death of cruelty and dishonour, valour, the native possession of the Roman race and lineage, ever affords a defence. Hold fast, I beseech you, to that which your ancestors have bequeathed you, as it were an heirloom. For while all things else are false and uncertain, perishable and shifting, valour alone is planted with the deepest roots; by no force can it be shaken or removed from its place.

agitur enim non qua condicione victuri, sed victurine simus an cum supplicio ignominiaque perituri. quamquam mortem quidem natura omnibus proposuit, crudelitatem mortis et dedecus virtus propulsare solet, quae propria est Romani generis et seminis. hanc retinete, quaeso, quam vobis tamquam hereditatem maiores vestri reliquerunt. nam cum alia omnia falsa, incerta sint, caduca, mobilia, virtus est una altissimis defixa radicibus; quae numquam vi ulla labefactari potest, numquam demoveri loco.

seminis codd.: nominis Ernesti