In what a style he himself flutters through the forum, with his hair curled and perfumed,
 and with a great retinue of citizens, you yourselves behold, O judges; in truth you see
 how he despises every one, how he thinks no one a human being but himself, how he thinks
 himself the only happy, the only powerful man. But if I were to wish too mention what he
 does and what he attempts, O judges, I am afraid that some ignorant people would think
 that I wish to injure the cause of the nobility, and to detract from their victory;
 although I have a right to find fault if anything in that party displeases me. For I am
 not afraid that any one will suppose that I have a disposition disaffected to the cause of
 the nobility. They who know me, know that I, to the extent of my small and insignificant power, (when
 that which I was most eager for could not be brought about, I mean an accommodation
 between the parties) laboured to ensure the victory of that party which got it. For who
 was there who did not see that meanness was disputing with dignity for the highest
 honours? a contest in which it was the part of an abandoned citizen not to unite himself
 to those, by whose safety dignity at home and authority abroad would be preserved. And
 that all this was done, and that his proper honour and rank was restored to every one, I
 rejoice, O judges, and am exceedingly delighted; and I know that it was all done by the
 kindness of the gods, by the zeal of the Roman people, by the wisdom and government, and
 good fortune Cicero dwells on the felicitas of Sulla, because Felix was the
 name which Sulla himself assumed, priding himself especially on his good fortune.
 of Lucius Sulla. I have no business to find
 fault with punishment having been inflicted on those who laboured with all their energies
 on the other side; and I approve of honours having been paid to the brave men whose
 assistance was eminent in the transaction of all these matters. And I consider that the
 struggle was to a great extent with this object, and I confess that I shared in that
 desire in the part I took. But if the object was, and if arms were taken with the view of
 causing the lowest of the people to be enriched with the property of others, and of
 enabling them to make attacks on the fortunes of every one, and if it is unlawful not only
 to hinder that by deed, but even to blame it in words, then the Roman people seems to me
 not to have been strengthened and restored by that war, but to have been subdued and
 crushed. But the ease is totally different: nothing of
 this, O judges, is the truth: the cause of the nobility will not only not be injured if
 you resist these men, but it will even be embellished. 
 
 In truth, they who are inclined to find fault with this complain that Chrysogonus has so
 much influence; they who praise it, declare that he has not so much allowed him. And now
 it is impossible for any one to be either so foolish or so worthless as to say: “I wish it
 were allowed me, I would have said...” You may say... “I would have done...” You may do...
 No one hinders you. “I would have decreed...” “Decree, only decree rightly, every one will
 approve.” “I should have judged...” All will praise you if you judge rightly and properly.