I was induced, O judges, by the considerations of duty, good faith, and pity; by the
 example of many good men; by the ancient customs and habits of our ancestors, to think
 that I ought to take upon myself this burden of labour and duty, not for any purpose of
 my own, but in the time of need to my friends. In which business, however, this fact
 consoles me, O judges, that this pleading of mine which seems to be an accusation is not
 to be considered an accusation, but rather a defence. For I am defending many men, many
 cities, the whole province of Sicily . So that,
 if one person is to be accused by me, I still almost appear to remain firm in my
 original purpose, and not entirely to have given up defending and assisting men. But if I had this cause so deserving, so illustrious, and so important; if either the
 Sicilians had not demanded this of me, or I had not had such an intimate connection with
 the Sicilians; and if I were to profess that what I am doing I am doing for the sake of
 the republic, in order that a man endowed with unprecedented covetousness, audacity, and
 wickedness,—whose thefts and crimes we have known to be most enormous and most infamous,
 not in Sicily alone, but in Achaia , in Asia , in Cilicia , in Pamphylia , and even at Rome , before the eyes of all men,—should be brought to trial by my
 instrumentality, still, who would there be who could find fault with my act or my
 intention? What is there, in the name of gods and men! by which I can at the present moment confer
 a greater benefit on the republic? What is there which either ought to be more pleasing
 to the Roman people, or which can be more desirable in the eves of the allies and of
 foreign nations, or more adapted to secure the safety and fortunes of all men? The
 provinces depopulated, harassed, and utterly overturned; the allies and tributaries of
 the Roman people afflicted and miserable, are seeking now not for any hope of safety,
 but for comfort in their destruction.