“But unless you,” says
 he, “had undertaken his cause, he would never have resisted me, but would have fled without
 saying a word in his defence.” Even if I were to grant to you that Quintus Hortensius, being a
 man of such wisdom as he is, and that all these men of high character, rely not on their own
 judgment but on mine; if I were to grant to you, what no one can believe, that these men would
 not have countenanced Publius Sulla if I had not done so too; still, which is the king, he whom
 men, though perfectly innocent, cannot resist, or he who does not abandon men in misfortune? But
 here too, though you had not the least occasion for it, you took a fancy to be witty, when you
 called me Tarquin, and Numa, and the third foreign king of Rome. I won't say any more about the
 word king; but I should like to know why you called me a foreigner. For, if I am such, then it
 is not so marvellous that I should be a king,—because, as you say yourself, foreigners have
 before now been kings at Rome,—as that a foreigner should be a consul at Rome. “This is what I mean,” says he, “that you come from a municipal town.” I confess that I do, and I add, that I come from that municipal town from
 which salvation to this city and empire has more than once proceeded. But I should like
 exceedingly to know from you, how it is that those men who come from the municipal towns appear
 to you to be foreigners. For no one ever made that objection to that great man, Marcus Cato the
 elder, though he had many enemies, or to Titus Coruncanius, or to Marcus Curius, or even to that
 great hero of our own times, Caius Marius, through many men envied him. In truth, I am
 exceedingly delighted that I am a man of such a character that, when you were anxious to find
 fault with me, you could still find nothing to reproach me with which did not apply also to the
 greater part of the citizens. 
 But still, on account of your great friendship and intimacy, I think it well to remind you of
 this more than once—all men cannot be patricians. If you would know the truth, they do not all
 even wish to be so; nor do those of your own age think that you ought on that account to have
 precedence over them. And if we seem to you to be foreigners,
 we whose name and honours have now become familiar topics of conversation and panegyric
 throughout the city and among all men, how greatly must those competitors of yours seem to be
 foreigners, who now, having been picked out of all Italy, are contending with you for honour and
 for every dignity! And yet take care that you do not call one of these a foreigner, lest you
 should be overwhelmed by the votes of the foreigners. For if they once bring their activity and
 perseverance into action, believe me they will shake those arrogant expressions out of you, and
 they will frequently wake you from sleep, and will not endure to be surpassed by you in honours,
 unless they are also excelled by you in virtue.