And if I had no other duty before me for all the rest of my life, except to appear
 sufficiently grateful to the very originators and prime movers and authors of my safety, still
 I should think the period that remains to me of life too brief; I will not say for requiting,
 but even for enumerating the kindnesses which have been shown to me. For, when shall I, or
 when will all my relations, be able to show proper gratitude to this man and to his children?
 What memory, what force of genius, what amount of deference and respect will be a fit return
 for such numerous and immense services? He was the first man who held out to me the promise
 and faith of a consul when I was overwhelmed and miserable; he it was who recalled me from
 death to life, from despair to hope, from destruction to safety. His affection for me, his
 zeal for the republic, was so great, that he kept thinking how he might not only relieve my
 calamity, but how he might even make it honourable. For what could be more honourable, what
 could happen to me more creditable, than that which you decreed on his motion, that all people
 from all Italy, who desired the safety of the republic, should come forward for the sole
 purpose of supporting and defending me, a ruined and almost broken-hearted man? So that the
 senate summoned the citizens and the whole of Italy to come from all their lands and from
 every town to the defence of one man, with the very same force of expression which had never
 been used but three times before since the foundation of Rome, and at those times it was the
 consul who used it in behalf of the entire republic, addressing himself to those only who
 could hear his voice. What could I leave to my posterity more glorious than the fact, that
 the senate had declared its judgment that any citizen who did not defend me, did not desire
 the safety of the republic? Therefore your authority, and the preeminent dignity of the
 consul, had this great effect, that every one thought that he was committing a shameful crime
 if he did not come to that summons. And this same consul, when that incredible multitude, when
 Italy itself I might almost say, had come to Rome, summoned you repeatedly to the Capitol; and
 at that time you had an opportunity of seeing what great power excellence of natural
 disposition and true nobleness have. For Quintus Metellus, himself an enemy of mine, and a
 brother of an enemy of mine, as soon as he was assured of your inclinations, laid aside his
 own private dislike to me and allowed Publius Servilius, a most illustrious man,
 and also a most virtuous one, and a most intimate friend of my own, to recall him, by what I
 may call the divine influence of his authority and eloquence, to the exploits and virtues of
 his race and of their common family, so as to take to his counsels his brother, in the shades
 below, the companion of my fortunes, and all the Metelli, those most admirable citizens,
 summoning them as it were from Acheron; and among them the great conqueror of Numidia, whose
 departure from his country formerly seemed grievous to all the citizens, but scarcely even
 vexatious to himself. He, therefore, turns out now, not only a defender of my safety, having been previously to
 this one kindness of his always my enemy, but even the seconder of my restoration to my
 dignity. And on that day when you met in the senate to the number of four hundred and
 seventeen, and when all these magistrates were present one alone dissented; he who thought
 that the conspirators could by his law be awakened from the shades below. And on that day when
 in most weighty and copious language you delivered your decision, that the republic had been
 preserved by my counsels, he as consul again took care that the same things should be said by
 the chief men of the state in the assembly the next day; and he then spoke on my behalf with
 the greatest eloquence, and brought the assembly into such a state, all Italy standing by and
 listening, that no one would listen to the hateful and detested voice of any of my hired or
 profligate enemies. To these acts of his, being not only aids to my safety, but even
 ornaments of my dignity, you yourselves added the rest that was wanting. You decreed that no
 one should by any means whatever hinder that matter from proceeding; that if any one did try
 to interpose any obstacle, you would be very angry and indignant; that he would be acting in a
 manner contrary to the interests of the republic, and the safety of good men, and the
 unanimous wish of the citizens; and that such a man was instantly to be reported to you. And
 you passed a vote that if they persisted in interposing obstacles, I was to return in spite of
 them. Why need I tell how thanks were given to all those who had come up from the municipal
 towns; or that they were entreated to be present with equal eagerness on that day when the
 whole affair was consummated? Lastly, why need I tell what you did on that day which Publius
 Lentulus has made as a birthday to me, and to my brother, and to our children, to be
 recollected not only by us, who are now alive, but by all our race for ever? On which day, in
 the comitia centuriata , which our ancestors rightly called
 and considered the real comitia , he summoned us back to our
 country, so that the same centuries which had made me consul should declare their approval of
 my consulship.