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. On that day what citizen was there who thought it right, whatever his age or state of
 health might be, to deny himself the opportunity of giving his vote for my safety? When did
 you ever see such a multitude assembled in the Campus, such a splendid show of all Italy and
 of all orders of men? when did you ever see movers, and tellers, and keepers of the votes all
 of such high rank? Therefore, through the active, and admirable, and godlike kindness of
 Publius Lentulus, we were not allowed to return to our country, as some most eminent citizens
 have been, but we were brought back in triumph, borne by white horses in a gilded car. Can I ever appear grateful enough to Cnaeus Pompeius, who said, not
 only among you who all were of the same opinion, but also before the whole Roman people, that
 the safety of the republic had been preserved by me, and was inseparably connected with mine?
 who recommended my cause to the wise, and taught the ignorant, and at the same time checked
 the wicked by his authority, and encouraged the good; who not only exhorted the Roman people
 to espouse my cause, but even entreated them to do so, as if he were speaking for a brother or
 a parent; who, at a time when he was forced to keep within his house from fear of contests and
 bloodshed, begged even of the preceding tribunes to propose and carry a law respecting my
 safety; who in a colony lately erected, where he himself was discharging the duties of a
 magistrate in it, where there was no bribed interrupter, declared that the privilegium “A Privilegium signified an enactment
 that had for its object a single person, which is indicated by the form of the word privae res , being the same as singulae
 res . It might be beneficial to the party to whom it referred, or not; but it is
 generally used by Cicero in the unfavourable sense.”—Smith, Dict. Ant. p. 500, v. Lex . “In the time of the republic it was not allowed to pass or to
 propose such a law.”—Riddle, v. Privilegium . But I do not
 know his authority for such a statement. passed against me was violent and cruel,
 confirming that declaration by the authority of most honourable men, and by
 public letters, and, being the chief man there, gave his opinion that it was becoming to
 implore the protection of all Italy for my safety; who, when he himself had always been a most
 firm friend to me, laboured also to make all his own friends also to me. And by what services can I requite the kindness of Titus Annius to me?
 all whose actions, the whole of whose conduct and thoughts, the whole of whose tribuneship, in
 short, was nothing else except a consistent, continual, gallant, unwearied advocacy of my
 safety. Why need I speak of Publius Sextius? who showed his good-will
 and faithful attachment to me, not only by his grief of mind, but even by the wounds which he
 received on his person. But to you, O conscript fathers, and to each
 individual of you, I have both declared, and I will continue to declare my gratitude. I
 declared it at the beginning to your whole body, as well as I could; to declare it with
 sufficient eloquence is what I am totally unable to do. And although I have received special
 favours from many persons, about which it is impossible for me to keep silence, still it is
 impossible at the present time, and with the apprehensions which I feel, to endeavour to
 enumerate the kindnesses which I have received from individuals. For it is difficult to avoid
 passing over some, and yet it would be impious to forget any one. I, O conscript fathers,
 ought to reverence every one of you as I do the immortal gods. But as, even in the case of the
 immortal gods themselves, we are wont not always to pay worship and to offer prayers to the
 same deities, but sometimes we pray to one and sometimes to another; so in the case of the men
 who have behaved to me with such godlike service, my whole life shall be devoted to
 celebrating their kindness towards me, and showing my reverent sense of it.