And he
urged them to deliberate about themselves, and that he would not find
fault with their deciding either way, and if they should be disposed
to turn to the fortunate side, he should attribute the change to
necessity; but if they preferred to oppose the danger and to undertake
the hazard in defence of liberty, he should not only commend them, but
admire their virtue, and make himself their commander and
fellow-combatant, till they had tried the last fortune of their
country, which was not Utica or Adrumetum only, but Rome, that had
often by her might recovered from greater falls. And they had many
grounds for safety and security; and chief of all, that they were
warring against a man who was pulled in many directions by the
circumstances of the times, for Iberia had gone over to Pompeius the
young, and Rome herself had not yet altogether received the bit for
want of being used to it, but was impatient of suffering and ready to
rise up collected upon every change, and danger was not a thing to
fly from, but they should take as a pattern the enemy, who was not
sparing of his life for accomplishing the greatest wrongs, and for
whom the uncertainty of the war had not the same result as for them,
to whom it would bring the happiest life, if they were successful, and
the most glorious death if they failed. However, he said they ought to
deliberate by themselves, and he joined them in praying that in
consideration of their former virtue and zeal what they resolved might
be for the best.
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