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59 B.C.]

not only by my clients but by the public. My house is thronged, crowds come to greet me, the memory of my consulship is revived; I am promised support, and I have raised my hopes, till I sometimes think that the struggle which lies before me is a thing to be welcomed."

Cicero's efforts to fortify his position by speeches at the bar may receive illustration from his successful defence of Lucius Flaccus, the only oration of this year which has been preserved to us. Flaccus, now accused of extortion in his province of Asia, had been prætor in 63 B.C., and was one of the two who arrested the Allobroges on the Mulvian Bridge. Cicero speaks in his behalf, as if the prosecution were directed against himself and all his coadjutors in the suppression of the conspiracy.

"Caius Antonius has been overwhelmed. Be it so; he had his faults; yet even he would never, if I may be allowed to say as much, have been found guilty by such a jury as that to which I speak today. On his condemnation the tomb of Lucius Catilina was wreathed with flowers; abandoned men and traitors to the State thronged to the spot and feasted there; Catiline's ghost had its due. Now you are asked to wreak on Flaccus vengeance for Lentulus. How can you find a victim more sweet for Publius Lentulus, that Lentulus who tried to slaughter you in the arms of your wives and children and to bury you beneath the ashes of our country, than by sating with the blood of Lucius Flaccus that bitter hatred which he had for all of us. Let us