Non, opinor, Demosthenem orationes inlustrant quas adversus tutores suos composuit, nec Ciceronem magnum oratorem P. Quintius defensus aut Licinius Archias faciunt: Catilina et Milo et Verres et Antonius hanc illi famam circumdederunt, non quia tanti fuit rei publicae malos ferre cives ut uberem ad dicendum materiam oratores haberent, sed, ut subinde admoneo, quaestionis meminerimus sciamusque nos de ea re loqui quae facilius turbidis et inquietis temporibus exsistit
It is not, I take it, the speeches which he composed in the action he brought against his guardians that give Demosthenes his name and fame, nor does Cicero rest his claims to greatness as an orator on his defence of Publius Quintius or Licinius Archias. No, it was a Catiline, a Milo, a Verres, an Antonius that made his reputation for him. I do not mean that it was worth the countrys while to produce bad citizens, just in order that our orators might have an ample supply of material; but let us bear in mind the point at issue, as I keep urging you to do, realising that our discourse is dealing with an art which comes to the front more readily in times of trouble and unrest.
final_alignments\Tacitus_Dialogus.json