Qui cum praetor urbanus esset, urbe caruit, ius non dixit, cum omne ius rei publicae recuperavisset, cumque concursu cotidiano bonorum omnium qui admirabilis ad eum fieri solebat praesidioque Italiae cunctae saeptus posset esse, absens iudicio bonorum defensus esse maluit quam praesens manu; qui ne Apollinaris quidem ludos pro sua populique Romani dignitate apparatos praesens fecit, ne quam viam patefaceret sceleratissimorum hominum audaciae.
Though he was city praetor, he stayed away from the city; he did not administer the law, though he had recovered for the Republic all law. And while he might have been fenced around by the daily assembly of all decent men (it was remarkable how they used to cluster to his side) and by the protection of all Italy, he preferred to be defended by the approval of decent men in his absence rather than by their strong arms in his presence. And though he had arranged for the production of the Apollinarian Games in a manner befitting his own and the Roman peoples dignity, he did not even oversee their celebration in person, so as not to open a path for the recklessness of vicious criminals.
final_alignments\Cicero_Philippic_10.json