"Even slaves who are bought for gold do not stand for unjust orders from their masters ; are you, citizens, who were born to rule, going to tolerate servitude meekly ? But who are these men who treat our commonwealth like an occupied country ? They are arch-criminals, whose hands are bloodstained, whose avarice is monstrous . They are guilty as sin and proud of it, men to whom loyalty, decency, duty, honor, and dishonor are all merely matters of profit and loss ."
Further along :
"For to do what you please with impunity is to be king . What I urge upon you, citizens, is not that you should take more satisfaction in wrongdoing than in the uprightness of your fellow citizens, but that you should avoid ruining the innocent by pardoning the guilty . Besides, in public life it is far better to forget a good turn than a bad one : a good man simply grows more reluctant to do good if you neglect him, but a bad one grows more vicious . Moreover, if there were less lawlessness, you would not be in such constant need to barter liberty for security ."
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