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But my enemies, when my case was discussed in the month of January, having murdered many citizens, thought it worth while to prevent my return, even at the expense of causing rivers of blood to flow. Therefore, when I was absent, the republic was in such a state, that you thought that I and it were equally necessary to be restored. But I thought that there was no republic at all in a city in which the senate had no influence,—in which there was impunity for every crime,—where there were no courts of justice, but violence and arms bore sway in the forum,—where private men were forced to rely on the protection of the walls of their houses, and not on that of the laws, where tribunes of the people were wounded while you were looking on,—where men attacked the houses of magistrates with arms and firebrands, while the fasces of the consuls are broken and the temples of the immortal gods attacked by the incendiary. Therefore, after the republic was banished, I thought that there was no room for me in this city, and if the republic were restored, I had no doubt that it would bring me back in its company.
