On the other hand, if Providence opposes him, then, without any
cruelty on our part, he will spontaneously fall into some snare spread for
him by destiny. Besides, we cannot treat a man as under impeachment whom
nobody impeaches, and whom, by your own confession, the soldiers love.
Then again, in cases of high treason, even those criminals who are
convicted upon the clearest evidence, yet, as friendless and deserted
persons contending against the powerful, and matched against those who are
armed with the whole authority of the State, seem to suffer some wrong.
You remember what your grandfather said--Wretched, indeed, is the fate of
princes, who then first obtain credit in any charges of conspiracy which
they allege--when they happen to seal the validity of their charges
against the plotters, by falling martyrs to the plot. Domitian it was, in
fact, who first uttered this truth; but I choose rather to place it under
the authority of Hadrian, because the sayings of tyrants, even when they
are true and happy, carry less weight with them than naturally they ought.
For Cassius, then, let him keep his present temper and inclinations; and
the more so--being (as he is) a good General--austere in his discipline,
brave, and one whom the State cannot afford to lose.
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