Philippics, 3.17

Cicero  translated by C. D. Yonge

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17But how does it happen that the son of a woman of Aricia appears to you to be ignoble, when you are accustomed to boast of a descent on the mother’s side which is precisely the same? Besides, what insanity is it for that man to say anything about the want of noble birth in men’s wives, when his father married Numitoria of Fregellæ, the daughter of a traitor, and when he himself has begotten children of the daughter of a freedman. However, those illustrious men Lucius Philippus, who has a wife who came from Aricia, and Caius Marcellus, whose wife is the daughter of an Arician, may look to this; and I am quite sure that they have no regrets on the score of the dignity of those admirable women.

VII. Moreover, Antonius proceeds to name Quintus Cicero, my brother’s son, in his edict; and is so mad as not to perceive that the way in which he names him is a panegyric on him. For what could happen more desirable for this young man, than to be known by every one to be the partner of Cæsar’s counsels, and the enemy of the frenzy of Antonius?

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