« Dio 56.8 | Dio 56.9 | Dio 56.10 | About This Work »
9“Therefore, fellow-citizens,—for I believe that I have now persuaded you both to hold fast to the name of citizens and to secure the title of men and fathers as well,—I have administered this rebuke to you not for my own pleasure but from necessity, and not as your enemy nor as one who hates you but rather loving you and wishing to obtain many others like you, 2in order that we may have lawful homes to dwell in and houses full of descendants, so that we may approach the gods together with our wives and our children, and in partnership with one another may risk our all in equal measure and reap in like degree the hopes we cherish in them. How, indeed, could I be a good ruler over you, if I could endure to see you growing constantly fewer in number? 3How could I any longer be rightfully called father by you, if you rear no children? Therefore, if you really hold me in affection, and particularly if you have given me this title not out of flattery but as an honour, be eager now to become both men and fathers, in order that you may not only share this title yourselves but may also justify it as applied to me.”
« Dio 56.8 | Dio 56.9 | Dio 56.10 | About This Work »