When Laelius had ceased to speak, all those that were present expressed the extreme pleasure they found in his discourse.

But Scipio, more affected than the rest, and ravished with the delight of sympathy, exclaimed: You have pleaded, my Laelius, many causes with an eloquence superior to that of Servius Galba, our colleague, whom you used during his life to prefer to all others, even to the Attic orators [and never did I hear you speak with more energy than to-day, while pleading the cause of justice][345] * * * * * * That two things were wanting to enable him to speak in public and in the forum, confidence and voice.
XXXI.

* * * This justice, continued Scipio, is the very foundation of lawful government in political constitutions.

Can we call the State of Agrigentum a commonwealth, where all men are oppressed by the cruelty of a single tyrant--where there is no universal bond of right, nor social consent and fellowship, which should belong to every people, properly so named?
It is the same in Syracuse--that illustrious city which Timaeus calls the greatest of the Grecian towns.

It was indeed a most beautiful city; and its admirable citadel, its canals distributed through all its districts, its broad streets, its porticoes, its temples, and its walls, gave Syracuse the appearance of a most flourishing state.