It is, then, peculiarly the place of a magistrate to bear in mind that he represents the state and that it is his duty to uphold its honour and its dignity, to enforce the law, to dispense to all their constitutional rights, and to remember that all this has been committed to him as a sacred trust.
Cicero defines the essential responsibilities of a magistrate, emphasizing their role as representatives of the state and guardians of law and rights.
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Again, is there not the fact that the wisest man ever dies with the greatest cheerfulness, the most unwise with the least?
But had it not been the case that souls were immortal, it would not have been the souls of all the best men that made the greatest efforts after an immortality of fame.
I don't wish to depreciate life, as many men and good philosophers have often done; nor do I regret having lived, for I have done so in a way that lets me think that I was not born in vain.
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