5.54
"Well now, suppose that
either through crime or accident a fire broke out in
Veii, and the flames, as is quite possible, fanned
by the wind, consumed a great part of the city, are
we going to look out for Fidenae or Gabii, or any
other city you please, as a place to which to
migrate? Has our native soil, this land we call our
motherland, so slight a hold upon us? Does our love
for our country cling only to its buildings?
Unpleasant as it is to recall my sufferings, still
more your injustice, I will nevertheless confess to
you that whenever I thought of my native City all
these things came into my mind -the hills, the
plains, the Tiber, this landscape so familiar to me,
this sky beneath which I was born and bred -and I
pray that they may now move you by the affection
they inspire to remain in your City, rather than
that, after you have abandoned it, they should make
you pine with home-sickness. Not without good reason
did gods and men choose this spot as the site of a
City, with its bracing hills, its commodious river,
by means of which the produce of inland countries
may be brought down and over-sea supplies obtained;
a sea near enough for all useful purposes, but not
so near as to be exposed to danger from foreign
fleets; a district in the very centre of Italy -in
a word, a position singularly adapted by nature for
the expansion of a city. The mere size of so young a
City is a proof of this. This is the 365th year of
the City, Quirites, yet in all the wars you have for
so long been carrying on amongst all those ancient
nations -not to mention the separate cities -the
Volscians in conjunction with the Aequi and all
their strongly fortified towns, the whole of
Etruria, so powerful by land and sea, and stretching
across Italy from sea to sea -none have proved a
match for you in war. This has hitherto been your
Fortune; what sense can there be -perish the
thought! -in making trial of another Fortune? Even
granting that your valour can pass over to another
spot, certainly the good Fortune of this place
cannot be transferred. Here is the Capitol where in
the old days a human head was found, and this was
declared to be an omen, for in that place would be
fixed the head and supreme sovereign power of the
world. Here it was that whilst the Capitol was being
cleared with augural rites, Juventas and Terminus,
to the great delight of your fathers, would not
allow themselves to be moved. Here is the Fire of
Vesta; here are the Shields sent down from heaven;
here are all the gods, who, if you remain, will be
gracious to you."