Although fear was turning you into a good citizen, fear is only in the short term a teacher of duty; and that unscrupulousness of yours, which never deserts you so long as you are not afraid, has turned you into a scoundrel.
[Quamquam bonum te timor faciebat, non diuturnus magister officii, improbum fecit ea, quae, dum timor abest, a te non discedit, audacia.]
[Quamquam bonum te timor faciebat, non diuturnus magister officii, improbum fecit ea, quae, dum timor abest, a te non discedit, audacia.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 2, ch. 36 / sec. 90 (2.36/2.90) (44-10-24 BC) [tr. Berry (2006)]
Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/cicero-marcus-tulliu…
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