e who had been slain by
violence while in discharge of their duties as ambassadors. Cicero
delivered the following oration in support of Pansa's proposition,
which was carried.[42]

I. I wish, O conscript fathers, that the immortal gods had granted to
us to return thanks to Servius Sulpicius while alive, rather than thus
to devise honours for him now that he is dead. Nor have I any doubt,
but that if that man had been able himself to give us his report of
the proceedings of his embassy, his return would have been acceptable
to you and salutary to the republic. Not that either Lucius Piso or
Lucius Philippus have been deficient in either zeal or care in the
performance of so important a duty and so grave a commission; but, as
Servius Sulpicius was superior in age to them, and in wisdom to every
one, he, being suddenly taken from the business, left the whole
embassy crippled and enfeebled.

But if deserved honours have been paid to any ambassador after death,
there is no one by whom they can be found to have been ever more fully
deserved than by Servius Sulpicius. The rest of those men who have
died while engaged on an embassy, have gone forth, subject indeed to
the usual uncertainties of life, but without any especial danger or
fear of death. Servius Sulpicius set out with some hope indeed of
reaching Antonius, but with none of returning. But though he was so
very ill that if any exertion were added to his bad state of health,
he would have no hope of himself, still he did not refuse to try,
even while at his last gasp, to be of some service to the republic.
Therefore neither the severity of the winter, nor the snow, nor the
length of the journey, nor the badness of the roads, nor his daily
increasing illness, delayed him. And when he had arrived where he
might meet and confer with the man to whom he had been sent, he
departed this life in the midst of his care and consideration as to
how he might best discharge the duty which he had undertaken.

As therefore, O Caius Pansa, you have done well in other respects, so
you have acted admirably in exhorting us this day to pay honour to
Servius Sulpicius, and in yourself making an eloquent oration in his
praise. And after the speech which we have heard from you, I should
have been content to say nothing beyond barely giving my vote, if I
did not think it necessary to reply to Publius Servilius, who has
declared his opinion that this honour of a statue ought to be
granted t