The bull, who has no imagination to tell him what the obstacle may do to him, is not brave.
He is brave who, fully understanding the potentiality of the obstacle, shall, for a sufficient purpose, move against it.
This Cicero always did.

He braved the murderous anger of Sulla when, as a young man, he thought it well to stop the greed of Sulla's minions.

He trusted himself amid the dangers prepared for him, when it was necessary that with extraordinary speed he should get together the evidence needed for the prosecution of Verres.

He was firm against all that Catiline attempted for his destruction, and had courage enough for the responsibility when he thought it expedient to doom the friends of Catiline to death.

In defending Milo, whether the cause were good or bad, he did not blench.[267] He joined the Republican army in Macedonia though he distrusted Pompey and his companions.