But even now to us, looking back with so many things made clear to us, with all the convictions which prolonged success produces, it is doubtful whether some other milder change--some such change as Cicero would have advocated--might not have prevented the tyranny of Augustus, the mysteries of Tiberius, the freaks of Caligula, the folly of Claudius, and the madness of Nero.
It is an uphill task, that of advocating the cause of a man who has failed.

The Caesars of the world are they who make interesting stories.
That Cicero failed in the great purpose of his life has to be acknowledged.

He had studied the history of his country, and was aware that hitherto the world had produced nothing so great as Roman power; and he knew that Rome had produced true patriotism.

Her Consuls, her Censors, her Tribunes, and her Generals had, as a rule, been true to Rome, serving their country, at any rate till of late years, rather than themselves.

And he believed that liberty had existed in Rome, though nowhere else.