Marc-Antoine Muret and his Lectures on Cicero’s De officiis

breui: sic enim perfecti sapientia dignita-tem, sed priuatorum uniuersae publicae contineri. ⁷ ³ To come, however, at length to the highest achievements of eloquence, what other power could have been strong enough either to gather scattered humanity into one place, or to lead it out of its brutish existence in the wilderness up to our present condition of civiliza-tion as men and as citizens, or, after the establishment of social communities, to give shape to laws, tribunals, and civic rights? [ … ] I will conclude the whole matter in a few words, for my assertion is this: that the wise control of the complete orator is that which chiefly up-holds not only his own dignity, but the safety of countless individuals and of the entire State.