Now we come to a part of this topic that naturally makes us sad and worried. I'm talking about when good people meet terrible ends. Socrates was forced to die in prison. Rutilius had to live in exile. Pompey and Cicero had to offer their necks to the swords of their own followers. The great Cato — that living image of virtue — fell on his sword and destroyed both himself and the republic. When you see things like this, you can't help feeling upset that Fortune hands out her gifts so unfairly. What can a good person hope to get when he sees the best people meeting the worst fates?
There comes now a part of our subject which is wont with good cause to make one sad and anxious: I mean when good men come to bad ends; when Socrates is forced to die in prison, Rutilius to live in exile, Pompeius and Cicero to offer their necks to the swords of their own followers, when the great Cato, that living image of virtue, falls upon his sword and rips up both himself and the republic, one cannot help being grieved that Fortune should bestow her gifts so unjustly: what, too, can a good man hope to obtain when he sees the best of men meeting with the worst fates.