There exists a law, inborn of our hearts by natural intuition, if our lives are… — Cicero

There exists a law, inborn of our hearts by natural intuition, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right.

In the original Latin

Est igitur haec, iudices, non scripta, sed nata lex, quam non didicimus, accepimus, legimus, verum ex1 natura ipsa adripuimus, hausimus2, expressimus, ad quam non docti sed facti, non instituti sed imbuti sumus, ut, si vita nostra in aliquas insidias, si in vim et in tela aut latronum aut inimicorum incidisset, omnis honesta ratio esset expediendae salutis.

52 BC
★ 2.0
Provenance
Current citation
Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Pro Milone [For Milo], translated by D. H. Berry. Oxford University Press, 2009, sect. 10.
Original citation
Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Pro Milone [In Defense of Milo]. c. 52 BC, sect. 10.