M. Tullius Cicero Pro P. Sulla 20

[20] And, on the same principle, I could not endure to see Publius Sulla coming to me as a suppliant, or these same Marcelli in tears at his danger nor could I resist the entreaties of Marcus Messala, whom you see in court, a most intimate friend of my own. For neither was his cause disagreeable to my natural disposition nor had the man or the facts anything in them at variance with my feelings of clemency his name had never been mentioned, there was no trace whatever of him in the conspiracy; no information had touched him, no suspicion had been breathed of him. I undertook his cause, O Torquatus; I undertook it, and I did so willingly, in order that, while good men had always, as I hope, thought me virtuous and firm, not even bad men might he able to call me cruel.