Cicero's Third Catalinairean Oration

The third Catalinairean is really some of Cicero's finest storytelling. But it's marred by passages like this, which comes at the end. They did not want to burn this city, but wished to have power in it. In this war, citizens, my actions have secured the salvation of you all. Although your enemies thought that only those citizens would remain who had survived indiscriminate slaughter - I have preserved both city and citizens safe and sound.