--- title: "On His House · De domo sua" author: "Cicero" translator: "Charles Duke Yonge" languages: [la, en] shelf: "Classical Latin" section: 3 of 5 url: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-de-domo-sua/3/ cite: "Cicero, tr. Charles Duke Yonge, On His House · De domo sua, section 3. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-de-domo-sua/3/" --- # On His House · De domo sua *Cicero, tr. Charles Duke Yonge* Cicero asks the priests to undo Clodius’ consecration of the site of his demolished house. > Latin: ed. William Peterson, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0474.phi020, CC BY-SA 4.0). > English: Charles Duke Yonge, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0474.phi020.perseus-eng1). Notes are not included. > Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence. ## 3. Sections 60–90 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-de-domo-sua/3/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-de-domo-sua/3/#p-N [¶0] 60. But why need I dilate upon your cruelty which you have displayed towards me and mine? when you have waged a horrible and nefarious war, dyed with every description of hatred against my walls, my roofs, my pillars and door-posts. For I do not think that you, when, after my departure, you in the covetousness of your hopes had devoured the fortunes of all the rich men, the produce of all the provinces, the property of tetrarchs and of kings, were blinded by the desire of my plate and furniture. I do not think that that Campanian consul with his dancing colleague, after you had sacrificed to the one all Achaia, Thessaly, Boeotia, Greece, Macedonia and all the countries of the barbarians, and the property of the Roman citizens in those countries, and when you had delivered up to the other Sulla, Babylon, and the Persians those hitherto uninjured and peaceful nations, to plunder, I do not think, I say, that they were covetous of my thresholds and pillars and folding doors. > Latin: 60. quid ego vestram crudelitatem exprobro quam in ipsum me ac meos adhibuistis, qui parietibus, qui tectis, qui columnis ac postibus meis hostificum quoddam et nefarium omni imbutum odio bellum intulistis? enim te arbitror, cum post meum discessum omnium locupletium fortunas, omnium provinciarum fructus, tetrarcharum ac regum bona spe atque avaritia devorasses, argenti et supellectilis meae cupiditate esse caecatum: non existimo Campanum illum consulem cum saltatore conlega, cum alteri totam Achaiam, Thessaliam, Boeotiam, Graeciam, Macedoniam omnemque barbariam, bona civium Romanorum condonasses, alteri Syriam, Babylonem, Persas, integerrimas pacatissimasque gentis, ad diripiendum tradidisses, illos tam cupidos liminum meorum et columnarum et valvarum fuisse. [¶1] 61. Nor, indeed, did the bands and forces of Catiline think that they could appease their hunger with the tiles and mortar of my roofs. But as, without being influenced by the idea of booty, still out of hatred we are accustomed to destroy the cities of enemies;—not of all enemies indeed, but of those with whom we have waged any bitter and intestine war; because when our minds have been inflamed against any people by reason of their cruelty, there always appears to be some war still lingering in their abodes and habitations, … No law had been passed respecting me. > Latin: 61. porro illa manus copiaeque Catilinae caementis ac testis tectorum meorum se famem suam expleturas putaverunt; sed ut hostium urbes, nec omnium hostium, verum eorum quibuscum acerbum bellum internecivumque suscepimus, non praeda adducti sed odio solemus exscindere, quod, in quos propter eorum crudelitatem inflammatae mentes nostrae fuerunt, cum horum etiam tectis et sedibus residere aliquod bellum semper videtur … erat latum de me; [¶2] 62. I had not been ordered to appear in court; I had not been summoned. I was absent. I was even in your own opinion a citizen with all my rights as such unimpaired, when my house on the Palatine hill, and my villa in the district of Tusculum, were transferred one a-piece to each of the consuls; decrees of the senate were flying about; marble columns from my house were carried off to the father-in-law of the consul in the sight of the Roman people; and the consul who was my neighbour at my villa had not only my stock and the decorations of my villa, but even my trees transferred to his farm; while the villa itself was utterly destroyed, not from a desire of plunder, (for what plunder could there be there?) but out of hatred and cruelty. My house on the Palatine hill was burnt, not by accident, but having been set on fire on purpose. The consuls were feasting and reveling amid the congratulations of the conspirators, while the one boasted that he had been the favourite of Catiline, and the other that he was the cousin of Cethegus. > Latin: 62. non adesse eram iussus, non citatus afueram; eram etiam tuo iudicio civis incolumis, cum domus in Palatio, villa in Tusculano, altera ad alterum consulem transferebatur—scilicet eos consules vocabant —columnae marmoreae ex aedibus meis inspectante populo Romano ad socrum consulis portabantur, in fundum autem vicini consulis non instrumentum aut ornamenta villae, sed etiam arbores transferebantur, cum ipsa villa non praedae cupiditate —quid enim erat praedae?—sed odio et crudelitate funditus everteretur. ardebat in Palatio non fortuito, sed oblato incendio; consules epulabantur et in coniuratorum gratulatione versabantur, cum alter se Catilinae delicias, alter Cethegi consobrinum fuisse diceret. [¶3] 63. This violence, O priests, this wickedness, this frenzy, I, opposing my single person to the storm, warded off from the necks of all good men, and I received on my body all the attacks of disaffection, all the long-collected violence of the wicked, which, having been long coming to a head, with silent and repressed hatred, was at last breaking out now that it had got such audacious leaders. Against me alone were directed the consular firebrands hurled from the hands of the tribunes; all the impious arrows of the conspiracy, which I had once before blunted, now stuck in me. But if, as was the advice of many most gallant men, I had determined to contend with violence and arms against violence, I should either have gained the day with a great slaughter of wicked men, who notwithstanding were citizens, or else all the good men would have been slain, to the great joy of the wicked, and I too should have perished together with the republic. > Latin: 63. ego vim, pontifices, hoc scelus, hunc furorem meo corpore opposito ab omnium bonorum cervicibus depuli, omnemque impetum discordiarum, omnem diu conlectam vim improborum, quae inveterata compresso odio atque tacito iam erumpebat nancta tam audacis duces, excepi meo corpore. me uno consulares faces iactae manibus tribuniciis, in me omnia, quae ego quondam rettuderam, coniurationis nefaria tela adhaeserunt. si, ut multis fortissimis viris placuit, vi et armis contra vim decertare voluissem, aut vicissem cum magna internecione improborum, sed tamen civium, aut interfectis bonis omnibus, quod illis optatissimum erat, una cum re publica concidissem. [¶4] 64. I saw, that if the senate and people of Rome existed, I should have a speedy return with the greatest dignity, and I did not think it possible that such a state of affairs should longer continue to exist, as for me not to be allowed to live in that republic which I myself had saved. And if I were not allowed to live there, I had heard and read that some of the most illustrious men of our country had rushed into the middle of the enemy to manifest death for the sake of the safety of their army. And could I doubt that if I were to sacrifice myself for the safety of the entire republic, I should in this point be better off than the Decii, because they could not even hear of their glory, while I should be able to be even a spectator of my own renown? Therefore your frenzy, being disconcerted, kept making vain attacks. For the bitterness of my fortune had exhausted all the violence of all the wicked citizens. In such terrible disaster and such wide-spread ruin, there was no room for any new cruelty. > Latin: 64. vivo senatu populoque Romano celerem mihi summa cum dignitate reditum, nec intellegebam fieri diutius posse ut mihi non liceret esse in ea re publica quam ipse servassem. si non liceret, audieram et legeram clarissimos nostrae civitatis viros se in medios hostis ad perspicuam mortem pro salute exercitus iniecisse: ego pro salute universae rei publicae dubitarem hoc meliore condicione esse quam Decii, quod illi ne auditores quidem suae gloriae, ego etiam spectator meae laudis esse potuissem? infractus furor tuus inanis faciebat impetus; omnem enim vim omnium sceleratorum acerbitas mei casus exceperat; non erat in tam immani iniuria tantisque ruinis novae crudelitati locus. [¶5] 65. Cato was next to me. Was there nothing which you could do beyond making him who had been my leader and guide in all my conduct a partner also in my misfortune? What? Could you banish him? What then? You could send him away for the money of Cyprus. One booty may have been lost; another will be sure to be found; only let this man be got out of the way. Accordingly, the hated Marcus Cato is commissioned to go to Cyprus, as if it was a kindness that was being conferred on him. Two men are removed, whom the wicked men could not bear the sight of; one by the most discreditable sort of honour, the other by the most honourable possible calamity. > Latin: 65. Cato fuerat proximus. ageres? non erat ut, qui modus ⟨a⟩moribus fuerat, idem esset iniuriae. posses? extrudere ad Cypriam pecuniam? perierit. Alia non deerit; hinc modo amandandus est. M. Cato invisus quasi per beneficium Cyprum relegatur. duo, quos videre improbi non poterant, alter per honorem turpissimum, alter per honestissimam calamitatem. [¶6] 66. And that you may be aware that that man had been an enemy not to their persons, but to their virtues, after I was driven out, and Cato despatched on his commission, he turns himself against that very man by whose advice and by whose assistance he was in the habit of saying in the assemblies that he had done and continued to do what he was then doing and everything which he had hitherto done. He thought that Cnaeus Pompeius, who he saw was in every one's opinion by far the first man in the city, would not much longer tolerate his frenzy. After he had filched out of his custody by treachery the son of a king who was our friend,—himself being an enemy and a prisoner,—and having provoked that most gallant man by this injury, he thought that he could contend with him by the aid of those troops against whom I had been willing to struggle at the risk of the destruction of all virtuous citizens, especially as at first he had the consuls to help him. But after a time Gabinius broke his agreement with him; but Piso continued faithful to him. > Latin: 66. ut sciatis non hominibus istum sed virtutibus hostem semper fuisse, me expulso, Catone amandato, in eum ipsum se convertit quo auctore, quo adiutore in contionibus ea quae gerebat omnia quaeque gesserat se et fecisse et facere dicebat: Cn. Pompeium, quem omnium iudicio longe principem esse civitatis videbat, diutius furori suo veniam daturum non arbitrabatur. ex eius custodia per insidias regis amici filium hostem captivum surripuisset, et ea iniuria virum fortissimum lacessisset, speravit isdem se copiis cum illo posse confligere quibuscum ego noluissem bonorum periculo dimicare, et primo quidem adiutoribus consulibus; postea fregit foedus Gabinius, Piso tamen in fide mansit. [¶7] 67. You saw what massacres that man then committed, what men he stoned, what numbers he made to flee; how easily by means of his armed bands and his daily plots did he compel Cnaeus Pompeius to absent himself from the forum and the senate-house, and to confine himself to his own house, even after he had been already deserted by the best part of his forces. And from this you may judge how great that violence was at its first rise, and when first collected together, when even after it was scattered and almost extinct it alarmed Cnaeus Pompeius in this way. > Latin: 67. iste tum caedis, quas lapidationes, quas fugas fecerit, quam facile ferro cotidianisque insidiis, cum iam a firmissimo robore copiarum suarum relictus esset, Cn. Pompeium foro curiaque privarit domique continuerit, vidistis: ex quo iudicare potestis quanta vis illa fuerit oriens et congregata, cum haec Cn. Pompeium terruerit iam distracta et exstincta. [¶8] 68. That most prudent man, Lucius Cotta, a man most deeply attached to the republic and to me, and above all to truth, saw this when he delivered his opinion on the first of January. He then considered it unnecessary that any law should be passed for my return. He said that I had consulted the interests of the republic; that I had yielded to the tempest; that I had been more friendly to you and to the rest of the citizens than to myself and to my own relations; that I had been driven away by the disturbances of a body of men banded together for purposes of bloodshed, and by an unprecedented exercise of power; that no law could possibly have been passed affecting my status as a citizen; that no law had been drawn up in writing, that none could have any validity; that everything had been done in disregard of the laws and of the usages of our ancestors, in a rash and turbulent manner, by violence and frenzy. But if that were a law, then it was not lawful for the consuls to refer the matter to the senate, nor for him himself to express his opinion upon it in the senate. And as both these things were being done, it was not right that it should be decreed that a law should be passed concerning me, lest that which was no law at all, should be in consequence decided to be a law. No opinion could be truer, sounder, more expedient, or better for the republic. For the wickedness and frenzy of the man being stigmatized by it, all danger of similar disgrace to the republic for the future was removed. > Latin: 68. vidit in sententia dicenda Kalendis Ianuariis vir prudentissimus et cum rei publicae, cum mihi, tum etiam veritati amicissimus, L. Cotta, qui legem de meo reditu ferendam non censuit; qui me consuluisse rei publicae, cessisse tempestati, amiciorem vobis ceterisque civibus quam mihi exstitisse, vi, armis, dissensione hominum et caede instituta novoque dominatu pulsum esse dixit; nihil de meo capite potuisse ferri, nihil esse iure scriptum aut posse valere, omnia contra leges moremque maiorum temere, turbulente, per vim, per furorem esse gesta. si illa lex esset, nec referre ad senatum consulibus nec sententiam dicere sibi licere; quorum utrumque cum fieret, non oportere ut de me lex ferretur decerni, ne illa quae nulla esset esse lex iudicaretur. verior, gravior, melior, utilior rei publicae nulla esse potuit; hominis enim scelere et furore notato similis a re publica labes in posterum demovebatur. [¶9] 69. Nor did Cnaeus Pompeius, who delivered a most elaborate opinion and most honourable to me, nor did you, O priests, who defended me by your decision and authority, fail to see that that was no law at all, and that it was rather the heat of the times, an interdict of wickedness, a voice of frenzy. But you were anxious to guard against any popular odium being excited against you; if we appeared to have been restored without any decision of the people. And with the same idea the senate adopted the opinion of Marcus Bibulus, a most fearless man, that you should decide the question relating to my house: not that he doubted that nothing had been done by Clodius with due regard either to the laws, or to the requirements of religion, or to the rights of the citizens; but that, as wicked men were so numerous, no one should at any time arise and say that there was anything holy about my house. For as often as the senate has expressed any opinion at all in my case, so often has it decided that that was no law at all, since indeed, according to that writing which that fellow drew up, it was forbidden to express any opinion at all. > Latin: 69. hoc Cn. Pompeius, qui ornatissimam de me sententiam dixit, vosque, pontifices, qui me vestris sententiis auctoritatibusque defendistis, non vidistis, ⟨legem⟩ illam esse nullam, atque esse potius flammam temporis, interdictum sceleris, vocem furoris; sed prospexistis ne quae popularis in nos aliquando invidia redundaret, si sine populi iudicio restituti videremur. consilio M. Bibuli, fortissimi viri, senatus sententiam secutus est, ut vos de mea domo statueretis, non quo dubitaret quin ab isto nihil legibus, nihil religionibus, nihil iure esset actum, sed ne quis oreretur aliquando in tanta ubertate improborum qui in meis aedibus aliquam religionem residere diceret. legem quidem istam nullam esse, quotienscumque de me senatus sententiam dixit, totiens iudicavit. quidem scripto illo istius sententiam dicere vetabatur, atque hanc rem par illud simile, Piso et Gabinius, vidit, homines legum iudiciorumque metuentes, cum frequentissimus senatus eos ut de me referrent cotidie flagitaret, non se rem improbare dicebant, sed lege istius impediri. [¶10] 70. And that kindred pair, Piso and Gabinius, saw this. Those men, so obedient to the laws and courts of justice, when the senate in very full houses kept constantly entreating them to make a motion respecting me,—said that they did not disapprove of the object, but that they were hindered by that fellow's law. And this was true; but it was law which he had passed about giving them Macedonia and Syria. But you, O Publius Lentulus, neither as a private individual nor as consul ever thought that it was a law. For when the tribunes of the people made a motion, you as consul elect often delivered your opinion concerning my affairs; and from the first of January to the time that the whole affair was completed, you persevered in making motions respecting me, you proposed a law, you passed it; none of which things could legally have been done by you if that thing of Clodius's had been a law. But Quintus Metellus your colleague, a most illustrious man, even though he was a brother of Clodius, when he joined you in making a motion in the senate respecting my affairs, expressed his opinion that that was no law at all which men utterly unconnected with Clodius,—namely Piso and Gabinius, considered was a law. > Latin: 70. hoc verum; nam impediebantur, verum ea lege quam idem iste de Macedonia Syriaque tulerat. tu, P. Lentule, neque privatus neque consul legem esse umquam putasti. tribunis plebis referentibus sententiam de me designatus consul saepe dixisti; ex Kalendis Ianuariis, quoad perfecta res est, de me rettulisti, legem promulgasti, tulisti; quorum tibi, si esset illa lex, nihil liceret. etiam Q. Metellus, conlega tuus, clarissimus vir, quam legem esse homines alienissimi a P. Clodio iudicarent, Piso et Gabinius, eam nullam esse frater P. Clodi, cum de me ad senatum tecum una rettulit, iudicavit. [¶11] 71. But how did those men who had such respect for Clodius's laws observe the rest of the laws? The senate indeed, whose authority is of the very greatest weight on all questions affecting the power of the laws, as often as it has been consulted in my case, has decided that that was no law at all. And you, O Lentulus, showed that you were aware of its not being one in that law which you carried concerning me. For that law was not framed in such terms as that I might be allowed to come to Rome, but that I should come to Rome. For you did not wish to propose to make that lawful for me to do, which was lawful already; but you wished me to be in the republic, appearing to have been sent for by the command of the Roman people, rather than to have been restored for the purpose of aiding in the management of the republic. > Latin: 71. vero isti qui Clodi leges timuerunt, quem ad modum ceteras observarunt? quidem, cuius est gravissimum iudicium de iure legum, quotienscumque de me consultus est, totiens eam nullam esse iudicavit. idem tu, Lentule, vidisti in ea lege quam de me tulisti. non est ita latum ut mihi Romam venire liceret, sed ut venirem; non enim voluisti id quod licebat ferre ut liceret, sed me ita esse in re publica magis ut arcessitus imperio populi Romani viderer quam ad administrandam civitatem restitutus. [¶12] 72. Did you then, O you most monstrous pest, dare to call that man an exile, when you yourself were branded with such wickedness and such crimes that you made every place which you approached very like a place of banishment? For what is an exile? The name itself is an indication of misfortune, not of disgrace. When, then, is it disgraceful? In reality when it is the punishment of guilt; but in the opinion of men, when it is the punishment of a condemned person. Is it then owing to any crime of mine that I hear the name of an exile, or owing to any judicial sentence? Owing to any crime? Even you, whom those satellites of yours call the prosperous Catiline, do not dare to affirm that, nor do any one of those men who used to say so, venture to say so now. There is not only no one so ignorant now as to say that those actions which I did in my consulship were errors; but no one is such an enemy to his country as not to confess that the country was preserved by my counsels. > Latin: 72. tu etiam, portentosa pestis, exsulem appellare ausus es, cum tantis sceleribus esses et flagitiis notatus ut omnem locum quo adisses exsili simillimum redderes? est enim exsul? ipsum per se nomen calamitatis, non turpitudinis. igitur est turpe? re vera, cum est poena peccati, opinione autem hominum etiam, si est poena damnati. Vtrum igitur peccato meo nomen subeo an re iudicata?? neque tu id dicere audes, quem isti satellites tui “felicem Catilinam” nominant, neque quisquam eorum qui solebant. modo iam nemo est tam imperitus qui ea quae gessi in consulatu peccata esse dicat, sed nemo est tam inimicus patriae qui non meis consiliis patriam conservatam esse fateatur. [¶13] 73. For what deliberative assembly is there in the whole earth, whether great or little, which has not expressed that opinion of my exploits which is most desirable and most honourable for me? The greatest council of the Roman people, and of all peoples, and nations, and kings, is the senate. That decreed that all men who desired the safety of the republic should come forward to defend me alone, and showed its opinion that the republic could not have been saved if I had not existed, and could not last if I did not return. > Latin: 73. enim est in terris commune tantum tantulumve consilium, quod non de meis rebus gestis ea quae mihi essent optatissima et pulcherrima iudicarit? est populi Romani populorumque et gentium omnium ac regum consilium senatus: decrevit ut omnes qui rem publicam salvam esse vellent ad me unum defendendum venirent, ostenditque nec stare potuisse rem publicam si ego non fuissem, nec futuram esse ullam si non redissem. [¶14] 74. The next in rank to this dignified body is the equestrian order. All the companies of public contractors passed most favourable and honourable decrees respecting my consulship and my actions. The scriveners, who are much connected with us in matters relating to public registers and monuments, took good care that their sentiments and resolutions respecting my services to the republic should not be left in doubt. There is no corporation in all this city, no body of men either from the higher or lower parts of the city, (since our ancestors thought fit that the common people of the city should also have places of meeting and some sort of deliberative assemblies,) which has not passed most honourable resolutions, not merely respecting my safety, but relating also to my dignity. > Latin: 74. est huic dignitati ordo equester: omnes omnium publicorum societates de meo consulatu ac de meis rebus gestis amplissima atque ornatissima decreta fecerunt., qui nobiscum in rationibus monumentisque publicis versantur, non obscurum de meis in rem publicam beneficiis suum iudicium decretumque esse voluerunt. est in hac urbe conlegium, nulli pagani aut montani, quoniam plebei quoque urbanae maiores nostri conventicula et quasi concilia quaedam esse voluerunt, qui non amplissime non modo de salute mea sed etiam de dignitate decreverint. [¶15] 75. For why need I mention those divine and immortal decrees of the municipal towns, and of the colonies, and of all Italy, by which, as by a flight of steps, I seem not only to have returned to my country, but to have mounted up to heaven? And what a day was that when the Roman people beheld you, O Publius Lentulus, passing a law respecting me, and felt how great a man and how worthy a citizen you were. For it is well known that the Campus Martius had never on any comitia seen so vast a crowd, or such a splendid assembly of men of every class, age, and order. I say nothing of the unanimous judgment and unanimous agreement of the cities, nations, provinces, kings,—of the whole world, in short,—as to the services which I had done to the whole human race. But what an arrival at and entry into the city was mine! Did my country receive me as it ought to receive light and safety when brought back and restored to it, or as a cruel tyrant, as you, you herd of Catiline, were accustomed to call me? > Latin: 75. quid ego illa divina atque immortalia municipiorum et coloniarum et totius Italiae decreta commemorem, quibus tamquam gradibus mihi videor in caelum ascendisse, non solum in patriam revertisse? vero dies qui fuit cum te, P. Lentule, legem de me ferente populus Romanus ipse vidit sensitque quantus et quanta dignitate esset! enim nullis umquam comitiis campum Martium tanta celebritate, tanto splendore omnis generis hominum aetatum ordinum floruisse. civitatium, nationum, provinciarum, regum, orbis denique terrarum de meis in omnis mortalis meritis unum iudicium unumque consensum: adventus meus atque introitus in urbem qui fuit? Vtrum me patria sic accepit ut lucem salutemque redditam sibi ac restitutam accipere debuit, an ut crudelem tyrannum, quod vos Catilinae gregales de me dicere solebatis? [¶16] 76. Therefore that one day on which the Roman people honoured me by escorting me with immense numbers and loud demonstrations of joy from the gate to the Capitol, and from the Capitol home, was so delightful to me, that that wicked violence of yours which had driven me away appeared not to be a thing from which I ought to have been defended, but one which it was worth my while even to purchase. Wherefore that calamity, if it deserves to be called a calamity, has put an end to the whole previous system of abuse, and has prevented any one for the future from daring to find fault with my consulship, which has now been approved of by such numerous, and such important, and such dignified decisions, and testimonies, and authorities. And if, in all that abuse of yours, you not only impute no disgraceful conduct to me, but even add more lustre on my credit, what can exist or be imagined more senseless than you? For by one piece of abuse you admit that my country was twice saved by me; once when I performed that action which every one avows ought to be remembered for ever if it be possible, you thought that I ought to be punished and put to death; a second time, when I bore in my own person your own violence and that of the numbers who through your agency were inflamed against all virtuous men, in order to avoid taking arms, and in that condition bringing into danger that state which I had saved when without arms. Be it so then. > Latin: 76. ille unus dies, quo die me populus Romanus a porta in Capitolium atque inde domum sua celebritate laetitiaque comitatum honestavit, tantae mihi iucunditati fuit ut tua mihi conscelerata illa vis non modo non propulsanda, sed etiam ⟨excitanda⟩ fuisse videatur. re illa calamitas, si ita est appellanda, exussit hoc genus totum maledicti, ne quisquam iam audeat reprehendere consulatum meum tot tantis tam ornatis iudiciis, testimoniis, auctoritatibus comprobatum. si in isto tuo maledicto probrum non modo mihi nullum obiectas, sed etiam laudem inlustras meam, quid te aut fieri aut fingi dementius potest? Vno enim maledicto bis a me patriam servatam esse concedis: semel, cum id feci quod omnes non negant immortalitati, si fieri potest, mandandum, tu supplicio puniendum putasti, iterum, cum tuum multorumque praeter te inflammatum in bonos omnis impetum meo corpore excepi, ne eam civitatem quam servassem inermis armatus in discrimen adducerem. [¶17] 77. There was not in my case any punishment imposed for any offence. Still there was punishment imposed on me by a judicial decision. By what decision? Who ever examined me as a defendant under any law whatever? Who ever accused me? Who ever prosecuted me? Can then a man who is uncondemned be made to bear the punishment of a condemned man? Is this the act of a tribune of the people? Is this the act of a friend of the people? Although, when is it that a man can call himself a friend of the people, except when he has done something for the advantage of the people? Forsooth, has not this principle been handed down to us from our ancestors, that no Roman citizen can be deprived of his liberty, or of his status as a citizen, unless he himself consents to such a thing, as you yourself might learn in your own case? For, although in that adoption of yours nothing was done in a legal manner, still I suppose that you were asked, whether it was your object that Publius Fonteius should have the same power of life and death over you that be would have over an actual son. I ask, if you had either silenced it or had been silent, if, nevertheless, the thirty curies had passed a vote to this effect would that vote have had the force off law? Certainly not. Why? Because the law was established by our ancestors, who were not fictitiously and pretendedly attached to the people, but were so in truth and wisdom, in such a manner that no Roman citizen could be deprived of his liberty against his consent. > Latin: 77. , non fuit in me poena ulla peccati; at fuit iudici.? quis me umquam ulla lege interrogavit? quis postulavit? quis diem dixit? igitur damnati poenam sustinere indemnatus? est hoc tribunicium, est populare? ubi tu te popularem, nisi cum pro populo fecisti, potes dicere?, cum hoc iuris a maioribus proditum sit, ut nemo civis Romanus aut libertatem aut civitatem possit amittere, nisi ipse auctor factus sit, quod tu ipse potuisti in tua causa discere (credo enim, quamquam in illa adoptatione legitime factum est nihil, tamen te esse interrogatum auctorne esses, ut in te P. Fonteius vitae necisque potestatem haberet, ut in filio), quaero, si aut negasses aut tacuisses, si tamen id xxx curiae iussissent, num id iussum esset ratum? certe non. ita? quia ius a maioribus nostris, qui non ficte et fallaciter populares sed vere et sapienter fuerunt, ita comparatum est ut civis Romanus libertatem nemo possit invitus amittere. [¶18] 78. Moreover, if the decemvirs had given an unjust decision to the prejudice of any one's liberty, they established a law that any one who chose might on this subject alone, make a motion affecting a formal decision already pronounced. But no one will ever lose his status as a citizen against his will by any vote of the people. The Roman citizens who left Rome and went to the Latin colonies could not be made Latins, unless they themselves promoted such a change, and gave in their names themselves. Those men who had been condemned on a capital charge, did not lose their rights as citizens of this city before they were received as citizens of that other city to which they had gone for the sake of changing their abode. Our ancestors took care that they should do so, not by taking away their rights of citizenship, but only their house, and by interdicting them from fire and water within the city. > Latin: 78. etiam si decemviri sacramentum in libertatem iniustum iudicassent, tamen, quotienscumque vellet quis, hoc in genere solo rem iudicatam referri posse voluerunt; civitatem vero nemo umquam ullo populi iussu amittet invitus. cives Romani in colonias Latinas proficiscebantur fieri non poterant Latini, nisi erant auctores facti nomenque dederant: qui erant rerum capitalium condemnati non prius hanc civitatem amittebant quam erant in eam recepti, quo vertendi, hoc est mutandi, soli causa venerant. autem ut esset faciundum, non ademptione civitatis, sed tecti et aquae et ignis interdictione faciebant. [¶19] 79. The Roman people on the motion of Lucius Sulla, the dictator, in the comitia centuriata, took away the rights of citizenship from the municipal towns, and at the same time took away their lands. The decree about the lands was ratified, for that the people had power to pass; but their decree concerning the rights of citizenship did not last even as long as the disturbances of the time of Sulla. Shall we then say that Lucius Sulla, victorious as he was, after he had been restored to the republic, could not in the comitia centuriata take away the rights of citizenship from the people of Volaterra, even though they were in arms at the time;—and the Volaterrans to this day enjoy the rights of citizenship in common with ourselves, being not only citizens, but most excellent citizens too;—and allow that Publius Clodius, at a time when the republic was utterly overturned, could take away his rights as a citizen from a man of consular rank, by summoning an assembly, and hiring bands not only of needy citizens, but even of slaves, with Sedulius as their imputed leader, though he declares that on that day he was not in Rome at all? > Latin: 79. Romanus L. Sulla dictatore ferente comitiis centuriatis municipiis civitatem ademit: ademit eisdem agros. agris ratum est; fuit enim populi potestas; de civitate ne tam diu quidem valuit quam diu illa Sullani temporis arma valuerunt. vero Volaterranis, cum etiam tum essent in armis, L. Sulla victor re publica reciperata comitiis centuriatis civitatem eripere non potuit, hodieque Volaterrani non modo cives, sed etiam optimi cives fruuntur nobiscum simul hac civitate: consulari homini P. Clodius eversa re publica civitatem adimere potuit concilio advocato, conductis operis non solum egentium, sed etiam servorum, Fidulio principe, qui se illo die confirmat Romae non fuisse? [¶20] 80. And, if he was not, what could be a more audacious thing than your putting his name to that bill? What could be more desperate than your condition, when, even if you told a lie about it you could not get up any more respectable authority? But if he was the first person who voted for it as he easily might have been, as he was a man who, for want of a house, slept all night in the forum, why should he not swear that he was at Cadiz, when you have proved so very distinctly that you were at Interamna? Do you, then,—you, a man devoted to the people,—think that our rights as citizens, and our freedom, ought to he established on this principle; so that when a tribune of the people brings forward a motion, “Do you approve and determine” … if a hundred Sedulii should say that they do approve and determine, any one of us may lose our privileges? Our ancestors, then, were not attached to the interests of the people, who with respect to the rights of citizenship and liberty established those principles which neither the power of time, nor the authority of magistrates, nor the decisions of judges, nor the sovereign power of the whole people of Rome, which in all other affairs is most absolute, can undermine. > Latin: 80. si non fuit, quid te audacius, qui eius nomen incideris? quid desperatius, qui ne ementiendo quidem potueris auctorem adumbrare meliorem? autem is primus scivit, quod facile potuit, ⟨qui⟩ propter inopiam tecti in foro pernoctasset, cur non iuret se Gadibus fuisse, cum tu te fuisse Interamnae probaveris? tu igitur, homo popularis, iure munitam civitatem et libertatem nostram putas esse oportere, ut, si tribuno plebis rogante “ivbeatisne” Fidulii centum se velle et iubere dixerint, possit unus quisque nostrum amittere civitatem? igitur maiores nostri populares non fuerunt, qui de civitate et libertate ea iura sanxerunt quae nec vis temporum nec potentia magistratuum nec ⟨praetorum decreta⟩ nec denique universi populi Romani potestas, quae ceteris in rebus est maxima, labefactare possit. [¶21] 81. But you, also, you who take men's rights as citizens from them, have also passed a law with respect to public injuries in favour of some fellow of Anagnia, of the name of Maerula, and he on account of that law has erected a statue to you in my house; so that the place itself, in hearing witness to your prodigious injustice, might refute the law and inscription on your statue. And that law was a much greater cause of grief to the citizens of Anagnia than the crimes which that gladiator had committed in that municipal town. > Latin: 81. tu etiam, ereptor civitatis, legem de iniuriis publicis tulisti Anagnino nescio cui Menullae pergratam, qui tibi ob eam legem statuam in meis aedibus posuit, ut locus ipse in tanta tua iniuria legem et inscriptionem statuae refelleret; quae res municipibus Anagninis multo maiori dolori fuit quam quae idem ille gladiator scelera Anagniae fecerat. [¶22] 82. What shall I say, if there is nothing said about the rights of citizenship even in that very form of motion which Sedulius declares he never voted for? Do you still cling to his authority in order to throw a lustre on the exploits of your splendid tribuneship by the dignity of that man? But although you passed no law respecting me, to prevent my continuing not only in the number of Roman citizens, but even in that rank in which the honours conferred on me by the Roman people had placed me; will you still raise your voice to attack him whom after the abominable wickedness of the preceding consuls you see honoured by the decisions of the senate, of the Roman people, and of all Italy? whom even at the time when I was departing you could not deny, even by your own law, to be a senator. For, where was it that you passed the law that I should be interdicted from fire and water? When Gracchus passed such a decree respecting Publius Popillius, and Saturninus respecting Metellus, and other most seditious men respecting other most virtuous and gallant citizens, they did not pass a decree that they had been interdicted, which could have been quite intolerable but that they should be interdicted. When did you insert a clause that the censor should not enter me on the rolls of the senate in my proper place? which is a clause in the law concerning every one who has been condemned when the interdict is being framed. > Latin: 82. ? si ne scriptum quidem umquam est in ista ipsa rogatione, quam se Fidulius negat scivisse, tu autem, ut acta tui praeclari tribunatus hominis dignitate cohonestes, auctorem amplexeris —sed tamen, si nihil de me tulisti quo minus essem non modo in civium numero, sed etiam in eo loco in quo me honores populi Romani conlocarunt, tamenne eum tua voce violabis quem post nefarium scelus consulum superiorum tot vides iudiciis senatus, populi Romani, Italiae totius honestatum, quem ne tunc quidem cum aberam negare poteras esse tua lege senatorem? enim tuleras ut mihi aqua et igni interdiceretur? quod C. Gracchus de P. Popilio, Saturninus de Metello tulit, homines seditiosissimi de optimis ac fortissimis civibus: non ut esset interdictum, quod ferri non poterat, tulerunt, sed ut interdiceretur. Vbi cavisti ne meo me loco censor in senatum legeret? quod de omnibus, etiam quibus damnatis interdictum est, scriptum est in legibus. [¶23] 83. Ask this of Sextus Clodius the framer of your laws. Bid him come forward; he is keeping out of the way; but if you order him to be looked for they will find the man in your sister's house hiding himself with his head down. But if no one in his senses ever called your father a citizen—yes, by Jove, a good citizen, and one very unlike you, if no one I say, ever called him an exile, who, when a tribune of the people had proposed a bill against him, would not appear on account of the iniquity of that period of Cinna's triumph, and who, on that account had his command taken from him; if, I say, in his case, a punishment inflicted by law carried no disgrace with it, on account of the violent character of those times, could there, in my ease, be any penalty against me as if I had been condemned when I never was tried when I never was accused when I never was summoned by any tribune of the people, and, especially, a penalty which was not mentioned not even in the proposed bill itself? > Latin: 83. haec ex Clodio, scriptore legum tuarum, iube adesse; latitat omnino, sed, si requiri iusseris, invenient hominem apud sororem tuam occultantem se capite demisso. si patrem tuum, civem medius fidius egregium dissimilemque vestri, nemo umquam sanus exsulem appellavit, qui, cum de eo tribunus plebis promulgasset, adesse propter iniquitatem illius Cinnani temporis noluit, eique imperium est abrogatum —si in illo poena legitima turpitudinem non habuit propter vim temporum, in me, cui dies dicta numquam est, qui reus non fui, qui numquam sum a tribuno plebis citatus, damnati poena esse potuit, ea praesertim quae ne in ipsa quidem rogatione praescripta est? [¶24] 84. But just remark what the difference is between that most iniquitous misfortune inflicted on your father and between my fortune and condition which I am now discussing Lucius Philippus the censor, in reading the roll of the senate, passed over his own uncle, your father, a most excellent citizen; the son of a most illustrious man, himself a man of such severity of character that if he were alive you would not have been suffered to live. For he had no reason to allege why those acts should not be ratified which had been done in that republic in which, at that very time, he had been willing to take upon himself the office of censor. But as for me, Lucius Cotta, a man of censorian rank, said in the senate, on his oath, that if he had been censor at the time that I left the city, he should have retained me on the list as a senator in my proper place. > Latin: 84. vide quid intersit inter illum iniquissimum patris tui casum et hanc fortunam condicionemque nostram. tuum, civem optimum, clarissimi viri filium, qui si viveret, qua severitate fuit, tu profecto non viveres, L. Philippus censor avunculum suum praeteriit in recitando senatu. enim poterat dicere qua re rata non essent quae erant acta in ea re publica, in qua se illis ipsis temporibus censorem esse voluisset: me L. Cotta, homo censorius, in senatu iuratus dixit se, si censor tum esset cum ego aberam, meo loco senatorem recitaturum fuisse. [¶25] 85. Who appointed any judge in my place? who of my friends made a will at the time that I was absent, and did not give me the same that he would have given me if I had been in the city? who was there, I will not say only among the citizens, but even among the allies, who hesitated to receive and assist me in defiance of your law? Lastly, the whole senate, long before the law was passed respecting me, “Voted, that thanks should be given to all those cities by which Marcus Tullius...” Was that all? No—it went, “a citizen who had done the greatest services to the republic, had been received:” and do you, one single pernicious citizen, deny that that citizen has been legally restored, whom the whole senate, even while he was absent, considered not only a citizen, but has at all times considered a most illustrious one? > Latin: 85. in meum locum iudicem subdidit? quis meorum amicorum testamentum discessu meo fecit qui mihi non idem tribuerit quod [et ] si adessem? quis me non modo civis, sed socius recipere contra tuam legem et iuvare dubitavit? universus senatus, multo ante quam est lata lex de me, gratias agendas censuit civitatibus iis quae M. Tullium—tantumne? immo etiam—civem optime de re publica meritum, recepissent. tu unus pestifer civis eum restitutum negas esse civem quem eiectum universus senatus non modo civem, sed etiam egregium civem semper putavit? [¶26] 86. But as the annals of the Roman people and the records of antiquity relate, that great man Caeso Quintius, and Marcus Furius Camillus, and Marcus Servilius Ahala, though they had deserved exceedingly well of the republic, still had to endure the violence and passion of an excited people; and after they had been condemned by the comitia centuriata and had gone into banishment, were again restored to their former dignity by the same people in a more placable humour. But if, in the case of those men who were thus condemned, their calamity not only did not diminish the glory of their most illustrious names, but even added fresh lustre to it; (for, although it is more desirable to finish the course of one's life without pain and without injury, still it contributes more to the immortality of a man's glory to have been universally regretted by his fellow-citizens: than never to have been injured;) shall a similar misfortune have in my case the force of a reproach or of an accusation, when I left the city without any sentence of the people, and have been restored by most honourable resolutions of every order of society? > Latin: 86. vero, ut annales populi Romani et monumenta vetustatis loquuntur, Kaeso ille Quinctius et M. Furius Camillus et C. Servilius Ahala, cum essent optime de re publica meriti, tamen populi incitati vim iracundiamque subierunt, damnatique comitiis centuriatis cum in exsilium profugissent, rursus ab eodem populo placato sunt in suam pristinam dignitatem restituti. si his damnatis non modo non imminuit calamitas clarissimi nominis gloriam, sed etiam honestavit (nam etsi optabilius est cursum vitae conficere sine dolore et sine iniuria, tamen ad immortalitatem gloriae plus adfert desideratum esse a suis civibus quam omnino numquam esse violatum), mihi sine ullo iudicio populi profecto, cum amplissimis omnium iudiciis restituto, maledicti locum aut criminis obtinebit? [¶27] 87. Publius Popillius was always a brave and wise citizen in every point of view; yet in the whole of his life there is nothing which sheds a greater lustre on his character than this very calamity. For who would have recollected now that he conferred great benefits on the republic, if he had not been expelled by the wicked and restored by the good? The conduct of Quintus Metellus as a military commander was admirable, his censorship was splendid, his whole life was full of wisdom and dignity; and yet it is his calamity which has handed down his praises to everlasting recollection. But if the injury inflicted on them by their enemies was not any disgrace to those men who were expelled unjustly, but still who were restored according to law, after their enemies had been slain, after the tribunes had brought forward motions respecting them; not by the authority of the senate, not by the comitia centuriata, not by the decrees of all Italy, not by the universal regret of the state; do you think that in my case, who departed uncondemned, who departed at the same time as the republic, and returned with the greatest dignity, while you were still alive, while one of your brothers was one of the consuls who brought me back, and the other was the praetor who demanded my recall, your wickedness ought to be any discredit to me? And if the Roman people, being inflamed with passion or envy, had driven me out of the city, and afterwards, remembering my services to the republic, had recollected itself; and shown its repentance for its rashness and injustice by restoring me; yet, in truth, no one would have been so senseless, as to think that such conduct on the part of the people ought not rather to be considered an honour to me than a disgrace. > Latin: 87. et constans in optima ratione civis P. Popilius semper fuit; tamen eius in omni vita nihil est ad laudem inlustrius quam calamitas ipsa; quis enim iam meminisset eum bene de re publica meritum, nisi et ab improbis expulsus esset et per bonos restitutus? Q. Metelli praeclarum imperium in re militari fuit, egregia censura, omnis vita plena gravitatis; tamen huius viri laudem ad sempiternam memoriam temporis calamitas propagavit. si [et ] illis, qui expulsi sunt inique, sed tamen legibus, reducti inimicis interfectis rogationibus tribuniciis, non auctoritate senatus, non comitiis centuriatis, non decretis Italiae, non desiderio civitatis, iniuria inimicorum probro non fuit, in me, qui profectus sum integer, afui simul cum re publica, redii cum maxima dignitate te vivo, fratre tuo ⟨alieno⟩, altero consule reducente, altero [praetore ] patiente, tuum scelus meum probrum putas esse oportere? [¶28] 88. But now, when of all the people no one has accused me, when it is impossible for me to have been condemned, seeing that I have never been accused, since I was not even expelled in such a way that I could not have got the better of my adversaries if I had contested the point with them by force; and when, on the other hand, I have at all times been defrauded and praised and honoured by the Roman people; what pretence has any one for thinking himself better off than I am, at all events as far as the people are concerned? > Latin: 88. si me populus Romanus, incitatus iracundia aut invidia, e civitate eiecisset idemque postea mea in rem publicam beneficia recordatus se conlegisset, temeritatem atque iniuriam suam restitutione mea reprehendisset, tamen profecto nemo tam esset amens qui mihi tale populi iudicium non dignitati potius quam dedecori putaret esse oportere. vero cum me in iudicium populi nemo omnium vocarit, condemnari non potuerim qui accusatus non sim, denique ne pulsus quidem ita sim ut, si contenderem, superare non possem, contraque a populo Romano semper sim defensus, amplificatus, ornatus, quid est qua re quisquam mihi se ipsa populari ratione anteponat? [¶29] 89. Do you think that the Roman people consists of these men who can be hired for any purpose? who are easily instigated to offer violence to magistrates? to besiege the senate? to wish every day for bloodshed, conflagration and plunder? people, indeed, whom you could not possibly collect together unless you shut up all the taverns; a people to whom you gave the Lentidii, and Lollii, and Plaguleii, and Sergii, for leaders. Oh for the splendour and dignity of the Roman people, for kings, for foreign nations, for the most distant lands to fear; a multitude collected of slaves, of hirelings, of, criminals, and beggars! > Latin: 89. tu populum Romanum esse illum putas qui constat ex iis qui mercede conducuntur, qui impelluntur ut vim adferant magistratibus, ut obsideant senatum, optent cotidie caedem, incendia, rapinas? quem tu tamen populum nisi tabernis clausis frequentare non poteras, cui populo duces Lentidios, Lollios, Plaguleios, Sergios praefeceras. O speciem dignitatemque populi Romani, quam reges, quam nationes exterae, quam gentes ultimae pertimescant, multitudinem hominum ex servis, ex conductis, ex facinerosis, ex egentibus congregatam! [¶30] 90. That was the real beauty and splendour of the Roman people, which you beheld in the Campus Martius at that time, when even you were allowed to speak in opposition to the authority and wishes of the senate and of all Italy. That is the people—that, I say, is the people which is the lord of kings, the conqueror and commander-in-chief of all nations, which you, O wicked man, beheld in that most illustrious day when all the chief men of the city, when all men of all ranks and ages considered themselves as giving their votes, not about the safety of a citizen, but about that of the state; when men arrive into the Campus, the municipal towns having been all emptied, not the taverns. > Latin: 90. fuit pulchritudo populi Romani, illa forma quam in campo vidisti tum cum etiam tibi contra senatus totiusque Italiae auctoritatem et studium dicendi potestas fuit. populus est dominus regum, victor atque imperator omnium gentium, quem illo clarissimo die, scelerate, vidisti tum cum omnes principes civitatis, omnes ⟨homines⟩ ordinum atque aetatum omnium suffragium se non de civis sed de civitatis salute ferre censebant, cum denique homines in campum non tabernis sed municipiis clausis venerant.