43. And this was his first step; this (alas for the miserable times and for our senseless discords!) was the first step of Publius Clodius towards the conduct of the affairs of the republic; this was the path by which he first began to approach and mount up to his present boast of being a friend of the people. For the unpopularity arising from the treaty at Numantia, at the making of which he had been present as quaestor to Caius Mancinus the consul, and the severity displayed by the senate in repudiating that treaty, were a constant source of grief and fear to Tiberius Gracchus; and that circumstance alienated him, a brave and illustrious man, from the wisdom of the senators. And Caius Gracchus was excited by the death of his brother, by affection for him, by indignation, and by the greatness of his own mind, to seek to exact vengeance for the slaughter of a member of his family. We know that Saturninus was led to confess himself a friend of the people out of indignation, because at a time of great dearness of provisions, the senate removed him while he was quaestor from the superintendence of the corn market which belonged to him by virtue of his office, and appointed Marcus Scaurus to manage that business. And it was the breeze of popularity which carried Sulpicius further than he intended, after he had set out in a good cause, and had resisted Caius Julius when seeking to obtain the consulship contrary to the laws.
43. est illa rei publicae, sacris, religionibus, auctoritati vestrae, iudiciis publicis funesta quaestura, in qua idem iste deos hominesque, pudorem, pudicitiam, senatus auctoritatem, ius, fas, leges, iudicia violavit. hic ei gradus —o misera tempora stultasque nostras discordias!—P. Clodio gradus ad rem publicam hic primus ⟨fuit⟩ et aditus ad popularem iactationem atque adscensus. Ti. Graccho invidia Numantini foederis, cui feriendo, quaestor C. Mancini consulis cum esset, interfuerat, et in eo foedere improbando senatus severitas dolori et timori fuit, eaque res illum fortem et clarum virum a gravitate patrum desciscere coegit; C. autem Gracchum mors fraterna, pietas, dolor, magnitudo animi ad expetendas domestici sanguinis poenas excitavit; Saturninum, quod in annonae caritate quaestorem a sua frumentaria procuratione senatus amovit eique rei M. Scaurum praefecit, scimus dolore factum esse popularem; Sulpicium ab optima causa profectum Gaioque Iulio consulatum contra leges petenti resistentem longius quam voluit popularis aura provexit.
44. All these men had a reason,—not an adequate one, indeed, (for no one can have an adequate reason for proving a bad citizen to the republic,) but still they had a serious reason, and one connected with some indignation of mind not unbecoming to a man. Publius Clodius came out as a popular character from saffron gowns and turbans, and woman's slippers, and purple bands, and stomachers, and singing, and iniquity, and adultery. If the women had not caught him in this dress, if he had not been allowed to escape by the indulgence of the maid servants, from a place which it was impious for him to enter, the Roman people would have lost their devoted friend, the republic would have been deprived of so energetic a citizen. It is in consequence of this insane conduct, amid our dissensions, for which we are by these recent prodigies admonished by the immortal gods, that one of the patricians has been taken from their number to be made a tribune of the people, in direct violation of the laws.
44. in his omnibus etsi non iusta,—nulla enim potest cuiquam male de re publica merendi iusta esse causa,—gravis tamen et cum aliquo animi virilis dolore coniuncta: P. Clodius a crocota, a mitra, a muliebribus soleis purpureisque fasceolis, a strophio, a psalterio, a flagitio, a stupro est factus repente popularis. Nisi eum mulieres exornatum ita deprendissent, nisi ex eo loco quo eum adire fas non fuerat ancillarum beneficio emissus esset, populari homine populus Romanus, res publica cive tali careret. ob amentiam in discordiis nostris, de quibus ipsis his prodigiis recentibus a dis immortalibus admonemur, arreptus est unus ex patriciis cui tribuno plebis fieri non liceret.
45. That which, the year before, his brother Metellus and the senate, which even then was unanimous, had refused, and in the most rigorous manner rejected with one voice and one mind, Cnaeus Pompeius being the first to declare his opinion; (so greatly, after the dissensions of the nobles of which we are now reminded, were circumstances disturbed and altered;) that which his brother when consul opposed being done,—which his kinsman and companion, a most illustrious man, who had refused to speak in his favour when he was accused, had utterly prevented,—was now effected for him, owing to the dissensions of the nobles, by that man as consul, who, of all others, was bound to be his greatest enemy; and he said that he had done it by the advice of that man whose authority no one could repent having followed. A most shameful and grievous firebrand was thrown into the republic. Your authority was aimed at; and the dignity of the most honourable orders in the city, and the unanimity of all virtuous men, and in short, the entire constitution of the state. For these things were certainly attacked when that flame kindled at that time was directed against me, who had been the principal investigator of these matters. I bore the brunt of the attack, and I alone suffered on behalf of my country; but still I bore it so that you, while you were surrounded by the same flames, saw me wounded first and burning, as it were, in your defence.
45. anno ante frater Metellus et concors etiam tum senatus, senatus principe Cn. Pompeio sententiam dicente, excluserat acerrimeque una voce ac mente restiterat, id post discidium optimatium, de quo ipso nunc monemur, ita perturbatum itaque permutatum est ut, quod frater consul ne fieret obstiterat, quod adfinis et sodalis clarissimus vir, qui illum reum non laudarat, excluserat, id is consul efficeret in discordiis principum qui illi unus inimicissimus esse debuerat, eo fecisse auctore se diceret cuius auctoritatis neminem posset paenitere. fax est foeda ac luctuosa rei publicae; petita est auctoritas vestra, gravitas amplissimorum ordinum, consensio bonorum omnium, totus denique civitatis status. enim certe petebantur, cum in me cognitorem harum omnium rerum illa flamma illorum temporum coniciebatur. et pro patria solus exarsi, sic tamen ut vos isdem ignibus circumsaepti me primum ictum pro vobis et fumantem videretis.
46. The dissensions were not appeased; but the unpopularity of those men, by whom we thought that our cause was espoused, even increased. So, after a time, the very same men being the movers, and Pompeius the chief man, who roused Italy willing to be roused, and the Roman people which regretted me, and you who demanded me back, to take measures for my safety, employing not only his authority but even his prayers, I was restored. Let there be an end of discord, let us at last find rest from our long dissensions. No, that pest will not allow it; he summons these assemblies, he throws everything into confusion and disorder, selling himself sometimes to one party, sometimes to another; and yet not in such a manner that any one thinks himself the more praiseworthy for being praised by him; though at the same time they are glad that those whom they do not like, are abused by him. And I do not marvel at this fellow; for what else can he do? I do marvel at those wise and respectable men; in the first place, that they so easily allow any illustrious man who has deserved well of the republic to be attacked by the voice of a most profligate man; in the second place, that they think, (it would be a most disastrous thing for themselves if the fact were so,) that the real glory and dignity of any one can be impaired by the abuse of an abandoned and worthless man; and lastly, that they do not see, what however, they do seem to me to have some suspicion of, that those frantic and desultory attacks of his may some day or other be turned against themselves.
46. sedabantur discordiae, sed etiam crescebat in eos odium a quibus nos defendi putabamur. isdem auctoribus, Pompeio principe, qui cupientem Italiam, flagitantis vos, populum Romanum desiderantem non auctoritate sua solum, sed etiam precibus ad meam salutem excitavit, restituti sumus. discordiarum finis aliquando, a diuturnis dissensionibus conquiescamus. sinit eadem ista labes; eas habet contiones, ea miscet ac turbat ut modo ⟨se his, modo⟩ vendat illis, nec tamen ita ut se quisquam, si ab isto laudatus sit, laudatiorem putet, sed ut eos quos non amant ab eodem gaudeant vituperari. ego hunc non miror—quid enim faciat aliud?—: illos homines sapientissimos gravissimosque miror, primum quod quemquam clarum hominem atque optime de re publica saepe meritum impurissimi voce hominis violari facile patiuntur, deinde si existimant perditi hominis profligatique maledictis posse, id quod minime conducit ipsis, cuiusquam gloriam dignitatemque violari, postremo quod non sentiunt, id quod tamen mihi iam suspicari videntur, illius furentis ac volaticos impetus in se ipsos posse converti.
47. And it is owing to this undue alienation of some persons from others that those arrows now stick in the republic which, as long as they stuck in me alone, I bore,—with pain, indeed, but still not as thinking them of any great importance. Could that fellow, if he had not first given himself up to those men whose minds he thought were alienated from your authority,—if he had not, admirable authority that he is! extolled them to the skies with his panegyric,—if he had not threatened that he would let loose the army of Caius Caesar (though in that he spoke falsely, but no one contradicted him,) that he would, I say set on that army with hostile standards against the senate-house if he had not cried out that he was doing what he was by the assistance of Cnaeus Pompeius, and at the instigation of Marcus Crassus,—if he had not declared (the only word of truth that he spoke) that the consuls had united their cause with him;—could he, I say, ever have been so cruel an enemy to me or so wicked a disturber of the republic?
47. ex hac nimia non nullorum alienatione a quibusdam haerent ea tela in re publica quae, quam diu haerebant in uno me, graviter equidem sed aliquanto levius ferebam. iste nisi primo se dedisset iis quorum animos a vestra auctoritate seiunctos esse arbitrabatur, nisi eos in caelum suis laudibus praeclarus auctor extolleret, nisi exercitum C. Caesaris —in quo fallebat, sed eum nemo redarguebat—nisi eum, inquam, exercitum signis infestis in curiam se inmissurum minitaretur, nisi se Cn. Pompeio adiutore, M. Crasso auctore, quae faciebat facere clamaret, nisi consules causam coniunxisse secum, in quo uno non mentiebatur, confirmaret, tam crudelis mei, tam sceleratus rei publicae vexator esse potuisset?
48. After that, when he saw you recovering your breath after your fear of bloodshed, when he saw your authority rising again above the waves of that slavery, and the recollection of, and regret for me, getting more vivid, then he began on a sudden to sell himself to you, though with the most treacherous design. Then he began to say, both here in this house and in the assemblies of the people, that the Sullan laws had been passed in opposition to the auspices; among which laws was that lex curiata on which the whole of his tribuneship depended, though he was too frantic to see that. He brought forward that most fearless man Marcus Bibulus. He asked him whether he had not always been observing the heavens when Caius Caesar was carrying those laws? He replied, that he always had been observing them at that time. He asked the augurs whether laws which had been passed under these circumstances had been duly passed? They said, such a proceeding was irregular. Some people, virtuous men, and men who had done great service to me, began to extol him; utterly ignorant I imagine, of the lengths to which his madness could carry him. He proceeded further. He began to inveigh against Cnaeus Pompeius, the originator, as he was accustomed to boast, of all his designs. He gained great popularity in the people's eyes.
48. postea quam respirare vos a metu caedis, emergere auctoritatem vestram e fluctibus illis servitutis, reviviscere memoriam ac desiderium mei vidit, vobis se coepit subito fallacissime venditare; tum leges Iulias contra auspicia latas et hic et in contionibus dicere, in quibus legibus inerat curiata illa lex quae totum eius tribunatum continebat, quam caecus amentia non videbat. fortissimum virum, M. Bibulum; quaerebat ex eo, C. Caesare leges ferente de caelo semperne servasset; semper se ille servasse dicebat. interrogabat, quae ita lata essent rectene lata essent; illi vitio lata esse dicebant. in oculis hominem quidam boni viri et de me optime meriti, sed illius, ut ego arbitror, furoris ignari. processit; in ipsum Cn. Pompeium, auctorem, ut praedicare est solitus, consiliorum suorum, invehi coepit; inibat gratiam a non nullis.
49. But then, when he had become elated by the hope that he might be able—as he had by his abominable wickedness crushed, as he fancied him who, though in the garb of peace, had proved the suppressor of domestic war—to put down also that great man who had been the conqueror of our foreign wars and foreign enemies, then was seized in the temple of Castor that wicked dagger which was nearly the destroyer of this empire. Then he, against whom no enemy's city had ever long continued shut—he, who had always broken through all straits, trampled on all heights, crushed, by his energy and valour, the opposing weapons of every foe, was himself besieged at home; and, by the counsels which he adopted, relieved me from the reproaches cast on my timidity by some ignorant people. For if it was miserable rather than disgraceful to Cnaeus Pompeius, that bravest of all men who have ever been born, not to be able to go abroad in the sight of men, and to be secluded from all public places, as long as that fellow was tribune of the people, and to put up with his threats, when he said in the public assembly that he wished to build a second piazza in Carinae, to correspond to the one on the Palatine Hill; certainly, for me to leave my house was grievous as far as my own private grief was concerned, but glorious if you look only at the interests of the republic.
49. vero elatus ⟨est⟩ spe posse se, quoniam togatum domestici belli exstinctorem nefario scelere foedasset, illum etiam, illum externorum bellorum hostiumque victorem adfligere; tum est illa in templo Castoris scelerata et paene deletrix huius imperi sica deprensa; tum ille cui nulla hostium diutius urbs umquam fuit clausa, qui omnis angustias, omnis altitudines moenium obiectas semper vi ac virtute perfregit, obsessus ipse est domi meque non nulla imperitorum vituperatione timiditatis meae consilio et facto suo liberavit. si Cn. Pompeio, viro uni omnium fortissimo quicumque nati sunt, miserum magis fuit quam turpe, quam diu ille tribunus plebis fuit, lucem non aspicere, carere publico, minas eius perferre, cum in contionibus diceret velle se in Carinis aedificare alteram porticum, quae Palatio responderet, certe mihi exire domo mea ad privatum dolorem fuit luctuosum, ad rationem rei publicae gloriosum.
50. You see, then, that this fellow, when, as far as his own efforts went, he had been long since overthrown and crushed, was aroused again by the mischievous discords of the nobles; and the first beginnings of his fury were upheld by those who at that time appeared alienated from you. It is by these detractors and enemies that the remainder of the acts of his tribuneship have been defended, even since that tribuneship was over. They are the men who resisted that pest being removed from the republic; they prevented his being prosecuted; they resisted his being reduced to the condition of a private citizen. Is it possible that any virtuous men could have cherished in their bosom and have taken pleasure in, that poisonous and deadly viper? By what bribe were they cajoled? I wish, say they, that there should be some one in the assembly to disparage Pompeius. Can he disparage him by his abuse? I wish that that great man, who has contributed so greatly to my safety, may receive what I say in the same spirit as I say it. At all events, I will say what I feel. I declare to God, that there was no time that fellow appeared to be detracting so much from his exceeding dignity as when he was extolling him with the most extravagant praises.
50. igitur hominem per se ipsum iam pridem adflictum ac iacentem perniciosis optimatium discordiis excitari, cuius initia furoris dissensionibus eorum qui tum a vobis seiuncti videbantur sustentata sunt. iam praecipitantis tribunatus etiam post tribunatum obtrectatores eorum atque adversarii defenderunt; ne a re publica rei publicae pestis removeretur restiterunt, etiam ne causam diceret, etiam ne privatus esset. in sinu atque in deliciis quidam optimi viri viperam illam venenatam ac pestiferam habere potuerunt? quo tandem decepti munere? “,” inquiunt, “esse qui in contione detrahat de Pompeio.” ille vituperando? sic hoc vir summus atque optime de mea salute meritus accipiat ut a me dicitur; dicam quidem certe quod sentio. me dius fidius tum de illius amplissima dignitate detrahere cum illum maximis laudibus ecferebat videbatur.
51. Was Caius Marius, I pray you, more illustrious when Caius Glaucia was praising him, or when he became angry afterwards and abused him? Or, was this madman, who has been so long rushing headlong on punishment and destruction, more foul-mouthed and shameless when accusing Pompeius than he had been when reviling the whole senate? But I do marvel that though the former conduct may have been pleasing to angry men, the other course should not have been odious to such good citizens. But, lest this should any longer please excellent men, let them just read this harangue of his, of which I speak: in which, shall I say, he extols, or rather debases Pompeius? Undoubtedly he extols him, and says, that he is the only man in the city worthy of the glory of this empire; and hints that he is an exceedingly great friend of his, and that they are entirely reconciled.
51. tandem C. Marius splendidior cum eum C. Glaucia laudabat, an cum eundem iratus postea vituperabat? ille demens et iam pridem ad poenam exitiumque praeceps foedior aut inquinatior in Cn. Pompeio accusando quam in universo senatu vituperando fuit? quod quidem miror, cum alterum gratum sit iratis, alterum esse tam bonis civibus non acerbum. ne id viros optimos diutius delectet, legant hanc eius contionem de qua loquor; in qua Pompeium ornat,—an potius deformat? certe laudat, et unum esse in hac civitate dignum huius imperi gloria dicit, et significat se illi esse amicissimum et reconciliationem esse gratiae factam.
52. And although I do not exactly know what he means yet I am sure that, if he were a friend to Pompeius, he would not praise him. For, if he were his greatest enemy, what could he do more to diminish his credit? Let those, who were glad that he was an enemy to Cnaeus Pompeius, and who, on that account winked at his numerous and enormous crimes, and who sometimes even accompanied his unbridled and furious acts of frenzy with their applause, observe how quickly he has turned round. For now he is praising him; he is inveighing against those men to whom he previously sold himself. What do you suppose he will do if a door to reconciliation with him should become really open to him, when he is so eager to spread a belief in such a reconciliation?
52. ego quamquam quid sit nescio, tamen hoc statuo, hunc, si amicus esset Pompeio, laudaturum illum non fuisse. enim, si illi inimicissimus esset, amplius ad eius laudem minuendam facere potuisset? ii qui illum Pompeio inimicum esse gaudebant, ob eamque causam in tot tantisque sceleribus conivebant, et non numquam eius indomitos atque ecfrenatos furores plausu etiam suo prosequebantur, quam se cito inverterit. enim iam laudat illum: in eos invehitur quibus se antea venditabat. existimatis eum, si reditus ei gratiae patuerit, esse facturum, qui tam libenter in opinionem gratiae inrepat?
53. What other dissensions among the nobles can I suppose are pointed out by the immortal gods? For by this expression Publius Clodius is surely not meant nor any one of his gang or of his counselors. The Etruscan books have certain names which may fit some of that class of citizens. “Worthless men, rejected candidates,” as you shall presently hear, they call them, whose minds and estates are ruined, and utterly alienated from the general welfare. Wherefore when the immortal gods warn us of the discords of the nobles, they speak of the dissensions between illustrious citizens who have deserved well of the republic. When they predict danger and slaughter to the chief men, they leave Clodius safe enough, a man who is as far from the chief men as he is from virtuous or holy men. It is for you and for your safety, O most illustrious and most virtuous citizens, that they see that it behoves them to consult and to provide.
53. ego alias optimatium discordias a dis immortalibus definiri putem? nam hoc quidem verbo neque P. Clodius neque quisquam de gregalibus eius aut de consiliariis designatur. Etrusci libri certa nomina quae in id genus civium cadere possint:, repvlsos, quod iam audietis, hos appellant quorum et mentes et res sunt perditae longeque a communi salute diiunctae. re cum di immortales monent de optimatium discordia, de clarissimorum et optime meritorum civium dissensione praedicunt; cum principibus periculum caedemque portendunt, in tuto conlocant Clodium, qui tantum abest a principibus quantum a puris, quantum ab religiosis.
54. Slaughter of the chief men is indicated; that is added which must inevitably follow the death of the nobles. We are warned to take care that the republic does not fall under the absolute dominion of a single individual. And even if we were not led to this fear by the warning of the gods, still we ourselves, of our own accord, by our own senses and conjectures, should he forced to entertain it. For there is not usually any other termination to dissensions between eminent and powerful men, except either universal destruction, or the domination of the victorious party, or regal power. Lucius Sulla, a most noble and gallant consul, quarreled with Caius Marius, a most illustrious citizen. Each of these men, when defeated, fell so completely that the conqueror became a king. Cinna quarreled with his colleague Octavius. To each of these men prosperity gave kingly power, and adversity brought death. The same Sulla became victorious a second time.
54. , o carissimi atque optimi cives, et vestrae saluti consulendum et prospiciendum vident. principum ostenditur; id quod interitum optimatium sequi necesse est adiungitur; ne in unius imperium res recidat admonemur. quem metum si deorum monitis non duceremur, tamen ipsi nostro sensu coniecturaque raperemur; neque enim ullus alius discordiarum solet esse exitus inter claros et potentis viros nisi aut universus interitus aut victoris dominatus ac regnum. cum Mario, clarissimo civi, consul nobilissimus et fortissimus, L. Sulla; horum uterque ita cecidit victus ut victor idem regnaverit. Cum Octavio conlega Cinna dissedit; utrique horum secunda fortuna regnum est largita, adversa mortem. iterum Sulla superavit; tum sine dubio habuit regalem potestatem, quamquam rem publicam reciperarat.
55. And that time, beyond all question, he exercised regal power, though he re-established the republic. There is at this moment a hatred not concealed but implanted deeply, and burnt as it were into their minds, subsisting between men of the very highest rank. The chief men of the state are at variance. Every occasion is eagerly caught at. That party which is not so powerful as the other is nevertheless waiting for some change of fortune and for some favourable opportunity. That party which without dispute is the more powerful, is still perhaps at times afraid of the designs and opinions of its enemies. Let this discord be which are foreshown by these prodigies will be banished from the state. In a moment that serpent which is at present lurking about here will emerge and be brought to light, and will be strangled, and crushed, and die. For the soothsayers warn us to take care that the republic is not injured by secret designs. What designs are more secret than those of that man who dared to say in the public assembly that a suspension of the courts of justice ought to be proclaimed; that the jurisdiction of the judges ought to be interrupted, and the treasury shut and all trials put an end to? Unless perhaps you think that all this confusion and overthrow of the constitution could occur to him all on a sudden, while in the rostrum, and that he was not speaking after mature deliberation. The man is full of wine, lust, and sleep, full of the most inconsiderate and insane rashness; but still it was in his nocturnal vigils, and in a numerous company, that that suspension of justice was planned and concocted. Remember, O conscript fathers, that your ears were being experimented on by that expression, and that a most mischievous road was being made to them by accustoming you to hear it.
55. hoc tempore haud obscurum odium, atque id insitum penitus et inustum animis hominum amplissimorum; dissident principes; captatur occasio. non tantum opibus valent nescio quam fortunam tamen ac tempus exspectant: qui sine controversia plus possunt, ii fortasse non numquam consilia ac sententias inimicorum suorum extimescunt. haec e civitate discordia: iam omnes isti qui portenduntur metus exstinguentur, iam ista serpens, quae tum hic delitiscit, tum se emergit et fertur illuc, compressa atque inlisa morietur. enim eidem occvltis consiliis res pvblica laedatvr. sunt occultiora quam eius qui in contione ausus est dicere iustitium edici oportere, iuris dictionem intermitti, claudi aerarium, iudicia tolli? nisi forte existimatis hanc tantam conluvionem illi tantamque eversionem civitatis in mentem subito in rostris cogitanti venire potuisse. quidem ille plenus vini stupri somni, plenusque inconsideratissimae ac dementissimae temeritatis; verum tamen nocturnis vigiliis, etiam coitione hominum, iustitium illud concoctum atque meditatum est. Mementote, patres conscripti, verbo illo nefario temptatas auris nostras et perniciosam viam audiendi consuetudine esse munitam.
56. These words follow: “That more honour must not he given to worthless citizens and rejected candidates.” Let us see who are the rejected candidates; for I will show you afterwards who are the worthless citizens. But still all men must allow that this expression suits that man above all other who is beyond all question the most worthless of all mortals. Who then, are the rejected candidates? Not, I imagine, they who some time or other have failed to attain some honour more by the fault of the city than by their own. For that is a thing which has frequently happened to many most excellent citizens and most honourable men. Those are the rejected candidates meant, whom, when they were proceeding to the most violent measures, when they were preparing exhibitions of gladiators contrary to the laws, when they were bribing in the most open manner, not only strangers, but even their own relations, their neighbours, the men of their own tribe, towns-people and countrymen, all rejected. We are warned not to confer any additional honours on these men. It ought to be a very acceptable admonition that they give us; but still the Roman people itself, of its own accord, without any warning on the part of the soothsayers, has provided against this evil.
56. illud, deterioribvs repvlsisqve honos avgeatvr. videamus, nam deteriores qui sint, post docebo. tamen in eum cadere hoc verbum maxime qui sit unus omnium mortalium sine ulla dubitatione deterrimus, concedendum est. sunt igitur repulsi?, ut opinor, ii qui aliquando honorem vitio civitatis, non suo, non sunt adsecuti; nam id quidem multis saepe optimis civibus atque honestissimis viris accidit. sunt ii quos ad omnia progredientis, quos munera contra leges gladiatoria parantis, quos apertissime largientis non solum alieni sed etiam sui, vicini, tribules, urbani, rustici reppulerunt: hi ne honore augeantur monent. esse gratum quod praedicunt, sed tamen huic malo populus Romanus ipse nullo haruspicum admonitu sua sponte prospexit.
57. O you worthless men, beware; and there is a great multitude of you; but still this man is the leader and chief of the whole band. In truth, if any poet of splendid genius were to wish to bring on the stage one most worthless man, deformed with all sorts of imaginary vices collected from all quarters, he would not, I pledge myself, be able to discover one disgraceful quality which did not exist in this man, and he would pass over many which are deeply implanted and firmly rooted in him. In the first place nature attaches us to our parents, and to the immortal gods, and to our country. For at one and the same time we are brought forth to the light, and we are strengthened so as to grow by the breath of heaven which we feel around us, and we are established in a certain abode as citizens and free men. That fellow has jumbled in confusion the name of his parents, and his family sacrifices, and the memory of his family, and his family itself, by the assumption of the name of Fonteius. He has with unpardonable wickedness thrown into confusion the fires of the gods, their thrones, and tables, their secret hearths in the inmost recesses of the house, and sacrifices which were previously secret, and not only unseen by men, but even unheard-of by them; and besides all this he has set fire to the temple of those goddesses by whose aid people come to bring assistance in the case of other fires.
57. cavete; quorum quidem est magna natio, sed tamen eorum omnium hic dux est atque princeps; etenim si unum hominem deterrimum poeta praestanti aliquis ingenio fictis conquisitisque vitiis deformatum vellet inducere, nullum profecto dedecus reperire posset quod in hoc non inesset, multaque in eo penitus defixa atque haerentia praeteriret. et dis immortalibus et patriae nos primum natura conciliat; eodem enim tempore et suscipimur in lucem et hoc caelesti spiritu augemur et certam in sedem civitatis ac libertatis adscribimur. parentum nomen, sacra, memoriam, gentem Fonteiano nomine obruit; deorum ignis, solia, mensas, abditos ac penetralis focos, occulta et maribus non invisa solum, sed etiam inaudita sacra inexpiabili scelere pervertit, idemque earum templum inflammavit dearum quarum ope etiam aliis incendiis subvenitur.
58. Why should I mention his country? when in the first place by violence and arms, and dread of personal danger, he drove away from the city and from all the protection afforded him by his country that citizen whom you had decided over and over again to have been the saviour of his country. In the second place, having overthrown the companion of the senate, as I have always said, but its leader as he used to call him, he by violence, bloodshed, and conflagration, threw into confusion the senate itself, the mainstay of the general safety and of the public good sense; he abolished two laws, the Aelian and Fufian laws, which were of especial advantage to the state; he extinguished the censorship; he took away the power of intercession; he abolished the auspices; he armed the consuls, the companions of his wickedness, with the treasury, and provinces, and an army; he sold the kings who were in existence, and he called men kings who were not so; he drove Cnaeus Pompeius to his house with violence and arms; he overthrew the monuments of our generals; he threw down the houses of his enemies; he inscribed his own name on your monuments. The wicked deeds which have been done by him to the injury of his country are innumerable. Why need I tell what he has done to individual citizens, whom he has slain? Why need I count up the allies whom he has plundered? or the generals whom he has betrayed? or the armies with which he has tampered?
58. de patria loquar? qui primum eum civem vi, ferro, periculis urbe, omnibus patriae praesidiis depulit quem vos patriae conservatorem esse saepissime iudicaritis, deinde everso senatus, ut ego semper dixi, comite, duce, ut ille dicebat, senatum ipsum, principem salutis mentisque publicae, vi, caede incendiisque pervertit; sustulit duas leges, Aeliam et Fufiam, maxime rei publicae salutaris, censuram exstinxit, intercessionem removit, auspicia delevit, consules sceleris sui socios aerario, provinciis, exercitu armavit, reges qui erant vendidit, qui non erant appellavit, Cn. Pompeium ferro domum compulit, imperatorum monumenta evertit, inimicorum domus disturbavit, vestris monumentis suum nomen inscripsit. sunt scelera quae ab illo in patriam sunt edita.? quae in singulos civis quos necavit, socios quos diripuit, imperatores quos prodidit, exercitus quos temptavit?
59. Why need I mention what enormous wickednesses they are which he has been guilty of towards himself, and towards his own relations? Who ever showed less mercy to the camp of an enemy than he has shown to every part of his own person? What ship in a public river was ever so open to all men as his youth was? What spendthrifts ever lived in so unrestrained a manner with prostitutes as he did with his own sisters? In short what enormous Charybdis could the poets ever describe or ever imagine, capable of swallowing down such whirlpools as the plunder of the Byzantines and Brogitari which that fellow has sucked down? or what Scylla with such conspicuous and hungry hounds as the Gellii, and Clodii, and Titii with which you see that fellow devouring the rostrum itself?
59. vero? ea quanta sunt quae in ipsum se scelera, quae in suos edidit! minus umquam pepercit hostium castris quam ille omnibus corporis sui partibus? quae navis umquam in flumine publico tam vulgata omnibus quam istius aetas fuit? quis umquam nepos tam libere est cum scortis quam hic cum sororibus volutatus? quam denique tam immanem Charybdim poetae fingendo exprimere potuerunt, quae tantos exhauriret gurgites quantas iste Byzantiorum Brogitarorumque praedas exsorbuit? aut tam eminentibus canibus Scyllam tamque ieiunis quam quibus istum videtis, Gelliis, Clodiis, Titiis, rostra ipsa mandentem?
60. Wherefore, and that is the last sentence in the answers of the soothsayers, “Beware that the constitution of the republic be not changed.” In truth it is only with difficulty, even if we prop it up on all sides, that the constitution, already undermined and resting on all our shoulders, will be able to be kept together. This state was once so firm and so vigorous that it could withstand the indifference of the senate, or even the assaults of the citizens. Now it cannot. There is no treasury. Those who have contracted for the revenues do not enjoy them; the authority of the chief men has fallen; the agreement between the different orders of the state is torn asunder; the courts of justice are destroyed; the votes are all arranged and divided so as to be under the power of a few; the courage of the virtuous citizens, formerly ready at a nod from our order, exists no longer.
60. re, id quod extremum est in haruspicum responso, providete rei pvblicae statvs commvtetvr; etenim vix haec, si undique fulciamus iam labefacta, vix, inquam, nixa in omnium nostrum umeris cohaerebunt. quondam ita firma haec civitas et valens ut neglegentiam senatus vel etiam iniurias civium ferre posset. non potest. nullum est, vectigalibus non fruuntur qui redemerunt, auctoritas principum cecidit, consensus ordinum est divulsus, iudicia perierunt, suffragia descripta tenentur a paucis, bonorum animus ad nutum nostri ordinis expeditus iam non erit, civem qui se pro patriae salute opponat invidiae frustra posthac requiretis.
61. Henceforth in vain will you look for a citizen who will expose himself to unpopularity for the welfare of his country. We can then preserve even this state of things which now exists, such as it is, by no other means than by unanimity; for although we may become better off, that cannot even be hoped for as long as he is unpunished. And if we are to be worse off than we are, there is but one step slower, that of death or slavery. And the immortal gods themselves warn us against allowing ourselves to be thrust down into that abyss, since all human counsels have long since failed. And I, O conscript fathers, should not have undertaken this speech, so melancholy and so serious; not but that owing to the honours conferred on me by the Roman people, and to the numberless distinctions which you have heaped upon me, I am both bound and able to support this character and to play this part; but still, when every one else was silent, I should willingly have remained silent too. All this speech which I have made has not proceeded from my authority, but from my regard for the general religion. My words have, perhaps, been too many, but the whole sentiment has proceeded from the soothsayers. And either you ought never to have referred the prodigies which have been reported to you to them at all, or else you must be influenced by their answers.
61. re hunc statum qui nunc est, qualiscumque est, nulla alia re nisi concordia retinere possumus; nam ut meliore simus loco ne optandum quidem est illo impunito; deteriore autem statu ut simus, unus est inferior gradus aut interitus aut servitutis; quo ne trudamur di immortales nos admonent, quoniam iam pridem humana consilia ceciderunt. ego hanc orationem, patres conscripti, tam tristem, tam gravem non suscepissem, non quin hanc personam et has partis, honoribus populi Romani, vestris plurimis ornamentis mihi tributis, deberem et possem sustinere, sed tamen facile tacentibus ceteris reticuissem; sed haec oratio omnis fuit non auctoritatis meae, sed publicae religionis. fuerunt verba fortasse plura, sententiae quidem omnes haruspicum, ad quos aut referri nuntiata ostenta non convenit aut eorum responsis commoveri necesse est.
62. But if other more ordinary and more trifling occurrences have often influenced us, shall not the express voice of the immortal gods influence every one's mind? Do not think that really possible, which you often see in plays, that some god descending from heaven can approach the assemblies of men, and abide on earth, and converse with men. Consider the description of noise which the Latins have reported. Remember that prodigy also, which has not as yet been formally reported, that at almost the same time a terrible earthquake is said to have taken place in the Picenian district, at Potentia, with many other terrible circumstances;—these things which we foresee you will fear as impending over the city.
62. si cetera magis pervulgata nos saepe et leviora moverunt, vox ipsa deorum immortalium non mentis omnium permovebit? enim id putare accidere posse quod in fabulis saepe videtis fieri, ut deus aliqui delapsus de caelo coetus hominum adeat, versetur in terris, cum hominibus conloquatur. genus sonitus eius quem Latinienses nuntiarunt, recordamini illud etiam quod nondum est relatum, quod eodem fere tempore factus in agro Piceno Potentiae nuntiatur terrae motus horribilis cum quibusdam † multis metuendisque rebus: haec eadem profecto quae prospicimus impendentia pertimescetis.
63. In truth, this ought almost to be considered as the voice and speech of the immortal gods, when the world itself and the air and the earth tremble with a certain unusual agitation, and prophecy to us with an unprecedented and incredible sound. On this emergency we must appoint atonements and prayers as we are ordered; but it is easy to address prayers to those beings who of their own accord point out to us the path of safety. Our own internal quarrels and dissensions must be terminated by ourselves.
63. haec deorum immortalium vox, haec paene oratio iudicanda est, cum ipse mundus, cum maria atque terrae motu quodam novo contremiscunt et inusitato aliquid sono incredibilique praedicunt. quo constituendae nobis quidem sunt procurationes et obsecratio, quem ad modum monemur. faciles sunt preces apud eos qui ultro nobis viam salutis ostendunt: nostrae nobis sunt inter nos irae discordiaeque placandae.