76. Cnaeus Pompeius, though many men have fried to oppose his zeal for and attachment to my interests, has always had a regard for me; has always considered me entirely worthy of his intimacy; has always wished me to be not merely safe, but loaded with as much honour and distinction as possible. It is the dishonesty of you and your friends—it is your wickedness, your accusations against me, as if I were cherishing treacherous designs and he were in danger,—accusations most wickedly invented, and at the same time the accusations of those men who, abusing the liberty which their friendship with him gave them, contrived a home for their most infamous statements in his ears, at your instigation, and it is your desires of provinces which caused me to be excluded from his house, and all the men who were anxious for the preservation of his glory, and of the republic, to be cut off from all conversation with and all access to him.
76. Cn. Pompeius multis obsistentibus eius erga me studio atque amori semper dilexit, semper sua coniunctione dignissimum iudicavit, semper non modo incolumem sed etiam amplissimum atque ornatissimum voluit esse. fraudes, vestrum scelus, vestrae criminationes insidiarum mearum, illius periculorum nefarie fictae, simul eorum qui familiaritatis licentia suorum improbissimorum sermonum domicilium in auribus eius impulsu vestro conlocarant, vestrae cupiditates provinciarum effecerunt ut ego excluderer omnesque qui me, qui illius gloriam, qui rem publicam salvam esse cupiebant, sermone atque aditu prohiberentur;
77. And by all these measures it was brought about that he was prevented from abiding by what was notoriously his own opinion, while certain men had (I will not say wholly alienated his affections from me, but had) checked his eagerness to be of assistance to me. Did not Lucius Lentulus, who was at that time praetor, did not Quintus Sanga, did not Lucius Torquatus the father, did not Marcus Lucullus come to you? All of whom, and many others, had come to him, at his house on the Alban Hill, to pray and entreat him not to desert my fortune, which was bound up with the safety of the republic. And he sent those men to you and to your colleague, that you might espouse the public cause, and submit a motion to the senate. He said, that he was unwilling to enter into a contest with a tribune of the people in arms, unless he had a public resolution on his side; but that if the consuls were defending the republic in obedience to a resolution of the senate, then he would take up arms.
77. quibus rebus est perfectum ut illi plane suo stare iudicio non liceret, cum certi homines non studium eius a me alienassent, sed auxilium retardassent. ad te L. Lentulus, qui tum erat praetor, non Q. Sanga, non L. Torquatus pater, non M. Lucullus venit? qui omnes ad eum multique mortales oratum in Albanum obsecratumque venerant ut ne meas fortunas desereret cum rei publicae salute coniunctas. ille ad te et ad tuum conlegam remisit, ut causam publicam susciperetis, ut ad senatum referretis; se contra armatum tribunum pl. sine publico consilio decertare nolle; consulibus ex senatus consulto rem publicam defendentibus se arma sumpturum., infelix, recordaris quid responderis?
78. Do you at all recollect you wretch, what answer you gave? an answer at which all those men, but especially Torquatus above all, were in a fury at the insolence of your reply, when you said that you were not as brave as Torquatus had been in his consulship, or as I had been; that there was no need of arms, nor of a contest; that it was in my power a second time to save the republic by yielding to the storm; that there would be endless bloodshed if I resisted; and at the last he said, that neither he nor his son-in-law nor his colleague would desert the tribune of the people. And now, you enemy and traitor, do you say that I ought to be a more determined enemy to any one else than to you?
78. in quo illi omnes quidem, sed Torquatus praeter ceteros furebat contumacia responsi tui: te non esse tam fortem quam ipse Torquatus in consulatu fuisset aut ego; nihil opus esse armis, nihil contentione; me posse rem publicam iterum servare, si cessissem; infinitam caedem fore, si restitissem. ad extremum neque se neque generum neque conlegam suum tribuno pl. defuturum. tu hostis ac proditor aliis me inimiciorem quam tibi debere esse dicis? C.
79. I know well that Caius Caesar has not always had the same opinion about the republic that I have; but nevertheless, as I have often said of him before, in the hearing of these men, he communicated to me all his intentions during the whole of his consulship, and he wished me to be his partner in all the honours which he shared with his nearest friends; he offered them to me, he invited, he entreated me to accept them. I was not brought over to his party, perhaps out of too great a regard for my character for consistency; I did not wish to be exceedingly beloved by him to whose kindnesses I would never have given up my own opinion. While you were consul, the matter was supposed to be disputed and to have come to a close contest, whether the acts which he had carried the previous year should continue in force, or be rescinded. Why need I say more on this subject? If he thought that there was so much virtue, and vigour, and influence in me, that all the acts which he had performed would be undone if I opposed them, why should I not excuse him if he preferred his own safety to mine?
79. Caesarem non eadem de re publica sensisse quae me scio; sed tamen, quod iam de eo his audientibus saepe dixi, me ille sui totius consulatus eorumque honorum quos cum proximis communicavit socium esse voluit, detulit, invitavit, rogavit. sum propter nimiam fortasse constantiae cupiditatem adductus ad causam; non postulabam ut ei carissimus essem cuius ego ne beneficiis quidem sententiam meam tradidissem. res in certamen te consule putabatur, utrum quae superiore anno ille gessisset manerent, an rescinderentur. loquar plura? tantum ille in me esse uno roboris et virtutis putavit ut quae ipse gesserat conciderent, si ego restitissem, cur ego non ignoscam, si anteposuit suam salutem meae?
80. But I will say nothing of what is past. When Cnaeus Pompeius embraced my cause with all his energies, using all his exertions, and encountering even danger to his life for my sake; when he was going round to the municipal towns to plead my cause, and was imploring the good faith of all Italy; when he was continually sitting by Publius Lentulus, the consul, the author of my safety; when he was always delivering his opinion to the senate, and when in all his harangues he was not only professing himself the defender of my safety, but was descending even to supplications in my behalf; he then took to himself as a companion of and an assistant in his zeal for me, Caius Caesar, whom he knew to have the very greatest influence, and to be no enemy of mine. You see now that I am not an antagonist of yours, not an enemy to you; and that, as for those men whom you hint at, I am bound not only not to be offended with them, but to be a friend to them. One of them, and I will take care always to remember it, has been as great a friend to me as to himself; the other, what I will forget some day or other, certainly was more of a friend to himself than to me.
80. praeterita mitto. ut Cn. Pompeius omnibus studiis suis, laboribus, vitae periculis complexus est, cum municipia pro me adiret, Italiae fidem imploraret, P. Lentulo consuli, auctori salutis meae, frequens adsideret, senatus sententiam praestaret, in contionibus non modo se defensorem salutis meae sed etiam supplicem pro me profiteretur, huius voluntatis eum quem multum posse intellegebat, mihi non inimicum esse cognorat, socium sibi et adiutorem, C. Caesarem, adiunxit. vides me tibi non inimicum sed hostem, illis quos describis non modo non iratum sed etiam amicum esse debere; quorum alter, id quod meminero, semper aeque mihi amicus fuit ac sibi, alter, id quod obliviscar, sibi aliquando amicior quam mihi.
81. But this is a common state of things, that brave men, even after they have fought together in close combat sword in hand, still lay aside the hostility engendered by the contest at the same time that they cease from the battle itself, and lay down their arms. Nor, indeed, was he ever able to hate me, not even when we were most at variance. Virtue, which you do not even know by sight, has this quality, that its appearance and beauty delight brave men even when existing in an enemy. In truth, I will say sincerely, O conscript fathers, what I feel, and what I have often said before in your hearing. If Caius Caesar had never been friendly towards me; if he had always been hostile to me; if he had despised my friendship, and had always shown himself implacable and irreconcilable towards me; still I could not feel otherwise than friendly towards a man who had performed and was daily performing such mighty actions. Now that he is in command, I no longer oppose and array the rampart of the Alps against the ascent and crossing of the Gauls, nor the channel of the Rhine, foaming with its vast whirlpools, to those most savage nations of the Germans.
81. hoc ita fit ut viri fortes, etiam si ferro inter se comminus decertarint, tamen illud contentionis odium simul cum ipsa pugna armisque deponant. me ille odisse potuit umquam, ne tum quidem cum dissidebamus. hoc virtus, quam tu ne de facie quidem nosti, ut viros fortis species eius et pulchritudo etiam in hoste posita delectet. dicam ex animo, patres conscripti, quod sentio, et quod vobis audientibus saepe iam dixi. mihi numquam amicus C. Caesar fuisset, si semper iratus, si semper aspernaretur amicitiam meam seque mihi implacabilem inexpiabilemque praeberet, tamen ei, cum tantas res gessisset gereretque cotidie, non amicus esse non possem; cuius ego imperium, non Alpium vallum contra ascensum transgressionemque Gallorum, non Rheni fossam gurgitibus illis redundantem Germanorum immanissimis gentibus obicio et oppono;
82. Caesar has brought things to such a pass, that even if the mountains were to sink down, and the rivers to be dried up, we should still have Italy fortified, not indeed, by the bulwarks of nature, but by his victory and great exploits. But as he courts me, and loves me, and thinks me worthy of every sort of praise, will you call me off from my enmity against you to a quarrel with him? Will you thus reopen the past wounds of the republic by your enormities? Which, indeed, you, who were well acquainted with the union subsisting between Caesar and me, sought to elude, when you asked me,—with trembling lips, indeed, but still you did ask me,—why I did not proceed against you? Although, as far as I am concerned—Never shall you from care or pain be freedBy my denial,—still I must consider how much anxiety and how great a burden I, being exceedingly friendly to him, am imposing on him, while embarrassed with such important affairs of the republic, and with so formidable a war. Nor do I despair, though the youth of the city is indolent, and does not concern itself with the desire of praise and glory as it should, that there will be some men who will not be unwilling to stop this prostrate carcass of its consular spoils, especially in the case of so contemptible, and powerless, and helpless a criminal in the case of you who have behaved in such a manner that you have been afraid of appearing utterly unworthy of kindness, unless you showed yourself, in all respects, like the man by whom you were despatched into that province.
82. perfecit ille ut, si montes resedissent, amnes exaruissent, non naturae praesidio sed victoria sua rebusque gestis Italiam munitam haberemus. cum me expetat, diligat, omni laude dignum putet, tu me a tuis inimicitiis ad simultatem veterem vocabis, sic tuis sceleribus rei publicae praeterita fata refricabis? quidem tu, qui bene nosses coniunctionem meam et Caesaris, eludebas, cum a me trementibus omnino labris, sed tamen cur tibi nomen non deferrem requirebas., quod ad me attinet, numquam istam imminuam curam infitiando tibi, tamen est mihi considerandum quantum illi tantis rei publicae negotiis tantoque bello impedito ego homo amicissimus sollicitudinis atque oneris imponam. despero tamen, quamquam languet iuventus nec perinde atque debebat in laudis et gloriae cupiditate versatur, futuros aliquos qui abiectum hoc cadaver consularibus spoliis nudare non nolint, praesertim tam adflicto, tam inopi, tam infirmo, tam enervato reo, qui te ita gesseris ut timeres ne indignus beneficio videreris, nisi eius a quo missus eras simillimus exstitisses.
83. Do you imagine that we have inquired in only a cursory manner into the disgraces incurred during your command, and into the losses suffered by the province? We have investigated them, not tracking your footsteps merely by scent but marking every wriggle of your body, and every seat where you have left your print. Everything has been noted by us, both the very first crimes which you committed on your arrival, when, having received money from the people of Dyrrachium for the murder of Plato; who was connected with you by ties of hospitality, you destroyed the house of the man to whose murder you had sold yourself: when, after you had accepted from him some musical slave and other presents, he was still alarmed and hesitated a good deal, you assured him with promises, and desired him to come to Thessalonica on the security of your good faith.
83. vero tu parum putas investigatas esse a nobis labis imperi tui stragisque provinciae? quas quidem nos non vestigiis odorantes ingressus tuos sed totis volutationibus corporis et cubilibus persecuti sumus. a nobis sunt et prima illa scelera in adventu cum, accepta pecunia a Dyrrachinis ob necem hospitis tui Platoris, eius ipsius domum devertisti cuius sanguinem addixeras, eumque servis symphoniacis et aliis muneribus acceptis timentem multumque dubitantem confirmasti et Thessalonicam fide tua venire iussisti. ne maiorum quidem more supplicio adfecisti, cum miser ille securibus hospitis sui cervices subicere gestiret, sed ei medico quem tecum tu eduxeras imperasti ut venas hominis incideret;
84. And at last you did not even put him to death according to the custom of our ancestors, when that miserable man was willing to place his neck beneath the axe of his hereditary friend, but you ordered the physician whom you had brought with you to open his veins. After that, you added to the murder of Plator, that of Pleuratus, his companion, whom you put to death by scourging, being a man of extreme old age. After that, you are put to death by the hand of the executioner, Rabocentus, a prince of the Bessic tribe, having sold yourself to do this to king Cottus, for three hundred talents. And you did not murder him alone, but all the other ambassadors also who had come with him, all whose lives you sold to king Cottus. You waged a wicked and cruel war against the Denseletae, a nation which has at all times been obedient to this empire, and which even at the time of that general defection of all the barbarians, preserved Macedonia for us, when Caius Sentius was praetor. And though you might have had that people for your most faithful allies, you preferred to treat them as our most bitter enemies. Thereby you made those who might have been the perpetual defenders of Macedonia, desirous to harass and destroy it. They have thrown our revenues into confusion, they have taken our cities, laid waste our lands, led away cur allies into slavery, carried off whole families, driven off our cattle, and compelled the people of Thessalonica, as they despaired of saving their town, to fortify their citadel.
84. cum quidem tibi etiam accessio fuit ad necem Platoris Pleuratus eius comes, quem necasti verberibus summa senectute confectum. tu Rabocentum, Bessicae gentis principem, cum te trecentis talentis regi Cotyi vendidisses, securi percussisti, cum ille ad te legatus in castra venisset et tibi magna praesidia et auxilia a Bessis peditum equitumque polliceretur, neque eum solum sed etiam ceteros legatos qui simul venerant; quorum omnium capita regi Cotyi vendidisti. Denseletis, quae natio semper oboediens huic imperio etiam in illa omnium barbarorum defectione Macedoniam C. Sentio praetore tutata est, nefarium bellum et crudele intulisti, eisque cum fidelissimis sociis uti posses, hostibus uti acerrimis maluisti. perpetuos defensores Macedoniae vexatores ac praedatores effecisti; vectigalia nostra perturbarunt, urbes ceperunt, vastarunt agros, socios nostros in servitutem abduxerunt, familias abripuerunt, pecus abegerunt, Thessalonicensis, cum ⟨de⟩ oppido desperassent, munire arcem coegerunt.
85. It was by you that the temple of Jupiter Urius, the most ancient and the most venerated of all the temples of the barbarians, was plundered. They are your crimes which the immortal gods have been avenging on our soldiers; for when they were all attacked by one kind of disease, and when no one who had once fallen sick was found to recover, no one had any doubt that it must have been the insults offered to men connected with us by ties of hospitality, and the murder of ambassadors, and the attacking of peaceful and allied tribes with wanton and wicked war, and the plundering of temples, which were the causes of this great destruction. You can recognise in such brief particulars as these the universal nature of your wickedness and cruelty.
85. A te Iovis fanum antiquissimum barbarorum sanctissimumque direptum est. scelera di immortales in nostros milites expiaverunt; qui cum novo genere morbi adfligerentur neque se recreare quisquam posset, qui semel incidisset, dubitabat nemo quin violati hospites, legati necati, pacati atque socii nefario bello lacessiti, fana vexata hanc tantam efficerent vastitatem. ex particula parva scelerum et crudelitatis tuae genus universum.
86. Why need I now detail the whole course of your avarice which is connected with innumerable crimes? I will just mention a few which are most notorious in a lump. Did you not after they had been paid to you from the treasury leave behind you at Rome, to be put out to usury the eighteen millions of sesterces which you had obtained under pretence of its being money for your fit out as governor of a province, but which was in reality the price for which you had sold my life? Did you not when the people of Apollonia had given you two hundred talents at Rome, in order, by your means, to avoid payment of their just debts,—did you not, I say, actually give up Fufidius, a Roman knight, a most accomplished man, to his debtors? Did you not when you had given up your winter quarters to your lieutenant and prefect, utterly destroy those miserable cities? which were not only drained of all their wealth, but were compelled to undergo all the unholy cruelties and excesses of your lusts. What was your method of valuing corn? or the compliment which you claimed? if, indeed, that which is extorted by violence and by fear can be called a compliment. And this conduct of yours was felt nearly equally by all, but most bitterly by the Boeotians, and Byzantines, and by the people of the Chersonesus and Thessalonica. You were the only master, you were the only valuer, you were the only seller of all the corn in the whole province for the space of three years.
86. avaritiae, quae criminibus infinitis implicata est, summam nunc explicem? ea quae maxime nota sunt dicam. sestertium centiens et octogiens, quod quasi vasari nomine in venditione mei capitis ascripseras, ex aerario tibi attributum Romae in quaestu reliquisti?, cum cc talenta tibi Apolloniatae Romae dedissent ne pecunias creditas solverent, ultro Fufidium, equitem Romanum, hominem ornatissimum, creditorem debitoribus suis addixisti?, hiberna cum legato praefectoque tuo tradidisses, evertisti miseras funditus civitates, quae non solum bonis sunt exhaustae sed etiam nefarias libidinum contumelias turpitudinesque subierunt? modus tibi fuit frumenti aestimandi, qui honorarii? si quidem potest vi et metu extortum honorarium nominari. cum peraeque omnes, tum acerbissime Bottiaei, Byzantii, Cherronensus, Thessalonica sensit. Vnus tu dominus, unus aestimator, unus venditor tota in provincia per triennium frumenti omnis fuisti.
87. Why need I bring forward your investigations into capital charges, your agreements with criminals, your most iniquitous condemnation of some, your most profligate acquittal of others? You know well that every circumstance concerning these matters is known to me, and I will leave you to recollect how many crimes of that class and of what great enormity they were. What? have you any recollection of that workshop of arms where, having collected together all the cattle of the whole province, under some pretext connect with the hides, you repeated the whole of the profits which had been made by your family, and by your own father? For you, when you were a pretty big boy, at the time of the Italian war, had seen your house crammed full of the gains made when your father superintended the manufactory of arms. What? do you not recollect that the province was made a source of revenue to your slaves to whom you farm it, by putting a fixed import duty on every single thing which was sold? What? do you forget that centurionships were sold openly?
87. ego rerum capitalium quaestiones, reorum pactiones, redemptiones, acerbissimas damnationes, libidinosissimas liberationes proferam? locum aliquem cum mihi notum esse senseris, tecum ipse licebit quot in eo genere et quanta sint crimina recordere.? illam armorum officinam ecquid recordaris, cum omni totius provinciae pecore compulso pellium nomine omnem quaestum illum domesticum paternumque renovasti? enim grandis iam puer bello Italico repleri quaestu vestram domum, cum pater armis faciendis tuus praefuisset.? vectigalem ⟨populi Romani⟩ provinciam, singulis rebus quaecumque venirent certo portorio imposito, servam tuis publicanis a te factam esse meministi??
88. What? do you deny that rank was dispensed by your slaves? What? do you deny that during all the years pay was furnished to your troops by the cities of the province, the months for which each city was to find the money being openly settled? What? have you forgotten that journey of yours into Pontus and your attempts there? have you forgotten your prostration and abjectness of mind when news was brought to you that Macedonia was made praetorian province, and when you fell down fainting a half dead, not only because your successor was appointed, but also that Gabinius's was not? … Did you not send away a quaestor of aedilitian rank? Was not every one of the most virtuous of your lieutenants insulted by you? Did you not refuse to receive the military tribunes? Was not Marcus Baebius, a brave man, murdered by your commands?
88. centuriatus palam venditos, quid? per tuum servolum ordines adsignatos, quid? stipendium militibus per omnis annos a civitatibus mensis palam propositis esse numeratum? quid? illa in Pontum profectio et conatus tuus, quid? debilitatio atque abiectio animi tui Macedonia praetoria nuntiata, cum tu non solum quod tibi succederetur sed quod Gabinio non succederetur exsanguis et mortuus concidisti, quid? quaestor aediliciis reiectis praepositus, legatorum tuorum optimus abs te quisque violatus, tribuni militares non recepti, M. Baebius, vir fortis, interfectus iussu tuo?
89. Why need I tell how often you, distrusting and despairing of your fortunes, lay down in mourning, and lamentation, and misery? Why need I tell how you sent to that priest, so beloved the people, six hundred men of the friends, or allies, or tributaries of the Roman people, to be exposed to wild beasts? Need I relate how, when you were scarcely able to supply your disappointment and grief at your departure from the province, you first of all went to Samothrace, after that Thasos with your train of young dancing boys, and with Autobulus, and Athamas, and Timocles, those beautiful brothers?—that when you departed thence you lay for many days weeping in the villa of Euchadia, who was the wife Execestus? and from thence, disguised in shabby garments you came to Thessalonica by night, without any one knowing it?—that then, when you could not bear the crowds of in who came about you bewailing the state to which you had reduced them, nor the torrent of their complaints, you fled away to Beroea, a town out of your road? Need I relate how, when a rumour that Quintus Ancharius was not going to be appointed your successor had elated your mind with false hopes, while you were in that town, you again, O wretched man, gave the rein to all your former intemperance?
89. quod tu totiens diffidens ac desperans rebus tuis in sordibus, lamentis luctuque iacuisti, quod populari illi sacerdoti sescentos ad bestias amicos sociosque misisti, quod, cum sustentare vix posses maerorem tuum doloremque decessionis, Samothraciam te primum, post inde Thasum cum tuis teneris saltatoribus et cum Autobulo, Athamante, Timocle, formosis fratribus, contulisti, quod inde te recipiens in villa Euchadiae, quae fuit uxor Execesti, iacuisti maerens aliquot dies atque inde obsoletus Thessalonicam omnibus inscientibus noctuque venisti, quod, cum concursum plorantium ac tempestatem querelarum ferre non posses, in oppidum devium Beroeam profugisti? quo in oppido cum tibi spe falsa, quod Q. Ancharium non esse successurum putares, animos rumor inflasset, quo te modo ad tuam intemperantiam, scelerate, renovasti!
90. I say nothing of the gold for a crown, which tormented you a long time, while at one time you were inclined towards it and at another time unwilling to take it. For the law of your son-in-law forbade it to be decreed or to be accepted, unless a triumph was also decreed. But nevertheless you, in respect of that gold, could not find in your heart to disgorge the money which you had received and devoured, as in the case of the hundred talents of the Achaeans; you only changed the names and descriptions of the pretexts under which you extracted the money. I say nothing of the commissions which you scattered at random over the provinces; I say nothing of the number of vessels, or of the sum total of the plunder you acquired; I say nothing of the system under which you levied and extorted all the corn; I say nothing of your having stripped both nations and individuals of their liberties, even though they had had those liberties given them by name as rewards, not one of all which things is not carefully provided against and expressly forbidden to be done by the Sullan law.
90. Mitto aurum coronarium quod te diutissime torsit, cum modo velles, modo nolles. enim generi tui et decerni et te accipere vetabat nisi decreto triumpho. quo tu acceptam iam et devoratam pecuniam, ut in Achaeorum centum talentis, evomere non poteras, vocabula tantum pecuniarum et genera mutabas. Mitto diplomata tota in provincia passim data, mitto numerum navium summamque praedae, mitto rationem exacti imperatique frumenti, mitto ereptam libertatem populis ac singulis qui erant adfecti praemiis nominatim, quorum nihil est quod non sit lege Iulia ne fieri liceat sanctum diligenter.
91. You, on your departure (O you punishment, O you Fury of the allies) destroyed the unhappy Aetolia, which being separated by a great distance from the barbarian nations, is placed in the lap of peace and is in almost the centre of Greece. You confess as indeed you mentioned yourself only just now that Arsinoë and Stratus and Naupactus noble and wealthy cities were taken by the enemy. And by what enemies? Why, by those whom you, while encamped at Ambracia, on your first arrival, compelled to depart from the towns of the Agrinae and of the Dolopes, and to leave their altars and their homes. But now, on this departure of yours, O you illustrious “Imperator” though the sudden destruction of Aetolia was no trifling addition to your previous disasters,—you disbanded your army; nor was there any punishment which could be considered due to such guilt as yours which you were not willing to undergo, rather than allow any one to become acquainted with the existing numbers of the relics of your army.
91. Aetoliam, quae procul a barbaris disiuncta gentibus, in sinu pacis posita, medio fere Graeciae gremio continetur, o Poena et Furia sociorum! decedens miseram perdidisti. Arsinoen, Stratum, Naupactum, ut modo tute indicasti, nobilis urbis atque plenas, fateris ab hostibus esse captas. autem hostibus? eis quos tu Ambraciae sedens primo tuo adventu ex oppidis Agrianum atque Dolopum demigrare et aras et focos relinquere coegisti. tu in exitu, praeclare imperator, cum tibi ad pristinas cladis accessio fuisset Aetoliae repentinus interitus, exercitum dimisisti, neque ullam poenam quae tanto facinori deberetur non maluisti subire quam ⟨quemquam⟩ numerum tuorum militum reliquiasque cognoscere.
92. And, that you, O conscript fathers, may see how great is the resemblance between the two Epicurean generals in their military exploits and management of their command; Albucius, after he had triumphed in Sardinia, was condemned at Rome. And as this man expected a similar end to his campaigns, he laid aside his trophies in Macedonia; and those things which all nations have agreed in considering the insignia and monuments of military glory and victory, this extraordinary “Imperator” of ours made the fatal evidences of towns which had been lost of legions which had been cut to pieces, of a province stripped of its garrison and of all the rest of its troops, to the everlasting disgrace of his family and name; and then, in order that there should to something which might be recorded and engraved on the pedestal of his trophies, when, on his departure from his province, he arrived at Dyrrachium, he was besieged by those very soldiers whom he told Torquatus just now, in answer to his questions, had been disbanded by him out of kindness. And when he had assured them with an oath that he would pay them the next day all that was due to them, he hid himself at home; and then on a very stormy night, in slippers and in the garb of a slave, he embarked on board a ship, and avoided Brundusium, and sailed towards the furthest part of the coast of the Adriatic Sea;
92. ut duorum Epicureorum similitudinem in re militari imperioque videatis, Albucius, cum in Sardinia triumphasset, Romae damnatus est; hic cum similem exitum exspectaret, in Macedonia tropaea posuit; eaque ⟨quae⟩ bellicae laudis victoriaeque omnes gentes insignia et monumenta esse voluerunt noster hic praeposterus imperator amissorum oppidorum, caesarum legionum, provinciae praesidio et reliquis militibus orbatae ad sempiternum dedecus sui generis et nominis funesta indicia constituit; idemque, ut esset quod in basi tropaeorum inscribi incidique posset, Dyrrachium ut venit decedens, obsessus est ab eis ipsis militibus quos paulo ante Torquato respondit benefici causa a se esse dimissos. cum iuratus adfirmasset se quae deberentur postero die persoluturum, domum se abdidit; inde nocte intempesta crepidatus veste servili navem conscendit Brundisiumque vitavit et ultimas Hadriani maris oras petivit, cum interim Dyrrachii milites domum in qua istum esse arbitrabantur obsidere coeperunt et, cum latere hominem putarent, ignis circumdederunt.
93. while, in the meantime, the soldiers at Dyrrachium began to besiege the house in which they thought that he was, and as they thought that he was hiding himself there, they began to set fire to it. And the people of Dyrrachium, being alarmed at that proceeding, told them that their “Imperator” had fled away by night in his slippers. Then the troops displace, and throw down, and deface, and destroy a statue of his, an excellent likeness of him, which he had caused to be erected in the most frequented place, that the recollection of so delightful a man might not perish; and in this way they expended on his likeness and on his effigy the hatred which they had hoped to wreak on himself.
93. metu commoti Dyrrachini profugisse noctu crepidatum imperatorem indicaverunt. autem statuam istius persimilem, quam stare celeberrimo in loco voluerat ne suavissimi hominis memoria moreretur, deturbant, adfligunt, comminuunt, dissipant. odium quod in ipsum attulerant, id in eius imaginem ac simulacrum profuderunt.
94. And as all this is the truth, (for I have no doubt that, when you see that I am acquainted with these which are the more prominent facts of your career, you will suppose that the more ordinary cases, that the main body of your crimes, has not been entirely unheard of by me,) you have no occasion to tempt me either by exhortation or by invitation. It is quite enough for me to be reminded. And no one and nothing will remind me except the critical occasions of the republic which appear to me indeed to be more immediately pressing than you have ever thought. Do you not in the least see or perceive what sort of judges we are going to have for the future when the law regulating the courts of justice is passed? Then it will not be the case that every one who likes will be appointed and that every one who has any objection will be excused. No men will be thrust into the order of judges no one will be irregularly removed from it. Ambition will not be allowed to work its way to popularity, nor wickedness to gratify its enmity, by that means. Those will be the judges whom the law itself, not those whom the depraved caprices of men appoint. And as this is the case believe me you will not have need to demand a prosecutor against your will. The case itself, or the necessities of the republic will either call forth me myself—which I should be sorry for—or some one else, or will repress us.
94. cum ita sint—non enim dubito quin, cum haec quae excellunt me nosse videas, non existimes mediam illam partem et turbam flagitiorum tuorum mihi esse inauditam— nihil est quod me hortere, nihil est quod invites; admoneri me satis est. autem nemo alius nisi rei publicae tempus, quod mihi quidem magis videtur quam tu umquam arbitratus es appropinquare. vides, ecquid sentis, lege iudiciaria lata, quos posthac iudices simus habituri? legetur quisquis voluerit, nec quisquis noluerit non legetur; nulli conicientur in illum ordinem, nulli eximentur; non ambitio ad gratiam, non iniquitas ad aemulationem conitetur; iudices iudicabunt ei quos lex ipsa, non quos hominum libido delegerit. cum ita sit, mihi crede, neminem invitum invitabis; res ipsa et rei publicae tempus aut me ipsum, quod nolim, aut alium quempiam aut invitabit aut dehortabitur.
95. In truth, as I said a little time ago, I do not think that the same things are punishments to men which most people consider such, namely condemnation, banishment, or death. Lastly, it seems to me that that which may happen to an innocent, or to a brave or to a wise or to a virtuous man and citizen, cannot be a punishment in the proper sense of the word. That condemnation which is now demanded to be inflicted on you, befell Publius Rutilius, a man whom this city accounted a pattern of innocence. Lucius Opimius was driven from his country—he who, as praetor and consul, had delivered the republic from the greatest dangers. The punishment of guilt and of the consciousness of it, did not belong to the man to whom the injury was done, but to those who did it. But on the other hand, Catiline was twice acquitted; even that man who was the cause of your obtaining your province was acquitted after he had profaned the sacred rites of the Good Goddess. But who was there in all this city who thought that he was released from the guilt of impiety, and not that those who acquitted him were, by their sentence, made accomplices in his wickedness?
95. , ut paulo ante dixi, non eadem supplicia esse in hominibus existimo quae fortasse plerique, damnationes, expulsiones, neces; denique nullam mihi poenam videtur habere id quod accidere innocenti, quod forti, quod sapienti, quod bono viro et civi potest. ista quae in te flagitatur obtigit P. Rutilio, quod specimen habuit haec civitas innocentiae. mihi iudicum et rei publicae poena illa visa est quam Rutili. L. Opimius eiectus est e patria, is qui praetor et consul maximis rem publicam periculis liberarat. in eo cui facta est iniuria sed in eis qui fecerunt sceleris et conscientiae poena permansit. contra bis Catilina absolutus ⟨est⟩, emissus etiam ille auctor tuus provinciae, cum stuprum deae pulvinaribus intulisset. fuit in tanta civitate qui illum incesto liberatum, non eos qui ita iudicarant pari scelere obstrictos arbitraretur?
96. Am I to wait while seventy-five voting tablets are distributed in your case; when all men of all classes and ages and ranks of society have long since formed their opinions concerning you? For who is there who thinks you deserving of a visit; or of any compliment or even of an ordinary salutation? All men wish to efface all recollection of your consulship, to extirpate your conduct, your habits, your very appearance and name from the republic. The lieutenants who were with you are alienated from you, the military tribunes are hostile to you; the centurions and any other soldiers who may be left out of that once numerous army, and who were not disbanded by you but scattered abroad, hate you, wish for calamities to befall you, execrate you. Achaia which has been drained by you, Thessaly which has been harassed by you, Athens which has been plundered by you, Dyrrachium and Apollonia which have been completely emptied by you, Ambracia which has been pillaged by you, the Parthinians and Bulliensians who have been mocked by you, Epirus which has been laid waste by you, the Locrians, the Phocians, the Boeotians whom you have ravaged with fire and sword, Acarnania, Amphilochia, Perrhaebia, and the nation of the Athamanes who have been sold by you, Macedonia which has been sacrificed by you to the barbarians, Aetolia which has been lost, the Dolopians and the neighbouring mountaineers who have been driven from their towns and from their lands, the Roman citizens who have dealings as merchants in those countries,—all feel that you came among them as their chief despoiler, and harasser, and robber, and enemy.
96. ego exspectem dum de te v et lxx tabellae diribeantur, de quo iam pridem omnes mortales omnium generum, aetatum, ordinum iudicaverunt? enim te aditu, quis ullo honore, quis denique communi salutatione dignum putat? memoriam consulatus tui, facta, mores, faciem denique ac nomen a re publica detestantur. qui una fuerunt alienati, tribuni militum inimici, centuriones, et si qui ex tanto exercitu reliqui milites exstant non dimissi abs te sed dissipati, te oderunt, tibi pestem exoptant, te exsecrantur. Achaia exhausta, Thessalia vexata, laceratae Athenae, Dyrrachium et Apollonia exinanita, Ambracia direpta, Parthini et Bulidenses inlusi, Epirus excisa, Locri, Phocii, Boeotii exusti, Acarnania, Amphilochia, Perraebia, Athamanumque gens vendita, Macedonia condonata barbaris, Aetolia amissa, Dolopes finitimique montani oppidis atque agris exterminati; cives Romani qui in eis locis negotiantur te unum suum sociorumque depeculatorem, vexatorem, praedonem, hostem venisse senserunt.
97. To all these numerous and weighty opinions formed respecting you in this manner, there has been added the private sentence of condemnation which you have passed upon yourself. Your secret arrival, your stealthy journey through Italy, your entry into the city deserted by your friends;—the fact of your sending no letters to the senate, of your addressing no congratulation to them on successes achieved by you during the whole of three summer campaigns, of your making no mention of any triumph;—you do not only omit to say what you did, but you do not even dare to say where you were. When you had brought back the dry withered leaves of your laurels from that fountain and seed-ground of triumphs, when you threw them down and left them at the gate, then you yourself gave your verdict against yourself, and pronounced yourself “guilty.” And if you had done nothing deserving of honour, what had become of your army? where was the need for all that expense? what did you want with a military command? why did you seek for that province so fruitful in supplications and triumphs? But if you had ventured to cherish hopes of anything,—if you had nourished the thoughts which the name of “Imperator,” the fasces bound with laurel, and those trophies so full of disgrace and ridicule to you, show that you had entertained,—who can be more miserable, who more thoroughly condemned than you, who neither when absent ventured to write to the senate that the affairs of the republic had been prosperously conducted by you, nor dare to say as much when you are present?
97. horum omnium iudicia tot atque tanta domesticum iudicium accessit sententiae damnationis tuae, occultus adventus, furtivum iter per Italiam, introitus in urbem desertus ab amicis, nullae ad senatum e provincia litterae, nulla ex trinis aestivis gratulatio, nulla triumphi mentio; non modo quid gesseris sed ne quibus in locis quidem fueris dicere audes. illo fonte et seminario triumphorum cum arida folia laureae rettulisses, cum ea abiecta ad portam reliquisti, tum tu ipse de te fecisse videri pronuntiavisti. si nihil gesseras dignum honore, ubi exercitus, ubi sumptus, ubi imperium, ubi illa uberrima supplicationibus triumphisque provincia? autem aliquid sperare potueras, ⟨si⟩ cogitaras id quod imperatoris nomen, quod laureati fasces, quod illa tropaea plena dedecoris et risus te commentatum esse declarant, quis te miserior, quis te damnatior, qui neque scribere ad senatum a te bene rem publicam esse gestam neque praesens dicere ausus es?
98. Do you think that you can possibly appear to be anything but a condemned man to me, who have always been of opinion that a man's fortune was to be estimated by his actions themselves, and not by their results, and that our character and our fortunes depended not on the voting tablets of a few judges, but on the opinions and judgments of all the citizens? when I see that the allies, and the people of the federate states, and all free nations, and all the tributary peoples, and the merchants, and the farmers of the public revenue, and the whole population of the city, and the lieutenants, and the military tribunes, and all the soldiers who are left of your army—as many as have escaped the sword, and famine, and disease, think you worthy of every extremity of punishment? when no excuse can be possibly alleged either before the senate, or before any order of men whatever, or before the Roman knights, or in the city, or in any part of Italy, sufficient to induce any one to pardon your enormous crimes? when I see that even you yourself hate yourself, and are afraid of everybody, and can find no one to whom you can venture to entrust your cause, and by your own verdict condemn yourself?
98. tu mihi cui semper ita persuasum fuerit non eventis sed factis cuiusque fortunam ponderari, neque in tabellis paucorum iudicum sed in sententiis omnium civium famam nostram fortunamque pendere, te indemnatum videri putas, quem socii, quem foederati, quem liberi populi, quem stipendiarii, quem negotiatores, quem publicani, quem universa civitas, quem legati, quem tribuni militares, quem reliqui milites qui ferrum, qui famem, qui morbum effugerunt, omni cruciatu dignissimum putent, cui non apud senatum, non apud equites Romanos, non apud ullum ordinem, non in urbe, non in Italia maximorum scelerum venia ulla ad ignoscendum dari possit, qui se ipse oderit, qui metuat omnis, qui suam causam nemini committere audeat, qui se ipse condemnet?
99. I have never thirsted for your blood; I have never sought in your case for that extreme severity of the law and of judgment which at times may fall alike on the virtuous and on the guilty. But I have wished to see you abject, despised, scorned by all the rest of the citizens; looking with despair on your prospects, and abandoned even by yourself; looking timidly around at every noise which sounded near you; trembling at everything; distrusting the continuance of even your present safety, such as it is; not daring to utter a word; deprived of all liberty, destitute of all authority, stripped of all the dignity of a consul and of a man of consular rank; shivering, trembling, and fawning on all men. And I have seen you. Wherefore, if that future befalls you which you are in hourly apprehension of, I shall be in no respect concerned at it; if it is even a long while coming, still I shall enjoy the indignities to which you are exposed; and I shall be quite as well pleased to see you in daily fear of a prosecution as actually before the court; nor shall I rejoice less at seeing you in constant and unceasing distress, than I should if I saw you for a short time in the mourning robe of a criminal on his trial.
99. ego sanguinem expetivi tuum, numquam illud extremum quod posset esse improbis et probis commune supplicium legis ac iudici, sed abiectum, contemptum, despectum a ceteris, a te ipso desperatum et relictum, circumspectantem omnia, quicquid increpuisset pertimescentem, diffidentem tuis rebus, sine voce, sine libertate, sine auctoritate, sine ulla specie consulari, horrentem, trementem, adulantem omnis videre te volui; vidi. re si tibi evenerit quod metuis ne accidat, equidem non moleste feram; sin id tardius forte fiet, fruar tamen tua et indignitate et timiditate, nec te minus libenter metuentem videbo ne reus fias quam reum, nec minus laetabor cum te semper sordidum, quam si paulisper sordidatum viderem.