---
title: "To the Senate, after His Return · Post reditum in senatu"
author: "Cicero"
translator: "Charles Duke Yonge"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 1 of 2
url: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-post-reditum-in-senatu/1/
cite: "Cicero, tr. Charles Duke Yonge, To the Senate, after His Return · Post reditum in senatu, section 1. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-post-reditum-in-senatu/1/"
---

# To the Senate, after His Return · Post reditum in senatu

*Cicero, tr. Charles Duke Yonge*

Cicero thanks the senate for his recall.

> Latin: ed. William Peterson, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0474.phi019, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Charles Duke Yonge, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0474.phi019.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 1. Sections 7–19

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-post-reditum-in-senatu/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-post-reditum-in-senatu/1/#p-N

[¶0] Cicero by his conduct in the conspiracy of Catiline had made many enemies, as there were many citizens of high rank and great influence more or less implicated in that treason. And besides those men, he had mortally offended a profligate senator, named Clodius, against whom he had appeared as a witness on a trial for impiety. Clodius, (by the assistance of Julius Caesar, who was offended with Cicero for refusing to support the measures of the triumvirate,) got adopted as a plebeian, in order to be made tribune of the people, so as to have the greater power to annoy Cicero. He was elected tribune A. U. C. 696. And the consuls, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus and Aulus Gabinius, were also enemies to Cicero. After some preliminary laws, mostly aimed, in Cicero's opinion, at him, Clodius proposed a special law, “that whoever had taken away the life of a citizen uncondemned and without a trial, should be prohibited from fire and water.” This alluded especially to Cicero's having executed the accomplices of Catiline; and he accordingly changed his dress, as it was usual for people to do in the case of a public impeachment, and appeared in the streets in a mourning robe, and the whole body of the knights and the young nobility, to the number of twenty thousand, as he says himself in his speech to the people after his return, also changed their dress, and accompanied him about the city to protect him from the insults of Clodius's partisans, and to implore the assistance of the people. And all this body went to the consuls to implore their favour for Cicero; but Piso refused to see them, and Gabinius treated them with the greatest insolence, which caused such indignation in the assembly that Ninnius the tribune made a motion (which was carried unanimously) that the senate also should put on mourning robes. The consuls issued an edict forbidding them to do so. On one occasion Clodius with his slaves fell on Cicero's partisans and attacked them so violently that Hortensius was nearly killed and Vibienus, a senator, died of the wounds he received. Caesar openly espoused the cause of Clodius, declaring that he had always thought the proceedings against Lentulus and the rest irregular and illegal. And Pompey, who had at first espoused Cicero's cause began to be alarmed, and to avoid giving him any effectual assistance. And the disturbances in Rome rose to such a height, that Cicero, by the advice of his friends, and especially of Cato, Hortensius, and Atticus, went into voluntary exile. As soon as he had departed, Clodius filled the forum with his own partisans and his slaves, and proposed a law in the following terms: “Whereas Marcus Tullius Cicero has put Roman citizens to death unheard and uncondemned; and for that end forged the authority and decree of the senate; may it please you to ordain that he be interdicted from fire and water; that nobody presume to harbour or receive him, on pain of death; and that whoever shall move, speak, vote, or take any step towards recalling him, shall be treated as a public enemy, unless those should first be recalled to life whom Cicero unlawfully put to death.” The name of Sedulius, one of the meanest of the people, was affixed to the law as if he had been its proposer, who afterwards declared that he was not in Rome at the time, and that he had known nothing about it. Cicero went to Thessalonica. He had not been gone more than two months when Ninnius made a motion in the senate to recall him and to repeal the law which Clodius had enacted against him, and it would have been carried had not Aelius Ligur, one of the tribunes, interposed his veto. The senate, however, passed a resolution that no business should be proceeded with till the consuls had prepared a new law respecting Cicero's affairs. Pompey, too, began to feel the want of Cicero's assistance, and consulted Caesar as to the expediency of promoting his recall. The new consuls were Publius Cornelius Lentulus, a warm friend of Cicero, and Quintus Metellus Nepos, who had been his enemy but who now, out of complaisance to the triumvirate, promised to assist in his restoration. One of the tribunes elect, whose name was Sextus, was also very eager in his cause; but Clodius bribed two of those who were coming into office, Servius Atilius Serranus and Numerius Quinctius Gracchus, to oppose all measures for his restoration. On the first of January the moment that the new consuls entered on their office, Lentulus made a motion in the senate for Cicero's recall; Metellus also spoke in favour of it, and Cotta, whose opinion was first asked declared that as Cicero had not been banished legally but had only retired from the city of his own accord for the sake of peace, there was no law requisite for his recall; but that a vote of the senate would be sufficient. The motion would have passed at once had not Serranus interposed his veto. Great disturbances ensued in Rome; Fabricius, one of the tribunes favourable to Cicero, was attacked with a party of his friends by Clodius at the head of a band of gladiators, whom he had purchased; and great numbers of citizens were slain, so that Cicero says, (,) that there had never been such bloodshed in Rome except in the time of Cinna. The senate passed a resolution that no business should be done till the vote for Cicero's recall was carried, and ordered the consuls to summon all the people of Italy who wished well to the state to come to the assistance and defence of Cicero. Pompey was at this time at Capua acting as chief magistrate of his new colony, where he presided in person at their making a decree in Cicero's honour, and took the trouble likewise of visiting all the other colonies and chief towns in those parts, to appoint them a day of general rendezvous at Rome to assist at the promulgation of the desired law. At last a decree to recall Cicero was carried, to the great joy of all the people; but for some time Clodius was enabled to prevent any regular law being passed to that effect, till at last all his partisans were afraid to stand by him any longer, and it was not until the fourth of August that the law was finally carried. Cicero, in anticipation of it, had already embarked for Italy, and on the fifth of August he landed at Brundusium. He was received with the greatest honours by every town through which he passed on his way to Rome, and multitudes came from all quarters to see him and to escort him; and on his arrival in the city he was received with universal acclamations. He arrived in the city on the fourth of September, and the next day the consuls summoned the senate to give him an opportunity of addressing that body, when he made the following speech. If, O conscript fathers, I return you thanks in a very inadequate manner for your kindness to me, and to my brother, and to my children, (which shall never be forgotten by us,) I beg and entreat you not to attribute it so much to any coldness of my disposition, as to the magnitude of the service which you have done me. For what fertility of genius, what copiousness of eloquence can be so great, what language can be found of such divine and extraordinary power, as to enable any one, I will not say to do due honour to the universal kindness of you all towards us, but even to count up and enumerate all the separate acts of kindness which we have received from you? You have restored to me my brother; whom I have wished for above all things; you have restored me to my most affectionate brother; you have restored us parents to our children, and our children to us; you have restored to us our dignity, our rank, our fortunes, the republic, which we reverence above all things, and our country, than which nothing can be dearer to us; you have restored us, in short, to ourselves. And if we ought to consider our parents most dear to us, because by them our life, our property, our freedom, and our rights as citizens have been given to us; if we love the immortal gods, by whose kindness we have preserved all those things, and have also had other benefits added to them; if we are most deeply attached to the Roman people owing to the honours paid to us by whom we have been placed in this most noble council, and in the very highest rank and dignity and in this citadel of the whole earth, if we are devoted to this order of the senate by which we have been frequently distinguished by most honourable decrees in our favour, surely it is a boundless and infinite obligation which we are under to you, who, by your singular zeal and unanimity an my behalf, have combined at one time the benefits done us by our parents, the bounty of the immortal gods, the honours conferred on us by the Roman people, and your own frequent decisions in my case; in such a manner that, owing, as we do, much to you, and great gratitude to the Roman people, and innumerable thanks to our parents, and everything to the immortal gods, the honours and enjoyments which we had separately before by their instrumentality, we have now recovered all together by your kindness. Therefore, O conscript fathers, we seem by your agency to have obtained a species of immortality, a thing too great to be even wished for by men. For what time will there ever be in which the memory and fame of your kindnesses to me will perish? The memory of your kindness, who, at the very time that you were besieged by violence and arms and terror and threats, not long after my departure all agreed in recalling me, at the motion of Lucius Ninnius, a most fearless and virtuous man, the most faithful and (if it had come to a battle) the least timid defender of my safety that that fatal year could produce. After the honour of making a formal decree to that effect was refused to you by the means of that tribune of the people, who as he was unable of himself to injure the republic, destroyed it as far as he could by the wickedness of another, you never kept silence concerning me, you never ceased to demand my safety from those consuls who had sold it. Therefore, at last it was owing to your authority and your zeal that that very year which I had preferred to have fatal to myself rather than to my country, elected these men as tribunes, who proposed a law concerning my safety, and constantly brought it under your notice. For the consuls being modest men, and having a regard for the laws, were hindered by a law, not by the one which had been passed concerning me, but by one respecting themselves, when my enemy had carried a clause, that when those men had come to life again who nearly destroyed the state, then I might return to the city. By which action he confessed two things—both that he longed for them to be living, and also that the republic would be in great peril, if either the enemies and murderers of the republic came to life again, or if I did not return. Therefore, in that very year when I had departed, and when the chief man of the state was forced to defend his own life, not by the protection of the laws, but by that of his own walls,—when the republic was without consuls, and bereft, like an orphan, not only of its regular parents, but even of its annual guardians,—when you were forbidden to deliver your opinions,—when the chief clause of my proscription was repeatedly read,—still you never hesitated to consider my safety as united with the general welfare. But when, by the singular and admirable virtue of Publius Lentulus the consul, you began on the first of January to see light arising in the republic out of the clouds and darkness of the preceding year,—when the great reputation of Quintus Metellus, that most noble and excellent man, and the virtue and loyalty of the praetors, and of nearly all the tribunes of the people, had likewise come to the aid of the republic,—when Cnaeus Pompeius, the greatest man for virtue, and glory, and achievements that any nation or any age has ever produced, the most illustrious man that memory can suggest thought that he could again come with safety into the senate,—then your unanimity with respect to my safety was so great that my body only was absent, my dignity had already returned to this country. And that month you were able to form an opinion as to what was the difference between me and my enemies. I abandoned my own safety, in order to save the republic from being (for my sake) stained with the blood of the citizens; they thought fit to hinder my return, not by the votes of the Roman people, but by a river of blood. Therefore, after those events, you gave no answers to the citizens, or the allies, or to kings; the judges gave no decisions; the people came to no vote on any matter; this body issued no declarations by its authority; you saw the forum silent the senate-house mute, the city dumb and dispirited.

> Latin: , patres conscripti, pro vestris immortalibus in me fratremque meum liberosque nostros meritis parum vobis cumulate gratias egero, quaeso obtestorque ne meae naturae potius quam magnitudini vestrorum beneficiorum id tribuendum putetis. tanta enim potest exsistere ubertas ingeni, quae tanta dicendi copia, quod tam divinum atque incredibile genus orationis, quo quisquam possit vestra in nos universa promerita non dicam complecti orando, sed percensere numerando? qui mihi fratrem optatissimum, me fratri amantissimo, liberis nostris parentes, nobis liberos, qui dignitatem, qui ordinem, qui fortunas, qui amplissimam rem publicam, qui patriam, qua nihil potest esse iucundius, qui denique nosmet ipsos nobis reddidistis. si parentes carissimos habere debemus, quod ab iis nobis vita, patrimonium, libertas, civitas tradita est, si deos immortalis, quorum beneficio et haec tenuimus et ceteris rebus aucti sumus, si populum Romanum, cuius honoribus in amplissimo consilio et in altissimo gradu dignitatis atque in hac omnium terrarum arce conlocati sumus, si hunc ipsum ordinem, a quo saepe magnificentissimis decretis sumus honestati, immensum quiddam et infinitum est quod vobis debeamus, qui vestro singulari studio atque consensu parentum beneficia, deorum immortalium munera, populi Romani honores, vestra de me multa iudicia nobis uno tempore omnia reddidistis, ut, cum multa vobis, magna populo Romano, innumerabilia parentibus, omnia dis immortalibus debeamus, haec antea singula per illos habuerimus, nunc universa per vos reciperarimus. , patres conscripti, quod ne optandum quidem est homini, immortalitatem quandam per vos esse adepti videmur. enim tempus erit umquam cum vestrorum in nos beneficiorum memoria ac fama moriatur? illo ipso tempore cum vi ferro metu minis obsessi teneremini, non multo post discessum meum me universi revocavistis referente L. Ninnio, fortissimo atque optimo viro, quem habuit ille pestifer annus et maxime fidelem et minime timidum, si dimicare placuisset, defensorem salutis meae: postea quam vobis decernendi potestas non est permissa per eum tribunum plebis qui, cum per se rem publicam lacerare non posset, sub alieno scelere delituit, numquam de me siluistis, numquam meam salutem non ab iis consulibus qui vendiderant flagitavistis. vestro studio atque auctoritate perfectum est ut ipse ille annus, quem ego mihi quam patriae malueram esse fatalem, octo tribunos haberet qui et promulgarent de salute mea et ad vos saepe numero referrent. consules modesti legumque metuentes impediebantur lege, non ea quae de me, sed ea quae de ipsis lata erat, quam meus inimicus promulgavit ut, si revixissent ii qui haec paene delerunt, tum ego redirem; quo facto utrumque confessus est, et se illorum vitam desiderare, et magno in periculo rem publicam futuram si, cum hostes atque interfectores rei publicae revixissent, ego non revertissem. illo ipso tamen anno, cum ego cessissem, princeps autem civitatis non legum praesidio sed parietum vitam suam tueretur, res publica sine consulibus esset, neque solum parentibus perpetuis verum etiam tutoribus annuis esset orbata, sententias dicere prohiberemini, caput meae proscriptionis recitaretur, numquam dubitastis meam salutem cum communi salute coniungere. vero quam singulari et praestantissima virtute P. Lentuli consulis ex superioris anni caligine et tenebris lucem in re publica Kalendis Ianuariis dispicere coepistis, cum Q. Metelli, nobilissimi hominis atque optimi viri, summa dignitas, cum praetorum tribunorum plebis paene omnium virtus et fides rei publicae subvenisset, cum virtute gloria rebus gestis Cn. Pompeius omnium gentium, omnium saeculorum, omnis memoriae facile princeps tuto se venire in senatum arbitraretur, tantus vester consensus de salute mea fuit ut corpus abesset meum, dignitas iam in patriam revertisset. quidem mense quid inter me et meos inimicos interesset existimare potuistis. meam salutem deserui, ne propter me civium vulneribus res publica cruentaretur: illi meum reditum non populi Romani suffragiis sed flumine sanguinis intercludendum putaverunt. postea nihil vos civibus, nihil sociis, nihil regibus respondistis; nihil iudices sententiis, nihil populus suffragiis, nihil hic ordo auctoritate declaravit; mutum forum, elinguem curiam, tacitam et fractam civitatem videbatis.

[¶1] 7. And then, too, when he had gone away, who, being authorized by you, had resisted murder and conflagration, you saw men rushing all over the city with sword and firebrand; you saw the houses of the magistrates attacked, the temples of the gods burnt, the faces of a most admirable man and illustrious consul burnt, the holy person of a most fearless and virtuous officer, a tribune of the people, not only laid hands on and insulted, but wounded with the sword and killed. And by that murder some magistrates were so alarmed, that partly out of fear of death, partly out of despair for the republic, they in some degree forsook my cause; but others remained behind, whom neither terror, nor violence, nor hope, nor fear, nor promises, nor threats, nor arms, nor firebrands, could influence so as to make them cease to stand by your authority, and the dignity of the Roman people, and my safety.

> Latin: 7. quidem tempore, cum is excessisset qui caedi et flammae vobis auctoribus restiterat, cum ferro et facibus homines tota urbe volitantis, magistratuum tecta impugnata, deorum templa inflammata, summi viri et clarissimi consulis fascis fractos, fortissimi atque optimi tribuni plebis sanctissimum corpus non tactum ac violatum manu sed vulneratum ferro confectumque vidistis. strage non nulli permoti magistratus partim metu mortis, partim desperatione rei publicae paululum a mea causa recesserunt: reliqui fuerunt quos neque terror nec vis, nec spes nec metus, nec promissa nec minae, nec tela nec faces a vestra auctoritate, a populi Romani dignitate, a mea salute depellerent.

[¶2] 8. The chief of those men was Publius Lentulus, the parent and god of my life, and fortune, and memory, and name. He thought that the best proof that he could give of his virtue, the best indication that he could afford of his disposition, the greatest ornament with which he could embellish his consulship would be the restoration of me to myself, to my friends, to you, and to the republic. And as soon as ever he was appointed consul elect he never hesitated to express an opinion concerning my safety worthy both of himself and of the republic. When the veto was interposed by the tribune of the people,—when that admirable clause was read: “That no one should make any motion before you that no one should propose any decree to you that no one should raise any discussion, or make any speech or take any vote or frame any law;” he thought all that as I have said before, a proscription and not a law, by which a citizen who had deserved well of the republic was by name and without any trial, taken from the senate and the republic at the same time. But as soon as he entered on his office, I will not say what did he do before, but what else did he do at all, except labour by my preservation to establish your authority and dignity on a firm basis for the future?

> Latin: 8. P. Lentulus, parens ac deus nostrae vitae fortunae memoriae nominis, hoc specimen virtutis, hoc indicium animi, hoc lumen consulatus sui fore putavit, si me mihi, si meis, si vobis, si rei publicae reddidisset. ut est designatus, numquam dubitavit sententiam de salute mea se et re publica dignam dicere: cum a tribuno plebis vetaretur, cum praeclarum caput recitaretur ne quis ad vos referret, ne quis decerneret, ne disputaret, ne loqueretur, ne pedibus iret, ne scribendo adesset, totam illam, ut ante dixi, proscriptionem non legem putavit, qua civis optime de re publica meritus nominatim sine iudicio una cum senatu rei publicae esset ereptus. Vt vero iniit magistratum, non dicam quid egit prius, sed quid omnino egit aliud nisi ut me conservato vestram in posterum dignitatem auctoritatemque sanciret?

[¶3] 9. O ye immortal gods! what great kindness do you appear to have shown me, in making Publius Lentulus consul this year. How much greater still would your bounty bare been, had he been so the preceding year; for I should not have been in want of such medicine as a consul could give, unless I had fallen by a wound inflicted by a consul. I had been often told by one of the wisest of men and one of the most virtuous of citizens, Quintus Catulus, that it was not often that there was one wicked consul, but that there had never been two at the same time since the foundation of Rome, except in that terrible time of Cinna. Wherefore, he used to say that my interest would always be firmly secured, as long as there was even one virtuous consul in the republic. And he would have spoken the truth, if that state of things with respect to consuls could have remained lasting and perpetual, that, as there never had been two bad ones in the republic, so there never should be. But if Quintus Metellus had been at that time consul, who was then my enemy, do you doubt what would have been his feelings with regard to my preservation, when you see that he was a mover and seconder of the measure proposed for my restoration?

> Latin: 9. immortales, quantum mihi beneficium dedisse videmini, quod hoc anno P. Lentulus consul ⟨populi Romani⟩ fuit! quanto maius dedissetis si superiore anno fuisset! enim eguissem medicina consulari, nisi consulari vulnere concidissem. ex sapientissimo homine atque optimo civi et viro, Q. Catulo, non saepe unum consulem improbum, duo vero numquam excepto illo Cinnano tempore fuisse; qua re meam causam semper fore firmissimam dicere solebat, dum vel unus in re publica consul esset; quod vere dixerat si illud de duobus consulibus, quod ante in re publica non fuerat, perenne ac proprium manere potuisset. si Q. Metellus illo tempore consul fuisset [inimicus ], dubitatis quo animo fuerit in me conservando futurus, cum in restituendo auctorem fuisse adscriptoremque videatis?

[¶4] 10. But at that time there were two consuls, whose minds, narrow, contemptible, mean, groveling, dark, and dirty, were unable to look properly at, or to uphold, or to support the mere name of the consulship, much less the splendour of that honour, and the importance of that authority. They were not consuls, but dealers in provinces, and sellers of your dignity. One of whom demanded back from me, in the hearing of many, Catiline, his lover; the other reclaimed Cethegus, his cousin;—the two most wicked men in the memory of man, who (I will not call them consuls, but robbers) not only deserted, in a cause in which, above all others, the welfare of the republic and the dignity of the consulship was concerned, but betrayed me, and opposed me, and wished to see me stripped of all aid, not only from themselves, but also from you and from the other orders of the state. One of them, however, deceived neither me nor any one else.

> Latin: 10. fuerunt ii consules quorum mentes angustae humiles pravae, oppletae tenebris ac sordibus, nomen ipsum consulatus, splendorem illius honoris, magnitudinem tanti imperi nec intueri nec sustinere nec capere potuerunt,—non consules, sed mercatores provinciarum ac venditores vestrae dignitatis; quorum alter a me Catilinam, amatorem suum, multis audientibus, alter Cethegum consobrinum reposcebat; qui me duo sceleratissimi post hominum memoriam non consules sed latrones non modo deseruerunt, in causa praesertim publica et consulari, sed prodiderunt, oppugnarunt, omni auxilio non solum suo sed etiam vestro ceterorumque ordinum spoliatum esse voluerunt. alter tamen neque me neque quemquam fefellit.

[¶5] 11. For who ever could have any hope of any good existing in that man, the earliest period of whose life was made openly subservient to everyone's lusts; who had not the heart to repel the obscene impurity of men from the holiest portion of his person? who, after he had ruined his own estate with no less activity than he afterwards displayed in his endeavours to ruin the republic, supported his indigence and his luxury by every sort of pandering and infamy; who, if he had not taken refuge at the altar of the tribuneship, would not have been able to escape from the authority of the praetor, nor the multitude of his creditors, nor the seizure of his goods. And if he had not while in discharge of that office, passed that law about the piratical war, he, in truth, would have yielded to his own poverty and wickedness, and had recourse to piracy himself; and who would have done so with less injury to the republic than he did by remaining within our walls as an impious enemy and robber. It was he who was inspecting victims, and sitting in the discharge of that duty, when a tribune of the people procured a law to be passed that no regard should be had to the auspices,—that no one should on that account be allowed to interrupt the assembly or the comitia, or to put his veto on the passing of a law; and that the Aelian and Fufian laws should have no validity, which our ancestors had enacted, intending them to be the firmest protection of the republic against the insanity of the tribunes.

> Latin: 11. enim ullam ullius boni spem haberet in eo cuius primum tempus aetatis palam fuisset ad omnis libidines divulgatum? qui ne a sanctissima quidem parte corporis potuisset hominum impuram intemperantiam propulsare? qui cum suam rem non minus strenue quam postea publicam confecisset, egestatem et luxuriem domestico lenocinio sustentavit? qui nisi in aram tribunatus confugisset, neque vim praetoris nec multitudinem creditorum nec bonorum proscriptionem effugere potuisset? qui in magistratu nisi rogationem de piratico bello tulisset, profecto egestate et improbitate coactus piraticam ipse fecisset, ac minore quidem cum rei publicae detrimento quam quod intra moenia nefarius hostis praedoque versatus est? quo inspectante ac sedente legem tribunus plebis tulit ne auspiciis obtemperaretur, ne obnuntiare concilio aut comitiis, ne legi intercedere liceret, ut lex Aelia et Fufia ne valeret, quae nostri maiores certissima subsidia rei publicae contra tribunicios furores esse voluerunt?

[¶6] 12. And he also afterwards, when a countless multitude of virtuous men had come to him from the Capitol as suppliants, and in morning garments, and when all the most noble young men of Rome, and all the Roman knights, had thrown themselves at the feet of that most profligate pander, with what an expression of countenance did that curled and perfumed debauchee reject, not only the tears of the citizens, but even the prayers of his country! Nor was he content with that but he even went up to the assembly, and there said what even if his man Catiline had come to life again he would not have dared to say,—that he would make the Roman knights pay for the nones of December of my consulship, and for the Capitoline Hill; and he not only said this, but he even summoned those before him that suited him. And this imperious consul actually banished from the city Lucius Lamia, a Roman knight, a man of the highest character, and a very eager advocate of my safety, because of his intimacy with me, and very much attached to the state, as it was likely that a man of his fortune would be. And when you had passed a resolution to change your garments, and had changed them, and though, indeed, all virtuous men had already done the same thing, he, reeking with perfumes, clad in his toga praetexta, which all the praetors and aediles had at that time laid aside, derided your mourning garb, and the grief of a most grateful city, and did what no tyrant ever did,—he issued an edict that you should lament your disasters in secret and not presume openly to bewail the miseries of your country.

> Latin: 12. postea, cum innumerabilis multitudo bonorum de Capitolio supplex ad eum sordidata venisset, cumque adulescentes nobilissimi cunctique equites Romani se ad lenonis impudicissimi pedes abiecissent, quo vultu cincinnatus ganeo non solum civium lacrimas verum etiam patriae preces repudiavit! eo contentus fuit, sed etiam in contionem escendit eaque dixit quae, si eius vir Catilina revixisset, dicere non esset ausus, se Nonarum Decembrium quae me consule fuissent clivique Capitolini poenas ab equitibus Romanis esse repetiturum. solum id dixit, sed quos ei commodum fuit compellavit, Lucium vero Lamiam, equitem Romanum, praestanti dignitate hominem et saluti meae pro familiaritate, rei publicae pro fortunis suis amicissimum, consul imperiosus exire ex urbe iussit. cum vos vestem mutandam censuissetis cunctique mutassetis atque idem omnes boni iam ante fecissent, ille unguentis oblitus cum toga praetexta, quam omnes praetores aedilesque tum abiecerant, inrisit squalorem vestrum et luctum gratissimae civitatis, fecitque, quod nemo umquam tyrannus, ut quo minus occulte vestrum malum gemeretis nihil diceret, ne aperte incommoda patriae lugeretis ediceret.

[¶7] 13. And when in the Circus Flaminius (I will not say the consul had been conducted into the assembly by a tribune of the people, but) the archpirate had been brought in by another robber, he came first a man of what exceeding dignity, full of wine, sleep, and debauchery! with hair dripping with ointments, with carefully arranged locks, with heavy eyes, moist cheeks, a husky and drunken voice; and he, a grave authority, said that he was greatly displeased at citizens having been executed without having been formally condemned. Where is it that this great authority has lain hid so long out of our sight? Why has the extraordinary virtue of this ringletted dunce been wasted so long in scenes of debauchery and gluttony? For that other man, Caesoninus Calventius, from his youth up has been habituated to the forum, though, except his assumed and crafty melancholy, there was no single thing to recommend him,—no knowledge of the law, no skill in speaking, no knowledge of military affairs or of men, no liberality. And if, while passing him, you noticed how ungentlemanlike, and rough, and sulky he looked, though you might think him a barbarian and a boor, still you would not suppose him to be lascivious and profligate.

> Latin: 13. Cum vero in circo Flaminio non a tribuno plebis consul in contionem, sed a latrone archipirata productus esset, primum processit, qua auctoritate vir! vini somni stupri plenus, madenti coma, composito capillo, gravibus oculis, fluentibus buccis: pressa voce et temulenta, quod in civis indemnatos esset animadversum, id sibi dixit gravis auctor vehementissime displicere. Vbi nobis haec auctoritas tam diu tanta latuit? cur in lustris et helluationibus huius calamistrati saltatoris tam eximia virtus tam diu cessavit? ille alter Caesoninus ab adulescentia versatus est in foro, cum eum praeter simulatam versutamque tristitiam nulla res commendaret, non consilium, non dicendi copia, non rei militaris, non cognoscendorum hominum studium, non liberalitas. praeteriens cum incultum horridum maestumque vidisses, etiam si agrestem et inhumanum existimares, tamen libidinosum et perditum non putares.

[¶8] 14. You would think it made no difference whether you were standing in the forum with this man, or with a barbarian from Aethiopia; there he was, in that sense, without flavour, a mute, slow, uncivilized piece of goods. You would be apt to suppose him a Cappadocian just escaped out of a lot of slaves for sale. Then, again, how lustful was he at home,—how impure, how intemperate. He was not like a front-door, open for the reception of legitimate pleasures, but when he began to devote himself to literature, and, beastly rather a postern for all sorts of secret gratification. And glutton that he was, to learn philosophy with the Greeks, then he became an Epicurean, not because he was really much devoted to that sect such as it is, but because he was caught by that one expression about pleasure. And he has masters, none of those foolish fellows who go on for whole days discussing duty and virtue,—who exhort men to labour, to industry, to encounter dangers for the sake of their country, but men who argue that no hour ought to be unoccupied by pleasure; that in every part of the body there ought always to be some joy and delight to be perceived.

> Latin: 14. Cum hoc homine an cum stipite in foro constitisses, nihil crederes interesse: sine sensu, sine sapore, elinguem, tardum, inhumanum negotium, Cappadocem modo abreptum de grege venalium diceres. domi quam libidinosus, quam impurus, quam intemperans, non ianua receptis sed pseudothyro intromissis voluptatibus! Cum vero etiam litteris studere incipit et belua immanis cum Graeculis philosophari, tum est Epicureus non penitus illi disciplinae, quaecumque est, deditus, sed captus uno verbo voluptatis. autem magistros non ex istis ineptis qui dies totos de officio ac de virtute disserunt, qui ad laborem, ad industriam, ad pericula pro patria subeunda adhortantur, sed eos qui disputent horam nullam vacuam voluptate esse debere, in omni parte corporis semper oportere aliquod gaudium delectationemque versari.

[¶9] 15. He uses his masters as a sort of superintendents of his lusts; they seek out and scent out all sorts of pleasures; they are the seasoners and furnishers of his banquets they appraise and value the different pleasures, they give a formal decision and judgment as to how much indulgence ought to be allowed to each separate pleasure. He, becoming accomplished in all these arts, despised this most prudent city to such a degree that he thought that all his lusts and all his atrocities could be concealed, if he only thrust his ill-omened face into the forum. He deceived me, though I will not so much say me (for I know, from my connection with the Pisos how much the Transalpine blood on his mother's side had removed him from the qualities of that family) but he deceived you and the Roman people, not by his wisdom or his eloquence, as is often the case with many men, but by his wrinkled brow and solemn look.

> Latin: 15. utitur quasi praefectis libidinum suarum, hi voluptates omnis vestigant atque odorantur, hi sunt conditores instructoresque convivi, idem expendunt atque aestimant voluptates sententiamque dicunt et iudicant quantum cuique libidini tribuendum esse videatur. Horum ille artibus eruditus ita contempsit hanc prudentissimam civitatem ut omnis suas libidines, omnia flagitia latere posse arbitraretur, si modo vultum importunum in forum detulisset. nequaquam me quidem —cognoram enim propter Pisonum adfinitatem quam longe hunc ab hoc genere cognatio materna Transalpini sanguinis abstulisset— sed vos populumque Romanum non consilio neque eloquentia, quod in multis saepe accidit, sed rugis supercilioque decepit.

[¶10] 16. Lucius Piso, did you dare at that time with that eye (I will not say with that mind ) with that forehead (I will not say with what character,) and with that arrogance (for I cannot say, after such achievements,) to unite with Aulus Gabinius in forming plans for my ruin? Did not the odour of that man's perfumes, or his breath reeking with wine, or his forehead marked with the traces of the curling-iron, lead you to think that as you were like him in reality, you were no longer able to use the impenetrability of your countenance to conceal such enormous atrocities? Did you dare to continue with that man to abandon the consular dignity,—the existing condition of the republic,—the authority of the senate,—the fortunes of a citizen who had above all others deserved well of the republic, to the provinces? While you were consul, according to your edicts and commands, it was not allowed to the Roman senate or people to come to the assistance of the republic, I will not say by their votes and their authority, but even by their grief and their mourning garb.

> Latin: 16. Luci Piso, tune ausus es isto oculo, non dicam isto animo, ista fronte, non vita, tanto supercilio, non enim possum dicere tantis rebus gestis, cum A. Gabinio consociare consilia pestis meae? te illius unguentorum odor, non vini anhelitus, non frons calamistri notata vestigiis in eam cogitationem adducebat, ut cum illius re similis fuisses, frontis tibi integimento ad occultanda tanta flagitia diutius uti non liceret? Cum hoc coire ausus es ut consularem dignitatem, ut rei publicae statum, ut senatus auctoritatem, ut civis optime meriti fortunas provinciarum foedere addiceres? consule, tuis edictis et imperiis senatui populi Romani non est licitum non modo sententiis atque auctoritate sua, sed ne luctu quidem ac vestitu rei publicae subvenire?

[¶11] 17. Did you think that you were consul at Capua, a city where there was once the abode of arrogance, or at Rome, where all the consuls that ever existed before you were obedient to the senate? Did you dare, when you were brought forward in the Flaminian Circus, with your colleague, to say that you had always been merciful? by which expression you declared that the senate and all virtuous men were cruel at the time that I warded off ruin from the republic. You were a merciful man when you handed me over,—me, your own relation,—me, whom at your comitia you had appointed as chief guardian of the prerogative tribe, whose opinions on the calends of January you had asked then, bound and helpless to the enemies of the republic! You repelled my son-in-law, your own kinsman; you repelled your own near relation, my daughter, with most haughty and inhuman language, from your knees; and you, also, O man of singular mercy and clemency, when I, together with the republic, had fallen, not by a blow aimed by a tribune, but by a wound inflicted by a consul, behaved with such wickedness and such intemperance, that you did not allow one single hour to elapse between the time of my disaster and your plunder; you did not allow even time for the lamentations and groans of the city to die away.

> Latin: 17. Capuaene te putabas, in qua urbe domicilium quondam superbiae fuit, consulem esse, sicut eras eo tempore, an Romae, in qua civitate omnes ante vos consules senatui paruerunt? es ausus in circo Flaminio productus cum tuo illo pari dicere te semper misericordem fuisse? quo verbo senatum atque omnis bonos, tum cum a patria pestem depellerent, crudelis demonstrabas fuisse. misericors me, adfinem tuum, quem comitiis praerogativae primum custodem praefeceras, quem Kalendis Ianuariis tertio loco sententiam rogaras, constrictum inimicis rei publicae tradidisti; tu meum generum, propinquum tuum, tu adfinem tuam, filiam meam, superbissimis et crudelissimis verbis a genibus tuis reppulisti; idemque tu clementia ac misericordia singulari, cum ego una cum re publica non tribunicio sed consulari ictu concidissem, tanto scelere tantaque intemperantia fuisti ut ne unam quidem horam interesse paterere inter meam pestem et tuam praedam, saltem dum conticisceret illa lamentatio et gemitus urbis!

[¶12] 18. It was not yet openly known that the republic had fallen, when you thought fit to arrange its interment. At one and the same moment my house was plundered and set on fire, my property from my house on the Palatine Hill was taken to the house of the consul who was my neighbour, the goods from my Tusculan villa were also taken to the house of my neighbour there, the other consul; when, while the same mob of artisans were giving their votes, the same gladiator proposing and passing laws, the forum being unoccupied, not only by virtuous men, but even by free citizens, and being entirely empty, the Roman people being utterly ignorant what was going on, the senate being beaten down and crushed, there being two wicked and impious consuls, the treasury, the prisoners, the legions, allies and military commands, were given away as they pleased. But the ruin wrought by these consuls you, O consuls, have prevented from spreading further by your virtue, being assisted as you have been by the admirable loyalty and diligence of the tribunes of the people and the praetors.

> Latin: 18. palam factum erat occidisse rem publicam, cum tibi arbitria funeris solvebantur: uno eodemque tempore domus mea diripiebatur, ardebat, bona ad vicinum consulem de Palatio, de Tusculano ad item vicinum alterum consulem deferebantur cum, isdem operis suffragium ferentibus, eodem gladiatore latore, vacuo non modo a bonis sed etiam a liberis atque inani foro, ignaro populo Romano quid ageretur, senatu vero oppresso et adflicto, duobus impiis nefariisque consulibus aerarium provinciae legiones imperia donabantur. Horum consulum ruinas vos consules vestra virtute fulsistis, summa tribunorum plebis praetorumque fide et diligentia sublevati.

[¶13] 19. What shall I say of that most illustrious man, Titus Annius? or, who can ever speak of such a citizen in an adequate or worthy manner? For when he saw that a wicked citizen, or, it would be more correct to say, a domestic enemy, required (if it were only possible to employ the laws) to be crushed by judicial proceedings, or that if violence hindered and put an end to the courts of justice, in that case audacity must be put down by virtue, madness by courage, rashness by wisdom, hand by hand, violence by violence, he first of all prosecuted him for violence; when he saw that the very man whom he was prosecuting had destroyed the courts of justice, he took care that he should not be able to carry everything by violence. He taught us that neither private houses, nor temples, nor the forum, nor the senate-house could be defended from the bands of domestic robbers without the greatest gallantry, and large resources and numerous forces. He was the first man after my departure who relieved the virtuous from fear, and deprived the audacious of hope; who delivered this august body from alarm, and the city from slavery.

> Latin: 19. ego de praestantissimo viro, T. Annio, dicam, aut quis de tali cive satis digne umquam loquetur? cum videret sceleratum civem aut domesticum potius hostem, si legibus uti liceret, iudicio esse frangendum, sin ipsa iudicia vis impediret ac tolleret, audaciam virtute, furorem fortitudine, temeritatem consilio, manum copiis, vim vi esse superandam, primo de vi postulavit; postea quam ab eodem iudicia sublata esse vidit, ne ille omnia vi posset efficere curavit; qui docuit neque tecta neque templa neque forum nec curiam sine summa virtute ac maximis opibus et copiis ab intestino latrocinio posse defendi; qui primus post meum discessum metum bonis, spem audacibus, timorem huic ordini, servitutem depulit civitati.