169. There is one charge remaining, O judges; a charge of such a nature, that you may see from it the truth of what I said at the beginning of my speech,—that whatever misfortune has happened to Aulus Cluentius of late years, whatever anxiety or trouble he has at the present time, has all been contrived by his mother. You say that Oppianicus was killed by poison, which was administered to him in bread by some one of the name of Marcus Asellius, an intimate friend of his own; and that that was done by the contrivance of Habitus. Now, in this matter, I ask first of all what reason Habitus had for wishing to kill Oppianicus. For I admit that ill-will did exist between them; but men only wish their enemies to be slain, either because they fear them, or because they hate them.
169. Vnum etiam mihi reliquum eius modi crimen est, iudices, ex quo illud perspicere possitis quod a me initio orationis meae dictum est, quicquid mali per hosce annos A.Aulus Cluentius viderit, quicquid hoc tempore habeat sollicitudinis ac negoti, id omne a matre esse conflatum. Oppianicum veneno necatum esse quod ei datum sit in pane per M.Marcum Asellium quendam, familiarem illius, idque consilio factum esse dicitis. quo primum illud quaero quae causa fuerit cur interficere Oppianicum vellet. enim fuisse confiteor; sed homines inimicos suos morte adfici volunt aut quod eos metuunt aut quod oderunt.
170. Now, by fear of what could Habitus have been influenced, that he should have endeavoured to commit so great a crime? What reason could any one have had for fearing Oppianicus, already condemned to punishment for his crimes, and banished from the city? What did Cluentius fear? Did he fear being attacked by a ruined man? or being accused by a convict? or being injured by the evidence of an exile? But if, because Habitus hated him, he, on that account, did not wish him to live, was he such a fool, as to think that a life which he was then living, the existence of a convict, of an exile, of a man abandoned by every one? whom, on account of his odious disposition, no one was willing to admit into his house, or to visit, or to speak to, or even to look at?
170. tandem igitur metu adductus tantum in se facinus suscipere conatus est? quid erat quod iam Oppianicum poena adfectum pro maleficiis et eiectum e civitate quisquam timeret? quid metuebat? ne oppugnaretur a perdito, an ne accusaretur a damnato, an ne exsulis testimonio laederetur? autem quod oderat inimicum, idcirco illum vita frui noluit, adeone erat stultus ut illam quam tum ille vivebat vitam esse arbitraretur, damnati, exsulis, deserti ab omnibus, quem propter animi importunitatem nemo recipere tecto, nemo adire, nemo adloqui, nemo aspicere vellet?
171. Did Habitus, then, envy the life of this men? If he had hated him bitterly and utterly, ought he not to have wished him to live as long as possible? Would an enemy have hastened his death, when death was the only refuge which he had left from his calamity? If the man had had any virtue or any courage, he would have killed himself, (as many brave men have done in many instances, when in similar misfortunes.) How is it possible for an enemy to have wished to offer to him what he must himself have wished for eagerly For now indeed, what evil has death brought him? Unless, perchance, we are influenced by fables and nonsense, to think that he is enduring in the shades below the punishments of' the wicked, and that he has met with more enemies there than he left behind here; and that he has been driven headlong into the district and habitation of wicked spirits by the avenging furies of his mother-in-law, of his wife, of his brother, and of his children. But if these stories are false, as all men are well aware that they are, what else has death taken from him except the sense of his misery? Come now, by whose instrumentality was the poison administered? By that of Marcus Asellius.
171. igitur vitae invidebat? si acerbe et penitus oderat, non eum quam diutissime vivere velle debebat? huic mortem maturabat inimicus, quod illi unum in malis erat perfugium calamitatis? si quid animi et virtutis habuisset, ut multi saepe fortes viri in eius modi dolore, mortem sibi ipse conscisset, huic quam ob rem id vellet inimicus offerre quod ipse sibi optare deberet? nunc quidem quid tandem illi mali mors attulit? nisi forte ineptiis ac fabulis ducimur ut existimemus illum ad inferos impiorum supplicia perferre ac pluris illic offendisse inimicos quam hic reliquisse, a socrus, ab uxorum, a fratris, a liberum Poenis actum esse praecipitem in sceleratorum sedem atque regionem. si falsa sunt, id quod omnes intellegunt, quid ei tandem aliud eripuit mors praeter sensum doloris?
172. What connection had he with Habitus? None—nay rather, as he was a very intimate friend of Oppianicus, he was rather an enemy to Habitus. Did he then pick out that man whom he knew to be rather unfriendly to himself, and to be exceedingly intimate with Oppianicus, to be above all others the instrument of his own wickedness, and of the other's danger, In the next place, why do you, who have been prompted by pity to undertake this prosecution, leave this Asellius so long unpunished? Why did not you follow the precedent of Habitus, and have a previous examination, which should affect him, by means of an investigation into his conduct who had administered the poison?
172. vero, per quem venenum datum? M. Asellium. huic cum?, atque adeo, quod ille Oppianico familiarissime est usus, potius etiam simultas. Eine igitur quem sibi offensiorem, Oppianico familiarissimum sciebat esse, potissimum et scelus suum et illius periculum committebat? igitur tu qui pietate ad accusandum excitatus es hunc Asellium esse inultum tam diu sinis? cur non exemplo usus es ut per illum qui attulisset venenum de hoc praeiudicaretur?
173. But now, as for that circumstance of poison being administered in bread, how improbable, how unusual, how strange a thing it is. Was it easier than administering it in a cup? Could it be hid more secretly in some part of the bread than if it had been all liquefied and amalgamated with a potion? Could it pass more rapidly into the veins and into every separate part of the body if it were eaten than if it were drunk? Could it escape notice (if that was thought of) more easily in bread, than in a cup, when it might then have been so mixed up as to be wholly impossible to be separated?
173. vero illud quam non probabile, quam inusitatum, iudices, quam novum, in pane datum venenum! potuit quam in poculo, latentius potuit abditum aliqua in parte panis quam si totum conliquefactum in potione esset, celerius potuit comestum quam epotum in venas atque in omnis partis corporis permanare, facilius fallere in pane, si esset animadversum, quam in poculo, cum ita confusum esset ut secerni nullo modo posset?
174. “But he died by a sudden death.” But if that was the case, still that circumstance, from the number of men who die in that way, would not give rise to any well-grounded suspicion of poison. If it were a suspicious circumstance, still the suspicion would apply to others rather than to Habitus. But as to that fact itself, men tell most impudent lies. And that you may see this, listen to this statement of the truth respecting his death, and how after his death an accusation was sought for out of it against Habitus, by his mother.
174. repentina morte periit. si esset ita factum, tamen ea res propter multorum eius modi casum minime firmam veneni suspicionem haberet; si esset suspiciosum, tamen potius ad alios quam ad pertineret. in eo ipso homines impudentissime mentiuntur. ut intellegatis et mortem eius et quem ad modum post mortem in sit crimen a matre quaesitum cognoscite.
175. When Oppianicus was wandering about as a vagabond and an exile, excluded from every quarter, he went into the Falernian district of Caius Quintilius; there he first fell sick, and had a very violent illness. As Sassia was with him, and as she was more intimate with a man of the name of Statius Albius, a citizen of that colony, a man in good health, who was constantly with her, than that most dissolute husband could endure, while his fortune was unimpaired, and as she thought that that chaste and legitimate bond of wedlock was dissolved by the condemnation of her husband, a man of the name of Nicostratus, a faithful slave of Oppianicus's, a man who was very curious and very truth-telling, is said to have been accustomed to carry a good many tales to his master. In the meantime, when Oppianicus was becoming convalescent, and could not endure any longer the profligacy of this Falernian, and after he had come nearer the city,—for he had some sort of hired house outside the gates,—he is said to have fallen from his horse, and, being a man in delicate health before, to have hurt his side very badly, and having come to the city in a state of fever, to have died in a few days. This is the manner of his death, O judges, such as to have no suspicious circumstance at ale attached to it, or if it has any, they must apply to some domestic wickedness carried on within his own walls.
175. vagus et exsul erraret atque undique exclusus Oppianicus in Falernum se ad L.Lucium Quinctium contulisset, ibi primum in morbum incidit ac satis vehementer diuque aegrotavit. esset una Sassia eaque Sex. Albio quodam colono, homine valenti, qui simul esse solebat familiarius uteretur quam vir dissolutissimus incolumi fortuna pati posset, et ius illud matrimoni castum atque legitimum damnatione viri sublatum arbitraretur, Nicostratus quidam, fidelis Oppianici servolus, percuriosus et minime mendax, multa dicitur domino renuntiare solitus esse. Oppianicus cum iam convalesceret neque improbitatem coloni in Falerno diutius ferre posset et huc ad urbem profectus esset — solebat enim extra portam aliquid habere conducti — cecidisse de equo dicitur et homo infirma valetudine latus offendisse vehementer et, postea quam ad urbem cum febri venerit, paucis diebus esse mortuus. Mortis ratio, iudices, eius modi est ut aut nihil habeat suspicionis aut, si quid habet, id intra parietes in domestico scelere versetur.
176. After his death Sassia, that abandoned woman, immediately began to devise plots against her son. She determined to have an investigation made into the death of her husband. She bought of Aulus Rupilius, whom Habitus had employed as his physician, a slave of the name of Strato, as if she were following the example of Habitus in purchasing Diogenes. She said that she was going to investigate the conduct of this Strato, and of some servant of her own. Besides that, she begged of that young Oppianicus that slave Nicostratus, whom she thought to be too talkative, and too faithful to his master, for judicial examination. As Oppianicus was at that time quite a boy, and as that investigation was being instituted about the death of his own father, although he thought that that slave was a well-wisher both to himself and to his father, still he did not venture to refuse anything. The friends and connections of Oppianicus, and many also of the friends of Sassia herself, honourable men, and accomplished in every sense of the word, are invited to attend. The investigation is carried on by means of the severest tortures. When the minds of the slaves had been tried both with hope and fear, to induce them to say something in the examination, still, compelled (as I imagine) by the authority of those who were present, and by the power of the tortures, they adhered to the truth, and said that they knew nothing of the matter.
176. mortem eius Sassia moliri statim, nefaria mulier, coepit insidias filio; quaestionem habere de viri morte constituit. de A.Aulo Rupilio quo erat usus Oppianicus medico Stratonem quendam, quasi ut idem faceret quod in emendo Diogene fecerat. hoc Stratone et de Ascla quodam servo suo quaesituram esse dixit. servum illum Nicostratum quem nimium loquacem fuisse ac nimium domino fidelem arbitrabatur ab hoc adulescente Oppianico in quaestionem postulavit. cum esset illo tempore puer et illa quaestio de patris sui morte constitui diceretur, etsi illum servum et sibi benivolum esse et patri fuisse arbitrabatur, nihil tamen est ausus recusare. amici et hospites Oppianici et ipsius mulieris multi, homines honesti atque omnibus rebus ornati. omnibus vehementissimis quaeritur. essent animi servorum et spe et metu temptati ut aliquid in quaestione dicerent, tamen, ut arbitror, auctoritate advocatorum adducti in veritate manserunt neque se quicquam scire dixerunt.
177. The examination was adjourned on that day, by the advice of the friends who were present. After a sufficient interval of time, they are summoned a second time. The examination is repeated all over again. No degree of the most terrible torture is emitted. The witnesses who had been summoned turned away, and could scarcely bear to witness it. The cruel and barbarous woman began to storm, and to be furious that her plans were not proceeding as she had hoped that they would. When the torturer and the very tortures themselves were worn out, and still she would not desist, one of the men who had been summoned as witnesses, a man distinguished by honours conferred on him by the people, and endued with the highest virtue, said that he plainly saw that the object was not to find out the truth, but to compel them to give some false evidence. After the rest had shown their approbation of these words, it was resolved by the unanimous opinion of them all, that the examination had been carried far enough.
177. illo die de amicorum sententia dimissa est. longo intervallo post iterum advocantur. de integro quaestio; nulla vis tormentorum acerrimorum praetermittitur; aversari advocati et iam vix ferre posse, furere crudelis atque importuna mulier sibi nequaquam ut sperasset ea quae cogitasset procedere. iam tortor atque essent tormenta ipsa defessa neque tamen illa finem facere vellet, quidam ex advocatis, homo et honoribus populi ornatus et summa virtute praeditus, intellegere se dixit non id agi ut verum inveniretur sed ut aliquid falsi dicere cogerentur. postquam ceteri comprobarunt, ex omnium sententia constitutum est satis videri esse quaesitum.
178. Nicostratus is restored to Oppianicus; Sassia goes to Larinum with her friends, grieving, because she thought that her son would certainly be safe; since not only no true accusation could be proved against him, but there could not be even any false suspicion made to attach to him, and since not only the open attacks of his enemies were unable to injure him, but even the secret plots of his mother against him proved harmless to him. After she came to Larinum, she, who had pretended to be persuaded that poison had been previously given to her husband by that man Strato, immediately gave him a shop at Larinum, properly furnished and provided for carrying on the business of an apothecary. One, two, three years did Sassia remain quiet, so that she seemed rather to be wishing and hoping for some misfortune to her son, than to be planning and contriving any such thing against him.
178. Oppianico Nicostratus, Larinum ipsa proficiscitur cum suis maerens quod iam certe incolumem filium fore putabat, ad quem non modo verum crimen sed ne ficta quidem suspicio perveniret, et cui non modo aperta inimicorum oppugnatio sed ne occultae quidem matris insidiae nocere potuissent. Larinum postquam venit, quae a Stratone illo venenum antea viro suo datum sibi persuasum esse simulasset, instructam ei continuo et ornatam Larini medicinae exercendae causa tabernam dedit. Vnum, alterum, tertium annum Sassia quiescebat, ut velle atque optare aliquid calamitatis filio potius quam id struere et moliri videretur.
179. Then in the meantime, in the consulship of Hortensius and Metellus, in order that she might persuade Oppianicus, who was occupied about other matters, and thinking of nothing of the sort, to this accusation, she betroths to him against his will her own daughter, her whom she had borne to his father-in-law, in order that she might have him in her power, now that he was bound to her by this marriage, and also by the hope of her will. Nearly about the same time, Strato, that great physician, committed a theft and murder in his own house in the following manner: —As there was in his house a chest, in which he knew there was a good deal of money and gold, he murdered by night two slaves, while they were asleep, and threw their bodies into a fishpond. Then he cut out the bottom of the chest, and took out.... sesterces, and five pounds' weight of gold, with the knowledge of one of his slaves, a boy not grown up.
179. interim ⟨Q.⟩ Hortensio Q.Quinto Metello consulibus ut hunc Oppianicum aliud agentem ac nihil eius modi cogitantem ad hanc accusationem detraheret invito despondit ei filiam suam, illam quam ex genero susceperat, ut eum nuptiis adligatum simul et testamenti spe devinctum posset habere in potestate. ipso fere tempore Strato ille medicus domi furtum fecit et caedem eius modi. esset in aedibus armarium in quo sciret esse nummorum aliquantum et auri, noctu duos conservos dormientis occidit in piscinamque deiecit; ipse armari fundum exsecuit et HS ⟨x⟩ et auri quinque pondo abstulit uno ex servis puero non grandi conscio.
180. The theft being discovered the next day, all the suspicion attached to those slaves who did not appear. When the cutting out of the bottom of the chest was noticed, men asked how that could have been done? One of the friends of Sassia recollected that he had lately seen at an auction, among a lot of very small things, a crooked and twisted saw sold, with teeth in every direction; and by such an instrument as this it seemed that the bottom of the chest might have been cut round in the manner in which it was. To make my story short, inquiry is made of the auctioneer. That saw is found to have become the property of Strato. When suspicion was excited in this manner, andStrato was openly accused, the boy who had been privy to the deed got alarmed; he gave information of the whole business to his mistress; the men were found in the fishpond; Strato was thrown into prison; and the money, though not all of it, was found in his shop.
180. postridie cognito omnis suspicio in eos servos qui non comparebant commovebatur. exsectio illa fundi in armario animadverteretur, homines quonam modo fieri potuisset ⟨requirebant⟩. ex amicis Sassiae recordatus est se nuper in auctione quadam vidisse in rebus minutis aduncam ex omni parte dentatam et tortuosam venire serrulam qua illud potuisse ita circumsecari videretur. multa, perquiritur a coactoribus, invenitur ea serrula ad Stratonem pervenisse. initio suspicionis orto et aperte insimulato Stratone puer ille conscius pertimuit, rem omnem dominae indicavit; homines in piscina inventi sunt, Strato in vincula coniectus est, atque etiam in taberna eius nummi, nequaquam omnes, reperiuntur.
181. A prosecution for theft is commenced against him. For what else can any one suspect? Do you say this, that when a chest had been pillaged, money taken away, only some of it recovered, and when men had been murdered, that then an investigation into the death of Oppianicus was instituted? Who will you get to believe that? What is that you could possibly allege, that would be less possible? In the next place, to pass over the other points, was an investigator made into the death of Oppianicus three years after that death?—Yes, and being exasperated against him on account of her former grudge, she then, without the slightest reason, demanded that same Nicostratus, in order to submit him to the question. Oppianicus at first refused. After she threatened that she would take her daughter away from him, and alter her will, he, I will not say brought his most faithful servant to that most cruel woman, for her to subject him to the question, but he clearly gave him up to her for punishment.
181. quaestio de furto. quid quisquam suspicari aliud potest? hoc dicitis, armario expilato, pecunia ablata, non omni reciperata, occisis hominibus institutam esse quaestionem de morte Oppianici? cui probatis? quid est quod minus veri simile proferre potuistis? deinde, ut omittam cetera, triennio post mortem Oppianici de eius morte quaerebatur? etiam incensa odio pristino Nicostratum eundem illum tum sine causa in quaestionem postulavit. Oppianicus primo recusavit. cum illa abducturam se filiam, mutaturam esse testamentum minaretur, mulieri crudelissimae servum fidelissimum non in quaestionem detulit sed plane ad supplicium dedidit.
182. After three years had elapsed, then, the long projected investigation into the death of her husband was made; and what slaves were especially pointed at in the investigation? I suppose some new circumstances were alleged in the accusation; some new men were involved in the suspicion. Strato and Nicostratus were those mentioned. What? had not an ample investigation into their conduct taken place at Rome? Was it not so? The woman, now mad, not by disease, but with wickedness, though she had conducted an investigation at Rome, though it had been resolved, in accordance with the opinion of Titus Annius, Lucius Rutilius, Publius Saturius, and other most honourable men, that the investigation had been carried far enough, still, three years afterwards she attempted to institute an investigation into the conduct of the same men, allowing, I will not say no man, (lest you should say by chance that some one of the inhabitants of the colony was present,) but no respectable man to be present; and this investigation was in reality directed against the life of her son.
182. triennium igitur agitata denuo quaestio de viri morte habebatur. de quibus servis? nova, credo, res obiecta, novi quidam homines in suspicionem vocati sunt. Stratone et de Nicostrato.? Romae quaesitum de istis hominibus non erat? tandem, mulier iam non morbo sed scelere furiosa, cum quaestionem habuisses Romae, cum de T.Titi Anni, L.Lucii Rutili, P.Publii Saturi, ceterorum honestissimorum virorum sententia constitutum esset satis quaesitum videri, eadem de re triennio post isdem de hominibus nullo adhibito non dicam viro, ne colonum forte adfuisse dicatis, sed bono viro, in fili caput quaestionem habere conata es?
183. Can you say, (for it occurs to me to think what possibly can be said, even if it has not been said as yet,) that when the investigation about the robbery was proceeding, Strato made some confession respecting the poisoning? By this single means, O judges, truth, though kept under by the wickedness of many, often raises its head, and the defence which has been cut away from innocence gets breathing time; either because they who are cunning in devising fraud, do not dare to execute all that they devise, or because they whose audacity is conspicuous and prominent, are destitute of the craftiness of malice. But if cunning were bold, or audacity crafty, it would scarcely be possible to resist them. Was there no robbery committed? Nothing was more notorious at Larinum. Did no suspicion attach to Strato? On the contrary, he was accused on account of the circumstance of the saw, and he was also informed against by the boy who was his accomplice. Was that not stated in the investigation? Why, what other reason was there for making the investigation at all? Did Strato then, (this is what you are bound to say, and what Sassia was constantly saying at that time,) while the investigation was going on about the robbery, while under the torture, make any confession about the poisoning!
183. hoc dicitis — mihi enim venit in mentem quid dici possit, tametsi adhuc non esse hoc dictum mementote — cum haberetur de furto quaestio, Stratonem aliquid de veneno esse confessum? uno modo, iudices, saepe multorum improbitate depressa veritas emergit et innocentiae defensio interclusa respirat, quod aut ei qui in fraude callidi sunt non tantum audent quantum excogitant, aut ei quorum eminet audacia atque proiecta est a consiliis malitiae deseruntur. si aut confidens astutia aut callida esset audacia, vix ullo obsisti modo posset. Vtrum furtum factum non est? nihil clarius Larini. ad Stratonem suspicio non pertinuit? is et ex serrula insimulatus et a puero conscio est indicatus. id actum non est in quaerendo? fuit igitur alia causa quaerendi? id quod vobis dicendum est, et quod tum Sassia dictitavit: cum de furto quaereretur, tum Stratonem isdem in tormentis dixisse de veneno?
184. Behold now, here is the case which I have just mentioned. The woman abounds in audacity, she is deficient in contrivance and in ability. For many documents of what came out in the investigation are preserved, which have been read to you, and made public, those very documents which he said were then sealed up; and in all these documents there is not one letter about theft. It never once occurred to her to write out the first speech of Strato about the robbery, and after that, to add to it some expression about poisoning, which might seem not to have been extracted by any interrogatory, but to have been wrung from him by pain. The investigation into the robbery was superseded by the suspicion of the poisoning, which was a previous subject for investigation, which this very woman herself had pointed out; who, after she had come to the resolution (being compelled thereto by the opinion of her friends,) that the examination had been pushed far enough, for three years afterwards loved that man Strato above all the other slaves, and held him in the greatest honour, and loaded him with all sorts of kindnesses.
184. hoc illud est quod ante dixi: mulier abundat audacia, consilio et ratione deficitur. tabellae quaestionis plures proferuntur quae recitatae vobisque editae sunt, illae ipsae quas tum obsignatas esse dixit; in quibus tabellis de furto nulla littera invenitur. venit in mentem primum orationem Stratonis conscribere de furto, post aliquod dictum adiungere de veneno quod non percontatione quaesitum sed per dolorem expressum videretur? de furto est, veneni iam suspicio superiore quaestione sublata; quod ipsum haec eadem mulier iudicarat quae, ut Romae de amicorum sententia statuerat satis esse quaesitum, postea per triennium maxime ex omnibus servis Stratonem illum dilexerat, in honore habuerat, commodis omnibus adfecerat.
185. When, therefore, the investigation into a robbery was going on, and that robbery too which he, beyond dispute, had committed, did he then abstain from saying a word about that which was the subject of the investigation, but at once say something about the poisoning? And did he never say one word at all about the robbery, (even if not at the time when he ought to have said it, still) either at the end, or middle, at any part whatever of his examination? You see now, O judges, that that wicked woman, with the same hand with which she would murder her son, if it were in her power, has made up this false report of the examination. And who, I should like to know, has signed this report of the examination? Name any one person. You will find no one except perhaps a man of that sort, whom I would rather mention than have no one named.
185. igitur de furto quaereretur, et eo furto quod ille sine controversia fecerat, tum ille de eo quod quaerebatur verbum nullum fecit? de veneno statim dixit, de furto si non eo loco quo debuit, ne in extrema quidem aut media aut aliqua denique parte quaestionis verbum fecit ullum? videtis illam nefariam mulierem, iudices, eadem manu qua, si detur potestas, interficere filium cupiat, hanc fictam quaestionem conscripsisse. istam ipsam quaestionem dicite qui obsignarit unum aliquem nominatim. reperietis, nisi forte eius modi hominem quem ego proferri malim quam neminem nominari.
186. What do you say, O Titus Attius? will you bring before the court matter involving danger to a man's life, will you bring forward the information laid with respect to this wickedness, and the fortunes of another, all written down in this document, and yet refuse to name the author of this document, or the witness, or any one who will in any respect confirm it? And will such men as these judges, before whom we stand, approve of this destruction which you have drawn forth out of the mother's bosom against her most innocent son? Be it so then; these documents have no author. What next? Why is not the investigation itself reserved for the judges; for the friends and connections of Oppianicus, whom she had invited to be present before, and for this identical time? What was done to these men, Strato and Nicostratus?
186. ais, T.Titi Atti? tu periculum capitis, tu indicium sceleris, tu fortunas alterius litteris conscriptas in iudicium adferes neque earum auctorem litterarum neque obsignatorem neque testem ullum nominabis? et quam tu pestem innocentissimo filio de matris sinu deprompseris, hanc hi tales viri comprobabunt?, in tabellis nihil est auctoritatis; quid? ipsa quaestio iudicibus, quid? amicis hospitibusque Oppianici quos adhibuerat antea, quid? huic tandem ipsi tempori cur non reservata est? istis hominibus factum est, Stratone et Nicostrato?
187. I ask of you, O Oppianicus, what you say was done to your slave Nicostratus? whom you, as you were shortly about to accuse this man, ought to have taken to Rome, to have given him an opportunity of giving information; lastly, to have preserved him unhurt for examination, to have preserved him for these judges, and to have preserved him for this time. For, O judges, know that Strato was crucified, having had his tongue cut out; for there is no one of all the citizens of Larinum who does not know this. That frantic woman was afraid, not of her own conscience, not of the hatred of her fellow-citizens, not of the reports flying about among everybody; but, as if every one was not likely to be hereafter the witness of her wickedness, she was afraid of being convicted by the last words of a dying slave.
187. abs te, Oppianice, servo tuo Nicostrato quid factum esse dicas, quem tu, cum hunc brevi tempore accusaturus esses, Romam deducere, dare potestatem indicandi, incolumem denique servare quaestioni, servare his iudicibus, servare huic tempori debuisti. Stratonem quidem, iudices, in crucem esse actum exsecta scitote lingua; quod nemo Larinatium est qui nesciat. mulier amens non suam conscientiam, non odium municipum, non famam omnium, sed, quasi non omnes eius sceleris testes essent futuri, sic metuit ne condemnaretur extrema servoli voce morientis.
188. What a prodigy is this, O ye immortal gods! What shall we say of this enormity? What shall we call this enormous and inhuman wickedness, or where shall we say it has its birth? For now, in truth, you see, O judges, that I did not, at the beginning of my oration, say what I did about his mother without the strongest and most unavoidable necessity; for there is no evil, no wickedness, which she has not from the very beginning wished, and prayed for, and planned and wrought against her son. I say nothing of that first jury which she did him through her lust—I say nothing of her nefarious marriage with her son-in-law—I say nothing of her daughter driven from her husband by the profligate desires of her mother,—because they have relation, not to the existing danger of his life to my client, but to the common disgrace of the family. I say nothing of the second marriage with Oppianicus, to ensure which she first received from him his dead sons as hostages, and then married, to the grief of the family, and the destruction of her stepsons. I pass over how, when she knew that Aurius Melinus, whose mother-in-law she had formerly been, and whose wife she had been a little before that, had been proscribed and murdered by the contrivance of Oppianicus, she chose for herself that place as the abode and home of her married state, in which she might every day behold the proofs of the death of her former husband, and the spoils of his fortune.
188. hoc portentum, di immortales! quod tantum monstrum in ullis locis, quod tam infestum scelus et immane aut unde natum esse dicamus? enim videtis profecto, iudices, non sine necessariis me ac maximis causis principio orationis meae de matre dixisse. est enim mali, nihil sceleris quod illa non ab initio filio voluerit, optaverit, cogitaverit, effecerit. Mitto illam primam libidinis iniuriam, mitto nefarias generi nuptias, mitto cupiditate matris expulsam ex matrimonio filiam, quae nondum ad huiusce vitae periculum sed ad commune familiae dedecus pertinebant. de alteris Oppianici nuptiis queror, quarum illa cum obsides filios ab eo mortuos accepisset, tum denique in familiae luctum atque in privignorum funus nupsit. quod A.Aulum Aurium cuius illa quondam socrus, paulo ante uxor fuisset, cum Oppianici esse opera proscriptum occisumque cognosset, eam sibi domum sedemque delegit in qua cotidie superioris viri mortis indicia et spolia fortunarum videret.
189. This is what I complain of first of all,—that wickedness which is now at length thoroughly revealed, of the poisoning of Fabricius; which, being then recent, was suspicious to others, incredible to him, but which now appears plain and evident to everybody. In fact, his mother is hardly concealed in that act of poisoning; nothing was devised by Oppianicus without the counsel of that woman; and unless that had been the case, certainly she would not afterwards, when the affair was detected, have departed from him as from a wicked husband, but she would have fled from him as from a most pitiless enemy, and she would have for ever left that house overflowing with every imaginable wickedness.
189. primum queror de illo scelere quod nunc denique patefactum est, Fabriciani veneni, quod iam tum recens suspiciosum ceteris, huic incredibile, nunc vero apertum iam omnibus ac manifestum videtur. est profecto de illo veneno celata mater; nihil est ab Oppianico sine consilio mulieris cogitatum; quod si esset, certe postea deprehensa re non illa ut a viro improbo discessisset sed ut a crudelissimo hoste fugisset domumque illam in perpetuum scelere omni adfluentem reliquisset.
190. She not only did not do that, but from that time forth she omitted no opportunity of planning some treachery or other, but day and night, she, a mother, directed all her thoughts to compassing the destruction of her son. But first, in order to confirm Oppianicus in his resolution of becoming the accuser of her son, she bound him to her by gifts and presents, by giving him her daughter in marriage, and by the hope of her inheritance. Therefore, among other people too, when sudden enmities have arisen between relations, we often see divorces and ruptures of connections take place; but this woman thought that no one could be sufficiently reined upon as the prosecutor of her son, unless he first married his sister. Other men, induced by new connections, often lay aside their ancient enmities; she thought that a connection with the family would be a pledge to ensure the strengthening of enmity.
190. modo id non fecit sed ab illo tempore nullum locum praetermisit in quo non strueret insidias aliquas ac dies omnis atque noctes tota mente mater de pernicie fili cogitaret. primum ut illum confirmaret accusatorem filio suo, donis, muneribus, conlocatione filiae, spe hereditatis obstrinxit. quod apud ceteros novis inter propinquos susceptis inimicitiis saepe fieri divortia atque adfinitatum discidia vidimus, haec mulier satis firmum accusatorem filio suo fore neminem putavit, nisi qui in matrimonium sororem eius ante duxisset. novis adfinitatibus adducti veteres inimicitias saepe deponunt; illa sibi ad confirmandas inimicitias adfinitatis coniunctionem pignori fore putavit.
191. And she was not only diligent in providing an accuser for her son, but she also planned how to furnish him with the requisite weapons. Hence were all those tamperings with the slaves, both by means of threats and of promises; hence those repeated and cruel investigations into the death of Oppianicus; to which at last it was not the moderation of the woman, but the authority of her friends that put a limit. From the same wickedness proceeded that investigation conducted at Larinum three years afterwards. The false reports of the investigation were fabricated by the same frantic criminality. From that same frenzy proceeded also that abominable cutting out of her victim's tongue; and lastly, the whole contrivance of this accusation has been managed and carried out by her.
191. in eo solum diligens fuit ut accusatorem filio suo compararet sed etiam cogitavit quibus eum rebus armaret. enim illae sollicitationes servorum et minis et promissis, hinc illae infinitae crudelissimaeque de morte Oppianici quaestiones, quibus finem aliquando non mulieris modus sed amicorum auctoritas fecit. eodem scelere illae triennio post habitae Larini quaestiones, eiusdem amentiae falsae conscriptiones quaestionum; ex eodem furore etiam illa conscelerata exsectio linguae; totius denique huius ab illa est et inventa et adornata comparatio criminis.
192. And when she had herself sent the accuser armed with all these weapons against her son to Rome, she remained herself a little while at Larinum, for the sake of seeking out and hiring witnesses. But afterwards, when news was brought to her that this man's trial was coming on, she immediately flew hither, to prevent any diligence being wanting on the part of the accusers, or any money to the witnesses; or perhaps lest she, as his mother, should lose this sight which she had so eagerly desired, of this man's mourning habit, and grief, and melancholy condition. But now, what sort of journey do you think that woman had to Rome? which I, by means of the neighbourhood of the people of Aquinum and Venafrum, heard and ascertained from many people. What throngings of the people were there in these cities! what groanings of men and women! that a woman should go from Larinum, should go all the way from the Adriatic to Rome, with a large retinue, and great sums of money, in order to be the more easily able to convict and oppress by a capital charge, falsely trumped up, her own son!
192. his rebus cum instructum accusatorem filio suo Romam misisset, ipsa paulisper conquirendorum et conducendorum testium causa Larini est commorata; postea autem quam appropinquare huius iudicium ei nuntiatum est, confestim huc advolavit ne aut accusatoribus diligentia aut pecunia testibus deesset, aut ne forte mater hoc sibi optatissimum spectaculum huius sordium atque luctus et tanti squaloris amitteret. vero quod iter Romam eius mulieris fuisse existimatis? quod ego propter vicinitatem Aquinatium et Fabraternorum ex multis audivi et comperi; quos concursus in his oppidis, quantos et virorum et mulierum gemitus esse factos? quandam Larino advolare, usque a mari supero Romam proficisci cum magno comitatu et pecunia quo facilius circumvenire iudicio capitis atque opprimere filium posset?
193. There was not one of all those people (I may almost say) who did not think that every place required purifying, by which she had passed on her journey; no one who did not think the very earth itself, the common mother of us all, polluted by the footsteps of that wicked mother. Accordingly, she could not stay long in any city; of all that number of people, who might have been her entertainers, not one was found who did not flee from the contagion of her sight. She trusted herself to night and solitude, rather than to any city or to any host.
193. erat illorum, paene dicam, quin expiandum illum locum esse arbitraretur quacumque illa iter fecisset, nemo quin terram ipsam violari quae mater est omnium vestigiis consceleratae matris putaret. nullo in oppido consistendi potestas ei fuit, nemo ex tot hospitibus inventus est qui non contagionem aspectus fugeret; nocti se potius ac solitudini quam ulli aut urbi aut hospiti committebat.
194. But now, which of us does she think is ignorant of what she is doing, of what she is contriving, of what she is thinking? We know whom she has addressed herself to, whom she has promised money to, whose good faith she has endeavoured to undermine by means of bribes. Moreover, we are acquainted with her nocturnal sacrifices, which she thinks are secret, and her wicked prayers, and her abominable vows; in which she makes even the immortal gods to be witnesses of her wickedness, and does not perceive that the minds of the gods are propitiated by piety, by religion, and holy prayers, not by a polluted superstition, nor by victims slain to conciliate their sanction for acts of wickedness. This insanity and barbarity of hers I may well feel sure that the immortal gods have rejected with disgust from their altars and temples.
194. vero quid agat, quid moliatur, quid denique cotidie cogitet quem ignorare nostrum putat? appellarit, quibus pecuniam promiserit, quorum fidem pretio labefactare conata sit tenemus. etiam nocturna sacrificia quae putat occultiora esse sceleratasque eius preces et nefaria vota cognovimus; quibus illa etiam deos immortalis de suo scelere testatur neque intellegit pietate et religione et iustis precibus deorum mentis, non contaminata superstitione neque ad scelus perficiendum caesis hostiis posse placari. ego furorem atque crudelitatem deos immortalis a suis aris atque templis aspernatos esse confido.
195. Do you now, O judges, whom fortune has appointed to be a sort of other gods, as it were, to Aulus Cluentius, my client, throughout his whole life, ward off this savage attack of his mother from her son's head. Many men, while sitting as judges, have pardoned the sins of the children out of pity for the parents;—we now entreat you, hot to give up the most virtuously spent life of this man to the inhumanity of his mother, especially when you may see all his fellow-citizens in his municipality on the other side of the question. Know all of you, O judges, (it is a most incredible statement, but still a perfectly true one,) that all the men of Larinum, who have been able to do so, have come to Rome, in order by their zeal, and by the display of their numbers, to comfort this man as far as they could, in this his great danger; know that that town is at the present moment delivered to the keeping of children and women, and that it is now, at this time of common peace over Italy, defended by its domestic forces only. But even those who are left behind are equally eager with those whom you see present here, and are harassed day and night by anxiety about the result of this trial.
195. , iudices, quos huic A.Aulo Cluentio quosdam alios deos ad omne vitae tempus fortuna esse voluit, huius importunitatem matris a fili capite depellite. saepe in iudicando peccata liberum parentum misericordiae concesserunt; vos ne huius honestissime actam vitam matris crudelitati condonetis rogamus, praesertim cum ex altera parte totum municipium videre possitis. scitote, iudices — incredibile dictu est, sed a me verissime dicetur — omnis Larinatis qui valuerunt venisse Romam ut hunc studio frequentiaque sua quantum possent in tanto eius periculo sublevarent. illud hoc tempore et mulieribus oppidum scitote esse traditum, idque in praesentia communi Italiae pace, non domesticis copiis esse tutum. tamen ipsos aeque et eos quos praesentis videtis huius exspectatio iudici dies noctesque sollicitat.
196. They think that you are going to deliver a decision, not about the fortunes of one of their citizens, but about the condition, and the dignity, and all the advantages of the whole municipality. For the industry of that man in the common service of the municipality is extreme, O judges; his kindness to each individual citizen, and his justice and good faith towards all men, are of the highest order. Besides, he so preserves his high rank among his countrymen, and the position which he has inherited from his ancestors, that he equals the gravity, and wisdom, and popularity, and character for liberality of his ancestors. Therefore they give their public testimony in his favour, in words which signify not only their opinion of, and their esteem for him, but also their own anxiety of mind and grief. And while their panegyric is being read, I beg of you, who have brought it hither, to rise up. [The panegyric on Cluentius, in pursuance of the resolution of the senators of Larinum, is read.]
196. illi vos de unius municipis fortunis arbitrantur sed de totius municipi statu dignitate commodisque omnibus sententias esse laturos. est enim, iudices, hominis in communem municipi rem diligentia, in singulos municipes benignitas, in omnis homines iustitia et fides. nobilitatem illam inter suos locumque a maioribus traditum sic tuetur ut maiorum gravitatem, constantiam, gratiam, liberalitatem adsequatur. eis eum verbis publice laudant ut non solum testimonium suum iudiciumque significent verum etiam curam animi ac dolorem. dum laudatio recitatur, vos, quaeso, qui eam detulistis adsurgite.
197. From the tears of these men, you, O judges, may easily imagine that the senators did not pass these resolutions without tears. Come now, how great is the zeal of his neighbours in his behalf, how incredible their good-will towards him, how great their anxiety for him. They have not, indeed, sent resolutions drawn up in papers of panegyric, but they have chosen their most honourable men, whom we are all acquainted with, to come hither in numbers, and to give their personal evidence in his favour. The Frentani are present, most noble men. The Marrucini a tribe of equal dignity, are present too. You see Roman knights, most honourable men, come to praise him from Teanum in Apulia, and from Luceria. Most honourable panegyrics have been sent from Bovianum, and from the whole of Samnium, and also the most honourable and noble men of these states have come too.
197. lacrimis horum, iudices, existimare potestis omnis haec decuriones decrevisse lacrimantis. vero, vicinorum quantum studium, quam incredibilis benivolentia, quanta cura est! illi in libellis laudationem decretam miserunt, sed homines honestissimos, quos nossemus omnes, huc frequentis adesse et hunc praesentis laudare voluerunt. Ferentani, homines nobilissimi, Marrucini item pari dignitate; Teano Apulo atque Luceria equites Romanos, homines honestissimos, laudatores videtis; Boviano totoque ex Samnio cum laudationes honestissimae missae sunt, tum homines amplissimi nobilissimique venerunt.
198. As for those men who have farms in the district of Larinum, or business as merchants, or flocks and herds, honourable men and of the highest character, it is impossible to say how eager and anxious they are. It seems to me that there are not many men so beloved by a single individual as he is by all these nations. How I wish that Lucius Volusienus were not absent from my client's trial, a man of the greatest virtue and most exalted character! How I wish that I could say that Publius Helvidius Rufus was present, the most accomplished of all the Roman knights! who, while, in this man's cause, he was kept awake night and day, and while he was instructing me in many of the facts of this case, has been stricken with a severe and dangerous illness; but even while in this state of suffering, he is not less anxious for the acquittal of Cluentius than for his own recovery. You shall witness the equal zeal of Cnaeus Tudicius, a senator, a most virtuous and honour able man, shown both in giving evidence and in uttering an encomium on him. We speak with the same hope, but with more diffidence, of you, O Publius Volumnius, since you are one of the judges of Aulus Cluentius. In short, we assert to you that the good-will of all his neighbours towards this man is unequalled.
198. qui in agro Larinati praedia, qui negotia, qui res pecuarias habent, honesti homines et summo splendore praediti, difficile dictu est quam sint solliciti, quam laborent. multi mihi ab uno sic diligi videntur ut hic ab his universis. doleo abesse ab huius iudicio L.Lucium Volusenum, summo splendore hominem ac virtute praeditum! praesentem possem P.Publium Helvidium Rufum, equitem Romanum omnium ornatissimum, nominare. cum huius causa dies noctesque vigilaret et cum me hanc causam doceret, in morbum gravem periculosumque incidit; in quo tamen non minus de capite huius quam de sua vita laborat. Cn. Tudici senatoris, viri optimi et honestissimi, par studium ex testimonio et laudatione cognoscetis. spe sed maiore verecundia de te, P.Publi Volumni, quoniam iudex es in A.Aulum Cluentium, dicimus. ne longum sit, omnium vicinorum summam esse in hunc benivolentiam confirmamus. Horum omnium studium, curam, diligentiam meumque una laborem, qui totam hanc causam vetere instituto solus peroravi, vestramque simul, iudices, aequitatem et mansuetudinem una mater oppugnat.
199. His mother alone opposes the zeal of all these men, and their anxiety and diligence in his behalf, and my labour, who, according to the rules of old times, have pleaded the whole of this cause by myself, and also your equity, O judges, and your merciful dispositions. But what a mother! One whom you see hurried on, blinded by cruelty and wickedness,—whose desires no amount of infamy has ever restrained,—who, by the vices of her mind, has perverted all the laws of men to the foulest purposes,—whose folly is such, that no one can call her a human being,—whose violence is such, that no one can call her a woman,—whose barbarity is such, that no one can call her a mother. And she has changed even the names of relationships, and not only the name and laws of nature: the wife of her son-in-law, the mother-in-law of her son, the invader of her daughter's bed! she has come to such a pitch, that she has no resemblance, except in form, to a human creature.
199. quae mater! caecam crudelitate et scelere ferri videtis, cuius cupiditatem nulla umquam turpitudo retardavit, quae vitiis animi in deterrimas partis iura hominum convertit omnia, cuius ea stultitia est ut eam nemo hominem, ea vis ut nemo feminam, ea crudelitas ut nemo matrem appellare possit. etiam nomina necessitudinum, non solum naturae nomen et iura mutavit, uxor generi, noverca fili, filiae paelex; eo iam denique adducta est uti sibi praeter formam nihil ad similitudinem hominis reservarit.
200. Wherefore, O judges, if you hate wickedness, prevent the approach of a mother to a son's blood; inflict on the parent this incredible misery, of the victory and safety of her children; allow the mother (that she may not rejoice at being deprived of her son) to depart defeated rather by your equity. But if, as your nature requires, you love modesty, and beneficence, and virtue, then at last raise up this your suppliant, O judges, who has been exposed for so many years to undeserved odium and danger,—who now for the first time, since the beginning of that fire kindled by the actions and fanned by the desires of others, has begun to raise his spirits from the hope of your equity, and to breathe awhile after the alarms he has suffered,—all whose hopes depend on you,—whom many, indeed, wish to be saved, but whom you alone have the power to save.
200. re, iudices, si scelus odistis, prohibete aditum matris a fili sanguine, date parenti hunc incredibilem dolorem ex salute, ex victoria liberum, patimini matrem, ne orbata filio laetetur, victam potius vestra aequitate discedere. autem, id quod vestra natura postulat, pudorem bonitatem virtutemque diligitis, levate hunc aliquando supplicem vestrum, iudices, tot annos in falsa invidia periculisque versatum, qui nunc primum post illam flammam aliorum facto et cupiditate excitatam spe vestrae aequitatis erigere animum et paulum respirare a metu coepit, cui posita sunt in vobis omnia, quem servatum esse plurimi cupiunt, servare soli vos potestis.
201. Habitus prays to you, O judges, and with tears implores you, not to abandon him to odium, which ought to have no power in courts of justice; nor to his mother, whose vows and prayers you are bound to reject from your minds; nor to Oppianicus, that infamous man, already condemned and dead. But if any misfortune in this trial should overthrow this innocent man, verily, that miserable man, O judges, if indeed (which will be hard for him) he remains alive at all, will complain frequently and bitterly that that poison of Fabricius was ever detected. But if at that time that information had not been given, it would have been to that most unhappy man not poison, but a medicine to relieve him from many distresses; and, lastly, perhaps even his mother would have attended his funeral, and would have feigned to mourn for the death of her son. But now, what will have been gained by his escape then, beyond making his life appear to have been preserved from the snares of death which then surrounded him for greater grief, and beyond depriving him when dead of a place in his father's tomb?
201. vos, iudices, et flens obsecrat ne se invidiae quae in iudiciis valere non debet, ne matri cuius vota et preces a vestris mentibus repudiare debetis, ne Oppianico, homini nefario, condemnato iam et mortuo condonetis. si qua calamitas hunc in hoc iudicio adflixerit innocentem, ne iste miser, si, id quod difficile factu est, in vita remanebit, saepe et multum queretur deprehensum esse illud quondam Fabricianum venenum. si tum indicatum non esset, non huic aerumnosissimo venenum illud fuisset sed multorum medicamentum maerorum; postremo etiam fortasse mater exsequias illius funeris prosecuta mortem se fili lugere simulasset. vero quid erit profectum nisi ut huius ex mediis mortis insidiis vita ad luctum conservata, mors sepulcro patris privata esse videatur? diu fuit in miseriis, iudices, satis multos annos ex invidia laboravit.
202. He has been long enough, O judges, in misery. He has been years enough struggling with odium. No one has been so hostile to him, except his parent, that we may not think his ill-will satisfied by this time. You who are just to all men, who, the more cruelly any one is attacked, do the more kindly protect him, preserve Aulus Cluentius, restore him uninjured to his municipality. Restore him to his friends, and neighbours, and connections, whose eagerness in his behalf you see. Bind all those men for ever to you and to your children. This business, O judges, is yours; it is worthy of your dignity, it is worthy of your clemency. This is rightly expected of you, to release a most virtuous and innocent man, one dear and beloved by many men, at last from these his misfortunes; so that all men may see that odium and faction may be excited in popular assemblies, but that in courts of justice there is room only for truth.
202. huic tam iniquus praeter parentem fuit cuius animum ⟨non⟩ iam expletum putemus. qui aequi estis omnibus, qui ut quisque crudelissime oppugnatur eum lenissime sublevatis, conservate A.Aulum Cluentium, restituite incolumem municipio; amicis, vicinis, hospitibus quorum studia videtis reddite, vobis in perpetuum liberisque vestris obstringite. est hoc, iudices, vestrae dignitatis, vestrae clementiae; recte hoc repetitur a vobis ut virum optimum atque innocentissimum plurimisque mortalibus carum atque iucundum his aliquando calamitatibus liberetis, ut omnes intellegant in contionibus esse invidiae locum, in iudiciis veritati.