25. But when the interests of Lucius Flaccus are at stake, a man of whom I may say that the first man who was made consul of his family was the first man that was ever consul in this city; a man by whose valour the kings were banished, and liberty was established in this republic; a family which has endured to this time with a continued series of honours and commands, and of glorious achievements; and when Lucius Flaccus has not only not degenerated from this everlasting and well-attested virtue of his ancestors, but as praetor has especially devoted himself to the glory of asserting the liberty of his country, seeing that that was the especial glory and characteristic of his family,—can I fear lest any mischievous precedent be established in the case of this defendant when, even if he had committed any slight fault, all good men would think that they ought rather to connive at it?
25. cum L. Flacci res agatur, qua ex familia qui primus consul factus est primus in hac civitate consul fuit, cuius virtute regibus exterminatis libertas in re publica constituta est, quae usque ad hoc tempus honoribus, imperiis, rerum gestarum gloria continuata permansit, cumque ab hac perenni contestataque virtute maiorum non modo non degeneraverit L. Flaccus sed, quam maxime florere in generis sui gloria viderat, laudem patriae in libertatem vindicandae praetor adamarit, in hoc ego reo ne quod perniciosum exemplum prodatur pertimescam, in quo, etiam si quid errasset, omnes boni conivendum esse arbitrarentur?
26. That, however, I not only do not request, but I beg and entreat you, O judges, to scrutinise the whole case most vigilantly, with all your eyes, as they say. None of the charges will be found borne witness to with conscientiousness, or founded in truth, or extorted by indignation; but, on the contrary, you will see that it is all redolent of lust, passion, party spirit, bribery, and perjury.
26. quidem ego non modo non postulo, sed contra, iudices, vos oro et obtestor ut totam causam quam maxime intentis oculis, ut aiunt, acerrime contemplemini. religione testatum, nihil veritate fundatum, nihil dolore expressum, contraque omnia corrupta libidine, iracundia, studio, pretio, periurio reperientur.
27. Now that the universal cupidity of those men is ascertained, I will proceed to the separate complaints and charges of the Greeks. They complain that money was levied from the cities under the name of money for a fleet. And we admit, O judges, that that was done. But if this be a crime, the guilt must consist either in the fact that it was not lawful so to levy money; or in the fact that the ships were not wanted; or in the third alternative, that no fleet put to sea while he was praetor. That you may see that this levy was lawful, listen, I pray you, to what the senate decreed, when I was consul, in which it did not depart at all from the former decrees of many years running. [The resolution of the senate is read.] The next thing is for us to inquire whether there was need of the fleet or not. Is it then the Greeks or any foreign nations who are to be judges of this, or your praetors, your generals, your commanders-in-chief? I indeed think that in a district and province of that sort which is surrounded by the sea, dotted all over with harbours, and girt with islands, a fleet is requisite not only for the sake of protection, but as an ornament of the empire.
27. iam universa istorum cognita cupiditate accedam ad singulas querelas criminationesque Graecorum. nomine pecuniam civitatibus imperatam queruntur. nos factum, iudices, confitemur. si hoc crimen est, aut in eo est quod non licuerit imperare, aut in eo quod non opus fuerit navibus, aut in eo quod nulla hoc praetore classis navigarit. ut intellegas, cognosce quid me consule senatus decreverit, cum quidem nihil a superioribus continuorum annorum decretis discesserit. senatvs consvltvm. est ergo ut opus fuerit classe necne quaeramus. Vtrum igitur hoc Graeci statuent aut ullae exterae nationes, an nostri praetores, nostri duces, nostri imperatores? existimo in eius modi regione atque provincia quae mari cincta, portibus distincta, insulis circumdata esset, non solum praesidi sed etiam ornandi imperi causa navigandum fuisse.
28. For there were these principles and there was this greatness of mind in our ancestors, that while in their private affairs, and as to their own personal expenses, they lived contented with a little, and without the smallest approach to luxury; where the empire and the dignity of the state was concerned, they brought everything up to a high pitch of splendour and magnificence. For in a man's private affairs he desires the credit of moderation, but in public affairs dignity is the object aimed at. But even if he had a fleet for the sake of protection, who will be so unjust as to blame it?—“There were no pirates.” What? who could certify beforehand that there would be none? “You are taking away,” said he, “from the glory of Pompeius.”
28. enim ratio ac magnitudo animorum in maioribus nostris fuit ut, cum in privatis rebus suisque sumptibus minimo contenti tenuissimo cultu viverent, in imperio atque in publica dignitate omnia ad gloriam splendoremque revocarent. enim in re domestica continentiae laus, in publica dignitatis. si etiam praesidi causa classem habuit, quis erit tam iniquus qui reprehendat? “erant praedones.”? nullos fore quis praestare poterat? “,” inquit, “gloriam Pompei.” tu auges molestiam.
29. Say, rather, that you yourself are increasing his difficulties. For he destroyed the fleets of the pirates, their cities, and harbours, and places of refuge. By his surpassing valour and incredible rapidity of motion he established a maritime peace; but this he neither undertook nor ought to have undertaken,—namely, to submit to appear worthy of prosecution if a single pirate's boat was anywhere seen. Therefore he himself in Asia, when he had terminated every war, both by land and sea, nevertheless levied a fleet on those self-same cities. And if he then thought that step was necessary, when everything might have been safe and tranquil through fear of his name, while he was still in those countries, what do you think that Flaccus ought to have decided on and to have done after he had departed?
29. enim classis praedonum, urbis, portus, receptacula sustulit, pacem maritimam summa virtute atque incredibili celeritate confecit; illud vero neque suscepit neque suscipere debuit ut, si qua uspiam navicula praedonum apparuisset, accusandus videretur. ipse in Asia, cum omnia iam bella terra marique confecisset, classem tamen isdem istis civitatibus imperavit. si tum statuit opus esse cum ipsius praesentis nomine tuta omnia et pacata esse poterant, quid, cum ille decessisset, Flacco existimatis statuendum et faciendum fuisse?
30. What? did not we decree, by the advice of Pompeius himself, in the consulship of Silanus and Murena, that a fleet should put to sea to sail round Italy? Did not we, at the very same time that Lucius Flaccus was levying sailors in Asia, exact four millions three hundred thousand sesterces for fleets to defend the Mediterranean and Adriatic? What did we do the year after? was not money exacted for the use of the fleet when Marcus Curius and Publius Sextilius were quaestors? What? were there not all this time cavalry on the sea-coast? for that is the surpassing glory of Pompeius,—first of all, that those pirates who, when the conduct of the maritime war was first entrusted to him, wandered about straggling over the whole sea, were soon reduced under our power; in the next place, that Syria is ours, that Cilicia is occupied by us, that Cyprus, through the instrumentality of king Ptolemaeus, is reduced to a state in which it can venture to do nothing; moreover, that Crete, owing to the valour of Metellus, is ours; that the pirates have now no ports from which they can set out none to which they can return; that all the bays, and promontories, and shores, and islands, and maritime cities, are now contained within the barriers of our empire.
30. ? nos hic nonne ipso Pompeio auctore Silano et Murena consulibus decrevimus ut classis in Italia navigaret? nonne eo ipso tempore cum L. Flaccus in Asia remiges imperabat, nos hic in mare superum et inferum sestertium ter et quadragiens erogabamus?? postero anno nonne M. Curtio et P. Sextilio quaestoribus pecunia in classem est erogata?? hoc omni tempore equites in ora maritima non fuerunt? enim est gloria divina Pompei, primum praedones eos qui tum cum illi bellum maritimum gerendum datum est toto mari dispersi vagabantur redactos esse omnis in ⟨populi Romani⟩ potestatem, deinde Syriam esse nostram, Ciliciam teneri, Cyprum per Ptolomaeum regem nihil audere, praeterea Cretam Metelli virtute esse nostram, nihil esse unde proficiscantur, nihil quo revertantur, omnis sinus, promunturia, litora, insulas, urbis maritimas claustris imperi nostri contineri.
31. But if, when Flaccus was praetor, there had been not one pirate at sea, still his diligence would not have deserved to be blamed. For I should think that the reason of there being no pirates at sea was, because he had a fleet. What will you say if I prove by the evidence of Lucius Oppius, of Lucius Agrius, of Caius Cestius, Roman knights, and also of this most industrious man here present, Cnaeus Domitius, who was an ambassador in Asia at the time, that at that very time in which you yourself affirm that there was no need of a fleet, numbers of men were taken prisoners by the pirates? Still, will the wisdom of Flaccus, as shown in raising crews for the fleet, be found fault with? What if a man of high rank, a citizen of Adramyttium, was even slain by the pirates,—a man whose name is known to nearly all of us, Atyanas the boxer, a victor at Olympia? and this victory is considered among the Greeks (since we are speaking of their wisdom) a greater and more glorious thing than to have had a triumph is reckoned at Rome. “But you took no prisoners.” How many most illustrious men have had the command of the sea-coast, who, though they had taken no pirate prisoner, still made the sea safe? For taking prisoners depends on chance, on place, on accident, on opportunity. And the caution which shows itself in defence has an easy task; being aided not only by lurking places in concealed spots, but by the sudden fall or change of winds and weather.
31. si Flacco praetore nemo in mari praedo fuisset, tamen huius diligentia reprehendenda non esset. enim quod hic classem habuisset, existimarem non fuisse.? si L. Eppi, L. Agri, C. Cesti, equitum Romanorum, huius etiam clarissimi viri, Cn. Domiti, qui in Asia tum legatus fuit, testimonio doceo eo ipso tempore quo tu negas classem habendam fuisse, compluris a praedonibus esse captos, tamen Flacci consilium in remigibus imperandis reprehendetur? si etiam occisus est a piratis Adramytenus homo nobilis, cuius est fere nobis omnibus nomen auditum, Atyanas pugil Olympionices? hoc est apud Graecos, quoniam de eorum gravitate dicimus, prope maius et gloriosius quam Romae triumphasse. “neminem cepisti.” multi orae maritimae clarissimi viri praefuerunt qui, cum praedonem nullum cepissent, mare tamen tutum praestiterunt! Casus est enim in capiendo, locus, ventus, occasio; defendendi facilis est cautio, non solum latibulis occultorum locorum sed etiam tempestatum moderatione et conversione.
32. The last thing that we have to inquire into is, whether that fleet really sailed with oars and sails, or only on paper, and as far as the expense went. Can that then be denied, of which all Asia is witness, that the fleet was distributed into two divisions, so that one division should sail above Ephesus, the other below Ephesus? in the one fleet Marcus Crassus, that most noble man, sailed from Aenas to Asia, with the other division Flaccus sailed from Asia to Macedonia. In what then is it that we look in vain for the diligence of the praetor? Is it in the number of the ships or in the equal division of the expense? He demanded just one half the fleet which Pompeius required. Could he be more economical? And he divided the expense according to the proportions settled by Pompeius, which was adapted to the division made by Sulla, who, when he had arranged all the cities in Asia according to the proportion that they were to bear of the expense imposed on the whole provinces, adopted a rule which Pompeius and Flaccus followed in raising the necessary sums, and even to this day the whole sum is not collected. But he makes no return of it.
32. est ut quaeratur utrum ista classis cursu et remis, an sumptu tantum et litteris navigarit. id igitur negari potest, cuius rei cuncta testis est Asia, bipertito classem distributam fuisse, ut una pars supra Ephesum, altera infra Ephesum navigaret? classe M. Crassus, vir amplissimus, ab Aeno in Asiam, his navibus Flaccus ex Asia in Macedoniam navigavit. quo igitur praetoris est diligentia requirenda? in numero navium et in discriptione aequabili sumptus? eius quo Pompeius erat usus imperavit; num potuit parcius? autem pecuniam ad Pompei rationem, quae fuit accommodata L. Sullae discriptioni. cum ⟨in⟩ omnis Asiae civitates pro portione pecuniam discripsisset, illam rationem in imperando sumptu et Pompeius et Flaccus secutus est. est adhuc tamen ea summa completa.
33. What does he gain by that? for when he takes on himself the burden of having levied the money, he avows what you wish to have considered as a crime. How then can any one be induced to believe that by not returning an account of that money, he deserves to bring an accusation on himself, when there would be no crime at all in the business if he made the return? But you deny that my brother, who succeeded Lucius Flaccus, levied any money for the purpose of crews for the fleet. Indeed, I am delighted to hear this praise of my brother Quintus, but I am still more pleased at other and more important reasons for praise of him. He decided on a different course; he saw a different state of things. He thought that whenever any intelligence of pirates was received, he could get together a fleet as suddenly as he could wish. And lastly, my brother was the very first man in Asia who ventured to relieve the cities from this expense of furnishing crews. But it is usual to think that a crime, when any one establishes charges which had not been established before; not when a successor merely changes some of the charges established by his predecessors. Flaccus could not know what others would do after his time; he only saw what others had done.
33. “refert.”; quid lucretur? Cum enim onus imperatae pecuniae suscipit, id quod tu crimen esse vis confitetur. igitur probari potest in ea pecunia non referenda crimen sibi ipsum facere in qua crimen esset nullum, si referret? enim negas fratrem meum, qui L. Flacco successerit, pecuniam ullam in remiges imperasse. omni fratris mei laude delector, sed aliis magis gravioribus atque maioribus. quiddam statuit, aliud vidit; existimavit, quocumque tempore auditum quid esset de praedonibus, quam vellet subito classem se comparaturum. hoc primus frater meus in Asia fecit ut hoc sumptu remigum civitates levaret; crimen autem tum videri solet cum aliquis sumptus instituit eos qui antea non erant instituti, non cum successor aliquid immutat de institutis priorum. Flaccus quid alii postea facturi essent scire non poterat, quid fecissent videbat.
34. But some mention has been made of charges brought by the common consent of all Asia; I will now touch on the cases of individual cities—and of them, the first that I will speak of shall be the city of Aemon. The crier with a loud voice calls for the deputies from Aemon; one comes forward, Asclepiades. Let them come forward. Have you compelled even the crier to proclaim a lie? I suppose this one deputy is a man who can support the dignity of his city by his sole authority;—a man condemned by decisions involving the greatest infamy in his own city; stigmatised in the public records; of whose disgraceful acts, and adulteries, and licentiousness there are letters of the people of Aemon in existence; which I think it better to pass over, not only on account of their length, but on account of the scandalous obscenity of the language. He said that two hundred and six thousand drachmas had been given to Flaccus at the public expense. He only said so—he produced no confirmation of his statement, no proof; but he added this,—which most certainly he ought to have proved, for it was a personal affair of his own,—that he, as a private individual, had paid two hundred and six thousand drachmas. The quantity that that most impudent man says was taken from him was a sum that he never even ventured to wish to be the possessor of.
34. , quoniam de communi totius Asiae crimine est dictum, adgrediar iam ad singulas civitates; ex quibus sit sane nobis prima civitas Acmonensis. praeco voce maxima legatos Acmonensis. unus Asclepiades. Prodeant ⟨ceteri⟩. praeconem mentiri coegisti? enim, credo, is vir iste ut civitatis nomen sua auctoritate sustineat, damnatus turpissimis iudiciis domi, notatus litteris publicis; cuius de probris, adulteriis ac stupris exstant Acmonensium litterae, quas ego non solum propter longitudinem sed etiam propter turpissimam obscenitatem verborum praetereundas puto. publice data drachmarum ccvi. tantum, nihil ostendit, nihil protulit; sed adiunxit, id quod certe, quoniam erat domesticum, docere debuit, se privatim drachmarum ccvi dedisse. sibi ablatum homo impudentissimus dicit, tantum numquam est ausus ut haberet optare.
35. He says that he gave it as a contribution from Aulus Sextilius, and from his own brothers. Sextilius was able to give such a sum; as for his own brothers, they are partners in his beggary. Let us then hear what Sextilius says; then let his brothers themselves come forward; let them lie as shamelessly as they please, and let them say that they gave what they never possessed; still, perhaps, when they are produced face to face with us, they will say something in which they may be detected. “I have not brought Sextilius with me as a witness,” says he. Give me the accounts then. “I have not brought them down.” At least produce your brothers. “I never summoned them.” Are we then to fear as an accusation or as a piece of evidence, what Asclepiades by himself affirms, a man needy as to fortune, infamous as to character, condemned by every one's opinion, relying on his own impudence and audacity, without any account-books or any one to support his evidence?
35. A. Sextilio dicit se dedisse et a suis fratribus. dare Sextilius; nam fratres quidem consortes sunt mendicitatis. igitur Sextilium; fratres denique ipsi prodeant; quam volent impudenter mentiantur et, quod numquam habuerint, dedisse se dicant; tamen aliquid fortasse coram producti dicent in quo reprehendantur. “deduxi,” inquit, “Sextilium.” tabulas. “deportavi.” saltem exhibe. “denuntiavi.” ergo unus Asclepiades fortuna egens, vita turpis, existimatione damnatus impudentia atque audacia fretus sine tabulis, sine auctore iecerit, id nos quasi crimen aut testimonium pertimescamus?
36. He also said that the panegyric which we mentioned as having been given by the men of Aemon to Flaccus, is false; a panegyric, says he, which we ought to be glad to be without. For when that admirable representative of his city beheld the public seal, he said that his own fellow-citizens and all the rest of the Greeks were accustomed to seal at the moment whatever required it. Then take that panegyric to yourself. For the life and character of Flaccus do not depend on the evidence of the citizens of Aemon. For you grant to me, (an admission which this cause especially requires,) that there is no authority, no consistency, no firm wisdom in the Greeks, and, above all, no proper regard to truth in giving their evidence; unless, indeed, henceforward there is to be this distinction made between the evidence and your speech, that the cities are to be said to have allowed something to Flaccus when absent but are to appear to have neither written nor sealed anything suited to the occasion, so as to save Laelius, though he was present, though he himself undertook the management of the business himself, and though he alarmed them and threatened them, availing himself of the power of the law, of the privileges of a prosecutor, and of all his own private resources.
36. laudationem quam nos ab Acmonensibus Flacco datam proferebamus falsam esse dicebat. quidem laudationis iactura exoptanda nobis fuit. ut signum publicum inspexit praeclarus iste auctor suae civitatis, solere suos civis ceterosque Graecos ex tempore quod opus sit obsignare dixit. vero tibi habeto istam laudationem; nec enim Acmonensium testimonio Flacci vita et dignitas nititur. enim mihi quod haec causa maxime postulat, nullam gravitatem, nullam constantiam, nullum firmum in Graecis hominibus consilium, nullam denique esse testimoni fidem. Nisi vero hactenus ista formula testimoni atque orationis tuae describi ac distingui potest ut Flacco absenti aliquid civitates tribuisse dicantur, Laelio praesenti per se agenti vi legis, iure accusationis, opibus praeterea suis terrenti ac minanti nihil temporis causa scripsisse aut obsignasse videantur.
37. In truth, O judges, I have often seen important facts detected and discovered through mere trifles, as in the case of this Asclepiades. This panegyric, which has been produced by us, had been sealed with that Asiatic chalk which is known to nearly all of us; which all men use not only on public but also on their private letters, and which we every day see used in letters sent by publicans, and in letters addressed to each individual among us. Nor indeed did the witness himself, when he saw the seal, say that we were producing a forged document, but he alleged the worthless character of all Asiatics,—a matter which we willingly and easily grant to him. Our panegyric then,—which he says was given to us because of that particular occasion, and by so saying in fact allows was given to us,—was sealed with chalk. But on that evidence, which is said to have been given to the prosecutor, we saw the seal was wax.
37. in minimis rebus saepe res magnas vidi, iudices, deprehendi ac teneri, ut in hoc Asclepiade. quae est a nobis prolata laudatio obsignata erat creta illa Asiatica quae fere est omnibus nota nobis, qua utuntur omnes non modo in publicis sed etiam in privatis litteris quas cotidie videmus mitti a publicanis, saepe uni cuique nostrum. enim testis ipse signo inspecto falsum nos proferre dixit, sed levitatem totius Asiae protulit, de qua nos et libenter et facile concedimus. igitur laudatio, quam ille temporis causa nobis datam dicit, datam quidem confitetur, consignata creta est; in illo autem testimonio quod accusatori dicitur datum ceram esse vidimus.
38. Here, O judges, if I thought that you were influenced by the decrees of the Aemonensians, and by the letters of the rest of the Phrygians, I should cry out, and argue with all the vigour of which I was master. I should call to witness the publicans; I should invoke the traders; I should implore the aid of your own consciences: the wax being seen, I should feel sure that the audacious forgery of the whole evidence was evidently detected and discovered, and laid bare to you. But at present I will not triumph too violently, nor be too much elated at this, nor will I inveigh against that trifler as if he were a witness, nor will I allow myself to be moved at all with respect to any part of this testimony of the Aemonensians, whether it has been forged here, as appears likely on the face of it, or whether it can really been sent from Aemon, as it is said to have been. In truth, I will not fear the evidence of the men to whom I make over that panegyric, since, as Asclepiades says, they are utterly insignificant.
38. ego, iudices, si vos Acmonensium decretis, si ceterorum Phrygum litteris permoveri putarem, vociferarer et quam maxime possem contenderem, testarer publicanos, excitarem negotiatores, vestram etiam scientiam implorarem; cera deprehensa confiderem totius testimoni fictam audaciam manifesto comprehensam atque oppressam teneri. vero non insultabo vehementius nec volitabo in hoc insolentius neque in istum nugatorem tamquam in aliquem testem invehar neque in toto Acmonensium testimonio, sive hic confictum est, ut apparet, sive missum domo est, ut dicitur, commorabor. quibus ego laudationem istam remittam, quoniam sunt, ut Asclepiades dicit, leves, horum testimonium non pertimescam.
39. I come now to the evidence of the people of Dorylaeum, who, when they were brought into court said that they had lost their public documents near some caverns. O the shepherds (I know not who they were), the literary shepherds! if they took nothing from those men except the letters! But we suspect that there is some other reason, and that we should not think those men quite destitute of all cunning. There is, I imagine, a heavier penalty at Dorylaeum than among other people, for forging or tampering with written documents. If they had produced the genuine letters, there was no accusation in them; if they produced forged ones, there was a penalty for such an act. They thought the finest thing they could do was to say that they were lost.
39. nunc ad Dorylensium testimonium; qui producti tabulas se publicas ad perdidisse dixerunt. O pastores nescio quos cupidos litterarum, si quidem nihil istis praeter litteras abstulerunt! aliud esse causae suspicamur, ne forte isti parum versuti esse videantur. Poena est, ut opinor, Dorylai gravior quam apud alios falsarum et corruptarum litterarum. veras protulissent, criminis nihil erat, si falsas, erat poena. putarunt dicere amissas.
40. Let them be quiet then, and allow me to set this down as so much gain, said to turn to something else. They will not allow me to do so. For some one or other gives them a lift, and says that he, as a private person, had given him money. But this cannot possibly be endured. He who reads things from those public documents which have been in the power of the prosecutor, ought not to carry any weight with him; but, nevertheless, a formal trial appears to take place when the documents themselves, of whatever character they may be, are produced. But when a man, whom not one of you has ever seen, whom no living mortal has ever heard of only says, “I gave,” will you hesitate, O judges, to save a most noble citizen from this most unknown of Phrygians? And this very man was lately disbelieved by three honourable and worthy Roman knights, when in a case in which a man's liberty was at stake, he said that the man who was claimed was his own kinsman. How has it come about that the man who was not considered a trustworthy witness as to his own blood and family is a credible authority concerning a public injury?
40. igitur et me hoc in lucro ponere atque aliud agere patiantur. sinunt. enim iste nescio qui et privatim dicit se dedisse. vero ferri nullo modo potest. de tabulis publicis recitat eis quae in accusatoris potestate fuerunt non debet habere auctoritatem; sed tamen iudicium fieri videtur, cum tabulae illae ipsae, cuicuimodi sunt, proferuntur. Cum vero is quem nemo vestrum vidit umquam, nemo qui mortalis esset audivit, tantum dicit: “dedi,” dubitabitis, iudices, quin ab hoc ignotissimo Phryge nobilissimum civem vindicetis? huic eidem nuper tres equites Romani honesti et graves, cum in causa liberali eum qui adserebatur cognatum suum esse diceret, non crediderunt. hoc evenit ut, qui locuples testis doloris et sanguinis sui non fuerit, idem sit gravis auctor iniuriae publicae?
41. And when this Dorylaean was lately carried out to burial in the presence of a great multitude and numerous assembly of you, Laelius tried to excite odium against Lucius Flaccus by imputing his death to him. You are acting unjustly, O Laelius, if you think that it is our risk whether your comrades live or die; especially as I think that this instance proceeded from your own carelessness. For you gave a Phrygian, a man who had never seen a fig-tree, a whole basket of figs; and his death was to some extent a relief to you, for you lost a very voracious guest. But what good did it to Flaccus, as he was well enough till he came forward here, and who died after he had put out his sting and delivered his evidence? But that prop of your cause, Mithridates, was retained as a witness by us and examined two whole days; and, after he had said all that he wished, departed reproved, convicted, and broken down, and now walks about in a breastplate. That learned and sagacious man is afraid that Lucius Flaccus may burden himself with a crime, now that he cannot escape him as a witness; so that he, who, before the evidence was given, restrained himself when he might have got something by the deed, is likely now to add the guilt of an enormous crime to the charge of covetousness, which is only supported by false evidence. But since Quintus Hortensius has spoken at great length and with great acuteness concerning this witness, and respecting the whole charge which has reference to Mithridates, we, as we originally intended, will proceed to the other points.
41. hic Dorylensis nuper cum efferretur magna frequentia conventuque vestro, mortis illius invidiam in L. Flaccum Laelius conferebat. iniuste, Laeli, si putas nostro periculo vivere tuos contubernalis, praesertim cum tua neglegentia factum arbitremur. enim Phrygi qui arborem numquam vidisset fiscinam ficorum obiecisti. mors te aliqua re levavit; edacem enim hospitem amisisti; Flacco vero quid profuit? qui valuit tam diu dum huc prodiret, mortuus est aculeo iam emisso ac dicto testimonio. istud columen accusationis tuae, Mithridates, postea quam biduum retentus testis a nobis effudit quae voluit omnia, reprensus, convictus fractusque discessit; ambulat cum lorica; metuit homo doctus et sapiens, ne L. Flaccus nunc se scelere adliget, cum iam testem illum effugere non possit, et, qui ante dictum testimonium sibi temperarit, cum tamen aliquid adsequi posset, is nunc id agat ut ad falsum avaritiae testimonium verum malefici crimen adiungat. quoniam de hoc teste totoque Mithridatico crimine disseruit subtiliter et copiose Q. Hortensius, nos, ut instituimus, ad reliqua pergamus.
42. The principal man in stirring up all the Greeks,—he who is sitting with the prosecutors,—Heraclides of Temnos, a silly chattering fellow, but (in his own opinion) so learned, that he calls himself even their tutor, and so ambitious, that he salutes all of you and of us every day. Old as he is, he has not yet been able to get admission into the senate of Temnos; and he, the man who professes himself able to teach the art of speaking to others, has himself been convicted in some very discreditable trials.
42. est omnium Graecorum concitandorum, qui cum accusatoribus sedet, Heraclides ille Temnites, homo ineptus et loquax, sed, ut sibi videtur, ita doctus ut etiam magistrum illorum se esse dicat., qui ita sit ambitiosus ut omnis vos nosque cotidie persalutet, Temni usque ad illam aetatem in senatum venire non potuit et, qui se artem dicendi traditurum etiam ceteris profiteatur, ipse omnibus turpissimis iudiciis victus est.
43. Of similar good fortune was Nicomedes, who came with him as a deputy, who was not allowed to enter the senate on any terms, but had been convicted of theft, and of defrauding his partner. For Lysanias, the chief man of the deputation, obtained the rank of senator; but as he showed himself rather too much devoted to the riches of the republic, he was convicted of peculation, and lost his property and his title of senator. These three men tried to render the accounts of even our own treasury false. For they returned themselves as having nine slaves, when they had in reality come without one single companion. I see at the first framing of the decree Lysanias was present, he, whose brother's property was sold by public order during the praetorship of Flaccus, because he did not pay what he owed to the people. Besides him there is Philippus, the son-in-law of Lysanias; and Hermobius, whose brother also, by name Poles, was convicted of embezzling the public money.
43. Pari felicitate legatus una venit Nicomedes, qui nec in senatum ulla condicione pervenire potuit et furti et pro socio damnatus est. princeps legationis, Lysania, adeptus est ordinem senatorium, sed cum rem publicam nimium amplecteretur, peculatus damnatus et bona et senatorium nomen amisit. tres etiam aerari nostri tabulas falsas esse voluerunt; nam servos novem se professi sunt habere, cum omnino sine comite venissent. scribendo primum video adfuisse Lysaniam, cuius fratris bona, quod populo non solvebat, praetore Flacco publice venierunt. Philippus est, Lysaniae gener, et Hermobius, cuius frater Pollis item pecuniae publicae est condemnatus. se Flacco et eis qui simul essent drachmarum cciↄↄ iↄↄ dedisse.
44. These men say that they gave Flaccus and those who were with him fifteen thousand drachmas. I have to do with a most active city, and one which is an admirable hand at keeping its accounts; a city in which not a farthing can be disposed of without the intervention of five praetors, three quaestors, and four bankers, who are elected in that city by the burgesses. Of all that number not one has been brought hither as a witness; and when they return that money as having been given to Flaccus by name, they say that they gave him also a still larger sum, entered as having been given for the repair of a temple. But this is not a very consistent story; for either everything ought to have been kept secret or else everything ought to have been returned without any disguise. When they enter the money as having been given to Flaccus, naming him expressly, they fear nothing, they apprehend nothing. When they return the money as having been given for a public work, then all of a sudden those same men begin to be afraid of the very man whom they had despised before. If the praetor gave the money, as it is set down, he drew it from the quaestor, the quaestor from the public bank, the public bank derived it either from revenue or from tribute. All this will never be like a crime, unless you explain to me the whole business both with respect to the persons and to the accounts.
44. Cum civitate mihi res est acerrima et conficientissima litterarum, in qua nummus commoveri nullus potest sine quinque praetoribus, tribus quaestoribus, quattuor mensariis, qui apud illos a populo creantur. hoc tanto numero deductus est nemo. cum illam pecuniam nominatim Flacco datam referant, maiorem aliam cum huic eidem darent in aedem sacram reficiendam se perscripsisse dicunt, quod minime convenit. aut omnia occulte referenda fuerunt, aut aperte omnia. Cum perscribunt Flacco nominatim, nihil timent, nihil verentur; cum operi publico referunt, idem homines subito eundem quem contempserant pertimescunt. praetor dedit, ut est scriptum, a quaestore numeravit, quaestor a mensa publica, mensa aut ex vectigali aut ex tributo. erit istuc simile criminis, nisi hanc mihi totam rationem omni et personarum genere et litterarum explicaris.
45. Or, as it is written in this same decree, that the most illustrious men of the city,—men who had had the highest honours of the state conferred on them,—were circumvented by him while he was praetor, why are they not present in court or why, at all events, are they not named in the decree? For I do not suppose that Heraclides, who is pricking up his head, is the person here intended. For is he one of the most eminent of the citizens, when Hermippus brought him here for trial? a man who did not even receive his present commission to come on this deputation from his fellow-citizens by their voluntary choice, but who went all the way from Tmolus to solicit it? a man on whom no honour was ever conferred in his own city; and the only business which ever has been entrusted to him, is one which is usually entrusted to the most insignificant people. He, in the praetorship of Titus Autidius, was appointed guardian of the public corn. And when he had received money from Publius Varinius the praetor for this purpose, he concealed it from his fellow-citizens, and charged the whole of the expense to them. And after this was made known and revealed at Temnos, by letters which were sent thither by Publius Varinius, and when Cnaeus Lentulus, he who was the censor, the patron of the people of Temnos, had sent letters on the same subject, no one ever afterwards saw that man Heraclides at Temnos.
45. quod est in eodem decreto scriptum, homines clarissimos civitatis amplissimis usos honoribus hoc praetore circumventos, cur hi neque in iudicio adsunt neque in decreto nominantur? enim credo significari isto loco illum qui se erigit Heraclidam. Vtrum enim est in clarissimis civibus is quem iudicatum hic duxit Hermippus, qui hanc ipsam legationem quam habet non accepit a suis civibus, sed usque Tmolo petivit, cui nullus honos in sua civitate habitus est umquam, res autem ea quae tenuissimis committebatur huic una in vita commissa sola est? T. Aufidio praetore in frumento publico est positus; pro quo cum a P. Varinio praetore pecuniam accepisset, celavit suos civis ultroque eis sumptum intulit. postea quam Temni litteris a P. Varinio missis cognitum atque patefactum est, cumque eadem de re Cn. Lentulus, qui censor fuit, Temnitarum patronus, litteras misisset, Heraclidam istum Temni postea nemo vidit.
46. And that you may be thoroughly aware of his impudence, listen, I entreat you, to the cause which excited the animosity of this most worthless man against Flaccus. He bought at Rome a farm in the district of Cyme, from a minor whose name was Meculonius. Having made himself out in words to be a rich man,—though he had in reality nothing beyond the stock of impudence which you see,—he borrowed the money from Sextus Stola, one of our judges now present a man of the highest consideration, who is acquainted with the circumstances, and not unacquainted with the man; but who trusted him on the security of Publius Fulvius Veratius, a most unexceptionable man. And to pay this loan he borrowed money of Caius and Marcus Fufius, Roman knights, men of the highest character. Here, in truth, he caught a weasel asleep, as people say; for he cheated Hermippus, a learned man, his own fellow-citizen, who ought to have known him well enough; for on his security he borrowed money of the Fufii. Hermippus, without feeling any anxiety, goes away to Temnos, as he said that he would pay the Fufii the money which he had borrowed on his security, out of what he received from his pupils.
46. ut eius impudentiam perspicere possitis, causam ipsam quae levissimi hominis animum in Flaccum incitavit, quaeso, cognoscite. Cymaeum Romae mercatus est de pupillo Meculonio. Cum verbis se locupletem faceret, haberet nihil praeter illam impudentiam quam videtis, pecuniam sumpsit mutuam a Sex. Stloga, iudice hoc nostro, primario viro, qui et rem agnoscit neque hominem ignorat; qui tamen credidit P. Fulvi Nerati, lectissimi hominis, fide. cum solveret, sumpsit a C. M. Fufiis, equitibus Romanis, primariis viris. hercule “cornici oculum,” ut dicitur. hunc Hermippum, hominem eruditum, civem suum, cui debebat esse notissimus, percussit. enim fide sumpsit a Fufiis. Hermippus Temnum proficiscitur, cum iste se pecuniam quam huius fide sumpserat a discipulis suis diceret Fufiis persoluturum.
47. For he, as a rhetorician, had some rich men for pupils whom he was going to make as foolish again as they were when they came to him, (for they could acquire nothing from him, except an ignorance of every sort of learning;) but he could not infatuate any one to such an extent as to get him to lend him a single farthing. Therefore, having left Rome secretly, and cheated numbers of people by trifling loans, he came into Asia; and when Hermippus asked him what he had done about the bond given to the Fufii, he said that he paid the entire sum to the Fufii. In the mean time, not long afterwards, a freedman comes to Hermippus with letters from the Fufii. The money is demanded of Hermippus. Hermippus demands it of Heraclides; however, he himself satisfies the claim of the Fufii who are at a distance, and discharges the security which he had given. He then prosecutes Heraclides, in spite of all his fuming and shuffling, in a formal manner: the cause is tried before judges.
47. enim rhetor iste discipulos quosdam locupletis,quos dimidio redderet stultiores quam acceperat; neminem tamen adeo infatuare potuit ut ei nummum ullum crederet. cum Roma clam esset profectus multosque minutis mutuationibus fraudavisset, in Asiam venit Hermippoque percontanti de nomine Fufiano respondit se omnem pecuniam Fufiis persolvisse., neque ita longo intervallo, libertus a Fufiis cum litteris ad Hermippum venit; pecunia petitur ab Hermippo. Hermippus ab Heraclida petit; ipse tamen Fufiis satis facit absentibus et fidem suam liberat; hunc aestuantem et tergiversantem iudicio ille persequitur. A recuperatoribus causa cognoscitur.
48. Do not fancy, O judges, that the impudence of cheats and repudiators is not one and the same in all places. This man did the very same things which debtors here are in the habit of doing. He denied that he had ever borrowed any money at all at Rome. He asserted that he had actually never heard the name of the Fufii; and he attacked Hermippus himself, a most modest and virtuous man, an ancient friend and hereditary connection of my own, the most eminent and accomplished man in his city, with every sort of reproach and abuse. But after this voluble gentleman had delivered himself in that fashion with a prodigious rapidity of eloquence for some time, all of a sudden, when the evidence of the Fufii and the items of their claim were read, though a most audacious man, he got alarmed; through a most talkative one, he became dumb. Therefore, the judges at the first trial gave a decision against him, in a matter which certainly did not admit of much doubt. As he did not comply with their decision, he was given up to Hermippus and put in prison by him.
48. existimare, iudices, non unam et eandem omnibus in locis esse fraudatorum et infitiatorum impudentiam. eadem omnia quae nostri debitores solent; negavit sese omnino versuram ullam fecisse Romae; Fufiorum se adfirmavit numquam omnino nomen audisse; Hermippum vero ipsum, pudentissimum atque optimum virum, veterem amicum atque hospitem meum, splendidissimum atque ornatissimum civitatis suae, probris omnibus maledictisque vexat. cum se homo volubilis quadam praecipiti celeritate dicendi in illa oratione iactaret, repente testimoniis Fufiorum nominibusque recitatis homo audacissimus pertimuit, loquacissimus obmutuit. recuperatores contra istum rem minime dubiam prima actione iudicaverunt. Cum iudicatum non faceret, addictus Hermippo et ab hoc ductus est.
49. Now you know the honesty of the man and the value of his evidence, and the whole reason of his enmity to Flaccus. Having been released by Hermippus after having sold him a few slaves, he came to Rome from thence he returned into Asia, when my brother Quintus had succeeded Flaccus in that government and went to him and related his story in this manner, saying that the judges being compelled and put in fear by the violence of Flaccus had given a false decision against their will. My brother as became his impartiality and prudence, decreed that if he demurred to the previous decision, he was to give security to double the amount; and that if he said that they were compelled by fear at the first trial, he should have the same judges again. He refused this, and as if there had been no trial and no decision, he began on the spot to demand back from Hermippus the slaves which he himself had sold him. Marcus Gratidius, the lieutenant, before whom he went refused to give him leave to proceed with the action, but declared that he should adhere to the decision already given.
49. et honestatem hominis et auctoritatem testimoni et causam omnem simultatis. is ab Hermippo missus, cum ei pauca mancipia vendidisset, Romam se contulit, deinde in Asiam rediit, cum iam frater meus Flacco successisset. quem adiit causamque ita detulit, recuperatores vi Flacci coactos et metu falsum invitos iudicavisse. meus pro sua aequitate prudentiaque decrevit ut, si iudicatum negaret, in duplum iret; si metu coactos diceret, haberet eosdem recuperatores. et, quasi nihil esset actum, nihil iudicatum, ab Hermippo ibidem mancipia quae ipse ei vendiderat petere coepit. M. Gratidius legatus, ad quem est aditum, actionem se daturum negavit; re iudicata stari ostendit placere.