---
title: "For Flaccus · Pro L. Flacco"
author: "Cicero"
translator: "Charles Duke Yonge"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 4 of 4
url: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-pro-flacco/4/
cite: "Cicero, tr. Charles Duke Yonge, For Flaccus · Pro L. Flacco, section 4. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-pro-flacco/4/"
---

# For Flaccus · Pro L. Flacco

*Cicero, tr. Charles Duke Yonge*

A governor of Asia defended against Greek and Jewish witnesses.

> Latin: ed. Albert Curtis Clark, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0474.phi017, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Charles Duke Yonge, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0474.phi017.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

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

## 4. Sections 79–106

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-pro-flacco/4/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/cicero-pro-flacco/4/#p-N

[¶0] 79. What? did the people of Apollonides, when they had an opportunity, report these things to Flaccus? Were they not argued in court before Orbius? Were they not reported to Orbius? Did not the deputies of Apollonia report to our senate in my consulship all the demands which they had to make respecting the injuries which they had received from this one man, Decianus? “Oh, but you gave in an estimate of these farms also at the census.” I say nothing of their being other people's property; I say nothing of their having been got possession of by violence; I say nothing of the conviction by the Apollonidians that ensued; I say nothing of the business having been repudiated by the people of Pergamus; I say nothing of the fact that restitution of the whole was compelled by our magistrates; I say nothing of the fact that neither by law, nor in fact, nor even by the right of occupation, did they belong to you.

> Latin: 79. . litterae Q. Ciceronis.? haec Apollonidenses occasionem nacti ad Flaccum ⟨non⟩ detulerunt, apud acta non sunt, ad delata non sunt? senatum nostrum me consule nonne legati Apollonidenses omnia postulata de iniuriis unius Deciani detulerunt? haec praedia in censum dedicavisti. Mitto quod aliena, mitto quod possessa per vim, mitto quod convicta ab Apollonidensibus, mitto quod a Pergamenis repudiata, mitto etiam quod a nostris magistratibus in integrum restituta, mitto quod nullo iure neque re neque possessione tua;

[¶1] 80. I only ask this; whether those farms can be bought and sold by the civil law; whether they come under the provisions of the civil law, whether or no they are freehold, whether they can be registered at the treasury and before the censor? Lastly, in what tribe did you register those farms? You managed it so, that if any serious emergency had arisen, tribute might have been levied on the same farms both at Apollonides and at Rome. However, be it so; you were in a boastful humour. You wanted a great amount of land to be registered as yours, and of that land too, which cannot be distributed among the Roman people. Besides that, you were registered as possessed of' money in hand, cash to the amount of a hundred and thirty thousand sesterces. I do not suppose that you counted that money; but I pass over all these things. You registered the slaves of Amyntas; and, in that respect you did not wrong; for Amyntas is the owner of those slaves. And at first indeed he was alarmed when he heard that you had registered his slaves. He consulted lawyers. It was decreed by all of them that if Decianus could make other people's property his by registering it as such, he would have very great … You now know the cause of the enmity by which Decianus was excited to communicate to Laelius this grand accusation against Flaccus.

> Latin: 80. illud quaero sintne ista praedia censui censendo, habeant ius civile, sint necne sint mancipi, subsignari apud aerarium aut apud censorem possint. qua tribu denique ista praedia censuisti?, si tempus aliquod gravius accidisset, ut ex isdem praediis et Apollonide et Romae imperatum esset tributum. esto, gloriosus fuisti, voluisti magnum agri modum censeri, et eius agri qui dividi plebi Romanae non potest. es praeterea numeratae pecuniae cxxx. opinor tibi numeratam non esse abs te. haec omitto. es mancipia Amyntae neque huic ullam in eo fecisti iniuriam. enim ea mancipia Amyntas. primo quidem pertimuit, cum te audisset servos suos esse censum; rettulit ad iuris consultos. inter omnis, si aliena censendo Decianus sua facere posset, eum maxima habiturum esse. … … causam inimicitiarum, qua causa inflammatus Decianus ad Laelium detulerit hanc opimam accusationem.

[¶2] 81. For Laelius framed his complaint in this way, when he was speaking of the perfidy of Decianus: “He, who was my original informant; who communicated the facts of the case; whom I have followed, he has been bribed by Flaccus, he has deserted and abandoned me.” Have you, then, been the prime mover in bringing that man into peril of all his; fortunes, whose counselor you had been, with whom you had preserved all the privileges of your rank, a most virtuous man, a man born of a most noble family, a man who had done great services to the republic? Forsooth, I will defend Decianus, who has become suspected by you through no fault of his own.

> Latin: 81. ita questus est Laelius, cum de perfidia Deciani diceret: “qui mihi auctor fuit, qui causam ad me detulit, quem ego sum secutus, is a Flacco corruptus est, is me deseruit ac prodidit.” tu auctor tandem eum cui tu in consilio fuisses, apud quem omnis gradus dignitatis tuae retinuisses, pudentissimum hominem, nobilissima familia natum, optime de re publica meritum in discrimen omnium fortunarum vocavisti? licet, defendam Decianum, qui tibi in suspicionem nullo suo delicto venit.

[¶3] 82. Believe me, he was not bribed; for what was there which could have been got by bribing him? Could he have contrived for the trial to last longer? Why, the law only allows six hours altogether. How much would Decianus rather have taken away from those six hours, if he had wished to serve you. In truth, that is what he himself suspects,—you envied the ingenuity of your junior counsel. Because he discharged the part which he had undertaken with wit, and examined the witnesses cleverly, … But if this be probable, at all events it is not very probable that Decianus was bribed by Flaccus.

> Latin: 82. est, mihi crede, corruptus. enim fuit quod ab eo redimeretur? ut duceret iudicium? sex horas omnino lex dedit, quantum tandem ex his horis detraheret, si tibi morem gerere voluisset? illud est quod ipse suspicatur. ingenio subscriptoris tui; quod ornabat facile locum quem prehenderat, et acute testis interrogabat aut … fortasse fecisset ut tu ex populi sermone excideres, idcirco Decianum usque ad coronam applicavisti., ut hoc haud veri simile est Decianum a Flacco esse corruptum, ita scitote esse cetera, velut quod ait Lucceius, L.

[¶4] 83. And the rest of the case is just as improbable, as is what Lucceius says, that Lucius Flaccus had wished to give him two millions of sesterces to induce him to break his word. And do you accuse that man of avarice who you say was willing to abstain from taking two millions of sesterces? For when he was buying you, what was it that he was buying? Was it your desertion to his side? If you did come over to us, what share in the cause were we to give you? were we to allot to you the part of explaining the designs of Laelius? of saying what witnesses proceeded from his house? What? did not we ourselves see that they were living together? Who is there who does not know that? Is there the slightest doubt that the documents were in Laelius's power? or, was he bribing you not to accuse him with vigour and with eloquence? Now you give cause for suspicion; for you spoke in such a manner that some point or other does seem to have been carried with you.

> Latin: 83. Flaccum sibi dare cupisse, ut a fide se abduceret, sestertium viciens. eum tu accusas avaritiae quem dicis sestertium viciens voluisse perdere? quid emebat, cum te emebat? ut ad se transires? partem causae tibi daremus? ut enuntiares consilia Laeli? qui testes ab eo prodirent?? nos non videbamus? una? hoc nescit? in Laeli potestate fuisse? dubium est? ne vehementer, ne copiose accusares? facis suspicionem; ita enim dixisti ut nescio quid a te impetratum esse videatur.

[¶5] 84. “But a great and intolerable injury was done to Andrus Sextilius.” As, when his wife Valeria had died without a will, Flaccus managed the business in such a way as if the inheritance belonged to himself. And in that I should be glad to know what you find fault with,—is it, that he asserted anything which was false? How do you prove it? “She was,” says he, “a person of good family.” O man, learned in the law! What? cannot inheritances legally come from women of good family? “She was,” says he, “under the power of her husband.” Now I understand you; but was she so by use or by purchase? It could not be by use for legitimate guardianship cannot be annulled except by the consent of all the guardians. By purchase? Then it must have been with the consent of all of them; and certainly you will not say that that of Flaccus was obtained.

> Latin: 84. enim Sextilio gravis iniuria facta est et non ferenda, quod, cum esset eius uxor Valeria intestato mortua, sic egit eam rem Flaccus quasi ad ipsum hereditas pertineret. quo quid reprehendas scire cupio. falsum intenderit? doces? “,” inquit, “fuit.” O peritum iuris hominem!? ab ingenuis mulieribus hereditates lege non veniunt? “manum,” inquit, “convenerat.” audio; sed quaero, usu an coemptione? Vsu non potuit; nihil enim potest de tutela legitima nisi omnium tutorum auctoritate deminui.? ergo auctoribus; in quibus certe Flaccum fuisse non dices.

[¶6] 85. That alternative remains which he did not cease asserting loudly; “that Flaccus ought not, when he was praetor, to have attended to his own private concerns, or to have made any mention of the inheritance.” I hear, O Lucius Lucullus, that very great inheritances came to you, to you who are about to decide as judge on the case of Lucius Flaccus, on account of your exceeding liberality and of the great services which you had done your friends, during the time that you were governing the province of Asia with consular power. If any one had said that those inheritances belonged to him, would you have given them up? You, O Titus Vettius, if any inheritance in Africa comes to you, will you abandon it? or, will you retain it as your own, without being liable to the imputation of avarice, without any sacrifice of your dignity? “But the possession of the inheritance of which we are speaking was demanded in the name of Flaccus, when Globulus was praetor.” Well then, it was not any sudden violence, nor the idea of any favourable opportunity, nor force, nor any peculiarity of time, nor the possession of command and of the forces which induced Flaccus to commit this injury.

> Latin: 85. illud quod vociferari non destitit, non debuisse, cum praetor esset, suum negotium agere aut mentionem facere hereditatis. audio tibi, L. Luculle, qui de L. Flacco sententiam laturus es, pro tua eximia liberalitate maximisque beneficiis in tuos venisse hereditates, cum Asiam provinciam consulari imperio obtineres. quis eas suas esse dixisset, concessisses?, T. Vetti, si quae tibi in Africa venerit hereditas, usu amittes, an tuum nulla avaritia salva dignitate retinebis? istius hereditatis iam praetore Flacci nomine petita possessio est. igitur impressio, non vis, non occasio, non tempus, non imperium, non secures ad iniuriam faciendam Flacci animum impulerunt.

[¶7] 86. And, therefore, it is to this point that Marcus Lurco also, a most excellent man, and a great friend of mine, has especially addressed the sting of his evidence. He said, that it was not becoming for a praetor in his province to claim money from a private individual. Why, I should like to know, O Lurco, is it not becoming? It is not becoming to force or extort money, or to receive money contrary to the laws; but you will never convince me that it is not becoming to claim it, unless you can show that it is not lawful to do so. Is it right to accept of honorary lieutenancies for the sake of exacting what is one's due, as you yourselves have done lately, and as many good men have often done, (and I, indeed, find no fault with such conduct; I see that our allies complain of it;) and, do you think a praetor, if he, being in his province, does not abandon an inheritance which comes to him, is not only to be blamed but even to be condemned? “But Valeria,” says he, “had given up all her money as dower to her husband.” None of those assertions can be admitted, unless you prove that she was not under the guardianship of Flaccus. If she was, whatever money on her marriage was assigned to her husband without his consent, the assignment is null.

> Latin: 86. eodem etiam M. Lurco, vir optimus, meus familiaris, convertit aculeum testimoni sui; negavit a privato pecuniam in provincia praetorem petere oportere. tandem, M. Lurco, non oportet?, accipere contra leges non oportet, petere non oportere numquam ostendes, nisi docueris non licere. legationes sumere liberas exigendi causa, sicut et tu ipse nuper et multi viri boni saepe fecerunt, rectum est, quod ego non reprehendo, socios video queri; praetorem, si hereditatem in provincia non reliquerit, non solum reprehendendum verum etiam condemnandum putas? “,” inquit, “Valeria pecuniam omnem suam dixerat.” istorum explicari potest, nisi ostenderis illam in tutela Flacci non fuisse. fuit, quaecumque sine hoc auctore est dicta dos, nulla est.

[¶8] 87. But still you saw that Lurco was angry with Flaccus, although out of regard to his own dignity he was guided by some moderation in giving his evidence. For he did not conceal, or think it at all necessary to be silent about the cause of his anger. He complained that his freedman had been condemned by Flaccus when he was praetor. O how miserable is the condition of those who have the government of provinces! in which diligence is sure to bring enmity; carelessness is sure to incur reproach; severity is dangerous; liberality meets only with ingratitude. The conversation addressed to one is insidious; the flattery with which one is courted is mischievous; the countenance which every one wears towards you is friendly; the disposition of numbers is hostile; dislikes are secret; caresses are open; they wait with eagerness for the coming praetors, they fawn on those who are present, they abandon and betray those who are departing. But let us give over complaining, lest we should seem to be extolling our own wisdom in declining all provinces.

> Latin: 87. tamen Lurconem, quamquam pro sua dignitate moderatus est in testimonio dicendo orationi suae, tamen iratum Flacco esse vidistis. enim occultavit causam iracundiae suae neque reticendam putavit; questus est libertum suum Flacco praetore esse damnatum. O condiciones miseras administrandarum provinciarum, in quibus diligentia plena simultatum est, neglegentia vituperationum, ubi severitas periculosa est, liberalitas ingrata, sermo insidiosus, adsentatio perniciosa, frons omnium familiaris, multorum animus iratus, iracundiae occultae, blanditiae apertae, venientis praetores exspectant, praesentibus inserviunt, abeuntis deserunt! omittamus querelas, ne nostrum consilium in praetermittendis provinciis laudare videamur.

[¶9] 88. He sent letters about the steward of Publius Septimius, a man of great accomplishments, which steward had committed murder. You might have seen Septimius burning with anger. He allowed (in accordance with his edict) an action against a freedman of Lurco to proceed. Lurco is his enemy. What then? Was Asia to be abandoned to the freedmen of influential and powerful men? or has Flaccus any personal hostility of any sort with your freedmen? or do you hate his severity when displayed in your own causes, and in those of your freedmen, though you praise impartiality when it is we who are on our trial? But that man Andro, who was stripped of all his property, as you say, has not come forward to give his evidence. What if he had? Suppose he had come.

> Latin: 88. Litteras misit de vilico P. Septimi, hominis ornati, qui vilicus caedem fecerat; Septimium ardentem iracundia videre potuistis. Lurconis libertum iudicium ex edicto dedit; hostis est Lurco. igitur? hominum gratiosorum splendidorumque libertis fuit Asia tradenda? an simultates nescio quas cum libertis vestris Flaccus exercet? an vobis in vestris vestrorumque causis severitas odio est, eandem laudatis, cum de nobis iudicatis? iste Andro spoliatus bonis, ut dicitis, ad dicendum testimonium non venit. si veniat?

[¶10] 89. Caius Caecilius was the arbitrator of the settlement come to in that case. How noble, how upright, how conscientious a man! Caius Sextilius was a witness to it, the son of Lurco's sister—a modest, and consistent, and sensible man. If there was any violence employed in the business, any fraud, any fear, any trickery, still who compelled any arrangement to be made at all? who compelled the parties to have recourse to an arbitrator? What will you say, if all that money was restored to this young man by Lucius Flaccus? if it was claimed by him? if it was collected for him? and if this was done through the agency of this Antiochus who is here in court the freedman of this youth's father, and a man most highly esteemed by the elder Flaccus? Do we not then seem not only to escape from the charge of covetousness, but even to deserve the credit of very extraordinary liberality? For he gave up to the young man his relation the whole of their joint inheritance, which by law ought to have belonged to both of them in equal shares; and he himself touched none of Valeria's property. What he had resolved to do, being influenced by the young man's amiable character, and not by the great amount of his patrimony, that he not only did, but did most liberally and courteously. From which it ought to be understood that he had not taken the money in violation of the laws, when he was so very liberal in abandoning the inheritance.

> Latin: 89. arbiter C. Caecilius fuit, quo splendore vir, qua fide, qua religione! obsignator C. Sextilius, Lurconis sororis filius, homo et pudens et constans et gravis. vis erat, si fraus, si metus, si circumscriptio, quis pactionem fieri, quis adesse istos coegit?? si ista omnis pecunia huic adulescentulo L. Flacco reddita est, si petita, si redacta per hunc Antiochum, paternum huius adulescentis libertum seni illi Flacco probatissimum, videmurne non solum avaritiae crimen effugere sed etiam liberalitatis laudem adsequi singularem? enim hereditatem, quae aequaliter ad utrumque lege venisset, concessit adulescenti propinquo suo, nihil ipse attigit de Valerianis bonis. statuerat facere adductus huius pudore et non amplissimis patrimoni copiis, id non solum fecit sed etiam prolixe cumulateque fecit. quo intellegi debet eum contra leges pecunias non cepisse qui tam fuerit in hereditate concedenda liberalis.

[¶11] 90. But the charge respecting Falcidius is a serious one. He says that he gave fifty talents to Flaccus. Let us hear the man himself. He is not here. How then does he say it? His mother produces one letter, and his sister produces a second; and they say that he had written to them to say that he had given this large sum to Flaccus. Therefore he, whom, if he were to swear while holding by the altar, no one would believe, is to be allowed to prove whatever he pleases by a letter without being put on his oath at all! And what a man he is! how unfriendly to his fellow-citizens; a man who preferred squandering a sufficiently ample patrimony, which he might have spent among us here, in Grecian banquets!

> Latin: 90. Falcidianum crimen est ingens; talenta quinquaginta se Flacco dicit dedisse. hominem. adest. modo igitur dicit? mater eius profert et alteram soror; scriptum ad se dicunt esse ab illo tantam pecuniam Flacco datam. is cui, si aram tenens iuraret, crederet nemo, per epistulam quod volet iniuratus probabit? qui vir! quam non amicus suis civibus! qui patrimonium satis lautum, quod hic nobiscum conficere potuit, Graecorum conviviis maluit dissipare.

[¶12] 91. What was his object in leaving this city? in depriving himself of the glorious liberty existing here? in undergoing all the danger of a voyage? just as if he might not have devoured his property here at Rome. Now at last this jolly son writes to his mother, an old woman not very likely to suspect him, and clears himself by a letter, in order to appear not to have spent all that money with which he had crossed the sea, but to have given it to Flaccus. But those crops of the Trallians had been sold when Globulus was praetor. Falcidius had bought them for nine hundred thousand sesterces. If he gives so much money to Flaccus, he assuredly gives it to secure the ratification of that purchase. He then buys something which certainly was worth a great deal more than he gave for it; he pays for it out of his profit; he never touches his capital. Therefore he makes the less profit.

> Latin: 91. attinuit relinquere hanc urbem, libertate tam praeclara carere, adire periculum navigandi? quasi bona comesse Romae non liceret. denique materculae suae festivus filius, aniculae minime suspiciosae, purgat se per epistulam, ut eam pecuniam quacum traiecerat non consumpsisse, sed Flacco dedisse videatur. fructus isti Trallianorum praetore venierant; Falcidius emerat HS nongentis milibus. dat tantam pecuniam Flacco, nempe idcirco dat ut rata sit emptio. igitur aliquid quod certe multo pluris esset; dat de lucro, nihil detrahit de vivo.

[¶13] 92. Why does he order his Alban farm to be sold? Why, besides, does he caress his mother in this way? Why does he try to overreach the imbecility of his sister and mother by letters? Lastly, why do we not hear the man's own statement? He is detained, I suppose, in the province. His mother says he is not. “He would have come,” says the prosecutor, “if he had been summoned.” You certainly would have compelled him to come, if you had thought your statement would receive any real confirmation from his appearing as a witness. But you were unwilling to take the man away from his business. There was an arduous contest before him; a very severe battle with the Greeks; who, however, as I think, are defeated and overthrown. For he by himself beat all Asia in the size of his cups, and in his power of drinking. But still, who was it, O Laelius, who gave you information about those letters? The women say that they do not know. Who is it then? Did the man himself tell you that he had written to his sister and mother?

> Latin: 92. Albanum venire iubet,cur matri praeterea blanditur, cur epistulis et sororis et matris imbecillitatem aucupatur, postremo cur non audimus ipsum?, credo, in provincia. negat. “,” inquit, “si esset denuntiatum.” certe coegisses, si ullum firmamentum in illo teste posuisses; sed hominem a negotio abducere noluisti. Magnum erat ei certamen propositum, magna cum Graecis contentio; qui tamen, ut opinor, iacent victi. iste unus totam Asiam magnitudine poculorum bibendoque superavit. tamen quis tibi, Laeli, de epistulis istis indicavit? negant se scire qui sit. igitur ille tibi se ad matrem et sororem scripsisse narravit?

[¶14] 93. or did he write at your entreaty? But do you put no questions to Marcus Aebutius, a most sensible and virtuous man, a relation of Falcidius? Do you decline to examine Caius Manilius his son-in-law, a man of equal integrity? men who certainly must have heard something of so large a sum of money, if it had been given. Did you, O Decianus, think that you were going to prove so heavy a charge, by reading these letters, and bringing forward these women, while the author whom you were quoting was kept at a distance? Especially when you yourself, by not producing Falcidius, declared your own opinion that a forged letter would have more weight than the feigned voice and simulated indignation of the man himself if present.

> Latin: 93. etiam scripsit oratu tuo? vero M. Aebutium, constantissimum et pudentissimum hominem, Falcidi adfinem, nihil interrogas, nihil eius generum pari fide praeditum, C. Manilium? qui profecto de tanta pecunia, si esset data, nihil audisse non possent. tu igitur epistulis, Deciane, recitatis, his mulierculis productis, illo absente auctore laudato tantum te crimen probaturum putasti, praesertim cum ipse non deducendo Falcidium iudicium feceris plus falsam epistulam habituram ponderis quam ipsius praesentis fictam vocem et simulatum dolorem?

[¶15] 94. But why keep on so long discussing and expostulating about the letters of Falcidius, or about Andron Sextilius, or about the income of Decianus, and say nothing about the safety of fortunes of the state, and the general interests of the republic? the whole of which are at stake in this trial, and are resting on your shoulders,—on yours, I say, you who are our judges. You see in what critical times, in what uncertain and variable circumstances, we are all at present placed. There are certain men who are planning many other things, and who are labouring most especially to cause your inclinations, your formal decisions and sentences to appear in a most unfavourable and odious light to all the most respectable citizen. You have given many important decisions in a manner suited to the dignity of the republic and particularly you have given many respecting the guilt of the conspirators. They do not think that the republic has been turned upside down enough unless they can overwhelm citizens who have deserved well of the republic with the same punishment as that with which this impious man Caius Antonius has been crushed.

> Latin: 94. quid ego de epistulis Falcidi aut de Androne Sextilio aut de Deciani censu tam diu disputo, de salute omnium nostrum, de fortunis civitatis, de summa re publica taceo? quam vos universam in hoc iudicio vestris, ⟨vestris⟩ inquam, umeris, iudices, sustinetis. quo in motu temporum, quanta in conversione rerum ac perturbatione versemur. Cum alia multa certi homines, tum hoc vel maxime moliuntur ut vestrae quoque mentes, vestra iudicia, vestrae sententiae optimo cuique infestissimae atque inimicissimae reperiantur. iudicia pro rei publicae dignitate multa de coniuratorum scelere fecistis. putant satis conversam rem publicam, nisi in eandem impiorum poenam optime meritos civis detruserint.

[¶16] 95. Be it so. He had some particular misdeeds of his own to bear up against. And yet even he (I say this on my own responsibility) would never have been condemned if you had been his judges, he, a man by whose condemnation the tomb of Catiline was decked with flowers and the sepulchres of all those most audacious men and domestic enemies were honoured with assemblies and banquets, and by which the shade of Catiline was appeased. Now an expiation for the death of Lentulus is sought to be obtained at Flaccus's expense, and by your instrumentality. What victim can you offer more acceptable to the manes of Publius Lentulus,—who intended, after you had been all murdered amid the embraces of your children and your wives, to bury you beneath the burning ruins of your country,—than you will offer, if you satiate his impious hatred towards all of us in the blood of Lucius Flaccus?

> Latin: 95. est C. Antonius.; habuit quandam ille infamiam suam; neque tamen ille ipse, pro meo iure dico, vobis iudicibus damnatus esset, cuius damnatione sepulcrum L. Catilinae floribus ornatum hominum audacissimorum ac domesticorum hostium conventu epulisque celebratum est. Catilinae facta sunt; nunc a Flacco Lentuli poenae per vos expetuntur. potestis P. Lentulo, qui vos in complexu liberorum coniugumque vestrarum trucidatos incendio patriae sepelire conatus est, mactare victimam gratiorem quam si L. Flacci sanguine illius nefarium in vos omnis odium saturaveritis?

[¶17] 96. Let us then offer a sacrifice to Lentulus, let us make atonement to Cethegus, let us recall the exiles, let us in our turn, if you, O judges, think fit, suffer the punishment due to too great piety, and to the greatest possible affection towards our country. At this moment we are being mentioned by name by the informers; accusations are being invented against us; dangers are being prepared for us. And if they did these things by the instrumentality of others,—if, in short, by using the name of the people, they had excited a mob of ignorant citizens, we could bear it with more equanimity. But this can never be borne, that they should think that, by means of senators and knights of Rome, who have done all these things with a view to the safety of all the citizens, by their common decision, animated with one idea, and inspired with one and the same virtue, the prime movers, and leaders, and chief actors in these transactions, can be deprived of all their fortunes, and be expelled from the city. In truth, they are acquainted with the feelings and inclinations of the Roman people; by every means which it is master of, the Roman people indicates what are its opinions and feelings; there is no diversity of opinion, or of inclination, or of language.

> Latin: 96. igitur Lentulo,parentemus Cethego, revocemus eiectos; nimiae pietatis et summi amoris in patriam vicissim nos poenas, si ita placet, sufferamus. iam ab indicibus nominamur, in nos crimina finguntur, nobis pericula comparantur. si per alios agerent, si denique per populi nomen civium imperitorum multitudinem concitassent, aequiore animo ferre possemus; illud vero ferri non potest, quod per senatores et per equites Romanos, qui haec omnia pro salute omnium communi consilio, una mente atque virtute gesserunt, harum rerum auctores, duces, principes spoliari omnibus fortunis atque civitate expelli posse arbitrantur. populi Romani perspiciunt eandem mentem et voluntatem; omnibus rebus quibus potest populus Romanus significat quid sentiat; nulla varietas est inter homines opinionis, nulla voluntatis, nulla sermonis.

[¶18] 97. Wherefore, if any one summons me, I come. I not only do not object to the Roman people as arbitrators in my cause, but I even demand them. Let there be no violence; let weapons and stones be kept at a distance let the artisans depart; let the slaves be silent. No one who hears me will be so unjust, if he be only a free man and a citizen, as not to think that he ought rather to think of rewards for me than of punishment. O ye immortal got! what can be more miserable than this? We who wrested fire and sword out of the hands of Publius Lentulus, are trusting now to the judgment of an ignorant multitude, and are in dread of the sentence of chosen men and most honourable citizens.

> Latin: 97. re, si quis illuc me vocat, venio;populum Romanum disceptatorem non modo non recuso sed etiam deposco. absit, ferrum ac lapides removeantur, operae facessant, servitia sileant; nemo erit tam iniustus qui me audierit, sit modo liber et civis, quin potius de praemiis meis quam de poena cogitandum putet. O di immortales! quid hoc miserius? qui P. Lentulo ferrum et flammam de manibus extorsimus, imperitae multitudinis iudicio confidimus, lectissimorum civium et amplissimorum sententias pertimescimus!

[¶19] 98. Our fathers by their decision delivered Marcus Aquillius, who had been convicted of many charges of avarice, proved by abundant evidence, because he had behaved gallantly in the Servile war. I, when consul, lately defended Cnaeus Piso; who, because he had been a gallant and fearless consul, was preserved to the republic uninjured. I, when consul, defended also Lucius Murena, the consul elect. Not one of the judges in that case—though they were most eminent men who were the prosecutors—thought that they ought to entertain for one moment the accusation of bribery, because, while Catiline was still waging war against the republic, they agreed with me that it was necessary for them to have two consuls on the first of January. Aulus Thermius, an innocent and virtuous man, and one adorned with every sort of distinction, has been twice acquitted this year, when I have defended him. How great was the joy, how great were the congratulations of the Roman people at that event, for the sake of the republic! Wise and grave judges have always, when deciding in criminal trials, considered what the interests of the state, and the general safety, and the present necessities of the republic required.

> Latin: 98. M'. Aquilium patres nostri multis avaritiae criminibus testimoniisque convictum, quia cum fugitivis fortiter bellum gesserat, iudicio liberaverunt. ego nuper defendi C. Pisonem; qui, quia consul fortis constansque fuerat, incolumis est rei publicae conservatus. item consul L. Murenam, consulem designatum. illorum iudicum clarissimis viris accusantibus audiendum sibi de ambitu putavit, cum bellum iam gerente Catilina omnes me auctore duos consules Kalendis Ianuariis scirent esse oportere. et bonus vir et omnibus rebus ornatus bis hoc anno me defendente absolutus est, A. Thermus. rei publicae causa laetitia populi Romani, quanta gratulatio consecuta est! graves et sapientes iudices in rebus iudicandis quid utilitas civitatis, quid communis salus, quid rei publicae tempora poscerent, cogitaverunt.

[¶20] 99. When the voting tablets are given to you, O judges, it will not be Flaccus alone who will be interested in their verdict; the generals and all those who are leaders in the preservation of the city will all be interested; all good men will be interested; you yourselves will be interested; your children, your own lives, your country, the general safety, will all be interested in your vote. In this cause you are not determining about foreign nations, or about the allies; you are deciding on the welfare of your own selves and your own republic.

> Latin: 99. Cum tabella vobis dabitur, iudices, non de Flacco dabitur solum, dabitur de ducibus auctoribusque conservandae civitatis, dabitur de omnibus bonis civibus, dabitur de vobismet ipsis, dabitur de liberis vestris, de vita, de patria, de salute communi. iudicatis in hac causa de exteris nationibus, non de sociis; de vobis atque de vestra re publica iudicatis.

[¶21] 100. And if the consideration of the provinces has more weight with you than that of your own interests, I not only do not object, but I even demand that you should be influenced by the authority of the provinces. In truth, we will oppose to the province of Asia first of all a great part of the same province, which has sent deputies and panegyrists to stand up and defend this man from danger; in the next place we will set against it the province of Gaul, the province of Cilicia, the province of Spain, and the province of Crete; and against Greeks, whether they be Lydians, Mysians, or Phrygians, shall be set the men of Massilia, the Rhodians, the Lacedaemonians, the Athenians, and all Achaia, Thessaly, and Boeotia. Septimius and Caelius, the witnesses for them, shall be balanced by Publius Servilius and Quintus Metellus, as witnesses of this man's moderation and integrity. The Asiatic jurisdiction shall be replied to by the jurisdiction of the city; and the whole conduct and entire life of Lucius Flaccus shall defend him from accusations brought against him, all relying on the transactions of a single year.

> Latin: 100. si provinciarum vos ratio magis movet quam vestra, ego vero non modo non recuso sed etiam postulo ut provinciarum auctoritate moveamini. opponemus Asiae provinciae primum magnam partem eiusdem provinciae quae pro huius periculis legatos laudatoresque misit, deinde provinciam Galliam, provinciam Ciliciam, ⟨provinciam⟩ Hispaniam, provinciam Cretam; Graecis autem Lydis et Phrygibus et Mysis obsistent Massilienses, Rhodii, Lacedaemonii, Athenienses, cuncta Achaia, Thessalia, Boeotia; Septimio et Caelio testibus P. Servilius et Q. Metellus huius pudoris integritatisque testes repugnabunt; Asiaticae iuris dictioni urbana iuris dictio respondebit; annui temporis criminationem omnis aetas L. Flacci et perpetua vita defendet.

[¶22] 101. And if, O judges, it ought to avail Lucius Flaccus that, as tribune of the soldiers, as quaestor, as lieutenant to the most illustrious generals, he has behaved among the most distinguished armies, and in the most important provinces, in a manner worthy of his ancestors; let it also avail him, that before your own eyes, at a time of general danger to you all, he united his fate to mine, and shared my danger; let the panegyrics of most honourable municipalities and colonies avail him; let the most glorious and genuine praise of the Roman senate and Roman people avail him.

> Latin: 101. , si prodesse L. Flacco, iudices, debet, quod se tribunum militum, quod quaestorem, quod legatum imperatoribus clarissimis, exercitibus ornatissimis, provinciis gravissimis dignum suis maioribus praestitit, prosit quod hic vobis videntibus in periculis communibus omnium nostrum sua pericula cum meis coniunxit, prosint honestissimorum municipiorum coloniarumque laudationes, prosit etiam senatus populique Romani praeclara et vera laudatio.

[¶23] 102. Oh that night, that night which nearly brought eternal darkness on this city, when the Gauls were invited to war, when Catiline was invited into the city, when the conspirators were invited to bring fire and sword upon us all; when I, O Flaccus, invoking heaven and night, was with tears entreating your aid, and you in tears were listening to me; when I commended to your honest and well-proved loyalty the safety of the city and of the citizens. You, O Flaccus, being at that time praetor, took the messengers of the general destruction; it was you who arrested that plague of the republic which was contained in letters; you brought the proofs of our danger, you brought the aid that was to secure our safety to me and to the senate. What thanks were then given you by me! how did the senate, how did all good men thank you! Who would then have thought that any good man would ever refuse to Caius Pomptinus, that bravest of men, or to you, I will not say safety, but any imaginable honour? Oh those nones of December; what a time was that when I was consul! a day that I may fairly call the birthday of this city, or at all events its day of salvation.

> Latin: 102. O nox illa quae paene aeternas huic urbi tenebras attulisti, cum Galli ad bellum, Catilina ad urbem, coniurati ad ferrum et flammam vocabantur, cum ego te, Flacce, caelum noctemque contestans flens flentem obtestabar, cum tuae fidei optimae et spectatissimae salutem urbis et civium commendabam! tum, Flacce, praetor communis exiti nuntios cepisti, tu inclusam in litteris rei publicae pestem deprehendisti, tu periculorum indicia, tu salutis auxilia ad me et ad senatum attulisti. tibi tum gratiae sunt a me actae, quae ab senatu, quae a bonis omnibus! tibi, quis C. Pomptino, fortissimo viro, quemquam bonum putaret umquam non salutem verum honorem ullum denegaturum? O Nonae illae Decembres quae me consule fuistis! quem ego diem vere natalem huius urbis aut certe salutarem appellare possum.

[¶24] 103. Oh that night which that day followed! happy was it for this city; but, wretched man that I am, I fear it may still prove disastrous to me myself. What spirit was then shown by Lucius Flaccus! (for I will say nothing about myself,) what devotion to his country, what virtue, what firmness! But why do I speak of those things which then, at the time that they happened, were extolled to the skies by the cordial agreement of all men, by the unanimous voice of the Roman people, by the testimony in their favour of the whole world? Now I fear, not only that they may be no advantage to my client, but that they may even be some injury to him. Indeed, I sometimes fancy that the memory of bad men is much more lively than that of good men. It is I, if any disaster happens to you, O Flaccus, it is I who shall have betrayed you; it is that pledge of mine which will be in fault, that promise of mine, that undertaking of mine, when I promised, that if we by our joint efforts could preserve the republic, you, as long as you lived, should not only be defended, but also honoured by the espousal of your cause by all virtuous men. I did think, O judges, I did hope that, even if our honour appeared to you a consideration of no importance at all events you would take care of our safety.

> Latin: 103. O nox illa quam iste est dies consecutus, fausta huic urbi, miserum me, metuo ne funesta nobis! tum animus L. Flacci—nihil dicam enim de me—qui amor in patriam, quae virtus, quae gravitas exstitit! quid ea commemoro quae tum cum agebantur uno consensu omnium, una voce populi Romani, uno orbis terrae testimonio in caelum laudibus efferebantur, nunc vereor ne non modo non prosint verum etiam aliquid obsint? multo acriorem improborum interdum memoriam esse sentio quam bonorum. te, si quid gravius acciderit, ego te, inquam, Flacce, prodidero. ⟨O⟩ mea dextera illa, mea fides, mea promissa, cum te, si rem publicam conservaremus, omnium bonorum praesidio quoad viveres non modo munitum sed etiam ornatum fore pollicebar., speravi, etiam si honos noster vobis vilior fuisset, salutem certe caram futuram.

[¶25] 104. But if, O judges, this terrible injury should overwhelm Lucius Flaccus (may the immortal gods avert the omen!) still he will never repent of having provided for your safety, of having consulted the interests of you, and of your wives, and of your children, and your entire welfare. It will always be his feeling that he owed such sentiments to the nobleness of his race, and to his religion, and to his country; you, O judges, take care that you have no cause to repent of not having spared such a citizen. For how few are they who adopt these principles in the republic; who desire only to please you and men like you; who think the authority of every virtuous and honourable man and body of men of the greatest weight, seeing that that path is both the one which leads most easily to honours and everything which they desire. But let everything else belong to our adversaries: let them keep to themselves power, and honours, and all the best opportunities of attaining all other advantages let it be allowed to those men who have striven to preserve all these things, to be at least safe themselves.

> Latin: 104. L. Flaccum quidem, iudices, si, quod di immortales omen avertant, gravis iniuria adflixerit, numquam tamen prospexisse vestrae saluti, consuluisse vobis, liberis, coniugibus, fortunis vestris paenitebit; semper ita sentiet, talem se animum et generis dignitati et pietati suae et patriae debuisse; vos ne paeniteat tali civi non pepercisse, per deos immortalis, iudices, providete. enim quisque est qui hanc in re publica sectam sequatur, qui vobis, qui vestri similibus placere cupiat, qui optimi atque amplissimi cuiusque hominis atque ordinis auctoritatem magni putet, ⟨cum⟩ illam viam sibi videant expeditiorem ad honores et ad omnia quae concupiverunt? cetera sint eorum; sibi habeant potentiam, sibi honores, sibi ceterorum commodorum summas facultates; liceat eis qui haec salva esse voluerunt ipsis esse salvis.

[¶26] 105. Do not think, O judges, that they, who are now starting fresh who have not as yet arrived at honours, are not looking anxiously for the result of this trial. If the exceeding affection of Lucius Flaccus for all good men, and his great devotion to the republic turns out an injury to him, who do you expect will in future be so insane, as not to think that path of life which he has hitherto been accustomed to consider slippery and dangerous preferable to this level and steady one? But if you, O judges, are tired of such citizens declare it; those who can will change their opinions, those who have their path still to choose will soon make up their minds what to do we who have advanced as far as we have must bear this result of our rashness. If you wish as many as possible to be of this opinion, you will declare by this decision what your sentiments are.

> Latin: 105. , iudices, existimare eos quibus integrum est, qui nondum ad honores accesserunt, non exspectare huius exitum iudici. L. Flacco tantus amor in bonos omnis, tantum in rem publicam studium calamitati fuerit, quem posthac tam amentem fore putatis qui non illam viam vitae quam ante praecipitem et lubricam esse ducebat huic planae et stabili praeponendam esse arbitretur? si talium civium vos, iudices, taedet, ostendite; mutabunt sententiam qui potuerint; constituent quid agant quibus integrum est; nos qui iam progressi sumus hunc exitum nostrae temeritatis feremus. hoc animo quam plurimos esse voltis, declarabitis hoc iudicio quid sentiatis.

[¶27] 106. By your decision in this case, O judges, you will give this unhappy suppliant to you and to your children—precepts by which to regulate his life. If you preserve his father to him, you will prescribe to him what sort of citizen he himself ought to be. If you take his father from him, you will show that there is no reward held out by you to virtuous and wise and consistent conduct. And he now, (since he is of that age that he is able to feel for his father's agony, but not yet to be any assistance to his father in his dangers,) he, I say, entreats you not to add his father's tears to his sorrow, or his weeping to his father's misery. He fixes his eyes on me also, he implores me by his looks, he, as I may say, appeals to my good faith, and claims of me that honour for his father which I once promised him in return for the safety of his country. Pity his family, O judges; pity that most gallant father; pity the son: preserve to the republic that most noble and glorious name, either for the sake of the blood, or of the antiquity of the family, or else for the sake of the individual.

> Latin: 106. , huic misero puero vestro ac liberorum vestrorum supplici, iudices, hoc iudicio vivendi praecepta dabitis. si patrem conservatis, qualis ipse debeat esse civis praescribetis; si eripitis, ostendetis bonae rationi et constanti et gravi nullum a vobis fructum esse propositum. vos, quoniam est id aetatis ut sensum iam percipere possit ex maerore patrio, auxilium nondum patri ferre possit, orat ne suum luctum patris lacrimis, patris maerorem suo fletu augeatis; qui etiam me intuetur, me voltu appellat, meam quodam modo flens fidem implorat ac repetit eam quam ego patri suo quondam pro salute patriae spoponderim dignitatem. familiae, iudices, miseremini fortissimi patris, miseremini fili; nomen clarissimum et fortissimum vel generis vel vetustatis vel hominis causa rei publicae reservate.
Fragmenta 1. quam benivolum hunc populo Romano, quam fidelem putatis? 2.ingenita levitas et erudita vanitas.