72. Nor, O judges, am I at all moved by the accusation respecting Clodius. Nor am I so insane, and so ignorant of, and inexperienced in, your feelings, as not to be aware what your opinions are about the death of Clodius, concerning which, if I were unwilling to do away with the accusation in the manner in which I have done away with it, still I assert that it would have been lawful for Milo to proclaim openly, with a false but glorious boast. “I have slain, I have slain, not Spurius Maelius, who fell under the suspicion of aiming at kingly power by lowering the price of corn, and by squandering his own family estate, because by that conduct he was thought to be paying too much court to the common people; not Tiberius Gracchus, who, out of a seditious spirit abrogated the magistracy of his own colleague; whose slayers have filled the whole world with the renown of their name; but him” (for he would venture to name him when he had delivered his country at his own risk) “who was detected in the most infamous adultery in the most sacred shrine, by most noble women;
72. vero me, iudices, Clodianum crimen movet, nec tam sum demens tamque vestri sensus ignarus atque expers ut nesciam quid de morte Clodi sentiatis. qua si iam nollem ita diluere crimen ut dilui, tamen impune Miloni palam clamare ac mentiri gloriose liceret: “, occidi, non Sp. Maelium qui annona levanda iacturisque rei familiaris, quia nimis amplecti plebem videbatur, in suspicionem incidit regni appetendi, non Ti. Gracchum qui conlegae magistratum per seditionem abrogavit, quorum interfectores implerunt orbem terrarum nominis sui gloria, sed eum— auderet enim dicere, cum patriam periculo suo liberasset— cuius nefandum adulterium in pulvinaribus sanctissimis nobilissimae feminae comprehenderunt;”
73. him, by the execution of whom the senate has repeatedly resolved that solemn religious observances required to be propitiated; him whom Lucius Lucullus, when he was examined on the point, declared on his oath that he had detected in committing unhallowed incest with his own sister; him, who by means of armed bands of slaves drove from his country that citizen whom the senate, whom the Roman people, whom all nations had declared to be the saviour of the city and of the lives of all the citizens; him, who gave kingdoms, took them away, and distributed the whole world to whomsoever he pleased; him who, after having committed numberless murders in the forum, drove a citizen of the most extraordinary virtue and glory to his own house by violence and by arms; him, to whom nothing was ever too impious to be done, whether it was a deed of atrocity or of lust; him, who burnt the temple of the nymphs, in order to extinguish the public record of the census which was committed to the public registers;
73. “eum cuius supplicio senatus sollemnis religiones expiandas saepe censuit; eum quem cum sorore germana nefarium stuprum fecisse L. Lucullus iuratus se quaestionibus habitis dixit comperisse; eum qui civem quem senatus, quem populus Romanus, quem omnes gentes urbis ac vitae civium conservatorem iudicarant servorum armis exterminavit; eum qui regna dedit, ademit, orbem terrarum quibuscum voluit partitus est; eum qui plurimis caedibus in foro factis singulari virtute et gloria civem domum vi et armis compulit; eum cui nihil umquam nefas fuit nec in facinore nec in libidine; eum qui aedem incendit ut memoriam publicam recensionis tabulis publicis impressam exstingueret;”
74. lastly, him who acknowledged no law, no civil rights, no boundaries to any man's possessions,—who sought to obtain other people's estates, not by actions at law and false accusations, not by unjust claims and false oaths, but by camps, by an army, by regular standards and all the pomp of war,—who, by means of arms and soldiers, endeavoured to drive from their possessions, not only the Etrurians, for he thoroughly despised them, but even this Publius Varius, that most gallant man and most virtuous citizen, one of our judges,—who went into many other people's villas and grounds with architects and surveyors, who limited his hopes of acquiring possessions by Janiculum and the Alps; him who, when he was unable to prevail on an estimable and gallant Roman knight, Marcus Paconius, to sell him his villa on the Prelian Lake, suddenly conveyed timber, and lime, and mortar, and tools in boats to the island, and while the owner of the island was looking at him from the opposite bank, did not hesitate to build a house on another man's land; who said to Titus Furfanius—O ye immortal gods, what a man!
74. “eum denique cui iam nulla lex erat, nullum civile ius, nulli possessionum termini, qui non calumnia litium, non iniustis vindiciis ac sacramentis alienos fundos, sed castris, exercitu, signis inferendis petebat; qui non solum Etruscos—eos enim penitus contempserat—sed hunc P. Varium, fortissimum atque optimum civem, iudicem nostrum, pellere possessionibus armis castrisque conatus est, qui cum architectis et decempedis villas multorum hortosque peragrabat, qui Ianiculo et Alpibus spem possessionum terminarat suarum, qui cum ab equite Romano splendido et forti, M. Paconio, non impetrasset, ut sibi insulam in lacu Prilio venderet, repente lintribus in eam insulam materiem, calcem, caementa, harenam convexit dominoque trans ripam inspectante non dubitavit aedificium exstruere in alieno; qui huic T. Furfanio, cui viro, di immortales!—” “quid enim ego de muliercula Scantia, quid de adulescente P.
75. (for why should I mention that insignificant woman, Scantia, or that youth Aponius, both of whom he threatened with death if they did not abandon to him the possession of their villas?) but he dared to say to Furfanius, that if he did not give him as much money as he demanded, he would carry a dead body into his house, and so raise a storm of unpopularity against him; who turned his brother Appius, a man connected with me by the most faithful friendship, while he was absent out of the possession of his farm; who determined to run a wall across the vestibule of his sister's house in such a manner, and to draw the line of foundation in such a direction, as not only to deprive his sister of her vestibule, but of all access to her house, and of her own threshold.”
75. Aponio dicam? quorum utrique mortem est minatus, nisi sibi hortorum possessione cessissent —; sed ausum esse T. Furfanio dicere, si sibi pecuniam quantam posceret non dedisset, mortuum se in domum eius inlaturum, qua invidia huic esset tali viro conflagrandum; qui Appium fratrem, hominem mihi coniunctum fidissima gratia, absentem de possessione fundi deiecit; qui parietem sic per vestibulum sororis instituit ducere, sic agere fundamenta ut sororem non modo vestibulo privaret sed omni aditu et limine.”
76. Although all these things appeared such as might be endured,—although he attacked with equal fury the republic, and private individuals, and men who were at a distance, and men who were near, people who had no connection with him, and his own relations; yet somehow or other the incredible endurance of the state had by long use grown hardened and callous. But as for the things which were at hand, and were impending over you, in what manner was it possible for you either to avert them or to bear them? If he had once obtained real power,—I say nothing of our allies, of foreign nations, and kings, and tetrarchs; for you would have prayed that he might turn himself against them rather than against your possessions, your houses, and your money: money do I say? your children rather—I solemnly swear he would never have restrained himself from your children and from your wives. Do you think that these things are inventions of mine? They are evident; they are notorious to every one; they are proved. Is it an invention of mine that he was about to enlist an army of slaves in the city, by whose instrumentality he might take possession of the whole republic, and of the private fortune of every one?
76. haec quidem iam tolerabilia videbantur, etsi aequabiliter in rem publicam, in privatos, in longinquos, in propinquos, in alienos, in suos inruebat, sed nescio quo modo usu iam obduruerat et percalluerat civitatis incredibilis patientia: quae vero aderant iam et impendebant, quonam modo ea aut depellere potuissetis aut ferre? ille si nactus esset, omitto socios, exteras nationes, reges, tetrarchas; vota enim faceretis ut in eos se potius immitteret quam in vestras possessiones, vestra tecta, vestras pecunias: pecunias dico? a liberis, me dius fidius, et a coniugibus vestris numquam ille effrenatas suas libidines cohibuisset. haec putatis quae patent, quae nota sunt omnibus, quae tenentur, servorum exercitus illum in urbe conscripturum fuisse, per quos totam rem publicam resque privatas omnium possideret?
77. Wherefore, if Titus Annius, holding in his hand a bloody sword, had cried out “Come hither, I beg of you, and listen to me, O citizens: I have slain Publius Clodius; with this sword and with this right hand I have turned aside from your necks the frenzied attacks of that man whom we were unable to restrain by any laws, or by any judicial proceedings whatever; by my single efforts has it been brought to pass that right and equity, and laws, and liberty, and modesty, and chastity remain in this city;” would there in truth have been any reason to fear in what manner the city would receive this announcement? For now, as it is, who is there who does not approve of what has been done? who does not praise it? who does not both say and feel that of all men to whom recollection can reach back, Titus Annius has done the republic the greatest service; that of all men he has diffused the greatest joy among the Roman people, and over the whole of Italy, and throughout all nations? I cannot form a conception of what would have been the old-fashioned joy of the Roman people. Already our age has seen many, and those most illustrious victories, won by consummate generals; but not one of them has brought with it a joy that either lasted so long or that was so excessive while it did last.
77. ob rem si cruentum gladium tenens clamaret T. Annius: “, quaeso, atque audite, cives! P. Clodium interfeci, eius furores, quos nullis iam legibus, nullis iudiciis frenare poteramus, hoc ferro et hac dextera a cervicibus vestris reppuli, per me ut unum ius aequitas, leges libertas, pudor pudicitia maneret in civitate,” esset vero timendum quonam modo id ferret civitas! enim quis est qui non probet, qui non laudet, qui non unum post hominum memoriam T. Annium plurimum rei publicae profuisse, maxima laetitia populum Romanum, cunctam Italiam, nationes omnis adfecisse et dicat et sentiat? queo vetera illa populi Romani gaudia quanta fuerint iudicare: multas tamen iam summorum imperatorum clarissimas victorias aetas nostra vidit, quarum nulla neque tam diuturnam laetitiam attulit nec tantam.
78. Commit this fact to memory, O judges. I trust that you and your children will see many happy days in the republic. On every such occasion these will always be your feelings,—that if Publius Clodius had been alive, you never would have seen one of them. We have been led now to conceive the greatest, and, as I feel sure, the best-founded hopes, that this very day, this most admirable man being made our consul, when the licentiousness of men is checked, their evil passions put down, the laws and courts of justice reestablished on a firm footing, will be a salutary day for the republic. Is there, then, any one so insane as to think that he could have obtained all this while Publius Clodius was alive? What? why, what power of perpetual possession could you have had even in those things which you possess as your private property and in the strictest sense your own, while that frenzied man held the reins of government? I have no fear, O judges, lest it should seem that, because I am inflamed with hatred against him, on account of my own personal enmity to the man, I am vomiting forth these charges against him with more zeal than truth. In truth, though it is natural that that should be an especial stimulus to me, yet he was so completely the common enemy of all men, that my own hatred only bore about its fair proportion to the general detestation with which he was regarded. It cannot be expressed, O judges, it cannot even be imagined, how much wickedness, how much mischief there was in that man.
78. hoc memoriae, iudices. multa vos liberosque vestros in re publica bona esse visuros: in eis singulis ita semper existimabitis, vivo P. Clodio nihil eorum vos visuros fuisse. spem maximam et, quem ad modum confido, verissimam sumus adducti, hunc ipsum annum, hoc summo viro consule, compressa hominum licentia, cupiditatibus confractis, legibus et iudiciis constitutis, salutarem civitati fore. quis igitur est tam demens qui hoc P. Clodio vivo contingere potuisse arbitretur?? ea quae tenetis privata atque vestra dominante homine furioso quod ius perpetuae possessionis habere potuissent? timeo, iudices, ne odio mearum inimicitiarum inflammatus libentius haec in illum evomere videar quam verius. si praecipuum esse debebat, tamen ita communis erat omnium ille hostis ut in communi odio paene aequaliter versaretur odium meum. potest dici satis, ne cogitari quidem, quantum in illo sceleris, quantum exiti fuerit.
79. Moreover, attend to me with this idea, O judges. This investigation relates to the death of Publius Clodius. Imagine in your minds,—for our thoughts are free, and contemplate whatever they choose in such a manner that we do discern those things which we think we see;—place, therefore, before your mind's eye the image of this my condition; if I am able to induce you to acquit Milo, but still only on condition of Publius Clodius being restored to life. What fear is that that you show by your countenances? How would he affect you if alive, when even now that he is dead he has so agitated you by the bare thought of him? What? if Cnaeus Pompeius himself, who is a man of such virtue and such good fortune that he has at all times been able to do things which no one except him ever could have done,—if even he, I say, had been able, in the same manner as he has ordered an investigation into the death of Publius Clodius to take place, so also to raise him from the dead, which do you think he would have preferred to do? Even if out of friendship he had been willing to raise him from the shades below, out of regard for the republic he would not have done it. You, then, are sitting now as avengers of the death of that man, whom you would not restore to life if you thought it possible that his life could be restored by you. And this investigation is appointed to be made into the death of a man who would never have seen such a law passed, if the law which ordered the inquiry had been able to restore him to life. Ought, then, the slayer of this man, if any such slayer there be, to have any reason, while confessing the deed, to fear punishment at the hand of those men whom he delivered by the deed?
79. sic attendite, iudices. animis—liberae sunt enim nostrae cogitationes et quae volunt sic intuentur ut ea cernimus quae videmus —fingite igitur cogitatione imaginem huius condicionis meae, si possimus efficere Milonem ut absolvatis, sed ita si P. Clodius revixerit—quid voltu extimuistis? quonam modo ille vos vivus adficeret quos mortuus inani cogitatione percussit?? si ipse Cn. Pompeius, qui ea virtute ac fortuna est ut ea potuerit semper quae nemo praeter illum, si is, inquam, potuisset aut quaestionem de morte P. Clodi ferre aut ipsum ab inferis excitare, utrum putatis potius facturum fuisse? si propter amicitiam vellet illum ab inferis evocare, propter rem publicam non fecisset. igitur mortis sedetis ultores cuius vitam si putetis per vos restitui posse nolitis, et de eius nece lata quaestio est qui si lege eadem reviviscere posset, ista lex lata numquam esset. ergo interfector si esset, in confitendo ab eisne poenam timeret quos liberavisset?
80. Greek nations give the honours of the gods to those men who have slain tyrants. What have I not seen at Athens? what in the other cities of Greece? What divine honours have I not seen paid to such men? What odes, what songs have I not heard in their praise? They are almost consecrated to immortality in the memories and worship of men. And will you not only abstain from conferring any honours on the saviour of so great a people, and the avenger of such enormous wickedness, but will you even allow him to be borne off for punishment? He would confess,—I say, if he had done it, he would confess with a high and willing spirit that he had done it for the sake of the general liberty; a thing which would certainly deserve not only to be confessed by him, but even to be boasted of.
80. Graeci homines deorum honores tribuunt eis viris qui tyrannos necaverunt—quae ego vidi Athenis, quae in aliis urbibus Graeciae! quas res divinas talibus institutas viris, quos cantus, quae carmina! prope ad immortalitatis et religionem et memoriam consecrantur—vos tanti conservatorem populi, tanti sceleris ultorem non modo honoribus nullis adficietis sed etiam ad supplicium rapi patiemini?, confiteretur, inquam, si fecisset, et magno animo et libenter, se fecisse libertatis omnium causa quod esset non confitendum modo sed etiam vere praedicandum.
81. In truth, if he does not deny an action from which he seeks no advantage beyond being pardoned for having done it, would he hesitate to avow an action for which he would be entitled to claim rewards? Unless indeed he thinks it more pleasing to you to look upon him as having been the defender of his own life, rather than of you; especially as from that confession, if you were to choose to be grateful, he would reap the very highest honours. If his action were not approved of by you, (although, how is it possible that any one should not approve of what secured his own safety?)—but still, if the virtue of a most gallant man had happened to be at all unpleasing to his fellow-citizens, then with a lofty and firm mind he would depart from an ungrateful city. For what could be more ungrateful than for all other men to be rejoicing, and for him alone to be mourning, to whom it was owing that the rest were rejoicing?
81. si id non negat ex quo nihil petit nisi ut ignoscatur, dubitaret id fateri ex quo etiam praemia laudis essent petenda? nisi vero gratius putat esse vobis sui se capitis quam vestri defensorem fuisse; cum praesertim in tali confessione, si grati esse velletis, honores adsequeretur amplissimos. factum vobis non probaretur—quamquam qui poterat salus sua cuiquam non probari?—sed tamen si minus fortissimi viri virtus civibus grata cecidisset, magno animo constantique cederet ex ingrata civitate. quid esset ingratius quam laetari ceteros, lugere eum solum propter quem ceteri laetarentur?
82. Although we have all at all times been of this disposition with respect to crushing traitors to our country,—that since the glory would be ours, we should consider the danger and the unpopularity ours also. For what praise should I have deserved to have given to me, when I showed so much courage in my consulship on behalf of you and of your children, if I had supposed that I could venture on the exploits which I was attempting without very great struggles and dangers to myself? What woman is there who would not dare to slay a wicked and mischievous citizen, if she was not afraid of the danger of the attempt? But the man who, though unpopularity, and death, and punishment are before his eyes still ventures to defend the republic with no less alacrity than if no such evils threatened him, he deserves to be considered really a man. It behoves a grateful people to reward those citizens who have deserved well of the republic; it is the part of a brave man, not to be so moved even by execution itself, as to repent of having acted bravely.
82. hoc animo semper fuimus omnes in patriae proditoribus opprimendis ut, quoniam futura esset nostra gloria, periculum quoque et invidiam nostram putaremus. quae mihi tribuenda ipsi laus esset, cum tantum in consulatu meo pro vobis ac liberis vestris ausus essem, si id quod conabar sine maximis dimicationibus meis me esse ausurum arbitrarer? mulier interficere sceleratum ac perniciosum civem non auderet, si periculum non timeret? invidia, morte, poena qui nihilo segnius rem publicam defendit, is vir vere putandus est. grati est praemiis adficere bene meritos de re publica civis, viri fortis ne suppliciis quidem moveri ut fortiter fecisse paeniteat.
83. Wherefore, Titus Annius may well make the same confession which Ahala made, which Nasica, which Opimius, which Marius, which we ourselves have made: and then, if the republic were grateful, he would rejoice; if ungrateful, then, though under the pressure of heavy misfortune, he would still be supported by his own conscience. But, O judges, the fortune of the Roman people, and your felicity, and the immortal gods, all think that they are entitled to your grateful or this service which has been thus done to you. Nor, indeed, can any one think otherwise except it be a man who thinks that there is no such thing at all as any divine power or authority—a man who is neither moved by the vastness of your empire, nor by that sun above us, nor by the motions of heaven and of the stars, nor by the vicissitudes and regular order of things, nor (and that is the greatest thing of all) by the wisdom of our ancestors; who both themselves cultivated with the most holy reverence the sacred rites and religions ceremonies and auspices, and also handed them down to us their posterity to be so cultivated by us.
83. ob rem uteretur eadem confessione T. Annius qua Ahala, qua Nasica, qua Opimius, qua Marius, qua nosmet ipsi, et, si grata res publica esset, laetaretur; si ingrata, tamen in gravi fortuna conscientia sua niteretur. huius benefici gratiam, iudices, Fortuna populi Romani et vestra felicitas et di immortales sibi deberi putant. vero quisquam aliter arbitrari potest, nisi qui nullam vim esse ducit numenque divinum, quem neque imperi nostri magnitudo nec sol ille nec caeli signorumque motus nec vicissitudines rerum atque ordines movent neque, id quod maximum est, maiorum nostrorum sapientia, qui sacra, qui caerimonias, qui auspicia et ipsi sanctissime coluerunt et nobis suis posteris prodiderunt.
84. There is, there is indeed, such a heavenly power. It is not the truth, that in these bodies and in this feebleness of ours there is something which is vigorous and endued with feeling, and nothing which is so in this vast and beautiful movement of nature. Unless perhaps some people think that there is no such thing in existence because it is not apparent, nor visible: just as if we were able to see our own mind,—that by which we are wise, by which we have foresight, by which we do and say these very things which we are doing and saying; or as if we could plainly feel what sort of thing it is, or where it is. That divine power; that very same divine power which has often brought incredible prosperity and power to this city, has extinguished and destroyed this mischief; by first of all inspiring it with the idea of venturing to irritate by violence and to attack with the sword the bravest of men, and so leading it on to be defeated by the man whom if it had only been able to defeat it would have enjoyed endless licence and impunity.
84. , est illa vis profecto, neque in his corporibus atque in hac imbecillitate nostra inest quiddam quod vigeat et sentiat, non inest in hoc tanto naturae tamque praeclaro motu. Nisi forte idcirco non putant quia non apparet nec cernitur, proinde quasi nostram ipsam mentem qua sapimus, qua providemus, qua haec ipsa agimus ac dicimus, videre ac plane qualis aut ubi sit sentire possimus. vis igitur ipsa quae saepe incredibilis huic urbi felicitates atque opes attulit illam perniciem exstinxit ac sustulit, cui primum mentem iniecit ut vi inritare ferroque lacessere fortissimum virum auderet vincereturque ab eo quem si vicisset habiturus esset impunitatem et licentiam sempiternam.
85. That result was brought about, O judges, not by human wisdom, nor even by any moderate degree of care on the part of the immortal gods. In truth, those very holy places themselves which beheld that monster fall, appear to have been moved themselves, and to have asserted their rights over him. I implore you, I call you to witness,—you, I say, O you Alban hills and groves, and you, O you altars of the Albans, now overthrown, but nevertheless partners of and equals in honour with the sacred rites of the Roman people,—you, whom that man with headlong insanity, having cut down and destroyed the most holy groves, had overwhelmed with his insane masses of buildings; it was your power then that prevailed, it was the divinity of your altars, the religious reverence due to you, and which he had profaned by every sort of wickedness, that prevailed; and you, too, O sacred Jupiter of Latium, whose lakes and groves and boundaries he had constantly polluted with every sort of abominable wickedness and debauchery, you at last from your high and holy mountain, opened your eyes for the purpose of punishing him; it is to you, to all of you, that those punishments, late indeed, but still just and well deserved, have been made an atonement for his wickedness.
85. est humano consilio, ne mediocri quidem, iudices, deorum immortalium cura res illa perfecta. me hercule ipsae quae illam beluam cadere viderunt, commosse se videntur et ius in illo suum retinuisse. enim iam, Albani tumuli atque luci, vos, inquam, imploro atque testor, vosque, Albanorum obrutae arae, sacrorum populi Romani sociae et aequales, quas ille praeceps amentia caesis prostratisque sanctissimis lucis substructionum insanis molibus oppresserat; vestrae tum religiones viguerunt, vestra vis valuit, quam ille omni scelere polluerat; tuque ex tuo edito monte Latiari, sancte Iuppiter, cuius ille lacus, nemora finisque saepe omni nefario stupro et scelere macularat, aliquando ad eum puniendum oculos aperuisti: vobis illae, vobis vestro in conspectu serae, sed iustae tamen et debitae poenae solutae sunt.
86. Unless, perchance, we are to say that it was by accident that it happened that it was before the very shrine of the Good Goddess which is in the farm of Titus Sextus Gallius, a most honourable and accomplished young man,—before the Good Goddess herself, I say, that when he had begun the battle, he received that first wound under which he gave up that foul soul of his; so that he did not seem to have been acquitted in that iniquitous trial, but only to have been reserved for this conspicuous punishment. Nor, indeed, did that same anger of the gods abstain from inflicting the very same insanity on his satellites, so that without the images of his ancestors, without any funeral song or funeral games, without any obsequies, any lamentation, or any panegyric,—without, in short, any funeral at all, smeared over with gore and mud, and deprived even of the honours which are paid to every one on that last day, and which even enemies are wont to allow to a man, he was cast out in the street half burnt. It was not right, I suppose, for the effigies of most illustrious men to confer any honour on that most foul parricide; nor was there any place in which it was more seemly that his corpse should be ill-treated than that where his life had been condemned.
86. forte hoc etiam casu factum esse dicemus ut ante ipsum sacrarium deae, quod est in fundo T. Serti Galli, in primis honesti et ornati adulescentis, ante ipsam, inquam, deam, cum proelium commisisset, primum illud volnus acciperet quo taeterrimam mortem obiret, ut non absolutus iudicio illo nefario videretur, sed ad hanc insignem poenam reservatus. vero non eadem ira deorum hanc eius satellitibus iniecit amentiam ut sine imaginibus, sine cantu atque ludis, sine exsequiis, sine lamentis, sine laudationibus, sine funere, oblitus cruore et luto, spoliatus illius supremi diei celebritate cui cedere inimici etiam solent ambureretur abiectus. fuisse credo fas clarissimorum virorum formas illi taeterrimo parricidae aliquid decoris adferre, neque ullo in loco potius mortem eius lacerari quam in quo esset vita damnata.
87. I swear to you, the fortune of the Roman people appeared to me hard and cruel, while it for so many years beheld and endured that man triumphing over the republic. He had polluted the holiest religious observances with his debauchery; he had broken the most authoritative decrees of the senate he had openly bought himself from the judges with money; he had harassed the senate in his tribuneship; he had rescinded acts which had been passed for the sake of the safety of the republic, by the consent of all orders of the state; he had driven me from my country; he had plundered my property; he had burnt my house; he had ill-treated my children and my wife; he had declared a wicked war against Cnaeus Pompeius; he had made slaughter of magistrates and private individuals; he had burnt the house of my brother; he had laid waste Etruria; he had driven numbers of men from their homes and their professions. He kept pursuing and oppressing men; the whole state, all Italy, all the provinces, all foreign kingdoms could not contain his frenzy. Laws were already being drawn up in his house which were to hand us over to the power of our slaves. There was nothing belonging to any one, which he had taken a fancy to, which he did not think would become his in the course of this year.
87. , me dius fidius, mihi iam fortuna populi Romani et crudelis videbatur, quae tot annos illum in hanc rem publicam insultare pateretur. stupro sanctissimas religiones, senatus gravissima decreta perfregerat, pecunia se a iudicibus palam redemerat, vexarat in tribunatu senatum, omnium ordinum consensu pro salute rei publicae gesta resciderat, me patria expulerat, bona diripuerat, domum incenderat, liberos, coniugem meam vexarat, Cn. Pompeio nefarium bellum indixerat, magistratuum privatorumque caedis effecerat, domum mei fratris incenderat, vastarat Etruriam, multos sedibus ac fortunis eiecerat; instabat, urgebat; capere eius amentiam civitas, Italia, provinciae, regna non poterant; incidebantur iam domi leges quae nos servis nostris addicerent; nihil erat cuiusquam, quod quidem ille adamasset, quod non hoc anno suum fore putaret.
88. No one was an obstacle to his expectations except Milo; the very man who was most able to be an obstacle to them he thought when he returned again would be reconciled and, as it were, bound to him. The power of Caesar, he said, was all his own. The inclinations of all good men he had treated with contempt, while accomplishing my ruin. Milo alone weighed on his mind. On this the immortal gods, as I have said before, put into the head of that abandoned and frantic man the idea of laying an ambush for Milo. That pest was not to perish any other way; the republic would never have chastened him by her laws. The senate, I suppose, would have been able to restrain him when praetor. Why, it had not been able to do anything when it tried to restrain him while a private individual.
88. eius cogitationibus nemo praeter Milonem. ipsum qui poterat obstare novo reditu in gratiam sibi devinctum arbitrabatur; Caesaris potentiam suam esse dicebat; bonorum animos in meo casu contempserat: Milo unus urgebat. di immortales, ut supra dixi, mentem illi perdito ac furioso dederunt ut huic faceret insidias. perire pestis illa non potuit; numquam illum res publica suo iure esset ulta., credo, praetorem eum circumscripsisset. cum solebat quidem id facere, in privato eodem hoc aliquid profecerat.
89. Would the consuls have been vigorous in bridling the praetor? In the first place, if Milo had been slain, he would have had his own consuls. Secondly, what consul would have behaved fearlessly against him as praetor, who remembered that he, when tribune, had offered the most cruel injuries to the virtue of the consuls? He would have oppressed everything; he would have taken possession and held possession of everything. By a new law, the draught of which was found in his house, with the rest of the Clodian laws, he would have made all our slaves his own freedmen. Lastly, if the immortal gods had not inspired him with such ideas that he, an effeminate creature, attempted to slay a most gallant man, you would have no republic at all this day.
89. consules in praetore coercendo fortes fuissent? Milone occiso habuisset suos consules; deinde quis in eo praetore consul fortis esset per quem tribunum virtutem consularem crudelissime vexatam esse meminisset? omnia, possideret, teneret; lege nova, quae est inventa apud eum cum reliquis legibus Clodianis, servos nostros libertos suos effecisset; postremo, nisi eum di immortales in eam mentem impulissent ut homo effeminatus fortissimum virum conaretur occidere, hodie rem publicam nullam haberetis.
90. Would that man when praetor, much more when consul, provided only that these temples and these walls could have stood so long if he had been alive, and could have remained till his consulship; would he, I say, if alive, have done no harm, when even after he was dead he burned the senate-house, one of his satellites, Sextus Clodius, being the ringleader in the tumult? What more miserable, more grievous, more bitter sight have we ever seen than that? that that temple of sanctity, of honour, of wisdom, of the public council, the head of the city, the altar of the allies, the harbour of all nations, the abode granted by the universal Roman people to one of the orders of the state, should be burnt, profaned, and destroyed? and that that should be done, not by an ignorant mob, although that would have been a miserable thing, but by one single person? who, if he dared so much in his character of burner of a dead man, what would he not have done as standard-bearer of a living one? He selected the senate-house, of all the places in the city, to throw him down in, in order that when dead he might burn what he had overturned while alive.
90. ille praetor, ille vero consul, si modo haec templa atque ipsa moenia stare eo vivo tam diu et consulatum eius exspectare potuissent, ille denique vivus mali nihil fecisset cui mortuo unus ex suis satellitibus curiam incenderit? quid miserius, quid acerbius, quid luctuosius vidimus? templum sanctitatis, amplitudinis, mentis, consili publici, caput urbis, aram sociorum, portum omnium gentium, sedem ab universo populo concessam uni ordini, inflammari, exscindi, funestari, neque id fieri a multitudine imperita, quamquam esset miserum id ipsum, sed ab uno? cum tantum ausus sit ustor pro mortuo, quid signifer pro vivo non esset ausurus? curiam potissimum abiecit, ut eam mortuus incenderet quam vivus everterat.
91. And are there men, then, who complain of what took place in the Appian road, and say nothing of what happened in the senate-house? and who think that the forum could have been defended from him when alive, whose very corpse the senate-house was unable to resist? Arouse the man himself; resuscitate him, if you can, from the shades below. Will you be able to check his violence when alive, when you were hardly able to support his fury while he lies unburied? unless, indeed, you did support the sight of those men who ran with firebrands to the senate-house, with scythes to the temple of Castor, and who ranged over the whole forum sword in hand. You saw the Roman people slaughtered, you saw the assembly disturbed by the drawn swords, while Marcus Caelius, a tribune of the people, was listened to in silence, a man of the greatest courage in the affairs of state, of the greatest firmness in any cause which he undertook, wholly devoted to the service of the virtuous part of the citizens, and to the authority of the senate, and in this—shall I say unpopularity, or misfortune of Milo's? behaving with singular, and god-like, and incredible good faith.
91. sunt qui de via Appia querantur, taceant de curia, et qui ab eo spirante forum putent potuisse defendi, cuius non restiterit cadaveri curia?, excitate ipsum, si potestis, a mortuis: frangetis impetum vivi cuius vix sustinetis furias insepulti? Nisi vero sustinuistis eos qui cum facibus ad curiam concurrerunt, cum fascibus ad Castoris, cum gladiis toto foro volitaverunt. vidistis populum Romanum, contionem gladiis disturbari, cum audiretur silentio M. Caelius, tribunus plebis, vir et in re publica fortissimus, in suscepta causa firmissimus, et bonorum voluntati, auctoritati senatus deditus, et in hac Milonis sive invidia sive fortuna, singulari, divina, incredibili fide.
92. But I have said enough about the cause; and, perhaps, too much that was foreign to the cause. What remains, except for me to pray and entreat you, O judges, to show that mercy to a most gallant man, which he himself does not implore; but which I, even against his will, implore and demand in his behalf? Do not if amid the tears of all of us you have seen no tears shed by Milo,—if you see his countenance always the same, his voice and language steady and unaltered,—do not, on that account, be the less inclined to spare him. I know not whether he does not deserve to be assisted all the more on that account. In truth, if in battles of gladiators, and in the case of men of the very lowest class and condition and fortune, we are accustomed to dislike those who are timid and suppliant, and who pray to be allowed to live, and if we wish to save those who are brave and courageous, and who offer themselves cheerfully to death; and if we feel more pity for those men who do not ask our pity, than for those who entreat it; how much more ought we to nourish those feelings in the case of our bravest citizens?
92. iam satis multa de causa, extra causam etiam nimis fortasse multa. restat nisi ut orem obtesterque vos, iudices, ut eam misericordiam tribuatis fortissimo viro quam ipse non implorat, ego etiam repugnante hoc et imploro et exposco?, si in nostro omnium fletu nullam lacrimam aspexistis Milonis, si voltum semper eundem, si vocem, si orationem stabilem ac non mutatam videtis, hoc minus ei parcere: haud scio an multo etiam sit adiuvandus magis. si in gladiatoriis pugnis et ⟨in⟩ infimi generis hominum condicione atque fortuna timidos et supplices et ut vivere liceat obsecrantis etiam odisse solemus, fortis et animosos et se acriter ipsos morti offerentis servari cupimus, eorumque nos magis miseret qui nostram misericordiam non requirunt quam qui illam efflagitant, quanto hoc magis in fortissimis civibus facere debemus!
93. As for me, O judges, I am dispirited and almost killed by those expressions of Milo, which I hear continually; and at the utterance of which I am daily present: “May my fellow-citizens fare well,” says he; “may they fare well. May they be safe, and prosperous, and happy; may this illustrious city, and my country, which I love so well, long endure, however it may treat me; may my fellow-citizens (since I may not enjoy it with them) enjoy the republic in tranquillity without me, but still in consequence of my conduct. I will submit and depart; if it cannot be allowed me to enjoy a virtuous republic, at least I shall be at a distance from a bad one; and the first well regulated and free city that I arrive at in that will I rest. Oh how vain,” says he, “are the labours which I have undertaken! Oh how fallacious have been my hopes!
93. quidem, iudices, exanimant et interimunt hae voces Milonis quas audio adsidue et quibus intersum cotidie. “,” inquit “valeant cives mei; sint incolumes, sint florentes, sint beati; stet haec urbs praeclara mihique patria carissima, quoquo modo erit merita de me; tranquilla re publica mei cives, quoniam mihi cum illis non licet, sine me ipsi, sed propter me tamen perfruantur. cedam atque abibo. mihi bona re publica frui non licuerit, at carebo mala, et quam primum tetigero bene moratam et liberam civitatem, in ea conquiescam.”
94. Oh how empty all my thoughts! When as tribune of the people, when the republic was oppressed, I had devoted myself to the senate, which, when I came into office, was utterly extinct; and to the Roman knights, whose power was enfeebled, and to the virtuous part of the citizens, who had given up all their authority under the arms of Clodius; could I ever have thought that I should fail to find protection from the citizens? When I had restored you” (for he very frequently converses with me and addresses me) “to your country, could I ever suppose that I myself should have no place in my country? Where now is the senate which we followed? where are those Roman knights, those knights,” says he, “so devoted to you? where is the zeal of the municipal towns? where is the voice of Italy? what, above all, has become of that voice of yours, O Marcus Tullius, which has been an assistance to many; what has become of your voice and defensive eloquence? am I the only person whom it is unable to help, I who have so often exposed myself to death for your sake?”
94. “O frustra” inquit “mei suscepti labores, o spes fallaces, o cogitationes inanes meae! cum tribunus plebis re publica oppressa me senatui dedissem quem exstinctum acceperam, equitibus Romanis quorum vires erant debiles, bonis viris qui omnem auctoritatem Clodianis armis abiecerant, mihi umquam bonorum praesidium defuturum putarem? cum te”—mecum enim saepissime loquitur—“patriae reddidissem, mihi putarem in patria non futurum locum? Vbi nunc senatus est quem secuti sumus, ubi equites Romani illi, illi” inquit “tui? ubi studia municipiorum, ubi Italiae voces, ubi denique tua, M. Tulli, quae plurimis fuit auxilio, vox atque defensio? ea soli qui pro te totiens morti me obtuli nihil potest opitulari?”
95. Nor does he say these things to me. O judges, weeping, as I now repeat them; but with the same unmoved countenance that you behold. For he says, he never did all the things which he had done for citizens who are ungrateful; ungrateful, he says, they are not. That they are timid and thinking too much of every danger, he does not deny. He says, that he treated the common people, and that multitude of the lower class which, while they had Publius Clodius for their leader, threatened the safety of all of you in such a way, in order to render all your lives more secure; that he not only subdued it by his virtue, but won it over at the expense of three estates which he inherited. Nor has he any apprehension that while he was conciliating the common people by his liberality, he was not also securing your attachment by his singular services to the republic. He says, that the good-will of the senate towards him has been repeatedly experienced by him in the times that have lately gone by; and that he shall carry with him, and ever retain in his recollection, the way in which you and all your order flocked to meet him, the zeal you showed in his behalf, and the kindness of your language to him, whatever may be the destiny which fortune allots to him.
95. vero haec, iudices, ut ego nunc, flens, sed hoc eodem loquitur voltu quo videtis. enim se, negat ingratis civibus fecisse quae fecerit, timidis et omnia pericula circumspicientibus non negat. et infimam multitudinem, quae P. Clodio duce fortunis vestris imminebat, eam quo tutior esset vestra vita suam se fecisse commemorat, ut non modo virtute flecteret sed etiam tribus suis patrimoniis deleniret, nec timet ne, cum plebem muneribus placarit, vos non conciliarit meritis in rem publicam singularibus. erga se benevolentiam temporibus his ipsis saepe esse perspectam, vestras vero et vestrorum ordinum occursationes, studia, sermones, quemcumque cursum fortuna ceperit, secum se ablaturum esse dicit.
96. He remembers, also, that the voice of the crier proclaiming his triumph, was the only thing wanting to him, but that he was declared consul by the unanimous vote of the people, and that was the great object of his ambition. And now if all these things are to go against him, it will be only the suspicion of guilt, not the reality of any crime, which has injured him. He adds this, which is unquestionably true; that brave and wise men are not in the habit of setting their hearts so much on the rewards for virtuous conduct as on the fact of their conduct being so; that he has never acted throughout his life in any but the most honourable manner, since there can be nothing better for a man to do than to deliver his country from dangers; that those men are happy for whom such conduct procures honour among their fellow-citizens, but yet, that those men are not miserable who have exceeded their fellow-citizens in good deeds.
96. etiam vocem sibi praeconis modo defuisse, quam minime desiderarit, populi vero cunctis suffragiis, quod unum cupierit, se consulem declaratum; nunc denique, si haec arma contra se sint futura, sibi facinoris suspicionem, non facti crimen obstare. haec, quae certe vera sunt, fortis et sapientis viros non tam praemia sequi solere recte factorum quam ipsa recte facta; se nihil in vita nisi praeclarissime fecisse, si quidem nihil sit praestabilius viro quam periculis patriam liberare.
97. Moreover, that of all the rewards of virtue, if one is to make an estimate of the different rewards, the most honourable of all is glory; that this is the only reward which can make amends for the shortness of life, by the recollection of posterity; which can cause us while absent, to be present when dead to be still alive; that this is the thing by the steps of which men appear to mount even to heaven.
97. esse quibus ea res honori fuerit a suis civibus, nec tamen eos miseros qui beneficio civis suos vicerint. tamen ex omnibus praemiis virtutis, si esset habenda ratio praemiorum, amplissimum esse praemium gloriam; esse hanc unam quae brevitatem vitae posteritatis memoria consolaretur, quae efficeret ut absentes adessemus, mortui viveremus; hanc denique esse cuius gradibus etiam in caelum homines viderentur ascendere.
98. “Concerning me,” says he, “the Roman people and all nations will be continually talking. The remotest ages will never be silent about me. Even at this very time when the firebrands of envy are being hurled against me by my enemies, still I am celebrated in every company of men, who express their thanks to me, who congratulate themselves on my conduct, who make me the sole topic of their conversation. I say nothing of the days of festival, and sacrifice, and joyful celebration in Etruria. This is the hundredth, or I rather think the hundred and first day since the death of Publius Clodius; a day on which, wherever the boundaries of the Roman empire extend, there did not only the report of, but the joy caused by that occurrence penetrate. Wherefore,” said he, “I am not anxious as to where this body of mine may be; since the glory of my name already is and always will be in every country upon earth.”
98. “me” inquit “semper populus Romanus, semper omnes gentes loquentur, nulla umquam obmutescet vetustas. hoc tempore ipso, cum omnes a meis inimicis faces invidiae meae subiciantur, tamen omni in hominum coetu gratiis agendis et gratulationibus habendis et omni sermone celebramur. Etruriae festos et actos et institutos dies. lux est haec ab interitu P. Clodi et, opinor, altera. fines imperi populi Romani sunt, ea non solum fama iam de illo sed etiam laetitia peragravit. ob rem ubi corpus hoc sit non” inquit “laboro, quoniam omnibus in terris et iam versatur et semper hic habitabit nominis mei gloria.”
99. This is what you have constantly said to me, O Milo, when these men who hear me now have been absent; but this is what I say to you when they are present to listen. I cannot indeed, praise you sufficiently for being of such a spirit as you are; but the more godlike that virtue of yours is, the greater is the pain which I feel at being separated from you. Nor, indeed, if you are taken from me, will the complaints, which are all that is left to me, do anything to comfort me, or to prevent my being angry with those men from whom I have received so severe a blow. For it is not my enemies who will tear you from me, but those who are my greatest friends. It is not men who have at times deserved ill at my hands, but those who have always deserved exceedingly well. You never, O judges, will inflict such grief upon me, (although, what grief can be so great as this?) but you will never inflict this particular grief upon me, of forcing me to forget how greatly you have always regarded me. And if you, yourselves, have forgotten it, or if any part of my conduct has offended you, why do you not make me atone for that offense rather than Milo? For I shall have lived gloriously enough if I die before seeing any such great misfortune happen to him.
99. tu mecum saepe his absentibus, sed isdem audientibus haec ego tecum, Milo: “quidem, cum isto animo sis, satis laudare non possum, sed, quo est ista magis divina virtus, eo maiore a te dolore divellor. vero, si mihi eriperis, reliqua est illa saltem ad consolandum querela ut eis irasci possim a quibus tantum volnus accepero. enim inimici mei te mihi eripient, sed amicissimi, non male aliquando de me meriti, sed semper optime.” mihi umquam, iudices, tantum dolorem inuretis—tametsi quis potest esse tantus?—sed ne hunc quidem ipsum ut obliviscar quanti me semper feceritis. si vos cepit oblivio aut si in me aliquid offendistis, cur non id in meo capite potius luitur quam Milonis? enim vixero, si quid mihi acciderit prius quam hoc tantum mali videro.
100. At present one consolation supports me, that no exertion that affection, or that zeal, or that gratitude could possibly make, has been wanting on my part to promote your interest, O Titus Annius. For your sake I have courted the enmity of powerful citizens; I have repeatedly exposed my person and my life to the weapons of your enemies; I have thrown myself as a suppliant at the feet of many for your sake; I have considered my fortunes and those of my children as united with yours in the time of your necessities. Lastly, on this very day, if any violence is prepared against you, or any struggle, or any danger of death, I claim my share in that. What remains now? What is there that I can say, or that I can do in return for your services to me, except considering whatever fortune is yours mine also? I do not object, I do not refuse so to consider it. And I entreat you, O judges, either to add to the kindnesses which you have already conferred on me by granting me this man's safety, or else to take notice that they will all perish in his fall.
100. me una consolatio sustentat, quod tibi, T. Anni, nullum a me amoris, nullum studi, nullum pietatis officium defuit. inimicitias potentium pro te appetivi; ego meum saepe corpus et vitam obieci armis inimicorum tuorum; ego me plurimis pro te supplicem abieci; bona, fortunas meas ac liberorum meorum in communionem tuorum temporum contuli; hoc denique ipso die, si qua vis est parata, si qua dimicatio capitis futura, deposco. iam restat? quid habeo quod faciam pro tuis in me meritis nisi ut eam fortunam quaecumque erit tua ducam meam? abnuo, non recuso, vosque obsecro, iudices, ut vestra beneficia quae in me contulistis aut in huius salute augeatis aut in eiusdem exitio occasura esse videatis.
101. These tears of mine have no effect on Milo. He is of an incredible strength of mind. He thinks that any place where there is no room for virtue is a place of banishment; and death he considers the end appointed by nature, and not a punishment. Let him continue to cherish these ideas in which he was born. What will you think yourselves, O judges? What will be your feelings? Will you preserve the recollection of Milo, and drive away the man himself? And will you allow any place in the whole earth to be more worthy to receive this virtue of his than this place which produced him? You, you, I appeal to you, O you brave men, who have shed much of your blood for the sake of the republic. I appeal to you, O centurions, and to you, O soldiers, in this time of danger to a brave man and an invincible citizen. While you are not only looking on, but armed, and standing as guards around this court of justice, shall this mighty virtue be driven from the city, he banished, be cast out!
101. lacrimis non commovetur Milo—est quodam incredibili robore animi—exsilium ibi esse putat ubi virtuti non sit locus; mortem naturae finem esse, non poenam. hic ea mente qua natus est: quid? vos, iudices, quo tandem eritis animo? Milonis retinebitis, ipsum eicietis? erit dignior locus ullus in terris qui hanc virtutem excipiat quam hic qui procreavit?, vos appello, fortissimi viri, qui multum pro re publica sanguinem effudistis; vos, inquam, in civis invicti periculo appello, centuriones, vosque, milites: vobis non modo inspectantibus sed etiam armatis et huic iudicio praesidentibus haec tanta virtus ex hac urbe expelletur, exterminabitur, proicietur?
102. Oh, miserable man that I am! Oh, unhappy man that I am! Were you, O Milo, able through the instrumentality of these men to recall me to my country, and cannot I through the agency of the very same men even retain you in yours? What answer shall I make to my children, who consider you a second father? What answer shall I make to you, O my brother Quintus, you who are now absent, you who were my companion in that cruel time? Shall I reply, that I was unable to preserve the safety of Milo by the instrumentality of those very men by whose means he had preserved mine? And what is the cause in which I shall have failed to do so? One which is sanctioned by all the nations of the earth. From whom must I say that I failed to procure it? From those very men who of all others have gained the greatest tranquillity by the death of Publius Clodius. And who will it be who has entreated in vain? I.
102. O me miserum, o me infelicem! tu me in patriam, Milo, potuisti per hos, ego te in patria per eosdem retinere non potero? respondebo liberis meis qui te parentem alterum putant? quid tibi, Quinte frater, qui nunc abes, consorti mecum temporum illorum? mene non potuisse Milonis salutem tueri per eosdem per quos nostram ille servasset? in qua causa non potuisse? est grata ⟨omnibus⟩ gentibus. A quibus non potuisse? eis qui maxime P. Clodi morte acquierunt. deprecante?.
103. What great wickedness is it that I planned, what enormous crime did I commit, O judges, when I traced out, and laid open, and revealed, and for ever crushed those beginnings and signs of the general destruction that was intended? For that is the spring from which all the distresses of myself and my friends arise. Why did you wish me to return to my country? Was it in order that I might look on while those men were being driven out, by whose efforts I had been restored? Do not, I entreat you, suffer my return to be more miserable than even my departure was. For how can I think that I have been restored if I am torn from those men by whom I was restored? Would that the immortal gods had granted, (I must entreat your permission to say it, O my country, for I fear lest it should be a wicked wish as far as you are concerned, though it may be a pious one for Milo,)—would that they had granted that Publius Clodius should not only be alive, but should even be praetor, consul, dictator, rather than I should see this sight!
103. ego concepi tantum scelus aut quod in me tantum facinus admisi, iudices, cum illa indicia communis exiti indagavi, patefeci, protuli, exstinxi? mihi meisque redundant ex fonte illo dolores. me reducem esse voluistis? an ut inspectante me expellerentur ei per quos essem restitutus?, obsecro vos, acerbiorem mihi pati reditum esse quam fuerit ille ipse discessus. qui possum putare me restitutum, si distrahor ab his per quos restitutus sum? Vtinam di immortales fecissent—pace tua, patria, dixerim: metuo enim ne scelerate dicam in te quod pro Milone dicam pie— utinam P. Clodius non modo viveret sed etiam praetor, consul, dictator esset potius quam hoc spectaculum viderem!
104. O ye immortal gods, before I should see this brave man, this man who deserves to be saved by you, O judges, in this plight! “Say not so, say not so,” says Milo. “Rather let him have suffered the penalty which he deserved, and let us, if so it must be, suffer what we have not deserved.” Shall this man, born for his country, die in any other land except his country? or, as it may perchance turn out for his country? Will you preserve the monuments of this man's courage, and yet allow no sepulchre containing his body to exist in Italy? Will any one by his vote banish this man from this city, when all other cities will gladly invite him to them if he is driven out from among you?
104. O di immortales! fortem et a vobis, iudices, conservandum virum! “, minime”; inquit “immo vero poenas ille debitas luerit: nos subeamus, si ita necesse est, non debitas.” vir patriae natus usquam nisi in patria morietur, aut, si forte, pro patria? huius vos animi monumenta retinebitis, corporis in Italia nullum sepulcrum esse patiemini? hunc sua quisquam sententia ex hac urbe expellet quem omnes urbes expulsum a vobis ad se vocabunt?
105. O happy will that land be which shall receive him! Ungrateful will this land be if it banishes him; miserable if it loses him. However, I must make an end. Nor, indeed, can I speak any longer for weeping; and this man forbids me to defend him by tears. I pray and entreat you, O judges, when you are giving your votes, to dare to decide as you think just. And believe me that man will be sure greatly to approve of your virtue, and justice, and good faith; who, in selecting the judges, selected all the best, and wisest and most fearless men whom he could find.
105. O terram illam beatam quae hunc virum exceperit, hanc ingratam si eiecerit, miseram si amiserit! finis sit; neque enim prae lacrimis iam loqui possumus, et hic se lacrimis defendi vetat. oro obtestorque, iudices, ut in sententiis ferendis, quod sentietis, id audeatis. virtutem, iustitiam, fidem, mihi credite, is maxime comprobabit qui in iudicibus legendis optimum et sapientissimum et fortissimum quemque delegit.