33. What? Are not men accustomed of their own accord to change their garments on the occasion of danger to their friends? Is there no one who will change it ever for you, O Piso? will not even those men do so whom you have appointed as your lieutenants, not only without any resolution of the senate to authorize such a step, but even in defiance of a vote of that body? shall, then, whoever pleases mourn for the misfortune of a desperate man, of a traitor to the commonwealth, and shall not the senate be allowed to mourn for the danger of a citizen, strong above all men in the good-will of all virtuous men, who has deserved admirably well of his country, which he has saved, especially when with his danger is combined danger to the whole state? Those same consuls, (if, indeed, it is proper to call those men consuls who, every one thinks, deserve not only to be eradicated from men's memories, but to have their names erased from the consular registers,) after the treaty about the provinces had been ratified, being brought forward to the assembly in the Flaminian Circus by that fury and pest of his country, amid universal grief on the part of all of you, gave their verbal sanction and formal decision in approval of all the things which that fellow had then uttered against me and against the republic. In the presence and sight of these same consuls, a law was passed that the auspices were to have no validity; that no one was to interrupt any proceeding by declaring that he was taking them; that no one was to have the power of arresting a law by his veto; that it should be lawful to pass a law on all days of festival; that the Aelian and Fufian laws should have no validity. And who is there who can fail to see that by that one motion, the entire constitution was destroyed?
33. ? sua sponte homines in amicorum periculis vestitum mutare non solent? te ipso, Piso, nemone mutabit? ne isti quidem quos legatos non modo nullo senatus consulto, sed etiam repugnante senatu tibi tute legasti? hominis desperati et proditoris rei publicae casum lugebunt fortasse qui volent: civis florentissimi benivolentia bonorum et optime de salute patriae meriti periculum, coniunctum cum periculo civitatis, lugere senatui non licebit? consules, si appellandi sunt consules quos nemo est quin non modo ex memoria sed etiam ex fastis evellendos putet, pacto iam foedere provinciarum, producti in circo Flaminio in contionem ab illa furia ac peste patriae, maximo cum gemitu vestro, illa omnia quae tum contra me contraque rem publicam ⟨agebantur⟩ voce ac sententia sua comprobaverunt. consulibus sedentibus atque inspectantibus lata lex est, avspicia valerent, ne qvis obnvntiaret, ne qvis legi intercederet, vt omnibvs fastis diebvs legem ferri liceret, vt lex Aelia, lex Fvfia ne valeret: qua una rogatione quis est qui non intellegat universam rem publicam esse deletam?
34. In the presence and sight of these same consuls, a levy of slaves was held before the tribunal of Aurelius, under pretence of filling up the guilds, when men were enrolled according to their streets, and divided into decuries, and stirred up to violence, and battle, and slaughter, and plunder. It was while these same men were consuls, that arms were openly carried into the temple of Castor, and the steps of the temple were pulled up; armed men occupied the forum and the assemblies of the people; slaughters and stonings of people took place; there was no senate, no magistrates were left; one man by arms and piratical violence seized on all the power of all the magistrates not by any power of his own, but having bribed the two consuls to desert the republic by the treaty respecting the provinces, he insulted every one, domineered over every one, made promises to some held down many by terror and fear and gained over more by hope and promises.
34. consulibus inspectantibus servorum dilectus habebatur pro tribunali Aurelio nomine conlegiorum, cum vicatim homines conscriberentur, decuriarentur, ad vim, ad manus, ad caedem, ad direptionem incitarentur. consulibus arma in templum Castoris palam comportabantur, gradus eiusdem templi tollebantur, armati homines forum et contiones tenebant, caedes lapidationesque fiebant; nullus erat senatus, nihil reliqui magistratus: unus omnem omnium potestatem armis et latrociniis possidebat, non aliqua vi sua, sed, cum duo consules a re publica provinciarum foedere retraxisset, insultabat, dominabatur, aliis pollicebatur, terrore ac metu multos, pluris etiam spe et promissis tenebat.
35. And when such was the state of all things, O judges,—when the senate had no leaders or traitors, or I should rather say open enemies, in the place of leaders,—when the equestrian order was being put on its trial by the consuls,—when the authority of all Italy was trampled on,—when some men were banished by name others frightened away by terror and danger,—when the temples were full of arms and the forum of armed men; and when those facts were not concealed by the silence of the consuls, but were openly approved of by them by their speeches and their formal decision,—when we all of us saw the city not yet perhaps razed and destroyed, but at all events already stormed and in the power of the enemy,—nevertheless relying on the exceeding zeal of the virtuous part of the citizens, we would have resisted, O judges, even these enormous evils.
35. cum essent eius modi, iudices, cum senatus duces nullos ac pro ducibus proditores aut potius apertos hostis haberet, equester ordo reus a consulibus citaretur, Italiae totius auctoritas repudiaretur, alii nominatim relegarentur, alii metu et periculo terrerentur, arma essent in templis, armati in foro, eaque non silentio consulum dissimularentur sed et voce et sententia comprobarentur, cum omnes urbem nondum excisam et eversam sed iam captam atque oppressam videremus: tamen his tantis malis tanto bonorum studio, iudices, restitissemus, sed me alii metus atque aliae curae suspicionesque moverunt.
36. But there were other grounds for fear, and other reasons for anxiety and suspicion, O judges, which influenced me at that time. For I will explain to you this day, O judges, all the principles of my conduct and of my designs; and I will not be wanting to your great desire of hearing the truth, nor to this multitude, the greatest which within my recollection, has ever appeared in any court of justice. For if I, in so good a cause, when supported so zealously by the senate, and by such an inconceivable unanimity on the part of all virtuous men, ready to act in my behalf, and when all Italy was stirred up and braced for the contest,—yielded to the fury of a tribune of the people, one of the most despicable of men; if I was afraid of the trifling but audacious characters of those most contemptible consuls, then I should be forced to confess that I was too timid, that I was a man of no courage, of no decision, and of no wisdom.
36. enim hodierno die, iudices, omnem rationem facti et consili mei, neque huic vestro tanto studio audiendi nec vero huic tantae multitudini, quanta mea memoria numquam ullo in iudicio fuit, deero. si ego in causa tam bona, tanto studio senatus, consensu tam incredibili bonorum omnium, tam parato ⟨populo⟩, tota denique Italia ad omnem contentionem expedita, cessi tribuni plebis, despicatissimi hominis, furori, contemptissimorum consulum levitatem audaciamque pertimui, nimium me timidum, nullius animi, nullius consili fuisse confiteor.
37. For what was there in the case of Quintus Metellus similar to mine? Although all good men considered that he had right on his side, yet the senate did not espouse his cause by any public resolution, nor did any separate body of men by any private vote, nor had all Italy undertaken the advocacy of his cause by their decrees. For he had shown greater regard for some sort of private credit of his own, than for the manifest welfare of the republic, when he alone had refused to swear to a law which had been passed by means of violence; and lastly, his great bravery appeared to be exercised with this qualification, that his own credit for consistency was not to be sacrificed to his affection for his country. But he had to contend against the invincible army of Caius Marius; he had for an enemy Caius Marius, the preserver of his country, now for the sixth time administering the affairs of the republic as consul. He had to contend against Lucius Saturninus, now for a second time tribune of the people; a vigilant man, and one who in a popular cause conducted himself, if not with moderation, at all events with due regard to the prejudices of the people, and in a very disinterested spirit. He yielded, lest, being conquered by brave men, he should fall disgracefully, or lest, if conqueror himself, he should deprive the republic of many gallant citizens.
37. enim simile fuit in Q. Metello? cuius causam etsi omnes boni probabant, tamen neque senatus publice neque ullus ordo proprie neque suis decretis Italia cuncta susceperat. suam enim quandam magis ille gloriam quam ad perspicuam salutem rei publicae ⟨respiciens rem gesserat⟩, cum unus in legem per vim latam iurare noluerat: denique videbatur ea condicione tam fortis fuisse ut cum patriae caritate constantiae gloriam commutaret. autem res ei cum exercitu C. Mari invicto, habebat inimicum C. Marium, conservatorem patriae, sextum iam illum consulatum gerentem; res erat cum L. Saturnino, iterum tribuno plebis, vigilante homine, et in causa populari si non moderate at certe populariter abstinenterque versato., ne aut victus a fortibus viris cum dedecore caderet, aut victor multis et fortibus civibus rem publicam orbaret.
38. But my cause was embraced openly by the senate, with the greatest energy by the equestrian order, by all Italy by means of public resolutions, and by all good men with the greatest earnestness, as if it were their own personal quarrel. I had performed achievements with regard to which I had not been the sole originator of them, but the leader of the universal inclination of all the citizens; and which were designed to promote not my own single glory, but the common safety of all the citizens—I may almost say of all nations. And I had performed them in such a manner that all men were bound at all times to uphold and defend my conduct. And I had to contend not against a victorious army, but against a lot of hired artisans, men excited with the hope of plundering the city. I had for an enemy,—not Caius Marius, the terror of our enemies, the hope and support of his country,—but two ill-omened monsters whom want and the immensity of their debts and fickleness and a wicked disposition, had delivered over to the tribune of the people as his slaves.
38. causam senatus palam, equester ordo acerrime, cuncta Italia publice, omnes boni proprie enixeque susceperant. res gesseram quarum non unus auctor sed dux omnium voluntatis fuissem, quaeque non modo ad singularem meam gloriam sed ad communem salutem omnium civium et prope gentium pertinerent; ea condicione gesseram ut meum factum semper omnes praestare tuerique deberent. autem mihi contentio non cum victore exercitu, sed cum operis conductis et ad diripiendam urbem concitatis; habebam inimicum non C. Marium, terrorem hostium, spem subsidiumque patriae, sed duo importuna prodigia, quos egestas, quos aeris alieni magnitudo, quos levitas, quos improbitas tribuno plebis constrictos addixerat;
39. Nor had I to contend against Saturninus, who was seeking to satisfy his own indignation with great earnestness of mind, because he knew that the superintendence of the import of provisions had been, as an intentional insult, transferred from him while he was quaestor at Ostia, to the chief man both of the senate and of the city, Marcus Scaurus. But I had to struggle with the debauched favourite of wealthy buffoons, with the adulterer of his sister, with the very high-priest of lewdness, with a poisoner, with a forger of wills, with an assassin, with a robber; and if—as was very easy to be done, as ought to have been done, and as many most virtuous and brave citizens entreated me to do—I had overcome those men by force and arms, I had no reason to fear that any one would reprove me for having repelled force by force, or grieve for the death of those abandoned citizens, or, as I should rather call them, domestic enemies. But these were the things which had weight with me. That Fury was in the habit of crying out in all the assemblies that all the things which he was doing to the prejudice of my safety, he was doing with the approval of Cnaeus Pompeius a most illustrious man, and both then and now a most intimate friend of mine as far as he was able to show himself such. Marcus Crassus a most gallant man with whom I had every imaginable intimacy of friendship, was announced by that same pest to be most hostile to my fortunes. Caius Caesar, who had no right to he alienated from me as far as any action of mine could have deserved such feelings on his part, was constantly stated by the same man in his daily harangues to be a most determined enemy to my safety.
39. nec mihi erat res cum Saturnino, qui quod a se quaestore Ostiensi per ignominiam ad principem et senatus et civitatis, M. Scaurum, rem frumentariam tralatam sciebat, dolorem suum magna contentione animi persequebatur, sed cum scurrarum locupletium scorto, cum sororis adultero, cum stuprorum sacerdote, cum venefico, cum testamentario, cum sicario, cum latrone; quos homines si, id quod facile factu fuit et quod fieri debuit quodque a me optimi et fortissimi cives flagitabant, vi armisque superassem, non verebar ne quis aut vim vi depulsam reprehenderet aut perditorum civium vel potius domesticorum hostium mortem maereret. me illa moverunt: omnibus in contionibus illa furia clamabat se quae faceret contra salutem meam facere auctore Cn. Pompeio, clarissimo viro mihique et nunc et quoad licuit amicissimo; M. Crassus, quocum mihi omnes erant amicitiae necessitudines, vir fortissimus, ab eadem illa peste infestissimus esse meis fortunis praedicabatur; C. Caesar, qui a me nullo meo merito alienus esse debebat, inimicissimus esse meae saluti ab eodem cotidianis contionibus dicebatur.
40. These three men he said he was going to avail himself of as his advisers in forming all his plans, and as his assistants in all his actions: of whom he said that one had the most numerous army in Italy; and that the other two, who were private men at that time, could easily get an army a-piece if they chose, and that they would do so. And while he menaced me, he threatened me, not with a judicial decision of the people, nor with any legal or legitimate sort of contest, nor with any discussion or regular trial of our dispute, but with violence, and arms, and armies, and generals, and camps. What then? Did the harangue of an enemy, especially so foolish a one as that, and aimed as it was so wickedly against the most illustrious men, move me? No. It was not his speech, but the silence of those men against whom that most infamous speech was directed that influenced me. For they—although the real cause of their silence was quite a different one—appeared, nevertheless, to men who were afraid of everything, by their very silence to speak, and by their forbearing to deny his assertions, to confess them.
40. se tribus auctoribus in consiliis capiendis, adiutoribus in re gerenda esse usurum dicebat; ex quibus unum habere exercitum in Italia maximum, duo, qui privati tum essent, et ⟨populo Romano⟩ praeesse et parare, si vellent, exercitum posse, idque facturos esse dicebat. mihi ille iudicium populi nec legitimam aliquam contentionem nec disceptationem aut causae dictionem, sed vim, arma, exercitus, imperatores, castra denuntiabat. ergo? inimici oratio, vana praesertim, tam improbe in clarissimos viros coniecta me movit? vero non illius oratio, sed eorum taciturnitas in quos illa oratio tam improba conferebatur; qui tum, quamquam ob alias causas tacebant, tamen hominibus omnia timentibus tacendo loqui, non infitiando confiteri videbantur. autem aliquo tum timore perterriti, quod acta illa atque omnis res anni superioris labefactari a praetoribus, infirmari a senatu atque a principibus civitatis putabant, tribunum popularem a se alienare nolebant, suaque sibi propiora esse pericula quam mea loquebantur.
41. But they, being then under the influence of excessive fear, because they thought that those actions and all the events of the preceding year were being undermined by the praetors, and annulled by the senate and by the chief men of the city, were unwilling to alienate a popular tribune of the people from their interests, and were in the habit of saying that their own dangers touched them more nearly than mine. But still Crassus said that my cause ought to be undertaken by the consuls, and Pompeius implored the aid of their good faith; and he said that he, though a private individual, would not desert the cause which was taken up by public authority. And as he was most anxious for my welfare, and eager beyond measure for the preservation of the republic, certain men, trained for that purpose, warned him to be more careful; and said that a plot was laid against his life, to be carried into execution in my house; and they kept this suspicion alive in him, some by letters, some by messengers, some by coming and talking to him about it; so that he, though most certainly he had no fear of me, yet thought it necessary to guard against them, lest they should attempt anything against him and lay the blame on me. But Caesar himself, who those men, ignorant of the truth, thought was angry with me most especially, was at the gates, was in military command; his army was in Italy, and in that army he had appointed to a command the brother of that very tribune of the people, my enemy.
41. tamen et Crassus a consulibus meam causam suscipiendam esse dicebat, et eorum fidem Pompeius implorabat neque se privatum publice susceptae causae defuturum esse dicebat; quem virum studiosum mei, cupidissimum rei publicae conservandae, domi meae certi homines ad eam rem positi monuerunt ut esset cautior, eiusque vitae a me insidias apud me domi positas esse dixerunt; atque hanc eius suspicionem alii litteris mittendis, alii nuntiis, alii coram ipsi excitaverunt, ut ille, cum a me certe nihil timeret, ab illis, ne quid meo nomine molirentur, sibi cavendum putaret. autem Caesar, quem maxime homines ignari veritatis mihi esse iratum putabant, erat ad portas, erat cum imperio; erat in Italia eius exercitus, inque eo exercitu ipsius tribuni plebis, inimici mei, fratrem praefecerat.
42. When I saw all this (for there was no secret about it), that the senate, without which the constitution could not stand, was entirely abolished out of the city; that the consuls whose duty it was to be the leaders of the public counsels, had so managed matters that by their means the great public council was entirely destroyed; that those men who had the greatest influence were held up to every assembly, (falsely indeed, but still in a way calculated to strike my friends with great fear,) as the great approvers of my ruin; that assemblies were held every day in opposition to me; that no one ever uttered a word in defence of me or of the republic that the standards of the legions were believed to be unfurled against your lives and properties, (falsely indeed, but still they were believed to be so,) that the veteran troops of the conspirators, and that ill-omened army of Catiline, once routed and defeated, was now recruited under a new leader and under the existing unexpected chances of circumstances;—when I saw all these things, what was I to do, O judges?
42. ergo cum viderem,—neque enim erant occulta,—senatum, sine quo civitas stare non posset, omnino de civitate esse sublatum; consules, qui duces publici consili esse deberent, perfecisse ut per ipsos publicum consilium funditus tolleretur; eos qui plurimum possent opponi omnibus contionibus falso, sed formidolose tamen, auctores ad perniciem meam; contiones haberi cotidie contra me; vocem pro me ac pro re publica neminem mittere; intenta signa legionum existimari cervicibus ac bonis vestris falso, sed putari tamen; coniuratorum copias veteres et effusam illam ac superatam Catilinae importunam manum novo duce et insperata commutatione rerum esse renovatam:—haec cum viderem, quid agerem, iudices?
43. For I know well that at that time it was not your zeal that was wanting to me, but more nearly my energy that was wanting to second your zeal. Was I, a private individual, to struggle in arms against a tribune of the people? No doubt the good would have defeated the wicked, the brave would have defeated the inactive; he would have been slain who could by no other remedy be prevented from being the ruin of the republic. What would have happened next? What would have become of the remains of his party? What would have been the end? Was there any doubt that the blood of the tribune especially when not shed in consequence of any public resolution would have had the consuls for its avengers? especially when we recollect that that fellow had said in the public assembly that I must either perish once or be victorious twice. What was the meaning of my having to conquer twice? Why no doubt that after I had struggled against that most senseless tribune of the people, I should have to struggle with the consuls and with all those who would avenge him. But for myself,— if I alone was to have perished, and if that incurable and deadly wound would not also have been inevitably inflicted on the republic, with which he threatened it—I should have preferred at that time, O judges, to perish once rather than conquer twice.
43. enim tum non mihi vestrum studium, sed meum prope vestro defuisse. contra tribunum plebis privatus armis? improbos boni, fortes inertis; interfectus esset is qui hac una medicina sola potuit a rei publicae peste depelli. deinde? reliqua praestaret? denique erat dubium quin ille sanguis tribunicius, nullo praesertim publico consilio profusus, consules ultores et defensores esset habiturus? cum quidam in contione dixisset aut mihi semel pereundum aut bis esse vincendum. erat bis vincere? profecto, ut, ⟨si⟩ cum amentissimo tribuno plebis decertassem, cum consulibus ceterisque eius ultoribus dimicarem.
44. For that second struggle would have been such, that whether we were conquered or conquerors, we should have been alike unable to preserve the republic. What would have happened if in the first struggle, being overcome by the violence of the tribune, I had fallen in the forum, with many virtuous citizens? The consuls, I imagine, would have convened the senate, which they had already expunged from the state; they would summon men to arms who had decided that the republic should not be upheld, no not even by a change of garments; they would, no doubt, have been sure to revolt from the tribune of the people after my death, who had intended the same hour to be that of my ruin and of their own reward!
44. vero, vel si pereundum fuisset ac non accipienda plaga mihi sanabilis, illi mortifera qui imposuisset, semel perire tamen, iudices, maluissem quam bis vincere; erat enim illa altera eius modi contentio ut neque victi neque victores rem publicam tenere possemus., si in prima contentione vi tribunicia victus in foro cum multis bonis viris concidissem? consules, credo, vocassent, quem totum de civitate delerant; ad arma vocassent, qui ne vestitu quidem defendi rem publicam sissent; a tribuno plebis post interitum dissedissent, qui eandem horam meae pestis et suorum praemiorum esse voluissent.
45. That one thing remained for me which, perhaps, some men of bold, and energetic, and magnanimous mind will say,—“You should have struggled, you should have resisted, you should have fought to the death.” With respect to which idea, I call you to witness, you my country, and you, O household gods, and gods of my country, that it was for the sake of your abodes and temples, that it was on account of the safety of my own fellow-citizens, which has always been dearer to me than my own life, that I avoided combat and bloodshed. In truth, O judges, if it had happened to me when I was sailing in some ship with my friends, that many pirates coming from many parts threatened to overwhelm that vessel with their fleets, unless they surrendered me alone to them; if the crew had refused to do so, and had preferred rather to perish with me than to surrender me to the enemy, I should have thrown myself into the sea in order to save the rest, rather than bring those who were so devoted to me, if not to certain death, at all events into great danger of their lives.
45. autem mihi restabat illud quod forsitan non nemo vir fortis et acris animi magnique dixerit: “restitisses, repugnasses, mortem pugnans oppetisses.” quo te, te, inquam, patria, testor et vos, penates patriique dei, me vestrarum sedum templorumque causa, me propter salutem meorum civium, quae mihi semper fuit mea carior vita, dimicationem caedemque fugisse. si mihi in aliqua nave cum meis amicis naviganti hoc, iudices, accidisset, ut multi ex multis locis praedones classibus eam navem se oppressuros minitarentur nisi me unum sibi dedidissent, si id vectores negarent ac mecum simul interire quam me tradere hostibus mallent, iecissem ipse me potius in profundum, ut ceteros conservarem, quam illos mei tam cupidos non modo ad certam mortem, sed in magnum vitae discrimen adducerem.
46. But when, after the helm had been wrested from the senate, so many armed fleets appeared ready to attack the vessel of the republic, tossed about on the deep by the tempests of sedition and discord, unless I alone were surrendered; when proscription, and plunder, and massacre were threatened; when some stood aloof from defending me from suspicion that their doing so might bring themselves into danger, and some were prompted by their long-standing hatred of all good men, and some envied me, and some thought that I was in their way, and some wished to revenge some grief or other which they had suffered, and some were influenced by hatred of the republic itself, and of the present state and tranquillity of good men, and on account of all these numerous and various causes were demanding me alone to be given up to them,—was I to fight against them to the extreme, I will not say destruction, but danger at all events, of you and your children, rather than by myself encounter and endure on behalf of all that evil which was impending over all?
46. vero in hanc rei publicae navem, ereptis senatui gubernaculis fluitantem in alto tempestatibus seditionum ac discordiarum, armatae tot classes, nisi ego essem unus deditus, incursurae viderentur, cum proscriptio, caedes, direptio denuntiaretur, cum alii me suspicione periculi sui non defenderent, alii vetere odio bonorum incitarentur, alii inviderent, alii obstare sibi me arbitrarentur, alii ulcisci dolorem aliquem suum vellent, alii rem ipsam publicam atque hunc bonorum statum otiumque odissent et ob hasce causas tot tamque varias me unum deposcerent, depugnarem potius cum summo non dicam exitio, sed periculo certe vestro liberorumque vestrorum, quam id quod omnibus impendebat unus pro omnibus susciperem ac subirem?
47. No doubt the wicked would have been defeated. Still they would have been citizens and they would have been defeated by that man as a private individual, who as consul, without any appeal to arms, had preserved the republic. But suppose the good men had been defeated, what would have remained? Do not you see that the state would have fallen into the hands of the slaves? Was even I myself as some people think to encounter death with entire equanimity? What? Was I at that time seeking to avoid death? or was there anything which I could think more desirable for myself, or at the very time that I was accomplishing these great exploits amid that multitude of wicked men, were not death and exile constantly present to my eyes? Were not these very events, even at the moment of my performance of those exploits, prophesied as it were by me as parts of my destiny? Or was life worth preserving at a time when all my family and friends were in such grief when there was such confusion such misery such destruction of everything which either nature or fortune had given me? Was I so stupid? so ignorant of affairs? so destitute of all sense and all ability? Had I heard nothing? Had I seen nothing? Had I learnt nothing myself by reading or by inquiry? Was I ignorant that the duration of life is brief, that of glory everlasting? that, as death was appointed for all men, it was desirable that life, which must some day or other be given up to necessity, should appear to have been made a present of to one's country rather than reserved for the claim of nature? Was I ignorant that there had been this dispute between the wisest men? that some said that the souls and senses of men were extinguished by death; but that others thought that the minds of wise and brave men were then in the greatest degree sensible and vigorous when they had departed from the body? And one of these alternatives would seem to show, that to be deprived of feeling was not a thing to be avoided; the other alternative must evidently be very desirable, to become possessed of a more perfect sensation.
47. “essent improbi.” cives, at ab eo privato qui sine armis etiam consul rem publicam conservarat. victi essent boni, qui superessent? ad servos videtis rem venturam fuisse? mihi ipsi, ut quidam putant, fuit mors aequo animo oppetenda?? mortemne fugiebam? erat res ulla quam mihi magis optandam putarem? ego illas res tantas in tanta improborum multitudine cum gerebam, non mihi mors, non exsilium ob oculos versabatur? haec denique a me tum tamquam fata in ipsa re gerenda canebantur? erat mihi in tanto luctu meorum, tanta diiunctione, tanta acerbitate, tanta spoliatione omnium rerum quas mihi aut natura aut fortuna dederat, vita retinenda? eram rudis, tam ignarus rerum, tam expers consili aut ingeni? audieram, nihil videram, nihil ipse legendo quaerendoque cognoveram? vitae brevem esse cursum, gloriae sempiternum? cum esset omnibus definita mors, optandum esse ut vita, quae necessitati deberetur, patriae potius donata quam reservata naturae videretur? inter sapientissimos homines hanc contentionem fuisse, ut alii dicerent animos hominum sensusque morte restingui, alii autem tum maxime mentis sapientium ac fortium virorum, cum e corpore excessissent, sentire ac vigere? quorum alterum fugiendum non esse, carere sensu, alterum etiam optandum, meliore esse sensu.
48. Lastly, as I had always considered everything with reference to what was becoming, and had never thought anything in life desirable if unaccompanied by propriety, was I, a man of consular rank, who had performed such great deeds, likely to be afraid of death, which even Athenian maidens, daughters I fancy of king Erectheus, are said to have despised in the cause of their country? Especially when I was a member of that city from which Mucius went forth when he penetrated,—by himself, into the camp of king Porsena, and endeavoured to slay him, at the imminent risk of his own life; from which, in the first instance, Decius the father, and many years afterwards his son, endowed with his father's virtue, went forth when, while their armies were drawn up in battle array, they devoted themselves and their own lives to ensure the safety and victory of the Roman army; from which a countless host of others besides have gone forth, and with the greatest equanimity have encountered death, some for the sake of gaining glory, and some with the object of encountering disgrace; and while I, myself, remember that in this city the father of this Marcus Crassus, a most gallant man, put himself to death with that same hand with which he had often scattered death among the enemy, that he might not live to see his enemy victorious.
48. , cum omnia semper ad dignitatem rettulissem nec sine ea quicquam expetendum esse homini in vita putassem, mortem, quam etiam virgines Athenis, regis, opinor, Erechthei filiae, pro patria contempsisse dicuntur, ego vir consularis tantis rebus gestis timerem? praesertim cum eius essem civitatis ex qua C. Mucius solus in castra Porsennae venisset eumque interficere proposita sibi morte conatus esset; ex qua P. Decius primum pater, post aliquot annos patria virtute praeditus filius se ac vitam suam instructa acie pro salute populi Romani victoriaque devovisset; ex qua innumerabiles alii partim adipiscendae laudis, partim vitandae turpitudinis causa mortem in variis bellis aequissimis animis oppetissent; in qua civitate ipse meminissem patrem huius M. Crassi, fortissimum virum, ne videret victorem vivus inimicum, eadem sibi manu vitam exhausisse qua mortem saepe hostibus obtulisset.
49. Influenced by these and many other considerations, I saw that, if my death were the destruction of the common cause of the state, no one would ever live who would venture to undertake the defence of the safety of the republic against wicked citizens. Therefore, I feared that the result would be, not only if I were put to death by violence, but even if I died from natural causes, that the example of a man labouring for the preservation of the republic would perish with me. For if, while all good men were so eager for it, I were not restored by the senate and people of Rome, (and most unquestionably that could never have happened if I had been killed first,) who would ever dare afterwards to encounter the very slightest unpopularity for the sake of having anything to do with the affairs of the republic? I, therefore, saved the republic, O judges, by my departure. At the expense of my own grief and misery I averted slaughter, and devastation, and conflagration, and plunder, from you and from your children. And I, by myself, twice saved the republic once with glory, once with misery. That I will never so far deny that I have the feelings of a man as to boast that I felt no grief when I was deprived of my most excellent brother, of my most beloved children, of my most faithful wife, of the sight of you, my fellow-citizens, of my country, and of my rank as a senator. If those had been my feelings, what obligation would you be under to me, if for your sake I had only abandoned those things which I considered of no value? This, in my opinion, ought to be considered by you a most certain token of my exceeding devotion to my country, that though I could not be absent from her without the deepest grief, yet I preferred to endure this grief, rather than to allow her to be destroyed by wicked citizens.
49. ego et multa alia cogitans hoc videbam, si causam publicam mea mors peremisset, neminem umquam fore qui auderet suscipere contra improbos civis salutem rei publicae; itaque non solum si vi interissem, sed etiam si morbo exstinctus essem, fore putabam ut exemplum rei publicae conservandae mecum simul interiret. enim umquam me a senatu populoque Romano tanto omnium bonorum studio non restituto,—quod certe, si essem interfectus, accidere non potuisset,—ullam rei publicae partem cum sua minima invidia auderet attingere? igitur rem publicam discessu meo, iudices: caedem a vobis liberisque vestris, vastitatem, incendia, rapinas meo dolore luctuque depuli, et unus rem publicam bis servavi, semel gloria, iterum aerumna mea. enim in hoc me hominem esse infitiabor umquam, ut me optimo fratre, carissimis liberis, fidissima coniuge, vestro conspectu, patria, hoc honoris gradu sine dolore caruisse glorier; quod si fecissem, quod a me beneficium haberetis, cum pro vobis ea quae mihi essent vilia reliquissem? meo quidem animo summi in patriam amoris mei signum esse debet certissimum, quod, cum abesse ab ea sine summo dolore non possem, hunc me perpeti quam illam labefactari ab improbis malui.
50. I recollected, O judges, that that godlike man, sprung from the same district as myself, for the preservation of this empire, Caius Marius, in extreme old age, when he had escaped from violence little short of a pitched battle, first of all hid his aged body up to his neck in the marshes and from thence crossed over in a very little boat to the most desolate regions of Africa, avoiding all harbours and all inhabited countries. And he preserved his own life, that he might not fall unavenged, for the most uncertain hopes, but still for his country. Should not I, who (as many men in the senate said during my absence) had the safety of the republic bound up with my life, and who on that account was by the public order of the senate, recommended by the letters of the consuls to the protection of foreign nations,—should not I, I say, have been betraying the republic if I had neglected the preservation of my own life? In the city now since I have been restored there lives in my person an example of the public good faith, an instance of its being worth men's while to defend the republic. And if this example is preserved for ever who is there who can fail to see that this city will be immortal?
50. , iudices, divinum illum virum atque ex isdem quibus nos radicibus natum ad salutem huius imperi, C. Marium, summa senectute, cum vim prope iustorum armorum profugisset, primo senile corpus paludibus occultasse demersum, deinde ad infimorum ac tenuissimorum hominum Minturnensium misericordiam confugisse, inde navigio perparvo, cum omnis portus terrasque fugeret, in oras Africae desertissimas pervenisse. ille vitam suam, ne inultus esset, ad incertissimam spem et ad rei publicae ⟨interitum⟩ reservavit: ego qui, quem ad modum multi in senatu me absente dixerunt, periculo rei publicae vivebam, quique ob eam causam consularibus litteris de senatus sententia exteris nationibus commendabar, nonne, si meam vitam deseruissem, rem publicam prodidissem? qua quidem nunc me restituto vivit mecum simul exemplum fidei publicae; quod si immortale retinetur, quis non intellegit immortalem hanc civitatem futuram?
51. For the foreign wars waged against us by foreign kings, countries, and nations, have long been so completely put down, that they are treating them, to our own great credit, as people whom we can allow to remain at peace. Moreover it has not been a common thing for unpopularity to attach itself to any one of the citizens on account of any warlike triumphs. We often have to resist domestic evils and the counsels of audacious citizens; and it is indispensable to retain in the republic a remedy for these dangers; all which, O judges, you would have lost if the power of declaring its grief at my position had been taken from the senate and people of Rome by my death. Wherefore, I warn you, O young men, and I enjoin you by the right which belongs to me to do so, you who have a regard for propriety, for the republic, and for glory, not to be slow, if at any time any necessity summons you to defend the republic against worthless citizens, and not, from any recollection of what has happened to me, to shun bold counsels.
51. externa bella regum, gentium, nationum iam pridem ita exstincta sunt ut praeclare cum iis agamus quos pacatos esse patiamur; denique ex bellica victoria non fere quemquam est invidia civium consecuta. malis et audacium civium consiliis saepe est resistendum, eorumque periculorum est in re publica retinenda medicina; quam omnem, iudices, perdidissetis, si meo interitu senatui populoque Romano doloris sui de me declarandi potestas esset erepta. re moneo vos, adulescentes, atque hoc meo iure praecipio, qui dignitatem, qui rem publicam, qui gloriam spectatis, ne, si quae vos aliquando necessitas ad rem publicam contra improbos civis defendendam vocabit, segniores sitis et recordatione mei casus a consiliis fortibus refugiatis.
52. In the first place, there is no danger of any one ever falling in with such consuls as these, especially if these are requited as they deserve. In the second place, there never will again, I hope, be an instance of any wicked man saying that he is attacking the republic with the approval and assistance of virtuous citizens, while they keep silence; nor of such a man's threatening citizens in the garb of peace with the terrors of an armed soldiery; nor will there be any excuse for a general stationed with his army at the gates, allowing the terror of his name to be used as an instrument for opposing and alarming the citizens. For the senate will never be so oppressed as to have no power of even entreating or lamenting; the equestrian order will never be bound hand and foot so completely as to allow Roman knights to be banished by the consul. But yet even after all these things had happened, and many other more important events also, which I pass over designedly, still you see that, after a short interval of suffering, I was recalled to the enjoyment of my former dignity by the voice of the republic.
52. non est periculum ne quis umquam incidat in eius modi consules, praesertim si erit iis id quod debetur persolutum. numquam iam, ut spero, quisquam improbus consilio et auxilio bonorum se oppugnare rem publicam dicet illis tacentibus, nec armati exercitus terrorem opponet togatis; neque erit iusta causa ad portas sedenti imperatori qua re suum terrorem falso iactari opponique patiatur. ⟨autem⟩ erit tam oppressus senatus ut ei ne supplicandi quidem ac lugendi sit potestas, tam captus equester ordo ut equites Romani a consule relegentur. cum omnia atque etiam multo alia maiora, quae consulto praetereo, accidissent, videtis me tamen in meam pristinam dignitatem brevi tempore doloris interiecto rei publicae voce esse revocatum.
53. But to return to that point which is the one which I have particularly proposed to myself to establish in this speech; namely, that the republic was afflicted and oppressed by every sort of calamity that year owing to the wickedness of the consuls. First of all, on that very day which was fatal to me and grievous to all good men, when I had torn myself from the embrace of my country and from your sight, O fellow-citizens, and when from fear of danger to you, not to myself, I had yielded to the frenzy, and wickedness, and treachery, and arms, and threats of one man, and had abandoned my country, which was the dearest of all things to me, out of affection for my country herself; when not only men but the very houses and temples of the city were lamenting that misfortune which befell me,—so horrible, so lamentable, and so sudden; when no one of you could bear the sight of the forum, or of the senate house, or of the light of day; on that very day, do I say? at that very hour, at that very same moment, at that very instant of ruin to me and to the republic, their provinces were decreed to Gabinius and to Piso. O ye immortal gods, guardians and preservers of this city and empire, what monsters of wickedness, what crimes have you beheld in the republic! That citizen was expelled who, in compliance with the authority of the senate, had defended the republic with the cooperation of all good men and he was expelled, not because of any other charge being brought against him, but expressly because he had done so. And he was expelled without any trial, by violence, by stones, by arms, by bodies of slaves excited to sedition. A law was passed after the forum had been desolated and abandoned, and given over to assassins and to slaves; a law to prevent the passing of which the senate had changed its dress and gone into mourning.
53. ut revertar ad illud quod mihi in hac omni est oratione propositum, omnibus malis illo anno scelere consulum rem publicam esse confectam, primum illo ipso die, qui mihi funestus fuit, omnibus bonis luctuosus, cum ego me ⟨e⟩ complexu patriae conspectuque vestro eripuissem, et metu vestri periculi, non mei, furori hominis, sceleri, perfidiae, telis minisque cessissem, patriamque, quae mihi erat carissima, propter ipsius patriae caritatem reliquissem, cum meum illum casum tam horribilem, tam gravem, tam repentinum non solum homines sed tecta urbis ac templa lugerent, nemo vestrum forum, nemo curiam, nemo lucem aspicere vellet: illo, inquam, ipso die—die dico? immo hora atque etiam puncto temporis eodem mihi reique publicae pernicies, Gabinio et Pisoni provincia rogata est. di immortales, custodes et conservatores huius urbis atque imperi, quaenam illa in re publica monstra, quae scelera vidistis! erat expulsus is qui rem publicam ex senatus auctoritate cum omnibus bonis defenderat, et expulsus non alio aliquo, sed eo ipso crimine; erat autem expulsus sine iudicio, vi, lapidibus, ferro, servitio denique concitato; lex erat lata vastato ac relicto foro et sicariis servisque tradito, et ea lex quae ut ne ferretur senatus fuerat veste mutata.
54. The city being in this state of confusion, the consuls did not allow even one night to elapse between my misfortune and their acquisition of plunder. Instantly, the moment that I was struck down, they flew to drink my blood, and, while the republic was still breathing, to carry off and divide my spoils. I say nothing of their mutual congratulations, of their banquets, of their division of the treasury, of their liberality, of their hopes, of their promises, of their booty of the joy of a few amid the universal mourning. My wife was attacked, my children sought for in order to be murdered, my son-in-law,—yes, my son-in-law, Piso, was rejected as a suppliant by Piso the consul after he had thrown himself at his feet; my property was plundered and carried off to the houses of the consuls; my house was burnt on the Palatine Hill; the consuls passed the time in revels and joy. But even if they were rejoiced at my distress, they ought to have been moved at the dangers of the city.
54. tanta perturbatione civitatis ne noctem quidem consules inter meum ⟨interitum⟩ et suam praedam interesse passi sunt: statim me perculso ad meum sanguinem hauriendum, et spirante etiam re publica ad eius spolia detrahenda advolaverunt. gratulationes, epulas, partitionem aerari, beneficia, spem, promissa, praedam, laetitiam paucorum in luctu omnium. uxor mea, liberi ad necem quaerebantur, gener, et Piso gener, a Pisonis consulis pedibus supplex reiciebatur, bona diripiebantur eaque ad consules deferebantur, domus ardebat in Palatio: consules epulabantur. si meis incommodis laetabantur, urbis tamen periculo commoverentur.
55. But, however, to give up dwelling on my own case, recollect the rest of the calamities of that year. For by that means you will most easily perceive what a rigorous application of all sorts of remedies the republic required from the next magistrates, and what a multitude of laws wanted remedying, both such as had been passed, and such as had been only proposed. For some were passed while those consuls (shall I say, were silent respecting them? Yes, rather while they) actually approved of them; laws, that the notice of the censors and the most important decisions of the most holy magistrates should be abolished; that not only those ancient guilds which had existed before should be restored in defiance of the resolution of the senate, but that innumerable new ones should be established by one gladiator; that by abandoning the collection of the half as, and third of an as, nearly one-fifth part of our revenues should be destroyed; that Syria should be given to Gabinius instead of Cilicia, which he had bargained for, if he succeeded in betraying the republic; that one glutton should have the power of deliberating twice over about the same thing, and that he might propose a new law for the purpose of changing his province, after one law had been actually passed on that subject.
55. ut a mea causa iam recedam, reliquas illius anni pestis recordamini—sic enim facillime perspicietis quantam vim omnium remediorum a magistratibus proximis res publica desiderarit—legum multitudinem, cum earum quae latae sunt, tum vero quae promulgatae fuerunt. latae quidem sunt consulibus illis—tacentibus dicam? immo vero etiam adprobantibus; ut censoria notio et gravissimum iudicium sanctissimi magistratus de re publica tolleretur, ut conlegia non modo illa vetera contra senatus consultum restituerentur, sed ⟨ab⟩ uno gladiatore innumerabilia alia nova conscriberentur, ut remissis senis et trientibus quinta prope pars vectigalium tolleretur, ut Gabinio pro illa sua Cilicia, quam sibi, si rem publicam prodidisset, pactus erat, Syria daretur, et uni helluoni bis de eadem re deliberandi et rogata ⟨lege potestas per nov⟩am legem fieret provinciae commutandae.
56. I say nothing about that law which at one swoop destroyed all religious observances, all the privileges attached to the auspices, to the civil magistrates, and all the enactments which refer to the common law, and to the time of proposing laws; I say nothing about all the internal misfortunes which afflicted us; we saw even foreign nations shaken by the insanity of that year. By a law proposed by a tribune of the people, the priest of the Mighty Mother at Pessinus was expelled and stripped of his priesthood; and that shrine of the most holy and most ancient of all religious ceremonies was sold for a large sum to Brogitarus, a profligate man, and unworthy of any such sacred character; especially as he had desired it not for the purpose of doing honour to the goddess, but only of profaning her temple. People were styled kings by the people, who would never have even asked for such a title from the senate: condemned exiles were brought back to Byzantium at the very time when citizens, who had not been condemned, were being driven from the city.
56. eam legem quae omnia iura religionum, auspiciorum, potestatum, omnis leges quae sunt de iure et de tempore legum rogandarum, una rogatione delevit; mitto omnem domesticam labem: etiam exteras nationes illius anni furore conquassatas videbamus. tribunicia Matris Pessinuntius ille sacerdos expulsus et spoliatus sacerdotio est, fanumque sanctissimarum atque antiquissimarum religionum venditum pecunia grandi Brogitaro, impuro homini atque indigno illa religione, praesertim cum eam sibi ille non colendi, sed violandi causa adpetisset; appellati reges a populo qui id numquam ne a senatu quidem postulassent; reducti exsules Byzantium condemnati tum cum indemnati cives e civitate eiciebantur.
57. King Ptolemaeus, who, if he had not as yet been himself styled an ally by the senate, was at all events the brother of that king, who, while his cause was identical with his, had long since received that honour from the senate; and was of the same family, sprung from the same ancestors as his brother, and had the same claims from the antiquity of his alliance; who, lastly, was a king, and if not yet an ally, still most certainly not an enemy; was enjoying the kingdom which had belonged to his father and his grandfather in peace and quiet, relying on the sovereign power of the Roman people in a condition of royal ease and tranquillity. While he was never thinking of any such thing, never suspecting any such thing, a motion was made and put to the vote of the same troop of labourers and artisans that he while sitting on his throne, with his purple and sceptre and all the other ensigns of royal authority, should be placed at the mercy of a public crier;—a motion was made, I say that the Roman people, which has been in the habit of restoring their kingdoms even to those kings whom they have subdued in war, should order that a king who was a friend of the nation, who was not even said to have done them any injury, who had never had any claim preferred against him or any demand for the restitution of anything, should have all his property confiscated and sold with his own person and liberty.
57. Ptolomaeus, qui, si nondum erat ipse a senatu socius appellatus, erat tamen frater eius regis qui, cum esset in eadem causa, iam erat a senatu honorem istum consecutus, erat eodem genere eisdemque maioribus, eadem vetustate societatis, denique erat rex, si nondum socius, at non hostis; pacatus, quietus, fretus imperio populi Romani regno paterno atque avito regali otio perfruebatur—: de hoc nihil cogitante, nihil suspicante, eisdem operis suffragium ferentibus, est rogatum ut sedens cum purpura et sceptro et illis insignibus regiis praeconi publico subiceretur, et imperante populo Romano, qui etiam bello victis regibus regna reddere consuevit, rex amicus nulla iniuria commemorata, nullis rebus repetitis, cum bonis omnibus publicaretur.
58. That year was a year of many cruel, of many shameful, of many turbulent proceedings, but I know not whether I ought not deservedly to call this the nearest in iniquity to that crime which their wickedness committed against me. Our ancestors determined that that celebrated Antiochus called the Great, after he had been subdued in a long and arduous struggle by land and seas, should be king over the districts within Mount Taurus. They gave Asia, of which they deprived him, to Attalus, that he should be king over that district. With Tigranes, king of the Armenians, we waged a serious war of very long duration; he having, I may almost say, challenged us, by inflicting wanton injuries on our allies. He was not truly a vigorous enemy on his own power and on his own account, but he also defended with all his resources and protected in his territory, that most active enemy of this empire, Mithridates, after he had been driven from Pontus; and after he had been defeated by Lucullus that most excellent man and most consummate general, he still remained in his former mind, and kept up a hostile feeling against us with the remainder of his army. And yet this man did Cnaeus Pompeius—after he had seen him in his camp as a suppliant and in an abject condition—raise up and placed on his head again the royal crown which he himself had taken off, and, having imposed certain conditions on him, ordered to continue king. And he thought it no less glorious for himself and for this empire, that the king should be known to he restored by him, than if he had kept him in bonds.
58. acerba, multa turpia, multa turbulenta habuit ille annus; tamen illi sceleri quod in me illorum immanitas edidit haud scio an recte hoc proximum esse dicamus. Antiochum Magnum illum maiores nostri magna belli contentione terra marique superatum intra montem Taurum regnare iusserunt: Asiam, qua illum multarunt, Attalo, ut is regnaret in ea, condonaverunt. Cum Armeniorum rege Tigrane grave bellum nuper ipsi diuturnumque gessimus, cum ille iniuriis in socios nostros inferendis bello prope nos lacessisset. et ipse per se vehemens fuit et acerrimum hostem huius imperi Mithridatem pulsum Ponto opibus suis regnoque defendit, et a ⟨L.⟩ Lucullo, summo viro atque imperatore, pulsus animo tamen hostili cum reliquis suis copiis in pristina mente mansit. Cn. Pompeius cum in suis castris supplicem abiectum vidisset erexit, atque insigne regium, quod ille de suo capite abiecerat, reposuit et certis rebus imperatis regnare iussit, nec minus et sibi et huic imperio gloriosum putavit constitutum a se regem quam constrictum videri.
59. Therefore, Tigranes—who was himself an enemy of the Roman people, and who received our most active enemy in his territories, who struggled against us, who fought pitched battles with us, and who compelled us to combat almost for our very existence and supremacy—is a king to this day, and has obtained by his entreaties the name of a friend and ally, which he had previously forfeited by his hostile and warlike conduct. That unhappy king of Cyprus—who was always our ally, always our friend, concerning whom no single unfavourable suspicion was ever reported to the senate or to our commanders in those parts—has now, as they say, while alive and beholding the light, been seized and sold with all his means of support, and all his royal apparel. Here is a good reason for other kings thinking their own fortunes stable, when by this example, handed down to recollection from that fatal year, they see that one tribune and six hundred journeymen have power to despoil them of all their fortunes, and strip them of their whole kingdom!
59. et ipse hostis fuit populi Romani et acerrimum hostem in regnum recepit, qui conflixit, qui signa contulit, qui de imperio paene certavit, regnat hodie et amicitiae nomen ac societatis, quod armis violarat, id precibus est consecutus: ille Cyprius miser, qui semper amicus, semper socius fuit, de quo nulla umquam suspicio durior aut ad senatum aut ad imperatores adlata nostros est, vivus, ut aiunt, est et videns cum victu ac vestitu suo publicatus. cur ceteri reges stabilem esse suam fortunam arbitrentur, cum hoc illius funesti anni prodito exemplo videant per tribunum aliquem et sescentas operas se fortunis spoliari et regno omni posse nudari!