120. How was it that,—when the news of that resolution of the senate which was passed in the temple of Virtue was fresh, and was brought to the people while engaged in beholding the games, and to the actors on the stage, in a very full house—that consummate actor, a man in truth who always performs the best part in the republic as he does on the stage weeping both from recent joy and also from a mixture of grief and regret for me, pleaded my cause before the Roman people in much more impressive language than I could possibly have pleaded for myself? For he gave a representation of the genius of the great poet whose play was being acted not merely by his art as an actor, but by his real grief. “What, shall he who with a constant mind assisted and supported the state; who has always stood on the side of the Greeks … ” He said that I had always stood on your side; he pointed to your ranks; he was encored by every body. “Who in a critical state of affairs, did not hesitate to expose his life, did not spare his own person or privileges ….”
120. fuit illud quod, recenti nuntio de illo senatus consulto quod factum est in templo ad ludos scaenamque perlato, consessu maximo summus artifex et me hercule semper partium in re publica tam quam in scaena optimarum, flens et recenti laetitia et mixto dolore ac desiderio mei, egit apud populum Romanum multo gravioribus verbis meam causam quam egomet de me agere potuissem? enim poetae ingenium non solum arte sua, sed etiam dolore exprimebat. enim ⟨vi⟩:quí rem publicám certo animo adiúverit,státuerit, steterít cum Achivis—vobiscum me stetisse dicebat, vestros ordines demonstrabat! revocabatur ab universis—ré dubiahaút dubitarit vítam offerre néc capiti pepércerit.
121. What shouts were raised as he recited these passages! when, omitting all consideration of his acting, the people applauded the words of the poet and the zeal of the actor, and the encouragement of their expectations respecting me. “A most excellent friend, in a most important war …:” for the actor added that of himself, from his friendly inclination towards me; and perhaps men applauded it on account of their regret for me: “A man endowed with the highest ability.” Then came those words in the same play, with what groans on the part of the Roman people were they accompanied when the actor repeated them! “Oh my father ….” He thought me,—me, I say, deserving to be lamented as his father, whom Quintus Catulus and whom many other men had repeatedly styled in the senate the Father of my country. With what great weeping for my ruin and for the confirmation of my property were his words accompanied, when he deplored his father driven away, his country afflicted, his house burnt and destroyed. He acted in such a manner, when after having dilated on his former fortune, he turned his description in this way. “All these things have I seen destroyed by fire …,” as to rouse the tears of even my enemies and my enviers.
121. quantis ab illo clamoribus agebantur! iam omisso gestu verbis poetae et studio actoris et exspectationi nostrae plauderetur:amicum súmmo in bello—nam illud ipse actor adiungebat amico animo et fortasse homines propter aliquod desiderium adprobabant:súmmo ingenio praéditum. illa quanto cum gemitu populi Romani ab eodem paulo post in eadem fabula sunt acta!O páter—, me ille absentem ut patrem deplorandum putabat, quem Q. Catulus, quem multi alii saepe in senatu patrem patriae nominarant. cum fletu de illis nostris incendiis ac ruinis, cum patrem pulsum, patriam adflictam deploraret, domum incensam eversamque, sic egit ut, demonstrata pristina fortuna, cum se convertisset,ómnia vidi inflámmarifletum etiam inimicis atque invidis excitaret!
122. O ye immortal gods, what did he do next? in what way did he pronounce the next words? which indeed seem to me to have been acted and written in such a manner, that they might appropriately have been uttered even by Catulus himself, if he had come to life again; for he was; accustomed at times to reprove and attack the precipitate counsels of the people, and the blunders of the senate as well, with great freedom. “O ungrateful Argives; empty-headed Greeks; forgetful of kindness!” That, indeed, was not true; for they were not ungrateful, but miserable in not being allowed to secure the safety of that man from whom they had received their own: nor was any body ever more grateful to another than all of them were to me. But still what that most eloquent poet wrote was; applicable to me; and that not only best but also boldest of actors applied it to me, when he pointed at all orders of citizens, and accused the senate, the Roman knights, and the whole Roman people: “You allow him to be banished, you have voted for his being driven away, you endure his being driven away.” I myself only know by report what indications every one then gave of their feelings on that occasion, and how universally the whole Roman people declared their inclinations towards a man who had never sought to curry favour with the people; but they can judge more accurately of that who were present.
122. di immortales!? illa quem ad modum dixit idem! mihi quidem ita et acta et scripta videntur esse ut vel a Q. Catulo, si revixisset, praeclare posse dici viderentur; is enim libere reprehendere et accusare populi non numquam temeritatem solebat aut errorem senatus:O íngratifici Argívi, immunes Gráii, immemores bénefici!erat illud quidem verum; non enim ingrati, sed miseri, quibus reddere salutem a quo acceperant non liceret, nec unus in quemquam umquam gratior quam in me universi; sed tamen illud scripsit disertissimus poeta pro me, egit fortissimus actor, non solum optimus, de me, cum omnis ordines demonstraret, senatum, equites Romanos, universum populum Romanum accusaret:sínitis, sistis pélli, pulsum pátimini!tum significatio fuerit omnium, quae declaratio voluntatis ab universo populo Romano in causa hominis non popularis, equidem audiebam: existimare facilius possunt qui adfuerunt.
123. And since my speech has carried me on to this point the actor bewailed my misfortune so repeatedly, while he was pleading my cause so mournfully, that his beautiful voice was hindered by his tears. Nor were the poets, whose genius I have always had an affection for, wanting to my necessities at that time, and the Roman people approved of their words, not only with their applause, but even with their groans. Ought then Aesop or Accius to have said these things on my behalf of the Roman people had been free, or ought they to have left them to the chief men of the state to say? In the Brutus, I was mentioned by name: “Tullius, who had established the liberty of the citizens.” It was encored again and again. Did the Roman people appear to be giving slight indications that it had been established by me and by the senate, though profligate citizens accused us as having destroyed it?
123. quoniam huc me provexit oratio, histrio casum meum totiens conlacrimavit, cum ita dolenter ageret causam meam ut vox eius illa praeclara lacrimis impediretur; neque poetae, quorum ego semper ingenia dilexi, tempori meo defuerunt; eaque populus Romanus non solum plausu sed etiam gemitu suo comprobavit. Vtrum igitur haec Aesopum potius pro me aut Accium dicere oportuit, si populus Romanus liber esset, an principes civitatis? sum appellatus in Bruto:Túllius, qui líbertatem cívibus stabilíverat.revocatum est. Parumne videbatur populus Romanus iudicare id a me et a senatu esse constitutum quod perditi cives sublatum per nos criminabantur?
124. But above all other times the sentiments of the entire Roman people were declared at the exhibition of the gladiatorial games. For they were the gift of Scipio, worthy both of him and Quintus Metellus, in whose honour they were given. And they are a spectacle of that sort which is attended by immense numbers and by every class of men, and with which the multitude is delighted above all things into that crowd of spectators came Publius Sestius as tribune of the people when during his whole period of office he had been nothing whatever but serving my cause and he went among the people, not from any personal desire of applause but that our enemies might themselves see the inclinations of the universal people. He came, as you know, to the Maenian pillar, and such great applause ensued from all the places for beholding the spectacle all the way from the Capitol, and such universal clapping of hands from every seat, that it was said that there had never been in any cause whatever, greater or more manifest unanimity on the part of the Roman people.
124. vero populi Romani iudicium universi consessu gladiatorio declaratum est; erat enim munus Scipionis, dignum et eo ipso et illo Metello cui dabatur. autem spectaculi genus erat quod omni frequentia atque omni genere hominum celebratur, quo multitudo maxime delectatur. hunc consessum P. Sestius tribunus plebis, cum ageret nihil aliud in eo magistratu nisi meam causam, venit et se populo dedit non plausus cupiditate, sed ut ipsi inimici nostri voluntatem universi populi viderent: venit, ut scitis, a columna Maenia: tantus est ex omnibus spectaculis usque a Capitolio, tantus ex fori cancellis plausus excitatus, ut numquam maior consensio aut apertior populi Romani universi fuisse ulla in causa diceretur.
125. Where at that time were those regulators of the assemblies, those masters of the laws, those expellers of citizens? Or have these wicked men any peculiar people of their own to whom we have given offence, and by whom we are hated? I think, indeed, that there never was a time when the people were assembled in greater crowds, than that time of those gladiatorial games; neither at any assembly, nor even at any comitia. What then did this innumerable multitude of men, this extraordinary indication of the will of the entire Roman people, without the slightest disagreement on those very days when it was thought that my cause was going to be decided, declare, except that the safety and dignity of the best citizens was dear to the entire Roman people?
125. erant tum illi contionum moderatores, legum domini, civium expulsores? Aliusne est aliquis improbis civibus peculiaris populus, cui nos offensi invisique fuerimus? existimo nullum tempus esse frequentioris populi quam illud gladiatorium, neque contionis ullius neque vero ullorum comitiorum. igitur innumerabilis hominum multitudo, haec populi Romani tanta significatio sine ulla varietate universi, cum illis ipsis diebus de me actum iri putaretur, quid declaravit nisi optimorum civium salutem et dignitatem populo Romano caram esse universo?
126. But that tribune of the people, who was accustomed to put questions to the assembly, not according to the usual custom of his father, or his grandfather, or his great grandfather, or of any of his ancestors, but like a Greek schoolmaster, “Did they wish me to return?” and when an outcry was raised against it by the faint voices of his hirelings, he said that the Roman people affirmed that they had no such wish,—he, though he used to go and see the gladiators every day, was never seen when he did come. He used to emerge on a sudden after he had crept along under the benches, so that he seemed as if he were going to say, “Mother, I call you.” And so that dark way by which he used to come to see the games was called the Appian Road. But still, the moment the people got sight of him, not only the gladiators, but the very horses of the gladiators, were frightened at the sudden hisses that ensued.
126. vero ille praetor, qui de me non patris, avi, proavi, maiorum denique suorum omnium, sed Graeculorum instituto contionem interrogare solebat, “velletne me redire,” et, cum erat reclamatum semivivis mercennariorum vocibus, populum Romanum negare dicebat, is, cum cotidie gladiatores spectaret, numquam est conspectus cum veniret. subito, cum sub tabulas subrepserat, ut, te appellodicturus videretur; itaque illa via latebrosior, qua spectatum ille veniebat, Appia iam vocabatur; qui tamen quoquo tempore conspectus erat, non modo gladiatores sed equi ipsi gladiatorum repentinis sibilis extimescebant.
127. Do you not see, then, what a great difference there is between the Roman people and an assembly? Do you not see that the masters of the assemblies are the object of the hatred of the Roman people? and that those who are not permitted to appear without insult in the assembly of artisans, are honoured by every possible mark of respect by the Roman people? Do you speak to me of Marcus Atilius Regulus, who of his own accord preferred returning to Carthage to execution, to remaining at Rome without those prisoners by whom he had been sent to the Senate, and then do you deny that I ought to be anxious for a recall procured by means of trained households of slaves and bands of armed men? Certainly, I suppose I was anxious for violence, who, as long as there was any violence going on, did nothing whatever, and who could not possibly have been undermined and injured if it had not been for violence.
127. igitur quantum ⟨intersit⟩ inter populum Romanum et contionem? dominos contionum omni odio populi notari, quibus autem consistere in operarum contionibus non liceat, eos omni populi Romani significatione decorari? mihi etiam M. Atilium Regulum commemoras, qui redire ipse Carthaginem sua voluntate ad supplicium quam sine iis captivis a quibus ad senatum missus erat Romae manere maluerit, et mihi negas optandum reditum fuisse per familias comparatas et homines armatos? scilicet ego desideravi, qui, dum vis fuit, nihil egi, et quem, si vis non fuisset, nulla res labefactare potuisset.
128. Was I to regret such a recall as this, which was so honourable to me that I am almost afraid of seeming to have left the city from a covetousness of glory, in order to return in such a manner? For what citizen except me did the senate ever recommend to the protection of foreign nations? For whose safety except mine did the senate ever publicly return thanks to the allies of the Roman people? I am the only person concerning whom the conscript fathers ever decreed that whoever went in command to any of the provinces, whoever were quaestors or lieutenants, were to take care of my safety and my life. Mine is the only cause since the foundation of the city in which every one who had any regard for the safety of the republic was summoned to Rome from every part of Italy, by letters written by the consuls in obedience to a resolution of the senate. That which the senate never once decreed at a time of peril to the entire republic, they thought it necessary to decree for the preservation of my individual safety. Who was ever more regretted in the senate house? who was ever more lamented in the forum? who was ever so much missed in the courts of justice? At, and in consequence of my departure, every place immediately became deserted, melancholy, mute, full of grief and lamentation. What spot is there in all Italy in which there is not imprinted on the public monuments some proof of the zeal of the people for my safety, some testimony to my worth?
128. ego reditum repudiarem, qui ita florens fuit ut verear ne quis me studio gloriae putet idcirco exisse ut ita redirem? enim umquam senatus civem nisi me nationibus exteris commendavit? umquam propter salutem nisi meam senatus publice sociis populi Romani gratias egit? me uno patres conscripti decreverunt ut, qui provincias cum imperio obtinerent, qui quaestores legatique essent, salutem et vitam custodirent: in una mea causa post Romam conditam factum est ut litteris consularibus ex senatus consulto cuncta ex Italia omnes qui rem publicam salvam vellent convocarentur. numquam senatus in universae rei publicae periculo decrevit, id in unius mea salute conservanda decernendum putavit. curia magis requisivit, quem forum luxit? aeque ipsa tribunalia desideraverunt? discessu meo deserta, horrida, muta, plena luctus et maeroris fuerunt. est Italiae locus in quo non fixum sit in publicis monumentis studium salutis meae, testimonium dignitatis?
129. For why should I mention those resolutions of the senate, of more than human kindness towards me? Either that which was passed in the temple of the all-good and all-powerful Jupiter, when that man, who has marked by three triumphs that he has added himself three countries and nations to this empire, read a long written speech in support of his opinion, and bore his testimony to the fact that I alone had preserved the country; and the senate in the fullest possible house adopted his opinion so entirely that only one enemy of mine dissented from it, and the decree as supported by Pompeius was recorded in the public registers for the eternal recollection of posterity? Or that which was passed the next day in the senate house, at the suggestion of the Roman people themselves, and of those men who had come up from the municipal towns to the effect that no one was to observe the heavens that no one was to cause any delay whatever, that if any one did so, he should be considered at once as one who wished to overturn the republic, and the senate would be very much offended, and that a motion should be immediately made respecting his conduct? And when the senate, meeting in great numbers, had checked the wickedness and audacity of some of those men by its authority and dignity, it added this clause, moreover; that if within the next five days in which my affairs could be discussed, they were not brought to a termination, I was to return to my country and be restored to all my former dignities. The senate decreed at the same time that thanks should be given to those men who had come up from all parts of Italy for the sake of my safety; and that they should be requested to come again when the consideration of the subject was renewed.
129. quid ego illa de me divina senatus consulta commemorem? vel quod in templo Iovis factum est, cum vir is qui tripertitas orbis terrarum oras atque regiones tribus triumphis adiunctas huic imperio notavit, de scripto sententia dicta, mihi uni testimonium patriae conservatae dedit; cuius sententiam ita frequentissimus senatus secutus est ut unus dissentiret hostis, idque ipsum tabulis publicis mandaretur ad memoriam posteri temporis sempiternam: vel quod est postridie decretum in curia populi ipsius Romani, et eorum qui ex municipiis convenerant admonitu, ne quis de caelo servaret, ne quis moram ullam adferret; si quis aliter fecisset, eum plane eversorem rei publicae fore idque senatum gravissime laturum, et ut statim de eius facto referretur. gravitate sua cum frequens senatus non nullorum scelus audaciamque tardasset, tamen illud addidit, ut, si diebus quinque quibus agi de me potuisset non esset actum, redirem in patriam dignitate omni reciperata. eodem tempore senatus ut iis qui ex tota Italia salutis meae causa convenerant agerentur gratiae, atque ut idem ad res redeuntes ut venirent rogarentur.
130. And there was such a rivalry between all people to show their zeal for my safety, that the very men to whom entreaties were addressed in my behalf by that senate, did also themselves address entreaties to the senate respecting me; and, accordingly, in all those transactions but one man alone was found who openly dissented from this earnest unanimity of all good men, so that even Quintus Metellus, the consul, who had been in a very great degree an enemy to me in the violent party contests which had arisen about political affairs, himself, made a motion in favour of my safety. And when he, being roused up by the exceeding authority of Publius Servilius, and also by a certain energy which gave weight to his eloquence, when he had invoked all the Metelli from the shades below, and had diverted the thoughts of his relation from the piratical attempts of Clodius to the dignity of that family by which they were connected together; and when he had brought him back to the recollection of their great domestic example and to the fate (shall I call it glorious, or melancholy?) of that great man Metellus Numidicus; then, I say, that illustrious man,—that genuine Metellus wept, and gave himself up from that moment to Publius Servilius even before he had come to the end of his speech. Nor could he, as a man of the same illustrious family, withstand that godlike dignity of eloquence so pregnant with the virtues of old time, and, though I was absent, he still became reconciled to me from that moment.
130. erat studiorum in mea salute contentio ut ii qui a senatu de me rogabantur eidem senatui pro me supplicarent. ita in his rebus unus est solus inventus qui ab hac tam impensa voluntate bonorum palam dissideret, ut etiam Q. Metellus consul, qui mihi vel maxime ex magnis contentionibus rei publicae fuisset inimicus, de mea salute rettulerit: qui excitatus cum summa auctoritate P. Servili ⟨tum incredibili⟩ quadam gravitate dicendi, cum ille omnis prope ab inferis evocasset Metellos et ad illius generis, quod sibi cum eo commune esset, dignitatem propinqui sui mentem a Clodianis latrociniis reflexisset, cumque eum ad domestici exempli memoriam et ad Numidici illius Metelli casum vel gloriosum vel gravem convertisset, conlacrimavit vir egregius ac vere Metellus totumque se P. Servilio dicenti etiam tum tradidit, nec illam divinam gravitatem plenam antiquitatis diutius homo eiusdem sanguinis potuit sustinere et mecum absens beneficio suo rediit in gratiam.
131. And certainly, if it be the case that illustrious men retain any sense or feeling after death, then he did a thing which was most acceptable to all the Metelli, and, above all, to that bravest of men and best of citizens, his own brother, the companion of all my labours, and dangers, and counsels. But who is there who is ignorant of what a triumphant return mine was? how the people of Brundusium held out to me on my arrival the right hand, as it were, of all Italy, and of my country herself; and when the same day, the fifth of August, was the day of my arrival, and also the birthday of my dearest daughter, whom I then beheld for the first time after our long regret for one another, and our mourning; and was also the day consecrated as the day of the foundation of that very colony of Brundusium; and also the anniversary of the dedication of the temple of Salus, as you know. And when I had been received into the joyful house of those most excellent and learned men, Laenius Flaccus and his father and brother which had received me with tears the year before when I was leaving Italy and had defended me not without risk and danger to itself; and when along my whole road all the cities of Italy seemed to be keeping the days of my arrival as days of festivity and the roads themselves were filled with a multitude of deputies sent from all quarters, and there was a vast throng of men crowding towards the city, full of exultation and congratulation to me; and my whole path up from the gate of the city, my ascent to the Capitol and my return to my house, was of such a nature, that amid my excessive joy I grieved also that so grateful a city should be so miserable and so ill-treated.
131. certe, si est aliqui sensus in morte praeclarorum virorum, cum omnibus Metellis tum vero uni viro fortissimo et praestantissimo civi gratissimum, fratri suo, fecit, socio laborum, periculorum, consiliorum meorum. vero meus qui fuerit quis ignorat? quem ad modum mihi advenienti tamquam totius Italiae atque ipsius patriae dextram porrexerint Brundisini, cum ipsis Nonis Sextilibus idem dies adventus mei fuisset reditusque natalis, idem carissimae filiae, quam ex gravissimo tum primum desiderio luctuque conspexi, idem etiam ipsius coloniae Brundisinae, idem, cumque me domus eadem optimorum et doctissimorum virorum, ⟨M.⟩ Laeni Flacci et patris et fratris eius, laetissima accepisset, quae proximo anno maerens receperat et suo praesidio periculoque defenderat. itinere toto urbes Italiae festos dies agere adventus mei videbantur, viae multitudine legatorum undique missorum celebrabantur, ad urbem accessus incredibili hominum multitudine et gratulatione florebat, iter a porta, in Capitolium adscensus, domum reditus erat eius modi ut summa in laetitia illud dolerem, civitatem tam gratam tam miseram atque oppressam fuisse.
132. You now, then have an answer to the question which you put to me—who were the best men? They are not a race, as you termed them, an expression which I recognised at once, for it was one invented by that man by whom above all others, Publius Sestius sees himself opposed,—by that man who has wished the whole of this race of Romans destroyed and slaughtered,—who has constantly reproached and constantly attacked Caius Caesar, a very mild-tempered man and very averse to bloodshed, asserting that he, as long as that race lived, would never be free from anxiety. He gained nothing by his attacks on the whole body, but he never ceased to urge the point against me. He attacked me first of all by the instrumentality of the informer Vettius, to whom he put questions in the assembly, concerning me, and concerning the most illustrious men in the state. But while doing this, he joined those citizens in the same danger with me, bringing forward the same accusations against them, so as to deserve great gratitude from me for connecting me with the most honourable and bravest of men.
132. igitur quod ex me quaesisti, qui essent optimates. est “natio,” ut dixisti; quod ego verbum agnovi; est enim illius a quo uno maxime P. Sestius se oppugnari videt, hominis eius qui hanc “nationem” deleri et concidi cupivit, qui C. Caesarem, mitem hominem et a caede abhorrentem, saepe increpuit, saepe accusavit, cum adfirmaret illum numquam, dum haec natio viveret, sine cura futurum. profecit de universis: de me agere non destitit; me oppugnavit, primum per indicem Vettium, quem in contione de me et de clarissimis viris interrogavit,—in quo tamen eos civis coniunxit eodem periculo et crimine, ut a me inierit gratiam quod me cum amplissimis et fortissimis viris congregavit.
133. But afterwards he in a most wicked manner contrived all sorts of plots against me, for no provocation which I had given him, except inasmuch as I was anxious to please all virtuous men. He was every day mentioning some fault of mine to those men whom he could get to listen to him; he warned the man who was of all others the most friendly to me, Cnaeus Pompeius, to beware of entering my house, and to be on his guard against me; he united himself with my chief enemy, in such a manner that he said, with respect to that proscription of mine which Sextus Clodius, a fellow thoroughly worthy of his associates, promoted, that he was the tablet on which it was written, and that he himself was the writer. And he alone of our whole order openly exulted at my departure and at your grief. And I, for my part, O judges, though he was every day attacking me, never said one word against him; nor did I think, while I was being attacked by every sort of engine and weapon of violence, and an army, and a mob, that it was suited to my dignity to complain of one archer more. He says that my acts displease him. Who doubts that? when he despises that law which expressly forbids any one to exhibit shows of gladiators within two years of his having stood, or being about to stand, for any office.
133. postea mihi nullo meo merito, nisi quod bonis placere cupiebam, omnis est insidias sceleratissime machinatus. ad eos a quibus audiebatur cotidie aliquid de ⟨me⟩ ficti adferebat; ille hominem mihi amicissimum, Cn. Pompeium, monebat ut meam domum metueret atque a me ipso caveret; ille se sic cum inimico meo copularat ut illum meae proscriptionis, quam adiuvabat, Sex. Clodius, homo iis dignissimus quibuscum vivit, tabulam esse, se scriptorem esse diceret; ille unus ordinis nostri discessu meo, luctu vestro palam exsultavit. quo ego, cum cotidie rueret, verbum feci, iudices, numquam; neque putavi, cum omnibus machinis ac tormentis, vi, exercitu, copiis oppugnarer, de uno sagittario me queri convenire. Acta mea sibi ait displicere. nescit? qui legem meam contemnat, quae dilucide vetat gladiatores biennio quo quis petierit aut petiturus sit dare.
134. And in that, O judges, I cannot sufficiently marvel at his rashness. He acts most openly against the law; and he does so, who is a man who is neither able to slip out of the consequences of a trial by his pleasant manner, nor to struggle out of them by his popularity, nor to break down the laws and courts of justice by his wealth and influence. What can induce the fellow to be so intemperate? I imagine it is out of his excessive covetousness of popularity, that he bought that troop of gladiators, so beautiful, noble, and magnificent. He knew the inclination of the people, he saw that great clamours and gatherings of the people would ensue. And elated with this expectation, and burning with a desire of glory, he could not restrain himself from bringing forward those gladiators, of whom he himself was the finest specimen. If that were the motive for his violation of the law, and if he were prompted by zeal to please the people on account of the recent kindness of the Roman people to himself, still no one would pardon him; but as the fact is that this band did not consist of men picked out of those who were for sale, but of men bought out of jails, and adorned with gladiatorial names, while he drew lots to see whom he would call Samnites, and whom Challengers, who could avoid having fears as to what might be the end of such licentiousness and such undisguised contempt for the laws?
134. quo eius temeritatem satis mirari, iudices, non queo. apertissime contra legem; facit is qui neque elabi ex iudicio iucunditate sua neque emitti gratia potest, neque opibus et potentia leges ac iudicia perfringere. res hominem impellit ut sit tam intemperans iste nimia gloriae cupiditate? gladiatoriam, credo, nactus est speciosam, nobilem, gloriosam; norat studia populi, videbat clamores et concursus futuros. exspectatione elatus homo flagrans cupiditate gloriae tenere se non potuit quin eos gladiatores induceret, quorum esset ipse pulcherrimus. ob ⟨eam⟩ causam peccaret, pro recenti populi Romani in se beneficio populari studio elatus, tamen ignosceret nemo: cum vero ne de venalibus quidem homines electos, sed ex ergastulis emptos nominibus gladiatoriis ornarit, et sortito alios Samnitis alios provocatores fecerit, tanta licentia, tanta legum contemptio nonne quem habitura sit exitum pertimescit?
135. But he brings forward two arguments in his defence. First of all, “I exhibit,” says he, “men fighting with beasts, and the law only speaks of gladiators.” A very clever idea! Listen now to a statement which is still more ingenious. He says that he has not exhibited gladiators, but one single gladiator; and that he has limited the whole of his aedileship to this one exhibition. A true aedileship truly. One lion, two hundred men who fight with beasts. However, let him urge this defence. I wish him to feel confidence in his case; for he is in the habit of appealing to the tribunes of the people, and to use violent means to upset those tribunals in which be has not confidence. And I do not so much wonder that he despises my law, as having been framed by a man whom he considers his enemy, as at his having made up his mind to regard no law whatever which has been passed by a consul. He despises the Caecilian Didian law and the Licinian Junian law. Does he also deny that the law of Caius Caesar—who he is in the habit of boasting has been adorned and strengthened and armed by his law and by his kindness, respecting extortion and corruption,—is a law? And do they complain that there are other men, too, who wish to rescind the acts of Caesar, while this most excellent law is neglected by his brother-in-law and by this slave? And the prosecutor has dared, while pleading in this cause, to exhort you, O judges, to show at last some severity, and at length to apply some healing measures to the republic. But that is not a remedy when the knife is applied to some sound and healthy part of the body, that is the act of an executioner and mere inhumanity. Those are the men who really apply healing remedies to the republic, who cut out some pestilence as if it were a wen on the person of the state.
135. habet defensiones duas: primum “do,” inquit, “bestiarios: lex scripta de gladiatoribus.”! aliquid etiam acutius. se non gladiatores, sed unum gladiatorem dare et totam aedilitatem in munus hoc transtulisse. aedilitas! unus leo, ducenti bestiarii. utatur hac defensione: cupio eum suae causae confidere; solet enim tribunos plebis appellare et vi iudicium disturbare, cum diffidit. non tam admiror, quod meam legem contemnit hominis inimici, quam quod sic statuit, omnino consularem legem nullam putare. Caeciliam Didiam, Liciniam Iuniam contempsit. eius quem sua lege et suo beneficio ornatum, munitum, armatum solet gloriari, C. Caesaris, legem de pecuniis repetundis non putat esse legem? aiunt alios esse qui acta Caesaris rescindant, cum haec optima lex et ab illo socero eius et ab hoc adsecula neglegatur! cohortari ausus est accusator in hac causa vos, iudices, ut aliquando essetis severi, aliquando medicinam adhiberetis rei publicae. ea est medicina, cum sanae parti corporis scalpellum adhibetur atque integrae, carnificina est ista et crudelitas: ei medentur rei publicae qui exsecant pestem aliquam tamquam strumam civitatis.
136. But in order that my speech may have some termination, and that I may cease speaking before you are weary of listening to me with attention, I will finish my argument about the party of the best men and about their leaders and about those who are the chief defenders of the republic. I will stir you up, O young men, especially you who are of noble birth, to the imitation of your ancestors and I will exhort you who have the opportunity of arriving at high rank by the exercise of genius and virtue to adopt that line of conduct by which many new men have become crowned with honour and glory.
136. ut extremum habeat aliquid oratio mea, et ut ego ante dicendi finem faciam quam vos me tam attente audiendi, concludam illud de optimatibus eorumque principibus ac rei publicae defensoribus, vosque, adulescentes, et qui nobiles estis, ad maiorum vestrorum imitationem excitabo, et qui ingenio ac virtute nobilitatem potestis consequi, ad eam rationem in qua multi homines novi et honore et gloria floruerunt cohortabor.
137. This, believe me, is the only path to praise, and dignity and honour,—to be praised and beloved by men who are wise and good, and endowed with good dispositions by nature; to become acquainted with the constitution of the state, as it has been most wisely established by our ancestors, who, when they could no longer endure the power of a king, created annual magistrates on the principle of making the senate the perpetual supreme council of the republic, and of allowing men to be elected into that body by the whole people, and of opening the road to that supreme order to the industry and virtue of all the citizens. They established the senate as the guardian, and president, and protector of the republic; they chose the magistrates to depend on the authority of this order, and to be as it were the ministers of this most dignified council; and they contrived that the senate itself should be strengthened by the high respectability of those ranks which came nearest to it, and so be able to defend and promote the liberties and interests of the common people.
137. est una via, mihi credite, et laudis et dignitatis et honoris, a bonis viris sapientibus et bene natura constitutis laudari et diligi; nosse discriptionem civitatis a maioribus nostris sapientissime constitutam; qui cum regum potestatem non tulissent, ita magistratus annuos creaverunt ut consilium senatus rei publicae praeponerent sempiternum, deligerentur autem in id consilium ab universo populo aditusque in illum summum ordinem omnium civium industriae ac virtuti pateret. rei publicae custodem, praesidem, propugnatorem conlocaverunt; huius ordinis auctoritate uti magistratus et quasi ministros gravissimi consili esse voluerunt; senatum autem ipsum proximorum ordinum splendorem confirmare, plebis libertatem et commoda tueri atque augere voluerunt.
138. Those who defend these institutions with all their might are the best men, of whatever rank they are; and they who chiefly support all these offices and the republic on their necks as it were, are accounted the chiefs of the party of the best men,—the chief advisers and preservers of the state. I confess that there are, as I have said before, many adversaries and enemies to, and enviers of, this class of men, that there are many dangers in their path, that many injuries are heaped upon them, that many labours have necessarily to be experienced and undergone by them. But all my speech is addressed to virtue, and not to sloth; to dignity, and not to luxury; to those men who look upon themselves as born for their country, for their fellow-citizens, for praise, for glory, not for sleep, for banquets, and soft delights. For if there be any men who are influenced wholly by pleasures, and who have given themselves entirely up to the seductions of vices and to the gratification of their desires, let them abandon all desire for honours; let them abstain from meddling with the republic; let them be satisfied with enjoying their ease, and owing it to the labour of virtuous and brave men.
138. qui pro virili parte defendunt optimates sunt, cuiuscumque sunt ordinis; qui autem praecipue suis cervicibus tanta munia atque rem publicam sustinent, hi semper habiti sunt optimatium principes, auctores et conservatores civitatis. hominum generi fateor, ut ante dixi, multos adversarios, inimicos, invidos esse, multa proponi pericula, multas inferri iniurias, magnos esse experiundos et subeundos labores; sed mihi omnis oratio est cum virtute non cum desidia, cum dignitate non cum voluptate, cum iis qui se patriae, qui suis civibus, qui laudi, qui gloriae, non qui somno et conviviis et delectationi natos arbitrantur. si qui voluptatibus ducuntur et se vitiorum inlecebris et cupiditatium lenociniis dediderunt, missos faciant honores, ne attingant rem publicam, patiantur virorum fortium labore se otio suo perfrui.
139. But they who desire the good report of good men, which is the only thing which is really entitled to be called glory, ought to seek ease and pleasures for others and not for themselves. They must toil for the common advantage; they must incur enmities, and often encounter tempests, for the sake of the republic; they must combat with many audacious and wicked men,—sometimes even with men of great influence. This is what we have heard of the sentiments and actions of the most illustrious men; this is what tradition reports of them, and what we have read nor do we ever see those men loaded with praise who from time to time have stirred up the minds of men to sedition or who by bribery have corrupted the rich nations of the ignorant or who have brought brave and illustrious men, who have deserved well of the republic into odium and unpopularity. Our countrymen have always thought such men as those contemptible and audacious and wicked and mischievous citizens. But they who have checked the violence and the attempts of those men, they who by their authority, by their integrity, by their firmness and by their magnanimity have resisted the designs of audacious men, have been at all times considered wise and good men, the chiefs, and leaders and advisers of this order of this dignified body, and of the empire.
139. autem bonam famam bonorum, quae sola vere gloria nominari potest, expetunt, aliis otium quaerere debent et voluptates, non sibi. est iis pro communibus commodis, adeundae inimicitiae, subeundae saepe pro re publica tempestates: cum multis audacibus, improbis, non numquam etiam potentibus dimicandum. audivimus de clarissimorum virorum consiliis et factis, haec accepimus, haec legimus. eos in laude positos videmus qui incitarunt aliquando populi animos ad seditionem, aut qui largitione caecarunt mentis imperitorum, aut qui fortis et claros viros et bene de re publica meritos in invidiam aliquam vocaverunt. hos semper nostri homines et audacis et malos et perniciosos civis putaverunt. vero qui horum impetus et conatus represserunt, qui auctoritate, qui fide, qui constantia, qui magnitudine animi consiliis audacium restiterunt, hi graves, hi principes, hi duces, hi auctores huius dignitatis atque imperi semper habiti sunt.
140. And let no one on account of what has happened to me, or perhaps to one or two others besides, fear to adopt this plan of life. One man in this state whom I can mention, a man who had done great services to the republic, Lucius Opimius, did fall in a most shameful manner. And if his grave is a deserted one on the shore of Dyrrachium, he has a most superb monument in our forum. And the Roman people itself at all times delivered him from danger, though he was exceedingly unpopular with the mob on account of the death of Caius Gracchus; and it was a storm coming from another quarter—from an iniquitous judicial derision which crushed that illustrious citizen. But the other men who have done good service to the state have either if for a while they have been stricken by any sudden violence or tempest of popular odium, been restored again and recalled by the people of its own accord, or else they have passed their whole lives without any such injuries or attacks. But they who have disregarded the wisdom of the senate, and the authority of good men, and the established rules of our ancestors, and have sought to become agreeable to an ignorant and excited multitude, have nearly all suffered just retribution and made atonement to the republic either by instant death, or shameful exile.
140. ne quis ex nostro aut aliquorum praeterea casu hanc vitae viam pertimescat, unus in hac civitate, quem quidem ego possum dicere, praeclare vir de re publica meritus, L. Opimius, indignissime concidit; cuius monumentum celeberrimum in foro, sepulcrum desertissimum in litore Dyrrachino relictum est. hunc tamen flagrantem invidia propter interitum C. Gracchi [semper ] ipse populus Romanus periculo liberavit: alia quaedam civem egregium iniqui iudici procella pervertit. vero aut, repentina vi perculsi ac tempestate populari, per populum tamen ipsum recreati sunt atque revocati, aut omnino invulnerati inviolatique vixerunt. vero ii qui senatus consilium, qui auctoritatem bonorum, qui instituta maiorum neglexerunt et imperitae aut concitatae multitudini iucundi esse voluerunt, omnes fere rei publicae poenas aut praesenti morte aut turpi exsilio dependerunt.
141. But it even among the Athenians, a nation of Greeks, far removed from the serious wisdom of our ancestors, there were not wanting men to defend the republic against the rashness of the people;—though every one who ever did so was sure to be banished from the city;—if the great Themistocles, the preserver of his country, was not deterred from defending the republic, either by the calamity of Miltiades, who had saved that state only a little before, or by the banishment of Aristides, who is said to have been the greatest of all men: and if, after his time, many illustrious men of the same state, whom it is unnecessary for me to mention by name, in spite of the numerous instances of the popular ill-temper and fickleness which they had before them, still defended that republic of theirs; what ought we to do who, in the first place, have been born in that city which appears to me to be the very birth-place of wisdom and dignity and magnanimity; and who, in the second place, are raised on such a pinnacle of glory that all human things may well appear insignificant by the side of it; and who, lastly, have undertaken to uphold that republic, which is one of such dignity, that to slay a man who is defending it is no less a crime than to attack it and to endeavour to seize the supreme power?
141. si apud Atheniensis, homines Graecos, longe a nostrorum hominum gravitate diiunctos, non deerant qui rem publicam contra populi temeritatem defenderent, cum omnes qui ita fecerant e civitate eicerentur; si Themistoclem illum, conservatorem patriae, non deterruit a re publica defendenda nec Miltiadi calamitas, qui illam civitatem paulo ante servarat, nec Aristidi fuga, qui unus omnium iustissimus fuisse traditur; si postea summi eiusdem civitatis viri, quos nominatim appellari non est necesse, propositis tot exemplis iracundiae levitatisque popularis tamen suam rem publicam illam defenderunt,—quid nos tandem facere debemus, primum in ea civitate nati unde orta mihi gravitas et magnitudo animi videtur, tum in tanta gloria insistentes ut omnia humana leviora videri debeant, deinde ad eam rem publicam tuendam adgressi quae tanta dignitate est ut eam defendentem occidere ⟨optatius⟩ sit quam oppugnantem rerum potiri?
142. Those Greeks whom I have just mentioned, having been unjustly condemned and banished by their fellow-citizens, still, because they deserved well of their state, enjoy such renown at this present time, not in Greece alone, but among ourselves also, and in other lands, that no one ever mentions the names of those men by whom they were oppressed, and that every one prefers their disasters to the superior power of their enemies. Who of the Carthaginians was superior to Hannibal in wisdom, and valour, and actual achievements? a man who single-handed fought for so many years for empire and for glory with such numbers of our generals. His own fellow-citizens banished him from the city; but we see that he, though our enemy, is celebrated in the writings and recollection of our citizens.
142. Graeci quos antea nominavi, inique a suis civibus damnati atque expulsi, tamen, quia bene sunt de suis civitatibus meriti, tanta hodie gloria sunt non in Graecia solum sed etiam apud nos atque in ceteris terris, ut eos a quibus illi oppressi sint nemo nominet, horum calamitatem dominationi illorum omnes anteponant. Carthaginiensium pluris fuit Hannibale consilio, virtute, rebus gestis, qui unus cum tot imperatoribus nostris per tot annos de imperio et de gloria decertavit? sui cives e civitate eiecerunt: nos etiam hostem litteris nostris et memoria videmus esse celebratum.
143. Let us then imitate our Bruti, our Camilli, and Ahalae our Decii, our Curius, and Fabricius, and Maximus, our Scipios, our Lentuli, our Aemilii, and countless others, who have given liberty to this republic; all of whom I consider deserving of being ranked among the company and number of the immortal gods. Let us love our country, let us obey the senate, let us consult the interests of the good; let us disregard present rewards, and fix our eyes on the glory which we shall receive from posterity. Let us think that the most desirable conduct, which is the most upright; let us hope for whatever we choose, but bear whatever befalls us, let us consider, lastly, that the bodies of brave men and great citizens are mortal, but that the impulses of the mind and the glory of virtue are everlasting. And let us not if we see that the opinion is consecrated by the most holy example of the great Hercules, whose body indeed has been burnt but whose life and virtue are said to have received instant immortality, think any the less that they who by their counsels and labours have either increased the greatness or defended the safety, or preserved the existence of this great republic have acquired everlasting glory.
143. re imitemur nostros Brutos, Camillos, Ahalas, Decios, Curios, Fabricios,, Scipiones, Lentulos, Aemilios, innumerabilis alios qui hanc rem publicam stabiliverunt; quos equidem in deorum immortalium coetu ac numero repono. patriam, pareamus senatui, consulamus bonis; praesentis fructus neglegamus, posteritatis gloriae serviamus; id esse optimum putemus quod erit rectissimum; speremus quae volumus, sed quod acciderit feramus; cogitemus denique corpus virorum fortium magnorum hominum esse mortale, animi vero motus et virtutis gloriam sempiternam; neque hanc opinionem si in illo sanctissimo consecratam videmus, cuius corpore ambusto vitam eius et virtutem immortalitas excepisse dicatur, minus existimemus eos qui hanc tantam rem publicam suis consiliis aut laboribus aut auxerint aut defenderint aut servarint esse immortalem gloriam consecutos.
144. But suddenly, O judges, while speaking of the dignity and renown of those valiant and most illustrious citizens, and while I was preparing to say still more on that subject, I have been checked in the onward progress of my speech by the sight of these men. I see Publius Sestius the defender and upholder and chief maintainer of my safety and of your authority, and of the cause of the commonwealth on his trial as a criminal; I see his young son present here before you, gazing on me with tearful eyes, I see Milo the vindicator of your liberty, the guardian of my safety the support and defence of the afflicted republic, the extinguisher of the piratical attempts of our domestic enemies, the repressor of daily bloodshed, the defender alike of the temples of the gods and of the houses of individuals the bulwark of the senate-house, in mourning apparel, and under a prosecution. I see Publius Lentulus, to whose father I pay my salutations as the protecting deity and parent of my fortune and my name, and of my brother, and of all my hopes and property in the miserable garb and squalid condition of an impeached man: I see the man who in the course of last year received the robe of manhood by the will of his father, and the purple robe by the deliberate choice of the people, now, in this year, in the same robe seeking to avert by his entreaties the sudden infliction of this most iniquitous decree, supplicating you on behalf of his most gallant father, and your most illustrious citizen.
144. me repente, iudices, de fortissimorum et clarissimorum civium dignitate et gloria dicentem et plura etiam dicere parantem horum aspectus in ipso cursu orationis repressit. P. Sestium, meae salutis, vestrae auctoritatis, publicae causae defensorem, propugnatorem, actorem, reum; video hunc praetextatum eius filium oculis lacrimantibus me intuentem; video Milonem, vindicem vestrae libertatis, custodem salutis meae, subsidium adflictae rei publicae, exstinctorem domestici latrocini, repressorem caedis cotidianae, defensorem templorum atque tectorum, praesidium curiae, sordidatum et reum; video P. Lentulum, cuius ego patrem deum ac parentem statuo fortunae ac nominis mei, fratris liberorumque nostrorum, in hoc misero squalore et sordibus; cui superior annus idem et virilem patris et praetextam populi iudicio togam dederit, hunc hoc anno in hac toga rogationis iniustissimae subitam acerbitatem pro patre fortissimo et clarissimo civi deprecantem.
145. And these mourning robes of so many and of such illustrious citizens, and these signs of grief, and these tokens of abasement have all been put on for my single sake; because they defended me, because they grieve for my misfortune and for my grief, because, in compliance with the entreaties of all of you, they restored me to my mourning country, to the senate who demanded me back, and to Italy who entreated my recall. What great wickedness is imputed to me? What great crime did I commit on that day; on that day, I say, when I laid before you the proofs against, and the letters and confessions of those men who were seeking the general destruction; when I obeyed your commands? But, if it be a wicked thing to love one's country, still I have suffered punishment enough; my house has been pulled down, my property has been pillaged; my children have been scattered abroad, my wife has been insulted, my most excellent brother, a man of incredible affection and unheard-of devotion to me, has fallen, with all the emblems of most bitter grief, at the feet of my bitterest enemies; I have been driven from my altars, from my hearth, from my household gods; I have been separated from my friends and torn from my country, which (to say the very least) I had most undoubtedly shielded; I have endured the cruelty of my enemies, the wickedness of faithless men, and the dishonesty of envious ones.
145. hic tot et talium civium squalor, hic luctus, hae sordes susceptae sunt propter unum me, quia me defenderunt, quia meum casum luctumque doluerunt, quia me lugenti patriae, flagitanti senatui, poscenti Italiae, vobis omnibus orantibus reddiderunt. tantum est in me scelus? tanto opere deliqui illo die cum ad vos indicia, litteras, confessiones communis exiti detuli, cum parui vobis? si scelestum est amare patriam, pertuli poenarum satis: eversa domus est, fortunae vexatae, dissipati liberi, raptata coniunx, frater optimus, incredibili pietate, amore inaudito, maximo in squalore volutatus est ad pedes inimicissimorum; ego pulsus aris focis deis penatibus, distractus a meis, carui patria, quam, ut levissime dicam, certe protexeram; pertuli crudelitatem inimicorum, scelus infidelium, fraudem invidorum.
146. If this is not enough, because all this appears to be defaced by my return; it were better—it were far better, I say, for me, O judges, to fall back again into the same misfortune as before, than to bring such calamity on my defenders and preservers. Would it be possible for me to remain in this city after those men have been driven away from it, who alone enabled me again to enjoy this city? I cannot do so—it will not be possible for me, O judges,—nor shall this boy, who now, by his tears, shows how great his filial affection is, ever behold me in safety if he loses the presence of his father on account of his kindness to me; nor shall he, as often as he sees me, groan, and say that he beholds a man who has been the ruin of himself and of his father. I, in every fortune, whatever may befall me, will cling to you; nor shall any fortune ever separate me from those men whom you, O judges, behold in mourning apparel for my sake. Nor shall those nations to whom the senate recommended me, and to whom it gave thanks for their treatment of me, ever see this man as an exile on account of his conduct to me, without seeing me as his companion.
146. hoc non est satis, quod haec omnia deleta videntur reditu meo, multo mihi, multo, inquam, iudices, praestat in eandem illam recidere fortunam quam tantam importare meis defensoribus et conservatoribus calamitatem. ego in hac urbe esse possim, his pulsis qui me huius urbis compotem fecerunt? ero, non potero esse, iudices; neque hic umquam puer, qui his lacrimis qua sit pietate declarat, amisso patre suo propter me, me ipsum incolumem videbit, nec, quotienscumque me viderit, ingemescet ac pestem suam ac patris sui se dicet videre. vero hos in omni fortuna, quaecumque erit oblata, complectar, nec me ab iis quos meo nomine sordidatos videtis umquam ulla fortuna divellet; neque eae nationes quibus me senatus commendavit, quibus de me gratias egit, hunc exsulem propter me sine me videbunt.
147. But the immortal gods, who received me on my arrival in their temples, accompanied by these men and by Publius Lentulus the consul, and the republic itself, than which there is nothing more holy, have entrusted these things, O judges, to your power. You are able by your decision to encourage the minds of all virtuous men, and to check the designs of the wicked; you are able by your decision to avail yourselves of the services of the virtuous citizens, to strengthen me, and to renew the republic. Wherefore, I beseech and entreat you, if you wish for my safety, to save those men by whose instrumentality you have recovered me.
147. haec di immortales, qui me suis templis advenientem receperunt stipatum ab his viris et P. Lentulo consule, atque ipsa res publica, qua nihil est sanctius, vestrae potestati, iudices, commiserunt. hoc iudicio omnium bonorum mentis confirmare, improborum reprimere potestis, vos his civibus uti optimis, vos me reficere et renovare rem publicam. re vos obtestor atque obsecro ut, si me salvum esse voluistis, eos conservetis per quos me reciperavistis.