Cicero: ORATORIA

I. Quae res in civitate duae plurimum possunt, eae contra nos ambae faciunt in hoc tempore, summa gratia et eloquentia; quarum alterum, C. Aquili, vereor, alteram metuo. Eloquentia Q. Hortensi ne me in dicendo impediat, non nihil commoveor, gratia Sex. Naevi ne P. Quinctio noceat, id vero non mediocriter pertimesco.

1. The two things in the state that have the greatest power are both working against us at this time, highest favor and eloquence; of which one, Gaius Aquilius, I fear, the other I dread. I am not a little moved lest the eloquence of Q. Hortensius hinder me in speaking; but that the favor of Sex. Naevius may harm P. Quinctius, that indeed I dread not moderately.

Neque hoc tanto opere querendum videretur, haec summa in illis esse, si in nobis essent saltem mediocria; verum ita se res habet, ut ego, qui neque usu satis et ingenio parum possum, cum patrono disertissimo comparer, P. Quinctius, cui tenues opes, nullae facultates, exiguae amicorum copiae sunt, cum adversario gratiosissimo contendat. Illud quoque nobis accedit incommodum, quod M. Iunius, qui hanc causam aliquotiens apud te egit, homo et in aliis causis exercitatus et in hac multum ac saepe versatus, hoc tempore abest nova legatione impeditus, et ad me ventum est qui, ut summa haberem cetera, temporis quidem certe vix satis habui ut rem tantam, tot controversiis implicatam, possem cognoscere. Ita quod mihi consuevit in ceteris causis esse adiumento, id quoque in hac causa deficit.

Nor would this seem a matter for such great complaint—that the preeminent advantages are on their side—if there were at least mediocre ones on ours; but thus the case stands: I, who can accomplish neither enough by experience nor much by native talent, am compared with a most eloquent advocate; P. Quinctius, who has slender means, no faculties (resources), scant supplies of friends, contends with a most influential adversary. This inconvenience also is added to us: that M. Junius, who has pleaded this case several times before you—a man practiced in other cases and much and often engaged in this one—is at this time absent, hindered by a new legation, and the matter has come to me, who, even if I possessed everything else in the highest degree, certainly have scarcely had enough time to acquaint myself with so great a matter, entangled in so many controversies. Thus that which is accustomed to be a help to me in other cases fails also in this case.

Nam, quod ingenio minus possum, subsidium mihi diligentia comparavi; quae quanta sit, nisi tempus et spatium datum sit, intellegi non potest. Quae quo plura sunt, C. Aquili, eo te et hos qui tibi in consilio sunt meliore mente nostra verba audire oportebit, ut multis incommodis veritas debilitata tandem aequitate talium virorum recreetur. Quod si tu iudex nullo praesidio fuisse videbere contra vim et gratiam solitudini atque inopiae, si apud hoc consilium ex opibus, non ex veritate causa pendetur, profecto nihil est iam sanctum atque sincerum in civitate, nihil est quod humilitatem cuiusquam gravitas et virtus iudicis consoletur.

For what I am less able to do by ingenuity, I have procured for myself a reserve in diligence; and how great that is cannot be understood unless time and space are granted. And the more of these there are, Gaius Aquilius, the more it will be fitting for you and those who are on your council to hear our words with a better mind, so that truth, enfeebled by many inconveniences, may at last be revived by the equity of such men. But if you, as judge, will be seen to have afforded no protection against force and favor for loneliness and need, if before this council a case is weighed by resources and not by verity, then surely nothing sacred and sincere remains in the state, nothing by which the lowliness of anyone is consoled by the gravitas and virtue of a judge.

Certe aut apud te et hos qui tibi adsunt veritas valebit, aut ex hoc loco repulsa vi et gratia locum ubi consistat reperire non poterit.

Surely either before you and those who are present with you truth will prevail, or, repulsed from this place by force and favor, it will be unable to find a place where it can take its stand.

II. Non eo dico, C. Aquili, quo mihi veniat in dubium tua fides et constantia, aut quo non in his quos tibi advocavisti viris lectissimis civitatis spem summam habere P. Quinctius, debeat. Quid ergo est? Primum magnitudo periculi summo timore hominem adficit, quod uno iudicio de fortunis omnibus decernit, idque dum cogitat, non minus saepe ei venit in mentem potestatis quam aequitatis tuae, propterea quod omnes quorum in alterius manu vita posita est saepius illud cogitant, quid possit is cuius in dicione ac potestate sunt quam quid debeat facere.

2. I do not say this, C. Aquili, so that your good faith and constancy come into doubt for me, nor so that P. Quinctius ought not to have the highest hope in those men most select of the state whom you have called to your side. What then is it? First, the magnitude of the peril affects a man with the utmost fear, because by a single judgment he decides concerning all his fortunes; and while he ponders that, no less often does there come into his mind your power than your equity, for this reason: that all whose life is placed in another’s hand more often think this—what he can do, in whose dominion and power they are—than what he ought to do.

Deinde habet adversarium P. Quinctius verbo Sex. Naevium, re ura huiusce aetatis homines disertissimos, fortissimos, florentissimos nostrae civitatis, qui communi studio summis opibus Sex Naevium defendunt, si id est defendere, cupiditati alterius obtemperare quo is facilius quem velit iniquo iudicio opprimere possit. Nam quid hoc iniquius aut indignius, C. Aquili, dici aut commemorari potest, quam me qui caput alterius, famam fortunasque defendam priore loco causam dicere?

Then Publius Quinctius has as his adversary, in word, Sextus Naevius; in reality, men of this age most eloquent, most stalwart, most flourishing of our commonwealth, who with common zeal and utmost resources defend Sextus Naevius—if this is to defend: to obey another’s cupidity, in order that he may the more easily oppress whom he wishes by an iniquitous judgment. For what more iniquitous or more unworthy, Gaius Aquilius, can be said or commemorated, than that I, who defend the head of another, his fame and fortunes, should plead the case in the prior place?

cum praesertim Q. Hortensius qui in hoc iudicio partis accusatoris obtinet contra me sit dicturus, cui summam copiam facultatemque dicendi natura largita est. Ita fit ut ego qui tela depellere et volneribus mederi debeam tum id facere cogar cum etiam telum adversarius nullum iecerit, illis autem id tempus impugnandi detur cum et vitandi illorum impetus potestas adempta nobis erit et, si qua in re, id quod parati sunt facere, falsum crimen quasi venenatum aliquod telum iecerint, medicinae faciendae locus non erit. Id accidit praetoris iniquitate et iniuria, primum quod contra omnium consuetudinem iudicium prius de probro quam de re maluit fieri, deinde quod ita constituit id ipsum iudicium ut reus, ante quam verbum accusatoris audisset, causam dicere cogeretur.

especially since Q. Hortensius, who in this trial holds the part of the accuser, is going to speak against me, to whom nature has lavished the highest abundance and faculty of speaking. Thus it comes about that I, who ought to ward off weapons and to heal wounds, am forced to do that at a time when the adversary has not yet hurled any weapon; but that time for attacking is granted to them when both the power of avoiding their onrush will have been taken away from us and, if in any respect—as they are prepared to do—they shall have thrown a false charge as though some poisoned missile, there will be no place for making remedies. This has happened through the praetor’s iniquity and injury: first, because, against the custom of all, he preferred that judgment be held first concerning the reproach rather than concerning the matter; then, because he so established that very judgment that the defendant, before he had heard a word from the accuser, was compelled to plead his cause.

Quod eorum gratia et potentia factum ao est qui, quasi sua res aut honos agatur, ita diligenter Sex. Naevi studio et cupiditati morem gerunt et in eius modi rebus opes suas experiuntur, in quibus, quo plus propter virtutem nobilitatemque possunt, eo minus quantum possint debent ostendere.

Which has been done by the favor and power of those who, as if their own affair or honor were at issue, thus diligently defer to the zeal and desire of Sex. Naevius and in matters of this kind put their resources to the test, in which, the more, on account of their virtue and nobility, they are able, the less they ought to show how much they can.

Cum tot tantisque difficultatibus adfectus atque adflictus in tuam, C. Aquili fidem, veritatem, misericordiam P. Quinctius confugerit, cum adhuc ei propter vim adversariorum non ius par, non agendi potestas; eadem, non magistratus aequus reperiri potuerit, cum ei summam per iniuriam omnia inimica atque infesta fuerint, te, C. Aquili, vosque qui in consilio adestis, orat atque obsecrat ut multis iniuriis iactatam atque agitatam aequitatem in hoc tandem loco consistere et confirmari patiamini.

Since, afflicted and afflicted by so many and such great difficulties, P. Quinctius has taken refuge in your good faith, truth, and mercy, C. Aquilius, since up to now for him, on account of the violence of his adversaries, there has been neither equal right nor the power of acting; likewise no equitable magistrate could be found, since by the utmost injustice everything has been hostile and aggressive to him, he prays and beseeches you, C. Aquilius, and you who are present in council, to allow equity, tossed and driven by many injustices, to stand and be confirmed at last in this place.

III. Id quo facilius facere possitis, dabo operam ut a principio res quem ad modum gesta et contracta sit cognoscatis. C. Quinctius fuit P. Quincti huius frater, sane ceterarum rerum pater familias et prudens et attentus, una in re paulo minus consideratus, qui societatem cum Sex.

3. So that you may be able to do this more easily, I will give effort that from the beginning you may learn in what manner the matter was done, transacted, and contracted. Gaius Quinctius was the brother of this Publius Quinctius, indeed in other matters a paterfamilias and prudent and attentive, in one matter somewhat less well-considered, who entered into a partnership with Sextus.

Naevio fecerit, viro bono, verum tamen non ita instituto ut iura societatis et officia certi patris familias nosse posset; non quo ei deesset ingenium; nam neque parum facetus scurra Sex. Naevius neque inhumanus praeco umquam est existimatus. Quid ergo est?

he entered into a partnership with Sextus Naevius, a good man, yet not so instructed as to be able to know the rights of partnership and the duties of a proper paterfamilias; not that intelligence was lacking to him; for Sextus Naevius has never been reckoned either an insufficiently witty buffoon or an inhuman auctioneer. What, then, is it?

Cum ei natura nihil melius quam vocem dedisset, pater nihil praeter libertatem reliquisset, vocem in quaestum contulit, libertate usus est quo impunius dicax esset. Qua re quidem socium tibi eum velles adiungere nihil erat nisi ut in tua pecunia condisceret qui pecuniae fructus esset; tamen inductus consuetudine ac familiaritate Quinctius fecit, ut dixi, societatem earum rerum quae in Gallia comparabantur. Erat ei pecuaria res ampla et rustica sane bene culta et fructuosa.

Since nature had given him nothing better than his voice, and his father had left him nothing except liberty, he turned his voice to profit and used his liberty in order to be the more with impunity dicacious. For which reason, indeed, you would have wished to attach him to yourself as a partner for nothing except that, at your expense, he might learn what the fruit of money is; nevertheless, induced by custom and familiarity, Quinctius made, as I have said, a partnership in those things that were being procured in Gaul. He had a large stock‑raising concern and a rustic estate, indeed well cultivated and fruitful.

Tollitur ab atriis Liciniis atque a praeconum consessu in Galliam Naevius et trans Alpis usque transfertur. Fit magna mutatio loci, non ingeni. Nam qui ab adulescentulo quaestum sibi instituisset sine impendio, postea quam nescio quid impendit et in commune contulit, mediocri quaestu contentus esse non poterat.

Naevius is lifted from the Licinian atria and from the assembly of the criers, and is transferred into Gaul, carried even across the Alps. There is a great change of place, not of disposition. For he who from early youth had established for himself a gainful trade without expense, after he had spent I know not what and contributed into the common stock, could not be content with a mediocre profit.

Nec mirum, si is qui vocem venalem habuerat ea quae voce quaesiverat magno sibi quaestui fore putabat. Itaque hercule haud mediocriter de communi quodcumque poterat ad se in privatam domum sevocabat; qua in re ita diligens erat quasi ei qui magna fide societatem gererent arbitrium pro socio condemnari solerent. Verum his de rebus non necesse habeo dicere ea quae me P. Quinctius cupit commemorare; tametsi causa postulat, tamen quia postulat, non flagitat praeteribo.

Nor is it a wonder, if he who had had a venal voice thought that the things which he had acquired by his voice would be for great profit to himself. And so, by Hercules, not moderately he was withdrawing from the common fund whatever he could, sequestering it to himself into his private house; in which matter he was so diligent as though those who conduct a partnership with great good faith were wont to be condemned in an arbitration pro socio. But about these matters I do not consider it necessary to say those things which P. Quinctius wants me to commemorate; although the case calls for it, nevertheless, since it calls for it but does not clamor for it, I will pass over.

IV. Cum annos iam compluris societas esset, et cum saepe suspectus Quinctio Naevius fuisset neque ita commode posset rationem reddere earum rerum quas libidine, non ratione gesserat, moritur in Gallia Quinctius, cum adesset Naevius, et moritur repentino. Heredem testamento reliquit hunc P. Quinctium ut, ad quem summus maeror morte sua veniebat, ad eundem summus honos quoque perveniret. Quo mortuo, nec ita multo post, in Galliam proficiscitur Quinctius, ibi cum isto Naevio familiariter vivit.

4. When the partnership had already existed for several years, and since Naevius had often been suspect to Quinctius and could not very conveniently render an account of those matters which he had managed by libido, not by reason, Quinctius dies in Gaul, when Naevius was present, and he dies sudden. He left by his testament as heir this Publius Quinctius, so that, to the one to whom the highest mourning came by his death, to that same the highest honor should also come. With him dead, and not much thereafter, Quinctius sets out for Gaul; there he lives familiarly with that Naevius.

Annum fere una sunt, cum et de societate multa inter se communicarent et de tota illa ratione atque re Gallicana; neque interea verbum ullum interposuit Naevius aut societatem sibi quippiam debere aut privatim Quinctium debuisse. Cum aeris alieni aliquantum esset relictum, quibus nominibus pecuniam Romae curari oporteret, auctionem in Gallia P. hic Quinctius Narbone se facturum esse proscribit earum rerum quae ipsius erant privatae. Ibi tum vir optimus Sex.

For almost a year they were together, and they communicated many things between themselves both about the partnership and about that whole method and Gallic business; nor meanwhile did Naevius interpose a single word either that the partnership owed him anything or that Quinctius privately had owed anything. Since some amount of debt had been left, on account of which it was proper that money be arranged at Rome, this Publius Quinctius here gives public notice that he will hold at Narbo in Gaul an auction of those things which were his own private property. There then a most excellent man Sextus.

Naevius hominem multis verbis deterret ne auctionetur; eum non ita commode posse eo tempore quo proscripsisset vendere; Romae sibi nummorum facultatem esse, quam, si saperet, communem existimaret pro fraterna illa necessitudine et pro ipsius adfinitate; nam P. Quincti consobrinam habet in matrimonio Naevius et ex ea liberos. Quia, quod virum bonum facere oportebat, id loquebatur Naevius, credidit Quinctius eum qui orationem bonorum imitaretur facta quoque imitaturum; auctionem velle facere desistit, Romam proficiscitur; decedit ex Gallia Romam simul Naevius. Cum pecuniam C. Quinctius P. Scapulae debuisset, per te, C. Aquili, decidit P. Quinctius quid liberis eius dissolveret.

Naevius dissuades the man with many words not to hold an auction; that he could not quite conveniently sell at the time at which he had posted notice; that at Rome he had a means of coin, which, if he were wise, he would consider common on account of that fraternal necessitude and on account of his own affinity; for Naevius has in marriage the female cousin of P. Quinctius and from her children. Because Naevius was saying that which it behooved a good man to do, Quinctius believed that he who imitated the discourse of good men would also imitate the deeds; he ceases from wishing to make an auction, he sets out for Rome; Naevius departs from Gaul to Rome at the same time. Since C. Quinctius had owed money to P. Scapula, through you, C. Aquilius, P. Quinctius settled what he would discharge to his children.

Hoc eo per te agebatur quod propter aerariam rationem non satis erat in tabulis inspexisse quantum deberetur, nisi ad Castoris quaesisses quantum solveretur. Decidis statuisque tu propter necessitudinem quae tibi cum Scapulis est quid eis ad denarium solveretur.

This was being transacted through you for this reason: because, on account of the aerarian reckoning, it was not enough to have inspected in the tablets how much was owed, unless you had asked at Castor’s how much was being paid. You decide and you establish, on account of the necessitudo that you have with the Scapulae, what should be paid to them to the denarius.

V. Haec omnia Quinctius agebat auctore et consuasore Naevio. Nec mirum, si eius utebatur consilio cuius auxilium sibi paratum putabat; non modo enim pollicitus erat in Gallia sed Romae cotidie, simul atque sibi hic adnuisset numeraturum se dicebat. Quinctius porro istum posse facere videbat, debere intellegebat, mentiri, quia causa cur mentiretur non erat, non putabat; quasi domi nummos haberet, ita constituit Scapulis se daturum; Naevium certiorem facit, rogat ut curet quod dixisset.

5. Quinctius was doing all these things with Naevius as author and consuader. Nor is it a wonder, if he was using the counsel of one whose aid he thought prepared for him; for he had not only promised in Gaul, but at Rome daily, as soon as this man should nod assent to him, he said he would pay down the money. Moreover, Quinctius saw that that man was able to do it, understood that he ought to, and he did not think he was lying, since there was no cause why he should lie; as if he had money at home, thus he settled that he would give it to the Scapulae. He informs Naevius, and asks that he take care of what he had said.

Tum iste vir optimus vereor ne se derideri putet quod iterum iam dico "optimus"—qui hunc in summas angustias adductum putaret, ut eum suis condicionibus in ipso articulo temporis adstringeret, assem sese negat daturum, nisi prius de rebus rationibusque societatis omnibus decidisset et scisset sibi cum Quinctio controversiae nihil futurum. "Posterius," inquit, "ista videbimus," Quinctius; "nunc hoc velim cures, si tibi videtur, quod dixisti." Negat se alia ratione facturum; quod promisisset, non plus sua referre quam si, cum auctionem venderet, domini iussu quippiam promisisset. Destitutione illa perculsus Quinctius a Scapulis paucos dies aufert, in Galliam mittit ut ea quae proscripserat venirent, deteriore tempore absens auctionatur, Scapulis difficiliore condicione dissolvit.

Then that “best” man—I fear he may think himself mocked because I now say “best” again—who thought this fellow had been brought into the utmost straits, so that he might bind him to his own conditions at the very crisis of time, says he will not give an as, unless first he had settled about all the matters and accounts of the partnership and had ascertained that he would have no controversy with Quinctius. “Later,” says Quinctius, “we will look at those matters; now I would wish you to take care of this, if it seems good to you, which you said.” He says he will do it on no other rationale; that what he had promised mattered to him no more than if, when he were selling at auction, he had promised something by the master’s order. Struck by that desertion, Quinctius obtains a few days from the Scapulae, sends into Gaul so that the things he had advertised might be sold, holds an auction in his absence at a worse time, and settles with the Scapulae on a harsher condition.

Tum appellat ultro Naevium ut, quoniam suspicaretur aliqua de re fore controversiam, videret ut quam primum et quam minima cum molestia tota res transigeretur. Dat iste amicum M. Trebellium, nos communem necessarium, qui istius domi erat eductus et quo utebatur iste plurimum, propinquum nostrum, Sex. Alfenum.

Then he appeals of his own accord to Naevius, that, since he suspected there would be a controversy about some matter, he should see to it that the whole business be transacted as soon as possible and with the least annoyance. That fellow puts forward his friend M. Trebellius—and, as a mutual connection of ours, brought up in that man’s house and one whom he made very great use of, our kinsman, Sex. Alfenus.

Res convenire nullo modo poterat, propterea quod hic mediocrem iacturam facere cupiebat, iste mediocri praeda contentus non erat. Itaque ex eo tempore res esse in vadimonium coepit. Cum vadimonia saepe dilata essent et cum aliquantum temporis in ea re esset consumptum neque quicquam profectum esset, venit ad vadimonium Naevius.

The matter could in no way come to an agreement, because this man wished to make a moderate loss, while that man was not content with moderate booty. And so from that time the case began to be under recognizance. When the recognizances had often been deferred and when some time had been consumed in that business and no progress had been made, Naevius came to the recognizance date.

VI. Obsecro, C. Aquili vosque qui adestis in consilio, ut diligenter attendatis, ut singulare genus fraudis et novam rationem insidiarum cognoscere possitis. Ait se auctionatum esse in Gallia; quod sibi videretur se vendidisse; curasse ne quid sibi societas deberet; se iam neque vadari amplius neque vadimonium promittere; si quid agere secum velit Quinctius, non recusare. Hic cum rem Gallicanam cuperet revisere, hominem in praesentia non vadatur; ita sine vadimonio disceditur.

6. I beseech you, Gaius Aquilius, and you who are present in council, to attend diligently, that you may be able to recognize a singular genus of fraud and a new method of insidious stratagems. He says that he has held an auction in Gaul; that he sold what seemed good to him to sell; that he took care that the partnership should owe him nothing; that now he would neither be bound to bail any further nor promise a recognizance; if Quinctius should wish to take any action with him, he would not refuse. Hereupon, as he desired to revisit the Gallic business, he does not bind the man to bail on the spot; thus they part without a recognizance.

Deinde Romae dies XXX fere Quinctius commoratur; cum ceteris quae habebat vadimonia differt ut expeditus in Galliam proficisci posset; proficiscitur. Roma egreditur ante diem II kalend. Februarias Quinctius Scipione et Norbano coss.

Then at Rome Quinctius stays for about 30 days; he defers the other recognizances he had so that, unencumbered, he might set out for Gaul; he sets out. Quinctius leaves Rome on the 2nd day before the Kalends of February, with Scipio and Norbanus as consuls.

Quaeso ut eum diem memoriae mandetis. L. Albius Sex. filius Quirina, vir bonus et cum primis honestus, una profectus est.

I ask that you commit that day to memory. Lucius Albius, son of Sextus, of the Quirina tribe, a good man and among the foremost in honesty, set out together.

Cum venissent ad Vada Volaterrana quae nominantur, vident perfamiliarem Naevi, qui ex Gallia pueros venalis isti adducebat, L. Publicium; qui, ut Romam venit, narrat Naevio quo in loco viderit Quinctium. Quod ubi ex Publicio audivit, pueros circum amicos dimittit, ipse suos necessarios ab atriis Liciniis et a faucibus macelli corrogat ut ad tabulam Sextiam sibi adsint hora secunda postridie. Veniunt frequentes.

When they had come to the places called the Vada Volaterrana, they see a very intimate of Naevius, L. Publicius, who was bringing in boys for sale out of Gaul to him; and when he comes to Rome, he tells Naevius in what place he had seen Quinctius. When he heard this from Publicius, he sends the boys around among his friends; he himself musters his own close associates from the Licinian atria and from the “throats” (entrances) of the macellum, that they be present for him at the Sextian board at the second hour on the next day. They come in great numbers.

Testificatur iste P. QVINCTIVM NON STETISSE, ET STETISSE SE; tabulae maxime signis hominum nobilium consignantur, disceditur. Postulat a Burrieno praetore Naevius ut ex edicto bona possidere liceat; iussit bona proscribi eius quicum familiaritas fuerat, societas erat, adfinitas liberis istius vivis divelli nullo modo poterat. Qua ex re intellegi facile potuit nullum esse officium tam sanctum atque sollemne quod non avaritia comminuere ac violare soleat.

That fellow testifies that P. Quinctius had not appeared, and that he himself had appeared; the tablets are sealed, chiefly with the seals of noble men, and they depart. Naevius requests from the praetor Burrienus that, according to the edict, it be permitted to take possession of the goods; he ordered the goods of the man with whom there had been intimacy, with whom there was a partnership, and whose affinity by marriage, with that fellow’s children still living, could in no way be torn apart, to be proscribed. From which matter it could easily be understood that there is no duty so sacred and solemn that greed is not wont to shatter and violate it.

Etenim si veritate amicitia, fide societas, pietate propinquitas colitur, necesse est iste qui amicum, socium, adfinem fama ac fortunis spoliare conatus est vanum se et perfidiosum et impium esse fateatur. Libellos Sex. Alfenus, procurator P. Quincti, familiaris et propinquus Sex.

For indeed, if friendship is cultivated by truth, partnership by faith, propinquity by piety, it is necessary that this man who has tried to despoil his friend, partner, affine (in-law) of reputation and fortunes confess himself to be vain, perfidious, and impious. As to the libels, Sex. Alfenus, procurator of P. Quinctius, a familiar and kinsman of Sex.

Naevi, deicit, servolum unum quem iste prenderat abducit, denuntiat sese procuratorem esse, istum aequum esse famae fortunisque P. Quincti consulere et adventum eius exspectare; quod si facere nolit atque imbiberit eius modi rationibus illum ad suas condiciones perducere, sese nihil precari et, si quid agere velit, iudicio defendere. Haec dum Romae geruntur, Quinctius interea contra ius, consuetudinem, edicta praetorum de saltu agroque communi a servis communibus vi detruditur.

“Naevius,” he says, he carries off one little slave whom that fellow had seized, he gives notice that he is the procurator, that it is equitable that that man should consult for the reputation and fortunes of P. Quinctius and await his arrival; but if he should be unwilling to do this and has imbibed schemes of such a sort to bring him to his own terms, he himself petitions nothing and, if he wishes to do anything, to defend in court. While these things are being transacted at Rome, meanwhile Quinctius, contrary to law, custom, and the praetors’ edicts, is by force driven off from the pasture-land and the common field by the slaves held in common.

VII. Existima, C. Aquili, modo et ratione omnia Romae Naevium fecisse, si hoc quod per litteras istius in Gallia gestum est recte atque ordine factum videtur. Expulsus atque eiectus e praedio Quinctius accepta insigni iniuria confugit ad C. Flaccum imperatorem, qui tunc erat in provincia, quem, ut ipsius dignitas poscit, honoris gratia nomino.

7. Consider, C. Aquilius, that Naevius did everything at Rome with method and reason, if this which was transacted in Gaul by that man’s letters seems to have been done rightly and in order. Expelled and ejected from the estate, Quinctius, after receiving a remarkable injury, fled for refuge to C. Flaccus, the imperator, who was then in the province, whom, as his dignity demands, I name for the sake of honor.

Is eam rem quam vehementer vindicandam putarit ex decretis eius poteritis cognoscere. Alfenus interea Romae cum isto gladiatore vetulo cotidie pugnabat; utebatur populo sane suo, propterea quod iste caput petere non desinebat. Iste postulabat ut procurator iudicatum solvi satis daret; negat Alfenus aequum esse procuratorem satis dare, quod reus satis dare non deberet, si ipse adesset.

You will be able to learn from his decrees how vehemently he thought that matter was to be vindicated. Meanwhile Alfenus at Rome was fighting daily with that old gladiator; he was indeed making use of his own following, because that fellow did not cease to seek his head—that is, to press a capital attack. He demanded that the procurator give surety for “the judgment to be paid”; Alfenus says it is not equitable for a procurator to give surety, because the defendant would not have to give surety if he himself were present.

Appellantur tribuni; a quibus cum esset certum auxilium petitum, ita tum disceditur ut Idibus Septembribus P. Quinctium sisti Sex. Alfenus promitteret.

The tribunes are appealed to; and when definite assistance had been sought from them, they then part on this understanding: that on the Ides of September Sextus Alfenus would promise to produce Publius Quinctius.

VIII. Venit Romam Quinctius, vadimonium sistit. VIII.

8. Quinctius came to Rome, he appears in accordance with the recognizance. 8.

Iste, homo acerrimus, bonorum possessor, expulsor, ereptor, annum et sex mensis nihil petit, quiescit, condicionibus hunc quoad potest producit, a Cn. Dolabella denique praetore postulat ut sibi Quinctius iudicatum solvi satis det ex formula: QVOD AB EO PETAT QVOIVS EX EDICTO PRAETORIS BONA DIES XXX POSSESSA SINT. Non recusabat Quinctius quin ita satis dare iuberetur, si bona possessa essent ex edicto. Decernit—quam aequum, nihil dico, unum hoc dico, novum; et hoc ipsum tacuisse mallem, quoniam utrumque quivis intellegere potuit sed iubet P. Quinctium sponsionem cum Sex.

That man, a most vehement fellow, a possessor of goods, an expeller, a snatcher, for a year and six months seeks nothing, keeps quiet, protracts this man by conditions as long as he can, and at last before the praetor Cn. Dolabella demands that Quinctius give security for “the judgment to be paid,” according to the formula: “WHAT HE SEEKS FROM ONE WHOSE GOODS HAVE BEEN POSSESSED FOR 30 DAYS UNDER THE PRAETOR’S EDICT.” Quinctius did not refuse that he be ordered to give such security, if the goods had been possessed under the edict. He decrees—how equitable it is, I say nothing; this one thing I say, that it is novel; and I would rather have kept even this silent, since anyone could have understood both—but he orders P. Quinctius to enter into a sponsio with Sex.

Naevio facere: SI BONA SVA EX EDICTO P. BVRRIENI PRAETORIS DIES XXX POSSESSA NON ESSENT. Recusabant qui aderant tum Quinctio, demonstrabant de re iudicium fieri oportere ut aut uterque inter se aut neuter satis daret; non necesse esse famam alterius in iudicium venire. Clamabat porro ipse Quinctius sese idcirco nolle satis dare ne videretur iudicasse bona sua ex edicto possessa esse; sponsionem porro si istius modi faceret, se, id quod nunc evenit, de capite suo priore loco causam esse dicturum.

to make with Naevius: IF HIS GOODS HAD NOT BEEN POSSESSED FOR 30 DAYS ACCORDING TO THE EDICT OF THE PRAETOR P. BURRIENUS. Those who were then with Quinctius refused; they demonstrated that a judgment on the matter ought to be held, so that either each of them between themselves or neither should give surety; that it was not necessary for the good name of the other to come into judgment. Moreover, Quinctius himself kept shouting that for this reason he was unwilling to give surety, lest he seem to have judged that his goods had been possessed under the edict; and furthermore, if he were to make a sponsion of that sort, he would—as has now come to pass—have to plead his case about his own person (a capital matter) in the prior place.

Dolabella—quem ad modum solent homines nobiles, seu recte seu perperam facere coeperunt, ita in utroque excellunt ut nemo nostro loco natus adsequi possit—iniuriam facere fortissime perseverat; aut satis dare aut sponsionem iubet facere, et interea recusantis nostros advocatos acerrime submoveri.

Dolabella—as noble men are wont, once they have begun to do either rightly or perversely, thus they excel in either so that no one born in our station can attain—most bravely perseveres in doing injury; he orders either that surety be given or that a sponsion be made, and meanwhile that our advocates, when they refuse, be most sharply removed.

IX. Conturbatus sane discedit Quinctius; neque mirum, cui haec optio tam misera tamque iniqua daretur ut aut ipse se capitis damnaret, si satis dedisset, aut causam capitis, si sponsionem fecisset, priore loco diceret. Cum in altera re causae nihil esset quin secus iudicaret ipse de se, quod iudicium gravissimum est, in altera spes esset ad talem tamen virum iudicem veniendi, unde eo plus opis auferret quo minus attulisset gratiae, sponsionem facere maluit; fecit; te iudicem, C. Aquili, sumpsit, ex sponso egit. In hoc summa iudici causaque tota consistit.

9. Quinctius indeed departs discomposed; and no wonder, to whom this option so wretched and so iniquitous was being offered that either he would condemn himself on a capital charge, if he gave security, or would speak first in a capital cause, if he made a sponsion. Since in the one alternative there was nothing in the case but that he himself would judge adversely against himself—which judgment is the gravest—while in the other there was a hope of coming to such a man as judge, from whom he would carry off the more aid the less favor he had brought, he preferred to make the sponsion; he did so; he took you, Gaius Aquilius, as judge; he proceeded ex sponso. On this the sum of the judgment and the whole case rests.

Iudicium esse, C. Aquili, non de re pecuniaria, sed de fama fortunisque P. Quincti vides. Cum maiores ita constituerint ut, qui pro capite diceret, is posteriore loco diceret, nos inaudita criminatione accusatorum priore loco causam dicere intellegis. Eos porro qui defendere consuerunt vides accusare, et ea ingenia conuerti ad perniciem quae antea versabantur in salute atque auxilio ferendo.

You see, C. Aquili, that the judgment is not about a pecuniary matter, but about the reputation and fortunes of P. Quinctius. Since the ancestors have so established that he who would speak in a capital cause should speak in the latter place, you understand that, by the unheard-of crimination of the accusers, we are pleading the case in the first place. Moreover, you see those who were accustomed to defend now prosecuting, and those talents being turned to destruction which previously were engaged in safeguarding and in bringing help.

Illud etiam restiterat quod hesterno die fecerunt, ut te in ius educerent, ut nobis tempus quam diu diceremus praestitueres; quam rem facile a praetore impetrassent, nisi tu quod esset tuum ius et officium potestasque docuisses. Neque nobis adhuc praeter te quisquam fuit, ubi nostrum ius contra illos obtineremus, neque illis umquam satis fuit illud obtinere quod probari omnibus posset; ita sine iniuria potentiam levem atque inopem esse arbitrantur.

That too you resisted, what they did yesterday: namely, that they would hale you into court, that you would prescribe for us the time for how long we might speak; which thing they would easily have obtained from the praetor, had you not shown what was your right, and duty, and authority. Nor up to now has there been, besides you, anyone before whom we might maintain our right against them; nor has it ever been enough for them to obtain that which could be approved by all; thus they reckon that power without injustice is slight and destitute.

X. Verum quoniam tibi instat Hortensius ut eas in consilium, a me postulat ne dicendo tempus absumam, queritur priore patrono causam defendente numquam perorari potuisse, non patiar istam manere suspicionem nos rem iudicari nolle; neque illud mihi adrogabo, me posse causam commodius demonstrare quam antea demonstrata sit, neque tamen tam multa verba faciam, propterea quod et ab illo qui tum dixit iam informata causa est et a me, qui neque excogitare neque pronuntiare multa possum, brevitas postulatur, quae mihimet ipsi amicissima est; faciam quod te saepe animadverti facere, Hortensi; totam causae meae dictionem certas in partis dividam. Tu id semper facis, quia semper potes, ego in hac causa faciam, propterea quod in hac videor posse facere; quod tibi natura dat ut semper possis, id mihi causa concedit ut hodie possim. Certos mihi finis terminosque constituam, extra quos egredi non possim, si maxime velim, ut et mihi sit propositum de quo dicam, et Hortensius habeat exposita ad quae respondeat, et tu, C. Aquili, iam ante animo prospicere possis quibus de rebus auditurus sis.

10. But since Hortensius presses you to take these things into deliberation, and demands of me that I not consume time by speaking, he complains that, with the prior patron defending the case, it was never able to be brought to a peroration; I will not allow that suspicion to remain, that we are unwilling to have the matter judged; nor will I arrogate this to myself—that I can set forth the case more advantageously than it has previously been set forth—nor yet will I make so many words, for the reason that both by that man who spoke then the case has already been shaped, and from me, who can neither devise nor pronounce many things, brevity is required, which is most friendly to myself; I will do what I have often noticed you do, Hortensius; I will divide the whole pleading of my case into fixed parts. You always do that, because you always can; I will do it in this case, because in this I seem able to do it; what nature gives to you, that you can always do, this the case grants to me, that today I can. I will set for myself fixed bounds and limits, beyond which I could not go out, even if I most wished, so that both there may be proposed for me the subject about which I shall speak, and Hortensius may have set out the points to which he may respond, and you, C. Aquilius, may already beforehand in mind foresee about what matters you are going to be hearing.

Negamus te bona P. Quincti, Sex. Naevi, possedisse ex edicto praetoris. In eo sponsio facta est.

We deny that you, Sextus Naevius, possessed the goods of P. Quinctius in accordance with the praetor’s edict. On that point a sponsion was made.

Ostendam primum causam non fuisse cur a praetore postulares ut bona P. Quincti possideres, deinde ex edicto te possidere non potuisse, postremo non possedisse. Quaeso, C. Aquili vosque qui estis in consilio, ut quid pollicitus sim diligenter memoriae mandetis; etenim rem facilius totam accipietis, si haec memineritis, et me facile vestra existimatione revocabitis, si extra hos cancellos egredi conabor quos mihi ipse circumdedi. Nego fuisse causam cur postularet, nego ex edicto possidere potuisse, nego possedisse.

I will show first that there was no cause why you should petition the praetor that you might possess the goods of P. Quinctius, then that you could not have possessed under the edict, finally that you did not possess. I beg, C. Aquilius, and you who are on the council, to commit carefully to memory what I have promised; for you will take in the whole matter more easily if you remember this, and you will readily call me back by your judgment if I attempt to go beyond these rails which I have set around myself. I deny that there was cause for him to petition; I deny that he could have possessed under the edict; I deny that he possessed.

Haec tria cum docuero, peroraro.

When I have demonstrated these three, I will perorate.

XI. Non fuit causa cur postularet. Qui hoc intellegi potest? Quia Sex.

11. There was no cause why he should petition. How can this be understood? Because Sext.

Naevio neque ex societatis ratione neque privatim quicquam debuit Quinctius. Quis huic rei testis est? Idem qui acerrimus adversarius; in hanc rem te, te inquam, testem, Naevi, citabo.

Quinctius owed Naevius nothing, neither by the reckoning of the partnership nor privately. Who is witness to this matter? The very one who is the keenest adversary; for this point I shall summon you—you, I say—as a witness, Naevius.

Annum et eo diutius post mortem C. Quincti fuit in Gallia tecum simul Quinctius. Doce te petisse ab eo istam nescio quam innumerabilem pecuniam, doce aliquando mentionem fecisse, dixisse deberi; debuisse concedam. Moritur C. Quinctius qui tibi, ut ais, certis nominibus grandem pecuniam debuit.

For a year and even longer after the death of C. Quinctius, Quinctius was in Gaul together with you. Show that you sought from him that I‑know‑not‑what innumerable sum of money, show that you ever made mention of it, that you said it was owed; I will concede that it was owed. C. Quinctius dies—he who, as you say, owed you a large sum under certain titles.

Heres eius P. Quinctius in Galliam ad te ipsum venit in agrum communem, eo denique ubi non modo res erat sed ratio quoque omnis et omnes litterae. Quis tam dissolutus in re familiari fuisset, quis tam neglegens, quis tam tui, Sexte, dissimilis qui, cum res ab eo quicum contraxisset recessisset et ad heredem pervenisset, non heredem, cum primum vidisset, certiorem faceret, appellaret, rationem adferret, si quid in controversiam veniret, aut intra parietes aut summo iure experiretur? Itane est?

His heir, Publius Quinctius, came into Gaul to you yourself, into the common estate, indeed to that very place where not only the property was but also the whole account and all the letters. Who would have been so remiss in household affairs, so negligent, so unlike you, Sextus, as not, when the transaction had passed from the man with whom he had contracted and had come to the heir, to inform the heir the moment he first saw him, to address him, to bring an accounting, and, if anything came into controversy, either to try it within the walls or by the utmost law? Is it so?

quod viri optimi faciunt, si qui suos propinquos ac necessarios caros et honestos esse atque haberi volunt, id Sex. Naevius non faceret, qui usque eo fervet ferturque avaritia ut de suis commodis aliquam partem velit committere ne quam partem huic propinquo suo ullius ornamenti relinquat? et is pecuniam, si qua deberetur, non peteret qui, quia, quod debitum numquam est, id datum non est, non pecuniam modo verum etiam hominis propinqui sanguinem vitamque eripere conatur?

what the best of men do, if there be any who wish their own kin and intimates to be and to be held dear and honorable, that Sext. Naevius would not do, who so seethes and is borne along with avarice to such a degree that he is willing to stake some part of his own advantages lest he leave to this kinsman any portion of any ornament? and would he not demand money, if any were owed—he who, because that which never was a debt has not been given, tries to snatch away not money only, but even the blood and life of a kinsman?

Huic tum molestus esse videlicet noluisti quem nunc respirare libere non sinis, quem nunc interficere nefarie cupis, eum tum pudenter appellare nolebas. Ita credo; hominem propinquum, tui observantem, virum bonum, pudentem, maiorem natu nolebas aut non audebas appellare; saepe, ut fit, cum ipse te confirmasses, cum statuisses mentionem de pecunia facere, cum paratus meditatusque venisses, homo timidus virginali verecundia subito ipse te retinebas; excidebat repente oratio; cum cuperes appellare, non audebas, ne invitus audiret. Id erat profecto.

To this man then, evidently, you did not wish to be troublesome—the very one whom now you do not allow to breathe freely, whom now you nefariously desire to kill; him then you were unwilling to address modestly. So I suppose; a kinsman, observant of you, a good man, modest, your elder, you were unwilling or did not dare to address; often, as happens, when you had confirmed yourself, when you had resolved to make mention about the money, when you had come prepared and premeditated, being a timid man, with virginal modesty you suddenly held yourself back; your oration suddenly fell away; when you wished to address him, you did not dare, lest he should hear unwillingly. That was indeed it.

XII. Credamus hoc, Sex. Naevium, cuius caput oppugnet, eius auribus pepercisse.

12. Let us believe this, that he has spared the ears of Sextus Naevius, whose head he is assailing.

Si debuisset, Sexte, petisses, et petisses statim; si non statim, paulo quidem post; si non paulo, at aliquanto; sex quidem illis mensibus profecto; anno vertente sine controversia. Anno et sex mensibus vero, cum tibi cotidie potestas hominis fuisset admonendi, verbum nullum facis; biennio iam confecto fere appellas. Quis tam perditus ac profusus nepos non adesa iam sed abundanti etiam pecunia sic dissolutus fuisset ut fuit Sex.

If it had been owed, Sextus, you would have demanded it, and you would have demanded it at once; if not at once, indeed a little afterward; if not a little, yet after some time; certainly within those six months; with the year turning, without controversy. But after a year and six months, when you had daily the power of admonishing the man, you utter no word; only when nearly two years have been completed do you bring an appeal. What grandson so ruined and so profuse would not, with money not already gnawed away but even abundant, have been thus dissolute as Sextus was?

Naevius? Cum hominem nomino, satis mihi videor dicere. Debuit tibi C. Quinctius, numquam petisti; mortuus est ille, res ad heredem venit; cum eum cotidie videres, post biennium denique appellas.

Naevius? When I name the man, I seem to say enough. Gaius Quinctius owed you, you never demanded it; he died, the matter came to the heir; although you saw him every day, at last after two years you call upon him.

Dubitabitur utrum sit probabilius, Sex. Naevium statim si quid deberetur petiturum fuisse, an ne appellaturum quidem biennio? Appellandi tempus non erat?

It will be questioned which is more probable: that Sextus Naevius, if anything were owed, would have demanded it at once, or that he would not even have called upon him within 2 years? Was there no time for making a demand?

At tecum plus annum vixit. In Gallia agi non potuit? At et in provincia ius dicebatur et Romae iudicia fiebant.

But he lived with you for more than a year. Could proceedings not be carried on in Gaul? Yet both in the province jurisdiction was being pronounced and in Rome judicial proceedings were taking place.

Restat ut aut summa neglegentia tibi obstiterit aut unica liberalitas. Si neglegentiam dices, mirabimur, si bonitatem, ridebimus; neque praeterea quid possis dicere invenio. Satis est argumenti nihil esse debitum Naevio, quod tam diu nihil petivit.

It remains that either utmost negligence has stood in your way, or singular liberality. If you say negligence, we shall marvel; if goodness, we shall laugh; nor, besides this, do I find what else you can say. It is sufficient argument that nothing is owed to Naevius, that for so long he has sought nothing.

XIII. Quid si hoc ipsum quod nunc facit ostendo testimonio esse nihil deberi? Quid enim nunc agit Sex.

13. What if I show that this very thing which he is now doing is testimony that nothing is owed? For what, indeed, is Sex. doing now?

Naevius? qua de re controversia est? quod est hoc iudicium in quo iam biennium versamur?

Naevius? About what matter is the controversy? What is this judgment in which we have now been engaged for a biennium?

quid negoti geritur in quo ille tot et talis viros defatigat? Pecuniam petit. Nunc denique?

what business is being conducted in which he wears out so many and such men? He petitions for money. Only now, at last?

verum tamen petat; audiamus. De rationibus et controversiis societatis volt diiudicari. Sero, verum aliquando tamen; concedamus.

but nevertheless let him press his claim; let us hear. he wishes the accounts and controversies of the partnership to be adjudicated. late, yet at last at least; let us concede.

"Non," inquit, "id ago, C. Aquili, neque in eo nunc laboro. Pecunia mea tot annos utitur P. Quinctius. Vtatur sane; non peto." Quid igitur pugnas?

"No," he says, "that is not what I am driving at, Gaius Aquilius, nor am I now laboring over that. Publius Quinctius has been using my money for so many years. Let him use it, by all means; I do not demand it." Why, then, are you fighting?

an, quod saepe multis in locis dixisti ne in civitate sit, ne locum suum quem adhuc honestissime defendit obtineat, ne numeretur inter vivos, ut decernat de vita et ornamentis suis omnibus, apud iudicem causam priore loco dicat et, eam cum orarit, tum denique vocem accusatoris audiat? Quid? hoc quo pertinet?

Or is it this, the thing which you have often said in many places: that he should not be in the commonwealth, that he should not obtain his place which he has up to now most honorably defended, that he not be numbered among the living; that he should decide concerning his life and all his ornaments; that before a judge he should plead his cause in the prior place and, when he has orated it, then at last hear the voice of the accuser? What? To what does this pertain?

ut ocius ad tuum pervenias? At si id velles, iam pridem actum esse poterat. Vt honestiore iudicio conflictere?

so that you may more swiftly arrive at what is yours? But if you had wished that, it could long ago have been done. So that you may contend in a more honorable judgment?

At sine summo scelere P. Quinctium, propinquum tuum, iugulare non potes. Vt facilius iudicium sit? At neque C. Aquilius de capite alterius libenter iudicat et Q. Hortensius contra caput non didicit dicere.

But you cannot jugulate P. Quinctius, your kinsman, without the utmost wickedness. So that the judgment may be easier? But neither does C. Aquilius gladly judge in a capital matter upon another’s head, and Q. Hortensius has not learned to speak against a head.

Quid a nobis autem, C. Aquili, refertur? Pecuniam petit; negamus deberi. Iudicium fiat statim; non recusamus.

But what, C. Aquilius, is being brought forward by us? He seeks money; we deny that it is owed. Let judgment be held at once; we do not refuse.

Num quid praeterea? Si veretur ut res iudicio facto parata sit, iudicatum solvi satis accipiat; quibus a me verbis satis acceperit, isdem ipse, quod peto, satis det. Actum iam potest esse, C. Aquili; iam tu potes liberatus discedere molestia prope dicam non minore quam Quinctius.

Anything further? If he fears that the matter will not be provided for by a judgment rendered, let him accept security for the judgment to be paid; in whatever words he has taken surety from me, in those same let him himself give surety for what I seek. The business can now be finished, C. Aquilius; now you can depart released from trouble, I will almost say from an annoyance not less than Quinctius’s.

Quid agimus, Hortensi? quid de hac condicione dicimus? Possumus aliquando depositis armis sine periculo fortunarum de re pecuniaria disceptare?

What are we doing, Hortensius? what do we say about this condition? Can we ever, with arms laid down, dispute about the pecuniary matter without danger to our fortunes?

possumus ita rem nostram persequi ut hominis propinqui caput incolume esse patiamur? possumus petitoris personam capere, accusatoris deponere? "Immo," inquit, "abs te satis accipiam; ego autem tibi satis non dabo."

Can we pursue our matter in such a way that we allow a kinsman’s head to remain unscathed? Can we take up the person of the petitioner and lay down that of the accuser? "Rather," he says, "I will take surety from you; but I will not give surety to you."

XIV. Quis tandem nobis ista iura tam aequa discribit? quis hoc statuit, quod aequum sit in Quinctium, id iniquum esse in Naevium?

14. Who, pray, parcels out to us these so equitable rights? who has established this—that what is equitable with respect to Quinctius is inequitable with respect to Naevius?

"Quincti bona," inquit, "ex edicto praetoris possessa sunt." Ergo, id ut confitear, postulas ut, quod numquam factum esse iudicio defendimus, id, proinde quasi factum sit, nostro iudicio confirmemus? Inveniri ratio, C. Aquili, non potest ut ad suum quisque quam primum sine cuiusquam dedecore, infamia pernicieque perveniat? Profecto, si quid deberetur, peteret; non omnia iudicia fieri mallet quam unum illud unde haec omnia iudicia nascuntur.

"The goods of Quinctius," he says, "have been taken into possession under the praetor’s edict." Therefore, do you demand that I concede this: that what we defend in judgment was never done, we should nonetheless, as though it had been done, confirm by our own judgment? Can no method, Gaius Aquilius, be found whereby each man may arrive at what is his as soon as possible without anyone’s disgrace, infamy, and ruin? Assuredly, if anything were owed, he would bring a claim for it; he would not prefer that all these judgments be set on foot rather than that one from which all these judgments take their origin.

Qui inter tot annos ne appellarit quidem Quinctium, cum potestas esset agendi cotidie, qui, quo tempore primum agere coepit, in vadimoniis differendis tempus omne consumpserit, qui postea vadimonium quoque missum fecerit, hunc per insidias vi de agro communi deiecerit, qui, cum de re agendi nullo recusante potestas fuisset, sponsionem de probro facere maluerit, qui, cum revocetur ad id iudicium unde haec nata sunt omnia, condicionem aequissimam repudiet, fateatur se non pecuniam sed vitam et sanguinem petere, is non hoc palam dicit: "mihi si quid deberetur, peterem atque adeo iam pridem abstulissem; nihil hoc tanto negotio, nihil tam invidioso iudicio, nihil tam copiosa advocatione uterer, si petendum esset; extorquendum est invito atque ingratis; quod non debet, eripiendum atque exprimendum est; de fortunis omnibus P. Quinctius deturbandus est; potentes, diserti, nobiles omnes advocandi sunt; adhibenda vis est veritati, minae iactentur, pericula intendantur, formidines opponantur, ut his rebus aliquando victus et perterritus ipse se dedat?" Quae me hercule omnia, cum qui contra pugnent video, et cum illum consessum considero, adesse atque impendere videntur neque vitari ullo modo posse; cum autem ad te, C. Aquili, oculos animumque rettuli, quo maiore conatu studioque aguntur, eo leviora infirmioraque existimo. Nihil igitur debuit, ut tu ipse praedicas.

He who through so many years has not even summoned Quinctius, though there was power to proceed every day; who, at the time when he first began to proceed, consumed all his time in adjourning recognizances; who afterwards even let the recognizance be missed; who by ambush and by force cast this man out of the common field; who, when there was power to proceed with the matter, no one objecting, preferred to make a sponsion concerning reproach; who, when he is called back to that judgment whence all these things have arisen, rejects the most equitable condition, admits that he seeks not money but life and blood—does he not openly say this: “If anything were owed to me, I would demand it, and indeed long since I would have carried it off; I would use nothing of so great a business, nothing of so invidious a judgment, nothing of so copious an advocation, if it had to be asked; it must be extorted from the unwilling and from the ungracious; what is not owed must be snatched and squeezed out; P. Quinctius must be driven from all his fortunes; the powerful, the eloquent, the noble must all be called in as advocates; force must be applied to truth, threats be flung, dangers be aimed, terrors be set in the way, so that by these means at last, conquered and thoroughly frightened, he may surrender himself?” All which things, by Hercules, when I see those who fight against us and when I consider that assembly, seem to be present and impending, nor can they be avoided in any way; but when I have turned my eyes and mind to you, C. Aquilius, the greater the exertion and zeal with which they are pushed, by so much the lighter and weaker I judge them. Therefore he owed nothing, as you yourself proclaim.

Quid si debuisset? continuone causa fuisset cur a praetore postulares ut bona possideres? Non opinor id quidem neque ius esse neque cuiquam expedire.

What if he had owed it? Would there immediately have been a cause for you to petition from the praetor that you possess the goods? I do not think that, indeed, to be either lawful or expedient for anyone.

Quid igitur demonstrat? Vadimonium sibi ait esse desertum.

What, therefore, does he demonstrate? He says that the vadimonium has been deserted in his case.

XV. Ante quam doceo id factum non esse, libet mihi, C. Aquili, ex offici ratione atque ex omnium consuetudine rem ipsam et factum simul Sex. Naevi considerare. Ad vadimonium non venerat, ut ais, is quicum tibi adfinitas, societas, omnes denique causae et necessitudines veteres intercedebant.

15. Before I demonstrate that that was not done, it pleases me, Gaius Aquilius, from the rationale of duty and from the custom of all, to consider the very matter and the deed of Sextus Naevius at the same time. He had not come to the vadimonium, as you say, he with whom affinity by marriage, partnership, and, in fine, all the old causes and obligations intervened between you.

Ilicone ad praetorem ire convenit? continuone verum fuit postulare ut ex edicto bona possidere liceret? ad haec extrema et inimicissima ium tam cupide decurrebas ut tibi nihil in posterum quod gravius atque crudelius facere posses reservares?

Then, was it fitting to go to the praetor? Was it straightway right to demand that, by the edict, it be permitted to possess the goods? Were you rushing so eagerly to these extreme and most inimical measures that you reserved nothing for yourself in the future which you could do more grave and more cruel?

Nam quid homini potest turpius, quid viro miserius aut acerbius usu venire? quod tantum evenire dedecus, quae tanta calamitas inveniri potest? Pecuniam si cuipiam fortuna ademit aut si alicuius eripuit iniuria, tamen, dum existimatio est integra, facile consolatur honestas egestatem.

For what can be more shameful to a human being, what more wretched or more bitter can come in experience to a man? what so great a disgrace can occur, what calamity so great can be found? If Fortune has taken money from someone, or if injury has snatched it from someone, nevertheless, so long as esteem is intact, honesty—honor—easily consoles indigence.

At non nemo aut ignominia adfectus aut iudicio turpi convictus bonis quidem suis utitur, alterius opes, id quod miserrimum est, non exspectat, hoc tamen in miseriis adiumento et solacio sublevatur. Cuius vero bona venierunt, cuius non modo illae amplissimae fortunae sed etiam victus vestitusque necessarius sub praeconem cum dedecore subiectus est, is non modo ex numero vivorum exturbatur, sed, si fieri potest, infra etiam mortuos amandatur. Etenim mors honesta saepe vitam quoque turpem exornat, vita ita turpis ne morti quidem honestae locum relinquit.

But yet someone either afflicted with ignominy or convicted by a disgraceful judgment does indeed make use of his own goods; he does not look for another’s resources—which is the most pitiable thing—yet even in his miseries he is upheld by this as a help and solace. But the man whose goods have been sold, whose not only those most ample fortunes but even the necessities of sustenance and clothing have been subjected, with disgrace, to the auctioneer’s cry, is not only thrust out from the number of the living, but, if it can be, is sent down even beneath the dead. For an honorable death often even adorns a base life; a life so base leaves not even a place for an honorable death.

Ergo hercule, cuius bona ex edicto possidentur, huius omnis fama et existimatio cum bonis simul possidetur; de quo libelli in celeberrimis locis proponuntur, huic ne perire quidem tacite obscureque conceditur; cui magistri fiunt et domini constituuntur, qui qua lege et qua condicione pereat pronuntient, de quo homine praeconis vox praedicat et pretium conficit, huic acerbissimum vivo videntique funus indicitur, si funus id habendum est quo non amici conveniunt ad exsequias cohonestandas, sed bonorum emptores ut carnifices ad reliquias vitae lacerandas et distrahendas.

Therefore, by Hercules, the man whose goods are possessed under an edict, his whole fame and estimation are possessed together with his goods; about whom little placards are posted in the most frequented places, to him it is not granted even to perish silently and in obscurity; for him overseers are made and masters are appointed, who pronounce under what law and on what condition he shall perish; about which man the herald’s voice proclaims and fixes the price, for him the most bitter funeral is announced while he lives and sees—if that is to be called a funeral at which not friends gather to dignify the obsequies, but buyers of goods, like executioners, to lacerate and to sell off the remnants of life.

XVI. Itaque maiores nostri raro id accidere voluerunt, praetores ut considerate fieret comparaverunt. Viri boni cum palam fraudantur, cum experiendi potestas non est, timide tamen et pedetemptim istuc descendunt vi ac necessitate coacti, inviti, multis vadimoniis desertis, saepe inlusi ac destituti; considerant enim quid et quantum sit alterius bona proscribere.

16. And so our ancestors wished that to happen rarely, and they arranged the praetors so that it might be done with consideration. Good men, when they are openly defrauded, when there is no power of trying the case, nevertheless timidly and step by tentative step descend to that course, compelled by force and necessity, unwilling, with many recognizances abandoned, often mocked and left deserted; for they consider what, and how great a matter, it is to proscribe another’s goods.

Iugulare civem ne iure quidem quisquam bonus volt, mavolt commemorari se cum posset perdere pepercisse, quam cum parcere potuerit perdidisse. Haec in homines alienissimos, denique in inimicissimos viri boni faciunt et hominum existimationis et communis humanitatis causa, ut, cum ipsi nihil alteri scientes incommodarint, nihil ipsis iure incommodi cadere possit. Ad vadimonium non venit.

No good man wishes to slay a citizen, not even lawfully; he prefers to be commemorated as having spared when he could have destroyed, rather than as having destroyed when he could have spared. Good men do these things toward men most alien, finally toward their most inimical enemies, for the sake both of men’s estimation and of common humanity, so that, when they themselves have knowingly brought no inconvenience to another, nothing of inconvenience can by right befall themselves. He did not come to the recognizance (court appearance).

Quis? Propinquus. Si res ista gravissima sua sponte videretur, tamen eius atrocitas necessitudinis nomine levaretur.

Who? A kinsman. Even if that most grave matter should seem so of its own accord, nevertheless its atrocity would be lightened by the name of kinship.

Ad vadimonium non venit. Quis? Socius.

He did not come to the vadimony. Who? An associate.

Etiam gravius aliquid ei deberes concedere, quicum te aut voluntas congregasset aut fortuna coniunxisset.

You ought to concede to him something even more grave, with whom either will had congregated you or fortune had conjoined you.

Ad vadimonium non venit. Quis? Is, qui tibi praesto semper fuit.

He did not come to the recognizance hearing. Who? He who has always been at hand for you.

Ergo in eum qui semel hoc commisit, ut tibi praesto non esset, omnia tela coniecisti quae parata sunt in eos qui permulta male agendi causa fraudandique fecerunt? Si dupondius tuus ageretur, Sex. Naevi, si in parvola re captionis aliquid vererere, non statim ad C. Aquilium aut ad eorum aliquem, qui consuluntur, cucurrisses?

Therefore, against the man who once committed this—that he was not at hand for you—have you hurled all the darts which are prepared against those who, for the sake of wrong-doing and of defrauding, have done a great many things? If your two‑penny piece were being litigated, Sextus Naevius, if in a very small matter you were fearing something of caption, would you not at once have run to Gaius Aquilius or to one of those who are consulted?

cum ius amicitiae, societatis, adfinitatis ageretur, cum offici rationem atque existimationis duci conveniret, eo tempore tu non modo non ad C. Aquilium aut L. Lucilium rettulisti, sed ne ipse quidem te consuluisti, ne hoc quidem tecum locutus es: "Horae duae fuerunt: Quinctius ad vadimonium non venit. Quid ago?" Si me hercule haec tecum duo verba fecisses: "Quid ago?" respirasset cupiditas atque avaritia, paulum aliquid loci rationi et consilio dedisses, tu te conlegisses, non in eam turpitudinem venisses ut hoc tibi esset apud talis viros confitendum, qua tibi vadimonium non sit obitum, eadem te hora consilium cepisse hominis propinqui fortunas funditus evertere.

when the law/right of friendship, partnership, and affinity was being handled, when it was fitting that the reckoning of duty and reputation be guided, at that time you not only did not refer the matter to C. Aquilius or L. Lucilius, but you did not even consult yourself, you did not even say this to yourself: "Two hours had elapsed: Quinctius did not come to the recognizance (vadimonium). What am I to do?" If, by Hercules, you had spoken these two words with yourself: "What am I to do?" desire and avarice would have taken a breath, you would have given a little room to reason and counsel, you would have collected yourself, you would not have come into such disgrace that this would have to be confessed by you before such men—namely, that it was not you who failed the recognizance—and that in that same hour you had formed the plan to overturn utterly the fortunes of a kinsman.

XVII. Ego pro te nunc hos consulo post tempus et in aliena re, quoniam tu in tua re, cum tempus erat, consulere oblitus es; quaero abs te, C. Aquili, L. Lucili, P. Quinctili, M. Marcelle: vadimonium mihi non obiit quidam socius et adfinis meus quicum mihi necessitudo vetus, controversia de re pecuniaria recens intercedit; postulone a praetore ut eius bona mihi possidere liceat, an, cum Romae domus eius, uxor, liberi sint, domum potius denuntiem? Quid est quod hac tandem de re vobis possit videri?

17. I for you now consult these men after the time and in another’s matter, since you, in your own matter, when it was time, forgot to consult; I ask of you, C. Aquili, L. Lucili, P. Quinctili, M. Marcelle: a certain partner and affine of mine did not appear to the vadimonium, with whom I have an old bond, while a recent controversy about a pecuniary matter stands between us; am I to demand from the praetor that it be permitted me to possess his goods, or, since his house, wife, and children are at Rome, should I rather give notice at his home? What is there that, then, in this matter can seem good to you?

Profecto, si recte vestram bonitatem atque prudentiam cognovi, non multum me fallit, si consulamini, quid sitis responsuri: primum exspectare, deinde, si latitare ac diutius ludificare videatur, amicos convenire, quaerere quis procurator sit, domum denuntiare. Dici vix potest quam multa sint quae respondeatis ante fieri oportere quam ad hanc rationem extremam necessario devenire.

Assuredly, if I have rightly recognized your goodness and prudence, I am not much mistaken, if you are consulted, as to what you will be about to respond: first, to wait; then, if he seems to lie hidden and to trifle with you longer, to convene friends, to inquire who the procurator is, to give notice at his house. It can scarcely be told how many things there are which you would respond ought to be done before one is necessarily driven down to this extreme course.

Quid ad haec Naevius? Ridet scilicet nostram amentiam, qui in vita sua rationem summi offici desideremus et instituta virorum bonorum requiramus. "Quid mihi," inquit, "cum ista summa sanctimonia ac diligentia?

What does Naevius say to these things? He laughs, of course, at our madness, we who in his life desire an account of the highest duty and seek the institutes of good men. "What have I," he says, "to do with that utmost sanctity and diligence?"

viderint," inquit, "ista officia viri boni, de me autem ita considerent: non quid habeam sed quibus rebus invenerim quaerant, et quem ad modum natus et quo pacto educatus sim. Memini; vetus est, "de scurra multo facilius divitem quam patrem familias fieri posse." Haec ille, si verbis non audet, re quidem vera palam loquitur. Etenim si volt virorum bonorum instituto vivere, multa oportet discat ac dediscat, quorum illi aetati utrumque difficile est.

"Let those duties of the good man look to themselves," he says; "but as for me, let them consider thus: let them ask not what I have, but by what means I have come by it, and in what manner I was born and by what method I was brought up. I remember; it is an old saying: 'out of a scurra it is much easier to make a rich man than a paterfamilias.'" This he, if he does not dare in words, in very deed openly speaks. For indeed, if he wishes to live by the institution of good men, it is necessary that he learn and unlearn many things, of which for a man of that age both are difficult.

XVIII. "Non dubitavi," inquit, "cum vadimonium desertum esset, bona proscribere." Improbe; verum, quoniam tu id tibi adrogas et concedi postulas, concedamus. Quid si numquam deservit, si ista causa abs te tota per summam fraudem et malitiam victa est, si vadimonium omnino tibi cum P. Quinctio nullum fuit?

18. "I did not hesitate," he says, "when the recognizance had been deserted, to proscribe the goods." Wickedly; but since you arrogate that to yourself and demand that it be conceded, let us concede it. What if it was never in default, if that case of yours has been lost by you entirely through the highest fraud and malice, if there was no recognizance at all between you and P. Quinctius?

quo te nomine appellemus? Improbum? At etiam si desertum vadimonium esset, tamen in ista postulatione et proscriptione bonorum improbissimus reperiebare.

By what name shall we call you? A reprobate? But even if the recognizance had been deserted, nevertheless in that postulation and proscription of goods you were found most reprobate.

Malitiosum? Non negas. Fraudulentum?

Malicious? You do not deny it. Fraudulent?

Iam id quidem adrogas tibi et praeclarum putas. Audacem, cupidum, perfidiosum? Volgaria et obsoleta sunt; res autem nova atque inaudita.

That, indeed, you now arrogate to yourself and think it illustrious. Audacious, covetous, perfidious? Those are vulgar and obsolete; but the matter is new and unheard-of.

Quid ergo est?

What then is it?

Vereor me hercule ne aut gravioribus utar verbis quam natura fert, aut levioribus quam causa postulat. Ais esse vadimonium desertum. Quaesivit a te, statim ut Romam rediit, Quinctius quo die vadimonium istuc factum esse diceres.

I fear, by Hercules, lest I use either heavier words than nature bears, or lighter than the case requires. You say that the recognizance was defaulted. Quinctius asked you, immediately upon his return to Rome, on what day you said that recognizance had been entered.

Respondisti statim: Nonis Febr. Discedens in memoriam redit Quinctius quo die Roma in Galliam profectus sit; ad ephemeridem revertitur: invenitur dies profectionis pridie kal. Febr.

You answered at once: February 5. As he departs, Quinctius calls to mind on what day he set out from Rome to Gaul; he turns back to his daybook: the day of departure is found to be January 31.

Nonis Febr. si Romae fuit, causae nihil dicimus quin tibi vadimonium promiserit. Quid?

On the Nones of February, if he was at Rome, we make no objection in the case that he promised you a vadimonium. What?

hoc inveniri qui potest? Profectus est una L. Albius, homo cum primis honestus; dicet testimonium. Prosecuti sunt familiares et Albium et Quinctium; dicent hi quoque testimonium.

How can this be found? L. Albius set out along with him, a man among the foremost honest; he will give testimony. The familiars escorted both Albius and Quinctius; these too will give testimony.

Litterae P. Quincti, testes tot, quibus omnibus causa iustissima est cur scire potuerint, nulla cur mentiantur, cum astipulatore tuo comparabuntur.

The letters of P. Quinctius, and so many witnesses, all of whom have a most just reason why they could have known, and none why they should lie, will be compared with your astipulator.

Et in hac eius modi causa P. Quinctius laborabit et, diutius in tanto metu miser periculoque versabitur? et vehementius eum gratia adversarii perterrebit quam fides iudicis consolabitur? Vixit enim semper inculte atque horride; natura tristi ac recondita fuit; non ad solarium, non in campo, non in conviviis versatus est; id egit ut amicos observantia, rem parsimonia retineret; antiquam offici rationem dilexit cuius splendor omnis his moribus obsolevit.

And in a case of this sort will P. Quinctius toil, and will the wretched man for longer be tossed in such great fear and danger? and will the influence of his adversary terrify him more vehemently than the good faith of the judge will console him? For he has always lived uncultivated and rough; he was by nature gloomy and retired; he did not frequent the solarium, not the Campus, not banquets; he managed this, that he kept his friends by observance, his estate by parsimony; he cherished the ancient reckoning of duty, whose entire splendor under these mores has grown obsolete.

At si in causa pari discedere inferior videretur, tamen esset non mediocriter conquerendum; nunc in causa superiore ne ut par quidem sit postulat, inferiorem se esse patitur, dumtaxat usque eo ne cum bonis, fama fortunisque omnibus Sex. Naevi cupiditati crudelitatique dedatur.

But even if, in a case equal, he should seem to come off the inferior, still there would be no mean cause for complaint; now, in a superior case, he does not even demand to be as an equal, he allows himself to be the inferior—only so far as this, that he not be delivered over, together with his goods, reputation, and all his fortunes, to the cupidity and cruelty of Sextus Naevius.

XIX. Docui quod primum pollicitus sum, C. Aquili, causam omnino cur postularet non fuisse, quod neque pecunia debebatur et, si maxime deberetur, commissum nihil esset qua re ad istam rationem perveniretur. Attende nunc ex edicto praetoris bona P. Quincti possideri nullo modo potuisse.

19. I have taught what I first promised, Gaius Aquilius, that altogether there was no cause why he should petition, because neither was money owed and, if it were most of all owed, nothing had been committed whereby one would arrive at that course. Attend now that, by the edict of the praetor, the goods of Publius Quinctius could in no way have been possessed.

Recita edictum. QVI FRAVDATIONIS CAVSA LATITARIT. Non est is Quinctius; nisi si latitant qui ad negotium suum relicto procuratore proficiscuntur.

Recite the edict. WHOEVER SHALL HAVE LAIN IN HIDING FOR THE SAKE OF DEFRAUDING. That is not Quinctius; unless indeed those are “in hiding” who set out to their own business with a procurator left behind.

CVI HERES NON EXSTABIT. Ne is quidem. QVI EXSILI CAVSA SOLVM VERTERIT.

For one to whom an heir will not exist. Not he either. He who, for the cause of exile, has changed his soil.

... Quo tempore existimas oportuisse, Naevi, absentem Quinctium defendi aut quo modo? tum cum postulabas ut bona possideres? Nemo adfuit; neque enim quisquam divinare poterat te postulaturum, neque quemquam attinebat id recusare quod praetor non fieri, sed ex edicto suo fieri iubebat.

... At what time do you think, Naevius, the absent Quinctius ought to have been defended, or in what way? Then, when you were petitioning to possess the goods? No one was present; for no one could divine that you would petition, nor did it concern anyone to refuse that which the praetor was ordering— not that it not be done, but that it be done in accordance with his edict.

Qui locus igitur absentis defendendi procuratori primus datus est? Cum proscribebas. Ergo adfuit, non passus est, libellos deiecit Sex.

What place, then, for defending the absent man was first given to the procurator? When you were proscribing. Therefore he was present, he did not allow it, Sextus threw down the placards.

Alfenus; qui primus erat offici gradus, servatus est a procuratore summa cum diligentia.

Alfenus; the first step of duty was kept by the procurator with the utmost diligence.

Videamus quae deinde sint consecuta. Hominem P. Quincti deprehendis in publico, conaris abducere; non patitur Alfenus, vi tibi adimit, curat ut domum reducatur ad Quinctium. Hic quoque summe constat procuratoris diligentis officium.

Let us see what then ensued. You apprehend the man of P. Quinctius in public, you try to carry him off; Alfenus does not allow it, by force he takes him from you, he sees to it that he is led back home to Quinctius. Here too the office of a diligent procurator is most clearly established.

Debere tibi dicis Quinctium, procurator negat; vadari vis, promittit; in ius vocas, sequitur; iudicium postulas, non recusat.

You say that Quinctius owes you; the procurator denies it; you wish him to be bound over to bail, he promises; you call him into court, he follows; you demand judgment, he does not refuse.

Quid aliud sit absentem defendi ego non intellego. At quis erat procurator? Credo aliquem electum hominem egentem, litigiosum, improbum, qui posset scurrae divitis cotidianum convicium sustinere.

I do not understand what else it is to defend one who is absent. But who was the procurator? I suppose some selected man, needy, litigious, depraved, who could sustain a rich buffoon’s quotidian invective.

Nihil minus; eques Romanus locuples, sui negoti bene gerens, denique is quem, quotiens Naevius in Galliam profectus est, procuratorem Romae reliquit.

Nothing less; a Roman eques, wealthy, well conducting his own business, in fine, the very man whom, as often as Naevius set out for Gaul, he left as procurator in Rome.

XX. Et audes, Sex. Naevi negare absentem defensum esse Quinctium, cum eum defenderit idem qui te solebat? et, cum is iudicium acceperit pro Quinctio cui tu et rem et famam tuam commendare proficiscens et concredere solebas, conaris hoc dicere, neminem exstitisse qui Quinctium iudicio defenderet?" Postulabam," inquit, "ut satis daret." Iniuria postulabas.

20. And do you dare, Sextus Naevius, to deny that Quinctius was defended while absent, since he was defended by the same man who used to defend you? And, since that man accepted the case on behalf of Quinctius—the one to whom, when setting out, you were wont to commend and to entrust both your property and your reputation—do you try to say this, that no one appeared to defend Quinctius in court?" "I was demanding," he says, "that he give security." You were demanding unjustly.

"Ita iubebare"; recusabat Alfenus. "Ita, verum praetor decernebat."—Tribuni igitur appellabantur.—"Hic te", inquit, "teneo; non est istud iudicio pati neque iudicio defendere, auxilium a tribunis petas." Hoc ego, cum attendo qua prudentia sit Hortensius, dicturum esse eum non arbitror. Cum autem antea dixisse audio et causam ipsam considero, quid aliud dicere possit non reperio.

"So you were being ordered"; Alfenus was refusing. "Yes, but the praetor was decreeing."—Therefore the tribunes were appealed to.— "Here I have you," he says, "that is not to submit to judgment nor to defend by judgment; you should seek aid from the tribunes." This, when I attend to the prudence of Hortensius, I do not think he would say. But since I hear that he has said it before and I consider the case itself, I do not find what else he can say.

Fatetur enim libellos Alfenum deiecisse, vadimonium promisisse, iudicium quin acciperet in ea ipsa verba quae Naevius edebat non recusasse" ita tamen, more et instituto, per eum magistratum qui auxili causa constitutus est. Aut haec facta non sint necesse est aut C. Aquilius, talis vir, iuratus hoc ius in civitate constituat: cuius procurator non omnia iudicia acceperit quae quisque in verba postularit, cuius procurator a praetore tribunos appellare ausus sit, eum non defendi, eius bona recte possideri posse, ei misero, absenti, ignaro fortunarum suarum omnia vitae ornamenta per summum dedecus et ignominiam deripi convenire. Quod si probari- nemini potest, illud certe probari omnibus necesse est, defensum esse iudicio absentem Quinctium.

For he admits that Alfenus threw down the notices, promised a recognizance (vadimonium), did not refuse to accept a trial on those very terms which Naevius was publishing—yet, nevertheless, in accordance with custom and established practice, through that magistrate who was constituted for the sake of aid. Either it must be that these things were not done, or that Gaius Aquilius, such a man, under oath establishes this right in the commonwealth: that one whose procurator has not accepted every single trial which anyone has demanded in set terms, whose procurator has dared to appeal from the praetor to the tribunes, is not defended; that his goods can rightly be possessed; that to that wretched man—absent, ignorant of his fortunes—it is fitting that all the ornaments of life be torn away with the utmost disgrace and ignominy. But if this can be approved by no one, then surely this must be approved by all: that Quinctius, though absent, was defended in the proceeding.

Quod cum ita sit, ex edicto bona possessa non sunt. At enim tribuni plebis ne audierunt quidem. Fateor, si ita est, procuratorem decreto praetoris oportuisse parere.

Since this is so, the goods were not possessed under the edict. But indeed the tribunes of the plebs did not even grant a hearing. I confess, if this is so, that the procurator ought to have obeyed the decree of the praetor.

Quid? si M. Brutus intercessurum se dixit palam, nisi quid inter ipsum Alfenum et Naevium conveniret, videturne intercessisse appellatio tribunorum non morae, sed auxili causa?

What? If M. Brutus said openly that he would intercede unless something were agreed between Alfenus himself and Naevius, does the appeal to the tribunes seem to have been an intercession not for delay’s sake, but for the sake of aid?

XXI. Quid deinde fit? Alfenus, ut omnes intellegere possent iudicio defendi Quinctium, ne qua subesse posset aliena aut ipsius officio aut huius existimatione suspicio, viros bonos compluris advocat, testatur isto audiente se pro communi necessitudine id primum petere ne quid atrocius in P. Quinctium absentem sine causa facere conetur; sin autem inimicissime atque infestissime contendere perseveret, se paratum esse omni recta atque honesta ratione defendere quod petat non deberi; se iudicium id quod edat accipere.

21. What then happens? Alfenus, so that all might understand that Quinctius was being defended by legal process, lest any suspicion alien either to his own duty or to this man’s good name might lurk beneath, calls in several upright men, and, with that fellow hearing, declares that for the sake of their common bond he first requests that he not attempt to do anything too harsh against Publius Quinctius, absent, without cause; but if he persists in contending with the utmost enmity and hostility, that he is prepared by every upright and honorable method to defend that what he seeks is not owed; that he accepts the trial which he publishes.

Eius rei condicionisque tabellas obsignaverunt viri boni complures. Res in dubium venire non potest. Fit rebus omnibus integris neque proscriptis neque possessis bonis ut Alfenus promittat Naevio sisti Quinctium.

Many good men sealed the tablets of this matter and condition. The matter cannot come into doubt. It comes about, with all things entire and with the goods neither proscribed nor possessed, that Alfenus promises to Naevius that Quinctius will be made to appear.

Venit ad vadimonium Quinctius. Iacet res in controversiis isto calumniante biennium, usque dum inveniretur qua ratione res ab usitata consuetudine recederet et in hoc singulare iudicium causa omnis concluderetur.

Quinctius came to the vadimonium. The matter lay in controversies for two years, with that man practicing calumny, until a way was found by which the affair might depart from the customary practice and the whole case might be concluded into this singular judgment.

Quod officium, C. Aquili, commemorari procuratoris potest quod ab Alfeno praeteritum esse videatur? quid adfertur qua re P. Quinctius negetur absens esse defensus? An vero id quod Hortensium, quia nuper iniecit et quia Naevius semper id clamitat, dicturum arbitror, non fuisse Naevio parem certationem cum Alfeno illo tempore, illis dominantibus?

What duty, Gaius Aquilius, of a procurator can be mentioned which might seem to have been omitted by Alfenus? What is brought forward, for what reason is Publius Quinctius said not to have been defended while absent? Or truly is it that which I reckon Hortensius will say—since he lately threw it in and since Naevius always keeps clamoring it—that Naevius did not have a contest at par with Alfenus at that time, with those men dominating?

Quod si velim confiteri, illud, opinor, concedent, non procuratorem P. Quincti neminem fuisse, sed gratiosum fuisse. Mihi autem ad vincendum satis est fuisse procuratorem quicum experiretur; qualis is fuerit, si modo absentem defendebat per ius et per magistratum, nihil ad rem arbitror pertinere.

But if I should wish to confess, I think they will concede this: not that Publius Quinctius had no procurator, but that he had a man in favor. For my part, however, it is enough for winning that there was a procurator with whom he might try the case; what sort he was, if only he was defending the absent man by law and before the magistrate, I reckon to be nothing to the point.

"Erat," inquit, "illarum partium." Quid ni? qui apud te esset eductus; quem tu a puero sic instituisses ut nobili ne gladiatori quidem faveret. Si, quod tu semper summe cupisti, idem volebat Alfenus, ea re tibi cum eo par contentio non erat? "Bruti," inquit, "erat familiaris; itaque is intercedebat." Tu contra Burrieni qui iniuriam decernebat, omnium denique illorum qui tum et poterant per vim et scelus plurimum et, quod poterant, id audebant.

"He was," he says, "of that party." Why not? who had been educated with you; whom you had so trained from boyhood that he would not favor a gladiator even against a noble. If, what you have always most eagerly desired, Alfenus wanted likewise, was your contest with him on that account not an equal one? "He was," he says, "a familiar of Brutus; and so he interceded." You, by contrast, were a familiar of Burrienus, who was decreeing an injustice, and, in fine, of all those who at that time both could accomplish the most by force and wickedness and, because they could, dared what they could.

An omnis tu istos vincere volebas qui nunc tu ut vincas tanto opere laborant? Aude id dicere non palam, sed ipsis quos advocasti. Tametsi nolo eam rem commemorando renovare cuius omnino rei memoriam omnem tolli funditus ac deleri arbitror oportere;

Or were you wanting to conquer all those men who now labor with such great effort that you may conquer? Dare to say that not openly, but to those very men whom you have called in. And yet I do not wish, by commemorating that matter, to renew it, the memory of which whole matter I judge ought to be removed from the very foundations and obliterated;

XXII. unum illud dico: Si propter partium studium potens erat Alfenus, potentissimus Naevius; si fretus gratia postulabat aliquid iniquius Alfenus, multo iniquiora Naevius impetrabat. Neque enim inter studium vestrum quicquam, ut opinor, interfuit; ingenio, vetustate, artificio tu facile vicisti.

22. I say this one thing: If, on account of partisan zeal, Alfenus was powerful, Naevius was most powerful; if Alfenus, relying on favor, would request something more iniquitous, Naevius obtained things much more iniquitous. For there was, as I suppose, no difference between your zeal; by genius, by antiquity, by art you easily prevailed.

Vt alia omittam, hoc satis est: Alfenus cum eis et propter eos periit quos diligebat, tu, postquam qui tibi erant amici non poterant vincere, ut amici tibi essent qui vincebant effecisti.

To omit other things, this is enough: Alfenus perished with them and on account of them whom he loved; you, after those who were your friends were not able to conquer, effected that those who were conquering should be friends to you.

Quod si tum par tibi ius cum Alfeno fuisse non putas, quia tamen aliquem contra te advocare poterat, quia magistratus aliqui reperiebatur apud quem Alfeni causa consisteret, quid hoc tempore Quinctio statuendum est? cui neque magistratus adhuc aequus inventus est neque iudicium redditum est usitatum, non condicio, non sponsio, non denique ulla umquam intercessit postulatio, mitto aequa, verum ante hoc tempus ne fando quidem audita. De re pecuniaria cupio contendere.—"Non licet."—At ea controversia est.

But if you do not think that at that time you had equal right with Alfenus, because nevertheless he could summon someone as an advocate against you, because some magistrate was found before whom Alfenus’s case could stand, what is to be determined now for Quinctius? for whom neither an equitable magistrate has yet been found nor the customary judgment has been afforded; no condition, no sponsion, not, in fine, any postulation has ever intervened—I pass over the equitable ones—indeed before this time not even heard of by report. I wish to contend about the pecuniary matter.—"It is not permitted."—But that is the very controversy.

"Nihil ad me attinet; causam capitis dicas oportet."—Accusa ubi ita necesse est.—"Non," inquit, "nisi tu ante novo modo priore loco dixeris."—Dicendum necessario est.—"Praestituentur horae ad arbitrium nostrum, iudex ipse coercebitur."—Quid tum?—"Tu aliquem patronum invenies, hominem antiqui offici, qui splendorem nostrum et gratiam neglegat; pro me pugnabit L. Philippus, eloquentia, gravitate, honore florentissimus civitatis, dicet Hortensius, excellens ingenio, nobilitate, existimatione, aderunt autem homines nobilissimi ac potentissimi, ut eorum frequentiam et consessum non modo P. Quinctius qui de capite decernit, sed quivis qui extra periculum sit perhorrescat." Haec est iniqua certatio, non illa qua tu contra Alfenum equitabas; huic ne ubi consisteret quidem contra te locum reliquisti. Qua re aut doceas oportet Alfenum negasse se procuratorem esse, non deiecisse libellos, iudicium accipere noluisse, aut, cum haec ita facta sint, ex edicto te bona P. Quincti non possedisse concedas.

"Nothing concerns me; you ought to plead a capital case."—Bring an accusation where it is thus necessary.—"Not," he says, "unless you first, in a new way, speak in the prior place."—It must necessarily be spoken.—"Hours will be prescribed at our discretion, the judge himself will be coerced."—What then?—"You will find some patron, a man of ancient duty, who will disregard our splendor and favor; for me L. Philippus will fight, most flourishing of the commonwealth in eloquence, gravity, and honor; Hortensius will speak, outstanding in ingenium, nobility, and esteem; moreover there will be present men most noble and most powerful, such that their throng and assembly will make shudder not only P. Quinctius, who decides on the capital issue, but anyone who is outside danger." This is the iniquitous contest, not that in which you were riding against Alfenus; for him you left not even a place to stand against you. Wherefore you ought either to show that Alfenus denied that he was a procurator, that he did not throw down the libelli, that he was unwilling to accept the trial, or, since these things were thus done, concede that under the edict you did not possess the goods of P. Quinctius.

XXIII. Etenim si ex edicto possedisti, quaero cur bona non venierint, cur ceteri sponsores et creditores non convenerint; nemone fuit cui deberet Quinctius? Fuerunt, et complures fuerunt, propterea quod C. frater aliquantum aeris alieni reliquerat.

23. For indeed, if you possessed in accordance with the edict, I ask why the goods did not go to auction, why the other sureties and creditors did not convene; was there no one to whom Quinctius was indebted? There were, and there were many, because Gaius, his brother, had left behind a considerable amount of debt.

Quid ergo est? Homines erant ab hoc omnes alienissimi et eis debebatur, neque tamen quisquam inventus est tam insignite improbus qui violare P. Quincti existimationem absentis auderet; unus fuit, adfinis, socius, necessarius, Sex. Naevius, qui, cum ipse ultro deberet, quasi eximio praemio sceleris eito cupidissime contenderet ut per se adflictum atque eversum propinquum suum non modo honeste partis bonis verum etiam communi luce privaret.

What then? The men were all most alien to this man, and money was owed to them; and yet no one was found so conspicuously wicked as to dare to violate the estimation of P. Quinctius, being absent. There was one—an affine, a partner, a close necessary—Sextus Naevius, who, though he himself moreover was a debtor, as if with an exceptional prize of crime held out, most eagerly contended that, by his own doing, his kinsman, afflicted and overthrown, he should deprive not only of goods honestly gotten but even of the common light.

Vbi erant ceteri creditores? denique hoc tempore ubi sunt? Quis est qui fraudationis causa latuisse dicat, quis qui absentem defensum neget esse Quinctium?

Where were the other creditors? Finally, at this time, where are they? Who is there who would say that, for the sake of fraud, he lay hidden; who would deny that Quinctius, though absent, has been defended?

Nemo invenitur. At contra omnes, quibuscum ratio huic aut est aut fuit, adsunt, defendunt, fides huius multis locis cognita ne perfidia Sex. Naevi derogetur laborant.

No one is found. But on the contrary, all those with whom there is or was an account with this man are present; they defend; they labor lest this man’s faith, known in many places, be derogated by the perfidy of Sex. Naevius.

In huius modi sponsionem testis dare oportebat ex eo numero qui haec dicerent: "vadimonium mihi deservit, me fraudavit, a me nominis eius quod infitiatus esset diem petivit; ego experiri non potui, latitavit, procuratorem nullum reliquit. Horum nihil dicitur. Parantur testes qui hoc dicant.

In a sponsion of this kind it was proper to furnish a witness from that class who would say these things: "he defaulted on the vadimonium to me, he defrauded me, from me he asked a day for the claim which he had denied; I could not bring suit, he kept in hiding, he left no procurator. None of these things is said. Witnesses are prepared to say this.

Verum, opinor, viderimus, cum dixerint. Vnum tamen hoc cogitent, ita se gravis esse ut, si veritatem volent retinere, gravitatem possint obtinere; si eam neglexerint, ita levis esse ut omnes intellegant non ad obtinendum mendacium, sed ad verum probandum auctoritatem adiuvare.

But, I suppose, we shall see, when they have spoken. One thing, however, let them consider: that they are so grave that, if they are willing to retain the truth, they can obtain their gravity; if they neglect it, they are so light that all understand that authority aids not to obtain a lie, but to prove the truth.

XXIV. Ego haec duo quaero, primum qua ratione Naevius susceptum negotium non transegerit, hoc est cur bona quae ex edicto possidebat non vendiderit, deinde cur ex tot creditoribus alius ad istam rationem nemo accesserit, ut necessario confiteare neque tam temerarium quemquam fuisse, neque te ipsum id quod turpissime suscepisses perseverare et transigere potuisse. Quid si tu ipse, Sex.

24. I ask these two things: first, by what rationale Naevius did not transact the business he had undertaken, that is, why he did not sell the goods which he possessed by the edict; then, why out of so many creditors no one else has acceded to that method, so that you are necessarily to confess that neither was anyone so temerarious, nor could you yourself persevere in and transact that which you had most disgracefully undertaken. What if you yourself, Sext.

Naevi, statuisti bona P. Quincti ex edicto possessa non esse?

Naevius, have you established that the goods of P. Quinctius were not possessed under the edict?

Opinor, tuum testimonium, quod in aliena re leve esset, id in tua, quoniam contra te est, gravissimum debet esse. Emisti bona Sex. Alfeni L. Sulla dictatore vendente; socium tibi in his bonis edidisti Quinctium.

I suppose your testimony, which in another’s matter would be light, in your own, since it is against you, ought to be most grave. You bought the goods of Sextus Alfenus, with Lucius Sulla the dictator selling; you declared Quinctius as your partner in these goods.

Plura non dico. Cum eo tu voluntariam societatem coibas qui te in hereditaria societate fraudarat, et eum iudicio tuo comprobabas quem spoliatum fama fortunisque omnibus arbitrabare?

I say no more. You were entering into a voluntary partnership with him who had defrauded you in an hereditary partnership, and by your own judgment you were approving the very man whom you supposed to have been despoiled of reputation and of all fortunes?

Diffidebam me hercule, C. Aquili, satis animo certo et confirmato me posse in hac causa consistere. Sic cogitabam, cum contra dicturus esset Hortensius et cum me esset attente auditurus Philippus, fore uti permultis in rebus timore prolaberer. Dicebam huic Q. Roscio, cuius soror est cum P. Quinctio, cum a me peteret et summe contenderet ut propinquum suum defenderem, mihi perdifficile esse contra talis oratores non modo tantam causam perorare sed omnino verbum facere conari.

By Hercules, Gaius Aquilius, I was distrustful whether, with a mind sufficiently sure and confirmed, I could take my stand in this case. Thus I kept thinking: since Hortensius would be about to speak against me, and since Philippus would be going to listen to me attentively, it would come to pass that in very many matters I would slip through from fear. I said this to Quintus Roscius—whose sister is with Publius Quinctius—when he asked of me and most strenuously urged that I defend his kinsman: that it was exceedingly difficult for me, against such orators, not only to perorate so great a cause, but even to try to utter a single word at all.

Cum cupidius instaret, homini pro amicitia familiarius dixi mihi videri ore durissimo esse qui praesente eo gestum agere conarentur; qui vero cum ipso contenderent, eos, etiam si quid antea recti aut venusti habere visi essent, id amittere; ne quid mihi eiusdem modi accideret, cum contra talem artificem dicturus essem, me vereri.

When he was pressing me more eagerly, I said to the man, more intimately for friendship’s sake, that it seemed to me that those who attempt to act a part with him present are of the hardest face; but those who contend with the man himself, even if they previously seemed to have anything right or graceful, lose it; and I fear, lest something of the same kind happen to me, when I am to speak against such an artist.

XXV. Tum mihi Roscius et alia multa confirmandi mei causa dixit, ut me hercule, si nihil diceret, tacito ipso officio et studio, quod habebat erga propinquum suum, quemvis commoveret—etenim cum artifex eius modi sit ut solus videatur dignus esse qui in scaena spectetur, tum vir eius modi est ut solus dignus esse videatur qui eo non accedat—verum tamen: "Quid? si," inquit, "habes eius modi causam ut hoc tibi planum sit faciendum, neminem esse qui possit biduo aut summum triduo DCC milia passuum ambulare, tamenne vereris ut possis hoc contra Hortensium contendere?" "Minime," inquam, "sed quid id ad rem?" "Nimirum," inquit, "in eo causa consistit." Quo modo?

25. Then Roscius said many other things to me for the purpose of confirming me, so that, by Hercules, even if he said nothing, by his silent duty and zeal, which he had toward his kinsman, he would move anyone—for indeed, since he is an artificer of such a sort that he alone seems worthy to be spectated on the stage, yet he is a man of such a sort that he alone seems worthy not to approach it—nevertheless: "What? if," he says, "you have a case of such a sort that this must be made plain by you, that there is no one who can walk 700 miles in two days or at the very most three, do you still fear that you cannot contend this against Hortensius?" "Not at all," I say, "but what has that to do with the matter?" "Clearly," he says, "on this point the case consists." In what way?

Docet me eius modi rem et factum simul Sex. Naevi quod, si simul proferretur, satis esse deberet. Quod abs te, C. Aquili, et a vobis qui adestis in consilio, quaeso ut diligenter attendatis; profecto intellegetis illinc ab initio cupiditatem pugnasse et audaciam, hinc veritatem et pudorem quoad potuerit restitisse.

A matter and a deed at once of Sextus Naevius teaches me something of this sort, which, if it were brought forward together, ought to be sufficient. And this I ask of you, Gaius Aquilius, and of you who are present on the council, that you attend diligently; assuredly you will understand that on that side from the beginning cupidity and audacity have fought, and on this side truth and modesty have stood fast so far as they could.

Bona postulas ut ex edicto possidere liceat. Quo die? Te ipsum, Naevi, volo audire; volo inauditum facinus ipsius qui id commisit voce convinci.

You demand the goods, that it may be permitted to possess by the edict. On what day? You yourself, Naevius, I want to hear; I want the unheard-of crime of the very man who committed it to be convicted by his own voice.

Dic, Naevi, diem. "Ante diem V Kalend. intercalaris." Bene ais.

Name the day, Naevius. "On the 5th day before the Intercalary Kalends." You say well.

Quam longe est hinc in saltum vestrum Gallicanum? Naevi, te rogo. MDCC milia passuum." Optime.

How far is it from here to your Gallicanum forest? Naevi, I ask you. "1,700 miles." Excellent.

De saltu deicitur Quinctius—quo die? possumus hoc quoque ex te audire? Quid taces?

Quinctius is ejected from the saltus—on what day? Can we hear this also from you? Why are you silent?

dic, inquam, diem. Pudet dicere; intellego; verum et sero et nequiquam pudet.

say, I say, the day. He is ashamed to say; I understand; but truly he is ashamed both too late and to no purpose.

Deicitur de saltu, C. Aquili, pridie kalend. intercalaris; biduo post aut, ut statim de iure aliquis cucurrerit, non toto triduo DCC milia passuum conficiuntur. O rem incredibilem!

He is cast down from the pass, Gaius Aquilius, on the day before the Intercalary Kalends; two days later—or, granting that someone at once ran about the law, within not a full three days—700 miles are covered. O unbelievable thing!

o cupiditatem inconsideratam! o nuntium volucrem! Administri et satellites Sex.

O inconsiderate cupidity! O winged message! The agents and satellites of Sextus.

Naevi Roma trans Alpis in Sebagninos biduo veniunt. O hominem fortunatum qui eius modi nuntios seu potius Pegasos habeat!

Naevius’s men come from Rome across the Alps to the Sebagnini in two days. O fortunate man who has messengers of that sort, or rather Pegasi!

XXVI. Hic ego, si Crassi omnes cum Antoniis exsistant, si tu, L. Philippe, qui inter illos florebas, hanc causam voles cum Hortensio dicere, tamen superior sim necesse est; non enim, quem ad modum putatis, omnia sunt in eloquentia; est quaedam tamen ita perspicua veritas ut eam infirmare nulla res possit. An, ante quam postulasti ut bona possideres, misisti qui curaret ut dominus de suo fundo a sua familia vi deiceretur?

26. Here I, if all the Crassi were to appear along with the Antonii, if you, Lucius Philippus, who flourished among them, will wish to plead this case with Hortensius, nevertheless must be superior; for not, as you suppose, are all things in eloquence; yet there is a certain truth so perspicuous that nothing can invalidate it. Or, before you demanded to possess the goods, did you send someone to see to it that the master be cast out by force from his own farm by his own household?

Vtrumlibet elige; alterum incredibile est, alterum nefarium, et ante hoc tempus utrumque inauditum. DCC milia passuum vis esse decursa biduo? dic.

Choose either one; the one is incredible, the other nefarious, and before this time both unheard-of. Do you wish to say that 700 miles were covered in two days? Say it.

Negas—ante igitur misisti. Malo; si enim illud diceres, improbe mentiri viderere; cum hoc confiteris, id te admisisse concedis quod ne mendacio quidem tegere possis. Hoc consilium Aquilio et talibus viris tam cupidum, tam audax, tam temerarium probabitur?

You deny it—so then you sent beforehand. I prefer that; for if you were to say the other thing, you would seem to lie wickedly; when you confess this, you concede that you have admitted a deed which you cannot cloak even by mendacity. Will this counsel, so greedy, so audacious, so temerarious, be approved by Aquilius and by men of such a sort?

Quid haec amentia, quid haec festinatio, quid haec immaturitas tanta significat? non vim, non scelus, non latrocinium, non denique omnia potius quam ius, quam officium, quam pudorem? Mittis iniussu praetoris.

What does this madness mean, what this haste, what this so great immaturity? Does it not signify violence, crime, brigandage, and finally everything rather than law, than duty, than modesty? You send without the praetor’s order.

Quo consilio? Iussurum sciebas. Quid?

By what counsel? You knew he would order it. What?

cum iussisset, tum mittere nonne poteras? Postulaturus eras. Quando?

When he had ordered, then could you not send? You were going to postulate. When?

Post dies XXX. Nempe si te nihil impediret, si voluntas eadem maneret, si valeres, denique si viveres.

After 30 days. Surely, if nothing were hindering you, if the same will remained, if you were well, finally if you were alive.

Praetor scilicet iussisset. Opinor, si vellet, si valeret, si ius diceret, si nemo recusaret, qui ex ipsius decreto et satis daret et iudicium accipere vellet. Nam, per deos immortalis!

Of course, the praetor would have ordered it. I suppose, if he wished, if he were well, if he were declaring the law, if no one refused—someone who, by his decree, would both furnish surety and be willing to accept a judgment. For, by the immortal gods!

si Alfenus procurator P. Quincti tibi tum satis daret et iudicium accipere vellet, denique omnia quae postulares facere voluisset, quid ageres? revocares eum quem in Galliam miseras? At hic quidem iam de fundo expulsus, iam a suis dis penatibus praeceps eiectus, iam, quod indignissimum est, suorum servorum manibus nuntio atque imperio tuo violatus esset.

if Alfenus, the procurator of P. Quinctius, then were to give you surety and were willing to accept the trial, and finally were willing to do all the things that you demanded, what would you do? would you recall him whom you had sent into Gaul? But this man indeed would already have been driven out from his estate, already headlong cast out from his own household gods (Penates), already—what is most outrageous—by the hands of his own slaves, by your message and command, violated.

Corrigeres haec scilicet tu postea. De cuiusquam vita dicere audes qui hoc concedas necesse est, ita te caecum cupiditate et avaritia fuisse ut, cum postea quid futurum esset ignorares, accidere autem multa possent, spem malefici praesentis in incerto reliqui temporis eventu conlocares? Atque haec perinde loquor, quasi ipso illo tempore, cum te praetor iussisset ex edicto possidere, si in possessionem misisses, debueris aut potueris P. Quinctium de possessione deturbare.

You would of course correct these things afterward. You dare to speak about anyone’s life—you who must concede this—that you were so blind with cupidity and avarice that, while you did not know what would happen afterward, and many things could happen, you placed the hope of your present malefaction in the uncertain outcome of the remaining time? And I speak these things as though, at that very time when the praetor had ordered you to possess by the edict, if you had entered into possession, you ought to have, or could have, driven P. Quinctius out of possession.

XXVII. Omnia sunt, C. Aquili, eius modi quivis ut perspicere possit in hac causa improbitatem et gratiam cum inopia et veritate contendere. Praetor te quem ad modum possidere iussit?

27. All things are, Gaius Aquilius, of such a sort that anyone can clearly perceive in this case improbity and favor contending with poverty and verity. How did the praetor order you to possess?

Opinor, ex edicto. Sponsio quae in verba facta est? SI EX EDICTO PRAETORIS BONA P. QVINCTI POSSESSA NON SVNT.

I suppose, in accordance with the edict. In what words was the sponsio made? IF, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PRAETOR’S EDICT, THE GOODS OF P. QUINCTIUS HAVE NOT BEEN POSSESSED.

Redeamus ad edictum. Id quidem quem ad modum iubet possidere? Numquid est causae, C. Aquili, quin, si longe aliter possedit quam praetor edixit, iste ex edicto non possederit, ego sponsione vicerim?

Let us return to the edict. In what manner, indeed, does it order one to possess? Is there any reason, C. Aquilius, why, if he possessed far otherwise than the praetor edicted, he should not be said to have failed to possess according to the edict, and that I should win by the sponsion?

Nihil, opinor. Cognoscamus edictum. QVI EX EDICTO MEO IN POSSESSIONEM VENERINT.

Nothing, I suppose. Let us learn the edict. THOSE WHO, BY MY EDICT, SHALL HAVE COME INTO POSSESSION.

De te loquitur, Naevi, quem ad modum tu putas; ais enim te ex edicto venisse; tibi quid facias definit, te instituit, tibi praecepta dat. EOS ITA VIDETVR IN POSSESSIONE ESSE OPORTERE. Quo modo?

It speaks about you, Naevius, as you suppose; for you say that you have come in by the edict; it defines for you what you should do, instructs you, gives you precepts. IT SEEMS THAT THOSE OUGHT TO BE IN POSSESSION IN THIS WAY. In what way?

QVOD IBIDEM RECTE CVSTODIRE POTERVNT, ID IBIDEM CVSTODIANT; QVOD NON POTERVNT, ID AVFERRE ET ABDVCERE LICEBIT. Quid tum? DOMINVM, inquit, INVITVM DETRVDERE NON PLACET.

WHAT THEY WERE ABLE TO GUARD PROPERLY THERE IN THE SAME PLACE, LET THEM GUARD THERE; WHAT THEY WERE NOT ABLE, IT WILL BE PERMITTED TO CARRY OFF AND LEAD AWAY. What then? THE OWNER, he says, TO THRUST OUT AGAINST HIS WILL DOES NOT PLEASE.

Eum ipsum qui fraudandi causa latitet, eum ipsum quem iudicio nemo defenderit, eum ipsum qui cum omnibus creditoribus suis male agat, invitum de praedio detrudi vetat.

He forbids that very man who lurks for the sake of defrauding, that very man whom no one would defend in court, that very man who deals ill with all his creditors, to be thrust out of the estate against his will.

Proficiscenti tibi in possessionem praetor ipse, Sex. Naevi, palam dicit: "ita possideto ut tecum simul possideat Quinctius, ita possideto ut Quinctio vis ne adferatur." Quid? tu id quem ad modum observas?

As you are setting out into possession, the praetor himself, Sextus Naevius, openly says: "possess in such a way that Quinctius may possess together with you; possess in such a way that violence be not brought upon Quinctius." What then? how do you observe that?

Mitto illud dicere, eum qui non latitaret, cui Romae domus, uxor, liberi, procurator esset, eum qui tibi vadimonium non deservisset; haec omnia mitto; illud dico, dominum expulsum esse de praedio, domino a familia sua manus adlatas esse ante suos Lares familiaris; hoc dico ...
...
IVL. SEVERIAN, JJ: Sic Cicero pro Quinctio adversarii definitionem ex opinione hominum reprehendit: Si qui unum aliquem fundum quavis ratione possideat, ipsum autem dominum patiatur cetera praedia tenere, is, inquit, ut opinor, praedium non bona videatur alterius possidere. Et ponit definitionem suam: Quid est, inquit, possidere?

I pass over saying this—that he was not lying hidden, that he had at Rome a house, a wife, children, a procurator, that he would not have failed you in his vadimonium; I pass over all these things; this I say, that the owner was driven out from the estate, that upon the owner hands were laid by his own household before his household Lares; this I say ...
...
IVL. SEVERIAN, JJ: Thus Cicero on behalf of Quinctius censures the opponent’s definition from the opinion of men: If someone should possess some one estate by any method, but allow the very owner to hold the rest of the lands, he, says he, as I think, seems to possess another’s land, not his goods. And he sets down his own definition: What is it, says he, to possess?

Nimirum in possessione esse earum rerum quae possunt eo tempore possideri. Probat Naevium non bona sed praedium; possedisse: Cum domus erat, inquit, Romae, servi, in ipsa Gallia privata P. Quincti praedia, quae numquam ausus es possidere; et colligit: Quod si bona P. Quincti possideres, possidere omnia eo iure deberes.
...

Clearly, to be in possession is to be in possession of those things which can at that time be possessed. He proves that Naevius possessed not the goods but the estate; he says: "When there were a house at Rome, slaves, and in Gaul itself the private estates of P. Quinctius, which you never dared to possess"; and he infers: "But if you were possessing the goods of P. Quinctius, you ought by that right to possess all."
...

XXVIII.
... Naevium ne appellasse quidem Quinctium, cum simul esset et experiri posset cotidie; deinde quod omnia iudicia difficillima cum summa sua invidia maximoque periculo P. Quincti fieri mallet quam illud pecuniarium iudicium quod uno die transigi posset; ex quo uno haec omnia nata et profecta esse concedit. Quo in loco condicionem tuli, si vellet pecuniam petere, P. Quinctium iudicatum solvi satis daturum, dum ipse, si quid peteret, pari condicione uteretur. Ostendi quam multa ante fieri convenerit quam hominis propinqui bona possideri postularentur, praesertim cum Romae domus eius, uxor, liberi essent et procurator aeque utriusque necessarius.

28.
... that Naevius had not even summoned Quinctius, since he was present at the same time and could make trial every day; then, that he preferred all the most difficult judgments to be held, with the utmost odium to himself and the greatest peril to P. Quinctius, rather than that pecuniary judgment which could be transacted in one day; from this one thing he concedes that all these matters arose and proceeded. At which point I brought a condition: if he wished to demand money, P. Quinctius would give surety that the judgment be paid, provided that he himself, if he should demand anything, would use an equal condition. I showed how many things ought to have been done beforehand before they should demand that the goods of a near kinsman be possessed, especially since in Rome were his house, wife, children, and a procurator, a close associate equally of both.

Docui, cum desertum esse dicat vadimonium, omnino vadimonium nullum fuisse; quo die hunc sibi promisisse dicat, eo die ne Romae quidem eum fuisse; id testibus me pollicitus sum planum facturum qui et scire deberent et causam cur mentirentur non haberent. Ex edicto autem non potuisse bona possideri demonstravi, quod neque fraudandi causa latitasset neque exsili causa solum vertisse diceretur. Reliquum est ut eum nemo iudicio defenderit.

I showed that, when he says the vadimonium was deserted, there was, altogether, no vadimonium; that on the day on which he says this man promised him, on that day he was not even at Rome; that I promised I would make this clear by witnesses who both ought to know and would have no reason to lie. Moreover, I demonstrated that, by the edict, the goods could not have been possessed, because he had neither lain hidden for the sake of defrauding nor was he said to have turned his soil on account of exile. It remains that no one defended him in court.

Quod contra copiosissime defensum esse contendi non ab homine alieno neque ab aliquo calumniatore atque improbo, sed ab equite Romano, propinquo ac necessario suo, quem ipse Sex. Naevius procuratorem relinquere antea consuesset; neque eum, si tribunos appellarit, idcirco minus iudicio pati paratum fuisse, neque potentia procuratoris Naevio ius ereptum; contra istum potentia sua tum tantum modo superiorem fuisse, nunc nobis vix respirandi potestatem dare.

Which, on the contrary, I maintained had been most copiously defended, not by a stranger nor by some calumniator and wicked man, but by a Roman eques, his kinsman and intimate, whom Sextus Naevius himself had previously been accustomed to leave as his procurator; nor that, if he had appealed to the tribunes, he was for that reason any the less prepared to endure judgment; nor that by the power of the procurator the right had been snatched from Naevius; on the contrary, that fellow was then only just superior by his own power, whereas now he scarcely gives us leave to breathe.

XXIX. Quaesivi quae causa fuisset cur bona non venissent, cum ex edicto possiderentur. Deinde illud quoque requisivi qua ratione ex tot creditoribus nemo neque tum idem fecerit neque nunc contra dicat, omnesque pro P. Quinctio pugnent, praesertim cum in tali iudicio testimonia creditorum existimentur ad rem maxime pertinere.

29. I asked what cause there had been why the goods had not been sold, since they were held in possession by the edict. Then I also inquired by what reasoning, out of so many creditors, no one neither then did the same nor now contradicts, and all fight on behalf of P. Quinctius, especially since in such a judgment the testimonies of the creditors are thought to pertain most to the matter.

Postea sum usus adversarii testimonio, qui sibi eum nuper edidit socium quem, quo modo nunc intendit, ne in vivorum quidem numero tum demonstrat fuisse. Tum illam incredibilem celeritatem seu potius audaciam protuli; confirmavi necesse esse aut biduo DCC milia passuum esse decursa aut Sex. Naevium diebus compluribus ante in possessionem misisse quam postularet uti ei liceret bona possidere.

Afterwards I made use of the adversary’s testimony, who recently produced for himself as an associate the very man whom, as he now alleges, he does not show to have been then even in the number of the living. Then I brought forward that unbelievable speed, or rather audacity; I affirmed it must be that either within two days 700 miles had been run through, or that Sextus Naevius had entered upon possession several days before he petitioned that it be permitted to him to possess the goods.

Postea recitavi edictum quod aperte dominum de praedio detrudi vetaret; in quo constitit Naevium ex edicto non possedisse, cum confiteretur ex praedio vi detrusum esse Quinctium. Omnino autem bona possessa non esse constitui, quod bonorum possessio spectetur non in aliqua parte, sed in universis quae teneri et possideri possint. Dixi domum Romae fuisse quo iste ne aspirarit quidem, servos compluris, ex quibus iste possederit neminem, ne attigerit quidem; unum fuisse quem attingere conatus sit; prohibitum quievisse.

Afterwards I read out the edict which openly forbade that the owner be detruded from his praedium; in which it was established that Naevius had not possessed in accordance with the edict, since he confessed that Quinctius had been detruded by force from the estate. Moreover, I established that the goods had not been possessed at all, because the possession of goods is considered not in some part, but in the universality of things which can be held and possessed. I said there was a house at Rome, which that fellow had not even aspired to, several slaves, of whom that fellow had possessed none, had not even touched; there was one whom he tried to touch; being prohibited, he kept quiet.

In ipsa Gallia cognostis in praedia privata Quincti Sex. Naevium non venisse; denique ex hoc ipso saltu quem per vim expulso socio possedit servos privatos Quincti non omnis eiectos esse. Ex quo et ex ceteris dictis, factis cogitatisque Sex Naevi quivis potest intellegere istum nihil aliud egisse neque nunc agere nisi uti per vim, per iniuriam, per iniquitatem iudici totum agrum, qui communis est, suum facere possit.

In Gaul itself you have come to know that Sextus Naevius did not come into Quinctius’s private estates; and finally, from this very mountain-pasture which he possessed after his partner was expelled by force, the private slaves of Quinctius were not all cast out. From this and from the other things said, done, and cogitated by Sex. Naevius, anyone can understand that that man has done nothing else, nor is he now doing anything, except that, by force, by injury, by the iniquity of the judge, he may be able to make his own the whole field which is common.

XXX. Nunc causa perorata res ipsa et periculi magnitudo, C. Aquili, cogere videtur, ut te atque eos qui tibi in consilio sunt obsecret obtesteturque P. Quinctius per senectutem ac solitudinem suam nihil aliud nisi ut vestrae naturae bonitatique obsequamini, ut, cum veritas cum hoc faciat, plus huius inopia possit ad misericordiam quam illius opes ad crudelitatem. Quo die ad te iudicem venimus, eodem die illorum minas quas ante horrebamus neglegere coepimus.

30. Now, the case perorated, the matter itself and the magnitude of the peril, Gaius Aquilius, seem to compel that Publius Quinctius beseech and adjure you and those who are in counsel with you, by his old age and his solitude, for nothing other than that you comply with your nature and goodness, so that, since truth is with this man, this man’s want may have more power toward mercy than that man’s wealth toward cruelty. On the day we came to you as judge, on that same day we began to neglect the threats of those men which before we used to shudder at.

Si causa cum causa contenderet, nos nostram perfacile cuivis probaturos statuebamus; quod vitae ratio cum ratione vitae decerneret, idcirco nobis etiam magis te iudice opus esse arbitrati sumus. Ea res nunc enim in discrimine versatur, utrum possitne se contra luxuriem ac licentiam rusticana illa atque inculta parsimonia defendere an deformata atque ornamentis omnibus spoliata nuda cupiditati petulantiaeque addicatur. Non comparat se tecum gratia P. Quinctius, Sex.

If case were contending with case, we supposed that we would very easily prove ours to anyone; but since a plan of life is being decided by a plan of life, for that reason we have judged that we have even more need of you as judge. For now the matter itself is in the balance, whether that rustic and uncultivated parsimony can defend itself against luxury and license, or, disfigured and stripped of all ornaments, be adjudged over naked to cupidity and petulance. P. Quinctius does not compare himself with you in influence, Sextus.

Naevi, non opibus, non facultate contendit; omnis tuas artis quibus tu magnus es tibi concedit; fatetur se non belle dicere, non ad voluntatem loqui posse, non ab adflicta amicitia transfugere atque ad florentem aliam devolare, non profusis sumptibus vivere, non ornare magnifice splendideque convivium, non habere domum clausam pudori et sanctimoniae, patentem atque adeo expositam cupiditati et voluptatibus; contra sibi ait officium, fidem, diligentiam, vitam omnino semper horridam atque aridam cordi fuisse. Ista superiora esse ac plurimum posse his moribus sentit. Quid ergo est?

Naevius, he does not contend with you in resources, not in means; he concedes to you all your arts by which you are great; he admits that he does not speak beautifully, that he cannot speak to win good-will, that he does not desert a battered friendship and fly down to another flourishing one, that he does not live with profuse expenditures, that he does not adorn a banquet magnificently and splendidly, that he does not have a house closed to modesty and sanctity, open and even exposed to cupidity and voluptuous pleasures; on the contrary, he says that duty, good faith, diligence, and an altogether always rough and arid way of life have been dear to his heart. He perceives that those are superior and have very great power over these manners. What then is it?

Non usque eo tamen ut in capite fortunisque hominum honestissimorum dominentur ei qui relicta virorum bonorum disciplina et quaestum et sumptum Galloni sequi maluerunt atque etiam, quod in illo non fuit, cum audacia perfidiaque vixerunt. Si licet vivere eum quem Sex. Naevius non volt, si est homini honesto locus in civitate invito Naevio, si fas est respirare P. Quinctium contra nutum dicionemque Naevi, si, quae pudore ornamenta sibi peperit, ea potest contra petulantiam me defendente obtinere, spes est etiam hunc miserum atque infelicem aliquando tandem posse consistere.

Not, however, to such a point that there should lord it over the life and fortunes of most honorable men those who, leaving the discipline of good men, preferred to follow the gain and the expenditure of Gallonius, and even—what was not in that man—lived with audacity and perfidy. If it is permitted that he live whom Sextus Naevius does not will to live; if there is a place in the state for an honest man with Naevius unwilling; if it is right for Publius Quinctius to draw breath against the nod and dominion of Naevius; if the ornaments which by modesty he has won for himself he can maintain against petulance, with me defending, there is hope that even this wretched and unlucky man may at some time at last be able to stand firm.

Sin et poterit Naevius id quod libet, et ei libebit id quod non licet, quid agendum est? qui deus appellandus est? cuius hominis fides imploranda est?

But if both Naevius will be able to do what he pleases, and it will please him to do what is not licit, what is to be done? what god is to be called upon? the good faith of which man is to be implored?

qui denique questus, qui luctus, qui maeror dignus inveniri in calamitate tanta potest?

what complaint, what lamentation, what mourning, finally, can be found worthy in so great a calamity?

XXXI. Miserum est exturbari fortunis omnibus, miserius est iniuria; acerbum est ab aliquo circumveniri, acerbius a propinquo; calamitosum est bonis everti calamitosius cum dedecore; funestum est a forti atque honesto viro iugulari, funestius ab eo cuius vox in praeconio quaestu prostitit; indignum est a pari vinci aut superiore, indignius ab inferiore atque humiliore; luctuosum est tradi alteri cum bonis, luctuosius inimico; horribile est causam capitis dicere, horribilius priore loco dicere. Omnia circumspexit Quinctius, omnia periclitatus est, C. Aquili; non praetorem modo a quo ius impetraret invenire non potuit, atque adeo ne unde arbitratu quidem suo postularet, sed ne amicos quidem Sex.

31. It is miserable to be driven out of all one’s fortunes, more miserable to be so by injustice; it is bitter to be circumvented by someone, more bitter by a kinsman; it is calamitous to be overthrown in one’s goods, more calamitous with disgrace; it is baleful to be throttled by a brave and honorable man, more baleful by him whose voice has been prostituted for profit in the trade of a public crier; it is unworthy to be conquered by an equal or a superior, more unworthy by an inferior and more humble; it is mournful to be handed over, together with one’s goods, to another, more mournful to an enemy; it is horrible to plead a capital cause, more horrible to plead in the prior place. Quinctius looked all around, he tried everything, Gaius Aquilius; he could not find even a praetor from whom he might obtain right, and indeed not even anyone before whom, at his own discretion, he might file a demand—nay, not even the friends of Sextus.

Naevi, quorum saepe et diu ad pedes iacuit stratus obsecrans per deos immortalis, ut aut secum iure contenderent aut iniuriam sine ignominia sibi imponerent. Denique ipsius inimici voltum superbissimum subiit, ipsius Sex. Naevi lacrimans manum prehendit in propinquorum bonis proscribendis exercitatam, obsecravit per fratris sui mortui cinerem, per nomen propinquitatis, per ipsius coniugem et liberos, quibus propior P. Quinctio nemo est, ut aliquando misericordiam caperet, aliquam, si non propinquitatis, at aetatis suae, si non hominis, at humanitatis rationem haberet, ut secum aliquid integra sua fama qualibet, dum modo tolerabili, condicione transigeret.

The Naevii, at whose feet he often and long lay stretched, beseeching by the immortal gods that they either contend with him at law or impose a wrong upon him without ignominy to him. Finally he faced the very enemy’s most overbearing countenance; weeping, he grasped the hand of that same Sextus Naevius, trained in proscribing the goods of relatives; he implored by the ashes of his dead brother, by the name of propinquity, by that man’s own wife and children, to whom no one is nearer than P. Quinctius, that at last he would take mercy—some, if not on account of propinquity, yet of his age; if not for the man, yet for humanity—that he would settle with him on some condition, anything at all, so long as it were tolerable, with his own reputation intact.

Ab ipso repudiatus, ab amicis eius non sublevatus, ab omni magistratu agitatus atque perterritus, quem praeter te appellet habet neminem; tibi se, tibi suas omnis opes fortunasque commendat, tibi committit existimationem ac spem reliquae vitae. Multis vexatus contumeliis, plurimis iactatus iniuriis non turpis ad te sed miser confugit; e fundo ornatissimo eiectus, ignominiis omnibus appetitus, cum illum in paternis bonis dominari videret, ipse filiae nubili dotem conficere non posset, nihil alienum tamen vita superiore commisit.

Rejected by the man himself, not supported by his friends, harried and terrified by every magistrate, he has no one to appeal to except you; to you he commends himself, to you he commends all his resources and fortunes, to you he entrusts his reputation and the hope of the remainder of his life. Vexed by many contumelies, tossed by very many injuries, he flees to you not as base but as wretched; cast out from a most well‑appointed estate, assailed by every ignominy, while he saw that man domineer over his paternal goods, he himself could not make up a dowry for his marriageable daughter—yet he has committed nothing alien to his former way of life.

Itaque hoc te obsecrat, C. Aquili, ut, quam existimationem, quam honestatem in iudicium tuum prope acta iam aetate decursaque attulit, eam liceat ei secum ex hoc loco efferre, ne is de cuius officio nemo umquam dubitavit LX denique anno dedecore, macula turpissimaque ignominia notetur, ne ornamentis eius omnibus Sex. Naevius pro spoliis abutatur, ne per te fiat quo minus, quae existimatio P. Quinctium usque ad senectutem produxit, eadem usque ad rogum prosequatur.

Therefore he beseeches you, Gaius Aquilius, that the estimation, the honesty which, with his age now almost spent and run its course, he has brought into your judgment, he may be allowed to carry out with him from this place; lest he, whose sense of duty no one ever doubted, be marked at last, in his 60th year, with disgrace, with a stain and most shameful ignominy; lest Sextus Naevius abuse all his ornaments as spoils; lest it come about through you that the estimation which has carried Publius Quinctius forward up to old age should in like manner attend him all the way to the funeral pyre.