Cicero: ORATORIA

[1] Maxime vellem, iudices, ut P. Sulla et antea dignitatis suae splendorem obtinere et post calamitatem acceptam modestiae fructum aliquem percipere potuisset. Sed quoniam ita tulit casus infestus ut in amplissimo honore cum communi ambitionis invidia tum singulari Autroni odio everteretur, et in his pristinae fortunae reliquiis miseris et adflictis tamen haberet quosdam quorum animos ne supplicio quidem suo satiare posset, quamquam ex huius incommodis magnam animo molestiam capio, tamen in ceteris malis facile patior oblatum mihi tempus esse in quo boni viri lenitatem meam misericordiamque, notam quondam omnibus, nunc quasi intermissam agnoscerent, improbi ac perditi cives domiti atque victi praecipitante re publica vehementem me fuisse atque fortem, conservata mitem ac misericordem faterentur.

[1] I would most of all wish, judges, that P. Sulla both earlier could have maintained the splendor of his dignity and, after the calamity received, could have taken some fruit of modesty. But since hostile chance so bore it that, while in a most exalted honor, he was overthrown both by the common envy against ambition and by the singular hatred of Autronius, and that, in these wretched and shattered remnants of his former fortune, he nevertheless had certain men whose spirits he could not satisfy even by his own punishment—although from this man’s disadvantages I take great vexation of mind, yet amid the other ills I easily endure that a time has been offered me in which good men might recognize my lenity and mercy, once known to all, now as if interrupted; while the wicked and ruined citizens, subdued and conquered when the republic was rushing headlong, might confess me to have been vehement and brave, and, the state preserved, mild and merciful.

[2] Et quoniam L. Torquatus, meus familiaris ac necessarius, iudices, existimavit, si nostram in accusatione sua necessitudinem familiaritatemque violasset, aliquid se de auctoritate meae defensionis posse detrahere, cum huius periculi propulsatione coniungam defensionem offici mei. Quo quidem genere non uterer orationis, iudices, hoc tempore, si mea solum interesset; multis enim locis mihi et data facultas est et saepe dabitur de mea laude dicendi; sed, ut ille vidit, quantum de mea auctoritate deripuisset, tantum se de huius praesidiis deminuturum, sic hoc ego sentio, si mei facti rationem vobis constantiamque huius offici ac defensionis probaro, causam quoque me P. Sullae probaturum.

[2] And since L. Torquatus, my familiar and necessary associate, judges, thought that, if in his accusation he should violate our bond of necessity and familiarity, he could detract something from the authority of my defense, together with the warding off of this peril I will unite the defense of my duty. A mode of speaking which I would not employ at this time, judges, if it concerned me alone; for on many occasions both the opportunity has been given to me and will often be given to speak about my praise; but, as he saw that by as much as he had torn from my authority, by so much he would diminish this man’s safeguards, so I feel this: if I shall prove to you the rationale of my act and the constancy of this duty and defense, I shall also prove the case of P. Sulla.

[3] Ac primum abs te illud, L. Torquate, quaero, cur me a ceteris clarissimis viris ac principibus civitatis in hoc officio atque in defensionis iure secernas. Quid enim est quam ob rem abs te Q. Hortensi factum, clarissimi viri atque ornatissimi, non reprehendatur, reprehendatur meum? Nam, si est initum a P. Sulla consilium inflammandae huius urbis, exstinguendi imperi, delendae civitatis, mihi maiorem hae res dolorem quam Q. Hortensio, mihi maius odium adferre debent, meum denique gravius esse iudicium, qui adiuvandus in his causis, qui oppugnandus, qui defendendus, qui deserendus esse videatur?

[3] And first I ask this of you, L. Torquatus: why do you set me apart from the other most illustrious men and the princes of the state in this duty and in the right of defense? For what reason is it that the deed of Q. Hortensius, a most illustrious and most distinguished man, is not reproved by you, while mine is reproved? For if a plan was undertaken by P. Sulla for inflaming this city, for extinguishing the imperium, for destroying the commonwealth, these matters ought to bring to me greater grief than to Q. Hortensius, greater hatred to me; finally my judgment ought to be the more weighty, as to who in these causes seems to be one to be helped, who to be attacked, who to be defended, who to be deserted.

'Ita,' inquit; 'tu enim investigasti, tu patefecisti coniurationem.'

'Yes,' he says; 'for you investigated, you laid bare the conspiracy.'

[4] Quod cum dicit, non attendit eum qui patefecerit hoc curasse, ut id omnes viderent quod antea fuisset occultum. Qua re ista coniuratio, si patefacta per me est, tam patet Hortensio quam mihi. Quem cum videas hoc honore, auctoritate, virtute, consilio praeditum non dubitasse quin innocentiam P. Sullae defenderet, quaero cur qui aditus ad causam Hortensio patuerit mihi interclusus esse debuerit; quaero illud etiam, si me, qui defendo, reprehendendum putas esse, quid tandem de his existimes summis viris et clarissimis civibus, quorum studio et dignitate celebrari hoc iudicium, ornari causam, defendi huius innocentiam vides.

[4] When he says this, he does not attend that he who laid it open took care that all should see that which previously had been occult. Wherefore that conspiracy, if laid open by me, is as patent to Hortensius as to me. Since you see that he, endowed with this honor, authority, virtue, and counsel, did not hesitate to defend the innocence of P. Sulla, I ask why the approaches to the case that lay open to Hortensius ought to have been shut off to me; I ask this also, if you think that I, who defend, ought to be reprehended, what then you think of those highest men and most illustrious citizens, by whose zeal and dignity you see this judgment celebrated, the case adorned, and this man’s innocence defended.

Non enim una ratio est defensionis ea quae posita est in oratione; omnes qui adsunt, qui laborant, qui salvum volunt, pro sua parte atque auctoritate defendunt.

For there is not a single rationale of defense, namely that which is set in oration; all who are present, who labor, who want him safe, defend each according to his own share and authority.

[5] An vero, in quibus subselliis haec ornamenta ac lumina rei publicae viderem, in his me apparere nollem, cum ego illum in locum atque in hanc excelsissimam sedem dignitatis atque honoris multis meis ac magnis laboribus et periculis ascendissem? Atque ut intellegas, Torquate, quem accuses, si te forte id offendit quod ego, qui in hoc genere quaestionis defenderim neminem, non desim P. Sullae, recordare de ceteris quos adesse huic vides; intelleges et de hoc et de aliis iudicium meum et horum par atque unum fuisse.

[5] Or indeed, on those very benches on which I saw these ornaments and luminaries of the commonwealth, should I be unwilling to appear there, when I had ascended to that place and to this most exalted seat of dignity and honor by my many and great labors and perils? And so that you may understand, Torquatus, whom you are accusing—if perhaps it offends you that I, who in this genus of investigation have defended no one, do not fail P. Sulla—call to mind the others whom you see present for him; you will understand that both concerning this man and concerning the others my judgment and that of these men has been equal and one.

[6] Quis nostrum adfuit Vargunteio? Nemo, ne hic quidem Q. Hortensius, praesertim qui illum solus antea de ambitu defendisset. Non enim iam se ullo officio cum illo coniunctum arbitrabatur, cum ille tanto scelere commisso omnium officiorum societatem diremisset.

[6] Who of us appeared for Vargunteius? No one, not even this Q. Hortensius—especially he who alone had previously defended him on a charge of ambitus (electoral bribery). For he no longer thought himself joined to him by any duty, since that man, with so great a crime committed, had sundered the fellowship of all duties.

Quis nostrum Serv. Sullam, quis Publium, quis M. Laecam, quis <C.> Cornelium defendendum putavit, quis eis horum adfuit? Nemo.

Who among us thought that Servius Sulla, who Publius, who Marcus Laeca, who <C.> Cornelius ought to be defended, who was present to any of these? No one.

Quid ita? Quia ceteris in causis etiam nocentis viri boni, si necessarii sunt, deserendos esse non putant; in hoc crimine non solum levitatis est culpa verum etiam quaedam contagio sceleris, si defendas eum quem obstrictum esse patriae parricidio suspicere.

Why so? Because in other cases even when they are guilty, good men, if they are necessary (close connections), do not think they should be deserted; in this crime there is not only a fault of levity, but even a certain contagion of crime, if you defend one whom you suspect to be bound by parricide of the fatherland.

[7] Quid? Autronio nonne sodales, non conlegae sui, non veteres amici, quorum ille copia quondam abundarat, non hi omnes qui sunt in re publica principes defuerunt? Immo etiam testimonio plerique laeserunt.

[7] What? Did not Autronius’s comrades, not his colleagues, not his old friends, in whose abundance he had once abounded, did not all those who are leaders in the republic fail him? Nay rather, most even injured him with their testimony.

Statuerant tantum illud esse maleficium quod non modo non occultari per se sed etiam aperiri inlustrarique deberet. Quam ob rem quid est quod mirere, si cum isdem me in hac causa vides adesse cum quibus in ceteris intellegis afuisse? Nisi vero me unum vis ferum praeter ceteros, me asperum, me inhumanum existimari, me singulari immanitate et crudelitate praeditum.

They had determined that that alone was a malefice which not only ought not in itself to be concealed, but should even be opened up and illuminated. For which reason, what is there that you should marvel at, if you see me present in this case with the same men with whom you understand me to have been absent in the others? Unless indeed you wish me alone, beyond the rest, to be thought savage, harsh, inhuman, endowed with singular immanity and cruelty.

[8] Hanc mihi tu si propter meas res gestas imponis in omni vita mea, Torquate, personam, vehementer erras. Me natura misericordem, patria severum, crudelem nec patria nec natura esse voluit; denique istam ipsam personam vehementem et acrem quam mihi tum tempus et res publica imposuit iam voluntas et natura ipsa detraxit. Illa enim ad breve tempus severitatem postulavit, haec in omni vita misericordiam lenitatemque desiderat.

[8] If you impose upon me this persona for my whole life, Torquatus, on account of my exploits, you are greatly mistaken. Nature willed me compassionate, my fatherland stern; neither my fatherland nor nature willed me to be cruel; and finally, that very persona, vehement and keen, which at that time the occasion and the commonwealth imposed upon me, now my will and nature itself has taken off. For the former demanded severity for a brief time; the latter desires, in my whole life, mercy and lenity.

[9] Qua re nihil est quod ex tanto comitatu virorum amplissimorum me unum abstrahas; simplex officium atque una bonorum est omnium causa. Nihil erit quod admirere posthac, si in ea parte in qua hos animum adverteris me videbis. Nulla est enim in re publica mea causa propria; tempus agendi fuit mihi magis proprium quam ceteris, doloris vero et timoris et periculi fuit illa causa communis; neque enim ego tunc princeps ad salutem esse potuissem, si esse alii comites noluissent.

[9] Wherefore there is no reason for you to draw me alone away from so great a comitatus of most distinguished men; the office is simple and the cause of all the good men is one. There will be nothing for you to marvel at hereafter, if you see me on that side on which you have turned your mind toward these men. For in the republic I have no private cause; the time of acting was more proper to me than to the rest, but as to grief and fear and peril, that cause was common; nor indeed could I then have been a leader toward safety, if others had been unwilling to be companions.

Qua re necesse est, quod mihi consuli praecipuum fuit praeter alios, id iam privato cum ceteris esse commune. Neque ego hoc partiendae invidiae, sed communicandae laudis causa loquor; oneris mei partem nemini impertio, gloriae bonis omnibus.

Wherefore it is necessary that what for me as consul was preeminent beyond others is now, as a private citizen, common with the rest. Nor do I say this for the sake of apportioning envy, but for the sake of communicating praise; of my burden I impart a share to no one, of the glory to all good men.

[10] 'In Autronium testimonium dixisti,' inquit; 'Sullam defendis.' Hoc totum eius modi est, iudices, ut, si ego sum inconstans ac levis, nec testimonio fidem tribui convenerit nec defensioni auctoritatem; sin est in me ratio rei publicae, religio privati offici, studium retinendae voluntatis bonorum, nihil minus accusator debet dicere quam a me defendi Sullam, testimonio laesum esse Autronium. Videor enim iam non solum studium ad defendendas causas verum etiam opinionis aliquid et auctoritatis adferre; qua ego et moderate utar, iudices, et omnino non uterer, si ille me non coegisset.

[10] 'You gave testimony against Autronius,' he says; 'you defend Sulla.' All this is of such a kind, judges, that, if I am inconstant and fickle, neither would it be fitting to grant trust to my testimony nor authority to my defense; but if there is in me a consideration of the republic, a religion of private duty, a zeal for retaining the good will of the good men, the prosecutor ought less than anything to say that Sulla is defended by me, that Autronius has been injured by my testimony. For I seem now to bring not only zeal for defending causes but even something of opinion and of authority; which I will use both moderately, judges, and I would not use at all, if that man had not compelled me.

[11] Duae coniurationes abs te, Torquate, constituuntur, una quae Lepido et Volcatio consulibus patre tuo consule designato facta esse dicitur, altera quae me consule; harum in utraque Sullam dicis fuisse. Patris tui, fortissimi viri atque optimi consulis, scis me consiliis non interfuisse; scis me, cum mihi summus tecum usus esset, tamen illorum expertem temporum et sermonum fuisse, credo quod nondum penitus in re publica versabar, quod nondum ad propositum mihi finem honoris perveneram, quod me ambitio et forensis labor ab omni illa cogitatione abstrahebat.

[11] Two conspiracies are constituted by you, Torquatus, one which is said to have been made with Lepidus and Volcatius as consuls, your father being consul-designate, the other with me as consul; of these you say that Sulla was in each. As to your father, a most brave man and an excellent consul, you know that I did not take part in his counsels; you know that, although I had the closest association with you, nonetheless I was without share in those times and conversations, I believe because I was not yet thoroughly engaged in the republic, because I had not yet arrived at the goal of honor proposed to me, because ambition and forensic labor were drawing me away from all that contemplation.

[12] Quis ergo intererat vestris consiliis? Omnes hi quos vides huic adesse et in primis Q. Hortensius; qui cum propter honorem ac dignitatem atque animum eximium in rem publicam, tum propter summam familiaritatem summumque amorem in patrem tuum cum communibus tum praecipuis patris tui periculis commovebatur. Ergo istius coniurationis crimen defensum ab eo est qui interfuit, qui cognovit, qui particeps et consili vestri fuit et timoris; cuius in hoc crimine propulsando cum esset copiosissima atque ornatissima oratio, tamen non minus inerat auctoritatis in ea quam facultatis.

[12] Who, then, took part in your counsels? All these whom you see present to this man, and especially Q. Hortensius; who, both on account of honor and dignity and an exceptional mind for the Republic, and also on account of the highest familiarity and the greatest love toward your father, was moved both by the common and by the particular perils of your father. Therefore the charge of that conspiracy was defended by him who was present, who knew, who was a participant both of your counsel and of your fear; whose oration, in repelling this charge, although it was most copious and most ornate, nevertheless contained no less of authority than of ability.

Illius igitur coniurationis quae facta contra vos, delata ad vos, a vobis prolata esse dicitur, ego testis esse non potui; non modo animo nihil comperi, sed vix ad auris meas istius suspicionis fama pervenit.

Therefore, of that conspiracy which is said to have been made against you, reported to you, and brought forward by you, I could not be a witness; not only did I ascertain nothing in my own mind, but the report of that suspicion scarcely reached my ears.

[13] Qui vobis in consilio fuerunt, qui vobiscum illa cognorunt, quibus ipsis periculum tum conflari putabatur, qui Autronio non adfuerunt, qui in illum testimonia gravia dixerunt, hunc defendunt, huic adsunt, in huius periculo declarant se non crimine coniurationis, ne adessent ceteris, sed hominum maleficio deterritos esse. Mei consulatus autem tempus et crimen maximae coniurationis a me defendetur. Atque haec inter nos partitio defensionis non est fortuito, iudices, nec temere facta; sed cum videremus eorum criminum nos patronos adhiberi quorum testes esse possemus, uterque nostrum id sibi suscipiendum putavit de quo aliquid scire ipse atque existimare potuisset.

[13] Those who were in your council, who learned those matters with you, for whom peril itself was then thought to be in the making, who did not appear for Autronius, who gave weighty testimonies against that man, these men defend this one, they stand by him; in this man’s peril they declare that it was not by the crime of conjuration that they failed to be present with the others, but that they were deterred by the malefaction of men. But the time of my consulship and the charge of the greatest conjuration will be defended by me. And this division of the defense between us, judges, was not made by chance nor rashly; but when we saw that we were being employed as patrons for those charges of which we could be witnesses, each of us thought he should undertake that about which he himself could know something and form a judgment.

[14] Et quoniam de criminibus superioris coniurationis Hortensium diligenter audistis, de hac coniuratione quae me consule facta est hoc primum attendite. Multa, cum essem consul, de summis rei publicae periculis audivi, multa quaesivi, multa cognovi; nullus umquam de Sulla nuntius ad me, nullum indicium, nullae litterae pervenerunt, nulla suspicio. Multum haec vox fortasse valere deberet eius hominis qui consul insidias rei publicae consilio investigasset, veritate aperuisset, magnitudine animi vindicasset, cum is se nihil audisse de P. Sulla, nihil suspicatum esse diceret.

[14] And since you have diligently heard Hortensius about the charges of the earlier conspiracy, about this conspiracy which was made in my consulship attend to this first. Many things, when I was consul, I heard about the greatest dangers of the republic, many things I inquired into, many things I came to know; no message ever about Sulla, no indication, no letters reached me, no suspicion. Perhaps this utterance ought to have much weight of that man who, as consul, had by counsel tracked out the plots against the republic, had laid them open by truth, had with greatness of spirit avenged them, when that man says that he heard nothing about P. Sulla, suspected nothing.

Sed ego nondum utor hac voce ad hunc defendendum; ad purgandum me potius utar, ut mirari Torquatus desinat me qui Autronio non adfuerim Sullam defendere.

But I do not yet use this voice for defending this man; I will rather use it for purging myself, so that Torquatus may cease to marvel that I, who had not been present for Autronius, defend Sulla.

[15] Quae enim Autroni fuit causa, quae Sullae est? Ille ambitus iudicium tollere ac disturbare primum conflato voluit gladiatorum ac fugitivorum tumultu, deinde, id quod vidimus omnes, lapidatione atque concursu; Sulla, si sibi suus pudor ac dignitas non prodesset, nullum auxilium requisivit. Ille damnatus ita se gerebat non solum consiliis et sermonibus verum etiam aspectu atque voltu ut inimicus esse amplissimis ordinibus, infestus bonis omnibus, hostis patriae videretur; hic se ita fractum illa calamitate atque adflictum putavit ut nihil sibi ex pristina dignitate superesse arbitraretur, nisi quod modestia retinuisset.

[15] For what was Autronius’s case, what is Sulla’s? The former wanted to remove and disrupt the ambitus-judgment, first, with a tumult of gladiators and fugitives having been got up, then, that which we all saw, by stoning and by a concourse; Sulla, if his own sense of modesty and dignity did not avail him, sought no aid. He, once condemned, conducted himself not only in his counsels and conversations but even in his aspect and countenance in such a way that he seemed to be an enemy to the most distinguished orders, hostile to all good men, an enemy of the fatherland; this man thought himself so broken and shattered by that calamity that he judged nothing of his former dignity to remain to him, except what his modesty had retained.

[16] Hac vero in coniuratione quid tam coniunctum quam ille cum Catilina, cum Lentulo? quae tanta societas ullis inter se rerum optimarum quanta ei cum illis sceleris, libidinis, audaciae? quod flagitium Lentulus non cum Autronio concepit?

[16] But in this conspiracy, what was so conjoined as he with Catiline, with Lentulus? What association among any people in the best things was as great as his with them in crime, in libidinousness, in audacity? What outrage did Lentulus not conceive with Autronius?

quod sine eodem illo Catilina facinus admisit? cum interim Sulla cum isdem illis non modo noctem solitudinemque non quaereret sed ne mediocri quidem sermone et congressu coniungeretur.

what crime did he commit without that same Catiline? while, meanwhile, Sulla, with those same men, not only did not seek night and solitude, but was not even joined with them in moderate conversation and congress.

[17] Illum Allobroges, maximarum rerum verissimi indices, illum multorum litterae ac nuntii coarguerunt; Sullam interea nemo insimulavit, nemo nominavit. Postremo eiecto sive emisso iam ex urbe Catilina ille arma misit, cornua, tubas, fascis, signa, legiones, ille relictus intus, exspectatus foris, Lentuli poena compressus convertit se aliquando ad timorem, numquam ad sanitatem; hic contra ita quievit ut eo tempore omni Neapoli fuerit, ubi neque homines fuisse putantur huius adfines suspicionis et locus est ipse non tam ad inflammandos calamitosorum animos quam ad consolandos accommodatus. Propter hanc igitur tantam dissimilitudinem hominum atque causarum dissimilem me in utroque praebui.

[17] That man the Allobroges, most truthful informants in matters of the greatest moment, that man the letters and messages of many exposed; Sulla meanwhile no one incriminated, no one named. Finally, with Catiline now cast out or let go from the city, that man sent arms, horns, trumpets, fasces, standards, legions; left within, awaited without, checked by the punishment of Lentulus, he turned himself at length to fear, never to sanity; this man, on the contrary, kept so quiet that during all that time he was at Naples, where neither are men thought to have been allied to this suspicion and the place itself is fitted not so much for inflaming the spirits of the calamiteuses as for consoling them. On account, therefore, of this so great dissimilarity of the men and of the causes, I showed myself dissimilar in each case.

[18] Veniebat enim ad me et saepe veniebat Autronius multis cum lacrimis supplex ut se defenderem, et se meum condiscipulum in pueritia, familiarem in adulescentia, conlegam in quaestura commemorabat fuisse; multa mea in se, non nulla etiam sua in me proferebat officia. Quibus ego rebus, iudices, ita flectebar animo atque frangebar ut iam ex memoria quas mihi ipsi fecerat insidias deponerem, ut iam immissum esse ab eo C. Cornelium qui me in meis sedibus, in conspectu uxoris ac liberorum meorum trucidaret obliviscerer. Quae si de uno me cogitasset, qua mollitia sum animi ac lenitate, numquam me hercule illius lacrimis ac precibus restitissem;

[18] For Autronius used to come to me, and he often came, a suppliant with many tears that I would defend him, and he recalled that he had been my fellow-student in boyhood, my familiar friend in youth, my colleague in the quaestorship; he put forward many services of mine toward him, and not none also of his toward me. By which things, judges, I was so bent in mind and broken that already I was laying aside from memory the ambushes which he himself had set for me, that already I was forgetting that by him C. Cornelius had been let in to butcher me in my own dwelling, in the sight of my wife and my children. Which things, if he had devised them against me alone, such is the softness and lenity of my spirit, by Hercules, I would never have withstood his tears and prayers;

[19] sed cum mihi patriae, cum vestrorum periculorum, cum huius urbis, cum illorum delubrorum atque templorum, cum puerorum infantium, cum matronarum ac virginum veniebat in mentem, et cum illae infestae ac funestae faces universumque totius urbis incendium, cum tela, cum caedes, cum civium cruor, cum cinis patriae versari ante oculos atque animum memoria refricare coeperat, tum denique ei resistebam, neque solum illi hosti ac parricidae sed his etiam propinquis illius, Marcellis, patri et filio, quorum alter apud me parentis gravitatem, alter fili suavitatem obtinebat; neque me arbitrabar sine summo scelere posse, quod maleficium in aliis vindicassem, idem in illorum socio, cum scirem, defendere.

[19] but when there came to my mind the fatherland, your perils, this city, those shrines and temples, the infant boys, the matrons and the virgins; and when those hostile and funereal torches, and the universal conflagration of the whole city, the weapons, the slaughter, the gore of citizens, the ash of the fatherland began to hover before my eyes and to chafe my mind anew by memory—then at last I resisted him; and not only that enemy and parricide, but also those his kinsmen, the Marcelli, father and son, of whom the one held with me the gravity of a parent, the other the sweetness of a son. Nor did I think that I could, without utmost crime, defend—since I knew it—the same malefaction in the associate of those men which I had avenged in others.

[20] Atque idem ego neque P. Sullam supplicem ferre, neque eosdem Marcellos pro huius periculis lacrimantis aspicere, neque huius M. Messalae, hominis necessarii, preces sustinere potui; neque enim est causa adversata naturae, nec homo nec res misericordiae meae repugnavit. Nusquam nomen, nusquam vestigium fuerat, nullum crimen, nullum indicium, nulla suspicio. Suscepi causam, Torquate, suscepi, et feci libenter ut me, quem boni constantem, ut spero, semper existimassent, eundem ne improbi quidem crudelem dicerent.

[20] And likewise I could not bear P. Sulla as a suppliant, nor look upon those same Marcelli weeping for this man’s perils, nor withstand the prayers of this M. Messalla, an intimate; for neither was the cause adverse to my nature, nor did either the person or the matter resist my mercy. Nowhere had there been a name, nowhere a trace; no crime, no evidence, no suspicion. I undertook the cause, Torquatus, I undertook it, and I did it gladly, so that me—whom the good had judged, as I hope, always constant—the same not even the wicked would call cruel.

[21] Hic ait se ille, iudices, regnum meum ferre non posse. Quod tandem, Torquate, regnum? Consulatus, credo, mei; in quo ego imperavi nihil et contra patribus conscriptis et bonis omnibus parui; quo in magistratu non institutum est videlicet a me regnum, sed repressum.

[21] Here that man says, judges, that he cannot endure my kingship. What kingship, pray, Torquatus? My consulate, I suppose; in which I exercised no command and, on the contrary, obeyed the enrolled fathers and all good men; in which magistracy kingship was not, evidently, instituted by me, but repressed.

An tum in tanto imperio, tanta potestate non dicis me fuisse regem, nunc privatum regnare dicis? quo tandem nomine? 'Quod, in quos testimonia dixisti,' inquit, 'damnati sunt; quem defendis, sperat se absolutum iri.' Hic tibi ego de testimoniis meis hoc respondeo, si falsum dixerim, te in eosdem dixisse; sin verum, non esse hoc regnare, cum verum iuratus dicas, probare.

Or then, when I held so great an imperium, so great a power, you do not say I was a king, yet now you say that a private man is reigning? Under what title, pray? ‘Because those against whom you have given testimonies,’ he says, ‘have been condemned; the man whom you defend hopes to be absolved.’ Here I answer you this about my testimonies: if I have spoken falsely, that you yourself have testified against those same men; but if truly, that this is not to reign—to prove, under oath, what is true.

De huius spe tantum dico, nullas a me opes P. Sullam, nullam potentiam, nihil denique praeter fidem defensionis exspectare.

Of his hope I say only this: that P. Sulla expects from me no resources, no power, nothing, in fine, except the good faith of a defense.

[22] 'Nisi tu,' inquit, 'causam recepisses, numquam mihi restitisset, sed indicta causa profugisset.' Si iam hoc tibi concedam, Q. Hortensium, tanta gravitate hominem, si hos talis viros non suo stare iudicio, sed meo; si hoc tibi dem quod credi non potest, nisi ego huic adessem, hos adfuturos non fuisse, uter tandem rex est, isne cui innocentes homines non resistunt, an is qui calamitosos non deserit? At hic etiam, id quod tibi necesse minime fuit, facetus esse voluisti, cum Tarquinium et Numam et me tertium peregrinum regem esse dixisti. Mitto iam de rege quaerere; illud quaero peregrinum cur me esse dixeris.

[22] 'Unless you,' he says, 'had undertaken the cause, he would never have withstood me, but would have fled with the cause unpleaded.' If now I grant you this, Q. Hortensius—that a man of such gravity asserts that these such men stand not by their own judgment but by mine; if I grant you this which cannot be believed, that unless I were present to this man, these men would not have been present—which then is the king: he to whom innocent men do not resist, or he who does not desert the calamitous? But here too, a thing which was least necessary for you, you wished to be facetious, when you said that Tarquin and Numa and I were a third foreign king. I pass over now to inquire about “king”; this I ask—why you said that I am a foreigner.

Nam si ita sum, non tam est admirandum regem esse me, quoniam, ut tu ais, duo iam peregrini reges Romae fuerunt, quam consulem Romae fuisse peregrinum. 'Hoc dico,' inquit, 'te esse ex municipio.'

For if I am so, it is not so much to be wondered at that I am a king, since, as you say, two foreign kings have already been at Rome, as that a consul at Rome was a foreigner. 'This I say,' he says, 'that you are from a municipium.'

[23] Fateor et addo etiam: ex eo municipio unde iterum iam salus huic urbi imperioque missa est. Sed scire ex te pervelim quam ob rem qui ex municipiis veniant peregrini tibi esse videantur. Nemo istuc M. illi Catoni seni, cum plurimos haberet inimicos, nemo Ti. Coruncanio, nemo M'. Curio, nemo huic ipsi nostro C. Mario, cum ei multi inviderent, obiecit umquam.

[23] I confess it and add this besides: from that municipium whence, now for the second time, deliverance has been sent to this city and to its imperium. But I would very much like to know from you for what reason those who come from municipia seem to you to be peregrines. No one ever objected that to that old M. Cato, though he had very many enemies; no one to Ti. Coruncanius, no one to M'. Curius, no one to this our own C. Marius, though many envied him.

Equidem vehementer laetor eum esse me in quem tu, cum cuperes, nullam contumeliam iacere potueris quae non ad maximam partem civium conveniret. Sed tamen te a me pro magnis causis nostrae necessitudinis monendum esse etiam atque etiam puto. Non possunt omnes esse patricii; si verum quaeris, ne curant quidem; nec se aequales tui propter istam causam abs te anteiri putant.

I, for my part, am vehemently glad that I am the sort of man against whom you, even when you wished, have been able to hurl no contumely which would not apply to the greatest part of the citizens. Yet, on account of the great reasons of our bond, I think you must be admonished by me again and again. Not all can be patricians; if you seek the truth, they do not even care; nor do your equals think themselves to be outstripped by you on that account.

[24] Ac si tibi nos peregrini videmur, quorum iam et nomen et honos inveteravit et urbi huic et hominum famae ac sermonibus, quam tibi illos competitores tuos peregrinos videri necesse erit qui iam ex tota Italia delecti tecum de honore ac de omni dignitate contendent! Quorum cave tu quemquam peregrinum appelles, ne peregrinorum suffragiis obruare. Qui si attulerint nervos et industriam, mihi crede, excutient tibi istam verborum iactationem et te ex somno saepe excitabunt nec patientur se abs te, nisi virtute vincentur, honore superari.

[24] And if we seem to you foreigners, we whose name and honor have by now become long-established both in this city and in the fame and conversations of men, how much more must those competitors of yours seem foreigners to you, who, chosen already from all Italy, will contend with you for honor and for every dignity! Of whom take care to call no one a foreigner, lest you be overwhelmed by the votes of the foreigners. If they bring sinews and industry, believe me, they will shake out of you that vaunting of words and will often rouse you from sleep, nor will they allow themselves to be surpassed by you in honor, unless they are conquered by virtue.

[25] Ac si, iudices, ceteris patriciis me et vos peregrinos videri oporteret, a Torquato tamen hoc vitium sileretur; est enim ipse a materno genere municipalis, honestissimi ac nobilissimi generis, sed tamen Asculani. Aut igitur doceat Picentis solos non esse peregrinos aut gaudeat suo generi me meum non anteponere. Qua re neque tu me peregrinum posthac dixeris, ne gravius refutere, neque regem, ne derideare.

[25] And if, judges, it ought to seem to the other patricians that both I and you are foreigners, yet by Torquatus this reproach should be kept silent; for he himself on his mother’s side is municipal—of a most honorable and most noble stock, but still an Asculan. Either, then, let him demonstrate that the Picentes alone are not peregrines, or let him rejoice that I do not set my lineage before his own. Wherefore, neither call me a foreigner hereafter, lest you be more gravely refuted, nor a king, lest you be laughed at.

Nisi forte regium tibi videtur ita vivere ut non modo homini nemini sed ne cupiditati quidem ulli servias, contemnere omnis libidines, non auri, non argenti, non ceterarum rerum indigere, in senatu sentire libere, populi utilitati magis consulere quam voluntati, nemini cedere, multis obsistere. Si hoc putas esse regium, regem me esse confiteor; sin te potentia mea, si dominatio, si denique aliquod dictum adrogans aut superbum movet, quin tu id potius profers quam verbi invidiam contumeliamque maledicti?

Unless perhaps it seems regal to you to live so as to be servant not only to no man, but not even to any cupidity; to contemn all libidines; to need neither gold, nor silver, nor the rest of things; to think freely in the senate; to consult the people’s utility more than their will; to yield to no one, to resist many. If you think this to be regal, I confess that I am a king; but if my potency, if domination, if finally some arrogant or overproud dictum moves you, why don’t you bring that forward rather than the odium of a word and the contumely of malediction?

[26] Ego, tantis a me beneficiis in re publica positis, si nullum aliud mihi praemium ab senatu populoque Romano nisi honestum otium postularem, quis non concederet? <Ceteri> sibi haberent honores, sibi imperia, sibi provincias, sibi triumphos, sibi alia praeclarae laudis insignia; mihi liceret eius urbis quam conservassem conspectu tranquillo animo et quieto frui. Quid si hoc non postulo?

[26] I, with such great benefits by me set in the Republic, if I were to demand no other reward for myself from the Senate and Roman People except honorable leisure, who would not concede it? <The rest> might have for themselves honors, for themselves commands, for themselves provinces, for themselves triumphs, for themselves other insignia of very illustrious praise; it would be permitted to me to enjoy, with a tranquil and quiet mind, the sight of that city which I had preserved. What if I do not ask this?

si ille labor meus pristinus, si sollicitudo, si officia, si operae, si vigiliae deserviunt amicis, praesto sunt omnibus; si neque amici in foro requirunt studium meum neque res publica in curia; si me non modo non rerum gestarum vacatio sed neque honoris neque aetatis excusatio vindicat a labore; si voluntas mea, si industria, si domus, si animus, si aures patent omnibus; si mihi ne ad ea quidem quae pro salute omnium gessi recordanda et cogitanda quicquam relinquitur temporis: tamen hoc regnum appellabitur, cuius vicarius qui velit esse inveniri nemo potest?

if that former labor of mine, if solicitude, if duties, if efforts, if vigils serve my friends, they are at hand for all; if neither friends in the Forum require my zeal nor the commonwealth in the Curia; if not only does no exemption on account of achievements, but neither the excuse of office nor of age, vindicate me from toil; if my goodwill, my industry, my house, my spirit, my ears lie open to all; if not even any time is left to me for calling to mind and considering even those things which I carried out for the safety of all: yet will this be called a kingship, of which no one can be found who is willing to be the deputy?

[27] Longe abest a me regni suspicio; si quaeris qui sint Romae regnum occupare conati, ut ne replices annalium memoriam, ex domesticis imaginibus invenies. Res enim gestae, credo, meae me nimis extulerunt ac mihi nescio quos spiritus attulerunt. Quibus de rebus tam claris, tam immortalibus, iudices, hoc possum dicere, me qui ex summis periculis eripuerim urbem hanc et vitam omnium civium satis adeptum fore, si ex hoc tanto in omnis mortalis beneficio nullum in me periculum redundarit.

[27] Far from me is any suspicion of kingship; if you ask who at Rome have tried to seize kingship, so that you need not unroll the memory of the annals, you will find it from domestic images. For my deeds, I suppose, have exalted me too much and have brought to me I-know-not-what spirits. About deeds so illustrious, so immortal, judges, this I can say: that I, who have snatched this city and the life of all citizens from the greatest perils, shall have obtained enough, if from this so great a benefaction toward all mortals no danger shall redound upon me.

[28] Etenim in qua civitate res tantas gesserim memini, in qua urbe verser intellego. Plenum forum est eorum hominum quos ego a vestris cervicibus depuli, iudices, a meis non removi. Nisi vero paucos fuisse arbitramini qui conari aut sperare possent se tantum imperium posse delere.

[28] Indeed I remember in what commonwealth I have accomplished such great deeds; I understand in what city I am engaged. The forum is full of those men whom I have driven from your necks, judges, though from my own I have not removed them. Unless, indeed, you suppose there were only a few who could attempt or hope that they might be able to destroy so great an imperium.

Horum ego faces eripere de manibus et gladios extorquere potui, sicuti feci, voluntates vero consceleratas ac nefarias nec sanare potui nec tollere. Qua re non sum nescius quanto periculo vivam in tanta multitudine improborum, cum mihi uni cum omnibus improbis aeternum videam bellum esse susceptum.

I could snatch the torches from their hands and wrench the swords away, as I did; but their criminal and nefarious intentions I could neither heal nor remove. Wherefore I am not unaware with how great a danger I live amid so great a multitude of the wicked, since I see that for me alone an eternal war has been undertaken with all the wicked.

[29] Quod si illis meis praesidiis forte invides, et si ea tibi regia videntur quod omnes boni omnium generum atque ordinum suam salutem cum mea coniungunt, consolare te quod omnium mentes improborum mihi uni maxime sunt infensae et adversae; qui me non modo idcirco oderunt quod eorum conatus impios et furorem consceleratum repressi, sed eo etiam magis quod nihil iam se simile me vivo conari posse arbitrantur.

[29] But if you perhaps envy those my safeguards, and if they seem royal to you, for this reason, that all good men of every kinds and orders join their own safety with mine, console yourself that the minds of all the wicked are most hostile and adverse to me alone; who hate me not only for this reason, that I repressed their impious attempts and their consecrated-to-crime fury, but all the more because they judge that, with me alive, they can now attempt nothing similar.

[30] At vero quid ego mirer, si quid ab improbis de me improbe dicitur, cum L. Torquatus primum ipse his fundamentis adulescentiae iactis, ea spe proposita amplissimae dignitatis, deinde L. Torquati, fortissimi consulis, constantissimi senatoris, semper optimi civis filius, interdum efferatur immoderatione verborum? Qui cum suppressa voce de scelere P. Lentuli, de audacia coniuratorum omnium dixisset, tantum modo ut vos qui ea probatis exaudire possetis, de supplicio, de carcere magna et queribunda voce dicebat.

[30] But indeed, why should I marvel, if anything by the wicked is said wickedly about me, since L. Torquatus—first he himself, these foundations of adolescence having been laid, with the hope proposed of a most ample dignity, then as the son of L. Torquatus, a most brave consul, a most constant senator, an always best citizen—is sometimes carried away by an immoderation of words? Who, when in a suppressed voice he had spoken about the crime of P. Lentulus, about the audacity of all the conspirators, only so much that you who approve those things could hear distinctly, about punishment, about prison he was speaking with a great and querulous voice.

[31] In quo primum illud erat absurdum quod, cum ea quae leviter dixerat vobis probare volebat, eos autem qui circum iudicium stabant audire nolebat, non intellegebat ea quae clare diceret ita illos audituros quibus se venditabat ut vos quoque audiretis, qui id non probabatis. Deinde alterum iam oratoris <est> vitium non videre quid quaeque causa postulet. Nihil est enim tam alienum ab eo qui alterum coniurationis accuset quam videri coniuratorum poenam mortemque lugere.

[31] In this, the first absurdity was that, while he wished to make you approve the things which he had said lightly, yet did not want those who were standing around the court to hear, he did not understand that the things he spoke clearly would be heard by those to whom he was hawking himself in such a way that you also, who did not approve it, would hear. Then there is a second fault of an orator: not to see what each case demands. For nothing is so alien to a man who accuses another of conspiracy as to seem to lament the punishment and death of the conspirators.

Quod cum is tribunus pl. facit qui unus videtur ex illis ad lugendos coniuratos relictus, nemini mirum est; difficile est enim tacere, cum doleas; te, si quid eius modi facis, non modo talem adulescentem sed in ea causa in qua te vindicem coniurationis velis esse vehementer admiror.

When the tribune of the plebs does this—the one who seems the only man left among them to mourn the conspirators—it is a wonder to no one; for it is difficult to be silent when you are grieving; but you, if you do anything of that sort, I am greatly astonished at—not only as such a young man, but in that very cause in which you wish to be the vindicator of the conspiracy.

[32] Sed reprehendo tamen illud maxime quod isto ingenio et prudentia praeditus causam rei publicae non tenes, qui arbitrere plebi Romanae res eas non probari quas me consule omnes boni pro communi salute gesserunt. Ecquem tu horum qui adsunt, quibus te contra ipsorum voluntatem venditabas, aut tam sceleratum statuis fuisse ut haec omnia perire voluerit, aut tam miserum ut et se perire cuperet et nihil haberet quod salvum esse vellet? An vero clarissimum virum generis vestri ac nominis nemo reprehendit, qui filium suum vita privavit ut in ceteros firmaret imperium; tu rem publicam reprehendis, quae domesticos hostis, ne ab eis ipsa necaretur, necavit?

[32] Yet I most of all censure this: that you, endowed with that talent and prudence, do not grasp the cause of the commonwealth, you who suppose that the Roman plebs does not approve those measures which, with me as consul, all good men carried out for the common safety. Is there anyone of those present—those to whom you were peddling yourself against their own will—whom you would deem either so criminal as to have wished all these things to perish, or so wretched as both to desire himself to perish and to have nothing that he would wish to be kept safe? Or truly does no one censure the most illustrious man of your lineage and name, who deprived his own son of life in order to strengthen authority over the rest; yet you censure the commonwealth, which killed domestic enemies lest it be killed by them?

[33] Itaque attende, Torquate, quam ego defugiam auctoritatem consulatus mei! Maxima voce ut omnes exaudire possint dico semperque dicam. Adeste omnes animis, Quirites, quorum ego frequentia magno opere laetor; erigite mentis aurisque vestras et me de invidiosis rebus, ut ille putat, dicentem attendite!

[33] And so pay attention, Torquatus, to how I do flee the authority of my consulship! With the greatest voice, so that all may hear, I say and will always say. Be present all in spirit, Quirites, at whose thronging I greatly rejoice; lift up your minds and your ears, and attend to me speaking about invidious matters, as he thinks!

Ego consul, cum exercitus perditorum civium clandestino scelere conflatus crudelissimum et luctuosissimum exitium patriae comparasset, cum ad occasum interitumque rei publicae Catilina in castris, in his autem templis atque tectis dux Lentulus esset constitutus, meis consiliis, meis laboribus, mei capitis periculis, sine tumultu, sine dilectu, sine armis, sine exercitu, quinque hominibus comprehensis atque confessis incensione urbem, internicione civis, vastitate Italiam, interitu rem publicam liberavi; ego vitam omnium civium, statum orbis terrae, urbem hanc denique, sedem omnium nostrum, arcem regum ac nationum exterarum, lumen gentium, domicilium imperi, quinque hominum amentium ac perditorum poena redemi.

I, the consul, when an army of profligate citizens, conflated by clandestine crime, had prepared the most cruel and most lamentable destruction of the fatherland—when, for the downfall and death of the commonwealth, Catiline had been posted in the camp, but within these temples and roofs Lentulus had been established as leader—by my counsels, my labors, at the perils of my own head, without tumult, without levy, without arms, without an army, with five men apprehended and confessing, I freed the city from conflagration, the citizens from extermination, Italy from devastation, the commonwealth from destruction; I ransomed the life of all the citizens, the condition of the world, this city at last, the seat of us all, the citadel of kings and foreign nations, the light of the nations, the domicile of empire, by the punishment of five mad and profligate men.

[34] An me existimasti haec iniuratum in iudicio non esse dicturum quae iuratus in maxima contione dixissem? Atque etiam illud addam, ne qui forte incipiat improbus subito te amare, Torquate, et aliquid sperare de te, atque ut idem omnes exaudiant clarissima voce dicam. Harum omnium rerum quas ego in consulatu pro salute rei publicae suscepi atque gessi L. ille Torquatus, cum esset meus contubernalis in consulatu atque etiam in praetura fuisset, cum princeps, cum auctor, cum signifer esset iuventutis, actor, adiutor, particeps exstitit; parens eius, homo amantissimus patriae, maximi animi, summi consili, singularis constantiae, cum esset aeger, tamen omnibus rebus illis interfuit, nusquam est a me digressus, studio, consilio, auctoritate unus adiuvit plurimum, cum infirmitatem corporis animi virtute superaret.

[34] Did you think I would not say in court, unsworn, the things which, sworn, I had said in the greatest assembly? And I will add this too, lest some wicked man perchance begin suddenly to love you, Torquatus, and to hope something from you; and so that all may hear the same, I will say it with a very clear voice. In all these matters which I undertook and carried out in my consulship for the safety of the republic, that L. Torquatus—since he was my tentmate in the consulship and had even been so in the praetorship, since he was chief, author, and standard-bearer of the youth—was an agent, a helper, a participant; his father, a man most loving of the fatherland, of the greatest spirit, of the highest counsel, of singular constancy, although he was ill, nevertheless took part in all those affairs, never departed from me anywhere, with zeal, counsel, and authority he alone aided the most, since by the virtue of his mind he overcame the weakness of his body.

[35] Videsne ut eripiam te ex improborum subita gratia et reconciliem bonis omnibus? qui te et diligunt et retinent retinebuntque semper nec, si a me forte desciveris, idcirco te a se et a re publica et a tua dignitate deficere patientur. Sed iam redeo ad causam atque hoc vos, iudices, testor: mihi de memet ipso tam multa dicendi necessitas quaedam imposita est ab illo.

[35] Do you see how I snatch you from the sudden favor of the wicked and reconcile you to all good men? who both love you and retain you and will retain you always, nor, if you should by chance defect from me, for that reason will they suffer you to fall away from themselves and from the republic and from your dignity. But now I return to the case and this, judges, I testify: upon me there has been imposed by that man a certain necessity of saying so many things about myself.

Nam si Torquatus Sullam solum accusasset, ego quoque hoc tempore nihil aliud agerem nisi eum qui accusatus esset defenderem; sed cum ille tota illa oratione in me esset invectus et cum, ut initio dixi, defensionem meam spoliare auctoritate voluisset, etiam si dolor meus respondere non cogeret, tamen ipsa causa hanc a me orationem flagitavisset.

For if Torquatus had accused Sulla alone, I too at this time would be doing nothing else except defending him who had been accused; but since he had in that whole oration inveighed against me, and since, as I said at the beginning, he had wished to despoil my defense of authority, even if my resentment did not compel me to respond, nevertheless the cause itself would have demanded this oration from me.

[36] Ab Allobrogibus nominatum Sullam esse dicis. Quis negat? Sed lege indicium et vide quem ad modum nominatus sit.

[36] You say that Sulla was named by the Allobroges. Who denies it? But read the evidence and see in what manner he was named.

L. Cassium dixerunt commemorasse cum ceteris Autronium secum facere. Quaero num Sullam dixerit Cassius. Nusquam.

They said that L. Cassius had mentioned that Autronius, along with the others, was acting with him. I inquire whether Cassius named Sulla. Nowhere.

Sese aiunt quaesisse de Cassio quid Sulla sentiret. Videte diligentiam Gallorum; qui vitam hominum naturamque non nossent ac tantum audissent eos pari calamitate esse, quaesiverunt essentne eadem voluntate. Quid tum Cassius?

They say that they asked Cassius what Sulla thought. See the diligence of the Gauls; who did not know the life and nature of men and had only heard that they were in an equal calamity, they inquired whether they were of the same will. What then of Cassius?

Si respondisset idem sentire et secum facere Sullam, tamen mihi non videretur in hunc id criminosum esse debere. Quid ita? Quia, qui barbaros homines ad bellum impelleret, non debebat minuere illorum suspicionem et purgare eos de quibus illi aliquid suspicari viderentur.

If he had replied that Sulla held the same view and was acting with him, still it would not seem to me that this ought to be a charge against him. Why so? Because he who was impelling barbarian men to war ought not to diminish their suspicion and to purge those about whom they seemed to suspect something.

[37] Non respondit tamen una facere Sullam. Etenim esset absurdum, cum ceteros sua sponte nominasset, mentionem facere Sullae nullam nisi admonitum et interrogatum; nisi forte veri simile est P. Sullae nomen in memoria Cassio non fuisse. Si nobilitas hominis, si adflicta fortuna, si reliquiae pristinae dignitatis non tam inlustres fuissent, tamen Autroni commemoratio memoriam Sullae rettulisset; etiam, ut arbitror, cum auctoritates principum coniurationis ad incitandos animos Allobrogum conligeret Cassius, et cum sciret exteras nationes maxime nobilitate moveri, non prius Autronium quam Sullam nominavisset.

[37] He did not, however, answer that Sulla was acting together with him. For indeed it would be absurd, since he had named the others of his own accord, to make no mention of Sulla unless prompted and interrogated; unless, perhaps, it is plausible that the name of P. Sulla was not in Cassius’s memory. Even if the man’s nobility, his afflicted fortune, and the remnants of his pristine dignity had not been so illustrious, still the commemoration of Autronius would have recalled Sulla to mind; and also, as I judge, when Cassius was collecting the authorities of the chiefs of the conspiracy to incite the spirits of the Allobroges, and since he knew that foreign nations are moved especially by nobility, he would not have named Autronius before Sulla.

[38] Iam vero illud minime probari potest, Gallos Autronio nominato putasse propter calamitatis similitudinem sibi aliquid de Sulla esse quaerendum, Cassio, si hic esset in eodem scelere, ne cum appellasset quidem Autronium, huius in mentem venire potuisse. Sed tamen quid respondit de Sulla Cassius? Se nescire certum.

[38] Now indeed this can by no means be approved: that the Gauls, Autronius having been named, thought, on account of the similitude of calamity, that they ought to inquire for themselves something about Sulla, while to Cassius—if he were in the same crime—not even when he had named Autronius could this man have come into mind. But yet what did Cassius answer about Sulla? That he did not know for certain.

'Non purgat,' inquit. Dixi antea: ne si argueret quidem tum denique, cum esset interrogatus, id mihi criminosum videretur.

'He does not purge himself,' he says. I said before: not even if he were to make a charge then and only then, when he had been questioned, would that seem to me incriminating.

[39] Sed ego in iudiciis et in quaestionibus non hoc quaerendum arbitror, num purgetur aliquis, sed num arguatur. Etenim cum se negat scire Cassius, utrum sublevat Sullam an satis probat se nescire? 'Sublevat apud Gallos.' Quid ita?

[39] But I, in judgments and in inquisitions, think this is not to be sought, whether someone be purged, but whether he be accused. For indeed, when Cassius denies that he knows, does he uplift Sulla or does he sufficiently prove that he does not know? 'He uplifts him among the Gauls.' How so?

'Ne indicent.' Quid? si periculum esse putasset ne illi umquam indicarent, de se ipse confessus esset? 'Nesciit videlicet.' Credo celatum esse Cassium de Sulla uno; nam de ceteris certe sciebat; etenim domi eius pleraque conflata esse constabat.

'Lest they inform.' What? If he had thought there was a danger that those men would ever inform, would he himself have confessed about himself? 'He did not know, of course.' I believe Cassius was kept in the dark about Sulla alone; for about the others he certainly knew; for indeed it was established that most things were concocted at his house.

Qui negare noluit esse in eo numero Sullam quo plus spei Gallis daret, dicere autem falsum non ausus est, se nescire dixit. Atque hoc perspicuum est, cum is qui de omnibus scierit de Sulla se scire negarit, eandem vim esse negationis huius quam si extra coniurationem hunc esse se scire dixisset. Nam cuius scientiam de omnibus constat fuisse, eius ignoratio de aliquo purgatio debet videri.

He, who was unwilling to deny that Sulla was in that number by which he would give more hope to the Gauls, yet did not dare to speak a falsehood, said that he did not know. And this is clear: since he who had known about everyone denied that he knew about Sulla, this denial has the same force as if he had said that he knew this man to be outside the conspiracy. For in the case of one whose knowledge about all is agreed to have existed, his ignorance about someone ought to seem a purgation.

Sed iam non quaero purgetne Cassius Sullam; illud mihi tantum satis est contra Sullam nihil esse in indicio.

But now I do not inquire whether Cassius purges Sulla; this alone is enough for me, that there is nothing in the evidence against Sulla.

[40] Exclusus hac criminatione Torquatus rursus in me inruit, me accusat; ait me aliter ac dictum sit in tabulas publicas rettulisse. O di immortales!—vobis enim tribuo quae vestra sunt, nec vero possum meo tantum ingenio dare ut tot res tantas, tam varias, tam repentinas in illa turbulentissima tempestate rei publicae mea sponte dispexerim—vos profecto animum meum tum conservandae patriae cupiditate incendistis, vos me ab omnibus ceteris cogitationibus ad unam salutem rei publicae convertistis, vos denique in tantis tenebris erroris et inscientiae clarissimum lumen menti meae praetulistis.

[40] Shut out by this charge, Torquatus again rushes upon me, accuses me; he says that I entered in the public records otherwise than had been stated. O immortal gods!—for to you I ascribe what is yours, nor indeed can I ascribe so much to my own ingenuity as that I, of my own accord, in that most turbulent tempest of the republic, could have discerned so many and so great matters, so various, so sudden—surely you then inflamed my mind with the desire of conserving the fatherland, you converted me from all other thoughts to the single safety of the republic, you, finally, in such great darkness of error and ignorance, bore before my mind the most brilliant light.

[41] Vidi ego hoc, iudices, nisi recenti memoria senatus auctoritatem huius indici monumentis publicis testatus essem, fore ut aliquando non Torquatus neque Torquati quispiam similis—nam id me multum fefellit—sed ut aliquis patrimoni naufragus, inimicus oti, bonorum hostis, aliter indicata haec esse diceret, quo facilius vento aliquo in optimum quemque excitato posset in malis rei publicae portum aliquem suorum malorum invenire. Itaque introductis in senatum indicibus constitui senatores qui omnia indicum dicta, interrogata, responsa perscriberent.

[41] I saw this, judges: unless, while the memory was still recent, I had attested in the public monuments the senate’s authority for this evidence, it would come about that someday not Torquatus nor someone like Torquatus—for that deceived me greatly—but that some shipwreck of his patrimony, an enemy of leisure, a foe of the good, would say that these things had been entered otherwise, so that the more easily, with some wind raised against each of the best men, he might be able, amid the evils of the commonwealth, to find some harbor for his own evils. Therefore, with the informers brought into the senate, I appointed senators to write down all the informers’ sayings, questions, and answers.

[42] At quos viros! non solum summa virtute et fide, cuius generis erat in senatu facultas maxima, sed etiam quos sciebam memoria, scientia, celeritate scribendi facillime quae dicerentur persequi posse, C. Cosconium, qui tum erat praetor, M. Messalam, qui tum praeturam petebat, P. Nigidium, App. Claudium.

[42] But what men! not only of the highest virtue and faith, of which kind there was in the senate the greatest abundance, but also men whom I knew, by memory, knowledge, and speed of writing, to be most easily able to pursue what was being said: C. Cosconium, who was then praetor, M. Messalam, who was then seeking the praetorship, P. Nigidium, App. Claudium.

Credo esse neminem qui his hominibus ad vere referendum aut fidem putet aut ingenium defuisse. Quid deinde? quid feci?

I believe there is no one who would think that, for these men to report truly, either faith or ingenuity was lacking. What then? what did I do?

Cum scirem ita esse indicium relatum in tabulas publicas ut illae tabulae privata tamen custodia more maiorum continerentur, non occultavi, non continui domi, sed statim describi ab omnibus librariis, dividi passim et pervolgari atque edi populo Romano imperavi. Divisi tota Italia, emisi in omnis provincias; eius indici ex quo oblata salus esset omnibus expertem esse neminem volui.

Since I knew that the report had been entered in the public tablets in such a way that those tablets, nevertheless, were kept in private custody according to the custom of the ancestors, I did not conceal it, I did not keep it at home, but immediately ordered it to be transcribed by all the copyists, to be divided everywhere and made widespread and issued to the Roman People. I distributed it through all Italy, I sent it out into all the provinces; of that testimony, from which safety had been proffered to all, I wished no one to be without a share.

[43] Itaque dico locum in orbe terrarum esse nullum, quo in loco populi Romani nomen sit, quin eodem perscriptum hoc indicium pervenerit. In quo ego tam subito et exiguo et turbido tempore multa divinitus, ita ut dixi, non mea sponte providi, primum ne quis posset tantum aut de rei publicae aut de alicuius periculo meminisse quantum vellet; deinde ne cui liceret umquam reprehendere illud indicium aut temere creditum criminari; postremo ne quid iam a me, ne quid ex meis commentariis quaereretur, ne aut oblivio mea aut memoria nimia videretur, ne denique aut neglegentia turpis aut diligentia crudelis putaretur.

[43] Therefore I say there is no place in the orb of lands, in which place the name of the Roman people is, without this written testimony likewise having reached the same place. In which I, in so sudden and scant and turbulent a time, many things, by divine agency, as I said, not of my own prompting, provided: first, lest anyone could remember as much either about the Republic or about anyone’s danger as he wished; then, lest it be permitted to anyone ever to censure that testimony or to accuse it as rashly believed; finally, lest anything now be sought from me, or anything from my commentaries, lest either my forgetfulness or an excessive memory seem [to be at issue], lest, in fine, either disgraceful negligence or cruel diligence be thought.

[44] Sed tamen abs te, Torquate, quaero: cum indicatus tuus esset inimicus et esset eius rei frequens senatus et recens memoria testis, <et> tibi, meo familiari et contubernali, prius etiam edituri indicium fuerint scribae mei, si voluisses, quam in codicem rettulissent, <cur> cum videres aliter fieri, tacuisti, passus es, non mecum aut <ut> cum familiarissimo questus es aut, quoniam tam facile inveheris in amicos, iracundius et vehementius etulasti? Tu, cum tua vox numquam sit audita, cum indicio lecto, descripto, divolgato quieveris, tacueris, repente tantam rem ementiare et in eum locum te deducas ut, ante quam me commutati indici coargueris, te summae neglegentiae tuo iudicio convictum esse fateare?

[44] But yet I ask of you, Torquatus: when your enemy had been named by the informer and a full Senate and fresh memory were witness of that matter, to you, my familiar friend and comrade-in-quarters, my clerks would even have published the disclosure first, if you had wished, before they entered it in the codex, when you saw it being done otherwise, did you keep silent, allow it, did you not complain with me as with your most intimate, or, since you so easily inveigh against friends, did you not vent your wrath more angrily and more vehemently? You—when your voice has never been heard, when, after the disclosure was read, transcribed, and divulged, you were quiet, you kept silence—do you suddenly fabricate so great a matter and bring yourself into such a position that, before you convict me of a changed disclosure, you confess that by your own judgment you stand convicted of the highest negligence?

[45] Mihi cuiusquam salus tanti fuisset ut meam neglegerem? per me ego veritatem patefactam contaminarem aliquo mendacio? quemquam denique ego iuvarem, a quo et tam crudelis insidias rei publicae factas et me potissimum consule constitutas putarem?

[45] Would anyone’s safety have been worth so much to me that I should neglect my own? Would I, for my part, contaminate truth laid open with some mendacity? Finally, would I help anyone whom I thought had both contrived such cruel plots against the Republic and had set them in place especially with me as consul?

Quod si iam essem oblitus severitatis et constantiae meae, tamne amens eram ut, cum litterae posteritatis causa repertae sint, quae subsidio oblivioni esse possent, ego recentem putarem memoriam cuncti senatus commentario meo posse superari?

But if I had already forgotten my severity and my constancy, was I so insane that, since letters have been devised for the sake of posterity, which could be a subsidy against oblivion, I would think that the recent memory of the whole senate could be overcome by my commentary?

[46] Fero ego te, Torquate, iam dudum fero, et non numquam animum incitatum ad ulciscendam orationem tuam revoco ipse et reflecto, permitto aliquid iracundiae tuae, do adulescentiae, cedo amicitiae, tribuo parenti. Sed nisi tibi aliquem modum tute constitueris, coges oblitum me nostrae amicitiae habere rationem meae dignitatis. Nemo umquam me tenuissima suspicione perstrinxit quem non perverterim ac perfregerim.

[46] I bear with you, Torquatus, I have long borne with you, and now and then I myself recall and bend back a mind incited to avenge your speech; I permit something to your irascibility, I grant to adolescence, I yield to friendship, I grant to your parent. But unless you yourself set some measure for yourself, you will force me, forgetful of our friendship, to have regard for my dignity. No one has ever touched me with the slightest suspicion whom I have not overthrown and shattered.

Sed mihi hoc credas velim: non eis libentissime soleo respondere quos mihi videor facillime posse superare.

But I would have you believe this: I am not most gladly accustomed to respond to those whom I seem to myself to be able most easily to overcome.

[47] Tu quoniam minime ignoras consuetudinem dicendi meam, noli hac nova lenitate abuti mea, noli aculeos orationis meae, qui reconditi sunt, excussos arbitrari, noli id omnino a me putare esse amissum si quid est tibi remissum atque concessum. Cum illae valent apud me excusationes iniuriae tuae, iratus animus tuus, aetas, amicitia nostra, tum nondum statuo te virium satis habere ut ego tecum luctari et congredi debeam. Quod si esses usu atque aetate robustior, essem idem qui soleo cum sum lacessitus; nunc tecum sic agam tulisse ut potius iniuriam quam rettulisse gratiam videar.

[47] Since you are by no means ignorant of my custom of speaking, do not abuse this new lenity of mine; do not suppose the barbs of my oration, which are laid away, to have been shaken out; do not at all think that to have been lost by me, if anything has been remitted and conceded to you. While those excuses for your injury have weight with me—your irate spirit, your age, our friendship—yet I do not yet judge you to have strength enough that I ought to wrestle and come to grips with you. But if you were more robust in experience and in age, I should be the same as I am wont to be when I am provoked; now I will deal with you in such a way as to seem to have borne an injury rather than to have returned a favor.

[48] Neque vero quid mihi irascare intellegere possum. Si, quod eum defendo quem tu accusas, cur tibi ego non suscenseo, quod accusas eum quem ego defendo? 'Inimicum ego,' inquis, 'accuso meum.' Et amicum ego defendo meum.

[48] Nor indeed can I understand why you are angry with me. If it is because I defend him whom you accuse, why am I not incensed with you because you accuse him whom I defend? 'I accuse my enemy,' you say. And I defend my friend.

'Non debes tu quemquam in coniurationis quaestione defendere.' Immo nemo magis eum de quo nihil umquam est suspicatus quam is qui de aliis multa cognovit. 'Cur dixisti testimonium in alios?' Quia coactus sum. 'Cur damnati sunt?' Quia creditum est.

'You should not defend anyone in a conspiracy inquiry.' On the contrary, no one is more fit to defend a man of whom he has never suspected anything than he who has come to know many things about others. 'Why did you give testimony against others?' Because I was compelled. 'Why were they condemned?' Because credence was given.

'Regnum est dicere in quem velis et defendere quem velis.' Immo servitus est non dicere in quem velis et non defendere quem velis. Ac si considerare coeperis utrum magis mihi hoc necesse fuerit facere an istud tibi, intelleges honestius te inimicitiarum modum statuere potuisse quam me humanitatis.

'Tyranny is to speak against whom you will and to defend whom you will.' Nay rather, slavery is not to speak against whom you will and not to defend whom you will. And if you begin to consider whether this was more necessary for me to do or that for you, you will understand that you could more honestly have set a measure to enmities than I to humanity.

[49] At vero, cum honos agebatur familiae vestrae amplissimus, hoc est consulatus parentis tui, sapientissimus vir familiarissimis suis non suscensuit, pater tuus, cum Sullam et defenderent et laudarent? intellegebat hanc nobis a maioribus esse traditam disciplinam ut nullius amicitia ad pericula propulsanda impediremur. At erat huic iudicio longe dissimilis illa contentio.

[49] But in truth, when the most ample honor was being paid to your family, that is, the consulship of your parent, did your father, a most wise man, not take offense at his very intimates, when they both defended and praised Sulla? He understood that this discipline had been handed down to us by our ancestors: that by no one’s friendship we should be impeded in repelling perils. But that contention was far dissimilar to this judgment.

Tum adflicto P. Sulla consulatus vobis pariebatur, sicuti partus est; honoris erat certamen; ereptum repetere vos clamitabatis, ut victi in campo in foro vinceretis; tum qui contra vos pro huius salute pugnabant, amicissimi vestri, quibus non irascebamini, consulatum vobis eripiebant, honori vestro repugnabant, et tamen id inviolata vestra amicitia, integro officio, vetere exemplo atque instituto optimi cuiusque faciebant.

Then, with P. Sulla afflicted, the consulship was being brought to birth for you, just as it was delivered; it was a contest of honor; you kept shouting to recover what had been snatched away, so that, defeated in the field, you might conquer in the forum; then those who were fighting against you for this man’s safety, your very dearest friends, at whom you were not angry, were snatching the consulship from you, were resisting your honor, and yet they were doing this with your friendship inviolate, with duty intact, in the old example and institution of every best man.

[50] Ego vero quibus ornamentis adversor tuis aut cui dignitati vestrae repugno? Quid est quod iam ab hoc expetas? Honos ad patrem, insignia honoris ad te delata sunt.

[50] But indeed, with what ornaments do I oppose yours, or to what dignity of yours do I offer resistance? What is it that you now expect from this man? Honor has gone to your father; the insignia of honor have been bestowed upon you.

Tu ornatus exuviis huius venis ad eum lacerandum quem interemisti, ego iacentem et spoliatum defendo et protego. Atque hic tu et reprehendis me quia defendam et irasceris; ego autem non modo tibi non irascor sed ne reprehendo quidem factum tuum. Te enim existimo tibi statuisse quid faciendum putares et satis idoneum offici tui iudicem <esse> potuisse.

You, adorned with this man’s spoils, come to lacerate him whom you slew; I defend and protect the one lying low and despoiled. And here you both censure me because I defend and grow angry; I, however, not only am not angry with you, but I do not even censure your deed. For I reckon that you determined for yourself what you thought ought to be done, and that you could have been a sufficiently fitting judge of your duty.

[51] At accusat <C.> Corneli filius et id aeque valere debet ac si pater indicaret. O patrem Cornelium sapientem qui, quod praemi solet esse in indicio, reliquerit, quod turpitudinis in confessione, id per accusationem fili susceperit! Sed quid est tandem quod indicat per istum puerum Cornelius?

[51] But the son of <C.> Cornelius accuses, and that ought to have equal force as if the father himself were giving information. O wise father Cornelius, who has left to his son that which is wont to be the premium in an information, and has taken upon himself, through the accusation of his son, that which is of turpitude in a confession! But what, pray, is it that Cornelius indicates through that boy?

Si vetera, mihi ignota, cum Hortensio communicata, respondit Hortensius; sin, ut ais, illum conatum Autroni et Catilinae, cum in campo consularibus comitiis, quae a me habita sunt, caedem facere voluerunt, Autronium tum in campo vidimus —sed quid dixi vidisse nos? ego vidi; vos enim tum, iudices, nihil laborabatis neque suspicabamini, ego tectus praesidio firmo amicorum Catilinae tum et Autroni copias et conatum repressi.

If they are old matters, unknown to me, communicated with Hortensius, Hortensius replied; but if, as you say, that attempt of Autronius and Catiline, when, in the Campus at the consular comitia, which were held by me, they wished to make a massacre, we then saw Autronius in the Campus — but why did I say “we saw”? I saw; for you then, judges, were taking no pains nor suspecting anything; I, protected by the firm guard of friends, then repressed Catiline’s and Autronius’s forces and attempt.

[52] Num quis est igitur qui tum dicat in campum aspirasse Sullam? Atqui, si tum se cum Catilina societate sceleris coniunxerat, cur ab eo discedebat, cur cum Autronio non erat, cur in pari causa non paria signa criminis reperiuntur? Sed quoniam Cornelius ipse etiam nunc de indicando dubitat, <et,> ut dicitis, informat ad hoc adumbratum indicium filium, quid tandem de illa nocte dicit, cum inter falcarios ad M. Laecam nocte ea quae consecuta est posterum diem Nonarum Novembrium me consule Catilinae denuntiatione convenit?

[52] Is there then anyone who says that at that time Sulla was aspiring to the Campus? And yet, if at that time he had joined himself with Catiline in a societas of crime, why was he departing from him, why was he not with Autronius, why, in an equal case, are equal tokens of crime not found? But since Cornelius himself even now hesitates about indicating, and, as you say, is coaching his son for this adumbrated evidence, what, pray, does he say about that night, when, among the scythe-makers, at Marcus Laeca’s, on the night which followed the day after the Nones of November, with me as consul, by Catiline’s summons he assembled?

quae nox omnium temporum coniurationis acerrima fuit atque acerbissima. Tum Catilinae dies exeundi, tum ceteris manendi condicio, tum discriptio totam per urbem caedis atque incendiorum constituta est; tum tuus pater, Corneli, id quod tandem aliquando confitetur, illam sibi officiosam provinciam depoposcit ut, cum prima luce consulem salutatum veniret, intromissus et meo more et iure amicitiae me in meo lectulo trucidaret.

which night was, of all times, the most keen and the most bitter of the conspiracy. Then the day for Catiline to go out, then the condition for the rest to remain, then the apportionment throughout the whole city of slaughter and conflagrations was established; then your father, Cornelius—this at length at last he confesses—demanded for himself that dutiful “province,” namely that, when at first light he should come to greet the consul, admitted both by my custom and by the right of friendship, he would butcher me in my own bed.

[53] Hoc tempore, cum arderet acerrime coniuratio, cum Catilina egrederetur ad exercitum, Lentulus in urbe relinqueretur, Cassius incendiis, Cethegus caedi praeponeretur, Autronio ut occuparet Etruriam praescriberetur, cum omnia ornarentur, instruerentur, pararentur, ubi fuit Sulla, Corneli? num Romae? Immo longe afuit.

[53] At this time, when the conspiracy was blazing most fiercely, when Catiline was going forth to the army, Lentulus was being left in the city, Cassius was put in charge of conflagrations, Cethegus set over slaughter, it was prescribed to Autronius to seize Etruria; when all things were being arrayed, marshaled, prepared—where was Sulla, Cornelius? Surely at Rome? On the contrary, he was far away.

Num in eis regionibus quo se Catilina inferebat? Multo etiam longius. Num in agro Camerti, Piceno, Gallico, quas in oras maxime quasi morbus quidam illius furoris pervaserat?

Was he in those regions into which Catiline was advancing? Much farther away. Was he in the land of the Camertes, in Picenum, in Gallic territory—into which regions, most of all, that fury, as if a certain disease, had pervaded?

Nihil vero minus. Fuit enim, ut iam ante dixi, Neapoli, fuit in ea parte Italiae quae maxime ista suspicione caruit.

Nothing, indeed, less. For he was, as I have already said, at Neapolis, he was in that part of Italy which was especially free from that suspicion.

[54] Quid ergo indicat aut quid adfert aut ipse Cornelius aut vos qui haec ab illo mandata defertis? Gladiatores emptos esse Fausti simulatione ad caedem ac tumultum? 'Ita prorsus; interpositi sunt gladiatores.' Quos testamento patris deberi videmus.

[54] What then does either Cornelius himself indicate or what does he bring, or you who deliver these mandates from him? That gladiators were bought under the pretense of Faustus for slaughter and tumult? 'Yes indeed; gladiators have been interposed.' Whom we see to be owed by their father’s testament.

'Adrepta est familia.' Quae si esset praetermissa, posset alia familia Fausti munus praebere. Vtinam quidem haec ipsa non modo iniquorum invidiae sed aequorum exspectationi satis facere posset! 'Properatum vehementer est, cum longe tempus muneris abesset.' Quasi vero tempus dandi muneris non valde appropinquaret.

'The troupe has been seized.' Which, if it had been passed over, another troupe could provide Faustus’s show. Would that indeed this very thing could satisfy not only the ill-will of the unfair but the expectation of the fair! 'There was vehement hastening, when the time of the show was far off.' As if indeed the time of giving the show were not drawing very near.

'Nec opinante Fausto, cum is neque sciret neque vellet, familia est comparata.

'With Faustus not expecting it, since he neither knew nor was willing, the troupe was procured.

[55] At litterae sunt Fausti, per quas ille precibus a P. Sulla petit ut emat gladiatores et ut hos ipsos emat, neque solum ad Sullam missae sed ad L. Caesarem, Q. Pompeium, C. Memmium, quorum de sententia tota res gesta est. 'At praefuit familiae Cornelius, <libertus eius>.' Iam si in paranda familia nulla suspicio est, quis praefuerit nihil ad rem pertinet; sed tamen munere servili obtulit se ad ferramenta prospicienda, praefuit vero numquam, eaque res omni tempore per Bellum, Fausti libertum, administrata est.

[55] But there are letters of Faustus, through which he with entreaties asks from P. Sulla that he buy gladiators and that he buy these very men, and they were sent not only to Sulla but to L. Caesar, Q. Pompeius, C. Memmius, by whose judgment the whole matter was transacted. 'But Cornelius, <his freedman>, was in charge of the troupe.' Now, if in procuring the troupe there is no suspicion, it is nothing to the matter who was in charge; yet, in a servile function, he offered himself to see to the equipment, but he was never actually in command, and this business at all times was administered through Bellus, the freedman of Faustus.

[56] At enim Sittius est ab hoc in ulteriorem Hispaniam missus ut eam provinciam perturbaret. Primum Sittius, iudices, L. Iulio C. Figulo consulibus profectus est aliquanto ante furorem Catilinae et suspicionem huius coniurationis; deinde est profectus non tum primum sed cum in isdem locis aliquanto ante eadem de causa aliquot annos fuisset, ac profectus est non modo ob causam sed etiam ob necessariam causam, magna ratione cum Mauretaniae rege contracta. Tum autem, illo profecto, Sulla procurante eius rem et gerente plurimis et pulcherrimis P. Sitti praediis venditis aes alienum eiusdem dissolutum <est>, ut, quae causa ceteros ad facinus impulit, cupiditas retinendae possessionis, ea Sittio non fuerit praediis deminutis.

[56] But indeed Sittius was sent by this man into Further Spain so that he might perturb that province. First, Sittius, judges, set out in the consulship of L. Iulius and C. Figulus, somewhat before Catiline’s fury and the suspicion of this conspiracy; then he set out not then for the first time, but when he had been in the same regions somewhat earlier for the same cause for several years; and he set out not only for a cause but for a necessary cause as well, a great arrangement having been contracted with the king of Mauretania. Then moreover, when he had set out, Sulla, procuring and managing his affairs, with very many and most splendid estates of P. Sittius sold, the same man’s debt was dissolved, so that the cause which impelled the rest to a crime—the cupidity of retaining possession—was not present for Sittius, his estates having been diminished.

[57] Iam vero illud quam incredibile, quam absurdum, qui Romae caedem facere, qui hanc urbem inflammare vellet, eum familiarissimum suum dimittere ab se et amandare in ultimas terras! Vtrum quo facilius Romae ea quae conabatur efficeret, si in Hispania turbatum esset? At haec ipsa per se sine ulla coniunctione agebantur.

[57] Now indeed how incredible, how absurd, that one who wanted to commit a slaughter at Rome, who wanted to set this city aflame, should send away from himself and dispatch to the farthest lands his most intimate associate! Was it so that he might more easily effect at Rome the things he was attempting, if there were disturbance in Spain? But these very things were being carried on by themselves, without any conjunction.

An in tantis rebus, tam novis consiliis, tam periculosis, tam turbulentis hominem amantissimum sui, familiarissimum, coniunctissimum officiis, consuetudine, usu dimittendum esse arbitrabatur? Veri simile non est ut, quem in secundis rebus, quem in otio secum semper habuisset, hunc in adversis et in eo tumultu quem ipse comparabat ab se dimitteret.

Or did he suppose that, in such great matters, with such novel counsels, so perilous, so turbulent, a man most devoted to him, most intimate, most closely bound by duties, by consuetude, by use, ought to be sent away? It is not likely that he would dismiss from himself, in adverse circumstances and in that very tumult which he himself was preparing, the man whom he had always had with him in prosperous affairs and in leisure.

[58] Ipse autem Sittius—non enim mihi deserenda est causa amici veteris atque hospitis—is homo est aut ea familia ac disciplina ut hoc credi possit, eum bellum populo Romano facere voluisse? ut, cuius pater, cum ceteri deficerent finitimi ac vicini, singulari exstiterit in rem publicam nostram officio et fide, is sibi nefarium bellum contra patriam suscipiendum putaret? cuius aes alienum videmus, iudices, non libidine, sed negoti gerendi studio esse contractum, qui ita Romae debuit ut in provinciis et in regnis ei maximae pecuniae deberentur; quas cum peteret, non commisit ut sui procuratores quicquam oneris absente se sustinerent; venire omnis suas possessiones et patrimonio se ornatissimo spoliari maluit quam ullam moram cuiquam fieri creditorum suorum.

[58] But Sittius himself—for I must not desert the cause of an old friend and guest—is he a man, or of such a family and discipline, that this can be believed, that he wished to make war upon the Roman People? that he, whose father, when the neighboring and adjoining peoples were defecting, stood forth for our commonwealth by singular service and faith, would think that a nefarious war against his fatherland ought to be undertaken by himself? whose debt, judges, we see to have been contracted not from lust but from zeal for conducting business, who was in such a way a debtor at Rome that in the provinces and in kingdoms very great monies were owed to him; and when he sought these, he did not allow his procurators to sustain any burden in his absence; he preferred that all his possessions be sold and that he be despoiled of his most splendid patrimony rather than that any delay be caused to any one of his creditors.

[59] A quo quidem genere, iudices, ego numquam timui, cum in illa rei publicae tempestate versarer. Illud erat hominum genus horribile et pertimescendum qui tanto amore suas possessiones amplexi tenebant ut ab eis membra citius divelli ac distrahi posse diceres. Sittius numquam sibi cognationem cum praediis esse existimavit suis.

[59] From that kind, judges, I never was afraid, when I was tossed in that tempest of the republic. That was a kind of men horrible and greatly-to-be-feared, who clasped and held their possessions with such love that you would say their limbs could more quickly be torn and dragged apart from them. Sittius never supposed there was a kinship between himself and his landed estates.

Itaque se non modo ex suspicione tanti sceleris verum etiam ex omni hominum sermone non armis, sed patrimonio suo vindicavit.

Accordingly he vindicated himself not only from the suspicion of so great a crime but even from all men’s talk, not by arms, but by his own patrimony.

[60] Iam vero quod obiecit Pompeianos esse a Sulla impulsos ut ad istam coniurationem atque ad hoc nefarium facinus accederent, id cuius modi sit intellegere non possum. An tibi Pompeiani coniurasse videntur? Quis hoc dixit umquam, aut quae fuit istius rei vel minima suspicio?

[60] Now indeed, as to what he objected—that the Pompeians were impelled by Sulla to accede to that conspiracy and to this nefarious crime—I cannot understand of what sort that is. Or do the Pompeians seem to you to have conspired? Who ever said this, or what was even the least suspicion of that matter?

'Diiunxit,' inquit, 'eos a colonis ut hoc discidio ac dissensione facta oppidum in sua potestate posset per Pompeianos habere.' Primum omnis Pompeianorum colonorumque dissensio delata ad patronos est, cum iam inveterasset ac multos annos esset agitata; deinde ita a patronis res cognita est ut nulla in re a ceterorum sententiis Sulla dissenserit; postremo coloni ipsi sic intellegunt, non Pompeianos a Sulla magis quam sese esse defensos.

'He severed,' he says, 'them from the colonists, so that, with this severance and dissension made, he might be able to have the town in his own power through the Pompeians.' First, all the dissension of the Pompeians and the colonists was referred to the patrons, after it had already become inveterate and had been agitated for many years; then the matter was thus ascertained by the patrons that Sulla in no respect dissented from the opinions of the others; lastly, the colonists themselves so understand it, that the Pompeians were not defended by Sulla any more than they themselves were.

[61] Atque hoc, iudices, ex hac frequentia colonorum, honestissimorum hominum, intellegere potestis, qui adsunt, laborant, hunc patronum, defensorem, custodem illius coloniae si in omni fortuna atque omni honore incolumem habere non potuerunt, in hoc tamen casu in quo adflictus iacet per vos iuvari conservarique cupiunt. Adsunt pari studio Pompeiani, qui ab istis etiam in crimen vocantur; qui ita de ambulatione ac de suffragiis suis cum colonis dissenserunt ut idem de communi salute sentirent.

[61] And this, judges, you can understand from this throng of colonists, most honorable men, who are present, who strive, who, if they could not keep this patron, defender, guardian of that colony safe in every fortune and every honor, yet in this crisis in which he lies afflicted desire that through you he be helped and preserved. The Pompeians are present with equal zeal, who are even by those men called into accusation; who disagreed with the colonists about the promenade and about their suffrages in such a way as to think the same regarding the common safety.

[62] Ac ne haec quidem P. Sullae mihi videtur silentio praetereunda esse virtus, quod, cum ab hoc illa colonia deducta sit, et cum commoda colonorum a fortunis Pompeianorum rei publicae fortuna diiunxerit, ita carus utrisque est atque iucundus ut non alteros demovisse sed utrosque constituisse videatur. At enim et gladiatores et omnis ista vis rogationis Caeciliae causa comparabatur. Atque hoc loco in L. Caecilium, pudentissimum atque ornatissimum virum, vehementer invectus est.

[62] And not even this virtue of P. Sulla seems to me to be to be passed over in silence: that, since that colony was planted by this man, and since he severed the advantages of the colonists from the fortunes of the Pompeians by the fortune of the commonwealth, he is so dear and agreeable to both that he appears not to have removed the one side but to have established both. But indeed both the gladiators and all that force were being gotten up for the sake of the bill of Caecilius. And at this point he launched a vehement attack against L. Caecilius, a most modest and most distinguished man.

Cuius ego de virtute et constantia, iudices, tantum dico, talem hunc in ista rogatione quam promulgarat non de tollenda, sed de levanda calamitate fratris sui fuisse ut consulere voluerit fratri, cum re publica pugnare noluerit; promulgarit impulsus amore fraterno, destiterit fratris auctoritate deductus.

Of whose virtue and constancy, judges, I say only this: that in that bill which he had promulgated he was such a man—not for removing, but for alleviating his brother’s calamity—that he wished to look out for his brother, while he was unwilling to fight with the commonwealth; he had promulgated it, impelled by fraternal love; he desisted, led away by his brother’s authority.

[63] Atque in ea re per L. Caecilium Sulla accusatur in qua re est uterque laudandus. Primum Caecilius—quid? 'id promulgavit in quo res iudicatas videbatur voluisse rescindere, ut restitueretur Sulla.' Recte reprehendis; status enim rei publicae maxime iudicatis rebus continetur; neque ego tantum fraterno amori dandum arbitror ut quisquam, dum saluti suorum consulat, communem relinquat.

[63] And in this matter, through L. Caecilius, Sulla is accused—in a matter in which each is to be praised. First, Caecilius—what? “He promulgated that by which he seemed to have wished to rescind adjudicated matters, so that Sulla might be restored.” You censure this rightly; for the status of the republic is chiefly maintained by adjudicated matters; nor do I think so much ought to be granted to fraternal love that anyone, while consulting for the safety of his own, should abandon the common interest.

<At> nihil de iudicio ferebat, sed poenam ambitus eam referebat quae fuerat nuper superioribus legibus constituta. Itaque hac rogatione non iudicum sententia, sed legis vitium corrigebatur. Nemo iudicium reprehendit, cum de poena queritur, sed legem.

<At> he was proposing nothing about the judgment, but was re-enacting the penalty for ambitus which had recently been established by earlier laws. And so by this bill it was not the judges’ verdict, but the defect of the law, that was being corrected. No one blames the judgment, when he complains of the penalty, but the law.

Damnatio est enim iudicum, quae manebat, poena legis, quae levabatur.

For the condemnation was that of the judges, which remained; the penalty of the law, which was lightened.

[64] Noli igitur animos eorum ordinum qui praesunt iudiciis summa cum gravitate et dignitate alienare a causa. Nemo labefactare iudicium est conatus, nihil est eius modi promulgatum, semper Caecilius in calamitate fratris sui iudicum potestatem perpetuandam, legis acerbitatem mitigandam putavit. Sed quid ego de hoc plura disputem?

[64] Do not, therefore, estrange from the cause the minds of those orders who preside over the courts with the highest gravity and dignity. No one has tried to undermine the judgment, nothing of that sort has been promulgated; Caecilius has always thought, in his brother’s calamity, that the power of the judges should be perpetuated, the harshness of the law should be mitigated. But why should I discuss more about this?

Dicerem fortasse, et facile et libenter dicerem, si paulo etiam longius quam finis cotidiani offici postulat L. Caecilium pietas et fraternus amor propulisset, implorarem sensus vestros, unius cuiusque indulgentiam in suos testarer, peterem veniam errato L. Caecili ex intimis vestris cogitationibus atque ex humanitate communi.

I would perhaps say it, and I would say it easily and gladly, if piety and fraternal love had driven L. Caecilius even a little farther than the limit of daily duty demands; I would implore your feelings, I would attest the indulgence of each man toward his own, I would seek pardon for the error of L. Caecilius from your inmost reflections and from our common humanity.

[65] Lex dies fuit proposita paucos, ferri coepta numquam, deposita est in senatu. Kalendis Ianuariis cum in Capitolium nos senatum convocassemus, nihil est actum prius, et id mandatu Sullae Q. Metellus praetor se loqui dixit Sullam illam rogationem de se nolle ferri. Ex illo tempore L. Caecilius egit de re publica multa; agrariae legi, quae tota a me reprehensa et abiecta est, se intercessorem fore professus est, improbis largitionibus restitit, senatus auctoritatem numquam impedivit, ita se gessit in tribunatu ut onere deposito domestici offici nihil postea nisi de rei publicae commodis cogitarit.

[65] The bill was posted for a few days, never even begun to be carried, and it was laid aside in the Senate. On the Kalends of January, when we had convened the Senate on the Capitol, nothing was done before this: and, by Sulla’s mandate, Quintus Metellus, praetor, said that he spoke to declare that Sulla did not wish that that rogation concerning himself be carried. From that time Lucius Caecilius did many things for the Republic; he professed that he would be an intercessor against the agrarian law, which was by me wholly reprehended and cast aside; he stood fast against improper largesses; he never impeded the authority of the Senate; he so conducted himself in his tribunate that, the burden of domestic duty laid down, afterward he thought of nothing except the advantages of the Republic.

[66] Atque in ipsa rogatione ne per vim quid ageretur, quis tum nostrum Sullam aut Caecilium verebatur? nonne omnis ille terror, omnis seditionis timor atque opinio ex Autroni improbitate pendebat? Eius voces, eius minae ferebantur, eius aspectus, concursatio, stipatio, greges hominum perditorum metum nobis seditionesque adferebant.

[66] And in the very rogation, lest anything be done by force, who then among us was fearing Sulla or Caecilius? Was not all that terror, all the fear and opinion of sedition, hanging upon the improbity of Autronius? His voices, his threats were being bruited about; his aspect, his running to and fro, his dense escort, the herds of men of perdition were bringing fear and seditions upon us.

Itaque P. Sulla hoc importunissimo cum honoris tum etiam calamitatis socio atque comite et secundas fortunas amittere coactus est et in adversis sine ullo remedio atque adlevamento permanere.

And so P. Sulla, with this most importunate associate and companion both of honor and also of calamity, was compelled both to lose favorable fortunes and to remain amid adversities without any remedy or alleviation.

[67] Hic tu epistulam meam saepe recitas quam ego ad Cn. Pompeium de meis rebus gestis et de summa re publica misi, et ex ea crimen aliquod in P. Sullam quaeris et, si furorem incredibilem biennio ante conceptum erupisse in meo consulatu scripsi, me hoc demonstrasse dicis, Sullam in illa fuisse superiore coniuratione. Scilicet ego is sum qui existimem Cn. Pisonem et Catilinam et Vargunteium et Autronium nihil scelerate, nihil audacter ipsos per sese sine P. Sulla facere potuisse.

[67] Here you often recite my letter which I sent to Cn. Pompeius about my deeds and about the highest interests of the commonwealth, and from it you seek some charge against P. Sulla; and if I wrote that a frenzy incredible, conceived two years earlier, had broken out in my consulship, you say that by this I showed that Sulla had been in that prior conspiracy. Surely I am the sort of man to suppose that Cn. Piso and Catiline and Vargunteius and Autronius could have done nothing criminal, nothing bold, themselves by themselves, without P. Sulla.

[68] De quo etiam si quis dubitasset antea an id quod tu arguis cogitasset, ut interfecto patre tuo consul descenderet Kalendis Ianuariis cum lictoribus, sustulisti hanc suspicionem, cum dixisti hunc, ut Catilinam consulem efficeret, contra patrem tuum operas et manum comparasse. Quod si tibi ego confitear, tu mihi concedas necesse est hunc, cum Catilinae suffragaretur, nihil de suo consulatu, quem iudicio amiserat, per vim recuperando cogitavisse. Neque enim istorum facinorum tantorum, tam atrocium crimen, iudices, P. Sullae persona suscipit.

[68] About whom also, if anyone had previously doubted whether he had conceived that which you allege—that, with your father slain, he, as consul, would go down on the Kalends of January with lictors—you removed this suspicion, when you said that this man, in order to make Catiline consul, had mustered crews and a gang against your father. But if I should grant this to you, you must concede to me that this man, while he was suffraging for Catiline, thought nothing of recovering by force his own consulship, which he had lost by judgment. For the person of P. Sulla does not incur the charge of deeds so great, so atrocious, judges.

[69] Iam enim faciam criminibus omnibus fere dissolutis, contra atque in ceteris causis fieri solet, ut nunc denique de vita hominis ac de moribus dicam. Etenim de principio studuit animus occurrere magnitudini criminis, satis facere exspectationi hominum, de me aliquid ipso qui accusatus eram dicere; nunc iam revocandi estis eo quo vos ipsa causa etiam tacente me cogit animos mentisque convertere. Omnibus in rebus, iudices, quae graviores maioresque sunt, quid quisque voluerit, cogitarit, admiserit, non ex crimine, sed ex moribus eius qui arguitur est ponderandum.

[69] For now, with almost all the crimes nearly dissolved, contrary to what is usually done in other cases, I will at last speak about the man’s life and morals. For at the beginning my spirit strove to meet the magnitude of the crime, to satisfy the expectation of men, to say something about myself, I who was accused; now you must be called back to that point to which the case itself, even with me silent, compels you to turn your minds and thoughts. In all matters, judges, that are more grave and weightier, what each person has willed, has cogitated, has committed, is to be weighed not from the crime but from the morals of the one who is accused.

Neque enim potest quisquam nostrum subito fingi neque cuiusquam repente vita mutari aut natura converti.

For none of us can be suddenly fashioned, nor can anyone’s life be suddenly changed or his nature converted.

[70] Circumspicite paulisper mentibus vestris, ut alia mittamus, hosce ipsos homines qui huic adfines sceleri fuerunt. Catilina contra rem publicam coniuravit. Cuius aures umquam haec respuerunt?

[70] Look around for a little while with your minds, that we may pass over other matters, at these very men who were affined to this crime. Catiline conspired against the Republic. Whose ears ever rejected these things?

conatum esse audacter hominem a pueritia non solum intemperantia et scelere sed etiam consuetudine et studio in omni flagitio, stupro, caede versatum? Quis eum contra patriam pugnantem perisse miratur quem semper omnes ad civile latrocinium natum putaverunt? Quis Lentuli societates cum indicibus, quis insaniam libidinum, quis perversam atque impiam religionem recordatur qui illum aut nefarie cogitasse aut stulte sperasse miretur?

that a man, from boyhood engaged not only by intemperance and crime but also by habit and zeal in every flagitious deed, in debauchery and in slaughter, has boldly attempted it? Who marvels that he perished fighting against his fatherland, whom all have always thought born for civil brigandage? Who, recalling Lentulus’s partnerships with informers, the insanity of his lusts, and his perverse and impious religion, would marvel that he either thought nefariously or hoped foolishly?

Quis de C. Cethego atque eius in Hispaniam profectione ac de volnere Q. Metelli Pii cogitat cui non ad illius poenam carcer aedificatus esse videatur?

Who thinks about Gaius Cethegus and his departure into Spain, and about the wound of Quintus Metellus Pius, to whom does it not seem that the prison was built for that man’s punishment?

[71] Omitto ceteros, ne sit infinitum; tantum a vobis peto ut taciti de omnibus quos coniurasse cognitum est cogitetis; intellegetis unum quemque eorum prius ab sua vita quam vestra suspicione esse damnatum. Ipsum illum Autronium, quoniam eius nomen finitimum maxime est huius periculo et crimini, non sua vita ac natura convicit? Semper audax, petulans, libidinosus; quem in stuprorum defensionibus non solum verbis uti improbissimis solitum esse scimus verum etiam pugnis et calcibus, quem exturbare homines ex possessionibus, caedem facere vicinorum, spoliare fana sociorum, comitatu et armis disturbare iudicia, in bonis rebus omnis contemnere, in malis pugnare contra bonos, non rei publicae cedere, non fortunae ipsi succumbere.

[71] I omit the others, lest it be endless; I ask only this of you, that silently you consider all those who are known to have conspired; you will understand that each one of them was condemned earlier by his own life than by your suspicion. That Autronius himself, since his name is most closely adjacent to this danger and charge—has he not been convicted by his own life and nature? Always audacious, petulant, libidinous; a man who, in defenses of debaucheries, we know was accustomed not only to use the most shameless words but even fists and kicks; who would drive men out of their possessions, make slaughter of his neighbors, despoil the shrines of our allies, throw courts into disorder with his retinue and arms; in prosperous affairs to contemn all, in adverse ones to fight against the good; not to yield to the commonwealth, not to succumb even to Fortune herself.

Huius si causa non manifestissimis rebus teneretur, tamen eum mores ipsius ac vita convinceret.

If his cause were not sustained by the most manifest facts, nevertheless his own morals and life would convict him.

[72] Agedum, conferte nunc cum illius vita <vitam> P. Sullae vobis populoque Romano notissimam, iudices, et eam ante oculos vestros proponite. Ecquod est huius factum aut commissum non dicam audacius, sed quod cuiquam paulo minus consideratum videretur? Factum quaero; verbum ecquod umquam ex ore huius excidit in quo quisquam posset offendi?

[72] Come now, compare with that man’s life the <life> of P. Sulla, most well-known to you and to the Roman people, judges, and set it before your eyes. Is there any deed of his done or committed—I will not say more audacious—but that would seem to anyone even a little less considered? I ask about a deed; has any word ever fallen from this man’s mouth at which anyone could be offended?

At vero in illa gravi L. Sullae turbulentaque victoria quis P. Sulla mitior, quis misericordior inventus est? <Quam> multorum hic vitam est a L. Sulla deprecatus! quam multi sunt summi homines et ornatissimi et nostri et equestris ordinis quorum pro salute se hic Sullae obligavit!

But in truth, in that grave and turbulent victory of Lucius Sulla, who was found gentler, who more merciful, than Publius Sulla? many men’s lives did this man beg off from Lucius Sulla! how many men of the highest and most distinguished rank, both of our order and of the equestrian order, for whose safety this man obligated himself to Sulla!

Quos ego nominarem—neque enim ipsi nolunt et huic animo gratissimo adsunt—sed, quia maius est beneficium quam posse debet civis civi dare, ideo a vobis peto ut quod potuit, tempori tribuatis, quod fecit, ipsi.

Whom I would name—for they themselves are not unwilling and stand by this most grateful disposition—but, since the beneficium is greater than a citizen ought to be able to give to a citizen, therefore I ask of you that what he could, you attribute to the time, what he did, to himself.

[73] Quid reliquae constantiam vitae commemorem, dignitatem, liberalitatem, moderationem in privatis rebus, splendorem in publicis? quae ita deformata sunt a fortuna ut tamen a natura inchoata compareant. Quae domus, quae celebratio cotidiana, quae familiarium dignitas, quae studia amicorum, quae ex quoque ordine multitudo!

[73] What shall I recount of the constancy of the rest of his life, the dignity, the liberality, the moderation in private affairs, the splendor in public ones? which have been so marred by fortune that nevertheless, begun by nature, they still appear. What a house, what daily concourse, what dignity of his familiars, what zeal of friends, what a multitude from each order!

Haec diu multumque et multo labore quaesita una eripuit hora. Accepit P. Sulla, iudices, volnus vehemens et mortiferum, verum tamen eius modi quod videretur huius vita et natura accipere potuisse. Honestatis enim et dignitatis habuisse nimis magnam iudicatus est cupiditatem; quam si nemo alius habuit in consulatu petendo, cupidior iudicatus est hic fuisse quam ceteri; sin etiam in aliis non nullis fuit iste consulatus amor, fortuna in hoc fuit fortasse gravior quam in ceteris.

One hour snatched away these things, long and much sought, and with much toil. P. Sulla, judges, received a vehement and mortal wound, yet of such a kind as his life and nature would seem to have been able to bear. For he was judged to have had too great a desire for honor and dignity; which, if no one else had in seeking the consulship, he was judged to have been more desirous than the rest; but if that love of the consulship was also in certain others, Fortune was perhaps harsher toward him than toward the others.

[74] Postea vero quis P. Sullam nisi maerentem, demissum adflictumque vidit, quis umquam est suspicatus hunc magis odio quam pudore hominum aspectum lucemque vitare? Qui cum multa haberet invitamenta urbis et fori propter summa studia amicorum, quae tamen ei sola in malis restiterunt, afuit ab oculis vestris et, cum lege retineretur, ipse se exsilio paene multavit. In hoc vos pudore, iudices, et in hac vita tanto sceleri locum fuisse credatis?

[74] Afterwards indeed, who saw Publius Sulla except grieving, downcast and afflicted; who ever suspected that he avoided the sight of men and the light more from hatred than from shame? He, although he had many invitations of the city and the forum on account of the utmost zeal of his friends—which yet alone in his troubles stood fast for him—kept away from your eyes, and, although he was restrained by law, he almost punished himself with exile. In such modesty, judges, and in such a life do you believe there was room for so great a crime?

Aspicite ipsum, contuemini os, conferte crimen cum vita, vitam ab initio usque ad hoc tempus explicatam cum crimine recognoscite.

Look upon the man himself, gaze upon his face, compare the charge with his life, review the life unfolded from the beginning down to this time together with the charge.

[75] Mitto rem publicam, quae fuit semper Sullae carissima; hosne amicos, talis viros, tam cupidos sui, per quos res eius secundae quondam erant ornatae, nunc sublevantur adversae, crudelissime perire voluit, ut cum Lentulo et Catilina et Cethego foedissimam vitam ac miserrimam turpissima morte proposita degeret? Non, inquam, cadit in hos mores, non in hunc pudorem, non in hanc vitam, non in hunc hominem ista suspicio. Nova quaedam illa immanitas exorta est, incredibilis fuit ac singularis furor, ex multis ab adulescentia conlectis perditorum hominum vitiis repente ista tanta importunitas inauditi sceleris exarsit.

[75] I pass over the republic, which was always most dear to Sulla; did he wish these friends, such men, so eager for him, through whom his prosperous affairs were once adorned, now his adverse fortunes are supported, to perish most cruelly, so that he might pass a most foul life with Lentulus and Catiline and Cethegus, with a most shameful death set before him? No, I say, that suspicion does not fall upon these morals, not upon this modesty, not upon this life, not upon this man. That was a certain new savagery that arose, an incredible and singular fury; out of many vices of ruined men, collected from youth, suddenly that so great insolence of unheard-of crime flared up.

[76] Nolite, iudices, arbitrari hominum illum impetum et conatum fuisse—neque enim ulla gens tam barbara aut tam immanis umquam fuit in qua non modo tot, sed unus tam crudelis hostis patriae sit inventus—, beluae quaedam illae ex portentis immanes ac ferae forma hominum indutae exstiterunt. Perspicite etiam atque etiam, iudices,—nihil enim est quod in hac causa dici possit vehementius—penitus introspicite Catilinae, Autroni, Cethegi, Lentuli ceterorumque mentis; quas vos in his libidines, quae flagitia, quas turpitudines, quantas audacias, quam incredibilis furores, quas notas facinorum, quae indicia parricidiorum, quantos acervos scelerum reperietis! Ex magnis et diuturnis et iam desperatis rei publicae morbis ista repente vis erupit, ut ea confecta et eiecta convalescere aliquando et sanari civitas posset; neque enim est quisquam qui arbitretur illis inclusis in re publica pestibus diutius haec stare potuisse.

[76] Do not, judges, suppose that that onrush and attempt was human—for no nation so barbarous or so monstrous has ever existed in which not only so many, but even a single enemy of his fatherland so cruel has been found—; those were certain beasts out of portents, huge and feral, that appeared clad in the form of men. Scrutinize again and again, judges—for there is nothing that in this case can be said more vehemently—look deep within the minds of Catiline, Autronius, Cethegus, Lentulus, and the rest: what lusts you will find in them, what flagitious deeds, what turpitudes, how great audacities, what unbelievable furies, what marks of crimes, what indications of parricides, what heaps of crimes! From the great and long-continued and now desperate diseases of the commonwealth that force suddenly burst forth, so that, it being spent and cast out, the state might at length recover and be healed; for there is no one who would think that, with those plagues shut up within the republic, these things could have stood any longer.

Itaque eos non ad perficiendum scelus, sed ad luendas rei publicae poenas Furiae quaedam incitaverunt.

And so certain Furies incited them, not to the perfecting of the crime, but to the paying of the Republic’s penalties.

[77] In hunc igitur gregem vos nunc P. Sullam, iudices, ex his qui cum hoc vivunt atque vixerunt honestissimorum hominum gregibus reicietis, ex hoc amicorum numero, ex hac familiarium dignitate in impiorum partem atque in parricidarum sedem et numerum transferetis? Vbi erit igitur illud firmissimum praesidium pudoris, quo in loco nobis vita ante acta proderit, quod ad tempus existimationis partae fructus reservabitur, si in extremo discrimine ac dimicatione fortunae deseret, si non aderit, si nihil adiuvabit?

[77] Into this herd, then, will you now, judges, cast P. Sulla, and from the herds of most honorable men—of those who live and have lived with him—will you reject him; from this number of friends, from this dignity of familiars, will you transfer him into the party of the impious and into the seat and number of parricides? Where, then, will be that most steadfast bulwark of honor; in what place will a life previously lived profit us; what fruit of an acquired reputation will be reserved for the critical moment, if at the last crisis and contest Fortune deserts, if she is not present, if she in no way will aid?

[78] Quaestiones nobis servorum accusator et tormenta minitatur. In quibus quamquam nihil periculi suspicamur, tamen illa tormenta gubernat dolor, moderatur natura cuiusque cum animi tum corporis, regit quaesitor, flectit libido, corrumpit spes, infirmat metus, ut in tot rerum angustiis nihil veritati loci relinquatur. Vita P. Sullae torqueatur, ex ea quaeratur num quae occultetur libido, num quod lateat facinus, num quae crudelitas, num quae audacia.

[78] The accuser threatens us with inquisitions of slaves and with tortures. In these, although we suspect no danger, yet those torments are governed by pain, are moderated by the nature of each person both of mind and of body, are ruled by the inquisitor, are bent by libido, are corrupted by hope, are enfeebled by fear, so that in the straits of so many factors no room is left for truth. Let the life of P. Sulla be put to the rack; from it let there be inquiry whether some libido is concealed, whether some crime lies hidden, whether any cruelty, whether any audacity.

Nihil erroris erit in causa nec obscuritatis, iudices, si a vobis vitae perpetuae vox, ea quae verissima et gravissima debet esse, audietur.

There will be nothing of error in the case nor of obscurity, judges, if by you the voice of a perpetual life, that which ought to be most veracious and most grave, shall be heard.

[79] Nullum in hac causa testem timemus, nihil quemquam scire, nihil vidisse, nihil audisse arbitramur. Sed tamen, si nihil vos P. Sullae fortuna movet, iudices, vestra moveat. Vestra enim, qui cum summa elegantia atque integritate vixistis, hoc maxime interest, non ex libidine aut simultate aut levitate testium causas honestorum hominum ponderari, sed in magnis disquisitionibus repentinisque periculis vitam unius cuiusque esse testem.

[79] We fear no witness in this case; we think that no one knows anything, saw anything, heard anything. But yet, if P. Sulla’s fortune moves you not at all, judges, let your own move you. For it is your own— you who have lived with the highest elegance and integrity— that is especially concerned, that the cases of honorable men be not weighed by the caprice or enmity or levity of witnesses, but that in great disquisitions and sudden dangers the life of each individual be the witness.

Quam vos, iudices, nolite armis suis spoliatam atque nudatam obicere invidiae, dedere suspicioni; munite communem arcem bonorum, obstruite perfugia improborum; valeat ad poenam et ad salutem vita plurimum, quam solam videtis per se ex sua natura facillime perspici, subito flecti fingique non posse.

Which, judges, do not expose, stripped and laid bare of its own arms, to envy, nor surrender to suspicion; fortify the common citadel of the good, block the refuges of the wicked; let life prevail most for punishment and for safety, which alone you see can, by itself and from its own nature, be most easily perceived, and cannot suddenly be bent and feigned.

[80] Quid vero? haec auctoritas—saepe enim est de ea dicendum, quamquam a me timide modiceque dicetur—quid? inquam, haec auctoritas nostra, qui a ceteris coniurationis causis abstinuimus, P. Sullam defendimus, nihil hunc tandem iuvabit?

[80] What then? This authority—for often indeed there must be talk about it, although by me it will be spoken timidly and moderately—what? I say, will this our authority, we who have abstained from the other cases of the conspiracy, we defend P. Sulla, in the end help him nothing?

Grave est hoc dictu fortasse, iudices, grave, si appetimus aliquid; si, cum ceteri de nobis silent, non etiam nosmet ipsi tacemus, grave; sed, si laedimur, si accusamur, si in invidiam vocamur, profecto conceditis, iudices, ut nobis libertatem retinere liceat, si minus liceat dignitatem.

This is perhaps grave to say, judges, grave, if we are aiming at something; if, when the others are silent about us, we ourselves do not also keep silent, grave; but if we are injured, if we are accused, if we are called into ill-will, surely you concede, judges, that it is permitted for us to retain our liberty, if it be less permitted to retain our dignity.

[81] Accusati sunt uno nomine <omnes> consulares, ut iam videatur honoris amplissimi nomen plus invidiae quam dignitatis adferre. 'Adfuerunt,' inquit, 'Catilinae illumque laudarunt.' Nulla tum patebat, nulla erat cognita coniuratio; defendebant amicum, aderant supplici, vitae eius turpitudinem in summis eius periculis non insequebantur. Quin etiam parens tuus, Torquate, consul reo de pecuniis repetundis Catilinae fuit advocatus, improbo homini, at supplici, fortasse audaci, at aliquando amico.

[81] The consulars were accused under one name <all>, so that now the name of the most ample honor seems to bring more envy than dignity. 'They were present,' he says, 'to Catiline and praised him.' At that time no conspiracy was open, none was known; they were defending a friend, they were present to a suppliant, they were not pursuing the disgrace of his life in his utmost dangers. Nay even your parent, Torquatus, when consul, was advocate for the defendant Catiline on a charge of monies to be reclaimed (extortion), for a wicked man, yes, but a suppliant; perhaps a bold one, yes, but once a friend.

Cui cum adfuit post delatam ad eum primam illam coniurationem, indicavit se audisse aliquid, non credidisse. 'At idem non adfuit alio in iudicio, cum adessent ceteri.' Si postea cognorat ipse aliquid quod in consulatu ignorasset, ignoscendum est eis qui postea nihil audierunt; sin illa res prima valuit, num inveterata quam recens debuit esse gravior? Sed si tuus parens etiam in ipsa suspicione periculi sui tamen humanitate adductus advocationem hominis improbissimi sella curuli atque ornamentis et suis et consulatus honestavit, quid est quam ob rem consulares qui Catilinae adfuerunt reprendantur?

When he attended him after that first conspiracy had been reported to him, he indicated that he had heard something, had not believed it. 'But the same man was not present in another trial, when the rest were present.' If afterwards he himself had come to know something which he had been ignorant of during his consulship, pardon must be granted to those who afterwards heard nothing; but if that first matter had weight, surely, when inveterate, it ought not to have been graver than when recent? But if your father, even under the very suspicion of danger to himself, yet moved by humanitas, honored with his curule chair and with the ornaments both his own and of his consulship the advocacy of a most depraved man, what reason is there why the consulars who were present for Catiline should be reproved?

[82] At idem eis qui ante hunc causam de coniuratione dixerunt non adfuerunt.' Tanto scelere astrictis hominibus statuerunt nihil a se adiumenti, nihil opis, nihil auxili ferri oportere. Atque ut de eorum constantia atque animo in rem publicam dicam quorum tacita gravitas et fides de uno quoque loquitur neque cuiusquam ornamenta orationis desiderat, potest quisquam dicere umquam meliores, fortiores, constantiores consularis fuisse quam his temporibus et periculis quibus paene oppressa est res publica? Quis non de communi salute optime, quis non fortissime, quis non constantissime sensit?

[82] But those same men were not present to those who before this pleaded the case about the conspiracy.' For men bound by so great a crime they resolved that no aid, no resource, no assistance ought to be furnished by themselves. And, that I may speak about their constancy and their spirit toward the commonwealth—men whose silent gravity and fidelity speaks for each one and does not desire the ornaments of anyone’s oration—can anyone say that there have ever been better, braver, more steadfast consulars than in these times and perils in which the commonwealth was nearly crushed? Who has not felt most excellently for the common safety, who not most bravely, who not most steadfastly?

Neque ego praecipue de consularibus disputo; nam haec et hominum ornatissimorum, qui praetores fuerunt, et universi senatus communis est laus, ut constet post hominum memoriam numquam in illo ordine plus virtutis, plus amoris in rem publicam, plus gravitatis fuisse; sed quia sunt descripti consulares, de his tantum mihi dicendum putavi quod satis esset ad testandam omnium memoriam, neminem esse ex illo honoris gradu qui non omni studio, virtute, auctoritate incubuerit ad rem publicam conservandam.

Nor am I chiefly discoursing about the consulars; for this is the common praise both of the most adorned men who were praetors and of the whole senate, that it stands established that within the memory of men there has never been in that order more virtue, more love toward the commonwealth, more gravitas; but because the consulars have been set forth, I thought I should say only so much about these as would suffice to attest in everyone’s memory that there is no one from that grade of honor who did not, with every zeal, virtue, and authority, apply himself to preserving the commonwealth.

[83] Sed quid ego? qui Catilinam non laudavi, qui reo Cati linae consul non adfui, qui testimonium de coniuratione dixi in alios, adeone vobis alienus a sanitate, adeo oblitus constantiae meae, adeo immemor rerum a me gestarum esse videor ut, cum consul bellum gesserim cum coniuratis, nunc eorum ducem servare cupiam et animum inducam, cuius nuper ferrum rettuderim flammamque restinxerim, eiusdem nunc causam vitamque defendere? Si me dius fidius, iudices, non me ipsa res publica meis laboribus et periculis conservata ad gravitatem animi et constantiam sua dignitate revocaret, tamen hoc natura est insitum ut, quem timueris, quicum de vita fortunisque contenderis, cuius ex insidiis evaseris, hunc semper oderis.

[83] But what then am I?—I, who did not praise Catiline, who, when Catiline was a defendant, as consul did not stand by him, who gave testimony about the conspiracy against others—am I to seem to you so alien from sanity, so forgetful of my constancy, so unmindful of the deeds done by me, that, although as consul I waged war with the conspirators, I should now wish to spare their leader and bring myself to defend the cause and the life of that same man whose steel I lately blunted and whose flame I quenched? By the god of Good Faith, judges, even if the Republic itself, preserved by my labors and perils, did not by its own dignity recall me to gravity of mind and constancy, nevertheless this is implanted by nature: that the man whom you have feared, with whom you have contended about life and fortunes, from whose ambushes you have escaped, him you should always hate.

Sed cum agatur honos meus amplissimus, gloria rerum gestarum singularis, cum, quotiens quisque est in hoc scelere convictus, totiens renovetur memoria per me inventae salutis, ego sim tam demens, ego committam ut ea quae pro salute omnium gessi, casu magis et felicitate a me quam virtute et consilio gesta esse videantur?

But when my most ample honor and the singular glory of deeds accomplished are at stake, when, as often as anyone is convicted in this crime, so often the memory of the safety discovered by me is renewed, am I to be so demented, am I to allow that the things which I have carried out for the safety of all seem to have been done by me more by chance and felicity than by virtue and counsel?

[84] 'Quid ergo? hoc tibi sumis,' dicet fortasse quispiam, 'ut, quia tu defendis, innocens iudicetur?' Ego vero, iudices, non modo mihi nihil adsumo in quo quispiam repugnet sed etiam, si quid ab omnibus conceditur, id reddo ac remitto. Non in ea re publica versor, non eis temporibus caput meum obtuli pro patria periculis omnibus, non aut ita sunt exstincti quos vici aut ita grati quos servavi, ut ego mihi plus appetere coner quam quantum omnes inimici invidique patiantur.

[84] 'What then? do you claim this for yourself,' perhaps someone will say, 'that, because you defend, he be adjudged innocent?' I indeed, judges, not only assume nothing to myself in which anyone might oppose, but even, if anything is conceded by all, I return and remit it. I am not engaged in such a republic, I did not, in such times, offer my head to all perils for the fatherland, nor are those whom I conquered thus extinguished nor those whom I saved thus grateful, that I should attempt to appetite more for myself than as much as all enemies and enviers will tolerate.

[85] Grave esse videtur eum qui investigarit coniurationem, qui patefecerit, qui oppresserit, cui senatus singularibus verbis gratias egerit, cui uni togato supplicationem decreverit, dicere in iudicio: 'non defenderem, si coniurasset.' Non dico id quod grave est, dico illud quod in his causis coniurationis non auctoritati adsumam, sed pudori meo: 'ego ille coniurationis investigator atque ultor certe non defenderem Sullam, si coniurasse arbitrarer.' Ego, iudices, de tantis omnium periculis cum quaererem omnia, multa audirem, crederem non omnia, caverem omnia, dico hoc quod initio dixi, nullius indicio, nullius nuntio, nullius suspicione, nullius litteris de P. Sulla rem ullam ad me esse delatam.

[85] It seems grave that the man who has investigated the conjuration, who has laid it open, who has suppressed it, to whom the senate has, with singular words, given thanks, to whom alone, a man in the toga, it has decreed a supplicatio, should say in court: “I would not defend, if he had conspired.” I do not say that which is weighty; I say this, which in these causes of conjuration I ascribe not to authority but to my own sense of propriety: “I, that investigator and avenger of the conjuration, certainly would not defend Sulla, if I thought he had conspired.” I, judges, when, concerning such great dangers to all, I was inquiring into everything—heard many things, did not believe everything, took precautions about everything—say this which I said at the beginning: that by no informant, by no messenger, by no suspicion, by no letter has any matter about P. Sulla been conveyed to me.

[86] Quam ob rem vos, di patrii ac penates, qui huic urbi atque huic rei publicae praesidetis, qui hoc imperium, qui hanc libertatem, qui populum Romanum, qui haec tecta atque templa me consule vestro numine auxilioque servastis, testor integro me animo ac libero P. Sullae causam defendere, nullum a me sciente facinus occultari, nullum scelus susceptum contra salutem omnium defendi ac tegi. Nihil de hoc consul comperi, nihil suspicatus sum, nihil audivi.

[86] Wherefore you, gods of the fatherland and Penates, who preside over this city and this republic, who have preserved this imperium, this liberty, the Roman people, these roofs and temples, with me as consul, by your divinity and aid, I call you to witness that with a whole and free mind I defend the cause of P. Sulla, that no crime known by me is being hidden, that no wickedness undertaken against the safety of all is being defended and covered. About this man, as consul, I discovered nothing, I suspected nothing, I heard nothing.

[87] Itaque idem ego ille qui vehemens in alios, qui inexorabilis in ceteros esse visus sum, persolvi patriae quod debui; reliqua iam a me meae perpetuae consuetudini naturaeque debentur; tam sum misericors, iudices, quam vos, tam mitis quam qui lenissimus; in quo vehemens fui vobiscum nihil feci nisi coactus, rei publicae praecipitanti subveni, patriam demersam extuli; misericordia civium adducti tum fuimus tam vehementes quam necesse fuit. Salus esset amissa omnium una nocte, nisi esset severitas illa suscepta. Sed ut ad sceleratorum poenam amore rei publicae sum adductus, sic ad salutem innocentium voluntate deducor.

[87] And so I, that same man who seemed vehement against some, inexorable toward the rest, have paid to my fatherland what I owed; the remainder is now due from me to my perpetual consuetude and nature; I am as merciful, judges, as you, as mild as the most lenient; in that matter in which I was vehement, I did nothing with you except when compelled; I came to the aid of the commonwealth as it was rushing headlong, I raised up the fatherland when it had been submerged; moved by compassion for our fellow-citizens we were then as vehement as was necessary. The safety of all would have been lost in a single night, had not that severity been undertaken. But just as I was drawn to the punishment of the wicked by love of the commonwealth, so I am led by my own will to the safety of the innocent.

[88] Nihil video esse in hoc P. Sulla, iudices, odio dignum, misericordia digna multa. Neque enim nunc propulsandae calamitatis suae causa supplex ad vos, iudices, confugit, sed ne qua generi ac nomini suo nota nefariae turpitudinis inuratur. Nam ipse quidem, si erit vestro iudicio liberatus, quae habet ornamenta, quae solacia reliquae vitae quibus laetari ac perfrui possit?

[88] I see nothing in this P. Sulla, judges, worthy of hatred; many things worthy of mercy. For he does not now, as a suppliant, flee to you, judges, for the sake of driving off his own calamity, but lest any brand of nefarious turpitude be burned into his lineage and his name. For he himself indeed, if he shall be freed by your judgment, what adornments, what solaces of the remaining life has he, with which he can rejoice and take full enjoyment?

Domus erit, credo, exornata, aperientur maiorum imagines, ipse ornatum ac vestitum pristinum recuperabit. Omnia, iudices, haec amissa sunt, omnia generis, nominis, honoris insignia atque ornamenta unius iudici calamitate occiderunt. Sed ne exstinctor patriae, ne proditor, ne hostis appelletur, ne hanc labem tanti sceleris in familia relinquat, id laborat, id metuit, ne denique hic miser coniurati et conscelerati et proditoris filius nominetur; huic puero qui est ei vita sua multo carior metuit, cui honoris integros fructus non sit traditurus, ne aeternam memoriam dedecoris relinquat.

There will be, I believe, a house adorned; the images of the ancestors will be opened; he himself will recover his former ornament and vesture. All, judges, these things have been lost; all the insignia and ornaments of stock, name, and honor have perished by the calamity of a single judgment. But that he not be called an extinguisher of the fatherland, a traitor, an enemy; that he not leave this stain of so great a crime upon his family—this he strives for, this he fears—lest, finally, this poor man be named the son of a conspirator and a conscelerate man and a betrayer. For this boy, who is to him much dearer than his own life, he fears, to whom he will not be going to hand down the intact fruits of honor, lest he leave an eternal memory of disgrace.

[89] Hic vos orat, iudices, parvus, ut se aliquando si non integra fortuna, at ut adflicta patri suo gratulari sinatis. Huic misero notiora sunt itinera iudiciorum et fori quam campi et disciplinarum. Non iam de vita P. Sullae, iudices, sed de sepultura contenditur; vita erepta est superiore iudicio, nunc ne corpus eiciatur laboramus.

[89] Here the little one begs you, judges, that you allow him sometime, if not with intact fortune, yet with an afflicted one, to congratulate his father. To this wretch the paths of the courts and the forum are more familiar than the fields and the disciplines. No longer is it about the life of P. Sulla, judges, but about his burial that there is contention; his life was snatched away by the earlier judgment, now we labor that the body not be cast out.

Quid enim est huic reliqui quod eum in hac vita teneat, aut quid est quam ob rem haec cuiquam vita videatur? Nuper is homo fuit in civitate P. Sulla ut nemo ei se neque honore neque gratia neque fortunis anteferret, nunc spoliatus omni dignitate quae erepta sunt non repetit; quod fortuna in malis reliqui fecit, ut cum parente, cum liberis, cum fratre, cum his necessariis lugere suam calamitatem liceat, id sibi ne eripiatis vos, iudices, obtestatur.

For what, indeed, is left to him that should hold him in this life, or what is there by reason of which this life should seem a life to anyone? Recently this man, P. Sulla, was in the commonwealth such that no one would set himself before him in honor, favor, or fortunes; now, stripped of all dignity, he does not seek back what has been snatched away; what Fortune has left remaining amid evils—that it be permitted to mourn his calamity with his parent, with his children, with his brother, with these close necessaries—this he implores you, judges, not to wrest from him.

[90] Te ipsum iam, Torquate, expletum huius miseriis esse par erat et, si nihil aliud Sullae nisi consulatum abstulissetis, tamen eo vos contentos esse oportebat; honoris enim contentio vos ad causam, non inimicitiae deduxerunt. Sed cum huic omnia cum honore detracta sint, cum in hac fortuna miserrima ac luctuosissima destitutus sit, quid est quod expetas amplius? Lucisne hanc usuram eripere vis plenam lacrimarum atque maeroris, in qua cum maximo cruciatu ac dolore retinetur?

[90] It was fitting that you yourself by now, Torquatus, be sated by this man’s miseries, and, if you had taken away from Sulla nothing else except the consulship, still it behooved you to be content with that; for contention over honor led you to the cause, not enmities. But since from him everything, along with honor, has been stripped, since he is abandoned in this most miserable and most lugubrious fortune, what is there that you seek further? Do you wish to snatch away from him this usufruct of the light, full of tears and mourning, in which he is held with the greatest torment and pain?

Libenter reddiderit adempta ignominia foedissimi criminis. An vero inimicum ut expellas? cuius ex miseriis, si esses crudelissimus, videndo fructum caperes maiorem quam audiendo.

You would gladly have undone the removal of the ignominy of the most foul crime. Or is it indeed so that you may expel an enemy? From whose miseries, even if you were most cruel, you would take a greater fruit by seeing than by hearing.

[91] O miserum et infelicem illum diem quo consul omnibus centuriis P. Sulla renuntiatus est, o falsam spem, o volucrem fortunam, o caecam cupiditatem, o praeposteram gratulationem! Quam cito illa omnia ex laetitia et voluptate ad luctum et lacrimas recciderunt, ut, qui paulo ante consul designatus fuisset, repente nullum vestigium retineret pristinae dignitatis! Quid enim erat mali quod huic spoliato fama, honore, fortunis deesse videretur?

[91] O wretched and unlucky that day on which P. Sulla was proclaimed consul by all the centuries, O false hope, O winged Fortune, O blind cupidity, O preposterous congratulation! How quickly did all those things fall back from joy and delight into mourning and tears, so that he who a little before had been consul-designate suddenly retained no trace of his former dignity! For what evil was there that would seem to be lacking to this man, stripped of reputation, honor, and fortunes?

aut cui novae calamitati locus ullus relictus? Vrget eadem fortuna quae coepit, repperit novum maerorem, non patitur hominem calamitosum uno malo adflictum uno in luctu perire.

or to whom was any place left for a new calamity? The same Fortune that began presses on, finds a new mourning, and does not allow the calamitous man, afflicted by one evil, to perish in one grief.

[92] Sed iam impedior egomet, iudices, dolore animi ne de huius miseria plura dicam. Vestrae sunt iam partes, iudices, in vestra mansuetudine atque humanitate causam totam repono. Vos reiectione interposita nihil suspicantibus nobis repentini in nos iudices consedistis, ab accusatoribus delecti ad spem acerbitatis, a fortuna nobis ad praesidium innocentiae constituti.

[92] But now I myself, judges, am hindered by pain of soul, lest I say more about this man’s misery. It is now your part, judges; upon your mildness and humanity I repose the whole cause. You, the rejection having been interposed, while we suspected nothing, suddenly sat as judges upon us—selected by the accusers in the hope of acerbity, constituted by Fortune for us as a bulwark of innocence.

Vt ego quid de me populus Romanus existimaret, quia severus in improbos fueram, laboravi et, quae prima innocentis mihi defensio est oblata, suscepi, sic vos severitatem iudiciorum quae per hos mensis in homines audacissimos facta sunt lenitate ac misericordia mitigate.

Just as I labored over what the Roman People would think of me, because I had been severe toward the wicked, and I undertook the first defense of an innocent man that was offered to me, so you mitigate, with lenity and mercy, the severity of the judgments which through these months have been made against the most audacious men.

[93] Hoc cum a vobis impetrare causa ipsa debet, tum est vestri animi atque virtutis declarare non esse eos vos ad quos potissimum interposita reiectione devenire convenerit. In quo ego vos, iudices, quantum meus in vos amor postulat, tantum hortor ut communi studio, quoniam in re publica coniuncti sumus, mansuetudine et misericordia nostra falsam a nobis crudelitatis famam repellamus.

[93] This the case itself ought to obtain from you; then it belongs to your spirit and virtue to declare that you are not those to whom, above all, with a rejection interposed, it was proper to come. In this I exhort you, judges, so far as my affection toward you demands, that with common zeal, since we are joined in the republic, by our gentleness and mercy we repel from ourselves the false reputation of cruelty.