Cicero: ORATORIA

[1] Cum in maximis periculis huius urbis atque imperi, gravissimo atque acerbissimo rei publicae casu, socio atque adiutore consiliorum periculorumque meorum L. Flacco, caedem a vobis, coniugibus, liberis vestris, vastitatem a templis, delubris, urbe, Italia depellebam, sperabam, iudices, honoris potius L. Flacci me adiutorem futurum quam miseriarum deprecatorem. Quod enim esset praemium dignitatis quod populus Romanus, cum huius maioribus semper detulisset, huic denegaret, cum L. Flaccus veterem Valeriae gentis in liberanda patria laudem prope quingentesimo anno rei publicae rettulisset?

[1] When, in the greatest dangers of this city and imperium, at the most grave and most bitter crisis of the commonwealth, with L. Flaccus as partner and aider of my counsels and perils, I was driving slaughter away from you, your wives, your children, and devastation from the temples, shrines, the city, Italy, I hoped, judges, that I would be the helper of L. Flaccus in honor rather than the deprecator of miseries. For what reward of dignity would there be that the Roman people, since it had always conferred it upon his ancestors, would deny to him, when L. Flaccus had restored the ancient praise of the Valerian gens in delivering the fatherland, in the almost 500th year of the commonwealth?

[2] Sed si forte aliquando aut benefici huius obtrectator aut virtutis hostis aut laudis invidus exstitisset, existimabam L. Flacco multitudinis potius imperitae, nullo tamen cum periculo, quam sapientissimorum et lectissimorum virorum iudicium esse subeundum. Etenim quibus auctoribus et defensoribus omnium tum salus esset non civium solum verum etiam gentium defensa ac retenta, neminem umquam putavi per eos ipsos periculum huius fortunis atque insidias creaturum. Quod si esset aliquando futurum ut aliquis de L. pernicie cogitaret, numquam tamen existimavi, iudices, D. Laelium, optimi viri filium, optima ipsum spe praeditum summae dignitatis, eam suscepturum accusationem quae sceleratorum civium potius odio et furori quam ipsius virtuti atque institutae adulescentiae conveniret.

[2] But if by chance at some time either a detractor of this benefaction or an enemy of virtue or one envious of praise had arisen, I supposed that L. Flaccus would have to undergo rather the judgment of an unskilled multitude—yet with no danger—than that of the most wise and most select men. For indeed, when by whose authority and defense the safety of all then—of not citizens only but even of nations—was defended and retained, I never thought that through those very men anyone would ever create danger and plots for this man’s fortunes. But if it were ever to be that someone would think upon the perdition of L. , I never, however, supposed, judges, that D. Laelius, the son of a most excellent man, himself endowed with the best hope of the highest dignity, would undertake that accusation which would befit rather the hatred and fury of criminal citizens than his own virtue and his well-instructed youth.

Etenim cum a clarissimis viris iustissimas inimicitias saepe cum bene meritis civibus depositas esse vidissem, non sum arbitratus quemquam amicum rei publicae, postea quam L. Flacci amor in patriam perspectus esset, novas huic inimicitias nulla accepta iniuria denuntiaturum.

For indeed, since I had seen that by most illustrious men the most most-just enmities had often been laid aside with well-deserving citizens, I did not think that anyone a friend of the republic, after L. Flaccus’s love for the fatherland had been clearly perceived, would denounce new enmities against this man, with no injury received.

[3] Sed quoniam, iudices, multa nos et in nostris rebus et in re publica fefellerunt, ferimus ea quae sunt ferenda; tantum a vobis petimus ut omnia rei publicae subsidia, totum statum civitatis, omnem memoriam temporum praeteritorum, salutem praesentium, spem reliquorum in vestra potestate, in vestris sententiis, in hoc uno iudicio positam esse et defixam putetis. Si umquam res publica consilium, gravitatem, sapientiam, providentiam iudicum imploravit, hoc, hoc inquam, tempore implorat. Non estis de Lydorum aut Mysorum aut Phrygum, qui huc compulsi concitatique venerunt, sed de vestra re publica iudicaturi, de civitatis statu, de communi salute, de spe bonorum omnium, si qua reliqua est etiam nunc quae fortium civium mentis cogitationesque sustentet; omnia alia perfugia bonorum, praesidia innocentium, subsidia rei publicae, consilia, auxilia, iura ceciderunt.

[3] But since, judges, many things have deceived us both in our own affairs and in the republic, we endure those things which must be borne; we ask only this from you: that you think all the subsidies of the republic, the whole state of the commonwealth, every memory of past times, the safety of the present, the hope of what remains, to be set and fixed in your power, in your sentences, in this one trial. If ever the republic implored the counsel, gravity, wisdom, providence of judges, at this—at this, I say—time it implores them. You are not going to judge concerning Lydians or Mysians or Phrygians, who, driven and agitated, have come hither, but concerning your own republic, the condition of the city, the common safety, the hope of all good men, if any even now remains which may sustain the minds and thoughts of brave citizens; all other refuges of good men, defenses of the innocent, supports of the republic, counsels, aids, rights have fallen.

[4] Quem enim appellem, quem obtester, quem implorem? Senatumne? At is ipse auxilium petit a vobis et confirmationem auctoritatis suae vestrae potestati permissam esse sentit.

[4] Whom indeed should I address, whom should I beseech, whom should I implore? The Senate? But that very body asks help from you and feels that the confirmation of its authority has been entrusted to your power.

An equites Romanos? Indicabitis principes eius ordinis quinquaginta quid cum omnibus senseritis. An populum Romanum?

Or the Roman equites? You will indicate to the fifty principal men of that order what you have felt in concert with all. Or the Roman people?

At is quidem omnem suam de nobis potestatem tradidit vobis. Quam ob rem nisi hoc loco, nisi apud vos, nisi per vos, iudices, non auctoritatem, quae amissa est, sed salutem nostram, quae spe exigua extremaque pendet, tenuerimus, nihil est praeterea quo confugere possimus; nisi forte quae res hoc iudicio temptetur, quid agatur, cui causae fundamenta iaciantur, iudices, non videtis.

But he indeed has handed over all his power concerning us to you. Wherefore, unless in this place, unless before you, unless through you, judges, we hold not our authority—which has been lost—but our safety, which hangs by a meager and utmost hope, there is nothing besides to which we can flee; unless perhaps you do not see, judges, what matter is being tested in this trial, what is being transacted, for what cause the foundations are being laid.

[5] Condemnatus est is qui Catilinam signa patriae inferentem interemit; quid est causae cur non is qui Catilinam ex urbe expulit pertimescat? Rapitur ad poenam qui indicia communis exiti cepit; cur sibi confidat is qui ea proferenda et patefacienda curavit? Socii consiliorum, ministri comitesque vexantur; quid auctores, quid duces, quid principes sibi exspectent? Atque utinam inimici nostri ac bonorum omnium mecum potius aestiment, utrum tum omnes boni duces nostri an comites fuerint ad communem conservandam salutem * * *

[5] He is condemned who slew Catiline as he was bearing standards against the fatherland; what reason is there why he who drove Catiline out of the city should not be thoroughly afraid? He is dragged to punishment who seized upon the indications of the common ruin; why should he trust himself who took care that these things be brought forth and laid open? Associates of the counsels, ministers and companions are vexed; what are the authors, what the leaders, what the principals to expect for themselves? And would that our enemies and all good men would rather reckon with me whether then all the good were our leaders or our companions for conserving the common safety * * *

[1] Strangulatos maluit dicere.

[1] He preferred to say “strangled.”

[2] Quid sibi meus necessarius Caetra voluit?

[2] What did my associate Caetra mean?

[3] Quid vero Decianus?

[3] But what indeed about Decianus?

[4] Vtinam esset proprie mea! Senatus igitur magna ex parte * * *

[4] If only it were properly mine! Therefore the Senate, for the most part, * * *

[5] Di, inquam, immortales Lentulum * * *

[5] The immortal gods, I say, Lentulus * * *

* * * externum cum domestica vita naturaque constaret. Itaque non patiar, D. Laeli, te tibi hoc sumere atque hanc ceteris in posterum, nobis in praesens tempus legem condicionemque * * *
Cum adulescentiam notaris, cum reliquum tempus aetatis turpitudinis maculis consperseris, cum privatarum rerum ruinas, cum domesticas labes, cum urbanam infamiam, cum Hispaniae, Galliae, Ciliciae, Cretae, quibus in provinciis non obscure versatus est, vitia et flagitia protuleris, tum denique quid Tmolitae et Dorylenses de L. Flacco existiment audiemus. Quem vero tot tam gravesque provinciae salvum esse cupiant, quem plurimi cives tota ex Italia devincti necessitudine ac vetustate defendant, quem haec communis nostrum omnium patria propter recentem summi benefici memoriam complexa teneat, hunc etiam si tota Asia deposcit ad supplicium, defendam, resistam.

* * * that the external was consistent with his domestic life and nature. And so I will not allow, D. Laeli, that you assume this for yourself and impose this law and condition on others for the future, on us for the present time, * * *
When you brand his adolescence, when you have besprinkled the remaining time of his age with stains of turpitude, when you have produced the ruins of private affairs, the domestic blots, the urban infamy, the vices and flagitious deeds of Spain, Gaul, Cilicia, Crete—provinces in which he has not been obscurely engaged—then at last we shall hear what the Tmolitae and the Dorylenses think of L. Flaccus. He, whom so many and so weighty provinces desire to see safe, whom very many citizens from all Italy, bound by close connection and long-standing familiarity, defend, whom this common fatherland of us all holds embraced on account of the recent memory of a highest benefaction—even if all Asia demands him for punishment, this man I will defend, I will withstand.

Quid? si neque tota neque optima neque incorrupta neque sua sponte nec iure nec more nec vere nec religiose nec integre, si impulsa, si sollicitata, si concitata, si coacta, si impie, si temere, si cupide, si inconstanter nomen suum misit in hoc iudicium per egentissimos testis, ipsa autem nihil queri vere de iniuriis potest, tamenne, iudices, haec ad breve tempus audita longinqui temporis cognitarum rerum fidem derogabunt? Tenebo igitur hunc ordinem defensor quem fugit inimicus, et accusatorem urgebo atque insequar et ultro crimen ab adversario flagitabo.

What then? If neither as a whole nor as the best part nor uncorrupted nor of its own accord nor by law nor by custom nor truly nor religiously nor with integrity—if driven, if solicited, if stirred up, if compelled, if impiously, if rashly, if covetously, if inconstantly—it has sent its name into this judgment through the most destitute witnesses, while it itself can truly complain of nothing in the way of injuries, yet, judges, will these things, heard for a brief time, derogate from the credibility of matters known over a long time? I will therefore hold to this order as a defender, which the enemy shuns, and I will press and pursue the accuser and, of my own accord, demand the charge from my adversary.

Quid est, Laeli? num quid ea d . . d . . ea . . f . . . no qui quidem non in umbra neque in illius aetatis disciplinis artibusque versatus est? Etenim puer cum patre consule ad bellum est profectus.

What is it, Laelius? Surely not that d . . d . . ea . . f . . . no, who indeed did not spend time in the shade nor was engaged in the disciplines and arts of that age? For indeed, as a boy, he set out to the war with his father as consul.

Nimirum etiam hoc ipso nomine aliquid . . ia sus * * *

Assuredly also by this very name something . . ia sus * * *

[6] Sed si neque Asiae luxuries infirmissimum tempus aetatis * * *

[6] But if neither Asia’s luxury nor the most infirm time of life * * *

[7] Ex hoc aetatis gradu se ad exercitum C. Flacci patrui contulit.

[7] From this stage of age he betook himself to the army of Gaius Flaccus, his paternal uncle.

[8] Tribunus militaris cum P. Servilio, gravissimo et sanctissimo cive, profectus.

[8] A military tribune, he set out with P. Servilius, a most grave and most upright citizen.

[9] Quorum amplissimis iudiciis ornatus quaestor factus est.

[9] Adorned with their most ample judgments, he was made quaestor.

[10] M. Pisone, qui cognomen frugalitatis, nisi accepisset, ipse peperisset.

[10] Under M. Piso, who, unless he had received the cognomen of Frugality, would himself have begotten it.

[11] Idem novum bellum suscepit atque confecit.

[11] The same man undertook a new war and completed it.

[12] Non Asiae testibus, sed accusatoribus contubernalibus traditus.

[12] Not to Asia’s witnesses, but handed over to his contubernal accusers.

[6] Hunc igitur virum, Laeli, quibus tandem rebus oppugnas? Fuit P. Servilio imperatore in Cilicia tribunus militum; ea res siletur. Fuit M. Pisoni quaestor in Hispania; vox de quaestura missa nulla est.

[6] This man then, Laelius, by what things, pray, do you assail him? He was tribune of the soldiers in Cilicia under the imperator Publius Servilius; that matter is kept silent. He was quaestor to Marcus Piso in Spain; not a word has been sent forth about the quaestorship.

Bellum Cretense ex magna parte gessit atque una cum summo imperatore sustinuit; muta est huius temporis accusatio. Praeturae iuris dictio, res varia et multiplex ad suspiciones et simultates, non attingitur. At vero in summo et periculosissimo rei publicae tempore etiam ab inimicis eadem praetura laudatur.

He conducted the Cretan War for the greater part and, together with the supreme commander, sustained it; the accusation of this period is mute. The jurisdiction of his praetorship, a varied and manifold matter apt to give rise to suspicions and rivalries, is not touched. But indeed, at the highest and most perilous time of the Republic, that same praetorship is praised even by his enemies.

At a testibus laeditur. Ante quam dico a quibus, qua spe, qua vi, qua re concitatis, qua levitate, qua egestate, qua perfidia, qua audacia praeditis, dicam de genere universo et de condicione omnium nostrum. Per deos immortalis!

But he is assailed by witnesses. Before I say by whom, with what hope, with what force, by what cause stirred up, endowed with what levity, what destitution, what perfidy, what audacity, I will speak about the whole class and the condition of us all. By the immortal gods!

iudices, vos, quo modo is qui anno ante Romae ius dixerat anno post in Asia ius dixerit, a testibus quaeretis ignotis, ipsi coniectura nihil iudicabitis? <Cum> in tam varia iuris dictione tam multa decreta, tot hominum gratiosorum laesae sint voluntates, quae est umquam iacta non suspicio— quae tamen solet esse falsa—sed iracundiae vox aut doloris?

Judges, will you ask from unknown witnesses how it is that he who a year earlier at Rome had pronounced law, a year later in Asia pronounced law, and will you yourselves judge nothing by conjecture? <Since> in so varied a jurisdiction, with so many decrees, the good-wills of so many influential men have been wounded, what has ever been cast forth—not a suspicion—which, however, is wont to be false—but a voice of anger or of pain?

[7] Et is est reus avaritiae qui in uberrima re turpe compendium, in maledicentissima civitate, in suspiciosissimo negotio maledictum omne, non modo crimen effugit? Praetereo illa quae praetereunda non sunt, nullum huius in privatis rebus factum avarum, nullam in re pecuniaria contentionem, nullam in re familiari sordem posse proferri. Quibus igitur testibus ego hosce possum refutare nisi vobis?

[7] And is he a defendant on a charge of avarice who, in a most rich field, has avoided a shameful profit, and, in a city most given to malediction, in a business most full of suspicion, has escaped every slander, not to say a criminal charge? I pass over those things which ought not to be passed over: that no avaricious deed of his in private affairs, no contention in a pecuniary matter, no sordidness in household concerns can be brought forward. By what witnesses, then, can I refute these men, except by you?

[8] Tmolites ille vicanus, homo non modo nobis sed ne inter suos quidem notus, vos docebit qualis sit L. Flaccus? quem vos modestissimum adulescentem, provinciae maximae sanctissimum virum, vestri exercitus fortissimum militem, diligentissimum ducem, temperatissimum legatum quaestoremque cognoverunt, quem vos praesentes constantissimum senatorem, iustissimum praetorem atque amantissimum rei publicae civem iudicastis.

[8] That Tmolite villager, a man known not to us, nay not even among his own people, will teach you what sort of man L. Flaccus is?—whom you knew as a most modest young man; whom the greatest province knew as a most scrupulous man; whom your army knew as the most valiant soldier; whom they knew as the most diligent leader, the most temperate legate and quaestor; whom you, being present, judged the most steadfast senator, the most just praetor, and a citizen most devoted to the commonwealth.

[9] De quibus vos aliis testes esse debetis, de eis ipsi alios testis audietis? At quos testis? Primum dicam, id quod est commune, Graecos; non quo nationi huic ego unus maxime fidem derogem.

[9] About those men of whom you ought to be witnesses for others, will you yourselves hear other witnesses about them? But what witnesses? First I will say, what is the common sort, Greeks; not that I, for my part, am especially one to derogate credit from this nation.

Nam si quis umquam de nostris hominibus a genere isto studio ac voluntate non abhorrens fuit, me et esse arbitror et magis etiam tum cum plus erat oti fuisse. Sed sunt in illo numero multi boni, docti, pudentes, qui ad hoc iudicium deducti non sunt, multi impudentes, inliterati, leves, quos variis de causis video concitatos. Verum tamen hoc dico de toto genere Graecorum: tribuo illis litteras, do multarum artium disciplinam, non adimo sermonis leporem, ingeniorum acumen, dicendi copiam, denique etiam, si qua sibi alia sumunt, non repugno; testimoniorum religionem et fidem numquam ista natio coluit, totiusque huiusce rei quae sit vis, quae auctoritas, quod pondus, ignorant.

For if ever any among our men was not averse from that nation by zeal and will, I both think that I am such, and that I was even more so then, when there was more leisure. But there are in that number many good, learned, modest men who have not been brought to this trial; many shameless, unlettered, frivolous, whom I see stirred up for various reasons. Nevertheless I say this about the whole genus of the Greeks: I grant them letters, I allow the discipline of many arts, I do not take away the charm of discourse, the acumen of wits, the copiousness of speaking—finally, even if they arrogate some other things to themselves, I do not gainsay; but the religious scruple and good faith of testimonies that nation has never cultivated, and of this whole matter—what its force is, what its authority, what its weight—they are ignorant.

[10] Vnde illud est: 'da mihi testimonium mutuum'? num Gallorum, num Hispanorum putatur? Totum istud Graecorum est, ut etiam qui Graece nesciunt hoc quibus verbis a Graecis dici soleat sciant. Itaque videte quo voltu, qua confidentia dicant; tum intellegetis qua religione dicant.

[10] Whence comes that: 'give me mutual testimony'? Is it thought Gallic, is it Spanish? All that is Greek, so that even those who do not know Greek know with what words this is wont to be said by the Greeks. Therefore look with what face, with what confidence they speak; then you will understand with what religion they speak.

Numquam nobis ad rogatum respondent, semper accusatori plus quam ad rogatum, numquam laborant quem ad modum probent quod dicunt, sed quem ad modum se explicent dicendo. Iratus Flacco dixit M. Lurco quod, ut ipse aiebat, libertus erat eius turpi iudicio condemnatus. Nihil dixit quod laederet eum, cum cuperet; impediebat enim religio; tamen id quod dixit quanto cum pudore, quo tremore et pallore dixit!

They never answer to our question, always to the accuser more than to the question; they never labor over how they might prove what they say, but how they might extricate themselves by speaking. M. Lurco, angry with Flaccus, said that, as he himself asserted, his freedman had been condemned by a base judgment. He said nothing that would wound him, though he desired to; for religion (scruple) was hindering him; yet that which he did say— with how much pudor, with what tremor and pallor he said it!

[11] Quam promptus homo P. Septimius, quam iratus de iudicio et de vilico! Tamen haesitabat, tamen eius iracundiae religio non numquam repugnabat. Inimicus M. Caelius quod, cum in re manifesta putasset nefas esse publicanum iudicare contra publicanum, sublatus erat e numero recuperatorum, tamen tenuit se neque attulit in iudicium quicquam ad laedendum nisi voluntatem.

[11] How prompt a man Publius Septimius, how angry about the judgment and about the bailiff! Yet he hesitated; yet a scruple would sometimes resist his anger. Marcus Caelius, an enemy, because, when in a manifest matter he had thought it impious for a publican to judge against a publican, he had been removed from the number of recuperators, nevertheless restrained himself and brought into the trial nothing to wound except his will.

Hi si Graeci fuissent, ac nisi nostri mores ac disciplina plus valeret quam dolor ac simultas, omnes se spoliatos, vexatos, fortunis eversos esse dixissent. Graecus testis cum ea voluntate processit ut laedat, non iuris iurandi, sed laedendi verba meditatur; vinci, refelli, coargui putat esse turpissimum; ad id se parat, nihil curat aliud. Itaque non optimus quisque nec gravissimus, sed impudentissimus loquacissimusque deligitur.

If these men had been Greeks, and if our customs and discipline did not prevail more than pain and private feud, they would all have said that they were despoiled, vexed, and their fortunes overthrown. A Greek witness comes forward with that intention, to injure; he meditates not the words of an oath, but of injuring; he thinks it most disgraceful to be defeated, refuted, and convicted; for that he prepares himself, he cares for nothing else. And so, not the best nor the most weighty is selected, but the most impudent and most loquacious.

[12] Vos autem in privatis minimarum rerum iudiciis testem diligenter expenditis; etiam si formam hominis, si nomen, si tribum nostis, mores tamen exquirendos putatis. Qui autem dicit testimonium ex nostris hominibus, ut se ipse sustentat, ut omnia verba moderatur, ut timet ne quid cupide, ne quid iracunde, ne quid plus minusve quam sit necesse dicat! Num illos item putatis, quibus ius iurandum iocus est, testimonium ludus, existimatio vestra tenebrae, laus, merces, gratia, gratulatio proposita est omnis in impudenti mendacio?

[12] You, however, in private judgments of the smallest matters, weigh a witness diligently; even if you know the form of the man, his name, his tribe, yet you think his character must be inquired into. But when one of our own people gives testimony, how he props himself up, how he moderates all his words, how he fears lest he say anything greedily, anything angrily, anything more or less than is necessary! Do you think those men likewise—men for whom an oath is a joke, testimony a game, your estimation darkness, and for whom praise, pay, favor, congratulation are all staked on impudent mendacity?

Sed non dilatabo orationem meam; etenim potest esse infinita, si mihi libeat totius gentis in testimoniis dicendis explicare levitatem. Sed propius accedam; de his vestris testibus dicam.

But I will not dilate my oration; for indeed it could be infinite, if it should please me to explicate the levity of the whole nation in the giving of testimonies. But I will come nearer; I will speak concerning these your witnesses.

[13] Vehementem accusatorem nacti sumus, iudices, et inimicum in omni genere odiosum ac molestum; quem spero his nervis fore magno usui et amicis et rei publicae; sed certe inflammatus incredibili cupiditate hanc causam accusationemque suscepit. Qui comitatus in inquirendo! Comitatum dico; immo vero quantus exercitus!

[13] We have encountered a vehement accuser, judges, and an enemy hateful and troublesome in every kind; whom I hope, with these sinews, will be of great use both to his friends and to the republic; but certainly, inflamed with incredible cupidity, he undertook this case and prosecution. What an entourage in the inquiring! I say an escort; nay rather, what an army!

quae iactura, qui sumptus, quanta largitio! Quae quamquam utilia sunt causae, timide tamen dico, quod vereor ne Laelius ex his rebus quas sibi suscepit gloriae causa putet aliquid oratione mea sermonis in sese aut invidiae esse quaesitum. Itaque hanc partem totam relinquam; tantum a vobis petam, iudices, ut, si quid ipsi audistis communi fama atque sermone de vi, de manu, de armis, de copiis, memineritis; quarum rerum invidia lege hac recenti ac nova certus est inquisitioni comitum numerus constitutus.

what a loss, what expenses, how great a largess! Although these things are useful to the case, yet I say it timidly, because I fear lest Laelius may think that, from these matters which he has undertaken for himself for the sake of glory, something in my speech has been sought as discourse against himself or to stir up ill-will. Therefore I shall leave this whole part; I only ask of you, judges, that, if you yourselves have heard anything by common fame and talk about violence, about a gang, about arms, about forces, you remember it; for on account of the odium of these matters, by this recent and new law a fixed number of companions for the inquisition has been established.

[14] Sed ut hanc vim omittam, quanta illa sunt quae, quoniam accusatorio iure et more sunt facta, reprehendere non possumus, queri tamen cogimur! primum quod sermo est tota Asia dissipatus Cn. Pompeium, quod L. Flacco esset vehementer inimicus, contendisse a Laelio, paterno amico ac pernecessario, ut hunc hoc iudicio arcesseret, omnemque ei suam auctoritatem, gratiam, copias, opes ad hoc negotium conficiendum detulisse. Id hoc veri similius Graecis hominibus videbatur quod paulo ante in eadem provincia familiarem Laelium Flacco viderant.

[14] But so that I may omit this violence, how great are those things which, since they were done by prosecutorial right and custom, we cannot censure, yet we are compelled to complain! First, that a report has been spread through all Asia that Gnaeus Pompeius, because he was a very bitter enemy to Lucius Flaccus, pressed Laelius—a friend of his father and a very close intimate—to summon him to this trial, and that he transferred to him all his own authority, favor, forces, resources, and wealth for bringing this business to completion. This seemed the more plausible to Greek men because a little before, in the same province, they had seen Laelius a familiar of Flaccus.

Pompei autem auctoritas cum apud omnis tanta est quanta esse debet, tum excellit in ista provincia quam nuper et praedonum et regum bello liberavit. Adiunxit illa ut eos qui domo exire nolebant testimoni denuntiatione terreret, qui domi stare non poterant, largo et liberali viatico commoveret.

But the authority of Pompey, while among all it is as great as it ought to be, yet excels in that province which recently he freed from the war of pirates and of kings. He added these measures: that he should frighten those who did not wish to go out from home by a summons for testimony, and move those who could not stay at home with a lavish and liberal travel-allowance.

[15] Sic adulescens ingeni plenus locupletis metu, tenuis praemio, stultos errore permovit; sic sunt expressa ista praeclara quae recitantur psephismata non sententiis neque auctoritatibus declarata, non iure iurando constricta, sed porrigenda manu profundendoque clamore multitudinis concitatae.

[15] Thus the youth, full of ingenuity, stirred the wealthy by fear, the slender-in-means by reward, the foolish by error; thus were those illustrious psephismata that are recited “expressed,” not declared by judgments nor by authorities, not constrained by an oath, but by the outstretching of the hand and the pouring forth of the clamor of a stirred-up multitude.

O morem praeclarum disciplinamque quam a maioribus accepimus, si quidem teneremus! sed nescio quo pacto iam de manibus elabitur. Nullam enim illi nostri sapientissimi et sanctissimi viri vim contionis esse voluerunt; quae scisceret plebes aut quae populus iuberet, submota contione, distributis partibus, tributim et centuriatim discriptis ordinibus, classibus, aetatibus, auditis auctoribus, re multos dies promulgata et cognita iuberi vetarique voluerunt.

O illustrious custom and discipline which we received from our ancestors, if indeed we were holding to it! but I know not by what manner it now slips from our hands. For those our most wise and most holy men wished the public assembly to have no force; the things which the plebs should decree or which the people should order, with the assembly removed, the parts distributed, by tribes and by centuries the orders, classes, ages arranged, the authors heard, the measure promulgated for many days and known, they wished to be ordered and forbidden.

[16] Graecorum autem totae res publicae sedentis contionis temeritate administrantur. Itaque ut hanc Graeciam quae iam diu suis consiliis perculsa et adflicta est omittam, illa vetus quae quondam opibus, imperio, gloria floruit hoc uno malo concidit, libertate immoderata ac licentia contionum. Cum in theatro imperiti homines rerum omnium rudes ignarique consederant, tum bella inutilia suscipiebant, tum seditiosos homines rei publicae praeficiebant, tum optime meritos civis e civitate eiciebant.

[16] But the entire republics of the Greeks are administered by the temerity of a sitting assembly. Therefore, to omit this Greece which for a long time now has been smitten and afflicted by its own counsels, that ancient one which once flourished in resources, dominion, and glory fell by this one evil: the immoderate liberty and license of assemblies. When in the theater unskilled men, raw and ignorant of all matters, had taken their seats, then they undertook useless wars, then they set seditious men over the commonwealth, then they drove out from the state the citizens who had best deserved.

[17] Quod si haec Athenis tum cum illae non solum in Graecia sed prope cunctis gentibus enitebant accidere sunt solita, quam moderationem putatis in Phrygia aut in Mysia contionum fuisse? Nostras contiones illarum nationum homines plerumque perturbant; quid, cum soli sint ipsi, tandem fieri putatis? Caesus est virgis Cymaeus ille Athenagoras qui in fame frumentum exportare erat ausus.

[17] But if these things at Athens, at the time when that city was shining forth not only in Greece but among almost all nations, were wont to occur, what moderation of assemblies do you suppose there was in Phrygia or in Mysia? Men of those nations for the most part perturb our assemblies; what, when they are by themselves alone, do you suppose, pray, happens then at last? That Cymaean Athenagoras was beaten with rods, who in a famine had dared to export grain.

Data Laelio contio est. Processit ille et Graecus apud Graecos non de culpa sua dixit, sed de poena questus est. Porrexerunt manus; psephisma natum est.

A public assembly was granted to Laelius. He stepped forward and, a Greek among Greeks, did not speak about his own fault, but complained about the punishment. They stretched out their hands; a psephisma was born.

Hoc testimonium est? Nuper epulati, paulo ante omni largitione saturati Pergameni, quod Mithridates qui multitudinem illam non auctoritate sua, sed sagina tenebat se velle dixit, id sutores et zonarii conclamarunt. Hoc testimonium est civitatis?

Is this testimony? The Pergamenians, having lately feasted, a little before sated with every largess—because Mithridates, who held that multitude not by his authority but by fattening, said he wanted it—this the cobblers and the belt‑makers shouted together. Is this the testimony of a city?

Ego testis a Sicilia publice deduxi; verum erant ea testimonia non concitatae contionis, sed iurati senatus.

I publicly led witnesses from Sicily; but in truth those were testimonies not of an incited assembly, but of a sworn senate.

[18] Qua re iam non est mihi contentio cum teste, vobis, iudices, videndum est, sintne haec testimonia putanda.

[18] Wherefore now there is no contention for me with the witness; it is for you, judges, to see whether these are to be considered testimonies.

Adulescens bonus, honesto loco natus, disertus cum maximo ornatissimoque comitatu venit in oppidum Graecorum, postulat contionem, locupletis homines et gravis ne sibi adversentur testimoni denuntiatione deterret, egentis et levis spe largitionis et viatico publico, privata etiam benignitate prolectat. Opifices et tabernarios atque illam omnem faecem civitatum quid est negoti concitare, in eum praesertim qui nuper summo cum imperio fuerit, summo autem in amore esse propter ipsum imperi nomen non potuerit?

A good adolescent, born from an honorable station, eloquent, comes into a town of Greeks with a very great and most ornate retinue; he demands an assembly, he deters wealthy and grave men from opposing him by serving notice for testimony, he lures the needy and the light-minded by the hope of largess and by public viaticum, and even by private benignity. What trouble is it to stir up craftsmen and shopkeepers and all that dregs of the cities, especially against one who has lately been with the highest imperium, and yet could not be in highest favor because of the very name of that imperium?

[19] Mirandum vero est homines eos quibus odio sunt nostrae secures, nomen acerbitati, scriptura, decumae, portorium morti, libenter adripere facultatem laedendi quaecumque detur! Mementote igitur, cum audietis psephismata, non audire vos testimonia, audire temeritatem volgi, audire vocem levissimi cuiusque, audire strepitum imperitorum, audire contionem concitatam levissimae nationis. Itaque perscrutamini penitus naturam rationemque criminum; iam nihil praeter spem, nihil praeter terrorem ac minas reperietis.

[19] Truly it is to be wondered at that those men to whom our axes are hateful—who make “harshness” the very name, who deem the grazing-register (scriptura), the tithe (decumae), the customs-toll (portorium) to be “death”—gladly seize whatever opportunity of injuring is given! Remember, then, when you hear psephismata, that you are not hearing testimonies, you are hearing the rashness of the crowd, you are hearing the voice of every most frivolous person, you are hearing the clamor of the unskilled, you are hearing an assembly inflamed of a most fickle nation. Therefore probe thoroughly the nature and the rationale of the charges; now you will find nothing except expectation, nothing except fear and threats.

[20] * * * In aerario nihil habent civitates, nihil in vectigalibus. Duae rationes conficiendae pecuniae, aut versura aut tributo; nec tabulae creditoris proferuntur nec tributi confectio ulla recitatur. Quam vero facile falsas rationes inferre et in tabulas quodcumque commodum est referre soleant, ex Cn. Pompei litteris ad Hypsaeum et Hypsaei ad Pompeium missis, quaeso, cognoscite.

[20] * * * In the treasury the states have nothing, nothing in the revenues. Two methods of making up money: either by borrowing (versura) or by tribute; and neither are the creditor’s tablets produced nor is any assessment of the tribute read out. How very easy it is, moreover, to bring in false accounts and to enter into the tablets whatever is advantageous, learn, I pray, from the letters of Cn. Pompeius to Hypsaeus and of Hypsaeus to Pompeius that were sent.

Satisne vobis coarguere his auctoribus dissolutam Graecorum consuetudinem licentiamque impudentem videmur? Nisi forte qui Cn. Pompeium, qui praesentem, qui nullo impellente fallebant, eos urgente Laelio in absentem et in L. Flaccum aut timidos fuisse aut religiosos putamus.

Do we seem to you sufficiently to have convicted, by these authorities, the dissolute custom of the Greeks and their impudent license? Unless perhaps we are to suppose that those who were deceiving Cn. Pompeius—who was present, and with no one impelling them—were, when Laelius was urging them, either timid or scrupulous against an absentee, against L. Flaccus.

[21] Sed fuerint incorruptae litterae domi; nunc vero quam habere auctoritatem aut quam fidem possunt? Triduo lex ad praetorem deferri, iudicum signis obsignari iubet; tricesimo die vix deferuntur. Ne corrumpi tabulae facile possint, idcirco lex obsignatas in publico poni voluit; at obsignantur corruptae.

[21] But suppose the documents at home were uncorrupted; now, indeed, what authority or what credit can they have? The law orders that within three days they be brought to the praetor and sealed with the seals of the jurors; on the thirtieth day they are scarcely brought. So that the tablets might not easily be corrupted, for that reason the law wished that, once sealed, they be placed in public; but they are sealed corrupted.

Quid refert igitur tanto post ad iudices deferantur, an omnino non deferantur? Quid? si testium studium cum accusatore sociatum est, tamenne isti testes habebuntur?

What difference, then, does it make whether they are submitted to the judges after so long a time, or not submitted at all? What? If the zeal of the witnesses is allied with the accuser, will those men nevertheless be held as witnesses?

Vbi est igitur illa exspectatio quae versari in iudiciis solet? Nam antea, cum dixerat accusator acriter et vehementer, cumque defensor suppliciter demisseque responderat, tertius ille erat exspectatus locus testium, qui aut sine ullo studio dicebant aut cum dissimulatione aliqua cupiditatis. Hoc vero quid est?

Where, then, is that expectation which is wont to be engaged in judicial proceedings? For previously, when the accuser had spoken sharply and vehemently, and when the defender had replied supplicatingly and submissively, that third place of the witnesses was awaited, who either spoke without any partisanship or with some dissimulation of partiality. But what is this, indeed?

[22] Vna sedent, ex accusatorum subselliis surgunt, non dissimulant, non verentur. De subselliis queror? una ex domo prodeunt; si verbo titubaverint, quo revertantur non habebunt.

[22] Together they sit; from the benches of the accusers they rise; they do not dissimulate, they do not fear. Do I complain of the benches? From one house they come forth; if they should stumble at a word, they will have no place to which to return.

An quisquam esse testis potest quem accusator sine cura interroget nec metuat ne sibi aliquid quod ipse nolit respondeat? Vbi est igitur illa laus oratoris quae vel in accusatore antea vel in patrono spectari solebat: 'bene testem interrogavit; callide accessit, reprehendit; quo voluit adduxit; convicit et elinguem reddidit?'

Can anyone be a witness whom the accuser questions without care and does not fear lest he answer to him something that he himself does not want? Where, then, is that praise of the orator which used to be looked for either in the accuser before or in the patron: 'he questioned the witness well; he approached cleverly, he caught him out; he led him where he wished; he convicted and rendered him tongue-tied?'

[23] Quid tu istum roges, Laeli, qui, prius quam hoc 'Te rogo' dixeris, plura etiam effundet quam tu ei domi ante praescripseris? Quid ego autem defensor rogem? Nam aut oratio testium refelli solet aut vita laedi.

[23] What would you ask that man, Laelius, who, before you have said this, 'I ask you,' will pour out even more than you had prescribed to him at home beforehand? And what am I, the defender, to ask? For either the testimony of the witnesses is wont to be refuted, or their life to be injured.

Qua disputatione orationem refellam eius qui dicit: 'dedimus,' nihil amplius? In hominem dicendum est igitur, cum oratio argumentationem non habet. Quid dicam in ignotum?

By what disputation shall I refute the speech of him who says: 'we gave,' nothing more? Therefore one must speak ad hominem, since the speech has no argumentation. What shall I say against an unknown?

Querendum est ergo et deplorandum, id quod iam dudum facio, de omni accusationis iniquitate, primum de communi genere testium; dicit enim natio minime in testimoniis dicendis religiosa. Propius accedo; nego esse ista testimonia quae tu psephismata appellas, sed fremitum egentium et motum quendam temerarium Graeculae contionis. Intrabo etiam magis.

Therefore one must complain and lament—something which I have long since been doing—about the whole iniquity of the accusation, first about the common genus of witnesses; for the nation is by no means scrupulous in giving testimonies. I draw nearer: I deny that those are testimonies which you call psephismata, but rather the roar of the needy and a certain rash motion of a Greekling assembly. I will enter even further.

Qui gessit non adest, qui numerasse dicitur non est deductus; privatae litterae nullae proferuntur, publicae retentae sunt in accusatorum potestate; summa est in testibus; hi vivunt cum inimicis, adsunt cum adversariis, habitant cum accusatoribus.

He who transacted it is not present, he who is said to have counted it out has not been brought in; no private letters are produced, the public ones have been retained in the power of the accusers; the sum of the case is in the witnesses; these men live with the enemies, are present with the adversaries, dwell with the accusers.

[24] Vtrum hic tandem disceptationem et cognitionem veritatis, an innocentiae labem aliquam aut ruinam fore putatis? Multa enim sunt eius modi, iudices, ut, etiam si in homine ipso de quo agitur neglegenda sint, tamen in condicione atque in exemplo pertimescenda videantur.

[24] Do you think that here, at length, there will be a disputation and a cognition of the truth, or some blemish or ruin of innocence? For there are many things of this sort, judges, such that, even if in the man himself about whom the matter is being conducted they ought to be neglected, nevertheless in the condition and in the example they seem greatly to be feared.

Si quem infimo loco natum, nullo splendore vitae, nulla commendatione famae defenderem, tamen civem a civibus communis humanitatis iure ac misericordia deprecarer, ne ignotis testibus, ne incitatis, ne accusatoris consessoribus, convivis, contubernalibus, ne hominibus levitate Graecis, crudelitate barbaris civem ac supplicem vestrum dederetis, ne periculosam imitationem exempli reliquis in posterum proderetis.

If I were defending someone born in the lowest station, with no splendor of life, with no commendation of fame, I would nonetheless, by the right of common humanity and by mercy, implore that citizens not deliver a citizen to unknown witnesses, not to incited ones, not to the accuser’s co-sitters, dinner-companions, tent-mates, not to men Greek in levity, barbarian in cruelty—your citizen and suppliant—nor put forth for the rest, for the future, a dangerous imitation of an example.

[25] Sed cum L. Flacci res agatur, qua ex familia qui primus consul factus est primus in hac civitate consul fuit, cuius virtute regibus exterminatis libertas in re publica constituta est, quae usque ad hoc tempus honoribus, imperiis, rerum gestarum gloria continuata permansit, cumque ab hac perenni contestataque virtute maiorum non modo non degeneraverit L. Flaccus sed, quam maxime florere in generis sui gloria viderat, laudem patriae in libertatem vindicandae praetor adamarit, in hoc ego reo ne quod perniciosum exemplum prodatur pertimescam, in quo, etiam si quid errasset, omnes boni conivendum esse arbitrarentur?

[25] But since the case of L. Flaccus is being handled, from that family of which he who was first made consul was the first consul in this state, by whose virtue, the kings exterminated, liberty was established in the republic, which down to this time has endured, continued by honors, commands, and the glory of deeds done; and since from this perennial and attested virtue of his ancestors L. Flaccus has not only not degenerated, but, when he saw it flourishing most greatly in the glory of his lineage, as praetor he fell in love with the praise of vindicating the fatherland into liberty—shall I in this defendant fear that any pernicious precedent be brought forth, in whom, even if he had erred in something, all good men would judge that it ought to be connived at?

[26] Quod quidem ego non modo non postulo, sed contra, iudices, vos oro et obtestor ut totam causam quam maxime intentis oculis, ut aiunt, acerrime contemplemini. Nihil religione testatum, nihil veritate fundatum, nihil dolore expressum, contraque omnia corrupta libidine, iracundia, studio, pretio, periurio reperientur.

[26] This indeed I not only do not request, but on the contrary, judges, I beg and I adjure you to contemplate the whole case with eyes as intent as possible, as they say, most keenly. Nothing will be found attested by religion, nothing founded on verity, nothing expressed by pain; and, on the contrary, everything corrupted by libido, ire, zeal, price (bribery), perjury.

[27] Etenim iam universa istorum cognita cupiditate accedam ad singulas querelas criminationesque Graecorum. Classis nomine pecuniam civitatibus imperatam queruntur. Quod nos factum, iudices, confitemur.

[27] For indeed now, with the entire cupidity of those men known, I will proceed to the several complaints and criminations of the Greeks. They complain that money was imposed upon the cities under the name of a fleet. This, judges, we confess to have been done.

Sed si hoc crimen est, aut in eo est quod non licuerit imperare, aut in eo quod non opus fuerit navibus, aut in eo quod nulla hoc praetore classis navigarit. Licuisse ut intellegas, cognosce quid me consule senatus decreverit, cum quidem nihil a superioribus continuorum annorum decretis discesserit.

But if this is a crime, either it lies in this: that it was not lawful to impose it, or in this: that there was no need of ships, or in this: that under this praetor no fleet sailed. That you may understand it was permitted, learn what the Senate decreed with me as consul, since indeed it departed in nothing from the decrees of the preceding consecutive years.

Proximum est ergo ut opus fuerit classe necne quaeramus. Vtrum igitur hoc Graeci statuent aut ullae exterae nationes, an nostri praetores, nostri duces, nostri imperatores? Equidem existimo in eius modi regione atque provincia quae mari cincta, portibus distincta, insulis circumdata esset, non solum praesidi sed etiam ornandi imperi causa navigandum fuisse.

Next, therefore, let us ask whether there was need of a fleet or not. Who, then, will determine this—the Greeks or any foreign nations, or our praetors, our generals, our imperators? For my part, I judge that in a region and province of such a sort, which was girded by the sea, marked out by harbors, surrounded by islands, it was necessary to navigate not only for protection but also for the adorning of the Empire.

[28] Haec enim ratio ac magnitudo animorum in maioribus nostris fuit ut, cum in privatis rebus suisque sumptibus minimo contenti tenuissimo cultu viverent, in imperio atque in publica dignitate omnia ad gloriam splendoremque revocarent. Quaeritur enim in re domestica continentiae laus, in publica dignitatis. Quod si etiam praesidi causa classem habuit, quis erit tam iniquus qui reprehendat?

[28] For this was the rationale and greatness of spirit in our ancestors: that, while in private matters and in their own expenses they lived content with the very least, with the most slender style of living, yet in command and in public dignity they directed everything to glory and splendor. For in domestic affairs the praise of continence is sought, in public life that of dignity. And if he also maintained a fleet for the sake of defense, who will be so unjust as to censure it?

'Nulli erant praedones.' Quid? nullos fore quis praestare poterat? 'Minuis,' inquit, 'gloriam Pompei.' Immo tu auges molestiam.

'There were no pirates.' What? Who could guarantee that there would be none? 'You diminish,' he says, 'Pompey's glory.' On the contrary, you augment the annoyance.

[29] Ille enim classis praedonum, urbis, portus, receptacula sustulit, pacem maritimam summa virtute atque incredibili celeritate confecit; illud vero neque suscepit neque suscipere debuit ut, si qua uspiam navicula praedonum apparuisset, accusandus videretur. Itaque ipse in Asia, cum omnia iam bella terra marique confecisset, classem tamen isdem istis civitatibus imperavit. Quod si tum statuit opus esse cum ipsius praesentis nomine tuta omnia et pacata esse poterant, quid, cum ille decessisset, Flacco existimatis statuendum et faciendum fuisse?

[29] For he removed the pirates’ fleets, and cleared the city, the harbors, and the refuges, and he brought to completion maritime peace with the highest virtue and incredible celerity; but he neither undertook nor ought to have undertaken this—that, if any little boat of pirates had appeared anywhere, he should seem liable to accusation. And so he himself in Asia, although he had already completed all wars by land and sea, nevertheless levied a fleet upon those same communities. And if at that time he judged it needful, when by the very presence of his name all things could be safe and pacified, what do you think Flaccus ought to have determined and done when he had departed?

[30] Quid? nos hic nonne ipso Pompeio auctore Silano et Murena consulibus decrevimus ut classis in Italia navigaret? nonne eo ipso tempore cum L. Flaccus in Asia remiges imperabat, nos hic in mare superum et inferum sestertium ter et quadragiens erogabamus?

[30] What? did not we here, with Pompey himself as author, decree under the consuls Silanus and Murena that a fleet should sail in Italy? did we not at that very time, while L. Flaccus in Asia was levying oarsmen, we here were disbursing for the upper and the lower sea 4,300,000 sesterces?

Quid? postero anno nonne M. Curtio et P. Sextilio quaestoribus pecunia in classem est erogata? Quid?

What? In the next year, was not money for the fleet erogated to the quaestors Marcus Curtius and Publius Sextilius? What?

hoc omni tempore equites in ora maritima non fuerunt? Illa enim est gloria divina Pompei, primum praedones eos qui tum cum illi bellum maritimum gerendum datum est toto mari dispersi vagabantur redactos esse omnis in <populi Romani> potestatem, deinde Syriam esse nostram, Ciliciam teneri, Cyprum per Ptolomaeum regem nihil audere, praeterea Cretam Metelli virtute esse nostram, nihil esse unde proficiscantur, nihil quo revertantur, omnis sinus, promunturia, litora, insulas, urbis maritimas claustris imperi nostri contineri.

throughout all this time have there not been horsemen on the maritime shore? For this is the divine glory of Pompey: first, that the pirates—those who at that time, when the maritime war was to be waged was given to him, were wandering, scattered over the whole sea—have all been reduced into the power of the <Roman People>; then, that Syria is ours, that Cilicia is held, that Cyprus, under King Ptolemy, dares nothing; moreover, that Crete is ours by the valor of Metellus; that there is nothing whence they may set out, nothing to which they may return; that all bays, promontories, shores, islands, maritime cities are contained by the barriers of our empire.

[31] Quod si Flacco praetore nemo in mari praedo fuisset, tamen huius diligentia reprehendenda non esset. Idcirco enim quod hic classem habuisset, existimarem non fuisse. Quid?

[31] But even if, with Flaccus as praetor, no pirate had been on the sea, nevertheless this man’s diligence ought not to be reprehended. For that very reason, because he had had a fleet, I would judge that there had not been any. What?

si L. Eppi, L. Agri, C. Cesti, equitum Romanorum, huius etiam clarissimi viri, Cn. Domiti, qui in Asia tum legatus fuit, testimonio doceo eo ipso tempore quo tu negas classem habendam fuisse, compluris a praedonibus esse captos, tamen Flacci consilium in remigibus imperandis reprehendetur? Quid si etiam occisus est a piratis Adramytenus homo nobilis, cuius est fere nobis omnibus nomen auditum, Atyanas pugil Olympionices? hoc est apud Graecos, quoniam de eorum gravitate dicimus, prope maius et gloriosius quam Romae triumphasse.

if by the testimony of L. Eppius, L. Agrius, C. Cestius, Roman equestrians, and even of this most illustrious man, Cn. Domitius, who at that time was a legate in Asia, I demonstrate that at that very time when you deny that a fleet ought to have been maintained, several were taken captive by brigands, nevertheless will Flaccus’s plan in levying oarsmen be censured? What if also there was slain by pirates a noble man of Adramyttium, whose name has been heard by almost all of us, Atyanas, a boxer, an Olympic victor? this is among the Greeks, since we are speaking of their gravity, almost greater and more glorious than to have triumphed at Rome.

'At neminem cepisti.' Quam multi orae maritimae clarissimi viri praefuerunt qui, cum praedonem nullum cepissent, mare tamen tutum praestiterunt! Casus est enim in capiendo, locus, ventus, occasio; defendendi facilis est cautio, non solum latibulis occultorum locorum sed etiam tempestatum moderatione et conversione.

'But you captured no one.' How many very illustrious men were in command of the sea-coast who, although they captured no pirate, nevertheless made the sea safe! For in capturing there is chance—place, wind, occasion; for defending, caution is easy, not only by the hiding-places of hidden locations but also by the moderation and change of storms.

[32] Reliquum est ut quaeratur utrum ista classis cursu et remis, an sumptu tantum et litteris navigarit. Num id igitur negari potest, cuius rei cuncta testis est Asia, bipertito classem distributam fuisse, ut una pars supra Ephesum, altera infra Ephesum navigaret? Hac classe M. Crassus, vir amplissimus, ab Aeno in Asiam, his navibus Flaccus ex Asia in Macedoniam navigavit.

[32] The remainder is that it be asked whether that fleet sailed by course and by oars, or by expense only and by letters. Can that, then, be denied, of which matter all Asia is witness, that the fleet was divided in two parts, so that one part sailed above Ephesus, the other below Ephesus? With this fleet Marcus Crassus, a most ample man, sailed from Aenus into Asia; with these ships Flaccus sailed from Asia into Macedonia.

In quo igitur praetoris est diligentia requirenda? in numero navium et in discriptione aequabili sumptus? Dimidium eius quo Pompeius erat usus imperavit; num potuit parcius?

In what, then, is the praetor’s diligence to be sought? In the number of ships and in an equitable discription of the expense? He ordered half of that which Pompey had used; could he have been more parsimonious?

Discripsit autem pecuniam ad Pompei rationem, quae fuit accommodata L. Sullae discriptioni. Qui cum <in> omnis Asiae civitates pro portione pecuniam discripsisset, illam rationem in imperando sumptu et Pompeius et Flaccus secutus est. Neque est adhuc tamen ea summa completa.

He apportioned the money according to Pompey’s method, which had been accommodated to the distribution of L. Sulla. And when he had apportioned money among all the cities of Asia in proportion, both Pompey and Flaccus followed that method in imposing the expense. Nor, however, has that sum yet been completed.

[33] 'Non refert.' Vero; quid lucretur? Cum enim onus imperatae pecuniae suscipit, id quod tu crimen esse vis confitetur. Qui igitur probari potest in ea pecunia non referenda crimen sibi ipsum facere in qua crimen esset nullum, si referret?

[33] 'He does not enter it.' True; what does he profit? For when he takes upon himself the burden of the imposed money, he confesses that which you wish to be a crime. How, then, can it be proved that, in not entering that money, he is himself making a crime in which there would be no crime, if he did enter it?

At enim negas fratrem meum, qui L. Flacco successerit, pecuniam ullam in remiges imperasse. Equidem omni fratris mei laude delector, sed aliis magis gravioribus atque maioribus. Aliud quiddam statuit, aliud vidit; existimavit, quocumque tempore auditum quid esset de praedonibus, quam vellet subito classem se comparaturum.

But indeed you deny that my brother, who succeeded L. Flaccus, imposed any money upon the oarsmen. For my part I am delighted by every praise of my brother, yet more by others that are graver and greater. He resolved one thing, he found another: he supposed that, at whatever time anything should be heard about the pirates, he would, as he pleased, suddenly get a fleet ready.

Denique hoc primus frater meus in Asia fecit ut hoc sumptu remigum civitates levaret; crimen autem tum videri solet cum aliquis sumptus instituit eos qui antea non erant instituti, non cum successor aliquid immutat de institutis priorum. Flaccus quid alii postea facturi essent scire non poterat, quid fecissent videbat.

Finally, my brother was the first in Asia to do this: to relieve the cities of this expense of the oarsmen; but a crime is then wont to be thought present when someone institutes expenses which previously had not been instituted, not when a successor changes something of the institutions of predecessors. Flaccus could not know what others would afterward be going to do; what they had done he saw.

[34] Sed, quoniam de communi totius Asiae crimine est dictum, adgrediar iam ad singulas civitates; ex quibus sit sane nobis prima civitas Acmonensis. Citat praeco voce maxima legatos Acmonensis. Procedit unus Asclepiades.

[34] But, since the common charge of all Asia has been spoken of, I will now advance to the individual cities; of which let the Acmonensian city indeed be first for us. The herald summons in a very loud voice the envoys of the Acmonensians. One steps forward, Asclepiades.

Prodeant <ceteri>. Etiamne praeconem mentiri coegisti? Est enim, credo, is vir iste ut civitatis nomen sua auctoritate sustineat, damnatus turpissimis iudiciis domi, notatus litteris publicis; cuius de probris, adulteriis ac stupris exstant Acmonensium litterae, quas ego non solum propter longitudinem sed etiam propter turpissimam obscenitatem verborum praetereundas puto. Dixit publice data drachmarum ccvi.

Let <ceteri> come forward. Did you even force the herald to lie? For that man, I suppose, is such a man as to sustain the name of the city by his own authority—condemned by the most disgraceful judgments at home, marked in the public records; concerning whose disgraces, adulteries, and debaucheries there exist letters of the Acmonensians, which I think ought to be passed over not only on account of their length but also because of the most shameful obscenity of the words. He declared publicly: given, 206 drachmas.

Dixit tantum, nihil ostendit, nihil protulit; sed adiunxit, id quod certe, quoniam erat domesticum, docere debuit, se privatim drachmarum ccvi dedisse. Quantum sibi ablatum homo impudentissimus dicit, tantum numquam est ausus ut haberet optare.

He only said it, he showed nothing, he produced nothing; but he added—something which surely, since it was domestic, he ought to have demonstrated—that he had given privately 206 drachmas. As much as this most impudent man says was taken from himself, so much he never even dared to wish to have.

[35] Ab A. Sextilio dicit se dedisse et a suis fratribus. Potuit dare Sextilius; nam fratres quidem consortes sunt mendicitatis. Audiamus igitur Sextilium; fratres denique ipsi prodeant; quam volent impudenter mentiantur et, quod numquam habuerint, dedisse se dicant; tamen aliquid fortasse coram producti dicent in quo reprehendantur.

[35] He says that he paid, from A. Sextilius and from his own brothers. Sextilius could give; for the brothers are indeed consorts in mendicity. Let us then hear Sextilius; let the brothers themselves at last come forward; let them lie as impudently as they please and say that they gave what they never had; nevertheless, perhaps, when brought forward face to face, they will say something for which they may be reprehended.

'Non deduxi,' inquit, 'Sextilium.' Cedo tabulas. 'Non deportavi.' Fratres saltem exhibe. 'Non denuntiavi.' Quod ergo unus Asclepiades fortuna egens, vita turpis, existimatione damnatus impudentia atque audacia fretus sine tabulis, sine auctore iecerit, id nos quasi crimen aut testimonium pertimescamus?

'I did not bring in,' he says, 'Sextilius.' Produce the tablets. 'I did not carry them off.' At least produce the brothers. 'I did not give notice.' Therefore, what one Asclepiades—needy in fortune, base in life, condemned in reputation—relying on impudence and audacity, without tablets, without a guarantor, has hurled forth, should we fear as if it were a charge or testimony?

[36] Idem laudationem quam nos ab Acmonensibus Flacco datam proferebamus falsam esse dicebat. Cuius quidem laudationis iactura exoptanda nobis fuit. Nam ut signum publicum inspexit praeclarus iste auctor suae civitatis, solere suos civis ceterosque Graecos ex tempore quod opus sit obsignare dixit.

[36] The same man said that the laudation which we were producing as given to Flaccus by the Acmonians was false. The loss of that laudation, indeed, was to be wished for by us. For as soon as he inspected the public seal, that illustrious authority of his city said that his own fellow citizens and the other Greeks are wont to seal extempore whatever may be needful.

Tu vero tibi habeto istam laudationem; nec enim Acmonensium testimonio Flacci vita et dignitas nititur. Das enim mihi quod haec causa maxime postulat, nullam gravitatem, nullam constantiam, nullum firmum in Graecis hominibus consilium, nullam denique esse testimoni fidem. Nisi vero hactenus ista formula testimoni atque orationis tuae describi ac distingui potest ut Flacco absenti aliquid civitates tribuisse dicantur, Laelio praesenti per se agenti vi legis, iure accusationis, opibus praeterea suis terrenti ac minanti nihil temporis causa scripsisse aut obsignasse videantur.

You, for your part, keep that laudation for yourself; for Flaccus’s life and dignity do not rest on the testimony of the Acmonians. For you grant me what this cause most of all demands: that there is no gravity, no constancy, no firm counsel in Greek men, and, finally, that there is no credibility of testimony. Unless indeed the formula of your testimony and oration can be described and distinguished to this extent, that the cities are said to have attributed something to Flaccus when he was absent, while to Laelius, present, acting on his own by force of law, by the right of accusation, and, moreover, with his resources frightening and threatening, they seem to have written or sealed nothing for the sake of the occasion.

[37] Equidem in minimis rebus saepe res magnas vidi, iudices, deprehendi ac teneri, ut in hoc Asclepiade. Haec quae est a nobis prolata laudatio obsignata erat creta illa Asiatica quae fere est omnibus nota nobis, qua utuntur omnes non modo in publicis sed etiam in privatis litteris quas cotidie videmus mitti a publicanis, saepe uni cuique nostrum. Neque enim testis ipse signo inspecto falsum nos proferre dixit, sed levitatem totius Asiae protulit, de qua nos et libenter et facile concedimus.

[37] For my part, in the smallest matters I have often seen great matters detected and held fast, judges, as in this man Asclepiades. This commendation which has been brought forward by us was sealed with that Asian chalk which is almost known to us all, which everyone uses not only in public letters but also in private letters which we daily see sent by the publicans, often to each one of us. For neither did the witness himself, the seal having been inspected, say that we were producing a forgery, but he produced the frivolity of all Asia, about which we both gladly and easily concede.

Nostra igitur laudatio, quam ille temporis causa nobis datam dicit, datam quidem confitetur, consignata creta est; in illo autem testimonio quod accusatori dicitur datum ceram esse vidimus.

Our commendation, therefore, which he says was given to us for the exigency of the time, he admits was indeed given; it was sealed with chalk; but in that testimony which is said to have been given to the accuser we saw that there was wax.

[38] Hic ego, iudices, si vos Acmonensium decretis, si ceterorum Phrygum litteris permoveri putarem, vociferarer et quam maxime possem contenderem, testarer publicanos, excitarem negotiatores, vestram etiam scientiam implorarem; cera deprehensa confiderem totius testimoni fictam audaciam manifesto comprehensam atque oppressam teneri. Nunc vero non insultabo vehementius nec volitabo in hoc insolentius neque in istum nugatorem tamquam in aliquem testem invehar neque in toto Acmonensium testimonio, sive hic confictum est, ut apparet, sive missum domo est, ut dicitur, commorabor. Etenim quibus ego laudationem istam remittam, quoniam sunt, ut Asclepiades dicit, leves, horum testimonium non pertimescam.

[38] Here I, judges, if I thought you were swayed by the decrees of the Acmonenses, if by the letters of the other Phrygians, I would cry aloud and contend as much as I could, I would call the publicans to witness, I would rouse the negotiatores (traders), I would even implore your own knowledge; with the wax detected, I would be confident that the feigned audacity of the whole testimony is held as openly apprehended and crushed. But as it is, I will not insult more vehemently, nor flit about more insolently in this matter, nor will I inveigh against that trifler as though he were some witness, nor will I linger over the entire testimony of the Acmonenses, whether it was fabricated here, as appears, or sent from home, as is said. Indeed, as for those to whom I will return that laudation, since they are, as Asclepiades says, flighty, I shall not be afraid of the testimony of these men.

[39] Venio nunc ad Dorylensium testimonium; qui producti tabulas se publicas ad Speluncas perdidisse dixerunt. O pastores nescio quos cupidos litterarum, si quidem nihil istis praeter litteras abstulerunt! Sed aliud esse causae suspicamur, ne forte isti parum versuti esse videantur.

[39] I come now to the testimony of the Dorylaeans; who, when produced, said that they had lost the public tablets at Speluncae. O shepherds—I know not what sort—greedy for letters, if indeed they took nothing from those fellows except letters! But we suspect there is another cause, lest perhaps these men may seem not quite adroit.

Poena est, ut opinor, Dorylai gravior quam apud alios falsarum et corruptarum litterarum. Si veras protulissent, criminis nihil erat, si falsas, erat poena. Bellissimum putarunt dicere amissas.

The penalty, as I suppose, at Dorylaeum is graver than among others for false and corrupted letters. If they had produced true ones, there was nothing of crime; if false, there was a penalty. They thought it most excellent to say they were lost.

[40] Quiescant igitur et me hoc in lucro ponere atque aliud agere patiantur. Non sinunt. Supplet enim iste nescio qui et privatim dicit se dedisse.

[40] Let them be quiet, then, and allow me to set this down as profit and to do something else. They do not allow it. For some I-know-not-who makes it up and says in private that he gave it.

Hoc vero ferri nullo modo potest. Qui de tabulis publicis recitat eis quae in accusatoris potestate fuerunt non debet habere auctoritatem; sed tamen iudicium fieri videtur, cum tabulae illae ipsae, cuicuimodi sunt, proferuntur. Cum vero is quem nemo vestrum vidit umquam, nemo qui mortalis esset audivit, tantum dicit: 'dedi,' dubitabitis, iudices, quin ab hoc ignotissimo Phryge nobilissimum civem vindicetis?

This, indeed, can in no way be borne. He who reads out from the public tablets those which were in the accuser’s power ought not to have authority; yet nevertheless a judgment seems to be taking place, since those very tablets, of whatever kind they are, are produced. But when the man whom none of you ever saw, whom no mortal heard, merely says: ‘I gave,’ will you, judges, hesitate to vindicate from this most unknown Phrygian the most noble citizen?

Atque huic eidem nuper tres equites Romani honesti et graves, cum in causa liberali eum qui adserebatur cognatum suum esse diceret, non crediderunt. Qui hoc evenit ut, qui locuples testis doloris et sanguinis sui non fuerit, idem sit gravis auctor iniuriae publicae? Atque hic Dorylensis nuper cum efferretur magna fre-

And to this same man, recently three Roman equites, honorable and weighty, when, in a freedom suit, he said that the one who was being asserted was his cognate, did not believe him. How has this come about, that he who has not been a substantial witness of his own pain and blood is the same man a grave author of a public injury? And this Dorylaean recently, when he was being carried out with great thr-

[41] quentia conventuque vestro, mortis illius invidiam in L. Flaccum Laelius conferebat. Facis iniuste, Laeli, si putas nostro periculo vivere tuos contubernalis, praesertim cum tua neglegentia factum arbitremur. Homini enim Phrygi qui arborem numquam vidisset fiscinam ficorum obiecisti.

[41] by the throng and your assembly, Laelius was transferring the blame for that death onto L. Flaccus. You act unjustly, Laelius, if you think your contubernals should live at our peril, especially since we judge it was done through your negligence. For to a Phrygian, a man who had never seen a tree, you hurled a basket of figs.

Cuius mors te aliqua re levavit; edacem enim hospitem amisisti; Flacco vero quid profuit? qui valuit tam diu dum huc prodiret, mortuus est aculeo iam emisso ac dicto testimonio. At istud columen accusationis tuae, Mithridates, postea quam biduum retentus testis a nobis effudit quae voluit omnia, reprensus, convictus fractusque discessit; ambulat cum lorica; metuit homo doctus et sapiens, ne L. Flaccus nunc se scelere adliget, cum iam testem illum effugere non possit, et, qui ante dictum testimonium sibi temperarit, cum tamen aliquid adsequi posset, is nunc id agat ut ad falsum avaritiae testimonium verum malefici crimen adiungat.

Whose death has in some respect lightened you; for you have lost an edacious guest; but what did it profit Flaccus? he who was in vigor so long as until he came forth hither, died with the sting already sent forth and the testimony spoken. But that pillar of your accusation, Mithridates, after, as a witness detained by us for two days, he poured out all he wished, went away re-apprehended, convicted, and broken; he walks with a cuirass; the man, learned and wise, fears lest L. Flaccus now bind himself by a crime, since now he cannot escape that witness, and he who, before the testimony was uttered, had restrained himself, although he could still attain something, now does this: that to the false testimony about avarice he may add the true charge of malefice.

Sed quoniam de hoc teste totoque Mithridatico crimine disseruit subtiliter et copiose Q. Hortensius, nos, ut instituimus, ad reliqua pergamus.

But since Q. Hortensius has discoursed subtly and copiously about this witness and the whole Mithridatic charge, let us, as we have instituted, proceed to the remaining matters.

[42] Caput est omnium Graecorum concitandorum, qui cum accusatoribus sedet, Heraclides ille Temnites, homo ineptus et loquax, sed, ut sibi videtur, ita doctus ut etiam magistrum illorum se esse dicat. At, qui ita sit ambitiosus ut omnis vos nosque cotidie persalutet, Temni usque ad illam aetatem in senatum venire non potuit et, qui se artem dicendi traditurum etiam ceteris profiteatur, ipse omnibus turpissimis iudiciis victus est.

[42] The head for the rousing of all the Greeks, who sits with the accusers, is that Heraclides of Temnus, a man inept and loquacious, but, as he seems to himself, so learned that he even says he is their master. And yet, though he is so ambitious that he greets all of you and us every day, at Temnus he was not able, up to that age, to enter the senate; and he, who professes that he will hand down the art of speaking even to others, has himself been defeated in the most disgraceful judgments.

[43] Pari felicitate legatus una venit Nicomedes, qui nec in senatum ulla condicione pervenire potuit et furti et pro socio damnatus est. Nam princeps legationis, Lysania, adeptus est ordinem senatorium, sed cum rem publicam nimium amplecteretur, peculatus damnatus et bona et senatorium nomen amisit. Hi tres etiam aerari nostri tabulas falsas esse voluerunt; nam servos novem se professi sunt habere, cum omnino sine comite venissent.

[43] With equal felicity there came as an envoy as well Nicomedes, who could by no condition attain to the senate and was convicted both of theft and in a pro socio action. For the chief of the legation, Lysania, gained admission to the senatorial order, but since he embraced the commonwealth excessively, convicted of peculation he lost both his goods and his senatorial name. These three even wanted the ledgers of our aerarium (treasury) to be false; for they declared that they had nine slaves, though they had come altogether without a companion.

Decreto scribendo primum video adfuisse Lysaniam, cuius fratris bona, quod populo non solvebat, praetore Flacco publice venierunt. Praeterea Philippus est, Lysaniae gener, et Hermobius, cuius frater Pollis item pecuniae publicae est condemnatus. Dicunt se Flacco et eis qui simul essent drachmarum ccicc icc dedisse.

In the drafting of the decree I see first that Lysania was present, whose brother’s goods, because he was not paying the people, were sold publicly by the praetor Flaccus. Besides, there is Philippus, the son-in-law of Lysania, and Hermobius, whose brother Pollis likewise was condemned for public money. They say that they gave to Flaccus and to those who were together with him 399 and 199 drachmas.

[44] Cum civitate mihi res est acerrima et conficientissima litterarum, in qua nummus commoveri nullus potest sine quinque praetoribus, tribus quaestoribus, quattuor mensariis, qui apud illos a populo creantur. Ex hoc tanto numero deductus est nemo. At cum illam pecuniam nominatim Flacco datam referant, maiorem aliam cum huic eidem darent in aedem sacram reficiendam se perscripsisse dicunt, quod minime convenit.

[44] I have a most sharp and most conclusive matter of writings with the commonwealth, in which no coin can be moved without five praetors, three quaestors, and four mensarii (bankers), who among them are created by the people. From this so great a number no one has been produced. But although they report that that money was given by name to Flaccus, they say that, when they were giving to this same man another, larger sum, they wrote it as a transfer to themselves for a sacred shrine to be repaired—which is least consistent.

Nam aut omnia occulte referenda fuerunt, aut aperte omnia. Cum perscribunt Flacco nominatim, nihil timent, nihil verentur; cum operi publico referunt, idem homines subito eundem quem contempserant pertimescunt. Si praetor dedit, ut est scriptum, a quaestore numeravit, quaestor a mensa publica, mensa aut ex vectigali aut ex tributo.

For either everything had to be recorded covertly, or everything openly. When they write it out to Flaccus by name, they fear nothing, they dread nothing; when they refer it to a public work, the same men suddenly grow thoroughly afraid of the very man whom they had despised. If the praetor gave it, as it is written, he paid it out through the quaestor, the quaestor from the public table (treasury), and the treasury either from revenue (vectigal) or from tribute.

Numquam erit istuc simile criminis, nisi hanc mihi totam rationem omni et personarum genere et litterarum explicaris.

Never will that be like a crime, unless you explain to me this whole account in every kind, both of persons and of letters.

45] Vel quod est in eodem decreto scriptum, homines clarissimos civitatis amplissimis usos honoribus hoc praetore circumventos, cur hi neque in iudicio adsunt neque in decreto nominantur? Non enim credo significari isto loco illum qui se erigit Heraclidam. Vtrum enim est in clarissimis civibus is quem iudicatum hic duxit Hermippus, qui hanc ipsam legationem quam habet non accepit a suis civibus, sed usque Tmolo petivit, cui nullus honos in sua civitate habitus est umquam, res autem ea quae tenuissimis committebatur huic una in vita commissa sola est?

45] Or as to what is written in the same decree, that the most illustrious men of the city, having enjoyed the most ample honors, were circumvented by this praetor—why are these men neither present in court nor named in the decree? For I do not believe that in that passage is meant that fellow who sets himself up as a Heraclid. For is he among the most distinguished citizens—the man whom Hermippus led here as a judgment-debtor—who did not receive this very embassy which he holds from his own citizens, but begged it all the way to Tmolus; to whom no honor has ever been held in his own city; and the business which used to be entrusted to the very poorest—was this the only thing ever entrusted to him in his life?

Custos T. Aufidio praetore in frumento publico est positus; pro quo cum a P. Varinio praetore pecuniam accepisset, celavit suos civis ultroque eis sumptum intulit. Quod postea quam Temni litteris a P. Varinio missis cognitum atque patefactum est, cumque eadem de re Cn. Lentulus, qui censor fuit, Temnitarum patronus, litteras misisset, Heraclidam istum Temni postea nemo vidit.

A guard was appointed over the public grain with T. Aufidius as praetor; for which, when he had received money from the praetor P. Varinius, he concealed it from his fellow citizens and, moreover, imposed expense upon them. After this was learned and laid bare at Temnus by letters sent by P. Varinius, and when about the same matter Cn. Lentulus, who was censor, the patron of the Temnians, had sent letters, thereafter no one at Temnus saw that Heraclides.

[46] Atque ut eius impudentiam perspicere possitis, causam ipsam quae levissimi hominis animum in Flaccum incitavit, quaeso, cognoscite.

[46] And that you may perceive his impudence, learn, I beg, the very cause which incited the mind of a man of the utmost levity against Flaccus.

Fundum Cymaeum Romae mercatus est de pupillo Meculonio. Cum verbis se locupletem faceret, haberet nihil praeter illam impudentiam quam videtis, pecuniam sumpsit mutuam a Sex. Stloga, iudice hoc nostro, primario viro, qui et rem agnoscit neque hominem ignorat; qui tamen credidit P. Fulvi Nerati, lectissimi hominis, fide.

He purchased a Cumaean estate at Rome from the ward Meculonius. While with words he was making himself opulent, though he had nothing except that impudence which you see, he took money on loan from Sex. Stloga, this our judge, a primary man, who both recognizes the matter and is not ignorant of the man; who nevertheless extended credit on the good faith of P. Fulvius Neratius, a most select man.

Ei cum solveret, sumpsit a C. M. Fufiis, equitibus Romanis, primariis viris. Hic hercule 'cornici oculum,' ut dicitur. Nam hunc Hermippum, hominem eruditum, civem suum, cui debebat esse notissimus, percussit.

When he was paying him, he took [money] from the Fufii, Gaius and Marcus, Roman knights, principal men. Here, by Hercules, “the crow in the eye,” as the saying goes. For he swindled this Hermippus, an erudite man, his fellow citizen, to whom he ought to have been most well-known.

Eius enim fide sumpsit a Fufiis. Securus Hermippus Temnum proficiscitur, cum iste se pecuniam quam huius fide sumpserat a discipulis suis diceret Fufiis persoluturum.

For on his credit he took from the Fufii. Carefree, Hermippus sets out for Temnus, while that fellow said he would pay the Fufii the money which he had taken on this man’s credit, from his own disciples.

[47] Habebat enim rhetor iste discipulos quosdam locupletis, quos dimidio redderet stultiores quam acceperat; neminem tamen adeo infatuare potuit ut ei nummum ullum crederet. Itaque cum Roma clam esset profectus multosque minutis mutuationibus fraudavisset, in Asiam venit Hermippoque percontanti de nomine Fufiano respondit se omnem pecuniam Fufiis persolvisse. Interim, neque ita longo intervallo, libertus a Fufiis cum litteris ad Hermippum venit; pecunia petitur ab Hermippo.

[47] For this rhetorician had certain wealthy disciples, whom he would render half again more foolish than he had received them; yet he could not so infatuate anyone that he would be entrusted any coin. And so, when he had set out from Rome secretly and had defrauded many by minute loans, he came into Asia, and to Hermippus inquiring about the Fufian name he replied that he had paid all the money to the Fufii. Meanwhile, not at so long an interval, a freedman from the Fufii came to Hermippus with letters; the money is demanded from Hermippus.

Hermippus ab Heraclida petit; ipse tamen Fufiis satis facit absentibus et fidem suam liberat; hunc aestuantem et tergiversantem iudicio ille persequitur. A recuperatoribus causa cognoscitur.

Hermippus makes a demand upon Heraclidas; he himself, nevertheless, satisfies the Fufii in their absence and frees his pledge; this man, seething and prevaricating, he pursues with a lawsuit. By the Recuperators the case is heard.

[48] Nolite existimare, iudices, non unam et eandem omnibus in locis esse fraudatorum et infitiatorum impudentiam. Fecit eadem omnia quae nostri debitores solent; negavit sese omnino versuram ullam fecisse Romae; Fufiorum se adfirmavit numquam omnino nomen audisse; Hermippum vero ipsum, pudentissimum atque optimum virum, veterem amicum atque hospitem meum, splendidissimum atque ornatissimum civitatis suae, probris omnibus maledictisque vexat. Sed cum se homo volubilis quadam praecipiti celeritate dicendi in illa oratione iactaret, repente testimoniis Fufiorum nominibusque recitatis homo audacissimus pertimuit, loquacissimus obmutuit.

[48] Do not suppose, judges, that the impudence of defrauders and deniers is not one and the same in all places. He did all the same things that our debtors are wont to do; he denied that he had made any refinancing-loan (versura) at Rome at all; he affirmed that he had never at all heard the name of the Fufii; but Hermippus himself, a most modest and excellent man, an old friend and guest-friend of mine, most splendid and most adorned of his city, he harries with every reproach and slander. But when the man, voluble with a certain headlong speed of speaking, was vaunting himself in that oration, suddenly, when the testimonies of the Fufii and the account-entries were read out, the most audacious man grew afraid, the most loquacious fell dumb.

Itaque recuperatores contra istum rem minime dubiam prima actione iudicaverunt. Cum iudicatum non faceret, addictus Hermippo et ab hoc ductus est.

Therefore the recuperators judged, at the first action, against that man in a matter least doubtful. When he did not satisfy the judgment, he was adjudged to Hermippus and was led off by him.

[49] Habetis et honestatem hominis et auctoritatem testimoni et causam omnem simultatis. Atque is ab Hermippo missus, cum ei pauca mancipia vendidisset, Romam se contulit, deinde in Asiam rediit, cum iam frater meus Flacco successisset. Ad quem adiit causamque ita detulit, recuperatores vi Flacci coactos et metu falsum invitos iudicavisse.

[49] You have both the honesty of the man and the authority of the testimony and the whole cause of the feud. And he, sent by Hermippus, after he had sold him a few slaves, made his way to Rome; then he returned into Asia, when already my brother had succeeded Flaccus. To him he went and reported the case thus: that the recuperators, compelled by the violence of Flaccus and by fear, had unwillingly judged falsely.

Frater meus pro sua aequitate prudentiaque decrevit ut, si iudicatum negaret, in duplum iret; si metu coactos diceret, haberet eosdem recuperatores. Recusavit et, quasi nihil esset actum, nihil iudicatum, ab Hermippo ibidem mancipia quae ipse ei vendiderat petere coepit. M. Gratidius legatus, ad quem est aditum, actionem se daturum negavit; re iudicata stari ostendit placere.

My brother, according to his equity and prudence, decreed that, if he should deny the judgment, he would be liable in double; if he should say they had been coerced by fear, he would have the same recuperators. He refused, and, as if nothing had been done, nothing adjudged, he began there on the spot to demand from Hermippus the slaves which Hermippus himself had sold to him. M. Gratidius, the legate, to whom application was made, denied that he would grant an action; he indicated that it pleased him to stand by the res judicata.

[50] Iterum iste, cui nullus esset usquam consistendi locus, Romam se rettulit; persequitur Hermippus, qui numquam istius impudentiae cessit. Petit Heraclides a C. Plotio senatore, viro primario, qui legatus in Asia fuerat, mancipia quaedam quae se, cum iudicatus esset, per vim vendidisse dicebat. Q. Naso, vir ornatissimus, qui praetor fuerat, iudex sumitur.

[50] Again that fellow, who had nowhere at all any place to make a stand, betook himself back to Rome; Hermippus pursues, who never yielded to that man’s impudence. Heraclides demands from Gaius Plotius, a senator, a foremost man, who had been legate in Asia, certain slaves which he said that he, when he had been adjudged, had sold by force. Quintus Naso, a most adorned man, who had been praetor, is taken as judge.

Qui cum sententiam secundum Plotium se dicturum ostenderet, ab eo iudice abiit et, quod iudicium lege non erat, causam totam reliquit. Satisne vobis, iudices, videor ad singulos testis accedere neque, ut primo constitueram, tantum modo cum universo genere confligere?

Who, when he showed that he would pronounce sentence in favor of Plotius, withdrew from that judge and, on the ground that the trial was not according to law, abandoned the whole case. Do I seem to you, judges, to be approaching individual witnesses, and not, as I had first resolved, merely to contend with the entire class?

[51] Venio ad Lysaniam eiusdem civitatis, peculiarem tuum, Deciane, testem; quem tu cum ephebum Temni cognosses, quia tum te nudus delectarat, semper nudum esse voluisti. Abduxisti Temno Apollonidem; pecuniam adulescentulo grandi faenore, fiducia tamen accepta, occupavisti. Hanc fiduciam commissam tibi dicis; tenes hodie ac possides.

[51] I come to Lysanias of the same civitas, your peculiar witness, Decianus; whom, when you had come to know him as an ephebe of Temnus, because at that time he had delighted you naked, you wanted him to be always naked. You led away from Temnus Apollonides; you appropriated money to the young man at great usury, a fiduciary pledge, however, having been received. You say this fiducia was committed to you; you hold and possess it today.

Eum tu testem spe recuperandi fundi paterni venire ad testimonium dicendum coegisti; qui quoniam testimonium <nondum> dixit, quidnam sit dicturus exspecto. Novi genus hominum, novi consuetudinem, novi libidinem. Itaque, etsi teneo quid sit dicere paratus, nihil tamen contra disputabo prius quam dixerit.

You compelled him, as a witness, by the hope of recovering his paternal farm, to come to give testimony; and since he has <not yet> given testimony, I await what indeed he is going to say. I know the kind of men, I know the custom, I know the lust. Therefore, although I grasp what he is prepared to say, nevertheless I will argue nothing against it before he has spoken.

Totum enim convertet atque alia finget. Quam ob rem et ille servet quod paravit, et ego me ad id quod adtulerit integrum conservabo.

For he will turn everything around and feign other things. Wherefore let him keep to what he has prepared, and I will conserve myself intact for that which he shall have brought forward.

[52] Venio nunc ad eam civitatem in quam ego multa et magna studia et officia contuli, et quam meus frater in primis colit atque diligit. Quae si civitas per viros bonos gravisque homines querelas ad vos detulisset, paulo commoverer magis. Nunc vero quid putem?

[52] I come now to that city to which I have contributed many and great endeavors and offices, and which my brother especially cultivates and loves. Which city, if through good and grave men it had conveyed complaints to you, I would be a little more moved. But now, what am I to think?

Trallianos Maeandrio causam publicam commisisse, homini egenti, sordido, sine honore, sine existumatione, sine censu? Vbi erant illi Pythodori, Aetidemi, Lepisones, ceteri homines apud nos noti, inter suos nobiles, ubi illa magnifica et gloriosa ostentatio civitatis? Nonne esset puditum, si hanc causam agerent severe, non modo legatum sed Trallianum omnino dici Maeandrium?

Did the Trallians entrust their public cause to Maeandrius, a needy, sordid man, without honor, without estimation, without census-rating? Where were those Pythodori, the Aetidemuses, the Lepisones, the other men known among us, nobles among their own? Where was that magnificent and glorious ostentation of the community? Would it not have been a shame, if they were prosecuting this case severely, that not only their legate but a Trallian altogether should be called “Maeandrian”?

Huic illi legato, huic publico testi patronum suum iam inde a patre atque maioribus, L. Flaccum, mactandum civitatis testimonio tradidissent? Non est ita, iudices, non est profecto.

Would they have handed over to this very envoy, to this public witness, their patron from as far back as his father and forefathers, L. Flaccus, to be sacrificed on the testimony of the city? It is not so, judges; assuredly it is not.

[53] Vidi ego in quodam iudicio nuper Philodorum testem Trallianum, vidi Parrhasium, vidi Archidemum, cum quidem idem hic mihi Maeandrius quasi ministrator aderat subiciens quid in suos civis civitatemque, si vellem, dicerem. Nihil enim illo homine levius, nihil egentius, nihil inquinatius. Qua re, si hunc habent auctorem Tralliani doloris sui, si hunc custodem litterarum, si hunc testem iniuriae, si hunc actorem querelarum, remittant spiritus, comprimant animos suos, sedent adrogantiam, fateantur in Maeandri persona esse expressam speciem civitatis.

[53] I myself saw in a certain judicial proceeding recently Philodorus, a Trallian, as a witness; I saw Parrhasius, I saw Archidemus, when indeed this same Maeandrius was present to me as a kind of ministrator, suggesting what I might, if I wished, say against his own fellow-citizens and the city. For nothing is lighter, nothing more indigent, nothing more inquinate than that man. Wherefore, if they have this man as the author of Tralles’ own dolor, if this man as the custodian of the letters, if this man as the witness of the injury, if this man as the actor of the complaints, let them remit their spirits, compress their minds, set down arrogance, let them confess that in the person of Maeandrius the likeness of the city is expressed.

Sin istum semper illi ipsi domi proterendum et conculcandum putaverunt, desinant putare auctoritatem esse in eo testimonio cuius auctor inventus est nemo.

But if those very men have always thought that that fellow should be trampled upon and trodden underfoot at home, let them cease to think that there is authority in that testimony of which no author has been found.

Sed exponam quid in re <sit> ut quam ob rem ista civitas neque severe Flaccum oppugnarit neque benigne defenderit scire possitis.

But I will set forth what the matter is, so that you may be able to know for what reason that city has neither severely assailed Flaccus nor benignly defended him.

[54] Erat ei Castriciano nomine irata, de quo toto respondit Hortensius; invita solverat Castricio pecuniam iam diu debitam. Hinc totum odium, hinc omnis offensio. Quo cum venisset Laelius ad iratos et illud Castricianum volnus dicendo refricuisset, siluerunt principes neque in illa contione adfuerunt neque istius decreti ac testimoni auctores esse voluerunt.

[54] That city was angry with a man named Castricius, about whom Hortensius answered the whole matter; unwilling, it had paid to Castricius money long owed. Hence the whole hatred, hence every offense. When Laelius came to the angry men and, by speaking, had rubbed raw that Castrician wound, the leading men fell silent, and they were not present in that assembly, nor were they willing to be the authors of that decree and testimony.

Vsque adeo orba fuit ab optimatibus illa contio ut princeps principum esset Maeandrius; cuius lingua quasi flabello seditionis illa tum est egentium contio ventilata.

So utterly was that assembly bereft of the Optimates that the prince of princes was Maeandrius; by whose tongue, as if by a fan of sedition, that assembly of the needy was then fanned.

[55] Itaque civitatis pudentis, ut ego semper existimavi, et gravis, ut ipsi existimari volunt, iustum dolorem querelasque cognoscite. Quae pecunia fuerit apud se Flacci patris nomine a civitatibus, hanc a se esse ablatam queruntur. Alio loco quaeram quid licuerit Flacco; nunc tantum a Trallianis requiro, quam pecuniam ab se ablatam querantur, suamne dicant, sibi a civitatibus conlatam in usum suum.

[55] Therefore recognize the just grief and complaints of a modest city, as I have always judged, and grave, as they wish to be thought. The money which had been in their possession, in the name of Flaccus the father, from the communities—this they complain has been taken away from them. Elsewhere I shall inquire what was permitted to Flaccus; for now I only ask of the Trallians what money they allege has been taken from them—do they say it is their own, contributed to them by the communities for their own use.

Cupio audire. 'Non,' inquit, 'dicimus.' Quid igitur? 'Delatam ad nos, creditam nobis L. Flacci patris nomine ad eius dies festos atque ludos.'

I desire to hear. 'No,' he says, 'we do not say that.' What then? 'That it was delivered to us, entrusted to us in the name of L. Flaccus the father for his festival days and games.'

[56] Quid tum? 'Hanc te,' inquit, 'capere non licuit.' Iam id videro, sed primum illud tenebo. Queritur gravis, locuples, ornata civitas, quod non retinet alienum; spoliatam se dicit, quod id non habet quod eius non fuit.

[56] What then? “This,” he says, “it was not permitted for you to seize.” I will look to that presently, but first I will hold to this point. A grave, opulent, ornate city complains that it does not retain alien property; it says it has been despoiled because it does not have that which was not its own.

Quid hoc impudentius dici aut fingi potest? Delectum est oppidum, quo in oppido universa pecunia a tota Asia ad honores L. Flacci poneretur. Haec pecunia tota ab honoribus translata est in quaestum et faenerationem; recuperata est multis post annis.

What can be said or feigned more impudent than this? A town was chosen, in which town the entire money from all Asia was to be set for the honors of L. Flaccus. This whole money was transferred from honors into profit and usury; it was recovered many years afterward.

[57] Quae civitati facta est iniuria? At moleste fert civitas. Credo; avolsum est enim praeter spem quod erat spe devoratum lucrum.

[57] What injury has been done to the city? But the city takes it hard. I believe; for the lucre which had been devoured by hope has been torn away contrary to hope.

At queritur. Impudenter facit; non enim omnia quae dolemus, eadem queri iure possumus. At accusat verbis gravissimis.

But he complains. He acts impudently; for we cannot, by right, complain of all the same things that we grieve over. But he accuses in the gravest words.

Non civitas, sed imperiti homines a Maeandrio concitati. Quo loco etiam atque etiam facite ut recordemini quae sit temeritas multitudinis, quae levitas propria Graecorum, quid in contione seditiosa valeat oratio. Hic, in hac gravissima et moderatissima civitate, cum est forum plenum iudiciorum, plenum magistratuum, plenum optimorum virorum et civium, cum speculatur atque obsidet rostra vindex temeritatis et moderatrix offici curia, tamen quantos fluctus excitari contionum videtis!

Not the commonwealth, but unskilled men were incited by Maeandrius. In this place, again and again, see to it that you remember what the temerity of a multitude is, what levity proper to the Greeks, how much an oration avails in a seditious assembly. Here, in this most grave and most moderate city, when the forum is full of judgments, full of magistrates, full of the best men and citizens, when the Curia, the avenger of temerity and the moderatrix of duty, keeps watch and besieges the rostra, nevertheless what waves of mass-meetings you see being stirred up!

Quid vos fieri censetis Trallibus? an id quod Pergami? Nisi forte hae civitates existimari volunt facilius una se epistula Mithridatis moveri impellique potuisse ut amicitiam populi Romani, fidem suam, iura omnia offici humanitatisque violarent, quam ut filium testimonio laederent cuius patrem armis pellendum a suis moenibus censuissent.

What do you think happened among the Trallians? the same as at Pergamum? Unless perhaps these cities wish to be thought to have been more easily moved and driven by a single epistle of Mithridates to violate the amity of the Roman people, their own faith, and all the rights of duty and of humanity, than to wound a son by testimony, whose father they had judged must be driven by arms from their walls.

[58] Qua re nolite mihi ista nomina civitatum nobilium opponere; quos enim hostis haec familia contempsit, numquam eosdem testis pertimescet. Vobis autem est confitendum, si consiliis principum vestrae civitates reguntur, non multitudinis temeritate, sed optimatium consilio bellum ab istis civitatibus cum populo Romano esse susceptum; sin ille tum motus est temeritate imperitorum excitatus, patimini me delicta volgi a publica causa separare.

[58] Wherefore do not oppose to me those names of noble cities; for those whom, as enemies, this household despised, it will never dread the same men as witnesses. But you must confess that, if your cities are governed by the counsels of the chiefs, the war was undertaken by those cities against the Roman people not by the temerity of the multitude, but by the counsel of the Optimates; but if that movement then was stirred up by the temerity of the inexpert, allow me to separate the offenses of the crowd from the public cause.

[59] At enim istam pecuniam huic capere non licuit. Vtrum voltis patri Flacco licuisse necne? Si licuit , sicuti certe licuit, ad eius honores conlata, ex quibus nihil ipse capiebat, patris pecuniam recte abstulit filius; si non licuit, tamen illo mortuo non modo filius sed quivis heres rectissime potuit auferre.

[59] But indeed it was not permitted for this man to take that money. Which do you wish: that it was permitted to the father Flaccus, or not? If it was permitted to use it—as certainly it was—then, since it had been contributed toward his honors, from which he himself was taking nothing, the son rightly took away the father’s money; if it was not permitted, nevertheless, after that man’s death not only the son but any heir could most rightly remove it.

Ac tum quidem Tralliani cum ipsi gravi faenore istam pecuniam multos annos occupavissent, a Flacco tamen omnia quae voluerunt impetraverunt, neque tam fuerunt impudentes ut id quod Laelius dixit dicere auderent, hanc ab se pecuniam abstulisse Mithridatem. Quis enim erat qui non sciret in ornandis studiosiorem Mithridatem quam in spoliandis Trallianis fuisse?

And then indeed the Trallians, although they themselves had held that money for many years at heavy usury, nevertheless obtained from Flaccus everything they wanted, nor were they so impudent as to dare to say what Laelius said, that Mithridates had taken this money away from them. For who was there who did not know that Mithridates had been more zealous in adorning them than in despoiling the Trallians?

[60] Quae quidem a me si, ut dicenda sunt, dicerentur, gravius agerem, iudices, quam adhuc egi, quantam Asiaticis testibus fidem habere vos conveniret; revocarem animos vestros ad Mithridatici belli memoriam, ad illam universorum civium Romanorum per tot urbis uno puncto temporis miseram crudelemque caedem, praetores nostros deditos, legatos in vincla coniectos, nominis prope Romani memoriam cum vestigio imperi non modo ex sedibus Graecorum verum etiam ex litteris esse deletam. Mithridatem dominum, illum patrem, illum conservatorem Asiae, illum Euhium, Nysium, Bacchum, Liberum nominabant.

[60] If, indeed, I were to say these things as they ought to be said, I would proceed more gravely, judges, than I have thus far proceeded, as to how much credence it would be fitting for you to have in Asiatic witnesses; I would recall your minds to the memory of the Mithridatic war, to that wretched and cruel slaughter of all Roman citizens in so many cities at one point of time, our praetors delivered up, our legates cast into chains, the memory of the Roman name, together with every trace of empire, to have been erased not only from the seats of the Greeks but even from letters. They were calling Mithridates lord, that father, that conservator of Asia, that Euhius, Nysius, Bacchus, Liber.

[61] Vnum atque idem erat tempus cum L. Flacco consuli portas tota Asia claudebat, Cappadocem autem illum non modo recipiebat suis urbibus verum etiam ultro vocabat. Liceat haec nobis, si oblivisci non possumus, at tacere, liceat mihi potius de levitate Graecorum queri quam de crudelitate; auctoritatem isti habeant apud eos quos esse omnino noluerunt? Nam, quoscumque potuerunt, togatos interemerunt, nomen civium Romanorum quantum in ipsis fuit sustulerunt.

[61] One and the same was the time when all Asia was shutting its gates against L. Flaccus the consul, but was not only receiving that Cappadocian into their own cities, rather even summoning him of their own accord. Let it be permitted us, if we cannot forget these things, at least to be silent; let it be permitted me rather to complain of the levity of the Greeks than of their cruelty. Shall those men have authority among those whom they were altogether unwilling should even exist? For whomever they could, they slew the toga-clad; the name of Roman citizens, so far as was in them, they did away with.

In hac igitur urbe se iactant quam oderunt, apud eos quos inviti vident, in ea re publica ad quam opprimendam non animus eis, sed vires defuerunt? Aspiciant hunc florem legatorum laudatorumque Flacci ex vera atque integra Graecia; tum se ipsi expendant, tum cum his comparent, tum, si audebunt, dignitati horum anteponant suam.

So then they vaunt themselves in this city which they hate, among those whom they are unwilling to behold, in that republic, for the crushing of which it was not spirit that failed them, but strength? Let them look upon this flower of the legates and laudators of Flaccus from true and entire Greece; then let them weigh themselves, then compare themselves with these men, then, if they dare, set their own dignity before that of these.

[62] Adsunt Athenienses, unde humanitas, doctrina, religio, fruges, iura, leges ortae atque in omnis terras distributae putantur; de quorum urbis possessione propter pulchritudinem etiam inter deos certamen fuisse proditum est; quae vetustate ea est ut ipsa ex sese suos civis genuisse ducatur, et eorum eadem terra parens, altrix, patria dicatur, auctoritate autem tanta est ut iam fractum prope ac debilitatum Graeciae nomen huius urbis laude nitatur.

[62] The Athenians are present, from whom humanity, doctrine, religion, crops, rights, laws are thought to have arisen and to have been distributed into all lands; concerning the possession of whose city, on account of its beauty, it has been handed down that there was even a contest among the gods; which is of such antiquity that she is held to have begotten her own citizens from herself, and for them the same land is called parent, nurse, fatherland; moreover she is of such authority that the name of Greece, now almost broken and debilitated, rests upon the praise of this city.

[63] Adsunt Lacedaemonii, cuius civitatis spectata ac nobilitata virtus non solum natura corroborata verum etiam disciplina putatur; qui soli toto orbe terrarum septingentos iam annos amplius unis moribus et numquam mutatis legibus vivunt. Adsunt ex Achaia cuncta multi legati, Boeotia, Thessalia, quibus locis nuper legatus Flaccus imperatore Metello praefuit. Neque vero te, Massilia, praetereo quae L. Flaccum militum quaestoremque cognosti; cuius ego civitatis disciplinam atque gravitatem non solum Graeciae, sed haud scio an cunctis gentibus anteponendam iure dicam; quae tam procul a Graecorum omnium regionibus, disciplinis linguaque divisa cum in ultimis terris cincta Gallorum gentibus barbariae fluctibus adluatur, sic optimatium consilio gubernatur ut omnes eius instituta laudare facilius possint quam aemulari.

[63] The Lacedaemonians are present, whose state’s tested and ennobled virtue is thought to have been strengthened not only by nature but also by discipline; they alone in the whole world have now for more than seven hundred years lived under one set of mores and with laws never changed. Many envoys are present from all Achaia, Boeotia, Thessaly, regions over which the legate Flaccus recently presided, with Metellus as imperator. Nor indeed do I pass you by, Massilia, which knew L. Flaccus as of soldiers and as quaestor; whose city’s disciplina and gravitas I will rightly say are to be set before not only those of Greece, but—I hardly know whether—before those of all nations; which, so far from all the regions of the Greeks, divided from them in disciplines and in language, while in the farthest lands, ringed by the tribes of the Gauls and lapped by the waves of barbarity, is so governed by the counsel of the optimates that all can more easily praise its instituta than emulate them.

[64] Hisce utitur laudatoribus Flaccus, his innocentiae testibus, ut Graecorum auxilio resistamus.

[64] Flaccus employs these as laudators, these as witnesses of innocence, so that we may resist the by the aid of the Greeks.

Quamquam quis ignorat, qui modo umquam mediocriter res istas scire curavit, quin tria Graecorum genera sint vere? quorum uni sunt Athenienses, quae gens Ionum habebatur, Aeolis alteri, Doris tertii nominabantur. Atque haec cuncta Graecia, quae fama, quae gloria, quae doctrina, quae plurimis artibus, quae etiam imperio et bellica laude floruit, parvum quendam locum, ut scitis, Europae tenet semperque tenuit, Asiae maritimam oram bello superatam cinxit urbibus, non ut victam coloniis illam constringeret, sed ut obsessam teneret.

Although, who is ignorant—whoever has at any time even moderately cared to know these matters—that there are truly three kinds of Greeks? of which the first are the Athenians, which nation was held to be of the Ionians; the second were named Aeolians, the third Dorians. And this whole Greece, which flourished in fame, in glory, in doctrine, in very many arts, and even in empire and military laud, occupies, as you know, a certain small place of Europe and has always occupied it, and it girded the maritime shore of Asia, conquered in war, with cities—not so as to bind that conquered land with colonies, but so as to hold it besieged.

[65] Quam ob rem quaeso a vobis, Asiatici testes, ut, cum vere recordari voletis quantum auctoritatis in iudicium adferatis, vosmet ipsi describatis Asiam nec quid alienigenae de vobis loqui soleant, sed quid vosmet ipsi de genere vestro statuatis, memineritis. Namque, ut opinor, Asia vestra constat ex Phrygia, Mysia, Caria, Lydia. Vtrum igitur nostrum est an vestrum hoc proverbium, 'Phrygem plagis fieri solere meliorem'? Quid?

[65] For which reason I beg of you, Asiatic witnesses, that, when you truly wish to recall how much authority you bring into the judgment, you yourselves describe Asia, and remember not what foreigners are wont to say about you, but what you yourselves determine concerning your own stock. For indeed, as I suppose, your Asia consists of Phrygia, Mysia, Caria, Lydia. Is it then ours or yours, this proverb, 'that a Phrygian is wont to be made better by beatings'? What?

de tota Caria nonne hoc vestra voce volgatum est, 'si quid cum periculo experiri velis, in Care id potissimum esse faciendum'? Quid porro in Graeco sermone tam tritum atque celebratum est quam, si quis despicatui ducitur, ut 'Mysorum ultimus' esse dicatur? Nam quid ego dicam de Lydia? Quis umquam Graecus comoediam scripsit in qua servus primarum partium non Lydus esset?

As for all Caria, is it not in your own voice made current that, 'if you wish to try anything with danger, that is most especially to be done in Caria'? What moreover in the Greek language is so trite and celebrated as that, if someone is held in contempt, he is said to be 'the last of the Mysians'? For what shall I say about Lydia? What Greek ever wrote a comedy in which the slave of the first parts was not a Lydian?

Quam ob rem quae vobis fit iniuria, si statuimus vestro nobis iudicio standum esse de vobis?

Therefore what injury is done to you, if we determine that we must stand by your own judgment about yourselves?

[66] Equidem mihi iam satis superque dixisse videor de Asiatico genere testium; sed tamen vestrum est, iudices, omnia quae dici possunt in hominum levitatem, inconstantiam, cupiditatem, etiam si a me minus dicuntur, vestris animis et cogitatione comprendere.

[66] For my part, I already seem to myself to have said enough and more than enough about the Asiatic kind of witnesses; but nevertheless it is your part, judges, to grasp with your minds and reflection all the things that can be said about human levity, inconstancy, and cupidity, even if they are said less fully by me.

Sequitur auri illa invidia Iudaici. Hoc nimirum est illud quod non longe a gradibus Aureliis haec causa dicitur. Ob hoc crimen hic locus abs te, Laeli, atque illa turba quaesita est; scis quanta sit manus, quanta concordia, quantum valeat in contionibus.

Next follows that envy of the Jewish gold. This, to be sure, is that on account of which this case is said to be held not far from the Aurelian Steps. On account of this charge this place was sought out by you, Laelius, and by that crowd; you know how great the band is, how great the concord, how strong it is in public assemblies.

Sic submissa voce agam tantum ut iudices audiant; neque enim desunt qui istos in me atque in optimum quemque incitent; quos ego, quo id facilius faciant, non adiuvabo.

Thus I shall speak with a subdued voice only so that the judges may hear; for there is no lack of those who incite those men against me and against all the best men; whom I, in order that they may do that more easily, will not assist.

[67] Cum aurum Iudaeorum nomine quotannis ex Italia et ex omnibus nostris provinciis Hierosolymam exportari soleret, Flaccus sanxit edicto ne ex Asia exportari liceret. Quis est, iudices, qui hoc non vere laudare possit? Exportari aurum non oportere cum saepe antea senatus tum me consule gravissime iudicavit.

[67] When gold in the name of the Jews was accustomed each year to be exported from Italy and from all our provinces to Jerusalem, Flaccus sanctioned by an edict that it not be permitted to export it from Asia. Who is there, judges, who would not rightly praise this? That gold ought not to be exported the Senate has adjudged most gravely, both often before and also when I was consul.

Huic autem barbarae superstitioni resistere severitatis, multitudinem Iudaeorum flagrantem non numquam in contionibus pro re publica contemnere gravitatis summae fuit. At Cn. Pompeius captis Hierosolymis victor ex illo fano nihil attigit.

But to resist this barbarian superstition was an act of severity, and to contemn, sometimes in assemblies, for the sake of the commonwealth, the multitude of Jews aflame, was of the highest gravity. But Cn. Pompeius, Jerusalem having been captured, as victor touched nothing from that shrine.

[68] In primis hoc, ut multa alia, sapienter; in tam suspiciosa ac maledica civitate locum sermoni obtrectatorum non reliquit. Non enim credo religionem et Iudaeorum et hostium impedimento praestantissimo imperatori, sed pudorem fuisse. Vbi igitur crimen est, quoniam quidem furtum nusquam reprehendis, edictum probas, iudicatum fateris, quaesitum et prolatum palam non negas, actum esse per viros primarios res ipsa declarat?

[68] In the first place this, as many other things, wisely; in so suspicious and slanderous a city he left no room for the talk of detractors. For I do not believe that religion, whether of the Jews or of enemies, was an impediment to a most outstanding commander, but that it was a sense of modesty. Where then is the crime, since indeed you nowhere censure theft, you approve the edict, you admit the judgment, you do not deny that it was sought out and brought forth openly, does not the thing itself declare that it was transacted by men of the first rank?

Apameae manifesto comprehensum ante pedes praetoris in foro expensum est auri pondo c paulo minus per Sex. Caesium, equitem Romanum, castissimum hominem atque integerrimum, Laodiceae xx pondo paulo amplius per hunc L. Peducaeum, iudicem nostrum, Adramytii <c> per Cn. Domitium legatum, Pergami non multum.

At Apamea it was manifestly seized and, before the praetor’s feet in the forum, there was weighed out gold, a weight a little less than 100 pounds, by Sextus Caesius, a Roman knight, a most chaste and most most upright man; at Laodicea, a little more than 20 pounds, by this L. Peducaeus, our juror; at Adramyttium, 100 pounds, by Cn. Domitius, the legate; at Pergamum, not much.

[69] Auri ratio constat, aurum in aerario est; furtum non reprehenditur, invidia quaeritur; a iudicibus oratio avertitur, vox in coronam turbamque effunditur. Sua cuique civitati religio, Laeli, est, nostra nobis. Stantibus Hierosolymis pacatisque Iudaeis tamen istorum religio sacrorum a splendore huius imperi, gravitate nominis nostri, maiorum institutis abhorrebat; nunc vero hoc magis, quod illa gens quid de nostro imperio sentiret ostendit armis; quam cara dis immortalibus esset docuit, quod est victa, quod elocata, quod serva facta.

[69] The reckoning of the gold stands; the gold is in the treasury; theft is not reproved, odium is hunted up; the speech is diverted from the judges, the voice is poured out into the ring and the rabble. To each city its own religion, Laelius, and ours to us. While Jerusalem stood and the Jews were at peace, nevertheless their religion of rites abhorred the splendor of this empire, the gravity of our name, the institutes of our ancestors; now indeed all the more, because that nation has shown by arms what it feels about our empire; it has taught how dear it was to the immortal gods, in that it has been conquered, let out on lease, made a slave.

[70] Quam ob rem quoniam, quod crimen esse voluisti, id totum vides in laudem esse conversum, veniamus iam ad civium Romanorum querelas; ex quibus sit sane prima Deciani. Quid tibi tandem, Deciane, iniuriae factum est? Negotiaris in libera civitate.

[70] Wherefore, since that which you wished to be a charge you see has been wholly converted into praise, let us now come to the complaints of Roman citizens; of which, assuredly, let Decianus’s be first. What injury, after all, has been done to you, Decianus? You do business in a free city.

Primum patere me esse curiosum. Quo usque negotiabere, cum praesertim sis isto loco natus? Annos iam xxx in foro versaris, sed tamen in Pergameno.

First, allow me to be curious. How long will you be doing business, especially since you were born in that station? For already 30 years you have been engaged in the forum, but yet on parchment.

Longo intervallo, si quando tibi peregrinari commodum est, Romam venis, adfers faciem novam, nomen vetus, purpuram Tyriam, in qua tibi invideo, quod unis vestimentis tam diu lautus es.

After a long interval, if ever it is convenient for you to travel abroad, you come to Rome, you bring a new face, an old name, Tyrian purple, in which I envy you, because with a single outfit you have been smartly dressed for so long.

[71] Verum esto, negotiari libet; cur non Pergami, Smyrnae, Trallibus, ubi et multi cives Romani sunt et ius a nostro magistratu dicitur? Otium te delectat, lites, turbae, praetor odio est, Graecorum libertate gaudes. Cur ergo unus tu Apollonidensis amantissimos populi Romani, fidelissimos socios, miseriores habes quam aut Mithridates aut etiam pater tuus habuit umquam?

[71] Granted, be it so, you wish to do business; why not at Pergamum, at Smyrna, at Tralles, where both many Roman citizens are and justice is declared by our magistrate? Leisure delights you; lawsuits, crowds, the praetor are hateful; you rejoice in the liberty of the Greeks. Why then do you alone, as an Apollonidensis, hold those most loving to the Roman People, the most faithful allies, in a more wretched state than either Mithridates or even your father ever held them?

Cur his per te frui libertate sua, cur denique esse liberos non licet? Homines sunt tota ex Asia frugalissimi, sanctissimi, a Graecorum luxuria et levitate remotissimi, patres familias suo contenti, aratores, rusticani; agros habent et natura perbonos et diligentia culturaque meliores. In hisce agris tu praedia habere voluisti.

Why is it not permitted through you for these men to enjoy their own liberty—why, finally, to be free? They are men from all Asia most frugal, most sanctified, farthest removed from the luxury and levity of the Greeks, fathers of families content with their own, plowmen, rustics; they have fields both very good by nature and made better by diligence and cultivation. In these very fields you wished to have estates.

Omnino mallem, et magis erat tuum, si iam te crassi agri delectabant, hic alicubi in Crustumino aut in Capenati paravisses.

Altogether I would have preferred—and it was more in keeping with you—that, if rich farmland already delighted you, you had procured it here somewhere in the Crustuminian or in the Capenate.

[72] Verum esto; Catonis est dictum 'pedibus compensari pecuniam.' Longe omnino a Tiberi ad Caicum, quo in loco etiam Agamemnon cum exercitu errasset, nisi ducem Telephum invenisset. Sed concedo id quoque; placuit oppidum, regio delectavit. Emisses.

[72] But let it be so; it is a saying of Cato, "money is compensated by feet." Altogether far from the Tiber to the Caicus, in which region even Agamemnon would have wandered with his army, unless he had found Telephus as a guide. But I concede that too; a town pleased you, the region delighted you. You should have bought.

Amyntas est genere, honore, existimatione, pecunia princeps illius civitatis. Huius socrum, mulierem imbecilli consili, satis locupletem, pellexit Decianus ad sese et, cum illa quid ageretur nesciret, in possessione praediorum eius familiam suam conlocavit; uxorem abduxit ab Amynta praegnantem, quae peperit apud Decianum filiam, hodieque apud Decianum est et uxor Amyntae et filia.

Amyntas is, by genus, honor, estimation, and pecuniary means, the chief of that city. His mother-in-law, a woman of feeble counsel, quite opulent, Decianus enticed to himself and, while she was unaware of what was being done, he settled his own household in possession of her estates; he abducted from Amyntas his wife, pregnant, who gave birth to a daughter at Decianus’s house, and to this day both the wife of Amyntas and the daughter are with Decianus.

[73] Num quid harum rerum a me fingitur, Deciane? Sciunt haec omnes nobiles, sciunt boni viri, sciunt denique noti homines, sciunt mediocres negotiatores. Exsurge, Amynta, repete a Deciano non pecuniam, non praedia, socrum denique sibi habeat; restituat uxorem, reddat misero patri filiam.

[73] Am I inventing any of these things, Decianus? All the nobles know this, good men know it, finally well-known men know it, middling merchants know it. Arise, Amyntas, demand back from Decianus not money, not estates—let him, at the last, keep the mother-in-law for himself; let him restore your wife, let him give back to the wretched father his daughter.

Membra <quidem>, quae debilitavit lapidibus, fustibus, ferro, manus quas contudit, digitos quos confregit, nervos quos concidit, restituere non potest; filiam, filiam inquam, aerumnoso patri, Deciane, redde.

The limbs <indeed>, which he has debilitated with stones, cudgels, iron, the hands which he has bruised, the fingers which he has broken, the sinews which he has cut, he cannot restore; the daughter—the daughter, I say—return to the afflicted father, Deciane.

[74] Haec Flacco non probasse te miraris? Cui, quaeso, tandem probasti? Emptiones falsas, praediorum proscriptiones cum aperta circumscriptione fecisti.

[74] Do you wonder that you did not get these things approved by Flaccus? To whom, I ask, at length did you get them approved? You made sham purchases and proclamations of sales of estates with open overreaching.

Tutor his mulieribus Graecorum legibus ascribendus fuit; Polemocratem scripsisti, mercennarium et administrum consiliorum tuorum. Adductus est in iudicium Polemocrates de dolo malo et de fraude a Dione huius ipsius tutelae nomine. Qui concursus ex oppidis finitimis undique, qui dolor animorum, quae querela!

A guardian for these women had to be assigned by the laws of the Greeks; you registered Polemocrates, a mercenary and an administrator of your counsels. Polemocrates was brought into judgment on a charge of dolus malus and of fraud by Dion, in the name of this very tutelage. What a concourse from the neighboring towns on all sides, what dolor of spirits, what complaint!

Condemnatus est Polemocrates sententiis omnibus; inritae venditiones, inritae proscriptiones. Num restituis? Defers ad Pergamenos ut illi reciperent in suas litteras publicas praeclaras proscriptiones et emptiones tuas.

Polemocrates was condemned by every verdict; void sales, void proscriptions. Do you restore them? You defer to the Pergamenians so that they might receive into their public records your “illustrious” proscriptions and purchases.

Repudiant, reiciunt. At qui homines? Pergameni, laudatores tui.

They repudiate, they reject. But what men? The Pergamenians, your laudators.

Ita enim mihi gloriari visus es laudatione Pergamenorum quasi honorem maiorum tuorum consecutus esses, et hoc te superiorem esse putabas quam Laelium, quod te civitas Pergamena laudaret. Num honestior est civitas Pergamena quam Smyrnaea? At ne ipsi quidem dicunt.

For thus you seemed to me to be glorying in the laudation of the Pergamenes, as if you had attained the honor of your ancestors, and you thought yourself superior to Laelius in this, because the Pergamene city lauded you. Is the Pergamene city more honorable than the Smyrnaean? But not even they themselves say so.

[75] Vellem tantum habere me oti, ut possem recitare psephisma Smyrnaeorum quod fecerunt in Castricium mortuum, primum ut in oppidum introferretur, quod aliis non conceditur, deinde ut ferrent ephebi, postremo ut imponeretur aurea corona mortuo. Haec P. Scipioni, clarissimo viro, cum esset Pergami mortuus, facta non sunt. At Castricium quibus verbis, di immortales!

[75] I would that I had so much leisure as to be able to read out the psephisma of the Smyrnaeans which they passed concerning Castricius when dead: first, that he be brought into the town, which is not granted to others; then, that the ephebes bear him; lastly, that a golden corona be set upon the dead man. These things were not done for P. Scipio, a most illustrious man, when he died at Pergamum. But as for Castricius—by what words, immortal gods!

'decus patriae, ornamentum populi Romani, florem iuventutis' appellant. Qua re, Deciane, si cupidus es gloriae, alia ornamenta censeo quaeras; Pergameni te deriserunt.

'the honor of the fatherland, the ornament of the Roman people, the flower of youth' they call you. Wherefore, Deciane, if you are desirous of glory, I advise that you seek other ornaments; the Pergamenians have mocked you.

[76] Quid? tu ludi te non intellegebas, cum tibi haec verba recitabant: 'clarissimum virum, praestantissima sapientia, singulari ingenio'? Mihi crede, ludebant. Cum vero coronam auream litteris imponebant, re vera non plus aurum tibi quam monedulae committebant, ne tum quidem hominum venustatem et facetias perspicere potuisti?

[76] What? Did you not understand you were being made sport of, when they recited to you these words: 'a most illustrious man, of most outstanding wisdom, of singular genius'? Believe me, they were playing. But when they were imposing upon you a golden crown in letters, in truth they were entrusting no more gold to you than to a jackdaw; not even then could you perceive the charm and witticisms of men?

<Ipsi> igitur illi Pergameni proscriptiones quas tu adferebas repudiaverunt. P. Orbius, homo et prudens et innocens, contra te omnia decrevit. Apud P. Globulum, meum necessarium, fuisti gratiosior.

<They themselves> therefore the Pergamenians repudiated the proscriptions which you were bringing. P. Orbius, a man both prudent and innocent, ruled everything against you. Before P. Globulus, my close associate, you were more in favor.

Vtinam neque ipsum neque me paeniteret!

Would that neither he himself nor I regretted it!

[77] Flaccum iniuria decrevisse in tua re dicis; adiungis causas inimicitiarum, quod patri L. Flacco aedili curuli pater tuus tribunus plebis diem dixerit. At istud ne ipsi quidem patri Flacco valde molestum esse debuit, praesertim cum ille cui dies dicta est praetor postea factus sit et consul, ille qui diem dixit non potuerit privatus in civitate consistere. Sed si iustas inimicitias putabas, cur, cum tribunus militum Flaccus esset, in illius legione miles fuisti, cum per leges militaris effugere liceret iniquitatem tribuni?

[77] You say that Flaccus decided unjustly in your case; you adjoin the causes of the enmities, namely that your father, as tribune of the plebs, named a day for Lucius Flaccus’s father, a curule aedile. But that ought not to have been very troublesome even to Flaccus’s own father, especially since he to whom the day was named was afterward made praetor and consul, while he who named the day could not, as a private citizen, maintain his footing in the state. But if you thought the enmities just, why, when Flaccus was a military tribune, were you a soldier in his legion, when by the laws it was permitted for a soldier to escape the iniquity of a tribune?

Cur autem praetor te, inimicum paternum, in consilium vocavit? Quae quidem quam sancte solita sint observari scitis omnes. Nunc accusamur ab eis qui in consilio nobis fuerunt.

But why did the praetor call you, a paternal enemy, into the council? And indeed you all know how sacredly these things have been wont to be observed. Now we are accused by those who were with us in the council.

[78] 'Decrevit Flaccus.' Num aliud atque oportuit? 'In liberos.' Num aliter censuit senatus? 'In absentem.' Decrevit, cum ibidem esses, cum prodire nolles; non est hoc in absentem, sed in latentem reum.

[78] 'Flaccus decreed.' Was it anything other than what was requisite? 'Against the children.' Did the Senate resolve otherwise? 'Against an absent man.' He decreed it when you were right there, when you were unwilling to come forth; this is not against an absent man, but against a latent defendant.

Quid? si non decrevisset, sed edixisset, quis posset vere reprehendere? Num etiam fratris mei litteras plenissimas humanitatis et aequitatis reprehensurus <es>? quas ea de muliere ad me datas apud . . . requisivit.

What? If he had not decreed, but had issued an edict, who could truly reprehend? Surely you are not going to reprehend even my brother’s letters, most full of humanity and equity? which, concerning that woman, sent to me, he requested at . . .

Recita.

Read it.

[79] Quid? haec Apollonidenses occasionem nacti ad Flaccum detulerunt, apud Orbium acta non sunt, ad Globulum delata non sunt? Ad senatum nostrum me consule nonne legati Apollonidenses omnia postulata de iniuriis unius Deciani detulerunt?

[79] What? did not these Apollonidenses, having seized an occasion, bring charges to Flaccus, were proceedings not conducted before Orbius, were they not referred to Globulus? Did not the envoys of the Apollonidenses, with me as consul, before our senate bring all the demands concerning the injuries done by one Decianus?

At haec praedia in censum dedicavisti. Mitto quod aliena, mitto quod possessa per vim, mitto quod convicta ab Apollonidensibus, mitto quod a Pergamenis repudiata, mitto etiam quod a nostris magistratibus in integrum restituta, mitto quod nullo iure neque re neque possessione tua;

But you dedicated these estates into the census. I pass over that they were another’s, I pass over that they were possessed by force, I pass over that they were convicted by the Apollonidenses, I pass over that they were repudiated by the Pergamenians, I pass over even that they were restored in full by our magistrates; I pass over that by no right—neither in title nor in thing nor in possession—were they yours;

[80] illud quaero sintne ista praedia censui censendo, habeant ius civile, sint necne sint mancipi, subsignari apud aerarium aut apud censorem possint. In qua tribu denique ista praedia censuisti? Commisisti, si tempus aliquod gravius accidisset, ut ex isdem praediis et Apollonide et Romae imperatum esset tributum.

[80] I ask this: whether those estates are for the census by being assessed in the census, whether they have civil law standing, whether they are—or are not—mancipi, whether they can be countersigned at the treasury or before the censor. In which tribe, finally, did you enroll those estates in the census? You have brought it about that, if any more serious juncture had occurred, tribute would have been exacted from those same estates both at Apollonis and at Rome.

Verum esto, gloriosus fuisti, voluisti magnum agri modum censeri, et eius agri qui dividi plebi Romanae non potest. Census es praeterea numeratae pecuniae cxxx. Eam opinor tibi numeratam non esse abs te. Sed haec omitto.

But let it be so: you were glorious; you wanted a great measure of land to be censused, and of that land which cannot be divided to the Roman plebeians. Moreover, you were enrolled in the census for counted cash of 130. I suppose that sum was not counted out by you yourself. But I omit these things.

Census es mancipia Amyntae neque huic ullam in eo fecisti iniuriam. Possidet enim ea mancipia Amyntas. Ac primo quidem pertimuit, cum te audisset servos suos esse censum; rettulit ad iuris consultos.

You entered in the census the mancipia of Amyntas, nor did you do him any injury in this. For Amyntas possesses those mancipia. And at first indeed he was alarmed, when he heard that his own slaves had been recorded by you in the census; he referred it to the jurisconsults.

Constabat inter omnis, si aliena censendo Decianus sua facere posset, eum maxima habiturum esse. . . . [familiam. Responsum est, eius facta non videri.

It was agreed among all that, if by listing another’s goods in the census Decianus could make them his own, he would have the greatest . . . . [household. The answer was given that these are not deemed his acts.

Idem visum est postea Flacco, cum rem cognosceret. Itque decrevit.]

The same seemed afterward to Flaccus, when he came to know the matter. And so he decreed.]

[81] Habetis causam inimicitiarum, qua causa inflammatus Decianus ad Laelium detulerit hanc opimam accusationem. Nam ita questus est Laelius, cum de perfidia Deciani diceret: 'qui mihi auctor fuit, qui causam ad me detulit, quem ego sum secutus, is a Flacco corruptus est, is me deseruit ac prodidit.' Sicine tu auctor tandem eum cui tu in consilio fuisses, apud quem omnis gradus dignitatis tuae retinuisses, pudentissimum hominem, nobilissima familia natum, optime de re publica meritum in discrimen omnium fortunarum vocavisti? Si licet, defendam Decianum, qui tibi in suspicionem nullo suo delicto venit.

[81] You have the cause of the enmities, by which cause inflamed Decianus brought to Laelius this rich accusation. For thus Laelius complained, when he spoke about the perfidy of Decianus: 'He who was my promoter, who brought the case to me, whom I followed, he has been corrupted by Flaccus, he has deserted and betrayed me.' So then you, as promoter, did you at last summon into the peril of all his fortunes the man on whose council you would have sat, before whom you would have retained every step of your dignity, a most modest man, born of a most noble family, one who had served the commonwealth most excellently? If it is permitted, I will defend Decianus, who fell under your suspicion through no fault of his own.

[82] Non est, mihi crede, corruptus. Quid enim fuit quod ab eo redimeretur? ut duceret iudicium?

[82] He is not, believe me, corrupted. For what, indeed, was there that could be bought off from him? that he should draw out the trial?

Cui sex horas omnino lex dedit, quantum tandem ex his horis detraheret, si tibi morem gerere voluisset? Nimirum illud est quod ipse suspicatur. Invidisti ingenio subscriptoris tui; quod ornabat facile locum quem prehenderat, et acute testis interrogabat aut . . . fortasse fecisset ut tu ex populi sermone excideres, idcirco Decianum usque ad coronam applicavisti.

To whom the law gave six hours in all, how much, pray, would he have deducted from these hours, if he had been willing to humor you? Clearly that is what he himself suspects. You envied the ingenuity of your subscriptor; because he easily embellished the position he had taken, and sharply questioned the witnesses, or . . . perhaps he would have brought it about that you would drop out of the people’s talk; therefore you pushed Decianus right up to the ring of bystanders.

Sed, ut hoc haud veri simile est Decianum a Flacco esse corruptum,

But, since this is in no way likely, that Decianus was corrupted by Flaccus,

[83] ita scitote esse cetera, velut quod ait Lucceius, L. Flaccum sibi dare cupisse, ut a fide se abduceret, sestertium viciens. Et eum tu accusas avaritiae quem dicis sestertium viciens voluisse perdere? Nam quid emebat, cum te emebat?

[83] so know that the rest is likewise, as when Lucceius says that L. Flaccus wished to give to him, in order to draw him away from his fidelity, two million sesterces. And do you accuse of avarice the man whom you say wished to lose two million sesterces? For what was he buying, when he was buying you?

ut ad se transires? Quam partem causae tibi daremus? An ut enuntiares consilia Laeli?

so that you might cross over to him? What part of the cause were we to grant to you? Or that you might enunciate Laelius’s counsels?

qui testes ab eo prodirent? Quid? nos non videbamus?

Who would come forward as witnesses on his side? What? Did we not see for ourselves?

Habitare una? Quis hoc nescit? Tabulas in Laeli potestate fuisse?

To dwell together? Who does not know this? That the tablets were in the power of Laelius?

Num dubium est? An ne vehementer, ne copiose accusares? Nunc facis suspicionem; ita enim dixisti ut nescio quid a te impetratum esse videatur.

Is there any doubt? Or was it so that you might not accuse vehemently, not copiously? Now you create suspicion; for you have spoken in such a way that it seems that I-know-not-what has been impetrated from you.

[84] At enim Androni Sextilio gravis iniuria facta est et non ferenda, quod, cum esset eius uxor Valeria intestato mortua, sic egit eam rem Flaccus quasi ad ipsum hereditas pertineret. In quo quid reprehendas scire cupio. Quod falsum intenderit?

[84] But indeed a grave injury, not to be borne, was done to Andro Sextilius, because, when his wife Valeria had died intestate, Flaccus handled that matter as if the inheritance pertained to himself. In this, I desire to know what you reprehend. That he alleged something false?

Qui doces? 'Ingenua,' inquit, 'fuit.' O peritum iuris hominem! Quid?

How do you prove it? "She was freeborn," he says. O man skilled in law! What?

ab ingenuis mulieribus hereditates lege non veniunt? 'In manum,' inquit, 'convenerat.' Nunc audio; sed quaero, usu an coemptione? Vsu non potuit; nihil enim potest de tutela legitima nisi omnium tutorum auctoritate deminui.

Do inheritances by law not come from freeborn women? “She had come into hand,” he says. Now I hear; but I ask, by usus or by coemptio? By usus it could not; for nothing of legitimate tutelage can be diminished except by the authority of all the tutors.

Coemptione? Omnibus ergo auctoribus; in quibus certe Flaccum fuisse non dices.

By coemption? Therefore with all as authorities; among whom, surely, you will not say that Flaccus was.

[85] Relinquitur illud quod vociferari non destitit, non debuisse, cum praetor esset, suum negotium agere aut mentionem facere hereditatis. Maximas audio tibi, L. Luculle, qui de L. Flacco sententiam laturus es, pro tua eximia liberalitate maximisque beneficiis in tuos venisse hereditates, cum Asiam provinciam consulari imperio obtineres. Si quis eas suas esse dixisset, concessisses?

[85] It remains—that point which he did not cease to vociferate—that he ought not, when he was praetor, to transact his own business or to make mention of an inheritance. I hear that very great inheritances came to you, L. Lucullus, who are about to deliver your opinion concerning L. Flaccus, by reason of your exceptional liberality and very great benefactions toward your own, when you were holding the province of Asia with consular imperium. If anyone had said that these were his, would you have conceded?

Tu, T. Vetti, si quae tibi in Africa venerit hereditas, usu amittes, an tuum nulla avaritia salva dignitate retinebis? At istius hereditatis iam Globulo praetore Flacci nomine petita possessio est. Non igitur impressio, non vis, non occasio, non tempus, non imperium, non secures ad iniuriam faciendam Flacci animum impulerunt.

You, T. Vetti, if any inheritance should come to you in Africa, will you lose it by prescription, or will you, with no greed and with your dignity safe, retain what is yours? But possession of that inheritance has already, with Globulus as praetor, been sought in the name of Flaccus. Therefore neither intrusion, nor violence, nor opportunity, nor timing, nor imperium, nor the axes drove Flaccus’s mind to the doing of injury.

[86] Atque eodem etiam M. Lurco, vir optimus, meus familiaris, convertit aculeum testimoni sui; negavit a privato pecuniam in provincia praetorem petere oportere. Cur tandem, M. Lurco, non oportet? Extorquere, accipere contra leges non oportet, petere non oportere numquam ostendes, nisi docueris non licere.

[86] And to the same point even M. Lurco, a most excellent man, my familiar, turned the sting of his testimony; he denied that it was proper for a praetor in his province to seek money from a private person. Why then, M. Lurco, is it not proper? To extort, to receive contrary to the laws, is not proper; that to seek is not proper you will never show, unless you shall have taught that it is not licit.

An legationes sumere liberas exigendi causa, sicut et tu ipse nuper et multi viri boni saepe fecerunt, rectum est, quod ego non reprehendo, socios video queri; praetorem, si hereditatem in provincia non reliquerit, non solum reprehendendum verum etiam condemnandum putas? 'Doti,' inquit, 'Valeria pecuniam omnem suam dixerat.' Nihil istorum explicari potest, nisi ostenderis illam in tutela Flacci non fuisse. Si fuit, quaecumque sine hoc auctore est dicta dos, nulla est.

Or is it that to assume free legations for the sake of exaction, as you yourself lately and many good men have often done, is right—which I do not reprehend—though I see the allies complaining; but you think that a praetor, if he has not left an inheritance in the province, is not only to be blamed but even to be condemned? “For her dowry,” he says, “Valeria had declared all her money.” None of these things can be explained, unless you show that she was not in the tutelage of Flaccus. If she was, whatever dowry was declared without this authorizing guardian is null.

[87] Sed tamen Lurconem, quamquam pro sua dignitate moderatus est in testimonio dicendo orationi suae, tamen iratum Flacco esse vidistis. Neque enim occultavit causam iracundiae suae neque reticendam putavit; questus est libertum suum Flacco praetore esse damnatum. O condiciones miseras administrandarum provinciarum, in quibus diligentia plena simultatum est, neglegentia vituperationum, ubi severitas periculosa est, liberalitas ingrata, sermo insidiosus, adsentatio perniciosa, frons omnium familiaris, multorum animus iratus, iracundiae occultae, blanditiae apertae, venientis praetores exspectant, praesentibus inserviunt, abeuntis deserunt!

[87] But yet you saw that Lurco, although in giving testimony he moderated his speech in accordance with his dignity, was nevertheless angry at Flaccus. For he neither concealed the cause of his irascibility nor thought it to be kept silent; he complained that his freedman had been condemned while Flaccus was praetor. O wretched conditions of administering provinces, in which diligence is full of enmities, negligence of censures; where severity is dangerous, liberality ungrateful, speech insidious, assentation pernicious; the countenance of all is familiar, the spirit of many angry; angers concealed, blandishments open; they await praetors as they are coming, they serve those present, they desert those departing!

Sed omittamus querelas, ne nostrum consilium in praetermittendis provinciis laudare videamur.

But let us omit complaints, lest we seem to be praising our policy in passing over provinces.

[88] Litteras misit de vilico P. Septimi, hominis ornati, qui vilicus caedem fecerat; Septimium ardentem iracundia videre potuistis. In Lurconis libertum iudicium ex edicto dedit; hostis est Lurco. Quid igitur?

[88] He sent letters about the estate‑manager of P. Septimius, a distinguished man, which estate‑manager had committed a slaying; you could see Septimius blazing with anger. He granted an action ex edicto against Lurco’s freedman; he is an enemy to Lurco. What then?

hominum gratiosorum splendidorumque libertis fuit Asia tradenda? an simultates nescio quas cum libertis vestris Flaccus exercet? an vobis in vestris vestrorumque causis severitas odio est, eandem laudatis, cum de nobis iudicatis?

was Asia to be handed over to the freedmen of influential and splendid men? or is Flaccus exercising I-know-not-what feuds with your freedmen? or is severity hateful to you in your own causes and those of your people, yet you praise the same when you judge concerning us?

At iste Andro spoliatus bonis, ut dicitis, ad dicendum testimonium non venit.

But that man, despoiled of his goods at Andros, as you say, did not come to give testimony.

[89] Quid si veniat? Decisionis arbiter C. Caecilius fuit, quo splendore vir, qua fide, qua religione! obsignator C. Sextilius, Lurconis sororis filius, homo et pudens et constans et gravis.

[89] What if he should come? The arbiter of the decision was Gaius Caecilius—what a man of splendor, of what good faith, of what religion (scrupulous conscientiousness)! The sealer was Gaius Sextilius, the son of Lurco’s sister, a man both modest and constant and grave.

Si vis erat, si fraus, si metus, si circumscriptio, quis pactionem fieri, quis adesse istos coegit? Quid? si ista omnis pecunia huic adulescentulo L. Flacco reddita est, si petita, si redacta per hunc Antiochum, paternum huius adulescentis libertum seni illi Flacco probatissimum, videmurne non solum avaritiae crimen effugere sed etiam liberalitatis laudem adsequi singularem?

If there was force, if fraud, if fear, if circumvention, who compelled that the pact be made, who compelled those men to be present? What then? If all that money was returned to this young man L. Flaccus, if it was demanded, if it was brought back through this Antiochus, the father’s freedman of this young man, most approved by that elder Flaccus, do we seem not only to escape the charge of avarice but also to attain a singular praise of liberality?

Communem enim hereditatem, quae aequaliter ad utrumque lege venisset, concessit adulescenti propinquo suo, nihil ipse attigit de Valerianis bonis. Quod statuerat facere adductus huius pudore et non amplissimis patrimoni copiis, id non solum fecit sed etiam prolixe cumulateque fecit. Ex quo intellegi debet eum contra leges pecunias non cepisse qui tam fuerit in hereditate concedenda liberalis.

For he granted the common inheritance, which by law had come equally to each, to the young man, his kinsman, and he himself touched nothing of the Valerian estate. What he had resolved to do, led by this man’s modesty and by the not very ample resources of his patrimony, that he not only did, but did it generously and in overflowing measure. From which it ought to be understood that he did not take monies against the laws, since he was so liberal in conceding the inheritance.

[90] At Falcidianum crimen est ingens; talenta quinquaginta se Flacco dicit dedisse. Audiamus hominem. Non adest.

[90] But the Falcidian charge is immense; he says that he gave fifty talents to Flaccus. Let us hear the man. He is not present.

Quo modo igitur dicit? Epistulam mater eius profert et alteram soror; scriptum ad se dicunt esse ab illo tantam pecuniam Flacco datam. Ergo is cui, si aram tenens iuraret, crederet nemo, per epistulam quod volet iniuratus probabit?

How, then, does he assert it? His mother produces an epistle, and his sister another; they say that it is written to them by him that so great a sum of money was given to Flaccus. Therefore, is he—whom, if he should swear while grasping the altar, no one would believe—going to prove, by an epistle, unsworn, whatever he pleases?

At qui vir! quam non amicus suis civibus! qui patrimonium satis lautum, quod hic nobiscum conficere potuit, Graecorum conviviis maluit dissipare.

But what a man! how no friend to his fellow citizens! who preferred to dissipate on Greek convivial banquets a patrimony quite sumptuous, which he could have amassed here with us.

[91] Quid attinuit relinquere hanc urbem, libertate tam praeclara carere, adire periculum navigandi? quasi bona comesse Romae non liceret. Nunc denique materculae suae festivus filius, aniculae minime suspiciosae, purgat se per epistulam, ut eam pecuniam quacum traiecerat non consumpsisse, sed Flacco dedisse videatur.

[91] What was the point of leaving this city, to be deprived of so illustrious a liberty, to enter upon the peril of navigation? as though it were not permitted to consume his goods at Rome. Now at last, to his dear little mother, the jaunty son, a little old woman by no means suspicious, purges himself by an epistle, so that he may seem not to have consumed that money with which he had crossed over, but to have given it to Flaccus.

At fructus isti Trallianorum Globulo praetore venierant; Falcidius emerat HS nongentis milibus. Si dat tantam pecuniam Flacco, nempe idcirco dat ut rata sit emptio. Emit igitur aliquid quod certe multo pluris esset; dat de lucro, nihil detrahit de vivo.

But those revenues of the Trallians had been sold under Praetor Globulus; Falcidius had bought them for 900,000 sesterces. If he gives so great a sum to Flaccus, surely he gives it so that the purchase may be ratified. Therefore he buys something which assuredly would be worth much more; he gives out of profit, he subtracts nothing from the principal.

[92] Cur Albanum venire iubet, cur matri praeterea blanditur, cur epistulis et sororis et matris imbecillitatem aucupatur, postremo cur non audimus ipsum? Retinetur, credo, in provincia. Mater negat.

[92] Why does he order Albanus to come, why moreover does he blandish the mother, why by epistles does he angle for the weakness (imbecility) of both sister and mother, finally why do we not hear the man himself? He is being retained, I suppose, in the province. The mother denies it.

'Venisset,' inquit, 'si esset denuntiatum.' Tu certe coegisses, si ullum firmamentum in illo teste posuisses; sed hominem a negotio abducere noluisti. Magnum erat ei certamen propositum, magna cum Graecis contentio; qui tamen, ut opinor, iacent victi. Nam iste unus totam Asiam magnitudine poculorum bibendoque superavit.

'He would have come,' he says, 'if notice had been given.' You certainly would have compelled him, if you had placed any reliance on that witness; but you were unwilling to draw the man away from his business. A great contest had been set before him, a great contention with the Greeks; who, however, as I suppose, lie vanquished. For that fellow alone has surpassed all Asia by the magnitude of his cups and by his drinking.

Sed tamen quis tibi, Laeli, de epistulis istis indicavit? Mulieres negant se scire qui sit. Ipse igitur ille tibi se ad matrem et sororem scripsisse narravit?

But nevertheless, who indicated to you, Laelius, about those epistles? The women deny that they know who he is. Did he himself, then, relate to you that he had written to his mother and sister?

[93] An etiam scripsit oratu tuo? At vero M. Aebutium, constantissimum et pudentissimum hominem, Falcidi adfinem, nihil interrogas, nihil eius generum pari fide praeditum, C. Manilium? qui profecto de tanta pecunia, si esset data, nihil audisse non possent.

[93] Or did he even write at your entreaty? But indeed you ask nothing of Marcus Aebutius, a most steadfast and most modest man, a relative by marriage of Falcidius; nothing of his son-in-law, endowed with equal faith, Gaius Manilius—who assuredly, concerning so great a sum of money, if it had been given, could not possibly have heard nothing.

His tu igitur epistulis, Deciane, recitatis, his mulierculis productis, illo absente auctore laudato tantum te crimen probaturum putasti, praesertim cum ipse non deducendo Falcidium iudicium feceris plus falsam epistulam habituram ponderis quam ipsius praesentis fictam vocem et simulatum dolorem?

So then, with these epistles, Decianus, having been read aloud, with these womenfolk produced, with that man absent, the author lauded, did you think you would by this alone prove the charge, especially since you yourself, by not bringing Falcidius into court, have rendered the judgment that a false epistle would have more weight than his own feigned voice and simulated grief when present?

[94] Sed quid ego de epistulis Falcidi aut de Androne Sextilio aut de Deciani censu tam diu disputo, de salute omnium nostrum, de fortunis civitatis, de summa re publica taceo? quam vos universam in hoc iudicio vestris, inquam, umeris, iudices, sustinetis. Videtis quo in motu temporum, quanta in conversione rerum ac perturbatione versemur.

[94] But why am I for so long disputing about the epistles of Falcidius, or about Andron Sextilius, or about the census of Decianus, while I am silent about the safety of all of us, about the fortunes of the state, about the supreme commonwealth? the whole of which, in this judgment, you,, I say, shoulders, judges, are sustaining. You see in what motion of the times, in how great a conversion of affairs and perturbation we are involved.

Cum alia multa certi homines, tum hoc vel maxime moliuntur ut vestrae quoque mentes, vestra iudicia, vestrae sententiae optimo cuique infestissimae atque inimicissimae reperiantur. Gravia iudicia pro rei publicae dignitate multa de coniuratorum scelere fecistis. Non putant satis conversam rem publicam, nisi in eandem impiorum poenam optime meritos civis detruserint.

While certain men, among many other things, are especially contriving this: that your minds too, your judgments, your sentences be found most hostile and most inimical to every best man. You have rendered many grave judgments, in keeping with the dignity of the republic, about the crime of the conspirators. They do not think the republic sufficiently turned upside down, unless they have thrust down into the same punishment of the impious those citizens who have deserved best.

[95] Oppressus est C. Antonius. Esto; habuit quandam ille infamiam suam; neque tamen ille ipse, pro meo iure dico, vobis iudicibus damnatus esset, cuius damnatione sepulcrum L. Catilinae floribus ornatum hominum audacissimorum ac domesticorum hostium conventu epulisque celebratum est. Iusta Catilinae facta sunt; nunc a Flacco Lentuli poenae per vos expetuntur.

[95] Gaius Antonius has been put down. So be it; he did have a certain disgrace of his own; and yet he himself—by my right I say it—would not have been condemned by you, the judges, by whose condemnation the sepulcher of Lucius Catiline, adorned with flowers, was celebrated with the convocation and banquets of the most audacious men and of domestic enemies. The funeral rites for Catiline have been performed; now from Flaccus the penalties of Lentulus are sought through you.

Quam potestis P. Lentulo, qui vos in complexu liberorum coniugumque vestrarum trucidatos incendio patriae sepelire conatus est, mactare victimam gratiorem quam si L. Flacci sanguine illius nefarium in vos omnis odium saturaveritis?

What more pleasing victim can you sacrifice to P. Lentulus, who tried to bury you—butchered in the embrace of your children and your wives—beneath the conflagration of the fatherland, than if you were to satiate his entire nefarious hatred against you all with the blood of L. Flaccus?

[96] Litemus igitur Lentulo, parentemus Cethego, revocemus eiectos; nimiae pietatis et summi amoris in patriam vicissim nos poenas, si ita placet, sufferamus. Nos iam ab indicibus nominamur, in nos crimina finguntur, nobis pericula comparantur. Quae si per alios agerent, si denique per populi nomen civium imperitorum multitudinem concitassent, aequiore animo ferre possemus; illud vero ferri non potest, quod per senatores et per equites Romanos, qui haec omnia pro salute omnium communi consilio, una mente atque virtute gesserunt, harum rerum auctores, duces, principes spoliari omnibus fortunis atque civitate expelli posse arbitrantur.

[96] Let us then propitiate Lentulus, let us parentate to Cethegus, let us recall the ejected; let us in turn, if so it pleases, suffer the penalties of excessive pietas and the highest love toward the fatherland. We are already named by informers, charges are being fabricated against us, dangers are being prepared for us. If these things were being carried on through others, if finally under the name of the people they had stirred up the multitude of unskilled citizens, we could bear it with a more even mind; but this indeed cannot be borne: that through senators and through Roman equites—who have carried on all these things for the safety of all, by common counsel, with one mind and with courage—they think that the authors, leaders, chiefs of these affairs can be despoiled of all fortunes and expelled from citizenship.

Etenim populi Romani perspiciunt eandem mentem et voluntatem; omnibus rebus quibus potest populus Romanus significat quid sentiat; nulla varietas est inter homines opinionis, nulla voluntatis, nulla sermonis.

For indeed the Romans perceive the same mind and will; by every means by which it can the Roman people signifies what it feels; there is no variety among men of opinion, none of will, none of speech.

[97] Qua re, si quis illuc me vocat, venio; populum Romanum disceptatorem non modo non recuso sed etiam deposco. Vis absit, ferrum ac lapides removeantur, operae facessant, servitia sileant; nemo erit tam iniustus qui me audierit, sit modo liber et civis, quin potius de praemiis meis quam de poena cogitandum putet.

[97] Wherefore, if anyone calls me thither, I come; the Roman people as arbitrator I not only do not refuse, but even demand. Let violence be absent, let steel and stones be removed, let the hired bands make off, let the slave-ranks be silent; there will be no one so unjust who, if he has heard me—only let him be free and a citizen—will not think that rather there must be consideration of my rewards than of punishment.

O di immortales! quid hoc miserius? Nos qui P. Lentulo ferrum et flammam de manibus extorsimus, imperitae multitudinis iudicio confidimus, lectissimorum civium et amplissimorum sententias pertimescimus!

O immortal gods! What is more wretched than this? We—who wrenched iron and flame from the hands of P. Lentulus—trust in the judgment of an unskilled multitude, and we are terrified at the opinions of the most select and most illustrious citizens!

[98] M'. Aquilium patres nostri multis avaritiae criminibus testimoniisque convictum, quia cum fugitivis fortiter bellum gesserat, iudicio liberaverunt. Consul ego nuper defendi C. Pisonem; qui, quia consul fortis constansque fuerat, incolumis est rei publicae conservatus. Defendi item consul L. Murenam, consulem designatum.

[98] Our fathers, because he had waged war bravely with the fugitives, by judgment acquitted M'. Aquilius, though convicted by many charges and testimonies of avarice. I, as consul, lately defended C. Piso; who, because he had been a brave and constant consul, was preserved unharmed for the republic. I likewise, as consul, defended L. Murena, consul-designate.

Nemo illorum iudicum clarissimis viris accusantibus audiendum sibi de ambitu putavit, cum bellum iam gerente Catilina omnes me auctore duos consules Kalendis Ianuariis scirent esse oportere. Innocens et bonus vir et omnibus rebus ornatus bis hoc anno me defendente absolutus est, A. Thermus. Quanta rei publicae causa laetitia populi Romani, quanta gratulatio consecuta est!

Nobody among those judges, with most illustrious men accusing, thought that he ought to be heard by them on a charge of ambitus, since, with Catiline already waging war, everyone, at my urging, knew that there ought to be two consuls on January 1. An innocent and good man, adorned with every qualification, was acquitted twice this year with me defending—A. Thermus. What joy of the Roman people for the sake of the republic, what congratulations ensued!

Semper graves et sapientes iudices in rebus iudicandis quid utilitas civitatis, quid communis salus, quid rei publicae tempora poscerent, cogitaverunt.

Grave and wise judges have always, in adjudicating matters, considered what the utility of the state, what the common safety, what the times of the Republic required.

[99] Cum tabella vobis dabitur, iudices, non de Flacco dabitur solum, dabitur de ducibus auctoribusque conservandae civitatis, dabitur de omnibus bonis civibus, dabitur de vobismet ipsis, dabitur de liberis vestris, de vita, de patria, de salute communi. Non iudicatis in hac causa de exteris nationibus, non de sociis; de vobis atque de vestra re publica iudicatis.

[99] When the ballot-tablet is handed to you, judges, it will not be handed concerning Flaccus alone; it will be handed concerning the leaders and authors of preserving the state, it will be handed concerning all good citizens, it will be handed concerning your very selves, concerning your children, your life, your fatherland, the common safety. You are not judging in this case concerning foreign nations, nor concerning allies; you are judging concerning yourselves and your own republic.

[100] Quod si provinciarum vos ratio magis movet quam vestra, ego vero non modo non recuso sed etiam postulo ut provinciarum auctoritate moveamini. Etenim opponemus Asiae provinciae primum magnam partem eiusdem provinciae quae pro huius periculis legatos laudatoresque misit, deinde provinciam Galliam, provinciam Ciliciam, Hispaniam, provinciam Cretam; Graecis autem Lydis et Phrygibus et Mysis obsistent Massilienses, Rhodii, Lacedaemonii, Athenienses, cuncta Achaia, Thessalia, Boeotia; Septimio et Caelio testibus P. Servilius et Q. Metellus huius pudoris integritatisque testes repugnabunt; Asiaticae iuris dictioni urbana iuris dictio respondebit; annui temporis criminationem omnis aetas L. Flacci et perpetua vita defendet.

[100] But if the reckoning of the provinces moves you more than your own, I for my part not only do not refuse but even demand that you be moved by the authority of the provinces. For we will set against the province of Asia, first, a great part of that same province which, in this man’s dangers, sent envoys and laudators; then the province of Gaul, the province of Cilicia, the of Spain, the province of Crete; but to the Greeks—the Lydians and Phrygians and Mysians—there will stand opposed the Massilienses, the Rhodians, the Lacedaemonians, the Athenians, all Achaia, Thessaly, Boeotia; to Septimius and Caelius as witnesses, P. Servilius and Q. Metellus—witnesses of this man’s modesty and integrity—will make resistance; to the Asiatic iuris dictio the urban iuris dictio will respond; the crimination of a year’s time the whole age of L. Flaccus and his entire life will defend.

[101] Et, si prodesse L. Flacco, iudices, debet, quod se tribunum militum, quod quaestorem, quod legatum imperatoribus clarissimis, exercitibus ornatissimis, provinciis gravissimis dignum suis maioribus praestitit, prosit quod hic vobis videntibus in periculis communibus omnium nostrum sua pericula cum meis coniunxit, prosint honestissimorum municipiorum coloniarumque laudationes, prosit etiam senatus populique Romani praeclara et vera laudatio.

[101] And, if it ought to profit L. Flaccus, judges, that he has shown himself worthy of his ancestors as a military tribune, as quaestor, as legate to the most illustrious commanders, with the most decorated armies, in the most weighty provinces, let it profit that this man, with you looking on, in the common dangers of us all, joined his own dangers with mine; let the commendations of the most honorable municipalities and colonies be of benefit; let also the splendid and true commendation of the Senate and People of Rome be of benefit.

[102] O nox illa quae paene aeternas huic urbi tenebras attulisti, cum Galli ad bellum, Catilina ad urbem, coniurati ad ferrum et flammam vocabantur, cum ego te, Flacce, caelum noctemque contestans flens flentem obtestabar, cum tuae fidei optimae et spectatissimae salutem urbis et civium commendabam! Tu tum, Flacce, praetor communis exiti nuntios cepisti, tu inclusam in litteris rei publicae pestem deprehendisti, tu periculorum indicia, tu salutis auxilia ad me et ad senatum attulisti. Quae tibi tum gratiae sunt a me actae, quae ab senatu, quae a bonis omnibus!

[102] O that night which almost brought eternal darkness to this city, when the Gauls were being summoned to war, Catiline to the city, the conspirators to steel and flame, when I, Flaccus, calling heaven and night to witness, weeping, adjured you weeping, when I commended to your most excellent and most thoroughly tested fidelity the safety of the city and of the citizens! You then, Flaccus, as praetor, seized the dispatches of common destruction, you discovered the pest of the republic enclosed in letters, you brought to me and to the senate the indications of dangers, the aids of safety. What thanks then were rendered to you by me, by the senate, by all good men!

Quis tibi, quis C. Pomptino, fortissimo viro, quemquam bonum putaret umquam non salutem verum honorem ullum denegaturum? O Nonae illae Decembres quae me consule fuistis! quem ego diem vere natalem huius urbis aut certe salutarem appellare possum.

Who would think that to you, to Gaius Pomptinus, a most brave man, any good man would ever deny—not safety, but any honor at all? O those Nones of December, you that fell in my consulship! which day I can truly call the birthday of this city, or at any rate its day of deliverance.

[103] O nox illa quam iste est dies consecutus, fausta huic urbi, miserum me, metuo ne funesta nobis! Qui tum animus L. Flacci—nihil dicam enim de me—qui amor in patriam, quae virtus, quae gravitas exstitit! Sed quid ea commemoro quae tum cum agebantur uno consensu omnium, una voce populi Romani, uno orbis terrae testimonio in caelum laudibus efferebantur, nunc vereor ne non modo non prosint verum etiam aliquid obsint?

[103] O that night which this day followed, auspicious to this city—wretched me, I fear lest it be baleful for us! What spirit then of L. Flaccus—for I will say nothing of myself—what love for the fatherland, what virtue, what gravity stood forth! But why do I commemorate those things which then, when they were being done, were being carried to the sky with praises by the one consent of all, by the one voice of the Roman people, by the single testimony of the whole world, now I fear lest they not only be of no use but even be somewhat harmful?

Etenim multo acriorem improborum interdum memoriam esse sentio quam bonorum. Ego te, si quid gravius acciderit, ego te, inquam, Flacce, prodidero. <O> mea dextera illa, mea fides, mea promissa, cum te, si rem publicam conservaremus, omnium bonorum praesidio quoad viveres non modo munitum sed etiam ornatum fore pollicebar.

For indeed I perceive that at times the memory of the wicked is much sharper than that of the good. I—you, if anything more grievous should befall—I, I say, Flaccus, will have betrayed you. that right hand of mine, my good faith, my promises, when I was promising that you, if we should preserve the republic, would be not only fortified but even adorned by the protection of all good men so long as you lived.

Putavi, speravi, etiam si honos noster vobis vilior fuisset, salutem certe caram futuram.

I thought, I hoped, that even if our honor had been of less value to you, at least safety would be dear.

[104] Ac L. Flaccum quidem, iudices, si, quod di immortales omen avertant, gravis iniuria adflixerit, numquam tamen prospexisse vestrae saluti, consuluisse vobis, liberis, coniugibus, fortunis vestris paenitebit; semper ita sentiet, talem se animum et generis dignitati et pietati suae et patriae debuisse; vos ne paeniteat tali civi non pepercisse, per deos immortalis, iudices, providete. Quotus enim quisque est qui hanc in re publica sectam sequatur, qui vobis, qui vestri similibus placere cupiat, qui optimi atque amplissimi cuiusque hominis atque ordinis auctoritatem magni putet, illam viam sibi videant expeditiorem ad honores et ad omnia quae concupiverunt?

[104] And as for L. Flaccus, judges, if—may the immortal gods avert the omen—a grievous injury should afflict him, yet he will never regret having looked out for your safety, having taken counsel for you, your children, your spouses, your fortunes; he will always feel thus, that he owed such a spirit both to the dignity of his lineage and to his own piety and to his fatherland; see to it, by the immortal gods, judges, that you do not repent of having not spared such a citizen. For how few indeed are there who follow this sect in the commonwealth, who desire to please you, to please those like you, who reckon highly the authority of every most excellent and most ample man and order, when they see that that path is more expeditious for themselves to honors and to all the things they have coveted?

Sed cetera sint eorum; sibi habeant potentiam, sibi honores, sibi ceterorum commodorum summas facultates; liceat eis qui haec salva esse voluerunt ipsis esse salvis.

But let the rest be theirs; let them have for themselves power, for themselves honors, for themselves the highest resources of the other benefits; let it be permitted that those who wished these things to be safe be themselves safe.

[105] Nolite, iudices, existimare eos quibus integrum est, qui nondum ad honores accesserunt, non exspectare huius exitum iudici. Si L. Flacco tantus amor in bonos omnis, tantum in rem publicam studium calamitati fuerit, quem posthac tam amentem fore putatis qui non illam viam vitae quam ante praecipitem et lubricam esse ducebat huic planae et stabili praeponendam esse arbitretur? Quod si talium civium vos, iudices, taedet, ostendite; mutabunt sententiam qui potuerint; constituent quid agant quibus integrum est; nos qui iam progressi sumus hunc exitum nostrae temeritatis feremus.

[105] Do not, judges, suppose that those for whom things are still intact, who have not yet approached honors, are not awaiting the outcome of this trial. If for L. Flaccus so great a love toward all good men, so great a zeal for the commonwealth shall have proved a calamity, whom do you think hereafter will be so insane as not to judge that that way of life which before he deemed headlong and slippery ought to be preferred to this level and stable one? But if you, judges, are weary of such citizens, show it; those who can will change their mind; those for whom the matter is still intact will determine what they shall do; we who have already advanced will bear this outcome of our rashness.

Sin hoc animo quam plurimos esse voltis, declarabitis hoc iudicio quid sentiatis.

But if you wish as many as possible to be of this mind, you will declare by this judgment what your sentiment is.

[106] Huic, huic misero puero vestro ac liberorum vestrorum supplici, iudices, hoc iudicio vivendi praecepta dabitis. Cui si patrem conservatis, qualis ipse debeat esse civis praescribetis; si eripitis, ostendetis bonae rationi et constanti et gravi nullum a vobis fructum esse propositum. Qui vos, quoniam est id aetatis ut sensum iam percipere possit ex maerore patrio, auxilium nondum patri ferre possit, orat ne suum luctum patris lacrimis, patris maerorem suo fletu augeatis; qui etiam me intuetur, me voltu appellat, meam quodam modo flens fidem implorat ac repetit eam quam ego patri suo quondam pro salute patriae spoponderim dignitatem.

[106] To this, to this wretched boy of yours and suppliant of your children, judges, by this judgment you will give precepts for living. For whom, if you preserve his father, you will prescribe what sort of citizen he himself ought to be; if you snatch him away, you will show that for good reason and for the constant and the grave no fruit has been set forth by you. He, since he is of such an age that he can already perceive feeling from a father’s sorrow yet cannot as yet bring help to his father, begs you not to increase his own mourning by his father’s tears, nor his father’s grief by his own weeping; he even looks at me, addresses me with his countenance, in some manner weeping implores my good faith and demands back that dignity which I once pledged to his father for the safety of the fatherland.

Miseremini familiae, iudices, miseremini fortissimi patris, miseremini fili; nomen clarissimum et fortissimum vel generis vel vetustatis vel hominis causa rei publicae reservate.

Have pity on the family, judges, have pity on the most valiant father, have pity on the son; reserve for the republic the most illustrious and most valiant name, for the sake either of the lineage or of antiquity or of the man.

FRAGMENTA

FRAGMENTS

Arusianus Messius GL [7.458K [fr1]: quam benivolum hunc populo Romano, quam fidelem putatis?

Arusianus Messius GL [7.458K [fr1]: how benevolent do you consider this man to the Roman People, how faithful?

Hieron. Ep. [10.3] [fr2]: ingenita levitas et erudita vanitas.

Hieron. Ep. [10.3] [fr2]: innate levity and erudite vanity.