Cicero: ORATORIA

[1] Quod precatus a Iove Optimo Maximo ceterisque dis immortalibus sum, Quirites, eo tempore, cum me fortunasque meas pro vestra incolumitate, otio concordiaque devovi, ut, si meas rationes umquam vestrae saluti anteposuissem, sempiternam poenam sustinerem mea voluntate susceptam, sin et ea, quae ante gesseram, conservandae civitatis causa gessissem et illam miseram profectionem vestrae salutis gratia suscepissem, ut, quod odium scelerati homines et audaces in rem publicam et in omnes bonos conceptum iam diu continerent, id in me uno potius quam in optimo quoque et universa civitate defigerent,—hoc si animo in vos liberosque vestros fuissem, ut aliquando vos patresque conscriptos Italiamque universam memoria mei misericordiaque desiderium teneret, eius devotionis me esse convictum iudicio deorum immortalium, testimonio senatus, consensu Italiae, confessione inimicorum, beneficio divino immortalique vestro maxime laetor.

[1] That which I prayed from Jupiter Best and Greatest and the other immortal gods, Quirites, at that time when I devoted myself and my fortunes for your safety, leisure, and concord, namely that, if I had ever put my own interests before your salvation, I should endure a sempiternal penalty, undertaken by my own will; but if both the things which I had previously done I had done for the sake of preserving the state, and that wretched departure I had undertaken for the sake of your safety, that the hatred which criminal and audacious men had long kept conceived against the commonwealth and all good men they should fasten upon me alone rather than upon every best man and the whole state,—this, if I had been with this spirit toward you and your children, that at some time you, the Conscript Fathers, and all Italy would hold the memory of me and, through compassion, a longing —that of this devotion I am proved by the judgment of the immortal gods, by the testimony of the senate, by the consensus of Italy, by the confession of my enemies, by your divine and immortal beneficence, I most greatly rejoice.

[2] Qua re, etsi nihil est homini magis optandum quam prospera, aequabilis perpetuaque fortuna secundo vitae sine ulla offensione cursu, tamen, si mihi tranquilla et placata omnia fuissent, incredibili quadam et paene divina, qua nunc vestro beneficio fruor, laetitiae voluptate caruissem. quid dulcius hominum generi ab natura datum est quam sui cuique liberi? mihi vero et propter indulgentiam meam et propter excellens eorum ingenium vita sunt mea cariores.

[2] Wherefore, although nothing is more to be wished for a man than a prosperous, equable, and perpetual fortune, with life’s course favorable without any offense, nevertheless, if all things had been tranquil and appeased for me, I would have lacked a certain incredible and almost divine delight of joy, which I now enjoy by your beneficence. What sweeter thing has been given by nature to the race of men than each one’s own children? To me indeed, both on account of my indulgence and on account of their excellent genius, they are dearer than my life.

tamen non tantae voluptati erant suscepti, quantae nunc sunt restituti.

nevertheless, they were not for so great a delight when they were taken up, as they now are restored.

[3] Nihil cuiquam fuit umquam iucundius quam mihi meus frater; non tam id sentiebam, cum fruebar, quam tum, cum carebam, et postea quam vos me illi et mihi eum reddidistis. res familiaris sua quemque delectat; reliquae meae fortunae reciperatae plus mihi nunc voluptatis adferunt, quam tum incolumes adferebant. amicitiae, consuetudines, vicinitates, clientelae, ludi denique et dies festi quid haberent voluptatis, carendo magis intellexi quam fruendo.

[3] Nothing was ever more pleasant to anyone than my brother was to me; I did not feel that so much when I was enjoying him as then when I was lacking him, and afterwards when you restored me to him and him to me. One’s own household estate delights each person; the rest of my fortunes, recovered, now bring me more pleasure than they brought then when intact. Friendships, consuetudes, vicinities, clienteles, finally the games and festal days—what pleasure they held, I understood more by doing without than by enjoying.

[4] Iam vero honos, dignitas, locus, ordo, beneficia vestra quamquam mihi semper clarissima visa sunt, tamen ea nunc renovata inlustriora videntur, quam si obscurata non essent. ipsa autem patria, di immortales, dici vix potest, quid caritatis, quid voluptatis habeat; quae species Italiae, quae celebritas oppidorum, quae forma regionum, qui agri, quae fruges, quae pulchritudo urbis, quae humanitas civium, quae rei publicae dignitas, quae vestra maiestas! quibus ego omnibus antea rebus sic fruebar, ut nemo magis.

[4] And now indeed honor, dignity, place, rank, your benefactions—although they have always seemed to me most bright—yet now, renewed, they appear more illustrious than if they had not been obscured. But the fatherland itself, immortal gods, it can scarcely be said how much affection, how much delight it holds; what an aspect of Italy, what celebrity of towns, what form of the regions, what fields, what fruits, what pulchritude of the city, what humanity of the citizens, what dignity of the commonwealth, what majesty is yours! all of which things I used to enjoy before, as much as no one more.

sed tamquam bona valetudo iucundior est iis, qui e gravi morbo recreati sunt, quam qui numquam aegro corpore fuerunt, sic haec omnia desiderata magis quam adsidue percepta delectant.

but just as good health is more pleasant to those who have been restored from a grave sickness than to those who have never been with a sick body, so all these things, desired rather than assiduously experienced, delight more.

[5] Quorsum igitur haec disputo? quorsum? ut intellegere possitis neminem umquam tanta eloquentia fuisse neque tam divino atque incredibili genere dicendi, qui vestram magnitudinem multitudinemque beneficiorum, quam in me fratremque meum et liberos nostros contulistis, non modo augere aut ornare oratione, sed enumerare aut consequi possit.

[5] To what end therefore do I discourse these things? to what end? So that you may understand that no one ever was of such eloquence, nor of so divine and incredible a genus of speaking, who could not only augment or adorn by oration your magnitude and the multitude of benefactions which you have conferred upon me and my brother and our children, but even enumerate them or compass them.

a parentibus, id quod necesse erat, parvus sum procreatus, a vobis natus sum consularis. illi mihi fratrem incognitum, qualis futurus esset, dederunt, vos spectatum et ineredibili pietate cognitum reddidistis. rem publicam illis accepi temporibus eam, quae paene amissa est; a vobis eam reciperavi, quam aliquando omnes unius opera servatam iudicaverunt.

a my parents, as was necessary, I was begotten little; by you I was born a consular. they gave me a brother unknown as to what he would be; you rendered him tested and known for incredible piety. from them, in those times, I received the commonwealth, that which was almost lost; by you I recovered it, which at one time all judged to have been saved by the work of one man.

di immortales mihi liberos dederunt, vos reddidistis. multa praeterea a dis immortalibus optata consecuti sumus; nisi vestra voluntas fuisset, omnibus divinis muneribus careremus. vestros denique honores, quos eramus gradatim singulos adsecuti, nunc a vobis universos habemus, ut, quantum antea parentibus, quantum dis immortalibus, quantum vobismet ipsis, tantum hoc tempore universum cuncto populo Romano debeamus.

the immortal gods gave me children; you restored them. many things besides, desired from the immortal gods, we have attained; had it not been for your will, we would have lacked all divine gifts. your honors, finally, which we had been attaining singly and step by step, now we have from you in their entirety, so that, as much as previously to our parents, as much to the immortal gods, as much to you yourselves, so much at this time in the aggregate we owe to the whole Roman people.

[6] Nam cum in ipso beneficio vestro tanta magnitudo est, ut eam complecti oratione non possim, tum in studiis vestris tanta animorum declarata est voluntas, ut non solum calamitatem mihi detraxisse, sed etiam dignitatem auxisse videamini. non enim pro meo reditu, ut pro P. Popili, nobilissimi hominis, adulescentes filii et multi praeterea cognati atque adfines deprecati sunt, non, ut pro Q. Metello, clarissimo viro, iam spectata aetate filius, non L. Diadematus consularis, summa auctoritate vir, non C. Metellus censorius, non eorum liberi, non Q. Metellus Nepos, qui tum consulatum petebat, non sororum filii, Luculli, Servilii, Scipiones; permulti enim tum Metelli aut Metellarum liberi pro Q. Metelli reditu vobis ac patribus vestris supplicaverunt. quod si ipsius summa dignitas maximaeque res gestae non satis valerent, tamen filii pietas, propinquorum preces, adulescentium squalor, maiorum natu lacrimae populum Romanum movere potuerunt.

[6] For since in your very beneficence there is such magnitude that I cannot encompass it with oration, so too in your studies such a will of spirit has been declared that you seem not only to have taken calamity away from me, but even to have augmented my dignity. For not, for my return, as for P. Popilius, a most noble man, did youthful sons and many moreover kinsmen and affines intercede, nor, as for Q. Metellus, a most illustrious man, did a son already of tried age, nor L. Diadematus, a consular, a man of highest authority, nor C. Metellus, Censor, nor their children, nor Q. Metellus Nepos, who then was seeking the consulship, nor the sons of their sisters, the Luculli, the Servilii, the Scipios; for very many then of the Metelli or the children of the Metellae supplicated you and your fathers for the return of Q. Metellus. And if his own highest dignity and greatest achievements were not strong enough, nevertheless a son’s pietas, the prayers of kinsmen, the squalor of the adolescents, the tears of those older in years were able to move the Roman people.

[7] Nam C. Mari, qui post illos veteres clarissimos consulares hac vestra patrumque memoria tertius ante me consularis subiit indignissimam fortunam praestantissima sua gloria, dissimilis fuit ratio; non enim ille deprecatione rediit, sed in discessu civium exercitu se armisque revocavit. at me nudum a propinquis, nulla cognatione munitum, nullo armorum ac tumultus metu, C. Pisonis, generi mei, divina quaedam et inaudita auctoritas atque virtus fratrisque miserrimi atque optimi cotidianae lacrimae sordesque lugubres a vobis deprecatae sunt.

[7] For as to Gaius Marius, who, after those ancient most illustrious consulars, in this memory of yours and of your fathers, as the third consular before me, underwent a most undeserved fortune despite his most preeminent glory, the case was dissimilar; for he did not return by deprecation (intercession), but, when the citizens withdrew, he recalled himself by an army and by arms. But me—stripped of kinsfolk, fortified by no kinship, with no fear of arms or tumult—there were, of Gaius Piso, my son-in-law, a certain godlike and unheard-of authority and virtue, and my most wretched and best brother’s daily tears and mourning squalor, which won me back from you by entreaty.

[8] Frater erat unus, qui suo squalore vestros oculos inflecteret, qui suo fletu desiderium mei memoriamque renovaret; qui statuerat, Quirites, si vos me sibi non reddidissetis, eandem subire fortunam. tanto in me amore exstitit, ut negaret fas esse non modo domicilio, sed ne sepulcro quidem se a me esse seiunctum. pro me praesente senatus hominumque praeterea viginti milia vestem mutaverunt, pro eodem absente unius squalorem sordesque vidistis.

[8] There was one brother, who by his own squalor would incline your eyes, who by his weeping would renew the longing and memory of me; who had resolved, Quirites, that, if you did not restore me to himself, he would undergo the same fortune. So great a love toward me stood forth, that he declared it was not fas—permissible—that he be separated from me not only in domicile, but not even in sepulcher. On behalf of me present, the Senate and, besides, 20,000 men changed their dress; on behalf of that same man absent, you saw the squalor and filth of one.

unus hic, <qui> quidem in foro posset esse, mihi pietate filius inventus est, beneficio parens, amore idem, qui semper fuit, frater. nam coniugis miserae squalor et luctus atque optimae filiae maeror adsiduus filiique parvi desiderium mei lacrimaeque pueriles aut itineribus necessariis aut magnam partem tectis ac tenebris continebantur. qua re hoc maius est vestrum in nos promeritum, quod non multitudini propinquorum, sed nobismet ipsis nos reddidistis.

one man here, <who> indeed could be in the forum, was found to me a son in dutiful devotion, by beneficence a parent, and in love the same as he always was, a brother. for the squalor and mourning of my wretched wife and the continual sorrow of my most excellent daughter and my little son’s longing for me and childish tears were contained either by necessary journeys or for the most part within roofs and darkness. wherefore this is the greater of your deserts toward us: that you have restored us not to a multitude of kinsfolk, but to our very selves.

[9] Sed quem ad modum propinqui, quos ego parare non potui, mihi ad deprecandam calamitatem meam non fuerunt, sic illud, quod mea virtus praestare debuit, adiutores, auctores hortatoresque ad me restituendum ita multi fuerunt, ut longe superiores omnes hac dignitate copiaque superarem. numquam de P. Popilio, clarissimo ac fortissimo viro, numquam de Q. Metello, nobilissimo et constantissimo cive, numquam de C. Mario, custode civitatis atque imperii vestri, in senatu mentio facta est.

[9] But just as the relatives, whom I was not able to procure, were not there for me to deprecate my calamity, so, in that which my own virtue ought to have furnished, there were so many helpers, authors, and exhorters to restore me that I far outstripped all who had gone before in this dignity and abundance. Never about P. Popilius, a most illustrious and most brave man; never about Q. Metellus, a most noble and most constant citizen; never about C. Marius, the guardian of the state and of your imperium, was mention made in the senate.

[10] Tribuniciis superiores illi rogationibus nulla auctoritate senatus sunt restituti, Marius vero non modo non a senatu, sed etiam oppresso senatu est restitutus, nec rerum gestarum memoria in reditu C. Mari, sed exercitus atque arma valuerunt. at de me ut valeret, semper senatus flagitavit, ut aliquando proficeret, cum primum licuit, frequentia atque auctoritate perfecit. nullus in eorum reditu motus municipiorum et coloniarum factus est, at me in patriam ter suis decretis Italia cuncta revocavit.

[10] Those former men were restored by tribunician rogations, with no authority of the senate; Marius indeed was restored not only not by the senate, but even with the senate oppressed, and in the return of Gaius Marius it was not the memory of deeds that prevailed, but armies and arms. But in my case, that it might have validity, the senate always clamored, and so that it might at last make progress, as soon as it was permitted, by its full attendance and authority it accomplished it. No movement of the municipia and colonies was made at their return; but me to my fatherland all Italy, three times, by its own decrees recalled.

illi inimicis interfectis, magna civium caede facta reducti sunt, ego iis, a quibus eiectus sum, provincias obtinentibus, inimico autem, optimo viro et mitissimo, <consule>, altero consule referente reductus sum, cum is inimicus, qui ad meam perniciem vocem suam communibus hostibus praebuisset, spiritu dumtaxat viveret, re quidem infra omnes mortuos amandatus esset.

They were brought back with their enemies slain, a great slaughter of citizens having been wrought; I, however, was brought back while those by whom I had been ejected were holding provinces, and with an enemy—a most excellent and most gentle man—being consul, the other consul bringing forward the motion, when that enemy who had offered his voice to our common enemies for my perdition lived only in breath, but in reality had been remanded beneath all the dead.

[11] Numquam de P. Popilio L. Opimius, fortissimus consul, numquam de Q. Metello non modo C. Marius, qui erat inimicus, sed ne is quidem, qui secutus est, M. Antonius, homo eloquentissimus, cum A. Albino collega senatum aut populum est cohortatus. at pro me superiores consules semper, ut referrent, flagitati sunt; sed veriti sunt, ne gratiae causa facere viderentur, quod alter mihi adfinis erat, alterius causam capitis receperam; qui provinciarum foedere irretiti totum illum annum querelas senatus, luctum bonorum, Italiae gemitum pertulerunt. kalendis vero Ianuariis postea quam orba res publica consulis fidem tamquam legitimi tutoris imploravit, P. Lentulus consul, parens, deus, salus nostrae vitae, fortunae, memoriae, nominis, simul ac de sollemni deorum religione rettulit, nihil humanarum rerum sibi prius quam de me agendum iudicavit.

[11] Never on behalf of P. Popilius did L. Opimius, a most brave consul, never concerning Q. Metellus did not only C. Marius, who was an enemy, but not even he who followed, M. Antonius, a most eloquent man, with A. Albinus as colleague, exhort the senate or the people. But on behalf of me the previous consuls were always pressed to bring the matter before them; yet they feared lest they seem to do it for the sake of favor, because the one was related to me by marriage, and I had undertaken the capital case of the other; and, ensnared by the compact of the provinces, they endured through that whole year the complaints of the senate, the mourning of the good, the groan of Italy. But on January 1, after the commonwealth, orphaned, implored the good faith of the consul as of a lawful guardian, P. Lentulus the consul, the parent, the god, the salvation of our life, fortune, memory, name, as soon as he reported about the solemn religion of the gods, judged that of human affairs nothing should have priority over dealing with my case.

[12] Atque eo die confecta res esset, nisi is tribunus plebis, quem ego maximis beneficiis quaestorem consul ornaram, cum et cunctus ordo et multi eum summi viri orarent et Cn. Oppius socer, optimus vir, ad pedes flens iaceret, noctemque sibi ad deliberandum postulasset; quae deliberatio non in reddenda, quem ad modum non nulli arbitrabantur, sed, ut patefactum est, in augenda mercede consumpta est. postea res acta est in senatu alia nulla, cum variis rationibus impediretur; sed voluntate tamen perspecta senatus causa ad vos mense Ianuario deferebatur.

[12] And on that day the matter would have been concluded, had not that tribune of the plebs—whom I, as consul, had adorned with the greatest benefactions when he was quaestor—when both the whole Order and many men of the highest rank were entreating him, and Gnaeus Oppius, his father‑in‑law, an excellent man, was lying weeping at his feet, and had demanded a night for deliberation; which deliberation was spent, not on returning a favor, as some supposed, but, as was made plain, on augmenting the price. Afterwards no other business was transacted in the senate, though it was hindered by various contrivances; but, with the will of the senate nevertheless ascertained, the cause was being brought before you in the month of January.

[13] Hic tantum interfuit inter me et inimicos meos: ego, cum homines in tribunali Aurelio palam conscribi centuriarique vidissem, cum intellegerem veteres ad spem caedis Catilinae copias esse revocatas, cum viderem ex ea parte homines, cuius partis nos vel principes numerabamur, partim quod mihi inviderent, partim quod sibi timerent, aut proditores esse aut desertores salutis meae, cum duo consules empti pactione provinciarum auctores se inimicis rei publicae tradidissent, cum egestatem, avaritiam, libidines suas viderent expleri non posse, nisi constrictum domesticis hostibus dedidissent, cum senatus equites Romani flere pro me ac mutata veste vobis supplicare edictis atque imperiis vetarentur, cum omnium provinciarum pactiones, cum omnia cum omnibus foedera reconciliatione gratiarum sanguine meo sancirentur, cum omnes boni non recusarent, quin vel pro me vel mecum perirent, armis decertare pro mea salute nolui, quod et vincere et vinci luctuosum rei publicae fore putavi.

[13] Herein only was there so much difference between me and my enemies: I, when I had seen men being openly enrolled and centuriated at the Aurelian tribunal, when I understood that the old forces of Catiline had been recalled to the hope of slaughter, when I saw that men from that party in which we ourselves were counted even as leaders, partly because they envied me, partly because they feared for themselves, were either traitors to or deserters of my safety, when the two consuls, bought by a bargain for provinces, had delivered themselves as sponsors to the enemies of the commonwealth, when they saw that their indigence, avarice, and lusts could not be filled unless they had handed over bound to domestic enemies, when the senate and the Roman equites were forbidden by edicts and commands to weep for me and, with garment changed, to supplicate you, when the bargains of all the provinces, when all treaties with all men for a reconciliation of favors reconciliation were being sanctioned by my blood, when all good men did not refuse to perish either for me or with me, I was unwilling to contend with arms for my safety, because I thought both to conquer and to be conquered would be mournful for the republic.

[14] At inimici mei, mense Ianuario cum de me ageretur, corporibus civium trucidatis flumine sanguinis meum reditum intercludendum putaverunt.

[14] But my enemies, in the month of January, when the matter concerning me was being handled, with the bodies of citizens butchered, thought that my return should be cut off by a river of blood.

Itaque, dum ego absum, eam rem publicam habuistis, ut aeque me atque illam restituendam putaretis. ego autem, in qua civitate nihil valeret senatus, omnis esset impunitas, nulla iudicia, vis et ferrum in foro versaretur, cum privati parietum se praesidio, non legum tuerentur, tribuni plebis vobis inspectantibus vulnerarentur, ad magistratuum domos cum ferro et facibus iretur, consulis fasces frangerentur, deorum immortalium templa incenderentur, rem publicam esse nullam putavi. itaque neque re publica exterminata mihi locum in hac urbe esse duxi, nec, si illa restitueretur, dubitavi, quin me secum ipsa reduceret.

Therefore, while I was absent, you had such a commonwealth that you thought that I, equally with it, ought to be restored. But I, in a city in which the senate had no power, there was universal impunity, no courts, violence and steel were moving about in the forum, when private citizens were protecting themselves by the defense of walls, not of laws, the tribunes of the plebs were being wounded with you looking on, people were going to the houses of magistrates with iron and torches, the consul’s fasces were being broken, the temples of the immortal gods were being set on fire—I judged that there was no commonwealth. And so, with the commonwealth exterminated, I considered that there was no place for me in this city; nor, if it were restored, did I doubt that it would itself bring me back with itself.

[15] An ego, cum mihi esset exploratissimum P. Lentulum proximo anno consulem futurum, qui illis ipsis rei publicae periculosissimis temporibus aedilis curulis me consule omnium meorum consiliorum particeps periculorumque socius fuisset, dubitarem, quin is me confectum consularibus vulneribus consulari medicina ad salutem reduceret? hoc duce, collega autem eius, clementissimo atque optimo viro, primo non adversante, post etiam adiuvante, reliqui magistratus paene omnes fuerunt defensores salutis meae. ex quibus excellenti animo, virtute, auctoritate, praesidio, copiis T. Annius et P. Sestius praestanti in me benivolentia et divino studio exstiterunt; eodemque P. Lentulo auctore et pariter referente collega frequentissimus senatus uno dissentiente, nullo intercedente dignitatem meam quibus potuit verbis amplissimis ornavit, salutem vobis, municipiis, coloniis omnibus commendavit.

[15] Should I, when it was most clearly ascertained to me that P. Lentulus would be consul in the next year—he who, in those same most perilous times of the commonwealth, as curule aedile while I was consul, had been a participant in all my counsels and a companion in my dangers—should I, I say, doubt that he would bring me, worn out with consular wounds, back to safety by a consular medicine? With this man as leader, and his colleague—a most clement and best man—at first not opposing, afterward even aiding, nearly all the remaining magistrates were defenders of my safety. Among these, T. Annius and P. Sestius stood forth with excellent spirit, virtue, authority, protection, and resources, with outstanding benevolence toward me and a divine zeal; and with the same P. Lentulus as proposer and his colleague likewise reporting the motion, a most crowded senate, with one dissenting and no one interposing a veto, adorned my dignity with the most ample words it could, and commended my safety to you, to the municipia, and to all the colonies.

[16] Ita me nudum a propinquis, nulla cognatione munitum consules, praetores, tribuni plebis, senatus, Italia cuncta semper a vobis deprecata est, denique omnes, qui vestris maximis beneficiis honoribusque sunt ornati, producti ad vos ab eodem non solum ad me conservandum vos cohortati sunt, sed etiam rerum mearum gestarum auctores, testes, laudatores fuerunt. quorum princeps ad cohortandos vos et ad rogandos fuit Cn. Pompeius, vir omnium, qui sunt, fuerunt, erunt, virtute, sapientia, gloria princeps. qui mihi unus uni privato amico eadem omnia dedit, quae universae rei publicae, salutem, otium, dignitatem.

[16] Thus, for me stripped of kinsfolk, fortified by no kinship, the consuls, the praetors, the tribunes of the plebs, the senate, all Italy entire have always pleaded with you; finally all who have been adorned with your greatest benefactions and honors, brought forward before you by that same man, not only exhorted you to preserve me, but also were authors, witnesses, and laudators of my deeds. Chief among whom to exhort and entreat you was Cn. Pompeius, a man who, of all who are, were, and will be, is chief in virtue, wisdom, and glory; he alone to me alone, a private friend, gave the same things which he gave to the whole commonwealth: safety, peace, dignity.

cuius oratio fuit, quem ad modum accepi, tripertita: primum vos docuit meis consiliis rem publicam esse servatam causamque meam cum communi salute coniunxit hortatusque est, ut auctoritatem senatus, statum civitatis, fortunas civis bene meriti defenderetis; tum [me] in perorando posuit vos rogari a senatu, rogari ab equitibus Romanis, rogari ab Italia cuncta, deinde ipse ad extremum pro mea vos salute non rogavit solum, verum etiam obsecravit.

whose speech was, as I have received, tripartite: first he taught you that by my counsels the commonwealth had been preserved, and he conjoined my cause with the common safety and exhorted you to defend the authority of the senate, the status of the state, the fortunes of a well-deserving citizen; then, in his peroration, he set forth that you were being asked by the senate, asked by the Roman equestrians, asked by all Italy; thereafter he himself, at the end, not only asked you for my safety, but even besought you.

[17] Huic ego homini, Quirites, tantum debeo, quantum hominem homini debere vix fas est. huius consilia, P. Lentuli sententiam, senatus auctoritatem vos secuti in eo loco, in quo vestris beneficiis fueram, isdem centuriis, quibus collocaratis, reposuistis. eodem tempore audistis eodem ex loco summos viros, ornatissimos atque amplissimos homines, principes civitatis, omnes consulares, omnes praetorios eadem dicere, ut omnium testimonio per me unum rem publicam conservatam esse constaret.

[17] To this man, Quirites, I owe so much as it is scarcely right for a man to owe to a man. Following this man’s counsels, the judgment of P. Lentulus, and the authority of the Senate, you restored to that position in which I had been by your benefactions, by the same centuries by which you had installed me. At the same time you heard from that same place the highest men, the most adorned and most eminent men, the leaders of the state, all of consular rank, all of praetorian rank, say the same thing, so that by the testimony of all it might be established that through me alone the republic had been preserved.

itaque cum P. Servilius, gravissimus vir et ornatissimus civis, dixisset opera mea rem publicam incolumem magistratibus deinceps traditam, dixerunt in eandem sententiam ceteri. sed audistis eo tempore clarissimi viri non solum auctoritatem, sed etiam testimonium, L . Gelli; qui quia suam classem adtemptatam magno cum suo periculo paene sensit, dixit in contione vestrum, si ego, consul cum fui, non fuissem, rem publicam funditus interituram fuisse.

and so when P. Servilius, a most weighty man and a most distinguished citizen, had said that by my efforts the Republic had been handed on unharmed to the magistrates in succession, the others spoke in the same sense. but at that time you heard from a most illustrious man not only authority but also testimony, of L . Gelli; who, because he almost felt his own fleet assailed with great peril to himself, said in your assembly that, if I, when I was consul, had not been, the Republic would have perished utterly.

[18] En ego testimoniis, Quirites, hac auctoritate senatus, tanta consensione Italiae, tanto studio bonorum omnium, [cum] agente P. Lentulo, consentientibus ceteris magistratibus, deprecante Cn. Pompeio, omnibus hominibus faventibus, dis denique immortalibus frugum ubertate, copia, vilitate reditum meum comprobantibus mihi, meis, rei publicae restitutus tantum vobis, quantum facere possum, Quirites, pollicebor: primum, qua sanctissimi homines pietate erga deos immortalis esse soleant, eadem erga populum Romanum semper fore numenque vestrum aeque mihi grave et sanctum ac deorum immortalium in omni vita futurum; deinde, quoniam me in civitatem res publica ipsa reduxit, nullo me loco rei publicae defuturum.

[18] Lo I, with testimonies, Quirites, with this authority of the senate, with so great a consensus of Italy, with so great a zeal of all good men, with P. Lentulus taking the lead, the other magistrates agreeing, Cn. Pompeius interceding, all men favoring, and finally the immortal gods by the fertility of the crops, abundance, and cheapness attesting my return—restored to myself, to my own, and to the commonwealth—will promise you, as much as I can, Quirites: first, that with the same pietas with which most holy men are wont to be toward the immortal gods, the same will always be toward the Roman people, and that your numen will be to me equally weighty and sacred as that of the immortal gods in all my life; then, since the commonwealth itself has brought me back into the city, that in no place will I fail the commonwealth.

[19] Quod si quis existimat me aut voluntate esse mutata aut debilitata virtute aut animo fracto, vehementer errat. mihi quod potuit vis et iniuria et sceleratorum hominum furor detrahere, eripuit, abstulit, dissipavit; quod viro forti adimi non potest, id ei manet et permanebit.

[19] But if anyone thinks that either my will has been changed, or my virtue weakened, or my spirit broken, he is greatly mistaken. From me, whatever force and injury and the frenzy of criminal men could drag away, has snatched, taken away, and scattered; what cannot be taken from a brave man remains to him and will remain.

Vidi ego fortissimum virum, municipem meum, C. Marium—quoniam nobis quasi aliqua fatali necessitate non solum cum iis, qui haec delere voluissent, sed etiam cum fortuna belligerandum fuit—eum tamen vidi, cum esset summa senectute, non modo non infracto animo propter magnitudinem calamitatis, sed confirmato atque renovato.

I myself saw the bravest man, my fellow townsman, Gaius Marius—since for us, as if by some fatal necessity, it was necessary to wage war not only with those who had wished to destroy these things, but even with Fortune—him, however, I saw, when he was in the utmost old age, not only not with spirit broken on account of the magnitude of the calamity, but with his spirit strengthened and renewed.

[20] Quem egomet dicere audivi tum se fuisse miserum, cum careret patria, quam obsidione liberavisset, cum sua bona possideri ab inimicis ac diripi audiret, cum adulescentem filium videret eiusdem socium calamitatis, cum in paludibus demersus concursu ac misericordia Minturnensium corpus ac vitam suam conservaret, cum parva navicula pervectus in Africam, quibus regna ipse dederat, ad eos inops supplexque venisset; reciperata vero sua dignitate se non commissurum, ut, cum ea, quae amiserat, sibi restituta essent, virtutem animi non haberet, quam numquam perdidisset. sed hoc inter me atque illum interest, quod ille, qua re plurimum potuit, ea ipsa re inimicos suos ultus est, armis, ego qua consuevi utar, , quoniam illi arti in bello ac seditione locus est, huic in pace atque otio.

[20] I myself heard him say that he was wretched at that time, when he was deprived of his fatherland, which he had freed from a siege; when he heard that his goods were possessed and plundered by enemies; when he saw his young son a partner in the same calamity; when, sunk in the marshes, by the gathering and mercy of the Minturnians he preserved his body and his life; when, carried in a small skiff into Africa, to those to whom he himself had given kingdoms, he had come poor and suppliant; but with his dignity recovered he would not commit that, when the things which he had lost had been restored to him, he should not have the virtue of spirit which he had never lost. But this is the difference between me and that man: that he, by the thing whereby he was most powerful, by that very thing avenged his enemies—by arms; I will use that to which I am accustomed, , since for that art there is room in war and sedition, for this in peace and leisure.

[21] Quamquam ille animo irato nihil nisi de inimicis ulciscendis agebat, ego de ipsis amicis tantum, quantum mihi res publica permittit, cogitabo.

[21] Although that man, in an irate spirit, was occupied with nothing except the avenging of enemies, I will think about those very friends only so far as the Republic permits me.

Denique, Quirites, quoniam me quattuor omnino hominum genera violarunt, unum eorum, qui odio rei publicae, quod eam ipsis invitis conservaram, inimicissimi mihi fuerunt, alterum, qui per simulationem amicitiae nefarie <me> prodiderunt, tertium, qui, cum propter inertiam suam eadem adsequi non possent, inviderunt laudi et dignitati meae, quartum, qui, cum custodes rei publicae esse deberent, salutem meam, statum civitatis, dignitatem eius imperii, quod erat penes ipsos, vendiderunt, sic ulciscar facinora singulorum, quem ad modum a quibusque sum provocatus, malos civis rem publicam bene gerendo, perfidos amicos nihil credendo atque omnia cavendo, invidos virtuti et gloriae serviendo, mercatores provinciarum revocando domum atque ab iis provinciarum ratione repetenda.

Finally, Quirites, since four kinds of men in all have violated me—one, those who, from hatred of the commonwealth, because I had preserved it against their will, were most hostile to me; a second, who under the pretense of friendship wickedly betrayed <me>; a third, who, since they could not attain the same things on account of their own inertia, envied my praise and dignity; a fourth, who, though they ought to have been guardians of the commonwealth, sold my safety, the condition of the state, the dignity of that imperium which was in their own hands—thus I will avenge the crimes of each, in the manner in which I have been provoked by each: bad citizens, by conducting the commonwealth well; treacherous friends, by believing nothing and guarding against everything; the envious, by serving virtue and glory; the merchants of the provinces, by recalling them home and by demanding from them an accounting of the provinces.

[22] Quamquam mihi, Quirites, maiori curae est, quem ad modum vobis, qui de me estis optime meriti, gratiam referam, quam quem ad modum inimicorum iniurias crudelitatemque persequar. etenim ulciscendae iniuriae facilior ratio est quam beneficii remunerandi, propterea, quod superiorem esse contra improbos minus est negotii quam bonis exaequari. tum etiam ne tam necessarium quidem est male meritis quam optime meritis referre, quod debeas.

[22] Although it is of greater concern to me, Quirites, how I may return thanks to you, who have deserved most excellently of me, than how I may pursue the injuries and cruelty of my enemies. For indeed the method of avenging an injury is easier than of remunerating a benefaction, for the reason that to be superior against the wicked is less of a task than to be made equal to the good. Then also it is not even so necessary to repay what you owe to the ill-deserving as to those who have deserved most excellently.

[23] Odium vel precibus mitigari potest temporibus rei publicae communique utilitate deponi vel difficultate ulciscendi leniri vel vetustate sedari; bene meritos colas, nec exorari fas est neque id rei publicae remittere utcumque necesse est; neque est excusatio difficultatis, neque aequum est tempore et die memoriam beneficii definire. postremo qui in ulciscendo remissior fuit, utitur; at gravissime vituperatur, qui in tantis beneficiis, quanta vos in me contulistis, remunerandis est tardior, neque solum ingratus, quod ipsum grave est, verum etiam impius appelletur necesse est. [atque in officio persolvendo dissimilis est ratio pecuniae debitae, propterea, quod, pecuniam qui retinet, non dissolvit, qui reddidit, non habet; gratiam et qui rettulit habet, et qui habet, dissolvit.]

[23] Hatred can either be mitigated by prayers, or laid aside by the exigencies of the commonwealth and the common utility, or softened by the difficulty of avenging, or stilled by oldness; but toward the well-deserving, it is not lawful to be prevailed upon, nor is it permitted to remit that to the republic whenever it is necessary; nor is there an excuse of difficulty, nor is it equitable to define the memory of a benefaction by time and day. Finally, he who has been more remiss in avenging makes open use of them; but he is most gravely censured who is slower in remunerating such great benefactions as you have conferred upon me, and he must needs be called not only ungrateful—which itself is serious—but even impious. [And in discharging duty the reckoning is unlike that of a debt of money, for he who retains the money does not pay, and he who has paid does not have; but a favor—both he who has returned it has it, and he who has it pays it.]

[24] Quapropter memoriam vestri beneficii colam benivolentia sempiterna, cum anima exspirabo mea, sed etiam, cum me vita , monumenta vestri in me beneficii permanebunt. in referenda autem gratia hoc vobis repromitto semperque praestabo, mihi neque in consiliis de re publica capiendis diligentiam neque in periculis a re publica propulsandis animum neque in sententia simpliciter ferenda fidem neque in hominum voluntatibus pro re publica laedendis libertatem nec in perferendo labore industriam nec in vestris commodis augendis grati animi benivolentiam defuturam.

[24] Wherefore I will cherish the memory of your benefaction with everlasting benevolence, will I breathe it out with my soul, but even, when life me, the monuments of your benefaction toward me will abide. And in returning gratitude I promise you this and will always make it good: that there will be lacking to me neither diligence in adopting counsels concerning the commonwealth, nor spirit in warding off dangers from the commonwealth, nor good faith in delivering an opinion with plainness, nor freedom in wounding men’s good-will for the sake of the commonwealth, nor industry in enduring toil, nor, in augmenting your advantages, the benevolence of a grateful mind.

[25] Atque haec cura, Quirites, erit infixa animo meo sempiterna, ut cum vobis, qui apud me deorum immortalium vim et numen tenetis, tum posteris vestris cunctisque gentibus dignissimus ea civitate videar, quae suam dignitatem non posse se tenere, nisi me reciperasset, cunctis suffragiis iudicavit.

[25] And this care, Quirites, will be fixed in my mind forever, that I may seem most worthy—both to you, who in my eyes hold the force and numen of the immortal gods, and to your descendants and to all peoples—of that state which by the votes of all judged that it could not maintain its own dignity unless it had recovered me.