Cicero: ORATORIA

[1] [a] maxime fuit optandum M. Scauro, iudices, ut nullo suscepto cuiusquam odio sine offensione ac molestia retineret, id quod praecipue semper studuit, generis, familiae, nominis dignitatem.

[1] [a] it was most to be desired for M. Scaurus, judges, that, with no one’s hatred incurred, he might retain, without offense and trouble, that which he especially always strove for—the dignity of his lineage, family, and name.

[c] subiit etiam populi iudicium inquirente Cn. Domitio tribuno plebis.

[c] he also underwent the people’s judgment, with Gnaeus Domitius, tribune of the plebs, conducting the inquest.

[d] reus est factus a Q. Servilio Caepione lege Servilia, cum iudicia penes equestrem ordinem essent et P. Rutilio damnato nemo tam innocens videretur ut non timeret illa.

[d] he was made a defendant by Q. Servilius Caepio under the Servilian law, when the courts were in the hands of the equestrian order, and, with P. Rutilius condemned, no one seemed so innocent as not to fear those courts.

[e] ab eodem etiam lege Varia custos ille rei publicae proditionis est in crimen vocatus; vexatus a Q. Vario tribuno plebis est.

[e] by the same man also, under the Varia law, that guardian of the Republic was called to account on a charge of treason; he was vexed by Q. Varius, tribune of the plebs.

[f] non enim tantum admiratus sum ego illum virum, sicut omnes, sed etiam praecipue dilexi. primus enim me flagrantem studio laudis in spem impulit posse virtute me sine praesidio fortunae, quo contendissem, labore et constantia pervenire.

[f] for I not only admired that man, as everyone did, but I also especially loved him. for he was the first to impel me, burning with zeal for praise, into the hope that by virtue, without the protection of fortune, I might, by labor and constancy, attain that to which I had striven.

[g] et quoniam congesta fuit accusatio magis acervo quodam criminum, non distinctione aliqua generum et varietate.

[g] and since the accusation was piled up rather as a certain heap of crimes, not with any distinction of kinds and variety.

[h] Bostarem igitur quendam dixit Norensem fugientem e Sardinia Scauri adventum . . . prius illum sepultum quam huic cenam esse sublatam.

[h] Therefore he said that a certain Bostar, a Norensian, fleeing from Sardinia, Scaurus’s advent . . . that he had been buried before this man’s dinner was removed.

[i] si denique in illa bona invadere nullo modo potuisset nisi mortuo Bostare.

[i] if, finally, he could in no way have been able to seize upon those goods except with Bostar dead.

[k] si me hercule, iudices, pro L. Tubulo dicerem, quem unum ex omni memoria sceleratissimum et audacissimum fuisse accepimus, tamen non timerem, venenum hospiti aut convivae si diceretur cenanti ab illo datum cui neque heres neque iratus fuisset.

[k] By Hercules, judges, even if I were speaking on behalf of L. Tubulus, whom alone out of all memory we have received to have been the most criminal and the most audacious, nevertheless I would not fear, if it were said that poison had been given to a guest or to a table-companion as he was dining, by that man who had been neither his heir nor irate with him.

[m] bona quam quod habebat <ve>niret. agedum ego defendi Scau<ru>m, Triari; defende tu matrem.

[m] that the estate be sold rather than what he held should come up for sale. Come then: I defended Scaurus, Triarius; you defend your mother.

[n] te <m>etue<r>e <n>e non solvendo fuisse, bona denique reus n<e r>e<tinere vol>uis<se q>u<ae> proscripta esse<nt>, nis<i>.

[n] that you feared he had been insolvent, and finally that the defendant had wished not to retain the goods which had been proscribed, unless.

[o] Cum dare nollet Aris, clam ex Sardinia est fugere conatus.

[o] When he was unwilling to give to Aris, he attempted secretly to flee from Sardinia.

[p] redimunt se ea parte corporis, propter quam maxime expetuntur.

[p] they ransom themselves by that part of the body, on account of which they are most eagerly sought.

[1q] sic, inquam, se, iudices, res habet; neque hoc a me novum disputatur, sed quaesitum ab aliis est. [1r] <illa> audivimus, hoc vero meminimus ac paene vidimus, eiusdem stirpis et nominis P. Crassum ne in manus incideret inimicorum, se ipsum interemisse.

[1q] thus, I say, judges, the matter stands; nor is this being argued by me as something new, but it has been inquired by others. [1r] <those> we have heard, but this indeed we remember and almost saw: that P. Crassus, of the same stock and name, killed himself, lest he fall into the hands of his enemies.

[1s] ac neque illius Crassi factum superioris isdem honoribus usus, qui fortissimus in bellis fuisset, M'. Aquilius potuit imitari . . .

[1s] and neither could M'. Aquilius, having enjoyed the same honors, imitate the deed of that earlier Crassus, who had been most brave in wars . . .

[2] . . . tis suae rerumque gestarum senectutis dedecore foedavit. quid vero? alterum Crassum temporibus isdem num aut clarissimi viri Iulii aut summo imperio praeditus M. Antonius potuit imitari?

[2] . . . he stained with the dishonor of senescence—his own and that of his deeds accomplished. But what then? Could either the most illustrious man Julius, or M. Antonius endowed with the supreme imperium, imitate the other Crassus in those same times?

[3] quid? in omnibus monumentis Graeciae, quae sunt verbis ornatiora quam rebus, quis invenitur, cum ab Aiace fabulisque discesseris, qui tamen ipse

[3] What? In all the monuments of Greece, which are more ornate with words than with deeds, who is found, when you depart from Ajax and the fables, who yet himself

ignominiae dolore, ut ait poeta, victor insolens se

with the pain of ignominy, as the poet says, the insolent victor himself

victum non potuit pati, praeter Atheniensem Themistoclem, qui se ipse morte multavit?

could not endure being vanquished, except the Athenian Themistocles, who punished himself with death?

[4] at Graeculi quidem multa fingunt, apud quos etiam Cleombrotum Ambraciotam ferunt se ex altissimo praecipitasse muro, non quo acerbitatis accepisset aliquid, sed, ut video scriptum apud Graecos, cum summi philosophi Platonis graviter et ornate scriptum librum de morte legisset, in quo, ut opinor, Socrates illo ipso die quo erat ei moriendum permulta disputat, hanc esse mortem quam nos vitam putaremus, cum corpore animus tamquam carcere saeptus teneretur, vitam autem esse eam cum idem animus vinclis corporis liberatus in eum se locum unde esset ortus rettulisset.

[4] but the little Greeks indeed fabricate many things; among them they even report that Cleombrotus the Ambraciot hurled himself headlong from a most lofty wall, not because he had received anything of bitterness, but, as I see written among the Greeks, when he had read the book on death by the highest philosopher Plato, written gravely and ornately, in which, as I suppose, Socrates, on that very day on which it was for him to die, argues at great length that this is death which we would think to be life, when the soul is confined, as if by a prison, by the body; but that that is life, when the same soul, liberated from the bonds of the body, has carried itself back into that place whence it had arisen.

[5] num igitur ista tua Sarda Pythagoram aut Platonem norat aut legerat? qui tamen ipsi mortem ita laudant ut fugere vitam vetent atque id contra foedus fieri dicant legemque naturae. Aliam quidem causam mortis voluntariae nullam profecto iustam reperietis.

[5] So then, did that Sardinian woman of yours know Pythagoras or Plato, or had she read them? Yet those very men praise death in such a way that they forbid fleeing life, and they say that this is done against the covenant and the law of nature. Indeed, you will assuredly find no other just cause of voluntary death.

atque hoc ille vidit; nam iecit quodam loco vita illam mulierem spoliari quam pudicitia maluisse.

and this he saw; for he put forth in a certain place that that woman had preferred to be despoiled of life rather than of pudicity.

[6] sed refugit statim nec de pudicitia plura dixit veritus, credo, ne quem inridendi nobis daret et iocandi locum. constat enim illam cum deformitate summa fuisse, tum etiam senectute. qua re quae potest, quamvis salsa ista Sarda fuerit, ulla libidinis aut amoris esse suspicio?

[6] but he immediately drew back and did not say more about chastity, fearing, I believe, lest he give us any occasion for ridiculing and joking. For it is agreed that that woman was of the highest deformity, and moreover in senectude. Wherefore what suspicion can there be, however witty that Sardinian was, of any lust or love?

[7] ac ne existimes, Triari, quod adferam, in dicendo me fingere ipsum et non a reo causam cognoscere, explicabo tibi quae fuerint opiniones in Sardinia de istius mulieris morte—nam fuerunt duae—quo etiam facilius . . .

[7] and lest you think, Triarius, that what I bring forward I am myself feigning in speaking and not learning the case from the defendant, I will explicate to you what opinions there were in Sardinia about that woman’s death—for there were two—so that even more easily . . .

[8] . . . te dixi, libidinosam atque improbam matrem infami ac noto adulterio iam diu diligebat. is cum hanc suam uxorem anum et locupletem et molestam timeret, neque eam habere in matrimonio propter foeditatem neque dimittere propter dotem volebat. itaque compecto cum matre Bostaris consilium cepit ut uterque Romam veniret; ibi se aliquam rationem inventurum quem ad modum illam uxorem duceret comavit.

[8] . . . as I told you, for a long time he had been loving the libidinous and wicked mother in an infamous and notorious adultery. He, since he feared his own wife—an old woman, wealthy, and troublesome—did not wish either to keep her in marriage on account of her hideousness or to dismiss her on account of the dowry. And so, having struck a compact with Bostar’s mother, he formed a plan that both should come to Rome; there he affirmed that he would find some plan how he might take that woman as his wife.

[9] hic opinio fuit, ut dixi, duplex, una non abhorrens a statu naturaque rerum, Arinis uxorem paelicatus dolore concitatam, cum audisset Arinem cum illa sua metus et fugae simulatione Romam se contulisse, ut, cum antea consuetudo inter eos fuisset, tum etiam nuptiis iungerentur, arsisse dolore muliebri et mori quam id perpeti maluisse.

[9] Here the opinion, as I said, was twofold, one not abhorrent to the status and nature of things: that the wife of Arinus, stirred by the dolor of a rival-mistress, when she had heard that Arinus, with that woman, under a simulation of fear and flight, had betaken himself to Rome, so that, since there had previously been consuetude between them, then also they might be joined by nuptials, burned with womanly dolor and preferred to die rather than to endure that.

[10] altera non minus veri similis et, ut opinor, in Sardinia magis etiam credita, Arinem istum testem atque hospitem, Triari, tuum proficiscentem Romam negotium dedisse liberto ut illi aniculae non ille quidem vim adferret—neque enim erat rectum patronae—sed collum digitulis duobus oblideret, resticula cingeret, ut illa perisse suspendio putaretur.

[10] the other, no less verisimilar and, as I think, even more believed in Sardinia, was that Arinus—that witness and guest‑friend of yours, Triarius—when setting out to Rome, entrusted the business to a freedman that to that little old woman he, indeed, should not bring violence to bear—for it was not right toward a patroness—but should compress her neck with two little fingers, should gird it with a little cord, so that she might be thought to have perished by hanging.

[11] quae quidem suspicio valuit etiam plus ob hanc causam quod, cum agerent parentalia Norenses omnesque suo more ex oppido exissent, tum illa est a liberto suspendisse se dicta. discessus autem solitudo ei qui patronam suffocabat fuit quaerenda, illi quae volebat mori non fuit.

[11] This suspicion indeed prevailed even more for this reason, that, when the Norenses were observing the Parentalia and all, according to their custom, had gone out from the town, then she was said by the freedman to have hanged herself. Moreover, the departure—the solitude—had to be sought by him who was suffocating his patroness; for her who wished to die, it did not have to be sought.

[12] confirmata vero suspicio est, quod anu mortua libertus statim tamquam opere confecto Romam est profectus, Aris autem, simul ac libertus de morte uxoris nuntiavit, continuo Romae matrem illam Bostaris duxit uxorem.

[12] But indeed the suspicion was confirmed, because, the old woman being dead, the freedman immediately, as if the work were completed, set out to Rome; but Aris, as soon as the freedman announced the death of his wife, immediately at Rome took to wife that mother of Bostar.

[13] en quibus familiis quam foedis, quam contaminatis, quam turpibus datis hanc familiam, iudices. en quibus testibus commoti, de quo homine, de quo genere, de quo nomine sententias feratis, obliviscendum vobis putatis? matrum in liberos, virorum in uxores scelera cernitis, crudelitate mixtas libidines videtis immanis; duorum maximorum criminum auctores, quibus criminibus haec tota apud ignaros aut invidos infamata causa est, omni facinore et flagitio deformatos habetis.

[13] behold into what families—how foul, how contaminated, how base—you are giving this household, judges. Behold by what witnesses you have been moved, and about what man, of what stock, of what name you are delivering sentences—do you think it ought to be forgotten? you discern the crimes of mothers against their children, of husbands against their wives; you see monstrous lusts mingled with cruelty. the authors of two very great crimes—by which crimes this whole case has been defamed among the ignorant or the envious—you have, disfigured by every deed of wickedness and of turpitude.

[14] num igitur in his criminibus, iudices, residet etiam aliqua suspicio? non perpurgata sunt, non refutata, non fracta? qui igitur id factum est?

[14] So then, judges, does any suspicion still reside in these crimes? Have they not been thoroughly purged, not refuted, not broken? How, then, has this been done?

quia dedisti mihi, Triari, quod diluerem, in quo argumentarer, de quo disputarem; quia genus eius modi fuit criminum quod non totum penderet ex teste, sed quod ponderaret iudex ipse per sese.

because you gave me, Triarius, something to wash away, on which to argue, about which to dispute; because the kind of charges was of such a sort that it did not depend entirely on the witness, but that the judge himself would weigh it on his own.

[15] neque vero, iudices, quicquam aliud in ignoto teste facere debemus nisi ut argumento, coniectura, suspicione rerum ipsarum vim naturamque quaeramus. etenim testis non modo afer aut Sardus sane, si ita se isti malunt nominari, sed quivis etiam elegantior ac religiosior impelli, deterreri, fingi, flecti potest; dominus est ipse voluntatis suae, in quo est impunita mendi liceni.

[15] nor indeed, judges, ought we to do anything else with an unknown witness than to inquire by argument, conjecture, and suspicion into the force and nature of the matters themselves. For a witness—not only an African or a Sardinian, to be sure, if those men prefer to have themselves named so, but even anyone more polished and more scrupulous—can be impelled, deterred, fabricated, swayed; he is master of his own will, in which there is an unpunished license of lying.

[16] argumentum vero, quod quidem est proprium rei—neque enim ullum aliud argumentum vere vocari potest—rerum vox est, naturae vestigium, veritatis nota; id qualecumque est, maneat immutabile necesse est; non enim fingitur ab oratore, sed sumitur. qua re, in eo genere accusationis si vincerer, succumberem et cederem; vincerer enim re, vincerer causa, vincerer veritate.

[16] indeed, an argument, which indeed is proper to the thing—since no other argument can truly be called by that name—is the voice of things, the footprint of nature, the mark of truth; whatever sort it is, it must remain immutable; for it is not feigned by the orator, but taken up. Wherefore, in that kind of accusation, if I were conquered, I would succumb and yield; for I would be conquered by the thing, I would be conquered by the cause, I would be conquered by the truth.

[17] agmen tu mihi inducas Sardorum et catervas et me non criminibus urgere, sed Afrorum fremitu terrere conere? non potero equidem disputare, sed ad horum fidem et mansuetudinem conere, d ius iu populi Romani uitatem, qui hanc familiam in hac urbe principem voluit esse, deorum immortalium numen implorare potero, qui semper exstiterunt huic generi nominique fautores.

[17] Will you lead in for me a battle-line of Sardinians and companies, and try to frighten me not with accusations, but with the roar of the Africans? I indeed may not be able to argue, but I shall be able to take refuge in the good faith and gentleness of these men, in the sworn oath of the judges, in the equity of the Roman people, who wished this family to be foremost in this city; I shall be able to implore the numen of the immortal gods, who have always stood forth as favorers to this race and name.

[18] 'poposcit, imperavit, eripuit, coegit.' si doces tabulis, quoniam habet seriem quandam et ordinem contracti negoti confectio ipsa tabularum, attendam acriter et quid in defendendo mihi agendum sit videbo. si denique nitere testibus non dico bonis viris ac probatis, noti sint modo, quem ad modum mihi cum quoque sit confligendum considerabo.

[18] 'he demanded, he commanded, he snatched away, he compelled.' If you demonstrate by the tablets, since the very compilation of the tablets has a certain series and order of the contracted business, I will attend keenly and I will see what in defending I must do. If finally you lean on witnesses—I do not say good and approved men—let them only be known, I will consider in what manner I must contend with each.

[19] sin unus color, una vox, una natio est omnium testium, si, quod ei dicunt, non modo nullis argumentis sed ne litterarum quidem aliquo genere aut publicarum aut privatarum, quod tamen ipsum fingi potest, confirmare conantur, quo me vertam, iudices, aut quid agam? Cum singulis disputem? quid?

[19] But if there is one color, one voice, one nation of all the witnesses; if what they say they try to confirm not only with no arguments but not even by any kind of letters, either public or private (which, however, can itself be fabricated), where am I to turn, judges, or what am I to do? Shall I dispute with them individually? what?

non habuisti quod dares. habuisse se dicet. quis id sciet, quis iudicabit?

You had nothing to give. He will allege that he had it. Who will know that, who will adjudicate?

non fuisse causam. finget fuisse. qui refellemus?

that there was no cause. he will feign that there was. how shall we refute?

potuisse non dare, si noluisset. vi ereptum esse dicet. quae potest eloquentia disputando ignoti hominis impudentiam confutare?

he will say that he could have not given, if he had been unwilling. he will say that it was snatched away by force. what eloquence can, by disputation, confute the impudence of an unknown man?

[20] non agam igitur cum ista Sardorum conspiratione et cum expresso, coacto sollicitatoque periurio subtiliter neque acu quaedam enucleata argumenta conquiram, sed contra impetum istorum impetu ego nostro concurram atque confligam. non est unus mihi quisque ex illorum acie protrahendus neque cum singulis decertandum atque pugnandum; tota est acies illa uno impetu prosternenda.

[20] I will not, therefore, deal with that conspiracy of the Sardinians and with perjury wrung out, compelled, and solicited, nor will I subtly, nor with a needle, hunt up certain arguments picked clean; but against their impetus I will with our own impetus charge and clash. It is not for me to drag each single man out from their battle line, nor to fight it out and do battle with them one by one; that whole battle line must be laid low with a single charge.

[21] est enim unum maximum totius Sardiniae frumentarium crimen, de quo Triarius omnis Sardos interrogavit, quod genus uno testimoni foedere et consensu omnium est confirmatum. quod ego crimen ante quam attingo, peto a vobis, iudices, ut me totius nostrae defensionis quasi quaedam fundamenta iacere patiamini. quae si erunt, ut mea ratio et cogitatio fert, posita et constituta, nullam accusationis partem pertimescam.

[21] for there is one greatest frumentary (grain) charge concerning all Sardinia, about which Triarius interrogated all the Sardinians, a kind of charge that has been confirmed by a single covenant of testimony and by the consensus of all. which charge, before I touch upon it, I ask of you, judges, that you allow me to lay, as it were, certain foundations of our whole defense. and if these, as my plan and cogitation bear, shall have been laid and constituted, I shall fear no part of the accusation.

[22] dicam enim primum de ipso genere accusationis, postea de Sardis, tum etiam pauca de Scauro; quibus rebus explicatis tum denique ad hoc horribile et formidolosum frumentarium crimen accedam.

[22] For I will speak first about the very kind of the accusation, afterwards about the Sardinians, then also a few things about Scaurus; with these matters explicated, then finally I will approach this horrible and formidable frumentary crime.

[23] quod est igitur hoc accusationis, Triari, genus, primum ut inquisitum non ieris? quae fuit ista tam ferox, tam explorata huius opprimendi fiducia? pueris nobis audisse videor L. Aelium, libertinum hominem litteratum ac facetum, cum ulcisceretur patroni iniurias, nomen Q. Muttonis, hominis sordidissimi, detulisse.

[23] What then is this genus of accusation, Triarius, that, first, you did not go to investigate? What was that confidence for oppressing this man, so ferocious, so assured? I seem to have heard, when we were boys, that L. Aelius, a freedman, a literate and witty man, when he was avenging the injuries of his patron, entered a charge against Q. Muttonis, a man most sordid.

A quo cum quaereretur quam provinciam aut quam diem testium postularet, horam sibi octavam, dum in foro bovario inquireret, postulavit.

And when he was asked which province or what day of the witnesses he was requesting, he requested for himself the eighth hour, while he was making inquiries in the Forum Boarium.

[24] hoc tu idem tibi in M. Aemilio Scauro putasti esse faciendum? 'delata enim,' inquit, 'causa ad me Romam est.' quid? ad me Siculi nonne Romam causam Siciliae detulerunt?

[24] Did you think this same thing had to be done by you in the case of M. Aemilius Scaurus? 'For,' he says, 'the cause was brought to me at Rome.' What? Did not the Sicilians bring to me at Rome the cause of Sicily?

at qui homines! prudentes natura, callidi usu, doctrina eruditi. tamen ego mihi provinciae causam in provincia ipsa cognoscendam et discendam putavi.

But what men! prudent by nature, shrewd by practice, erudite by doctrine. Nevertheless I thought that the case of the province ought to be inquired into and learned by me in the province itself.

[25] an ego querelas atque iniurias aratorum non in segetibus ipsis arvisque cognoscerem? peragravi, inquam, Triari, durissima quidem hieme vallis Agrigentinorum atque collis. campus ille nobilissimus ac feracissimus ipse me causam paene docuit Leontinus.

[25] Would I not recognize the complaints and injuries of the ploughmen in the crops themselves and the fields? I traversed, I say, Triarius, in a most harsh winter indeed, the valleys and the hills of the Agrigentines. That most renowned and most fertile Leontine plain itself almost taught me the case.

adii casas aratorum, a stiva ipsa homines mecum conloquebantur.

I visited the huts of the plowmen; from the very plow-handle men were conversing with me.

[26] itaque sic fuit illa expressa causa non ut audire ea quae dicebam, iudices, sed ut cernere et paene tangere viderentur. neque enim mihi probabile neque verum videbatur me, cum fidelissimae atque antiquissimae provinciae patrocinium recepissem, causam tamquam unius clientis in cubiculo meo discere.

[26] therefore that case was thus expressed, not so that, judges, the things I was saying might be heard, but so that they seemed to be discerned and almost touched. for it seemed to me neither probable nor true that, when I had undertaken the patronage of a most faithful and most ancient province, I should study the case as though of a single client in my bedchamber.

[27] ego nuper, cum Reatini, qui essent in fide mea, me suam publicam causam de Velini fluminibus et cuniculis apud hos consules agere voluissent, non existimavi me neque dignitati praefecturae gravissimae neque fidei meae satis esse facturum, nisi me causam illam non solum homines sed etiam locus ipse lacusque docuisset.

[27] I, lately, when the Reatines, who were under my protection, wished me to plead their public cause about the rivers of the Velinus and the culverts before these consuls, did not think that I should do enough either for the dignity of the very weighty prefecture or for my own good faith, unless that cause had taught me not only by men but also by the place itself and the lake.

[28] neque tu aliter fecisses, Triari, si te id tui isti Sardi facere voluissent, hi qui te in Sardiniam minime venire voluerunt, ne longe aliter omnia atque erant ad te delata cognosceres, nullam multitudinis in Sardinia querelam, nullum in Scaurum odium populi . . . .

[28] nor would you have done otherwise, Triarius, if those Sardinians of yours had wished you to do that, these who by no means wished you to come into Sardinia, lest you might recognize that all things which had been reported to you were far otherwise than they were: no complaint of the multitude in Sardinia, no hatred of the people toward Scaurus . . . .

[29] litu Aetnam ardere dicunt, sic Verrem obruissem Sicilia teste tota. tu vero comperendinasti uno teste producto. at quo teste, di immortales!

[29] They say Etna burns by breath; so would I have overwhelmed Verres, with all Sicily as witness. You, however, adjourned the case with a single witness produced. But what a witness, immortal gods!

non satis quod uno, non quod ignoto, non quod levi; etiamne Valerio teste primam actionem confecisti, qui patris tui beneficio civitate donatus gratiam tibi non inlustribus officiis, sed manifesto periurio rettulit?

Not enough that it was with a single witness—not an unknown, not a trivial one; did you even conclude the first action with Valerius as witness, who, by your father’s benefaction, having been endowed with citizenship, repaid the favor to you not with illustrious services, but with manifest perjury?

[30] quod si te omen nominis vestri forte duxit, nos tamen id more maiorum, quia faustum putamus, non ad perniciem, verum ad salutem interpretamur. sed omnis ista celeritas ac festinatio, quod inquisitionem, quod priorem actionem totam sustulisti, illud patefecit et inlustravit quod occultum tamen non erat, non esse hoc iudicium iudici, sed comitiorum consularium causa comparatum.

[30] But if perchance the omen of your name led you, we, nevertheless, according to the custom of the ancestors, since we deem it auspicious, interpret it not to perdition, but rather to salvation. But all that celerity and festination—the fact that you removed the inquisition, the fact that you abolished the entire prior action—laid open and illustrated this, which yet was not hidden: that this was not a trial for judgment, but arranged for the sake of the consular comitia.

[31] hic ego Appium Claudium, consulem fortissimum atque ornatissimum virum mecumque, ut spero, fideli in gratiam reditu firmoque coniunctum, nullo loco, iudices, vituperabo. fuerint enim eae partes aut eius quem id facere dolor et suspicio sua coegit, aut eius qui has sibi partis depoposcit, quod aut non animadvertebat quem violaret, aut facilem sibi fore in gratiam reditum arbitrabatur;

[31] here I will, in no respect, judges, censure Appius Claudius, a consul most brave and most adorned, and, as I hope, joined with me by a faithful and firm reconciliation. For let those roles belong either to him whom his own pain and suspicion compelled to do this, or to him who demanded these roles for himself, because either he did not observe whom he was violating, or he supposed that a return into favor would be easy for himself;

[32] ego tantum dicam quod et causae satis et in illum minime durum aut asperum possit esse. quid enim habet turpitudinis Appium Claudium M. Scauro esse inimicum? quid?

[32] I will only say so much as may be both enough for the cause and in no way hard or harsh against him. For what of turpitude is there in Appius Claudius’ being an enemy to Marcus Scaurus? What?

avus eius P. Africano non fuit, quid? mihi ipsi idem iste, quid? ego illi?

his grandfather was not an enemy to P. Africanus, what then? to me myself that same man, what then? I to him?

quae inimicitiae dolorem utrique nostrum fortasse aliquando, dedecus vero certe numquam attulerunt.

which enmities have perhaps at some time brought pain to each of us, but in truth have certainly never brought disgrace.

[33] successori decessor invidit, voluit eum quam maxime offensum quo magis ipsius memoria excelleret; res non modo non abhorrens a consuetudine sed usitata etiam et valde pervagata. neque vero tam haec ipsa cotidiana res Appium Claudium illa humanitate et sapientia praeditum per se ipsa movisset, nisi hunc C. Claudi, fratris sui, competitorem fore putasset.

[33] the predecessor envied the successor; he wished him to be as much as possible offended, so that his own memory might excel the more; a matter not only not at variance with custom but even usual and very widespread. Nor indeed would this very everyday matter, by itself, have moved Appius Claudius—endowed with that humanity and wisdom—unless he had supposed that this man would be a competitor of Gaius Claudius, his brother.

[34] qui sive patricius sive plebeius esset—nondum enim certum constituerat—cum hoc sibi contentionem fore putabat, Appius autem hoc maiorem etiam quod illum in pontificatus petitione, in saliatu, in ceteris meminerat fuisse patricium. quam ob rem se consule neque repelli fratrem volebat neque, iste si patricius esset, parem Scauro fore videbat, nisi hunc aliquo aut metu aut infamia perculisset.

[34] who, whether he were patrician or plebeian—for he had not yet determined it for certain—thought that he would have a contention with this man; but Appius [judged] this the greater also because he remembered that that man had been a patrician in the petition for the pontificate, in the Saliate, and in the rest. For which reason, with himself as consul, he neither wished his brother to be repelled nor did he see that that fellow, if he were a patrician, would be a peer to Scaurus, unless he had struck this man down by some fear or by infamy.

[35] ego id fratri in honore fratris amplissimo non concedendum putem, praesertim qui quid amor fraternus valeat paene praeter ceteros sentiam? at enim frater iam non petit. quid tum?

[35] I think that ought not to be conceded to the brother, in honor of his brother’s most ample honor, especially I who perceive what fraternal love avails almost beyond the rest? But indeed the brother now is not seeking. What then?

si ille retentus a cuncta Asia supplice, si a negotiatoribus, si a publicanis, si ab omnibus sociis, civibus exoratus anteposuit honori suo commoda salutemque provinciae, propterea putas semel exulceratum animum tam facile potuisse sanari?

if that man, held back by the whole of Asia as a suppliant, if by the merchants, if by the publicans (tax-farmers), if by all the allies and citizens, being entreated, he preferred to his own honor the interests and safety of the province, do you therefore think that a mind once ulcerated could so easily have been healed?

[36] quamquam in istis omnibus rebus, praesertim apud homines barbaros, opinio plus valet saepe quam res ipsa. persuasum est Sardis se nihil Appio gratius esse facturos quam si de Scauri fama detraxerint; multorum etiam spe commodorum praemiorumque ducuntur; omnia consulem putant posse, praesertim ultro pollicentem. de quo plura iam non dicam.

[36] although in all these matters, especially among barbarian men, opinion often prevails more than the thing itself. It has been persuaded at Sardis that they will do nothing more pleasing to Appius than if they have detracted from Scaurus’s fame; they are also led by the hope of many advantages and rewards; they think a consul can do everything, especially when he is of his own accord promising. About this I will say no more now.

[37] quamquam ea quae dixi non secus dixi quam si eius frater essem, non is qui et est et qui multa dixit, sed is qui ego esse in meum consuevi. generi igitur toti accusationis resistere, iudices, debetis, in quo nihil more, nihil modo, nihil considerate, nihil integre, contra improbe, turbide, festinanter, rapide omnia conspiratione, imperio, auctoritate, spe, minis videtis esse suscepta.

[37] although the things I have said I have said no otherwise than as if I were his brother—not the one who both is his brother and who has said many things, but the sort of brother which I am accustomed to be toward my own. Therefore you ought, judges, to resist the whole genus of accusation, in which nothing has been done with custom, nothing with method, nothing considerately, nothing integrally; on the contrary, wickedly, turbulently, hastily, precipitately—all things, as you see, have been undertaken by conspiracy, by imperium, by authority, by hope, by menaces.

[38] venio nunc ad testis, in quibus docebo non modo nullam fidem et auctoritatem sed ne speciem quidem esse aut imaginem testium. etenim fidem primum ipsa tollit consensio, quae patefacta est compromisso Sardorum et coniuratione recitata; deinde illa cupiditas quae suscepta est spe et pr praemiorum; postremo ipsa natio, cuius tanta vanitas est ut libertatem a servitute nulla re alia nisi mentiendi licentia distinguendam putent.

[38] I now come to the witnesses, in whom I will show that there is not only no faith and authority, but not even the semblance or image of witnesses. For indeed, first, the very consensus removes credence, which has been laid open by the compact of the Sardinians and by the conspiracy read aloud; then that cupidity which has been undertaken by the hope and promise of rewards; finally, the very nation, whose vanity is so great that they think freedom is to be distinguished from servitude by no other thing than the license of lying.

[39] neque ego Sardorum querelis moveri nos numquam oportere. non sum aut tam inhumanus aut tam alienus a Sardis, praesertim cum frater meus nuper ab eis decesserit, cum rei u Cn. Pompei missu praefuisset, qui et ipse illis pro sua fide et humanitate consuluit et eis vicissim percarus et iucundus fuit.

[39] Nor do I say that we ought ever to be unmoved by the complaints of the Sardinians. I am not either so inhuman or so alien to the Sardinians, especially since my brother has lately departed from them, when, at the sending of Cn. Pompeius, he had been in charge of the grain-supply; he too himself, in accordance with his good faith and humanity, took counsel for them, and in turn was most dear and agreeable to them.

[40] pateat vero hoc perfugium dolori, pateat iustis querelis, coniurationi via intercludatur, obsaepiatur insidiis, neque hoc in Sardis magis quam in Gallis, in Afris, in Hispanis. damnatus est T. Albucius, C. Megaboccus ex Sardinia non nullis etiam laudantibus Sardis. ita fidem maiorem varietas ipsa faciebat.

[40] yet let this refuge be open to grief, let it be open to just complaints; let the way be shut off to conspiracy, barricaded against insidious plots—and let this be no more with the Sardinians than with the Gauls, the Africans, the Spaniards. T. Albucius was convicted; C. Megaboccus, from Sardinia, even with not a few Sardinians praising it. Thus the very variety was making the credibility greater.

testibus enim aequis, tabulis incorruptis tenebantur.

for they were held by impartial witnesses, by incorrupt tablets.

[41] nunc est una vox, una mens non expressa dolore, sed simulata, neque huius iniuriis, sed promissis aliorum et praemiis excitata. at creditum est aliquando Sardis. et fortasse credetur aliquando, si integri venerint, si incorrupti, si sua sponte, si non alicuius impulsu, si soluti, si liberi.

[41] now there is one voice, one mind not pressed out by grief, but feigned, and not aroused by this man’s injuries, but by the promises and rewards of others. and at some time credence was given to the Sardinians. and perhaps it will be given at some time, if they come intact, if uncorrupted, if of their own accord, if not by someone’s instigation, if unfettered, if free.

quae si erunt, tamen sibi credi gaudeant et mirentur. Cum vero omnia absint, tamen se non respicient, non gentis suae famam perhorrescent?

if these things shall be, yet let them rejoice and marvel that they are believed. But when all are absent, will they nevertheless not have regard to themselves, will they not shudder for the fame of their nation?

[42] fallacissimum genus esse Phoenicum omnia monumenta vetustatis atque omnes historiae nobis prodiderunt. ab his orti Poeni multis Carthaginiensium rebellionibus, multis violatis fractisque foederibus nihil se degenerasse docuerunt. A Poenis admixto Afrorum genere Sardi non deducti in Sardiniam atque ibi constituti, sed amandati et repudiati coloni.

[42] All the monuments of antiquity and all histories have handed down to us that the Phoenicians are the most deceitful race. From these sprung the Punic people, who, by many rebellions of the Carthaginians and by many treaties violated and broken, have shown that they have not degenerated at all. From the Punics, with the stock of the Africans admixed, the Sardinians were not led out into Sardinia and settled there, but were colonists sent away and repudiated.

[43] qua re cum integri nihil fuerit in hac gente plena, quam valde eam putamus tot transfusionibus coacuisse? hic mihi ignoscet Cn. Domitius Sincaius, vir ornatissimus, hospes et familiaris meus, ignoscent denique omnes ab eodem Cn. Pompeio civitate donati, quorum tamen omnium laudatione utimur, ignoscent alii viri boni ex Sardinia; credo enim esse quosdam.

[43] Therefore, since there has been nothing of integrity in this people full of , how greatly do we think it has coagulated from so many transfusions? Here Gn. Domitius Sincaius, a most distinguished man, my guest and intimate, will pardon me; at length all those to whom that same Gn. Pompeius granted citizenship will pardon me, whose praise, however, we employ to a man; other good men from Sardinia will pardon me—for I believe there are some.

[44] neque ego, cum de vitiis gentis loquor, neminem excipio; sed a me est de universo genere dicendum, in quo fortasse aliqui suis moribus et humanitate stirpis ipsius et gentis vitia vicerunt. magnam quidem esse partem sine fide, sine societate et coniunctione nominis nostri res ipsa declarat. quae est enim praeter Sardiniam provincia quae nullam habeat amicam populo Romano ac liberam civitatem? [45a] Africa ipsa parens illa Sardiniae, quae plurima et acerbissima cum maioribus nostris bella gessit, non solum fidelissimis regnis sed etiam in ipsa provincia se a societate Punicorum bellorum Vtica teste defendit.

[44] nor, when I speak of the vices of the nation, do I make no exceptions; but it is for me to speak about the whole stock, in which perhaps some, by their own morals and by the humanity of their character, have overcome the vices of the stock itself and of the nation. That a very great part is indeed without fidelity, without alliance and conjunction with our name, the fact itself declares. For what province is there, except Sardinia, which has no city friendly to the Roman people and free? [45a] Africa itself, that mother of Sardinia, which waged many and most bitter wars with our ancestors, not only by most faithful kingdoms but even within the province itself, Utica being witness, defended itself from association with Punic wars.

Hispania ulterior Scipionum int<eritu>.

Further Spain at the death of the Scipios.

[45b] copiis inops, gente fallax.

[45b] destitute in forces, fallacious in its people.

[45c] inventi sunt qui etiam fratres populi Romani vocarentur.

[45c] there were found some who were even called brothers of the Roman people.

[45d] hoc nomine audito quod per omnis gentis pervagatum est.

[45d] when this name was heard, which has spread through all nations.

[45f] nam cum ex multis unus ei restaret Dolabella paternus inimicus, qui cum Q. Caepione propinquo suo contra Scaurum patrem suum subsignaverat, eas sibi inimicitias non susceptas sed relictas.

[45f] for when, out of many, there remained to him one, Dolabella, a paternal enemy, who with Q. Caepio, his kinsman, had countersigned against Scaurus his father, he held those enmities as not assumed but left to him.

[45g] quae, malum, est ista ratio?

[45g] what, the devil, is that rationale?

[45h] quem purpura regalis non commovit, eum Sardorum mastruca mutavit?

[45h] him whom the regal purple did not move, did the Sardinians’ mastruca (sheepskin cloak) change?

[45k] praesertim cum propinquitas et celebritas loci suspicionem desidiae tollat aut cupiditatis.

[45k] especially since the propinquity and the celebrity of the place remove the suspicion of sloth or of cupidity.

[45l] ego porro, qui Albanas habeo columnas, clitellis eas adportavi.

[45l] I, moreover, who have Alban columns, brought them in on pack-saddles.

[45m] domus tibi deerat? at habebas. pecunia superabat?

[45m] Was a house lacking to you? Yet you had one. Was money superabundant?

at egebas. incurristi amens in columnas, in alienos insanus insanisti, depressam, caecam, iacentem domum pluris quam te et fortunas tuas aestimasti.

but you were in need. you, out of your mind, rushed upon the columns; you, insane, raved after what was another’s; a depressed, blind, prostrate house you esteemed at a higher price than yourself and your fortunes.

[45n] haec cum tu effugere non potuisses, contendes tamen et postulabis ut M. Aemilius cum sua dignitate omni, cum patris memoria, cum avi gloria, sordidissimae, vanissimae, levissimae genti ac prope dicam pellitis testibus condonetur?

[45n] Although you could not have escaped these things, yet you will contend and demand that Marcus Aemilius, with all his dignity, with his father’s memory, with his grandfather’s glory, be surrendered to the most sordid, most vain, most flighty people—and, I might almost say, to hide-clad witnesses?

[46] Vndique mihi suppeditat quod pro M. Scauro dicam, quocumque non modo mens verum etiam oculi inciderunt. Curia illa vos de gravissimo principatu patris fortissimoque testatur, L. ipse Metellus, avus huius, sanctissimos deos illo constituisse templo videtur in vestro conspectu, iudices, ut salutem a vobis nepotis sui deprecarentur, quod ipsi saepe multis laborantibus atque implorantibus ope sua subvenissent. Capitolium illud templis tribus inlustratum,

[46] From every side there is supplied to me what I may say on behalf of M. Scaurus, wherever not only my mind but even my eyes have fallen. That Curia testifies to you of the father’s most weighty primacy and most stalwart valor; L. Metellus himself, this man’s grandfather, seems to have established the most holy gods in that temple in your sight, judges, so that they might beg from you the safety of his grandson, because they themselves had often, for many struggling and imploring, come to help with their own aid. That Capitol, made illustrious by three temples,

[47] paternis atque etiam huius amplissimis donis ornati aditus Iovis optimi maximi, Iunonis Reginae, Minervae M. Scaurum apud . . . illius L.

[47] the approaches of Jupiter the Best and Greatest, of Queen Juno, and of Minerva, adorned with the paternal gifts and also with this man’s most ample gifts, M. Scaurus at . . . of that L.

[48] Metelli, pontificis maximi, qui, cum templum illud arderet, in medios se iniecit ignis et eripuit flamma Palladium illud quod quasi pignus nostrae salutis atque imperi custodiis Vestae continetur. qui utinam posset parumper exsistere! eriperet ex hac flamma stirpem profecto suam, qui eripuisset ex illo incendio di . . .

[48] of Metellus, the pontifex maximus, who, when that temple was burning, hurled himself into the midst of the fires and snatched from the flames that Palladium which, as a kind of pledge of our safety and of our empire, is kept in the custody of Vesta. Would that he could appear for a little while! He would assuredly rescue his own stock from this blaze, he who had snatched from that conflagration the di . . .

[49] . . . tum. te vero, M. Scaure, equidem video, video, inquam, non cogito solum, nec vero sine magno animi maerore ac dolore, cum tui fili squalorem aspexi, de te recordor+. atque utinam, sicut mihi tota in hac causa versatus ante oculos , sic nunc horum te offeras mentibus et in horum animis adhaerescas! species me dius . . . etiam si forte non nosset, tamen principem civitatis esse diceret.

[49] . . . then. but you, M. Scaurus, indeed I see you—I see you, I say—I do not only think (of you), nor indeed without great mourning of mind and dolor, when I beheld the squalor of your son, I recall you+. and would that, just as you have been throughout this whole case before my eyes , so now you would offer yourself to the minds of these men and adhere in the spirits of these men! your appearance—by heaven—. . . even if perchance someone did not know you, nevertheless he would say that you are the princeps of the state.

[50] quo te nunc modo appellem? ut hominem? at non es inter nos.

[50] In what way am I now to address you? As a man? But you are not among us.

Vt mortuum? at vivis et viges, at in omnium animis atque ore versaris, atque divinus animus mortale nihil habuit, neque tuorum quicquam potuit emori praeter corpus. quocumque igitur te mo<do> . . .

As a dead man? But you live and flourish, and you are turned about in the minds of all and on their lips; and your divine spirit had nothing mortal, nor could anything of yours die except the body. In whatever way, therefore, I . . .

[51] Vniverse

[51] In general