Cicero: ORATORIA

[1] Cum in omnibus causis gravioribus, C. Caesar, initio dicendi commoveri soleam vehementius, quam videtur vel usus vel aetas mea postulare, tum in hac causa ita me multa perturbant, ut, quantum mea fides studii mihi adferat ad salutem regis Deiotari defendendam, tantum facultatis timor detrahat. Primum dico pro capite fortunisque regis, quod ipsum, etsi non iniquum est in tuo dum taxat periculo, tamem est ita inusitatum, regem reum capitis esse, ut ante hoc tempus non sit auditum;

[1] Since in all more weighty causes, Gaius Caesar, at the beginning of speaking I am accustomed to be moved more vehemently than either usage or my age seems to demand, so in this cause so many things perturb me that, as much as my faithful zeal brings me to defend the safety of King Deiotarus, so much does fear take away of capacity. First, I speak for the life and fortunes of a king, which thing itself, although it is not inequitable—so far at least as it is at your peril—yet is so unheard-of, that a king be a defendant on a capital charge, that before this time it has not been heard;

[2] deinde eum regem, quem ornare antea cuncto cum senatu solebam pro perpetuis eius in nostram rem publicam meritis, nunc contra atrocissimum crimen cogor defendere. Accedit ut accusatorum alterius crudelitate, alterius indignitate conturber: crudelem Castorem, ne dicam sceleratum et impium, qui nepos avum in capitis discrimen adduxerit adulescentiaeque suae terrorem intulerit ei, cuius senectutem tueri et tegere debebat, commendationemque ineuntis aetatis ab impietate et scelere duxerit; avi servum corruptum praemiis ad accusandum dominum impulerit, a legatorum pedibus abduxerit.

[2] then that king, whom I was accustomed formerly, together with the entire senate, to adorn for his perpetual merits toward our republic, I am now compelled to defend against a most atrocious crime. In addition I am perturbed by the cruelty of one accuser, the unworthiness of the other: cruel Castor—not to say criminal and impious—who, as a grandson, has brought his grandfather into danger of his head (capital peril), and has inflicted the terror of his adolescence upon him whose senescence he ought to guard and protect, and has drawn the commendation of his commencing age from impiety and crime; who has driven the grandfather’s slave, corrupted by rewards, to accuse his lord, and has dragged him away from the feet of the legates.

[3] Fugitivi autem dominum accusantis et dominum absentem et dominum amicis simum nostrae rei publicae cum os videbam, cum verba audiebam, non tam adflictam regiam con dicionem dolebam quam de fortunis communibus extimescebam. Nam cum more maiorum de servo in dominum ne tormentis quidem quaeri liceat, in qua quaestione dolor elicere veram vocem possit etiam ab invito, exortus est servus qui, quem in eculeo appellare non posset, eum accuset solutus.

[3] But when I saw the face of a fugitive slave accusing his master—his master absent, and a master most friendly to our republic—when I was hearing his words, I did not so much mourn the afflicted royal condition as I grew alarmed for our common fortunes. For whereas by the ancestral custom it is not permitted to inquire, not even by torments, about a slave against his master—in which mode of questioning pain can elicit a true voice even from the unwilling—there has arisen a slave who, the very man whom he could not arraign on the rack, accuses at liberty.

[4]II. Perturbat me, C. Caesar, etiam illud interdum, quod tamen cum te penitus recognovi, timere desino: re enim iniquum est, sed tua sapientia fit aequissimum: nam dicere apud eum de facinore, contra cuius vitam consilium facinoris inisse arguare, cum per se ipsum consideres, grave est; nemo enim fere est qui sui periculi iudex non sibi se aequiorem quam reo praebeat: sed tua, C. Caesar, praestans singularisque natura hunc mihi metum minuit. Non enim tam timeo quid tu de rege Deiotaro, quam intellego quid de te ceteros velis iudicare.

[4]2. It perturbs me, C. Caesar, also this at times, which, however, when I have thoroughly recognized you, I cease to fear: for in the matter itself it is inequitable, but by your wisdom it becomes most equitable: for to speak before him about a deed of crime—he against whose life you are alleged to have entered upon a plan of the crime—when you consider it by itself, is a grave thing; for there is scarcely anyone who, as judge in his own peril, does not present himself more favorable to himself than to the defendant; but your outstanding and singular nature, C. Caesar, diminishes this fear for me. For I do not so much fear what you will judge concerning King Deiotarus, as I understand what you wish the rest to judge concerning you.

[5] Moveor etiam loci ipsius insolentia, quod tantam causam, quanta nulla umquam in disceptatione versata est, dico intra domesticos parietes, dico extra conventum et eam frequentiam, in qua oratorum studia niti solent: in tuis oculis, in tuo ore voltuque acquiesco, te unum intueor, ad te unum omnis mea spectat oratio: quae mihi ad spem obtinendae veritatis gravissima sunt, ad motum animi et ad omnem impetum dicendi contentionemque leviora:

[5] I am moved also by the unusualness of the place itself, that I speak so great a cause as no other ever has been handled in dispute, within domestic walls, I say outside the convent and that frequency (multitude) in which the studies of orators are wont to lean: in your eyes, in your mouth and countenance I find rest; you alone I gaze upon, to you alone all my oration looks: those things which for me are most weighty for the hope of obtaining truth are lighter for the stirring of spirit and for every impetus and contention of speaking:

[6] hanc enim, C. Caesar, causam si in foro dicerem eodem audiente et disceptante te, quantam mihi alacritatem populi Romani concursus adferret! Quis enim civis ei regi non faveret, cuius omnem aetatem in populi Romani bellis consumptam esse meminisset? Spectarem curiam, intuerer forum, caelum denique testarer ipsum.

[6] for if I were pleading this case, Gaius Caesar, in the forum with you yourself hearing and adjudicating, what alacrity the concourse of the Roman people would bring me! For what citizen would not favor that king, whose whole lifetime he would remember to have been consumed in the wars of the Roman people? I would behold the Curia, I would gaze upon the forum, I would, finally, call heaven itself to witness.

Sic, cum et deorum immortalium et populi Romani et senatus beneficia in regem Deiotarum recordarer, nullo modo mihi deesse posset oratio.

Thus, when I recalled the benefactions of the immortal gods and of the Roman people and of the Senate toward King Deiotarus, my oration could in no way fail me.

[7] Quae quoniam angustiora parietes faciunt actioque maximae causae debilitatur loco, tuum est, Caesar, qui pro multis saepe dixisti, quid mihi nunc animi sit, ad te ipsum referre, quo facilius cum aequitas tua tum audiendi diligentia minuat hanc perturbationem meam. Sed ante quam de accusatione ipsa dico, de accusatorum spe pauca dicam; qui cum videantur nec ingenio nec usu atque exercitatione rerum valere, tamen ad hanc causam non sine aliqua spe et cogitatione venerunt.

[7] Since the walls make these matters more constricted and the delivery of a very great cause is debilitated by the place, it is your part, Caesar, you who have often spoken for many, to refer to yourself what my spirit now is, so that both your equity and your diligence in listening may the more easily diminish this perturbation of mine. But before I speak about the accusation itself, I will say a few words about the hope of the accusers; who, although they seem to be strong neither in talent nor in use and exercise of affairs, nevertheless have come to this case not without some hope and premeditation.

[8]III. Iratum te regi Deiotaro fuisse non erant nescii; adfectum illum quibusdam incommodis et detrimentis propter offensionem animi tui meminerant, teque cum huic iratum, tum sibi amicum esse cognoverant, cumque apud ipsum te de tuo periculo dicerent, fore putabant ut in exulcerato animo facile fictum crimen insideret. Quam ob rem hoc nos primum metu, Caesar, per fidem et constantiam et clementiam tuam libera, ne residere in te ullam partem iracundiae suspicemur.

[8]3. They were not unaware that you had been angry with King Deiotarus; they remembered that he had been affected with certain inconveniences and detriments on account of the offense of your mind, and they had learned that while you were angry with him, you were friendly to themselves; and when in his very presence they were speaking to you about your own peril, they thought that in an ulcerated mind a fictitious charge would easily settle in. Wherefore free us first from this fear, Caesar, by your good faith and constancy and clemency, that we may not suspect that any part of irascibility resides in you.

Per dexteram istam te oro, quam regi Deiotaro hospes hospiti porrexisti, istam, inquam, dexteram non tam in bellis neque in proelus quam in promissis et fide firmiorem. Tu illius domum inire, tu vetus hospitium renovare voluisti; te eius di penates acceperunt, te amicum et placatum Deiotari regis arae focique viderunt.

By this right hand I beg you, the one which, as a guest, you extended to your guest‑friend, King Deiotarus—this, I say, right hand, stronger not so much in wars nor in battles as in promises and in faith. You wished to enter his house, you wished to renew the old hospitality; his household gods received you; the altars and hearths of King Deiotarus saw you a friend and reconciled.

[9] Cum facile orari, Caesar, tum semel exorari soles. Nemo umquam te placavit inimicus, qui ullas resedisse in te simultatis reliquias senserit. Quamquam cui sunt inauditae cum Deiotaro querellae tuae?

[9] You are wont, Caesar, both to be easily entreated and, once prevailed upon, to be appeased once for all. No enemy who has ever placated you has sensed that any relics of feud remained in you. Although, to whom are your complaints against Deiotarus unheard?

Num quam tu illum accusavisti ut hostem, sed ut amicum officio parum functum, quod propensior in Cn. Pompeii amicitiam fuisset quam in tuam: cui tamen ipsi rd veniam te daturum fuisse dicebas, si tantum auxilia Pompeio, vel si etiam filium misisset, ipse aetatis excusatione usus esset.

You never accused him as a foe, but as a friend who had performed his duty too little, because he had been more inclined toward the friendship of Gnaeus Pompeius than toward yours: to whom, however, you said you would have granted pardon to the man himself, if only he had sent auxiliaries to Pompeius, or even his son, while he himself had availed himself of the excuse of age.

[10] Ita cum maximis eum rebus liberares, perparvam amicitiae culpam relinquebas; itaque non solum in eum non animadvertisti, sed omni metu liberavisti, hospitem agnovisti, regem reliquisti. Neque enim ille odio tui progressus, sed errore communi lapsus est. Is rex, quem senatus hoc nomine saepe honorificentissimis decretis appellavisset, quique illum ordinem ab adulescentia gravissimum sanctissimumque duxisset, isdem rebus est perturbatus homo longinquus et alienigena, quibus nos in media re publica nati semperque versati:

[10] Thus, while you were freeing him in the greatest matters, you were leaving a very small fault of friendship; and so you not only did not animadvert against him, but you freed him from all fear, you acknowledged the guest-friend, you left him as king. For he did not advance from hatred of you, but slipped by a common error. That king, whom the Senate by this name had often addressed in the most honorific decrees, and who from youth had deemed that order most grave and most sacred, a man far-distant and an alien, was perturbed by the same things by which we, born in the very midst of the republic and always engaged therein, have been.

[11]IV. cum audiret senatus consentientis auctoritate arma sumpta, consulibus, praetoribus, tribunis plebis, nobis imperatoribus rem publicam defendendam datam, movebatur animo et vir huic imperio amicissimus de salute populi Romani extimescebat, in qua etiam suam esse inclusam videbat: in summo tamen timore quiescendum esse arbitrabatur. Maxime vero perturbatus est, ut audivit, consules ex Italia profugisse omnisque consularis—sic enim ei nuntiabatur,—cunctum senatum, totam Italiam effusam: talibus enim nuntiis et rumoribus patebat ad orientem via nec ulli veri subsequebantur. Nihil ille de condicionibus tuis, nihil de studio concordiae et pacis, nihil de conspiratione audiebat certorum hominum contra dignitatem tuam.

[11]4. when he heard that by the authority of a consenting Senate arms had been taken up, that to the consuls, praetors, tribunes of the plebs, to us imperators the commonwealth had been given to be defended, he was moved in spirit and, a man most friendly to this imperium, he exceedingly feared for the safety of the Roman people, in which he saw that his own was included as well: in the utmost fear, however, he judged that one must keep quiet. But he was most of all perturbed, when he heard that the consuls had fled from Italy and all the consulars — for thus it was reported to him — the whole Senate, all Italy poured out: for by such announcements and rumors the road lay open toward the East, and no truths followed. He was hearing nothing about your conditions, nothing about the zeal for concord and peace, nothing about the conspiracy of certain men against your dignity.

Quae cum ita essent, tamen usque eo se tenuit, quoad a Cn. Pompeio ad eum legati litteraeque venerunt.

Although these things were so, nevertheless he kept himself in check to that point, until envoys and letters came to him from Cn. Pompeius.

[12] Ignosce, ignosce, Caesar, si eius viri auctoritati rex Deiotarus cessit, quem nos omnes secuti sumus; ad quem cum di atque homines omnia ornamenta congessissent, tum tu ipse plurima et maxima. Neque enim, si tuae res gestae ceterorum laudibus obscuritatem attulerunt, idcirco Cn. Pompeii memoriam amisimus. Quantum nomen illius fuerit, quantae opes, quanta in omni genere bellorum gloria, quanti honores populi Romani, quanti senatus, quanti tui, quis ignorat?

[12] Pardon, pardon, Caesar, if King Deiotarus yielded to the authority of that man, whom we all followed; upon whom, when gods and men had heaped up all ornaments, then you yourself added very many and the greatest. For neither, if your achievements have brought obscuration to the praises of others, for that reason have we lost the memory of Gnaeus Pompeius. How great his name was, how great his resources, how great his glory in every kind of war, how great the honors of the Roman people, how great of the senate, how great of yours, who is ignorant?

Tanto ille superiores vicerat gloria, quanto tu omnibus praestitisti; itaque Cn. Pompeii bella, victorias, triumphos, consulatus admirantes numerabamus: tuos enumerare non possumus.

By as much as he had surpassed his predecessors in glory, by so much you have excelled all; and so we, admiring, used to enumerate the wars, victories, triumphs, consulships of Gnaeus Pompeius: we cannot enumerate yours.

[13]V. Ad eum igitur rex Deiotarus venit hoc misero fatalique bello, quem antea iustis hostilibusque bellis adiuverat, quocum erat non hospitio solum, verum etiam familiaritate coniunctus, et venit vel rogatus ut amicus, vel arcessitus ut socius, vel evocatus ut is, qui senatui parere didicisset: postremo venit ut ad fugientem, non ut ad insequentem, id est ad periculi, non ad victoriae societatem. Itaque Pharsalico proelio facto a Pompeio discessit; spem infinitam persequi noluit; vel officio, si quid debuerat, vel errori, si quid nescierat, satis factum esse duxit; domum se contulit, teque Alexandrinum bellum gerente utilitatibus tuis paruit.

[13]5. To him, therefore, King Deiotarus came in this wretched and fatal war, whom previously he had aided in just and hostile wars, with whom he was joined not by hospitality only, but also by familiarity; and he came either invited as a friend, or summoned as an ally, or called forth as one who had learned to obey the senate: finally, he came to one fleeing, not to one pursuing, that is, into a partnership of peril, not of victory. And so, when the Pharsalian battle had been fought, he departed from Pompey; he did not wish to pursue boundless hope; he deemed that satisfaction had been made either to duty, if he had owed anything, or to error, if he had been ignorant of anything; he betook himself home, and, while you were conducting the Alexandrian war, he complied with your interests.

[14] Ille exercitum Cn. Domitii, amplissimi viri, suis tectis et copiis sustentavit; ille Ephesum ad eum, quem tu ex tuis fidelissimum et probatissimum omnibus delegisti, pecuniam misit; ille iterum, ille tertio auctionibus factis pecuniam dedit, qua ad bellum uterere; ille corpus suum periculo obiecit, tecumque in acie contra Pharnacem fuit tuumque hostem esse duxit suum. Quae quidem a te in eam partem accepta sunt, Caesar, ut eum amplissimo regis honore et nominc adfeceris.

[14] He supported the army of Cn. Domitius, a most distinguished man, under his own roof and with his own supplies; he sent money to Ephesus to that man whom you selected from among your own as most faithful and most approved by all; he again, he a third time, with auctions held, gave money, which you might use for the war; he exposed his body to peril, and was with you in the battle-line against Pharnaces, and he deemed your enemy to be his own. These things indeed were received by you, Caesar, to such an extent that you have endowed him with the most ample honor and the name of king.

[15] Is igitur non modo a te periculo liberatus, sed etiam honore amplissimo ornatus, arguitur domi te suae interficere voluisse: quod tu, nisi eum furiosissimum iudicas, suspicari profecto non potes. Ut enim omittam cuius tanti sceleris fuerit in conspectu deorum penatium necare hospitem, cuius tantae importunitatis omnium gentium atque omnis memoriae clarissimum lumen exstinguere, cuius tantae ferocitatis victorem orbis terrarum non extimescere, cuius tam inhumani et ingrati animi, a quo rex appellatus esset, in eo tyrannum inveniri—ut haec omittam, cuius tanti furoris fuit, omnis reges, quorum multi erant finitimi, omnis liberos populos, omnis socios, omnis provincias, omnia denique omnium arma contra se unum excitare? Quonam ille modo cum regno, cum domo, cum coniuge, cum carissimo filio distractus esset, tanto scelere non modo perfecto, sed etiam cogitato?

[15] He therefore, not only freed by you from danger, but even adorned with a most ample honor, is accused of having wished to kill you in his own house: which you, unless you judge him most frenzied, assuredly cannot suspect. For, to omit this—of what so great a wickedness it would have been to slay a guest in the sight of the household gods, of what so great an importunity to extinguish the brightest light of all nations and of all memory, of what so great a ferocity not to dread the conqueror of the world, of what so inhuman and ungrateful a spirit, that in him by whom he had been styled king a tyrant should be found—though I omit these, of what so great a frenzy would it have been to rouse all the kings, many of whom were neighbors, all free peoples, all allies, all provinces, finally all the arms of all men, against himself alone? In what way would he have been torn asunder, together with his kingdom, his home, his spouse, his dearest son, by so great a crime, not only if accomplished, but even if conceived?

[16]VI. At, credo, haec homo inconsultus et temerarius non videbat. Quis consideratior illo? Quis tectior?

[16]6. But, I suppose, this man, inconsult and temerarious, did not see these things. Who more considerate than he? Who more guarded?

Quis prudentior? Quamquam hoc loco Deiotarum non tam ingenio et prudentia quam fide et religione vitae defendendum puto. Nota tibi est hominis probitas, C. Caesar, noti mores, nota constantia.

Who is more prudent? Although at this point I think Deiotarus ought to be defended not so much by ingenuity and prudence as by faith and the religion of his life. The man's probity is known to you, C. Caesar, his mores are known, his constancy known.

Cui porro, qui modo populi Romani nomen audivit, Deiotari integritas, gravitas, virtus, fides non audita est? Quod igitur facinus nec in hominem imprudentem caderet propter metum praesentis exitii, nec in facinorosum, nisi esset idem amentissimus, id vos et a viro optimo et ab homine minime stulto cogitatum esse confingitis?

Moreover, who, that has only just heard the name of the Roman people, has not heard of Deiotarus’s integrity, gravity, virtue, and fidelity? What crime, therefore, which would fall neither upon an imprudent man because of the fear of present ruin, nor upon a criminal, unless he were likewise most insane, do you fabricate to have been conceived both by the best of men and by a man anything but foolish?

[17] At quam non modo non credibiliter, sed ne suspitiose quidem! "Cum" inquit "in castellum Blucium venisses et domum regis, hospitis tui, devertisses, locus erat quidam, in quo erant ea composita, quibus te rex munerari constituerat: huc te e balneo, prius quam accumberes, ducere volebat; erant enim armati, qui te interficerent, in eo ipso loco conlocati." En crimen, en causa, cur regem fugitivus, dominum servus accuset. Ego me hercules, Caesar, initio, cum est ad me ista causa delata, Phidippum medicum, servum regium, qui cum legatis missus esset, ab isto adulescente esse corruptum, hac sum suspitione percussus: medicum indicem subornavit; finget videlicet aliquod crimen veneni.

[17] But how not only not credibly, but not even suspiciously! “When,” he says, “you had come into the castle Blucium and had turned aside to the house of the king, your host, there was a certain place, in which there had been set out those things with which the king had decided to bestow gifts upon you: to this place he wanted to lead you from the bath, before you reclined; for there were armed men, stationed in that very place, to kill you.” Behold the charge, behold the cause why a fugitive accuses the king, a slave his master. I, by Hercules, Caesar, at the beginning, when that case was brought to me, was struck by this suspicion: that Phidippus the physician, a royal slave, who had been sent with the legates, had been corrupted by that young man: he has suborned the physician as an informer; doubtless he will fabricate some charge of poison.

Etsi a veritate longe, tamen a consuetudine criminandi non multum res abhorrebat.

Although far from the truth, yet the matter did not differ much from the custom of criminating.

[18] Quid ait medicus? Nihil de veneno. At id fieri potuit primum occultius in potione, in cibo; deinde etiam impunius fit, quod cum est factum, negari potest.

[18] What does the physician say? Nothing about poison. But that could be done, first more covertly in a potion, in food; then also more with impunity, because when it has been done, it can be denied.

Si palam te interemisset, omnium in se gentium non solum odia, sed etiam arma convertisset: si veneno, Iovis ille quidem hospitalis numen numquam celare potuisset, homines fortasse celasset. Quod igitur et conari occultius et efficere cautius potuit, id tibi et medico callido et servo, ut putabat, fideli, non credidit: de armis, de ferro, de insidiis celare te noluit?

If he had slain you openly, he would have turned upon himself from all peoples not only hatreds but even arms; if by poison, he could indeed never have concealed it from the numen of hospitable Jove—perhaps he would have concealed it from men. Therefore that which he could both attempt more covertly and accomplish more cautiously, that he did not entrust to you and to a crafty medic and to a slave whom he supposed faithful: did he not wish to conceal from you about arms, about steel, about ambushes?

[19] At quam festive crimen contexitur! "Tua te" inquit "eadem, quae saepe, fortuna servavit: negavisti tum te inspicere velle." VII. Quid postea?

[19] But how jauntily the charge is woven! "Your," he says, "same Fortune, the same which often, saved you: you then denied that you wished to inspect." 7. What next?

An Deiotarus, re illo tempore non perfecta, continuo dimisit exercitum? Nullus erat alius insidiandi locus? At eodem te, cum cenavisses, rediturum dixeras, itaque fecisti.

Or did Deiotarus, with the affair at that time not perfected, immediately dismiss the army? Was there no other locus for laying ambuscade? But you had said that to the same place, after you had dined, you would return, and so you did.

Horam unam aut duas eodem loco armatos, ut conlocati fuerant, retinere magnum fuit? Cum in convivio comiter et iucunde fuisses, tum illuc isti, ut dixeras: quo in loco Deiotarum talem erga te cognovisti, qualis rex Attalus in P. Africanum fuit, cui magnificentissima dona, ut scriptum legimus, usque ad Numantiam misit ex Asia, quae Africanus inspectante exercitu accepit; quod cum praesens Deiotarus regio et animo et more fecisset, tu in cubiculum discessisti.

Was it a great matter to retain armed men for one hour or two in the same place, as they had been posted? When at the banquet you had been courteous and pleasant, then you went thither, as you had said: in which place you recognized Deiotarus to be such toward you as King Attalus was toward P. Africanus, to whom, as we read it written, he sent the most magnificent gifts all the way to Numantia from Asia, which Africanus received with the army looking on; and when Deiotarus, being present, had done this in a regal spirit and manner, you withdrew into your bedchamber.

[20] Obsecro, Caesar, repete illius temporis memoriam, pone illum ante oculos diem, voltus hominum te intuentium atque admirantium recordare: num quae trepidatio? Num qui tumultus? Num quid nisi modeste, nisi quiete, nisi ex homiuis gravissimi et sanctissimi disciplina?

[20] I beseech you, Caesar, call back to mind the memory of that time, set that day before your eyes, recall the faces of the men gazing upon you and admiring you: was there any trepidation? Any tumult? Anything except modestly, except quietly, except in accordance with the discipline of a most grave and most holy man?

Quid igitur causae excogitari potest cur te lautum voluerit, cenatum noluerit occidere?

What cause, then, can be excogitated why he should have wanted to kill you when bathed, but have been unwilling to kill you when you had dined?

[21] "In posterum" inquit "diem distulit, ut, cum in castellum Bluciuml ventum esset, ibi cogitata perficeret." Non video causam mutandi loci, sed tamen acta res criminose est. "Cum" inquit "vomere post cenam te velle dixisses, in balneum te ducere coeperunt: ibi enim erant insidiae. At te eadem tua fortuna servavit: in cubiculo malle dixisti." Di te perduint, fugitive!

[21] "He deferred it," he says, "to the following day, so that, when the stronghold Bluciuml had been reached, there he might perfect his cogitations." I do not see a cause for changing the place, yet nevertheless the affair has been put forward as a charge. "When," he says, "you had said you wished to vomit after dinner, they began to lead you into the bath: for there was the ambush. But the same your fortune saved you: you said you preferred to do it in the bedchamber." May the gods destroy you, fugitive!

Ita non modo nequam et improbus, sed fatuus et amens es. Quid? Ille signa aenea in insidiis posuerat, quae e balneo in cubiculum transferri non possent? Habes crimina insidiarum: nihil enim dixit amplius.

Thus you are not only a good-for-nothing and wicked, but fatuous and mad. What? Had he set up bronze statues in ambush, which could not be transferred from the bath to the bedchamber? You have the charges of ambush: for he said nothing more.

"Horum" inquit "eram conscius." Quid tum? Ita ille demens erat, ut eum, quem conscium tanti sceleris haberet, a se dimitteret? Romam etiam mitteret, ubi et inimicissimum sciret esse nepotem sum et C. Caesarem, cui fecisset insidias?

"Of these things," he says, "I was conscious." What then? Was he so demented that he would dismiss from himself the man whom he held as conscious of so great a crime? He would even send him to Rome, where he knew both that his own grandson was most inimical, and Gaius Caesar, against whom he had laid an ambush?

Praesertim cum is unus esset qui posset de absente se indicare?

Especially since he was the only one who could give information against him when he was absent?

[22] "Et fratres meos," inquit " quod erant conscii, in vincula coniecit." Cum igitur eos vinciret, quos secum habebat, te solutum Romam mittebat, qui eadem scires, quae illos scire dicis?

[22] "And my brothers," he says, " because they were privy, he cast into chains." Since, therefore, he was binding those whom he had with him, was he sending you unbound to Rome, you who would know the same things which you say those men know?

VIII. Reliqua pars accusationis duplex fuit: una regem semper in speculis fuisse, cum a te esset animo alieno, altera exercitum eum contra te magnum comparasse. De exercitu dicam breviter, ut cetera.

8. The remaining part of the accusation was twofold: one, that the king had always been on the watch, since he was alien in mind from you; the other, that he had prepared a great army against you. About the army I will speak briefly, as the rest.

Numquam eas copias rex Deiotarus habuit, quibus inferre bellum populo Romano posset, sed quibus finis suos ab excursionibus et latrociniis tueretur et imperatoribus nostris auxilia mitteret. Atque antea quidem maiores copias alere poterat; nunc exiguas vix tueri potest.

Never did King Deiotarus have those forces with which he might bring war against the Roman People, but those with which he might defend his own borders from incursions and brigandage and send auxiliaries to our commanders. And formerly indeed he was able to maintain larger forces; now he can hardly protect even small ones.

[23] At misit ad Caecilium nescio quem: sed eos, quos misit, quod ire noluerunt, in vincula coniecit. Non quaero quam veri simile sit aut habuisse regem quos mitteret aut eos, quos misisset, non paruisse, aut, qui dicto audientes in tanta re non fuissent, eos vinctos potius quam necatos. Sed tamen cum ad Caecilium mittebat, utrum causam illam victam esse nesciebat an Caecilium istum magnum hominem putabat?

[23] But he sent to Caecilius some I-know-not-whom; but those whom he sent, because they did not wish to go, he cast into chains. I do not inquire how likely it is either that the king had men to send, or that those whom he had sent did not obey, or that men who were not obedient to a command in so great a matter were bound rather than killed. But nevertheless, when he was sending to Caecilius, did he not know that that cause had been conquered, or did he suppose this Caecilius to be a great man?

Quem profecto is, qui optime nostros homines novit, vel quia non nosset vel si nosset, contemneret.

Whom assuredly he who knows our people best would contemn, either because he did not know him, or, if he did know him.

[24] Addit etiam illud, equites non optimos misisse. Credo, Caesar, nihil ad tuum equitatum, sed misit ex eis, quos habuit, electos. Ait nescio quem ex eo numero servum iudicatum.

[24] He also adds this, that he sent horsemen not the best. I believe, Caesar, nothing compared to your cavalry, but he sent from those whom he had, chosen men. He says that someone-or-other from that number was adjudged a slave.

Non arbitror, non audivi: sed in eo, etiam si accidisset, culpam regis nullam fuisse arbitrarer. IX. Alieno autem a te animo fuit quo modo? Speravit, credo, difficilis tibi Alexandriae fore exitus propter regionis naturam et fluminis.

I do not suppose so; I have not heard it: but in that matter, even if it had happened, I would judge that there was no culpability of the king. 9. But in what way was he of an alien mind toward you? He hoped, I believe, that the exit for you at Alexandria would be difficult on account of the nature of the region and of the river.

At eo tempore ipso pecuniam dedit, exercitum aluit, ei, quem Asiae praefeceras, in nulla re defuit; tibi victori non solum ad hospitium, sed ad periculum etiam atque ad aciem praesto fuit.

But at that very time he gave money, sustained the army, was wanting in nothing to him whom you had appointed over Asia; to you, the victor, he stood ready not only for hospitality, but even for peril and for the battle line.

[25] Secutum est bellum Africanum: graves de te rumores, qui etiam furiosum illum Caecilium excitaverunt. Quo tum rex animo fuit? Qui auctionatus sit seseque spoliare maluerit quam tibi pecuniam non subministrare. "At eo" inquit "tempore ipso Nicaeam Ephesumque mittebat qui rumores Africanos exciperent et celeriter ad se referrent: itaque cum esset ei nuntiatum Domitium naufragio perisse, te in castello circumsederi, de Domitio dixit versum Graecum eadem sententia, qua etiam nos habemus Latinum:

[25] The African war followed: serious rumors about you, which even roused that furious Caecilius. In what spirit was the king then? He put himself up for auction and preferred to strip himself rather than not supply you with money. "But at that very time," he says, "he was sending to Nicaea and Ephesus those who would intercept the African rumors and quickly bring them back to him: and so, when it had been announced to him that Domitius had perished by shipwreck, that you were being besieged in a fort, he spoke about Domitius a Greek verse with the same sentiment as that which we too have in Latin:

pereant amici, dum inimici una intercidant."

let friends perish, so long as the enemies perish together."

Quod ille, si esset tibi inimicissimus, numquam tamen dixisset: ipse enim mansuetus, versus immanis. Qui autem Domitio poterat esse amicus, qui tibi esset inimicus? Tibi porro inimicus cur esset, a quo cum vel interfici belli lege potuisset, regem et se et filium suum constitutos esse meminisset?

Which thing he, even if he were most inimical to you, would nevertheless never have said: for he himself is gentle, the verse monstrous. Moreover, who could have been a friend to Domitius who was an enemy to you? And why, furthermore, should he have been an enemy to you, by whom, although he could even have been put to death by the law of war, he would have remembered that the king and himself and his son had been constituted?

[26] Quid deinde? Furcifer quo progreditur? Ait hac laetitia Deiotarum elatum vino se obruisse in convivioque nudum saltavisse.

[26] What then? Whither does the gallows-bird advance? He says that, lifted up by this joy, Deiotarus overwhelmed himself with wine and, at the banquet, danced naked.

Quae crux huic fugitivo potest satis suppliciu adferre? Deiotarum saltantem quisquam aut ebrium vidit umquam? Omnes in illo sunt rege virtutes, quod te, Caesar, ignorare non arbitror, sed praecipue singularis et admiranda frugalitas: etsi hoc verbo scio laudari regem non solere; frugi hominem dici non multum habet laudis in rege: fortem, iustum, severum, gravem, magnanimum, largum, beneficum, liberalem: hae sunt regiae laudes, illa privata est.

What cross can bring sufficient punishment upon this fugitive? Has anyone ever seen Deiotarus dancing or inebriated? All the virtues are in that king, which I do not think you, Caesar, to be ignorant of, but especially his singular and admirable frugality: although I know that by this word a king is not wont to be praised; to call a man frugal does not carry much praise in a king: brave, just, severe, grave, magnanimous, lavish, beneficent, liberal: these are royal praises; that is private.

Ut volet quisque, accipiat: ego tamen frugalitatem, id est modestiam et temperantiam, virtutem maximam iudico. Haec in illo est ab ineunte aetate cum a cuncta Asia, cum a magistratibus legatisque nostris, tum ab equitibus Romanis, qui in Asia negotiati sunt, perspecta et cognita.

Let each take it as he will; I, however, judge frugality—that is, modesty and temperance—to be the greatest virtue. This in him, from his earliest age, has been thoroughly observed and known both by all Asia, by our magistrates and legates, and also by the Roman equestrians who have transacted business in Asia.

[27] Multis ille quidem gradibus officiorum erga rem publicam nostram ad hoc regium nomen ascendit; sed tamen quicquid a bellis populi Romani vacabat, cum hominibus nostris consuetudines, amicitias, res rationesque iungebat, ut non solum tetrarches nobilis, sed etiam optimus pater familias et diligentissimus agricola et pecuarius haberetur. Qui igitur adulescens, nondum tanta gloria praeditus, nihil umquam nisi severissime et gravissime fecerit, is ea existi matione eaque aetate saltavit?

[27] He indeed by many steps of services toward our republic ascended to this royal name; yet whatever was free from the wars of the Roman people, he would join with our men connections, friendships, affairs and accounts, so that he was held not only a noble tetrarch, but also an excellent pater familias and a most diligent farmer and stock-raiser. He therefore who, as a young man, not yet endowed with so great glory, never did anything except in the most severe and most grave fashion—did he, of such esteem and at such an age, dance?

[28]X. Imitari, Castor, potius avi mores disciplinamque debebas quam optimo et clarissimo viro fugitivi ore male dicere. Quod si saltatorem avum habuisses neque eum virum, unde pudoris pudicitiaeque exempla peterentur, tamen hoc maledictum minime in illam aetatem conveniret. Quibus ille studiis ab ineunte aetate se imbuerat, non saltandi, sed bene ut armis, optime ut equis uteretur, ea tamen illum cuncta iam exacta aetate defecerant.

[28]10. You ought, Castor, rather to imitate your grandfather’s manners and discipline than to speak ill of a most excellent and most illustrious man with a fugitive’s mouth. And even if you had had a dancer for a grandfather, and not that man from whom examples of modesty and chastity might be sought, nevertheless this malediction would by no means suit that age. The studies with which from his earliest age he had imbued himself were not of dancing, but that he might use arms well, and horses best; yet all these had failed him, now that his age was spent.

Itaque Deiotarum cum plures in equum sustulissent, quod haerere in eo senex posset, admirari solebamus: hic vero adulescens, qui meus in Cilicia miles, in Graecia commilito fuit, eum in illo nostro exercitu equitaret cum suis delectis equitibus, quos una cum eo ad Pompeium pater miserat, quos concursus facere solebat! Quam se iactare, quam ostentare, quam nemini in illa causa studio et cupiditate concedere!

And so we were wont to marvel, whenever several had hoisted Deiotarus onto a horse, that, old man as he was, he could cling to it; but this young man—who was my soldier in Cilicia, my fellow-soldier in Greece—how in that army of ours he would ride with his picked horsemen, whom his father had sent along with him to Pompey—what charges he used to make! How he would toss himself about, how make ostentation, how yield to no one in that cause in zeal and desire!

[29] Cum vero exercitu amisso ego, qui pacis semper auctor fui, post Pharsalicum proelium suasor fuissem armorum non deponendorum, sed abiciendorum, hunc ad meam auctoritatem non potui adducere, quod et ipse ardebat studio illius belli et patri satis faciendum esse arbitrabatur. Felix ista domus quae non impunitatem solum adepta sit, sed etiam accusandi licentiam: calamitosus Deiotarus qui, quod in eisdem castris fuerit, non modo apud te, sed etiam a suis accusetur! Vos vestra secunda fortuna, Castor, non potestis sine propinquorum calamitate esse contenti?

[29] But when the army had indeed been lost, I—who have always been an author of peace—after the Pharsalic battle was an adviser that arms should not be laid down but cast away; yet I could not bring this man under my authority, since he himself burned with zeal for that war and thought that satisfaction had to be rendered to his father. Happy that house which has obtained not only impunity but even a license for accusing; wretched Deiotarus, who, because he was in the same camp, is accused not only before you but even by his own! You, with your prosperous fortune, Castor, cannot be content without the calamity of your kinsmen?

[30]XI. Sint sane inimicitiae, quae esse non debebant—rex enim Deiotarus vestram familiam abiectam et obscuram e tenebris in lucem evocavit: quis tuum patrem antea, quis esset, quam cuius gener esset, audivit?—sed quamvis ingrate et impie necessitudinis nomen repudiaretis, tamen inimicitias hominum more gerere poteratis, non ficto crimine insectari, non expetere vitam, non capitis arcessere. Esto: concedatur haec quoque acerbitas et odii magnitudo: adeone, ut omnia vitae salutisque communis atque etiam humanitatis iura violentur? Servum sollicitare verbis, spe promissisque corrumpere, abducere domum, contra dominum armare, hoc est non uni propinquo, sed omnibus familiis nefarium bellum indicere; nam ista corruptela servi si non modo impunita fuerit, sed etiam a tanta auctoritate approbata, nulli parietes nostram salutem, nullae leges, aulla iura custodient.

[30]11. Let there indeed be enmities, which ought not to be—for King Deiotarus evoked your family, cast down and obscure, out of darkness into light: who before had heard who your father was, before he had heard whose son-in-law he was?—but although you ungratefully and impiously repudiated the name of kinship, nevertheless you could have conducted enmities in the manner of men: not to assail with a feigned crime, not to seek a man’s life, not to arraign him on a capital charge. Granted: let even this bitterness and magnitude of hatred be conceded: to such a degree, that all the rights of life and of common safety and even of humanity are violated? To solicit a slave with words, to corrupt him with hope and promises, to carry him off home, to arm him against his master—this is to declare a nefarious war not against one kinsman, but against all households; for if that corruption of a slave not only goes unpunished, but is even approved by so great an authority, no walls will guard our safety, no laws, no rights.

Ubi enim id, quod intus est atque nostrum, impune evolare potest contraque nos pugnare, fit in dominatu servitus, in servitute dominatus.

For when that which is inside and ours can fly out with impunity and fight against us, there comes to be servitude in dominion, and domination in servitude.

[31] O tempora, o mores ! Cn. Domitius ille, quem nos pueri consulem, censorem, pontificem maximum vidimus, cum tribunus plebis M. Scaurum principem civitatis in iudicium populi vocavisset Scaurique servus ad eum clam domum venisset et crimina in dominum delaturum se esse dixisset, prehendi hominem iussit ad Scaurumque deduci. Vide quid intersit, etsi inique Castorem cum Domitio comparo: sed tamen ille inimico servum remisit, tu ab avo abduxisti; ille incorruptum audire noluit, tu corrupisti; ille adiutorem servum contra dominum repudiavit, tu etiam accusatorem adhibuisti.

[31] O times, o customs ! That Cn. Domitius, whom we as boys saw as consul, censor, pontifex maximus, when, as tribune of the plebs, he had summoned M. Scaurus, the princeps of the state, to the judgment of the people, and Scaurus’s slave had come secretly to his house and had said that he would bring charges against his master, ordered the man to be seized and to be led to Scaurus. See what the difference is, although I compare Castor with Domitius unfairly: yet that man sent the slave back to his enemy, you carried him off from your grandfather; he refused to hear an uncorrupted slave, you corrupted him; he repudiated the slave as a helper against his master, you even employed him as an accuser.

[32] At semel iste est corruptus a vobis. Nonne, cum esset productus et cum tecum fuisset, refugit ad legatos? Nonne ad hunc Cn. Domitium venit?

[32] But that fellow was once corrupted by you. Surely, when he had been produced and when he had been with you, he fled back to the legates? Did he not come to this Cn. Domitius?

Nonne audiente hoc Servio Sulpicio, clarissimo viro, qui tum casu apud Domitium cenabat, et hoc Tito Torquato, optimo adulescente, se a te corruptum, tuis promissis in fraudem impulsum esse confessus est? XII. Quae est ista tam impotens, tam crudelis, tam immoderata inhumanitas?

Did he not, with this Servius Sulpicius, a most illustrious man, who at that time by chance was dining at Domitius’s, hearing this, and this Titus Torquatus, an excellent young man, confess that he had been corrupted by you, that by your promises he had been impelled into fraud? 12. What is that so unbridled, so cruel, so immoderate inhumanity?

Idcirco in hanc urbem venisti, ut huius urbis iura et exempla corrumperes domestica que immanitate nostrae civitatis humanitatem inquinares?

Was it for this reason that you came into this city, to corrupt this city’s laws and examples, and, with domestic inhumanity, to contaminate the humanity of our commonwealth?

[33] At quam acute conlecta crimina! "Blesamius" inquit—eius enim nomine, optimi viri nec tibi ignoti, male dicebat tibi—"ad regem scribere solebat te in invidia esse, tyrannum existimari, statua inter reges posita animos hominum vehementer offensos, plaudi tibi non solere." Nonne intellegis, Caesar, ex urbanis malevolorum sermunculis haec ab istis esse conlecta? Blesamius tyrannum Caesarem scriberet?

[33] But how acutely the crimes have been collected! "Blesamius," he says—for in his name, of an excellent man and not unknown to you, he was speaking ill of you—"was accustomed to write to the king that you were in ill repute, that you were thought a tyrant; that, with a statue set among the kings, the minds of men were vehemently offended; that it was not usual for you to be applauded." Do you not understand, Caesar, that these things have been gathered by those men from the urban little gossipings of the malevolent? Would Blesamius write Caesar a tyrant?

Multorum enim capita civium viderat, multos iussu Caesaris vexatos, verberatos, necatos, multas adflictas et eversas domos, armatis militibus refertum forum! Quae semper in civili victoria sensimus, ea te victore non vidimus.

For he had seen the heads of many citizens, many by Caesar’s order vexed, beaten, slain, many homes afflicted and overthrown, the forum crammed with armed soldiers! The things which we have always experienced in a civil victory, those we did not see with you as victor.

[34] Solus, inquam, es, C. Caesar, cuius in victoria ceciderit nemo nisi armatus. Et quem nos liberi, in summa libertate nati, non modo non tyrannum, sed clementissimum in victoria ducem vidimus, is Blesamio, qui vivit in regno, tyrannus videri potest? Nam de statua quis queritur, una praesertim, cum tam multas videat?

[34] You alone, I say, are, C. Caesar, in whose victory no one fell except one who was armed. And he whom we, free men, born in the highest liberty, have seen not only not a tyrant, but the most clement commander in victory—can he seem a tyrant to Blesamius, who lives in a kingdom? For who complains about a statue, especially a single one, when he sees so many?

Valde enim invidendum est eius statuis, cuius tropaeis non invidemus. Nam si locus adfert invidiam, nullus locus est ad statuam quidem rostris clarior. De plausu autem quid respondeam?

For indeed his statues must be greatly envied, whose trophies we do not envy. For if place brings envy, no place, at least for a statue, is more renowned than the Rostra. But as for applause, what am I to answer?

Qui nec desideratus umquam a te est et non numquam obstupefactis hominibus ipsa admiratione compressus est et fortasse eo praeterrnissus, quia nihil volgare te dignum videri potest.

Which has neither ever been desired by you, and has sometimes, with men stupefied, been suppressed by admiration itself, and perhaps on that account has been passed over, because nothing vulgar can seem worthy of you.

[35]XIII. Nihil a me arbitror praeteritum, sed aliquid ad extremum causae reservatum. Id autem aliquid est, te ut plane Deiotaro reconciliet oratio mea.

[35]13. I judge that nothing has been passed over by me, but that something has been reserved to the end of the cause; and that something is this: that my oration may plainly reconcile you to Deiotarus.

Non enim iam metuo ne tu illi suscenseas; illud vereor ne tibi illum suscensere aliquid suspicere: quod abest longissime, mihi crede, Caesar. Quid enim retineat per te meminit, non quid amiserit; neque se a te multatum arbitratur, sed, cum existimares multis tibi multa esse tribuenda, quo minus a se, qui in altera parte fuisset, ea sumeres non recusavit.

I no longer fear that you are angry with him; this I do fear, that you suspect him to be in any way angry with you: which is most remote, believe me, Caesar. For he remembers what he retains through you, not what he has lost; nor does he consider himself mulcted by you, but, since you deemed that many things had to be granted by you to many, he did not refuse to let you take those things from himself, as one who had been on the other side.

[36] Etenim si Antiochus, Magnus ille, rex Asiae, cum, postea quam a L. Scipione devictus est, Tauro tenus regnare iussus esset, omnemque hanc Asiam, quae est nunc nostra provincia, amisisset, dicere est solitus benigne sibi a populo Romano esse factum, quod nimis magna procuratione liberatus modicis regni terminis uteretur, potest multo facilius se Deiotarus consolari: ille enim furoris multam sustulerat, hic erroris. Omnia tu Deiotaro, Caesar, tribuisti, cum et ipsi et filio nomen regium concessisti: hoc nomine retento atque servato nullum beneficium populi Romani, nullum iudicium de se senatus imminutum putat. Magno animo et erecto est, nec umquam succumbet inimicis, ne fortunae quidem.

[36] For indeed, if Antiochus, that Great one, king of Asia, when, after he was defeated by Lucius Scipio, he had been ordered to reign as far as Taurus and had lost all this Asia which is now our province, was wont to say that a kindness had been done to him by the Roman people, because, freed from an overly great procuration, he enjoyed modest boundaries of his kingdom, Deiotarus can much more easily console himself: for that man bore the mulct of madness, this one of error. You, Caesar, have granted all things to Deiotarus, since you conceded the royal name both to himself and to his son: with this title retained and preserved he thinks that no benefaction of the Roman people, no judgment of the senate concerning him has been diminished. He is of a great and erect spirit, nor will he ever succumb to enemies, not even to Fortune.

[37] Multa se arbitratur et peperisse ante factis et habere in animo atque virtute, quae nullo modo possit amittere. Quae enim fortuna aut quis casus aut quae tanta possit iniuria omnium imperatorum de Deiotaro decreta delere? Ab omnibus enim est ornatus, qui, postea quam in castris esse potuit per aetatem, in Asia, Cappadocia, Ponto, Cilicia, Syria bella gesserunt: senatus vero iudicia de illo tam multa tamque honorifica, quae publicis populi Romani litteris monimentisque consignata sunt, quae umquam vetustas obruet aut quae tanta delebit oblivio?

[37] He thinks that he has both previously achieved many things by deeds and that he has in spirit and in valor things which he can in no way lose. For what fortune, or what chance, or what injustice so great, could delete the decrees of all the commanders concerning Deiotarus? For he has been adorned by all those who, after they could be in the camp by reason of age, waged wars in Asia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Cilicia, Syria: but the judgments of the senate about him, so many and so honorific, which have been consigned in the public letters and monuments of the Roman people—what age will ever overwhelm, or what oblivion so great will delete?

Quid de virtute eius dicam? De magnitudine animi, gravitate, constantia? Quae omnes docti atque sapientes summa, quidam etiam sola bona esse dixerunt, hisque non modo ad bene, sed etiam ad beate vivendum contentam esse virtutem.

What shall I say of his virtue? Of greatness of soul, gravity, constancy? All the learned and the wise have declared these to be the highest goods, and some even the only goods, and that with these virtue is content not only for living well, but also for living blessedly.

[38] Haec ille reputans et dies noctisque cogitans non modo tibi non suscenset—esset enim non solum ingratus, sed etiam amens,—verum omnem tranquillitatem et quietem senectutis acceptam refert clementiae tuae. XIV. Quo quidem animo cum antea fuit, tum non dubito quin tuis litteris, quarum exemplum legi, quas ad eum Tarracone huic Blesamio dedisti, se magis etiam erexerit ab omnique sollicitudine abstraxerit; iubes enim eum bene sperare et bono esse animo, quod scio te non frustra scribere solere.

[38] Considering these things and thinking day and night, he not only does not grow angry with you—for he would be not only ungrateful, but even demented—but indeed he attributes all the tranquillity and quiet of old age as owed to your clemency. 14. And with that spirit which he had before, so now I do not doubt that by your letters, a copy of which I have read, which at Tarraco you gave to this Blesamius for him, he has even more lifted himself up and withdrawn himself from every solicitude; for you bid him to hope well and to be of good courage, which I know you are wont not to write in vain.

Memini enim isdem fere verbis ad me te scribere meque tuis litteris bene sperare non frustra esse iussum.

For I remember that you wrote to me in almost the same words, and that by your letters I was ordered to hope well, not in vain.

[39] Laboro equidem regis Deiotnri causa, quocum mihi amicitiam res publica conciliavit, hospitium voluntas utriusque coniunxit, familiaritatem consuetudo attulit, summam vero necessitudinem magna eius officia in me et in exercitum meum effecerunt: sed cum de illo laboro tum de multis amplissimis viris, quibus semel ignotum a te esse oportet, nec beneficium tuum in dubium vocari, nec haerere in animis hominum sollicitudinem sempiternam, nec accidere ut quisquam te timere incipiat eorum, qui sint semel a te liberati timore.

[39] I do indeed labor in the cause of King Deiotarus, with whom the Republic conciliated friendship for me, the will of each conjoined hospitality, custom brought familiarity, and in truth his great services toward me and toward my army effected the highest bond of obligation: but while I labor on his behalf, so too for many most distinguished men, for whom it ought once for all to have been pardoned by you, neither should your benefaction be called into doubt, nor a sempiternal solicitude stick in the minds of men, nor should it befall that anyone of those who have once been freed by you from fear should begin to fear you.

[40] Non debeo, C. Caesar, quod fieri solet in tantis periculis, temptare quonam modo dicendo miseri cordiam tuam commovere possim; nihil opus est: occurrere solet ipsa supplicibus et calamitosis, nullius oratione evocata. Propone tibi duos reges et id animo contemplare, quod oculis non potes: dabis profecto id misericordiae quod iracundiae denegavisti. Multa sunt monimenta clementiae tuae, sed maxima eorum incolumitates, quibus salutem dedisti; quae si in privatis gloriosa sunt, multo magis commemorabuntur in regibus.

[40] I ought not, Gaius Caesar, as is wont to be done in such great perils, to attempt by what manner of speaking I might move your misericordia; there is no need: it is accustomed to run of itself to suppliants and to the calamity‑stricken, evoked by no one’s oration. Set before yourself two kings and contemplate with your mind that which you cannot with your eyes: you will assuredly grant to misericordia that which you denied to iracundia. Many are the monuments of your clemency, but the greatest are the incolumities of those to whom you have given salvation; which, if they are glorious in private persons, will much more be commemorated in kings.

Semper regium nomen in hac civitate sanctum fuit, sociorum vero regum et amicorum sanctissimum;

The royal name has always been sacred in this commonwealth, but that of allied kings and friends most sacred of all;

[41]XV. quod nomen hi reges ne amitterent te victore timuerunt, retentum vero et a te confirmatum posteris etiam suis tradituros se esse confidunt. Corpora sua pro salute regum suorum hi legati tibi regii tradunt, Hieras et Blesamius et Antigonus, tibi nobisque omnibus iam diu noti, eademque fide et virtute praeditus Dorylaus, qui nuper cum Hiera legatus est ad te missus, cum regum amicissimi, tum tibi etiam, ut spero, probati.

[41]15. which name these kings feared they might lose with you victorious, but, now retained and confirmed by you, they are confident they will hand it down even to their own posterity. Their own persons for the safety of their kings these royal envoys hand over to you—Hieras and Blesamius and Antigonus, long known to you and to all of us—and Dorylaus, endowed with the same fidelity and virtue, who was recently sent to you as an envoy with Hieras, both most friendly to the kings and, as I hope, approved by you as well.

[42] Exquire de Blesamio num quid ad regem contra dignitatem tuam scripserit. Hieras quidem causam omnem suscipit et criminibus illis pro rege se supponit reum; memoriam tuam implorat, qua vales plurimum; negat umquam se a te in Deiotari tetrarchia pedem discessisse; in primis finibus tibi se praesto fuisse dicit, usque ad ultimos prosecutum; cum e balneo exisses, tecum se fuisse, cum illa munera inspexisses cenatus, cum in cubiculo recubuisses; eandemque adsiduitatem tibi se praebuisse postridie:

[42] Inquire of Blesamius whether he has written anything to the king against your dignity. Hieras indeed takes the whole cause upon himself and, for the king, puts himself forward as the defendant to those crimes; he implores your memory, wherein you prevail most; he denies that he ever moved a foot away from you in the tetrarchy of Deiotarus; he says that he was at hand for you at the first borders, and escorted you to the last; when you had come out of the bath, he was with you; when you had inspected those gifts; after dining; when you had reclined in the bedchamber; and that he displayed the same assiduity to you on the following day:

[43] quam ob rem si quid eorum, quae obiecta sunt, cogitatum sit, non recusat quin id suum facinus iudices. Quocirca, C. Caesar, velim existimes hodierno die sententiam tuam aut cum summo dedecore miserrimam pestem importaturam esse regibus aut incolumem famam cum salute: quorum alterum optare illorum crudelitatis est, alterum conservare clementiae tuae.

[43] wherefore, if anything of those things which have been alleged has been contemplated, he does not refuse that you judge that deed his own crime. Wherefore, Gaius Caesar, I would wish you to consider that on this day your sentence will bring either a most wretched plague upon the kings with the highest disgrace, or unharmed fame with safety: to desire the former is a mark of their cruelty, to preserve the latter is of your clemency.