Cicero: ORATORIA

[1] Etsi, Quirites, non est meae consuetudinis initio dicendi rationem reddere qua de causa quemque defendam, propterea quod cum omnibus civibus in eorum periculis semper satis iustam mihi causam necessitudinis esse duxi, tamen in hac defensione capitis, famae fortunarumque omnium C. Rabiri proponenda ratio videtur esse offici mei, propterea quod, quae iustissima mihi causa ad hunc defendendum esse visa est, eadem vobis ad absolvendum debet videri.

[1] Although, Quirites, it is not my custom at the outset of speaking to render an account of for what cause I defend anyone, because I have always deemed that with all citizens in their perils I had a sufficiently just cause of obligation, nevertheless in this defense of the life, reputation, and all the fortunes of Gaius Rabirius, the rationale to be set forth seems to be a part of my duty, because the cause which has seemed to me most just for defending this man ought to seem the same to you for acquitting him.

[2] Nam me cum amicitiae vetustas, cum dignitas hominis, cum ratio humanitatis, cum meae vitae perpetua consuetudo ad C. Rabirium defendendum est adhortata, tum vero, ut id studiosissime facerem, salus rei publicae, consulare officium, consulatus denique ipse mihi una vobis cum salute rei publicae commendatus coegit. Non enim C. Rabirium culpa delicti, non invidia vitae, Quirites, non denique veteres iustae gravesque inimicitiae civium in discrimen capitis vocaverunt, sed ut illud summum auxilium maiestatis atque imperi quod nobis a maioribus est traditum de re publica tolleretur, ut nihil posthac auctoritas senatus, nihil consulare imperium, nihil consensio bonorum contra pestem ac perniciem civitatis valeret, idcirco in his rebus evertendis unius hominis senectus, infirmitas solitudoque temptata est.

[2] For while the antiquity of friendship, the dignity of the man, the principle of humanity, the perpetual custom of my life urged me to defend Gaius Rabirius, then indeed, that I might do this most zealously, the safety of the commonwealth, the consular office, and finally the consulship itself, entrusted to me together with you along with the safety of the commonwealth, compelled me. For it was not the fault of a crime that summoned Gaius Rabirius, not the odium of his way of life, Quirites, not, in fine, the old, just, and weighty enmities of fellow citizens that called him into capital peril, but in order that that highest aid of majesty and imperium, which has been handed down to us by our ancestors, might be taken away from the state; so that henceforth the authority of the senate, the consular imperium, the consensus of the good might avail nothing against the plague and destruction of the city—therefore, for the overthrow of these things, the old age, weakness, and solitude of a single man have been assailed.

[3] Quam ob rem si est boni consulis, cum cuncta auxilia rei publicae labefactari convellique videat, ferre opem patriae, succurrere saluti fortunisque communibus, implorare civium fidem, suam salutem posteriorem salute communi ducere, est etiam bonorum et fortium civium, quales vos omnibus rei publicae temporibus exstitistis, intercludere omnis seditionum vias, munire praesidia rei publicae, summum in consulibus imperium, summum in senatu consilium putare; ea qui secutus sit, laude potius et honore quam poena et supplicio dignum iudicare.

[3] Wherefore, if it is the part of a good consul, when he sees all the aids of the republic being undermined and torn up, to bring help to the fatherland, to succor the common safety and fortunes, to implore the good faith of the citizens, to count his own safety as later than the common safety, it is also the part of good and brave citizens, such as you have shown yourselves at all times of the republic, to shut off all the avenues of seditions, to fortify the bulwarks of the republic, to deem the highest imperium to be in the consuls, the highest counsel to be in the senate; to judge that whoever has followed these things is worthy of praise and honor rather than of punishment and penalty.

[4] Quam ob rem labor in hoc defendendo praecipue meus est, studium vero conservandi hominis commune mihi vobiscum esse debebit.

[4] Wherefore the labor in defending him is especially mine, but the zeal for conserving the man ought to be common to me with you.

Sic enim existimare debetis, Quirites, post hominum memoriam rem nullam maiorem, magis periculosam, magis ab omnibus vobis providendam neque a tribuno pl. susceptam neque a consule defensam neque ad populum Romanum esse delatam. Agitur enim nihil aliud in hac causa, Quirites, <nisi> ut nullum sit posthac in re publica publicum consilium, nulla bonorum consensio contra improborum furorem et audaciam, nullum extremis rei publicae temporibus perfugium et praesidium salutis.

For thus you ought to reckon, Citizens, that since the memory of men no matter has been greater, more perilous, more to be provided for by all of you, neither undertaken by a tribune of the plebs nor defended by a consul nor brought before the Roman People. For in this case, Citizens, nothing else is at stake that hereafter there be no public counsel in the republic, no consensus of the good against the frenzy and audacity of the wicked, no refuge and bulwark of safety in the extremest times of the commonwealth.

[5] Quae cum ita sint, primum, quod in tanta dimicatione capitis, famae fortunarumque omnium fieri necesse est, ab Iove Optimo Maximo ceterisque dis deabusque immortalibus, quorum ope et auxilio multo magis haec res publica quam ratione hominum et consilio gubernatur, pacem ac veniam peto precorque ab eis ut hodiernum diem et ad huius salutem conservandam et ad rem publicam constituendam inluxisse patiantur. Deinde vos, Quirites, quorum potestas proxime ad deorum immortalium numen accedit, oro atque obsecro, quoniam uno tempore vita C. Rabiri, hominis miserrimi atque innocentissimi, salus rei publicae vestris manibus suffragiisque permittitur, adhibeatis in hominis fortunis misericordiam, in rei publicae salute sapientiam quam soletis.

[5] Since these things are so, first, as it is necessary to do in so great a contest of life, reputation, and all fortunes, from Jupiter Best and Greatest and the other immortal gods and goddesses, by whose help and assistance this republic is governed much more than by the reason and counsel of men, I seek peace and pardon and I pray from them that they may permit this day to have dawned both for preserving this man’s safety and for establishing the republic. Next you, Quirites, whose power comes nearest to the numen of the immortal gods, I beg and I beseech, since at one and the same time the life of Gaius Rabirius, a most wretched and most innocent man, and the safety of the republic are entrusted to your hands and votes, that you apply mercy in the fortunes of the man, and, in the safety of the republic, the sapience to which you are accustomed.

[6] Nunc quoniam, T. Labiene, diligentiae meae temporis angustiis obstitisti meque ex comparato et constituto spatio defensionis in semihorae articulum coegisti, parebitur et, quod iniquissimum est, accusatoris condicioni et, quod miserrimum, inimici potestati. Quamquam in hac praescriptione semihorae patroni mihi partis reliquisti, consulis ademisti, propterea quod ad defendendum prope modum satis erit hoc mihi temporis, ad conquerendum vero parum.

[6] Now, since, T. Labienus, you have opposed my diligence by the straits of time and have driven me from the prearranged and established span of the defense into the narrow juncture of a half-hour, there will be compliance both, which is most inequitable, with the accuser’s condition, and, which is most pitiable, with an enemy’s power. Although by this prescription of a half-hour you have left to me the parts of a patron (advocate), you have taken away those of a consul, because for defending this amount of time will be pretty much sufficient for me, but for complaining indeed too little.

[7] Nisi forte de locis religiosis ac de lucis quos ab hoc violatos esse dixisti pluribus verbis tibi respondendum putas; quo in crimine nihil est umquam abs te dictum, nisi a C. Macro obiectum esse crimen id C. Rabirio. In quo ego demiror meminisse te quid obiecerit C. Rabirio Macer inimicus, oblitum esse quid aequi et iurati iudices iudicarint.

[7] Unless perhaps you think that, concerning religious places and sacred groves which you said were violated by this man, you must be answered with more words; in which charge nothing has ever been said by you, except that Gaius Macer alleged that charge against Gaius Rabirius. In this I marvel that you remember what Macer, an enemy, objected to Gaius Rabirius, but have forgotten what equitable and sworn judges have judged.

[8] An de peculatu facto aut de tabulario incenso longa oratio est expromenda? quo in crimine propinquus C. Rabiri iudicio clarissimo, C. Curtius, pro virtute sua est honestissime liberatus, ipse vero Rabirius non modo in iudicium horum criminum, sed ne in tenuissimam quidem suspicionem verbo est umquam vocatus. An de sororis filio diligentius respondendum est?

[8] Or is a long oration to be brought forth about a peculation committed, or about a public archive set ablaze? In which charge a kinsman of Gaius Rabirius, Gaius Curtius, in a most illustrious trial was, in accordance with his virtue, most honorably acquitted; but Rabirius himself was not only not brought into trial on these charges, but was not even ever called so much as into the slightest suspicion by a word. Or must one make a more careful answer about the sister’s son?

quem ab hoc necatum esse dixisti, cum ad iudici moram familiaris funeris excusatio quaereretur. Quid enim est tam veri simile quam cariorem huic sororis maritum quam sororis filium fuisse, atque ita cariorem ut alter vita crudelissime privaretur, cum alteri ad prolationem iudici biduum quaereretur? An de servis alienis contra legem Fabiam retentis, aut de civibus Romanis contra legem Porciam verberatis aut necatis plura dicenda sunt, cum tanto studio C. Rabirius totius Apuliae, singulari voluntate Campaniae ornetur, cumque ad eius propulsandum periculum non modo homines sed prope regiones ipsae convenerint, aliquanto etiam latius excitatae quam ipsius vicinitatis nomen ac termini postulabant?

whom you said had been killed by this man, when an excuse for a delay of the trial was being sought on account of a family funeral. For what is so likely as that to this man the husband of his sister was dearer than his sister’s son, and so dearer that the one was most cruelly deprived of life, while for the other a two-day postponement of the trial was being sought? Or must more be said about others’ slaves detained against the Lex Fabia, or about Roman citizens beaten or killed against the Lex Porcia, since C. Rabirius is adorned with such zeal by all Apulia, with the singular good will of Campania, and since, to ward off his danger, not only men but almost the regions themselves have come together, stirred up even somewhat more broadly than the name and boundaries of his own neighborhood demanded?

Nam quid ego ad id longam orationem comparem quod est in eadem multae inrogatione praescriptum, hunc nec suae nec alienae pudicitiae pepercisse?

For why should I prepare a long oration to that point which is prescribed in the same imposition of the mulct, that this man has spared neither his own nor another’s pudicity?

[9] Quin etiam suspicor eo mihi semihoram ab Labieno praestitutam esse ut ne plura de pudicitia dicerem. Ergo ad haec crimina quae patroni diligentiam desiderant intellegis mihi semihoram istam nimium longam fuisse.

[9] Nay rather, I even suspect that a half-hour was appointed to me by Labienus for this reason, so that I might not say more about pudicity. Therefore, as to these charges which require an advocate’s diligence, you understand that that half-hour was too long for me.

Illam alteram partem de nece Saturnini nimis exiguam atque angustam esse voluisti; quae non oratoris ingenium sed consulis auxilium implorat et flagitat.

You wanted that other part about the slaying of Saturninus to be too scant and narrow; which implores and urgently demands not the genius of an orator but the assistance of a consul.

[10] Nam de perduellionis iudicio, quod a me sublatum esse criminari soles, meum crimen est, non Rabiri. Quod utinam, Quirites, ego id aut primus aut solus ex hac re publica sustulissem! utinam hoc, quod ille crimen esse volt, proprium testimonium meae laudis esset.

[10] For as to the judgment of treason, which you are wont to charge was removed by me, the crime is mine, not Rabirius’s. Would that, Quirites, I had either first or alone removed that from this republic! Would that this, which he wishes to be a crime, were the proper testimony of my praise.

Quid enim optari potest quod ego mallem quam me in consulatu meo carnificem de foro, crucem de campo sustulisse? Sed ista laus primum est maiorum nostrorum, Quirites, qui expulsis regibus nullum in libero populo vestigium crudelitatis regiae retinuerunt, deinde multorum virorum fortium qui vestram libertatem non acerbitate suppliciorum infestam sed lenitate legum munitam esse voluerunt.

For what, indeed, can be wished which I would prefer more than that I, in my consulship, removed the executioner from the Forum, the cross from the Field? But that praise belongs first to our ancestors, Quirites, who, the kings having been expelled, retained no vestige of royal cruelty in a free people, then to many brave men who wished your liberty to be fortified not by the acerbity of punishments but by the lenity of laws.

[11] Quam ob rem uter nostrum tandem, Labiene, popularis est, tune qui civibus Romanis in contione ipsa carnificem, qui vincla adhiberi putas oportere, qui in campo Martio comitiis centuriatis auspicato in loco crucem ad civium supplicium defigi et constitui iubes, an ego qui funestari contionem contagione carnificis veto, qui expiandum forum populi Romani ab illis nefarii sceleris vestigiis esse dico, qui castam contionem, sanctum campum, inviolatum corpus omnium civium Romanorum, integrum ius libertatis defendo servari oportere?

[11] Wherefore which of us, Labienus, is, after all, the man of the people—are you, who think that an executioner ought to be brought before Roman citizens in the very assembly, who think that chains ought to be applied, who in the Field of Mars, at the Centuriate comitia, in a place taken under auspices, order a cross to be fastened and set up for the punishment of citizens; or I, who forbid the assembly to be made funereal by the contagion of an executioner, who say that the Forum of the Roman people must be expiated from those traces of nefarious wickedness, who defend that the chaste assembly, the sacred field, the inviolable person of all Roman citizens, the unimpaired right of liberty ought to be preserved?

[12] Popularis vero tribunus pl. custos defensorque iuris et libertatis! Porcia lex virgas ab omnium civium Romanorum corpore amovit, hic misericors flagella rettulit; Porcia lex libertatem civium lictori eripuit, Labienus, homo popularis, carnifici tradidit; C. Gracchus legem tulit ne de capite civium Romanorum iniussu vestro iudicaretur, hic popularis a iiviris iniussu vestro non iudicari de cive Romano sed indicta causa civem Romanum capitis condemnari coegit.

[12] A truly popularis tribune of the plebs, the guardian and defender of right and liberty! The Porcian law removed the rods from the bodies of all Roman citizens; this merciful fellow brought back the scourges. The Porcian law snatched the liberty of citizens from the lictor; Labienus, a man of the people, handed it over to the executioner. Gaius Gracchus carried a law that no judgment concerning the life of Roman citizens be made without your authorization; this popularis compelled that, by the 2-men (duumviri), not that judgment be made without your authorization concerning a Roman citizen, but that, with no case pleaded, a Roman citizen be condemned on a capital charge.

[13] Tu mihi etiam legis Porciae, tu C. Gracchi, tu horum libertatis, tu cuiusquam denique hominis popularis mentionem facis, qui non modo suppliciis invisitatis sed etiam verborum crudelitate inaudita violare libertatem huius populi, temptare mansuetudinem, commutare disciplinam conatus es? Namque haec tua, quae te, hominem clementem popularemque, delectant, 'I, lictor, conliga manvs,' non modo huius libertatis mansuetudinisque non sunt sed ne Romuli quidem aut Numae Pompili; Tarquini, superbissimi atque crudelissimi regis, ista sunt cruciatus carmina quae tu, homo lenis ac popularis, libentissime commemoras: 'Capvt obnvbito, arbori infelici svspendito,' quae verba, Quirites, iam pridem in hac re publica non solum tenebris vetustatis verum etiam luce libertatis oppressa sunt.

[13] Do you even make mention to me of the Porcian law, of Gaius Gracchus, of the liberty of these men, of any man finally who is “popular,” you who have attempted not only by unvisited (unprecedented) punishments but even by unheard-of cruelty of words to violate the liberty of this people, to tempt its gentleness, to change its discipline? For those phrases of yours, which delight you—a merciful and popular man—‘Go, lictor, bind the hands,’ are not only not of this liberty and gentleness, but not even of Romulus or of Numa Pompilius; they are the torture-chants of Tarquin, a most superbus and most cruel king, which you—a mild and popular man—most gladly rehearse: ‘Cover the head, hang him on the ill-omened tree,’ which words, Citizens, long ago in this republic have been oppressed not only by the darkness of antiquity but even by the light of liberty.

[14] An vero, si actio ista popularis esset et si ullam partem aequitatis haberet aut iuris, C. Gracchus eam reliquisset? Scilicet tibi graviorem dolorem patrui tui mors attulit quam C. Graccho fratris, et tibi acerbior eius patrui mors est quem numquam vidisti quam illi eius fratris quicum concordissime vixerat, et simili iure tu ulcisceris patrui mortem atque ille persequeretur fratris, si ista ratione agere voluisset, et par desiderium sui reliquit apud populum Romanum Labienus iste, patruus vester, quisquis fuit, ac Ti. Gracchus reliquerat. An pietas tua maior quam Gracchi, an animus, an consilium, an opes, an auctoritas, an eloquentia?

[14] Or indeed, if that so-called popular prosecution were such and had any share of equity or of law, would Gaius Gracchus have left it aside? Surely your uncle’s death brought you a heavier grief than a brother’s did to Gaius Gracchus; and to you the death of that uncle whom you never saw is more bitter than to him was the death of his brother with whom he had lived in the utmost concord; and by a like right you avenge your uncle’s death as he would have pursued his brother’s, if he had wished to proceed on that reasoning; and an equal longing for himself did that Labienus, your uncle—whoever he was—leave among the Roman people, as Tiberius Gracchus had left. Or is your pietas greater than Gaius Gracchus’s, or your courage, or your plan, or your resources, or your authority, or your eloquence?

quae si in illo minima fuissent, tamen prae tuis facultatibus maxima putarentur.

which, even if in that man they had been at their least, yet, beside your faculties, would be considered the greatest.

[15] Cum vero his rebus omnibus C. Gracchus omnis vicerit, quantum intervallum tandem inter te atque illum interiectum putas? Sed moreretur prius acerbissima morte miliens Gracchus quam in eius contione carnifex consisteret; quem non modo foro sed etiam caelo hoc ac spiritu censoriae leges atque urbis domicilio carere voluerunt. Hic se popularem dicere audet, me alienum a commodis vestris, cum iste omnis et suppliciorum et verborum acerbitates non ex memoria vestra ac patrum vestrorum sed ex annalium monumentis atque ex regum commentariis conquisierit, ego omnibus meis opibus, omnibus consiliis, omnibus dictis atque factis repugnarim et restiterim crudelitati?

[15] But since in all these matters Gaius Gracchus has surpassed all, how great an interval do you think is set between you and him? Yet Gaius Gracchus would sooner die a most bitter death a thousand times than that in his assembly the executioner should stand; one whom the censorial laws and the domicile of the city willed to be deprived not only of the Forum but even of this sky and breath. This man dares to call himself a popularis, and me alien to your interests, while that fellow has hunted up all the acerbities both of punishments and of words not from your memory and your fathers’ but from the monuments of the annals and from the commentaries of kings, whereas I with all my resources, with all my counsels, with all my sayings and deeds have fought back and have withstood cruelty?

nisi forte hanc condicionem vobis esse voltis quam servi, si libertatis spem propositam non haberent, ferre nullo modo possent.

unless perhaps you wish this condition to be yours which slaves, if they did not have the hope of liberty set forth before them, would in no way be able to bear.

[16] Misera est ignominia iudiciorum publicorum, misera multatio bonorum, miserum exsilium; sed tamen in omni calamitate retinetur aliquod vestigium libertatis. Mors denique si proponitur, in libertate moriamur, carnifex vero et obductio capitis et nomen ipsum crucis absit non modo a corpore civium Romanorum sed etiam a cogitatione, oculis, auribus. Harum enim omnium rerum non solum eventus atque perpessio sed etiam condicio, exspectatio, mentio ipsa denique indigna cive Romano atque homine libero est.

[16] Wretched is the ignominy of public trials, wretched the confiscation of goods, wretched exile; yet nevertheless in every calamity some vestige of liberty is retained. Death, finally, if it is proposed, let us die in liberty; but let the executioner, and the covering-over of the head, and the very name of the cross be absent not only from the body of Roman citizens but even from thought, from eyes, from ears. For of all these things not only the outcome and the endurance, but also the condition, the expectation, the very mention itself, in fine, are unworthy of a Roman citizen and a free man.

An vero servos nostros horum suppliciorum omnium metu dominorum benignitas vindicta una liberat; nos a verberibus, ab unco, a crucis denique terrore neque res gestae neque acta aetas neque vestri honores vindicabunt?

Or indeed does the kindness of masters free our slaves from the fear of all these punishments by a single vindicta; but from lashes, from the hook, and finally from the terror of the cross, will neither our achievements, nor the life we have lived, nor your honors vindicate us?

[17] Quam ob rem fateor atque etiam, Labiene, profiteor et prae me fero te ex illa crudeli, importuna, non tribunicia actione sed regia, meo consilio, virtute, auctoritate esse depulsum. Qua tu in actione quamquam omnia exempla maiorum, omnis leges, omnem auctoritatem senatus, omnis religiones atque auspiciorum publica iura neglexisti, tamen a me haec in hoc tam exiguo meo tempore non audies; liberum tempus nobis dabitur ad istam disceptationem.

[17] Wherefore I confess and indeed, Labienus, I profess and openly proclaim that you were driven off from that cruel, inopportune action—not tribunician but royal—by my counsel, valor, and authority. In which action you, although you neglected all the exemplars of the ancestors, all the laws, all the authority of the senate, all the religions and the public rights of the auspices, yet you will not hear these things from me in this my so scant time; a free time will be given us for that disputation.

[18] Nunc de Saturnini crimine ac de clarissimi patrui tui morte dicemus. Arguis occisum esse a C. Rabirio L. Saturninum. At id C. Rabirius multorum testimoniis, Q. Hortensio copiosissime defendente, antea falsum esse docuit; ego autem, si mihi esset integrum, susciperem hoc crimen, agnoscerem, confiterer.

[18] Now we will speak about the charge of Saturninus and about the death of your most illustrious uncle. You allege that L. Saturninus was slain by C. Rabirius. But C. Rabirius, by the testimonies of many, with Q. Hortensius most copiously defending, previously demonstrated that to be false; but I, if it were permissible for me, would undertake this charge, I would acknowledge it, I would confess it.

Vtinam hanc mihi facultatem causa concederet ut possem hoc praedicare, C. Rabiri manu L. Saturninum, hostem populi Romani, interfectum!--Nihil me clamor iste commovet sed consolatur, cum indicat esse quosdam civis imperitos sed non multos. Numquam, mihi credite, populus Romanus hic qui silet consulem me fecisset, si vestro clamore perturbatum iri arbitraretur. Quanto iam levior est acclamatio!

Would that the case granted me this faculty, that I might be able to proclaim this: that L. Saturninus, an enemy of the Roman people, was slain by the hand of C. Rabirius!—Nothing does that clamor move me, but it consoles me, since it indicates that there are certain citizens unskilled, but not many. Never, believe me, would this Roman people here, who is silent, have made me consul, if it had thought that I would be thrown into perturbation by your shouting. How much lighter now is the acclamation!

Quin continetis vocem indicem stultitiae vestrae, testem paucitatis!--

Why do you not restrain the voice, the index of your stupidity, the witness of your paucity!--

[19] Libenter, inquam, confiterer, si vere possem aut etiam si mihi esset integrum, C. Rabiri manu L. Saturninum esse occisum, et id facinus pulcherrimum esse arbitrarer; sed, quoniam id facere non possum, confitebor id quod ad laudem minus valebit, ad crimen non minus. Confiteor interficiendi Saturnini causa C. Rabirium arma cepisse. Quid est, Labiene?

[19] Gladly, I say, I would confess, if I truly could, or even if it were permissible for me, that L. Saturninus was slain by the hand of C. Rabirius, and I would judge that deed most noble; but, since I cannot do that, I will confess that which will avail less for praise, no less for indictment. I confess that for the purpose of killing Saturninus, C. Rabirius took up arms. What is it, Labienus?

quam a me graviorem confessionem aut quod in hunc maius crimen exspectas? nisi vero interesse aliquid putas inter eum qui hominem occidit, et eum qui cum telo occidendi hominis causa fuit. Si interfici Saturninum nefas fuit, arma sumpta esse contra Saturninum sine scelere non possunt; si arma iure sumpta concedis, inter<fectum iure concedas necesse est>.

what confession more weighty from me, or what greater charge against this man do you expect? Unless indeed you think there is any difference between him who killed a man and him who was with a weapon for the purpose of killing a man. If it was nefarious for Saturninus to be killed, arms taken up against Saturninus cannot be without crime; if you concede that arms were taken up by right, you must concede <that he was killed lawfully>.

[20] Fit senatus consultum ut C. Marius L. Valerius consules adhiberent tribunos pl. et praetores, quos eis videretur, operamque darent ut imperium populi Romani maiestasque conservaretur. Adhibent omnis tribunos pl. praeter Saturninum, praeter Glauciam; qui rem publicam salvam esse vellent, arma capere et se sequi iubent. Parent omnes; ex aede Sancus armamentariisque publicis arma populo Romano C. Mario consule distribuente dantur.

[20] A senatus consultum is made that Gaius Marius and Lucius Valerius, consuls, should summon the tribunes of the plebs and the praetors, whichever they thought proper, and should give effort that the imperium and majesty of the Roman people be preserved. They call in all the tribunes of the plebs except Saturninus, except Glaucia; they order those who would have the commonwealth be safe to take up arms and follow them. All obey; from the temple of Sancus and the public armories arms are given to the Roman people, Gaius Marius the consul distributing.

Hic iam, ut omittam cetera, de te ipso, Labiene, quaero. Cum Saturninus Capitolium teneret armatus, esset una C. Glaucia, C. Saufeius, etiam ille ex compedibus atque ergastulo Gracchus; addam, quoniam ita vis, eodem Q. Labienum, patruum tuum; in foro autem C. Marius et L. Valerius Flaccus consules, post cunctus senatus, atque ille senatus quem etiam vos ipsi, qui hos patres conscriptos qui nunc sunt in invidiam vocatis, quo facilius de hoc senatu detrahere possitis, <laudare consuevistis,> cum equester ordo--at quorum equitum, di immortales! patrum nostrorum atque eius aetatis, qui tum magnam partem rei publicae atque omnem dignitatem iudiciorum tenebant,--cum omnes omnium ordinum homines qui in salute rei publicae salutem suam repositam esse arbitrabantur arma cepissent: quid tandem C. Rabirio faciendum fuit?

Here now, to omit the rest, I ask about you yourself, Labienus. When Saturninus held the Capitol armed, with him C. Glaucia, C. Saufeius, and even that Gracchus out of fetters and the workhouse; I will add, since you so wish, that same Q. Labienus, your uncle; in the forum moreover C. Marius and L. Valerius Flaccus, consuls, after them the whole senate, and that senate which even you yourselves, who call these enrolled fathers who are now into odium, in order that you may more easily pull down this senate, <have been accustomed to praise,> when the equestrian order—ah, of what horsemen, immortal gods! of our fathers and of that age, who then held a great part of the commonwealth and the entire dignity of the courts—when all men of all orders who thought their own safety was placed in the safety of the commonwealth had taken up arms: what, then, ought C. Rabirius to have done?

[21] De te ipso, inquam, Labiene, quaero. Cum ad arma consules ex senatus consulto vocavissent, cum armatus M. Aemilius, princeps senatus, in comitio constitisset, qui cum ingredi vix posset, non ad insequendum sibi tarditatem pedum sed ad fugiendum impedimento fore putabat, cum denique Q. Scaevola confectus senectute, perditus morbo, mancus et membris omnibus captus ac debilis, hastili nixus et animi vim et infirmitatem corporis ostenderet, cum L. Metellus, Ser. Galba, C. Serranus, P. Rutilius, C. Fimbria, Q. Catulus omnesque qui tum erant consulares pro salute communi arma cepissent, cum omnes praetores, cuncta nobilitas ac iuventus accurreret, Cn. et L. Domitii, L. Crassus, Q. Mucius, C. Claudius, M. Drusus, cum omnes Octavii, Metelli, Iulii, Cassii, Catones, Pompeii, cum L. Philippus, L. Scipio, cum M. Lepidus, cum D. Brutus, cum hic ipse P. Servilius, quo tu imperatore, Labiene, meruisti, cum hic Q. Catulus, admodum tum adulescens, cum hic C. Curio, cum denique omnes clarissimi viri cum consulibus essent: quid tandem C. Rabirium facere convenit?

[21] Of you yourself, I say, Labienus, I ask. When the consuls, by decree of the senate, had called to arms, when M. Aemilius, princeps of the senate, had taken his stand in the Comitium, who, since he could scarcely go forward, thought that the slowness of his feet would be a hindrance not to pursuing but to fleeing, when at last Q. Scaevola, worn out by old age, ruined by disease, maimed and seized in all his limbs and weak, leaning on a spear-shaft, displayed both the vigor of spirit and the infirmity of body, when L. Metellus, Ser. Galba, C. Serranus, P. Rutilius, C. Fimbria, Q. Catulus and all who then were consulars had taken up arms for the common safety, when all the praetors, the whole nobility and youth ran together, Cn. and L. Domitii, L. Crassus, Q. Mucius, C. Claudius, M. Drusus, when all the Octavii, Metelli, Julii, Cassii, Catones, Pompeii, when L. Philippus, L. Scipio, when M. Lepidus, when D. Brutus, when this very P. Servilius, under whom as commander you, Labienus, served, when this Q. Catulus, then quite a youth, when this C. Curio, when finally all the most illustrious men were with the consuls: what then was it fitting for C. Rabirius to do?

utrum inclusum atque abditum latere in occulto atque ignaviam suam tenebrarum ac parietum custodiis tegere, an in Capitolium pergere atque ibi se cum tuo patruo et ceteris ad mortem propter vitae turpitudinem confugientibus congregare, an cum Mario, Scauro, Catulo, Metello, Scaevola, cum bonis denique omnibus coire non modo salutis verum etiam periculi societatem?

whether to lie enclosed and hidden in concealment and to veil his own cowardice by the protections of darkness and walls, or to proceed to the Capitol and there to gather himself with your uncle and the others who, because of the turpitude of their life, were taking refuge in death, or to unite with Marius, Scaurus, Catulus, Metellus, Scaevola, finally with all the good men, into a society not only of safety but even of danger?

[22] Tu denique, Labiene, quid faceres tali in re ac tempore? Cum ignaviae ratio te in fugam atque in latebras impelleret, improbitas et furor L. Saturnini in Capitolium arcesseret, consules ad patriae salutem ac libertatem vocarent, quam tandem auctoritatem, quam vocem, cuius sectam sequi, cuius imperio parere potissimum velles? 'Patruus,' inquit, 'meus cum Saturnino fuit.' Quid?

[22] You then, Labienus, what would you do in such a matter and at such a time? When the rationale of cowardice was impelling you into flight and into hiding-places, the depravity and fury of L. Saturninus was summoning you to the Capitol, the consuls were calling you to the fatherland’s safety and liberty, whose authority, whose voice, whose sect to follow, whose command to obey would you prefer above all? 'My uncle,' he says, 'was with Saturninus.' What then?

pater quicum? quid? propinqui vestri, equites Romani?

your father—with whom? what? your kinsmen, Roman equites?

quid? omnis praefectura, regio, vicinitas vestra? quid?

what? all your prefecture, region, vicinity? what?

ager Picenus universus utrum tribunicium furorem, an consularem auctoritatem secutus est?

Has the whole Picene territory followed the tribunician fury, or the consular authority?

[23] Equidem hoc adfirmo quod tu nunc de tuo patruo praedicas, neminem umquam adhuc de se esse confessum; nemo est, inquam, inventus tam profligatus, tam perditus, tam ab omni non modo honestate sed etiam simulatione honestatis relictus, qui se in Capitolio fuisse cum Saturnino fateretur. At fuit vester patruus. Fuerit, et fuerit vi, nulla desperatione rerum suarum, nullis domesticis volneribus coactus; induxerit eum L. Saturnini familiaritas ut amicitiam patriae praeponeret; idcircone oportuit C. Rabirium desciscere a re publica, non comparere in illa armata multitudine bonorum, consulum voci atque imperio non oboedire?

[23] Indeed I affirm this, which you now are proclaiming about your uncle: that no one ever up to now has confessed this of himself; no one, I say, has been found so profligate, so lost, so abandoned by all not only honesty but even the simulation of honesty, as to confess that he was on the Capitol with Saturninus. But your uncle was. Granted; and granted that he was compelled by force, by no desperation of his own affairs, by no domestic wounds; let the familiarity of L. Saturninus have induced him to prefer a friendship to the fatherland; on that account, then, was it proper that C. Rabirius defect from the Republic, not appear in that armed multitude of the good, not obey the voice and the command of the consuls?

[24] Atqui videmus haec in rerum natura tria fuisse, ut aut cum Saturnino esset, aut cum bonis, aut lateret. Latere mortis erat instar turpissimae, cum Saturnino esse furoris et sceleris; virtus et honestas et pudor cum consulibus esse cogebat. Hoc tu igitur in crimen vocas, quod cum eis fuerit C. Rabirius quos amentissimus fuisset si oppugnasset, turpissimus si reliquisset?

[24] And yet we see that in the nature of things there were these three options: either to be with Saturninus, or with the good, or to lie hidden. To lie hidden was tantamount to the most shameful death; to be with Saturninus was madness and crime; virtue and honor and modesty compelled him to be with the consuls. Do you then call this into a charge, that Gaius Rabirius was with those whom he would have been most out of his mind to assail, most disgraceful to abandon?

At C. Decianus, de quo tu saepe commemoras, quia, cum hominem omnibus insignem notis turpitudinis, P. Furium, accusaret summo studio bonorum omnium, queri est ausus in contione de morte Saturnini, condemnatus est, et Sex. Titius, quod habuit imaginem L. Saturnini domi suae, condemnatus est. Statuerunt equites Romani illo iudicio improbum civem esse et non retinendum in civitate, qui hominis hostilem in modum seditiosi imagine aut mortem eius honestaret, aut desideria imperitorum misericordia commoveret, aut suam significaret imitandae improbitatis voluntatem.

But C. Decianus, whom you often commemorate, because, when he was prosecuting P. Furius, a man distinguished by every mark of turpitude, with the highest zeal of all the good men, he dared in the assembly to complain about the death of Saturninus, was condemned; and Sex. Titius, because he had an image of L. Saturninus in his own house, was condemned. The Roman equestrians by that judgment determined that a citizen was depraved and not to be retained in the commonwealth, who, after the fashion of a foe, would honor either the image of a seditious man or his death, or would stir the desires of the unskilled by compassion, or would signify his own will to imitate wickedness.

[25] Itaque mihi mirum videtur unde hanc tu, Labiene, imaginem quam habes inveneris; nam Sex. Titio damnato qui istam habere auderet inventus est nemo. Quod tu si audisses aut si per aetatem scire potuisses, numquam profecto istam imaginem quae domi posita pestem atque exsilium Sex.

[25] And so it seems marvelous to me whence you, Labienus, found this image which you have; for when Sex. Titius was condemned, no one was found who would dare to have that one. Which if you had heard, or if by your age you could have known, assuredly you would never have had that image which, placed at home, was the ruin and exile of Sex.

Titio attulisset in rostra atque in contionem attulisses, nec tuas umquam ratis ad eos scopulos appulisses ad quos Sex. Titi adflictam navem et in quibus C. Deciani naufragium fortunarum videres. Sed in his rebus omnibus imprudentia laberis.

you would have brought to the Rostra and into the assembly, nor would you ever have run your raft upon those rocks where you saw the stricken ship of Sex. Titius, and on which you saw the shipwreck of the fortunes of C. Decianus. But in all these matters you stumble through imprudence.

Causam enim suscepisti antiquiorem memoria tua, quae causa ante mortua est quam tu natus es; et qua in causa tute profecto fuisses, si per aetatem esse potuisses, eam causam in iudicium vocas.

For you have undertaken a cause older than your memory, a cause that had died before you were born; and the very cause in which you yourself surely would have been, if you could have been by reason of age, that cause you call into judgment.

[26] An non intellegis, primum quos homines et qualis viros mortuos summi sceleris arguas, deinde quot ex his qui vivunt eodem crimine in summum periculum capitis arcessas? Nam si C. Rabirius fraudem capitalem admisit quod arma contra L. Saturninum tulit, huic quidem adferet aliquam deprecationem periculi aetas illa qua tum fuit; Q. vero Catulum, patrem huius, in quo summa sapientia, eximia virtus, singularis humanitas fuit, M. Scaurum, illa gravitate, illo consilio, illa prudentia, duos Mucios, L. Crassum, M. Antonium, qui tum extra urbem cum praesidio fuit, quorum in hac civitate longe maxima consilia atque ingenia fuerunt, ceteros pari dignitate praeditos custodes gubernatoresque rei publicae quem ad modum mortuos defendemus?

[26] Do you not understand, first, what men, and what sort of men, now dead, you accuse of the highest crime; then how many of those who live you, on the same charge, summon into the supreme capital peril? For if C. Rabirius committed a capital offense because he bore arms against L. Saturninus, his age at that time will indeed bring him some deprecation of the danger; but Q. Catulus, the father of this man, in whom there was the highest wisdom, exceptional virtue, singular humanity; M. Scaurus, with that gravity, that counsel, that prudence; the two Mucii; L. Crassus; M. Antonius, who then was outside the city with a garrison—whose counsels and talents in this commonwealth were by far the greatest—and the others endowed with equal dignity, the custodians and governors of the republic—how shall we defend the dead?

[27] Quid de illis honestissimis viris atque optimis civibus, equitibus Romanis, dicemus qui tum una cum senatu salutem rei publicae defenderunt? quid de tribunis aerariis ceterorumque ordinum omnium hominibus qui tum arma pro communi libertate ceperunt? Sed quid ego de eis omnibus qui consulari imperio paruerunt loquor?

[27] What shall we say of those most honorable men and best citizens, the Roman equestrians, who then together with the senate defended the safety of the commonwealth? What of the tribunes of the treasury and the men of all the other orders who then took up arms for the common liberty? But why do I speak of all those who obeyed the consular imperium?

de ipsorum consulum fama quid futurum est? L. Flaccum, hominem cum semper in re publica, tum in magistratibus gerendis, in sacerdotio caerimoniisque quibus praeerat diligentissimum, nefarii sceleris ac parricidi mortuum condemnabimus? adiungemus ad hanc labem ignominiamque mortis etiam C. Mari nomen?

what will become of the repute of the consuls themselves? Shall we condemn L. Flaccus—a man most diligent, both always in the commonwealth and then in the managing of magistracies, in the priesthood and the ceremonies which he presided over—now dead, for nefarious crime and parricide? Shall we add to this stain and ignominy of death the name of C. Marius as well?

C. Marium, quem vere patrem patriae, parentem, inquam, vestrae libertatis atque huiusce rei publicae possumus dicere, sceleris ac parricidi nefarii mortuum condemnabimus?

Shall we condemn Gaius Marius—whom we can truly call the father of the fatherland, the parent, I say, of your liberty and of this republic—though dead, of nefarious crime and parricide?

[28] Etenim si C. Rabirio, quod iit ad arma, crucem T. Labienus in campo Martio defigendam putavit, quod tandem excogitabitur in eum supplicium qui vocavit? Ac si fides Saturnino data est, quod abs te saepissime dicitur, non eam C. Rabirius sed C. Marius dedit, idemque violavit, si in fide non stetit. Quae fides, Labiene, qui potuit sine senatus consulto dari?

[28] For indeed, if for Gaius Rabirius, because he went to arms, Titus Labienus thought a cross ought to be planted in the Campus Martius, what punishment, then, will be devised against him who called them? And if a pledge was given to Saturninus—which is said by you very often—it was not Gaius Rabirius but Gaius Marius who gave it, and the same man violated it, if he did not stand fast in the pledge. What pledge, Labienus, could be given without a decree of the senate?

Adeone hospes <es> huiusce urbis, adeone ignarus disciplinae consuetudinisque nostrae ut haec nescias, ut peregrinari in aliena civitate, non in tua magistratum gerere videare?

Are you so much a stranger to this very city, so ignorant of our discipline and consuetude that you do not know these things, that you seem to be peregrinating in an alien commonwealth, not to be holding magistracy in your own?

[29] 'Quid iam ista C. Mario,' inquit, 'nocere possunt, quoniam sensu et vita caret?' Itane vero? tantis in laboribus C. Marius periculisque vixisset, si nihil longius quam vitae termini postulabant spe atque animo de se et gloria sua cogitasset? At, credo, cum innumerabilis hostium copias in Italia fudisset atque obsidione rem publicam liberasset, omnia sua secum una moritura arbitrabatur.

[29] 'What harm now can those things do to C. Marius,' he says, 'since he lacks sense and life?' Is it so, indeed? Would C. Marius have lived through such great labors and dangers, if with hope and spirit he had thought nothing further about himself and his glory than the bounds of life demanded? But, I suppose, when he had routed innumerable forces of the enemy in Italy and had freed the commonwealth from siege, he was thinking that everything of his would die together with him at once.

Non est ita, Quirites; neque quisquam nostrum in rei publicae periculis cum laude ac virtute versatur quin spe posteritatis fructuque ducatur. Itaque cum multis aliis de causis virorum bonorum mentes divinae mihi atque aeternae videntur esse, tum maxime quod optimi et sapientissimi cuiusque animus ita praesentit in posterum ut nihil nisi sempiternum spectare videatur.

It is not so, Quirites; nor does any one of us in the perils of the republic conduct himself with praise and virtue without being led by the hope and the fruit of posterity. And so, for many other reasons, the minds of good men seem to me to be divine and eternal, but most of all because the spirit of each man who is most excellent and most sapient so has a presentiment for the future that it seems to look to nothing except what is sempiternal.

[30] Quapropter equidem et C. Mari et ceterorum virorum sapientissimorum ac fortissimorum civium mentis, quae mihi videntur ex hominum vita ad deorum religionem et sanctimoniam demigrasse, testor me pro illorum fama, gloria, memoria non secus ac pro patriis fanis atque delubris propugnandum putare, ac, si pro illorum laude mihi arma capienda essent, non minus strenue caperem, quam illi pro communi salute ceperunt. Etenim, Quirites, exiguum nobis vitae curriculum natura circumscripsit, immensum gloriae. Qua re, si eos qui iam de vita decesserunt ornabimus, iustiorem nobis mortis condicionem relinquemus.

[30] Wherefore, for my part, I call to witness that I think I must champion the fame, glory, and memory of Gaius Marius and of the other most wise and most brave citizens—whose minds seem to me to have migrated from the life of men to the religion and sanctity of the gods—no otherwise than I would the country’s fanes and delubra; and, if for their praise arms had to be taken up by me, I would take them up no less strenuously than they took them up for the common safety. For, Quirites, nature has circumscribed for us a scant course of life, but an immense one of glory. Wherefore, if we shall adorn those who have already departed from life, we shall leave to ourselves a more just condition of death.

Sed si illos, Labiene, quos iam videre non possumus neglegis, ne his quidem quos vides consuli putas oportere?

But if you neglect those, Labienus, whom now we cannot see, do you think that not even these whom you see ought to be consulted for?

[31] Neminem esse dico ex his omnibus, qui illo die Romae fuerit, quem tu diem in iudicium vocas, pubesque tum fuerit, quin arma ceperit, quin consules secutus sit. Omnes ei quorum tu ex aetate coniecturam facere potes quid tum fecerint abs te capitis C. Rabiri nomine citantur. At occidit Saturninum Rabirius.

[31] I say that there is no one among all those who was at Rome on that day, which day you call into judgment, and who at that time was of age, who did not take up arms, who did not follow the consuls. All from among those of whom you can, from their age, make a conjecture as to what they did then, are by you cited on a capital charge in the name of Gaius Rabirius. But Rabirius killed Saturninus.

Vtinam fecisset! non supplicium deprecarer sed praemium postularem. Etenim, si Scaevae, servo Q. Crotonis, qui occidit L. Saturninum, libertas data est, quod equiti Romano praemium dari par fuisset?

Would that he had done it! I would not deprecate punishment but would demand a reward. Indeed, if liberty was given to Scaeva, the slave of Q. Croton, who killed L. Saturninus, what reward would it have been fitting to be given to a Roman Equestrian?

et, si C. Marius, quod fistulas quibus aqua suppeditabatur Iovis Optimi Maximi templis ac sedibus praecidi imperarat, quod in clivo Capitolino improborum civium * * *

and, if Gaius Marius, because he had ordered the pipes, by which water was supplied to the temples and seats of Jupiter Best and Greatest, to be cut off, because on the Capitoline slope of wicked citizens * * *

FRAGMENTA

FRAGMENTS

Fragmenta ex P edita

Fragments published from P

[32] * * * aret. Itaque non senatus in ea causa cognoscenda me agente diligentior aut inclementior fuit quam vos universi, cum orbis terrae distributionem atque illum ipsum agrum Campanum animis, manibus, vocibus re.

[32] * * * is parched. And so, the senate, in that case to be investigated with me conducting it, was no more diligent or more inclement than you all, when you repudiated the distribution of the orb of the earth and that very Campanian field with your minds, hands, and voices.

[33] Idem ego quod is qui auctor huius iudicii clamo, praedico, denuntio. Nullus est reliquus rex, nulla gens, nulla natio quam pertimescatis; nullum adventicium, nullum extraneum malum est qunuare in hansit. Si immorta hanc civitate voltis, si aeter imperium, si g sempiternam , nobis a nostris ditatibus, a tutis hominibus varum rerum , a domesticis

[33] I, the same as he who is the author of this judgment, shout, proclaim, give warning. There remains no king, no gens, no nation that you should dread; there is no adventitious, no extraneous evil that can insinuate itself into this commonwealth. If you wish this city to be immortal, if this empire eternal, if glory sempiternal to remain, we must guard ourselves from our own desires, from turbulent men and lovers of novelties, from internal evils, from domestic

[34] co est cavendum. Hisce autem mnum praesidbis maiores veliquerunt, vo illam consulis: 'qui salvam esse .' Huic voci faveestro iudicio leritis mihi . . . . . . neque eripueri spem libertaem

[34] we must beware of counsels. Against these evils, moreover, your ancestors left for you a great safeguard, that voice of the consul: 'they who would have the republic safe.' Favor this voice, Quirites, and do not by your judgment take from me . . . . . . nor wrest from the republic the hope of liberty, the hope

[35] salutis, spem tatis. erem, si T. Labieaedem civium set ut L. Satur, si carcerem resset, si Capitolivisset? Facerem od C. Marius fed senatum reem, vos ad rem publicam ndendam coarer, armatus vobiscum ar obsisterem.

[35] of safety, the hope of dignity. What would I do, if T. Labienus had wrought a slaughter of citizens as L. Saturninus did, if he had broken open the prison, if he had seized the Capitol with armed men? I would do the same as C. Marius did: I would bring it before the senate, I would exhort you to defend the commonwealth, armed myself I would, with you armed, oppose them.

<Nunc> quoniam armorum suspicio nulla est, tela non video, non vis, non caedes, non Capitoli atque arcis obsessio est, sed accusatio perniciosa, iudicium acerbum, res tota a tribuno pl. suscepta contra rem publicam, non vos ad arma vocan<dos esse, verum> ad suffragia cohor tandos contra oppugnationem vestrae maiestatis putavi. Itaque nunc vos omnis oro atque obtestor hortorque. Non ita mos est, consulem es * * *

<Now> since there is no suspicion of arms, I see no weapons, no force, no slaughter, no siege of the Capitol and the citadel, but a pernicious accusation, a bitter judgment, the whole affair undertaken by a tribune of the plebs against the republic, I thought that you ought not to be call<ed to arms, but rather> to be exhorted to the ballots against the assault upon your majesty. And so now I beg you all and I adjure and exhort. It is not thus the custom, that the consul is * * *

[36] * * * imet; qui hasce ore adverso pro re publica cicatrices ac notas virtutis accepit, is ne quod accipiat famae volnus perhorrescit; quem numquam incursiones hostium loco movere potuerunt, is nunc impetum civium, ui ncessario

[36] * * * he fears; he who has received these scars and marks of virtue for the commonwealth, with face set against them, shudders lest he receive any wound to his fame; whom the incursions of the enemy could never move from his position, he now the assault of citizens, to which of necessity

[37] cedendum est, perhorrescit. eque a vobis iam bene ivendi sed honese moriendi faculatem petit, neque tam t domo sua fruaur quam ne patrio ~~epulcro privetur laborat. Nihil al iam vos orat atque secrat nisi uti n legitimo funer domestica mor privetis, ut eum pro patria nu umquam morriculum fugit patria mori pati.~~

[37] he shudders at having to yield. Nor does he now seek from you the opportunity not of living well but of dying honorably; nor does he strive so much to enjoy his own home as that he not be deprived of his paternal sepulcher. He now asks and beseeches nothing else of you except that you do not deprive him of a legitimate funeral and a domestic death, that you suffer him who never fled any peril of death for his fatherland to die in his fatherland.

[38] Dixi ad id tempus q mihi a tribuno pl. pratutum est; a vob quaesoque ut haam defension pro amici pericudelem, pro rei publicae salu consularem putis.

[38] I have spoken up to that time which was prescribed to me by the tribune of the plebs; from you I ask and entreat that you consider this my defense faithful in a friend’s peril, and consular for the safety of the republic.

Serv. A. 1.13

Servius, on Aeneid 1.13

[38a(fr)] et cum universo populo Romano, tum vero equestri ordini longe carissimus.

[38a(fr)] most dear to the entire Roman people, and indeed by far to the equestrian order.