Valerius Maximus: FACTORVM ET DICTORVM MEMORABILIVM LIBRI NOVEM

6.1.init. Vnde te uirorum pariter ac feminarum praecipuum firmamentum, Pudicitia, inuocem? tu enim prisca religione consecratos Vestae focos incolis, tu Capitolinae Iunonis puluinaribus incubas, tu Palatii columen augustos penates sanctissimumque Iuliae genialem torum adsidua statione celebras, tuo praesidio puerilis aetatis insignia munita sunt, tui numinis respectu sincerus iuuentae flos permanet, te custode matronalis stola censetur: ades igitur et cognosce quae fieri ipsa uoluisti.

6.1.init. Whence shall I invoke you, Pudicitia, the chief bulwark of men and women alike? for you dwell in the hearths of Vesta consecrated by ancient religion, you recline on the cushions of Capitoline Juno, you preside over the august penates of the Palatine and with constant watch celebrate Julia’s most sacred bridal couch; by your protection the insignia of boyhood have been fortified, by respect for your divinity the true flower of youth endures, with you as guardian the matronal stola is esteemed: come then and cognize what you yourself willed to be done.

6.1.1 Dux Romanae pudicitiae Lucretia, cuius uirilis animus maligno errore fortunae muliebre corpus sortitus est, a Tarquinio regis Superbi filio per uim stuprum pati coacta, cum grauissimis uerbis iniuriam suam in concilio necessariorum deplorasset, ferro se, quod ueste tectum adtulerat, interemit causamque tam animoso interitu imperium consulare pro regio permutandi populo Romano praebuit.

6.1.1 Lucretia, leader of Roman pudicitia, whose virile spirit by the malign error of fortune was allotted a woman’s body, being forced to suffer rape by violence at the hands of Tarquinius, son of King Superbus, having bewailed her injury with very grave words in the council of her nearest kinsmen, killed herself with the sword which she had brought wrapped in her garment, and by so courageous a death offered the cause for the Roman people to replace royal rule with the consular imperium.

6.1.2 Atque haec inlatam iniuriam non tulit: Verginius plebei generis, sed patricii uir spiritus, ne probro contaminaretur domus sua, proprio sanguini non pepercit: nam cum App. Claudius decemuir filiae eius uirginis stuprum potestatis uiribus fretus pertinacius expeteret, deductam in forum puellam occidit pudicaeque interemptor quam corruptae pater esse maluit.

6.1.2 And he did not endure this inflicted injury: Verginius, of plebeian origin but a man of patrician spirit, lest his house be contaminated by the reproach, did not spare his own blood; for when App. Claudius, a decemvir, relying on the forces of his power, more persistently sought the rape of his daughter the virgin, he killed the girl brought down into the forum — preferring to be the slayer of a chaste one than the father of a corrupted one.

6.1.3 Nec alio robore animi praeditus fuit Pontius Aufidianus eques Romanus, qui, postquam conperit filiae suae uirginitatem a paedagogo proditam Fannio Saturnino, non contentus sceleratum seruum adfecisse supplicio etiam ipsam puellam necauit. ita ne turpes eius nuptias celebraret, acerbas exequias duxit.

6.1.3 Nor was Pontius Aufidianus, a Roman knight, endowed with different strength of mind, who, after he learned that his daughter's virginity had been betrayed by the pedagogue Fannius Saturninus, not content with having inflicted punishment on the wicked slave, also killed the girl herself. Thus, so that she should not celebrate shameful nuptials, he conducted bitter funerary rites.

6.1.4 Quid P. Maenius, quam seuerum pudicitiae custodem egit! in libertum namque gratum admodum sibi animaduertit, quia eum nubilis iam aetatis filiae suae osculum dedisse cognouerat, cum praesertim non libidine, sed errore lapsus uideri posset. ceterum amaritudine poenae teneris adhuc puellae sensibus castitatis disciplinam ingenerari magni aestimauit eique tam tristi exemplo praecepit ut non solum uirginitatem inlibatam, sed etiam oscula ad uirum sincera perferret.

6.1.4 What of P. Maenius, how severe a guardian of chastity he proved! For he perceived a freedman very pleasing to himself, because he had learned that the man had given a kiss to his daughter now of nubile age, especially since he could seem to have slipped not from lust but from error. Moreover he judged it of great importance that, by the bitterness of punishment, the discipline of chastity be engendered in the senses of the girl still tender, and he enjoined by so harsh an example that she should not only preserve her virginity unsoiled, but also bring sincere kisses to her husband.

6.1.5 Q. uero Fabius Maximus Seruilianus honoribus, quos splendidissime gesserat, censurae grauitate consummatis exegit poenas a filio dubiae castitatis et punito pependit uoluntario secessu conspectum patriae uitando.

6.1.5 Q. however Fabius Maximus Servilianus, with the honors which he had borne most splendidly, the weighty office of the censorship having been completed, exacted punishments from his son for doubtful chastity and, the son being punished, endured a voluntary secession, avoiding the sight of his country.

6.1.6 Dicerem censorium uirum nimis atrocem extitisse, nisi P. Atilium Philiscum in pueritia corpore quaestum a domino facere coactum tam seuerum postea patrem cernerem: filiam enim suam, quia stupri se crimine coinquinauerat, interemit. quam sanctam igitur in ciuitate nostra pudicitiam fuisse existimare debemus, in qua etiam institores libidinis tam seueros eius uindices euasisse animaduertimus?

6.1.6 I would call the censorial man excessively cruel, were I not to discern Publius Atilius Philiscus—compelled in boyhood by his master to make gain with his body—to have been so stern a father afterward: for he killed his own daughter, because she had been stained by the crime of sexual misconduct. How, then, ought we to regard chastity as so sacred in our city, in which we even observe the pimps of lust to have escaped such severe avengers of it?

6.1.7 Sequitur excellentis nominis ac memorabilis facti exemplum. M. Claudius Marcellus aedilis curulis C. Scantinio Capitolino tribuno pl. diem ad populum dixit, quod filium suum de stupro appellasset, eoque asseuerante se cogi non posse ut adesset, quia sacrosanctam potestatem haberet, et ob id tribunicium auxilium plorante, totum collegium tribunorum negauit se intercedere quo minus pudicitiae quaestio perageretur. citatus itaque Scantinius reus uno teste qui temptatus erat damnatus est.

6.1.7 The example follows of a man of distinguished name and memorable deed. M. Claudius Marcellus, curule aedile, summoned C. Scantinius Capitolinus, tribune of the plebs, to a day before the people because he had accused his son of stuprum; and Scantinius, asserting that he could not be compelled to appear because he held sacrosanct power, and the tribunician aid being implored, denied that the whole college of tribunes would intercede so as to prevent the inquiry into chastity from being carried out. Therefore Scantinius, having been cited, the defendant, was condemned on the testimony of one witness who had been examined.

constat iuuenem productum in rostra defixo in terram uultu perseueranter tacuisse uerecundoque silentio plurimum in ultionem suam ualuisse.

It is clear that the youth, brought out to the Rostra with his face fixed to the ground, remained persistently silent, and that his modest bashfulness greatly availed him in his own vengeance.

6.1.8 Metellus quoque Celer stuprosae mentis acer poenitor extitit Cn. Sergio Silo promissorum matri familiae nummorum gratia diem ad populum dicendo eumque hoc uno crimine damnando: non enim factum tunc, sed animus in quaestionem deductus est, plusque uoluisse peccare nocuit quam non peccasse profuit.

6.1.8 Metellus Celer also proved a severe punisher of a depraved mind when he, on account of promised money to the matron of the household, summoned Gnaeus Sergius Silo to a public day and condemned him on this one charge: for it was not what had been done then, but the mind that was brought into inquiry, and to have wished to sin did more harm than having not sinned did good.

6.1.9 Contionis haec, illa curiae grauitas. T. Veturius filius eius Veturii, qui in consulatu suo Samnitibus ob turpiter ictum foedus deditus fuerat, cum propter domesticam ruinam et graue aes alienum P. Plotio nexum se dare adulescentulus admodum coactus esset, seruilibus ab eo uerberibus, quia stuprum pati noluerat, adfectus querellam ad consules detulit. a quibus hac de re certior factus senatus Plotium in carcerem duci iussit: in qualicumque enim statu positam Romano sanguini pudicitiam tutam esse uoluit.

6.1.9 This was the gravity of the contio, that of the curia. T. Veturius, son of Veturii, who in his consulship had shamefully yielded a treaty to the Samnites, because, on account of domestic ruin and a heavy debt to P. Plotio, as a very young man he had been forced to give himself in nexum, having been beaten with servile lashes by Plotio because he would not endure the stuprum, brought his complaint to the consuls. By whom, being made more certain in this matter, the senate ordered Plotio to be led into prison: for it wished that pudicitia be kept safe in Roman blood in whatever condition it might be placed.

6.1.10 Et quid mirum, si hoc uniuersi patres conscripti censuerunt? C. Pescennius III uir capitalis Cornelium fortissimae militiae stipendia emeritum uirtutisque nomine quater honore primi pili ab imperatoribus donatum, quod cum ingenuo adulescentulo stupri commercium habuisset, publicis uinculis onerauit. a quo appellati tribuni, cum de stupro nihil negaret, sed sponsionem se facere paratum diceret, quod adulescens ille palam atque aperte corpore quaestum factitasset, intercessionem suam interponere noluerunt.

6.1.10 And what wonder, if all the enrolled fathers so judged? C. Pescennius 3, a man of the capital, brought forward Cornelius, who having bought the pay of the most valiant soldiery as a veteran and having been four times granted the honor of primus pilus by emperors in the name of virtue, he loaded with public chains, because he had had intercourse of rape with a freeborn youth. The tribunes, being appealed to by him, since he denied nothing concerning the rape but said that he was ready to make a sponsion, and because that young man had openly and manifestly prostituted his body for gain, would not interpose their intercession.

itaque Cornelius in carcere mori coactus est: non putarunt enim tribuni pl. rem publicam nostram cum fortibus uiris pacisci oportere, ut externis periculis domesticas delicias emerent.

and so Cornelius was forced to die in prison: for the tribunes did not think that our republic ought to bargain with brave men, that by external perils they should purchase domestic delights.

6.1.11 Libidinosi centurionis supplicium M. Laetori Mergi tribuni militaris aeque ~similis foedus exitus sequitur. cui Cominius tribunus pl. diem ad populum dixit, quod cornicularium suum stupri causa adpellasset. nec sustinuit eius rei scientiam Laetorius, sed se ipse ante iudicii tempus fuga prius, deinde etiam . naturae modum expleuerat, fato tamen functus uniuersae plebis sententia crimine inpudicitiae damnatus est.

6.1.11 The punishment of the lustful centurion and an outcome equally like a foul compact befell M. Laetorius Mergus, a military tribune. To him Cominius, tribune of the plebs, announced a day to the people, because he had summoned his cornicularius on account of rape. Laetorius did not deny knowledge of the matter, but punished himself before the time of trial—first by flight, then even by death. He had fulfilled the measure of nature; yet, though stricken by fate, he was condemned by the sentence of the whole plebs for the crime of impudicitia.

signa illum militaria, sacratae aquilae, et certissima Romani imperii custos, seuera castrorum disciplina, ad inferos usque persecuta est, quoniam, cuius [uirtutis] magister esse debuerat, sanctitatis corruptor temptabat existere.

the military standards, the consecrated eagles, and the most certain guardian of the Roman imperium — the severe discipline of the camps — pursued him even to the underworld, because he who ought to have been master of virtue was striving to appear a corrupter of sanctity.

6.1.12 Hoc mouit C. Marium imperatorem tum, cum C. Lusium sororis suae filium, tribunum militum, a C. Plotio manipulari milite iure caesum pronuntiauit, quia eum de stupro conpellare ausus fuerat.

6.1.12 This moved C. Marius the commander then, when he declared that C. Lusius, his sister’s son, a tribune of the soldiers, had been cut down by C. Plotio by the right of a manipular soldier, because he had dared to compel him concerning a rape.

6.1.13 Sed ut eos quoque, qui in uindicanda pudicitia dolore suo pro publica lege usi sunt, strictim percurram, Sempronius Musca C. Gellium deprehensum in adulterio flagellis cecidit, C. Memmius L. Octauium similiter deprehensum pernis contudit, Carbo Attienus a Vibieno, item Pontius a P. Cernio deprehensi castrati sunt. Cn. etiam Furium Brocchum qui deprehenderat familiae stuprandum obiecit. quibus irae suae indulsisse fraudi non fuit.

6.1.13 But that I may likewise run briefly through those who, in vindicating pudicity, used their grief for the public law, Sempronius Musca struck down C. Gellius, detected in adultery, with whips; C. Memmius similarly crushed L. Octavius, likewise detected, with pernis; Carbo Attienus by Vibienus, and likewise Pontius by P. Cerenius, when detected were castrated. Gn. moreover accused Furius Brocchus, who had apprehended him, of intending to rape a member of the familia. They did not allow their wrath to indulge or abet the fraud.

6.ext.1 Atque ut domesticis externa subnectam, Graeca femina nomine Hippo, cum hostium classe esset excepta, in mare se, ut morte pudicitiam tueretur, abiecit. cuius corpus Erythraeo litori adpulsum proxima undis humus sepulturae mandatum ad hoc tempus tumulo contegit: sanctitatis uero gloriam aeternae traditam memoriae Graecia laudibus suis celebrando cotidie florentiorem efficit.

6.ext.1 And to join the foreign to the domestic, a Greek woman named Hippo, when she had been taken by the enemy fleet, threw herself into the sea, that by death she might defend her chastity. Her body, having been borne to the Erythraean shore, was committed to burial by the nearest ground and for the time covered with a tumulus; and Greece, by celebrating the glory of the sanctity handed down to eternal memory with the highest praises, makes it ever more flourishing day by day.

6.ext.2 Vehementius hoc, illud consideratius exemplum pudicitiae. exercitu et copiis Gallograecorum a Cn. Manlio consule in Olympo monte ex parte deletis ex parte captis, Orgiagontis reguli uxor mirae pulchritudinis a centurione, cui custodienda tradita erat, stuprum pati coacta, postquam uentum est in eum locum, in quem centurio misso nuntio necessarios mulieris pretium, quo eam redimerent, adferre iusserat, aurum expendente centurione et in eius pondus animo oculisque intento Gallograecis lingua gentis suae imperauit ut eum occiderent. interfecti deinde caput abscisum manibus retinens ad coniugem uenit abiectoque ante pedes eius iniuriae et ultionis suae ordinem exposuit.

6.ext.2 This the more vehement, that the more deliberate, an example of pudicity. With the army and forces of the Gallo‑Greeks, by Cn. Manlius consul, on Mount Olympus partly destroyed, partly captured, the wife of King Orgiagontes, of wondrous beauty, being forced by a centurion, to whom she had been delivered for custody, to suffer violation, after it came to that place to which, the centurion having sent a message, he had ordered the necessary price for the woman to be brought, by which they might redeem her — the centurion laying out the gold and with his mind and eyes intent upon its weight, ordered the Gallo‑Greeks in the tongue of their people that they should kill him. Having then been killed, he came to his wife holding the severed head in his hands, and having cast it before her feet, displayed the order of his injury and of his vengeance.

huius feminae quid aliud quisquam quam corpus in potestatem hostium uenisse dicat? nam neque animus uinci nec pudicitia capi potuit.

What else can anyone say of this woman but that her body had come into the power of the enemies? For neither her spirit could be conquered nor her chastity seized.

6.1.ext.3 Teutonorum uero coniuges Marium uictorem orarunt ut ab eo uirginibus Vestalibus dono mitterentur, adfirmantes aeque se atque illas uirilis concubitus expertes futuras, eaque re non impetrata laqueis sibi nocte proxima spiritum eripuerunt. di melius, quod hunc animum uiris earum in acie non dederunt: nam si mulierum suarum uirtutem imitari uoluissent, incerta Teutonicae uictoriae tropaea reddidissent.

6.1.ext.3 The wives of the Teutons, however, entreated Marius the victor that they be sent by him as a gift to the Vestal virgins, asserting that they would be no less free than those from masculine concupiscence; and when this was not granted, they at the next night cut short their lives with nooses. Thanks be to the gods that they did not give this spirit to the men of their people in the battle: for if they had wished to imitate the virtue of their women, they would have rendered uncertain trophies to the Teutonic victory.

6.2.init. Libertatem autem uehementis spiritus dictis pariter et factis testatam ut non inuitauerim, ita ultro uenientem non excluserim. quae inter uirtutem uitiumque posita, si salubri modo se temperauit, laudem, si quo non debuit profudit, reprehensionem meretur.

6.2.init. But I neither invited nor excluded liberty of a vehement spirit, attested alike by words and deeds: just as I did not invite it, so I did not shut out one coming of his own accord. That which is placed between virtue and vice, if it tempered itself in a salutary manner, merits praise; if it wasted in any way what it ought not, it merits reproof.

ac uulgi sic auribus gratior quam sapientissimi cuiusque animo probabilior est utpote frequentius aliena uenia quam sua prouidentia tuta. sed quia humanae uitae partes persequi propositum est, nostra fide propria aestimatione referatur.

and thus more pleasing to the ears of the multitude than more believable to the mind of any most wise man, for other peoples’ pardon is more often safe than one’s own providence. But since it is proposed to follow the parts of human life, let it be referred in our own faith to our own estimation.

6.2.1 Priuerno capto interfectisque qui id oppidum ad rebellandum incitauerant senatus indignatione accensus consilium agitabat quidnam sibi de reliquis quoque Priuernatibus esset faciendum. ancipiti igitur casu salus eorum fluctuabatur eodem tempore et uictoribus et iratis subiecta. Ceterum cum auxilium unicum in precibus restare animaduerterent, ingenui et Italici sanguinis obliuisci non potuerunt: princeps enim eorum in curia interrogatus quam poenam mererentur, respondit 'quam merentur qui se dignos libertate iudicant'. uerbis arma sumpserat exasperatosque patrum conscriptorum animos inflammauerat.

6.2.1 With Priverno captured and those who had incited that town to rebel killed, the senate, burning with indignation, debated what should be done about the other Privernates as well. By reason of the ambiguous case their safety at the same time hung in the balance for both the victors and the enraged subjects. Yet, when they perceived that their only hope lay in entreaties, men of freeborn and Italic blood could not forget: for when their leader was asked in the curia what punishment they deserved, he answered, "the punishment deserved by those who judge themselves worthy of liberty." With words he had taken up arms and had inflamed the minds of the exasperated patres conscripti.

sed Plautius consul fauens Priuernatium causae regressum animoso eius dicto obtulit quaesiuitque qualem cum eis Romani pacem habituri essent inpunitate donata. at is constantissimo uultu 'si bonam dederitis', inquit 'perpetuam, si malam, non diuturnam'. qua uoce perfectum est ut uictis non solum uenia, sed etiam ius et beneficium nostrae ciuitatis daretur.

but Plautius the consul, favouring the cause of the Priuernates, offered their return by that spirited speech and sought what sort of peace the Romans would hold with them if impunity were granted. but he, with the most steadfast countenance, said, "if you grant a good one, perpetual; if a bad one, not long-lived." by that utterance it was settled that to the vanquished not only pardon, but also the right and benefice of our citizenship should be given.

6.2.2 Sic in senatu loqui Priuernas ausus est: L. uero Philippus consul aduersus eundem ordinem libertatem exercere non dubitauit: nam segnitiam pro rostris exprobrans alio sibi senatu opus esse dixit tantumque a paenitentia dicti afuit, ut etiam L. Crasso summae dignitatis atque eloquentiae uiro id in curia grauiter ferenti manum inici iuberet. ille reiecto lictore 'non es' inquit 'mihi, Philippe, consul, quia ne ego quidem senator sum'.

6.2.2 Thus he dared to speak to the Priuernæ in the senate: but L. Philippus, the consul, did not hesitate to assert his liberty against the same order: reproaching sloth from the rostra he said he needed another senate, and he was so far from penitence for what had been said that he even ordered his hand to be laid on L. Crassus, a man of the highest dignity and eloquence, who bore this in the curia with a grave countenance. He, having dismissed his lictor, said, "you are not to me, Philip, a consul, because I am not even a senator."

6.2.3 Quid? populum ab incursu suo libertas tutum reliquit? immo et similiter adgressa et aeque experta patientem est.

6.2.3 What? Did Liberty leave the people safe from its incursion? Nay; having likewise attacked and having equally tested them, she found them patient.

Cn. Carbo tribunus pl., nuper sepultae Gracchanae seditionis turbulentissimus uindex idemque orientium ciuilium malorum fax ardentissima, P. Africanum a Numantiae ruinis summo cum gloriae fulgore uenientem ab ipsa paene porta in rostra perductum quid de Ti. Gracchi morte, cuius sororem in matrimonio habebat, sentiret interrogauit, ut auctoritate clarissimi uiri inchoato iam incendio multum incrementi adiceret, quia non dubitabat quin propter tam artam adfinitatem aliquid pro memoria interfecti necessarii miserabiliter esset locuturus. at is iure eum caesum uideri respondit. cui dicto cum contio tribunicio furore instincta uiolenter succlamasset, 'taceant' inquit 'quibus Italia nouerca est'. orto deinde murmure 'non efficietis' ait 'ut solutos uerear quos alligatos adduxi'. uniuersus populus ab uno iterum contumeliose correptus erat++quantus est honos uirtutis!++et tacuit.

Cn. Carbo, tribune of the plebs, lately the most turbulent avenger of the Gracchan sedition and likewise the most ardent torch of the rising civil evils, asked what P. Africanus — returning from the ruins of Numantia with the highest brilliance of glory and brought almost from the very gate to the rostra — thought about the death of Tiberius Gracchus, whose sister he had in marriage, so that by the authority of that most illustrious man a fire already kindled might gain much increase; for he did not doubt that, because of so close a kinship, he would inevitably speak something lamentable in memory of the slain. But he answered that rightly he seemed to be killed. At this word, when the assembly, stirred by the fury of the tribunate, shouted violently, 'let those be silent to whom Italy is a stepmother,' he said, 'be silent.' Then, when a murmur arose, 'you will not make me afraid of those I have led bound rather than loose,' and the whole people was again insulted by one—how great is the honour of virtue!—and he was silent.

recens ipsius uictoria Numantina et patris Macedonica deuictaeque Karthaginis auita spolia ac duorum regum Syphacis et Persei ante triumphales currus caten<at>ae ceruices totius tunc fori <ora> clauserunt. nec timori datum est silentium, sed quia beneficio Aemiliae Corneliaeque gentis multi metus urbis atque Italiae finiti erant, plebs Romana libertati Scipionis libera non fuit.

fresh was his Numantine victory and his father's Macedonian one, and the ancestral spoils of conquered Carthage and of the two kings, Syphax and Perseus, the chained necks before the triumphal chariots closed the mouths of the whole then-forum <at> <ora>. nor was silence granted to fear; but because by the favor of Aemilia and Cornelia of his gens many fears of the city and of Italy had been ended, the Roman plebs was not free with respect to the liberty of Scipio.

6.2.4 Quapropter minus mirari debemus, quod amplissima Cn. Pompei auctoritas totiens cum libertate luctata est, nec sine magna laude, quoniam omnis generis hominum licentiae ludibrio esse quieta fronte tulit. Cn. Piso, cum Manilium Crispum reum ageret eumque euidenter nocentem gratia Pompei eripi uideret, iuuenili impetu ac studio accusationis prouectus multa et grauia crimina praepotenti defensori obiecit. interrogatus deinde ab eo cur non quoque accusaret, 'da' inquit 'praedes rei publicae te, si postulatus fueris, ciuile bellum non excitaturum, etiam te tuo prius quam de Manilii capite in consilium iudices mittam'. ita eodem iudicio duos sustinuit reos, accusatione Manilium, libertate Pompeium, et eorum alterum lege peregit, alterum professione, qua solum poterat.

6.2.4 Wherefore we ought to be less surprised that the very great authority of Cn. Pompey so often contended with liberty, and not without great praise, since it bore with a calm brow the derision of licence in men of every sort. Cn. Piso, when he was prosecuting Manilius Crispus as defendant and saw him evidently guilty being snatched away by the favour of Pompey, carried forward by youthful impetuosity and by the zeal of accusation threw many and grave charges at the overwhelmingly powerful defender. Then, when asked by him why he did not also accuse himself, he said, "Give up, I say, the leadership of the republic to me; if you were demanded, you would not stir up civil war — even I will send you to the judges for trial before I send them to consider Manilius's head." Thus in the same trial he kept two men standing as accused: Manilius by the accusation, Pompey by liberty; and he carried one of them through by law, the other by the assertion by which he alone could.

6.2.5 Quid ergo? libertas sine Catone? non magis quam Cato sine libertate: nam cum in senatorem nocentem et infamem reum iudex sedisset tabellaeque Cn. Pompei laudationem eius continentes prolatae essent, procul dubio efficaces futurae pro noxio, summouit eas e quaestione legem recitando, qua cautum erat ne senatoribus tali auxilio uti liceret.

6.2.5 What then? liberty without Cato? no more than Cato without liberty: for when a judge had sat upon a senator accused and infamous, and tablets containing the laudation of Cn. Pompey had been brought forward, doubtless likely to be effective for the guilty in the future, he removed them from the trial by reading aloud the law which had provided that senators should not be permitted to make use of such aid.

huic facto persona admirationem adimit: nam quae in alio audacia uideretur, in Catone fiducia cognoscitur.

This act robs the persona of admiration: for what in another would be seen as audacity, in Catone is recognised as fiducia.

6.2.6 Cn. Lentulus Marcellinus consul, cum in contione de Magni Pompei nimia potentia quereretur, adsensusque ei clara uoce uniuersus populus esset, 'adclamate' inquit, 'adclamate, Quirites, dum licet: iam enim uobis inpune facere non licet'. pulsata tunc est eximii ciuis potentia hinc inuidiosa querella, hinc lamentatione miserabili.

6.2.6 Cn. Lentulus Marcellinus, consul, when in the contio he complained about the excessive power of Magnus Pompey, and the whole people had assented to him with a clear voice, said, "Shout, shout, Quirites, while it is permitted; for already it will not be allowed for you to act with impunity." Then was struck from that time the authority of an eminent citizen into, on the one hand, an envious complaint, on the other, into a miserable lamentation.

6.2.7 Cui candida fascia crus alligatum habenti Fauonius 'non refert' inquit 'qua in parte sit corporis diadema', exigui panni cauillatione regias ei uires exprobrans. at is neutram in partem mutato uultu utrumque cauit, ne aut hilari fronte libenter adgnoscere potentiam profiteri uideretur. eaque patientia inferioris etiam generis et fortunae hominibus aditum aduersus se dedit: e quorum turba duos retulisse abunde erit.

6.2.7 To him, his leg bound with a white bandage, Fauonius said, "it does not matter in which part of the body the diadem is," reproaching his royal powers with quibbling over a little cloth. But he, his face changing to neither side, shunned both, lest he should seem either with a cheerful brow gladly to acknowledge the power or to profess it. And by that patience he even gave entrance to men of a lower sort and fortune against himself: from whose crowd it will suffice abundantly to relate two.

6.2.8 Heluius Mancia Formianus, libertini filius ultimae senectutis, L. Libonem apud censores accusabat. in quo certamine cum Pompeius Magnus humilitatem ei aetatemque exprobrans ab inferis illum ad accusandum remissum dixisset, 'non mentiris' inquit, 'Pompei: uenio enim ab inferis, in L. Libonem accusator uenio. sed dum illic moror, uidi cruentum Cn. Domitium Ahenobarbum deflentem, quod summo genere natus, integerrimae uitae, amantissimus patriae, in ipso iuuentae flore tuo iussu esset occisus.

6.2.8 Helvius Mancia Formianus, the son of a freedman of very advanced old age, was accusing L. Libo before the censors. In that contest, when Pompeius Magnus, reproaching him for his low birth and his age, had said that he had been sent back from the underworld to make the accusation, 'you do not lie,' he said, 'Pompey: for I do come from the underworld, I come as an accuser against L. Libo. But while I lingered there I saw the bloodstained Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus lamenting, who, though born of the highest rank, of most blameless life, and most devoted to his country, had been killed by your command in the very flower of his youth.'

uidi pari claritate conspicuum <M.> Brutum ferro laceratum, querentem id sibi prius perfidia, deinde etiam crudelitate tua accidisse. uidi Cn. Carbonem acerrimum pueritiae tuae bonorumque patris tui defensorem in tertio consulatu catenis, quas tu ei inici iusseras, uinctum, obtestantem se aduersus omne fas ac nefas, cum in summo esset imperio, a te equite Romano trucidatum. uidi eodem habitu et quiritatu praetorium uirum Perpennam saeuitiam tuam execrantem, omnesque eos una uoce indignantes, quod indemnati sub te adulescentulo carnifice occidissent'. obducta iam uetus<tis> cicatricibus bellorum ciuilium uastissima uulnera municipali homini, seruitutem paternam redolenti, effrenatae temeritatis, intolerabilis spiritus, inpune renouare licuit.

I saw, with equal clarity, the conspicuous <M.> Brutus torn by the sword, lamenting that this had first happened to him by treachery, then also by your cruelty. I saw Cn. Carbo, the fiercest defender of your boyhood and of your good father, in his third consulship bound with the chains which you had ordered to be thrown upon him, beseeching that he was being treated against every right and wrong, though he was in the highest office, and slaughtered by you, a Roman eques. I saw in the same habit and in the comitial assembly the praetorian man Perpenna railing against your savagery, and all of them with one voice indignant, because, unavenged under you in your youth, they had been slain by an executioner. With the most devastating wounds then overlaid by the old<tis> scars of civil wars upon a municipal man, redolent of paternal servitude, of unrestrained temerity, of intolerable spirit, it was permitted to renew them with impunity.

itaque eo<dem> tempore et fortissimum erat Cn. Pompeio maledicere et tutissimum. sed non patitur nos hoc longiore querella prosequi personae insequentis aliquanto sors humilior.

therefore at that same time it was as brave as it was safe to speak ill of Gnaeus Pompeius. but a somewhat humbler lot does not allow us to pursue this complaint at greater length against the following person.

6.2.9 Diphilus tragoedus, cum Apollinaribus ludis inter actum ad eum uersum uenisset, in quo haec sententia continetur, 'miseria nostra magnus est', directis in Pompeium Magnum manibus pronuntiauit, reuocatusque aliquotiens a populo sine ulla cunctatione nimiae illum et intolerabilis potentiae reum gestu perseueranter egit. eadem petulantia usus est in ea quoque parte, 'uirtutem istam ueniet tempus cum grauiter gemes'.

6.2.9 Diphilus the tragedian, when at the Apollinarian games he came onto the stage to a verse addressed to him, in which this sentence is contained, 'miseria nostra magnus est' ('our misery is great'), with his hands directed at Pompey the Great pronounced it; and being called back several times by the people, without any hesitation he persistently pursued him with a gesture as one guilty of excessive and intolerable power. The same petulance was used in that other line as well, 'uirtutem istam ueniet tempus cum grauiter gemes' ('this virtue — there will come a time when you will groan grievously').

6.2.10 M. etiam Castricii libertate inflammatus animus. qui, cum Placentiae magistratum gereret, Cn. Carbone consule iubente decretum fieri, quo sibi obsides a Placentinis darentur, nec summo eius imperio obtemperauit nec maximis uiribus cessit: atque etiam dicente multos se gladios habere respondit 'et ego annos'. obstipuerunt tot legiones tam robustas senectutis reliquias intuentes. Carbonis quoque ira, quia materiam saeuiendi perquam exiguam habebat, paruulum uitae tempus ablatura, in se ipsa conlapsa est.

6.2.10 The spirit of M. Castricius too, inflamed by liberty. He, when he was exercising the magistracy at Placentia, with Cn. Carbo the consul ordering that a decree be made by which hostages should be given to him by the Placentines, neither obeyed that supreme command nor yielded with the greatest efforts; and even when the latter said that he had many swords he answered, "and I, years." They were astonished, beholding so many legions so robust, the relics of old age. Carbo's anger likewise, because it had very scant material for raging and was about to snatch away a little span of life, collapsed upon itself.

6.2.11 Iam Serui Galbae temeritatis plena postulatio, qui diuum Iulium consummatis uictoriis in foro ius dicentem in hunc modum interpellare sustinuit: 'C. Iuli Caesar, pro Cn. Pompeio Magno, quondam genero tuo, in tertio eius consulatu pecuniam spopondi, quo nomine nunc appellor. quid agam? dependam?' palam atque aperte ei bonorum Pompei uenditionem exprobrando ut a tribunali summoueretur meruerat.

6.2.11 Now the demand of Servius Galba, full of temerity, who dared to interrupt the deified Julius, then pronouncing justice in the forum after his consummate victories, in this manner: "G. Julius Caesar, for Cn. Pompeius Magnus, formerly your son‑in‑law, in his third consulship I promised money — by what name am I now called? What shall I do? Shall I be hanged?" openly and plainly, by reproaching him with the sale of Pompey's goods, he had deserved to be removed from the tribunal.

sed illud ipsa mansuetudine mitius pectus aes alienum Pompei ex suo fisco solui iussit.

but that very gentleness itself softened his heart the more, and he ordered that Pompey's debt be paid out of his own fisc.

6.2.12 Age, Cascellius uir iuris ciuilis scientia clarus quam periculose contumax! nullius enim aut gratia aut auctoritate conpelli potuit ut de aliqua earum rerum, quas triumuiri dederant, formulam conponeret, hoc animi iudicio uniuersa eorum beneficia extra omnem ordinem legum ponens. idem cum multa de temporibus liberius loqueretur, amicique ne id faceret monerent, duas res, quae hominibus amarissimae uiderentur, magnam sibi licentiam praebere respondit, senectutem et orbitatem.

6.2.12 Come now, Cascellius, a man illustrious in the science of civil law — how perilously contumacious! For he could be compelled by neither favour nor authority to compose a formula about any of those matters which the triumviri had given, placing by that judgement of his mind all their benefices beyond every order of the laws. And when he spoke rather freely on many things concerning the times of , and his friends warned him not to do so, he answered that two things, which would seem most bitter to men, bestowed on him great licence: old age and childlessness.

6.2.ext.1 Inserit se tantis uiris mulier alienigeni sanguinis, quae a Philippo rege temulento immerenter damnata, prouocare , 'ad Philippum' inquit, 'sed sobrium'. excussit crapulam oscitanti ac praesentia animi ebrium resipiscere causaque diligentius inspecta iustiorem sententiam ferre coegit. igitur aequitatem, quam impetrare non potuerat, extorsit, potius praesidium a libertate quam ab innocentia mutuata.

6.2.ext.1 A woman of alien blood inserts herself among such men, who, having been undeservedly condemned by Philip the drunken king, cried that she would appeal the judgment, and, when asked to whom she would appeal, said, “to Philip, but sober.” She shook off the tippling from the yawning man and, by a presence of mind, sobered the drunkard, and, the case having been more diligently inspected for the sake of his recovering senses, compelled him to pronounce a more just sentence. Thus she extorted the equity she could not obtain, a refuge borrowed more from liberty than from innocence.

6.2.ext.2 Iam illa non solum fortis, sed etiam urbana libertas. senectutis ultimae quaedam Syracusis omnibus Dionysii tyranni exitium propter nimiam morum acerbitatem et intolerabilia onera uotis expetentibus sola cotidie matutino tempore deos ut incolumis ac sibi superstes esset orabat. quod ubi is cognouit, non debitam sibi admiratus beniuolentiam arcessit eam et quid ita hoc aut quo merito suo faceret interrogauit.

6.2.ext.2 Now she was not only brave, but also urbane in her liberty. In the last years of her old age, while all the Syracusans were with prayers desiring the doom of Dionysius the tyrant because of the excessive asperity of his morals and intolerable burdens, she alone every morning prayed to the gods that he might be safe and survive her. When he learned this, admiring a benevolence not due to him, he summoned her and asked why she did this and by what merit she acted so for him.

tum illa 'certa est' inquit 'ratio propositi mei: puella enim, cum grauem tyrannum haberemus, carere eo cupiebam. quo interfecto aliquanto taetrior arcem occupauit. eius quoque finiri dominationem magni aestimabam.

then she said, 'the reason for my purpose is certain: for, as a girl, when we had a severe tyrant, I wished to be rid of him. when he was killed, one considerably more odious seized the citadel. I also expected his great domination to be brought to an end.'

tertium te superioribus inportuniorem habere coepimus rectorem. itaque ne, si tu fueris absumptus, deterior in locum tuum su ccedat, caput meum pro tua salute deuoueo'. tam facetam audaciam Dionysius punire erubuit.

we began to reckon you a third, more importunate ruler than the predecessors. and so, lest, if you were taken away, a worse man should succeed into your place, I vow my head for your safety. Dionysius blushed to punish so facetious an audacity.

6.2.ext.3 Inter has et Theodorum Cyrenaeum quasi animosi spiritus coniugium esse potuit, uirtute par, felicitate dissimile: is enim Lysimacho regi mortem sibi minitanti, 'enimuero' inquit 'magnifica res tibi contigit, quia cantharidis uim adsecutus es'. cumque hoc dicto accensus cruci eum suffigi iussisset, 'terribilis' ait 'haec sit purpuratis tuis, mea quidem nihil interest humi an sublime putrescam'.

6.2.ext.3 Among these things there could also be a union of kindred spiritedness with Theodorus the Cyrenaean, equal in virtue, unlike in felicity: for when he threatened death to King Lysimachus he said, "truly a magnificent thing has happened to you, for you have attained the power of the cantharides." And when, having said this, enraged, he ordered him to be nailed to a cross, "let this be terrible for your purple-clad ones," he said, "for my part it matters nothing whether I rot on the ground or on high."

6.3.init. Armet se duritia pectus necesse est, dum horridae ac tristis seueritatis acta narrantur, ut omni ore cogitatione seposita rebus auditu asperis uacet: ita enim destrictae et inexorabiles uindictae et uaria poenarum genera in medium procurrent, utilia quidem legum munimenta, sed minime in placido et quieto paginarum numero reponenda.

6.3.init. The breast must arm itself with hardness, while the acts of horrid and grim severity are narrated, so that with every milder thought put aside it may be free for matters harsh to the hearing: for thus drawn-out and inexorable vindications and the various kinds of punishments rush forth into view, indeed useful bulwarks of the laws, but by no means to be set among the calm and quiet roll of pages.

6.3.1 M. Manlius, unde Gallos depulerat, inde ipse praecipitatus est, quia fortiter defensam libertatem nefarie opprimere conatus fuerat. cuius iustae ultionis nimirum haec praefatio fuit: 'Manlius eras mihi, cum praecipites agebas Senonas: postquam imitari coepisti, unus factus ex Senonibus'. huius supplicio aeternae memoriae nota inserta est: propter illum enim lege sanciri placuit ne quis patricius in arce aut Capitolio habitaret, quia domum eo loci habuerat, ubi nunc aedem Monetae uidemus.

6.3.1 M. Manlius, from whom he had driven off the Gauls, was himself hurled down from there, because he had wickedly attempted to crush liberty bravely defended. The preface to his just vengeance was plainly this: 'You were Manlius to me when you drove the Senones headlong: after you began to imitate, you became one of the Senones' (). To his punishment a mark of eternal memory was added: for on his account it was resolved by law that no patrician should dwell on the citadel or the Capitol, since he had held a house in that place where now we see the temple of Moneta.

Par indignatio ciuitatis aduersus Sp. Cassium erupit, cui plus suspicio concupitae dominationis nocuit quam tres magnifici consulatus ac duo speciosissimi triumphi profuerunt: senatus enim populusque Romanus non contentus capitali eum supplicio adficere interempto domum superiecit, ut penatium quoque strage puniretur: in solo autem aedem Telluris fecit. itaque quod prius domicilium inpotentis uiri fuerat nunc religiosae seueritatis monumentum est.

A corresponding indignation of the city broke out against Sp. Cassius, to whom the suspicion of a coveted domination did more harm than three magnificent consulships and two most splendid triumphs availed: for the Senate and Roman People, not content merely to subject him to capital punishment, overlaid his house with his killing, so that even the household gods might be punished by the slaughter; and on the very spot they made a temple of Tellus. Thus what had formerly been the dwelling of an overbearing man is now a monument of religious severity.

Eadem ausum Sp. Maelium consimili exitu patria multauit. area uero domus eius, quo iustitia supplicii notior ad posteros perueniret, Aequimeli appellationem traxit. quantum ergo odii aduersus hostes libertatis insitum animis antiqui haberent parietum ac tectorum, in quibus uersati fuerant, ruinis testabantur.

The same state punished Sp. Maelius for his audacity with a similar end. Indeed the area of his house, so that the justice of the punishment might be made better known to posterity, took on the appellation Aequimeli. Thus the ruins of the walls and roofs in which they had been accustomed to dwell testified how great a hatred the ancients had implanted in their minds against the enemies of liberty.

ideoque et M. Flacci et L. Saturnini seditiosissimorum ciuium corporibus trucidatis penates ab imis fundamentis eruti sunt. ceterum Flacciana area, cum diu ~ pene uacua mansisset, a Q. Catulo Cimbricis spoliis adornata est.

and so both the penates were torn up from their lowest foundations when the bodies of M. Flaccus and L. Saturninus, most seditious citizens, were slaughtered. But the Flaccian area, since it had long remained almost empty, was adorned with the Cimbrian spoils by Q. Catulus.

Viguit in nostra ciuitate Ti. et C. Gracchorum summa nobilitas ac spes amplissima. sed quia statum ciuitatis conati erant conuellere, insepulta cadauera iacuerunt supremusque humanae condicionis honos filiis Gracchi et nepotibus Africani defuit. quin etiam familiares eorum, ne quis rei publicae inimicis amicus esse uellet, de robore praecipitati sunt.

In our city there flourished the highest nobility and the very great hope of the Gracchi, Tiberius and Gaius. But because they had tried to overthrow the state, unburied corpses lay about, and the supreme honor of the human condition was denied to the sons of the Gracchi and to the grandsons of Africanus. Nay, even their familiares, lest anyone wish to be a friend to the enemies of the res publica, were hurled from positions of strength.

6.3.2 Idem sibi licere [tam] P. Mucius tribunus pl. quod senatui et populo Romano credidit, qui omnes collegas suos, duce Sp. Cassio id egerant ut magistratibus non subrogatis communis libertas in dubium uocaretur, uiuos cremauit. nihil profecto hac seueritate fidentius: unus enim tribunus eam poenam nouem collegis inferre ausus est, quam nouem tribuni ab uno collega exigere perhorruissent.

6.3.2 The same P. Mucius, tribune of the plebs, thought it permitted to himself [as well] what he had entrusted to the senate and the Roman people: he burned alive all his colleagues,, with Sp. Cassius as leader, had acted so that, magistrates not having been subrogated, the common liberty would be called into question. Certainly nothing more confident than this severity: for one tribune dared to inflict that new punishment on 9 colleagues which 9 tribunes had shuddered to demand from one colleague.

6.3.3 Libertatis adhuc custos et uindex seueritas, sed pro dignitate etiam ac pro disciplina aeque grauis: M. enim Claudium senatus Corsis, quia turpem cum his pacem fecerat, dedit. quem ab hostibus non acceptum in publica custodia necari iussit, semel laesa maiestate imperii quot modis irae pertinax uindex! factum eius rescidit, libertatem ademit, spiritum extinxit, corpus contumelia carceris et detestanda Gemoniarum scalarum nota foedauit.

6.3.3 Still severity, guardian and avenger of liberty, but equally grave for dignity and for discipline: for the senate delivered M. Claudius to the Corsicans, because he had made a shameful peace with them. Whom, not being accepted by the enemies, he ordered to be slain in public custody—once the majesty of the empire was offended, in how many ways the pertinacious avenger of wrath! He cut short his act, took away his liberty, extinguished his spirit, and defiled his body with the ignominy of prison and the detestable mark of the Gemonian stairs.

Atque hic quidem senatus animaduersionem meruerat: Cn. autem Cornelius Scipio Hispali filius prius quam mereri posset expertus est: nam cum ei Hispania prouincia sorte obuenisset, ne illuc iret decreuit adiecta causa, quod recte facere nesciret. itaque Cornelius propter uitae inhonestum actum sine ullo prouinciali ministerio tantum non repetundarum lege damnatus est.

And this man indeed had deserved the animadversion of the senate: but Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio, son of Hispala, was tried before he could deserve it: for when the province of Spain had fallen to him by lot, he decreed not to go there, the added cause being that he did not know how to act rightly. And so Cornelius, on account of a dishonourable act of life, was condemned by the law of repetundarum (the law concerning extortions), though without any provincial ministrations.

Ne in C. quidem Vettieno, qui <sibi> sinistrae manus digitos, ne bello Italico militaret, absciderat, seueritas senatus cessauit: publicatis enim bonis eius ipsum aeternis uinculis puniendum censuit effecitque ut quem honeste spiritum profundere in acie noluerat, turpiter in catenis consumeret.

Not even in Gaius Vettienus, who had cut off the fingers of his left hand for himself so that he would not serve in the Italian war, did the severity of the senate relent: for, his goods having been confiscated, it decreed that he himself should be punished with everlasting chains, and brought it about that he who had not been willing to pour forth an honorable spirit on the battle‑line should be shamefully consumed in chains.

6.3.4 Id factum imitatus M'. Curius consul, cum dilectum subito edicere coactus esset iuniorum nemo respondisset, coniectis in sortem omnibus tribubus, Polliae, quae prima exierat, primum nomen urna extractum citari iussit neque eo respondente bona adulescentis hastae subiecit. quod ut illi nuntiatum est, ad consulis tribunal concurrit collegiumque tribunorum appellauit. tunc Manius Curius praefatus non opus esse eo ciue rei publicae, qui parere nesciret, et bona eius et ipsum uendidit.

6.3.4 Imitating that deed, M. Curius, the consul, when he was suddenly compelled to proclaim the levy and none of the younger men responded, having cast lots among all the tribes, ordered Pollia, which had come out first, to have the first name drawn from the urn called; and when that man did not answer, he exposed the youth’s goods to sale by placing them under the spear. When this was reported to them, they ran to the consul’s tribunal and summoned the college of tribunes. Then Manius Curius, aforesaid, declared that the commonwealth had no need of a citizen who did not know how to obey, and he sold both the man and his goods.

6.3.5 Aeque tenax propositi L. Domitius: nam cum Siciliam praetor regeret et ad eum eximiae magnitudinis aper allatus esset, adduci ad se pastorem, cuius manu occisus erat, iussit interrogatumque qui eam bestiam confecisset, postquam conperit usum uenabulo, cruci fixit, quia ipse ad exturbanda latrocinia, quibus prouincia uastabatur, ne quis telum haberet edixerat. hoc aliquis in fine seueritatis et saeuitiae ponendum dixerit++disputatione enim utroque flecti potest++: ceterum ratio publici imperii praetorem nimis asperum existimari non patitur.

6.3.5 Equally steadfast in his purpose was L. Domitius: for when he was governing Sicily as praetor and a boar of extraordinary size had been brought to him, he ordered the shepherd by whose hand it had been killed to be brought, and, having been asked who had dispatched that beast, when he discovered the use of a hunting-spear he had him fixed to a cross, because he himself had issued an edict that, in order to drive out the robberies by which the province was being laid waste, no one should possess a weapon. Someone may say that this should be set down under the head of severity and savagery ++for by disputation either can be turned++: moreover the nature of public command does not permit a praetor to be judged excessively harsh.

6.3.6 Sic se in uiris puniendis seueritas exercuit, sed ne in feminis quidem supplicio adficiendis segniorem egit. Horatius prius proelio trium Curiatiorum, condicione pugnae omnium Albanorum uictor, cum ex illa clarissima acie domum repetens sororem suam uirginem Curiati sponsi mortem profusius quam illa aetas debebat flentem uidisset, gladio, quo patriae rem bene gesserat, interemit, parum pudicas ratus lacrimas, quae propero amori dabantur. quem hoc nomine reum apud populum actum pater defendit.

6.3.6 Thus severity exercised itself in punishing men, but in afflicting women with punishment it was no less prompt. Horatius, first victor in the battle of the three Curiatii, victor by the condition of the fight of all the Albans, when returning home from that most renowned battle he saw his sister, betrothed to a Curiatius, weeping more lavishly than her age allowed for the death of her suitor, killed her with the sword with which he had served his country well, deeming the tears too immodest that were being shed from excessive love. His father defended him when he was tried before the people under that charge.

ita paulo propensior animus puellae ad memoriam futuri uiri et fratrem ferocem uindicem et uindictae tam rigidum adsensorem patrem habuit.

Thus the girl's mind was a little more inclined to the memory of a future husband, and she had a fierce, vindictive brother and a father so rigid an approver of vengeance.

6.3.7 Consimili seueritate senatus postea usus Sp. Postumio Albino Q. Marcio Philippo consulibus mandauit ut de his, quae sacris Bacchanalium inceste usae fuerant, inquirerent. a quibus cum multae essent damnatae, in omnes cognati intra domos animaduerterunt, lateque patens opprobrii deformitas seueritate supplicii emendata est, quia, quantum ruboris ciuitati nostrae mulieres turpiter se gerendo incusserant, tantum laudis grauiter punitae adtulerunt.

6.3.7 With similar severity the senate afterwards, in the consulship of Sp. Postumius Albinus and Q. Marcius Philippus, ordered that inquiries be made concerning those who had abused the sacred rites of the Bacchanalia. From these, since many were condemned, they laid hands upon all the relatives within the houses, and the deformity of the widely‑spread scandal was corrected by the severity of the punishment; for as much shame as the women had inflicted on our commonwealth by behaving disgracefully, so much praise did their severe punishment bring back.

6.3.8 Publicia autem, quae Postumium Albinum consulem, item Licinia, quae Claudium Asellum uiros suos ueneno necauerant, propinquorum decreto strangulatae sunt: non enim putauerunt seuerissimi uiri in tam euidenti scelere longum publicae quaestionis tempus expectandum. itaque quarum innocentium defensores fuissent, sontium mature uindices extiterunt.

6.3.8 The public slaves, however, who had strangled the consul Postumius Albinus, and likewise Licinia, who had poisoned her husband Claudius Asellus, were put to death by decree of their kinsmen: for they did not think that the most severe men would permit a long time for a public inquiry in so manifest a crime. Thus those who would have been defenders of the innocent became the timely avengers of the guilty.

6.3.9 Magno scelere horum seueritas ad exigendam uindictam concitata est, Egnati autem Meceni longe minore de causa, qui uxorem, quod uinum bibisset, fusti percussam interemit, idque factum non accusatore tantum, sed etiam reprehensore caruit, uno quoque existimante optimo illam exemplo uiolatae sobrietati poenas pependisse. et sane quaecumque femina uini usum immoderate appetit, omnibus et uirtutibus ianuam claudit et delictis aperit.

6.3.9 By the great wickedness of these men severity was roused to exact vengeance; but in the case of Egnatus Mecenus the cause was far smaller — who killed his wife, struck down with a cudgel because she had drunk wine — and that deed lacked not only an accuser but even a reprover, with even one excellent man thinking that she had paid the penalty as an example of violated sobriety. And certainly whatever woman desires the use of wine immoderately shuts the door to all virtues and opens it to crimes.

6.3.10 Horridum C. quoque Sulpicii Galli maritale supercilium: nam uxorem dimisit, quod eam capite aperto foris uersatam cognouerat, abscisa sententia, sed tamen aliqua ratione munita: 'lex enim' inquit 'tibi meos tantum praefinit oculos, quibus formam tuam adprobes. his decoris instrumenta conpara, his esto speciosa, horum te certiori crede notitiae. ulterior tui conspectus superuacua inritatione arcessitus in suspicione et crimine haereat necesse est'.

6.3.10 Also the horrid marital pride of C. Sulpicius Gallus: for he divorced his wife, because he had learned that she had been about outside with her head uncovered, with a curt sentence, but nevertheless fortified by some rationale: "for the law," he said, "assigns my eyes to you alone, by which you may approve your form. Procure these instruments of adornment, be splendid by these, trust yourself more certain by the acquaintance of these. A further seeing of you, summoned by superfluous provocation, must necessarily cling in suspicion and crime."

6.3.11 Nec aliter sensit Q. Antistius Vetus repudiando uxorem, quod illam in publico cum quadam libertina uulgari secreto loquentem uiderat: nam, ut ita dicam, incunabulis et nutrimentis culpae, non ipsa conmotus culpa citeriorem delicto praebuit ultionem, ut potius caueret iniuriam quam uindicaret.

6.3.11 Nor did Q. Antistius Vetus feel otherwise in repudiating his wife, because he had seen her in public speaking secretly with a certain common libertine: for, so to speak, in the swaddlings and nurture of the fault, not moved by the fault itself he presented a later offense as a pretext for vengeance, so that he sought rather to guard against injury than to exact retribution.

6.3.12 Iungendus est his P. Sempronius Sophus, qui coniugem repudii nota adfecit, nihil aliud quam se ignorante ludos ausam spectare. ergo, dum sic olim feminis occurritur, mens earum a delictis aberat.

6.3.12 To these must be joined P. Sempronius Sophus, who afflicted his wife with the mark of repudiation for nothing else than that she had dared, unbeknownst to him, to behold the games. therefore, while women were thus treated of old, their minds were free from delicts.

6.3.ext.1 Ceterum etsi Romana seueritatis exemplis totus terrarum orbis instrui potest, tamen externa summatim cognosse fastidio non sit. Lacedaemonii libros Archilochi e ciuitate sua exportari iusserunt, quod eorum parum uerecundam ac pudicam lectionem arbitrabantur: noluerunt enim ea liberorum suorum animos imbui, ne plus moribus noceret quam ingeniis prodesset. itaque maximum poetam aut certe summo proximum, quia domum sibi inuisam obscenis maledictis lacerauerat, carminum exilio multarunt.

6.3.ext.1 Moreover, although the whole world may be instructed by examples of Roman severity, yet it is not unseemly to have learned summarily of foreign matters. The Lacedaemonians ordered the books of Archilochus to be carried out of their city, because they judged his reading insufficiently modest and chaste; for they would not have those things instilled into the minds of their children, lest they harm customs more than they would advantage talents. Accordingly they punished the greatest poet, or at least next to the greatest, because, by obscene maledictions, he had rent his household and made himself hateful at home, with exile of his poems.

6.3.ext.2 Athenienses autem Timagoran inter officium salutationis Dareum regem more gentis illius adulatum capitali supplicio adfecerunt, unius ciuis humilibus blanditiis totius urbis suae decus Persicae dominationi summissum grauiter ferentes.

6.3.ext.2 The Athenians, however, put Timagoras to capital punishment, he having, in the course of the duty of salutation and according to the custom of that people, flattered King Dareus, bearing grievously that the honour of their whole city was submitted to Persian domination by the humble blandishments of a single citizen.

6.3.ext.3 Iam Cambyses inusitatae seueritatis, qui mali cuiusdam iudicis e corpore pellem detractam sellae intendi in eaque filium eius iudicaturum considere iussit. ceterum et rex et barbarus atroci ac noua poena iudicis ne quis postea corrumpi iudex posset prouidit.

6.3.ext.3 Now Cambyses, of unusual severity, ordered that the skin stripped from the body of a certain wicked judge be stretched upon a chair and that his son be made to sit in it to adjudicate. Moreover both king and barbarian, by that atrocious and novel punishment of the judge, provided that no judge thereafter could be bribed.

6.4.init. Magnam et bonam laudis partem in claris uiris etiam illa uindicant, quae aut ab his dicta grauiter aut facta pertinax memoria uiribus aeternis conprehendit. quorum ex abundanti copia nec parca nimis nec rursus auida manu quod magis desiderio satisfaciat quam satietati abundet hauriamus.

6.4.init. They also ascribe a great and good part of praise in illustrious men to those things which, either gravely spoken by them or done, tenacious memory apprehends with eternal powers. From whose abundant store let us draw with a hand neither too sparing nor again greedy that which more satisfies desire than overflows for satiety.

6.4.1 Ciuitate nostra Cannensi clade perculsa, cum admodum tenui filo suspensa rei publicae salus ex sociorum fide penderet, ut eorum animi ad imperium Romanum tuendum constantiores essent, maiori parti senatus principes Latinorum in ordinem suum sublegi placebat. Annius autem Campanus etiam consulem alterum Capua creari debere adseuerabat: sic contusus et aeger Romani imperii spiritus erat. tunc Manlius Torquatus filius eius, qui Latinos apud Veserim inclita pugna fuderat, quam poterat clara uoce denuntiauit, si quis sociorum inter patres conscriptos sententiam dicere ausus esset, continuo eum interempturum.

6.4.1 Struck by the Cannae disaster in our state, since the safety of the republic hung suspended by a very slender thread and depended on the fidelity of the allies, and so that their spirits might be firmer for defending the Roman imperium, it pleased the greater part of the senate that the leading men of the Latins be enrolled into its order. But Annius Campanus insisted also that another consul ought to be created at Capua: thus the spirit of the Roman power was bruised and ill. Then his son Manlius Torquatus, who had routed the Latins in the celebrated battle at Veserim, proclaimed with as clear a voice as he could that if any of the allies among the senators should dare to give an opinion, he would at once put him to death.

hae unius minae et Romanorum languentibus animis calorem pristinum reddiderunt et Italiam ad ius ciuitatis nobiscum exaequandum consurgere passae non sunt: namque ut patris armis, ita uerbis filii fracta cessit. Par illius quoque [et] Manli grauitas, cui cum consulatus [cum] omnium consensu deferretur eumque sub excusatione aduersae ualitudinis oculorum recusaret, instantibus cunctis 'alium' inquit, 'Quirites, quaerite, ad quem hunc honorem transferatis: nam si me gerere eum coegeritis, nec ego mores uestros ferre nec uos meum imperium perpeti poteritis'. priuati tam ponderosa uox: quam graues fasces consulis extitissent!

These threats of a single man restored the former ardor to the Romans’ languishing spirits, and they would not suffer Italy to rise up to be made equal with us in the right of citizenship: for as it had yielded broken by the father's arms, so it gave way to the son's words. Equal too was the gravity of that Manlius, to whom, when the consulship was being conferred with the consent of all, and who, under the excuse of an adverse weakness of the eyes, was refusing it, with everyone urging, he said, "Quirites, seek another to whom you will transfer this honor; for if you force me to bear it, neither shall I be able to endure your customs nor shall you be able to endure my imperium." So weighty a voice from a private man: how heavy the consul's fasces would have proved!

6.4.2 Nihilo segnior Scipionis Aemiliani aut in curia aut in contione grauitas. qui, cum haberet consortem censurae Mummium, ut nobilem, ita eneruis uitae, pro rostris dixit se ex maiestate rei publicae omnia gesturum, sibi ciues uel dedissent collegam uel non dedissent.

6.4.2 No less weighty was the gravity of Scipio Aemilianus both in the curia and in the contio. He, who had Mummius as his consort in the censorship—noble, yet enervated in life—declared from the rostra that, from the majesty of the republic, he would do everything, whether the citizens had given him a colleague or had not given one.

Idem, cum Ser. Sulpicius Galba et Aurelius consules in senatu contenderent uter aduersus Viriathum in Hispaniam mitteretur, ac magna inter patres conscriptos dissensio esset, omnibus quonam eius sententia inclinaretur expectantibus, 'neutrum' inquit 'mihi mitti placet, quia alter nihil habet, alteri nihil est satis', aeque malam licentis imperii magistram iudicans inopiam atque auaritiam. quo dicto ut neuter in prouinciam mitteretur obtinuit.

The same man, when Serv. Sulpicius Galba and Aurelius were consuls and contended in the senate over which should be sent against Viriathus in Hispania, and there was great dissension among the enrolled fathers, with all waiting to see to which of his opinions he would incline, said, "neither pleases me to be sent, for one has nothing, and to the other nothing is sufficient," judging want and avarice equally an evil mistress of licentious command. With that word he prevailed that neither be sent into the province.

6.4.3 C. uero Popilius a senatu legatus ad Antiochum missus, ut bello se, quo Ptolemaeum lacessebat, abstineret, cum ad eum uenisset atque is prompto animo et amicissimo uultu dexteram ei porrexisset, inuicem illi suam porrigere noluit, sed tabellas senatus consultum continentis tradidit. quas ut legit Antiochus, dixit se cum amicis conlocuturum. indignatus Popilius, quod aliquam moram interposuisset, uirga solum, quo insistebat, denotauit et 'prius' inquit 'quam hoc circulo excedas da responsum, quod senatui referam'. non legatum locutum, sed ipsam curiam ante oculos positam crederes: continuo enim rex adfirmauit fore ne amplius de se Ptolemaeus quereretur, ac tum demum Popilius manum eius tamquam socii adprehendit.

6.4.3 Gaius Popilius, however, sent by the senate as legate to Antioch to restrain him from the war with which he was provoking Ptolemy, when he had come to him and Antiochus, with an open countenance and most friendly mien, had proffered his right hand, would not return the gesture but handed over tablets containing the senate's decree. When Antiochus read them he said that he would consult with his friends. Indignant, Popilius, because he had interposed some delay, marked with his rod the spot on which he stood and said, "Before you leave this circle give the answer which I shall report to the senate." You would have thought not a legate had spoken but the curia itself set before his eyes: for immediately the king affirmed that Ptolemy would no longer complain against him, and then at last Popilius seized his hand as that of a colleague.

quam efficax est animi sermonisque abscisa grauitas! eodem momento Syriae regnum terruit, Aegypti texit.

How effective is a gravity of spirit, cut off from speech! In the same moment it terrified the kingdom of Syria, it veiled Egypt.

6.4.4 P. autem Rutilii uerba pluris an facta aestimem nescio: nam utrisque aeque admirabile inest robur. cum amici cuiusdam iniustae rogationi resisteret, atque is per summam indignationem dixisset 'quid ergo mihi [inquit] opus est amicitia tua, si quod rogo non facis?' respondit 'immo quid mihi tua, si propter te aliquid inhoneste facturus sum?' huic uoci consentanea illa opera, quod magis ordinum dissensione quam ulla culpa sua reus factus nec obsoletam uestem induit nec insignia senatoris deposuit nec supplices ad genua iudicum manus tetendit nec dixit quicquam splendore praeteritorum annorum humilius effecitque ut periculum non inpedimentum grauitatis eius esset, sed experimentum. atque etiam cum ei reditum in patriam Sullana uictoria praestaret, in exilio, ne quid aduersus leges faceret, remansit.

6.4.4 But whether I should esteem the words of P. Rutilius more or his deeds I do not know: for in both alike a remarkable robur (strength) is present. When he resisted the unjust request of a certain friend, and the man, in the height of indignation, had said, "what then (he said) do I need your amicitia, if you do not do what I ask?" he answered, "nay rather what need have I of yours, if on your account I am about to do something inhonest?" To this voice those works were consonant: since, accused more by a dissension of ordines than by any culpa of his, he neither put on a tattered garment nor laid aside the insignia of a senator nor stretched suppliant hands to the knees of the judges nor said anything humbler by the splendour of former years; and he made it so that the peril was not an impediment to his gravitas, but an experiment. And even when a Sullan victory promised him a return to his patria, he remained in exilium, so that he might do nothing against the leges.

quapropter felicitatis cognomen iustius quis moribus grauissimi uiri quam inpotentis armis adsignauerit: quod quidem Sulla rapuit, Rutilius meruit.

therefore who would more justly have assigned the cognomen of felicity to the morals of a most severe man than to impotent arms: which indeed Sulla snatched, Rutilius deserved.

6.4.5 M. Brutus suarum prius uirtutum quam patriae parentis parricida++uno enim facto et illas in profundum praecipitauit et omnem nominis sui memoriam inexpiabili detestatione perfudit++, ultimum proelium initurus negantibus quibusdam id committi oportere 'fidenter' inquit 'in aciem descendo: hodie enim aut recte erit aut nihil curabo'. praesumserat uidelicet neque uiuere se sine uictoria neque mori sine securitate posse.

6.4.5 M. Brutus preferred his own virtues before those of his country and father—parricide++ for by one deed he both plunged even those into the abyss and drenched every memory of his name with inexpiable detestation++—about to begin the final battle, with some denying that it ought to be undertaken, "I descend into the line confidently," he said, "for today it will either be right or I will care for nothing." He had, evidently, presumed that he could neither live without victory nor die without security.

6.4.ext.1 Cuius mentio mihi subicit quod aduersus D. Brutum in Hispania grauiter dictum est referre: nam cum ei se tota paene Lusitania dedisset ac sola gentis eius urbs Cinginnia pertinaciter arma retineret, temptata redemptione propemodum uno ore legatis Bruti respondit ferrum sibi a maioribus, quo urbem tuerentur, non aurum, quo libertatem ab imperatore auaro emerent, relictum. melius sine dubio istud nostri sanguinis homines dixissent quam audissent.

6.4.ext.1 The mention of this suggests to me that it should be gravely reported against D. Brutus in Spain: for when almost all Lusitania had surrendered to him and only the city Cinginnia of that people stubbornly retained arms, after ransom was attempted the legates of Brutus with almost one mouth replied that a sword had been left them by their ancestors, with which they might defend the city, not gold with which they might buy freedom from an avaricious emperor. No doubt men of our blood would have uttered that better than they heard it.

6.4.ext.2 Sed illos quidem natura in haec grauitatis uestigia deduxit, Socrates autem Graecae doctrinae clarissimum columen, cum Athenis causam diceret, defensionemque ei Lysias a se conpositam, qua in iudicio uteretur, recitasset demissam et supplicem, inminenti procellae adcommodatam, 'aufer' inquit 'quaeso istam: nam ego, si adduci possem ut eam in ultima Scythiae solitudine perorarem, tum me ipse morte multandum concederem'. spiritum contempsit, ne careret grauitate, maluitque Socrates extingui quam Lysias superesse.

6.4.ext.2 But nature indeed led those men into these footsteps of gravitas; Socrates, however, the most illustrious column of Greek doctrine, when pleading his cause at Athens and having recited a defense composed by Lysias for him, which he would use in court — low and suppliant, fitted to an impending storm — said, "Take that away, I beg you: for I, if I could be brought to plead it in the remotest solitude of Scythia, would then myself consent to be punished with death." He scorned life so as not to lack seriousness, and Socrates preferred to be extinguished rather than that Lysias remain alive.

6.4.ext.3 Quantus hic in sapientia, tantus in armis Alexander illam uocem nobiliter edidit: Dareo enim uno iam et altero proelio uirtutem eius experto atque ideo et partem regni Tauro tenus monte et filiam in matrimonium cum decies centum milibus talentum pollicente, cum Parmenion dixisset se, si Alexander esset, usurum ea condicione, respondit 'et ego uterer, si Parmenion essem'. uocem duabus uictoriis respondentem dignamque cui tertia, sicut euenit, tribueretur.

6.4.ext.3 As great in wisdom as this man was, so great in arms was Alexander — he returned that reply nobly: for when Darius, after one and then another battle having tried his valour, and therefore offering part of his kingdom as far as Mount Taurus and his daughter in marriage, promising a million talents, and when Parmenion had said that he, if he were Alexander, would accept those conditions, he answered, "and I would accept them, if I were Parmenion." A reply answering two victories and worthy that a third should be granted to him, as happened.

6.4.ext.4 Atque haec quidem et animi magnifici et prosperi status: illa uero, qua legati Lacedaemoniorum apud patrem eius miseram fortitudinis suae condicionem testati sunt, gloriosior quam optabilior: intolerabilibus enim oneribus ciuitatem eorum inplicanti, si quid morte grauius imperare perseueraret, mortem se praelaturos responderunt.

6.4.ext.4 And these indeed are the condition of a magnanimous and prosperous spirit: that, however, in which the envoys of the Lacedaemonians, before his father, testified the miserable condition of their fortitude, is more glorious than desirable: for, their city being entangled by intolerable burdens, if it persevered in ordering anything graver than death, they answered that they would prefer death.

6.4.ext.5 Nec parum graue Spartani cuiusdam dictum, siquidem nobilitate et sanctitate praestans, sed in petitione magistratus uictus maximae sibi laetitiae esse praedicauit, quod aliquos patria sua se meliores uiros haberet. quo sermone repulsam honori adaequauit.

6.4.ext.5 Nor was the saying of a certain Spartan of little weight, he being outstanding in nobility and sanctity; but, having been defeated in the petition for magistracy, he declared that it was a greatest joy to him that his patria had some men better than himself. By that speech he made the repulse equal to an honor.

6.5.init. Tempus est iustitiae quoque sancta penetralia adire, in quibus semper aequi ac probi facti respectus religiosa cum obseruatione uersatur et ubi studium uerecundiae, cupiditas rationi cedit nihilque utile, quod parum honestum uideri possit, ducitur. eius autem praecipuum et certissimum inter omnes gentes nostra ciuitas exemplum est.

6.5.init. It is time also to enter the holy penetralia of justice, in which the respect shown to the just and the upright is always carried out with religious observance, and where a zeal of modesty yields to reason, and nothing useful that could seem at all dishonorable is pursued. Moreover, the chief and most certain example of this among all peoples is our city.

6.5.1 Camillo consule Falerios circumsedente magister ludi plurimos et nobilissimos inde pueros uelut amandi gratia eductos in castra Romanorum perduxit. quibus interceptis non erat dubium quin Falisci deposita belli gerendi pertinacia tradituri se nostro imperatori essent. ea re senatus censuit ut pueri uinctum magistrum uirgis caedentes in patriam remitterentur.

6.5.1 In the consulship of Camillus, the schoolmaster, having besieged Falerii, led many very noble boys from there into the Roman camp, as if for the sake of walking. When these were intercepted, there was no doubt that the Falisci, their stubbornness in waging war laid aside, would surrender themselves to our emperor. On that account the senate decreed that the boys should be sent back to their homeland, the master bound and beaten with rods.

qua iustitia animi eorum sunt capti, quorum moenia expugnari non poterant: namque Falisci beneficio magis quam armis uicti portas Romanis aperuerunt.

by what justice of their spirit they were won over, whose walls could not be stormed: for the Falisci, conquered more by favour than by arms, opened their gates to the Romans.

Eadem ciuitas aliquotiens rebellando semperque aduersis contusa proeliis tandem se Q. Lutatio consuli dedere coacta est. aduersum quam saeuire cupiens populus Romanus, postquam a Papirio, cuius manu iubente consule uerba deditionis scripta erant, doctus est Faliscos non potestati, sed fidei se Romanorum conmisisse, omnem iram placida mente deposuit pariterque et uiribus odii, non sane facile uinci adsuetis, et uictoriae obsequio, quae promptissime licentiam subministrat, ne iustitiae suae deesset obstitit.

The same city, often by rebelling and always bruised by adverse battles, at last was forced to surrender itself to Q. Lutatius the consul. Against this the Roman people, wishing to rage, after they were instructed by Papirius — by whose hand, the consul ordering, the words of surrender had been written — that the Falisci had committed themselves not to the potestās but to the fides of the Romans, laid aside all wrath with a placid mind, and withstood both the forces of hatred, not easily overcome in those accustomed thereto, and the obsequium of victory, which most readily supplies licence, so that their justice would not be wanting.

Idem, cum P. Claudius Camerinos ductu atque auspiciis suis captos sub hasta uendidisset, etsi aerarium pecunia, fines agris auctos animaduertebat, tamen, quod parum liquida fide id gestum ab imperatore uidebatur, maxima cura conquisitos redemit iisque habitandi gratia locum in Auentino adsignauit et praedia restituit. pecuniam etiam ~ non ad curiam sed sacraria aedificanda sacrificiaque facienda tribuit iustitiaeque promptissimo tenore effecit ut exitio suo laetari possent, quia sic renati erant.

The same man, when P. Claudius had sold those captured at Camerinum under the spear by his command and auspices, although he perceived that the treasury was enriched by money and the boundaries enlarged by added fields, nevertheless, because that act seemed to have been done with somewhat uncertain fidelity by the commander, bought back those acquired with the greatest care and assigned them a place on the Aventine for dwelling and restored their estates. pecuniam etiam ~ not to the curia but for building shrines and performing sacrifices he devoted, and by the most prompt tenor of justice he brought it about that they could take pleasure in their deliverance, because thus they had been reborn.

Moenibus nostris et finitimis regionibus quae adhuc retuli * * * , quod sequitur per totum terrarum orbem manauit. Timochares Ambraciensis Fabricio consuli pollicitus est se Pyrrum ueneno per filium suum, qui potionibus eius praeerat, necaturum. ea res cum ad senatum esset delata, missis legatis Pyrrum monuit ut aduersus huius generis insidias cautius se gereret, memor urbem a filio Martis conditam armis bella, non uenenis gerere debere.

From our walls and the neighboring regions which I have hitherto related * * * , what follows poured forth throughout the whole orb of lands. Timochares of Ambracia promised to Fabricius the consul that he would kill Pyrrhus by poison through his son, who supervised his potions. When this affair had been brought to the senate, with envoys sent they warned Pyrrhus to conduct himself more cautiously against plots of this sort, mindful that the city, founded by the son of Mars, ought to wage wars with arms, not with poisons.

Timocharis autem nomen suppressit, utroque modo aequitatem amplexus, quia nec hostem malo exemplo tollere neque eum, qui bene mereri paratus fuerat, prodere uoluit.

Timocharis, however, suppressed the name, embracing equity in both ways, because he wished neither to overthrow an enemy by a bad example nor to betray one who had been ready to serve well.

6.5.2 Summa iustitia in quattuor quoque tribunis pl. eodem tempore conspecta est: nam cum L. Atratino, sub quo duce aciem nostram apud Verruginem a Volscis inclinatam cum ceteris equitibus correxerant, diem ad populum L. Hortensius collega eorum dixisset, pro rostris iurauerunt in squalore se esse, quoad imperator ipsorum reus esset, futuros: non sustinuerunt enim egregii iuuenes, cuius armati periculum uulneribus et sanguine suo defenderant, eius togati ultimum discrimen potestatis insignia retinentes intueri. qua iustitia mota contio actione Hortensium desistere coegit.

6.5.2 The highest justice was likewise seen in the four tribunes at the same time: for when, with L. Atratino—under whose command they had, at Verruginem, corrected our line which the Volsci had bent, together with the other horsemen—L. Hortensius, their colleague, had fixed a day for the people, they swore before the rostra that they would remain in squalor until their commander should be a defendant. For the excellent young men could not endure to behold their armed comrade, who had defended them with wounds and his own blood, while he of the toga retained the ultimate insignia of power. Moved by that justice, the assembly compelled the action against Hortensius to cease.

6.5.3 Nec * * * se eo facto, quod sequitur, exhibuit. Cum Ti. Gracchus et C. Claudius ob nimis seuere gestam censuram maiorem partem ciuitatis exasperassent, diem iis P. Popilius tribunus pl. perduellionis ad populum dixit, praeter communem consternationem priuata etiam ira accensus, quia necessarium eius Rutilium ex publico loco parietem demoliri iusserant. quo in iudicio primae classis permultae centuriae Claudium aperte damnabant, de Gracchi absolutione uniuersae consentire uidebantur.

6.5.3 Nor did * * * present himself by that deed which follows. When Ti. Gracchus and C. Claudius, because they had carried the censorship too severely, had exasperated the greater part of the citizenry, P. Popilius, plebeian tribune of perduellio, summoned them to the people, inflamed besides the common consternation by private anger as well, because they had ordered that his client Rutilius should have a wall demolished from a public place. In that trial many centuries of the first class were openly condemning Claudius; the whole body seemed to consent to the acquittal of Gracchus.

qui clara uoce iurauit, si de collega suo grauius esset iudicatum, in factis se paribus eandem cum illo poenam exilii subiturum, eaque iustitia tota illa tempestas ab utriusque fortunis et capite depulsa est: Claudium enim populus absoluit, Graccho causae dictionem Popilius remisit.

who with a clear voice swore that, if it were judged more severely concerning his colleague, in deeds he would undergo the same penalty of exile equal with him, and by that justice that whole tempest was driven away from the fortunes and head of both: for the people acquitted Claudius, Popilius remitted to Gracchus the pleading of the cause.

6.5.4 Magnam laudem et illud collegium tribunorum tulit, quod, cum unus ex eo L. Cotta fiducia sacrosanctae potestatis creditoribus suis satis facere nollet, decreuit, si neque solueret pecuniam neque daret cum quo sponsio fieret, se appellantibus eum creditoribus auxilio futurum, inicum ratum maiestatem publicam priuatae perfidiae obtentu esse. itaque Cottam in tribunatu quasi in aliquo sacrario latentem tribunicia inde iustitia extraxit.

6.5.4 The college of tribunes won great praise also for this: when one of them, L. Cotta, by confidence in his sacrosanct power refused to satisfy his creditors, it decreed that if he neither paid the money nor provided someone with whom a sponsio could be made, it would be an aid to those creditors who appealed, holding that the public majesty had been unjustly set aside by the pretext of private perfidy. And so it dragged Cotta forth from the tribunate, as though hiding in some sanctuary, by that tribunician justice.

6.5.5 Cuius ut ad alium aeque inlustrem actum transgrediar, Cn. Domitius tribunus pl. M. Scaurum principem ciuitatis in iudicium populi deuocauit, ut, si fortuna aspirasset, ruina, sin minus, certe ipsa obtrectatione amplissimi uiri incrementum claritatis adprehenderet. cuius opprimendi cum summo studio flagraret, seruus Scauri noctu ad eum peruenit, instructurum se eius accusationem multis et grauibus domini criminibus promittens. erat in eodem pectore inimicus et Domitius [et dominus], diuersa aestimatione nefarium indicium perpendens.

6.5.5 To transfer whose act equally to another illustrious man, Gnaeus Domitius, tribune of the plebs, summoned M. Scaurus, the princeps of the city, to the judgment of the people, so that, if fortune had favored, ruin; but if not, certainly by that very detracting the increase of the most ample man's renown would be seized. As he burned with the greatest zeal to oppress him, Scaurus’ slave came to him by night, promising that he would set forth his accusation with many and grave crimes of his lord. In the same breast were both hostile, Domitius and [and master], weighing the nefarious disclosure with differing estimation.

iustitia uicit odium: continuo enim et suis auribus obseratis et indicis ore clauso duci eum ad Scaurum iussit. accusatorem etiam reo suo, ne dicam diligendum, certe laudandum! quem populus cum propter alias uirtutes tum hoc nomine libentius et consulem et censorem et pontificem maximum fecit.

Justice conquered hatred: for immediately, with his own ears stopped and the informer’s mouth shut, he ordered him to be led to Scaurus. He even handed the accuser over to his defendant — not to say lovable, certainly praiseworthy! Whom the people, both on account of other virtues and for this reason, more readily made consul and censor and pontifex maximus.

6.5.6 Nec aliter L. Crassus in eodem iustitiae experimento gessit. Cn. Carbonis nomen infesto animo utpote inimicissimi sibi detulerat, sed tamen scrinium eius a seruo adlatum ad se, conplura continens, quibus facile opprimi posset, ut erat signatum cum seruo catenato ad eum remisit. quo pacto igitur inter amicos uiguisse tunc iustitiam credimus, cum inter accusatores quoque et reos tantum uirium obtinuisse uideamus?

6.5.6 Nor otherwise did L. Crassus behave in the same trial of justice. For he had borne the name of Cn. Carbo with a hostile mind, as one most inimical to him; yet when that man's scrinium was brought to him by a slave, containing many things by which he could easily have been overwhelmed, since it had been sealed, he sent it back to him with the slave chained. By what manner, then, do we believe that justice was vigilant among friends at that time, when we see that it had obtained so much strength even between accusers and accused?

6.5.7 Iam L. Sulla non se tam incolumem quam Sulpicium Rufum perditum uoluit, tribunicio furore eius sine ullo fine uexatus. ceterum cum eum proscriptum et in uilla latentem a seruo proditum conperisset, manu missum parricidam, ut fides edicti sui constaret, praecipitari protinus saxo Tarpeio cum illo scelere parto pilleo iussit, uictor alioquin insolens, hoc imperio iustissimus.

6.5.7 Now L. Sulla desired not so much that he himself be unharmed as that Sulpicius Rufus be destroyed, tormented by his tribunician fury without any end. But when he had learned that he, proscribed and hiding in a villa, had been betrayed by a slave, he ordered the parricide, sent by hand, so that the authority of his edict might stand, to be at once flung headlong from the Tarpeian rock, with that crime consummated under the pilleus; the victor otherwise insolent, by this command most just.

6.5.ext.1 Verum ne alienigenae iustitiae obliti uideamur, Pittacus Mitylenaeus, cuius aut meritis tantum ciues debuerunt aut moribus crediderunt, ut ei suffragiis tyrannidem deferrent, tam diu illud imperium sustinuit, quam diu bellum de Sigeo cum Atheniensibus gerendum fuit. postquam autem pax uictoria parta est, continuo reclamantibus Mitylenaeis deposuit, ne dominus ciuium ultra quamrei publicae necessitas exegerat permaneret. atque etiam cum recuperati agri dimidia pars consensu omnium offerretur, auertit animum ab eo munere deforme iudicans uirtutis gloriam magnitudine praedae minuere.

6.5.ext.1 But lest we seem forgetful of alien justice, Pittacus of Mitylene, to whom the citizens owed either only by merits or trusted by morals — so much so that by their suffragiis they conferred upon him a tyranny — sustained that imperium as long as the war over Sigeum with the Athenians had to be waged. But when peace was won by victory, he at once, despite the clamors of the Mytileneans, laid it down, that he should not remain lord of the citizens beyond what the necessity of the res publica demanded. And likewise, when half of the recovered fields was offered by the consensus of all, he turned his mind away from that deform gift, judging that the glory of virtue is diminished by the magnitude of praeda.

6.5.ext.2 Alterius nunc mihi prudentia referenda est, ut alterius repraesentari iustitia possit. cum saluberrimo consilio Themistocles migrare Athenienses in classem coegisset Xerxeque rege et copiis eius Graecia pulsis ruinas patriae in pristinum habitum reformaret et opes clandestinis molitionibus ad principatum Graeciae capessendum nutriret, in contione dixit habere se rem deliberatione sua prouisam, quam si fortuna ad effectum perduci passa esset, nihil maius aut potentius Atheniensi populo futurum, sed eam uulgari non oportere, postulauitque ut aliquis sibi, cui illam tacite exponeret, daretur. datus est Aristides.

6.5.ext.2 Now I must relate the prudence of another, so that the justice of one may be represented by the other. When Themistocles, with the most salutary counsel, had compelled the Athenians to migrate into the fleet, and Xerxes the king, his forces routed, had restored the ruins of the fatherland to their former state and was nourishing secret machinations to seize the principate of Greece, he said in the assembly that he had provided a matter by his own deliberation which, if fortune permitted it to be brought to effect, would be nothing greater or more potent for the Athenian people; but that it ought not to be made public, and he demanded that someone be given to him to whom he might secretly expound it. Aristides was given.

is postquam rem cognouit, classem illum Lacedaemoniorum, quae tota apud Gytheum subducta erat, uelle incendere, ut ea consumpta dominatio maris ipsis cederet, processit ad ciues et retulit Themistoclen ut utile consilium, ita minime iustum animo uoluere. e uestigio uniuersa contio quod aecum non uideretur ne expedire quidem proclamauit ac protinus Themistoclen incepto iussit desistere.

When he learned the matter — that that fleet of the Lacedaemonians, which had been wholly hauled up at Gytheum, was to be set on fire so that, with it consumed, the dominion of the sea would fall to them — he went forward to the citizens and reported that Themistocles had devised a plan useful, yet in spirit by no means just. Straightaway the whole assembly from the spot proclaimed that what he proposed did not even seem expedient, and immediately ordered Themistocles to desist from the undertaking.

6.5.ext.3 Nihil illis etiam iustitiae exemplis fortius. Zaleucus urbe Locrensium a se saluberrimis atque utilissimis legibus munita, cum filius eius adulteri crimine damnatus secundum ius ab ipso constitutum utroque oculo carere deberet, ac tota ciuitas in honorem patris necessitatem poenae adulescentulo remitteret, aliquamdiu repugnauit. ad ultimum populi precibus euictus suo prius, deinde filii oculo eruto usum uidendi utrisque reliquit.

6.5.ext.3 Nothing even stronger than these examples of justice. Zaleucus, of the Locrians’ city, having fortified it with most salutary and useful laws, when his son, condemned for the crime of adultery, was by the law he himself had established to be deprived of both eyes, and the whole city, out of honor for the father, remitted the necessity of the punishment for the youth, resisted for some time. At last, overcome by the people’s prayers, he yielded and, first having his own eye torn out and then his son’s, thereby deprived both of the use of sight.

ita debitum supplicii modum legi reddidit, aequitatis admirabili temperamento se inter misericordem patrem et iustum legislatorem partitus.

thus he restored to the law the owed measure of punishment, by an admirable tempering of equity dividing himself between merciful father and just lawgiver.

6.5.ext.4 Sed aliquanto Charondae Thurii praefractior et abscisior iustitia. ad uim et cruorem usque seditiosas contiones ciuium pacauerat lege cauendo ut, si quis eas cum ferro intrasset, continuo interficeretur. interiecto deinde tempore e longinquo rure gladio cinctus domum repetens, subito indicta contione sic ut erat in eam processit, ab eoque, qui proxime constiterat, solutae a se legis suae admonitus 'idem' inquit 'ego illam sanciam' ac protinus ferro, quod habebat, destricto incubuit, cumque liceret culpam uel dissimulare uel errore defendere, poenam tamen repraesentare maluit, ne qua fraus iustitiae fieret.

6.5.ext.4 But somewhat sterner and more severed than Charondas’ justice at Thurii. He had pacified seditious assemblies of citizens by a law warning against force and bloodshed so that if anyone entered them with iron he should be put to death at once. After an interval, girded with a sword and returning home from the distant countryside, a meeting being suddenly announced, he went into it as he was; and, being reminded by the man who stood nearest that his law had been set aside by himself, he said, "I too will sanction that same law," and immediately, drawing the sword he had, fell upon it; and although he might have concealed the fault or defended it as an error, yet he preferred to display the penalty, lest any fraud be done to justice.

6.6.init. Cuius imagine ante oculos posita uenerabile fidei numen dexteram suam, certissimum salutis humanae pignus, ostentat. quam semper in nostra ciuitate uiguisse et omnes gentes senserunt et nos paucis exemplis recognoscamus.

6.6.init. Whose image, placed before the eyes, displays his right hand, the venerable numen of faith, the most certain pledge of human salvation. Which has always watched over our city and all peoples have perceived it; and let us, by a few examples, recognize it.

6.6.1 Cum Ptolomaeus rex tutorem populum Romanum filio reliquisset, senatus M. Aemilium Lepidum pontificem maximum, bis consulem, ad pueri tutelam gerendam Alexandriam misit, amplissimique et integerrimi uiri sanctitatem rei publicae usibus et sacris operatam externae procurationi uacare uoluit, ne fides ciuitatis nostrae frustra petita existimaretur. cuius beneficio regia incunabula conseruata pariter ac decorata incertum Ptolomaeo reddiderunt patrisne fortuna magis an tutorum maiestate gloriari deberet.

6.6.1 When King Ptolemy had left the Roman people as guardian for his son, the senate sent M. Aemilius Lepidus, pontifex maximus, twice consul, to Alexandria to carry out the boy’s guardianship, and wished that the sanctity of the republic, devoted to public services and sacred rites, be left free for external procuration, lest the fidelity of our state be thought to have been sought in vain. By whose kindness the royal cradle, alike preserved and adorned, was returned to Ptolemy, leaving it uncertain whether he ought more to glory in his father’s fortune or in the majesty of his guardians.

6.6.2 Speciosa illa quoque Romana fides. ingenti Poenorum classe circa Siciliam deuicta duces eius fractis animis consilia petendae pacis agitabant. quorum Hamilcar ire se ad consules negabat audere, ne eodem modo catenae sibi inicerentur, quo ab ipsis Cornelio Asinae consuli fuerant iniectae.

6.6.2 That fair Roman fidelity too. With the great Punic fleet routed about Sicily, its leaders, their spirits broken, were debating plans for seeking peace. Of these Hamilcar denied that he dared to go to the consuls, lest in the same manner chains be thrown upon him as had been cast upon them by Cornelius Asina, the consul.

Hanno autem, certior Romani animi aestimator, nihil tale timendum ratus maxima cum fiducia ad conloquium eorum tetendit. apud quos cum de fine belli ageret, et tribunus militum ei dixisset posse illi merito euenire quod Cornelio accidisset, uterque consul tribuno tacere iusso 'isto te' inquit 'metu, Hanno, fides ciuitatis nostrae liberat'. claros illos fecerat tantum hostium ducem uincire potuisse, sed multo clariores fecit noluisse.

Hanno, however, being a sure assessor of the Roman mind, deeming there was nothing of the sort to be feared, with the greatest confidence went to their conference. Among them, when they were discussing the end of the war, and a military tribune had told him that what had happened to Cornelius might justly befall him, each consul, having ordered the tribune to be silent, said, “that fear of yours, Hanno, liberates the faith of our state.” Those things had made those men famous merely for having been able to conquer the enemy leader, but made them much more famous for having refused.

6.6.3 Aduersus eosdem hostes parem fidem in iure legationis tuendo patres conscripti exhibuere: M. enim Aemilio Lepido, L. Flaminio consulibus L. Minucium et L. Manlium Karthaginiensium legatis, quia manus his attulerant, per fetiales Claudio praetore dedendos curauerunt. se tunc senatus, non eos, quibus hoc praestabatur, aspexit.

6.6.3 Against those same enemies the Fathers (patres conscripti) displayed an equal fidelity in defending the law of legation: for in the consulship of M. Aemilius Lepidus and L. Flamininus they took care that Lucius Minucius and Lucius Manlius, envoys of the Carthaginians, since they had placed their hands in their power, should be handed over by the fetiales to Claudius the praetor. The senate then looked to itself, not to those for whom this was being provided.

6.6.4 Cuius exemplum superior Africanus secutus, cum onustam multis et inlustribus Karthaginiensium uiris nauem in suam potestatem redegisset, inuiolatam dimisit, quia se legatos ad eum missos dicebant, tametsi manifestum erat illos uitandi praesentis periculi gratia falsum legationis nomen amplecti, ut Romani imperatoris potius decepta fides quam frustra implorata iudicaretur.

6.6.4 Following the example of the earlier Africanus, when he had driven a ship laden with many and illustrious Carthaginian men into his power, he dismissed it unviolated, because they said they had been sent to him as legates, although it was manifest that they had assumed the false name of a legation for the sake of avoiding present danger, so that he judged it preferable that the Roman commander’s faith be deceived rather than invoked in vain.

6.6.5 Repraesentemus etiam illud senatus nullo modo praetermittendum opus. legatos ab urbe Apollonia Romam missos Q. Fabius, Cn. Apronius aedili orta contentione pulsauerunt. quod ubi conperit, continuo eos per fetiales legatis dedit quaestoremque cum his Brundisium ire iussit, ne quam in itinere a cognatis deditorum iniuriam acciperent.

6.6.5 Let us also set forth that affair of the senate by no means to be passed over. The envoys sent from the city of Apollonia to Rome were struck by Q. Fabius and Cn. Apronius, a dispute about the aedileship having arisen. When this was discovered, the senate immediately delivered them by the fetiales to the legates and ordered the quaestor to go with them to Brundisium, lest on the journey they suffer any injury from the kinsmen of the surrendered.

illam curiam mortalium quis concilium ac non Fidei templum dixerit? quam ut ciuitas nostra semper benignam praestitit, ita in sociorum quoque animis constantem recognouit.

Who would call that curia of mortals a council and not a temple of Faith? Which, just as our city has always shown to be benign, so it found to be constant also in the minds of the allies.

6.6.ext.1 Post duorum in Hispania Scipionum totidemque Romani sanguinis exercituum miserabilem stragem Saguntini uictricibus Hannibalis armis intra moenia urbis suae conpulsi, cum vim Punicam ulterius nequirent arcere, collatis in forum quae unicuique erant carissima atque undique circumdatis accensisque ignis nutrimentis, ne a societate nostra desciscerent, publico et communi rogo semet ipsi superiecerunt. crediderim tunc ipsam Fidem humana negotia speculantem maestum gessisse uultum, perseuerantissimum sui cultum iniquae fortunae iudicio tam acerbo exitu damnatum cernentem.

6.6.ext.1 After the two Scipios in Spain and as many Roman armies of blood, the miserable slaughter of Saguntum, driven within the walls of their city by the victorious arms of Hannibal, when they could no longer ward off the Punic force further, having assembled in the forum the things most dear to each, and, surrounded on all sides and fires kindled as fuel, lest they should withdraw from our alliance, they themselves threw themselves upon a public and common pyre. I would believe then that Faith herself, watching human affairs, bore a sorrowful countenance, seeing her most persistent cult condemned by the judgment of an unjust fortune to so bitter an end.

6.6.ext.2 Idem praestando Petelini eundem laudis honorem meruerunt. ab Hannibale, quia deficere nostra amicitia noluerant, obsessi legatos ad senatum auxilium inplorantes miserunt. quibus propter recentem Cannensem cladem succurri non potuit.

6.6.ext.2 By performing the same service they merited from Petelinus the same honor of praise. Besieged by Hannibal, because they would not abandon our friendship, they sent legates to the senate, imploring aid; to them, on account of the recent Cannaean disaster, succor could not be given.

ceterum permissum est uti facerent quod utilissimum incolumitati ipsorum uideretur. liberum ergo erat Karthaginiensium gratiam amplecti. illi tamen feminis omnique aetate inbelli urbe egesta, quo diutius armati famem traherent, pertinacissime in muris constiterunt, expirauitque prius eorum tota ciuitas quam ulla ex parte respectum Romanae societatis deposuit.

Moreover it was permitted that they should do whatever seemed most useful for their safety. Thus it was open for the Carthaginians to embrace favour. They, however, the women and those of every age, driven to destitution in an unwarlike city, that the armed might the longer endure famine, stood most stubbornly on the walls; and their whole city perished before in any part it renounced regard for the Roman alliance.

itaque Hannibali non Peteliam, sed fidum Peteliae sepulcrum capere contigit.

and so Hannibal did not take Petelia itself, but captured the faithful tomb of Petelia.

6.7.1 Atque ut uxoriam quoque fidem attingamus, Tertia Aemilia, Africani prioris uxor, mater Corneliae Gracchorum, tantae fuit comitatis et patientiae, ut, cum sciret uiro suo ancillulam ex suis gratam esse, dissimulauerit, ne domitorem orbis Africanum femina ~ magnum uirum inpatientiae reum ageret, tantumque a uindicta mens eius afuit, ut post mortem Africani manu missam ancillam in matrimonium liberto suo daret.

6.7.1 And to touch also on conjugal fidelity, Tertia Aemilia, wife of Africanus the Elder, mother of Cornelia of the Gracchi, was of such comity and patience that, when she knew a little maid of her household was pleasing to her husband, she concealed it, lest the woman should make the tamer (conqueror) of the African world be accused — a great man — of impatience; and her mind was so far from vindictiveness that, after the death of Africanus, she gave the maid, manumitted by hand, in marriage to her freedman.

6.7.2 Q. Lucretium proscriptum a triumuiris uxor Turia inter cameram et tectum cubiculi abditum una conscia ancillula ab inminente exitio non sine magno periculo suo tutum praestitit singularique fide id egit, ut, cum ceteri proscripti in alienis et hostilibus regionibus per summos corporis et animi cruciatus uix euaderent, ille in cubiculo et in coniugis sinu salutem retineret.

6.7.2 Q. Lucretius, proscribed by the triumvirs, his wife Turia, having hidden him between the chamber and the roof of the cubicula together with a little ancillula privy to it, delivered him from imminent death—not without great danger to herself—and performed this with singular fidelity, so that, while the other proscribed men in foreign and hostile regions scarcely escaped through the extreme torments of body and mind, he retained his safety in the bedroom and in his wife's bosom.

6.7.3 Sulpicia autem, cum a matre Iulia diligentissime custodiretur, ne Lentulum Cruscellionem, uirum suum proscriptum a triumuiris in Siciliam persequeretur, nihilo minus famulari ueste sumpta cum duabus ancillis totidemque seruis ad eum clandestina fuga peruenit nec recusauit se ipsam proscribere, ut ei fides sua in coniuge proscripto constaret.

6.7.3 Sulpicia, however, although most diligently guarded by her mother Julia so that she would not follow Lentulus Cruscellio, her husband proscribed by the triumvirs, nevertheless, having put on a servant’s garb, with two maidservants and an equal number of male slaves, reached him by a clandestine flight and did not refuse to be proscribed herself, so that her fidelity might endure for him, the proscribed husband.

6.8.init. Restat ut seruorum etiam erga dominos quo minus expectatam hoc laudabiliorem fidem referamus.

6.8.init. It remains that we also relate the slaves' fidelity toward their masters, the more laudable because the less to be expected.

6.8.1 M. Antonius auorum nostrorum temporibus clarissimus orator incesti reus agebatur. cuius in iudicio accusatores seruum in quaestionem perseuerantissime postulabant, quod ab eo, cum ad stuprum irent, lanternam praelatam contenderent. erat autem is etiam tum inberbis et stabat corona uidebatque rem ad suos cruciatus pertinere, nec tamen eos fugitauit.

6.8.1 M. Antonius, most illustrious orator in the time of our ancestors, was being tried as guilty of incest. At his trial the accusers most persistently demanded that the slave be put to the question, because from him, when they went to the rape, they alleged a lantern had been held up. He was also then beardless and stood the crown and saw that the matter pertained to his own torments, yet he did not shirk them.

ille uero, ut domum quoque uentum est, Antonium hoc nomine uehementius confusum et sollicitum ultro est hortatus ut se iudicibus torquendum traderet, adfirmans nullum ore suo uerbum exiturum, quo causa eius laederetur, ac promissi fidem mira patientia praestitit: plurimis etenim laceratus uerberibus eculeoque inpositus, candentibus etiam lamminis ustus omnem uim accusationis custodita rei salute subuertit. argui fortuna merito potest, quod tam pium et tam fortem spiritum seruili nomine inclusit.

But when they had even come to the house, he, much more confounded and anxious at that name, voluntarily urged Antonius to deliver himself to the judges to be tortured, asserting that no word would issue from his mouth by which his cause would be harmed, and he fulfilled the pledged faith with wondrous patience: for, torn by very many lashes and put upon the rack, and even burned by glowing plates, he overturned all the force of the accusation while preserving the safety of the matter. Fortune may rightly be reproached, in that it enclosed so pious and so brave a spirit under a servile name.

6.8.2 Consulem autem C. Marium Praenestinae obsidionis miserabilem exitum sortitum, cuniculi latebris frustra euadere conatum leuique uulnere a Telesino, cum quo conmori destinauerat, perstrictum seruus suus, ut Sullanae crudelitatis expertem faceret, gladio traiectum interemit, cum magna praemia sibi proposita uideret, si eum uictoribus tradidisset. cuius dexterae tam opportunum ministerium nihil eorum pietati cedit, a quibus salus dominorum protecta est, quia eo tempore Mario non uita, sed mors in beneficio reposita erat.

6.8.2 But the consul C. Marius, having met a miserable end in the siege of Praeneste, after vainly attempting to escape by rabbit-burrows and having been lightly wounded by Telesinus, with whom he had been destined to die, was dispatched by his own slave — who, to make him seem free from Sullan cruelty, stabbed him through with a sword — when he saw great rewards offered if he handed him over to the victors. The timely service of that hand yields to none of those pieties by which the safety of masters is preserved, for at that time to Marius not life but death had been assigned as a favor.

6.8.3 Aeque inlustre quod sequitur. C. Gracchus, ne in potestatem inimicorum perueniret, Philocrati seruo suo ceruices incidendas praebuit. quas cum celeri ictu abscidisset, gladium cruore domini manantem per sua egit praecordia.

6.8.3 Equally notable is what follows. G. Gracchus, lest he should fall into the power of his enemies, offered his neck to his slave Philocrates to be cut off. When he had severed them with a swift stroke, he thrust the sword, his master's blood flowing, through his own praecordia.

Euporum alii hunc uocitatum existimant: ego de nomine nihil disputo, famularis tantum modo fidei robur admiror. cuius si praesentiam animi generosus iuuenis imitatus foret, suo, non serui beneficio inminentia supplicia uitasset: nunc conmisit ut Philocratis quam Gracchi cadauer speciosius iaceret.

Some reckon him to have been called Euporus: of the name I dispute nothing; I only admire the robust strength of a servant’s fidelity. Had a generous young man imitated that presence of spirit, by his own, not by a slave’s, favor he would have avoided the impending punishments; now he contrived that the corpse of Philocrates should lie more conspicuously than that of Gracchus.

6.8.4 Alia nobilitas, alius furor, sed fidei par exemplum. Pindarus Cassium Philippensi proelio uictum, nuper ab eo manu missus, iussu ipsius obtruncatum insultationi hostium subtraxit seque e conspectu hominum uoluntaria morte abstulit ita, ut ne corpus quidem eius absumpti inueniretur. quis deorum grauissimi sceleris ultor illam dexteram, quae in necem patriae parentis exarserat, tanto torpore inligauit, ut se tremibunda Pindari genibus summitteret, ne publici parricidii quas merebatur poenas arbitrio piae uictoriae exsolueret?

6.8.4 Another nobility, another madness, but an example equal in fidelity. Pindarus—Cassius having been defeated in the Philippi battle, and recently sent by him at his hand—at his command despatched him and rescued the corpse from the insults of the enemies, and took away his own life of his own accord out of sight of men, so that not even the body of that consumed one could be found. Who, avenger of so grave a crime against the gods, bound that right hand, which had burned in the murder of the father of his country, in so great a torpor that it, trembling, submitted to Pindarus’ knees, lest by the award of pious victory it should pay the penalties of public parricide which it merited?

tu profecto tunc, diue Iuli, caelestibus tuis uulneribus debitam exegisti uindictam, perfidum erga te caput sordidi auxilii supplex fieri cogendo, eo animi aestu conpulsum, ut neque retinere uitam uellet neque finire sua manu auderet.

You indeed then, divine Julius, exacted from your celestial wounds the vengeance due, forcing the perfidious head of base aid to become a suppliant toward you, driven by so fierce a surge of spirit that he neither wished to retain life nor dared to end it with his own hand.

6.8.5 Adiunxit se his cladibus C. Plotius Plancus Munatii Planci consularis et censorii frater. qui, cum a triumuiris proscriptus in regione Salernitana lateret, delicatiore uitae genere et odore unguenti occultam salutis custodiam detexit: istis enim uestigiis eorum, qui miseros persequebantur, sagax inducta cura abditum fugae eius cubile odorata est. a quibus conprehensi serui latentis multumque ac diu torti negabant se scire ubi dominus esset.

6.8.5 To these disasters was added C. Plotius Plancus, brother of Munatius Plancus, the consular and censor. He, when proscribed by the triumviri and hiding in the Salernitan region, revealed a concealed safeguard of safety by a more delicate mode of life and by the smell of unguent: for by those footprints of those who pursued the wretched, a sagaciously directed care scented the hidden couch of his flight. The slaves of the one hiding, having been seized by them and much and long tortured, denied that they knew where their master was.

non sustinuit deinde Plancus tam fideles tamque boni exempli seruos ulterius cruciari, sed processit in medium iugulumque gladiis militum obiecit. quod certamen mutuae beniuolentiae arduum dinosci facit utrum dignior dominus fuerit, qui tam constantem seruorum fidem experiretur, an serui, qui tam iusta domini misericordia quaestionis saeuitia liberarentur.

Then Plancus could no longer endure that so faithful and so exemplary servants be further tormented, but he stepped forward into the midst and laid their throats before the soldiers’ swords. This contest of mutual benevolence makes it hard to discern which was more worthy, the master, who thus tested the servants’ so constant faith, or the servants, who by their master’s so just mercy were freed from the severity of the interrogation.

6.8.6 Quid Vrbini Panapionis seruus, quam admirabilis fidei! cum ad dominum proscriptum occidendum domesticorum indicio certiores factos milites in Reatinam uillam uenisse cognosset, conmutata cum eo ueste, permutato etiam anulo illum postico clam emisit, se autem in cubiculum ac lectulum recepit et ut Panapionem occidi passus est. breuis huius facti narratio, sed non parua materia laudationis: nam si quis ante oculos ponere uelit subitum militum adcursum, conuulsa ianuae claustra, minacem uocem, truces uultus, fulgentia arma, rem uera aestimatione prosequetur, nec quam cito dicitur aliquem pro alio mori uoluisse, tam id ex facili etiam fieri potuisse arbitrabitur.

6.8.6 The slave of Urbinus Panapio — what admirable fidelity! When he learned that soldiers, made certain by the disclosure of household servants, had come to the villa at Reate to kill his proscribed master, having exchanged garments with him, and having even changed rings, he secretly let him out by the back door, while he himself withdrew to the chamber and to the bed and suffered himself to be killed in Panapio’s stead. A brief narration of this deed, but not a small matter of praise: for if anyone wishes to set before his eyes the sudden rush of soldiers, the torn fastenings of the door, the threatening voice, the fierce faces, the flashing arms, he will pursue the matter with true estimation, and will not suppose that the oft‑repeated saying that someone would wish to die for another could so readily have been accomplished.

Panapio autem quantum seruo deberet amplum ei faciendo monumentum ac testimonium pietatis grato titulo reddendo confessus est.

Panapio, moreover, confessed how much he owed to the servant, by making for him a large monument and bestowing upon him, as a grateful title, a testimony of piety.

6.8.7 Contentus essem huius exemplis generis, nisi unum me dicere admiratio facti cogeret. Antius Restio proscriptus a triumuiris, cum omnes domesticos circa rapinam et praedam occupatos uideret, quam maxime poterat dissimulata fuga se penatibus suis intempesta nocte subduxit. cuius furtiuum egressum seruos ab eo uinculorum poena coercitus inexpiabilique litterarum nota per summam oris contumeliam inustus curiosis speculatus oculis ac uestigia huc atque illuc errantia beniuolo studio subsecutus lateri uoluntarius comes adrepsit.

6.8.7 I would have been content with this kind of example, had not one amazement of the deed forced me to speak. Antius Restio, proscribed by the triumvirs, when he saw all the household busy with the seizure and booty, as much as he could with a concealed flight withdrew himself to his household gods in the untimely night. His furtive departure — his servants, restrained by him with the punishment of chains and branded with an inexpiable mark of letters on the face as the height of disgrace, watched by curious eyes, and his tracks wandering here and there — was followed by a voluntary companion, with kindly zeal, who crept up to his side.

quo quidem tam exquisito tamque ancipiti officio perfectissimum <in>expectatae pietatis cumulum expleuerat: his enim, quorum felicior in domo status fuerat, lucro intentis ipse, nihil quam umbra et imago suppliciorum suorum, maximum esse emolumentum eius, a quo tam grauiter punitus erat, salutem iudicauit, cumque abunde foret iram remittere, adiecit etiam caritatem. nec hactenus beniuolentia processit, sed in eo conseruando mira quoque arte usus est: nam ut sensit cupidos sanguinis milites superuenire, amoto domino rogum extruxit eique egentem a se conprehensum et occisum senem superiecit. interrogantibus deinde militibus ubinam esset Antius manum rogo intentans ibi illum datis sibi crudelitatis piaculis uri respondit.

by which, with so exquisite and so ambivalent an office, he had filled the most perfect accumulation of expected piety: for to those men, whose status in the house had been more fortunate and who were intent on profit, he himself judged salvation from him by whom he had been so gravely punished to be nothing more than the shadow and image of his punishments, and since there was abundant reason to remit his anger he added even charity. Nor did his benevolence stop there, but he employed wondrous art in preserving him: for when he perceived soldiers eager for blood to arrive, with the master removed he constructed a pyre and, having seized the needy old man from himself and put him to death, he laid him upon it. Then, the soldiers asking where Antius was, he, pointing to that place, replied that there he was being burned, the atonements of the cruelties having been exacted.

quia ueri similia loquebatur, habita est uoci fides. quo euenit ut Antius tutam quaerendae incolumitatis occasionem adsequeretur.

Because he spoke things like the true, credence was given to his voice. From this it came about that Antius secured a safe opportunity for seeking his incolumity.

6.9.init. Multum animis hominum et fiduciae adicere et sollicitudinis detrahere potest morum ac fortunae in claris uiris recognita mutatio, siue nostros status siue proximorum [ingenia] contemplemur: nam cum aliorum fortunas spectando ex condicione abiecta atque contempta emersisse claritatem uideamus, quid aberit quin et ipsi meliora de nobis semper cogitemus, memores stultum esse perpetuae infelicitatis se praedamnare spemque, quae etiam incerta recte fouetur, interdum certam in desperationem conuertere?

6.9.init. The change of manners and fortune observed in eminent men can greatly add to the spirits and confidence of people and take away much solicitude, whether we contemplate our own condition or the [ingenia] — dispositions — of those near us: for when, by looking at the fortunes of others, we see that from an abject and despised state they have risen to renown, what will prevent us from ever thinking better things of ourselves, mindful that it is foolish to condemn oneself to perpetual misfortune, and that hope, which even when uncertain is rightly nourished, can sometimes turn what seems certain into despair?

6.9.1 Manlius Torquatus adeo hebetis atque obtunsi cordis inter initia iuuentae existimatus, ut a patre L. Manlio amplissimo uiro, quia et domesticis et rei publicae usibus inutilis uidebatur, rus relegatus agresti opere fatigaretur, postmodum patrem reum iudiciali periculo liberauit, filium uictorem, quod aduersus imperium suum cum hoste manum conseruerat, securi percussit, patriam Latino tumultu fessam speciosissimo triumpho recreauit, in hoc, credo, [ne] fortunae nubilo adulescentiae contemptu perfusus, quo senectutis eius decus lucidius enitesceret.

6.9.1 Manlius Torquatus was thought so dull and blunt of heart in the beginnings of his youth that, by his father Lucius Manlius, a most distinguished man, because he seemed useless both for domestic and for public service, he was sent out to the countryside and wearied with rustic toil; afterwards he freed his father, accused, from judicial peril, struck down his victorious son with the axe because the son had taken up arms against his imperium with the enemy, and restored the fatherland, tired by the Latin tumult, with a most splendid triumph — in this, I think, [ne] suffused with contempt of the cloud of youthful fortune, so that the glory of his old age might shine forth more brightly.

6.9.2 Scipio autem Africanus superior, quem di immortales nasci uoluerunt, ut esset in quo uirtus se per omnes numeros hominibus efficaciter ostenderet, solutioris uitae primos adulescentiae annos egisse fertur, remotos quidem a luxuriae crimine, sed tamen Punicis tropaeis, deuictae Karthaginis ceruicibus inposito iugo teneriores.

6.9.2 But Scipio Africanus the elder, whom the immortal gods willed to be born so that virtue might display itself effectively in him to men in every respect, is said to have passed the first years of a rather freer life—indeed kept distant from the crime of luxury, yet nevertheless made somewhat gentler by the Punic trophies, the yoke imposed upon the conquered necks of Carthage.

6.9.3 C. quoque Valerius Flaccus secundi Punici belli temporibus luxu perditam adulescentiam inchoauit. ceterum a P. Licinio pontifice maximo flamen factus, quo facilius a uitiis recederet, ad curam sacrorum et caerimoniarum conuerso animo, usus duce frugalitatis religione, quantum prius luxuriae fuerat exemplum, tantum postea modestiae et sanctitatis specimen euasit.

6.9.3 C. quoque Valerius Flaccus, in the times of the Second Punic War, began a youth ruined by luxury. But moreover, having been made a flamen by P. Licinius, pontifex maximus, and thereby the more easily to withdraw from vices, with his mind turned to the care of rites and ceremonies, and with the religion of frugality as his leader, as much as before he had been an example of luxury, so much afterward he became a model of modesty and sanctity.

6.9.4 Nihil Q. Fabio Maximo, qui Gallica uictoria cognomen Allobrogi sibimet ac posteris peperit, adulescente magis infame, nihil eodem sene ornatius aut speciosius illo saeculo nostra ciuitas habuit.

6.9.4 Nothing more infamous in youth than Q. Fabius Maximus, who by a Gallic victory won for himself and his posterity the cognomen Allobrogicus; nor did our city possess, in that same old man, anything more ornate or more splendid in that age.

6.9.5 Quis ignorat Q. Catuli auctoritatem in maximo clarissimorum uirorum prouentu excelsum gradum obtinuisse? cuius si superior aetas reuoluatur, multi lusus, multae deliciae reperiantur. quae quidem ei inpedimento non fuerunt quo minus patriae princeps existeret, nomenque eius in Capitolino fastigio fulgeret ac uirtute ciuile bellum ingenti motu oriens sepeliret.

6.9.5 Who does not know that the authority of Q. Catulus, in the prime of the most illustrious of men, attained a lofty rank? If his earlier age be turned over, many amusements, many delights will be found. These things, however, were no impediment to his emerging as prince of the fatherland, and his name shone on the Capitoline summit, and by civil virtue buried the war that arose with enormous tumult.

6.9.6 L. uero Sulla usque ad quaesturae suae comitia uitam libidine, uino, ludicrae artis amore inquinatam perduxit. quapropter C. Marius consul moleste tulisse traditur, quod sibi asperrimum in Africa bellum gerenti tam delicatus quaestor sorte obuenisset. eiusdem uirtus quasi perruptis et disiectis nequitiae, qua obsidebatur, claustris catenas Iugurthae manibus iniecit, Mitridatem conpescuit, socialis belli fluctus repressit, Cinnae dominationem fregit eumque, qui se in Africa quaestorem fastidierat, ipsam illam prouinciam proscriptum et exulem petere coegit.

6.9.6 L. Sulla, however, carried his life to the elections for his quaestorship corrupted by lust, wine, and a love of the ludic art. Wherefore G. Marius, the consul, is said to have taken it ill that so delicate a quaestor by lot should have fallen to him while he was waging so harsh a war in Africa. The same man’s virtue, as if the bolts and bars of nequity that beset him had been burst and scattered, threw chains upon the hands of Iugurtha, checked Mithridates, repressed the waves of the Social War, broke Cinna’s domination, and compelled him who had scorned to be quaestor in Africa to seek that very province as a proscribed man and an exile.

quae tam diuersa tamque inter se contraria si quis apud animum suum attentiore conparatione expendere uelit, duos in uno homine Sullas fuisse crediderit, turpem adulescentulum et uirum, dicerem fortem, nisi ipse <se> felicem appellari maluisset.

If anyone wished to weigh up in his mind, with a more attentive comparison, those things so diverse and so contrary to one another, he would believe that there were two Sullas in one man: a shameful young man and a man — I would call him brave — unless he himself <se> had preferred to be called fortunate.

6.9.7 Atque ut nobilitati, beneficio paenitentiae se ipsam admonitae respicere, altiora modo suo sperare ausos subtexamus, T. Aufidius, cum Asiatici publici exiguam admodum particulam habuisset, postea totam Asiam proconsulari imperio obtinuit. nec indignati sunt socii eius parere fascibus, quem aliena tribunalia adulantem uiderant. gessit etiam se integerrime atque splendidissime.

6.9.7 And so, that we may weave in to the nobility that, admonished by the benefit of repentance to look back upon themselves, they have in their own fashion dared to hope for loftier things, T. Aufidius, when he had but a very small particula of the Asiatic public fund, afterwards obtained all Asia with proconsular imperium. Nor were his socii displeased to obey the fasces, him whom they had seen flattering foreign tribunals. He likewise carried himself most integerrimely and most splendidly.

quo quidem modo demonstrauit pristinum quaestum suum fortunae, praesens uero dignitatis incrementum moribus ipsius inputari debere.

In that very way he demonstrated that his former gain was due to fortune, whereas the present increase of dignity ought to be imputed to his own morals.

6.9.8 At P. Rupilius non publicanum in Sicilia egit, sed operas publicanis dedit. idem ultimam inopiam suam auctorato sociis officio sustentauit. ab hoc postmodum consule leges uniuersi Siculi acceperunt acerbissimoque praedonum ac fugitiuorum bello li berati sunt.

6.9.8 But P. Rupilius did not carry on tax-farming in Sicily, but entrusted the works to the publicans. Likewise he sustained his final need by the auctoritas of his colleagues’ office. From him, afterward as consul, all the Sicilians received laws and were delivered, by a most bitter war, from robbers and fugitives.

portus ipsos, si quis modo mutis rebus inest sensus, tantam in eodem homine uarietatem status admiratos arbitror: quem enim diurnas capturas exigentem animaduerterant, eundem iura dantem classesque et exercitus regentem uiderunt.

the ports themselves, if any one now has sense amid altered affairs, I think were amazed at so great a variety of condition in the same man: for whom they had noticed demanding daily seizures, they saw the same man granting rights and ruling fleets and armies.

6.9.9 Huic tanto incremento maius adiciam. Asculo capto Cn. Pompei Magni pater P. Ventidium aetate puberem in triumpho suo populi oculis subiecit. hic est Ventidius, qui postea Romae ex Parthis et per Parthos de Crassi manibus in hostili solo miserabiliter iacentibus triumphum duxit.

6.9.9 To this so great an increase I will add something greater. With Asculum captured, the father of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus exposed P. Ventidius, youthful in age, to the eyes of the people in his triumph. This is Ventidius, who afterwards at Rome led a triumph over the Parthians and through the Parthians for the hands of Crassus, miserably lying on hostile soil.

ita qui captiuus carcerem exhorruerat, uictor Capitolium felicitate celebrauit. in eodem etiam illud eximium, quod eodem anno praetor <et consul> est factus.

thus he who, as a captive, had recoiled from prison celebrated the Capitol as victor with felicity. in the same year also that notable thing occurred, that he was made praetor and consul.

6.9.10 Casuum nunc contemplemur uarietatem. L. Lentulus consularis lege Caecilia repetundarum crimine oppressus censor cum L. Censorino creatus est. quem quidem fortuna inter ornamenta et dedecora alterna uice uersauit, consulatu illius damnationem, damnationi censuram subiciendo et neque bonis eum perpetuis frui neque malis aeternis ingemescere patiendo.

6.9.10 Now let us contemplate the variety of events. L. Lentulus, of consular rank, having been crushed by the charge under the Caecilian law concerning extortions, was created censor together with L. Censorinus. Fortune indeed turned him alternately between ornaments and disgraces: in his consulship a condemnation, that condemnation being subjected to the censorial office, so that he was allowed neither to enjoy good things perpetually nor to groan over evils for ever.

6.9.11 Isdem uiribus uti uoluit in Cn. Cornelio Scipione Asina. qui consul a Poenis apud Liparas captus, cum belli iure omnia perdidisset, laetiore subinde uultu eius adiutus cuncta recuperauit, consul etiam iterum creatus est. quis crederet illum a xii securibus ad Karthaginiensium peruenturum catenas?

6.9.11 He wished to employ the same strengths in Cn. Cornelius Scipio Asina. Who, as consul, captured by the Carthaginians at Liparae, having by the law of war lost all, was thereafter, aided by a somewhat more cheerful countenance, restored to recover everything, and was even made consul again. Who would have believed that he would pass from 12 fasces to the chains of the Carthaginians?

quis rursus existimaret a Punicis uinculis ad summi imperii peruenturum insignia? sed tamen ex consule captiuus et ex captiuo consul est factus.

who again would have thought that from Punic chains he would come to the insignia of the highest imperium? but nevertheless he was made a captive out of a consul, and out of the captive was made a consul.

6.9.12 Quid, Crasso nonne pecuniae magnitudo locupletis nomen dedit? sed eidem postea inopia turpem decoctoris appellationem inussit, siquidem bona eius a creditoribus, quia solidum praestare non poterat, uenierunt. ~ itaque qui amara suggillatione non caruit, cum egens ambularet, Diues ab occurrentibus salutabatur.

6.9.12 What, did not the magnitude of Crassus’s money give him the name “the Wealthy”? But later want imposed upon the same man the shameful appellation of decoctor — since his goods were sold by his creditors, because he could not pay the principal. ~ and so he who had not been free from bitter flogging, when he walked needy, was hailed “Dives” by those who ran up to meet him.

6.9.13 Crassum casus acerbitate Q. Caepio praecucurrit: is namque praeturae splendore, triumphi claritate, consulatus decore, maximi pontificis sacerdotio ut senatus patronus diceretur adsecutus in publicis uinculis spiritum deposuit, corpusque eius funestis carnificis manibus laceratum in scalis Gemoniis iacens magno cum horrore totius fori Romani conspectum est.

6.9.13 Q. Caepio in acerbitate casus Crassum praecucurrit: namque is, praeturae splendore, triumphi claritate, consulatus decore, maximi pontificis sacerdotio — ut senatus patronus diceretur — adsectus, in publicis vinculis spiritum deposuit, corpusque eius funestis carnificis manibus laceratum, in scalis Gemoniis iacens, magno cum horrore totius fori Romani conspectum est.

6.9.14 Iam C. Marius ~ maximae fortunae luctatione: omnes enim eius impetus qua corporis qua animi robore fortissime sustinuit. Arpinatibus honoribus iudicatus inferior quaesturam Romae petere ausus est. patientia deinde repulsarum inrupit magis in curiam quam uenit.

6.9.14 Now C. Marius, in a wrestling with the greatest fortune: for he most bravely endured all assaults both by the vigour of his body and of his mind. Judged by the Arpinates to the lesser honours, he dared to seek the quaestorship at Rome. Then, patient under refusals, he broke into the curia rather than merely came to it.

in tribunatus quoque et aedilitatis petitione consimilem campi notam expertus praeturae candidatus supremo in loco adhaesit, quem tamen non sine periculo obtinuit: ambitus enim accusatus uix atque aegre absolutionem ab iudicibus impetrauit. ex illo Mario tam humili Arpini, tam ignobili Romae, tam fastidiendo candidato ille Marius euasit, qui Africam subegit, qui Iugurtham regem ante currum egit, qui Teutonorum Cimbrorumque exercitus deleuit, cuius bina tropaea in urbe spectantur, cuius septem in fastis consulatus leguntur, cui post exilium consulem creari proscriptoque facere proscriptionem contigit. quid huius condicione inconstantius aut mutabilius?

in the seeking of the tribunate and even the aedileship having suffered the same mark of the Campus, as a candidate for the praetorship he clung to the supreme place, which, however, he obtained not without danger: for accused of ambitus he scarcely and only with difficulty won acquittal from the judges. From that Marius so humble of Arpinum, so ignoble in Rome, so disdainfully a candidate, that Marius escaped — he who subdued Africa, who drove King Iugurtha before his chariot, who destroyed the armies of the Teutones and Cimbri, whose two trophies are seen in the city, whose seven consulships are recorded in the fasti, who after exile happened to be made consul and, having been proscribed, brought about a proscription. What is more inconstant or more mutable than the condition of this man?

quem si inter miseros posueris, miserrimus, <si> inter <felices,> felicissimus reperietur.

whom, if you place among the wretched, will be found most wretched; <si> among <felices,> most happy will be found.

6.9.15 C. autem Caesar, cuius uirtutes aditum sibi in caelum struxerunt, inter primae iuuentae initia priuatus Asiam petens, a maritimis praedonibus circa insulam Pharmacusam exceptus L se talentis redemit. parua igitur summa clarissimum mundi sidus in piratico myoparone rependi fortuna uoluit. quid est ergo quod amplius de ea queramur, si ne consortibus quidem diuinitatis suae parcit?

6.9.15 C. Caesar, whose virtues built for him an access to heaven, in the very first beginnings of youth, as a private citizen seeking Asia, was seized by sea‑robbers about the island Pharmacusa and redeemed himself for 50 talents. Thus fortune willed that a very famous star of the world be bought off for a small sum in a piratical myoparone. What then is left for us to complain of further concerning her, if she spares not even the companions of her own divinity?

sed caeleste numen se ab iniuria uindicauit: continuo enim captos praedones crucibus adfixit.

but the celestial numen vindicated itself from the wrongdoing: for immediately it affixed the captured pirates to crosses.

6.9.ext.1 Adtento studio nostra commemorauimus: remissiore nunc animo aliena narrentur. perditae luxuriae Athenis adulescens Polemo, neque inlecebris eius tantum modo, sed etiam ipsa infamia gaudens, e conuiuio non post occasum solis, sed post ortum surrexisset domumque rediens Xenocratis philosophi patentem ianuam uidisset, uino grauis, unguentis delibutus, sertis capite redimito, perlucida ueste amictus refertam turba doctorum hominum scholam eius intrauit. nec contentus tam deformi introitu consedit etiam, ut clarissimum eloquium et prudentissima praecepta temulentiae lasciuiis eleuaret.

6.9.ext.1 With attentive zeal we have commemorated our own matters: now, with a more relaxed spirit, let alien affairs be told. Polemo, a youth of ruined luxury at Athens, rejoicing not only in his seductions but even in the very infamy, when, having risen from a banquet not after the setting of the sun but after its rising, and returning home he had seen the open door of the philosopher Xenocrates, heavy with wine, anointed with perfumes, his head bound with wreaths, clad in a translucent garment, he entered his school filled with a throng of learned men. Nor content with so disgraceful an entrance, he even sat down so as to abase the most illustrious eloquence and the most prudent precepts by the wantonness of his drunkenness.

orta deinde, ut par erat, omnium indignatione Xenocrates uultum in eodem habitu continuit omissaque re, quam disserebat, de modestia ac temperantia loqui coepit. cuius grauitate sermonis resipiscere coactus Polemo primum coronam capite detractam proiecit, paulo post brachium intra pallium reduxit, procedente tempore oris conuiualis hilaritatem deposuit, ad ultimum totam luxuriam exuit uniusque orationis saluberrima medicina sanatus ex infami ganeone maximus philosophus euasit. peregrinatus est huius animus in nequitia, non habitauit.

Then, as was fitting, with the indignation of all having arisen, Xenocrates kept his countenance in the same habit and, the matter which he had been discoursing of having been omitted, began to speak of modesty and temperance. By the gravity of whose discourse Polemo, forced to come to his senses, first cast away the crown plucked from his head, a little later drew his arm back within his pallium, with the passing of time laid aside the convivial hilarity of his face, and at last stripped off all luxury; cured by the most salutary medicine of a single speech, the greatest philosopher escaped from the infamous profligate. The man’s mind sojourned in wickedness, it did not make a dwelling there.

6.9.ext.2 Piget Themistoclis adulescentiam adtingere, siue patrem aspiciam abdicationis iniungentem notam, siue matrem suspendio finire uitam propter fili turpitudinem coactam, cum omnium postea Grai sanguinis uirorum clarissimus extiterit mediumque Europae et Asiae uel spei uel desperationis pignus fuerit: haec enim eum salutis suae patronum habuit, illa uadem uictoriae adsumpsit.

6.9.ext.2 It pains to touch upon Themistocles’ adolescence, whether I behold a father imposing the mark of abdication, or a mother ending her life by hanging, forced on account of her son’s turpitude, when afterwards he proved the most illustrious of all men of Greek blood and became the pledge of either hope or despair for the midpoint of Europe and Asia: for the former of these made him the patron of his safety, the latter assumed the vade‑victory as a pledge.

6.9.ext.3 Cimonis uero incunabula opinione stultitiae fuerunt referta: eiusdem adulti imperia salutaria Athenienses senserunt. itaque coegit eos stuporis semet ipsos damnare, qui eum stolidum crediderant.

6.9.ext.3 But Cimon’s incunabula were filled with the opinion of stupidity: in his adulthood the Athenians perceived his commands to be salutary. and so he compelled them, by their own stupor, to condemn themselves, those who had believed him stolid.

6.9.ext.4 Nam Alcibiaden quasi duae fortunae partitae sunt, altera, quae ei nobilitatem eximiam, abundantes diuitias, formam praestantissimam, fauorem ciuium propensum, summa imperia, praecipuas potentiae uires, flagrantissimum ingenium adsignaret, altera, quae damnationem, exilium, uenditionem bonorum, inopiam, odium patriae, uiolentam mortem infligeret: nec aut haec aut illa uniuersa, sed uarie perplexa, freto atque aestui similia.

6.9.ext.4 For to Alcibiades were as it were allotted two fortunes, one which would assign to him exceptional nobility, abundant riches, most preeminent form, the favour of citizens inclined to him, supreme commands, the chief forces of power, a most blazing genius; the other which would inflict condemnation, exile, the sale of his goods, want, the hatred of his country, violent death: nor wholly this nor wholly that in their entirety, but variously entangled, like sea and tide.

6.9.ext.5 Ad inuidiam usque Polycratis Samiorum tyranni abundantissimis bonis conspicuus uitae fulgor excessit, nec sine causa: omnes enim conatus eius placido excipiebantur itinere, spes certum cupitae rei fructum adprehendebant, uota nuncupabantur simul et soluebantur, uelle ac posse in aequo positum erat. semel dumtaxat uultum mutauit, perquam breui tristitiae salebra succussum, tunc cum admodum gratum sibi anulum de industria in profundum, ne omnis incommodi expers esset, abiecit. quem tamen continuo recuperauit capto pisce, qui eum deuorauerat.

6.9.ext.5 To envy even, Polycrates, tyrant of the Samians, conspicuous for very abundant goods, attained a life‑splendor that provoked jealousy, and not without cause: for all his undertakings were received on a placid course, hopes seized the certain fruit of the desired thing, vows were both uttered and at once discharged, willing and being able were placed in equal balance. Only once, however, did his countenance change, shaken by a very brief spring of sadness — then, quite deliberately, he cast into the deep a ring most pleasing to him, so that he might not be altogether free from misfortune. He, however, immediately recovered it by seizing the fish that had devoured it.

sed hunc, cuius felicitas semper plenis uelis prosperum cursum tenuit, Orontes Darii regis praefectus in excelsissimo Mycalensis montis uertice cruci adfixit, e qua putres eius artus et tabido cruore manantia membra atque illam laeuam, cui Neptunus anulum piscatoris manu restituerat, situ marcidam Samos, amara seruitute aliquamdiu pressa, liberis ac laetis oculis aspexit.

but Orontes, prefect of King Darius, fastened this man—whose felicity had always held a prosperous course with full sails—to a cross on the very summit of Mount Mycale, from which his rotten limbs and members dripping with wasting blood and that left hand, to which Neptune with his hand had restored the fisherman’s ring, hung; and Samos, withered by neglect and for some time bitterly pressed by harsh servitude, beheld him with free and joyful eyes.

6.9.ext.6 Dionysius autem, cum hereditatis nomine a patre Syracusanorum ac paene totius Siciliae tyrannidem accepisset, maximarum opum dominus, exercituum dux, rector classium, equitatuum potens, propter inopiam litteras puerulos Corinthi docuit eodemque tempore tanta mutatione maiores natu ne quis nimis fortunae crederet magister ludi factus ex tyranno monuit.

6.9.ext.6 Dionysius however, when he had received from his father the tyranny of the Syracusans and almost of all Sicily in the name of inheritance, master of very great riches, leader of armies, ruler of the fleets, powerful in cavalry, because of poverty taught the little boys of Corinth letters; and at the same time, by so great a change, made a schoolmaster out of a tyrant, he admonished those older in years that no one should trust too much in fortune.

6.9.ext.7 Sequitur hunc Syphax rex, consimilem fortunae iniquitatem expertus, quem amicum hinc Roma per Scipionem, illinc Karthago per Hasdrubalem ultro petitum ad penates deos eius uenerat. ceterum eo claritatis euectus, ut ualidissimorum populorum tantum non arbiter uictoriae existeret, parui temporis interiecta mora catenatus a Laelio legato ad Scipionem imperatorem pertractus est, cuiusque dexteram regio insidens solio adroganti manu attigerat, eius genibus supplex procubuit. Caduca nimirum et fragilia puerilibusque consentanea crepundiis sunt ista, quae uires atque opes humanae uocantur.

6.9.ext.7 After him follows King Syphax, having experienced a like iniquity of fortune, whom, sought as a friend on the one side by Rome through Scipio and on the other by Carthage through Hasdrubal, had voluntarily come to his penates, his household gods. Moreover, exalted to such claritas that he seemed almost the arbiter of victory among the most powerful peoples, he, after a short interval of time, was bound and conveyed by Laelius the legate to Scipio the commander; and the royal man, sitting insolently on his throne, had with an arrogating hand touched that commander’s right hand, and he fell prostrate, a suppliant, at his knees. Those things which are called human strength and riches are, surely, caducous and fragile and fitting to puerile crepundia.

adfluunt subito, repente dilabuntur, nullo in loco, nulla in persona stabilibus nixa radicibus consistunt, sed incertissimo flatu fortunae huc atque illuc acta quos sublime extulerunt inprouiso recussu destitutos profundo cladium miserabiliter inmergunt. itaque <neque> existimari neque dici debent bona, quae, ut inflictorum malorum amaritudine desiderium sui duplicent, * * *

they rush in suddenly, they dissolve suddenly; they stand in no place, in no person do they abide, planted on stable roots, but driven by the most uncertain blast of fortune this way and that, those whom they had loftily raised, unexpectedly by a recoil left destitute, they miserably plunge into the deep ruin. and so <neque> goods ought neither to be reckoned nor to be called, which, so that by the bitterness of inflicted evils they double the longing for themselves, * * *