Against Quintus Caecilius (M. Tullius Cicero)

[Close]

	Against Quintus Caecilius Author: M. Tullius Cicero	Translator: C. D. Yonge
27	huic ego homini iam ante denuntio , si a me causam hanc vos agi volueritis , rationem illi defendendi totam esse mutandam , et ita mutandam ut , meliore et honestiore condicione quam qua ipse vult uti , imitetur homines eos quos ipse vidit amplissimos , L . Crassum et M . Antonium , qui nihil se arbitrabantur ad iudicia causasque amicorum praeter fidem et ingenium adferre oportere . nihil erit quod me agente arbitretur iudicium sine magno multorum periculo posse corrumpi .	I now beforehand give this man notice, that if you determine that this cause shall be conducted by me, his whole plan of defence must be altered, and must be altered in such a manner as to be carried on in a more honest and honourable way than he likes; that he must imitate those most illustrious men whom he himself has seen, Lucius Crassus and Marcus Antonius; who thought that they had no right to bring anything to the trials and causes in which their friends were concerned, except good faith and ability. He shall have no room for thinking, if I conduct the case, that the tribunal can be corrupted without great danger to many.
28	ego in hoc iudicio mihi Siculorum causam receptam , populi Romani susceptam esse arbitror , ut mihi non unus homo improbus opprimendus sit , id quod Siculi petiverunt , sed omnino omnis improbitas , id quod populus Romanus iam diu flagitat , exstinguenda atque delenda sit : in quo ego quid eniti aut quid efficere possim , malo in aliorum spe relinquere quam in oratione mea ponere .	In this trial I think that the cause of the Sicilian nation,—that the cause of the whole Roman people, is undertaken by me; so that I have not to crush one worthless man alone, which is what the Sicilians have requested, but to extinguish and extirpate every sort of iniquity, which is what the Roman people has been long demanding. And how far I labour in this cause, or what I may be able to effect, I would rather leave to the expectations of others, than set forth in my own oration.
29	tu vero , Caecili , quid potes ? quo tempore aut qua in re non modo ceteris specimen aliquod dedisti , sed tute tui periculum fecisti ? in mentem tibi non venit quid negoti sit causam publicam sustinere , vitam alterius totam explicare atque eam non modo in animis iudicum , sed etiam in oculis conspectuque omnium exponere , sociorum salutem , commoda provinciarum , vim legum , gravitatem iudiciorum defendere ?	But as for you, O Caecilius, what can you do? On what occasion, or in what affair, have you, I will not say given proof to others of your powers! but even made trial of yourself to yourself? Has it never occurred to you how important a business it is to uphold a public cause? to lay bare the whole life of another? and to bring it palpably before, not only the minds of the judges, but before the very eyes and sight of all men; to defend the safety of the allies, the interests of the provinces, the authority of the laws, and the dignity of the judgment-seat?
30	cognosce ex me , quoniam hoc primum tempus discendi nactus es , quam multa esse oporteat in eo qui alterum accuset ; ex quibus si unum aliquod in te cognoveris , ego iam tibi ipse istuc quod expetis mea voluntate concedam . primum integritatem atque innocentiam singularem ; nihil est enim quod minus ferendum sit quam rationem ab altero vitae reposcere eum qui non possit suae reddere .	Judge by me, since this is the first opportunity of learning it that you have ever had, how many qualities must meet in that man who is the accuser of another: and if you recognise any one of these in yourself, I will, of my own accord, yield up to you that which you are desirous of. First of all, he must have a singular integrity and innocence. For there is nothing which is less tolerable than for him to demand an account of his life from another who cannot give an account of his own. Here I will not say any more of yourself.
31	hic ego de te plura non dicam : unum illud credo omnis animum advertere , te adhuc a nullis nisi ab Siculis potuisse cognosci ; Siculos hoc dicere , cum eidem sint irati cui tu te inimicum esse dicis , sese tamen te actore ad iudicium non adfuturos . quare negent ex me non audies : hos patere id suspicari quod necesse est . illi quidem , ut est hominum genus nimis acutum et suspiciosum , non te ex Sicilia litteras in Verrem deportare velle arbitrantur , sed , quod isdem litteris illius praetura et tua quaestura consignata sit , asportare te velle ex Sicilia litteras suspicantur .	This one thing, I think, all may observe, that up to this time you had no opportunity of becoming known to any people except to the Sicilians; and that the Sicilians say this, that even though they are exasperated against the same man, whose enemy you say that you are, still, if you are the advocate, they will not appear on the trial. Why they refuse to, you will not hear from me. Allow these judges to suspect what it is inevitable that they must. The Sicilians, indeed, being a race of men over-acute, and too much inclined to suspiciousness, suspect that you do not wish to bring documents from Sicily against Verres; but, as both his praetorship and your quaestorship are recorded in the same documents, they suspect that you wish to remove them out of Sicily.
32	deinde accusatorem firmum verumque esse oportet . Eum ego si te putem cupere esse , facile intellego esse non posse . nec ea dico , quae si dicam tamen infirmare non possis , te , antequam de Sicilia decesseris , in gratiam redisse cum Verre ; Potamonem , scribam et familiarem tuum , retentum esse a Verre in provincia , cum tu decederes ; M . Caecilium , fratrem tuum , lectissimum atque ornatissimum adulescentem , non modo non adesse neque tecum tuas iniurias persequi , sed esse cum Verre et cum illo familiarissime atque amicissime vivere . sunt et haec et alia in te falsi accusatoris signa permulta , quibus ego nunc non utor : hoc dico , te , si maxime cupias , tamen verum accusatorem esse non posse .	In the second place, an accuser must be trustworthy and veracious. Even if I were to think that you were desirous of being so, I easily see that you are not able to be so. Nor do I speak of these things, which, if I were to mention, you would not be able to invalidate, namely that you, before you departed from Sicily, had become reconciled to Verres; that Potamo, your secretary and intimate friend, was retained by Verres in the province when you left it; that Marcus Caecilius, your brother, a most exemplary and accomplished young man, is not only not present here and does not stand by you while prosecuting your alleged injuries, but that he is with Verres, and is living on terms of the closest friendship and intimacy with him. These, and other things belonging to you, are many signs of a false accuser; but these I do not now avail myself of. I say this, that you, if you were to wish it ever so much, still cannot be a faithful accuser.
33	video enim permulta esse crimina quorum tibi societas cum Verre eius modi est ut ea in accusando attingere non audeas .	For I see that there are many charges in which you are so implicated with Verres, that in accusing him, you would not dare to touch upon them.
34	queritur Sicilia tota C . Verrem ab aratoribus , cum frumentum sibi in cellam imperavisset , et cum esset tritici modius HS II , pro frumento in modios singulos duodenos sestertios exegisse . Magnum crimen , ingens pecunia , furtum impudens , iniuria non ferenda ! ego hoc uno crimine illum condemnem necesse est : tu ,	All Sicily complains that Caius Verres, when he had ordered corn to be brought into his granary for him, and when a bushel of wheat was two sesterces, demanded of the farmers twelve sesterces a bushel for wheat. It was a great crime, an immense sum, an impudent theft, an intolerable injustice. I must inevitably convict him of this charge; what will you do, O Caecilius?
35	Caecili , quid facies ? utrum hoc tantum crimen praetermittes an obicies ? si obicies , idne alteri crimini dabis quod eodem tempore in eadem provincia tu ipse fecisti ? audebis ita accusare alterum ut quo minus tute condemnere recusare non possis ? sin praetermittes , qualis erit tua ista accusatio , quae domestici periculi metu certissimi et maximi criminis non modo sponsionem , verum etiam mentionem ipsam pertimescat ?	Will you pass over this serious accusation, or will you bring it forward? If you bring it forward, will you charge that as a crime against another, which you did yourself at the same time in the same province? Will you dare so to accuse another, that you cannot avoid at the same time condemning yourself? If you omit the charge, what sort of a prosecution will yours be, which from fear of danger to yourself, is afraid not only to create a suspicion of a most certain and enormous crime, but even to make the least mention of it? Corn was bought, on the authority of a decree of the senate, of the Sicilians while Verres was praetor;
36	emptum est ex senatus consulto frumentum ab Siculis praetore Verre , pro quo frumento pecunia omnis soluta non est . grave est hoc crimen in Verrem , grave me agente , te accusante nullum ; eras enim tu quaestor , pecuniam publicam tu tractabas , ex qua , etiamsi cuperet praetor , tamen ne qua deductio fieret magna ex parte tua potestas erat . huius quoque igitur criminis te accusante mentio nulla fiet : silebitur toto iudicio de maximis et notissimis illius furtis et iniuriis . mihi crede , Caecili , non potest in accusando socios vere defendere is qui cum reo criminum societate coniunctus est .	for which corn all the money was not paid. This is a grave charge against Verres; a grave one if I plead the cause, but, if you are the prosecutor, no charge at all. For you were the quaestor, you had the handling of the public money; and, even if the praetor desired it ever so much, yet it was to a great extent in your power to prevent anything being taken from it. Of this crime, therefore, if you are the prosecutor, no mention will be made. And so during the whole trial nothing will be said of his most enormous and most notorious thefts and injuries. Believe me, O Caecilius, he who is connected with the criminal in a partnership of iniquity, cannot really defend his associates while accusing him.
37	mancipes a civitatibus pro frumento pecuniam exegerunt . quid ? hoc Verre praetore factum est solum ? non , sed etiam quaestore Caecilio . quid igitur ? daturus es huic crimini quod et potuisti prohibere ne fieret et debuisti , an totum id relinques ? ergo id omnino Verres in iudicio suo non audiet quod , cum faciebat , quem ad modum defensurus esset non reperiebat .	The contractors exacted money from the cities instead of corn. Well! was this never done except in the praetorship of Verres? I do not say that, but it was done while Caecilius was quaestor. What then will you do? Will you urge against this man as a charge, what you both could and ought to have prevented from being done? or will you leave out the whole of it? Verres, then, at his trial will absolutely never hear at all of those things, which, when he was doing them, he did not know how he should be able to defend.
38	atque ego haec quae in medio posita sunt commemoro : sunt alia magis occulta furta , quae ille , ut istius , credo , animos atque impetus retardaret , benignissime cum quaestore suo communicavit .	And I am mentioning those matters which lie on the surface. There are other acts of plunder more secret, which he, in order, I suppose, to check the courage and delay the attack of Caecilius, has very kindly participated in with his quaestor.
39	haec tu scis ad me esse delata ; quae si velim proferre , facile omnes intellegent vobis inter vos non modo voluntatem fuisse coniunctam , sed ne praedam quidem adhuc esse divisam . quapropter si tibi indicium postulas dari quod tecum una fecerit , concedo , si id lege permittitur ; sin autem de accusatione dicimus , concedas oportet iis qui nullo suo peccato impediuntur quo minus alterius peccata demonstrare possint .	You know that information of these matters has been given to me; and if I were to choose to mention them, all men would easily perceive that there was not only a perfect harmony of will subsisting between you both, but that you did not pursue even your plunder separately. So that if you demand to be allowed to give information of the crimes which Verres has committed in conjunction with you, I have no objection, if it is allowed by the law. But if we are speaking of conducting the prosecution, that you must yield ta those who are hindered by no crimes of their own from being able to prove the offences of another.
40	ac vide quantum interfuturum sit inter meam tuamque accusationem . ego etiam quae tu sine Verre commisisti Verri crimini daturus sum , quod te non prohibuerit , cum summam ipse haberet potestatem : tu contra ne quae ille quidem fecit obicies , ne qua ex parte coniunctus cum eo reperiare . quid ? illa , Caecili , contemnendane tibi videntur esse , sine quibus causa sustineri , praesertim tanta , nullo modo potest ? aliqua facultas agendi , aliqua dicendi consuetudo , aliqua in foro , iudiciis , legibus aut ratio aut exercitatio ?	And see how much difference there will be between my accusation and yours. I intend to charge Verres with all the crimes that you committed, though he had no share in them, because he did not prevent you from committing them, though he had the supreme power; you, on the other hand, will not allege against him even the crimes which he committed himself, lest you should be found to be in any particular connected with him. What shall I say of these other points, O Caecilius? Do these things appear contemptible to you, without which no cause, especially no cause of such importance, can by any means be supported? Have you any talent for pleading? any practice in speaking? Have you paid any attention or acquired any acquaintance with the forum, the courts, and the laws?
41	intellego quam scopuloso difficilique in loco verser ; nam cum omnis adrogantia odiosa est , tum illa ingeni atque eloquentiae multo molestissima . quam ob rem nihil dico de meo ingenio ; neque est quod possim dicere , neque si esset dicerem ; aut enim id mihi satis est quod est de me opinionis , quidquid est , aut , si id parum est , ego maius id commemorando facere non possum .	I know in what a rocky and difficult path I am now treading; for as all arrogance is odious, so a conceit of one's abilities and eloquence is by far the most disagreeable of all. On which account I say nothing of my own abilities; for I have none worth speaking of, and if I had I would not speak of them. For either the opinion formed of me is quite sufficient for me, such as it is; or if it be too low an opinion to please me, still I cannot make it higher by talking about them.
42	de te , Caecili ,— iam mehercule hoc extra hanc contentionem certamenque nostrum familiariter tecum loquar ,— tu ipse quem ad modum existimes vide etiam atque etiam , et tu te collige , et qui sis et quid facere possis considera . Putasne te posse de maximis acerbissimisque rebus , cum causam sociorum fortunasque provinciae , ius populi Romani , gravitatem iudici legumque susceperis , tot res tam gravis , tam varias voce , memoria , consilio , ingenio sustinere ?	I will just, O Caecilius, say this much familiarly to you about yourself, forgetting for a moment this rivalry and contest of ours. Consider again and again what your own sentiments are, and recollect yourself; and consider who you are, and what you are able to effect. Do you think that, when you have taken upon yourself the cause of the allies, and the fortunes of the province, and the rights of the Roman people, and the dignity of the judgment-seat and of the law, in a discussion of the most important and serious matters, you are able to support so many affairs and those so weighty and so various with your voice, your memory, your counsel, and your ability?
43	Putasne te posse quae C . Verres in quaestura , quae in legatione , quae in praetura , quae Romae , quae in Italia , quae in Achaia , Asia Pamphyliaque peccarit , ea , quem ad modum locis temporibusque divisa sint , sic criminibus et oratione distinguere ? Putasne posse , id quod in eius modi reo maxime necessarium est , facere ut , quae ille libidinose , quae nefarie , quae crudeliter fecerit , ea aeque acerba et indigna videantur esse his qui audient atque illis visa sunt qui senserunt ?	Do you think that you are able to distinguish in separate charges, and in a well-arranged speech, all that Caius Verres has done in his quaestorship, and in his lieutenancy, and in his praetorship, at Rome, or in Italy, or in Achaia, or in Asia Minor, or in Pamphylia, as the actions themselves are divided by place and time? Do you think that you are able (and this is especially necessary against a defendant of this sort) to cause the things which he has done licentiously, or wickedly, or tyrannically, to appear just as bitter and scandalous to those who hear of them, as they did appear to those who felt them?
44	Magna sunt ea quae dico , mihi crede ; noli haec contemnere . dicenda , demonstranda , explicanda sunt omnia , causa non solum exponenda , sed etiam graviter copioseque agenda est ; perficiendum est , si quid agere aut proficere vis , ut homines te non solum audiant , verum etiam libenter studioseque audiant . in quo si te multum natura adiuvaret , si optimis a pueritia disciplinis atque artibus studuisses et in his elaborasses , si litteras Graecas Athenis non Lilybaei , Latinas Romae non in Sicilia didicisses , tamen esset magnum tantam causam , tam exspectatam , et diligentia consequi et memoria complecti et oratione expromere et voce ac viribus sustinere .	Those things which I am speaking of are very important, believe me. Do not you despise this either; everything must be related, and demonstrated, and explained; the cause must be not merely stated, but it must also be gravely and copiously dilated on. You must cause, if you wish really to do and to effect anything, men not only to hear you, but also to hear you willingly and eagerly. And if nature kind been bountiful to you in such qualities, and if from your childhood you had studied the best arts and systems, and worked hard at them;—if you had learnt Greek literature at Athens, not at Lilybaeum, and Latin literature at Rome, and not in Sicily; still it would be a great undertaking to approach so important a cause, and one about which there is such great expectation, and having approached it, to follow it up with the requisite diligence; to have all the particulars always fresh in your memory; to discuss it properly in your speech, and to support it adequately with your voice and your faculties.
45	fortasse dices : ' quid ergo ? haec in te sunt omnia ?' Vtinam quidem essent ! verum tamen ut esse possent magno studio mihi a pueritia est elaboratum . quodsi ego haec propter magnitudinem rerum ac difficultatem adsequi non potui , qui in omni vita nihil aliud egi , quam longe tu te ab his rebus abesse arbitrare , quas non modo antea numquam cogitasti , sed ne nunc quidem , cum in eas ingrederis , quae et quantae sint suspicari potes ?	Perhaps you may say, What then? Are you then endowed with all these qualifications?—I wish indeed that I were; but at all events I have laboured with great industry from my very childhood to attain them. And if I, on account of the importance and difficulty of such a study have not been able to attain them, who have done nothing else all my life, how far do you think that you must be distant from these qualities, which you have not only never thought of before, but which even now, when you are entering on a stage that requires them all, you can form no proper idea of, either as for their nature or as to their importance?
46	ego qui , sicut omnes sciunt , in foro iudiciisque ita verser ut eiusdem aetatis aut nemo aut pauci pluris causas defenderint , et qui omne tempus quod mihi ab amicorum negotiis datur in his studiis laboribusque consumam , quo paratior ad usum forensem promptiorque esse possim , tamen ita mihi deos velim propitios ut , cum illius mihi temporis venit in mentem quo die citato reo mihi dicendum sit , non solum commoveor animo , sed etiam toto corpore perhorresco .	I, who as all men know, am so much concerned in the forum and the courts of justice, that there is no one of the same age, or very few, who have defended more causes, and who spend all my time which can be spared from the business of my friends in these studies and labours, in order that I may be more prepared for forensic practice and more ready at it, yet, (may the gods be favourable to me as I am saying what is true!) whenever the thought occurs to me of the day when the defendant having been summoned, I have to speak, I am not only agitated in my mind, but a shudder runs over my whole body.
47	iam nunc mente et cogitatione prospicio quae tum studia hominum , qui concursus futuri sint , quantam exspectationem magnitudo iudici sit adlatura , quantam auditorum multitudinem infamia C . Verris concitatura , quantam denique audientiam orationi meae improbitas illius factura sit . quae cum cogito , iam nunc timeo quidnam pro offensione hominum , qui illi inimici infensique sunt , et exspectatione omnium et magnitudine rerum dignum eloqui possim .	Even now I am surveying in my mind and thoughts what party spirit will be shown by men; what throngs of men will meet; how great an expectation the importance of the trial will excite; how greet a multitude of hearers the infamy of Caius Verres will collect; how great an audience for my speech his wickedness will draw together And when I think of these things, even now I am afraid as to what I shall be able to say suitable to the hatred men bear him who are inimical and hostile to him, and worthy of the expectation which all men will form, and of the importance of the case.
48	tu horum nihil metuis , nihil cogitas , nihil laboras : si quid ex vetere aliqua oratione , ' Iovem ego optimum maximum ,' aut ' vellem , si fieri potuisset , iudices ,' aut aliquid eius modi ediscere potueris , praeclare te paratum in iudicium venturum arbitraris .	Do you fear nothing, do you think of nothing are you anxious about nothing of all this? Or if from some old speech you have been able to learn, “I entreat the mighty and beneficent Jupiter,” or, “I wish it were possible, O judges,” or something of the sort, do you think that you shall come before the court in an admirable state of preparation?
49	ac si tibi nemo responsurus esset , tamen ipsam causam , ut ego arbitror , demonstrare non posses : nunc ne illud quidem cogitas , tibi cum homine disertissimo et ad dicendum paratissimo futurum esse certamen , quicum modo disserendum , modo omni ratione pugnandum certandumque sit . cuius ego ingenium ita laudo ut non pertimescam , ita probo ut me ab eo delectari facilius quam decipi putem posse .	And, even if no one were to answer you, yet you would not, as I think, be able to state and prove even the cause itself. Do you now never give it a thought, that you will have a contest with a most eloquent man, and one in a perfect state of preparation for speaking, with whom you will at one time have to argue, and at another time to strive and contend against him with all your might? Whose abilities indeed I praise greatly, but not so as to be afraid of them, and think highly of, thinking however at the same time that I am more easily to be pleased by them than cajoled by them.
50	numquam ille me opprimet consilio , numquam ullo artificio pervertet , numquam ingenio me suo labefactare atque infirmare conabitur ; novi omnis hominis petitiones rationesque dicendi ; saepe in isdem , saepe in contrariis causis versati sumus ; ita contra me ille dicet , quamvis sit ingeniosus , ut non nullum etiam de suo ingenio iudicium fieri arbitretur .	He will never put me down by his acuteness; he will never put me out of countenance by any artifice; he will never attempt to upset and dispirit me by displays of his genius. I know all the modes of attack and every system of speaking the man has. We have often been employed on the same, often on opposite sides. Ingenious as he is, he will plead against me as if he were aware that his own ability is to same extent put on its trial.
51	te vero , Caecili , quem ad modum sit elusurus , quam omni ratione iactaturus , videre iam videor ; quotiens ille tibi potestatem optionemque facturus sit ut eligas utrum velis — factum esse necne , verum esse an falsum — utrum dixeris , id contra te futurum . qui tibi aestus , qui error , quae tenebrae , di immortales , erunt , homini minime malo ! quid ? cum accusationis tuae membra dividere coeperit et in digitis suis singulas partis causae constituere ? quid ? cum unum quidque transigere , expedire , absolvere ? ipse profecto metuere incipies ne innocenti periculum facessieris .	But as for you, O Caecilius, I think that I see already how he will play with you, how he will bandy you about; how often he will give you power and option of choosing which alternative you please,—whether a thing were done or not, whether a thing be true or false; and whichever side you take will be contrary to your interest. What a heat you will be in, what bewilderment! what darkness, O ye immortal gods! will overwhelm the man, free from malice as he is. What will you do when he begins to divide the different counts of your accusation, and to arrange on his fingers each separate division of the cause? What will you do when he begins to deal with each argument, to disentangle it, to get rid of it? You yourself in truth will begin to be afraid lest you have brought an innocent man into danger.
52	quid ? cum commiserari , conqueri , et ex illius invidia deonerare aliquid et in te traicere coeperit , commemorare quaestoris cum praetore necessitudinem constitutam , morem maiorum , sortis religionem , poterisne eius orationis subire invidiam ? vide modo , etiam atque etiam considera . mihi enim videtur periculum fore ne ille non modo verbis te obruat , sed gestu ipso ac motu corporis praestringat aciem ingeni tui , teque ab institutis tuis cogitationibusque abducat .	What will you do when he begins to pity his client, to complain, and to take off some of his unpopularity from him and transfer it to you? to speak of the close connection necessarily subsisting between the quaestor and the praetor? of the custom of the ancients? of the holy nature of the connection between those to whom the same province was by lot appointed? Will you be able to encounter the odium such a speech will excite against you? Think a moment; consider again and again. For there seems to me to be danger of his overwhelming you not with words only, but of his blunting the edge of your genius by the mere gestures and motions of his body, and so distracting you and leading you away from every previous thought and purpose.