Against Quintus Caecilius |
Translator: C. D. Yonge
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| 79 |
' quid sibi iste vult ? accusatoremne se existimari , qui antea defendere consuerat , nunc praesertim , ea iam aetate , cum aedilitatem petat ?' ego vero et aetatis non modo meae sed multo etiam superioris , et honoris amplissimi puto esse et accusare improbos et miseros calamitososque defendere . et profecto aut hoc remedium est aegrotae ac prope desperatae rei publicae iudiciisque corruptis et contaminatis paucorum vitio ac turpitudine , homines ad legum defensionem iudiciorumque auctoritatem quam honestissimos et integerrimos diligentissimosque accedere ; aut , si ne hoc quidem prodesse poterit , profecto nulla umquam medicina his tot incommodis reperietur .
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“What can he be meaning? does he want to be considered a prosecutor who hitherto has been accustomed to defend people? and especially now at the age when he is seeking the aedileship?” But I think it becomes not my age only, but even a much greater age, and I think it an action consistent with the highest dignity to accuse the wicked, and to defend the miserable and distressed. And in truth, either this is a remedy for a republic diseased and in an almost desperate condition, and for tribunals corrupted and contaminated by the vices and baseness of a few, for men of the greatest possible honour and uprightness and modesty to undertake to uphold the stability of the laws, and the authority of the courts of justice; or else, if this is of no advantage, no medicine whatever will ever be found for such terrible and numerous evils as these. |
| 80 |
nulla salus rei publicae maior est quam eos qui alterum accusant non minus de laude , de honore , de fama sua quam illos qui accusantur de capite ac fortunis suis pertimescere . itaque semper ii diligentissime laboriosissimeque accusarunt qui se ipsos in discrimen existimationis venire arbitrati sunt .
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There is no greater safety for a republic, than for those who accuse another to be no less alarmed for their own credit, and honour, and reputation, than they who are accused are for their lives and fortunes. And therefore, those men have always conducted prosecutions with the greatest care and with the greatest pains, who have considered that they themselves had their reputations at stake. |
| 81 |
quam ob rem hoc statuere , iudices , debetis , Q . Caecilium , de quo nulla umquam opinio fuerit nullaque in hoc ipso iudicio exspectatio futura sit , qui neque ut ante collectam famam conservet neque uti reliqui temporis spem confirmet laborat , non nimis hanc causam severe , non nimis accurate , non nimis diligenter acturum . habet enim nihil quod in offensione deperdat ; ut turpissime flagitiosissimeque discedat , nihil de suis veteribus ornamentis requiret .
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You, therefore, O judges ought to come to this decision, that Quintus Caecilius of whom no one has ever had any opinion, and from whom even in this very trial nothing could be expected—who takes no trouble either to preserve a reputation previously acquired, or to give grounds for hope of himself in future times—will not be likely to conduct this cause with too much severity, with too much accuracy, or with too much diligence. For he has nothing which he can lose by disappointing public expectation; even if he were to come off ever so shamefully, or ever so infamously, he will lose no credit which he at present enjoys. |
| 82 |
A nobis multos obsides habet populus Romanus , quos ut incolumis conservare , tueri , confirmare ac recuperare possimus , omni ratione erit dimicandum . habet honorem quem petimus , habet spem quam propositam nobis habemus , habet existimationem multo sudore labore vigiliisque collectam , ut , si in hac causa nostrum officium ac diligentiam probaverimus , haec quae dixi retinere per populum Romanum incolumia ac salva possimus ; si tantulum offensum titubatumque sit , ut ea quae singillatim ac diu collecta sunt uno tempore universa perdamus .
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From us the Roman people has many hostages which we must labour with all our might and by every possible means to preserve uninjured, to defend, to keep in safety, and to redeem; it has honour which we are desirous of; it has hope, which we constantly keep before our eyes; it has reputation, acquired with much sweat and labour day and night; so that if we prove our duty and industry in this cause, we may be able to preserve all those things which I have mentioned safe and unimpaired by the favour of the Roman people; but if we trip and stumble ever so little, we may at one moment lose the whole of those things which have been collected one by one and by slow degrees. |
| 83 |
quapropter , iudices , vestrum est deligere quem existimetis facillime posse magnitudinem causae ac iudici sustinere fide , diligentia , consilio , auctoritate . vos si mihi Q . Caecilium anteposueritis , ego me dignitate superatum non arbitrabor : populus Romanus ne tam honestam , tam severam diligentemque accusationem neque vobis placuisse neque ordini vestro placere arbitretur , providete .
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On which account it is your business, O judges, to select him who you think can most easily sustain this great cause and trial with integrity, with diligence, with wisdom, and with authority. If you prefer Quintus Caecilius to me, I shall not think that I am surpassed in dignity; but take you care that the Roman people do not think that a prosecution as honest, as severe, as diligent as this would have been in my hands, was neither pleasing to yourselves nor to your body. |