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For P. Sulla (M. Tullius Cicero)
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For P. Sulla

Author: M. Tullius Cicero
Translator: C. D. Yonge
55
At
litterae
sunt
Fausti
,
per
quas
ille
precibus
a
P
.
Sulla
petit
ut
emat
gladiatores
et
ut
hos
ipsos
emat
,
neque
solum
ad
Sullam
missae
sed
ad
L
.
Caesarem
,
Q
.
Pompeium
,
C
.
Memmium
,
quorum
de
sententia
tota
res
gesta
est
. '
At
praefuit
familiae
Cornelius
,
libertus
eius
. '
Iam
si
in
paranda
familia
nulla
suspicio
est
,
quis
praefuerit
nihil
ad
rem
pertinet
;
sed
tamen
munere
servili
obtulit
se
ad
ferramenta
prospicienda
,
praefuit
vero
numquam
,
eaque
res
omni
tempore
per
Bellum
,
Fausti
libertum
,
administrata
est
.
But there are letters of Faustus's extant, in which he begs and prays Publius Sulla to buy gladiators, and to buy this very troop: and not only were such letters sent to Publius Sulla, but they were sent also to Lucius Caesar, to Quintus Pompeius, and to Gains Memmius, by whose advice the whole business was managed. But Cornelius was appointed to manage the troop. If in the respect of the purchase of this household of gladiators no suspicion attaches to the circumstances, it certainly can make no difference that he was appointed to manage them afterwards. But still, he in reality only discharged the servile duty of providing them with arms; but he never did superintend the men themselves; that duty was always discharged by Balbus, a freedman of Faustus.
56
At
enim
Sittius
est
ab
hoc
in
ulteriorem
Hispaniam
missus
ut
eam
provinciam
perturbaret
.
Primum
Sittius
,
iudices
,
L
.
Iulio
C
.
Figulo
consulibus
profectus
est
aliquanto
ante
furorem
Catilinae
et
suspicionem
huius
coniurationis
;
deinde
est
profectus
non
tum
primum
sed
cum
in
isdem
locis
aliquanto
ante
eadem
de
causa
aliquot
annos
fuisset
,
ac
profectus
est
non
modo
ob
causam
sed
etiam
ob
necessariam
causam
,
magna
ratione
cum
Mauretaniae
rege
contracta
.
Tum
autem
,
illo
profecto
,
Sulla
procurante
eius
rem
et
gerente
plurimis
et
pulcherrimis
P
.
Sitti
praediis
venditis
aes
alienum
eiusdem
dissolutum
est
,
ut
,
quae
causa
ceteros
ad
facinus
impulit
,
cupiditas
retinendae
possessionis
,
ea
Sittio
non
fuerit
praediis
deminutis
.
But Sittius was sent by him into further Spain; in order to excite sedition in that province. In the first place, O judges, Sittius departed, in the consulship of Lucius Julius and Caius Figulus, some time before this mad business of Catiline's, and before there was any suspicion of this conspiracy. In the second place, he did not go there for the first time, but he had already been there several years before, for the same purpose that he went now. And he went not only with an object but with a necessary object having some important accounts to settle with the king of Mauritania. But then, after he was gone, as Sulla managed his affairs as his agent he sold many of the most beautiful farms of Publius Sittius, and by this means paid his debts; so that the motive which drove the rest to this wickedness, the desire, namely, of retaining their possessions, did not exist in the case of Sittius, who had diminished his landed property to pay his debts.
57
Iam
vero
illud
quam
incredibile
,
quam
absurdum
,
qui
Romae
caedem
facere
,
qui
hanc
urbem
inflammare
vellet
,
eum
familiarissimum
suum
dimittere
ab
se
et
amandare
in
ultimas
terras
!
Vtrum
quo
facilius
Romae
ea
quae
conabatur
efficeret
,
si
in
Hispania
turbatum
esset
?
At
haec
ipsa
per
se
sine
ulla
coniunctione
agebantur
.
An
in
tantis
rebus
,
tam
novis
consiliis
,
tam
periculosis
,
tam
turbulentis
hominem
amantissimum
sui
,
familiarissimum
,
coniunctissimum
officiis
,
consuetudine
,
usu
dimittendum
esse
arbitrabatur
?
Veri
simile
non
est
ut
,
quem
in
secundis
rebus
,
quem
in
otio
secum
semper
habuisset
,
hunc
in
adversis
et
in
eo
tumultu
quem
ipse
comparabat
ab
se
dimitteret
.
But now, how incredible, how absurd is the idea that a man who wished to make a massacre at Rome, and to burn down this city, should let his most intimate friend depart, should send him away into the most distant countries! Did he so in order the more easily to effect what he was endeavoring to do at Rome, if there were seditions in Spain?—“But these things were done independently, and had no connection with one another.” Is it possible, then, that he should have thought it desirable, when engaged in such important affairs, in such novel and dangerous, and seditious designs, to send away a man thoroughly attached to himself, his most intimate friend, one connected with himself by reciprocal good offices and by constant intercourse? It is not probable that he should send a way, when in difficulty, and in the midst of troubles of his own raising, the man whom he had always kept with him in times of prosperity and tranquillity.
58
Ipse
autem
Sittius
non
enim
mihi
deserenda
est
causa
amici
veteris
atque
hospitis
is
homo
est
aut
ea
familia
ac
disciplina
ut
hoc
credi
possit
,
eum
bellum
populo
Romano
facere
voluisse
?
ut
,
cuius
pater
,
cum
ceteri
deficerent
finitimi
ac
vicini
,
singulari
exstiterit
in
rem
publicam
nostram
officio
et
fide
,
is
sibi
nefarium
bellum
contra
patriam
suscipiendum
putaret
?
cuius
aes
alienum
videmus
,
iudices
,
non
libidine
,
sed
negoti
gerendi
studio
esse
contractum
,
qui
ita
Romae
debuit
ut
in
provinciis
et
in
regnis
ei
maximae
pecuniae
deberentur
;
quas
cum
peteret
,
non
commisit
ut
sui
procuratores
quicquam
oneris
absente
se
sustinerent
;
venire
omnis
suas
possessiones
et
patrimonio
se
ornatissimo
spoliari
maluit
quam
ullam
moram
cuiquam
fieri
creditorum
suorum
.
But is Sittius himself (for I must not desert the cause of my old friend and host) a man of such a character, or of such a family and such a school as to allow us to believe that he wished to make war on the republic? Can we believe that he, whose father when all our other neighbours and borderers revolted from us behaved with singular duty and loyalty to our republic, should think it possible himself to undertake a nefarious war against his country? A man whose debts we see were contracted not out of luxury but from a desire to increase his property which led him to involve himself in business and who, though he owed debts at Rome, had very large debts owing to him in the provinces and in the confederate kingdoms and when he was applying for them he would not allow his agents to be put in any difficulty by his absence but preferred having all his property sold and being stripped himself of a most beautiful patrimony, to allowing any delay to take place in satisfying his creditors.
59
A
quo
quidem
genere
,
iudices
,
ego
numquam
timui
,
cum
in
illa
rei
publicae
tempestate
versarer
.
Illud
erat
hominum
genus
horribile
et
pertimescendum
qui
tanto
amore
suas
possessiones
amplexi
tenebant
ut
ab
eis
membra
citius
divelli
ac
distrahi
posse
diceres
.
Sittius
numquam
sibi
cognationem
cum
praediis
esse
existimavit
suis
.
Itaque
se
non
modo
ex
suspicione
tanti
sceleris
verum
etiam
ex
omni
hominum
sermone
non
armis
,
sed
patrimonio
suo
vindicavit
.
And of men of that sort I never, O judges, had any fear when I was in the middle of that tempest which afflicted the republic. The sort of men who were formidable and terrible were those who clung to their property with such affection that you would say it was easier to tear their limbs from them than their lands but Sittius never thought that there was such a relationship between him and his estates, and therefore he cleared himself, not only from all suspicion of such wickedness as theirs, but even from being talked about not by arms, but at the expense of his patrimony.
60
Iam
vero
quod
obiecit
Pompeianos
esse
a
Sulla
impulsos
ut
ad
istam
coniurationem
atque
ad
hoc
nefarium
facinus
accederent
,
id
cuius
modi
sit
intellegere
non
possum
.
An
tibi
Pompeiani
coniurasse
videntur
?
Quis
hoc
dixit
umquam
,
aut
quae
fuit
istius
rei
vel
minima
suspicio
? '
Diiunxit
, '
inquit
, '
eos
a
colonis
ut
hoc
discidio
ac
dissensione
facta
oppidum
in
sua
potestate
posset
per
Pompeianos
habere
. '
Primum
omnis
Pompeianorum
colonorumque
dissensio
delata
ad
patronos
est
,
cum
iam
inveterasset
ac
multos
annos
esset
agitata
;
deinde
ita
a
patronis
res
cognita
est
ut
nulla
in
re
a
ceterorum
sententiis
Sulla
dissenserit
;
postremo
coloni
ipsi
sic
intellegunt
,
non
Pompeianos
a
Sulla
magis
quam
sese
esse
defensos
.
But now, as to what he adds, that the inhabitants of Pompeii were excited by Sulla to join that conspiracy and that abominable wickedness, what sort of statement that I am quite unable to understand. Do the people of Pompeii appear to have joined the conspiracy? Who has ever said so? or when was there the slightest suspicion of this fact? “He separated then,” says he, “from the settlers, in order that when he had excited dissensions and divisions within, he might be able to have the town and nation of Pompeii in his power.” In the first place, every circumstance of the dissension between the natives of Pompeii and the settlers was referred to the patrons of the town, being a matter of long standing, and having been going on many years. In the second place, the matter was investigated by the patrons in such a way, that Sulla did not in any particular disagree with the opinions of the others. And lastly, the settlers themselves understand that the natives of Pompeii were not more denuded by Sulla than they themselves were.
61
Atque
hoc
,
iudices
,
ex
hac
frequentia
colonorum
,
honestissimorum
hominum
,
intellegere
potestis
,
qui
adsunt
,
laborant
,
hunc
patronum
,
defensorem
,
custodem
illius
coloniae
si
in
omni
fortuna
atque
omni
honore
incolumem
habere
non
potuerunt
,
in
hoc
tamen
casu
in
quo
adflictus
iacet
per
vos
iuvari
conservarique
cupiunt
.
Adsunt
pari
studio
Pompeiani
,
qui
ab
istis
etiam
in
crimen
vocantur
;
qui
ita
de
ambulatione
ac
de
suffragiis
suis
cum
colonis
dissenserunt
ut
idem
de
communi
salute
sentirent
.
And this, O judges, you may ascertain from the number of settlers, most honourable men, here present; who are here now, and are anxious and above all things desirous that the man, the patron, the defender, the guardian of that colony, (if they have not been able to see him in the safe enjoyment of every sort of good fortune and every honour,) may at all events, in the present misfortune by which he is attacked, be defended and preserved by your means. The natives of Pompeii are here also with equal eagerness, who are accused as well as he is by the prosecutors; men whose differences with the settlers about walks and about votes have not gone to such lengths as to make them differ also about their common safety.
62
Ac
ne
haec
quidem
P
.
Sullae
mihi
videtur
silentio
praetereunda
esse
virtus
,
quod
,
cum
ab
hoc
illa
colonia
deducta
sit
,
et
cum
commoda
colonorum
a
fortunis
Pompeianorum
rei
publicae
fortuna
diiunxerit
,
ita
carus
utrisque
est
atque
iucundus
ut
non
alteros
demovisse
sed
utrosque
constituisse
videatur
.
And even this virtue of Publius Sulla appears to me to be one which ought not to be passed over in silence;—that though that colony was originally settled by him, and though the fortune of the Roman people has separated the interests of the settlers from the fortunes of the native citizens of Pompeii, he is still so popular among, and so much beloved by both parties, that he seems not so much to have dispossessed the one party of their lands as to have settled both of them in that country.
63
At
enim
et
gladiatores
et
omnis
ista
vis
rogationis
Caeciliae
causa
comparabatur
.
Atque
hoc
loco
in
L
.
Caecilium
,
pudentissimum
atque
ornatissimum
virum
,
vehementer
invectus
est
.
Cuius
ego
de
virtute
et
constantia
,
iudices
,
tantum
dico
,
talem
hunc
in
ista
rogatione
quam
promulgarat
non
de
tollenda
,
sed
de
levanda
calamitate
fratris
sui
fuisse
ut
consulere
voluerit
fratri
,
cum
re
publica
pugnare
noluerit
;
promulgarit
impulsus
amore
fraterno
,
destiterit
fratris
auctoritate
deductus
.
Atque
in
ea
re
per
L
.
Caecilium
Sulla
accusatur
in
qua
re
est
uterque
laudandus
.
Primum
Caecilius
quid
? '
id
promulgavit
in
quo
res
iudicatas
videbatur
voluisse
rescindere
,
ut
restitueretur
Sulla
. '
Recte
reprehendis
;
status
enim
rei
publicae
maxime
iudicatis
rebus
continetur
;
neque
ego
tantum
fraterno
amori
dandum
arbitror
ut
quisquam
,
dum
saluti
suorum
consulat
,
communem
relinquat
.
At
nihil
de
iudicio
ferebat
,
sed
poenam
ambitus
eam
referebat
quae
fuerat
nuper
superioribus
legibus
constituta
.
Itaque
hac
rogatione
non
iudicum
sententia
,
sed
legis
vitium
corrigebatur
.
Nemo
iudicium
reprehendit
,
cum
de
poena
queritur
,
sed
legem
.
Damnatio
est
enim
iudicum
,
quae
manebat
,
poena
legis
,
quae
levabatur
.
“But the gladiators, and all those preparations for violence, were got together because of the motion of Caecilius.” And then he inveighed bitterly against Caecilius, a most virtuous and most accomplished man, of whose virtue and constancy, O judges, I will only say thus much,—that he behaved in such a manner with respect to that motion which he brought forward, not for the purpose of doing away with, but only of relieving his brother's misfortune, that though he wished to consult his brother's welfare, he was unwilling to oppose the interests of the republic; he proposed his law the impulse of brotherly affection, and he abandoned it because he was dissuaded from it by his brother's authority. And Sulla is accused by Lucius Caecilius, in that business in which both of them deserve praise. In the first place Caecilius, for having proposed a law in which he appeared to wish to rescind an unjust decision; and Sulla, who reproved him, and chose to abide by the decision. For the constitution of the republic derives its principal consistency from formal legal decisions. Nor do I think that any one ought to yield so much to his love for his brother as to think only of the welfare of his own relations, and to neglect the common safety of all. He did not touch the decision already given, but he took away the punishment for bribery which had been lately established by recent laws. And, therefore, by this motion he was seeking, not to rescind a decision, but to correct a defect in the law. When a man is complaining of a penalty, it is not the decision with which he is finding fault but the law. For the conviction is the act of judges, and that is let stand; the penalty is the act of the law, and that may be lightened.
64
Noli
igitur
animos
eorum
ordinum
qui
praesunt
iudiciis
summa
cum
gravitate
et
dignitate
alienare
a
causa
.
Nemo
labefactare
iudicium
est
conatus
,
nihil
est
eius
modi
promulgatum
,
semper
Caecilius
in
calamitate
fratris
sui
iudicum
potestatem
perpetuandam
,
legis
acerbitatem
mitigandam
putavit
.
Sed
quid
ego
de
hoc
plura
disputem
?
Do not therefore, alienate from your cause the inclinations of those orders of men which preside over the courts of justice with the greatest authority and dignity. No one, has attempted to annul the decision which has been given; nothing of that sort has been proposed. What Caecilius always thought while grieved at the calamity which had befallen his brother, was, that the power of the judges ought to be preserved unimpaired, but that the severity of the law required to be mitigated.
65
Dicerem
fortasse
,
et
facile
et
libenter
dicerem
,
si
paulo
etiam
longius
quam
finis
cotidiani
offici
postulat
L
.
Caecilium
pietas
et
fraternus
amor
propulisset
,
implorarem
sensus
vestros
,
unius
cuiusque
indulgentiam
in
suos
testarer
,
peterem
veniam
errato
L
.
Caecili
ex
intimis
vestris
cogitationibus
atque
ex
humanitate
communi
.
Lex
dies
fuit
proposita
paucos
,
ferri
coepta
numquam
,
deposita
est
in
senatu
.
Kalendis
Ianuariis
cum
in
Capitolium
nos
senatum
convocassemus
,
nihil
est
actum
prius
,
et
id
mandatu
Sullae
Q
.
Metellus
praetor
se
loqui
dixit
Sullam
illam
rogationem
de
se
nolle
ferri
.
Ex
illo
tempore
L
.
Caecilius
egit
de
re
publica
multa
;
agrariae
legi
,
quae
tota
a
me
reprehensa
et
abiecta
est
,
se
intercessorem
fore
professus
est
,
improbis
largitionibus
restitit
,
senatus
auctoritatem
numquam
impedivit
,
ita
se
gessit
in
tribunatu
ut
onere
deposito
domestici
offici
nihil
postea
nisi
de
rei
publicae
commodis
cogitarit
.
But why need I say more on this topic? I might speak perhaps, and I would speak willingly and gladly, if affection and fraternal love had impelled Lucius Caecilius a little beyond the limits which regular and strict duty requires of a man; I would appeal to your feelings, I would invoke the affection which every one feels for his own relations; I would solicit pardon for the error of Lucius Caecilius, from your own inmost thoughts and from the common humanity of all men. The law was proposed only a few days; it was never begun to be put in train to be carried; it was laid on the table in the senate. On the first of January, when we had summoned the senate to meet in the Capitol, nothing took precedence of it; and Quintus Metellus the praetor said, that what he was saying was by the command of Sulla; that Sulla did not wish such a motion to be brought forward respecting his case. From that time forward Caecilius applied himself to many measures for the advantage of the republic; he declared that he by his intercession would stop the agrarian law, which was in every part of it denounced and defeated by me. He resisted infamous attempts at corruption; he never threw any obstacles in the way of the authority of the senate. He behaved himself in his tribuneship in such a manner, that, laying aside all regard for his own domestic concerns, he thought of nothing for the future but the welfare of the republic.
66
Atque
in
ipsa
rogatione
ne
per
vim
quid
ageretur
,
quis
tum
nostrum
Sullam
aut
Caecilium
verebatur
?
nonne
omnis
ille
terror
,
omnis
seditionis
timor
atque
opinio
ex
Autroni
improbitate
pendebat
?
Eius
voces
,
eius
minae
ferebantur
,
eius
aspectus
,
concursatio
,
stipatio
,
greges
hominum
perditorum
metum
nobis
seditionesque
adferebant
.
Itaque
P
.
Sulla
hoc
importunissimo
cum
honoris
tum
etiam
calamitatis
socio
atque
comite
et
secundas
fortunas
amittere
coactus
est
et
in
adversis
sine
ullo
remedio
atque
adlevamento
permanere
.
And even in regard to this very motion, who was there of us who had any fears of Sulla or Caecilius attempting to carry any point by violence? Did not all the alarm that existed at that time, all the fear and expectation of sedition, arise from the villainy of Autronius? It was his expressions and his threats which were bruited abroad; it was the sight of him, the multitudes that thronged to him, the crowd that escorted him, and the bands of his abandoned followers, that caused all the fear of sedition which agitated us. Therefore, Publius Sulla, as this most odious man was then his comrade and partner, not only in honour but also in misfortune, was compelled to lose his own good fortune, and to remain under a cloud without any remedy or alleviation.
67
Hic
tu
epistulam
meam
saepe
recitas
quam
ego
ad
Cn
.
Pompeium
de
meis
rebus
gestis
et
de
summa
re
publica
misi
,
et
ex
ea
crimen
aliquod
in
P
.
Sullam
quaeris
et
,
si
furorem
incredibilem
biennio
ante
conceptum
erupisse
in
meo
consulatu
scripsi
,
me
hoc
demonstrasse
dicis
,
Sullam
in
illa
fuisse
superiore
coniuratione
.
Scilicet
ego
is
sum
qui
existimem
Cn
.
Pisonem
et
Catilinam
et
Vargunteium
et
Autronium
nihil
scelerate
,
nihil
audacter
ipsos
per
sese
sine
P
.
Sulla
facere
potuisse
.
At this point you are constantly reading passages from my letter, which I sent to Cnaeus Pompeius about my own achievements, and about the general state of the republic; and out of it you seek to extract some charge against Publius Sulla. And because I wrote that an attempt of incredible madness, conceived two years before, had broken out in my consulship, you say that I, by this expression, have proved that Sulla was in the former conspiracy. I suppose I think that Cnaeus Piso, and Catiline, and Vargunteius were not able to do any wicked or audacious act by themselves, without the aid of Publius Sulla!
68
De
quo
etiam
si
quis
dubitasset
antea
an
id
quod
tu
arguis
cogitasset
,
ut
interfecto
patre
tuo
consul
descenderet
Kalendis
Ianuariis
cum
lictoribus
,
sustulisti
hanc
suspicionem
,
cum
dixisti
hunc
,
ut
Catilinam
consulem
efficeret
,
contra
patrem
tuum
operas
et
manum
comparasse
.
Quod
si
tibi
ego
confitear
,
tu
mihi
concedas
necesse
est
hunc
,
cum
Catilinae
suffragaretur
,
nihil
de
suo
consulatu
,
quem
iudicio
amiserat
,
per
vim
recuperando
cogitavisse
.
Neque
enim
istorum
facinorum
tantorum
,
tam
atrocium
crimen
,
iudices
,
P
.
Sullae
persona
suscipit
.
But even if any one had had a doubt on that subject before, would he have thought (as you accuse him of having done) of descending, after the murder of your father, who was then consul, into the Campus on the first of January with the lictors? This suspicion, in fact you removed yourself, when you said that he had prepared an armed band and cherished violent designs against your father, in order to make Catiline consul. And if I grant you this, then you must grant to me that Sulla, when he was voting for Catiline, had no thoughts of recovering by violence his own consulship, which he had lost by a judicial decision. For his character is not one, O judges, which is at all liable to the imputation of such enormous, of such atrocious crimes.
69
Iam
enim
faciam
criminibus
omnibus
fere
dissolutis
,
contra
atque
in
ceteris
causis
fieri
solet
,
ut
nunc
denique
de
vita
hominis
ac
de
moribus
dicam
.
Etenim
de
principio
studuit
animus
occurrere
magnitudini
criminis
,
satis
facere
exspectationi
hominum
,
de
me
aliquid
ipso
qui
accusatus
eram
dicere
;
nunc
iam
revocandi
estis
eo
quo
vos
ipsa
causa
etiam
tacente
me
cogit
animos
mentisque
convertere
.
For I will now proceed, after I have refuted all the charges against him, by an arrangement contrary to that which is usually adopted, to speak of the general course of life and habits of my client. In truth, at the beginning I was eager to encounter the greatness of the accusation, to satisfy the expectations of men, and to say something also of myself, since I too had been accused. But now I mast call you back to that point to which the cause itself, even if I said nothing, would compel you to direct all your attention.
70
Omnibus
in
rebus
,
iudices
,
quae
graviores
maioresque
sunt
,
quid
quisque
voluerit
,
cogitarit
,
admiserit
,
non
ex
crimine
,
sed
ex
moribus
eius
qui
arguitur
est
ponderandum
.
Neque
enim
potest
quisquam
nostrum
subito
fingi
neque
cuiusquam
repente
vita
mutari
aut
natura
converti
.
Circumspicite
paulisper
mentibus
vestris
,
ut
alia
mittamus
,
hosce
ipsos
homines
qui
huic
adfines
sceleri
fuerunt
.
Catilina
contra
rem
publicam
coniuravit
.
Cuius
aures
umquam
haec
respuerunt
?
conatum
esse
audacter
hominem
a
pueritia
non
solum
intemperantia
et
scelere
sed
etiam
consuetudine
et
studio
in
omni
flagitio
,
stupro
,
caede
versatum
?
Quis
eum
contra
patriam
pugnantem
perisse
miratur
quem
semper
omnes
ad
civile
latrocinium
natum
putaverunt
?
Quis
Lentuli
societates
cum
indicibus
,
quis
insaniam
libidinum
,
quis
perversam
atque
impiam
religionem
recordatur
qui
illum
aut
nefarie
cogitasse
aut
stulte
sperasse
miretur
?
Quis
de
C
.
Cethego
atque
eius
in
Hispaniam
profectione
ac
de
volnere
Q
.
Metelli
Pii
cogitat
cui
non
ad
illius
poenam
carcer
aedificatus
esse
videatur
?
In every case, O judges, which is of more serious importance than usual, we must judge a good deal as to what every one has wished, or intended, or done, not from the counts of the indictment but from the habits of the person who is accused. For no one of us can have his character modeled in a moment, nor can any one's course of life be altered, or his natural disposition changed on a sudden. Survey for a moment in your mind's eye, O judges, (to say nothing of other instances,) these very men who were implicated in this wickedness. Catiline conspired against the republic. Whose ears were ever unwilling to believe in this attempt on the part of a man who had spent his whole life, from his boyhood upwards, not only in intemperance and debauchery, but who had devoted all his energies and all his zeal to every sort of enormity, and lust, and bloodshed? Who marveled that that man died fighting against his country, whom all men had always thought born for civil war? Who is there that recollects the way in which Lentulus was a partner it of informers or the insanity of his caprices or his perverse and impious superstition, who can wonder that he cherished either wicked designs, or insane hopes? Who even thinks of Caius Cethegus and his expedition into Spain and the wound inflicted on Quintus Metellus Pius without seeing that a prison was built on purpose to be the scene of his punishment?
71
Omitto
ceteros
,
ne
sit
infinitum
;
tantum
a
vobis
peto
ut
taciti
de
omnibus
quos
coniurasse
cognitum
est
cogitetis
;
intellegetis
unum
quemque
eorum
prius
ab
sua
vita
quam
vestra
suspicione
esse
damnatum
.
Ipsum
illum
Autronium
,
quoniam
eius
nomen
finitimum
maxime
est
huius
periculo
et
crimini
,
non
sua
vita
ac
natura
convicit
?
Semper
audax
,
petulans
,
libidinosus
;
quem
in
stuprorum
defensionibus
non
solum
verbis
uti
improbissimis
solitum
esse
scimus
verum
etiam
pugnis
et
calcibus
,
quem
exturbare
homines
ex
possessionibus
,
caedem
facere
vicinorum
,
spoliare
fana
sociorum
,
comitatu
et
armis
disturbare
iudicia
,
in
bonis
rebus
omnis
contemnere
,
in
malis
pugnare
contra
bonos
,
non
rei
publicae
cedere
,
non
fortunae
ipsi
succumbere
.
Huius
si
causa
non
manifestissimis
rebus
teneretur
,
tamen
eum
mores
ipsius
ac
vita
convinceret
.
I say nothing of the rest that there may be some end to my instances. I only ask you silently to recollect all those men who are proved to have been in this conspiracy. You will see that every one of those men was convicted by his own manner of life, before be was condemned by our suspicion. And as for Autronius himself, (since his name is the most nearly connected with the danger in which my client is, and with the accusation which is brought against him,) did not the manner in which he had spent all his early life convict him? He had always been audacious, violent profligate. We know that in defending himself in charges of adultery, he was accustomed to use not only the most infamous language, but even his fists and his feet. We know that he had been accustomed to drive men from their estates, to murder his neighbors, to plunder the temples of the allies, to disturb the courts of justice by violence and arms; in prosperity to despise every body, in adversity to fight against all good men; never to regard the interests of the republic, and not to yield even to fortune herself. Even if he were not convicted by the most irresistible evidence, still his own habits and his past life would convict him.
72
Agedum
,
conferte
nunc
cum
illius
vita
vitam
P
.
Sullae
vobis
populoque
Romano
notissimam
,
iudices
,
et
eam
ante
oculos
vestros
proponite
.
Ecquod
est
huius
factum
aut
commissum
non
dicam
audacius
,
sed
quod
cuiquam
paulo
minus
consideratum
videretur
?
Factum
quaero
;
verbum
ecquod
umquam
ex
ore
huius
excidit
in
quo
quisquam
posset
offendi
?
At
vero
in
illa
gravi
L
.
Sullae
turbulentaque
victoria
quis
P
.
Sulla
mitior
,
quis
misericordior
inventus
est
?
Quam
multorum
hic
vitam
est
a
L
.
Sulla
deprecatus
!
quam
multi
sunt
summi
homines
et
ornatissimi
et
nostri
et
equestris
ordinis
quorum
pro
salute
se
hic
Sullae
obligavit
!
Quos
ego
nominarem
neque
enim
ipsi
nolunt
et
huic
animo
gratissimo
adsunt
sed
,
quia
maius
est
beneficium
quam
posse
debet
civis
civi
dare
,
ideo
a
vobis
peto
ut
quod
potuit
,
tempori
tribuatis
,
quod
fecit
,
ipsi
.
Come now, compare with those men the life of Publius Sulla, well known as it is to you and to all the Roman people; and place it, O judges, as it were before your eyes. Has there ever been any act or exploit of his which has seemed to any one, I will not say audacious, but even rather inconsiderate? Do I say any act? Has any word ever fallen from his lips by which any one could be offended? Yes, even in that terrible and disorderly victory of Lucius Sulla, who was found more gentle or more merciful than Publius Sulla? How many men's wives did he not save by begging them of Lucius Sulla! How many men are there of the highest rank and of the greatest accomplishments, both of our order and of the equestrian body, for whose safety he laid himself under obligations to Lucius Sulla! whom I might name, for they have no objection; indeed they are here to countenance him now, with the most grateful feelings towards him. But because that service is a greater one than one citizen ought to be able to do to another, I entreat of you to impute to the times the fact of his having such power, but to give him himself the credit due to his having exerted it in such a manner.