Orations |
Translator: C. D. Yonge
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| 73 |
Virum res illa quaerebat . Quod si te in iudicium quis adducat usurpetque illud Cassianum , ‘cui bono fuerit ,’ vide , quaeso , ne haereas . Quamquam illud quidem fuit , ut tu dicebas , omnibus bono qui servire nolebant , tibi tamen praecipue qui non modo non servis sed etiam regnas ; qui maximo te aere alieno ad aedem Opis liberavisti ; qui per easdem tabulas innumerabilem pecuniam dissipavisti ; ad quem e domo Caesaris tam multa delata sunt ; cuius domi quaestuosissima est falsorum commentariorum et chirographorum officina , agrorum , oppidorum , immunitatium , vectigalium flagitiosissimae nundinae .
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That exploit required a man. And if any one should institute a prosecution against you, and employ that test of old Cassius, “who reaped any advantage from it?” take care, I advise you, lest you suit that description. Although, in truth, that action was, as you used to say, an advantage to every one who was not willing to be a slave, still it was so to you above all men, who are not merely not a slave, but are actually a king; who delivered yourself from an enormous burden of debt at the temple of Ops; who, by your dealings with the account-books, there squandered a countless sum of money; who have had such vast treasures brought to you from Caesar's house; at whose own house there is set up a most lucrative manufactory of false memoranda and autographs, and a most iniquitous market of lands, and towns, and exemptions, and revenues. |
| 74 |
Etenim quae res egestati et aeri alieno tuo praeter mortem Caesaris subvenire potuisset ? Nescio quid conturbatus esse videris : num quid subtimes ne ad te hoc crimen pertinere videatur ? Libero te metu : nemo credet umquam ; non est tuum de re publica bene mereri ; habet istius pulcherrimi facti clarissimos viros res publica auctores ; ego te tantum gaudere dico , fecisse non arguo . Respondi maximis criminibus : nunc etiam reliquis respondendum est .
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In truth, what measure except the death of Caesar could possibly have been any relief to your indigent and insolvent condition? You appear to be somewhat agitated. Have you any secret fear that you yourself may appear to have had some connection with that crime? I will release you from all apprehension; no one will ever believe it; it is not like you to deserve well of the republic; the most illustrious men in the republic are the authors of that exploit; I only say that you are glad it was done; I do not accuse you of having done it. I have replied to your heaviest accusations, I must now also reply to the rest of them. |
| 75 |
Castra mihi Pompei atque illud omne tempus obiecisti . Quo quidem tempore si , ut dixi , meum consilium auctoritasque valuisset , tu hodie egeres , nos liberi essemus ; res publica non tot duces et exercitus amisisset . Fateor enim me , cum ea quae acciderunt providerem futura , tanta in maestitia fuisse quanta ceteri optimi cives , si idem providissent , fuissent . Dolebam , dolebam , patres conscripti , rem publicam vestris quondam meisque consiliis conservatam brevi tempore esse perituram . Nec vero eram tam indoctus ignarusque rerum ut frangerer animo propter vitae cupiditatem , quae me manens conficeret angoribus , dimissa molestiis omnibus liberaret . Illos ego praestantissimos viros , lumina rei publicae , vivere volebam , tot consularis , tot praetorios , tot honestissimos senatores , omnem praeterea florem nobilitatis ac iuventutis , tum optimorum civium exercitus ; qui si viverent , quamvis iniqua condicione pacis —mihi enim omnis pax cum civibus bello civili utilior videbatur —rem publicam hodie teneremus .
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You have thrown in my teeth the camp of Pompeius and all my conduct at that time. At which time, indeed, if, as I have said before, my counsels and my authority had prevailed, you would this day be in indigence, we should be free and the republic would not have lost so many generals and so many armies. For I confess that, when I saw that these things certainly would happen, which now have happened, I was as greatly grieved as all the other virtuous citizens would have been if they had foreseen the same things. I did grieve, I did grieve, O conscript fathers, that the republic which had once been saved by your counsels and mine, was fated to perish in a short time. Nor was I so inexperienced in and ignorant of this nature of things, as to be disheartened on account of a fondness for life, which while it endured would wear me out with anguish, and when brought to an end would release me from all trouble. But I was desirous that those most illustrious men, the lights of the republic, should live: so many men of consular rank, so many men of praetorian rank, so many most honorable senators; and besides them all the flower of our nobility and of our youth; and the armies of excellent citizens. And if they were still alive, under ever such hard conditions of peace (for any sort of peace with our fellow-citizens appeared to me more desirable than civil war), we should be still this day enjoying the republic. |
| 76 |
Quae sententia si valuisset ac non ei maxime mihi quorum ego vitae consulebam spe victoriae elati obstitissent , ut alia omittam , tu certe numquam in hoc ordine vel potius numquam in hac urbe mansisses . At vero Cn . Pompei voluntatem a me alienabat oratio mea . An ille quemquam plus dilexit , cum ullo aut sermones aut consilia contulit saepius ? Quod quidem erat magnum , de summa re publica dissentientis in eadem consuetudine amicitiae permanere . Ego quid ille et contra ille quid ego sentirem et spectarem videbat . Ego incolumitati civium primum , ut postea dignitati possemus , ille praesenti dignitati potius consulebat . Quod autem habebat uterque quid sequeretur , idcirco tolerabilior erat nostra dissensio .
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And if my opinion had prevailed, and if those men, the preservation of whose lives was my main object, elated with the hope of victory, had not been my chief opposers, to say nothing of other results, at all events you would never have continued in this order, or rather in this city. But say you, my speech alienated from me the regard of Pompeius? Was there any one to whom he was more attached? any one with whom he conversed or shared his counsels more frequently? It was, indeed, a great thing that we, differing as we did respecting the general interests of the republic, should continue in uninterrupted friendship. But I saw clearly what his opinions and views were, and he saw mine equally. I was for providing for the safety of the citizens in the first place, in order that we might be able to consult their dignity afterward. He thought more of consulting their existing dignity. But because each of us had a definite object to pursue, our disagreement was the more endurable. |
| 77 |
Quid vero ille singularis vir ac paene divinus de me senserit sciunt qui eum de Pharsalia fuga Paphum persecuti sunt . Numquam ab eo mentio de me nisi honorifica , nisi plena amicissimi desideri , cum me vidisse plus fateretur , se speravisse meliora . Et eius viri nomine me insectari audes cuius me amicum , te sectorem esse fateare ?
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But what that extra ordinary and almost godlike man thought of me is known to those men who pursued him to Paphos from the battle of Pharsalia. No mention of me was ever made by him that was not the most honorable that could be, that was not full of the most friendly regret for me; while he confessed that I had had the most foresight, but that he had had more sanguine hopes. And do you dare taunt me with the name of that man whose friend you admit that I was, and whose assassin you confess yourself? |
| 78 |
Sed omittatur bellum illud in quo tu nimium felix fuisti . Ne de iocis quidem respondebo quibus me in castris usum esse dixisti : erant quidem illa castra plena curae ; verum tamen homines , quamvis in turbidis rebus sint , tamen , si modo homines sunt , interdum animis relaxantur . Quod autem idem maestitiam meam reprehendit , idem iocum , magno argumento est me in utroque fuisse moderatum . Hereditates mihi negasti venire . Vtinam hoc tuum verum crimen esset ! plures amici mei et necessarii viverent . Sed qui istuc tibi venit in mentem ? Ego enim amplius sestertium ducentiens acceptum hereditatibus rettuli . Quamquam in hoc genere fateor feliciorem esse te . Me nemo nisi amicus fecit heredem , ut cum illo commodo , si quod erat , animi quidam dolor iungeretur ; te is quem tu vidisti numquam , L . Rubrius Casinas fecit heredem .
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However, let us say no more of war in which you were too fortunate. I will not reply even with those jests to which you have said that I gave utterance in the camp. That camp was in truth full of anxiety, but although men are in great difficulties, still, provided they are men, they sometimes relax their minds. But the fact that the same man finds fault with my melancholy, and also with my jokes, is a great proof that I was very moderate in each particular. You have said that no inheritances come to me. Would that this accusation of yours were a true one; I should have more of my friends and connections alive. But how could such a charge ever come into your head? For I have received more than twenty millions of sesterces in inheritances. Although in this particular I admit that you have been more fortunate than I. No one has ever made me his heir except he was a friend of mine, in order that my grief of mind for his loss might be accompanied also with some gain, if it was to be considered as such. But a man whom you never even saw, Lucius Rubrius, of Casinum, made you his heir. |
| 79 |
Et quidem vide quam te amarit is qui albus aterne fuerit ignoras . Fratris filium praeterit , Q . Fufi , honestissimi equitis Romani suique amicissimi , quem palam heredem semper factitarat , ne nominat quidem : te , quem numquam viderat aut certe numquam salutaverat , fecit heredem . Velim mihi dicas , nisi molestum est , L . Turselius qua facie fuerit , qua statura , quo municipio , qua tribu . ‘Nihil scio ’ inquies ‘nisi quae praedia habuerit .’ Igitur fratrem exheredans te faciebat heredem . In multas praeterea pecunias alienissimorum hominum vi eiectis veris heredibus , tamquam heres esset , invasit .
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And see now how much he loved you, who, though he did not know whether you were white or black, passed over the son of his brother, Quintus Fufius, a most honorable Roman knight, and most attached to him, whom he had on all occasions openly declared his heir (he never even names him in his will), and he makes you his heir whom he had never seen, or at all events had never spoken to. I wish you would tell me, if it is not too much trouble, what sort of countenance Lucius Turselius was of; what sort of height; from what municipal town he came; and of what tribe he was a member. “I know nothing,” you will say, “about him, except what farms he had.” Therefore, he, disinheriting his brother, made you his heir. And besides these instances, this man has seized on much other property belonging to men wholly unconnected with him, to the exclusion of the legitimate heirs, as if he himself were the heir. |
| 80 |
Quamquam hoc maxime admiratus sum , mentionem te hereditatum ausum esse facere , cum ipse hereditatem patris non adisses .
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Although the thing that struck me with most astonishment of all was, that you should venture to make mention of inheritances, when you yourself had not received the inheritance of your own father. |
| 81 |
Haec ut conligeres , homo amentissime , tot dies in aliena villa declamasti ? quamquam tu quidem , ut tui familiarissimi dictitant , vini exhalandi , non ingeni acuendi causa declamitas . At vero adhibes ioci causa magistrum suffragio tuo et compotorum tuorum rhetorem , cui concessisti ut in te quae vellet diceret , salsum omnino hominem , sed materia facilis in te et in tuos dicta dicere . Vide autem quid intersit inter te et avum tuum . Ille sensim dicebat quod causae prodesset ; tu cursim dicis aliena . At quanta merces rhetori data est ! Audite , audite , patres conscripti , et cognoscite rei publicae volnera . Duo milia iugerum campi Leontini Sex . Clodio rhetori adsignasti et quidem immunia , ut populi Romani tanta mercede nihil sapere disceres . Num etiam hoc , homo audacissime , ex Caesaris commentariis ? Sed dicam alio loco et de Leontino agro et de Campano , quos iste agros ereptos rei publicae turpissimis possessoribus inquinavit . Iam enim , quoniam criminibus eius satis respondi , de ipso emendatore et correctore nostro quaedam dicenda sunt . Nec enim omnia effundam , ut , si saepius decertandum sit , ut erit , semper novus veniam : quam facultatem mihi multitudo istius vitiorum peccatorumque largitur .
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And was it in order to collect all these arguments, O you most senseless of men, that you spent so many days in practicing declamation in another man's villa? Although, indeed (as your most intimate friends usually say), you are in the habit of declaiming, not for the purpose of whetting your genius, but of working off the effects of wine. And, indeed, you employ a master to teach you jokes, a man appointed by your own vote and that of your boon companions; a rhetorician, whom you have allowed to say whatever he pleased against you, a thoroughly facetious gentleman; but there are plenty of materials for speaking against you and against your friends. But just see now what a difference there is between you and your grandfather. He used with great deliberation to bring forth arguments advantageous for the cause he was advocating; you pour forth in a hurry the sentiments which you have been taught by another. And what wages have you paid this rhetorician? Listen, listen, O conscript fathers, and learn the blows which are inflicted on the republic. You have assigned, O Antonius, two thousand acres of land, in the Leontine district, to Sextus Clodius, the rhetorician, and those, too, exempt from every kind of tax, for the sake of putting the Roman people to such a vast expense that you might learn to be a fool. Was this gift, too, O you most audacious of men, found among Caesar's papers? But I will take another opportunity to speak about the Leontine and the Campanian district; where he has stolen lands from the republic to pollute them with most infamous owners. For now, since I have sufficiently replied to all his charges, I must say a little about our corrector and censor himself. And yet I will not say all I could, in order that if I have often to battle with him I may always come to the contest with fresh arms; and the multitude of his vices and atrocities will easily enable me to do so. |
| 82 |
Visne igitur te inspiciamus a puero ? Sic opinor ; a principio ordiamur . Tenesne memoria praetextatum te decoxisse ? ‘Patris ’ inquies ‘ista culpa est .’ Concedo . Etenim est pietatis plena defensio . Illud tamen audaciae tuae quod sedisti in quattuordecim ordinibus , cum esset lege Roscia decoctoribus certus locus constitutus , quamvis quis fortunae vitio , non suo decoxisset . Sumpsisti virilem , quam statim muliebrem togam reddidisti . Primo volgare scortum ; certa flagiti merces nec ea parva ; sed cito Curio intervenit qui te a meretricio quaestu abduxit et , tamquam stolam dedisset , in matrimonio stabili et certo conlocavit .
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Shall we then examine your conduct from the time when you were a boy? I think so. Let us begin at the beginning. Do you recollect that, while you were still clad in the praetexta, you became a bankrupt? That was the fault of your father, you will say. I admit that. In truth such a defense is full of filial affection. But it is peculiarly suited to your own audacity, that you sat among the fourteen rows of the knights, though by the Roscian law there was a place appointed for bankrupts, even if any one had become such by the fault of fortune and not by his own. You assumed the manly gown, which your soon made a womanly one: at first a public prostitute, with a regular price for your wickedness, and that not a low one. But very soon Curio stepped in, who carried you off from your public trade, and, as if he had bestowed a matron's robe upon you, settled you in a steady and durable wedlock. |
| 83 |
Nemo umquam puer emptus libidinis causa tam fuit in domini potestate quam tu in Curionis . Quotiens te pater eius domu sua eiecit , quotiens custodes posuit ne limen intrares ? cum tu tamen nocte socia , hortante libidine , cogente mercede , per tegulas demitterere . Quae flagitia domus illa diutius ferre non potuit . Scisne me de rebus mihi notissimis dicere ? Recordare tempus illud cum pater Curio maerens iacebat in lecto ; filius se ad pedes meos prosternens , lacrimans , te mihi commendabat ; orabat ut se contra suum patrem , si sestertium sexagiens peteret , defenderem ; tantum enim se pro te intercessisse dicebat . Ipse autem amore ardens confirmabat , quod desiderium tui discidi ferre non posset , se in exsilium iturum .
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No boy bought for the gratification of passion was ever so wholly in the power of his master as you were in Curio's. How often has his father turned you out of his house? How often has he placed guards to prevent you from entering? while you, with night for your accomplice, lust for your encourager, and wages for your compeller, were let down through the roof. That house could no longer endure your wickedness. Do you not know that I am speaking of matters with which I am thoroughly acquainted? Remember that time when Curio, the father, lay weeping in his bed; his son throwing himself at my feet with tears recommended to me you; he entreated me to defend you against his own father, if he demanded six millions of sesterces of you; for that he had been bail for you to that amount. And he himself, burning with love, declared positively that because he was unable to bear the misery of being separated from you, he should go into banishment. |
| 84 |
Quo tempore ego quanta mala florentissimae familiae sedavi vel potius sustuli ! Patri persuasi ut aes alienum fili dissolveret ; redimeret adulescentem , summa spe et animi et ingeni praeditum , rei familiaris facultatibus eumque non modo tua familiaritate sed etiam congressione patrio iure et potestate prohiberet . Haec tu cum per me acta meminisses , nisi illis quos videmus gladiis confideres , maledictis me provocare ausus esses .
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And at that time what misery of that most flourishing family did I allay, or rather did I remove! I persuaded the father to pay the son's debts; to release the young man, endowed as he was with great promise of courage and ability, by the sacrifice of part of his family estate; and to use his privileges and authority as a father to prohibit him not only from all intimacy with, but from every opportunity of meeting you. When you recollected that all this was done by me, would you have dared to provoke me by abuse if you had not been trusting to those swords which we behold? |
| 85 |
Sed iam stupra et flagitia omittamus : sunt quaedam quae honeste non possum dicere ; tu autem eo liberior quod ea in te admisisti quae a verecundo inimico audire non posses . Sed reliquum vitae cursum videte , quem quidem celeriter perstringam . Ad haec enim quae in civili bello , in maximis rei publicae miseriis fecit , et ad ea quae cotidie facit , festinat animus . Quae peto ut , quamquam multo notiora vobis quam mihi sunt , tamen , ut facitis , attente audiatis . Debet enim talibus in rebus excitare animos non cognitio solum rerum sed etiam recordatio ; etsi incidamus , opinor , media ne nimis sero ad extrema veniamus .
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But let us say no more of your profligacy and debauchery. There are things which it is not possible for me to mention with honor; but you are all the more free for that, inasmuch as you have not scrupled to be an actor in scenes which a modest enemy can not bring himself to mention. Mark now, O conscript fathers, the rest of his life, which I will touch upon rapidly. For my inclination hastens to arrive at those things which he did in the time of the civil war, amid the greatest miseries of the republic and at those things which he does every day. And I beg of you, though they are far better known to you than they are to me, still to listen attentively, as you are doing to my relation of them. For in such cases as this, it is not the mere knowledge of such actions that ought to excite the mind, but the recollection of them also. Although we must at once go into the middle of them, lest otherwise we should be too long in coming to the end. |
| 86 |
Intimus erat in tribunatu Clodio qui sua erga me beneficia commemorat ; eius omnium incendiorum fax , cuius etiam domi iam tum quiddam molitus est . Quid dicam ipse optime intellegit . Inde iter Alexandream contra senatus auctoritatem , contra rem publicam et religiones ; sed habebat ducem Gabinium , quicum quidvis rectissime facere posset . Qui tum inde reditus aut qualis ? Prius in ultimam Galliam ex Aegypto quam domum . Quae autem domus ? Suam enim quisque domum tum obtinebat nec erat usquam tua . Domum dico ? Quid erat in terris ubi in tuo pedem poneres praeter unum Misenum quod cum sociis tamquam Sisaponem tenebas .
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He was very intimate with Clodius at the time of his tribuneship; he, who now enumerates the kindnesses which he did me. He was the firebrand to handle all conflagrations; and even in his house he attempted something. He himself well knows what I allude to. From thence he made a journey to Alexandria, in defiance of the authority of the senator and against the interests of the republic, and in spite of religious obstacles; but he had Gabinius for his lender, with whom whatever he did was sure to be right. What were the circumstances of his return from thence? what sort of return was it? He went from Egypt to the farthest extremity of Gaul before he returned home. And what was his home! For at that time every man had possession of his own house; and you had no house any where, O Antonius. House, do you say? what place was there in the whole world where you could set your foot on any thing that belonged to you, except Mienum, which you farmed with your partners, as if it had been Sisapo? |
| 87 |
Venis e Gallia ad quaesturam petendam . Aude dicere te prius ad parentem tuam venisse quam ad me . Acceperam iam ante Caesaris litteras ut mihi satis fieri paterer a te : itaque ne loqui quidem sum te passus de gratia . Postea sum cultus a te , tu a me observatus in petitione quaesturae ; quo quidem tempore P . Clodium approbante populo Romano in foro es conatus occidere , cumque eam rem tua sponte conarere , non impulsu meo , tamen ita praedicabas , te non existimare , nisi illum interfecisses , umquam mihi pro tuis in me iniuriis satis esse facturum . In quo demiror cur Milonem impulsu meo rem illam egisse dicas , cum te ultro mihi idem illud deferentem numquam sim adhortatus . Quamquam , si in eo perseverares , ad tuam gloriam rem illam referri malebam quam ad meam gratiam .
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You came from Gaul to stand for the quaestorship. Dare to say that you went to your own father before you came to me. I had already received Caesar's letters, begging me to allow myself to accept of your excuses; and therefore, I did not allow you even to mention thanks. After that, I was treated with respect by you, and you received attentions from me in your canvass for the quaestorship. And it was at that time, indeed, that you endeavored to slay Publius Clodius in the forum, with the approbation of the Roman people; and though you made the attempt of your own accord, and not at my instigation, still you clearly alleged that you did not think, unless you slew him, that you could possibly make amends to me for all the injuries which you had done me. And this makes me wonder why you should say that Milo did that deed at my instigation; when I never once exhorted you to do it, who of your own accord attempted to do me the same service. Although, if you had persisted in it, I should have preferred allowing the action to be set down entirely to your own love of glory rather than to my influence. |
| 88 |
Quaestor es factus : deinde continuo sine senatus consulto , sine sorte , sine lege ad Caesarem cucurristi . Id enim unum in terris egestatis , aeris alieni , nequitiae perditis vitae rationibus perfugium esse ducebas . Ibi te cum et illius largitionibus et tuis rapinis explevisses , si hoc est explere , expilare quod statim effundas , advolasti egens ad tribunatum , ut in eo magistratu , si posses , viri tui similis esses .
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You were elected quaestor. On this, immediately, without any resolution of the senate authorizing such a step, without drawing lots, without procuring any law to be passed, you hastened to Caesar. For you thought the camp the only refuge on earth for indigence, and debt, and profligacy,—for all men, in short, who were in a state of utter ruin. Then, when you had recruited your resources again by his largesses and your own robberies (if, indeed, a person can be said to recruit, who only acquires something which he may immediately squander), you hastened, being again a beggar, to the tribuneship, in order that in that magistracy you might, if possible, behave like your friend. |
| 89 |
Accipite nunc , quaeso , non ea quae ipse in se atque in domesticum decus impure et intemperanter , sed quae in nos fortunasque nostras , id est in universam rem publicam , impie ac nefarie fecerit . Ab huius enim scelere omnium malorum principium natum reperietis . Nam cum L . Lentulo C . Marcello consulibus Kalendis Ianuariis labentem et prope cadentem rem publicam fulcire cuperetis ipsique C . Caesari , si sana mente esset , consulere velletis , tum iste venditum atque emancipatum tribunatum consiliis vestris opposuit cervicesque suas ei subiecit securi qua multi minoribus in peccatis occiderunt . In te , M . Antoni , id decrevit senatus et quidem incolumis , nondum tot luminibus exstinctis quod in hostem togatum decerni est solitum more maiorum . Et tu apud patres conscriptos contra me dicere ausus es , cum ab hoc ordine ego conservator essem , tu hostis rei publicae iudicatus ? Commemoratio illius tui sceleris intermissa est , non memoria deleta . Dum genus hominum , dum populi Romani nomen exstabit —quod quidem erit , si per te licebit , sempiternum —tua illa pestifera intercessio nominabitur .
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Listen now, I beseech you, O conscript fathers, not to those things which he did indecently and profligately to his own injury and to his own disgrace as a private individual; but to the actions which he did impiously and wickedly against us and our fortunes,—that is to say, against the whole republic. For it is from his wickedness that you will find that the beginning of all these evils has arisen. For when, in the consulship of Lucius Lentulus and Marcus Marcellus, you, on the first of January, were anxious to prop up the republic, which was tottering and almost falling, and were willing to consult the interests of Caius Caesar himself, if he would have acted like a man in his senses, then this fellow opposed to your counsels his tribuneship, which he had sold and handed over to the purchaser, and exposed his own neck to that ax under which many have suffered for smaller crimes. It was against you, O Marcus Antonius, that the senate, while still in the possession of its rights, before so many of its luminaries were extinguished, passed that decree which, in accordance with the usage of our ancestors, is at times passed against an enemy who is a citizen. And have you dared, before these conscript fathers, to say any thing against me, when I have been pronounced by this order to be the savior of my country, and when you have been declared by it to be an enemy of the republic? The mention of that wickedness of yours has been interrupted, but the recollection of it has not been effaced. As long as the race of men, as long as the name of the Roman people shall exist (and that, unless it is prevented from being so by your means, will be everlasting), so long will that most mischievous interposition of your veto be spoken of. |
| 90 |
Quid cupide a senatu , quid temere fiebat , cum tu unus adulescens universum ordinem decernere de salute rei publicae prohibuisti , neque semel , sed saepius , neque tu tecum de senatus auctoritate agi passus es ? quid autem agebatur nisi ne deleri et everti rem publicam funditus velles , cum te neque principes civitatis rogando neque maiores natu monendo neque frequens senatus agendo de vendita atque addicta sententia movere potuit ? Tum illud multis rebus ante temptatis necessario tibi volnus inflictum est quod paucis ante te , quorum incolumis fuit nemo :
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What was there that was being done by the, senate either ambitiously or rashly, when you, one single young man, forbade the whole order to pass decrees concerning the safety of the republic? and when you did so, not once only, but repeatedly? nor would you allow any one to plead with you in behalf of the authority of the senate; and yet, what did any one entreat of you, except that you would not desire the republic to be entirely overthrown and destroyed; when neither the chief men of the state by their entreaties, nor the elders by their warnings, nor the senate in a full house by pleading with you, could move you from the determination which you had already sold and as it were delivered to the purchaser? Then it was, after having tried many other expedients previously, that a blow was of necessity struck at you which had been struck at only few men before you, and which none of them had ever survived. |