Orations (M. Tullius Cicero)

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	Orations Author: M. Tullius Cicero	Translator: C. D. Yonge
91	tum contra te dedit arma hic ordo consulibus reliquisque imperiis et potestatibus : quae non effugisses , nisi te ad arma Caesaris contulisses .	Then it was that this order armed the consuls, and the rest of the magistrates who were invested with either military or civil command, against you, and you never would have escaped them, if you had not taken refuge in the camp of Caesar.
92	Tu , tu , inquam , M . Antoni , princeps C . Caesari omnia perturbare cupienti causam belli contra patriam ferendi dedisti . Quid enim aliud ille dicebat , quam causam sui dementissimi consili et facti adferebat , nisi quod intercessio neglecta , ius tribunicium sublatum , circumscriptus a senatu esset Antonius ? Omitto quam haec falsa , quam levia , praesertim cum omnino nulla causa iusta cuiquam esse possit contra patriam arma capiendi . Sed nihil de Caesare : tibi certe confitendum est causam perniciosissimi belli in persona tua constitisse . O miserum te , si haec intellegis , miseriorem , si non intellegis hoc litteris mandari , hoc memoriae prodi , huius rei ne posteritatem quidem omnium saeculorum umquam immemorem fore , consules ex Italia expulsos , cumque eis Cn . Pompeium quod imperi populi Romani decus ac lumen fuit , omnis consularis qui per valetudinem exsequi cladem illam fugamque potuissent , praetores , praetorios , tribunos plebis , magnam partem senatus , omnem subolem iuventutis , unoque verbo rem publicam expulsam atque exterminatam suis sedibus !	It was you, you, I say, O Marcus Antonius, who gave Caius Caesar, desirous as he already was to throw every thing into confusion, the principal pretext for waging war against his country. For what other pretense did he allege? what cause did he give for his own most frantic resolution and action, except that the power of interposition by the veto had been disregarded, the privileges of the tribunes taken away, and Antonius's rights abridged by the senate? I say nothing of how false, how trivial these pretenses were; especially when there could not possibly be any reasonable cause whatever to justify any one in taking up arms against his country. But I have nothing to do with Caesar. You must unquestionably allow that the cause of that ruinous war existed in your person. O miserable man if you are aware, more miserable still if you are not aware, that this is recorded in writings, is handed down to men's recollection, that our very latest posterity in the most distant ages will never forget this fact, that the consuls were expelled from Italy, and with them Cnaeus Pompeius, who was the glory and light of the empire of the Roman people; that all the men of consular rank, whose health would allow them to share in that disaster and that flight, and the praetors, and men of praetorian rank, and the tribunes of the people, and a great part of the senate, and all the flower of the youth of the city, and, in a word, the republic itself was driven out and expelled from its abode.
93	Vt igitur in seminibus est causa arborum et stirpium , sic huius luctuosissimi belli semen tu fuisti . Doletis tris exercitus populi Romani interfectos : interfecit Antonius . Desideratis clarissimos civis : eos quoque vobis eripuit Antonius . Auctoritas huius ordinis adflicta est : adflixit Antonius . Omnia denique , quae postea vidimus — quid autem mali non vidimus ?— si recte ratiocinabimur , uni accepta referemus Antonio . Vt Helena Troianis , sic iste huic rei publicae belli causa , causa pestis atque exiti fuit . Reliquae partes tribunatus principi similes . Omnia perfecit quae senatus salva re publica ne fieri possent profecerat . Cuius tamen scelus in scelere cognoscite .	As, then, there is in seeds the cause which produces trees and plants, so of this most lamentable war you were the seed. Do you, O conscript fathers, grieve that these armies of the Roman people have been slain? It is Antonius who slew them. Do you regret your most illustrious citizens? It is Antonius, again, who has deprived you of them. The authority of this order is overthrown; it is Antonius who has overthrown it. Everything, in short, which we have seen since that time (and what misfortune is there that we have not seen?) we shall, if we argue rightly, attribute wholly to Antonius. As Helen was to the Trojans, so has that man been to this republic,—the cause of war the cause of mischief the cause of ruin The rest of his tribuneship was like the beginning. He did every thing which the senate had labored to prevent, as being impossible to be done consistently with the safety of the republic. And see, now, how gratuitously wicked he was even in accomplishing his wickedness.
94	Restituebat multos calamitosos : in eis patrui nulla mentio . Si severus , cur non in omnis ? si misericors , cur non in suos ? Sed omitto ceteros : Licinium Lenticulam de alea condemnatum , conlusorem suum , restituit , quasi vero ludere cum condemnato non liceret , sed ut quod in alea perdiderat beneficio legis dissolveret . Quam attulisti rationem populo Romano cur eum restitui oporteret ? Absentem , credo , in reos relatum ; rem indicta causa iudicatam ; nullum fuisse de alea lege iudicium ; vi oppressum et armis ; postremo , quod de patruo tuo dicebatur , pecunia iudicium esse corruptum ? Nihil horum . At vir bonus et re publica dignus . Nihil id quidem ad rem ; ego tamen , quoniam condemnatum esse pro nihilo est , si ita esset , ignoscerem . Hominem omnium nequissimum qui non dubitaret vel in foro alea ludere , lege quae est de alea condemnatum qui in integrum restituit , is non apertissime studium suum ipse profitetur ?	He restored many men who had fallen under misfortune. Among them no mention was made of his uncle. If he was severe, why was he not so to every one? If he was merciful, why was he not merciful to his own relations? But I say nothing of the rest. He restored Licinius. Lenticula, a man who had been condemned for gambling, and who was a fellow-gamester of his own. As if he could not play with a condemned man; but in reality, in order to pay by a straining of the law in his favor, what he had lost by the dice. What reason did you allege to the Roman people why it was desirable that he should be restored? I suppose you said that he was absent when the prosecution was instituted against him; that the cause was decided without his having been heard in his defense; that there was not by a law any judicial proceeding established with reference to gambling; that he had been put down by violence or by arms; or lastly, as was said in the case of your uncle, that the tribunal had been bribed with money. Nothing of this sort was said. Then he was a good man, and one worthy of the republic. That, indeed, would have been nothing to the purpose, but still, since being condemned does not go for much, I would forgive you if that were the truth. Does not he restore to the full possession of his former privileges the most worthless man possible,—one who would not hesitate to play at dice even in the forum, and who had been convicted under the law which exists respecting gambling,—does not he declare in the most open manner his own propensities?
95	In eodem vero tribunatu , cum Caesar in Hispaniam proficiscens huic conculcandam Italiam tradidisset , quae fuit eius peragratio itinerum , lustratio municipiorum ! Scio me in rebus celebratissimis omnium sermone versari , eaque quae dico dicturusque sum notiora esse omnibus qui in Italia tum fuerunt quam mihi qui non fui : notabo tamen singulas res , etsi nullo modo poterit oratio mea satis facere vestrae scientiae . Etenim quod umquam in terris tantum flagitium exstitisse auditum est , tantam turpitudinem , tantum dedecus .	Then in this same tribuneship, when Caesar while on hi way into Spain had given him Italy to trample on, what journeys did he make in every direction! how did he visit the municipal towns! I know that I am only speaking of matters which have been discussed in every one's conversation, and that the things which I am saying and am going to say are better known to every one who was in Italy at that time, than to me, who was not. Still I mention the particulars of his conduct, although my speech can not possibly come up to your own personal knowledge. When was such wickedness ever heard of as existing upon earth? or shamelessness? or such open infamy?
96	Vehebatur in essedo tribunus plebis ; lictores laureati antecedebant , inter quos aperta lectica mima portabatur , quam ex oppidis municipales homines honesti , obviam necessario prodeuntes , non noto illo et mimico nomine , sed Volumniam consalutabant . Sequebatur raeda cum lenonibus , comites nequissimi ; reiecta mater amicam impuri fili tamquam nurum sequebatur . O miserae mulieris fecunditatem calamitosam ! Horum flagitiorum iste vestigiis omnia municipia , praefecturas , colonias , totam denique Italiam impressit .	The tribune of the people was borne along in a chariot, lictors crowned with laurel preceded him; among whom, on an open litter, was carried an actress; whom honorable men, citizens of the different municipalities, coming out from their towns under compulsion to meet him, saluted not by the name by which she was well known on the stage, but by that of Volumnia. A car followed full of pimps; then a lot of debauched companions; and then his mother, utterly neglected, followed the mistress of her profligate son, as if she had been her daughter-in-law. O the disastrous fecundity of that miserable woman! With the marks of such wickedness as this did that fellow stamp every municipality, and prefecture, and colony, and, in short, the whole of Italy.
97	Reliquorum factorum eius , patres conscripti , difficilis est sane reprehensio et lubrica . Versatus in bello est ; saturavit se sanguine dissimillimorum sui civium : felix fuit , si potest ulla in scelere esse felicitas . Sed quoniam veteranis cautum esse volumus , quamquam dissimilis est militum causa et tua — illi secuti sunt , tu quaesisti ducem — tamen , ne apud illos me in invidiam voces , nihil de genere belli dicam . Victor e Thessalia Brundisium cum legionibus revertisti . Ibi me non occidisti . Magnum beneficium ! potuisse enim fateor . Quamquam nemo erat eorum qui tum tecum fuerunt qui mihi non censeret parci oportere .	To find fault with the rest of his actions, O conscript fathers, is difficult, and somewhat unsafe. He was occupied in war; he glutted himself with the slaughter of citizens who bore no resemblance to himself He was fortunate—if at least there can be any good fortune in wickedness. But since we wish to show a regard for the veterans, although the cause of the soldiers is very different from yours; they followed their chief; you went to seek for a leader; still (that I may not give you any pretense for stirring up odium against me among them), I will say nothing of the nature of the war. When victorious, you returned with the legions from Thessaly to Brundusium. There you did not put me to death. It was a great kindness! For I confess that you could have done it. Although there was no one of those men who were with you at that time, who did not think that I ought to be spared.
98	Tanta est enim caritas patriae ut vestris etiam legionibus sanctus essem , quod eam a me servatam esse meminissent . Sed fac id te dedisse mihi quod non ademisti , meque a te habere vitam , quia non a te sit erepta : licuitne mihi per tuas contumelias hoc tuum beneficium sic tueri ut tuebar , praesertim cum te haec auditurum videres .	For so great is men's affection for their country; that I was sacred even in the eyes of your legions, because they recollected that the country had been saved by me. However, grant that you did give me what you did not take away from me; and that I have my life as a present from you, since it was not taken from me by you; was it possible for me, after all your insults, to regard that kindness of yours as I regarded it at first, especially after you saw that you must hear this reply from me?
99	Venisti Brundisium , in sinum quidem et in complexum tuae mimulae . Quid est ? num mentior ? Quam miserum est id negare non posse quod sit turpissimum confiteri ! Si te municipiorum non pudebat , ne veterani quidem exercitus ? Quis enim miles fuit qui Brundisi illam non viderit ? quis qui nescierit venisse eam tibi tot dierum viam gratulatum ? quis qui non indoluerit tam sero se quam nequam hominem secutus esset cognoscere ?	You came to Brundusium, to the bosom and embraces of your actress. What is the matter? Am I speaking falsely? How miserable is it not to be able to deny a fact which it is disgraceful to confess! If you had no shame before the municipal towns, had you none even before your veteran army? For what soldier was there who did not see her at Brundusium? who was there who did not know that she had come so many days' journey to congratulate you? who was there who did not grieve that he was so late in finding out how worthless a man he had been following?
100	Italiae rursus percursatio eadem comite mima ; in oppida militum crudelis et misera deductio ; in urbe auri , argenti maximeque vini foeda direptio . Accessit ut Caesare ignaro , cum esset ille Alexandreae , beneficio amicorum eius magister equitum constitueretur . Tum existimavit se suo iure cum Hippia vivere et equos vectigalis Sergio mimo tradere ; tum sibi non hanc quam nunc male tuetur , sed M . Pisonis domum ubi habitaret legerat . Quid ego istius decreta , quid rapinas , quid hereditatum possessiones datas , quid ereptas proferam ? Cogebat egestas ; quo se verteret non habebat : nondum ei tanta a L . Rubrio , non a L . Turselio hereditas venerat ; nondum in Cn . Pompei locum multorumque aliorum qui aberant repentinus heres successerat . Erat vivendum latronum ritu , ut tantum haberet , quantum rapere potuisset .	Again you made a tour through Italy, with that same actress for your companion. Cruel and miserable was the way in which you led your soldiers into the towns; shameful was the pillager in every city, of gold and silver, and above all, of wine. And besides all this, while Caesar knew nothing about it, as he was at Alexandria, Antonius, by the kindness of Caesar's friends, was appointed his master of the horse. Then he thought that you could live with Hippia by virtue of his office, and that he might give horses which were the property of the state to Sergius the buffoon. At that time he had elected for himself to live in, not the house which he now dishonors, but that of Marcus Piso. Why need I mention his decrees, his robberies, the possessions of inheritances which were given him, and those too which were seized by him? Want compelled him; he did not know where to turn. That great inheritance from Lucius Rubrius, and that other from Lucius Turselius, had not yet come to him. He had not yet succeeded as an unexpected heir to the place of Cnaeus Pompeius, and of many others who were absent. He was forced to live like a robber, having nothing beyond what he could plunder from others.
101	Sed haec quae robustioris improbitatis sunt , omittamus : loquamur potius de nequissimo genere levitatis . Tu istis faucibus , istis lateribus , ista gladiatoria totius corporis firmitate tantum vini in Hippiae nuptiis exhauseras ut tibi necesse esset in populi Romani conspectu vomere postridie . O rem non modo visu foedam sed etiam auditu ! Si inter cenam in ipsis tuis immanibus illis poculis hoc tibi accidisset , quis non turpe duceret ? In coetu vero populi Romani negotium publicum gerens , magister equitum , cui ructare turpe esset , is vomens frustis esculentis vinum redolentibus gremium suum et totum tribunal implevit . Sed haec ipse fatetur esse in suis sordibus : veniamus ad splendida .	However, we will say nothing of these things, which are acts of a more hardy sort of villainy. Let us speak rather of his meaner descriptions of worthlessness. You, with those jaws of yours, and those sides of yours, and that strength of body suited to a gladiator, drank such quantities of wine at the marriage of Hippia, that you were forced to vomit the next day in the sight of the Roman people. O action disgraceful not merely to see, but even to hear of! If this had happened to you at supper amid those vast drinking-cups of yours, who would not have thought it scandalous? But in an assembly of the Roman people, a man holding a public office, a master of the horse, to whom it would have been disgraceful even to belch, vomiting filled his own bosom and the whole tribunal with fragments of what he had been eating reeking with wine. But he himself confesses this among his other disgraceful acts. Let us proceed to his more splendid offenses.
102	Caesar Alexandrea se recepit , felix , ut sibi quidem videbatur , mea autem sententia , qui rei publicae sit infelix , felix esse nemo potest . Hasta posita pro aede Iovis Statoris bona Cn . Pompei — miserum me ! consumptis enim lacrimis tamen infixus animo haeret dolor — bona , inquam , Cn . Pompei Magni voci acerbissimae subiecta praeconis . Vna in illa re servitutis oblita civitas ingemuit servientibusque animis , cum omnia metu tenerentur , gemitus tamen populi Romani liber fuit . Exspectantibus omnibus quisnam esset tam impius , tam demens , tam dis hominibusque hostis qui ad illud scelus sectionis auderet accedere , inventus est nemo praeter Antonium , praesertim cum tot essent circum hastam illam qui alia omnia auderent : unus inventus est qui id auderet quod omnium fugisset et reformidasset audacia .	Caesar came back from Alexandria, fortunate, as he seemed at least to himself; but in my opinion no one can be fortunate who is unfortunate for the republic. The spear was set up in front of the temple of Jupiter Stator, and the property of Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus—(miserable that I am, for even now that my tears have ceased to flow, my grief remains deeply implanted in my heart),—the property, I say, of Cnaeus Pompeius the Great was submitted to the pitiless voice of the auctioneer. On that one occasion the state forgot its slavery, and groaned aloud; and though men's minds were enslaved, as every thing was kept under by fear, still the groans of the Roman people were free. While all men were waiting to see who would be so impious, who would be so mad, who would be so declared an enemy to gods and to men as to dare to mix himself up with that wicked auction, no one was found except Antonius, even though there were plenty of men collected round that spear who would have dared any thing else.
103	Tantus igitur te stupor oppressit vel , ut verius dicam , tantus furor ut primum , cum sector sis isto loco natus , deinde cum Pompei sector , non te exsecratum populo Romano , non detestabilem , non omnis tibi deos , non omnis homines et esse inimicos et futuros scias ? At quam insolenter statim helluo invasit in eius viri fortunas cuius virtute terribilior erat populus Romanus exteris gentibus , iustitia carior !	One man alone was found to dare to do that which the audacity of every one else had shrunk from and shuddered at. Were you, then, seized with such stupidity,—or, I should rather say, with such insanity,—as not to see that if you, being of the rank in which you were born, acted as a broker at all, and above all as a broker in the case of Pompeius property, you would be execrated and hated by the Roman people, and that all gods and all men must at once become and for ever continue hostile to you? But with what violence did that glutton immediately proceed to take possession of the property of that man, to whose valor it had been owing that the Roman people had been more terrible to foreign nations, while his justice had made it dearer to them.
104	In eius igitur viri copias cum se subito ingurgitasset , exsultabat gaudio persona de mimo , modo egens , repente dives . Sed , ut est apud poetam nescio quem ‘ male parta male dilabuntur . ' Incredibile ac simile portenti est quonam modo illa tam multa quam paucis non dico mensibus sed diebus effuderit . Maximus vini numerus fuit , permagnum optimi pondus argenti , pretiosa vestis , multa et lauta supellex et magnifica multis locis , non illa quidem luxuriosi hominis , sed tamen abundantis . Horum paucis diebus nihil erat . Quae Charybdis tam vorax ?	When, therefore, this fellow had begun to wallow in the treasures of that great man, he began to exult like a buffoon in a play, who has lately been a beggar, and has become suddenly rich. But, as some poet or other says,— "“Ill-gotten gains come quickly to an end.”" It is an incredible thing, and almost a miracle, how he in a few, not months, but days, squandered all that vast wealth. There was an immense quantity of wine, an excessive abundance of very valuable plate, much precious apparel, great quantities of splendid furniture, and other magnificent things in many places, such as one was likely to see belonging to a man who was not indeed luxurious but who was very wealthy. Of all this in a few days there was nothing left.
105	Charybdin dico ? quae si fuit , animal unum fuit : Oceanus , me dius fidius , vix videtur tot res tam dissipatas , tam distantibus in locis positas tam cito absorbere potuisse . Nihil erat clausum , nihil obsignatum , nihil scriptum . Apothecae totae nequissimis hominibus condonabantur ; alia mimi rapiebant , alia mimae ; domus erat aleatoribus referta , plena ebriorum ; totos dies potabatur atque id locis pluribus ; suggerebantur etiam saepe — non enim semper iste felix — damna aleatoria ; conchyliatis Cn . Pompei peristromatis servorum in cellis lectos stratos videres . Quam ob rem desinite mirari haec tam celeriter esse consumpta . Non modo unius patrimonium quamvis amplum , ut illud fuit , sed urbis et regna celeriter tanta nequitia devorare potuisset . At idem aedis etiam et hortos .	What Charybdis was ever so voracious? Charybdis, do I say? Charybdis, if she existed at all, was only one animal. The ocean I swear most solemnly, appears scarcely capable of having swallowed up such numbers of things so widely scattered and distributed in such different places with such rapidity. No thing was shut up, nothing sealed up, no list was made of any thing. Whole storehouses were abandoned to the most worthless of men Actors seized on this, actresses on that; the house was crowded with gamblers, and full of drunken men; people were drinking all day, and that too in many places; there were added to all this expense (for this fellow was not invariably fortunate) heavy gambling losses. You might see in the cellars of the slaves, couches covered with the most richly embroidered counterpanes of Cnaeus Pompeius. Wonder not, then, that all these things were so soon consumed. Such profligacy as that could have devoured not only the patrimony of one individual, however ample it might have been (as indeed his was), but whole cities and kingdoms. And then his houses and gardens!
106	O audaciam immanem ! tu etiam ingredi illam domum ausus es , tu illud sanctissimum limen intrare , tu illarum aedium dis penatibus os impurissimum ostendere ? Quam domum aliquamdiu nemo aspicere poterat , nemo sine lacrimis praeterire , hac te in domo tam diu deversari non pudet ? in qua , quamvis nihil sapias , tamen nihil tibi potest esse iucundum .	Oh the cruel audacity! Did you dare to enter into that house? Did you dare to cross that most sacred threshold? and to show your most profligate countenance to the household gods who protect that abode? A house which for a long time no one could behold, no one could pass by without tears! Are you not ashamed to dwell so long in that house? one in which, stupid and ignorant as you are, still you can see nothing which is not painful to you.
107	An tu illa in vestibulo rostra cum aspexisti , domum tuam te introire putas ? Fieri non potest . Quamvis enim sine mente , sine sensu sis , ut es , tamen et te et tua et tuos nosti . Nec vero te umquam neque vigilantem neque in somnis credo posse mente consistere . Necesse est , quamvis sis , ut es , violentus et furens , cum tibi obiecta sit species singularis viri , perterritum te de somno excitari , furere etiam saepe vigilantem . Me quidem miseret parietum ipsorum atque tectorum . Quid enim umquam domus illa viderat nisi pudicum , quid nisi ex optimo more et sanctissima disciplina ? Fuit enim ille vir , patres conscripti , sicuti scitis , cum foris clarus tum domi admirandus , neque rebus externis magis laudandus quam institutis domesticis . Huius in sedibus pro cubiculis stabula , pro conclavibus popinae sunt . Etsi iam negat . Nolite quaerere ; frugi factus est : illam suam suas res sibi habere iussit , ex duodecim tabulis clavis ademit , exegit . Quam porro spectatus civis , quam probatus ! Cuius ex omni vita nihil est honestius quam quod cum mima fecit divortium .	When you behold those beaks of ships in the vestibule, and those warlike trophies, do you fancy that you are entering into a house which belongs to you? It is impossible. Although you are devoid of all sense and all feeling,—a in truth you are,—still you are acquainted with yourself, and with your trophies, and with your friends. Nor do I believe that you, either waking or sleeping, can ever act with quiet sense. It is impossible but that, were you ever so drunk an frantic,—as in truth you are,—when the recollection of the appearance of that illustrious man comes across you, you should be roused from sleep by your fears, and often stirred up to madness if awake. I pity even the walls and the room. For what had that house ever beheld except what was modest, except what proceeded from the purest principles and from the most virtuous practice? For that man was, O conscript fathers, as you yourselves know, not only illustrious abroad, but also admirable at home; and not more praiseworthy for his exploits in foreign countries, than for his domestic arrangements. Now in his house every bedchamber is a brothel, and every diningroom a cookshop. Although he denies this:—Do not, do not make inquiries. He is become economic. He desired that mistress of his to take possession of whatever belonged to her, according to the laws of the Twelve Tables. He has taken his keys from her, and turned her out of doors. What a well-tried citizen! of what proved virtue is he! the most honorable passage in whose life is the one when he divorced himself from this actress.
108	At quam crebro usurpat : ‘ et consul et Antonius !’ Hoc est dicere , et consul et impudicissimus , et consul et homo nequissimus . Quid est enim aliud Antonius ? Nam si dignitas significaretur in nomine , dixisset , credo , aliquando avus tuus se et consulem et Antonium . Numquam dixit . Dixisset etiam conlega meus , patruus tuus , nisi si tu es solus Antonius . Sed omitto ea peccata quae non sunt earum partium propria quibus tu rem publicam vexavisti : ad ipsas tuas partis redeo , id est ad civile bellum , quod natum , conflatum , susceptum opera tua est .	But how constantly does he harp on the expression “the consul Antonius!” This amounts to say “that most debauched consul,” “that most worthless of men, the consul.” For what else is. Antonius? For if any dignity were implied the name, then, I imagine, your grandfather would sometime have called himself “the consul Antonius.” But he never did. My colleague too, your own uncle, would have call himself so. Unless you are the only Antonius. But I pass over those offenses which have no peculiar connection with the part you took in harassing the republic; I return to that in which you bore so principal a share,—that is, to the civil war; and it is mainly owing to you that that was originated, and brought to a head, and carried on.