Marcus Tullius Cicero→Titus Pomponius Atticus|c. 66 BC|Cicero|From Rome|To Rome/Athens|AI-assisted
You ask me what happened in the trial, that it turned out so contrary to everyone's expectation, and at the same time you want to know how it was that I fought less keenly than I usually do. I will answer you in reverse order, in the Homeric fashion. For as long as I had to defend the authority of the Senate, I fought so fiercely and vehemently that shouting and crowding arose, all to my very great credit. And if I ever seemed to you brave in public affairs, you would surely have admired me in that cause. For when that man [Clodius] had taken refuge at the public meetings, and was using my name there to stir up ill will against me, immortal gods! what battles and what slaughter I produced! what assaults I made on Piso, on Curio, on that whole gang of theirs! how I attacked the fickleness of the old men, the lust of the young! Often, so help me the gods, I missed you not only as the adviser of my plans, but also as a spectator of those marvelous battles. But afterward, when Hortensius devised the scheme that the tribune of the plebs Fufius should bring forward the law concerning the sacrilege, in which it differed in nothing from the consular proposal except in the type of jurors (and in that lay everything), and fought to have it done so, because he had convinced both himself and others that the man could not escape with any jury, I furled my sails, seeing the poverty of the jurors, and I said nothing in my testimony except what was so well known and attested that I could not pass over it. And so, if you ask the reason for the acquittal, to return now to the first point, it was the destitution and baseness of the jurors. And that this came about was due to the plan of Hortensius, who, while he feared that Fufius might veto that law which was being brought forward by decree of the Senate, did not see this: that it was better to leave the man in disgrace and squalor than to entrust him to a weak court; but, led by hatred, he hurried to bring the matter to trial, though he kept saying that the man would be cut down even with a leaden sword. But if you ask what kind of trial it was, it ended with an incredible outcome, in such a way that now, from the result, the plan of Hortensius is blamed by others, but by me it has been blamed from the very beginning. For when the challenging of jurors was carried out amid the greatest shouting, since the accuser, like a good censor, kept rejecting the most worthless men, while the defendant, like a merciful trainer of gladiators, kept setting aside every most respectable man, as soon as the jurors sat down the good men began to lose all confidence. For never in a gambling-den was there a more disgraceful gathering: spotted senators, bare-stripped knights, tribunes of the treasury who were not so much money-bearing as, to use their proper name, men of the public chest. Yet there were a few good men among them, whom that man had not been able to drive away by his challenges, who sat gloomy among men unlike themselves and grieving, and were deeply disturbed by contact with such disgrace. Here, as each matter was referred to the court in the first applications, the severity was incredible, with no variety in the opinions: the defendant obtained nothing; more was granted to the accuser than he asked. Hortensius was triumphant (what more can I say?) that he had seen so clearly; there was no one who did not think the man a defendant already condemned a thousand times over. But when I myself was produced as a witness, I believe you have heard from the shouting of Clodius's supporters what an uprising of the jurors took place, how they stood around me, how openly they offered their own throats to Publius Clodius on behalf of my life. This thing seemed to me far more honorable than either that occasion when your fellow citizens prevented Xenocrates from swearing as he gave his testimony, or when our jurors refused to look at the account-books of Metellus Numidicus when these were being passed around, as is the custom. Far greater, I say, was this affair of mine. And so, by the voices of the jurors, since I was thus defended by them as if I were the safety of my country, the defendant collapsed, broken, and along with him all his advocates fell down; and to me, moreover, on the next day the same crowd gathered with which I was escorted home when I laid down my consulship. The illustrious Areopagites cried out that they would not come unless a guard were established. The matter is referred to the court. One single opinion did not require a guard. The matter is brought before the Senate. It is decreed in the most weighty and honorable terms; the jurors are praised; the business is assigned to the magistrates. No one supposed that the man would respond. Tell me now, Muses, how the fire first fell. You know that Calvus of the Nanneian set, that fellow, that praiser of mine, about whose speech honorable to me I had written to you. Within two days, through a single slave, and one from a gladiatorial school, he completed the whole business: he summoned them to him, he promised, he interposed, he paid. Now indeed (O good gods, what a ruined state of affairs!) even the nights of certain women and the introductions of young men of noble birth served as a heap of extra payment for some of the jurors. So, with the highest men withdrawing and the forum full of slaves, twenty-five jurors were nevertheless so brave that, with the greatest danger set before them, they preferred even to perish rather than to ruin everything. There were thirty-one whom hunger moved more than reputation. When Catulus saw one of these, he said, "Why were you asking a guard from us? Were you afraid your coins would be snatched away from you?" There you have, as briefly as I could put it, the character of the trial and the reason for the acquittal. Next you ask what is now the state of affairs and what my own situation is. As for that state of the republic which you thought confirmed by my policy, and I by divine providence, which seemed fixed and founded by the union and authority of all good men in my consulship, know that, unless some god looks upon us, it has slipped from our hands by this one trial, if it is a trial when thirty most worthless and good-for-nothing men of the Roman people, having taken a little money, destroy all law human and divine, and decree that a thing never happened which all men, indeed even the very cattle, know happened, namely Talna and Plautus and Spongia and the rest of this kind of rubbish. But nevertheless, to console you about the republic: wickedness, with so great a wound inflicted on the state, does not exult in victory so eagerly as the wicked had hoped. For they thought outright that, once religion, once chastity, once the integrity of the courts, once the authority of the Senate had collapsed, it would come to pass that openly victorious wickedness and lust would exact from every best man the penalty of their own resentment, which the severity of my consulship had branded upon every most wicked man. And it was I, that same man (for I do not seem to myself to boast insolently when I speak about myself to you, especially in a letter which I do not want others to read), it was I, I say, who revived the afflicted spirits of the good men, strengthening and rousing each one; and by attacking and harassing the bribed jurors I snatched away all freedom of speech from all the zealous supporters and partisans of that victory of theirs. I never allowed the consul Piso to stand firm on any point; I took away from the man the province of Syria, already promised to him; I recalled the Senate to its former severity and roused it from its dejection; I broke Clodius to his face in the Senate, both with a continuous speech most full of weight and with an exchange of this kind; from which you may taste a little, for the rest cannot have the same force nor the same charm once that ardor of contention is removed, which you people call the contest. For when we assembled in the Senate on the Ides of May, and I was asked my opinion, I said much about the highest interests of the state, and that passage was introduced by me, as if by divine inspiration: that the conscript fathers should not collapse and lose heart because of one blow received; that the wound was of such a kind that it seemed to me neither to be concealed nor to be excessively feared, lest by ignoring it we be judged most foolish, or by fearing it most cowardly: that Lentulus had been twice acquitted, Catiline twice, that this man was now the third let loose by the jurors against the republic. "You are mistaken, Clodius; the jurors have reserved you not for the city, but for the prison, and they wished not to keep you in the state, but to deprive you of exile. Wherefore, conscript fathers, lift up your spirits, hold fast to your dignity. That agreement of the good men in the republic remains; grief has come to good men, but their courage has not been diminished; no new harm has been done, but what existed has been brought to light. In the trial of one ruined man, more men like him have been found." But what am I doing? I have nearly enclosed a speech in a letter. I return to the altercation. The pretty-boy stands up, throws in my face that I had been at Baiae. False, but still, "What?" I said, "is this like saying I was present at a forbidden rite?" "What," said he, "has a man of Arpinum to do with hot waters?" "Tell that," I said, "to your patron, who coveted the waters of Arpinum" (for you know the Marian springs). "How long," said he, "shall we endure this king?" "You call me king," I said, "when Rex made no mention of you?"; for he had in his hopes already devoured the inheritance of Rex. "You bought a house," said he. "You might think," I said, "he was saying: You bought jurors." "They did not believe you," said he, "when you swore." "On the contrary," I said, "twenty-five jurors believed me; thirty-one, since they took the money in advance, believed nothing of yours." Crushed by great shouting, he fell silent and collapsed. Our own situation, however, is this. Among the good men we are the same as you left us; among the dregs and filth of the city much better now than you left us. For even this does not harm us, that our testimony is seen not to have prevailed; the blood of ill will has been let without pain, and even the more so because all those abettors of that disgrace confess that the manifest case was bought off from the jurors. There is also this: that that bloodsucking leech of the treasury at the public meetings, the wretched and starving little plebs, thinks I am uniquely esteemed by this Great One [Pompey], and, by Hercules, we are joined together by much pleasant intimacy, to such a degree that those revelers of conspiracy, our little-bearded young men, call him in their conversations "Gnaeus Cicero." And so both at the games and at the gladiatorial shows we were carrying off marvelous demonstrations of approval without any shepherd's pipe. Now there is expectation of the elections, into which our Great One, against everyone's wishes, is thrusting the son of Aulus [Afranius], and in this he fights neither by authority nor by influence, but by those means by which Philip used to say all fortresses could be stormed into which only a little ass laden with gold could climb. The consul, moreover, that man like an actor of the baser sort, is said to have undertaken the business and to keep distributors of bribes at his house; which I do not believe. But two decrees of the Senate have now been passed, hateful because they are thought to be aimed at the consul, on the demand of Cato and Domitius: one, that inquiry might be made before the magistrates; the other, that whoever kept distributors of bribes in his house was acting against the republic. Lurco, however, the tribune of the plebs, who entered upon his magistracy together with another law, was released from the Aelian and Fufian laws, so that he might bring a law about bribery, which that lame man promulgated with good auspices. Thus the elections were postponed to the sixth day before the Kalends of Sextilis [July 27]. There is this new feature in the law: that whoever has promised money in a tribe, if he has not given it, goes unpunished; but if he has given it, he is liable, as long as he lives, to pay three thousand sesterces to each tribe. I said that Publius Clodius had already observed this law before; for he was accustomed to promise and not to give. But, listen you! do you see that consulship of ours, which Curio used formerly to call an apotheosis, if this man is elected, will become a bean-mime, a farce? Wherefore, in my opinion, we must philosophize, which is what you do, and not value these consulships at a straw. As to what you write me, that you have decided not to go into Asia, I should indeed prefer that you go, and I fear that something less convenient may be done in that affair; but nevertheless I cannot find fault with your decision, especially since I myself did not set out for my province. We shall be content with your epigrams, which you placed in the Amaltheum, especially since both Thyillus has deserted us, and Archias has written nothing about me. And I fear that, since he has composed a Greek poem about the Luculli, he is now looking toward a Caecilian play. I gave thanks to Antonius in your name and entrusted that letter to Mallius. I wrote to you the more rarely before this for the reason that I had no suitable person to whom to give a letter, nor did I know well enough where to send it. I praised you up highly. If Cincius brings me any business of yours, I will take it up; but at present he is more occupied with his own affairs, in which I do not fail him. You, if you are going to be in one place, expect frequent letters from us; but send still more yourself. I should like you to write me what your Amaltheum is like, with what adornment, with what placement of the scene, and to send me the poems and the histories you have about Amalthea. I should like to make one on my estate at Arpinum. I will send you something of my writings. There was nothing finished.
You ask what can have happened about the trial to give it such an unexpected ending, and you want to know, too, why I showed less fight than usual. Well! In my answer I’ll put the cart before the horse like Homer. So long as I had to defend the Senate’s decree, I fought so fiercely and doughtily, that cheering crowds rallied round me enthusiastic in my applause. You would certainly have marvelled at my courage on this occasion, if ever you credited me with any courage in my country’s defence. When Clodius fell back on speechifying and took my name in vain, didn’t I just show fight, didn’t I deal havoc! How I charged Piso, Curio, and all that crowd! Didn’t I rate the old men for their frivolity, the young for their wanton passions! Heaven is my witness, I often wanted you not only to prompt my plans, but also to be a spectator of my doughty deeds. But when Hortensius had conceived the idea of letting Fufius bring in his bill about the sacrilege, which only differed from the consular measure in the method of choosing the jury—though that was the point on which everything turned—and fought for his own way, under the impression, which he had also conveyed to others, that no conceivable
jury could acquit Clodius, I drew in a reef or two, not being blind to the impecuniosity of the jurymen. I confined my testimony to points so thoroughly well-known and attested that I could not omit them. So, to come at last to the “horse,” if you want to know the reason for his acquittal, it lay in the jury’s lack of pence and of conscience. But it was Hortensius’ plan that made such a result possible. In his fright that Fufius might veto the Senate’s measure, he overlooked the fact that it would be better for Clodius to be kept in disgrace with a trial hanging over his head, than for the case to come before an unsound court. Spurred on by hatred, he rushed the matter into court, saying that a leaden sword was sharp enough to cut Clodius’ throat.
If you want to know about the trial, the result of it was so incredible that now after the event everybody agrees with my forebodings and blames Hortensius. The challenging of the jury took place amidst an uproar, since the prosecutor like a good censor rejected all the knaves, and the defendant like a kind-hearted trainer of gladiators set aside all the respectable people. And as soon as the jury took their seats, the patriotic party began to have grave misgivings: for never did a more disreputable set of people get together even in a gambling hell. Senators with a past, knights without a penny, tribunes whose only right to a title implying pay lay in their readiness to take it. The few honest folk among them, that he had not managed to remove in his selection, sat as woe-begone as fish out of water,
sadly upset and bemoaning their contact with infamy. At the preliminary proceedings, as point after point was put before the jury, their strict and unanimous uprightness was extraordinary. The defendant never won a point, and the prosecution were granted more than they asked for. It goes without saying that Hortensius was triumphant at his penetration; and no one regarded Clodius so much as a man on his trial as one that had been condemned a thousand times over.
You have no doubt heard how the jury rose in a body to protect me, when I stepped into the witness-box and Clodius’ supporters began to hoot: and how they offered their throats to Clodius’ sword in defence of me. Thereby, to my mind they paid me a far higher compliment than your fellow-citizens paid Xenocrates, when they refused to let him take the oath before giving his testimony, or our Roman jury paid Metellus Numidicus, when they would not look at the accounts which he passed round as is usual in such cases. I repeat, the honour shown me was far greater. The shouts of the jury, proclaiming me as the saviour of the country crushed and annihilated the defendant and all his supporters. And on the next day a crowd as great as that which conducted me home at the end of my consulship gathered round me. Our noble Areopagites declared they would not come without a guard. The votes of the court were taken, and there was only one person who voted a guard unnecessary. The point was laid before the Senate, who passed a decree in the strongest and most complimentary terms, thanking the jury and referring the matter to the magistrates. No one thought Clodius would defend his case. “Tell me Iliad xvi, 112| now, ye Muses, how first the fire fell.”
You know Baldpate of Nanneian fame, my late panegyrist, whose complimentary speech in my honour I have already mentioned in my letters; well, he managed the whole job in a couple of days with the help of one slave and that an ex-prizefighter. He sent for everybody, made promises, gave security, paid money down. Good heavens, what a scandal there was! Even the favours of certain ladies and introductions to young men of good family were given to some of the jury to swell the bribe. All honest men withdrew entirely from the case and the forum was full of slaves. Yet five and twenty of the jury were brave enough to risk their necks, preferring death to treachery: but there were thirty-one who were more influenced by famine than fame. Catulus meeting one of these latter remarked to him: “Why did you ask for a guard? For fear of having your pocket picked?” There you have as short a summary as possible of the trial and the reason for the acquittal.
You want to know next what is the present state of public affairs, and how I am getting on. We thought that the condition of the Republic had been set on a firm footing, you by my prudence, I by divine interposition: and that its preservation was secured and established by the combination of all patriots and by the influence of my consulship. But, let me tell you, unless some god remembers us, it has been dashed from our grasp by this one trial, if one can call it a trial, when thirty of the
most worthless scoundrels in Rome have blotted out right and justice for filthy lucre, and when Hodge and John a Nokes and Tom a Styles and all the riff-raff of that description have declared a thing not to have happened which every man—man did I say?—nay, every beast of the field, knows for a fact. Still—to give you some consolation about politics—the country has not received so serious a blow as traitors wished, nor is iniquity vaunting itself so rampantly on its victory. For they clearly thought that, when religious and moral scruples, judicial honour and the Senate’s authority had been destroyed, iniquity and lust would triumph openly, and would wreak their vengeance on all honest folk for the brand that had been stamped on vice by my consulship. I was the man—I don’t think I am boasting unduly in saying so to you privately, especially in a letter which I would rather you didn’t read to anyone—I was the man who revived the fainting courage of the patriots, encouraging and cheering them one by one. I attacked and routed that venal jury; and I did not leave the victorious party and its supporters a word to say for themselves. The consul Piso I did not leave an inch to stand on. Syria, which had been promised him as his province, I wrested from him. The Senate I aroused from its despondency, recalling it to its former uprightness. Clodius I bearded and crushed in the Senate with a set speech full of dignity, and then with a cross-examination, of which I will give you a taste. The rest would lose both its verve and its wit, when the fire of battle is out, and the tug-of-war, as you Greeks call it, past. When I entered the House on the 15th of May, and was asked for my opinion, I discussed politics at length, and by a
happy inspiration introduced this passage: “The Senate must not be crushed by a single blow, they must not be faint-hearted. The wound is such that it cannot be disguised, yet it must not be feared, lest by our fear we prove ourselves abject cowards, or by ignoring it, very fools. Lentulus twice obtained an acquittal, and Catiline as often, and this is the third criminal let loose on the country by a jury. But you are mistaken, Clodius. The jury saved you for the gallows, not for public life: their object was not to keep you in the country, but to keep you from leaving it. Keep up your hearts, then, senators, and preserve your dignity. The feelings of all patriots are unchanged; they have suffered grief, but their courage is undiminished. It is no new disaster that has befallen us, we have merely discovered one that existed unnoticed. The trial of one villain has revealed many as guilty as himself.” But there, I’ve nearly copied the whole speech. Now for our passage of arms. Up gets this pretty boy and reproaches me with spending my time at Baiae. It was a lie: and anyhow what did it matter? “One would think,” said I, “you were accusing me of spending my time in hiding.” “What need has a man of Arpinum to take the waters?” asks Clodius: and I answered: “You should talk like that to your patron who wanted to take the waters of a man of Arpinum,”—you know about the sea-water baths. “How long are we going to let this man king it over us?” says he. “I wonder you mention the word king,” I replied, “since King did not mention you.” He had
been dying to inherit Kind’s money. “You have bought a house,” he says. “You seem to think it is the same as buying a jury,” I answer. “They did not credit you on your oath,” he remarks. To which I answer: “Twenty-five jurymen credited me: the other thirty-one gave you no credit, but took care to get their money first.” There was loud applause, and he collapsed without a word, utterly crushed.
My own position is this. I have retained the influence I had, when you left, over the conservative party, and have gained much more influence over the sordid dregs of the populace than I had then. That my testimony was not accepted does me no harm. My unpopularity has been tapped like a dropsy and painlessly reduced, and another thing has done me even more good: the supporters of that crime confess that that open scandal was due to bribery. Besides that blood-sucker of the treasury, the wretched and starveling mob, thinks I am a prime favourite with the “great man” Pompey, and upon my soul we are upon terms of very pleasant intimacy—so much so indeed that these bottle-conspirators, these youths with budding beards in common table-talk call him Gnaeus Cicero. So both at the games and at the gladiatorial shows, I have been the object of extraordinary demonstrations without hisses or catcalls.
Now every one is looking forward to the elections. Our “great” Pompey is pushing Aulus’ son amidst general disapproval: and the means he is using are neither authority nor influence, but those which Philip said, would storm any fort to which an ass laden with money could climb. Piso is said to be playing second fiddle to Pompey and to have bribery-agents
in his house: but I don’t believe it. But two decrees have been passed on the proposal of Cato and Domitius, which are unpopular because they are thought to be directed against the consul; one, making it lawful to search the house of any magistrate, and the other making it a treasonable offence to have bribery agents in one’s house. The tribune Lurco, who entered on his office under another law, has been freed from the obligations of the Aelian and Fufian laws, so that he may propose his law about bribery. He had luck in publishing it in spite of his deformity. Accordingly the elections have been postponed till the 27th of July. The new point about this law is that a mere promise to bribe the tribesmen counts for nothing, if it is not fulfilled; but, if it is fulfilled, the man who made it is liable for life to a fine of £27 per tribe. I remarked Clodius had kept this law before it was passed: for he is always promising and not paying. But, I say, if he gets in, that consulship of mine which Curio used to call a deification will become an absolute farce. So, I suppose I must take to philosophy
like yourself, and not give a button for consulships.
You write that you have made up your mind not to go to Asia. I would rather you did go, and I am afraid it may cause unpleasantness if you do not. But I cannot blame your determination, especially as I have refused to go to a province.
I shall be contented with the inscriptions you have put in your Amaltheum, especially as Thyillus has deserted me and Archias has not written anything about me. I am afraid, now he has written his Greek poem on the Luculli, he is turning to the Caecilian drama. I have thanked Antonius on your behalf, and given that letter to Mallius. My letters to you up to now have been fewer than they should have been, as I had no trusty messenger nor any certain address to send them to. I have sung your praises loudly. If Cincius delegates any of your business to me, I will undertake it. But just at present he is more concerned with his own, in which I am ready to assist him. Expect frequent letters from me, if you are settled: and send me even more. Please write me a description of your Amaltheum, its adornment and situation; and send me any poems and tales you have about Amalthea. I should like to make one too in my place at Arpinum. I will send you some of my writings: but there is nothing finished.
Quaeris ex me, quid acciderit de iudicio, quod tam praeter opinionem omnium factum sit, et simul vis scire, quo modo ego minus, quam soleam, proeliatus sim. Respondebo tibi hysteron proteron Homerikos . Ego enim, quam diu senatus auctoritas mihi defendenda fuit, sic acriter et vehementer proeliatus sum, ut clamor concursusque maxima cum mea laude fierent. Quodsi tibi umquam sum visus in re publica fortis, certe me in illa causa admiratus esses. Cum enim ille ad contiones confugisset in iisque meo nomine ad invidiam uteretur, di immortales! quas ego pugnas et quantas strages edidi! quos impetus in Pisonem, in Curionem, in totam illam manum feci! quo modo sum insectatus levitatem senum, libidinem iuventutis! Saepe, ita me di iuvent! te non solum auctorem consiliorum meorum, verum etiam spectatorem pugnarum mirificarum desideravi. Postea vero quam Hortensius excogitavit, ut legem de religione Fufius tribunus pl. ferret, in qua nihil aliud a consulari rogatione differebat nisi iudicum genus (in eo autem erant omnia), pugnavitque, ut ita fieret, quod et sibi et aliis persuaserat nullis illum iudicibus effugere posse, contraxi vela perspiciens inopiam iudicum, neque dixi quicquam pro testimonio, nisi quod erat ita notum atque testatum, ut non possem praeterire. Itaque, si causam quaeris absolutionis, ut iam pros to proteron revertar, egestas iudicum fuit et turpitudo. Id autem ut accideret, commissum est Hortensi consilio, qui dum veritus est, ne Fufius ei legi intercederet, quae ex senatus consulto ferebatur, non vidit illud, satius esse illum in infamia relinqui ac sordibus quam infirmo iudicio committi, sed ductus odio properavit rem deducere in iudicium, cum illum plumbeo gladio iugulatum iri tamen diceret. Sed iudicium si quaeris quale fuerit, incredibili exitu, sic uti nunc ex eventu ab aliis, a me tamen ex ipso initio consilium Hortensi reprehendatur. Nam, ut reiectio facta est clamoribus maximis, cum accusator tamquam censor bonus homines nequissimos reiceret, reus tamquam clemens lanista frugalissimum quemque secerneret, ut primum iudices consederunt, valde diffidere boni coeperunt. Non enim umquam turpior in ludo talario consessus fuit, maculosi senatores, nudi equites, tribuni non tam aerati quam, ut appellantur, aerarii. Pauci tamen boni inerant, quos reiectione fugare ille non potuerat, qui maesti inter sui dissimiles et maerentes sedebant et contagione turpitudinis vehementer permovebantur. Hic, ut quaeque res ad consilium primis postulationibus referebatur, incredibilis erat severitas nulla varietate sententiarum. Nihil impetrabat reus, plus accusatori dabatur, quam postulabat; triumphabat (quid quaeris?) Hortensius se vidisse tantum; nemo erat, qui illum reum ac non miliens condemnatum arbitraretur. Me vero teste producto credo te ex acclamatione Clodi advocatorum audisse quae consurrectio iudicum facta sit, ut me circumsteterint, ut aperte iugula sua pro meo capite P. Clodio ostentarint. Quae mihi res multo honorificentior visa est quam aut illa, cum iurare tui cives Xenocratem testimonium dicentem prohibuerunt, aut cum tabulas Metelli Numidici, cum eae, ut mos est, circumferrentur, nostri iudices aspicere noluerunt. Multo haec, inquam, nostra res maior. Itaque iudicum vocibus, cum ego sic ab iis ut salus patriae defenderer, fractus reus et una patroni omnes conciderunt; ad me autem eadem frequentia postridie convenit, quacum abiens consulatu sum domum reductus. Clamare praeclari Areopagitae se non esse venturos nisi praesidio constituto. Refertur ad consilium. Una sola sententia praesidium non desideravit. Defertur res ad senatum. Gravissime ornatissimeque decernitur; laudantur iudices; datur negotium magistratibus. Responsurum hominem nemo arbitrabatur. Espete nun moi, Moysai--hoppos de proton pur empese. Nosti Calvum ex Nanncianis illum, illum laudatorem meum, de cuius oratione erga me honorifica ad te scripseram. Biduo per unum servum et eum ex ludo gladiatorio confecit totum negotium; arcessivit ad se, promisit, intercessit, dedit. Iam vero (o di boni, rem perditam!) etiam noctes certarum mulierum atque adulescentulorum nobilium introductiones non nullis iudicibus pro mercedis cumulo fuerunt. Ita summo discessu bonorum, pleno foro servorum XXV iudices ita fortes tamen fuerunt, ut summo proposito periculo vel perire maluerint quam perdere omnia. XXXI fuerunt, quos fames magis quam fama commoverit. Quorum Catulus cum vidisset quendam, "Quid vos," inquit, " praesidium a nobis postulabatis ? an, ne nummi vobis eriperentur, timebatis?" Habes, ut brevissime potui, genus iudicii et causam absolutionis. Quaeris deinceps, qui nunc sit status rerum et qui meus. Rei publicae statum illum, quem tu meo consilio, ego divino confirmatum putabam, qui bonorum omnium coniunctione et auctoritate consulatus mei fixus et fundatus videbatur, nisi quis nos deus respexerit, elapsum scito esse de manibus uno hoc iudicio, si iudicium est triginta homines populi Romani levissimos ac nequissimos nummulis acceptis ius ac fas omne delere et, quod omnes non modo homines, verum etiam pecudes factum esse sciant, id Talnam et Plautum et Spongiam et ceteras huius modi quisquilias statuere numquam esse factum. Sed tamen, ut te de re publica consoler, non ita, ut sperarunt mali, tanto imposito rei publicae vulnere, alacris exsultat improbitas in victoria. Nam plane ita putaverunt, cum religio, cum pudicitia, cum iudiciorum fides, cum senatus auctoritas concidisset, fore ut aperte victrix nequitia ac libido poenas ab optimo quoque peteret sui doloris, quem improbissimo cuique inusserat severitas consulatus mei. Idem ego ille (non enim mihi videor insolenter gloriari, cum de me apud te loquor, in ea praesertim epistula, quam nolo aliis legi) idem, inquam, ego recreavi adflictos animos bonorum unum quemque confirmans, excitans; insectandis vero exagitandisque nummariis iudicibus omnem omnibus studiosis ac fautoribus illius victoriac parresian eripui, Pisonem consulem nulla in re consistere umquam sum passus, desponsam homini iam Syriam ademi, senatum ad pristinam suam severitatem revocavi atque abiectum excitavi, Clodium praesentem fregi in senatu cum oratione perpetua plenissima gravitatis tum altercatione huius modi; ex qua licet pauca degustes; nam cetera non possunt habere eandem neque vim neque venustatem remoto illo studio contentionis, quem agona vos appellatis. Nam, ut Idibus Maiis in senatum convenimus, rogatus ego sententiam multa dixi de summa re publica, atque ille locus inductus a me est divinitus, ne una plaga accepta patres conscripti conciderent, ne deficerent; vulnus esse eius modi, quod mihi nec dissimulandum nec pertimescendum videretur, ne aut ignorando stultissimi aut metuendo ignavissimi iudicaremur: bis absolutum esse Lentulum, bis Catilinam, hunc tertium iam esse a iudicibus in rem publicam immissum. "Erras, Clodi; non te iudices urbi, sed carceri reservarunt, neque te retinere in civitate, sed exsilio privare voluerunt. Quam ob rem, patres conscripti, erigite animos, retinete vestram dignitatem. Manet illa in re publica bonorum consensio; dolor accessit bonis viris, virtus non est imminuta; nihil est damni factum novi, sed, quod erat, inventum est. In unius hominis perditi iudicio plures similes reperti sunt." Sed quid ago ? paene orationem in epistulam inclusi. Redeo ad altercationem. Surgit pulchellus puer, obicit mihi me ad Baias fuisse. Falsum, sed tamen "Quid? Hoc simile est," inquam, "quasi in operto dicas fuisse?" "Quid," inquit, "homini Arpinati cum aquis calidis?" "Narra," inquam, "patrono tuo, qui Arpinatis aquas concupivit" (nosti enim Marianas)." Quousque," inquit, "hunc regem feremus ?" "Regem appellas," inquam, "cum Rex tui mentionem nullam fecerit?"; ille autem Regis hereditatem spe devorarat. "Domum," inquit, "emisti." "Putes," inquam, "dicere: Iudices emisti." "Iuranti," inquit, "tibi non crediderunt." "Mihi vero," in quam, "XXV iudices crediderunt, XXXI, quoniam nummos ante acceperunt, tibi nihil crediderunt." Magnis clamoribus adflictus conticuit et concidit. Noster autem status est hic. Apud bonos iidem sumus, quos reliquisti, apud sordem urbis et faecem multo melius nunc, quam reliquisti. Nam et illud nobis non obest, videri nostrum testimonium non valuisse; missus est sanguis invidiae sine dolore atque etiam hoc magis, quod omnes illi fautores illius flagitii rem manifestam illam redemptam esse a iudicibus confitentur. Accedit illud, quod illa contionalis hirudo aerarii, misera ac ieiuna plebecula, me ab hoc Magno unice diligi putat, et hercule multa et iucunda consuetudine coniuncti inter nos sumus usque eo, ut nostri isti comissatores coniurationis barbatuli iuvenes illum in sermonibus "Cn. Ciceronem" appellent. Itaque et ludis et gladiatoribus mirandas episemasias sine ulla pastoricia fistula auferebamus. Nunc est exspectatio comitiorum; in quae omnibus invitis trudit noster Magnus Auli filium atque in eo neque auctoritate neque gratia pugnat, sed quibus Philippus omnia castella expugnari posse dicebat, in quae modo asellus onustus auro posset ascendere. Consul autem ille deterioris histrionii similis suscepisse negotium dicitur et domi divisores habere; quod ego non credo. Sed senatus consulta duo iam facta sunt odiosa, quod in consulem facta putantur, Catone et Domitio postulante, unum, ut apud magistratus inquiri liceret, alterum, cuius domi divisores habitarent, adversus rem publicam. Lurco autem tribunus pl., qui magistratum insimul cum lege alia iniit, solutus est et Aelia et Fufia, ut legem de ambitu ferret, quam ille bono auspicio claudus homo promulgavit. Ita comitia in a. d. VI Kal. Sext. dilata sunt. Novi est in lege hoc, ut, qui nummos in tribu pronuntiarit, si non dederit, impune sit, sin dederit, ut, quoad vivat, singulis tribubus HS [3,000] debeat. Dixi hanc legem P. Clodium iam ante servasse; pronuntiare enim solitum esse et non dare. Sed heus tu! videsne consulatum illum nostrum, quem Curio antea apotheosin vocabat, si hic factus erit, fabam mimum futurum? Quare, ut opinor, philosopheteon , id quod tu facis, et istos consulatus non flocci facteon. Quod ad me scribis te in Asiam statuisse non ire, equidem mallem, ut ires, ac vereor, ne quid in ista re minus commode fiat; sed tamen non possum reprehendere consilium tuum, praesertim cum egomet in provinciam non sim profectus. Epigrammatis tuis, quae in Amaltheo posuisti, contenti erimus, praesertim cum et Thyillus nos reliquerit, et Archias nihil de me scripserit. Ac vereor, ne, Lucullis quoniam Graecum poema condidit, nunc ad Caecilianam fabulam spectet. Antonio tuo nomine gratias egi eamque epistulam Mallio dedi. Ad te ideo antea rarius scripsi, quod non habebam idoneum, cui darem, nec satis sciebam, quo darem. Valde te venditavi. Cincius si quid ad me tui negotii detulerit, suscipiam; sed nunc magis in suo est occupatus; in quo ego ei non desum. Tu, si uno in loco es futurus, crebras a nobis litteras exspecta; ast plures etiam ipse mittito. Velim ad me scribas, cuius modi sit Amaltheion tuum, quo ornatu, qua topothesiai , et, quae poemata quasque historias de Amaltheioi habes, ad me mittas. Lubet mihi facere in Arpinati. Ego tibi aliquid de meis scriptis mittam. Nihil erat absoluti.
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You ask me what happened in the trial, that it turned out so contrary to everyone's expectation, and at the same time you want to know how it was that I fought less keenly than I usually do. I will answer you in reverse order, in the Homeric fashion. For as long as I had to defend the authority of the Senate, I fought so fiercely and vehemently that shouting and crowding arose, all to my very great credit. And if I ever seemed to you brave in public affairs, you would surely have admired me in that cause. For when that man [Clodius] had taken refuge at the public meetings, and was using my name there to stir up ill will against me, immortal gods! what battles and what slaughter I produced! what assaults I made on Piso, on Curio, on that whole gang of theirs! how I attacked the fickleness of the old men, the lust of the young! Often, so help me the gods, I missed you not only as the adviser of my plans, but also as a spectator of those marvelous battles. But afterward, when Hortensius devised the scheme that the tribune of the plebs Fufius should bring forward the law concerning the sacrilege, in which it differed in nothing from the consular proposal except in the type of jurors (and in that lay everything), and fought to have it done so, because he had convinced both himself and others that the man could not escape with any jury, I furled my sails, seeing the poverty of the jurors, and I said nothing in my testimony except what was so well known and attested that I could not pass over it. And so, if you ask the reason for the acquittal, to return now to the first point, it was the destitution and baseness of the jurors. And that this came about was due to the plan of Hortensius, who, while he feared that Fufius might veto that law which was being brought forward by decree of the Senate, did not see this: that it was better to leave the man in disgrace and squalor than to entrust him to a weak court; but, led by hatred, he hurried to bring the matter to trial, though he kept saying that the man would be cut down even with a leaden sword. But if you ask what kind of trial it was, it ended with an incredible outcome, in such a way that now, from the result, the plan of Hortensius is blamed by others, but by me it has been blamed from the very beginning. For when the challenging of jurors was carried out amid the greatest shouting, since the accuser, like a good censor, kept rejecting the most worthless men, while the defendant, like a merciful trainer of gladiators, kept setting aside every most respectable man, as soon as the jurors sat down the good men began to lose all confidence. For never in a gambling-den was there a more disgraceful gathering: spotted senators, bare-stripped knights, tribunes of the treasury who were not so much money-bearing as, to use their proper name, men of the public chest. Yet there were a few good men among them, whom that man had not been able to drive away by his challenges, who sat gloomy among men unlike themselves and grieving, and were deeply disturbed by contact with such disgrace. Here, as each matter was referred to the court in the first applications, the severity was incredible, with no variety in the opinions: the defendant obtained nothing; more was granted to the accuser than he asked. Hortensius was triumphant (what more can I say?) that he had seen so clearly; there was no one who did not think the man a defendant already condemned a thousand times over. But when I myself was produced as a witness, I believe you have heard from the shouting of Clodius's supporters what an uprising of the jurors took place, how they stood around me, how openly they offered their own throats to Publius Clodius on behalf of my life. This thing seemed to me far more honorable than either that occasion when your fellow citizens prevented Xenocrates from swearing as he gave his testimony, or when our jurors refused to look at the account-books of Metellus Numidicus when these were being passed around, as is the custom. Far greater, I say, was this affair of mine. And so, by the voices of the jurors, since I was thus defended by them as if I were the safety of my country, the defendant collapsed, broken, and along with him all his advocates fell down; and to me, moreover, on the next day the same crowd gathered with which I was escorted home when I laid down my consulship. The illustrious Areopagites cried out that they would not come unless a guard were established. The matter is referred to the court. One single opinion did not require a guard. The matter is brought before the Senate. It is decreed in the most weighty and honorable terms; the jurors are praised; the business is assigned to the magistrates. No one supposed that the man would respond. Tell me now, Muses, how the fire first fell. You know that Calvus of the Nanneian set, that fellow, that praiser of mine, about whose speech honorable to me I had written to you. Within two days, through a single slave, and one from a gladiatorial school, he completed the whole business: he summoned them to him, he promised, he interposed, he paid. Now indeed (O good gods, what a ruined state of affairs!) even the nights of certain women and the introductions of young men of noble birth served as a heap of extra payment for some of the jurors. So, with the highest men withdrawing and the forum full of slaves, twenty-five jurors were nevertheless so brave that, with the greatest danger set before them, they preferred even to perish rather than to ruin everything. There were thirty-one whom hunger moved more than reputation. When Catulus saw one of these, he said, "Why were you asking a guard from us? Were you afraid your coins would be snatched away from you?" There you have, as briefly as I could put it, the character of the trial and the reason for the acquittal. Next you ask what is now the state of affairs and what my own situation is. As for that state of the republic which you thought confirmed by my policy, and I by divine providence, which seemed fixed and founded by the union and authority of all good men in my consulship, know that, unless some god looks upon us, it has slipped from our hands by this one trial, if it is a trial when thirty most worthless and good-for-nothing men of the Roman people, having taken a little money, destroy all law human and divine, and decree that a thing never happened which all men, indeed even the very cattle, know happened, namely Talna and Plautus and Spongia and the rest of this kind of rubbish. But nevertheless, to console you about the republic: wickedness, with so great a wound inflicted on the state, does not exult in victory so eagerly as the wicked had hoped. For they thought outright that, once religion, once chastity, once the integrity of the courts, once the authority of the Senate had collapsed, it would come to pass that openly victorious wickedness and lust would exact from every best man the penalty of their own resentment, which the severity of my consulship had branded upon every most wicked man. And it was I, that same man (for I do not seem to myself to boast insolently when I speak about myself to you, especially in a letter which I do not want others to read), it was I, I say, who revived the afflicted spirits of the good men, strengthening and rousing each one; and by attacking and harassing the bribed jurors I snatched away all freedom of speech from all the zealous supporters and partisans of that victory of theirs. I never allowed the consul Piso to stand firm on any point; I took away from the man the province of Syria, already promised to him; I recalled the Senate to its former severity and roused it from its dejection; I broke Clodius to his face in the Senate, both with a continuous speech most full of weight and with an exchange of this kind; from which you may taste a little, for the rest cannot have the same force nor the same charm once that ardor of contention is removed, which you people call the contest. For when we assembled in the Senate on the Ides of May, and I was asked my opinion, I said much about the highest interests of the state, and that passage was introduced by me, as if by divine inspiration: that the conscript fathers should not collapse and lose heart because of one blow received; that the wound was of such a kind that it seemed to me neither to be concealed nor to be excessively feared, lest by ignoring it we be judged most foolish, or by fearing it most cowardly: that Lentulus had been twice acquitted, Catiline twice, that this man was now the third let loose by the jurors against the republic. "You are mistaken, Clodius; the jurors have reserved you not for the city, but for the prison, and they wished not to keep you in the state, but to deprive you of exile. Wherefore, conscript fathers, lift up your spirits, hold fast to your dignity. That agreement of the good men in the republic remains; grief has come to good men, but their courage has not been diminished; no new harm has been done, but what existed has been brought to light. In the trial of one ruined man, more men like him have been found." But what am I doing? I have nearly enclosed a speech in a letter. I return to the altercation. The pretty-boy stands up, throws in my face that I had been at Baiae. False, but still, "What?" I said, "is this like saying I was present at a forbidden rite?" "What," said he, "has a man of Arpinum to do with hot waters?" "Tell that," I said, "to your patron, who coveted the waters of Arpinum" (for you know the Marian springs). "How long," said he, "shall we endure this king?" "You call me king," I said, "when Rex made no mention of you?"; for he had in his hopes already devoured the inheritance of Rex. "You bought a house," said he. "You might think," I said, "he was saying: You bought jurors." "They did not believe you," said he, "when you swore." "On the contrary," I said, "twenty-five jurors believed me; thirty-one, since they took the money in advance, believed nothing of yours." Crushed by great shouting, he fell silent and collapsed. Our own situation, however, is this. Among the good men we are the same as you left us; among the dregs and filth of the city much better now than you left us. For even this does not harm us, that our testimony is seen not to have prevailed; the blood of ill will has been let without pain, and even the more so because all those abettors of that disgrace confess that the manifest case was bought off from the jurors. There is also this: that that bloodsucking leech of the treasury at the public meetings, the wretched and starving little plebs, thinks I am uniquely esteemed by this Great One [Pompey], and, by Hercules, we are joined together by much pleasant intimacy, to such a degree that those revelers of conspiracy, our little-bearded young men, call him in their conversations "Gnaeus Cicero." And so both at the games and at the gladiatorial shows we were carrying off marvelous demonstrations of approval without any shepherd's pipe. Now there is expectation of the elections, into which our Great One, against everyone's wishes, is thrusting the son of Aulus [Afranius], and in this he fights neither by authority nor by influence, but by those means by which Philip used to say all fortresses could be stormed into which only a little ass laden with gold could climb. The consul, moreover, that man like an actor of the baser sort, is said to have undertaken the business and to keep distributors of bribes at his house; which I do not believe. But two decrees of the Senate have now been passed, hateful because they are thought to be aimed at the consul, on the demand of Cato and Domitius: one, that inquiry might be made before the magistrates; the other, that whoever kept distributors of bribes in his house was acting against the republic. Lurco, however, the tribune of the plebs, who entered upon his magistracy together with another law, was released from the Aelian and Fufian laws, so that he might bring a law about bribery, which that lame man promulgated with good auspices. Thus the elections were postponed to the sixth day before the Kalends of Sextilis [July 27]. There is this new feature in the law: that whoever has promised money in a tribe, if he has not given it, goes unpunished; but if he has given it, he is liable, as long as he lives, to pay three thousand sesterces to each tribe. I said that Publius Clodius had already observed this law before; for he was accustomed to promise and not to give. But, listen you! do you see that consulship of ours, which Curio used formerly to call an apotheosis, if this man is elected, will become a bean-mime, a farce? Wherefore, in my opinion, we must philosophize, which is what you do, and not value these consulships at a straw. As to what you write me, that you have decided not to go into Asia, I should indeed prefer that you go, and I fear that something less convenient may be done in that affair; but nevertheless I cannot find fault with your decision, especially since I myself did not set out for my province. We shall be content with your epigrams, which you placed in the Amaltheum, especially since both Thyillus has deserted us, and Archias has written nothing about me. And I fear that, since he has composed a Greek poem about the Luculli, he is now looking toward a Caecilian play. I gave thanks to Antonius in your name and entrusted that letter to Mallius. I wrote to you the more rarely before this for the reason that I had no suitable person to whom to give a letter, nor did I know well enough where to send it. I praised you up highly. If Cincius brings me any business of yours, I will take it up; but at present he is more occupied with his own affairs, in which I do not fail him. You, if you are going to be in one place, expect frequent letters from us; but send still more yourself. I should like you to write me what your Amaltheum is like, with what adornment, with what placement of the scene, and to send me the poems and the histories you have about Amalthea. I should like to make one on my estate at Arpinum. I will send you something of my writings. There was nothing finished.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Quaeris ex me, quid acciderit de iudicio, quod tam praeter opinionem omnium factum sit, et simul vis scire, quo modo ego minus, quam soleam, proeliatus sim. Respondebo tibi hysteron proteron Homerikos . Ego enim, quam diu senatus auctoritas mihi defendenda fuit, sic acriter et vehementer proeliatus sum, ut clamor concursusque maxima cum mea laude fierent. Quodsi tibi umquam sum visus in re publica fortis, certe me in illa causa admiratus esses. Cum enim ille ad contiones confugisset in iisque meo nomine ad invidiam uteretur, di immortales! quas ego pugnas et quantas strages edidi! quos impetus in Pisonem, in Curionem, in totam illam manum feci! quo modo sum insectatus levitatem senum, libidinem iuventutis! Saepe, ita me di iuvent! te non solum auctorem consiliorum meorum, verum etiam spectatorem pugnarum mirificarum desideravi. Postea vero quam Hortensius excogitavit, ut legem de religione Fufius tribunus pl. ferret, in qua nihil aliud a consulari rogatione differebat nisi iudicum genus (in eo autem erant omnia), pugnavitque, ut ita fieret, quod et sibi et aliis persuaserat nullis illum iudicibus effugere posse, contraxi vela perspiciens inopiam iudicum, neque dixi quicquam pro testimonio, nisi quod erat ita notum atque testatum, ut non possem praeterire. Itaque, si causam quaeris absolutionis, ut iam pros to proteron revertar, egestas iudicum fuit et turpitudo. Id autem ut accideret, commissum est Hortensi consilio, qui dum veritus est, ne Fufius ei legi intercederet, quae ex senatus consulto ferebatur, non vidit illud, satius esse illum in infamia relinqui ac sordibus quam infirmo iudicio committi, sed ductus odio properavit rem deducere in iudicium, cum illum plumbeo gladio iugulatum iri tamen diceret. Sed iudicium si quaeris quale fuerit, incredibili exitu, sic uti nunc ex eventu ab aliis, a me tamen ex ipso initio consilium Hortensi reprehendatur. Nam, ut reiectio facta est clamoribus maximis, cum accusator tamquam censor bonus homines nequissimos reiceret, reus tamquam clemens lanista frugalissimum quemque secerneret, ut primum iudices consederunt, valde diffidere boni coeperunt. Non enim umquam turpior in ludo talario consessus fuit, maculosi senatores, nudi equites, tribuni non tam aerati quam, ut appellantur, aerarii. Pauci tamen boni inerant, quos reiectione fugare ille non potuerat, qui maesti inter sui dissimiles et maerentes sedebant et contagione turpitudinis vehementer permovebantur. Hic, ut quaeque res ad consilium primis postulationibus referebatur, incredibilis erat severitas nulla varietate sententiarum. Nihil impetrabat reus, plus accusatori dabatur, quam postulabat; triumphabat (quid quaeris?) Hortensius se vidisse tantum; nemo erat, qui illum reum ac non miliens condemnatum arbitraretur. Me vero teste producto credo te ex acclamatione Clodi advocatorum audisse quae consurrectio iudicum facta sit, ut me circumsteterint, ut aperte iugula sua pro meo capite P. Clodio ostentarint. Quae mihi res multo honorificentior visa est quam aut illa, cum iurare tui cives Xenocratem testimonium dicentem prohibuerunt, aut cum tabulas Metelli Numidici, cum eae, ut mos est, circumferrentur, nostri iudices aspicere noluerunt. Multo haec, inquam, nostra res maior. Itaque iudicum vocibus, cum ego sic ab iis ut salus patriae defenderer, fractus reus et una patroni omnes conciderunt; ad me autem eadem frequentia postridie convenit, quacum abiens consulatu sum domum reductus. Clamare praeclari Areopagitae se non esse venturos nisi praesidio constituto. Refertur ad consilium. Una sola sententia praesidium non desideravit. Defertur res ad senatum. Gravissime ornatissimeque decernitur; laudantur iudices; datur negotium magistratibus. Responsurum hominem nemo arbitrabatur. Espete nun moi, Moysai--hoppos de proton pur empese. Nosti Calvum ex Nanncianis illum, illum laudatorem meum, de cuius oratione erga me honorifica ad te scripseram. Biduo per unum servum et eum ex ludo gladiatorio confecit totum negotium; arcessivit ad se, promisit, intercessit, dedit. Iam vero (o di boni, rem perditam!) etiam noctes certarum mulierum atque adulescentulorum nobilium introductiones non nullis iudicibus pro mercedis cumulo fuerunt. Ita summo discessu bonorum, pleno foro servorum XXV iudices ita fortes tamen fuerunt, ut summo proposito periculo vel perire maluerint quam perdere omnia. XXXI fuerunt, quos fames magis quam fama commoverit. Quorum Catulus cum vidisset quendam, "Quid vos," inquit, " praesidium a nobis postulabatis ? an, ne nummi vobis eriperentur, timebatis?" Habes, ut brevissime potui, genus iudicii et causam absolutionis. Quaeris deinceps, qui nunc sit status rerum et qui meus. Rei publicae statum illum, quem tu meo consilio, ego divino confirmatum putabam, qui bonorum omnium coniunctione et auctoritate consulatus mei fixus et fundatus videbatur, nisi quis nos deus respexerit, elapsum scito esse de manibus uno hoc iudicio, si iudicium est triginta homines populi Romani levissimos ac nequissimos nummulis acceptis ius ac fas omne delere et, quod omnes non modo homines, verum etiam pecudes factum esse sciant, id Talnam et Plautum et Spongiam et ceteras huius modi quisquilias statuere numquam esse factum. Sed tamen, ut te de re publica consoler, non ita, ut sperarunt mali, tanto imposito rei publicae vulnere, alacris exsultat improbitas in victoria. Nam plane ita putaverunt, cum religio, cum pudicitia, cum iudiciorum fides, cum senatus auctoritas concidisset, fore ut aperte victrix nequitia ac libido poenas ab optimo quoque peteret sui doloris, quem improbissimo cuique inusserat severitas consulatus mei. Idem ego ille (non enim mihi videor insolenter gloriari, cum de me apud te loquor, in ea praesertim epistula, quam nolo aliis legi) idem, inquam, ego recreavi adflictos animos bonorum unum quemque confirmans, excitans; insectandis vero exagitandisque nummariis iudicibus omnem omnibus studiosis ac fautoribus illius victoriac parresian eripui, Pisonem consulem nulla in re consistere umquam sum passus, desponsam homini iam Syriam ademi, senatum ad pristinam suam severitatem revocavi atque abiectum excitavi, Clodium praesentem fregi in senatu cum oratione perpetua plenissima gravitatis tum altercatione huius modi; ex qua licet pauca degustes; nam cetera non possunt habere eandem neque vim neque venustatem remoto illo studio contentionis, quem agona vos appellatis. Nam, ut Idibus Maiis in senatum convenimus, rogatus ego sententiam multa dixi de summa re publica, atque ille locus inductus a me est divinitus, ne una plaga accepta patres conscripti conciderent, ne deficerent; vulnus esse eius modi, quod mihi nec dissimulandum nec pertimescendum videretur, ne aut ignorando stultissimi aut metuendo ignavissimi iudicaremur: bis absolutum esse Lentulum, bis Catilinam, hunc tertium iam esse a iudicibus in rem publicam immissum. "Erras, Clodi; non te iudices urbi, sed carceri reservarunt, neque te retinere in civitate, sed exsilio privare voluerunt. Quam ob rem, patres conscripti, erigite animos, retinete vestram dignitatem. Manet illa in re publica bonorum consensio; dolor accessit bonis viris, virtus non est imminuta; nihil est damni factum novi, sed, quod erat, inventum est. In unius hominis perditi iudicio plures similes reperti sunt." Sed quid ago ? paene orationem in epistulam inclusi. Redeo ad altercationem. Surgit pulchellus puer, obicit mihi me ad Baias fuisse. Falsum, sed tamen "Quid? Hoc simile est," inquam, "quasi in operto dicas fuisse?" "Quid," inquit, "homini Arpinati cum aquis calidis?" "Narra," inquam, "patrono tuo, qui Arpinatis aquas concupivit" (nosti enim Marianas)." Quousque," inquit, "hunc regem feremus ?" "Regem appellas," inquam, "cum Rex tui mentionem nullam fecerit?"; ille autem Regis hereditatem spe devorarat. "Domum," inquit, "emisti." "Putes," inquam, "dicere: Iudices emisti." "Iuranti," inquit, "tibi non crediderunt." "Mihi vero," in quam, "XXV iudices crediderunt, XXXI, quoniam nummos ante acceperunt, tibi nihil crediderunt." Magnis clamoribus adflictus conticuit et concidit. Noster autem status est hic. Apud bonos iidem sumus, quos reliquisti, apud sordem urbis et faecem multo melius nunc, quam reliquisti. Nam et illud nobis non obest, videri nostrum testimonium non valuisse; missus est sanguis invidiae sine dolore atque etiam hoc magis, quod omnes illi fautores illius flagitii rem manifestam illam redemptam esse a iudicibus confitentur. Accedit illud, quod illa contionalis hirudo aerarii, misera ac ieiuna plebecula, me ab hoc Magno unice diligi putat, et hercule multa et iucunda consuetudine coniuncti inter nos sumus usque eo, ut nostri isti comissatores coniurationis barbatuli iuvenes illum in sermonibus "Cn. Ciceronem" appellent. Itaque et ludis et gladiatoribus mirandas episemasias sine ulla pastoricia fistula auferebamus. Nunc est exspectatio comitiorum; in quae omnibus invitis trudit noster Magnus Auli filium atque in eo neque auctoritate neque gratia pugnat, sed quibus Philippus omnia castella expugnari posse dicebat, in quae modo asellus onustus auro posset ascendere. Consul autem ille deterioris histrionii similis suscepisse negotium dicitur et domi divisores habere; quod ego non credo. Sed senatus consulta duo iam facta sunt odiosa, quod in consulem facta putantur, Catone et Domitio postulante, unum, ut apud magistratus inquiri liceret, alterum, cuius domi divisores habitarent, adversus rem publicam. Lurco autem tribunus pl., qui magistratum insimul cum lege alia iniit, solutus est et Aelia et Fufia, ut legem de ambitu ferret, quam ille bono auspicio claudus homo promulgavit. Ita comitia in a. d. VI Kal. Sext. dilata sunt. Novi est in lege hoc, ut, qui nummos in tribu pronuntiarit, si non dederit, impune sit, sin dederit, ut, quoad vivat, singulis tribubus HS [3,000] debeat. Dixi hanc legem P. Clodium iam ante servasse; pronuntiare enim solitum esse et non dare. Sed heus tu! videsne consulatum illum nostrum, quem Curio antea apotheosin vocabat, si hic factus erit, fabam mimum futurum? Quare, ut opinor, philosopheteon , id quod tu facis, et istos consulatus non flocci facteon. Quod ad me scribis te in Asiam statuisse non ire, equidem mallem, ut ires, ac vereor, ne quid in ista re minus commode fiat; sed tamen non possum reprehendere consilium tuum, praesertim cum egomet in provinciam non sim profectus. Epigrammatis tuis, quae in Amaltheo posuisti, contenti erimus, praesertim cum et Thyillus nos reliquerit, et Archias nihil de me scripserit. Ac vereor, ne, Lucullis quoniam Graecum poema condidit, nunc ad Caecilianam fabulam spectet. Antonio tuo nomine gratias egi eamque epistulam Mallio dedi. Ad te ideo antea rarius scripsi, quod non habebam idoneum, cui darem, nec satis sciebam, quo darem. Valde te venditavi. Cincius si quid ad me tui negotii detulerit, suscipiam; sed nunc magis in suo est occupatus; in quo ego ei non desum. Tu, si uno in loco es futurus, crebras a nobis litteras exspecta; ast plures etiam ipse mittito. Velim ad me scribas, cuius modi sit Amaltheion tuum, quo ornatu, qua topothesiai , et, quae poemata quasque historias de Amaltheioi habes, ad me mittas. Lubet mihi facere in Arpinati. Ego tibi aliquid de meis scriptis mittam. Nihil erat absoluti.