Marcus Aemilius Lepidus→Roman Senate|c. 43 BC|Cicero|From Gaul|To Rome|AI-assisted
If you and your children are well, that is good; I and my army are well. Conscript Fathers, I call gods and men to witness what mind and spirit I have always had toward the republic, and how I have judged nothing more important than the common safety and liberty. I would have proved this to you shortly, if fortune had not wrested my own plan from me.
The whole army, after a mutiny broke out, kept to its customary principle of preserving citizens and the common peace, and, to speak truly, compelled me to take up the cause of the safety and security of so great a number of Roman citizens. In this matter, Conscript Fathers, I ask and beg you to set aside private grievances and look to the highest interests of the republic. Do not treat the compassion shown by me and my army in civil discord as a crime.
If you take account of the safety and dignity of all, you will act better both for yourselves and for the republic.
May 30, from Pons Argenteus.
DCCCLXXXI (Fam. X, 35) M. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS TO THE MAGISTRATES AND SENATE PONS ARGENTEUS, 30 MAY M. Lepidus , second time imperator, Pontifex Maximus , greets the praetors, tribunes, the senate, populace, and plebs of Rome . If you and your children are well, I am glad. I and my army are well. I call gods and men to witness, fathers of the senate, what my feelings and sentiments have ever been towards the Republic, and how I have thought nothing of more importance than the common safety and liberty. And this I should shortly have demonstrated to you, had not fortune snatched from me the power of following my own policy. For my whole army broke out into a mutiny, by way of retaining its traditional principle of preserving fellow citizens and the general peace, and — to confess the truth-compelled me to undertake to defend the lives and civil rights of so large a number of Roman citizens. And in regard to this matter, I beg and beseech you, fathers of the senate, to forget private quarrels and to consult for the highest interests of the Republic, and not to regard the compassionate feelings of myself and my army in the light of a crime. But if you take the lives and political position of all into consideration, you will consult better for yourselves and the Republic. 30 May, from Pons Argenteus.
XXXV. Data est a Ponte Argenteo III. Kal. Iun. a.u.c. 711. M. LEPIDUS IMP. ITER. PONTIFEX MAX. S. D. SENATUI POPULO PLEBIQUE ROMANAE.
S. v. liberique vestri v. b. e. e. q. v. Deos hominesque testor, patres conscripti, qua mente et quo animo semper in rem publicam fuerim et quam nihil antiquius communi salute ac libertate iudicarim; quod vobis brevi probassem, nisi mihi fortuna proprium consilium extorsisset; nam exercitus cunctus consuetudinem suam in civibus conservandis communique pace seditione facta retinuit meque tantae multitudinis civium Romanorum salutis atque incolumitatis causam suscipere, ut vere dicam, coegit. In qua re ego vos, patres conscripti, oro atque obsecro, ut privatis offensionibus omissis summae rei publicae consulatis neve misericordiam nostram exercitusque nostri in civili dissensione sceleris loco ponatis. Quod si salutis omnium ac dignitatis reationem habueritis, melius et vobis et rei publicae consuletis. D. III. Kal. Iun. a Ponte Argenteo. Cicero
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If you and your children are well, that is good; I and my army are well. Conscript Fathers, I call gods and men to witness what mind and spirit I have always had toward the republic, and how I have judged nothing more important than the common safety and liberty. I would have proved this to you shortly, if fortune had not wrested my own plan from me.
The whole army, after a mutiny broke out, kept to its customary principle of preserving citizens and the common peace, and, to speak truly, compelled me to take up the cause of the safety and security of so great a number of Roman citizens. In this matter, Conscript Fathers, I ask and beg you to set aside private grievances and look to the highest interests of the republic. Do not treat the compassion shown by me and my army in civil discord as a crime.
If you take account of the safety and dignity of all, you will act better both for yourselves and for the republic.
May 30, from Pons Argenteus.
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
XXXV. Data est a Ponte Argenteo III. Kal. Iun. a.u.c. 711. M. LEPIDUS IMP. ITER. PONTIFEX MAX. S. D. SENATUI POPULO PLEBIQUE ROMANAE.
S. v. liberique vestri v. b. e. e. q. v. Deos hominesque testor, patres conscripti, qua mente et quo animo semper in rem publicam fuerim et quam nihil antiquius communi salute ac libertate iudicarim; quod vobis brevi probassem, nisi mihi fortuna proprium consilium extorsisset; nam exercitus cunctus consuetudinem suam in civibus conservandis communique pace seditione facta retinuit meque tantae multitudinis civium Romanorum salutis atque incolumitatis causam suscipere, ut vere dicam, coegit. In qua re ego vos, patres conscripti, oro atque obsecro, ut privatis offensionibus omissis summae rei publicae consulatis neve misericordiam nostram exercitusque nostri in civili dissensione sceleris loco ponatis. Quod si salutis omnium ac dignitatis reationem habueritis, melius et vobis et rei publicae consuletis. D. III. Kal. Iun. a Ponte Argenteo. Cicero