M. TVLLI CICERONIS PRO M. CAELIO ORATIO
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[ i ] Si quis, iudices, forte nunc adsit ignarus legum, iudiciorum, consuetudinis nostrae, miretur profecto, quae sit tanta atrocitas huiusce causae, quod diebus festis ludisque publicis, omnibus forensibus negotiis intermissis unum hoc iudicium exerceatur, nec dubitet, quin tanti facinoris reus arguatur, ut eo neglecto civitas stare non possit; idem cum audiat esse legem, quae de seditiosis consceleratisque civibus, qui armati senatum obsederint, magistratibus vim attulerint, rem publicam oppugnarint, cotidie quaeri iubeat: legem non improbet, crimen quod versetur in iudicio, requirat; cum audiat nullum facinus, nullam audaciam, nullam vim in iudicium vocari, sed adulescentem illustri ingenio, industria, gratia accusari ab eius filio, quem ipse in iudicium et vocet et vocarit, oppugnari autem opibus meretriciis: [Atratini] illius pietatem non reprehendat, muliebrem libidinem comprimendam putet, vos laboriosos existimet, quibus otiosis ne in communi quidem otio liceat esse.
Sī quis, iūdicēs,
lēgum
/
forte nunc adsit ignārus +--iūdiciōrum
\
cōnsuētūdinis nostrae,
mīrētur profectō quae sit tanta atrōcitās huiusce causae,
diēbus festīs lūdīsque pūblicīs,
/
quod +
\
omnibus forēnsibus negōtiīs intermissīs,
ūnum hoc iūdicium exerceātur,
quīn tantī facinoris reus arguātur
/
nec dubitet +
\
ut eō neglectō civitās stāre nōn possit.
Īdem cum audiat
sēditiōsīs
/ \
esse lēgem quae dē + + cīvibus
\ /
cōnscelerātīsque
armātī senātum obsēderint,
/
quī +--magistrātibus vim attulerint,
\
rem publicam oppugnārint,
cotīdiē quaerī iubeat:
lēgem nōn improbet,
crimen quod versētur in iūdiciō requīrat;
nullam facinus,
/ \
cum audiat +--nullam audāciam,--+ in iūdicium vocāri,
\ /
nullam vim
ingeniō
/ \
sed adulēscentem inlustrī +--industriā --+ accūsārī
\ /
grātiā
et vocet
/
ab eius filiō quem ipse in iūdicium +
\
et vocārit,
oppugnārī autem opibus meretrīciīs:
illīus pietātem nōn reprehendat,
libīdinem muliēbrem comprimendam putet,
vōs labōriōsōs existimet,
quibus ōtiōsīs nē in commūnī quidem ōtiō liceat esse.
[ 1 ] If any one, O judges, were now present by any chance, ignorant of our laws, and of our judicial proceedings, and of our customs, he would in truth wonder what great atrocity there is in this particular cause of so serious a nature, as to cause this trial alone to be proceeded with during these days of festival and public games, when all other forensic business is interrupted [Gardner: Cicero spoke on 4 April 56 BC, opening day of Ludi Megalenses]; and he would not doubt that a criminal was being prosecuted for a crime of such enormity, that, if it were neglected, though but for a moment, the state could no longer stand upright. If the same man were to hear that there is a law [lex Plautia de vi, 65-64 BC, dealing with cases of vīs contrā prīvātōs. Austin: Cf. § 70 ] which orders daily investigations to take place about seditious and wicked citizens, who may have taken arms and besieged the senate or offered violence to the magistrates, or attacked the constitution, he would find no fault with the law, but he would inquire what is the crime which is now before the court; and when he heard that there was no crime at all, no audacity, no deed of violence which was the subject of this present action, but that a young man [M. Caelius Rufus] of eminent abilities, and industry, and popularity is impeached by the son of that man whom he himself prosecutes and has prosecuted and that he is attacked owing to the influence of a prostitute, he would not find fault with the filial affection of [L. Sepronius Atratinus*], but he would think it right to curb the lust of the woman [Clodia Metelli (Quadrantaria)], and he would think you the judges a really laborious race, when you are not allowed to be at rest at a time of universal rest to every one else.
* Gardner: L. Sempronius Atratinus (died 7 AD), seventeen-year-old son of L. Capurnius Bestia, who was successfully defended by Cicero when prosecuted by Caelius on 11 Feb 56 BC. Caelius then began a fresh proceeding against Bestia.
[ ii ] Etenim si attendere diligenter, existimare vere de omni hac causa volueritis, sic constituetis, iudices, nec descensurum quemquam ad hanc accusationem fuisse, cui, utrum vellet, liceret, nec, cum descendisset, quicquam habiturum spei fuisse, nisi alicuius intolerabili libidine et nimis acerbo odio niteretur. Sed ego Atratino, humanissimo atque optimo adulescenti meo necessario, ignosco, qui habet excusationem vel pietatis vel necessitatis vel aetatis. Si voluit accusare, pietati tribuo, si iussus est, necessitati, si speravit aliquid, pueritiae. Ceteris non modo nihil ignoscendum, sed etiam acriter est resistendum.
attendere dīligenter
/ \
Etenim sī +--atque --+ dē omnī hāc
\ / causā volueritis,
existimāre vērē
sīc cōnstituētis, iūdicēs,
nec dēscēsūrum quemquam ad hanc accūsātiōnem fuisse
cui utrum vellet liceret
nec, cum descendisset, quicquam habitūrum speī fuisse,
alicuius intolerābilī libīdine
/ \
nisi +--et --+ nīterētur.
\ /
nimis acerbō ōdiō
[ 2 ] In truth, if you are willing to attend diligently, and to form a correct opinion of the whole of this cause, O judges, you will make up your minds that no one would ever have come down to the court, to prefer this accusation who had the power of doing so or not, just as he pleased; and that, when he had come down, he would not have had the slightest hope of succeeding if he had not relied on the intolerable licentiousness and exaggerated hatred of some one else. But, for my part, I can make allowance for Atratinus, a most humane and virtuous young man, and a great friend of my own; who has the excuse of filial affection, and necessity, and of youth. If he wished to accuse my client I attribute it to his filial affection; if he was ordered to do so, I lay the blame on the necessity; if he had any hope of succeeding, I impute that to the inexperience of his boyhood. But as for the other partners in this impeachment, those I have not only no allowance to make for, but I must resist them most vigorously.
[ iii ] Ac mihi quidem videtur, iudices, hic introitus defensionis adulescentiae M. Caeli maxime convenire, ut ad ea, quae accusatores deformandi huius causa, detrahendae spoliandaeque dignitatis gratia dixerunt, primum respondeam. Obiectus est pater varie, quod aut parum splendidus ipse aut parum pie tractatus a filio diceretur. De dignitate M. Caelius notis ac maioribus natu et sine mea oratione et tacitus facile ipse respondet; quibus autem propter senectutem, quod iam diu minus in foro nobiscumque versatur, non aeque est cognitus, ii sic habeant, quaecumque in equite Romano dignitas esse possit, quae certe potest esse maxima, eam semper in M. Caelio habitam esse summam hodieque haberi non solum a suis, sed etiam ab omnibus, quibus potuerit aliqua de causa esse notus.
Dē dignitāte M. Caelius
nōtīs ac maiōribus nātū etiam sine meā ōrātiōne tacitus facile
ipse respondet;
quibus autem propter senectūtem,
quod iam dіū minus in forō nōbīscumque versātur,
nōn aequē est cognitus,
hī sīc habeant, quaecumque in equite Rōmānō dignitās esse possit,
quae certē potest esse maxima,
eam semper in M. Caeliō habitem esse summam hodiēque habērī
nōn sōlum ā suīs
sed etiam ab omnibus quibus potuerit aliquā dē causā esse nōtus.
[ 3 ] And, O judges, this beginning of my defence appears to me to suit most especially with the youth of Marcus Caelius so that I should reply first to those things which the accusers have advanced with the general view of disparaging him and for the sake of detracting from his honour and despoiling him of his dignity. His father was cast in his teeth on various accounts, — at one time as having been a man of no great respectability himself; at another, he was said to have been treated with but little respect by his son. On the score of dignity, Marcus Caelius, to those who know him and to the older men among us, is of himself, without speaking, himself able easily to make a very sufficient reply, and without my having any occasion to make any statement for him; but as for those to whom he is not equally well known, on account of his great age, which has now for some time hindered his mixing much with us in the forum, let them think this: that whatever dignity can exist in a Roman knight, — and certainly the very greatest may be found in that body, — has always been considered, and is to this day considered, to shine out in great lustre in the case of Marcus Caelius; and moreover it is so considered, not only by his own relations and friends, but by every one to whom he can possibly be known on any account whatever.
[ iv ] Equitis Romani autem esse filium criminis loco poni ab accusatoribus neque his iudicantibus oportuit neque defendentibus nobis. Nam quod de pietate dixistis, est quidem ista nostra existimatio, sed iudicium certe parentis; quid nos opinemur, audietis ex iuratis; quid parentes sentiant, lacrimae matris incredibilisque maeror, squalor patris et haec praesens maestitia, quam cernitis, luctusque declarat.
[ 4 ] And to be the son of a Roman knight ought neither to be attributed to any one as a crime, either by the present prosecutor, or before those men who are the judges, or while I am the counsel for the defence. For as to what you have said about his filial affection, or the want of it, that can only be a vague opinion of ours, but the decision as to the truth of it must certainly rest with his parent. What our opinion is, you shall hear from witnesses on their oath: what his parents feel to be the truth, the tears of his mother and her incredible sorrow, the mourning appearance of his father and his distress which you now behold, and his agony, sufficiently declare.
[ v ] Nam quod est obiectum municipibus esse adulescentem non probatum suis[,] nemini umquam praesenti +praetoriani+ maiores honores habuerunt quam absenti M. Caelio; quem et absentem in amplissimum ordinem cooptarunt et ea non petenti detulerunt, quae multis petentibus denegarunt; idemque nunc lectissimos viros et nostri ordinis et equites Romanos cum legatione ad hoc iudicium et cum gravissima atque ornatissima laudatione miserunt. Videor mihi iecisse fundamenta defensionis meae, quae firmissima sunt, si nituntur iudicio suorum. Neque enim vobis satis commendata huius aetas esse posset, si non modo parenti tali viro, verum etiam municipio tam illustri ac tam gravi displiceret.
[ 5 ] For as to the attack made upon him, that as a young man he was not well thought of by his fellow-citizens of the same municipal town, I say that the people of Puteoli [Gardner: Praestutiani? Suggests Caelius was born at Interamnia Praetuttiorum in Picenum] never paid greater honours to any one when he was among them than they did to Marcus Caelius while he was absent; for though he was absent they elected him a member of their most honourable body; and they conferred those distinctions on him without his asking for them, which they have refused to numbers when they solicited them; and they have, moreover, now sent their most chosen men, and men of our order, and Roman knights, with a deputation [Austin: Ten laudātōrēs were customary] to attend this trial, and to bear most honourable and authoritative testimony in his favour.
I seem to myself now to have laid the foundations of my defence; and they are the firmest possible, if they rest on the judgment of his own relations and fellow-citizens. For his life could not be sufficiently recommended to you to meet with your approbation, if it displeased not only his parent, who is so excellent a man, but also so illustrious and dignified a municipality.
[ vi ] Equidem, ut ad me revertar, ab his fontibus profluxi ad hominum famam, et meus hic forensis labor vitaeque ratio dimanavit ad existimationem hominum paulo latius commendatione ac iudicio meorum. Nam quod obiectum est de pudicitia, quodque omnium accusatorum non criminibus, sed vocibus maledictisque celebratum est, id numquam tam acerbe feret M. Caelius, ut eum paeniteat non deformem esse natum. Sunt enim ista maledicta pervulgata in omnes, quorum in adulescentia forma et species fuit liberalis. Sed aliud est male dicere, aliud accusare. Accusatio crimen desiderat, rem ut definiat, hominem ut notet, argumento probet, teste confirmet; maledictio autem nihil habet propositi praeter contumeliam quae si petulantius iactatur, convicium, si facetius urbanitas nominatur.
[ 6 ] In truth, to return [Austin: revertī used mean: pass to a connected, but fresh topic] to myself, it is from such beginnings as his that I myself have risen to credit among men; and this forensic labour of mine, and the system of conduct which I have adopted, has made its way to the favourable opinion of men, by means of the extended commendation and favourable opinion of my own relations and friends. For as to the attacks which have been made on him on the score of chastity, which has been harped upon by all the accusers, not by regular charges, but by outcry and abuse; Marcus Caelius will never be indignant at that, so far as to repent of not being ugly. For those sort of reproaches are habitually heaped upon every one, whose person and appearance in youth is at all gentlemanly. But to vituperate is one thing, and to accuse is another. An accusation requires a crime in order to define the matter, to bind the man, to prove its charges by argument, and to confirm them by witnesses. But vituperation has no settled object except insult and if any one is attacked in that way with ill-temper it is called abuse; but if it is done with some sort of wit and mirth, it is then styled bantering. [Austin: Cicero implies that A's remarks were far too uncouth for such an optimus adulēscēns]
[ vii ] Quam quidem partem accusationis admiratus sum et moleste tuli potissimum esse Atratino datam. Neque enim decebat neque aetas illa postulabat neque, id quod animadvertere poteratis, pudor patiebatur optimi adulescentis in tali illum oratione versari. Vellem aliquis ex vobis robustioribus hunc male dicendi locum suscepisset; aliquanto liberius et fortius et magis more nostro refutaremus istam male dicendi licentiam. Tecum, Atratine, agam lenius, quod et pudor tuus moderatur orationi meae et meum erga te parentemque tuum beneficium tueri debeo.
[ 7 ] And I wondered and was indignant at that department of the accusation being given to Atratinus above all men; for it did not become him, nor did his age justify it, nor (as indeed you might have observed yourself) did the modesty of that excellent young man allow him to show to advantage in a speech on that subject. I should have preferred having one of you who are older and more robust, to undertake this part of vituperation; and we should then have been able with more freedom of speech and more vigour, and in a manner more in accordance with our usual habits, to refute the licentiousness of that vituperation. With you, O Atratinus, I will deal more gently, both because your own modesty is a check on my language, and because I am bound to have a regard to the good-will which I entertain towards you and your parent.
[ viii ] Illud tamen te esse admonitum volo, primum ut qualis es talem te esse omnes existiment ut, quantum a rerum turpitudine abes, tantum te a verborum libertate seiungas; deinde ut ea in alterum ne dicas, quae cum tibi falso responsa sint, erubescas. Quis est enim, cui via ista non pateat, qui isti aetati atque etiam isti dignitati non possit quam velit petulanter, etiamsi sine ulla suspicione, at non sine argumento male dicere? Sed istarum partium culpa est eorum, qui te agere voluerunt; laus pudoris tui, quod ea te invitum dicere videbamus, ingenii, quod ornate politeque dixisti.
Illud tamen tē esse admonitum volō,
primum ut quālis es
tālem tē omnēs esse existiment,
ut quantum ā rērum turpitūdine abes
tantum tē ā verbōrum lībertāte sēiungās;
deinde ut ea in alterum nē dīcās quae,
cum tibi falsō respōnsa sint,
ērubēscās.
[ 8 ] I wish, however, that you would keep one thing in mind [Austin: admonitum is stronger than admonērī]; first of all, to form a correct estimate of yourself, and to learn to think yourself such a man as in truth you are; in order to keep yourself as clear of licentiousness of language as you are free from all impropriety of conduct; and secondly, to avoid alleging those things against another, which would make you blush if in reply they were falsely imputed to you. For who is there to whom such a path as that is not open? who is there who is not able to attack a man of Caelius's age and of Caelius's rank [Austin: istī dīgnitātī: a personal grace like yours] as petulantly as he pleases on that subject, even if without any real grounds for suspicion, at all events not without some apparent argument? But the people who are to blame for your undertaking that part, are they who compelled you to make these allegations. This praise belongs to your own modesty, of being, as we saw that you were, unwilling to make them; and to your genius, of making them in a courteous and polite manner.
[ ix ] Verum ad istam omnem orationem brevis est defensio. Nam quoad aetas M. Caeli dare potuit isti suspicioni locum, fuit primum ipsius pudore, deinde etiam patris diligentia disciplinaque munita. Qui ut huic virilem togam dedit — nihil dicam hoc loco de me; tantum sit, quantum vos existimatis; — hoc dicam, hunc a patre continuo ad me esse deductum; nemo hunc M. Caelium in illo aetatis flore vidit nisi aut cum patre aut mecum aut in M. Crassi castissima domo, cum artibus honestissimis erudiretur.
[ 9 ] But however, with respect to all that part of your speech, my reply in defence may be very brief. For, as far as the age of Marcus Caelius might give room for any such suspicion, in the first place it was fortified against it by his own modesty, and in the second place by his father's attentive care of him and rigid discipline; for, as soon as he had given him the robe of a man, — (I will say nothing here of myself; you yourselves are competent judges of what credit is due to me, — I only say that he was immediately brought by his father to me as a pupil,) [Austin: parentheses cause anacoluthon] — after that time no one ever saw Marcus Caelius in that the flower of his age, that he was not either with his father, or with me, or else in that most virtuous house of Marcus Crassus [Englert: Crassus was also defending Caelius and had spoken just before Cicero], and being instructed in the most honourable branches of learning.
[ x ] Nam quod Catilinae familiaritas obiecta Caelio est, longe ab ista suspicione abhorrere debet. Hoc enim adulescente scitis consulatum mecum petisse Catilinam. Ad quem si accessit aut si a me discessit umquam (quamquam multi boni adulescentes illi homini nequam atque improbo studuerunt), tum existimetur Caelius Catilinae nimium familiaris fuisse. "At enim postea scimus et vidimus esse hunc in illius amicis."[*] Quis negat? Sed ego illud tempus aetatis, quod ipsum sua sponte infirmum aliorum libidine infestum est, id hoc loco defendo. Fuit adsiduus mecum praetore me; non noverat Catilinam; Africam tum praetor ille obtinebat. Secutus est tum annus, causam de pecuniis repetundis Catilina dixit. Mecum erat hic; illi ne advocatus quidem venit umquam. Deinceps fuit annus, quo ego consulatum petivi; petebat Catilina mecum. Numquam ad illum accessit, a me numquam recessit.
[ 10 ] For as for the imputation which has been levelled against Caelius, of having been intimate with Catiline, he ought to be wholly exempt from any such suspicion. For you all know that he was a very young man when Catiline stood for the consulship the same year that I did [64 BC]; and if he ever joined his party, or ever departed from mine, (though many virtuous young men did espouse the cause of that worthless and abandoned man,) then, indeed, I will allow it to be thought that Caelius was too intimate with Catiline. But we know, and we ourselves saw after that, that he was one of his friends. Well, who denies it? But I am at this moment engaged in defending his conduct at that period of life, which is of itself unsteady and very liable to be at the mercy of the passions of others. He was continually with me while I was praetor [66 BC]; he knew nothing of Catiline. After that Catiline being praetor had Africa for his province. Another year ensued [65 BC] in which Catiline was prosecuted for extortions and peculation. [Ciraolo: causam dīcere: to plead a case, here in his own defense.] Caelius was still with me and never went to him not even as an advocate of his cause. The next year [64 BC] was the one in which I was a candidate for the consulship; Catiline was also a candidate. He never went over to him; he never departed from me.
* Quotations added for clarity.
[ xi ] Tot igitur annos versatus in foro sine suspicione, sine infamia studuit Catilinae iterum petenti. Quem ergo ad finem putas custodiendam illam aetatem fuisse? Nobis quidem olim annus erat unus ad cohibendum brachium toga constitutus, et ut exercitatione ludoque campestri tunicati uteremur, eademque erat, si statim mereri stipendia coeperamus, castrensis ratio ac militaris. Qua in aetate nisi qui se ipse sua gravitate et castimonia et cum disciplina domestica, tum etiam naturali quodam bono defenderet, quoquo modo a suis custoditus esset, tamen infamiam veram effugere non poterat. Sed qui prima illa initia aetatis integra atque inviolata praestitisset, de eius fama ac pudicitia, cum is iam se corroboravisset ac vir inter viros esset, nemo loquebatur.
[ 11 ] Having then been so many years about the forum without any suspicion, and without any slur on his character, he espoused the cause of Catiline when he offered himself for the consulship a second time [Austin: 63 BC when Caelius was 20 years of age]. How long then do you think that men of his age are to be kept in a state of pupilage? Formerly, we had one year established by custom during which the arm was restrained by our robe [Austin: a probationary period] and during which we practised our exercises and sports in the Campus Martius in our tunics. And the very same practice prevailed in the camps and in the army, if we began to serve in campaigns at once. And at that age, unless a man protected himself by great gravity and chastity on his own part and not only by rigid domestic discipline, but by an extraordinary degree of natural virtue, however he was looked after by his relations, he still could not escape some slur on his character. But any one who passed that beginning of his life in perfect purity, and free from all stain, never was liable to have any one speak against his fair fame and his chastity when his principles had gained strength, and when he was a man and among men.
[ xii ] At studuit Catilinae, cum iam aliquot annos esset in foro, Caelius; et multi hoc idem ex omni ordine atque ex omni aetate fecerunt. Habuit enim ille, sicuti meminisse vos arbitror, permulta maximarum non expressa signa, sed adumbrata [lineamenta] virtutum. Utebatur hominibus improbis multis; et quidem optimis se viris deditum esse simulabat. Erant apud illum illecebrae libidinum multae; erant etiam industriae quidam stimuli ac laboris. Flagrabant vitia libidinis apud illum; vigebant etiam studia rei militaris. Neque ego umquam fuisse tale monstrum in terris ullum puto, tam ex contrarus diversisque et inter se pugnantibus naturae studiis cupiditatibusque conflatum.
[ 12 ] Caelius espoused the cause of Catiline, when he had been for several years mixing in the forum; and many of every rank and of every age did the very same thing. For that man, as I should think many of you must remember, had very many marks — not indeed fully brought out, but only in outline as it were of the most eminent virtues. He was intimate with many thoroughly wicked men; but he pretended to be entirely devoted to the most virtuous of the citizens. He had many things about him which served to allure men to the gratification of their passions; he had also many things which acted as incentives to industry and toil. The vices of lust raged in him; but at the same time he was conspicuous for great energy and military skill. Nor do I believe that there ever existed so strange a prodigy [Austin: mōnstrum, ī n: uncanny, portent] upon the earth, made up in such a manner of the most various, and different and inconsistent studies and desires.
[ xiii ] Quis clarioribus viris quodam tempore iucundior, quis turpioribus coniunctior? quis civis meliorum partium aliquando, quis taetrior hostis huic civitati? quis in voluptatibus inquinatior, quis in laboribus patientior? quis in rapacitate avarior, quis in largitione effusior? Illa vero, iudices, in illo homine mirabilia fuerunt, comprehendere multos amicitia, tueri obsequio, cum omnibus communicare, quod habebat, servire temporibus suorum omnium pecunia, gratia, labore corporis, scelere etiam, si opus esset, et audacia, versare suam naturam et regere ad tempus atque huc et illuc torquere ac flectere, cum tristibus severe, cum remissis iucunde, cum senibus graviter, cum iuventute comiter, cum facinerosis audaciter, cum libidinosis luxuriose vivere.
[ 13 ] Who[*] was ever more acceptable at one time to most illustrious men? [Gardner: Is Cicero hinting at Catiline's connexion with Crassus and Caesar? Austin: If so, 66-65 BC] who was more intimate with the very basest? What citizen was there at times who took a better part than he did? who was there at other times a fouler enemy to this state? Who was more debased in his pleasures? who was more patient in undergoing labours? who was more covetous as regards his rapacity? who more prodigal in squandering? And besides all this, there were, O judges, these marvellous qualities in that man, that he was able to embrace many men in his friendship, to preserve their regard by attention, to share with every one what he had, to assist all his friends in their necessities with money, with influence, with his personal toil, even with his own crimes and audacity, if need were; to keep his nature under restraint and to guide it according to the requirements of the time, and to turn and twist it hither and thither; to live strictly when in company with the morose, merrily with the cheerful, seriously with the old, courteously with the young, audaciously with the criminal, and luxuriously with the profligate.
* Austin: epanaphora: LL, fr. LGk, fr. Gk, reference, act of referring, fr. epanapherein to refer to, ascribe, fr. epi- + anapherein to carry up — more at anaphora.
[ xiv ] Hac ille tam varia multiplicique natura cum omnes omnibus ex terris homines improbos audacesque collegerat, tum etiam multos fortes viros et bonos specie quadam virtutis assimulatae tenebat. Neque umquam ex illo delendi huius imperii tam consceleratus impetus exstitisset, nisi tot vitiorum tanta immanitas quibusdam facultatis et patientiae radicibus niteretur. Quare ista condicio, iudices, respuatur, nec Catilinae familiaritatis crimen haereat; est enim commune cum multis et cum quibusdam etiam bonis. Me ipsum, me, inquam, quondam paene ille decepit, cum et civis mihi bonus et optimi cuiusque cupidus et firmus amicus ac fidelis videretur; cuius ego facinora oculis prius quam opinione, manibus ante quam suspicione deprehendi. Cuius in magnis catervis amicorum si fuit etiam Caelius, magis est ut ipse moleste ferat errasse se, sicuti non numquam in eodem homine me quoque erroris mei paenitet, quam ut istius amicitiae crimen reformidet.
[ 14 ] When — by giving full swing to this various and multiform natural disposition of his — he had collected together every wicked and audacious man from every country, so also he retained the friendship of many gallant and virtuous men, by a certain appearance of pretended virtue. Nor would that infamous attempt to destroy this empire have ever proceeded from him, if the ferocity of so many vices had not been based on the deep-rooted foundations of affability and patience.
Let that allegation then, O judges, be disregarded by you, and let not the charge of intimacy with Catiline make any impression upon you. For it is one which only applies to him in common with many other men, and even with some very good men. Even me[*] myself — yes, even me, I say — he once almost deceived, as he seemed to me a virtuous citizen, and desirous of the regard of every good man, and a firm and trustworthy friend; so that in truth, I detected his wickedness with my eyes, before I did so by my opinion; I was aroused to the necessity of acting against him by force, before my suspicions were awakened. So that if Caelius also was one of the great number of friends whom he had to boast of, there is more reason for his being vexed at having fallen into such a mistake, just as sometimes I myself repent also of having been deceived by the same person, than for his having any reason to fear the accusation of having been a friend of his.
* Austin: Cicero considered defending Catiline on repetundae charge in 65 BC, though he believed him to be guilty.
[ xv ] Itaque a maledictis pudicitiae ad coniurationis invidiam oratio est vestra delapsa. Posuistis enim, atque id tamen titubanter et strictim, coniurationis hunc propter amicitiam Catilinae participem fuisse; in quo non modo crimen non haerebat, sed vix diserti adulescentis cohaerebat oratio. Qui enim tantus furor in Caelio, quod tantum aut in moribus naturaque volnus aut in re atque fortuna? ubi denique est in ista suspicione Caeli nomen auditum? Nimium multa de re minime dubia loquor; hoc tamen dico: Non modo si socius coniurationis, sed nisi inimicissimus istius sceleris fuisset, numquam coniurationis accusatione adulescentiam suam potissimum commendare voluisset.
[ 15 ] Accordingly, your speech descended from vituperations of him on the score of chastity, to endeavours to excite odium against him on account of that conspiracy. For you laid it down, — though with hesitating steps [titubanter; titubāre: stagger, totter; falter] and without dwelling on it, — that he must have been an accomplice in the conspiracy, on account of his friendship with Catiline; in advancing which charge, not only the accusation itself failed to wound, but the speech of that eloquent young man lost its usual coherency. For how [quī: ADV how, in what way?] could Caelius have been capable of such frenzy [Austin: revolutionary madness]? What enormous depravity was there in his natural disposition, or in his habits, or what deficiency in his fortunes or prospects, to dispose him to such a crime? And lastly, when was the name of Caelius ever heard of in connection with any suspicion of the sort? I am saying too much about a matter about which there is not the least doubt; but I say this, — that if he had not, not merely been guiltless of any participation in the conspiracy, but been a most decided and avowed enemy of that wickedness, he would never have gone so far as to seek for an especial commendation of his youth by a prosecution of men[*] implicated in that conspiracy.
[ xvi ] Quod haud scio an de ambitu et de criminibus istis sodalium ac sequestrium, quoniam huc incidi, similiter respondendum putem. Numquam enim tam Caelius amens fuisset, ut, si se isto infinito ambitu commaculasset, ambitus alterum accusaret, neque eius facti in altero suspicionem quaereret, cuius ipse sibi perpetuam licentiam optaret, nec, si sibi semel periculum ambitus subeundum putaret, ipse alterum iterum ambitus crimine arcesseret. Quod quamquam nec sapienter et me invito facit, tamen est eius modi cupiditas, ut magis insectari alterius innocentiam quam de se timide cogitare videatur.
[ 16 ] And I know not whether I need think it equally necessary to make a reply to the charges of corruption [Gardner: Such a charge was probably based on Caelius' support of the candidature of some friend for office, perhaps that of Bestia in 57 BC for the praetorship], and to the accusations about clubs [Gardner: sodālitātēs were members of private political clubs formed for purposes of political corruption] and agents [Gardner: sequestres were agents with whom cash for bribery was deposited] (since I have lighted on these topics). For Caelius would never have been so insane as to accuse another man [Gardner: L. Calpurnius Bestia] of bribery, if he had stained himself with that mean practice of corruption, nor would he seek to fix a suspicion of such conduct on another, when he wished to obtain for himself perpetual licence to commit it. Nor if he thought there was a chance of his being put in peril but once on an accusation of corruption would he twice over prosecute another man on the same charge. And although his doing so is not wise, and is against my will, still it is an action of such a sort, that it is plain that a man who conducts himself so, rather thinks it open to him to attack the innocence of another, than that he has any reason to be afraid of anything on his own account.
[ xvii ] Nam quod aes alienum obiectum est, sumptus reprehensi, tabulae flagitatae, videte, quam pauca respondeam. Tabulas, qui in patris potestate est, nullas conficit. Versuram numquam omnino fecit ullam. Sumptus unius generis obiectus est, habitationis; triginta milibus dixistis eum habitare. Nunc demum intellego P. Clodi insulam esse venalem, cuius hic in aediculis habitat decem, ut opinor, milibus. Vos autem dum illi placere voltis, ad tempus eius mendacium vestrum accommodavistis.
[ 17 ] For, as respects the charges that have been brought against him of being in debt, as regards the reproaches which have been levelled at him on the score of prodigality, and of the demands that have been made to see his accounts, just see how briefly I will reply to them. In the first place, he, who is still under the power of his father, keeps no accounts. He has never any transactions connected with borrowing or lending [Gardner: versūra, -ae f: borrowing money to pay debt, exchange one creditor for another.] As to his extravagance, there is one particular item of expense objected to him, that for his house. You say that he dwells in a house which he rents for thirty thousand sesterces.[Gardner: About two hundred and forty pounds] Now [Austin: nunc demum: Aha! Now I see!], I see by this, that Publius Clodius wants to sell his house; for it is his house that Caelius lives in, at a rent, I suppose, of ten thousand sesterces. And you, O prosecutors, out of your anxiety to please him, have permitted yourselves this enormous lie to suit his purposes.
[ xviii ] Reprehendistis, a patre quod semigrarit. Quod quidem iam in hac aetate minime reprehendendum est. Qui cum et ex publica causa iam esset mihi quidem molestam, sibi tamen gloriosam victoriam consecutus et per aetatem magistratus petere posset, non modo permittente patre, sed etiam suadente ab eo semigravit et, cum domus patris a foro longe abesset, quo facilius et nostras domus obire et ipse a suis coli posset, conduxit in Palatio non magno domum. Quo loco possum dicere id, quod vir clarissimus, M. Crassus, cum de adventu regis Ptolemaei quereretur, paulo ante dixit:
Utinam ne in nemore Pelio — [*]
Ac longius quidem mihi contexere hoc carmen liceret:
Nam numquam era errans
hanc molestiam nobis exhiberet
Medea animo aegra, amore saevo saucia.
Sic enim, iudices, reperietis, quod, cum ad id loci venero, ostendam, hanc Palatinam Medeam[*] migrationemque hanc adulescenti causam sive malorum omnium sive potius sermonum fuisse.
[ 18 ] You have blamed him for dwelling in a house apart from his father [semigrāre: move away], a thing which is not at all to be blamed in a man of his age. For as, labouring in the cause of the republic, he had achieved a victory which was, indeed, annoying to me [Gardner: Caelius' prosecution of C. Antonius in 59 BC], but glorious to himself; and as he was now of sufficiently mature age to stand for a magistracy, not only with the permission, but in consequence of even the advice of his father, he left his house, and as his father's house was a long way from the forum, he hired a house on the Palatine Hill, at no very high rent, in order the more easily to be able to visit us at our houses [Gardner: Cicero's and Crassus'], and to receive visits from his friends. ...
[ xix ] Quam ob rem illa, quae ex accusatorum oratione praemuniri iam et fingi intellegebam, fretus vestra prudentia, iudices, non pertimesco. Aiebant enim fore testem senatorem, qui se pontificiis comitiis pulsatum a Caelio diceret. A quo quaeram, si prodierit, primum cur statim nihil egerit, deinde, si id queri quam agere maluerit, cur productus a vobis potius quam ipse per se, cur tanto post potius quam continuo queri maluerit. Si mihi ad haec acute arguteque responderit, tum quaeram denique, ex quo iste fonte senator emanet. Nam si ipse orietur et nascetur ex sese, fortasse, ut soleo, commovebor; sin autem est rivolus accersitus et ductus ab ipso capite accusationis vestrae, laetabor, cum tanta gratia tantisque opibus accusatio vestra nitatur, unum senatorem solum esse, qui vobis gratificari vellet, inventum.
[ 19 ] Wherefore I, relying on your wisdom, O judges, am not afraid of those assertions which I perceived were some time back being invented, and fortified by the oration of the accusers. For they said that a senator would come forward as a witness, who would say that he had been driven away by the comitia for the election of a pontiff by Caelius. And if he does come forward, I will ask, in the first place, why he did not at once take proceedings against him for such conduct? Secondly, if he preferred complaining of it in this way to bringing an action, why he is brought forward by you instead of coming forward by himself of his own accord? and why he has chosen to complain so long after the time, instead of immediately? If he gives me clear and shrewd answers to these questions, then I shall ask from what source this senator has burst forth? For if he has his origin and first springs, as it were, in himself, probably I shall be moved by him, as I usually am; but if he is only a little gutter drained and drawn off from the fountain head [Gardner: Clodia] of your accusation, then I shall rejoice that, while your accusation relies on so much interest and such mighty influence, there has still been but one senator[*] who could be found willing to gratify you.
* Gardner: Probably Q. Fufius Calenus (consul 47 BC), who as tribune in 61 BC contributed to the acquittal of Clodius by persuading the Senate to tactics which resulted in the mismanagement of the case.
[ xx ] Nec tamen illud genus alterum nocturnorum testium pertimesco. Est enim dictum ab illis fore, qui dicerent uxores suas a cena redeuntes attrectatas esse a Caelio. Graves erunt homines, qui hoc iurati dicere audebunt, cum sit iis confitendum numquam se ne congressu quidem et constituto coepisse de tantis iniuriis experiri. Sed totum genus oppugnationis huius, iudices, et iam prospicitis animis et, cum inferetur, propulsare debebitis. Non enim ab isdem accusatur M. Caelius, a quibus oppugnatur; palam in eum tela iaciuntur, clam subministrantur.
[ 20 ] Nor am I afraid of that other class of night witnesses. For they have asserted that there would be men who would say that their wives, when returning from supper parties have been roughly handled by Caelius. They will be men of importance who will venture to say this on their oaths as they will be forced to confess that they have never commenced taking any steps for redress for such great injuries not even by a friendly arbitration. ...
[ xxi ] Neque id ego dico, ut invidiosum sit in eos, quibus gloriosum etiam hoc esse debet. Funguntur officio, defendunt suos, faciunt, quod viri fortissimi solent; laesi dolent, irati efferuntur, pugnant lacessiti. Sed vestrae sapientiae tamen est, iudices, non, si causa iusta est viris fortibus oppugnandi M. Caelium, ideo vobis quoque vos causam putare esse iustam alieno dolori potius quam vestrae fidei consulendi. Nam quae sit multitudo in foro, quae genera, quae studia, quae varietas hominum, videtis. Ex hac copia quam multos esse arbitramini, qui hominibus potentibus, gratiosis, disertis, cum aliquid eos velle arbitrentur, ultro se offerre soleant, operam navare, testimonium polliceri ?
[ 21 ] Nor do I say this with the object of exciting odium against those men [Gardner: Cicero means the prosecutor Atratinus] to whom it ought even to be a subject of boasting. They are discharging their duty, they are defending their friends, they are doing what the bravest men are accustomed to do. When injured they feel pain, when angry they are carried away, when provoked they fight. But nevertheless, it belongs to your wisdom, O judges, if brave men have a reasonable ground for attacking Marcus Caelius, not on that account to think that you also have a reasonable ground for consulting the indignation of others rather than your own good faith. You see how vast a concourse of men is assembled in the forum, of what different classes it is composed, what different objects they have in view, and how great is the difference between them in every respect. Of all this multitude, how many do you think that there are who are in the habit of offering their services of their own accord to influential, and popular, and eloquent men, when they think they are eager about anything; and to use their exertions and to promise their evidence to oblige them?
[ xxii ] Hoc ex genere si qui se in hoc iudicium forte proiecerint, excluditote eorum cupiditatem, iudices, sapientia vestra, ut eodem tempore et huius saluti et religioni vestrae et contra periculosas hominum potentias condicioni omnium civium providisse videamini. Equidem vos abducam a testibus neque huius iudicii veritatem, quae mutari nullo modo potest, in voluntate testium collocari sinam, quae facillime fingi, nullo negotio flecti ac detorqueri potest. Argumentis agemus, signis luce omni clarioribus crimina refellemus; res cum re, causa cum causa, ratio cum ratione pugnabit.
[ 22 ] If any of this class of men have by chance thrust themselves into this trial, shut out, O judges, their covetous zeal from the consideration of your wisdom, so as to appear to provide at the same time for this man's safety [huius] and for the religious[*] discharge of your own obligations, and for the general welfare of all the citizens against the perilous influence of unscrupulous men.
In truth, I will lead you away from the witnesses. I will not permit the truth of this trial [huius iūdiciī vēritātem], which cannot by any means be altered, to depend on the inclination of the witnesses, which may so easily be modeled [Austin: manipulated] any way, and be bent and twisted in every direction without the slightest trouble. We will conduct our case by arguments. We will refute the charges brought against us by proofs clearer than daylight. Facts shall combat with facts, cause with cause, reason with reason.
[*] Austin: religiō, -ōnis f: sense of responsibility; it always has some sense of restraining force
[ xxiii ] Itaque illam partem causae facile patior graviter et ornate a M. Crasso peroratam de seditionibus Nea politanis, de Alexandrinorum pulsatione Puteolana, de bonis Pallae. Vellem dictum esset ab eodem etiam de Dione. De quo ipso tamen quid est quod exspectetis? quod is, qui fecit, aut non timet aut etiam fatetur; est enim rex; qui autem dictus est adiutor fuisse et conscius, P. Asicius, iudicio est liberatus. Quod igitur est eius modi crimen, ut, qui commisit, non neget, qui negavit, absolutus sit, id hic pertimescat, qui non modo a facti, verum etiam a conscientiae suspicione afuit ? Et, si Asicio causa plus profuit quam nocuit invidia, huic oberit tuum maledictum, qui istius facti non modo suspicione, sed ne infamia quidem est aspersus ?
[ 23 ] Therefore, I willingly allow that part of the cause to be concluded, summed up, as it has been, with dignity and elegance by Marcus Crassus; the part, I mean, which relates to the seditions at Naples, to the expulsion of the Alexandrians from Puteoli, and to the property of Palla. I wish he had also discussed the transaction respecting Dio. And yet on that subject what is there that you can expect me to say, when the man who committed the murder is not afraid, but even confesses it? For he is a king. [Gardner: Ptolemy Auletes admitted responsibility for Dio's murder] But the man who is said to have been the assistant and accomplice in the murder, has been acquitted by a regular trial. What sort of crime, then, is this, that the man who has committed it does not deny it — that he who has denied it has been acquitted, and yet that a man is to be afraid of the accusation who was not only at a distance from the deed, but who has never been suspected of being even privy to it? And if the merits of his case availed Asicius more than the odium [Austin: invidia NOM] engendered by the fact of such a crime injured him, is your abuse to injure this man, who has never once had a suspicion of the crime breathed against him, not even by the vaguest report?
[ xxiv ] At praevaricatione est Asicius liberatus. Perfacile est isti loco respondere, mihi praesertim, a quo illa causa defensa est. Sed Caelius optimam causam Asici esse arbitratur; cuicuimodi autem sit, a sua putat eius esse seiunctam. Neque solum Caelius, sed etiam adulescentes humanissimi et doctissimi, rectissimis studiis atque optimis artibus praediti, Titus Gaiusque Coponii, qui ex omnibus maxime Dionis mortem doluerunt, qui cum doctrinae studio atque humanitatis tum etiam hospitio Dionis tenebantur. Habitabat apud Titum, ut audistis, Dio, erat ei cognitus Alexandriae. Quid aut hic aut summo splendore praeditus frater eius de M. Caelio existimet ex ipsis, si producti erunt, audietis.
[ 24 ] Oh, but Asicius was acquitted by the prevarication of the judges. It is very easy to reply to such an assertion as that especially for me, by whom that action is defended. But Caelius thinks that the cause of Asicius is a just one; at all events, whatever may be its merits, he thinks it is quite unconnected[*] with his own. And not only Caelius but even other most accomplished and learned young men, devoted to the most instructive studies and to the most virtuous pursuits, Titus and Caius Coponius, who grieved above all other men for the death of Dio, being bound to him as they were by a common attachment to the pursuit of learning and science and being also connected with him by ties of hospitality, think so too. He was living in the house of Lucius Lucceius, as you have heard; they had become mutually acquainted at Alexandria. What Caius Coponius, and what his brother, a man of the very highest respectability, think of Marcus Caelius, you shall hear from themselves if they are produced as witnesses.
* Austin: sēiunctam: unconnected; SAC- SEC- split, divide, distinguish; as opposed to coniūncta causa where verdict in once case has a bearing on another
[ xxv ] Ergo haec removeantur, ut aliquando, in quibus causa nititur, ad ea veniamus. Animadverti enim, iudices, audiri a vobis meum familiarem, L. Herennium[*], perattente. In quo etsi magna ex parte ingenio eius et dicendi genere[*] quodam tenebamini, tamen non numquam verebar, ne illa subtiliter ad criminandum inducta oratio ad animos vestros sensim ac leniter accederet. Dixit enim multa de luxurie, multa de libidine, multa de vitiis iuventutis, multa de moribus et, qui in reliqua vita mitis esset et in hac suavitate humanitatis, qua prope iam delectantur omnes, versari[*] periucunde soleret, fuit in hac causa pertristis quidam patruus, censor, magister; obiurgavit M. Caelium, sicut neminem umquam parens; multa de incontinentia intemperantiaque disseruit. Quid quaeritis[*], iudices? ignoscebam vobis attente audientibus, propterea quod egomet tam triste illud et tam asperum genus orationis horrebam.
Dīxit enim multa dē luxuriē,
multa dē libīdine,
multa dē vitiīs iuventūtis,
multa dē mōribus
et, quī in reliquā vītā mītis esset
et in hāc suāvitāte humānitātis quā prope iam
dēlectantur omnēs versārī periūcundē solēret,
patruus
/
fuit in hāc causā pertristis quīdam +-- cēnsor,
\
magister;
[ 25 ] So let all these topics be put aside, in order that we may at last come to those facts and charges on which the cause really depends. ...
[ xxvi ] Ac prima pars fuit illa, quae me minus movebat, fuisse meo necessario Bestiae Caelium familiarem, cenasse apud eum, ventitasse domum, studuisse praeturae. Non me haec movent; quae perspicue falsa sunt; etenim eos una cenasse dixit, qui aut absunt, aut quibus necesse est idem dicere. Neque vero illud me commovet, quod sibi in Lupercis sodalem esse Caelium dixit. Fera quaedam sodalitas et plane pastoricia atque agrestis germanorum Lupercorum, quorum coitio illa silvestris ante est instituta quam humanitas atque leges, siquidem non modo nomina deferunt inter se sodales, sed etiam commemorant sodalitatem in accusando, ut, ne quis id forte nesciat, timere videantur!
Fera quaedam sodālitās et plānē pastōricia atque agrestis germānōrum Lupercōrum [est], quōrum coitiō illa silvestris ante est īnstitūta quam hūmānitās atque lēgēs sunt [institūtae], sī quidem nōn modo nōmina dēferunt inter sēsodāles sed etiam commemorant sodālitātem in accūsandō, ut, nē quis id forte nesciat, timēre videantur!
[ 26 ] And the first allegation was one which affected me least, namely, — that Caius had been intimate with my own intimate friend Bestia [Gardner: Father of Atratinus. Caelius is accused of betraying his former friend Bestia by his double prosecution]; that he had supped with him, had been in the habit of visiting him, had aided him when he was a candidate for the praetorship. These things do not move me at all, for they are notoriously false. In fact he is stating that those men supped together who are either in different places, or
* * * Nor am I moved by that assertion either, that he said that Caelius had been a comrade of his own in the Lupercal games. No doubt, it is a savage and purely pastoral and uncivilized sort of companionship, that of the Lupercal comrades, whose sylvan companies were established before the institution of civilization and of laws. Since these companions not only prosecute one another, but even in the accusation speak of the companionship as a crime, * * * so that they seem to be afraid, lest any one should be ignorant of it.
[ xxvii ] Sed haec omittam; ad illa, quae me magis moverunt, respondebo. Deliciarum obiurgatio fuit longa, etiam lenior, plusque disputationis habuit quam atrocitatis, quo etiam audita est attentius. Nam P. Clodius, amicus meus, cum se gravissime vehementissimeque iactaret et omnia inflammatus ageret tristissimis verbis, voce maxima, tametsi probabam eius eloquentiam, tamen non pertimescebam; aliquot enim in causis eum videram frustra litigantem. Tibi autem, Balbe, respondeo primum precario, si licet, si fas est defendi a me eum, qui nullum convivium renuerit, qui in hortis fuerit, qui unguenta sumpserit, qui Baias viderit.
[ 27 ] But I will pass over these things, and reply to those which I thought of more consequence.
There was a very long reproach addressed to my client on the score of luxury [Austin: delicia implies moral decadence rather than innocent fun]; it was, however, a gentle one, and had more argument than ferocity in it; on which account it was listened to with the more attention. For while Publius Clodius, my friend, was allowing himself to be carried away by the greatest violence and impetuosity, and, being in a great state of excitement, was using the most severe language, and speaking at the top of his voice, though I had a high opinion of his eloquence, still I was not at all alarmed. For I had seen him conducting several trials without success. But I will reply to you first of all, O Balbus [Gardner: L. Herennius Balbus], with an entreaty to be allowed, without blame and without a charge of impiety to defend a man who never refuses an invitation to supper, who uses perfumes, and who often goes to Baiae.
[ xxviii ] Equidem multos et vidi in hac civitate et audivi, non modo qui primoribus labris gustassent genus hoc vitae et extremis, ut dicitur, digitis attigissent, sed qui totam adulescentiam voluptatibus dedissent, emersisse aliquando et se ad frugem bonam, ut dicitur, recepisse gravesque homines atque illustres fuisse. Datur enim concessu omnium huic aliqui ludus aetati, et ipsa natura profundit adulescentiae cupiditates. Quae si ita erumpunt, ut nullius vitam labefactent, nullius domum evertant, faciles et tolerabiles haberi solent.
Equidem multōs et vīdī in hāc cīvitāte
et audīvī,
nōn modo quī prīmōribus labris gustāssent genus hoc vītae
et extrēmis, ut dīcitur, digitīs attigissent,
sed quī tōtam adulēscentiam voluptātibus dēdidissent,
ēmersisse aliquandō
et sē ad bonam frūgem, ut dīcitur, recēpisse
gravīsque hominēs atque inlustris fuisse.
[ 28 ] In truth, I have seen and heard of many men in this city, not only men who had just tasted this kind of life with the edge of their lips, and touched it, as people say, with the tips of their fingers, but men who had devoted the whole of their youth to pleasures, who have at last emerged from them, and have be taken themselves to prudent courses, and have become sensible and eminent citizens. For by the common consent of all men, some indulgence is given to this age, and nature itself suggests desires to youth; and if they break out without injuring any one else a life, or overturning any one else's house, they are generally accounted endurable and pardonable.
[ xxix ] Sed tu mihi videbare ex communi infamia iuventutis aliquam invidiam Caelio velle conflare; itaque omne illud silentium, quod est orationi tributum tuae, fuit ob eam causam, quod uno reo proposito de multorum vitiis cogitabamus. Facile est accusare luxuriem. Dies iam me deficiat, si, quae dici in eam sententiam possunt, coner expromere; de corruptelis, de adulteriis, de protervitate, de sumptibus immensa oratio est. Ut tibi reum neminem, sed vitia ista proponas, res tamen ipsa et copiose et graviter accusari potest. Sed vestrae sapientiae, iudices, est non abduci ab reo nec, quos aculeos habeat severitas gravitasque vestra, cum eos accusator erexerit in rem, in vitia, in mores, in tempora, emittere in hominem et in reum, cum is non suo crimine, sed multorum vitio sit in quoddam odium iniustum vocatus.
Sed vestrae sapientiae, iūdicēs,
est nōn abdūcī ab reō
sevēritās vestra,
/
quōs aculeōs habeat +
\
gravitāsque
in rem,
/
in vitia,
/
cum eōs accūsātor ērēxerit +--in mōrēs,
\
in tempora,
in hominem
/
nec ēmittere +--et
\
in reum,
nōn suō crīmine
/
cum is +--sed
\
multōrum vitiō
sit in quoddam odium iniustum vocātus.
[ 29 ] But you seemed [Englert: vidēbāre = vidēbāris] to me to wish to bring Caelius into some sort of odium by means of the common irregularities into which youth is apt to fall. And, therefore, all that silence with which your speech was received was produced by the fact that, though we had but one criminal before us, we were thinking of the vices of many. It is an easy matter to declaim against luxury. The day would fail me if I were to attempt to enumerate everything that may be said on that subject. The field of seductions, and adulteries and wantonness, and extravagance is boundless. Even though you do not fix your eyes on any particular criminal, but only on the vices themselves, still they are capable of being made the objects of very eloquent and fluent vituperation. But it becomes your wisdom, O judges, not to be diverted from the case of the man who is on his trial before you; nor to let loose against an individual, and him too on his trial, the stings with which your severity and dignity is armed when the accuser has sought to rouse them against the general fact of luxury, against vices in general and the present state of morals, and the present times while by this means the defendant is not being impeached for any crime of his own, but is having unjust odium excited against him on account of the vices of many others.
[ xxx ] Itaque severitati tuae, ut oportet, ita respondere non audeo; erat enim meum deprecari vacationem adulescentiae veniamque petere; non, inquam, audeo; perfugiis non utor aetatis, concessa omnibus iura dimitto; tantum peto, ut, si qua est invidia communis hoc tempore aeris alieni, petulantiae, libidinum iuventutis, quam video esse magnam, ne huic aliena peccata, ne aetatis ac temporum vitia noceant. Atque ego idem, qui haec postulo, quin criminibus, quae in hunc proprie conferuntur, diligentissime respondeam, non recuso. Sunt autem duo crimina, auri et veneni; in quibus una atque eadem persona versatur. Aurum sumptum a Clodia, venenum quaesitum, quod Clodiae daretur, ut dicitur. Omnia sunt alia non crimina, sed maledicta, iurgi petulantis magis quam publicae quaestionis. "Adulter, impudicus, sequester" convicium est, non accusatio; nullum est enim fundamentum horum criminum, nulla sedes; voces sunt contumeliosae temere ab irato accusatore nullo auctore emissae.
[ 30 ] Therefore I do not venture to make the reply to your severe judgment which I ought to make. For it was my duty to plead for some sort of exemption from several rules for youth, to claim some indulgence. I do not venture, I say, to do this. I will not have recourse to any door of escape which my client's age might open to me; I will not mention the privileges which are allowed to all other men; I only ask that if at this time there is a general feeling of discontent at the debts, and wantonness, and licentious conduct of the youth of the city, — and I see that such a feeling does exist to a great extent — the offences of others, and the vices of the youth of others and of the times, may not prejudice my client. And while I ask this, I do at the same time offer no objection to being called on to reply most carefully to all the charges which are directed against him in consequence of any conduct of his own....
[ xxxi ] Horum duorum criminum video aucto rem, video fontem, video certum nomen et caput. Auro opus fuit; sumpsit a Clodia, sumpsit sine teste, habuit, quamdiu voluit. Maximum video signum cuiusdam egregiae familiaritatis. Necare eandem voluit; quaesivit venenum, sollicitavit quos potuit, paravit, locum constituit, attulit. Magnum rursus odium video cum crudelissimo discidio exstitisse. Res est omnis in hac causa nobis, iudices, cum Clodia, muliere non solum nobili, sed etiam nota; de qua ego nihil dicam nisi depellendi criminis causa.
[ 31 ] Of these two charges I see the source, I see the author, I see the certain originator and mainspring. Gold was wanted; he received it from Clodia; he received it without any witness; he had it as long as he wanted it. I see here a great proof of some very extraordinary intimacy. Again, he wanted to kill her; he sought for poison; he tampered with every one with whom he could; he prepared it; he arranged a place; he brought it. Again, I see that a violent quarrel has sprung up between them, and engendered a furious hatred. Our whole business in this part of the case, O judges, is with Clodia, a woman not only of high rank, but also notorious; of whom I will say nothing except for the sake of repelling some accusation.
[ xxxii ] Sed intellegis pro tua praestanti prudentia, Cn. Domiti, cum hac sola rem esse nobis. Quae si se aurum Caelio commodasse non dicit, si venenum ab hoc sibi paratum esse non arguit, petulanter facimus, si matrem familias secus, quam matronarum sanctitas postulat, nominamus. Sin ista muliere remota nec crimen ullum nec opes ad oppugnandum Caelium illis relinquuntur, quid est aliud quod nos patroni facere debeamus, nisi ut eos, qui insectantur, repellamus? Quod quidem facerem vehementius, nisi intercederent mihi inimicitiae cum istius mulieris viro — fratre volui dicere; semper hic erro. Nunc agam modice nec longius progrediar quam me mea fides et causa ipsa coget. Neque enim muliebres umquam inimicitias mihi gerendas putavi, praesertim cum ea quam omnes semper amicam omnium potius quam cuiusquam inimicam putaverunt.
[ 32 ] But you are aware, O Cnaeus Domitius [Gardner: Cn. Domitius Calvinus, a praetor, was president of the court], as a man of your eminent wisdom must be, that we have in this matter to deal with no one but her; for if she does not say that she lent the money to Caelius, if she does not accuse him and say that poison was prepared by him for her, then we are acting wantonly and groundlessly, in mentioning the name of a mother of a family in a way so different from what is due to a Roman matron. But if, if you only take away that woman, there is no longer any charge against Caelius, nor have the accusers any longer any resources by which to attack him, then what is our duty as the advocates of his cause, except to repel those who pursue him? And, indeed, I would do so still more vigorously, if I had not a quarrel with that woman's husband — brother [Gardner: P. Clodius. Cicero's enmity with Clodius dated from the latter's trial for impiety in 61 BC], I meant to say; I am always making this mistake. At present I will proceed with moderation, and go no further than my own duty to my client and the nature of the cause which I am pleading compels me. For I have never thought it my duty to engage in quarrels with any woman, especially with one whom all men have always considered everybody's friend rather than any one's enemy.
[ xxxiii ] Sed tamen ex ipsa quaeram prius utrum me secum severe et graviter et prisce agere malit an remisse et leniter et urbane. Si illo austero more ac modo, aliquis mihi ab inferis excitandus est ex barbatis illis non hac barbula, qua ista delectatur, sed illa horrida, quam in statuis antiquis atque imaginibus videmus, qui obiurget mulierem et pro me loquatur, ne mihi ista forte suscenseat. Exsistat igitur ex hac ipsa familia aliquis ac potissimum Caecus ille; minimum enim dolorem capiet, qui istam non videbit.
[ 33 ] But still I will first put this question to her herself, whether she wishes me to deal with her strictly, and gravely, and according to old-fashioned notions of right and wrong; or indulgently, mercifully, and courteously? If I am to proceed in the old-fashioned way and manner of pleading, then I must summon up from the shades below one of those bearded old men, — not men with those little bits of imperials which she takes such a fancy to, but a man with that long shaggy beard which we see on the ancient statues and images, — to reproach the woman, and to speak in my stead, lest she by any chance should get angry with me. Let, then, some one of her own family rise up, and above all others that great blind Claudius of old time. For he will feel the least grief, inasmuch as he will not see her.
[ xxxiv ] Qui profecto, si exstiterit, sic aget ac sic loquetur: "Mulier, quid tibi cum Caelio, quid cum homine adulescentulo, quid cum alieno? Cur aut tam familiaris huic fuisti, ut aurum commodares, aut tam inimica, ut venenum timeres? Non patrem tuum videras, non patruum, non avum, non proavum, non abavum, non atavum audieras consules fuisse; non denique modo te Q. Metelli matrimonium tenuisse sciebas, clarissimi ac fortissimi viri patriaeque amantissimi, qui simul ac pedem limine extulerat, omnes prope cives virtute, gloria, dignitate superabat? Cum ex amplissimo genere in familiam clarissimam nupsisses, cur tibi Caelius tam coniunctus fuit? cognatus, adfinis, viri tui familiaris? Nihil eorum. Quid igitur fuit nisi quaedam temeritas ac libido? Nonne te, si nostrae imagines viriles non commovebant, ne progenies quidem mea, Q. illa Claudia, aemulam domesticae laudis in gloria muliebri esse admonebat, non virgo illa Vestalis Claudia, quae patrem complexa triumphantem ab inimico tribuno plebei de curru detrahi passa non est? Cur te fraterna vitia potius quam bona paterna et avita et usque a nobis cum in viris tum etiam in feminis repetita moverunt? Ideone ego pacem Pyrrhi diremi, ut tu amorum turpissimorum cotidie foedera ferires, ideo aquam adduxi, ut ea tu inceste uterere, ideo viam munivi, ut eam tu alienis viris comitata celebrares?"
[ 33 ] And, in truth, if he can come forth from the dead [Gardner: A speech impersonating Appius Claudius Caecus], he will deal thus with her; he will say, — “Woman, what have you to do with Caelius? What have you to do with a very young man? What have you to do with one who does not belong to you? Why have you been so intimate with him as to lend him gold, or so much an enemy of his as to fear his poison? Had you never seen that your father, had you never heard that your uncle, your grand-father, your great-grandfather, your great-great-grand-father, were all consuls?
[ 34 ] Did you not know, moreover, that you were bound in wedlock to Quintus Metellus [Celer], a most illustrious and gallant man, and most devoted to his country? who from the first moment that he put his foot over his threshold, showed himself superior to almost all citizens in virtue, and glory, and dignity. When you had become his wife, and, being previously of a most illustrious race yourself, had married into a most renowned family, why was Caelius so intimate with you? Was he a relation? a connection? Was he a friend of your husband? Nothing of the sort. What then was the reason, except it was some folly or lust?
* * * Even if the images of us, the men of your family, had no influence over you, did not even my own daughter, that celebrated Quinta Claudia, admonish you to emulate the praise belonging to our house from the glory of its women? Did not that vestal virgin Claudia recur to your mind, who embraced her father while celebrating his triumph, and prevented his being dragged from his chariot by a hostile tribune of the people? Why had the vices of your brother more weight with you than the virtues of your father, of your grandfather, and others in regular descent ever since my own time; virtues exemplified not only in the men, but also in the women? Was it for this that I broke the treaty which was concluded with Pyrrhus, that you should every day make new treaties of most disgraceful love? Was it for this that I brought water into the city, that you should use it for your impious purposes? Was it for this that I made the Appian road, that you should travel along it escorted by other men besides your husband?”
[ xxxv ] Sed quid ego, iudices, ita gravem personam induxi, ut verear, ne se idem Appius repente convertat et Caelium incipiat accusare illa sua gravitate censoria? Sed videro hoc posterius, atque ita, iudices, ut vel severissimis disceptatoribus M. Caeli vitam me probaturum esse confidam. Tu vero, mulier, (iam enim ipse tecum nulla persona introducta loquor) si ea, quae facis, quae dicis, quae insimulas, quae moliris, quae arguis, probare cogitas, rationem tantae familiaritatis, tantae consuetudinis, tantae coniunctionis reddas atque exponas necesse est. Accusatores quidem libidines, amores, adulteria, Baias, actas, convivia, comissationes, cantus, symphonias, navigia iactant, idemque significant nihil se te invita dicere. Quae tu quoniam mente nescio qua effrenata atque praecipiti in forum deferri iudiciumque voluisti, aut diluas oportet ac falsa esse doceas aut nihil neque crimini tuo neque testimonio credendum esse fateare.
[ 35 ] But why, O judges, have I brought a person on the scene, of such gravity as to make me fear that this same Appius may on a sudden turn round and begin also to accuse Caelius with the severity which belongs to the censor? But I will look to [Austin: viderō FUTP] this presently, and I will discuss it, O judges, so that I feel sure that I shall show even the most rigid scrutineers reason to approve of the habits of life of Marcus Caelius. But you, O woman, (for now I speak to you myself, without the intervention of any imaginary character) if you are thinking of making us approve of what you are doing, and what you are saying, and what you are charging us with, and what you are intending, and what you are seeking to achieve by this prosecution, you must give an intelligible and satisfactory account of your great familiarity, your intimate connection, your extraordinary union with him. The accusers talk to us about lusts, and loves, and adulteries, and Baiae, and doings on the sea-shore, and banquets, and revels, and songs, and music parties, and water parties; and intimate also that they do not mention all these things without your consent. And as for you, since, through some unbridled and headlong fury which I cannot comprehend, you have chosen these things to be brought into court, and dilated on at this trial, you must either efface the charges yourself, and show that they are without foundation, or else you must confess that no credit is to be given to any accusations which you may make, or to any evidence which you may give.
[ xxxvi ] Sin autem urbanius me agere mavis, sic agam tecum; removebo illum senem durum ac paene agrestem; ex his igitur tuis sumam aliquem ac potissimum minimum fratrem, qui est in isto genere urbanissimus; qui te amat plurimum, qui propter nescio quam, credo, timiditatem et nocturnos quosdam inanes metus tecum semper pusio cum maiore sorore cubitavit. Eum putato tecum loqui: "Quid tumultuaris, soror? quid insanis?
Quid clamorem exorsa verbis parvam rem magnam facis?
Vicinum adulescentulum aspexisti; candor huius te et proceritas, vultus oculique pepulerunt; saepius videre voluisti; fuisti non numquam in isdem hortis; vis nobilis mulier illum filium familias patre parco ac tenaci habere tuis copiis devinctum; non potes; calcitrat, respuit, non putat tua dona esse tanti; confer te alio. Habes hortos ad Tiberim ac diligenter eo loco paratos, quo omnis iuventus natandi causa venit; hinc licet condiciones cotidie legas; cur huic, qui te spernit, molesta es?"
[ 36 ] But if you wish me to deal more courteously with you, I will argue the matter thus with you. I will put away that harsh and almost boorish old man; and out of these kinsmen of yours here present I will take some one, and before all I will select your youngest brother, who is one of the best-bred men of his class, who is exceedingly fond of you, and who, on account of some childish timidity, I suppose and some groundless fears of what may happen by night, has always, when he was but a little boy, slept with you his eldest sister. Suppose, then [Austin: putatō mock solemn], that he speaks to you in this way. “What are you making this disturbance about, my sister? why are you so mad? “ ‘Why thus with outcry loud do you exalt Such trifles into things of consequence?’ ” You saw a young man become your neighbour; his fair complexion [Austin: candor brilliance], his height and his countenance and eyes made an impression on you, you wished to see him oftener; you were sometimes seen in the same gardens with him; being a woman of high rank you are unable with all your riches to detain him, the son of a thrifty and parsimonious father: he kicks, he rejects you, he does not think your presents worth so much as you require of him. Try some one else. You have gardens on the Tiber, and you carefully made them in that particular spot to which all the youth of the city comes to bathe. From that spot you may every day pick out people to suit you. Why do you annoy this one man who scorns you?”
[ xxxvii ] Redeo nunc ad te, Caeli, vicissim ac mihi auctoritatem patriam severitatemque suscipio. Sed dubito, quem patrem potissimum sumam, Caecilianumne aliquem vehementem atque durum:
Nunc enim demum mi animus ardet, nunc meum cor cumulatur ira
aut illum:
O infelix, o sceleste
Ferrei sunt isti patres:
Egon quid dicam, quid velim? quae tu omnia Tuis foedis factis facis ut nequiquam velim,
vix ferendi. Diceret talis pater: "Cur te in istam vicinitatem meretriciam contulisti? cur illecebris cognitis non refugisti? Cur alienam ullam mulierem nosti? Dide ac disice; Per me tibi licet. Si egebis, tibi dolebit, non mihi. Mihi sat est qui aetatis quod relicuom est oblectem meae."
[ 37 ] I come now again [Austin: redeō used to mean passing to connected topic] to you, O Caelius, in your turn; and I take upon myself the authority and strictness of a father; but I doubt which father's character I shall select to assume. Shall I not the part of some one of Caecilius's[*] fathers, harsh and vehement?
For now, in truth, at length my bosom glows, My heart with passion rages
or that other father? —
Oh thou unhappy, worthless son.
Those are very hard-hearted fathers:
What shall I say, what wishes dare I form, When your base actions frustrate all my prayers;
Such a father as that would say things which you would find it difficult to bear. He would say, “Why did you betake yourself to the neighbourhood of a harlot? Why did you not shun her notorious blandishments? Why did you form a connection with a woman who was nothing to you? Squander your money, throw it away; I give you leave. If you come to want, it is you yourself who will suffer for it [Austin: dolēbit quasi-impersonal, common in comedy]. I shall be satisfied if I am able [Austin: quī ADV, whereby] to spend pleasantly the small portion of my life that remains to me.”
* Austin: Caecilius seems to have specialized in surly old men
[ xxxviii ] Huic tristi ac derecto seni responderet Caelius se nulla cupiditate inductum de via decessisse. Quid signi? Nulli sumptus, nulla iactura, nulla versura. At fuit fama. Quotus quisque istam effugere potest in tam maledica civitate? Vicinum eius mulieris miraris male audisse, cuius frater germanus sermones iniquorum effugere non potuit? Leni vero et clementi patre, cuius modi ille est:
Fores ecfregit, restituentur; discidit
Vestem, resarcietur,
Caeli causa est expeditissima. Quid enim esset, in quo se non facile defenderet? Nihil iam in istam mulierem dico; sed, si esset aliqua dissimilis istius, quae se omnibus pervolgaret, quae haberet palam decretum semper aliquem, cuius in hortos, domum, Baias iure suo libidines omnium commearent, quae etiam aleret adulescentes et parsimoniam patrum suis sumptibus sustentaret; si vidua libere, proterva petulanter, dives effuse, libidinosa meretricio more viveret, adulterum ego putarem, si quis hanc paulo liberius salutasset?
[ 38 ] To this morose and severe old man Caelius would reply, that he had not departed from the right path from being led away by any passion. What proof could he give? That he had been at no expense, at no loss; that he had not borrowed any money. But it was said that he had. How few people are there who can avoid such a report, in a city so prone to evil speaking! Do you wonder that the neighbour of that woman was spoken of unfavourably, when her own brother could not escape being made the subject of conversation by profligate men? But to a gentle and considerate father such as his is, whose language would be, “Has he broken the doors? they shall be mended; has he torn his garments? they shall be repaired;”the cause of his son is easily explained. For what circumstances could there be in which he would not be able easily to defend himself? I am not saying anything now against that woman: but if there were a woman totally unlike her, who made herself common to everybody; who had always some one or other openly avowed as her lover; to whose gardens, to whose house, to whose baths the lusts of every one had free access as of their own right; a woman who even kept young men, and made up for the parsimony of their fathers by her liberality; if she lived, being a widow, with freedom, being a lascivious woman, with wantonness, being a rich woman, extravagantly, and being a lustful woman, after the fashion of prostitutes; am I to think any one an adulterer who might happen to salute her with a little too much freedom?
[ xxxix ] Dicet aliquis: "Haec est igitur tua disciplina? sic tu instituis adulescentes? ob hanc causam tibi hunc puerum parens commendavit et tradidit, ut in amore atque in voluptatibus adulescentiam suam collocaret, et ut hanc tu vitam atque haec studia defenderes?" Ego, si quis, iudices, hoc robore animi atque hac indole virtutis atque continentiae fuit, ut respueret omnes voluptates omnemque vitae suae cursum in labore corporis atque in animi contentione conficeret, quem non quies, non remissio, non aequalium studia, non ludi, non convivia delectarent, nihil in vita expetendum putaret, nisi quod esset cum laude et cum dignitate coniunctum, hunc mea sententia divinis quibusdam bonis instructum atque ornatum puto. Ex hoc genere illos fuisse arbitror Camillos, Fabricios, Curios omnesque eos, qui haec ex minimis tanta fecerunt.
[ 39 ] Some one will say, “Is this then the discipline which you enforce? Is this the way you train up young men? Was this the object with which a parent recommended his son to you and delivered him to you, that he might devote his youth to love and pleasure, and that you might defend this manner of life and these pursuits?”
If, O judges, any one was of such vigour of mind, and of a natural disposition so formed for virtue and continence as to reject all pleasures, and to dedicate the whole course of his life to labour of body and to wholesome training of his mind, a man who took no delight in rest or relaxation, or the pursuits of those of his own age, or games, or banquets, who thought nothing in life worth wishing for, except what was connected with glory and with dignity, that man I consider furnished and endowed with good qualities which may be called godlike. Of this class I consider were those great men, the Camilli, the Fabricii, the Curii and all those men who have achieved such mighty exploits with inadequate means. [Gardner: who made Rome (haec ... fecerunt) so great that was once so small]
[ xl ] Verum haec genera virtutum non solum in moribus nostris, sed vix iam in libris reperiuntur. Chartae quoque, quae illam pristinam severitatem continebant, obsoleverunt; neque solum apud nos, qui hanc sectam rationemque vitae re magis quam verbis secuti sumus, sed etiam apud Graecos, doctissimos homines, quibus, cum facere non possent, loqui tamen et scribere honeste et magnifice licebat, alia quaedam mutatis Graeciae temporibus praecepta exstiterunt.
[ 39 ] But these examples of virtue are not only not found in our practice, but they occur but rarely, even in books.
[ 40 ] The very records which used to contain accounts of that old fashioned strictness of morals, are worn out and that not only among us, who have adopted this school and system of life in reality more than in words, but also among the Greeks most learned men, who, though they could not act in such a manner were nevertheless at liberty to speak and write honourably and magnificently; when the habits of Greece became changed other precepts arose and prevailed. [Gardner: mūtātīs Graeciae tempōribus: Greek independence was lost in 146 BC]
[ xli ] Itaque alii voluptatis causa omnia sapientes facere dixerunt, neque ab hac orationis turpitudine eruditi homines refugerunt: alii cum voluptate dignitatem coniungendam putaverunt, ut res maxime inter se repugnantes dicendi facultate coniungerent; illud unum derectum iter ad laudem cum labore qui probaverunt, prope soli iam in scholis sunt relicti. Multa enim nobis blandimenta natura ipsa genuit, quibus sopita virtus coniveret interdum; multas vias adulescentiae lubricas ostendit, quibus illa insistere aut ingredi sine casu aliquo aut prolapsione vix posset; multarum rerum iucundissimarum varietatem dedit, qua non modo haec aetas, sed etiam iam corroborata caperetur.
[ 40 ] Therefore some [Gardner: Epicureans] of their wise men said that they did everything for the sake of pleasure; and even learned men were not ashamed of the degradation of uttering such a sentiment.
[ 41 ] Others [Gardner: Academics and Peripatetics, midway between Stoics and Epicureans] thought that dignity ought to be united with pleasure, so as by their neatness of expression[*] to unite things as inconsistent with one another as possible. Those [Gardner: Stoics] who still think that the only direct road to glory is combined with toil, are left now almost solitary in their schools. For nature herself has supplied us with numerous allurements, by which virtue may be lulled asleep, and at which, she may be induced to connive; nature herself has at times pointed out to youth many slippery ways, on which it is hardly possible for it to stand, or along which it can hardly advance without some slip or downfall, and has supplied also an infinite variety of exquisite delights, by which not only that tender age, but even one which is more strongly fortified, may be caught.
* Englert: dicendī facultāte, gerund, by power of speaking. Wheelock p. 276
[ xlii ] Quam ob rem si quem forte inveneritis, qui aspernetur oculis pulchritudinem rerum, non odore ullo, non tactu, non sapore capiatur, excludat auribus omnem suavitatem, huic homini ego fortasse et pauci deos propitios, plerique autem iratos putabunt. Ergo haec deserta via et inculta atque interclusa iam frondibus et virgultis relinquatur; detur aliquid aetati; sit adulescentia liberior; non omnia voluptatibus denegentur; non semper superet vera illa et derecta ratio; vincat aliquando cupiditas voluptasque rationem, dum modo illa in hoc genere praescriptio moderatioque teneatur: parcat iuventus pudicitiae suae, ne spoliet alienam, ne effundat patrimonium, ne faenore trucidetur, ne incurrat in alterius domum atque famam, ne probrum castis, labem integris, infamiam bonis inferat, ne quem vi terreat, ne intersit insidiis, scelere careat; postremo, cum paruerit voluptatibus, dederit aliquid temporis ad ludum aetatis atque ad inanes hasce adulescentiae cupiditates, revocet se aliquando ad curam rei domesticae, rei forensis reique publicae, ut ea, quae ratione antea non perspexerat, satietate abiecisse, experiendo contempsisse videatur.
[ 42 ] Wherefore, if by chance you find any one whose eyes are so well tutored as to look with scorn on the outward beauty of things; who is not captivated by any fragrance, or touch, or flavour, and who stops his ears against all the allurements of sound; I, and perhaps a few others, may think that the gods have been propitious to this man, but most people will consider that he has been treated by them as an object of their anger. ...
[ xliii ] Ac multi et nostra et patrum maiorumque memoria, iudices, summi homines et clarissimi cives fuerunt, quorum cum adulescentiae cupiditates defervissent, eximiae virtutes firmata iam aetate exstiterunt. Ex quibus neminem mihi libet nominare; vosmet vobiscum recordamini. Nolo enim cuiusquam fortis atque illustris viri ne minimum quidem erratum cum maxima laude coniungere. Quod si facere vellem, multi a me summi atque ornatissimi viri praedicarentur, quorum partim nimia libertas in adulescentia, partim profusa luxuries, magnitudo aeris alieni, sumptus, libidines nominarentur, quae multis postea virtutibus obtecta adulescentiae, qui vellet, excusatione defenderet.
[ 43 ] And, O judges, both within, our own recollection and in the time of our fathers and ancestors, there have been many most excellent men and most illustrious citizens, who, after their youthful passions had cooled down, displayed, when they became of more mature and vigorous age, the most exalted virtues; of whom there is no need for me to name to you any particular instance; you yourselves can recollect plenty. For I should not wish to connect even the slightest error on the part of any brave and illustrious man with his greatest glory. But if I did choose to do so, then I could name many most eminent and most distinguished men, some of whom [Austin: partim loose ADV of reference] were notorious for excessive licentiousness in their early days, some for their profuse luxury, their enormous debts, their extravagance, and their debaucheries, but whose early errors were afterwards so veiled over by their numerous virtues, that every one felt at liberty to make excuses for and to defend their youth.
[ xliv ] At vero in M. Caelio (dicam enim iam confidentius de studiis eius honestis, quoniam audeo quaedam fretus vestra sapientia libere confiteri) nulla luxuries reperietur, nulli sumptus, nullum aes alienum, nulla conviviorum ac lustrorum libido: quod quidem vitium ventris et gurgitis non modo non minuit aetas hominibus, sed etiam auget. Amores autem et hae deliciae, quae vocantur, quae firmiore animo praeditis diutius molestae non solent esse (mature enim et celeriter deflorescunt), numquam hunc occupatum impeditumque tenuerunt.
[ 44 ] But in Marcus Caelius (for I will speak with the greater confidence of his honourable pursuits, because, relying on your good sense, O judges, I am not afraid freely to confess some things [quaedam] respecting him) no luxury will be found; no extravagance; no debt; no lasciviousness; no devotion to banquets or to gluttony. Those vices, forsooth, of the belly and the throat, age is so far from diminishing in men, that it even increases them. And loves, and those things which are called delights, and which, when men have any strength of mind, are not usually troublesome to them for any length of time, (for they wear off early and very rapidly,) never had any firm hold on this man [hunc] so as to entangle or embarrass him.
[ xlv ] Audistis, cum pro se diceret, audistis antea, cum accusaret (defendendi haec causa, non gloriandi eloquor); genus orationis, facultatem, copiam sententiarum atque verborum, quae vestra prudentia est, perspexistis; atque in eo non solum ingenium elucere eius videbatis, quod saepe, etiamsi industria non alitur, valet tamen ipsum suis viribus, sed inerat, nisi me propter benevolentiam forte fallebat, ratio et bonis artibus instituta et cura et vigiliis elaborata. Atqui scitote, iudices, eas cupiditates, quae obiciuntur Caelio, atque haec studia, de quibus disputo, non facile in eodem homine esse posse. Fieri enim non potest, ut animus libidini deditus, amore, desiderio, cupiditate, saepe nimia copia, inopia etiam non numquam impeditus hoc, quicquid est, quod nos facimus in dicendo, quoquomodo facimus non modo agendo, verum etiam cogitando possit sustinere.
[ 44 ] You have heard him, when he was speaking in his own defence. [Gardner: Caelius opened his own defence.]
[ 45 ] You have heard him before now, when he was acting as prosecutor [Gardner: Either of C. Antonius, consul with Cicero in 63 BC, prosecuted by Caelius in 59 BC; or L. Calpurnius Bestia in 56 BC]; (I say this for the sake of defending him, not by way of boasting;) you have seen, your sagacity [Austin: Compressed form of ea prudentia quae vestra est] could not help seeing, his style of eloquence, his facility, his richness of ideas and language; and in that branch of study you saw not only his genius shine forth, which frequently, even when it is not nourished by industry, still produces great effects by its own natural vigour; but there was in him (unless I am greatly deceived [Austin: fallebat IMPERS] by reason of my favourable inclination towards him) a degree of method implanted in him by liberal tastes, and worked up by care and hard labour. And know, O judges, that those passions which are now brought up against Caelius as an objection to him, and these studies on which I am now enlarging, cannot easily exist in the same man; for it is impossible that a mind which is devoted to lust, which is hampered by love, by desire, by passion, often with overindulgence, sometimes too by embarrassment in pecuniary matters, can support the labour; such as they are, which we go through in speaking; not merely when actually pleading, but even in thinking.
[ xlvi ] An vos aliam causam esse ullam putatis, cur in tantis praemiis eloquentiae, tanta voluptate dicendi, tanta laude, tanta gratia, tanto honore tam sint pauci semperque fuerint, qui in hoc labore versentur? Obterendae sunt omnes voluptates, relinquenda studia delectationis, ludus, iocus, convivium, sermo paene est familiarum deserendus. Quare in hoc genere labor offendit homines a studioque deterret, non quo aut ingenia deficiant aut doctrina puerilis.
[ 46 ] Do you suppose that there is any other reason, why, when the prizes of eloquence are so great when the pleasure of speaking is so great, when the glory is so high, the influence derived from it so extensive, and the honour so pure, there are and always have been so few men who devote themselves to this study? All pleasures must be trampled underfoot, all pursuit of amusement must be abandoned, O judges; sports and jesting and feasting; yes, I may almost say, the conversation of one's friends, must be shunned. And this is what deters men of this class from the labours and studies of oratory; not that their abilities are deficient, or that their early training has been neglected.
[ xlvii ] An hic, si sese isti vitae dedidisset, consularem hominem admodum adulescens in iudicium vocavisset? hic, si laborem fugeret, si obstrictus voluptatibus teneretur, in hac acie cotidie versaretur, appeteret inimicitias, in iudicium vocaret, subiret periculum capitis, ipse inspectante populo Romano tot iam menses aut de salute aut de gloria dimicaret? Nihilne igitur illa vicinitas redolet, nihilne hominum fama, nihil Baiae denique ipsae loquuntur ? Illae vero non loquuntur solum, verum etiam personant, huc unius mulieris libidinem esse prolapsam, ut ea non modo solitudinem ac tenebras atque haec flagitiorum integumenta non quaerat, sed in turpissimis rebus frequentissima celebritate et clarissima luce laetetur.
[ 47 ] Would Caelius, if he had given himself up to a life of pleasure, while still a very young man, have instituted a prosecution against a man of consular rank? [Gardner: C. Antonius in 59 BC] would he, if he shunned this labour, if he were captivated by and entangled in the pursuit of pleasure, take his place daily among this array of orators? would he court enmities? would he undertake prosecutions? would he incur danger to his life? would he, in the sight of all the Roman people, struggle for so many months for safety or for glory? ...
[ xlviii ] Verum si quis est, qui etiam meretriciis amoribus interdictum iuventuti putet, est ille quidem valde severus (negare non possum), sed abhorret non modo ab huius saeculi licentia, verum etiam a maiorum consuetudine atque concessis. Quando enim hoc non factitatum est, quando reprehensum, quando non permissum, quando denique fuit, ut, quod licet, non liceret? Hic ego iam rem definiam, mulierem nullam nominabo; tantum in medio relinquam.
[ 48 ] But if there be any one who thinks that youth is to be wholly interdicted from amours with courtesans, he certainly is very strict indeed. I cannot deny what he says; but still he is at variance not only with the licence of the present age, but even with the habits of our ancestors, and with what they used to consider allowable. For when was the time that men were not used to act in this manner? when was such conduct found fault with? when was it not permitted? when, in short, was the time when that which is lawful was not lawful? Here, now, I will lay down what I consider a general rule: I will name no woman in particular; I will leave the matter open for each of you to apply what I say as he pleases.
[ xlix ] Si quae non nupta mulier domum suam patefecerit omnium cupiditati palamque sese in meretricia vita collocarit, virorum alienissimorum conviviis uti instituerit, si hoc in urbe, si in hortis, si in Baiarum illa celebritate faciat, si denique ita sese gerat non incessu solum, sed ornatu atque comitatu, non flagrantia oculorum, non libertate sermonum, sed etiam complexu, osculatione, actis, navigatione, conviviis, ut non solum meretrix, sed etiam proterva meretrix procaxque videatur: cum hac si qui adulescens forte fuerit, utrum hic tibi, L. Herenni, adulter an amator, expugnare pudicitiam an explere libidinem voluisse videatur?
Sī quae nōn nupta mulier domum suam patefēcerit omnium cupiditātī palamque sēsē in meretrīciā vītā conlocā[ve]rit, sī. virōrum aliēnissimōrum convīviīs ūtī īnstituerit, sī hoc in urbe faciat., sī hoc in hortīs faciat., sī hoc in Baiārum illā celebritāte faciat,... sī dēnique ita sēsē gerat non incessū sōlum sed ornātū atque comitātū, nōn flagrantia oculōrum, nōn lībertāte sermōnum, sed etiam complexū, osculātiōne, actīs, nāvigātione, convīviīs, ut nōn sōlum meretrīx sed etiam proterva meretrīx procāxque videātur cum hāc sī quī adulēscēns forte fuerit, utrum hic tibi, L. Herennī, adulter an amātor, expugnāre pudīcitiam an explēre libīdinem voluisse videātur?
[ 49 ] If any woman, not being married, has opened her house to the passions of everybody, and has openly established herself in the way of life of a harlot, and has been accustomed to frequent the banquets of men with whom she has no relationship; if she does so in the city in country houses and in that most frequented place, Baiae, if in short she behaves in such a manner, not only by her gait [Austin: incessū: bearing], but by her style of dress, and by the people who are seen attending her, and not only by the eager glances of her eyes and the freedom of her conversation, but also by embracing men, by kissing them at water parties and sailing parties and banquets so as not only to seem a harlot, but a very wanton and lascivious harlot, I ask you, O Lucius Herennius [Gardner: Balbus, one of the joint accusers, subscrīptorēs, of Caelius], if a young man should happen to have been with her, is he to be called an adulterer or a lover? does he seem to have been attacking chastity or merely to have aimed at satisfying his desires?
[ l ] Obliviscor iam iniurias tuas, Clodia, depono memoriam doloris mei; quae abs te crudeliter in meos me absente facta sunt, neglego; ne sint haec in te dicta, quae dixi. Sed ex te ipsa requiro, quoniam et crimen accusatores abs te et testem eius criminis te ipsam dicunt se habere. Si quae mulier sit eius modi, qualem ego paulo ante descripsi, tui dissimilis, vita institutoque meretricio, cum hac aliquid adulescentem hominem habuisse rationis num tibi perturpe aut perflagitiosum esse videatur? Ea si tu non es, sicut ego malo, quid est, quod obiciant Caelio? Sin eam te volunt esse, quid est, cur nos crimen hoc, si tu contemnis, pertimescamus? Quare nobis da viam rationemque defensionis. Aut enim pudor tuus defendet nihil a M. Caelio petulantius esse factum, aut impudentia et huic et ceteris magnam ad se defendendum facultatem dabit.
[ 50 ] I forget for the present all the injuries which you have done me, O Clodia; I banish all recollection of my own distress; I put out of consideration your cruel conduct to my relations when I was absent. You are at liberty to suppose that what I have just said was not said about you. But I ask you yourself, since the accusers say that they derived the idea of this charge from you, and that they have you yourself as a witness of its truth; I ask you, I say, if there be any woman of the sort that I have just described, a woman unlike you, a woman of the habits and profession of a harlot, does it appear an act of extraordinary baseness, or extraordinary wickedness, for a young man to have had some connection with her? If you are not such a woman, — and I would much rather believe that you are not — then, what is it that they impute to Caelius? If they try to make you out to be such a woman, then why need we fear such an accusation for ourselves, if you confess that it applies to you, and despise it? Give us then a path to and a plan for our defence. For either your modesty will supply us with the defence, that nothing has been done by Marcus Caelius with any undue wantonness; or else your impudence will give both him and every one else very great facilities for defending themselves.
[ li ] Sed quoniam emersisse iam e vadis et scopulos praetervecta videtur oratio mea, perfacilis mihi reliquus cursus ostenditur. Duo sunt enim crimina una in muliere summorum facinorum, auri, quod sumptum a Clodia dicitur, et veneni, quod eiusdem Clodiae necandae causa parasse Caelium criminantur. Aurum sumpsit, ut dicitis, quod L. Luccei servis daret, per quos Alexandrinus Dio, qui tum apud Lucceium habitabat, necaretur. Magnum crimen vel in legatis insidiandis vel in servis ad hospitem domini necandum sollicitandis, plenum sceleris consilium, plenum audaciae!
[ 51 ] But since my speech appears at last to have raised itself out of the shallows, and to have passed by the rocks, the rest of my course is made plain and easy to me. For there are two charges, both relating to one woman, — both imputing enormous wickedness; one respecting the gold which is said to have been received from Clodia, the other respecting the poison which the prosecutors accuse Caelius of having prepared with the view of assassinating Clodia. He took gold, as you say, to give to the slaves of Lucius Lucceius, by whom Dio of Alexandria was slain, who at that time was living in Lucceius's house. It is a great crime to intrigue against ambassadors [Gardner: See Caesar BG III.9], or to tamper with slaves to induce them to murder their master's guest; it is a design full of wickedness, full of audacity.
[ lii. ] Quo quidem in crimine primum illud requiro, dixeritne Clodiae, quam ad rem aurum sumeret, an non dixerit. Si non dixit, cur dedit? Si dixit, eodem se conscientiae scelere devinxit. Tune aurum ex armario tuo promere ausa es, tune Venerem illam tuam spoliare ornamentis, spoliatricem ceterorum, cum scires, quantum ad facinus aurum hoc quaereretur, ad necem legati, ad L. Luccei, sanctissimi hominis atque integerrimi, labem sceleris sempiternam? Huic facinori tanto tua mens liberalis conscia, tua domus popularis ministra, tua denique hospitalis illa Venus adiutrix esse non debuit.
[ 52 ] But with respect to that charge, I will first of all ask this — whether he told Clodia for what purpose he was then taking the gold, or whether he did not tell her? If he did not tell her, why was it that she gave it? If he did tell her, then she has implicated herself as an accomplice in the same wickedness. [Austen: cōnscientia, -ae f: joint knowledge, complicity; GEN. She involved herself in the same wickedness of her complicity.] Did you dare to take gold out of your strong-box? Did you dare to strip that statue of yours of Venus the Plunderer of men of her ornaments? But when you knew for what an enormous crime this gold was required, — for the murder of an ambassador, — for the staining of Lucius Lucceius, a most pious and upright man, with the blot of everlasting impiety — then your well-educated mind ought not to have been privy to so horrible an atrocity; your house, so open to all people, ought not to have been made an instrument in it. Above all, that most hospitable Venus of yours ought not to have been an assistant in it.
[ liii ] Vidit hoc Balbus; celatam esse Clodiam dixit, atque ita Caelium ad illam attulisse, se ad ornatum ludorum aurum quaerere. Si tam familiaris erat Clodiae, quam tu esse vis, cum de libidine eius tam multa dicis, dixit profecto, quo vellet aurum; si tam familiaris non erat, non dedit. Ita, si verum tibi Caelius dixit, o immoderata mulier, sciens tu aurum ad facinus dedisti; si non est ausus dicere, non dedisti. Quid ego nunc argumentis huic crimini, quae sunt innumerabilia, resistam? Possum dicere mores Caeli longissime a tanti sceleris atrocitate esse disiunctos; minime esse credendum homini tam ingenioso tamque prudenti non venisse in mentem rem tanti sceleris ignotis alienisque servis non esse credendam. Possum etiam illa et ceterorum patronorum et mea consuetudine ab accusatore perquirere, ubi sit congressus cum servis Luccei Caelius, qui ei fuerit aditus; si per se, qua temeritate; si per alium, per quem? Possum omnes latebras suspicionum peragrare dicendo; non causa, non locus, non facultas, non conscius, non perficiendi, non occultandi maleficii spes, non ratio ulla, non vestigium maximi facinoris reperietur.
[ 53 ] [L. Herennius Balbus, Atratinus' subscrīptor] saw that. He said that Clodia was kept in the dark, and that Caelius alleged to her as his reason for wanting the gold, that he wanted it for the ornamenting of his [games] if he was as intimate with Clodia as you [Gardner: L. Herennius Balbus] make him out when you say so much about his amorous propensities, he, no doubt, told her what he wanted the gold for. If he was not so intimate with her, then, no doubt, she never gave it. Therefore, if Caelius told you the truth, O you most ill-regulated woman, you knowingly gave gold to promote a crime; if he did not venture to tell you, you never gave it at all. ...
[ liv ] Sed haec, quae sunt oratoris propria, quae mihi non propter ingenium meum, sed propter hanc exercitationem usumque dicendi fructum aliquem ferre potuissent, cum a me ipso elaborata proferri viderentur, brevitatis causa relinquo omnia. Habeo enim, iudices, quem vos socium vestrae religionis iurisque iurandi facile esse patiamini, L. Lucceium, sanctissimum hominem et gravissimum testem, qui tantum facinus in famam atque fortunas suas neque non audisset illatum a Caelio neque neglexisset neque tulisset. An ille vir illa humanitate praeditus, illis studiis, illis artibus atque doctrina illius ipsius periculum, quem propter haec ipsa studia diligebat, neglegere potuisset et, quod facinus in alienum hominem intentum severe acciperet, id omisisset curare in hospitem? quod per ignotos actum cum comperisset, doleret, id a suis servis temptatum esse neglegeret? quod in agris locisve publicis factum reprehenderet, id in urbe ac suae domi coeptum esse leniter ferret? quod in alicuius agrestis periculo non praetermitteret, id homo eruditus in insidiis doctissimi hominis dissimulandum putaret?
[ 54 ] But all these topics, which belong peculiarly to the orator, and which might do some service in my hands if I were to work them up and dilate upon them in this presence, not because of any natural ability that I possess, but because of my constant practice in, and habit of, speaking, I, from a view to brevity, forbear to urge. For I have, O judges, a man whom you will willingly allow to be connected with you by the religious obligation of taking a similar oath with yourselves, Lucius Lucceius, a most religious man, and a most conscientious witness; who if such guilt so calculated to compromise his credit and his fortunes had been brought into his household by Caelius, could not have failed to hear of it, and would never have been indifferent to it and would never have borne it. Could such a man as he, a man of such humanity, a man devoted to such pursuits as his, and embued with all his learning and accomplishments, have been indifferent to the imminent danger of that man to whom he had become attached on account of these very studies and pursuits? And when he would have been most indignant at hearing of such a crime if it had been committed against a stranger, would he have omitted taking any notice of it when it affected his own guest? When he would have grieved if he had found out that such a deed had been perpetrated by strangers, would he have thought nothing of it when attempted by his own household? An action which he would blame if done in the fields or in public places, was he likely to think lightly of when it was begun in his own city and in his own house? What he would not have concealed if it threatened any country person with danger, can he, a learned man himself, be supposed to have kept secret when a plot was laid against a most learned man?
[ lv ] Sed cur diutius vos, iudices, teneo? Ipsius iurati religionem auctoritatemque percipite atque omnia diligenter testimonii verba cognoscite. Recita. L. LVCCEI TESTIMONIVM. Quid exspectatis amplius? an aliquam vocem putatis ipsam pro se causam et veritatem posse mittere? Haec est innocentiae defensio, haec ipsius causae oratio, haec una vox veritatis. In crimine ipso nulla suspicio est, in re nihil est argumenti, in negotio, quod actum esse dicitur, nullum vestigium sermonis, loci, temporis; nemo testis, nemo conscius nominatur, totum crimen profertur ex inimica, ex infami, ex crudeli, ex facinerosa, ex libidinosa domo; domus autem illa, quae temptata esse scelere isto nefario dicitur, plena est integritatis, dignitatis, officii religionis; ex qua domo recitatur vobis iure iurando devincta auctoritas, ut res minime dubitanda in contentione ponatur, utrum temeraria, procax, irata mulier finxisse crimen, an gravis sapiens moderatusque vir religiose testimonium dixisse videatur.
[ 55 ] But why, O judges, do I detain you so long? You shall have the authority and scrupulous faith of the man himself on his oath before you, and listen carefully to every word of his evidence. Read the evidence of Lucius Lucceius. [The evidence of Lucceius is read.] What more do you wait for? Do you think that the case itself, or even that truth of itself can utter any actual words in its own defence? This is the defence made by innocence, — this is the language of the cause itself, — this is the single, unassisted voice of truth.
In the circumstances of the crime itself there is no suspicion; in the facts of the case there is no argument. In the negotiation which is said to have been carried on [Gardner: with the slaves of Lucceius], there is no trace of any conversation, of any opportunity, of either time or place. No one is named as having been a witness of it. No one is accused of having been privy to it. The whole accusation proceeds from a house that is hostile to him, — that is of infamous character, cruel, criminal, and lascivious. And that house, on the other hand, which is said to have been tampered with, with a view to this nefarious wickedness, is one full of integrity, dignity, kindness and piety. And from this last you have had read to you a most authoritative declaration under the sanction of an oath. So that the matter which you have to decide upon is one on which very little doubt can arise, — namely, whether a rash, libidinous, furious woman appears to have invented an accusation, or a dignified, and wise, and virtuous man is to be believed to have given his evidence with a scrupulous regard to truth.
[ lvi ] Reliquum est igitur crimen de veneno; cuius ego nec principium invenire neque evolvere exitum possum. Quae fuit enim causa, quam ob rem isti mulieri venenum dare vellet Caelius? Ne aurum redderet? Num petivit? Ne crimen haereret? Numquis obiecit? num quis denique fecisset mentionem, si hic nullius nomen detulisset? Quin etiam L. Herennium dicere audistis verbo se molestum non futurum fuisse Caelio, nisi iterum eadem de re suo familiari absoluto nomen hic detulisset. Credibile est igitur tantum facinus ob nullam causam esse commissum? et vos non videtis fingi sceleris maximi crimen, ut alterius causa sceleris suscipiendi fuisse videatur?
[ 56 ] There remains the charge respecting the poison for me to consider; a charge of which I can neither discover the origin nor guess the object. For what reason was there for Caelius desiring to give poison to that woman? Was it in order to save himself from being forced to repay the gold? Did she demand it back? Was it to save himself from being accused [Gardner: Accused of murdering Dio by the agency of the slaves of Lucceius]? Did any one impute anything to him? In short, would any one ever have mentioned him if he had not himself instituted a prosecution against somebody? [Englert: deferre nomen: to accuse, to prosecute] Moreover you heard Lucius Herennius say that he would never have caused annoyance to Caelius by a single word, if he had not prosecuted his intimate friend a second time on the same charge, after he had been already acquitted once. [Gardner: Caelius instituted fresh proceedings for ambitus against L. Calpurnius Bestia immediately after his acquittal on that charge on 11 Feb 56 BC] Is it credible then, that so enormous a crime [Gardner: the alleged poisoning of Clodia] was committed without any object? And do you not see that an accusation of the most enormous wickedness is invented against him in order that it may appear to have been committed for the sake of facilitating the other wickedness? [Gardner: The alleged attempt upon Dio was, Cicero says, trumped up to gіve color to Caelius' alleged attempt upon Clodia]
[ lvii ] Cui denique commisit, quo adiutore usus est, quo socio, quo conscio, cui tantum facinus, cui se, cui salutem suam credidit? Servisne mulieris? Sic enim obiectum est. Et erat tam demens hic, cui vos in genium certe tribuitis, etiamsi cetera inimica oratione detrahitis, ut omnes suas fortunas alienis servis committeret? At quibus servis? Refert enim magnopere id ipsum. Iisne, quos intellegebat non communi condicione servitutis uti, sed licentius, liberius, familiarius cum domina vivere? Quis enim hoc non videt, iudices, aut quis ignorat, in eius modi domo, in qua mater familias meretricio more vivat, in qua nihil geratur, quod foras proferendum sit, in qua inusitatae, libidines, luxuries, omnia denique inaudita vitia ac flagitia versentur, hic servos non esse servos, quibus omnia committantur, per quos gerantur, qui versentur isdem in voluptatibus, quibus occulta credantur, ad quos aliquantum etiam ex cotidianis sumptibus ac luxurie redundet? Id igitur Caelius non videbat?
Quis enim hoc nōn videt, iūdicēs,
aut quis ignōrat, in eius modī domō
in quā māter familiās meretrīciō mōre vivat,
in quā nihil gerātur quod forās prōferendum sit,
inūsitātae libīdinēs,
/ \
in quā +--luxuriēs, --+ versentur
\ /
omnia dēnique inaudīta
vītia ac flāgitia
hīc servōs nōn esse servōs,
quibus omnia committantur,
per quōs gerantur,
quī versentur īsdem in voluptātibus,
quibus occulta crēdantur,
ad quōs aliquantum etiam
ex cotīdiānīs sumptibus
ac luxuriē redundet?
[ 57 ] To whom, then, did he entrust its execution? Whom did he employ as an assistant? Who was his companion? Who was his accomplice? To whom did he entrust so foul a crime; to whom did he entrust himself and his own safety? Was it to the slaves of that woman? For that is what is imputed to him. Was he, then; so insane, — he to whom at least you allow the credit of good abilities, even if you refuse him all other praise in that hostile speech of yours, — as to trust his whole safety to another man's slaves? And to what slaves? For even that makes a considerable difference? Was it to slaves whose slavery as he was aware was one of no ordinary condition, but who were in the habit of being treated with indulgence and freedom and every familiarity, by their mistress? For who is there, O judges, who does not see, who is there who does not know, that in such a house as that in which the mistress of the house lives after the fashion of a prostitute, — in which nothing is done which is fit to be mentioned out of doors, — in which debauchery, and lust, and luxury and, in short all sorts of unheard of vices and wickednesses are carried on, the slaves are not slaves at all? men to whom everything is confided, by whose agency everything is done; who are occupied in the same pleasures as their mistress; who have secrets entrusted to them, and who get even some, and that no inconsiderable, share of the daily extravagance and luxury. Was Caelius, then, not aware of this?
[ lviii ] Si enim tam familiaris erat mulieris, quam vos vultis, istos quoque servos familiares esse dominae sciebat. Sin ei tanta consuetudo, quanta a vobis inducitur, non erat, quae cum servis potuit familiaritas esse tanta? Ipsius autem veneni quae ratio fingitur? ubi quaesitum est, quem ad modum paratum, quo pacto, cui, quo in loco traditum? Habuisse aiunt domi vimque eius esse expertum in servo quodam ad eam rem ipsam parato; cuius perceleri interitu esse ab hoc comprobatum venenum.
[ 58 ] For if he was as intimate with the woman as you [Gardner: the prosecution] try to make him out, be certainly knew that those slaves also were intimate with her. But if no such intimacy existed between him and her as is alleged by you, then how could he have arrived at such familiarity with her slaves? ...
[ lix ] Pro di immortales! cur interdum in hominum sceleribus maximis aut conivetis aut praesentis fraudis poenas in diem reservatis? Vidi enim, vidi et illum hausi dolorem vel acerbissimum in vita, cum Q. Metellus abstraheretur e sinu gremioque patriae, cumque ille vir, qui se natum huic imperio putavit, tertio die post quam in curia, quam in rostris, quam in re publica floruisset, integerrima aetate, optimo habitu, maximis viribus eriperetur indignissime bonis omnibus atque universae civitati. Quo quidem tempore ille moriens, cum iam ceteris ex partibus oppressa mens esset, extremum sensum ad memoriam rei publicae reservabat, cum me intuens flentem significabat interruptis ac morientibus vocibus, quanta impenderet procella mihi, quanta tempestas civitati, et cum parietem saepe feriens eum, qui cum Q. Catulo fuerat ei communis, crebro Catulum, saepe me, saepissime rem publicam nominabat, ut non tam se emori quam spoliari suo praesidio cum patriam, tum etiam me doleret.
vīdī enim, vīdī et illum hausī dolōrem vel acerbissimum in vītā,
cum Q. Metellus abstraherētur ē sinū gremiōque partiae,
cumque ille vir quī sē nātum huic imperiō putāvit
quam in cūriā,
/ \
tertiō diē +--quam in rostrīs, --+ flōruisset,
\ /
quam in rē publicā
integerrimā aetāte,
/ \
+--optimō habitū, --+ ēriperētur
\ /
maximīs vīribus
bonīs omnibus
/
indignissimē +--atque
\
ūniversae cīvitāte.
Quō quidem tempore ille moriēns,
cum iam cēterīs ex partibus oppressa mēns esset,
extrēmum sēnsum ad memoriam reī publicae reservābat,
cum mē intuēns flentem significābat ac
quanta inpendēret procella mihi,
/
morientibus vōcibus +
\
quanta tempestās cīvitātī
et cum parietem saepe feriēns eum
quī cum Q. Catulō fuerat
crēbrō Catulō
/ \
eī cummūnis +--saepe mē --+ nōminābat,
\ /
saepissimē rem publicam
cum patriam
ut nōn tam sē morī / \
quam spoliārī suō praesidiō + --+ dolēret.
\ /
tum etiam mē
[ 59 ] O ye immortal gods! why do you at times appear to wink at the greatest crimes of men, or why do you reserve the punishment of present wickedness to a future day? For I saw, I saw, and I myself experienced that grief, the bitterest grief that I ever felt in my life, when Quintus Metellus [Celer] [consul 60 BC] was torn from the heart and bosom of his country, and when that man who considered himself born only for this empire, but three days after he had been in good health, flourishing in the senate-house, in the rostrum, and in the republic; while in the flower of his age, of an excellent constitution, and in the full vigour of manhood, was torn in a most unworthy manner from all good men, and from the entire state; at which time he, though dying, when on other points his senses appeared to be bewildered, retained his senses to the last as far as his recollection of the republic was concerned; and beholding me in tears, he intimated with broken and failing voice, how great a storm he saw was [Gardner: hanging over me (Cicero's banishment)] impending over the city, — how great a tempest was threatening the state; and frequently striking that wall which separated his house from that of Q. Lutatius Catulus (Capitolinus) [consul 78 BC], he kept on mentioning Catulus by name, and me myself, and the republic, so as to show that he was grieving, not so much because he was dying, as because both his country and I were about to be deprived of his aid and protection.
[ lx ] Quem quidem virum si nulla vis repentini sceleris sustulisset, quonam modo ille furenti fratri suo consularis restitisset, qui consul incipientem furere atque tonantem sua se manu interfecturum audiente senatu dixerit? Ex hac igitur domo progressa ista mulier de veneni celeritate dicere audebit? Nonne ipsam domum metuet, ne quam vocem eiciat, non parietes conscios, non noctem illam funestam ac luctuosam perhorrescet? Sed revertor ad crimen; etenim haec facta illius clarissimi ac fortissimi viri mentio et vocem meam fletu debilitavit et mentem dolore impedivit.
[ 60 ] But, if no violence of sudden wickedness had carried off that great man, with what vigour would he, as a man of consular rank, have resisted that frantic [furentī: revolutionary, left-wing] cousin [Metellus and Clodius were cousins on the mother's side] of his, — he [Q. Metellus Celer], who as consul said in the hearing of the senate, at a time when he [Clodius] was beginning and endeavouring to give reins to his fury, that he would slay him with his own hand! And shall that woman, proceeding from this house, dare to speak of the rapidity of the operation of poison? Is she not afraid of the very house itself, lest she should make it utter some sound? Does she not dread the very walls, which are privy to her wickedness? does she not shudder at the recollection of that fatal and melancholy night?
But I will return to the accusation: but this mention of that most illustrious and most gallant man has both weakened my voice with weeping, and overcome my mind with sorrow.
[ lxi ] Sed tamen venenum unde fuerit, quem ad modum paratum sit, non dicitur. Datum esse aiunt huic P. Licinio, pudenti adulescenti et bono, Caeli familiari; constitutum esse cum servis, ut venirent ad balneas Senias; eodem Licinium esse venturum atque iis veneni pyxidem traditurum. Hic primum illud requiro, quid attinuerit ferri in eum locum constitutum, cur illi servi non ad Caelium domum venerint. Si manebat tanta illa consuetudo Caeli, tanta familiaritas cum Clodia, quid suspicionis esset, si apud Caelium mulieris servus visus esset? Sin autem iam suberat simultas, exstincta erat consuetudo, discidium exstiterat, "hinc illae lacrimae" nimirum, et haec causa est omnium horum scelerum atque criminum.
[ 61 ] But still there is no mention made of whence the poison came from, or how it was prepared. They say that it was given to Publius Licinius, a modest and virtuous young man, and an intimate friend of Caelius. They say that an arrangement was entered into with the slaves, that they should come to the strangers' baths; and that Licinius should come thither also, and should give them the box containing the poison. Now, here first of all I ask this question, What was the object of all this being done in that previously arranged place? Why did not the slaves come to Caelius's house? If that great intimacy and that excessive familiarity between Caelius and Clodia still subsisted, what suspicion would have been excited by one of the slaves of that woman having been seen at Caelius's house? But if a quarrel had already sprung up between them, if the intimacy was over, and enmity had taken its place, “ Hence arose those tears. ” This is the cause of all that wickedness and of all those crimes.
[ lxii ] "Immo," inquit, "cum servi ad dominam rem totam et maleficium Caeli detulissent, mulier ingeniosa praecepit his ut omnia Caelio pollicerentur; sed ut venenum, cum a Licinio traderetur, manifesto comprehendi posset, constitui locum iussit balneas Senias, ut eo mitteret amicos, qui delitiscerent, deinde repente, cum venisset Licinius venenumque traderet, prosilirent hominemque comprenderent." Quae quidem omnia, iudices, perfacilem rationem habent reprehendendi. Cur enim potissimum balneas publicas constituerat? in quibus non invenio quae latebra togatis hominibus esse posset. Nam si essent in vestibulo balnearum, non laterent; sin se in intimum conicere vellent, nec satis commode calceati et vestiti id facere possent et fortasse non reciperentur, nisi forte mulier potens quadrantaria illa permutatione familiaris facta erat balneatori.
[ 62 ] Very true, says he, and when the slaves had reported to their mistress the whole transaction and the guilty designs of Caelius, that crafty woman enjoined her slaves to promise Caelius everything; but in order that the poison when it was being delivered to them by Licinius, might be clearly detected, she commanded them to appoint the strangers' baths as the place where it was to he delivered in order to send thither friends to lie in ambush there and then on a sudden, when Licinius had arrived and was delivering the poison, to jump out, and arrest the man. ...
[ lxiii ] Atque equidem vehementer exspectabam, quinam isti viri boni testes huius manifesto deprehensi veneni dicerentur; nulli enim sunt adhuc nominati. Sed non dubito, quin sint pergraves, qui primum sint talis feminae familiares, deinde eam provinciam susceperint, ut in balneas contruderentur, quod illa nisi a viris honestissimis ac plenissimis dignitatis, quam velit sit potens, numquam impetravisset. Sed quid ego de dignitate istorum testium loquor? virtutem eorum diligentiamque cognoscite. "In balneis delituerunt." Testes egregios! "Dein temere prosiluerunt." Homines temperantes! Sic enim fingunt, cum Licinius venisset, pyxidem teneret in manu, conaretur tradere, nondum tradidisset, tum repente evolasse istos praeclaros testes sine nomine; Licinium autem, cum iam manum ad tradendam pyxidem porrexisset, retraxisse atque illo repentino hominum impetu se in fugam coniecisse. O magna vis veritatis, quae contra hominum ingenia, calliditatem, sollertiam contraque fictas omnium insidias facile se per se ipsa defendat!
[ 63 ] And, in truth, I was waiting eagerly to see who those virtuous men were, who would be stated to have been witnesses of this poison having been so clearly detected. For none have been named as yet. But I have no doubt that they are men of very high authority indeed, as, in the first place, they are the intimate friends of such a woman; and, in the second place, they took upon themselves that share of the business, — that, namely, of being thrust down into the baths; which she, even were she as powerful as she could possibly wish to be, could never have prevailed on any men to do, except such as were most honourable men, and men of the very greatest natural dignity. But why do I speak of the dignity of those witnesses? Learn yourselves how virtuous and how scrupulous they are. They lay in ambush in the baths. Splendid witnesses, indeed! Then they sprung out precipitately. O men entirely devoted to their dignity! For this is the story that they make up: that when Licinius had arrived, and was holding the box of poison in his hand, and was endeavouring to deliver it to them, but had not yet delivered it, then all on a sudden those splendid nameless witnesses sprung out; and that Licinius, when he had already put out his hand to give them over the box of poison, drew it back again, and, alarmed at that an expected onset of men, took to his heels. O how great is the power of truth! which of its own power can easily defend itself against all the ingenuity, and cunning, and wisdom of men, and against the treacherous plots of all the world.
[ lxiv ] Velut haec tota fabella veteris et plurimarum fabularum poetriae quam est sine argumento, quam nullum invenire exitum potest! Quid enim? isti tot viri (nam necesse est fuisse non paucos, ut et comprehendi Licinius facile posset et res multorum oculis esset testatior) cur Licinium de manibus amiserunt? Qui minus enim Licinius comprehendi potuit, cum se retraxit, ne pyxidem traderet, quam si tradidisset? Erant enim illi positi, ut comprehenderent Licinium, ut manifesto Licinius teneretur, aut cum retineret venenum aut cum tradidisset. Hoc fuit totum consilium mulieris, haec istorum provincia, qui rogati sunt; quos quidem tu quam ob rem "temere prosiluisse" dicas atque ante tempus, non reperio. Fuerant ad hoc rogati, fuerant ad hanc rem collocati, ut venenum, ut insidiae, facinus denique ipsum ut manifesto comprehenderetur.
[ 64 ] But how destitute of all proof is the whole of the story of this [veteris DAT by experienced] poetess and inventress of many fables! How totally without any conceivable object or result is it! For what does she say? Why did so numerous a body of men, (for it is clear enough it was not a small number, as it was requisite that Licinius should be arrested with ease, and that the transaction should be more completely proved by the eyewitness of many witnesses,) why, I say, did so numerous a body of men let Licinius escape from their hands? For why was Licinius less liable to be apprehended when he had drawn back in order not to deliver up the box than he would have been if he had delivered it up? For those men had been placed on purpose to arrest Licinius in order that Licinius might be caught in the very fact either of having just delivered up the poison, or of still having it in his possession. This was the whole plan of the woman. This was the part allotted to those men who were asked to undertake it but why it is that they sprung forth so precipitately and prematurely as you say, I do not find stated.
They had been invited for this express purpose they had been placed with this especial object in order to effect the undeniable detection of the poison, of the plot, and of every particular of the crime.
[ lxv ] Potueruntne magis tempore prosilire, quam cum Licinius venisset, cum in manu teneret veneni pyxidem? Quae cum iam erat tradita servis, si evasissent subito ex balneis mulieris amici Liciniumque comprehendissent, imploraret hominum fidem atque a se illam pyxidem traditam pernegaret. Quem quo modo illi reprehenderent? vidisse se dicerent? Primum ad se revocarent maximi facinoris crimen; deinde id se vidisse dicerent, quod, quo loco collocati fuerant, non potuissent videre. Tempore igitur ipso se ostenderunt, cum Licinius venisset, pyxidem expediret, manum porrigeret, venenum traderet. Mimi ergo est iam exitus, non fabulae; in quo cum clausula non invenitur, fugit aliquis e manibus, deinde scabilla concrepant, aulaeum tollitur.
[ 65 ] Could they spring forward at a better time than when Licinius had arrived? when he was holding in his hand the box of poison? and if after that box had been delivered to the slaves the friends of the woman had on a sudden emerged from the baths and seized Licinius, he would have implored the protection of their good faith and have denied that that box had been delivered to them by him. And how would they have reproved him? Would they have said that they had seen it? First of all that would have been to bring the imputation of a most atrocious crime on themselves besides, they would be saying that they had seen what from the spot in which they had been placed they could not possibly have seen. Therefore they showed themselves at the very nick of time when Licinius had arrived and was getting out the box, and was stretching out his hand, and delivering the poison. This is rather the end of a farce than a regular comedy; in which, when a regular end cannot be invented for it some one escapes out of some one else's hands, the whistle[*] sounds, and the curtain drops.
* Gardner: scabillum, ī n: kind of musical instrument which by the pressure of the foot always produced the same tone. They danced to it on the stage, and it seems to have been used to denote the beginning and end of an act.
[ lxvi ] Quaero enim, cur Licinium titubantem, haesitantem, cedentem, fugere conantem mulieraria manus ista de manibus amiserit, cur non comprenderint, cur non ipsius confessione, multorum oculis, facinoris denique voce tanti sceleris crimen expresserint. An timebant, ne tot unum, valentes imbecillum, alacres perterritum superare non possent? Nullum argumentum in re, nulla suspicio in causa, nullus exitus criminis reperietur. Itaque haec causa ab argumentis, a coniectura, ab iis signis, quibus veritas illustrari solet, ad testes tota traducta est. Quos quidem ego, iudices, testes non modo sine ullo timore, sed etiam cum aliqua spe delectationis exspecto.
[ 66 ] For I ask why that army under the command of the woman allowed Licinius, when embarrassed, hesitating, receding, and endeavouring to fly, to slip through their fingers? why they did not seize him? why they did not prove beyond all denial a crime of such enormous wickedness by his own confession, by the eye-witness of many people, by even the voice of the crime itself if I may say so? Were they afraid that so many men would not be able to get the better of one, that strong men would not be able to beat a weak man, or active men to surprise one in such a fright?
No corroborative proof is to be found in the circumstances; no ground for suspicion in any part of the case, no object for or result of the crime, can be imagined. Therefore, this cause, instead of being supported by arguments, by conjecture, and by those tokens by which the truth generally has a light thrown upon it rests wholly on the witnesses. And those witnesses, O judges, I long to see, not only without the least apprehension, but with a sort of hope of great enjoyment.
[ lxvii ] Praegestit animus iam videre primum lautos iuvenes mulieris beatae ac nobilis familiares, deinde fortes viros ab imperatrice in insidiis atque in praesidio balnearum collocatos; ex quibus requiram, quem ad modum latuerint aut ubi, alveusne ille an equus Troianus fuerit, qui tot invictos viros muliebre bellum gerentes tulerit ac texerit. Illud vero respondere cogam, cur tot viri ac tales hunc et unum et tam imbecillum, quam videtis, non aut stantem comprenderint aut fugientem consecuti sint; qui se numquam profecto, si in istum locum processerint, explicabunt. Quam volent in conviviis faceti, dicaces, non numquam etiam ad vinum diserti sint, alia fori vis est, alia triclinii, alia subselliorum ratio, alia lectorum; non idem iudicum comissatorumque conspectus; lux denique longe alia est solis, alia lychnorum. Quam ob rem excutiemus omnes istorum delicias, omnes ineptias, si prodierint. Sed me audiant, navent aliam operam, aliam ineant gratiam, in aliis se rebus ostentent, vigeant apud istam mulierem venustate, dominentur sumptibus, haereant, iaceant, deserviant; capiti vero innocentis fortunisque parcant.
[ 67 ] My mind is exceedingly eager to behold them, first, because they are luxurious youths, the intimate friends of a rich and high-born woman; secondly, because they are gallant men, placed by their Amazonian general in ambush, and as a sort of garrison to the baths. And, when I see them, I will ask them how they lay hid, and where; whether it was a canal, or a second Trojan horse, which bore and concealed so many invincible men waging war for the sake of a woman? And this I will compel them to tell me, why so many gallant men did not either at once seize this man, who was but a single individual, and as slight and weak a man as you see, while he was standing there; or, at all events, why they did not pursue him when he fled.
And, in truth, they will never be able to get out of their perplexity, if they ever do go into that witness-box; not though they may be ever so witty and talkative at banquets, and sometimes, over their wine, even eloquent. For the forum is one thing, and the banqueting couch another. The benches of counselors are very different from the sofas of revelers. A tribunal of judges is not particularly like a row of hard-drinkers. In short, the radiance of the sun is a very different thing from the light of lamps. So that we will soon scatter all those gentlemen's delicate airs, all their absurdities, if they do appear. But if they will be guided by me; let them apply themselves to some other task; let them curry the favour of some one else by some other means; let them display their capacity in other employments; let them flourish in that woman's house in beauty; let them regulate her expenses let them cling to her, sup with her, serve her in every possible way, but let them spare the lives and fortunes of innocent men.
[ lxviii ] At sunt servi illi de cognatorum sententia, nobilissimorum et clarissimorum hominum, manu missi. Tandem aliquid invenimus, quod ista mulier de suorum propinquorum fortissimorum virorum sententia atque auctoritate fecisse dicatur. Sed scire cupio, quid habeat argumenti ista manumissio; in qua aut crimen est Caelio quaesitum aut quaestio sublata aut multarum rerum consciis servis cum causa praemium persolutum. "At propinquis" inquit "placuit." Cur non placeret, cum rem tute ad eos non ab aliis tibi adlatam, sed a te ipsa compertam deferre diceres?
[ 68 ] But those slaves have been emancipated by the advice of her relations, — most highly born and illustrious men. At last then we have found something which that woman is said to have done by the advice and authority of her own relations, — men of the highest respectability of character. But I wish to know what proof there is in that emancipation of slaves, so that either any charge against Caelius can be made out of that, or any examination of the slaves themselves by means of torture prevented, or any pretext found for giving rewards to slaves who were privy to too many transactions which it is desired to keep secret? But her relations advised it. Why should not they advise it, when you yourself stated that you were reporting to them a matter which you had not received information of from others, but which had been discovered by yourself?
[ lxix ] Hic etiam miramur, si illam commenticiam pyxidem obscenissima sit fabula consecuta? Nihil est, quod in eius modi mulierem non cadere videatur. Audita et percelebrata sermonibus res est. Percipitis animis, iudices, iam dudum, quid velim vel potius quid nolim dicere. Quod etiamsi est factum, certe a Caelio non est factum (quid enim attinebat?); est enim ab aliquo adulescente fortasse non tam insulso quam non verecundo. Sin autem est fictum, non illud quidem modestum, sed tamen est non infacetum mendacium; quod profecto numquam hominum sermo atque opinio comprobasset, nisi omnia, quae cum turpitudine aliqua dicerentur, in istam quadrare apte viderentur.
[ 69 ] Here also we wonder whether any most obscene story followed the tale of that imaginary box. There is nothing which may not seem applicable to such a woman as that. The matter has been heard of, and has been the subject of universal conversation. You have long ago perceived, O judges, what I wish to say, or rather what I wish not to say. For even if such a crime was committed, it certainly was not committed by Caelius; for what concern was it of his? It may perhaps have been committed by some young man, not so much foolish as destitute of modesty. But if it be a mere fiction, it is not indeed a very modest invention, but still it is not destitute of wit; — one which in truth the common conversation and common opinion of men would never have sealed with their approbation, if every sort of story which involved any kind of infamy did not appear consistent with and suited to that woman's character.
[ lxx ] Dicta est a me causa, iudices, et perorata. Iam intellegitis, quantum iudicium sustineatis, quanta res sit commissa vobis. De vi quaeritis. Quae lex ad imperium, ad maiestatem, ad statum patriae, ad salutem omnium pertinet, quam legem Q. Catulus armata dissensione civium rei publicae paene extremis temporibus tulit, quaeque lex sedata illa flamma consulatus mei fumantes reliquias coniurationis exstinxit, hac nunc lege Caeli adulescentia non ad rei publicae poenas, sed ad mulieris libidines et delicias deposcitur?
[ 70 ] The cause has now been fully stated by me, O judges, and summed up. You now understand how important an action this is which has been submitted to your decision; how serious a charge is confided to you. You are presiding over an investigation into a charge of violence; — into a law which concerns the empire, the majesty of the state, the condition of the country, and the safety of all the citizens; — a law which Quintus Catulus passed at a time when armed dissensions were dividing the people, and when the republic was almost at its last gasp; — a law which, after the flame which raged so fiercely in my consulship had been allayed, extinguished the smoking relics of the conspiracy. Under this law the youth of Marcus Caelius is demanded, not for the sake of enduring any punishment called for by the republic, but in order to be sacrificed to the lust and profligate pleasures of a woman.
[ lxxi ] Atque hoc etiam loco M. Camurti et C. Caeserni damnatio praedicatur. O stultitiam! stultitiamne dicam an impudentiam singularem! Audetisne, cum ab ea muliere veniatis, facere istorum hominum mentionem? audetis excitare tanti flagitii memoriam non exstinctam illam quidem, sed repressam vetustate? Quo enim illi crimine peccatoque perierunt? Nempe quod eiusdem mulieris dolorem et iniuriam Vettiano nefario stupro sunt persecuti. Ergo ut audiretur Vetti nomen in causa, ut illa vetus aeraria fabula referretur, idcirco Camurti et Caeserni est causa renovata? qui quamquam lege de vi certe non tenebantur, eo maleficio tamen erant implicati, ut ex nullius legis laqueis eximendi viderentur.
[ 71 ] And even in this place the condemnation of Marcus Camurtius[*] and Caius Caesernius is brought up again! Oh the folly, or shall I rather say, oh the extraordinary impudence! Do you dare, — you prosecutors, — when you come from that woman's house, to make mention of those men? Do you dare to reawaken the recollection of so enormous a crime, which is not even now dead, but is only smothered by its antiquity? For on account of what charge, or what fault did those men fall? Forsooth, because they endeavoured to avenge the grief and suffering of that same woman caused by the injury which they believed she had received from Vettius. Was, then, the cause of Camurtius and Caesernius brought up again in order that the name of Vettius might be heard of in connection with this cause, and that that farcical old story, suited to the pen of Afranius, might be rubbed up again? For though they were certainly not liable under the law concerning violence, they were still so implicated in that crime, that they deemed men who ought never to be released from the shackles of the law.
* It is quite unknown to as what these allusions of Cicero to passing events refer to.
[ lxxii ] M. vero Caelius cur in hoc iudicium vocatur? cui neque proprium quaestionis crimen obicitur nec vero aliquod eius modi, quod sit a lege seiunctum, cum vestra severitate coniunctum; cuius prima aetas dedita disciplinae fuit iisque artibus, quibus instituimur ad hunc usum forensem, ad capessendam rem publicam, ad honorem, gloriam, dignitatem; iis autem fuit amicitiis maiorum natu, quorum imitari industriam continentiamque maxime vellet, iis aequalium studiis, ut eundem quem optimi ac nobilissimi petere cursum laudis videretur.
[ 72 ] But why is Marcus Caelius brought before this court? when no charge properly belonging to this mode of investigation is imputed to him, nor indeed anything else of such a nature that, though it may not exactly come under the provisions of my law [Gardner: Lex de vī], still calls for the exercise of your severity. His early youth was devoted to strict discipline; and to those pursuits by which we are prepared for these forensic labours, — for taking part in the administration of the republic, — for honour, and glory, and dignity * * * * and to those friendships with his elders, whose industry and temperance he might most desire to imitate; and to those studies of the youths of his own age: so that he appeared to be pursuing the same course of glory as the most virtuous and most highly-born of the citizens.
[ lxxiii ] Cum autem paulum iam roboris accessisset aetati, in Africam profectus est Q. Pompeio pro consule contubernalis, castissimo homini atque omnis officii diligentissimo; in qua provincia cum res erant et possessiones paternae, tum etiam usus quidam provincialis non sine causa a maioribus huic aetati tributus. Decessit illinc Pompei iudicio probatissimus, ut ipsius testimonio cognoscetis. Voluit vetere instituto eorum adulescentium exemplo, qui post in civitate summi viri et clarissimi cives exstiterunt, industriam suam a populo Romano ex aliqua illustri accusatione cognosci.
[ 73 ] Afterwards, when he had advanced somewhat in age and strength, he went into Africa, as a comrade of Quintus Pompeius the proconsul, one of the most temperate of men, and one of the strictest in the performance of every duty. And as his paternal property and estate lay in that province, he thought that some knowledge of its habits and feelings would be usefully acquired by him, now that he was of an age which our ancestors thought adapted for gaining that sort of information. He departed from Africa, having gained the most favourable opinion of Pompeius, as you shall learn from Pompeius's own evidence.
He then wished, according to the old-fashioned custom, and following the example of those young men who afterwards turned out most eminent men and most illustrious citizens in the state, to signalise his industry in the eyes of the Roman people, by some very conspicuous prosecution.
[ lxxiv ] Vellem alio potius eum cupiditas gloriae detulisset; sed abiit huius tempus querellae. Accusavit C. Antonium, collegam meum, cui misero praeclari in rem publicam beneficii memoria nihil profuit, nocuit opinio maleficii cogitati. Postea nemini umquam concessit aequalium, plus ut in foro, plus ut in negotiis versaretur causisque amicorum, plus ut valeret inter suos gratia. Quae nisi vigilantes homines, nisi sobrii, nisi industrii consequi non possunt, omnia labore et diligentia est consecutus.
[ 74 ] I wish indeed that his desire for glory had led him in some other direction; but the time for this complaint has passed by. He prosecuted Caius Antonius, my colleague; an unhappy man, to whom the recollection of the great service which he did the republic was no benefit, but to whom the belief of the evil which he had designed was the greatest prejudice. After that he never was behind any of his fellows in his constant appearance in the forum, in his incessant application to business and to the causes of his friends, and in the great influence which he acquired over his relations. He achieved by his labour and diligence all those objects which they cannot attain who are other than vigilant, and sober, and industrious men.
[ lxxv ] In hoc flexu quasi aetatis (nihil enim occultabo fretus humanitate ac sapientia vestra) fama adulescentis paulum haesit ad metas notitia nova mulieris et infelici vicinitate et insolentia voluptatum, quae cum inclusae diutius et prima aetate compressae et constrictae fuerunt, subito se non numquam profundunt atque eiciunt universae. Qua ex vita vel dicam quo ex sermone (nequaquam enim tantum erat, quantum homines loquebantur) — verum ex eo, quicquid erat, emersit totumque se eiecit atque extulit, tantumque abest ab illius familiaritatis infamia, ut eiusdem nunc ab sese inimicitias odiumque propulset.
[ 75 ] At this turning-point of his life, (for I place too much reliance on your humanity and on your good sense to conceal anything,) the fame of the young man stood trembling in the balance, owing to his new acquaintance with this woman, and his unfortunate neighbourhood to her, and his want of habituation to pleasure; for the desire of pleasure when it has been too long pent up, and repressed, and chained down in early youth, sometimes bursts forth on a sudden, and throws down every barrier. But from this course of life, and from being in this way the subject of common conversation, (though his excesses were not by any means as great as report made them out to be;) — however, from this course of life, I say, whatever it was, he soon emerged, and delivered himself wholly from it and raised himself out of it, and he is now so far removed from the discredit of any familiarity with that woman, that he is occupied in warding off the attacks which are instigated against him by her enmity and hatred.
[ lxxvi ] Atque ut iste interpositus sermo deliciarum desidiaeque moreretur (fecit me invito mehercule et multum repugnante, sed tamen fecit), nomen amici mei de ambitu detulit; quem absolutum insequitur, revocat; nemini nostrum obtemperat, est violentior, quam vellem. Sed ego non loquor de sapientia, quae non cadit in hanc aetatem; de impetu animi loquor, de cupiditate vincendi, de ardore mentis ad gloriam; quae studia in his iam aetatibus nostris contractiora esse debent, in adulescentia vero tamquam in herbis significant, quae virtutis maturitas et quantae fruges industriae sint futurae. Etenim semper magno ingenio adulescentes refrenandi potius a gloria quam incitandi fuerunt; amputanda plura sunt illi aetati, siquidem efflorescit ingenii laudibus, quam inserenda.
[ 76 ] And in order to put a violent end to the reports which had arisen of his luxury and inactivity, — (what he did, he did in fact greatly against my will, and in spite of my strongest remonstrances, but still he did it,) — he instituted a prosecution against a friend of mine [Gardner: elder Atratinus, L. Calpurnius Bestia, a Catilinarian, prosecuted in 56 BC] for bribery and corruption. And after he is acquitted he pursues him still, drags him back before the court, refuses to be guided by any one of us, and is far more violent than I approve of. But I am not speaking of wisdom, — which indeed does not belong to men of his age, — I am speaking of his ardent spirit, of his desire for victory, of the eagerness of his soul in the pursuit of glory. Those desires indeed in men of our age ought to have become more limited and moderate, but in young men, as in herbs, they show what ripeness of virtue and what great crops are likely to reward our industry. In truth, youths of great ability have always required rather to be restrained from the pursuit of glory, than to be spurred on to it: more things required to be pruned away from that age, — if indeed, it deserves distinction for ability and genius, — than to be implanted in it.
[ lxxvii ] Quare, si cui nimium effervisse videtur huius vel in suscipiendis vel in gerendis inimicitiis vis, ferocitas, pertinacia, si quem etiam minimorum horum aliquid offendit, si purpurae genus, si amicorum catervae, si splendor, si nitor, iam ista deferverint, iam aetas omnia, iam usus, iam dies mitigarit. Conservate igitur rei publicae, iudices, civem bonarum artium, bonarum partium, bonorum virorum. Promitto hoc vobis et rei publicae spondeo, si modo nos ipsi rei publicae satis fecimus, numquam hunc a nostris rationibus seiunctum fore. Quod cum fretus nostra familiaritate promitto, tum quod durissimis se ipse legibus iam obligavit.
[ 77 ] If, therefore, the energy, and fierceness, and pertinacity of Caelius appear to any one to have boiled over too much, either in respect of his voluntary incurring, or of his mode of carrying on enmities; if even any of the most trifling particulars of his conduct in this respect seem offensive to any one; or if any one feels displeased at the magnificence of his purple robe, or at the troops of friends who escort him, or at the general splendour and brilliancy of his appearance, let him recollect that all these things will soon pass away, — that a riper age, and circumstances, and the progress of time, will soon have softened down all of them. ...
[ lxxviii ] Non enim potest, qui hominem consularem, cum ab eo rem publicam violatam esse diceret, in iudicium vocarit, ipse esse in re publica civis turbulentus; non potest, qui ambitu ne absolutum quidem patiatur esse absolutum, ipse impune umquam esse largitor. Habet a M. Caelio res publica, iudices, duas accusationes vel obsides periculi vel pignora voluntatis. Quare oro obtestorque vos, iudices, ut, qua in civitate paucis his diebus Sex. Clodius absolutus sit, quem vos per biennium aut ministrum seditionis aut ducem vidistis, hominem sine re, sine fide, sine spe, sine sede, sine fortunis, ore, lingua, manu, vita omni inquinatum, qui aedes sacras, qui censum populi Romani, qui memoriam publicam suis manibus incendit, qui Catuli monumentum adflixit, meam domum diruit, mei fratris incendit, qui in Palatio atque in urbis oculis servitia ad caedem et inflammandam urbem incitavit: in hac civitate ne patiamini illum absolutum muliebri gratia, Caelium libidini muliebri condonatum, ne eadem mulier cum suo coniuge et fratre et turpissimum latronem eripuisse et honestissimum adulescentem oppressisse videatur.
Quā rē ōrō obtestorque vōs, iūdicēs, ut
quā in cīvitāte paucīs hīs diēbus Sex. Cloelius absolūtus sit,
aut ministrum sēditiōnis
/
quem vōs per biennium +
\
aut ducem vīdistis,
sine rē
/ \
sine fidē ōre, \
/ / \
hominem +--sine spē +--linguā, --+ inquinatum,
\ \ /
sine sēdē manū, /
\ \ /
sine fortūnīs vītā omnī
quī aedīs sacrās [incendit],
quī cēnsum populī Rōmānī [incendit],
quī memoriam publicam suīs manibus incendit,
quī Catulī monūmentum adflixit,
[quī] meam domum dīruit,
[quī] meī frātris incendit,
quī in Palātiō atque in urbis oculīs servitia ad caedem
et ad īnflammandam urbem incitāvit;
in eā cīvitāte nē patiāminī illum absolūtum muliebrī grātiā,
M. Caelium libīdinī muliebrī condōnātum,
cum suō coniuge
/
nē eadem mulier +--et
\
[cum] frātre
et turpissimum latrōnem
/ ēripuisse \
/ \
+ + videātur.
\ /
et honestissimum adulescentem
oppressisse
[ 78 ] For a man who has ventured on such a step as that of prosecuting a man of consular rank because he says that the republic has been injured by his violence, cannot possibly behave as a turbulent citizen in the republic himself: a man who will not allow another to be at peace, even after he his been acquitted of bribery and corruption, can never himself become a briber of others with impunity.
The republic, O judges, has two prosecutions, which have been carried on by Marcus Caelius, as pledges to secure it from any danger from him and guarantees of his good-will and devotion. Wherefore I do pray and entreat you, O judges, after Sextus Clodius has been acquitted within these few days in this very city; — a man whom you have seen for the last two years acting on all occasions as the minister or leader of sedition; — a man who has burnt sacred temples and even the census of the Roman people and all the public records and registers[*] with his own hands; — a man without property, without honesty, without hope, without a home, without any character or position, polluted in face, and tongue, and hand, and in every particular of his life; — a man who has degraded the monument of Catulus, who has pulled down my house, and burnt that belonging to my brother; — who on the Palatine Hill, and in the sight of all the city, stirred up the slaves to massacre and to the conflagration of the city; — I entreat you, I say, not to suffer that man to have been acquitted in this city by the influence of a woman, and at the same time to allow Marcus Caelius to be sacrificed, in the same city, to a woman's lusts. I entreat you never to permit the same woman, in conjunction with a man who is at the same time her brother and her husband, to save a most infamous robber, and to overwhelm a most honourable and virtuous young man.
* This refers to Clodius having set on fire the temple of the Nymphs, where the registers of the censors were kept.
[ lxxix ] Quod cum huius vobis adulescentiam proposueritis, constituitote ante oculos etiam huius miseri senectutem, qui hoc unico filio nititur, in huius spe requiescit, huius unius casum pertimescit; quem vos supplicem vestrae misericordiae, servum potestatis, abiectum non tam ad pedes quam ad mores sensusque vestros, vel recordatione parentum vestrorum vel liberorum iucunditate sustentate, ut in alterius dolore vel pietati vel indulgentiae vestrae serviatis. Nolite, iudices, aut hunc iam natura ipsa occidentem velle maturius exstingui vulnere vestro quam suo fato, aut hunc nunc primum florescentem firmata iam stirpe virtutis tamquam turbine aliquo aut subita tempestate pervertere.
[ 79 ] And when you have given due consideration to the fact of his youth, then place also before your eyes, I entreat you, the old age of his miserable father whom you see before you; whose whole dependence is on this his only son; who reposes on the hopes which he has formed of him; who fears nothing but the disasters which may befall him. Support, I pray you, that old man, now a suppliant for your mercy, the slave of your power, who while he throws himself at your feet, so appeals more strongly still to your virtuous habits, and to your kind and right feelings; support him, I say, moved either by the recollection of your own parents, or by the affection with which you regard your own children, so as, while relieving the misery of another, to yield to your own pious or indulgent dispositions. Do not, O judges, cause this old man, who is already, by the silent progress of nature, declining and hastening to his end, to fail prematurely through a wound inflicted by you, before the day which his natural destiny has appointed for him.
[ 80 ] Do not overthrow this other man, now flourishing in the prime of life, now that his virtue has just taken firm root, as it were by some whirlwind or sudden tempest.
[ lxxx ] Conservate parenti filium, parentem filio, ne aut senectutem iam prope desperatam contempsisse aut adulescentiam plenam spei maximae non modo non aluisse vos verum etiam perculisse atque adflixisse videamini. Quem si nobis, si suis, si rei publicae conservatis, addictum, deditum, obstrictum vobis ac liberis vestris habebitis omniumque huius nervorum ac laborum vos potissimum, iudices, fructus uberes diuturnosque capietis.
[ 80 ] Preserve the son for the father, the father for the son, lest you should appear either to have despised the old age of a man almost in despair, or on the other hand not only to have abstained from cherishing, but even to have struck down and crushed, a youth pregnant with the greatest promise. And if you do preserve him to yourselves, to his own relations, and to the republic, you will have him dedicated, devoted, and wholly bound to you and to your children, and you will enjoy, O judges, in the greatest possible degree, the abundant and lasting fruits of all his exertions and labours.