§27quid de illis honestissimis viris atque optimis civibus, equitibus Romanis, dicemus qui tum una cum senatu salutem rei publicae defenderunt? quid de tribunis aerariis ceterorumque ordinum omnium hominibus qui tum arma pro communi libertate ceperunt? sed quid ego de eis omnibus qui consulari imperio paruerunt loquor? de ipsorum consulum fama quid futurum est? L. Flaccum, hominem cum semper in re publica, tum in magistratibus gerendis, in sacerdotio caerimoniisque quibus praeerat diligentissimum, nefarii sceleris ac parricidi mortuum condemnabimus? adiungemus ad hanc labem ignominiamque mortis etiam C. Mari nomen? C. Marium, quem vere patrem patriae, parentem, inquam, vestrae libertatis atque huiusce rei publicae possumus dicere, sceleris ac parricidi nefarii mortuum condemnabimus?
What shall we say of those most honorable men and excellent citizens, the Roman knights, who then, together with the senate, defended the safety of the republic? What of the tribunes of the treasury, and the men of all other classes, who then took up arms for the common liberty? But why do I speak of all those who obeyed the consular command? What will become of the fame of the consuls themselves? Shall we condemn Lucius Flaccus after his death—a man always most diligent both in the republic and in discharging magistracies, as well as in the priesthood and ceremonies over which he presided—of a heinous crime and parricide? Shall we add to this stain and ignominy of death also the name of Gaius Marius? Shall we condemn Gaius Marius after his death of a heinous crime and parricide—Marius, whom we can truly call the father of his country, the parent, I say, of your liberty and of this republic?
§28etenim si C. Rabirio, quod iit ad arma, crucem T. Labienus in campo Martio defigendam putavit, quod tandem excogitabitur in eum supplicium qui vocavit? ac si fides Saturnino data est, quod abs te saepissime dicitur, non eam C. Rabirius sed C. Marius dedit, idemque violavit, si in fide non stetit.
For if Titus Labienus thought that a cross ought to be fixed for Gaius Rabirius in the Campus Martius because he went to arms, what punishment, pray, will be devised against him who called him? And if a pledge of safety was given to Saturninus, as is very often said by you, it was not Gaius Rabirius but Gaius Marius who gave it, and he likewise violated it, if he did not stand by his pledge.
quae fides, Labiene, qui potuit sine senatus consulto dari? adeone hospes es huiusce urbis, adeone ignarus disciplinae consuetudinisque nostrae ut haec nescias, ut peregrinari in aliena civitate, non in tua magistratum gerere videare?
But how, Labienus, could that pledge be given without a decree of the senate? Are you so much a stranger to this city, so ignorant of our discipline and custom, as not to know these things, so that you seem to be traveling in a foreign state, and not exercising a magistracy in your own?
§29'quid iam ista C. Mario,' inquit, 'nocere possunt, quoniam sensu et vita caret?' itane vero? tantis in laboribus C. Marius periculisque vixisset, si nihil longius quam vitae termini postulabant spe atque animo de se et gloria sua cogitasset? at, credo, cum innumerabilis hostium copias in Italia fudisset atque obsidione rem publicam liberasset, omnia sua secum una moritura arbitrabatur.
"How can those things now hurt Gaius Marius," he says, "since he is without sense and life?" Is it really so? Would Gaius Marius have lived in such great labors and dangers if he had thought nothing of himself and his glory in his hope and mind beyond what the boundaries of life demanded? But, I suppose, when he had routed the innumerable forces of the enemy in Italy and freed the republic from siege, he thought that all his things would die together with him.
non est ita, Quirites; neque quisquam nostrum in rei publicae periculis cum laude ac virtute versatur quin spe posteritatis fructuque ducatur.
It is not so, Quirites; nor does any one of us engage with praise and virtue in the dangers of the republic without being led by the hope and fruit of posterity.
itaque cum multis aliis de causis virorum bonorum mentes divinae mihi atque aeternae videntur esse, tum maxime quod optimi et sapientissimi cuiusque animus ita praesentit in posterum ut nihil nisi sempiternum spectare videatur.
Therefore, while for many other reasons the minds of good men seem to me to be divine and eternal, so especially because the soul of every best and wisest man so foresees the future that it seems to look at nothing but what is eternal.
§30quapropter equidem et C. Mari et ceterorum virorum sapientissimorum ac fortissimorum civium mentis, quae mihi videntur ex hominum vita ad deorum religionem et sanctimoniam demigrasse, testor me pro illorum fama, gloria, memoria non secus ac pro patriis fanis atque delubris propugnandum putare, ac, si pro illorum laude mihi arma capienda essent, non minus strenue caperem, quam illi pro communi salute ceperunt.
Wherefore, indeed, I call to witness the minds of Gaius Marius and of the other wisest and bravest citizens, which seem to me to have departed from the life of men to the religion and sanctity of the gods, that I think we must fight for their fame, glory, and memory no otherwise than for the shrines and temples of our country; and if I had to take up arms for their praise, I would take them up no less strenuously than they took them up for the common safety.
etenim, Quirites, exiguum nobis vitae curriculum natura circumscripsit, immensum gloriae.
For, Quirites, nature has circumscribed for us a short course of life, but an immeasurable one of glory.
qua re, si eos qui iam de vita decesserunt ornabimus, iustiorem nobis mortis condicionem relinquemus.
Wherefore, if we honor those who have already departed from life, we shall leave for ourselves a more just condition of death.
sed si illos, Labiene, quos iam videre non possumus neglegis, ne his quidem quos vides consuli putas oportere?
But if, Labienus, you neglect those whom we can no longer see, do you not think that we ought to consult the interest even of these whom you see?
§31neminem esse dico ex his omnibus, qui illo die Romae fuerit, quem tu diem in iudicium vocas, pubesque tum fuerit, quin arma ceperit, quin consules secutus sit.
I say that there is no one of all these who was at Rome on that day—which day you bring into judgment—and who was then of military age, but took up arms, but followed the consuls.
omnes ei quorum tu ex aetate coniecturam facere potes quid tum fecerint abs te capitis C. Rabiri nomine citantur.
All those whose actions at that time you can estimate from their age are summoned by you under the name of the capital charge against Gaius Rabirius.
at occidit Saturninum Rabirius. Vtinam fecisset! non supplicium deprecarer sed praemium postularem.
"But Rabirius killed Saturninus." Would that he had done so! I would not be deprecating punishment, but demanding a reward.
etenim, si Scaevae, servo Q. Crotonis, qui occidit L. Saturninum, libertas data est, quod equiti Romano praemium dari par fuisset? et, si C. Marius, quod fistulas quibus aqua suppeditabatur Iovis optimi maximi templis ac sedibus praecidi imperarat, quod in clivo Capitolino improborum civium * * *
For if liberty was given to Scaeva, a slave of Quintus Croto, who killed Lucius Saturninus, what reward would it have been fitting to be given to a Roman knight? And if Gaius Marius, because he had ordered the pipes by which water was supplied to the temples and seats of Jupiter Optimus Maximus to be cut off, because on the Capitoline slope, of the wicked citizens * * *