§8an de peculatu facto aut de tabulario incenso longa oratio est expromenda? quo in crimine propinquus C. Rabiri iudicio clarissimo, C. Curtius, pro virtute sua est honestissime liberatus, ipse vero Rabirius non modo in iudicium horum criminum, sed ne in tenuissimam quidem suspicionem verbo est umquam vocatus.
Or must a long speech be delivered concerning the charge of embezzlement or the burning of the registry? In which charge C. Curtius, a relative of C. Rabirius, was most honorably acquitted because of his virtue, by a most illustrious judgment, while Rabirius himself was never summoned, I will not say to trial on these charges, but not even to the slightest suspicion by a single word.
an de sororis filio diligentius respondendum est? quem ab hoc necatum esse dixisti, cum ad iudici moram familiaris funeris excusatio quaereretur.
Or must I reply more carefully concerning his sister's son? Whom you said was killed by him when the excuse of a family funeral was sought for delaying the trial.
quid enim est tam veri simile quam cariorem huic sororis maritum quam sororis filium fuisse, atque ita cariorem ut alter vita crudelissime privaretur, cum alteri ad prolationem iudici biduum quaereretur? an de servis alienis contra legem Fabiam retentis, aut de civibus Romanis contra legem Porciam verberatis aut necatis plura dicenda sunt, cum tanto studio C. Rabirius totius Apuliae, singulari voluntate Campaniae ornetur, cumque ad eius propulsandum periculum non modo homines sed prope regiones ipsae convenerint, aliquanto etiam latius excitatae quam ipsius vicinitatis nomen ac termini postulabant? nam quid ego ad id longam orationem comparem quod est in eadem multae inrogatione praescriptum, hunc nec suae nec alienae pudicitiae pepercisse?
For what is so probable as that his sister's husband was dearer to this man than his sister's son, and so much dearer that the one was most cruelly deprived of life, while a delay of two days for the trial was sought for the other? Or must more be said about other people's slaves retained contrary to the Fabia law, or about Roman citizens beaten or killed contrary to the Porcia law, when C. Rabirius is honored with such great zeal by all of Apulia, and by the singular goodwill of Campania, and when to ward off his danger, not only men but almost the regions themselves have assembled, aroused somewhat more widely even than the name and boundaries of his neighborhood required? For why should I prepare a long speech against that which is prescribed in the same proposal of a fine, namely, that he spared neither his own nor another's chastity?
§9quin etiam suspicor eo mihi semihoram ab Labieno praestitutam esse ut ne plura de pudicitia dicerem.
Nay, I even suspect that the half-hour was prescribed for me by Labienus for this purpose, that I might not say more about chastity.
ergo ad haec crimina quae patroni diligentiam desiderant intellegis mihi semihoram istam nimium longam fuisse.
Therefore, you understand that for these charges which demand the advocate's diligence, that half-hour of yours was too long for me.
illam alteram partem de nece Saturnini nimis exiguam atque angustam esse voluisti; quae non oratoris ingenium sed consulis auxilium implorat et flagitat.
You wished that other part concerning the death of Saturninus to be too brief and narrow; yet that is the part which implores and demands not the orator's talent but the consul's aid.
§10nam de perduellionis iudicio, quod a me sublatum esse criminari soles, meum crimen est, non Rabiri.
For concerning the trial for treason, which you are accustomed to charge has been abolished by me, that is my charge, not Rabirius's.
quod utinam, Quirites, ego id aut primus aut solus ex hac re publica sustulissem! utinam hoc, quod ille crimen esse volt, proprium testimonium meae laudis esset.
Would that, Quirites, I had been either the first or the only one to abolish it from this republic! Would that this, which he wishes to be a charge, were the personal testimony of my praise.
quid enim optari potest quod ego mallem quam me in consulatu meo carnificem de foro, crucem de campo sustulisse? sed ista laus primum est maiorum nostrorum, Quirites, qui expulsis regibus nullum in libero populo vestigium crudelitatis regiae retinuerunt, deinde multorum virorum fortium qui vestram libertatem non acerbitate suppliciorum infestam sed lenitate legum munitam esse voluerunt.
For what could be prayed for that I would prefer more than that I, in my consulship, had removed the executioner from the forum and the cross from the field? But that praise belongs first to our ancestors, Quirites, who, after the kings were expelled, retained no trace of kingly cruelty among a free people, and secondly to many brave men who wished your liberty to be not endangered by the severity of punishments but fortified by the leniency of the laws.
§11quam ob rem uter nostrum tandem, Labiene, popularis est, tune qui civibus Romanis in contione ipsa carnificem, qui vincla adhiberi putas oportere, qui in campo Martio comitiis centuriatis auspicato in loco crucem ad civium supplicium defigi et constitui iubes, an ego qui funestari contionem contagione carnificis veto, qui expiandum forum populi Romani ab illis nefarii sceleris vestigiis esse dico, qui castam contionem, sanctum campum, inviolatum corpus omnium civium Romanorum, integrum ius libertatis defendo servari oportere?
Wherefore, which of us at last, Labienus, is the friend of the people, you who think that the executioner and chains ought to be applied to Roman citizens in the assembly itself, who order the cross to be fixed and established for the punishment of citizens in the Campus Martius, in an auspicious place during the centuriate assembly, or I, who forbid the assembly to be polluted by the contagion of the executioner, who say that the forum of the Roman people must be purified from those traces of nefarious crime, who defend that a pure assembly, a sacred field, the inviolate body of all Roman citizens, and the unimpaired right of liberty ought to be preserved?
§12popularis vero tribunus pl.
Indeed, a tribune of the plebs is a friend of the people, a guardian and defender of law and liberty!
custos defensorque iuris et libertatis! Porcia lex virgas ab omnium civium Romanorum corpore amovit, hic misericors flagella rettulit;
The Porcia law removed rods from the body of all Roman citizens; this merciful man brought back whips.
Porcia lex libertatem civium lictori eripuit, Labienus, homo popularis, carnifici tradidit;
The Porcia law took away the citizens' liberty from the lictor; Labienus, a friend of the people, handed it over to the executioner.
C. Gracchus legem tulit ne de capite civium Romanorum iniussu vestro iudicaretur, hic popularis a iiviris iniussu vestro non iudicari de cive Romano sed indicta causa civem Romanum capitis condemnari coegit.
C. Gracchus carried a law that no judgment should be passed on the life of Roman citizens without your order; this friend of the people compelled, through the duoviri, not that a judgment should be passed on a Roman citizen without your order, but that a Roman citizen should be condemned to death without his cause being heard.
§13tu mihi etiam legis Porciae, tu C. Gracchi, tu horum libertatis, tu cuiusquam denique hominis popularis mentionem facis, qui non modo suppliciis invisitatis sed etiam verborum crudelitate inaudita violare libertatem huius populi, temptare mansuetudinem, commutare disciplinam conatus es? namque haec tua, quae te, hominem clementem popularemque, delectant, 'I,
"lictor"
,
"conliga manvs"
,' non modo huius libertatis mansuetudinisque non sunt sed ne Romuli quidem aut Numae Pompili; Tarquini, superbissimi atque crudelissimi regis, ista sunt cruciatus carmina quae tu, homo lenis ac popularis, libentissime commemoras: '
"Capvt obnvbito"
,
"arbori infelici svspendito"
,' quae verba, Quirites, iam pridem in hac re publica non solum tenebris vetustatis verum etiam luce libertatis oppressa sunt.
Do you even make mention to me of the Porcia law, of C. Gracchus, of the liberty of these men, or indeed of any friend of the people, you who have attempted to violate the liberty of this people, to tempt their gentleness, and to change their discipline, not only by unheard-of punishments but also by unprecedented cruelty of words? For these words of yours, which delight you, a merciful and popular man: 'Go, lictor, bind his hands,' belong not only not to this liberty and gentleness, but not even to Romulus or Numa Pompilius; those are the torture formulas of Tarquin, the most arrogant and cruel king, which you, a mild and popular man, most gladly repeat: 'Veil his head, hang him from the barren tree,' which words, Quirites, have long since been suppressed in this republic, not only by the darkness of antiquity but also by the light of liberty.