§6erat temporibus illis iucundus Q. Metello illi Numidico et eius Pio filio, audiebatur a M. Aemilio, vivebat cum Q. Catulo et patre et filio, a L. Crasso colebatur, Lucullos vero et Drusum et Octavios et Catonem et totam Hortensiorum domum devinctam consuetudine cum teneret, adficiebatur summo honore, quod eum non solum colebant qui aliquid percipere atque audire studebant verum etiam si qui forte simulabant.
In those times he was pleasing to that famous Q. Metellus Numidicus and to his son Pius, he was listened to by M. Aemilius, he lived with Q. Catulus both father and son, and he was cherished by L. Crassus. Indeed, since he held the Luculli, Drusus, the Octavii, Cato, and the entire house of the Hortensii closely bound to him by intimacy, he was treated with the highest honor, because not only did those who were eager to learn and hear something cherish him, but also anyone who by chance pretended to do so.
interim satis longo intervallo, cum esset cum M. Lucullo in Siciliam profectus et cum ex ea provincia cum eodem Lucullo decederet, venit Heracleam.
Meanwhile, after a sufficiently long interval, having set out for Sicily with M. Lucullus, and when he was departing from that province with the same Lucullus, he came to Heraclea.
quae cum esset civitas aequissimo iure ac foedere, ascribi se in eam civitatem voluit idque, cum ipse per se dignus putaretur, tum auctoritate et gratia Luculli ab Heracliensibus impetravit.
Since this was a state with extremely fair rights and a treaty, he wished to be registered in that city, and he obtained this from the Heracleans, both because he himself was deemed worthy in his own right, and by the authority and favor of Lucullus.
§7data est civitas Silvani lege et Carbonis:
"si qui foederatis civitatibus ascripti fuissent, si tum cum lex ferebatur in Italia domicilium habuissent et si sexaginta diebus apud praetorem essent professi. "
Cum hic domicilium Romae multos iam annos haberet, professus est apud praetorem
Citizenship was granted under the law of Silvanus and Carbo: "If any had been registered in allied cities, if they had a domicile in Italy at the time when the law was being passed, and if they made a declaration before the praetor within sixty days." Since this man had had a domicile in Rome for many years already, he made his declaration before the praetor Q.
§8Q. Metellum, familiarissimum suum.
Metellus, his closest friend.
si nihil aliud nisi de civitate ac lege dicimus, nihil dico amplius; causa dicta est.
If we say nothing else except about the citizenship and the law, I say nothing more; the case has been argued.
quid enim horum infirmari, Gratti, potest? Heracleaene esse tum ascriptum negabis? adest vir summa auctoritate et religione et fide, M. Lucullus;
For what of these things, Grattius, can be weakened? Will you deny that he was registered at Heraclea at that time? There is present M.
qui se non opinari sed scire, non audisse sed vidisse, non interfuisse sed egisse dicit.
Lucullus, a man of the greatest authority, religion, and faith, who says not that he thinks so, but that he knows it; not that he heard it, but that he saw it; not that he was merely present, but that he transacted it.
adsunt Heraclienses legati, nobilissimi homines, huius iudici causa cum mandatis et cum publico testimonio venerunt; qui hunc ascriptum Heracliae esse dicunt.
There are present the envoys of Heraclea, most noble men, who have come for the sake of this trial with mandates and public testimony; they say that this man was registered at Heraclea.
hic tu tabulas desideras Heracliensium publicas, quas Italico bello incenso tabulario interisse scimus omnes? est ridiculum ad ea quae habemus nihil dicere, quaerere quae habere non possumus, et de hominum memoria tacere, litterarum memoriam flagitare et, cum habeas amplissimi viri religionem, integerrimi municipi ius iurandum fidemque, ea quae depravari nullo modo possunt repudiare, tabulas quas idem dicis solere corrumpi desiderare.
At this point, do you require the public archives of the Heracleans, which we all know perished when the registry office was burned during the Italian War? It is ridiculous to say nothing to the things which we have, and to seek what we cannot have; to keep silent about the memory of men, and to demand the memory of documents; and, when you have the religious oath of an illustrious man, and the oath and good faith of an extremely honest municipality, to reject those things which can in no way be corrupted, and to desire the records which you yourself say are accustomed to be corrupted.
§9an domicilium Romae non habuit is qui tot annis ante civitatem datam sedem omnium rerum ac fortunarum suarum Romae conlocavit? an non est professus? immo vero eis tabulis professus quae solae ex illa professione conlegioque praetorum obtinent publicarum tabularum auctoritatem.
Or did he not have a domicile in Rome, who so many years before the granting of citizenship established the seat of all his affairs and fortunes in Rome? Or did he not make a declaration? On the contrary, he made his declaration in those records which alone, from that declaration and college of praetors, maintain the authority of public records.
nam, cum Appi tabulae neglegentius adservatae dicerentur, Gabini, quam diu incolumis fuit, levitas, post damnationem calamitas omnem tabularum fidem resignasset, Metellus, homo sanctissimus modestissimusque omnium, tanta diligentia fuit ut ad L. Lentulum praetorem et ad iudices venerit et unius nominis litura se commotum esse dixerit.
For, since the records of Appius were said to have been kept rather carelessly, and the levity of Gabinius, as long as he was unharmed, and his ruin after his condemnation, had destroyed all confidence in his records, Metellus, the most scrupulous and modest man of all, was of such great diligence that he came to the praetor L. Lentulus and to the judges, and said that he was troubled by the erasure of a single name.
his igitur in tabulis nullam lituram in nomine A. Licini videtis.
In these records, therefore, you see no erasure in the name of A. Licinius.
§10quae cum ita sint, quid est quod de eius civitate dubitetis, praesertim cum aliis quoque in civitatibus fuerit ascriptus? etenim cum mediocribus multis et aut nulla aut humili aliqua arte praeditis gratuito civitatem in Graecia homines impertiebant, Reginos credo aut Locrensis aut Neapolitanos aut Tarentinos, quod scaenicis artificibus largiri solebant, id huic summa ingeni praedito gloria noluisse! quid? cum ceteri non modo post civitatem datam sed etiam post legem Papiam aliquo modo in eorum municipiorum tabulas inrepserunt, hic qui ne utitur quidem illis in quibus est scriptus, quod semper se Heracliensem esse voluit, reicietur?
Since these things are so, what reason is there for you to doubt his citizenship, especially since he was registered in other cities as well? For when people in Greece used to impart citizenship gratuitously to many mediocre men, and those endowed either with no art or with some low art, am I to believe that the Rhegians, or the Locrians, or the Neapolitans, or the Tarentines, wished to deny to this man, endowed with the highest glory of talent, what they were accustomed to bestow on theatrical artists! What? When others, not only after the granting of citizenship but even after the Papian law, crept by some means into the records of those municipalities, shall this man be rejected, who does not even make use of those in which he is written, because he has always wished to be a Heraclean?