§25an ego querelas atque iniurias aratorum non in segetibus ipsis arvisque cognoscerem? peragravi, inquam, Triari, durissima quidem hieme vallis Agrigentinorum atque collis.
Should I not have learned of the complaints and injuries of the husbandmen in the very cornfields and lands? I traversed, I tell you, Triarius, in a most severe winter, the valleys and hills of the Agrigentines.
campus ille nobilissimus ac feracissimus ipse me causam paene docuit Leontinus.
That most noble and fertile Leontine plain itself almost taught me the case.
adii casas aratorum, a stiva ipsa homines mecum conloquebantur.
I visited the cottages of the husbandmen; the men spoke with me from the plow-tail itself.
§26itaque sic fuit illa expressa causa non ut audire ea quae dicebam, iudices, sed ut cernere et paene tangere viderentur.
Therefore, that case was so vividly expressed, gentlemen of the jury, that you seemed not to hear what I was saying, but to see and almost touch it.
neque enim mihi probabile neque verum videbatur me, cum fidelissimae atque antiquissimae provinciae patrocinium recepissem, causam tamquam unius clientis in cubiculo meo discere.
For it did not seem probable nor true to me that I, when I had undertaken the patronage of a most faithful and ancient province, should learn the case in my bedchamber as if it were that of a single client.
§27ego nuper, cum Reatini, qui essent in fide mea, me suam publicam causam de Velini fluminibus et cuniculis apud hos consules agere voluissent, non existimavi me neque dignitati praefecturae gravissimae neque fidei meae satis esse facturum, nisi me causam illam non solum homines sed etiam locus ipse lacusque docuisset.
Recently, when the Reatines, who were under my protection, wished me to plead their public case concerning the rivers and tunnels of the Velinus before these consuls, I did not think that I should satisfy either the dignity of a most important prefecture or my own good faith, unless not only the men but also the place itself and the lake had taught me that case.
§28neque tu aliter fecisses, Triari, si te id tui isti Sardi facere voluissent, hi qui te in Sardiniam minime venire voluerunt, ne longe aliter omnia atque erant ad te delata cognosceres, nullam multitudinis in Sardinia querelam, nullum in Scaurum odium populi
Nor would you have done otherwise, Triarius, if your Sardinians had wished you to do so—those who least wished you to come into Sardinia, lest you should learn that everything was far otherwise than what had been reported to you: that there was no complaint of the multitude in Sardinia, no hatred of the people against Scaurus...
§29anhelitu Aetnam ardere dicunt, sic Verrem obruissem Sicilia teste tota.
They say that Etna burns with breath; so I would have overwhelmed Verres with all Sicily as my witness.
tu vero comperendinasti uno teste producto.
But you, indeed, postponed the trial after producing only one witness.
at quo teste, di immortales! non satis quod uno, non quod ignoto, non quod levi; etiamne Valerio teste primam actionem confecisti, qui patris tui beneficio civitate donatus gratiam tibi non inlustribus officiis, sed manifesto periurio rettulit?
And what a witness, immortal gods! It was not enough that he was only one, that he was unknown, that he was untrustworthy; did you even finish the first action with Valerius as a witness, who, having been gifted with citizenship by the kindness of your father, returned favor to you not with illustrious services, but with manifest perjury?
§30quod si te omen nominis vestri forte duxit, nos tamen id more maiorum, quia faustum putamus, non ad perniciem, verum ad salutem interpretamur.
But if the omen of your name by chance led you, we, however, according to the custom of our ancestors, because we think it auspicious, interpret it not to ruin, but to safety.
sed omnis ista celeritas ac festinatio, quod inquisitionem, quod priorem actionem totam sustulisti, illud patefecit et inlustravit quod occultum tamen non erat, non esse hoc iudicium iudici, sed comitiorum consularium causa comparatum.
But all that speed and haste—in that you did away with the investigation, in that you did away with the whole of the prior action—has laid open and made clear what was nevertheless not hidden: that this trial was not arranged for the sake of a trial, but for the sake of the consular elections.
§31hic ego Appium Claudium, consulem fortissimum atque ornatissimum virum mecumque, ut spero, fideli in gratiam reditu firmoque coniunctum, nullo loco, iudices, vituperabo.
Here, gentlemen of the jury, I will in no place find fault with Appius Claudius, a most brave and distinguished consul, and one joined with me, as I hope, in a faithful reconciliation and a firm bond.
fuerint enim eae partes aut eius quem id facere dolor et suspicio sua coegit, aut eius qui has sibi partis depoposcit, quod aut non animadvertebat quem violaret, aut facilem sibi fore in gratiam reditum arbitrabatur;
For those parts must have been either of him whom his own pain and suspicion compelled to do so, or of him who demanded these parts for himself because he either did not perceive whom he was injuring, or thought that reconciliation would be easy for him.
§32ego tantum dicam quod et causae satis et in illum minime durum aut asperum possit esse.
I will say only what may be both sufficient for the case and least harsh or severe against him.
quid enim habet turpitudinis Appium Claudium M. Scauro esse inimicum? quid? avus eius P. Africano non fuit, quid? mihi ipsi idem iste, quid? ego illi? quae inimicitiae dolorem utrique nostrum fortasse aliquando, dedecus vero certe numquam attulerunt.
For what disgrace is there in Appius Claudius being an enemy to Marcus Scaurus? What? Was not his grandfather so to Publius Africanus? What? That same man to myself? What? I to him? These enmities perhaps at some time brought pain to both of us, but certainly never disgrace.
§33successori decessor invidit, voluit eum quam maxime offensum quo magis ipsius memoria excelleret; res non modo non abhorrens a consuetudine sed usitata etiam et valde pervagata.
The predecessor envied the successor; he wished him to be as much injured as possible, so that his own memory might excel more; a thing not only not foreign to custom, but even usual and very common.
neque vero tam haec ipsa cotidiana res Appium Claudium illa humanitate et sapientia praeditum per se ipsa movisset, nisi hunc C. Claudi, fratris sui, competitorem fore putasset.
Nor indeed would this everyday matter itself have moved Appius Claudius, endowed as he was with that humanity and wisdom, if he had not thought that Scaurus would be a competitor of his brother, Gaius Claudius.
§34qui sive patricius sive plebeius esset—nondum enim certum constituerat—cum hoc sibi contentionem fore putabat, Appius autem hoc maiorem etiam quod illum in pontificatus petitione, in saliatu, in ceteris meminerat fuisse patricium.
And he, whether he was a patrician or a plebeian—for he had not yet determined for certain—thought that he would have a contest with Scaurus; and Appius thought it even greater because he remembered that Scaurus had been a patrician in his petition for the priesthood, in the saliate, and in other things.
quam ob rem se consule neque repelli fratrem volebat neque, iste si patricius esset, parem Scauro fore videbat, nisi hunc aliquo aut metu aut infamia perculisset.
Therefore, during his consulship, he did not wish his brother to be rejected, nor did he see that, if Scaurus was a patrician, his brother would be an equal match for Scaurus, unless he struck him down by some fear or infamy.