§34.4.1saepe me querentem de feminarum, saepe de virorum nec de privatorum modo sed etiam magistratuum sumptibus audistis, diversisque duobus vitiis, §34.4.2avaritia et luxuria, civitatem laborare, quae pestes omnia magna imperia everterunt.
You have often heard me complaining of the expenses of women, and often of men, not only of private citizens but even of magistrates, and that the state is suffering from two opposite vices, greed and luxury, plagues which have overturned all great empires.
§34.4.3haec ego, quo melior laetiorque in dies fortuna rei publicae est imperiumque crescit — et iam in Graeciam Asiamque transcendimus omnibus libidinum illecebris repletas et regias etiam adtrectamus gazas —, eo plus horreo, §34.4.4ne illae magis res nos ceperint quam nos illas.
The better and happier the fortune of the republic becomes day by day and the more its empire grows — and already we have crossed over into Greece and Asia, lands filled with all the enticements of desires, and we are even handling royal treasures — the more I dread, lest those things should capture us rather than we them.
infesta, mihi credite, signa ab Syracusis illata sunt huic urbi.
Hostile, believe me, are the statues imported from Syracuse into this city.
iam nimis multos audio Corinthi et Athenarum ornamenta laudantis mirantisque et antefixa fictilia deorum Romanorum ridentis.
Already I hear far too many praising and admiring the ornaments of Corinth and Athens, and laughing at the clay antefixes of the Roman gods.
§34.4.5ego hos malo propitios deos et ita spero futuros, si in suis manere sedibus patiemur.
I prefer these gods to be propitious to us, and I hope they will be so, if we suffer them to remain in their own dwellings.
§34.4.6patrum nostrorum memoria per legatum Cineam Pyrrhus non virorum modo sed etiam mulierum animos donis temptavit.
In the memory of our fathers, Pyrrhus, through his envoy Cineas, tried to tempt the minds not only of men but also of women with gifts.
nondum lex Oppia ad coercendam luxuriam muliebrem lata erat; tamennulla accepit.
The Oppian law to restrain female luxury had not yet been passed; nevertheless, no woman accepted them.
§34.4.7quam causam fuisse censetis? eadem fuit, quae maioribus nostris nihil de hac re lege sanciundi; §34.4.8nulla erat luxuria, quae coerceretur.
What do you think was the cause? It was the same cause that our ancestors had for enacting nothing on this matter by law; there was no luxury to be restrained.
sicut ante morbos necesse est cognitos esse quam remedia eorum, sic cupiditates prius natae sunt quam leges quae iis modum facerent.
Just as it is necessary that diseases be known before their remedies, so desires were born before the laws which should limit them.
§34.4.9quid legem Liciniam excitavit de quingentis iugeribus nisi ingens cupido agros continuandi? quid legem Cinciam de donis et muneribus, nisi quia vectigalis iam et stipendiaria plebs esse senatui coeperat?
What aroused the Licinian law concerning five hundred iugera except the immense desire to extend fields? What aroused the Cincian law concerning gifts and presents, except that the plebeians had already begun to be tributary and taxpayers to the senate?
§34.4.10itaque minime mirum est nec Oppiam nec aliam ullam tum legem desideratam esse, quae modum sumptibus mulierum faceret, cum aurum et purpuram data et oblata ultro non accipiebant.
And so it is least surprising that neither the Oppian nor any other law was then desired to limit the expenses of women, since they would not accept gold and purple when given and offered of their own accord.
§34.4.11si nunc cum illis donis Cineas urbem circumiret, stantis in publico invenisset, quae acciperent.
If Cineas were now to go around the city with those gifts, he would have found women standing in public to accept them.
§34.4.12atque ego nonnullarum cupiditatium ne causam quidem aut rationem inire possum.
And indeed, of some desires I cannot even conceive the cause or reason.
nam ut, quod alii liceat, tibi non licere aliquid fortasse naturalis aut pudoris aut indignationis habeat, sic aequato omnium cultu quid unaquaeque vestrum veretur ne in se conspiciatur?
For just as it might perhaps cause some natural shame or indignation that what is allowed to another is not allowed to you, so, when the dress of all is made equal, what does each one of you fear will be noticed in herself?
§34.4.13pessimus quidem pudor est vel parsimoniae vel paupertatis; sed utrumque lex vobis demit, cum id, quod habere non licet, non habetis.
Indeed, the worst shame is that of either frugality or poverty; but the law takes away both from you, since you do not have that which you are not allowed to have.
§34.4.14“hanc” inquit “ipsam exaequationem non fero” illa locuples.
"This very equality," says some wealthy woman, "I cannot bear.
“cur non insignis auro et purpura conspicior? cur paupertas aliarum sub hac legis specie latet, ut, quod habere non possunt, habiturae, si liceret, fuisse videantur?” §34.4.15vultis hoc certamen uxoribus vestris inicere, Quirites, ut divites id habere velint, quod nulla alia possit; pauperes, ne ob hoc ipsum contemnantur, supra vires se extendant?
Why am I not seen conspicuous with gold and purple? Why does the poverty of others lurk under this appearance of law, so that they may seem to have been about to have what they cannot have, if it were allowed?" Do you wish to inject this rivalry into your wives, Romans, so that the rich may wish to have what no other woman can, and the poor, lest they be despised for this very reason, stretch themselves beyond their strength?
§34.4.16ne eas simul pudere, quod non oportet, coeperit, quod oportet, non pudebit.
Take care lest, as soon as they begin to be ashamed of what they ought not, they will not be ashamed of what they ought.
quae de suo poterit, parabit, quae non poterit, virum rogabit.
She who can afford it from her own means will obtain it; she who cannot will ask her husband.
§34.4.17miserum illum virum, et qui exoratus et qui non exoratus erit, cum, quod ipse non dederit, datum ab alio videbit.
Wretched will be that husband, both he who has been won over and he who has not, when he sees that what he himself did not give has been given by another.
§34.4.18nunc vulgo alienos viros rogant et, quod maius est, legem et suffragia rogant et a quibusdam impetrant.
Now they commonly ask other women's husbands, and, what is greater, they ask for a law and votes, and obtain them from some.
adversus te et rem tuam et liberos tuos exorabilis es; simul lex modum sumptibus uxoris tuae facere desierit, tu numquam facies.
Against yourself and your property and your children you are easy to be entreated; as soon as the law ceases to limit your wife's expenses, you will never do so.
§34.4.19nolite eodem loco existimare, Quirites, futuram rem, quo fuit, antequam lex de hoc ferretur.
Do not think, Romans, that the matter will be in the same state as it was before the law concerning this was passed.
et hominem improbum non accusari tutius est quam absolvi, et luxuria non mota tolerabilior esset, quam erit nunc, ipsis vinculis, sicut ferae bestiae, irritata, deinde emissa.
Both a wicked man is safer not to be accused than to be acquitted, and luxury, if undisturbed, would have been more tolerable than it will be now, irritated by its very chains, like a wild beast, and then let loose.
§34.4.20ego nullo modo abrogandam legem Oppiam censeo; vos quod faxitis, deos omnis fortunare velim. ”
I think by no means that the Oppian law should be repealed; whatever you may do, I would wish all the gods to prosper it.