§39.15.1ad haec officia dimissis magistratibus consules in rostra escenderunt, et contione advocata cum sollemne carmen precationis, quod praefari, priusquam populum adloquantur, magistratus solent, peregisset consul, ita coepit.
When the magistrates had been dismissed to these duties, the consuls ascended the rostra, and when the assembly had been summoned and the consul had performed the solemn formula of prayer which magistrates are accustomed to pronounce beforehand, before they address the people, he began as follows.
§39.15.2“nulli umquam contioni, Quirites, tam non solum apta sed etiam necessaria haec sollemnis deorum comprecatio fuit, quae vos admoneret hos esse deos, quos colere venerari precarique maiores vestri instituissent, §39.15.3non illos, qui pravis et externis religionibus captas mentes velut furialibus stimulis ad omne scelus et ad omnem libidinem agerent.
"For no assembly, Quirites, has this solemn communal prayer to the gods ever been not only so appropriate but even so necessary, which should remind you that these are the gods whom your ancestors established for you to worship, revere, and pray to, not those who, driving minds captured by depraved and foreign religions as if with the goads of the Furies, would impel them to every crime and to every lust.
§39.15.4equidem nec quid taceam nec quatenus proloquar invenio.
Indeed, I find neither what I should keep silent nor to what extent I should speak out.
si aliquid ignorabitis, ne locum neglegentiae dem, si omnia nudavero, ne nimium terroris offundam vobis, vereor.
If you remain ignorant of something, I fear lest I give room to negligence; if I lay bare everything, I fear lest I pour too much terror upon you.
quidquid dixero, §39.15.5minus quam pro atrocitate et magnitudine rei dictum scitote esse: ut ad cavendum satis sit, dabitur opera a nobis.
Whatever I say, know that it has been spoken less than in proportion to the atrocity and magnitude of the matter: efforts will be made by us so that it may be sufficient for taking precautions.
§39.15.6Bacchanalia tota iam pridem Italia et nunc per urbem etiam multis locis esse, non fama solum accepisse vos sed crepitibus etiam ululatibusque nocturnis, qui personant tota urbe, certum habeo, ceterum quae ea res sit, ignorare: §39.15.7alios deorum aliquem cultum, alios concessum ludum et lasciviam credere esse, et qualecumque sit, ad paucos pertinere.
I hold it certain that you have received—not by rumor alone, but also by the nightly din and wailings which resound throughout the whole city—that the Bacchanalia have long been in the whole of Italy and are now also in many places throughout the city, but that you are ignorant of what that thing is: that some believe it to be some worship of the gods, others a permitted game and sport, and that, whatever it is, it pertains to few.
§39.15.8quod ad multitudinem eorum attinet, si dixero multa milia hominum esse, ilico necesse est exterreamini, nisi adiunxero qui qualesque sint.
As for their multitude, if I say that there are many thousands of human beings, it is immediately necessary that you be terrified, unless I add who and what kind of people they are.
§39.15.9primum igitur mulierum magna pars est, et is fons mali huiusce fuit; deinde simillimi feminis mares, stuprati et constupratores, fanatici, vigiliis, vino, strepitibus clamoribusque nocturnis attoniti.
First, therefore, a great part consists of women, and this was the source of this evil; next, males most like women, dishonored and dishonorers, fanatics, stunned by sleeplessness, wine, and nightly din and clamor.
§39.15.10nullas adhuc vires coniuratio, ceterum incrementum ingens virium habet, quod in dies plures fiunt.
The conspiracy has no strength as yet, but it has a huge increase of strength because they become more numerous day by day.
§39.15.11maiores vestri ne vos quidem, nisi cum aut vexillo in arce posito comitiorum causa exercitus eductus esset, aut plebi concilium tribuni edixissent, aut aliquis ex magistratibus ad contionem vocasset, forte temere coire voluerunt; et ubicumque multitudo esset, ibi et legitimum rectorem multitudinis censebant esse debere.
Your ancestors did not wish even you to gather by chance or at random, unless when either the army had been led out for the sake of the comitia with the flag placed on the citadel, or the tribunes had proclaimed an assembly to the plebs, or someone of the magistrates had called you to an assembly; and wherever there was a multitude, there they thought there ought to be also a legitimate ruler of the multitude.
§39.15.12quales primum nocturnos coetus, deinde promiscuos mulierum ac virorum esse creditis?
What kind of gatherings do you believe these to be, first nightly, and then promiscuous of women and men?
§39.15.13si quibus aetatibus initientur mares sciatis, non misereat vos eorum solum, sed etiam pudeat.
If you knew at what ages the males are initiated, you would not only pity them, but also be ashamed.
hoc sacramento initiatos iuvenes milites faciendos censetis, Quirites? his ex obsceno sacrario eductis arma committenda?
Do you think, Quirites, that youths initiated by this oath should be made soldiers? Should arms be entrusted to these men led out from an obscene shrine?
§39.15.14hi cooperti stupris suis alienisque pro pudicitia coniugum ac liberorum vestrorum ferro decernent?
Shall these men, covered with their own debaucheries and those of others, decide with the sword for the custody of your wives and children?"