§40.12.1Postquain dicendi finem Perseus fecit, coniecti eorum, qui aderant, oculi in Demetrium sunt, velut confestim responsurus esset.
After Perseus made an end of speaking, the eyes of those who were present were cast upon Demetrius, as if he were about to reply immediately.
§40.12.2deinde diu silentium fuit, cum perfusum fletu appareret omnibus loqui non posse.
Then there was silence for a long time, since it was apparent to all that, bathed in tears, he was unable to speak.
tandem vicit dolorem ipsa necessitas, cum dicere iuberent, atque ita orsus est.
At last, necessity itself overcame his grief, as they ordered him to speak, and thus he began.
§40.12.3“omnia, quae reorum antea fuerant auxilia, pater, praeoccupavit accusator.
"All the aids, father, which formerly belonged to the accused, the accuser has preempted.
simulatis lacrimis in alterius perniciem veras meas lacrimas suspectas tibi fecit.
By simulated tears for the destruction of another, he has made my true tears suspected by you.
§40.12.4cum ipse, ex quo ab Roma redii, per occulta cum suis colloquia dies noctesque insidietur, ultro mihi non insidiatoris modo sed latronis manifesti et percussoris speciem induit.
While he himself, ever since I returned from Rome, plots through secret conversations with his associates day and night, he additionally puts upon me the appearance not only of a plotter but of a manifest robber and assassin.
§40.12.5periculo suo te exterret, ut innoxio fratri per eundem te maturet perniciem.
He terrifies you with his own danger, so that through you, the very same person, he may hasten destruction for his innocent brother.
perfugium sibi nusquam gentium esse ait, ut ego ne apud te quidem spei quicquam reliqui habeam.
He says that there is no refuge for him anywhere in the world, so that I may not have any hope remaining even with you.
§40.12.6circumventum, solum, inopem invidia gratiae externae, quae obest potius quam prodest, onerat.
He burdens me, cornered, alone, and helpless, with the envy of foreign favor, which harms rather than helps.
iam illud quam accusatorie, quod noctis huius crimen miscuit cum cetera insectatione vitae meae, §40.12.7ut et hoc, quod iam quale sit scies, suspectum alio vitae nostrae tenore faceret, et illam vanam criminationem spei voluntatis consiliorum meorum nocturno hoc ficto et composito argumento fulciret?
Now how like an accuser is that indeed, that he has mixed the crime of this night with the rest of the persecution of my life, so that he might both make this charge, the nature of which you will soon know, suspected because of the other course of my life, and support that empty accusation regarding my hopes, desires, and plans with this night's fabricated and composed argument?
§40.12.8simul et illud quaesivit, ut repentina et minime praeparata accusatio videretur, quippe ex noctis huius metu et tumultu repentino exorta.
At the same time he also sought that the accusation might seem sudden and least prepared, as having indeed arisen from the fear and sudden tumult of this night.
§40.12.9oportuit autem, Perseu, si proditor ego patris regnique eram, si cum Romanis, si cum aliis inimicis patris inieram consilia, non exspectatam fabulam esse noctis huius, sed proditionis me ante accusatum: §40.12.10si illa, separata hac, vana accusatio erat invidiamque tuam adversus me magis quam crimen meum indicatura, hodie quoque eam aut praetermitti aut in aliud tempus differri, §40.12.11ut per se quaereretur, utrum ego tibi an tu mihi, novo quidem et singulari genere odii, insidias fecisses.
But it would have been proper, Perseus, if I was a traitor to my father and the kingdom, if I had entered into plans with the Romans, if with other enemies of my father, that this night's story should not have been waited for, but that I should have been accused of treason before: if that accusation, separated from this one, was empty and destined to show your envy against me rather than my crime, today also it should either have been passed over or deferred to another time, so that it might be investigated by itself, whether I had laid plots for you, or you for me, with indeed a new and singular kind of hatred.
§40.12.12ego tamen, quantum in hac subita perturbatione potero, separabo ea, quae tu confudisti, et noctis huius insidias aut tuas aut meas detegam.
I, however, as far as I am able in this sudden confusion, will separate those things which you have confused, and will lay open the plots of this night, whether they were yours or mine.
§40.12.13occidendi sui consilium inisse me videri vult, ut scilicet maiore fratre sublato, cuius iure gentium, more Macedonum, tuo etiam, ut ait, iudicio regnum est futurum, ego minor in eius, quem occidissem, succederem locum.
He wants it to appear that I entered into a plan to kill him, so that indeed, by removing the elder brother, to whom by the law of nations, by the custom of the Macedonians, and also, as he says, by your judgment, the kingdom is to belong, I, the younger, might succeed to the place of him whom I had killed.
quid ergo illa sibi vult pars altera orationis, §40.12.14qua Romanos a me cultos ait atque eorum fiducia in spem regni me venisse?
What then does that other part of his speech mean, in which he says that the Romans were courted by me, and that through trust in them I have come into the hope of the kingdom?
§40.12.15nam si et in Romanis tantum momenti credebam esse, ut quem vellent imponerent Macedoniae regem, et meae tantum apud eos gratiae confidebam, quid opus parricidio fuit?
For if I both believed that there was so much power in the Romans that they could impose whomsoever they wished as king of Macedonia, and trusted so much in my favor among them, what need was there for fratricide?
§40.12.16an ut cruentum diadema fraterna caede gererem? ut illis ipsis, apud quos aut vera aut certe simulata probitate partam gratiam habeo, si quam forte habeo, exsecrabilis et invisus essem?
Or was it so that I might wear a diadem bloodied by a brother's murder? So that I might be accursed and hated by those very people with whom, through either true or at least simulated integrity, I possess favor, if by chance I possess any?
§40.12.17nisi T. Quinctium credis, cuius nutu et consiliis me nunc arguis regi, cum et ipse tali pietate vivat cum fratre, mihi fraternae caedis fuisse auctorem.
Unless you believe that Titus Quinctius, by whose nod and counsels you now accuse me of being ruled—though he himself lives in such affection with his brother—was my instigator to the murder of a brother.
§40.12.18idem non Romanorum gratiam solum, sed Macedonum iudicia ac paene omnium deorum hominumque consensum collegit, per quae omnia se mihi parem in certamine non futurum crediderit:
The same man has gathered together not only the favor of the Romans, but the judgments of the Macedonians and the consent of almost all gods and men, through all of which he believed that he would not be my equal in the contest.
§40.12.19idem, tamquam aliis omnibus rebus inferior essem, ad sceleris ultimam spem confugisse me insimulat.
Yet the same man, as though I were inferior in all other things, accuses me of having fled to crime as my last hope.
§40.12.20vis hanc formulam cognitionis esse, ut, uter timuerit, ne alter dignior videretur regno, is consilium opprimendi fratris iudicetur cepisse?
Do you wish this to be the formula of the trial, that whichever of us feared lest the other should seem more worthy of the kingdom, he should be judged to have formed the plan of destroying his brother?"