§40.9.1Tum Perseus “aperienda nimirum nocte ianua l fuit et armati comisatores accipiendi praebendumque ferro iugulum, quando non creditur nisi perpetratum facinus, et eadem petitus insidiis audio, quae latro atque insidiator.
Then Perseus said: "Undoubtedly, I ought to have opened my gate at night, welcomed the armed revelers, and offered my throat to their swords, since a crime is not believed unless it has been committed; and though targeted by the same plots, I hear myself accused as if I were a robber and a schemer.
§40.9.2non nequiquam isti unum Demetrium filium te habere, me subditum et paelice genitum appellant.
It is not for nothing that those men call Demetrius your only son, and me a supposititious child born of a concubine.
§40.9.3nam si gradum, si caritatem filii apud te haberem, non in me querentem deprehensas insidias, sed in eum, qui fecisset, saevires, §40.9.4nec adeo vilis tibi vita esset nostra, ut nec praeterito periculo meo movereris, neque futuro, si insidiantibus sit impune.
For if I held the rank and affection of a son in your eyes, you would vent your anger not upon me, who complain of a detected plot, but upon him who devised it; nor would my life be so cheap to you that you would be moved neither by my past danger nor by my future danger, should the plotters go unpunished.
§40.9.5itaque si mori tacitum oportet, taceamus, precati tantum deos, ut a me coeptum scelus in me finem habeat, nec per meum latus tu petaris:
Therefore, if I must die in silence, let us be silent, only praying to the gods that the crime begun against me may end with me, and that you may not be targeted through my side.
§40.9.6sin autem, quod circumventis in solitudine natura ipsa subicit, ut hominum, quos numquam viderint, fidem tamen implorent, mihi quoque ferrum in me strictum cernenti vocem mittere licet, §40.9.7per te patriumque nomen, quod utri nostrum sanctius sit iam pridem sentis, ita me audias precor, tamquam si voce et comploratione nocturna excitus mihi quiritanti intervenisses, Demetrium cum armatis note intempesta in vestibulo meo deprehendisses.
But if, as nature itself suggests to those surrounded in a wilderness—to implore the protection of men they have never seen—I too am permitted to cry out when I see a sword drawn against me, I pray you, by yourself and by the name of father (which you have long perceived which of us holds more sacred), to hear me just as if, awakened by my cries and nightly lamentation, you had come upon me as I shrieked for help, and had caught Demetrius with armed men in my vestibule in the dead of night.
quod tum vociferarer in re praesenti pavidus, hoc nunc postero die queror.
What I would have cried out then in fear at the scene itself, I now complain of on the following day.
§40.9.8frater, non comisantium in vicem animis iam diu vivimus inter nos.
Brother, we have not lived for a long time now with the minds of those who take turns at revelry.
regnare utique vis.
At all events, you wish to reign.
huic spei tuae obstat aetas mea, obstat gentium ins, obstat vetustus Macedoniae mos, obstat vero etiam patris iudicium.
Obstacles to this hope of yours are my age, the law of nations, the ancient custom of Macedonia, and indeed also our father's judgment.
§40.9.9haec transcendere nisi per meum sanguinem non potes.
You cannot overstep these obstacles except through my blood.
omnia moliris et temptas.
You are contriving and attempting everything.
adhuc seu cura mea seu fortuna restitit parricidio tuo.
Until now, either my vigilance or my good fortune has resisted your parricide.
§40.9.10hesterno die in lustratione et decursu et simulacro ludicro pugnae funestun prope proelium fecisti, nec me aliud a morte vindicavit, quam quod me ac meos vinci passus sum.
Yesterday, during the purification, the march, and the mock battle, you made it nearly a fatal combat, and nothing rescued me from death except that I allowed myself and my men to be defeated.
§40.9.11ab hostili proelio, tamquam fraterno lusu, pertrahere me ad cenam voluisti.
From a hostile battle, as if it were brotherly play, you wished to drag me to dinner.
credis me, pater, inter inermes convivas cenaturum fuisse, ad quem armati comisatum venerunt? credis nihil a gladiis nocte periculi mihi fiturum fuisse, quem rudibus te inspectante prope occiderunt?
Do you believe, father, that I would have dined among unarmed guests, I, to whose house armed men came to revel? Do you believe that there would have been no danger to me from swords at night, whom they nearly killed with wooden swords under your very eyes?
§40.9.12quid hoc noctis, quid inimicus ad iratum, quid cum ferro succinctis iuvenibus venis? convivam me tibi committere ausus non sum: comisatorem te cum armatis venientem recipiam?
Why at this hour of the night, why do you, an enemy, come to an angry man, why with young men girt with swords? I did not dare to commit myself to you as a guest; should I receive you as a reveler coming with armed men?
§40.9.13si aperta ianua fuisset, funus meum parares hoc tempore, pater, quo querentem audis.
If the gate had been open, father, you would be preparing my funeral at this very moment when you are hearing me complain.
nihil ego, tamquam accusator, criminose nec dubia argumentis colligendo ago quid enim?
I am not acting as an accuser, maliciously or by gathering doubtful evidence; for why should I?
§40.9.14negat venisse se cum multitudine ad ianuam mearm, an ferro succinctos secum fuisse? quos nominavero, arcesse.
Does he deny that he came with a crowd to my gate, or that there were men girt with swords with him? Summon those whom I shall name.
possunt quidem omnia audere, qui hoc ausi sunt: non tamen audebunt negare.
They can indeed dare anything, who have dared this; yet they will not dare to deny it.
§40.9.15si deprehensos intra limen meum cum ferro ad te deducerem, pro manifesto haberes: fatentes pro deprehensis habe.
If I had brought to you men girt with swords caught within my threshold, you would hold it as a manifest fact; hold those who confess as caught in the act."