§45.24.1quid igitur superat, quod purgemus, si nec factum hostile ullum nostrum est, et verba tumidiora legati offensionem aurium, non perniciem civitatis meruerunt?
What then remains for us to clear ourselves of, if there is no hostile deed of ours, and the somewhat boastful words of the envoy deserved only to offend your ears, not to bring ruin upon our state?
§45.24.2voluntatis nostrae tacitae velut litem aestimari vestris inter vos sermonibus audio, patres conscripti: favisse nos regi et illum vincere maluisse, ideo bello persequendos esse credunt alii; §45.24.3alii vestrum voluisse quidem nos hoc, non tamen ob id bello persequendos esse: neque moribus neque legibus ullius civitatis ita conparatum esse, ut, si qui velit inimicum perire, si nihil fecerit, quo id fiat, capitis damnetur.
I hear, conscript fathers, in your conversations among yourselves, that a sort of assessment of damages, as it were, is being made upon our silent will: some believe that we favored the king and wished him to win, and therefore that we ought to be pursued with war; others of you think that we indeed wished this, but yet ought not to be pursued with war on that account: for in neither the customs nor the laws of any state is it so established that, if anyone wishes his enemy to perish, he is condemned to death, if he has done nothing to bring it about.
§45.24.4his, qui nos poena, non crimine liberant, gratiam quidem habemus; ipsi nobis hanc dicimus legem: si omnes voluimus, quod arguimur — non distinguimus voluntatem a facto —, omnes plectamur:
To these, who free us from punishment, but not from charge, we are indeed grateful; but we ourselves lay down this law for ourselves: if we all wished what we are accused of—we do not distinguish will from deed—let us all be punished.
§45.24.5si alii principum nostrorum vobis, alii regi faverunt, non postulo, ut propter nos, qui partium vestrarum fuimus, regis fautores salvi sint; illud deprecor, ne nos propter illos pereamus.
If some of our leading men favored you, and others the king, I do not demand that, because of us who were of your party, the supporters of the king should be saved; what I deprecate is that we should perish on their account.
§45.24.6non estis vos illis infestiores, quam civitas est ipsa; et hoc quia sciebant, plerique eorum aut profugerunt aut mortem sibi consciverunt; alii damnati a nobis in potestate vestra erunt, patres conscripti.
You are not more hostile to them than the state itself is; and because they knew this, most of them either fled or laid hands on themselves; the others, condemned by us, will be in your power, conscript fathers.
§45.24.7ceteri Rhodii sicut gratiam nullam meriti hoc bello, ita ne poenam quidem sumus.
The rest of us Rhodians, just as we deserved no gratitude in this war, so we deserve no punishment either.
priorum nostrorum benefactorum cumulus hoc, quod nunc cessatum in officio est, expleat.
Let the heap of our former services fill up this measure of our present failure in duty.
§45.24.8cum tribus regibus gessistis bella per hos annos; ne plus obsit nobis, quod uno bello cessavimus, quam quod duobus bellis pro vobis pugnavimus.
You have waged wars with three kings during these years; let it not harm us more that we were idle in one war, than that we fought for you in two wars.
§45.24.9Philippum, Antiochum, Persea tamquam tris sententias ponite: duae nos absolvunt, una dubia est; ut gravior sit, illi de nobis si iudicarent, damnati essemus; vos iudicatis, patres conscripti, sit Rhodus in terris an funditus deleatur; §45.24.10non enim de bello deliberatis, patres conscripti, quod inferre potestis, gerere non potestis, cum nemo Rhodiorum arma adversus vos sit laturus.
Set down Philip, Antiochus, and Perseus as, so to speak, three verdicts: two acquit us, one is doubtful; even granting that it is the more serious, if they were to judge us, we would have been condemned; but you are judging, conscript fathers, whether Rhodes is to remain on earth or be utterly destroyed; for you are not deliberating about war, conscript fathers, which you can indeed declare, but you cannot wage, since no one of the Rhodians is going to bear arms against you.
§45.24.11si perseverabitis in ira, tempus a vobis petemus, quo hanc funestam legationem domum referamus; omnia libera capita, quidquid Rhodiorum virorum feminarum est, cum omni pecunia nostra naves conscendemus ac relictis penatibus publicis privatisque Romam veniemus et omni auro et argento, §45.24.12quidquid publici, quidquid privati est, in comitio, in vestibulo curiae vestrae cumulato, corpora nostra coniugumque ac liberorum vestrae potestati permittemus, hic passuri, quodcumque patiendum erit; §45.24.13procul ab oculis nostris urbs nostra diripiatur, incendatur.
If you persist in your anger, we will ask time of you to carry this fatal embassy back home; all free persons, whatever Rhodes has of men and women, with all our money, we will board the ships and, leaving our public and private household gods, we will come to Rome, and with all our gold and silver, whatever is public, whatever is private, piled up in the comitium, in the vestibule of your senate house, we will deliver our bodies and those of our wives and children to your power, to suffer here whatever must be suffered; far from our eyes, let our city be plundered and burned.
§45.24.14hostis Rhodios esse Romani iudicare possunt, facere non possunt; est enim et nostrum aliquod de nobis iudicium, quo numquam iudicabimus nos vestros hostis, nec quicquam hostile, etiam si omnia patiemur, faciemus.
The Romans can judge that the Rhodians are enemies, but they cannot make them so; for we too have some judgment about ourselves, by which we will never judge ourselves to be your enemies, nor will we do anything hostile, even if we suffer all things.