§97.1Erras, mi Lucili, si existimas nostri saeculi esse vitium luxuriam et neglegentiam boni moris et alia, quae obiecit suis quisque temporibus; hominum sunt ista, non temporum.
You are mistaken, my Lucilius, if you think that luxury and neglect of good morals, and other things which everyone objects to in his own times, are the vices of our age; these are the faults of men, not of times.
Nulla aetas vacavit a culpa.
No age has been free from blame.
Et si aestimare licentiam cuiusque saeculi incipias, pudet dicere, numquam apertius quam coram Catone peccatum est.
And if you begin to estimate the license of any age, I am ashamed to say that never was sin committed more openly than in the presence of Cato.
§97.2Credat aliquis pecuniam esse versatam in eo iudicio, in quo reus erat P. Clodius ob id adulterium, quod cum Caesaris uxore in operto commiserat violatis religionibus eius sacrificii, quod pro populo fieri dicitur sic summotis extra consaeptum omnibus viris, ut picturae quoque masculorum animalium contegantur? Atqui dati iudicibus nummi sunt et, quod hac etiamnunc pactione turpius est, stupra insuper matronarum et adulescentulorum nobilium stilari loco exacta sunt.
Would anyone believe that money changed hands in that trial in which Publius Clodius was the defendant for that adultery which he had committed in secret with Caesar's wife, violating the religious rites of that sacrifice which is said to be performed for the people, with all men so removed from the enclosure that even pictures of male animals are covered? And yet, money was given to the judges, and, what is even more shameful than this bargain, the outrages of matrons and noble youths were demanded in addition, in place of a written ledger.
§97.3Minus crimine quam absolutionc peccatum est: adulterii reus adulteria divisit nec ante fuit de salute securus, quam similes sui iudices suos reddidit.
Less sin was committed by the crime itself than by the acquittal: the defendant of adultery distributed adulteries, and was not secure of his safety until he made his judges similar to himself.
Haec in eo iudicio facta sunt, in quo, si nihil aliud, Cato testimonium dixerat.
These things were done in that trial in which, if nothing else, Cato had given testimony.
Ipsa ponam verba Ciceronis, quia res fidem excedit §97.4"Accersivit ad se, promisit, intercessit, dedit, Iam vero—o di boni, rem perditam!—etiam noctes certarum mulierum atque adulescentulorum nobilium introductiones nonnullis iudicibus pro mercedis cumulo fuerunt. " §97.5Non vacat de pretio queri, plus in accessionibus fuit.
I will set down the very words of Cicero, because the matter exceeds belief "He summoned them to him, he promised, he interceded, he gave money. And indeed now—O good gods, what a ruined business!—even the nights of certain women and introductions of noble youths were, for some judges, an addition to the heap of reward." There is no time to complain about the price; there was more in the additions.
"Vis se veri illius uxorem? Dabo illam, vis divitis huius? Tibi praestabo concubitum.
"Do you want the wife of that strict man? I will give her. Do you want the wife of this rich man? I will guarantee her sleeping with you.
Adulterium nisi feceris, damna.
Unless you commit adultery, condemn.
Illa formonsa, quam desideras, veniet.
That beautiful woman whom you desire will come.
Illius tibi noctem promitto nec differo; intra comperendinationem fides promissi mei stabit. "Plus est distribuere adulteria quam facere; hoc vero matribus familiae denuntiare est.
I promise you her night and will not delay; within the postponement of the trial, the credit of my promise will stand." It is more to distribute adulteries than to commit them; this indeed is to give notice of dishonor to the mothers of families.
§97.6Hi iudices Clodiani a senatu petierant praesidium, quod non erat nisi damnaturis necessarium, et inpetraverant.
These Clodian judges had asked the senate for a guard, which was not necessary except for those who were about to condemn, and they had obtained it.
Itaque eleganter illis Catulus absoluto reo, "quid vos," inquit, "praesidium a nobis petebatis? An ne nummi vobis eriperentur? "Inter hos tamen iocos inpune tulit ante iudicium adulter, in iudicio leno, qui damnationem peius effugit quam meruit.
Therefore Catulus said to them elegantly, after the defendant was acquitted: "Why did you ask us for a guard? Was it so that your money might not be snatched from you?" Yet among these jokes, the adulterer before the trial, the pimp in the trial, went unpunished, escaping condemnation in a more shameful manner than he deserved.
§97.7Quicquam fuisse corruptius illis moribus credis, quibus libido non sacris inhiberi, non iudiciis poterat, quibus in ea ipsa quaestione, quae extra ordinem senatusconsulto exercebatur, plus quam quaerebatur, admissum est? Quaerebatur, an post adulterium aliquis posset tutus esse; apparuit sine adulterio tutum esse non posse.
Do you believe that anything was more corrupt than those morals, in which lust could not be restrained by sacred rites, nor by courts of law, in which in that very inquiry which was conducted out of the ordinary course by a decree of the senate, more was committed than was being investigated? It was being investigated whether anyone could be safe after adultery; it appeared that without adultery one could not be safe.
§97.8Hoc inter Pompeium et Caesarem, inter Ciceronem Catonemque commissum est, Catonem inquam illum, quo sedente populus negatur permisisse sibi postulare Florales iocos nudandarum meretricum, si credis spectasse tunc severius homines quam iudicasse.
This was committed between Pompey and Caesar, between Cicero and Cato, that Cato, I say, during whose sitting the people are said to have refused to allow themselves to demand the Floralian sports of stripping prostitutes, if you believe that men then looked on more severely than they judged.
Et fient et facta sunt ista, et licentia urbium aliquando disciplina metuque, numquam sponte considet.
And those things will happen and have happened; and the license of cities will sometimes settle down through discipline and fear, never of its own accord.
§97.9Non est itaque quod credas nos plurimum libidini permisisse, legibus minimum.
There is no reason therefore for you to believe that we have allowed most to lust, and least to laws.
Longe enim frugalior haec iuventus est quam illa, cum reus adulterium apud iudices negaret, iudices apud reum confiterentur, cum stuprum committeretur rei iudicandae causa, cum Clodius isdem vitiis gratiosus, quibus nocens, conciliaturas exerceret in ipsa causae dictione.
For this youth of ours is far more frugal than that one, when the defendant denied adultery before the judges, while the judges confessed it before the defendant, when outrage was committed for the sake of judging the case, when Clodius, popular by the very vices by which he was guilty, practiced matchmaking in the very pleading of his cause.
Credat hoc quisquam? Qui damnabatur uni adulterio, absolutus est multis.
Would anyone believe this? He who was to be condemned for one adultery, was acquitted by many.