§15in cognoscendo autem ac decernendo mira uarietate animi fuit, modo circumspectus et sagax, interdum inconsultus ac praeceps, nonnumquam friuolus amentique similis.
But in hearing cases and making decisions, he was of a wonderful inconsistency of mind, at one time circumspect and sagacious, at times thoughtless and headlong, sometimes frivolous and like a madman.
cum decurias rerum actu expungeret, eum, qui dissimulata uacatione quam beneficio liberorum habebat responderat, ut cupidum iudicandi dimisit;
When he was revising the panels of jurors, he dismissed a man who, having concealed the exemption which he had by the privilege of children, had answered to his name, on the ground that he was too eager to judge.
alium interpellatum ab aduersariis de propria lite negantemque cognitionis rem sed ordinari iuris esse, agere causam confestim apud se coegit, proprio negotio documentum daturum, quam aequus iudex in alieno negotio futurus esset.
Another, who was challenged by his adversaries concerning a lawsuit of his own and who denied that the matter was for an extraordinary inquiry but rather belonged to ordinary law, he compelled to plead his cause immediately before him, in order that he might give a proof in his own case of how equitable a judge he would be in another's case.
feminam non agnoscentem filium suum dubia utrimque argumentorum fide ad confessionem compulit indicto matrimonio iuuenis.
A woman who would not acknowledge her own son, since the reliability of the arguments on both sides was doubtful, he forced to a confession by ordering her marriage to the young man.
absentibus secundum praesentes facillime dabat, nullo dilectu culpane quis an aliqua necessitate cessasset.
In the absence of one party, he very easily decided in favor of the ones who were present, making no distinction as to whether anyone had failed to appear through fault or through some necessity.
proclamante quodam praecidendas falsario manus, carnificem statim acciri cum machaera mensaque lanionia flagitauit.
When someone cried out that the hands of a forger ought to be cut off, he demanded that an executioner be summoned immediately with a cleaver and a butcher's block.
peregrinitatis reum orta inter aduocatos leui contentione, togatumne an palliatum dicere causam oporteret, quasi aequitatem integram ostentans, mutare habitum saepius et prout accusaretur defendereturue, iussit.
In the case of a man accused of pretending to be a citizen, when a slight dispute arose among the advocates whether he ought to plead his case dressed in a toga or a pallium, as if showing impartial equity, he ordered him to change his dress frequently, according as he was being accused or defended.
de quodam etiam negotio ita ex tabella pronuntiasse creditur, secundum eos se sentire, qui uera proposuissent.
In one case also he is believed to have pronounced his decision from his tablet in these words: that he decided in favor of those who had stated the truth.
propter quae usque eo euiluit, ut passim ac propalam contemptui esset.
On account of these things he became so cheapened that he was everywhere and openly held in contempt.
excusans quidam testem e prouincia ab eo uocatum negauit praesto esse posse dissimulata diu causa; ac post longas demum interrogationes: 'mortuus est,' inquit, 'puto, licuit. ' alius gratias agens quod reum defendi pateretur, adiecit: 'et tamen fieri solet. ' illud quoque a maioribus natu audiebam, adeo causidicos patientia eius solitos abuti, ut discedentem e tribunali non solum uoce reuocarent, sed et lacinia togae retenta, interdum pede apprehenso detinerent.
A certain man, excusing a witness summoned by him from a province, said that he could not be present, having long concealed the reason; and at last, after long questionings, he said: "He is dead; I think it was permitted." Another, thanking him because he allowed a defendant to be defended, added: "And yet it is usually done." I used to hear this also from older men, that the advocates were so accustomed to abuse his patience, that when he was leaving the tribunal they would not only call him back with their voice, but would even detain him by holding onto the hem of his toga, and sometimes by grasping his foot.
ac ne cui haec mira sint, litigatori Graeculo uox in altercatione excidit: καὶ σὺ γέρων εἶ καὶ μωρόσ. equitem quidem Romanum obscaenitatis in feminas reum, sed falso et ab impotentibus inimicis conficto crimine, satis constat, cum scorta meritoria citari aduersus se et audiri pro testimonio uideret, graphium et libellos, quos tenebat in manu, ita cum magna stultitiae et saeuitiae exprobratione iecisse in faciem eius, ut genam non leuiter perstrinxerit.
And lest these things should seem wonderful to anyone, a Greekling litigant let slip this remark in an altercation: "You are both an old man and a fool." Indeed, it is well established that a Roman knight accused of obscenity toward women, though falsely and by a charge concocted by powerful enemies, when he saw common prostitutes summoned against him and heard as witnesses, threw the iron pen and the writing tablets which he held in his hand into his face with a loud reproach of his folly and cruelty, so that he grazed his cheek not lightly.
§16Gessit et censuram intermissam diu post Plancum Paulumque censores, sed hanc quoque inaequabiliter uarioque et animo et euentu.
He also held the censorship, which had been discontinued for a long time after the censors Plancus and Paulus, but this too he administered unequally and with a varying mind and result.
recognitione equitum iuuenem probri plenum, sed quem pater probatissimum sibi affirmabat, sine ignominia dimisit, habere dicens censorem suum;
At the review of the knights, he dismissed without ignominy a young man full of scandals, but whom his father declared to be highly approved by him, saying that the youth had his own censor.
alium corruptelis adulteriisque famosum nihil amplius quam monuit, ut aut parcius aetatulae indulgeret aut certe cautius; addiditque: 'quare enim ego scio, quam amicam habeas?' et cum orantibus familiaribus dempsisset cuidam appositam notam: 'litura tamen,' inquit, 'extet. ' splendidum uirum Graeciaeque prouinciae principem, uerum Latini sermonis ignarum, non modo albo iudicum erasit, sed in peregrinitatem redegit.
Another, notorious for briberies and adulteries, he did nothing more than warn to indulge his youth either more sparingly or at least more cautiously, and added: "For why do I know what mistress you keep?" And when, at the entreaty of his friends, he had removed a mark of ignominy imposed on a certain man, he said, "Let the erasure, however, remain." A distinguished man and a leading figure of the province of Greece, but ignorant of the Latin language, he not only erased from the roll of judges, but even reduced to the status of a foreigner.
nec quemquam nisi sua uoce, utcumque quis posset, ac sine patrono rationem uitae passus est reddere.
Nor did he permit anyone to render an account of his life except in his own voice, in whatever way one could, and without an advocate.
notauitque multos, et quosdam inopinantis et ex causa noui generis, quod se inscio ac sine commeatu Italia excessissent; quendam uero et quod comes regis in prouincia fuisset, referens, maiorum temporibus Rabirio Postumo Ptolemaeum Alexandriam crediti seruandi causa secuto crimen maiestatis apud iudices motum.
And he marked many, some who were not expecting it and for a reason of a new kind, namely, that they had departed from Italy without his knowledge and without a furlough; and indeed one because he had been the companion of a king in a province, recalling that in the times of our ancestors a charge of treason had been brought before the judges against Rabirius Postumus, who had followed Ptolemy to Alexandria for the sake of securing his loan.
plures notare conatus, magna inquisitorum neglegentia sed suo maiore dedecore, innoxios fere repperit, quibuscumque caelibatum aut orbitatem aut egestatem obiceret, maritos, patres, opulentos se probantibus; eo quidem, qui sibimet uim ferro intulisse arguebatur, inlaesum corpus ueste deposita ostentante.
Having attempted to mark more, through the great negligence of the investigators but to his own greater disgrace, he found them to be almost all innocent, since those whom he charged with celibacy, or childlessness, or poverty proved themselves to be husbands, fathers, and wealthy; indeed, one who was charged with having attempted suicide with a blade, by laying aside his clothing, showed his body to be unharmed.
fuerunt et illa in censura eius notabilia, quod essedum argenteum sumptuose fabricatum ac uenale ad Sigillaria redimi concidique coram imperauit; quodque uno die XX edicta proposuit, inter quae duo, quorum altero admonebat, ut uberi uinearum prouentu bene dolia picarentur; altero, nihil aeque facere ad uiperae morsum quam taxi arboris sucum.
There were also these notable things in his censorship: that he ordered a silver carriage sumptuously manufactured and offered for sale at the Sigillaria to be bought up and broken to pieces in his presence; and that he published twenty edicts in a single day, among which were two, in one of which he advised that, because of an abundant harvest of vineyards, the wine-jars should be well pitched; and in the other, that nothing was so effective for the bite of a viper as the juice of the yew tree.