с periculis, amicissimorum officia et studia præstamus. Quare ego expertus et petendi, et defendendi, et accusandi molestiam, sic intellexi; in petendo studium esse acerrimum, in defendendo officium, in accusando laborem. Itaque sic statuo, fieri nullo modo posse, ut idem35 accusationem, et petitionem consulatûs diligenter adornet atque instruat; unum sustinere pauci possunt, utrumque nemo. Tu cum te de curriculo petitionis deflexisses, animumque ad accusandum transtulisses, existimasti te utrique negotio satisfacere posse? vehementer errasti; quis enim dies fuit, posteaquam in istam accusandi denun-40 tiationem ingressus es, quam tu non totum in ista ratione consumpseris? Legem ambitûs flagitasti, quæ tibi non deerat; erat enim severissime scripta Calpurnia; gestus est mos et voluntati et dignitati tuæ. Sed tota illa lex accusationem tuam, si haberes nocentem reum, fortasse armasset: petitioni vero refragata est; pœna gravior in45 plebem tua voce efflagitata est: commoti animi tenuiorum; exsilium in nostrum ordinem: concessit Senatus postulationi tuæ: sed non libenter duriorem fortunæ communi conditionem, te auctore, constituit. Morbi excusationi pœna addita est: voluntas offensa multorum, quibus aut contra valetudinis commodum laborandum est, aut in-50 commodo morbi etiam cæteri vitæ fructus relinquendi; quid ergo? hæc quis tulit? is qui auctoritati Senatûs, voluntati tuæ paruit: denique is tulit, cui minime proderant. Quid? illa, quæ mea summa voluntate Senatus frequens repudiavit, mediocriter adversata tibi esse existimas? confusionem suffragiorum flagitasti, prorogationem legis55 a cursu. b suscepisses accusationem. 43. Scripta Calpurnia.] C. Calpurnius, who was consul with M. Glabrio in the year of the city 686, passed a law against bribery and corruption, by which the criminal was excluded from all public honours, and condemned in a certain fine. But this law appearing too mild to Sulpicius, he got another passed during Cicero's consulship, in which the punishments were made more severe, that senators convicted of bribery should be banished for ten years, and that those who sold their votes should be subject to a fine. 44. Tota illa lex.] He tells Calpurnius, that the law which would have strengthened his accusation, had the accused been guilty, was rather prejudicial to his suit for the consulship. 45. Pena gravior.] Sulpicius desired to have a heavy fine added to exile, with which the ambitious were punished; but the plebeians and low men were greatly offended at this. 48. Duriorem fortune communi conditionem.] Although the punishments of the Calpurnian law were severe, yet these were more severe. . 49 Morbi excusationi.] This law also took away all pretences of absence on account of sickness, that the party impeached might not thereby have an opportunity of protracting or evading his trial. c obeditum est. d nocuit. 51. Cæteri vite fructus.] It is indeed a grievous thing to be afflicted with disease; but how much worse is it to be deprived of the right of suffrage, and the privilege of citizens, on account of this sickness. 52. Is qui auctoritati senatas.] This law had been reported by Cicero; but he endeavours to excuse his severity, from the authority of the Senate and the anxiety of Sulpicius, who procured the passage of so severe a law by the Senate. 55. Confusionem suffragiorum.] A confusion of votes took place when the order of centuries and classes was not preserved in the comitia, but all voted indiscriminately. The people had been divided into classes; the first of which included men of the greatest yearly income, the second included those who stood next; and so on to the fifth, which included persons who possessed the least. All these classes made one hundred and ninety-three centuries. At the elections the centuries of the first class were called first, if in that class, the votes were divided among different candidates; the centuries of the second class were called, and the third, and so on until ninety-seven centuries, which was the greater part of them, had voted for some one candidate. Sulpicius wished to abolish this order of voting, and to let the people vote indiscriminately. Maniliæ, æquationem gratiæ, dignitatis, suffragiorum. Graviter homines honesti, atque in suis civitatibus et municipiis gratiosi tulerint, à tali viro esse pugnatum, ut omnes et dignitatis, et gratiæ gradus tollerentur. Idem edititios judices esse voluisti, ut odia occulta ci60vium, quæ tacitis nunc discordiis continentur, in fortunas optimi cujusque erumperent. Hæc omnia tibi accusandi viam muniebant, adipiscendi a obsepiebant. Atque ex omnibus billa plaga est injecta petitioni tuæ, non tacente me, maxima: de qua ab homine ingeniosissimo et copiosissimo, Hortensio, multa gravissime dicta sunt: quo 65etiam mihi durior locus est dicendi datus: ut, cura ante me et ille dixisset, et vir summa dignitate et diligentia, et facultate dicendi, M. Crassus, ego in extremo non partem aliquam agerem causæ, sed de tota re dicerem, quod mihi videretur. Itaque in iisdem rebus fere versor, et, quod possum, Judices, occurro vestræ satietati. Sed ta70men, Servi, quam te securim putas injecisse petitioni tuæ, cum tu populum Romanum in eum metum addxisti, ut pertimesceret, ne consul Catilina fieret, dum tu accusationem comparares, deposita atque abjecta petitione? Etenim te inquire videbant tristem ipsum: moestos amicos, observationes, testificationes, seductiones testium, seces75sionem subscriptorum animadvertebant: quibus rebus certe ipsi candidatorum vultus obscuriores videri solent: Catilinam interea alacrem atque lætum, stipatum choro juventutis, vallatum indicibus atque sicariis, inflatum cùm spe militum, tum college mei, quemadmodum dicebat ipse, promissis, circumfluente colonorum Aretinorum et SOFesulanorum exercitu; quam turbam dissimillimo ex genere, distin d a occludebant. b me dicente tibi; id nocuit maxime tibi. c quantum possum præverto vestrum tædium. d comitatu. Ib. Prorogationem legis Maniliæ.] Sulpicius also desired to restore the Manilian law, by which the privilege of voting was given to the libertines in all the tribes. 56. Equationem gratiæ.] Sulpicius also desired that men of influence and the nobility of the city should not have more power than the most abject, but that all should vote on an equal footing. 57. Et municipis.] The inhabitants of the free towns and the husbandmen had a right to vote in the comitia. 64. Hortensio.] Hortensius and Crassus spoke first, and Cicero last in defence of Muræna. He has often spoken of Hortensius; Crassus was an able orator and equal to Hortensius: he was for some years among the chief patrons. Vide Cic. in Clar. Orat. 73. Te inquirere videbant.] He describes Sulpicius meditating and preparing his accusation against Cataline, when each of them sued for the consulship. 74. Testificatimes.] Testificatio is the deposition of any one which is taken when he cannot attend. Ib. Seductiones testium.] He who was about to produce witnesses took them to his house, and there examined them by various questions. They Ib. Secessionem subscriptorum.] were called subscriptores who wrote for the accuser when he produced the pretext of the charge: these retired to meditate in what manner they might assist Sulpicius in his accusation. 77. Vallatum indicibus.] It appears that this should not be read indicibus, but audacibus, with whom Cicero in his orations against Cataline had often said that he was surrounded. 78. College mei.] Antony, the colleague of Cicero in the consulship, appeared to favour Cataline; but, in one of his orations, Cicero informs us that he had drawn him off from him. 80. Dissimillimo ex genere.] The dissimilitude consisted chiefly in this, that the people of Fesula and Aretium had been enriched by the spoils of the civil war, conferred upon them by Sylla; these being colonies of the dictator's own planting. Others, again, had been divested of their estates and fortunes by Sylla, to satisfy the cravings of his veterans, to whom he had promised an allotment of lands. These, too, with a view of obtaining the posses sions they had been so unjustly deprived of, eagerly joined in the party of Cataline. guebant homines perculsi Sullani temporis calamitate. Vultus erat ipsius plenus furoris, oculi sceleris, sermo arrogantiæ, sic ut ei jam exploratus, et domi conditus consulatus videretur. Murænam contemnebat: Sulpicium accusatorem suum numerabat, non competitorem: et vim denuntiabat: reipublicæ minabatur. Quibus rebus, qui85 timor bonis omnibus injectus sit, quantaque desperatio reipublicæ, si ille factus esset, nolite à me commoneri velle: vosmetipsi vobiscum recordamini; meministis enim cum illius nefarii a gladiatoris voces percrebuissent, quas habuisse in concione domestica di ebatur, cum miserorum fidelem defensorem negasset inveniri posse, nisi eum qui90 ipse miser esset: integrorum et fortunatorum promissis saucios et miseros credere non oportere. Quare qui consumpta replere, erepta recuperare vellent, spectarent quid ipse deberet, quid possideret, quid auderet minime timidum, et valde calamitosum esse oportere eum qui esset futurus dux et signifer calamitosorum. Tum igitur, his rebu$95 auditis, meministis fieri senatusconsultum, referente me, ne postero die comitia haberentur, ut de his rebus in Senatu agere possemus. Itaque postridie frequenti Senatu Catilinam excitavi, atque eum de his rebus jussi, si quid vellet, quæ ad me allatæ essent, dicere. Atqui ille, ut semper fuit apertissimus, non se purgavit, sed indicavit, atque100 induit. Tum enim dixit, duo corpora esse reip. unum debile, infirmo capite, alterum firmum sine capite; huic, cum ita de se meritum esset, caput, se vivo, non defuturum. Congemuit Senatus frequens, neque tamen satis severe pro rei indignitate decrevit. Nam partim ideo fortes in decernendo non erant, quia nihil timebant, partim quia time-105 bant. Tum erupit e Senatu triumphans gaudio, quem omnino vivum illinc exire non oportuerat: præsertim cum idem ille in eodem ordine paucis diebus ante, Catoni, fortissimo viro, judicium minitanti, ac denuntianti respondisset, si quod esset in suas fortunas incendium excitatum, id se non aqua, sed ruina restincturum. His tum rebus com-110 motus, et quod homines jam tum conjuratos cum gladiis in campum deduci à Catilina sciebam, descendi in campum cum firmissimo præsidio fortissimorum virorum, et cum illa lata insignique lorica, non quæ me tegeret (etenim sciebam Catilinam non latus, aut ventrem, sed ca a Catilinæ. 81. Vultus erat.] He gives us almost the same description of Cataline, as that which we have in Sallust. 99. Atqui ille.] We learn from Plutarch, that Cicero on the very day of the comitia informed the Senate of what he had heard of Cataline's conspiracy, and challenged the conspirator himself to answer to the charge he brought against him. Upon which Cataline, believing there were many in the Senate who wished well to the conspiracy, instead of endeavouring to disguise his treason, openly said, "Quid pecco, si duorum corporum, quorum alterum caput habeat, sed ægrum et pertinax; alterum sine capite, sed validum et præpotens; huic me caput adjicio?" By the first body he meant the Senate of which Cicero as consul was head. By the second the people of which he now declared himself ready to become the head. 110. Sed ruina.] Cataline appeared to threaten all extremities, if any one should oppose him. 112. Descendi in campum.] When Cicero suspected that Cataline intended some violence upon his person, he came into the Campus Martius to the comitia surrounded by a band of young men and covered with a coat of mail; by which he declared his danger to the citizens and roused their indignation against Cataline, so that he was again rejected, and Silanus and Muræna chosen consuls. 114. Non latus, aut ventrem.] He declares that Cataline intended to attach not the low, but the chief citizens; or he alludes to his wickedness, when, in the proscrip 115put et collum solere petere) verum ut omnes boni animadverterent, et cum in metu et periculo consulem viderent, id quod est factum, ad opem præsidiumque meum concurrerent. Itaque cum te, Servi, a remissiorem in petendo putarent, Catilinam et spe, et cupiditate inflammatum viderent; omnes qui illam ab repub. pestem depellere cu120piebant, ad Murænam se statim contulerunt. Magna est autem comitiis consularibus repentina voluntatum inclinatio; præsertim cum incubuit ad virum bonum, et multis aliis adjumentis petitionis ornatum. Quim honestissimo patre atque majoribus, modestissima adolescentia, clarissima legatione, prætura probata in jure, grata in 125 munere, ornata in provincia, petisset diligenter, et ita petisset, ut neque minanti cederet, neque cuiquam minaretur; huic mirandum est magno adjumento Catilinæ subitam spem consulatûs adipiscendi fuisse? b TERTIA PARS. · De crimine ambitûs. L. Muræna nihil commisit contra legem ambilús. с XI. Nunc mihi tertius ille locus est orationis de ambitûs criminibus, perpurgatus ab iis qui ante me dixerunt, à me, quoniam, ita Muræna voluit, retractandus. Quo in loco, Posthumio, familiari meo, ornatissimo viro, de divisorum indiciis, et de deprehensis pecu5 niis adolescenti ingenioso et bono, Ser. Sulpicio, de equitum centuriis: M. Catoni, homini in omni virtute excellenti, de ipsius accusatione, de senatus consulto, de repub. respondebo. Sed pauca quæ meum animum repente moverunt, prius de L. Murænæ fortuna conquerar. Nam cum sæpe antea, Judices, et ex aliorum miseriis, et ex 10meis curis laboribusque quotidianis, fortunatos eos homines judicarem, qui remoti à studiis ambitionis, otium ac tranquillitatem vitæ secuti sunt: tum vero in his L. Murænæ tantis tamque improvisis periculis ita sum animo affectus, ut non queam satis neque communem omnium nostrum conditionem, neque hujus eventum fortunamque mi15serari: qui primum dum ex honoribus continuis familiæ, majorumque suorum, unum ascendere gradum dignitatis conatus est, venit in periculum, ne et ea quæ relicta, et hæc quæ ab ipso parta sunt, amittat: deinde propter studium novæ laudis, in veteris fortunæ discrimen adducitur; quæ cum sunt gravia, Judices, tum illud acerbissimum est, 20quod habet eos accusatores, non qui odio inimicitiarum ad accusandum, sed qui studio accusandi ad inimicitias descenderent. Nam ut tion of Sylla, he cut off the head of Marius Gratidianus, and brought it from Janiculum to the temple of Apollo, in his own hands, to Sylla. 2. Qui ante me dixerunt.] Hortensius and Crassus, who had already spoken for Murána. 4. Divisorum indiciis.] The divisores distributed the money to the people through the tribes, to procure their votes: they were employed by the masters of the Curiæ. 5. Adolescenti Sulpicio.] The son of Sulpicius, Muræna's competitor. Ib. Equitum centuriis.] Sulpicius said, c tractandus iterum. that the centuries had been corrupted by Muræna. Here we are to observe, that Ser. Tullius distributed all the Roman people into six classes, and these into one hundred and ninety-three centuries. But in marking the classes and centuries, which varied in every one, he arranged them ac cording to the assessment, thus in the first he put those who were worth one hundred thousand æs, or more. 17. Quæ relicta.] He speaks of those ensigns of honour which had been left him by his father. omittam Ser. Sulpicium, quem intelligo non injuria L. Murænæ, sed honoris contentione permotum; accusat paternus amicus, Cn. Postumius, vetus, ut ait ipse, vicinus, ac necessarius, qui necessitudinis causas complures protulit, a simultatis nullam commemorare potuit; ac.25 cusat Ser. Sulpicius, sodalis filii, cujus ingenio paterni omnes necessarii munitiores esse debebant: accusat M. Cato, qui quanquam à Muræna nulla re unquam alienus fuit, tamen ea conditione nobis erat in hac civitate natus, ut ejus opes et ingenium præsidio multis etiam alienissimis, exitio vix cuiquam inimico esse deberet. Respondebo30 igitur Postumio primum, qui nescio quo pacto mihi videtur prætorius candidatus in consularem, quasi desultorius in quadrigarum curriculum incurrere. Cujus competitores, si nihil deliquerunt, dignitati eorum concessit, cum petere destitit: sin autem eorum aliquis largitus est, expetendus amicus est, qui alienam potius injuriam, quàm35 suam persequatur. Ea omnia, quæ et Postumio et Ser. Sulpicio adolescenti responsa sunt, desiderantur. XII. Venio nunc ad M. Catonem, quòd est firmamentum ac robur totius accusationis: qui tamen ita gravis est accusator et vehemens, . ut multo magis ejus auctoritatem quàm criminationem pertimescam. In quo ego accusatore, Judices, primum illud deprecabor, ne quid L. Murænæ dignitas illius, ne quid exspectatio tribunatûs, ne quid 5 totius vitæ splendor et gravitas noceat; denique ne ea soli huic obsint bona M. Catonis, quæ ille adeptus est, ut multis prodesse posset. Bis consul fuerat P. Africanus, et duos terrores hujus imperii, Carthaginem Numantiamque deleverat, cum accusavit L. Cottam. Erat in eo summa eloquentia, summa fides, summa integritas, auctoritas10 tanta, quanta in ipso imperio populi Romani, quod illius opera tenebatur. Sæpe hoc majores natu dicere audivi, hanc accusatoris eximiam dignitatem plurimum L. Cottæ profuisse. Noluerunt sapientissimi homines, qui tum rem illam judicabant, ita quemquam cadere in judicio, ut nimiis adversarii viribus abjectus videretur. Quid? Serv. 15 b non commiserunt ambitum. a inimicitiæ. 26. Sodalis filiü.] They were called sodales who were joined in any order or college: hence comes sodalitates et sodalitia. 32. Desultorius.] The metaphor is taken from the dexterity of those who in horse races could vault from one horse to another, without interrupting the course. For Posthumius, a candidate for the prætorship, had quitted his pretensions to that dignity, with a view of impeaching Muræna, a candidate for the consulship. This, says Cicero, is as if one of your vaulters, instead of jumping from one horse to another, should spring into a chariot and four, and thereby change the course from a horse to a chariot race. c condemnari. war, and again during the Numantine war he overturned Carthage in Africa and Numantia in Spain, both rivals of Rome. 9. L. Cottam.] After his cause had been put off seven times, Cotta was at length acquitted in the eighth trial, lest the dig. nity of his accuser might appear to have injured him. 10. Summa eloquentia.] Lib. 1. Offic. he says, that the warlike glory which this Sci. pio had received from his ancestors was increased by his eloquence. 15. Serv. Galbam.] When Galba was accused by Libo, the tribune of the people, for having when prætor in Spain, slain a great number of Lusitanians, to whom the public faith had been pledged, he offered. no excuse; but, weeping, began to con mend his little children to the protection 8. Bis consul.] Emelianus Scipio was of the assembly. The people were so miticonsul first in the time of the third Punic_ gated by his conduct, that he was acquitted 5. Exspectatio tribunatis.] Cato was a tribune of the people elect when he accused Muræna. |