Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 38 BC)

Transcription

If there were anyone here present -- O JUDGES-- by some chance ignorant of our laws, of our judicial proceedings, or of our customs—truly, he’d be astonished, and wonder “What great atrocities must there be in this particular case, that on this very day of public festival and games, with all official business suspended, as to cause this trial alone to be proceeded with!” Nor would he DOUBT that many crimes were being exposed—crimes of such great enormity that, if neglected for a single moment, then the entire State couldn’t stand upright! And, when the same man hears of certain laws allowing for daily investigations of seditious and wicked citizens,—those who might have brought arms the senate, violence to the magistrates, or to have attacked the republic— he would find no fault with that law. But he would ask you exactly what is the crime which is now before the court? And when he hears there is No crime at all--No act of audacity or violence-- which was before us, but instead that a young man of eminent ability, industry, and popularity is being accused by the son of the very man whom he himself is presently suing and is sued by; and that he is in-fact being impeached, owing to the influence of a prostitute… Now he wouldn’t reprimand the filial affection of Atratinus, but he’d think it right to curb the lust of that woman. And he would think that you--O JUDGES-- are of a most laborious race, you alone who are not allowed to be at rest during this time of universal leisure to everyone else! [2] And in truth, if you will attend diligently, and will form a true opinion in your minds about the entirety of this case, You will have decided thus, O JUDGES: That No-One would ever have been about-to come down here to prefer to hear these accusations, had he been given the choice not-to! Nor that He (Atratinus), when he did come down, would even have had the slightest hope of succeeding, not unless he had relied on the intolerable licentiousness and exaggerated hatred of someone else. But I, for my part, can make allowances for Atratinus-- that most humane and virtuous young man.. and a great friend of mine— he who has the excuses of filial piety, or of necessity, or of age. If he wished to attack my client, I attribute it to his piety; If he was ordered to do so, then to necessity; but if he really had any hope of succeeding, I blame it on his youthfulness. As for the other partners in this impeachment—those I not only have no allowances to make for, but I must even must resist them more vigorously. [3] And so, this beginning of my defense appears to me--O JUDGES-- to suit most especially with the youth of Marcus Caelius: And so it’s proper that I should respond first to those things, which the accusers have advanced with the general aim of disparaging him, detracting his honor, and despoiling him of his dignity… His father might be accused of some duplicities— for at one time having been called a man of no-great respectability himself; at another, he was said to have often been beaten-off, respectfully-speaking, by his son. On the score of dignity, Caelius, to those who know him and to the older men among us, is of himself, without my having to make any statement for him, himself, without even speaking, very easily able to make a very sufficient reply. But as for those to whom he is not equally well-known, on account of his age, which has now for some time hindered his mixing much with us in the forum, let them know this: That whatever dignities can exist in a Roman knight,—and certainly the highest may be found in that body— that they have always been considered, and are to this day considered to shine-out in great luster in Caelius; and moreover it is so considered, not only by his own relations and friends, but by every one to whom he can possibly be known on any account whatsoever. [4] And nor should being the son of an Equestrian be considered a CRIME by anyone, either by the present prosecution, or by those who are Judges, or by myself the defense! Now, as to what you have said about his filial piety… that can only be a vague opinion of ours-- the true judgment of it must certainly rest with his parents. What our opinions are, you could hear from witnesses, but what his parents feel to be the truth— Those tears of his Mother, her incredible sorrow, the mournful appearance of his Father, his present distress and agony—which you behold--- they do very clearly declare it. [5] For, as to the objection that as a young man he was not well-thought-of by the people of his town: The people of Puteoli never paid greater honors to any man while he was among them, than they did to Marcus Caelius while he was absent! For although he was absent, they appointed him a member of their most distinguished order; and they conferred those distinctions on him without his even asking for them; so many distinctions that, when solicited, they’ve simply refused to count them! But they have, moreover, sent for some of their most distinguished men, both of our own class and of the Roman Knights, with a delegation to attend this trial and to bear the most honorable and authoritative testimony in his favor. And now I seem to myself to have laid the foundations of my defense, and they are the firmest possible- if they might rely on the judgment of his hometown. For neither could his life be recommended for your approval if it displeased not-only his father, so-excellent a man, but also so-illustrious and so-dignified a municipality. [6] In truth, now if I may return to myself, as it is from such beginnings as HIS that I MYSELF have risen to credit among men; and that this forensic system of mine, of conducting one’s labor and one’s life has gained a favorable opinion, by no means of extended commendation, but only that of a few of my closest friends… Now, as to that which has been hurtled against his chastity, which has been harped-upon by all the accusers, not by criminal charges, but by slander and abuse: Marcus Caelius will never be indignant at those things, so far as he ought to repent for not having been born ugly! For such vituperations are habitually heaped upon all those whose form and appearance in youth is in any-way handsome! But to slander a man is one thing; to accuse is another. For, an accusation requires a crime in order to define the matter-- to mark the man, to demonstrate the charges by argument, and to prove them by testimony! Slander has no settled object except insult; and if anyone is attacked in that way with ill-temper, it is called “contempt”…. or if it is done facetiously, “bantering!” [7] And for that reason I was flabbergasted at that most powerful part of the allegation being given to Atratinus above all men. For neither did it become him, nor did his age warrant it, nor indeed (as you all may have noticed yourselves) did the modesty of that excellent young man allow him to show to any advantage on the subject! How I would have preferred one of you who are of a more robust constitution to have hurtled this abuse; Then, much more easily and firmly, and much more in accordance with my own custom might I refute the licentiousness of that cursed malediction of yours! But with you, O Atratinus, I will deal more leniently; both because your own modesty is a check on my language, and because I am bound to have a regard towards the good will I owe to you and your parents. [8] I wish however to advise you: Firstly- to think of yourself as such-a-man that everyone sees you as, in order that you may keep yourself as free from impropriety of conduct as you do the liberty of language; and Secondly- That you would avoid alleging those things against another, which, if they were falsely imputed to you, would cause you to blush! For Who is there, to whom such a path as that is not open? Who isn’t able to slander a man of any age or of any dignity as petulantly as he pleases, even without any grounds for suspicion, but not without some argument expected in return?! And those who are to blame for your undertaking those parts of the allegations, are they who compelled you to make them! Praise, however, belongs to your PRUDENCE of being, as we saw you were, unwilling to make them; and to your GENIUS, for making them in such a courteous and modest manner. [9] Moreover, with regards to all that speech of yours, my defense will be brief: For as far as the age of Marcus Caelius might give reason for suspicion, it was first fortified against it by his own modesty, then by his father's attentive care of him… and also quite a rigid discipline; Caelius who, as soon as he’d been given the toga of a man ..and I say nothing here of myself-- you all are competent judges of where credit is due-- but I will say this: That He was immediately brought by his father to me as a pupil. And no one ever saw Marcus Caelius in that flowering of his age, not unless he was with either his Father, or with me, or else in that most virtuous house of Marcus Crassus, being instructed in the all the most honorable arts. [10] Now, as for the charge of having been intimate with Catiline, which has also been hurtled against Caelius, he ought to be completely exempt from any such distasteful suspicion! For You all know that he was an adolescent when Catiline stood for the consulship the same year that I did; and IF he had EVER joined his party, or ever departed from mine— although many young people did follow the cause of that worthless and abandoned man— Then, let it be thought that Caelius was indeed too intimate with Catiline! But we know, and we ourselves saw that, afterwards, he was one of his acquaintances. Who denies it? And Here I am, at this moment engaged in defending his conduct at that very period of life, which is of-itself unsteady and quite liable to be at the mercy of the passions of others! He was continually with me while I was praetor; he knew nothing of Catiline! Then after Catiline as praetor held Africa for his province, another year followed in which he was prosecuted for extortions and corruption. Caelius was still with me and never went to him, not even as an advocate of his case. The next year was the one in which I was a candidate for the consulship; Catiline was also a candidate. He never went over to him; he never departed from me. [11] Having then been so-many years about the forum without any suspicion, and without any slur on his character, he THEN supported the cause of Catiline when he sought the consulship a third time. Just How long then, do you suppose men of that age are to be kept in a state of pupilage? Formerly, we had one year established by custom during which one arm was restrained by our toga, and we practiced our exercises in the Campus Martius in our tunics. And the very same practice prevailed in the camps and in the army, even if we began to serve in campaigns at once. Who then, at that age, not unless he protected himself by great gravity and chastity not only by a strict domestic discipline, but by an extraordinary degree of natural virtue, however-well he was looked-after by his family, could not escape some slur on his character? But He, who passed that beginning of his life in perfect purity, and free from all stain, never was liable to have any one speak against his fair fame and his chastity when his principles had gained strength, and when he was a man and among men. [12] Nevertheless, Caelius supported the cause of Catiline, when he had already been for several years in the forum, just as many of every rank and of every age did the very same thing. For that Catiline, as I believe many of you will personally recall, had very many marks—not indeed fully-brought-out, but only in silhouette, as it were— of the most eminent virtues. He was intimate with many thoroughly wicked men; but he pretended to be entirely devoted to the most virtuous of citizens. He had many things about him which served to allure men to the gratification of their passions; but also many things which acted as incentives to industry and toil. The vices of lust raged in him; but at the same time he was conspicuous for great energy and military skill. Nor do I believe that there ever was such a strange prodigy upon the earth, composed in such a manner of the most various, different, and inconsistent studies and desires. [13] For Who was more acceptable at times to the most illustrious men? Who was more intimate with the very basest? What citizen was there who took a better part than he did? Who was a fouler enemy to this state? Who was more debased in his pleasures? Who more patient in labors? Who was more covetous with his greed? Who more prodigal in squandering? And besides all this, there were, O JUDGES, such marvelous qualities in that Catiline, that he was able to embrace many men in his friendship, to preserve their regard by attention, to share with everyone what he had, to assist all his friends in their necessities with money, with influence, with his personal toil, even with his own crimes and audacity, if need were; to keep his true nature under-restraint and to guide it according to the time— to twist and turn it hither and thither; to live strictly when with the morose, merrily with the cheerful, seriously with the old, courteously with the young, audaciously with the sinful , and sumptuously with the lustful. [14] And When—by giving full-swing to this various and multiform natural disposition of his—he had collected every wicked and audacious man from every country, so-also he retained the friendship of many gallant and virtuous men by a certain appearance of pretended virtue. Nor would that infamous attempt to destroy this empire have ever proceeded from him, if the ferocity of so many vices hadn’t relied on the deep-rooted foundations of affability and patience. Wherefore-- let that accusation, O JUDGES, be disregarded, and let not the charge of “intimacy with Catiline” cling to him as a crime. For that charge is shared in common with many men, even with some very excellent men. Even me—yes, even myself, I say—he once nearly deceived, as he seemed to me a virtuous citizen, deserving the regard of every good man, and a firm and trustworthy friend; so that, in truth, I detected his wickedness with my eyes before I did so by my opinion; and I was aroused to the necessity of taking action against him by force before my suspicions were awakened. So if Caelius also was one of the great number of friends of whom he boasted, then there is more reason for his being vexed at having fallen-into such a mistake, just as sometimes I myself also repent of having been deceived by the same person, than for him to have any reason to fear the accusation of having been a friend to Catiline. [15] Accordingly, your speech descended from slandering him on the score of chastity, to an endeavor to excite odium against him on account of that conspiracy. For You, Attratinus, laid it down,—though with some hesitation and without really dwelling on it,—that he MUST HAVE been an accomplice in that conspiracy, owing to his friendship with Catiline; And in advancing THAT charge, not only did the accusation itself fail to wound, but even the speech of that eloquent young man lost its coherency. Just how could Caelius have been capable of such insanity? What enormous deficiency was there in his natural disposition, or in his habits? And lastly, when was the name of Caelius ever heard-of in connection with any suspicion of the sort? I am saying far too much on a subject in which there is not the least bit of doubt; but I will still nevertheless say this: that IF he had not NOT merely been guiltless of any participation in the conspiracy, but also as a most decided and avowed enemy of that wickedness, he would never have gone so far as to seek for an especial commendation for a redundant prosecution of men already implicated in that conspiracy. [16] And I know not whether I need think it equally necessary to reply to the charges of “corruption”, and to the accusations about “clubs and agents” ..Although, since I now mention these topics, I suppose I should respond: Caelius would never have been so insane to accuse another man of bribery, if he had stained himself with that mean practice of corruption, nor would he seek to fix a charge of such conduct on another, when he wished to obtain for himself perpetual license to practice it! Nor, if he thought there was a chance of his being put in peril but once on an accusation of corruption, would he twice-over prosecute in court another man on the same charge! And Although his doing-so was not wise, and was against my will, yet still it is such an action that it’s plain that a man who conducts himself so rather thinks it open to him to attack the innocence of another, than have any reason to be afraid of anything on his own accord. [17] For, as to the other charges that have been brought against him, of being in debt, and of the demand to see his accounting tablets, just see how briefly I will reply to them— HE who is still under the power of his father keeps no accounts! Caelius has NEVER held any legitimate transactions connected with borrowing or lending. Now as to his ‘extravagance’, and there is one particular item of expense objected to him, that of his dwelling: For You say that he lives in a house which he rents for some thirty thousand sesterces! Now, I see by this tablet, that Publius Clodius wants to sublet an apartment in his house (for it is in his house that Caelius was living,) for the amount, I see, of ten thousand. And all of you, out of your anxiety to please them, have permitted yourselves this enormous lie to suit their purposes! [18] They have blamed Caelius for living apart from his Father, a thing which is not-at-all to be blamed for a man of his age. For When he, laboring in the cause of the Republic, had achieved a victory which was indeed annoying to me, but glorious to himself, and as he was then of sufficient age to stand for a magistracy; Caelius-- not only with the permission of, but in consequence of even the advice of his father-- left his house. And as his Father's house was a long way from the forum, he rented a house on the Palatine, at no very high rent, in order to more easily be able to visit us at our houses, and to receive visits from his friends. Wherefore I, relying on your wisdom, O judges, am not afraid of those accusations, which I perceived some time ago were being invented and fortified by the orations of the accusers. For they said that a senator would come forward as a witness who would swear that he had been driven away by Caelius from the committee for the election of a pontiff. And IF he does come forward, I would ask him in the first place-- Why did he not promptly take proceedings against him for such misconduct? Secondly, if he prefers complaining about it in this way rather than bringing a formal action-- Why he is brought forward by YOU instead of by his own accord? Why he has chosen to complain about it SO-long after the time, instead of immediately? If he can give me clear and shrewd answers to these questions, then I should ask from what source has this senator burst forth? For if he has his origins and first springs within himself, then very probably I shall be amused by him, as I usually am; but if he is but-a-little gutter-drained and drawn-off from the fountain-head of your accusations, then I shall rejoice-- that while your case relies on so much interest and such mighty influence, there has still been but one senator who could be found willing to gratify you. [20] Nor am I afraid of that other sort of shadowy witness.. For they have asserted that there would be men who would say that their wives, when returning from dinner parties, have been “roughly handled” by Caelius. Ha! They will be men of grave importance indeed who will venture to say this on their oaths, as they are forced simultaneously to confess that they have never commenced taking any steps for redress of such injuries! [21] Nor do I say this now with the intent of exciting odium against those men to whom it ought even to be a subject of boasting! For, They are discharging their duty! They are defending their friends, and they are doing what the bravest of men are accustomed to do! When injured, they feel pain! When angry, they’re carried away! When provoked, they fight back! But it belongs to your wisdom nevertheless, O JUDGES, if “brave men” have any reasonable grounds for attacking Marcus Caelius, not on that account alone to think that you also have a reasonable grounds for consulting the indignation of others rather than your own good faith! For you see how vast a concourse of men is assembled in the forum, of what different classes it is composed, what different objects they have in view, and how great the difference is between them in every respect. Of all this multitude, how many do you suppose are in the habit of offering their services of their own free will to influential, popular, and eloquent men; when they think they are eager about anything; and to use their exertions and to promise their testimony to oblige them? [22] If any of THESE men have by any chance thrust themselves into this trial, shut out their covetous zeal, O JUDGES, from your wisdom, so that you will be seen to provide at the same time for the religious discharge of your obligations, and for the general welfare of all citizens against the perilous influence of unscrupulous men. In truth, I will lead you away from the witnesses. I will not permit the truth of this case, which cannot by any means be altered, to depend on the inclination of the witnesses, which may so easily be molded any way, to be bent and twisted in every direction without the slightest trouble. We will conduct our case by arguments. We will refute the charges brought against us by proofs clearer than daylight. Facts shall combat with facts, cause with cause, and reason with reason! [23] Therefore, I willingly allow that part of the case to be concluded as it has been, with gravity and elegance, by Marcus Crassus; that part, I mean, which relates to the seditions at Naples-- to the expulsion of the Alexandrians from Puteoli, and to the property of Palla. But I wish he'd also have discussed the transaction respecting Dio.. Yet, on that subject, what is there that you can expect me to say-- when the man who committed the murder is neither afraid, nor even denies doing it!? For, he is a king! However, the man who was said to have been the ‘assistant and accomplice in the murder’, Publius Ascius, has already been acquitted by a regular trial. What sort of crime then, is it, that the man who has committed it does not deny it— and that he who has denied it has been acquitted, and yet now THIS MAN is still to be afraid of the accusation, who was not-only a distance from the deed, but who has never been suspected of being even privy to it? And IF the merits of his case availed Ascius more than the odium engendered by the fact of such a crime injured him, is it now your perverted desire to injure this man, who has never once had a suspicion of the crime breathed against him, not even by the vaguest report? [24] But what if Asicius was acquitted by a deception of the judges? It is very easy for me to reply to such an assertion as that, by whom the action is defended. But Caelius thinks that the case of Asicius is a just one. At all events, whatever be their merits, he thinks it is quite unconnected with his own. And not only Caelius but even many other most-accomplished and learned young men, devoted to the most instructive studies and most virtuous pursuits, Such as Titus and Caius Coponius, they who grieved above all others for the death of Dio, being bound to him as they were by a common attachment to the pursuit of knowledge, and science, and also being connected to him by ties of domestic…hospitality. For they were all living in Titus’ house, as you have heard; having become mutually-acquainted with Dio at Alexandria. What Caius Coponius and what his brother- a man of the very highest respectability- think of Marcus Caelius, you shall hear from them themselves; if they are produced as witnesses. [25] So let all these topics be put aside, in order that we may at last come to those things on which this case really depends… [26] The first allegation was the one which moved me least-- that Caelius had been intimate with my own intimate friend Bestia— that he had supped with him, had been in the habit of visiting him, and had aided him when he was a candidate for the praetorship. These things do not move me in the slightest, for they are so obviously false! In fact, they are stating that those men supped together who were either in different places, or had been forced to tell the same lie! Nor am I moved by the assertion either that Bestia stated that Caelius had been his comrade in the Lupercal cohorts. No doubt, it is a savage and purely pastoral and uncivilized sort of companionship-- that of the Lupercal comrades, whose sylvan companies were established long before the institution of civilization or laws. So, IF these companions not only prosecute each other, but even in the courts speak of their companionship as a CRIME, they are doing it in order to cause fear for anyone who is by chance ignorant of it! [27] But I will pass over these things, and reply to those that move me more: There was a lengthy reproach addressed to my client on the score of luxury; it was, however, a gentle one, and had more argument than ferocity in it; on which account it was listened to with more attention. For while my friend Publius Clodius was allowing himself to be carried away by his hurtling of the most heavy and violent vindications, and, being in a state of great excitement, was using the most severe language, and speaking at the top of his voice— although I once had a high opinion of his eloquence, still then I was not at all alarmed; for I have seen him conducting several trials without success. But I will reply to YOU first of all, O BALBUS, with an entreaty to be allowed, without blame and without a charge of impiety to defend a man who never refuses an invitation to supper, who uses perfumes, and who often goes to Baia. [28]In truth, I’ve both seen and heard many men in this city, not only those who had just tasted this kind of life with the edge of their lips, and touched it, as they say, with the tips of their fingers, but men who have devoted the whole of their youth to pleasures, and who have at last emerged from them, having betaken themselves to prudent courses, to still become eminent citizens. For, by the common consent of all men, some indulgence is allowed to this age, and nature itself suggests desires to youth; and if they break out without injuring anyone else’s life, or overturning anyone else's house, they are generally accounted endurable and pardonable [29] But you seemed to me to wish to bring Caelius into some sort of odium by means of the common irregularities into which youth of today are apt to fall! And, therefore, all that silence with which your speech was received was produced by the fact that, although we had but one man before us, we were thinking of the vices of many! It is very easy to accuse ONE of extravagance! The day would fail me if I were to attempt to enumerate everything that may be said on those subjects; about seductions, and adulteries and wantonness, and youthful excess.. an immense oratory indeed! So that Even though you do not fix your eyes on any particular criminal, but only on the vices themselves, still they are capable of being made the objects of very eloquent and fluent accusations. But it becomes your wisdom, O JUDGES, not to be diverted from the case of the man who is on his trial before you; nor to let loose against this individual the stings with which your severity and dignity is armed when the accuser has sought to rouse them against the general charge of ‘luxury’, against vices in general and the present state of morals, and the present times. Whereby the defendant is not being impeached for any vice of his own, but is rather the victim of unjust odium on account of the vices of many others! [30]Therefore, I do not venture to respond to your severe judgment in such a way as I ought to. For it was my duty to plead for some sort of exemption from several rules for youth, to claim some indulgence. I do not dare, I say, to do this. I will not have recourse to any door of escape which my client's age may open; I will not mention the privileges which are allowed to all other men in their youth; I only ask that if at this time there is a general feeling of discontent at the debts, and wantonness, and licentious conduct of the youth of the city,—and I see that such a feeling does exist to a great extent— I ask that the offences of others, and the vices of the youth of others and of the times, would not prejudice my client. And while I ask this, I do at the same time offer no objection to being called on to reply most carefully to all the charges which are directed against him in consequence of any specific conduct of his own. [31] I see the fountainhead: I see the certain author and originator: Gold was wanted; he received it from CLODIA; he received it without any witness; he had it as long as he wanted it. I see here evidence of some very extraordinary intimacy between them.. It’s said he then wanted to kill her; that he sought for poison; he tampered with everyone he could; he prepared it; he arranged a place; he brought it. Well, I see now that some violent quarrel has sprung up between them, engendering a furious hatred. Our whole business in this part of the case, O JUDGES, is with Clodia--- a woman of not only nobility, but even notariety; And of whom I will say nothing, except for the sake of repelling ANY accusation of a crime. [32] But you certainly ARE aware through your eminent wisdom, O GAEUS DOMITION, that in this matter we should deal with her alone; For if she does not SAY that she lent the money to Caelius, if she does not ACCUSE him and say that poison was prepared for her by him, then we are acting wantonly and groundlessly, by mentioning the name of a Mother of a family in a way so different from what is due to a Roman matron! But if you were remove that woman, then there is no longer any charge against Caelius, nor do the accusers have any resources by which to attack him! What then is our duty as the advocates of his case, except to repel those who pursue him? And, indeed, I would do so still more vigorously, if I had not a quarrel with that woman's husband...err, BROTHER, I meant to say-- I am always make that mistake! So at present I will proceed with moderation, and go no further than my own duty to my client and the nature of the case compels me. For I have never thought it my duty to engage in quarrels with any woman, especially with one whom all men have always considered everyone’s friend rather than anyone's enemy. [33] Nevertheless, I would first ask her, herself, whether she wishes me to deal with her strictly, and gravely-- in the manner of our ancestors; or indulgently, mercifully, and courteously? For if I am to proceed in the old-fashioned manner of cross-examination, then I must summon-up from the levels below one of those old bearded men, —not men with those little goatees which she takes such a fancy to, but him with that long shaggy beard which you all see on the ancient statues and images— let him reproach the woman, and speak in my place, lest she by any chance might become angry with me. Let then, someone of her own family rise up and, above all others, let it be that great Blind Claudius (Appius) of old time. For he will feel the least grief, inasmuch as he cannot see her. He who, certainly if he were still living, would deal with her thus: “Woman, what hast thou with Caelius?! What, with such a very young man? What with another’s husband? Why have you been so intimate with him as to lend him gold, or so much his enemy as to fear his poison? Have you not seen that your father, your grandfather, your uncle, your great-grandfather, your great-great-grandfather, your great-great-great-grandfather… have you not heard they were all consuls?!!!! Did you not know, at length, that you were bound in wedlock to Quintus Metellus, a most illustrious and gallant man indeed, and most devoted to his country, He who, from the very moment that he raised his foot from the threshold, was instantly-surpassing all citizens in all manners of virtue, glory, and dignity? When you had become his wife, and-- being previously from a most illustrious race yourself-- having married into a most renowned family, WHY THEN was Caelius so intimate with you? Was he a relation? A business connection? Was he a friend of your husband’s? NOTHING OF THE SORT! What then was the reason, except for some lustful folly? Surely, even if the images of us, the men of your family, have no influence over you, did not my own daughter, that celebrated Quintia Claudia, admonish you even to emulate the praise belonging to our house from the glory of its women? Did not the vestal virgin Claudia recur to your mind-- She, who embraced her father while celebrating his triumph, and prevented his being dragged from his chariot by a hostile tribune of the plebs?! WHY did your brother’s vices have more sway with you than the virtues of your father, of your grandfathers, and others in regular descent ever since my own time, virtues exemplified not only in the men, but also in the women, repeatedly? Is THIS why I broke the treaty with Pyrrhus? -- That you should every-day make new treaties of your most disgraceful Lust? Is THIS why I built an aquaduct? -- That you should use its water to wash away your impious sins? Is THIS why I built the Appian way?-- That you should walk the street, escorted by other women’s husbands?” [35] But why, O judges, have I brought such a grave persona on the scene, as to make me fear that this same Appius may suddenly turn round and begin also to reprimand Caelius with the severity of a censor? But I will look to this presently, and I will discuss it, O JUDGES, so that I feel sure that I shall show even the most rigid scrutinizes reason to approve of the habits of life of Marcus Caelius. But as for YOU, WOMAN, for now I speak to you myself, without the intervention of any imaginary character— if you think you can make us approve of what you are doing, and what you are saying, and what you are charging him with, and what you are planning, what you are seeking to achieve by this prosecution; Then, you must give an intelligible and satisfactory account of your great familiarity, your intimate connection, your extraordinary union with him. The accusers mention things like lusts, adulteries, orgies, doings on the sea-shore, banquets, revels, songs, and music (orgies), boat-cruise (orgies); and in doing-so they imply that they do not mention all of these things without your consent! And as for you, since through some unbridled and headlong fury which I cannot yet comprehend, since you have CHOSEN for these things to be brought up in court, and dilated upon on at this trial, you must either efface the charges yourself and show that they are without foundation, or else you must confess that no credit is to be given to any accusations which you may make, or to any evidence which you may give. [36]But if you wish me to act more urbanely with you, I will deal thus: I will put away that strict and boorish old man; and out of these kinsmen of yours here present I will pick someone, and before all I will select your youngest brother-- who is one of the best-bred men of his class, who is also exceedingly fond of you, and who on account of some childish timidity, I suppose, and some groundless fears of what may happen by night, has occasionally, since when he was but a little boy, slept with you, his eldest sister. I suppose, then, that he would speak to you in this way: “What is it that disturbs you, sister? Why are you so mad? Why thus with outcry loud do you exalt such trifles into things of grave consequence? You saw a young man become your neighbor-- his fair complexion, his height and his countenance and his eyes made an impression on you, you wished to see him more often; you were occasionally seen in the same gardens with him; but being a woman of high rank you were unable with all your riches to detain him-- the son of a thrifty and parsimonious father: he kicks, he rejects you, he does not think your presents worth so much as you require of him. Try someone else! You have gardens on the Tiber, and you carefully placed them in that particular spot to which all the youth of the city come to bathe. From that spot you may every day pick out people to suit you. Why annoy this one man who scorns you?” [37] And Now I come to YOU, O CAELIUS, in your turn; and I take upon myself the authority and strictness of a Father; but I doubt which father's character I shall select to assume..Shall I choose the part of some one of Caecilius's fathers, harsh and vehement?— “ “Already now , at length, my bosom burns, already my heart is ravaged by rage” or some other father?— “Oh thou unhappy, worthless son--- Iron-hearted are such parents as who bear thee; What could I possibly say, what wishes dare I make, when all your base actions maketh so I only want nothing?” Such a father would say things you could scarcely bear, He would say: “Why did you take yourself to the neighborhood of a harlot? Why did you not shun her notorious blandishments? Why did you ever have any sort of relationship with this woman? Squander your money! Throw it away; I give you leave. If you will go, it is you who will suffer for it, not I. I shall be satisfied if I am able to spend pleasantly the small portion of my life that remains to me.” [38] To this morose and severe old man Caelius would respond that he had not departed from the right path, having been led astray by any passion. What proof could he give? That he had been at no expense, at no loss; that he had not borrowed any money? But it was said that he had. How few people are there who can avoid such a report, in a city so prone to rumor?! Do you wonder that the neighbor of that woman was spoken of unfavorably, when her own brother could not escape being made the subject of conversation by profligate men? But for a gentle and considerate father such as his, whose language would certainly be: “Has he broken the doors? They shall be mended. Has he torn his shirt? It shall be repaired.” Thus the case of Caelius is most easily explained: For what circumstances could there be in which he could not easily defend himself? I say nothing now about THAT WOMAN: but if there were a woman totally UNLIKE her, who had made herself common to everybody, she who always had someone or other openly-avowed as her lover, whose gardens, house, and whose baths the lusts of everyone had free access to of their own right; a woman who even kept young men, and made up for the parsimony of their fathers by her liberality; If she lived, being a widow- with freedom, being a lascivious woman- with wantonness, being a rich woman- extravagantly, and being a lustful woman- in the manner of a prostitute; then am I to think any man an “adulterer” who might happen to salute her with a little too much freedom? [39] Someone will demand of me, “Is this, then, the discipline which you enforce? Is this the way you train-up young men? Was this the object to which a parent delivered his son to you, that he might devote his youth to pleasures and lusts, and that you might then defend this manner of life and these pursuits?” If, O JUDGES, there was any one with such vigor-of-mind, and of a natural disposition so-formed for such virtue and continence as to reject all pleasures, and to dedicate the whole course of his life to the labor of his body and to the wholesome training of his mind; a man who takes no delight in rest or relaxation, or the pursuits of those of his own age, or games, or banquets, and who thinks nothing in life is worth desiring, except that which is connected with glory and with dignity-- that man I consider to be furnished and endowed with qualities which may be rightly called DIVINE. To this class, I surmount, belonged those great men: the Camilli, the Fabricii, the Curii and all those men who have achieved such mighty exploits with such inadequate means. [40] Truly, examples of such virtue aren’t only lacking in our own age, but occur so-rarely, even in books! The very records which used to contain accounts of the old-fashioned strictness of morals are worn out and are not- only non-existant among us who have adopted this school and system of life (more-so in ‘reality’ than in ‘words’,) but not even among the Greeks, most-learned men, who although they couldn’t act in such a manner, were nevertheless at liberty to speak and write most honorably and magnificently; and when the habits of Greece became changed, other precepts arose and prevailed in-time. Therefore, some of their wise men said that they once did everything for the sake of pleasure; and even learned men were not ashamed of the degradation of uttering such a sentiment. [41] Others thought that dignity ought to be united with pleasure, so as by their neatness of expression to unite things as inconsistent with one another as possible. Those who still think that the only direct road to glory is combined with toil, are left now almost solitary in their schools. For nature herself has supplied us with numerous allurements, by which virtue may be lulled asleep, and at which, she may be induced to connive; nature herself has at times pointed out to youth many slippery ways, on which it is hardly possible for it to stand, or along which it can hardly advance without some slip or downfall, and has supplied also an infinite variety of exquisite delights, by which not only that tender age, but even one which is more strongly fortified, might be captivated. [42] Wherefore, if by chance you find any one whose eyes are so well-tutored as to look with scorn on the outward beauty of things; who is not captivated by any fragrance, or touch, or flavor, and who stops his ears against all the allurements of sound; I, and perhaps a few others, may think that the gods have been prosperous to this man, but most people will consider that he’s been treated as an object of their anger. [43] Nevertheless there have been, O JUDGES, both within our own recollection and in the time of our fathers and ancestors, very many most excellent men and most illustrious citizens who, after their youthful passions had cooled down, displayed, when they became of more mature and vigorous age, the most exalted virtues— of whom there is no need for me to name to you any particular individual—as you yourselves can recollect plenty. Nor do I wish to connect even the slightest error on my part to any brave and illustrious man’s greatest praises. But if I did choose to do so, then I could name many most eminent and most distinguished men, some of whom were also known for excessive licentiousness in their early days, some for their profuse luxury, their enormous debts, their extravagance, and their debaucheries, but whose early errors were afterwards so painted-over by their numerous virtues, that everyone felt at liberty to make excuses for and to defend their youth. [44] But truly within Marcus Caelius -- for I will now speak even more confidently about his honorable pursuits, because, relying on your good sense, O JUDGES, I am not afraid to freely confess such things respecting him— no such luxury will be found: No extravagance, no debt, no lasciviousness. No devotion to banquets or to gluttony. Those vices, I speak, of the belly and the throat-- age is so far from diminishing in men, that it even increases them. And loves, and those things which are called delights, which, when men have any strength of mind, are not usually troublesome to them for any length of time, for they wear off early and very rapidly, they never had any firm hold on this man so as to entangle or embarrass him. [45] You have heard him when he was speaking on his own behalf, and you have heard him previously, acting as prosecutor-- I say this now for the sake of defending him, not for boasting— you have seen, your wisdom could not help but to have seen his style of eloquence; his faculty, his richness of ideas and of language. And in that branch of study you saw not only his genius shine forth, which frequently, even when it is not properly nourished by industry, still produces great effects by its own natural vigor; but there was in him, unless I am greatly deceived by reason of my favorable inclination towards him, a degree of method implanted in him by liberal tastes, and worked up by all that care and hard labor. And know this: O JUDGES, that the passions which are now brought up against Caelius as an objection to him, and these studies on which I am now enlarging cannot easily exist in the same man; For a mental faculty which is devoted to lust, hampered by love, by desire, by passion, or even perhaps by overindulgence, and by embarrassment in pecuniary matters, Could never support the labors; such as they are, which we go through in oratory-- not merely when actually speaking, but even in thinking. [46] Do you suppose that there is any other reason why, when the prizes of eloquence are so great, when the pleasure of speaking is so great, when the glory is so high, the influence derived from it so extensive, and the honor so pure, that there would be and always shall be so few men who devote themselves to this study? For all pleasures must be trampled underfoot, all pursuit of amusement must be abandoned, O JUDGES; sports and jesting and feasting; Yes, I might almost say, even the conversation of one’s friends must be shunned. And this is what deters men of this class from the labors and studies of oratory; not that their abilities are deficient, or that their early training has been neglected. [47] Would Caelius, if he had given himself up to such a life, while still a very young man, have instituted a prosecution against a man of consular rank? Would he, if he shunned this labor, if he were captivated by and entangled in the pursuit of pleasure, take his place daily among this array of orators? Would he court enmities? Would he undertake prosecutions? Would he incur danger to his life? Would he, in the sight of all the Roman people, struggle for so many months for safety or for glory? [48] But if there be any one who thinks that youth is to be wholly-indicted from rendezvous with prostitutes, he certainly is very strict indeed. I cannot deny what he says; but still he is at odds with not only the general license of the present age, but even with the habits of our ancestors, and with what they used to consider allowable. For when was the time that men were not accustomed to act in this manner? When was such conduct found fault with? When was it not permitted? When, in short, was the time when that which is now lawful wasn’t? Here now, I will lay down what I consider a general precept: I will name no woman in particular; I will leave the matter open for each of you to apply as he pleases: [49] If any woman, not being married, has made her house open and available to the passions of everybody, and has openly established herself in the life of a harlot, and has been accustomed to frequent the banquets of men with whom she has no relationship; and if she does so in the city, or in country houses, or in that most frequented place, Baiae, if in short she behaves in such a manner, not only by her gait, but by her style of dress, and by the people who are seen attending her, and not only by the eager glances of her eyes and the freedom of her conversation, but also by embracing men, by kissing them at water parties, and sailing parties, and banquets; so as not only to seem a harlot, but a most very wanton and lascivious harlot—Then, I ask you, O Lucius Herennius: IF a young man should happen to have been with her, is he to be called an adulterer, or a lover? Does he seem to be attacking chastity or merely satisfying his desires? [50] I’ll ignore, for the present, all the injuries which you have done me, CLODIA; I banish all recollection of my own distress; I put out of consideration your cruel conduct to my relations when I was absent. You are at liberty to suppose that what I have just said was not about you, but I ask you yourself, since the accusers say that they derived the idea of this charge from you, and that they have you yourself as a witness of its truth; I ask you, I say: IF there be any woman of the sort that I have just described, a woman unlike you, a woman of the habits and profession of a harlot, Does it appear an act of extraordinary baseness or extraordinary wickedness for a young man to have had some intimate connection with her? If you are not such a woman,—and I would much rather believe that you are not—then, what is it that they impute to Caelius? If they try to make you out to be such a woman, then why need we fear such an accusation for ourselves, if you confess that it applies to you, and despise it? So then give us then a path to and a plan for our defense-- For either your modesty will supply us with the defense that nothing has been done by Marcus Caelius with ANY undue wantonness; or else your impudence will give both him and everyone else very great faculties for defending themselves. [51] And since my speech appears to have at-last raised itself out of the shallows, and to have passed by the rocks, the rest of my course is made plain and easy to me. For, there are two charges— both relating to the one woman,—and both imputing some enormous wickedness: one concerning the gold which is said to have been received from Clodia, the other concerning the poison which the prosecutors accuse Caelius of having prepared for the purpose of murdering her. He took the gold, as you say, to give to the slaves of Lucius Lucceius, by whose slaves Dio of Alexandria was slain, who at that time was living in Lucceius's house. It is a great crime to intrigue against ambassadors, or to tamper with slaves to induce them to murder their master's guest; it is a plan full of wickedness, full of daring! [52] But with respect to that charge, I will first of all ask this—whether he had told Clodia for what purpose he was then taking the gold, or whether he did not tell her? If he did not tell her, then why did she hand it over? And if he did, then she has just implicated herself as an accomplice in the same crime! (To Clodia) Did you dare to take gold out of your strong-box? Did you dare strip-bear that statue of yours, “Venus, Plunderer of men,” of her ornaments? And when you knew for what an enormous crime this gold was required,—for the murder of an ambassador, —for the staining of Lucius Luccenius, a most pious and upright man, with the stain of everlasting impiety— then, your well-educated mind ought not to have been privy to so horrible an atrocity; Your House, so open to all, ought not to have been made an instrument in it! Above all, that most hospitable Venus of yours ought not to have been an accomplice in it. [53] Balbus saw that. He said that Clodia was kept in the dark, and that Caelius alleged to her as his reason for wanting the gold, that he wanted it for the ornamenting of his arms. If he was as intimate with Clodia as you make him out to be, when you say so much about his amorous propensities, he, no doubt, TOLD HER what he wanted the gold for. If he was not so intimate with her, then, no doubt, she’d never given it to him! Therefore, if he told you the truth, O you most ill-regulated woman,you knowingly gave gold to Caelius to promote a crime; and if he did not venture to tell you, you never would have given it at all! [54] But all these topics which belong peculiarly to the orator, and which would do some service in my hands if I were to really work them up and dilate upon them in this presence, not because of any natural ability that I possess, but because of my constant practice-in and habit-of speaking, I, for the sake of brevity, do forbear to urge them. For I do have, O judges, a man whom you willingly will allow to be connected with you by the religious obligation of having taken a similar oath as yourselves, LUCIUS LUCCENIUS, a most religious man, and a most conscientious witness; He who, if such guilt so-calculated to compromise his credit and his fortunes had been brought into his household by Caelius, could not have failed to hear of it, and would never have been indifferent to it and would never have borne it. Such a man as he-- a man of such humanity, a man devoted to such pursuits as his, and imbued with all his learning and accomplishments, Could he have been indifferent to the imminent danger of that man to whom he had become attached on account of these very studies and pursuits? And when he would have been most-indignant at hearing of such a crime if it had been committed against a stranger, would he have omitted taking any notice of it when it affected his own guest? When he would have grieved if he had found out that strangers had perpetrated such a deed, would he have thought nothing of it when perpetrated by his own household? An action that he would curse if done in the fields or in public places, was he likely to think lightly of it when it began in his own city and in his own house? When he would not have concealed it, if it threatened any country person with danger, how is he, a learned man himself, supposed to have kept secret a plot laid against a most learned man? [55] But why, O judges, do I detain you so long? You shall have the authority and scrupulous faith of the man himself on his oath before you, and listen carefully to every word of his evidence. What more do you wait for? Do you think that the case itself, or even that truth of itself can utter any actual words in its own defense? This is the defense made by the innocent,—this is the voice of the case itself,—this is the single, unassisted voice of truth. In the circumstances of the crime itself there is no suspicion; in the facts of the case there is no argument. In the negotiation which is said to have been carried on, there is no trace of any conversation, of any opportunity, of either time or place. No one is named as having been a witness of it. No one is accused of having been privy to it. The whole accusation proceeds from a house that is hostile to him,—that is of infamous character, cruel, criminal, and lascivious. And that house, on the other hand, which is said to have been tampered with, with a view to this nefarious wickedness, is one full of integrity, dignity, kindness and piety. And from this house you have had read to you a most authoritative declaration under the sanction of an oath. So that the matter which you have to decide upon is one on which very little doubt can arise, —namely, whether a rash, libidinous, furious woman appears to have invented an accusation, or a dignified, and wise, and virtuous man is to be believed to have given his evidence with a scrupulous regard to truth. [56] There remains the charge respecting the poison for me to consider; a charge of which I can neither discover the origin nor guess the object. For what reason was there for Caelius to want to give poison to that woman? So that he might not have to repay the gold? Did she even ask for it back? Was it to save himself from being accused? Did anyone even accuse him of anything? Would anyone have even mentioned him if he had not himself instituted a prosecution against somebody else? Moreover, you heard Lucius Herennius say that he would never have caused annoyance to Caelius by a single word, if he had not prosecuted his intimate friend a second time on the same charge, after he had been already acquitted once. Is it credible then, that so enormous a crime was committed without any object? And do you not see that an accusation of the most enormous wickedness is invented against him in order that it may appear to have been committed for the sake of facilitating an other wickedness? [57] To whom, then, did he entrust its execution? Whom did he employ as an assistant? Who was his companion? Who was his accomplice? To whom did he entrust so foul a crime; to whom did he entrust himself and his own safety? Was it to the slaves of that woman? For that is what is imputed to him… Was he, then; so insane,—he to whom at least you will allow the credit of good abilities, even if you refuse him all other praise in that hostile speech of yours,—as to trust his whole safety to another’s slaves? And to what slaves? For even that makes a considerable difference. Was it to slaves whose bondage, as he was aware, was of no-ordinary condition, but who were in the habit of being treated with indulgences and freedom and with every familiarity by their mistress? For who is there, O judges, who does not see, Who is there who does not know that in such a house as that, in which the mistress of the house lives after the fashion of a prostitute, —in which nothing is done which is fit to be mentioned out of doors,—in which debauchery, and lust, and luxury and, in short all sorts of unheard-of vices and wickedness are carried on, that the slaves are not slaves at all?! They are Men to whom everything is confided by, by whose agency everything is done; who are occupied in the same pleasures as their mistress; who have secrets entrusted to them, and who get even some not-inconsiderable share of the daily extravagance and luxury. Was Caelius, then, not aware of this? [58] For if he was as intimate with the woman as you try to make him out, be certainly knew that those slaves were also intimate with her. But if, as you allege, no-such intimacy existed between him and her, then How, by Hercules, could he have arrived at such familiarity with her slaves? [59] O Ye Immortal Gods! Why do you permit, even wink-at, the greatest crimes of men, but reserve the punishment of present wickedness for a future day? For I saw, I myself saw and experienced that grief, the bitterest grief that I ever felt in my life, when Quintus Metellus was torn from the heart and bosom of his country; When that man who considered himself born only for this empire, just three days after he had been in good health, flourishing in the senate-house, in the rostrum, and in the republic; he who, while in the flower of his age, of an excellent constitution, and with the full vigor of manhood, was most unworthily torn from all good men, and from the entire state; he who, at that time of death when bewildered of all his senses, still retained to the very end his recollection of the republic. And while beholding me in tears, he intimated with broken and failing voice how great a storm he saw looming over the city, —how great a tempest was threatening the state; and frequently striking that wall which separated his house from that of Catulus, he kept on mentioning Catulus by name, and me myself, and the republic, so as to show that he was grieving, not so much because he was dying, but because both his country and I were about to be deprived of his aid and protection. [60] But, if no sudden act of wicked violence had carried off that great man, with what vigor would he, as a man of consular rank, have resisted that frantic brother of his— who as consul, at a time when he was endeavoring to begin reins to his fury, stated in the hearing of the senate, that he would slay him with his own hand! …And shall THAT woman, proceeding from this house, dare to speak of the rapidity of the operation of poison? Is she not afraid of the very house itself, lest she should make it utter some sound? Does she not dread the very walls, which are privy to her wickedness? Does she not shudder at the recollection of that fatal and melancholy night? But I will return to the matter at hand: for this mention of this most illustrious and most gallant man has both weakened my voice with weeping, and overcome my mind with sorrow. [61] But still there is no mention made of where the poison came from, or how it was prepared. They say that it was given to Publius Licinius, a modest and virtuous young man, and an intimate friend of Caelius. They say that an arrangement was entered into with the slaves, that they should come to the strangers' baths; and that Licinius should come there also, and should give them the box containing the poison. Now, here first of all I beg the question: What was the object of all this being done in that previously arranged place? Why did not the slaves simply come to Caelius's house? If that great intimacy and that excessive familiarity between Caelius and Clodia still existed, Then what suspicion would have been excited by one of the slaves of that woman having been seen at Caelius's house? But if a quarrel had already sprung up between them, if the intimacy was over, and enmity had taken its place… (Clodia begins sobbing… )Hence, Hence arise those tears, too easily! THIS is the root cause behind all that wickedness and of those crimes. [62] ‘Very true’, says he, and when the slaves had reported to their mistress the whole transaction and the guilty designs of Caelius, that crafty woman enjoined her slaves to promise Caelius everything; but in order that the poison, when it was being handed over by Licinius, might be clearly witnessed, she commanded them to appoint the Senial Baths as the place of delivery, and sent some of her friends there in order to lie in ambush, and then on a sudden, when Licinius had arrived and was delivering the poison, to jump out and arrest the man. [63] And, in truth, I was waiting eagerly to see who those virtuous men were, who would be stated to have been witnesses of this poison having been so clearly detected. For none have been named as yet.. But I have no doubt that they are men of very high authority indeed, as in the first place they are the intimate friends of such a woman; and, in the second place, they took upon themselves that share of the business,—that, namely, of being thrust down into the baths; which she, even were she as powerful as she could possibly wish to be, could never have prevailed on any men to do, except such as were most honorable men, and men of the very greatest natural dignity. But why do I speak of the dignity of those witnesses? Learn yourselves how virtuous and how scrupulous they are: For they lay in ambush… in the baths! Splendid witnesses, indeed! Then they sprang out prematurely! O—men most entirely-devoted to their dignity! For this is the story that they contrive: that when Licinius had arrived, and was holding the box of poison in his hand, and was endeavoring to deliver it to them, but had not yet delivered it, then, all of a sudden those splendid nameless witnesses sprung out; and that Licinius, when he had already put out his hand to give them over the box of poison, drew it back again, and, alarmed at that unexpected ambush of men, took to his heels. O, how great is the power of Truth, which, of its own accord can easily defend itself against all the ingenuity, cunning, and wisdom of men; and against all the treacherous plots of the world. [64] But how destitute of all proof is the whole of the story of this poetress and songbird of so many fables!? How totally without any conceivable object or result is it!? For what does she say? Why did so numerous a body of men, (for it is clear enough it was no small number, as it was necessary that Licinius should be arrested with ease, and that the transaction should be more fully corroborated by the eyes of many,) Why, I implore, did so many men allow Licinius to escape from their hands? How could Licinius have been less-likely to be apprehended when he had drawn back the box in order not to deliver it, than he would have been if he had handed it over?! For those men had been placed on purpose to arrest Licinius in order that Licinius might be caught in the very fact either of having just delivered up the poison, or of still having it in his possession. This was the whole plot of that woman. This was the part allotted to those men who were asked to undertake it but why it is that they sprung forth so precipitously and prematurely as you say, I do not find stated. They had been invited for this express purpose: they had been placed with this especial object in order to effect the undeniable detection of the poison, of the plot, and of every particular of the crime. [65] Could they have sprung forward at a better time than when Licinius had arrived, when he was holding in his hand the box of poison? For if after that box had been delivered to the slaves, the friends of the woman had suddenly emerged from the baths and seized Licinius, Then he would have implored the protection of their good faith and have denied that he had delivered that box to them! And how would they have reproved him? Would they have said that they had seen it? First of all, that would have been to bring the imputation of a most atrocious crime on themselves, besides, they would be saying that they had seen what from the spot in which they had been placed they could not possibly have seen. Therefore, they showed themselves at the very nick of time when Licinius had arrived and was getting out the box, and was stretching out his hand, and delivering the poison. This is rather the end of a farce than a regular comedy; in which, when a regular end cannot be invented, someone escapes out of someone else's hands, the whistle sounds, and the curtain drops! [66] For, I ask, why did that woman’s army allow Licinius—who was trembling, hesitating, retreating, and endeavoring to flee-- to slip through their fingers? Why they did not seize him?! Why did they not prove beyond all denial a crime of such enormous wickedness by his own capture, and by the witness of many people, and, if I may, by even the voice of the crime itself? Were they afraid that so many men would not be able to get the better of one, that they, strong men, would not be able to beat a weak man, or active men to overpower one in such a fright? No corroborative proof is to be found in these circumstances; no ground for suspicion in any part of this case, no object for or result from the crime can be imagined. Therefore this case, instead of being supported by arguments, conjecture, and by those tokens by which the truth generally is illuminated, instead rests wholly on the witnesses. And those witnesses, O JUDGES, I do long to see, not only without the least bit of apprehension, but also with the soft-hope of great enjoyment. [67] My mind is exceedingly eager to behold them, firstly because they are luxurious youths, the intimate friends of a rich and high-born woman; and secondly, because they are gallant men, placed by their Amazonian Empress in ambush, as a sort-of garrison of the baths. And, when I see them, I will ask them how they lay hid, and where; And whether it was a canal, or a Trojan horse, which bore and concealed so many invincible men to wage war for the sake of one woman? And this I will compel them to tell me—Why did so many gallant men did not either at once seize this man, who was but a single individual, and as slight and weak a man as you may see, while he was standing there? Or, at all events, why did they not pursue him when he fled? And, in truth, they will never be able to get out of their perplexity, if they ever do go into that witness-box; not though they may be ever so witty and talkative at banquets, and sometimes, over their wine, even eloquent. For, the forum is one thing, the couch another. The benches of counselors are very different from the sofas of revelers. A tribunal of judges is not particularly like a row of hard-drinkers. In short, the radiance of the sun is a very different thing from the light of lamps. In Effect, we will soon scatter all those gentlemen's delicate airs, all their absurdities, if they do appear. But if they will be guided by me; let them apply themselves to some other task; let them curry the favor of some one else by some other means; let them display their capacity in other employments; let them flourish in that woman's house in beauty; let them regulate her expenses, let them cling to her, sup with her, serve her in every possible way, but let them spare the lives and fortunes of innocent men. [68] But those slaves who have been emancipated by the advice of her relations,—most highly born and illustrious men. At last then we have found something which that woman is said to have done by the advice and authority of her own relations,—men of the highest respectability of character. But I wish to know what proof there is in that emancipation of slaves, so that either any charge against Caelius can be made out of that, or any examination of the slaves themselves by means of torture may be prevented, or any pretext found for giving rewards to slaves who were privy to too many transactions which it is desired to keep secret? “But her relatives desired it,” he says.. Why should they not desire it, when you yourself stated that you were reporting to them a matter which you had not received information of from others, but which had been discovered by yourself? [69] Here also we wonder whether any most obscene story followed the tale of that imaginary box. There is nothing which may not seem applicable to such a woman as that. The matter has been heard of, and has been the subject of universal conversation. You have long ago perceived, O JUDGES, what I wish to say, or rather what I wish not to say. For even if such a crime was committed, it certainly was not committed by Caelius; for what concern was it of his? It may perhaps have been committed by some young man, not so much foolish as destitute of modesty. But if it be a mere fiction, it is not indeed a very modest invention, but still it is not destitute of wit;— one which in truth the common conversation and common opinion of men would never have sealed with their approbation, if every sort of story which involved any kind of infamy did not appear consistent with and suited to that woman's character. [70] The case has now been fully stated by me, O JUDGES, and fully summed-up. You now fully understand how important this action is which has been submitted to your decision; how grave a charge is confided to you. You are presiding over an investigation into a charge of POLITICAL VIOLENCE;—into a law which concerns the empire, the majesty of the state, the condition of the country, and the safety of all the citizens; —a law which Quintus Catulus passed at a time when armed dissensions were dividing the people, and when the republic was almost at its last gasp; —a law which, after the flames which raged so fiercely in my consulship had been allayed, extinguished the smoking relics of the conspiracy. By this law the youth of Marcus Caelius is charged, not for the sake of enduring any punishment called for by the republic, but in order to be sacrificed to the lust and profligate pleasures of a woman. [71] And even in this place the condemnation of Marcus Camurtius and Caius Caesernius is brought up again! Oh, the folly! or shall I rather say, oh the extraordinary impudence! Do you prosecutors dare, when you’ve just come from that woman's house, to make mention of those men? Do you dare to reawaken the recollection of so enormous a crime, which is not even dead already, but only smothered by its antiquity? For, on account of what charge, or what fault, did those men fall? Evidently, because they endeavored to avenge the grief and suffering of that same woman, caused by the injury which they believed she had received from Vettius. Was, then, the case of Camurtius and Caesernius brought up again in order that the name of Vettius might be heard of in connection with THIS case? And so that the old tall-tale, suited to the pen of Afranius, might be rubbed up again?? For though they were certainly not liable under the law concerning violence, they were still so implicated in that crime, that they deemed men who ought never to be released from the shackles of the law. [72] But why is Marcus Caelius brought before this court, when no charge properly belonging to this mode of investigation is imputed to him, nor indeed anything else of such a nature that, though it may not exactly come under the provisions of my law, still calls for the exercise of your severity. His early youth was devoted to strict discipline; and to those pursuits by which we are prepared for these forensic labors— for taking part in the administration of the republic—for honor, and glory, and dignity and to those friendships with his elders, whose industry and temperance he might most desire to imitate; and to those studies of the youths of his own age: so that he appeared to be pursuing the same course of glory as the most virtuous and most highly-born of the citizens. [73] Afterwards, when he had advanced somewhat in age and strength, he went into Africa, as a comrade of Quintus Pompeius the proconsul, one of the most temperate of men, and one of the strictest in the performance of every duty. And as his paternal property and estate lay in that province, he thought that some knowledge of its habits and feelings would be usefully acquired by him, now that he was of an age which our ancestors thought adapted for gaining that sort of information. He departed from Africa, having gained the most favorable opinion of Pompeius, as you shall learn from Pompeius's own family’s tesimony. He then wished, according to the old-fashioned custom, and following the example of those young men who afterwards turned out most eminent men and most illustrious citizens in the state, to embed his industry in the eyes of the Roman people, by some very conspicuous prosecutions. [74] I wish indeed that his desire for glory had led him in some other direction; but the time for this complaint has passed by. He prosecuted Caius Antonius, my colleague; an unhappy man, to whom the recollection of the great service which he did the republic was no benefit, but to whom the belief of the evil which he had designed was the greatest prejudice. After that he never was behind any of his fellows in his constant appearance in the forum, in his incessant application to business and to the causes of his friends, and in the great influence which he acquired over his relations. He achieved by his labor and diligence all those objects, which men cannot attain who are anything other than vigilant, and sober, and industrious. [75] At this turning-point of his life, (for I place too much reliance on your humanity and on your good sense to conceal anything,) the fame of the young man stood trembling in the balance, owing to his new acquaintance with this woman, and his unfortunate neighborhood to her, and his want of habituation to pleasure; for the desire of pleasure when it has been too long pent up, and repressed, and chained down in early youth, sometimes bursts forth on a sudden, and throws down every barrier. But from this course of life, and from being in this way the subject of common conversation, (though his excesses were not by any means as great as report made them out to be;) —however, from this course of life, I say, whatever it was, he soon emerged, and delivered himself wholly from it and raised himself out of it, and he is now so far removed from the discredit of any familiarity with that woman, that he is occupied in warding off the attacks which are instigated against him by her enmity and hatred. [76] And in order to put a violent end to the reports which had arisen of his luxury and inactivity, —what he did, he did in-fact greatly against my will, and, by Hercules, in spite of my strongest objections, but still he did it!—he instituted a prosecution against a friend of mine for bribery and corruption. And after he was acquitted, he pursues him still, drags him back before the court, refuses to be guided by any one of us, and is far more violent than I approve of. But I am not speaking of wisdom,—which indeed does not fully-belong to men of his age,— I am speaking of his ardent spirit, of his desire for victory, of the eagerness of his soul in the pursuit of glory. Those desires indeed in men of our age ought to have become more limited and moderate, but in young men, as in herbs, they show what ripeness of virtue and what great crops are likely to reward our industry. In truth, youths of great ability have always required rather to be restrained from the pursuit of glory, than to be spurred on to it: more things are required to be pruned away from that age,—if indeed, it deserves distinction for ability and genius,—than to be implanted in it. [77] Therefore, if the energy and fierceness and tenacity of Caelius appear to have boiled over the edge too much, either with respect to his voluntarily incurring enmities, or with his mode of carrying on risk; if even any of the most trifling particulars of his conduct seem to have offended ANY ONE— the magnificence of his purple robe, the troops of friends who escort him, or at the general splendor and brilliance of his appearance, let him recall that all these things will soon pass away, softened by a riper age, circumstances, and the progress of time. [78] For a man who has ventured on such a step as that of prosecuting a man of consular rank because he says that the republic has been injured by his violence, cannot possibly behave as a turbulent citizen in the republic himself: a man who will not allow another to be at peace, even after he has already been acquitted of bribery and corruption, can never himself become a briber of others with impunity. The republic, O JUDGES, has had two prosecutions carried out by Marcus Caelius as pledges to secure it from any danger from him, and as guarantees of his good-will and devotion. For this reason I do pray and entreat you, O JUDGES, after Sextus Clodius has been acquitted within these few days in this very city; —a man whom you have seen for the last two years acting on all occasions as the minister or leader of sedition; —a man who has burnt sacred temples and even the census of the Roman people and all the public records and registers with his own hands; —a man without property, without honesty, without hope, without a home, without any character or position, polluted in face, and tongue, and hand, and in every particular of his life; —a man who has degraded the monument of Catulus, who has pulled down my house, and burnt that belonging to my brother; —who on the Palatine Hill, and in the sight of all the city, stirred up the slaves to massacre and to the conflagration of the city; —I entreat you, I say, not to suffer that man to have been acquitted in this city by the influence of a woman, and at the same time to allow Marcus Caelius to be sacrificed, in the same city, to a woman's lusts. I entreat you never to permit the same woman, in conjunction with a man who is at the same time both her brother and her husband, to save a most infamous robber, and to overwhelm a most honorable and virtuous young man. [79] And when you have given due consideration to the fact of his youth, then place also before your eyes, I entreat you, the old age of his miserable father whom you see before you; whose whole dependence is on him, his only son; who reposes on the hopes which he has formed of him; who fears nothing but the disasters which may befall him. Support, I pray you, that old man, now a suppliant for your mercy, the slave of your power; He who, while he throws himself at your feet, so appeals more strongly still to your virtuous habits, and to your kind and right feelings; support him, I say, moved either by the recollection of your own parents, or by the affection with which you regard your own children, so that while relieving the misery of another, to yield to your own pious or indulgent dispositions. Do not, O JUDGES, cause this old man, who is already by the silent progress of nature declining and hastening to his end, to fail prematurely through a wound inflicted by you, before the day which his natural destiny has appointed for him. [80] Do not overthrow this other man, now flourishing in the prime of life, now that his virtue has just taken firm root, as it were on account of some whirlwind or sudden tempest. Preserve the son for the father, the father for the son, lest you should appear either to have despised the old age of a man almost in despair, or on the other hand not only to have abstained from cherishing, but even to have struck down and crushed a youth full of the greatest promise. And if you do preserve him to yourselves, to his own relations, and to the republic, you will have him dedicated, devoted, and wholly bound to you and to your children, and you will enjoy, O JUDGES, in the greatest possible degree, the abundant and lasting fruits of all his exertions and labor.