et fingi intelligebam, fretus vestra prudentia, judices, non pertimesco. Aiebant enim fore testem senatorem, qui se pontificiis comitiis pulsatum a Caelio diceret. A quo quaeram, si prodierit, primum, cur statim nihil egerit? deinde, si id queri quam agere maluerit, cur productus a vobis potius quam ipse per se, cur tanto post potius quam continuo queri maluerit? Si mihi ad haec acute arguteque responderit, tum quaeram denique ex quo iste fonte senator emanet. Nam si ipse orietur et nascetur ex sese, fortasse, ut soleo, commovebor. Sin autem est rivulus arcessitus et ductus ab ipso capite accusationis vestrae, laetabor, quum tanta gratia tantisque opibus accusatio vestra nitatur, unum senatorem solum esse qui vobis gratificari vellet inventum. Nec tamen illud genus alterum nocturnorum testium pertimesco. Est enim dictum ab illis, fore qui dicerent uxores suas a caena redeuntes attrectatas esse a Caelio. Graves erunt homines qui hoc jurati dicere audebunt, quum sit iis confitendum numquam se ne congressu quidem et constituto coepisse de tantis injuriis experiri. IX. Sed totum genus oppugnationis hujus, judices, et jam prospicitis animis, et quum inferetur propulsare debebitis. Non enim ab iisdem accusatur M. Caelius a quibus oppugnatur. Palam in eum tela jaciuntur, clam subministrantur. Neque id ego dico, ut invidiosum sit in eos quibus gloriosum etiam hoc esse debet. Funguntur officio, defendunt suos, faciunt quod viri fortissimi solent : laesi dolent, irati efferuntur, pugnant lacessiti. Sed vestrae sapientiae tamen est, judices, non, si caussa justa est viris fortibus oppugnandi M. Caelium, ideo vobis sulship of Marius, were elected by the populus at the Comitia (Vell. ii. 12; De Lege Agraria, ii. 7, Vol. ii.).—‘nihil egerit:' why he did not prosecute the matter legally; for that is the meaning of 'agere,' as Lambinus correctly says, 'jus suum actione experiri.' ex quo iste fonte] An awkward metaphor. He only means what urged him to come forward as a witness. He continues the metaphor. A 'rivulus' is a channel for irrigation, derived from a source (caput) or some larger channel. The 'caput accusationis' is Clodia. nocturnorum] This is said to make a laugh, Hotmann observes, because the witnesses could not see in the night. It is not very important to press the exact meaning hard. Any body can give it some meaning.'graves erunt:' ironically said; men of weight, of character, who will have to speak on their oath, and confess that they never complained before of this insult to their wives, never even had a meeting (congressus) with the offender, and fixed a place and time for speaking of the matter (constituto). 'Experiri' is a technical term. See Pro Quintio, c. 16, Vol. ii. Cicero means that they had not even privately (intra parietes) attempted to get any satisfaction for these insults to the women ("si quid in controversiam veniret, aut intra parietes aut summo jure experiretur," Pro P. Quintio, c. 11). 9. quum inferetur] When they shall produce their witnesses, who would be examined after this speech.-jaciuntur . . . subministrantur:' he uses a military form of speech; "alii multis telis conjectis defensores.. . depellerent, auxiliaresque .. lapidibus telisque subministrandis," Caesar (B. G. iii. 25). defendunt suos] They attack Caelius in order to defend their friend, Atratinus the father. quoque vos caussam putare esse justam alieno dolori potius quam vestrae fidei consulendi. Quae sit multitudo in foro, quae genera, quae studia, quae varietas hominum videtis. Ex hac copia quam multos esse arbitramini, qui hominibus potentibus, gratiosis, disertis, quum aliquid eos velle arbitrentur, ultro se offerre soleant, operam navare, testimonium polliceri? Hoc ex genere si qui se in hoc judicium forte projecerint, excluditote eorum cupiditatem, judices, sapientia vestra, ut eodem tempore et hujus saluti et religioni vestrae et contra periculosas hominum potentias conditioni omnium civium providisse videamini. Equidem vos abducam a testibus, neque hujus judicii veritatem, quae mutari nullo modo potest, in voluntate testium collocari sinam, quae facillime fingi, nullo negotio flecti ac detorqueri potest. Argumentis agemus; signis luce omni clarioribus crimina refellemus. Res cum re, caussa cum caussa, ratio cum ratione pugnabit. X. Itaque illam partem caussae facile patior graviter et ornate a M. Crasso peroratam, de seditionibus Neapolitanis, de Alexandrinorum pulsatione Puteolana, de bonis Pallae. Vellem dictum esset ab eodem etiam de Dione. De quo ipso tamen quid est quod exspectetis, quod is qui fecit, aut non timet, aut etiam fatetur? est testimonium polliceri] Rascals were ready to swear any thing, and impudent enough to offer (polliceri) their services. These men would be cupidi testes,' anxious to serve the men who hired them without caring for the truth. religioni vestrae] 'your oath.' He has said already vestrae fidei.'-'conditioni omnium' the common lot of all; all are in danger when knaves swear falsely, if they should be believed. hujus judicii veritatem] The 'veritas' of the 'judicium' is the real facts of the case, which cannot be changed, except we make the facts depend on what their witnesses shall say, and they will say any thing. Instead of taking the witnesses' evidence, Cicero will take facts which are not disputed, and out of these he will derive his proof (argumentis agemus). Quintilian (v. 10): "Ergo, quum sit argumentum ratio probationem praestans, qua colligitur aliud per aliud, et quae quod est dubium per id quod dubium non est confirmat, necesse est esse aliquid in caussa quod probatione non egeat. Alioqui nihil erit quo probemus, nisi fuerit quod aut sit verum aut videatur, ex quo dubiis fides fiat. Pro certis autem habemus primum quae sensibus percipiuntur, ut quae videmus, audimus, qualia sunt Signa: deinde ea in quae communi opinione consensum est." In c. 9 Quintilian properly distinguishes Signa from Argumenta: 66 Signa, sive indubitata sint, non sunt argumenta, quia, ubi illa sunt, quaestio non est; argumento autem nisi in re controversa locus esse non potest: sive dubia, non sunt argumenta, sed ipsa argumentis egent." Quintilian (v. 10) refers to Aristotle's Rhetoric (ii.), who, he says, "diligentissime est exsecutus quid cuique rei et quid cuique homini soleat accidere, et quas res quosque homines quibus rebus aut hominibus vel conciliasset vel alienasset ipsa natura." He says sensibly enough, that it is too tedious, nay impossible, to go through all these par. ticulars, and he adds, "praeterea positum in communi omnium intellectu." Every body knows them. The Signa are the onusia of the Greeks, as Quintilian explains the term, and Aristotle in his Rhetoric (i. c. 2) uses the word. 10. de Dione] Dion was assassinated at the instigation of King Ptolemaeus (Dion 39, c. 14). Asicius, as we infer, was charged with being one of the assassins, and had been tried and acquitted.-' caussa plus profuit:' his' caussa is the merits of the case. Manutius says he confessed that he did it, but says that he did it 'jure.' enim rex. Qui autem dictus est adjutor fuisse et conscius P. Asicius, judicio est liberatus. Quod igitur est ejusmodi crimen ut, qui commisit non neget, qui negavit absolutus sit, id hic pertimescat, qui non modo a facto, verum etiam a conscientiae suspicione abfuit? Et si Asicio caussa plus profuit quam nocuit invidia, huic oberit tuum maledictum, qui istius facti non modo suspicione, sed ne infamia quidem est aspersus?—At praevaricatione est Asicius liberatus.- Perfacile est isti loco respondere, mihi praesertim, a quo illa caussa defensa est. Sed Caelius optimam caussam Asicii esse arbitratur: cuicuimodi autem sit, a sua putat ejus esse sejunctam; neque solum Caelius, sed etiam adolescentes humanissimi et doctissimi, rectissimis studiis atque optimis artibus praediti, Titus Gaiusque * * * cognitus Alexandriae. ** Quid aut hic, aut summo splendore praeditus frater ejus de M. Caelio existimet, ex ipsis si producti erunt audietis. Ergo haec removeantur ut aliquando in quibus caussa nititur ad ea veniamus. XI. Animadverti enim, judices, audiri a vobis meum familiarem L. Herennium perattente. In quo etsi magna ex parte ingenio ejus et dicendi genere quodam tenebamini, tamen nonnumquam verebar, ne illa subtiliter ad criminandum inducta oratio ad animos vestros sensim ac leniter accederet. Dixit enim multa de luxurie, multa de libidine, multa de vitiis juventutis, multa de moribus; et, qui in reliqua vita mitis esset et in hac suavitate humanitatis, qua prope jam delectantur omnes, versari perjucunde soleret, fuit in hac caussa pertristis quidam patruus, censor, magister; objurgavit M. Caelium, sicut neminem umquam parens; multa de incontinentia intemperantiaque disseruit. Quid quaeritis, judices? ignoscebam praevaricatione] It may be objected that the accusator was guilty of 'praevaricatio (Index to Vol. i.); but Cicero, who defended Asicius, can answer that this was not so. He knew certainly whether there was any collusion between himself and the prosecutor. cuicuimodi] Augustinus; cujusmodi' C. Orelli and Halm have adopted the correction. See Pro Sex. Roscio, c. 34. Gaiusque] Between these words and cognitus' there are in the common editions, "Coponii, qui ex omnibus maxime Dionis mortem doluerunt, qui quum doctrinae studio atque humanitatis, tum etiam hospitio Dionis tenebantur. Habitabat is apud L. Lucceium, ut audistis. Fuerat ei cognitus," &c. But this is an interpolation. 11. L. Herennium] He was one of the pro secutors, the subscriptor of Atratinus, as it seems. accederet] P. E. G. animos.. accenderet' S. There is also a reading 'accideret,' but I do not know the authority for it. Halm does not notice it.-' leniter :' G. leviter' P. E. S.-' pertristis patruus:' 'a very ill-tempered patruus.' Horace (Carm. iii. 12) speaks of the patruae verbera linguae;' and again (Sat. ii. 3. 88): "ne sis patruus mihi." Garatoni says: uncles are generally more severe in reproving young men than fathers, from whom nature herself generally extorts indulgence.' Whether this is true or not those must decide who can. I suppose that the saying applied to the case of a youth under an uncle's care after the father's death. vobis attente audientibus, propterea quod egomet tam triste illud et tam asperum genus orationis horrebam. Ac prima pars fuit illa quae me minus movebat, fuisse meo necessario Bestiae Caelium familiarem, caenasse apud eum, ventitasse domum, studuisse praeturae. Non me haec movent quae perspicue falsa sunt. Etenim eos una caenasse dixit, qui aut absunt aut quibus necesse est idem dicere. Neque vero illud me commovet, quod sibi in Lupercis sodalem esse Caelium dixit. Fera quaedam sodalitas et plane pastoricia atque agrestis germanorum Lupercorum, quorum coitio illa silvestris ante est instituta quam humanitas atque leges, siquidem non modo nomina deferunt inter se sodales, sed etiam commemorant sodalitatem in accusando, ut ne quis id forte nesciat timere videantur. Sed haec omittam: ad illa quae me magis moverunt respondeo. Deliciarum objurgatio fuit longa et ea lenior, plusque disputationis Bestiae] L. Calpurnius Piso Bestia was prosecuted for 'ambitus' in his canvass for the praetorship, B.C. 56. Cicero defended. him; but he was convicted (Ad Q. Fr. ii. 3; Phil. xi. 5).— studuisse praeturae' means that he helped him in the election for the praetorship. aut quibus necesse est] Because they are the friends of Clodia' (Manutius). Abrami proposes to read aut de quibus,' &c. Orelli following Ferratius thus explains the passage, 'etenim eos una,' &c. : he said that some others supped together with Caelius at Bestia's house, and that these are either persons who are absent (aut qui absunt), which of itself shows the falsehood of the charge, or persons who were compelled by some necessity, such as debt or the influence of Clodia, to say that they supped at Bestia's in company with Caelius. This seems to be the meaning. He says that those who said that they supped with Caelius at Bestia's are either not here to give their testimony to the fact, or they are people who must say what they are told to say. in Lupercis] The Lupercalia was a festival celebrated in February in honour of Pan Lycaeus (Phil. ii. 34; Plutarch, Romulus, c. 21). Plutarch supposed it to be a very antient festival, instituted by the Arcadians of Evander; and Virgil adopts the tradition. Ovid (Fasti, v. 99) says: “Sacraque multa quidem, sed Fauni prima bicornis Has docuit gentes alipedisque dei. Semicaper, coleris cinctutis, Faune, Lupercis, Quum lustrant celebres vellera secta vias." The meaning is obscure. 'Dixit' seems to Deliciarum objurgatio] The attack on Caelius' loose way of living (deliciae) was made at greater length, and in gentler terms (lenior), and there was more of argumentation in it than invective (atrocitas). As the 'judices' had listened attentively to it right to reply on that matter.-P. Clothis scandal about Caelius, Cicero thought dius:' not his enemy P. Clodius, if he really means 'amicus meus,' but another of the name, one of the 'subscriptores' of Atratinus. habuit quam atrocitatis: quo etiam audita est attentius. Nam P. Clodius, amicus meus, quum se gravissime vehementissimeque jactaret et omnia inflammatus ageret tristissimis verbis, voce maxima, tametsi probabam ejus eloquentiam, tamen non pertimescebam; aliquot enim in caussis eum videram frustra litigantem. Tibi autem, Balbe, respondeo primum precario, si licet, si fas est defendi a me eum, qui nullum convivium renuerit, qui unguenta sumpserit, qui Baias viderit. XII. Equidem multos et vidi in hac civitate et audivi, non modo qui primoribus labris gustassent genus hoc vitae et extremis, ut dicitur, digitis attigissent, sed qui totam adolescentiam voluptatibus dedissent, emersisse aliquando et se ad frugem bonam, ut dicitur, recepisse, gravesque homines atque illustres fuisse. Datur enim concessu omnium huic aliqui ludus aetati, et ipsa natura profundit adolescentiae cupiditates; quae si ita erumpunt ut nullius vitam labefactent, nullius domum evertant, faciles et tolerabiles haberi solent. Sed tu mihi videbare ex communi infamia juventutis aliquam Balbe] Another of the 'subscriptores' in this prosecution of Caelius.—'respondeo:' C. Donatus, who quotes "tibi autem Baias viderit" (Ad Terentii Hecyram, iv. 1. 36), read 'respondebo;' but he omits qui nullum convivium renuerit,' and instead of it he has qui in hortis fuerit.' It may be conjectured then that qui in hortis fuerit' has been accidentally omitted in our MSS. of Cicero, and 'qui nullum convivium renuerit' in or by Donatus. Halm and some other editors keep both.-' precario:' the same as bona tua venia,' 'if you will allow me.' Baias] To visit this place was a kind of reproach, it seems, at least to a grave man (Cic. Ad Att. i. 16): "surgit pulchellus puer; objicit mihi me ad Baias fuisse." Baiae was a place of pleasure on the coast of Campania. There were hot springs. To go to Baiae was the same as to go to the Bath. Martial (i. 63), quoted by Abrami, has an epigram on a woman who lost her character there : "Casta nec antiquis cedens Laevina Sabinis, Et quamvis tetrico castior ipsa viro, Dum modo Lucrino, modo se permittit Averno, Et dum Baianis saepe fovetur aquis, Incidit in flammas; juvenemque secuta relicto Conjuge Penelope venit, abit Helene." 12. extremis, ut dicitur] A proverbial expression, as 'ut dicitur' shows. In the Institutes of Justinian (iv. 18, § 11): "Sed de publicis judiciis haec exposuimus ut vobis possibile sit summo digito et quasi per indicem ea tetigisse."- ad frugem bonam :' another proverb, which the context explains. In c. 31 he speaks of the 'fruges industriae.' 'Ad frugem bonam' means literally to good fruit.' The form 'frugem,' from a nominative 'frux,' contains the same root as fructus.' It had a technical meaning, as Ulpian (Dig. 50. 16. 77) defines it: "frugem pro reditu appellari, non solum quod ex frumentis aut leguminibus, verum et quod ex vino, silvis caeduis, cretifodinis, lapidicinis capitur." Gellius (xiii. 27) says: "ibi scriptum est, quum multa alia ad bonam frugem ducentia, tum vel maxime," &c.-'datur huic aliqui ludus:' so Horace (Carm. iii. 12) says: "Miserarum est neque amori dare ludum." communi infamia] The prosecutor, he says, took for his topic the dissolute habits of young men generally (ex communi infamia), and tried to fix some scandal (invidia) on Caelius. The talk was listened to because, while one defendant only was before us, we were thinking of the vices of many (de multorum vitiis). The attention of the court was no proof of their unfavourable judgment about Caelius. He was the defendant before them; and the court in listening to all this talk was not thinking of Caelius, but of the vices of the day. |