11.
Do you believe that any one of those men who are here present, into whose favour you were
seeking to insinuate yourself against their will, was either so wicked as to wish all these
things to be destroyed, or so miserable as to wish to perish himself; and to have nothing
which he wished to preserve? Is there any one who blames the most illustrious man of your
family and name, who deprived his own son 1 of life in order to strengthen his power over the rest of his army;
and do you blame the republic, for destroying domestic enemies in order to avoid being herself
destroyed by them?
[33]
Take notice then, O Torquatus, to what
extent I shirk the avowal of the actions of my consulship. I speak, and I always will speak,
with my loudest voice, in order that all men may be able to hear me: be present all of you
with your minds, ye who are present with your bodies, ye in whose numerous attendance I take
great pleasure; give me your attention and all your ears, and listen to me while I speak of
what he believes to be unpopular topics. I, as consul, when an army of abandoned citizens, got
together by clandestine wickedness, had prepared a most cruel and miserable destruction for my
country; when Catiline had been appointed to manage the fall and ruin of the republic in the
camp, and when Lentulus was the leader among these very temples and houses around us; I, I
say, by my labours, at the risk of my own life, by my prudence, without any tumult, without
making any extraordinary levies, without arms, without an army, having arrested and executed
five men delivered the city from conflagration, the citizens from massacre Italy from
devastation, the republic from destruction. I at the price of the punishment of five frantic
and ruined men ransomed the lives of all the citizens, the constitution of the whole world,
this city the home of all of us, the citadel of foreign kings and foreign nations the light of
all people the abode of empire.
[34]
Did you think that I would
not say this in a court of justice when I was not on my oath, which I had said before now in a
most numerous assembly when speaking 2 on oath?
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1 This refers to the story of Titus Manlius Torquatus, who, in the Latin war (A.U.C. 415), put his own son to death for leaving his ranks (in forgetfulness of a general order issued by his father the consul) to fight Geminius Metius, whom he slew. The story is told by Livy, lib. iii. c. 7.
2 This refers to Cicero's conduct when resigning his consulship. Metellus, as has been said before, refused to allow him to make a speech to the people, because, as he said, he had put Roman citizens to death without a trial; on which Cicero instead of making oath in the ordinary formula, that he had discharged his duty with fidelity swore with a loud voice “that the republic and the city had been saved by his unassisted labour;” and all the Roman people cried out with one voice that that statement was true to its fullest extent. See Cic. in Pis. 3.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1856.
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