On His Return: To the Citizens
Post Reditum ad Quirites
Headnote
Delivered to the Roman people in a public meeting on 7 September 57 BC, two days after Post Reditum in Senatu. The senatorial speech is a roll-call of the men who had brought him back; this speech, addressed to the assembled citizens of Rome, draws a different shape, the self-presentation of an exiled magistrate as a vir devotus who at the great moment had pledged himself to the public good. §1 is the devotio declaration: that, when he gave himself up out of the city, he had asked of Jupiter Best and Greatest a sempiternal punishment if his withdrawal had been for any private cause; the proof that the prayer was answered as he asked is in his being now back. §2–4 work the paradox that what was lost has now been recovered with the sweetness made keener by the loss — children, brother, fortunes, friendships, the country itself. §6–8 are the contrast with the recall of P. Popilius Laenas and Q. Caecilius Metellus Numidicus: those returns had needed a great train of named kinsmen; for Cicero, “naked of kindred,” the case was carried by his son-in-law C. Piso Frugi and by his brother Quintus alone. The latter, with the old line that he “denied it was right to be separated from me, not only in dwelling-place but even in tomb.”
§11–16 follow the senatorial speech in naming Lentulus Spinther as the recall’s principal mover, with the bargain over the provinces of 58 BC named for what it was — the price for which the consuls Piso and Gabinius had sold his case. §17 closes the catalogue with the remarkable testimony of L. Gellius Publicola the censorian that, had Cicero not been consul in 63, “the commonwealth would have utterly perished.” §19–20 are the parallel and contrast with C. Marius’s recall in 87 BC: a fellow-Arpinate “of the same fated necessity” who had returned by the sword; Cicero shall use “what I have been used to — speech.” §21 names the four classes of men who wronged him: bitter enemies of the commonwealth; treacherous friends; the envious; and the traffickers in provinces, the consuls of 58. The closing §25 is that the citizens have judged Rome herself unable to keep her dignity until they had recovered him.
The thing I prayed for to Jupiter Best and Greatest and to the rest of the immortal gods, citizens, at the time when I devoted myself and my fortunes for your safety, your peace, and your concord — that, if I had ever set my own reckonings before your safety, I should bear an everlasting punishment willingly taken on; but if both what I had done before I had done for the saving of the state, and undertaken that wretched journey for your safety, so that the hatred which villainous and audacious men had long held conceived against the commonwealth and against all good men, that hatred they should fix upon me alone rather than on every best citizen and on the whole state — if I had been of this spirit toward you and your children, that at last the memory of me, with pity and longing, should hold you and the senators and all Italy: that I have been proved guilty of this self-devotion, by the judgement of the immortal gods, by the witness of the Senate, by the consent of Italy, by the confession of my enemies, and by your own divine and immortal kindness, I most rejoice.
quod precatus a Iove optimo maximo ceterisque dis immortalibus sum, Quirites, eo tempore cum me fortunasque meas pro vestra incolumitate otio concordiaque devovi, ut, si meas rationes umquam vestrae saluti anteposuissem, sempiternam poenam sustinerem mea voluntate susceptam, sin et ea quae ante gesseram conservandae civitatis causa gessissem et illam miseram profectionem vestrae salutis gratia suscepissem, ut quod odium scelerati homines et audaces in rem publicam et in omnis bonos conceptum iam diu continerent, id in me uno potius quam in optimo quoque et universa civitate defigerent, —hoc si animo in vos liberosque vestros fuissem, ut aliquando vos patresque conscriptos Italiamque universam memoria mei misericordia desideriumque teneret: eius devotionis me esse convictum iudicio deorum immortalium, testimonio senatus, consensu Italiae, confessione inimicorum, beneficio divino immortalique vestro maxime laetor.
For although, citizens, nothing is more to be wished for by a man than a prosperous, even, and continuous fortune in his life’s course without a single offence — still, if everything had been calm and peaceful for me, I should have lacked that incredible and almost divine pleasure of joy which I now enjoy by your kindness. What sweeter thing has been given by nature to the human race than children of one’s own? My own indeed, both for my indulgence to them and for the outstanding gift of their nature, are dearer to me than my life: yet they were not received with so much pleasure as they are now restored.
namque, Quirites, etsi nihil est homini magis optandum quam prospera aequabilis perpetuaque fortuna secundo vitae sine ulla offensione cursu, tamen, si mihi tranquilla et placata omnia fuissent, incredibili quadam et paene divina, qua nunc vestro beneficio fruor, laetitiae voluptate caruissem. quid dulcius hominum generi ab natura datum est quam sui cuique liberi? mihi vero et propter indulgentiam meam et propter excellens eorum ingenium vita sunt mea cariores: tamen non tanta voluptate erant suscepti quanta nunc sunt restituti.
Nothing was ever sweeter to anyone than my brother to me: I did not feel it so much when I was enjoying him as when I was without him — and afterwards, when you gave me back to him and him to me. Each man’s domestic estate is his delight: my recovered fortunes bring me more pleasure now than they brought when they were untouched. Friendships, daily intimacies, neighbourhoods, ties of clientage, the games at last and the festal days — what pleasure they had I have understood by losing them more than by enjoying them.
nihil cuiquam fuit umquam iucundius quam mihi meus frater: non tam id sentiebam cum fruebar quam tum cum carebam, et postea quam vos me illi et mihi eum reddidistis. res familiaris sua quemque delectat: reliquae meae fortunae reciperatae plus mihi nunc voluptatis adferunt quam tum incolumes adferebant. amicitiae, consuetudines, vicinitates, clientelae, ludi denique et dies festi quid haberent voluptatis carendo magis intellexi quam fruendo.
As for honour, standing, place, order, your kindnesses — though they always seemed most splendid to me, yet now, restored, they look more brilliant than if they had not been overshadowed. The country itself — by the immortal gods! — it can hardly be said what dearness, what pleasure she has: what a sight Italy is, what a multitude of towns, what a shape of regions, what fields, what crops, what beauty of city, what kindness of citizens, what dignity of state, what majesty in you! All of which I had once enjoyed in such a way as no man more; but, as good health is sweeter to those who have been raised up out of a heavy illness than to those who have never had a sick body, so all these things, when they have been longed for, please more than when they have been continually had.
iam vero honos, dignitas, locus, ordo, beneficia vestra, quamquam mihi semper clarissima visa sunt, tamen ea nunc renovata inlustriora videntur quam si obscurata non essent. ipsa autem patria, di immortales! dici vix potest quid caritatis, quid voluptatis habeat; quae species Italiae, quae celebritas oppidorum, quae forma regionum, qui agri, quae fruges, quae pulchritudo urbis, quae humanitas civium, quae rei publicae dignitas, quae vestra maiestas! quibus ego omnibus antea rebus sic fruebar ut nemo magis; sed tamquam bona valetudo iucundior est iis qui e gravi morbo recreati sunt quam qui numquam aegro corpore fuerunt, sic haec omnia desiderata magis quam adsidue percepta delectant.
To what end, then, do I argue this? To what end? That you may understand that no man has ever been of so great eloquence, of a kind of speaking so divine and incredible, that he could not only enlarge or adorn by speaking, but even count off or follow out, the greatness and the multitude of kindnesses you have bestowed on me and on my brother and on our children. From my parents, as was needed, I was begotten small; by you I have been born a man of consular rank. They gave me a brother whom I did not yet know what he would be; you have given him back proven and known to me by incredible devotion. The commonwealth I received in those days when she was almost lost; from you I have recovered her, the same one whom all once judged saved by one man’s act. The immortal gods have given me children; you have given them back. Many things besides, prayed for from the immortal gods, we have obtained: had not your good will been there, we should be without all the gifts of the gods. Your offices, finally — which we had won one by one, step by step — we now have together from you, so that whatever before I owed to my parents, whatever to the immortal gods, whatever to you yourselves, that whole I owe at this time, all together, to the entire Roman people.
quorsum igitur haec disputo? quorsum? ut intellegere possitis neminem umquam tanta eloquentia fuisse, neque tam divino atque incredibili genere dicendi, qui vestram magnitudinem multitudinemque beneficiorum quae in me fratremque meum et liberos nostros contulistis non modo augere aut ornare oratione, sed enumerare aut consequi possit. A parentibus, id quod necesse erat, parvus sum procreatus, a vobis natus sum consularis. illi mihi fratrem incognitum qualis futurus esset dederunt, vos spectatum et incredibili pietate cognitum reddidistis. rem publicam illis accepi temporibus eam quae paene amissa est, a vobis eam reciperavi quam aliquando omnes unius opera servatam iudicaverunt. di immortales mihi liberos dederunt, vos reddidistis. multa praeterea a dis immortalibus optata consecuti sumus: nisi vestra voluntas fuisset, omnibus divinis muneribus careremus. vestros denique honores, quos eramus gradatim singulos adsecuti, nunc a vobis universos habemus, ut quantum antea parentibus, quantum dis immortalibus, quantum vobismet ipsis, tantum hoc tempore universum cuncto populo Romano debeamus.
For while in your kindness itself there is so great a magnitude that I cannot encompass it in speech, in your zealous service the will of your spirits has been so declared that you seem to me not only to have lifted the calamity from me but also to have increased my standing. For not, as for P. Popilius, that most noble man, did young sons and many besides — kinsmen by blood and by marriage — entreat for my return; not as for Q. Metellus, that most distinguished man, did a son already of approved years, did the consular L. Diadematus, a man of the highest authority, did C. Metellus the censor, did their children, did Q. Metellus Nepos, who at that time was standing for the consulship, did the sons of his sisters, the Luculli, the Servilii, the Scipiones — in great numbers Metelli or daughters of Metelli supplicated you and your fathers for the return of Q. Metellus. And if his own highest standing and greatest deeds done had not been enough, the devotion of his son, the prayers of his kindred, the squalor of the youths, the tears of the older men, were able to move the Roman people.
nam cum in ipso beneficio vestro tanta magnitudo est ut eam complecti oratione non possim, tum in studiis vestris tanta animorum declarata est voluntas ut non solum calamitatem mihi detraxisse, sed etiam dignitatem auxisse videamini. non enim pro meo reditu ut pro P. Popili, nobilissimi hominis, adulescentes filii et multi praeterea cognati atque adfines deprecati sunt, non ut pro Q. Metello, clarissimo viro, iam spectata aetate filius, non L. Diadematus consularis, summa auctoritate vir, non C. Metellus censorius, non eorum liberi, non Q. Metellus Nepos, qui tum consulatum petebat, non sororum filii, Luculli, Servilii, Scipiones; permulti enim tum Metelli aut Metellarum liberi pro Q. Metelli reditu vobis ac patribus vestris supplicaverunt. quod si ipsius summa dignitas maximaeque res gestae non satis valerent, tamen fili pietas, propinquorum preces, adulescentium squalor, maiorum natu lacrimae populum Romanum movere potuerunt.
For C. Marius, who, after those old most distinguished consulars, in the memory of you and of your fathers, was the third consular before me to undergo a most undeserved fortune by his own outstanding glory — the case was different. He did not return by entreaty: rather, in the secession of the citizens, he called himself back by army and arms. But me, naked of kindred, fortified by no relationship, with no fear of arms or tumult — the divine and unheard-of authority and courage of C. Piso my son-in-law, and the daily tears and mourning squalor of my most wretched and best brother, entreated for from you.
nam C. Mari, qui post illos veteres clarissimos consularis, hac vestra patrumque memoria, tertius ante me consularis subiit indignissimam fortunam praestantissima sua gloria, dissimilis fuit ratio; non enim ille deprecatione rediit, sed in discessu civium exercitu se armisque revocavit. at me nudum a propinquis, nulla cognatione munitum, nullo armorum ac tumultus metu, C. Pisonis, generi mei, divina quaedam et inaudita auctoritas atque virtus, fratrisque miserrimi atque optimi cotidianae lacrimae sordesque lugubres a vobis deprecatae sunt.
There was one brother who could turn your eyes by his own squalor, who by his own weeping could renew the longing for me and the memory of me; who had resolved, citizens, that, if you would not give me back to him, he would undergo the same fortune. He was of so great a love for me that he denied it was right to be separated from me, not only in dwelling-place but even in tomb. For me, when I was present, the Senate and twenty thousand other men changed their dress; for me, when I was absent, you saw the squalor and dirt of one man. He alone, who could be in the Forum, was found to me a son in devotion, a parent in service, the same in love as he had always been — a brother. For the squalor and grief of my wretched wife and the unceasing mourning of my most upright daughter and the longing for me of my small son and his childish tears were either kept within the necessary travels, or for the most part within the house and in shadow. Therefore your service to us is the greater, because not to a multitude of kindred but to ourselves did you give us back.
frater erat unus qui suo squalore vestros oculos inflecteret, qui suo fletu desiderium mei memoriamque renovaret; qui statuerat, Quirites, si vos me sibi non reddidissetis, eandem subire fortunam; tanto in me amore exstitit ut negaret fas esse non modo domicilio, sed ne sepulcro quidem se a me esse seiunctum. pro me praesente senatus hominumque praeterea viginti milia vestem mutaverunt, pro eodem me absente unius squalorem sordisque vidistis. Vnus hic, qui quidem in foro posset esse, mihi pietate filius inventus est, beneficio parens, amore idem qui semper fuit frater. nam coniugis miserae squalor et luctus atque optimae filiae maeror adsiduus filique parvi desiderium mei lacrimaeque pueriles aut itineribus necessariis aut magnam partem tectis ac tenebris continebantur. qua re hoc maius est vestrum in nos promeritum, quod non multitudini propinquorum sed nobismet ipsis nos reddidistis.
But as my kindred, whom I could not provide myself with, were not at hand to entreat for my calamity, so — in that thing which my own courage ought to have provided — helpers, sponsors, and exhorters of my restoration were so many that I far surpassed all who came before me in dignity and abundance. Never about P. Popilius, that most distinguished and bravest man, never about Q. Metellus, that most noble and most steadfast citizen, never about C. Marius, the guardian of the citizenry and of your empire, was mention made in the Senate.
sed quem ad modum propinqui, quos ego parare non potui, mihi ad deprecandam calamitatem meam non fuerunt, sic—illud quod mea virtus praestare debuit—adiutores auctores hortatoresque ad me restituendum ita multi fuerunt ut longe superiores omnis hac dignitate copiaque superarem. numquam de P. Popilio, clarissimo ac fortissimo viro, numquam de Q. Metello, nobilissimo et constantissimo cive, numquam de C. Mario, custode civitatis atque imperi vestri, in senatu mentio facta est.
The first two were restored by tribunician bills, with no authority of the Senate; Marius indeed was restored not only without the Senate but with the Senate suppressed. Nor in the return of C. Marius did the memory of his deeds count, but army and arms; in mine, that the Senate should count, the Senate ever demanded, and that this should at last bear fruit, when first it was permitted, brought it about by its numbers and authority. There was no movement of the towns and colonies in their returns; in mine, all Italy three times by their decrees called me back into our country. They came back with their enemies killed, after a great slaughter of citizens; I, with those by whom I had been thrown out still holding their provinces, my enemy — on the motion of the consul, the best and gentlest of men, my other consul referring — was brought back; while that enemy who had lent his voice to my ruin to the common foes of the state was alive only to the extent of his breath, in fact relegated below all the dead.
tribuniciis superiores illi rogationibus nulla auctoritate senatus sunt restituti, Marius vero non modo non a senatu sed etiam oppresso senatu est restitutus. nec rerum gestarum memoria in reditu C. Mari sed exercitus atque arma valuerunt; at de me ut valeret semper senatus flagitavit, ut aliquando proficeret, cum primum licuit, frequentia atque auctoritate perfecit. nullus in eorum reditu motus municipiorum et coloniarum factus est; at me in patriam ter suis decretis Italia cuncta revocavit. illi inimicis interfectis magna civium caede facta reducti sunt: ego iis a quibus eiectus sum provincias obtinentibus, inimico autem, optimo viro et mitissimo, consule altero consule referente reductus sum, cum is inimicus, qui ad meam perniciem vocem suam communibus hostibus praebuisset, spiritu dumtaxat viveret, re quidem infra omnis mortuos amandatus esset.
Never about P. Popilius did the bravest of consuls L. Opimius, never about Q. Metellus did C. Marius, who was an enemy, or even his successor, M. Antonius, that most eloquent man, with A. Albinus his colleague, exhort the Senate or the people. But on my behalf the previous consuls were always demanded that they should refer; but they were afraid that they might seem to act for favour’s sake, because one was my kinsman by marriage, and the other I had defended on a capital charge. Bridled by their bargain over the provinces, they bore through that whole year the complaints of the Senate, the grief of good men, the groan of Italy. But on the Kalends of January, after the bereaved commonwealth had implored the good faith of a consul as her lawful guardian, P. Lentulus, consul, parent, god, salvation of our life, fortune, memory, and name — as soon as he had referred about the solemn worship of the gods — judged that there was no human business he should put before mine.
numquam de P. Popilio L. Opimius, fortissimus consul, numquam de Q. Metello non modo C. Marius, qui erat inimicus, sed ne is quidem qui secutus est, M. Antonius, homo eloquentissimus, cum A. Albino conlega senatum aut populum est cohortatus; at pro me superiores consules semper ut referrent flagitati sunt; sed veriti sunt ne gratiae causa facere viderentur, quod alter mihi adfinis erat, alterius causam capitis receperam; qui provinciarum foedere infrenati totum illum annum querelas senatus, luctum bonorum, Italiae gemitum pertulerunt. Kalendis vero Ianuariis postea quam orba res publica consulis fidem tamquam legitimi tutoris imploravit, P. Lentulus consul, parens, deus, salus nostrae vitae, fortunae, memoriae, nominis, simul ac de sollemni deorum religione rettulit, nihil humanarum rerum sibi prius quam de me agendum iudicavit.
And on that very day the matter would have been settled, had not that tribune of the plebs, whom I, when consul, had honoured as quaestor with the greatest kindnesses — when both the whole order and many of the highest men were begging him, and Cn. Oppius his father-in-law, the best of men, was lying weeping at his feet — demanded a night for deliberation: a deliberation spent not in giving back the bribe (as some thought), but, as it became clear, in increasing it. Afterwards no other matter was acted on in the Senate. When the affair was being held back by various pretexts, with the will of the Senate yet plainly visible, the case was being brought to you in the month of January. Here is the difference between me and my enemies.
atque eo die confecta res esset, nisi is tribunus plebis quem ego maximis beneficiis quaestorem consul ornaram, cum et cunctus ordo et multi eum summi viri orarent, et Cn. Oppius socer, optimus vir, ad pedes flens iaceret, noctem sibi ad deliberandum postulasset; quae deliberatio non in reddenda, quem ad modum non nulli arbitrabantur, sed, ut patefactum est, in augenda mercede consumpta est. postea res acta est in senatu alia nulla: cum variis rationibus impediretur, voluntate tamen perspecta senatus, causa ad vos mense Ianuario deferebatur. hic tantum interfuit inter me et inimicos meos.
I, when I had seen men being openly enrolled and arranged in centuries on the tribunal of Aurelius; when I understood that the old forces of Catiline had been recalled to the hope of slaughter; when I saw that men of the very party of which I was reckoned among the leaders — partly because they envied me, partly because they feared for themselves — were either betrayers or deserters of my safety; when the two consuls, bought by the bargain of the provinces, had given themselves up as supporters to the enemies of the commonwealth; when they saw that their poverty, their greed, their lusts could not be filled, unless they had handed me over bound to the household enemies; when the Senate and the Roman knights were forbidden by edicts and orders to weep on my behalf and, with their dress changed, to entreat you; when all the bargains over the provinces, when all the treaties and reconciliations of favour with all parties were being sealed in my blood; when all good men were not unwilling to perish for me or with me — I would not fight in arms for my safety, because I thought that both to win and to be conquered would be mournful for the commonwealth.
ego, cum homines in tribunali Aurelio palam conscribi centuriarique vidissem, cum intellegerem veteres ad spem caedis Catilinae copias esse revocatas, cum viderem ex ea parte homines, cuius partis nos vel principes numerabamur, partim quod mihi inviderent, partim quod sibi timerent, aut proditores esse aut desertores salutis meae, cum duo consules empti pactione provinciarum auctores se inimicis rei publicae tradidissent, cum egestatem avaritiam libidines suas viderent expleri non posse nisi me constrictum domesticis hostibus dedidissent, cum senatus equites que Romani flere pro me ac mutata veste vobis supplicare edictis atque imperiis vetarentur, cum omnium provinciarum pactiones, cum omnia cum omnibus foedera reconciliationes que gratiarum sanguine meo sancirentur, cum omnes boni non recusarent quin vel pro me vel mecum perirent, armis decertare pro mea salute nolui, quod et vincere et vinci luctuosum rei publicae fore putavi.
But my enemies, in the month of January when my case was being moved, with the bodies of citizens slaughtered, in a flood of blood, thought my return must be cut off. And so, while I was away, you had such a commonwealth that you thought she and I had to be restored on the same terms. As for me, in a state in which the Senate had no force, in which there was every impunity, no courts, where violence and the sword paraded in the Forum, where private men kept themselves up by the protection of their own walls and not of the laws, where the tribunes of the plebs were wounded with you looking on, where the houses of the magistrates were attacked with iron and torches, where the consul’s fasces were broken, where the temples of the immortal gods were set on fire — I judged there was no commonwealth. So neither, when she was driven out, did I think there was a place for me in this city, nor, if she should be restored, did I doubt that she would bring me back along with her.
at inimici mei, mense Ianuario cum de me ageretur, corporibus civium trucidatis flumine sanguinis meum reditum intercludendum putaverunt. itaque, dum ego absum, eam rem publicam habuistis ut aeque me atque illam restituendam putaretis. ego autem in qua civitate nihil valeret senatus, omnis esset impunitas, nulla iudicia, vis et ferrum in foro versaretur, cum privati parietum se praesidio non legum tuerentur, tribuni plebis vobis inspectantibus vulnerarentur, ad magistratuum domos cum ferro et facibus iretur, consulis fasces frangerentur, deorum immortalium templa incenderentur, rem publicam esse nullam putavi. itaque neque re publica exterminata mihi locum in hac urbe esse duxi, nec, si illa restitueretur, dubitavi quin me secum ipsa reduceret.
Or could I, when I was most certain that P. Lentulus would be consul the next year — who, in those very most dangerous times for the commonwealth, when he was curule aedile in my consulship, was a sharer in all my counsels and a partner in my dangers — could I doubt that he, when I had been brought low by consular wounds, would, by consular medicine, bring me back to safety? With him as leader, his colleague — a most clement and most upstanding man — not opposing at first and afterwards even helping, almost all the rest of the magistrates were defenders of my safety: among whom T. Annius and P. Sestius, in outstanding spirit, courage, authority, protection, resources, stood forth in distinguished good will and divine zeal toward me; and, with the same P. Lentulus as proposer and the colleague jointly referring, the Senate in the largest numbers, with one dissenter and no one vetoing, adorned my standing in the most lavish words it could and commended my safety to you, to the towns and to all the colonies.
an ego, cum mihi esset exploratissimum P. Lentulum proximo anno consulem futurum, qui illis ipsis rei publicae periculosissimis temporibus aedilis curulis me consule omnium meorum consiliorum particeps periculorumque socius fuisset, dubitarem quin is me confectum consularibus vulneribus consulari medicina ad salutem reduceret? hoc duce, conlega autem eius, clementissimo atque optimo viro, primo non adversante, post etiam adiuvante, reliqui magistratus paene omnes fuerunt defensores salutis meae; ex quibus excellenti animo virtute auctoritate praesidio copiis T. Annius et P. Sestius praestanti in me benivolentia et divino studio exstiterunt; eodemque P. Lentulo auctore et pariter referente conlega frequentissimus senatus, uno dissentiente, nullo intercedente, dignitatem meam quibus potuit verbis amplissimis ornavit, salutem vobis municipiis coloniis omnibus commendavit.
So me, naked of kindred, fortified by no relationship, the consuls, the praetors, the tribunes of the plebs, the Senate, all Italy ever entreated of you. Finally, all those adorned with your greatest kindnesses and offices, brought before you by the same man, not only exhorted you to save me, but were even authors, witnesses, and praisers of my deeds done. The leader in exhorting you and asking of you was Cn. Pompeius, the man who, of all who are, have been, or will be, is first in courage, wisdom, and glory: who alone, to me alone, his private friend, gave the same things he gave to the whole commonwealth — safety, peace, dignity. His speech, as I have learned, was in three parts: first he taught you that the commonwealth had been saved by my counsels, and bound my cause together with the common safety, and exhorted you to defend the authority of the Senate, the standing of the state, and the fortunes of a citizen of good deserts; next, in his peroration, he set out that you were being asked by the Senate, asked by the Roman knights, asked by all Italy; finally he himself at the last, on behalf of my safety, did not only ask you but entreated you.
ita me nudum a propinquis, nulla cognatione munitum, consules, praetores, tribuni plebis, senatus, Italia cuncta semper a vobis deprecata est, denique omnes qui vestris maximis beneficiis honoribusque sunt ornati, producti ad vos ab eodem, non solum ad me conservandum vos cohortati sunt, sed etiam rerum mearum gestarum auctores testes laudatores fuerunt. quorum princeps ad cohortandos vos et ad rogandos fuit Cn. Pompeius, vir omnium qui sunt, fuerunt, erunt, virtute sapientia gloria princeps: qui mihi unus uni privato amico eadem omnia dedit quae universae rei publicae, salutem, otium, dignitatem. cuius oratio fuit, quem ad modum accepi, tripertita; primum vos docuit meis consiliis rem publicam esse servatam, causamque meam cum communi salute coniunxit, hortatusque est ut auctoritatem senatus, statum civitatis, fortunas civis bene meriti defenderetis; tum me in perorando posuit vos rogari a senatu, rogari ab equitibus Romanis, rogari ab Italia cuncta, deinde ipse ad extremum pro mea vos salute non rogavit solum verum etiam obsecravit.
To this man, citizens, I owe as much as it is hardly right for one man to owe another. Following his counsels, P. Lentulus’s opinion, the Senate’s authority, you have placed me back in that position to which your kindnesses had raised me, by the same centuries by which you had placed me there. At the same time you heard, from the same place, the highest men, the most distinguished and most ample, the leaders of the state, all the consulars, all the praetors say the same thing: so that, by the testimony of all, it stood fixed that the commonwealth had been saved through me alone. And so, when P. Servilius, that man of the gravest weight and most distinguished citizen, had said that the commonwealth had been handed on safe to the magistrates after me by my own act, the rest gave the same opinion. But you heard at that time not only the authority but even the testimony of L. Gellius, that most distinguished man: who, because he had felt — to his great peril — that his own fleet had been almost meddled with, said in your public meeting that, if I had not been consul when I was consul, the commonwealth would have utterly perished.
huic ego homini, Quirites, tantum debeo quantum hominem homini debere vix fas est. huius consilia, P. Lentuli sententiam, senatus auctoritatem vos secuti me in eo loco, in quo vestris beneficiis fueram, isdem centuriis quibus conlocaratis reposuistis. eodem tempore audistis eodem ex loco summos viros, ornatissimos atque amplissimos homines, principes civitatis, omnis consularis, omnis praetorios eadem dicere, ut omnium testimonio per me unum rem publicam conservatam esse constaret. itaque cum P. Servilius, gravissimus vir et ornatissimus civis, dixisset opera mea rem publicam incolumem magistratibus deinceps traditam, dixerunt in eandem sententiam ceteri. sed audistis eo tempore clarissimi viri non solum auctoritatem, sed etiam testimonium, L. Gelli: qui quia suam classem adtemptatam magno cum suo periculo paene sensit, dixit in contione vestrum, si ego consul cum fui non fuissem, rem publicam funditus interituram fuisse.
Behold, citizens! With so many testimonies, with this authority of the Senate, with so great an agreement of Italy, with so great a zeal of all good men, with P. Lentulus pleading the case, with the rest of the magistrates of one mind, with Cn. Pompeius entreating, with all men favouring me, and finally with the immortal gods themselves approving my return by the abundance, plenty, and cheapness of crops, I, restored to myself, to my own people, and to the commonwealth, shall promise you so much as I am able to perform. First, that the same devotion which the most upright men show toward the immortal gods, the same I shall always show toward the Roman people; and that your divinity shall be in my whole life as weighty and as sacred to me as that of the immortal gods. Next, since the commonwealth itself has brought me back into the citizenry, I shall fail her in no place.
en ego tot testimoniis, Quirites, hac auctoritate senatus, tanta consensione Italiae, tanto studio bonorum omnium, causam agente P. Lentulo, consentientibus ceteris magistratibus, deprecante Cn. Pompeio, omnibus hominibus faventibus, dis denique immortalibus frugum ubertate copia vilitate reditum meum comprobantibus, mihi meis rei publicae restitutus, tantum vobis quantum facere possum, Quirites, pollicebor: primum, qua sanctissimi homines pietate erga deos immortalis esse soleant, eadem me erga populum Romanum semper fore, numenque vestrum aeque mihi grave et sanctum ac deorum immortalium in omni vita futurum: deinde, quoniam me in civitatem res publica ipsa reduxit, nullo me loco rei publicae defuturum.
If anyone supposes that I have been changed in will, or weakened in courage, or broken in spirit, he is greatly in error. What violence and injury and the madness of villainous men could take from me, they have torn off, taken away, scattered: what cannot be removed from a brave man, that all remains and shall remain. I myself saw the bravest of men, my fellow-townsman, C. Marius — since for us, as if by some fated necessity, war had to be waged, not only with those who would have wiped out these things, but even with fortune — I saw him, when he was at the very pitch of old age, not only with his spirit not broken because of the greatness of his calamity, but strengthened and made new.
quod si quis existimat me aut voluntate esse mutata aut debilitata virtute aut animo fracto, vehementer errat. mihi quod potuit vis et iniuria et sceleratorum hominum furor detrahere, eripuit, abstulit, dissipavit: quod viro forti adimi non potest, id omne manet et permanebit. vidi ego fortissimum virum, municipem meum, C. Marium,—quoniam nobis quasi aliqua fatali necessitate non solum cum iis qui haec delere voluissent, sed etiam cum fortuna belligerandum fuit,—eum tamen vidi, cum esset summa senectute, non modo non infracto animo propter magnitudinem calamitatis, sed confirmato atque renovato.
Whom I myself heard say that he had been miserable then, when he was without that country which he himself had freed from siege, when he heard that his goods were possessed and plundered by his enemies, when he saw his young son the partner of the same calamity, when, sunk in the marshes, by the rushing-up and the pity of the Minturnenses he had kept his body and life, when, taken across in a small ship to Africa, he had come destitute and a suppliant to those upon whom he himself had bestowed kingdoms; but that, having recovered his standing, he would not bring it about that, when those things he had lost had been restored to him, he should not have the courage of spirit which he had never lost. But this is the difference between me and him: that he, by the very thing in which he was strongest, took vengeance on his enemies — by arms; I shall use what I have been used to, speech: since for that art there is place in war and in sedition, for this in peace and quiet.
quem egomet dicere audivi tum se fuisse miserum cum careret patria quam obsidione liberavisset, cum sua bona possideri ab inimicis ac diripi audiret, cum adulescentem filium videret eiusdem socium calamitatis, cum in paludibus demersus concursu ac misericordia Minturnensium corpus ac vitam suam conservaret, cum parva navicula pervectus in Africam, quibus regna ipse dederat, ad eos inops supplexque venisset: reciperata vero sua dignitate se non commissurum ut, cum ea quae amiserat sibi restituta essent, virtutem animi non haberet quam numquam perdidisset. sed hoc inter me atque illum interest, quod ille, qua re plurimum potuit, ea ipsa re inimicos suos ultus est, armis, ego qua consuevi utar oratione, quoniam illi arti in bello ac seditione locus est, huic in pace atque otio.
Although he, with an angry spirit, did nothing but take vengeance on his enemies, I shall think about my friends only so much as the commonwealth allows me. Citizens, since four classes of men in all have wronged me — one of those who, out of hatred for the commonwealth (because, against their wishes, I had saved her), were my bitterest enemies; another of those who, under the pretence of friendship, treacherously betrayed me; a third of those who, since they could not attain the same things by their own slothfulness, envied my praise and my standing; a fourth of those who, although they ought to have been guardians of the commonwealth, sold off my safety, the standing of the state, and the dignity of the command which was in their hands — so I shall avenge their offences one by one, in the manner I was provoked by each: bad citizens, by managing the commonwealth well; treacherous friends, by trusting them in nothing and watching every move; the envious of my courage and glory, by serving them; the traffickers in provinces, by recalling them home and demanding from them an account of the provinces.
quamquam ille animo irato nihil nisi de inimicis ulciscendis agebat, ego de ipsis amicis tantum quantum mihi res publica permittit cogitabo. denique, Quirites, quoniam me quattuor omnino hominum genera violarunt, unum eorum qui odio rei publicae, quod eam ipsis invitis conservaram, inimicissimi mihi fuerunt, alterum, qui per simulationem amicitiae nefarie me prodiderunt, tertium, qui cum propter inertiam suam eadem adsequi non possent, inviderunt laudi et dignitati meae, quartum, qui cum custodes rei publicae esse deberent, salutem meam, statum civitatis, dignitatem eius imperi quod erat penes ipsos vendiderunt: sic ulciscar facinora singula, quem ad modum a quibusque sum provocatus, malos civis rem publicam bene gerendo, perfidos amicos nihil credendo atque omnia cavendo, invidos virtuti et gloriae serviendo, mercatores provinciarum revocando domum atque ab iis provinciarum rationem repetendo.
Although it is more my care, citizens, how I shall return thanks to you who have so well deserved of me, than how I shall pursue the injuries and cruelty of my enemies. For the reckoning of avenging an injury is easier than that of repaying a kindness, because to be superior to wicked men is less of a matter than to be made equal with good men. Then again it is not as needful to repay the badly deserving what one owes them, as it is to repay the best deserving.
quamquam mihi, Quirites, maiori curae est quem ad modum vobis, qui de me estis optime meriti, gratiam referam quam quem ad modum inimicorum iniurias crudelitatemque persequar. etenim ulciscendae iniuriae facilior ratio est quam benefici remunerandi, propterea quod superiorem esse contra improbos minus est negoti quam bonis exaequari. tum etiam ne tam necessarium quidem est male meritis quam optime meritis referre quod debeas.
Hatred can be softened by prayers, or set down for the sake of the times of the commonwealth and the common good, or held in check by the difficulty of avenging it, or laid to rest by mere length of time; not to honour the well-deserving, neither is it right to be entreated, nor is one bound in any way to remit it for the commonwealth’s sake; nor is there an excuse of difficulty, nor is it fair to fix the memory of a kindness by time and day. Finally, the man who has been more relaxed in vengeance is openly praised for his judgement; but the man who is too slow in repaying so great kindnesses as you have bestowed on me is most heavily blamed, and not only is called ungrateful (which is itself grave), but must even be called impious. And in repaying duty the reckoning is unlike that of money owed: because the man who keeps money has not paid it, and the man who has paid it does not have it; but a kind return both the man who has made it has, and the man who has it has paid.
odium vel precibus mitigari potest vel temporibus rei publicae communique utilitate deponi vel difficultate ulciscendi contineri vel vetustate sedari; bene meritos ne colas, nec exorari fas est, neque id rei publicae remittere utique necesse est; neque est excusatio difficultatis, neque aequum est tempore et die memoriam benefici definire. postremo qui in ulciscendo remissior fuit, in eo consilium aperte laudatur; at gravissime vituperatur qui in tantis beneficiis quanta vos in me contulistis remunerandis est tardior, neque solum ingratus, quod ipsum grave est, verum etiam impius appelletur necesse est. atque in officio persolvendo dissimilis est ratio pecuniae debitae, propterea quod pecuniam qui retinet non dissolvit, qui reddidit non habet: gratiam et qui rettulit habet, et qui habet dissolvit.
Therefore I shall cherish the memory of your kindness with an everlasting good will: not only so long as I shall draw my breath, but, even when life has failed me, those memorials of your service to me shall remain. In repaying gratitude I undertake again, and shall always make good, that, in counsels to be taken on behalf of the commonwealth, my care; in dangers to be warded off from the commonwealth, my spirit; in giving an opinion plainly, my good faith; in offending men’s wishes for the sake of the commonwealth, my freedom; in bearing through labour, my industry; and, in increasing your conveniences, the good will of a grateful spirit, shall not fail.
quapropter memoriam vestri benefici colam benivolentia sempiterna, nec tantum dum anima exspirabo mea, sed etiam cum me vita defecerit, illa monumenta vestri in me benefici permanebunt. in referenda autem gratia hoc vobis repromitto semperque praestabo, mihi neque in consiliis de re publica capiendis diligentiam neque in periculis a re publica propulsandis animum neque in sententia simpliciter ferenda fidem neque in hominum voluntatibus pro re publica laedendis libertatem nec in perferendo labore industriam nec in vestris commodis augendis grati animi benivolentiam defuturam.
And this care, citizens, shall be fixed in my spirit forever: that, both with you who hold for me the force and divinity of the immortal gods, and with your descendants and all the nations, I may seem most worthy of that state which has judged, by all its votes, that it could not keep its own dignity unless it had recovered me.
atque haec cura, Quirites, erit infixa animo meo sempiterna, ut cum vobis, qui apud me deorum immortalium vim et numen tenetis, tum posteris vestris cunctisque gentibus dignissimus ea civitate videar quae suam dignitatem non posse se tenere, nisi me reciperasset, cunctis suffragiis iudicavit.