I would, I say, willingly confess, if I could with truth, or even if the cause were not
 already discussed, that Lucius Saturninus was shun by the band of Caius Rabirius; and I should
 think it a most glorious deed. But since I cannot do that, I will confess this, which will have
 less weight with regard to our credit, but not less with regard to the accusation—I confess that
 Caius Rabirius took up arms for the purpose of slaying Saturninus. What is the matter, Labienus?
 What more weighty confession do you expect from me; or what greater charge did you expect me to
 furnish against him? Unless you think that there is any difference between him who slew the man,
 and him who was in arms for the purpose of slaying him. If it was wrong for Saturninus to be
 slain, then arms cannot have been taken up against Saturninus without guilt;—if you admit that
 arms were lawfully taken up,—then you must inevitably confess that he was rightly slain. 
 A resolution of the senate is passed, that Caius Marius and Lucius Valerius, the consuls,
 shall employ the tribunes of the people and the praetors as they think fit; and shall take care
 that the empire and majesty of the Roman people be preserved. They do employ all the tribunes of
 the people except Saturninus, and all the praetors except Glaucia; they bid every one who
 desires the safety of the republic to take arms and to follow them. Every one obeys. Arms are
 distributed from the sacred buildings and from the public armouries to the Roman people, Caius
 Marius the consul distributing them. Here now, to say nothing of other points, I ask you
 yourself; O Labienus, when Saturninus in arms was in possession of the Capitol; when Glaucia,
 and Caius Saufeius, and even that Gracchus This was a man of the name of
 Equitius Tismo, whom Saturninus gave out to be a son of Tiberius Gracchus. When Marius shut up
 the prisoners who had surrendered in the Curia Hostilia, and the people stripped off the roof;
 and threw the tiles down on them, this pseudo Gracchus was slain among the others. just
 escaped from chains and the jail, were with him; I will add, too, since you wish me to do so,
 Quintus Labienus, your own uncle; but in the forum were Caius Marius and Lucius Valerius Flaccus
 the consuls, behind them all the senate, and that senate, too, whom even you yourselves (who try
 to render the conscript fathers of the present day unpopular, in order the more easily to
 diminish the power of the senate) are accustomed to extol; when the equestrian order-—what men
 the Roman knights, O ye immortal gods, then were!—when they supported, as they did in the time
 of our fathers, a great portion of the republic, and the whole dignity of the courts of justice;
 when all men, of all ranks, who thought their own safety involved in the safety of the republic,
 had taken arms;—what, then, was Caius Rabirius to do? I ask
 you yourself; I say, O Labienus,—when the consuls, in pursuance of the resolution of the senate,
 had summoned the citizens to arms; when Marcus Aemilius, the chief of the senate, stood in arms
 in the assembly; who, though he could scarcely walk, thought the lameness of his feet not an
 impediment to his pursuit of enemies, but only to his flight from them; when, lastly, Quintus
 Scaevola, worn out as he was with old age, enfeebled by disease, lame, and crippled, and
 powerless in all his limbs, leaning on his spear, displayed at the same time the vigour of his
 mind and the weakness of his body; when Lucius Metellus, Sergius Galba, Caius Serranus, Publius
 Rutilius, Caius Fimbria, Quintus Catulus, and all the men of consular rank who were then in
 existence, had taken arms in defence of the common safety; when all the praetors, all the nobles
 and youth of the city, united together, Cnaeus and Lucius Domitius, Lucius Crassus, Quintus
 Mucius, Caius Claudius, Marcus Drusus; when all the Octavii, Metelli, Julii, Cassii, Catos and
 Pompeii ; when Lucius Philippus, Lucius Scipio,
 when Marcus Lepidus, when Decimus Brutus, when this very man himself; Servilius, under whom you,
 O Labienus, have served as your general; when this Quintus Catulus, whom we see here, then a
 very young man; when this Caius Curio; when, in short, every illustrious man in the city was
 with the consuls;—what then did it become Caius Rabirius to do? Was he to lie hid, shut up, and
 concealed in some dark place, and to hide his cowardice under the protection of darkness and
 walls? Or was he to go into the Capitol, and there join himself to your uncle, and with the rest
 of those who were fleeing to death, on account of the infamy of their lives? Or was he to unite
 with Marius, Scarius, Catulus, Metellus, Scaevola,—in short, with all virtuous men, in a
 community not only of safety, but also of danger?