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? Even you yourself; O Labienus, what would you do in such a crisis? When your general system of
 indolence was compelling you to flight and lurking-places, while the villainy and frenzy of
 Lucius Saturninus was inviting you to the Capitol, while the consuls were summoning you to
 uphold the safety and liberty of your country; which authority, which invitation, which party
 would you prefer to follow, whose command would you select to obey? My uncle says he was with
 Saturninus. What if he was? Whom was your father with?—What if he was? Where were your
 relations, Roman knights?—What if he was? What was the conduct of all your prefecture, and
 district, and neighbourhood?—What if he was? What was the conduct of the whole Picene district;
 did they follow the frenzy of the tribune, or the authority of the consul? In truth, I affirm this; that that which you confess of your uncle, no man has
 ever yet confessed with respect to himself. No one, I say, has been found so profligate, so
 abandoned, so entirely destitute, not only of all honesty, but of every resemblance of and
 pretence to honesty, as to confess that he was in the Capitol with Saturninus. But your uncle
 was. Let him have been; and let him have been, though not compelled by the desperate condition
 of his own affairs, or by airy domestic distresses and embarrassments. Suppose it was his
 intimacy with Lucius Saturninus that induced him to prefer his friendship to his country,—was
 that a reason for Caius Rabirius also deserting the republic? for his not appearing in that
 armed multitude of good men? for his refusing obedience to the invitation and command of the
 consul?