" Were not my zeal for the good of the state, my fellow-citizens, superior to every other feeling, there are many considerations which would deter me from appearing in your cause; I allude to the power of the opposite party, your own tameness of spirit, the absence of all justice, and, above all, the fact that integrity is attended with more danger than honor. Indeed, it grieves me to relate, how, during the last fifteen years, XXXI. During the last fifteen years] His annis quindecim. "It was at this time, A.U.C. 641, twenty-two years since the death of Tiberius Gracchus, and ten since that of Caius; Sallust, or Memmius, not to appear to make too nice a computation, takes a mean." Bernouf The manuscripts however, vary; some read fifteen, and others twelve. Cortius conjectured twenty, as a rounder number, which Kritzius and Dietsch have inserted in their texts. Twenty is also found in the Editio Victoriana, Florence, 1576 . you have been a sport to the arrogance of an oligarchy; how dishonorably, and how utterly unavenged, your defenders have perished; Your defenders have perished] Perierint vestri defensores. Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, and their adherents. and how your spirit has become degenerate by sloth and indolence; for not even now, when your enemies are in your power, will you rouse yourselves to action, but continue still to stand in awe of those to whom you should be a terror. " Yet, notwithstanding this state of things, I feel prompted to make an attack on the power of that faction. That liberty of speech, Liberty of speech] Libertatem. Liberty of speech is evidently intended. therefore, which has been left me by my father, I shall assuredly exert against them; but whether I shall use it in vain, or for your advantage, must, my fellow-citizens, depend upon yourselves. I do not, however, exhort you, as your ancestors have often done, to rise in arms against injustice. There is at present no need of violence, no need of secession; for your tyrants must work their fall by their own misconduct. " After the murder of Tiberius Gracchus, whom they accused of aspiring to be king, persecutions were instituted against the common people of Rome; and after the slaughter of Caius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius, many of your order were put to death in prison. But let us leave these proceedings out of the question; let us admit that to restore their rights to the people, was to aspire to sovereignty; let us allow that what can not be avenged without shedding the blood of citizens, was done with justice. You have seen with silent indignation, however, in past years, the treasury pillaged; you have seen kings, and free people, paying tribute to a small party of Patricians, in whose hands were both the highest honors and the greatest wealth; but to have carried on such proceedings with impunity, they now deem but a small matter; and, at last, your laws and your honor, with every civil and religious obligation, Every civil and religious obligation] Divina et humana omnia. "They offended against the laws, when they took bribes from an enemy ; against the honor of Rome, when they did what was unworthy of it, and greatly to its injury; and against gods and men, against all divine and human obligations, when they granted to a wicked prince not only impunity, but even rewards, for his crimes." Dietsch. have been sacrificed for the benefit of your enemies. Nor do they, who have done these things, show either shame or contrition, but parade proudly before your faces, displaying their sacerdotal dignities, their consulships, and some of them their triumphs, as if they regarded them as marks of honor, and not as fruits of their dishonesty. Slaves, purchased with money, Slaves purchased with money, etc.] Servi, œre parati, etc. This is taken from another speech of Cato, of which a portion is preserved in Aul. Gell. x. 3: Servi injurias nimis œgre ferunt; quid illos bono genere natos, magnâ virtute prœditos, animi habuisse atque habituros, dum vivent? "Slaves are apt to be too impatient of injuries; and what feelings do you think that men of good family, and of great merit, must have had, and will have as long as they live ?" will not submit to unjust commands from their masters; yet you, my fellow-citizens, who are born to empire, tamely endure oppression. "But who are these that have thus taken the government into their hands ? Men of the most abandoned character, of blood-stained hands, of insatiable avarice, of enormous guilt, and of matchless pride; men by whom integrity, reputation, public spirit, Public spirit] Pietas. Under this word are included all duties that we ought to perform to those with whom we are intimately connected, or on whom we are dependent, as our parents, our country, and the gods. I have borrowed my translation of the word from Rose. and indeed every thing, whether honorable or dishonorable, is converted to a means of gain. Some of them make it their defense that they have killed tribunes of the people; others, that they have instituted unjust prosecutions; others, that they have shed your blood; and thus, the more atrocities each has committed, the greater is his security; while your oppressors, whom the same desires, the same aversions, and the same fears, combine in strict union (a union which among good men is friendship, but among the bad confederacy in guilt), have excited in you, through your want of spirit, that terror which they ought to feel for their own crimes. " But if your concern to preserve your liberty were as great as their ardor to increase their power of oppression, the state would not be distracted as it is at present; and the marks of favor which proceed from you, The marks of favor which proceed from you] Beneficia vestra. Offices of state, civil and military. would be conferred, not on the most shameless, but on the most deserving. Your forefathers, in order to assert their rights and establish their authority, twice seceded in arms to Mount Aventine ; and will not you exert yourselves, to the utmost of your power, in defense of that liberty which you received from them ? Will you not display so much the more spirit in the cause, from the reflection that it is a greater disgrace to lose A greater disgrace to lose, etc.] Quòd majus dedecus est parta amitere qnam omnino non paravisse. Thucyd. ii. 62. what has been gained, than not to have gained it at all ? "But some will ask me, 'What course of conduct, then, would you advise us to pursue ?' I would advise you to inflict punishment on those who have sacrificed the interests of their country to the enemy; not, indeed, by arms, or any violence (which would be more unbecoming, however, for you to inflict than for them to suffer), but by prosecutions, and by the evidence of Jugurtha himself, who, if he has really surrendered, will doubtless obey your summons; whereas, if he shows contempt for it, you will at once judge what sort of a peace or surrender it is, from which springs impunity to Jugurtha for his crimes, immense wealth to a few men in power, and loss and infamy to the republic. "But perhaps you are not yet weary of the tyranny of these men; perhaps these times please you less than those These times please you less than those, etc.] Illa quàm hœc tempora magis placent, etc. "Those times, which immediately succeeded the deaths of the Gracchi, and which were distinguished for the tyranny of the nobles, and the humiliation of the people; these times, in which the people have begun to rouse their spirit and exert their liberty." Burnouf. when kingdoms, provinces, laws, rights, the administration of justice, war and peace, and indeed every thing civil and religious, was in the hands of an oligarchy; while you, that is, the people of Rome, though unconquered by foreign enemies, and rulers of all nations around, were content with being alloyed to live; for which of you had spirit to throw off your slavery ? For myself, indeed, though I think it most disgraceful to receive an injury without resenting it, yet I could easily allow you to pardon these basest of traitors, because they are your fellow-citizens, were it not certain that your indulgence would end in your destruction. For such is their presumption, that to escape punishment for their misdeeds will have but little effect upon them, unless they be deprived, at the same time, of the power of doing mischief; and endless anxiety will remain for you, if you shall have to reflect that you must either be slaves or preserve your liberty by force of arms. "Of mutual trust, or concord, what hope is there? They wish to be lords, you desire to be free; they seek to inflict injury, you to repel it; they treat your allies as enemies, your enemies as allies. With feelings so opposite, can peace or friendship subsist between you ? I warn, therefore, and exhort you, not to allow such enormous dishonesty to go unpunished. It is not an embezzlement of the public money Embezzlement of the public money] Peculatus œrarii. Peculator, qui furtum facit pecuniæ publicæ. Ascon. Pedian. in Cic. Verr. i. that has been committed; nor is it a forcible extortion of money from your allies; offenses which, though great, are now, from their frequency, considered as nothing; but the authority of the senate, and your own power, have been sacrificed to the bitterest of enemies, and the public interest has been betrayed for money, both at home and abroad; and unless these misdeeds be investigated, and punishment be inflicted on the guilty, what remains for us but to live the slaves of those who committed them For those who do what they will with impunity are undoubtedly kings. Kings] I have substituted the plural for the singular. "No name was more hated at Rome than that of a king; and no sentiment, accordingly, could have been better adapted to inflame the minds of Memmius's hearers, than that which he here utters." Dietsch. "I do not, however, wish to encourage you, O Romans, to be better satisfied at finding your fellow-citizens guilty than innocent, but merely to warn you not to bring ruin on the good, by suffering the bad to escape. It is far better, in any government, to be unmindful of a service than of an injury ; for a good man, if neglected, only becomes less active; but a bad man, more daring. Besides, if the crimes of the wicked are suppressed, If the crimes of the wicked are suppressed, etc.] Si injuriœ non sint haud sœpe auxilii egeas. "Some foolishly interpret auxilium as signifying auxilium tribunicium, the aid of the tribunes; but it is evident to me that Sallust means aid against the injuries of bad men, i.e. revenge or punishment." Kritzius. "If injuries are repressed, or prevented, there will be less need for the help of good men, and it will be of less consequence if they become inactive." Dietsch. the state will seldom need extraordinary support from the virtuous." By repeating these and similar sentiments, Memmius prevailed on the people to send Lucius Cassius, XXXII. Lucius Cassius] This is the man from whom came the common saying cui bono? "Lucius Cassius, whom the Roman people thought the most accurate and wisest of judges, was accustomed constantly to inquire, in the progress of a cause, cui bono fuisset, of what advantage any thing had been." Cic. pro Rose. Am. 30. "His tribunal," says Valerius Maximus (iii. 7), "was called, from his excessive severity, the rock of the accused." It was probably on account of this quality in his character that he was now sent into Numidia. who was then prætor, to Jugurtha, and to bring him, under guarantee of the public faith, Under guarantee of the public faith] Interpositâ fide publicâ. See Cat. 47, 48. So a little below, fidem suam interponit. Interpono is "to pledge." to Rome, in order that, by the prince's evidence, the misconduct of Scaurus and the rest, whom they charged with having taken bribes, might more easily be made manifest. During the course of these proceedings at Rome, those whom Bestia had left in Numidia in command of the army, following the example of their general, had been guilty of many scandalous transactions. Some, seduced by gold, had restored Jugurtha his elephants; others had sold him his deserters; others had ravaged the lands of those at peace with us; so strong a spirit of rapacity, like the contagion of a pestilence, had pervaded the breasts of all. Cassius, when the measure proposed by Memmius had been carried, and while all the nobility were in consternation, set out on his mission to Jugurtha, whom, alarmed as he was, and despairing of his fortune, from a sense of guilt, he admonished " that since he had surrendered himself to the Romans, he had better make trial of their mercy than their power." He also pledged his own word, which Jugurtha valued not less than that of the public, for his safety. Such, at that period, was the reputation of Cassius. Jugurtha, accordingly, accompanied Cassius to Rome, but without any mark of royalty, and in the garb, as much as possible, of a suppliant; XXXIII. In the garb, as much as possible, of a suppliant] Cultu quàm maximè miserabili. "In such a garb as accused persons, or suppliants, were accustomed to adopt, when they wished to excite compassion, putting on a mean dress, and allowing their hair and beard to grow." Burnouf. and, though he felt great confidence on his own part, and was supported by all those through whose power or villainy he had accomplished his projects, he purchased, by a vast bribe, the aid of Caius Bæbius, a tribune of the people, by whose audacity he hoped to be protected against the law, and against all harm. An assembly of the people being convoked, Memmius although they were violently exasperated against Jugurtha, (some demanding that he should be cast into prison, others that, unless he should name his accomplices in guilt, he should be put to death, according to the usage of their ancestors, as a public enemy), yet, regarding rather their character than their resentment, endeavored to calm their turbulence and mitigate their rage ; and assured them that, as far as depended on him, the public faith should not be broken. At length, when silence was obtained, he brought forward Jugurtha, and addressed them. He detailed the misdeeds of Jugurtha at Rome and in Numidia, and set forth his crimes toward his father and brothers; and admonished the prince, " that the Roman people, though they were well aware by whose support and agency he had acted, yet desired further testimony from himself; that, if he disclosed the truth, there was great hope for him in the honor and clemency of the Romans; but if he concealed it, he would certainly not save his accomplices, but ruin himself and his hopes forever." But when Memmius had concluded his speech, and Jugurtha was expected to give his answer, Caius Bæbius, the tribune of the people, whom I have just noticed as having been bribed, enjoined the prince to hold his peace; XXXIV. Enjoined the prince to hold his peace] A single tribune might, by such intervention, offer an effectual opposition to almost any proceeding. On the great power of the tribunes, see Adam's Rom. Ant., under the head " Tribunes of the People." and though the multitude, who formed the assembly, were desperately enraged, and endeavored to terrify the tribune by outcries, by angry looks, by violent gestures, and by every other act to which anger prompts, Every other act to which anger prompts] Aliis omnibus, quœ ira fieri amat. "These words have given rise to wonderful hallucinations; for Quintilian, ix. 3. 17, having observed that many expressions of Sallust are borrowed from the Greek, as Vulgus amat fieri, all interpreters, from Cortius downward, have thought that the structure of Sallust's words must be Greek, and have taken ira, in this passage, for an ablative, and quœ for a nominative plural. Gerlach has even gone so far as to take liberties with the words cited by Quintilian, and to correct them, please the gods, into quœ in vulgus amat fieri. But how could there have been such want of penetration in learned critics, such deficiency in the knowledge of the two languages, that, when the imitation of the Greek, noticed by Quintilian, has reference merely to the word φιλεῖ, amat, they should think of extending it to the dependence of a singular verb on a neuter plural ? With truth, indeed, though with much simplicity, does Gerlach observe, that you will in vain seek for instances of this mode of expression in other writers." Kritzius. Dietsch agrees with Kritzius and there will, I hope, be no further doubt that quœ is the accusative and ira the nominative; the sense being, " which anger loves or desires to be done." Another mode of explanation has been suggested, namely, to understand multitudo as the nominative case to amat, making ira the ablative but this method is far more cumbersome, and less in accordance with the style of Sallust. The words quoted by Quintilian do notrefer, as Cortius erroneously supposes, to this passage, but to some part of Sallust's works that is now lost. his audacity was at last triumphant. The people, mocked and set at naught, withdrew from the place of assembly; and the confidence of Jugurtha, Bestia, and the others, whom this investigation had alarmed, was greatly augmented. There was at this period in Rome a certain Numidian named Massiva, a son of Gulussa and grandson of Masinissa, who, from having been, in the dissensions among the princes, opposed to Jugurtha, had been obliged, after the surrender of Cirta and the murder of Adherbal, to make his escape out of Africa. Spurius Albinus, who was consul with Quintus Minucius Rufus the year after Bestia, prevailed upon this man, as he was of the family of Masinissa, and as odium and terror hung over Jugurtha for his crimes, to petition the senate for the kingdom of Numidia. Albinus,being eager for the conduct of a war, was desirous that affairs should be disturbed, XXXV. Should be disturbed] Movere is the reading of Cortius; moveri that of most other editors, in conformity with most of the MSS. and early editions. rather than sink into tranquillity; especially as, in the division of the provinces, Numidia had fallen to himself, and Macedonia to Minucius. When Massiva proceeded to carry these suggestions into execution, Jugurtha, finding that he had no sufficient support in his friends, as a sense of guilt deterred some, and evil report or timidity others, from coming forward in his behalf, directed Bomilcar, his most attached and faithful adherent, to procure by the aid of money, by which he had already effected so much, assassins to kill Massiva; and to do it secretly if he could; but, if secrecy should be impossible, to cut him off' in any way whatsoever. This commission Bomilcar soon found means to execute; and, by the agency of men versed in such service, ascertained the direction of his journeys, his hours of leaving home, and the times at which he resorted to particular places, The times at which he resorted to particular places] Loca atque temrora cuncta. "All his places and times." There can be no doubt that the sense is what I have given in the text. and, when all was ready, placed his assassins in ambush. One of their number sprung upon Massiva, though with too little caution, and killed him; but being himself caught, he made, at the instigation of many, and especially of Albinus the consul, a full confession. Bomilcar was accordingly committed for trial, though rather on the principles of reason and justice than in accordance with the law of nations, In accordance with the law of nations, etc.] As the public faith had been pledged to Jugurtha for his security, his retinue was on the same footing as that of embassadors, the persons of whose attendants are considered as inviolable as their own, as long as they commit no offense against the laws of the country in which they are resident. If any such offense is committed by an attendant of an embassador, an application is usually made by the government to the embassador to deliver him up for trial. Bomilcar seems to have been apprehended without any application having been made to Jugurtha; as, in our own country, the Portuguese embassador's brother, who was one of his retinue, was apprehended and executed for a murder, by Oliver Cromwell. See, on this point, Grotius De Jure Bell. et Pac., xviii. 8; Vattel, iv. 9; Burlamaqui on Politic Law, part iv. ch. 15. Jugurtha, says Vattel, should have given up Bomilcar; but such was not Jugurtha's object. as he was in the retinue of one who had come to Rome on a pledge of the public faith for his safety. But Jugurtha, though clearly guilty of the crime, did not cease to struggle against the truth, until he perceived that the infamy of the deed was too strong for his interest or his money. For which reason, although, at the commencement of the proceedings, At the commencement of the proceedings] In priori actione. That is, when Bomilcar was apprehended and charged with the murder. he had given fifty of his friends as bail for Bomilcar, yet, thinking more of his kingdom than of the sureties, he sent him off privately into Numidia; for he feared that if such a man should be executed, his other subjects would be deterred from obeying him. His other subjects would be deterred from obeying him] Reliquos popularis metus invaderet parendi sibi. "Fear of obeying him should take possession of his other subjects." A few days after, he himself departed, having been ordered by the senate to quit Italy. But, as he was going from Rome, he is said, after frequently looking back on it in silence, to have at last exclaimed, "That it was a venal city, and would soon perish, if it could but find a purchaser !" That it was a venal city, etc.] Urbem venalem, etc. I consider, with Cortius, that this is the proper way of taking these words. Some would render them O venal city, etc., because Livy, Epit. lxiv., has O urbem venalem , but this seems to require that the verb should be in the second person; and it is probable that in Livy we should either eject the "O" or read inveneris. Florus, iii. 1, gives the words in the same way as Sallust.