Chapter 43 Flashcards
“Saepe numero, patres conscripti, in hoc ordine interfui, cum contra instituta et leges maiorum nova senatus decreta postularentur;
‘Often, fellow senators, I have been present in this order, when the new decrees of the Senate were demanding against the customs and laws of the ancestors,
neque sum adversatus, non quia dubitarem, super omnibus negotiis melius atque rectius olim provisum et quae converterentur [in] deterius mutari, sed ne nimio amore antiqui moris studium meum extollere viderer.
and I haven’t opposed them, not because I doubted but that in all matters the arrangements of the past were better and fairer and that all changes were for the worse, but so that I did not seem to praise my own enthusiasm and excessive fondness for old customs.
simul quicquid hoc in nobis auctoritatis est, crebris contradictionibus destruendum non existimabam, ut maneret integrum, si quando res publica consiliis eguisset.
At the same time, I thought that it was necessary to not destroy whatever influence there was in me with frequent opposing speeches so that it might remain untouched if the republic need advice.
quod hodie venit, consulari viro domi suae interfecto per insidias serviles, quas nemo prohibuit aut prodidit quamvis nondum concusso senatus consulto, quod supplicium toti familiae minitabatur.
This situation where my advice is needed came today with an ex-consul man having been killed in his own home through the treachery of a slave, which no one stopped or prevented or betrayed, although the decree of the Senate threatened punishment to the whole household has not yet been damaged.
decernite hercule impunitatem: at quem dignitas sua defendet, cum praefecto urbis non profu[er]it?
By Hercules, decide on impunity (allowing them to get away with it scot free): but which man will his rank defend, when it was of no use to the prefect of the city?
quem numerus servorum tuebitur, cum Pedanium Secundum quadringenti non protexerint? cui familia opem feret, quae ne in metu quidem pericula nostra advertit?
Whom will an army of slaves protect, when 400 did not protect Pendanius Secundus? To whom will the household offer help, who didn’t even in fear noticed our danger?
an, ut quidam fingere non erubescunt, iniurias suas ultus est interfector, quia de paterna pecunia transegerat aut avitum mancipium detrahebatur? pronuntiemus ultro dominum iure caesum videri.
Or, as some people do not ashamed to pretend, did the killer avenge his own injuries, because he had compromised his father’s money, or ancestral ownership was being taken away? Let us proclaim that the master seemed to have been slaughtered quite rightly.
