20.
In truth if that celebrated augur Quintus Scaevola, when he was consulted
about the laws relating to mortgages;—a man most skillful in
law,—occasionally referred those who consulted him to Furius and
Cascellius as men who had invested their money in such securities and if we
in the transaction referring to our aqueduct consulted Marcus Tugio, rather
than Caius Aquillius, because constant practice devoted to one
particular line of business often proves superior to ability and to general
information, who can hesitate to prefer our generals to all the most
experienced lawyers on earth in any case respecting treaties, and the whole
state of the law of peace and war?
[46]
May I
not therefore, mention, with your approbation, Caius Marius, the original
author of that conduct and of that precedent which is found so much fault
with by you? Do you require any more weighty example? any one of more
consistent wisdom? any one more eminent for virtue and prudence, and
conscientiousness and equity? Did he, then, confer the freedom of the city
on Marcus Annius Appius, a most gallant man, and one endued with the most
admirable virtue, when he knew that the treaty made with Camertum had been
most solemnly ratified, and was in all respects a most equitable one? Is it
possible, then, O judges, that Lucius Cornelius should be condemned, without
condemning also the conduct of Caius Marius?
[47]
Let then, that great man be present for a while to your thoughts, as he
cannot appear before you in reality, so that you may behold him with your
minds whom you cannot behold with your eyes. Let him state to you that he
has not been altogether unversed in treaties, nor wholly inexperienced in
the nature of precedents, nor entirely ignorant of war; that he was the
pupil and soldier of Publius Africanus; that he was trained in campaigns and
in many warlike lieutenancies; that if he had read of as many wars as he has
served in and conducted, and brought to a termination,—that if he
had served under consuls as often as he himself was consul, he might have
learnt and become thoroughly acquainted with all the laws of war; that he
never doubted for a moment that no treaty could hinder him from doing
anything which was for the advantage of the republic; that he carefully
selected all the bravest men out of every city which was closely connected
with and friendly to us; that none of the people of Iguvium or of Camertum were excepted
by treaty, so that their citizens were incapable of receiving from the Roman
people the rewards of their virtue.
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.