19.
Nor does that illustrious man Marcus Regulus whom the Carthaginians, having
cut off his eyelids and bound him in a machine, killed by keeping him awake,
appear to have had punishment inflicted on him. Nor does Caius Marius whom
Italy, which he had saved, saw
sunk in the marshes of Minturnae, and whom Africa, which he had subdued, beheld banished and
shipwrecked. For those were the wounds of fortune, not of guilt, but
punishment is the penalty of crime. Nor should I, if I were now to pray for
evils to fall upon you as I often have done (and indeed the immortal gods
have heard those prayers of mine,) pray for disease, or death, or tortures
to befall you. That is an execution worthy of Thyestes, the work of a poet
who wishes to affect the minds of the common people, not of philosophers,
that you, “
Wrecked on some vast inhospitable shore
Clinging to rugged rocks, with bleeding limbs
Might trembling hang, and all the rocks defile
With gore and black pollution.
” [44] I do not mean to say that I should be much vexed if such a thing were to happen but still it would be an accident such as all men are liable to. Marcus Marcellus, who was three times consul, a man of the most excessive virtue and piety and military glory was lost at sea; through his virtue he still lives in glory and renown. A death such as that is to be attributed to fortune, not to be considered a punishment. What then is punishment? What is chastisement? What is stoning? What is the cross? It is punishment that there should be two generals in the provinces of the Roman people, that they should have armies, that they should be styled “Imperator,” that one of them should be so completely cowed by the consciousness of his crimes and of his atrocities, as not to dare to send any letter of any sort to the senate from that province which was of all others the richest in triumphs. From that province that man, so distinguished for every sort of worth and dignity, Lucius Torquatus, was returning, when on account of his mighty deeds he was, on my motion, styled “Imperator” by the senate. In that province it was that those well-deserved triumphs of Cnaeus Dolabella, and Caius Curio, and Marcus Lucullus were earned within the last few years; and from that while you were the commander, no messenger whatever was ever sent to the senate. From the other consul certainly letters have been brought and read, and motions respecting him have been submitted to the senate. [45] O ye immortal gods, could I have desired that my chief enemy should be branded with such ignominy as no one ever was before? that that senate, which has now got into such a regular habit and practice of kindness as to confer on those who have managed the affairs of the republic successfully, honours hitherto unexampled, both in the number of days which they last and in the language in which they are decreed, should refuse belief to the letters of this man alone, when reporting his success, and should refuse him what he demanded in them?
Clinging to rugged rocks, with bleeding limbs
Might trembling hang, and all the rocks defile
With gore and black pollution.
” [44] I do not mean to say that I should be much vexed if such a thing were to happen but still it would be an accident such as all men are liable to. Marcus Marcellus, who was three times consul, a man of the most excessive virtue and piety and military glory was lost at sea; through his virtue he still lives in glory and renown. A death such as that is to be attributed to fortune, not to be considered a punishment. What then is punishment? What is chastisement? What is stoning? What is the cross? It is punishment that there should be two generals in the provinces of the Roman people, that they should have armies, that they should be styled “Imperator,” that one of them should be so completely cowed by the consciousness of his crimes and of his atrocities, as not to dare to send any letter of any sort to the senate from that province which was of all others the richest in triumphs. From that province that man, so distinguished for every sort of worth and dignity, Lucius Torquatus, was returning, when on account of his mighty deeds he was, on my motion, styled “Imperator” by the senate. In that province it was that those well-deserved triumphs of Cnaeus Dolabella, and Caius Curio, and Marcus Lucullus were earned within the last few years; and from that while you were the commander, no messenger whatever was ever sent to the senate. From the other consul certainly letters have been brought and read, and motions respecting him have been submitted to the senate. [45] O ye immortal gods, could I have desired that my chief enemy should be branded with such ignominy as no one ever was before? that that senate, which has now got into such a regular habit and practice of kindness as to confer on those who have managed the affairs of the republic successfully, honours hitherto unexampled, both in the number of days which they last and in the language in which they are decreed, should refuse belief to the letters of this man alone, when reporting his success, and should refuse him what he demanded in them?
