![]() You will hear what our opinion is from the character-witnesses ** but what the parents themselves feel is clear from this mother here in tears and anguish, from this father here dissolved in grief and clothed in mourning. And as to what you prosecutors have said about Caelius' treatment of his father, we may form what judgment we will, but the final word must certainly come from the father himself. Is it a disgrace to be the son of a Roman knight? So says the prosecution - scarcely a view to commend itself to some of the jurors here, not to mention myself, the counsel for the defence. To them let me say that whatever respect may be consonant with the position of a Roman knight - and surely that can be a very great deal - such respect has always in the highest degree been accorded Marcus Caelius, and is so still by anyone with whom he has any dealings whatever. But as for some time now because of advancing age he has been less active among us in the forum, he may not be so well known to some of you. For those who know him well and for the older people present he easily counters that charge without having to say a word. Marcus Caelius the elder ** does not need any help from me in defending his dignity. They have said either that he lives too shabbily or that he has been badly treated by his son. They ** have used his father variously as a basis for detraction. L Seeing that Marcus Caelius is still quite a young man, I think my best course is to begin this defence by replying to the prosecution's attempt to blacken his character and blast his reputation. But for the others, my motto is "No forgiveness, but resistance to the end." If he was willing to prosecute, well after all he is a son if he did so under orders, he is not his own master if he hoped for something, well, he is only a boy. ![]() ![]() But I forgive my friend Atratinus he is a cultivated young man and an excellent one he can offer as excuse filial duty or compulsion or age. For if you are willing, gentlemen, to attend closely to the whole case and weigh everything objectively, you will conclude, first, that no one would have proceeded to make an accusation like this if he were acting as a free agent, and secondly, that he would have done so without hope, unless his hopes were founded on someone's ungovernable wantonness and over-bitter hatred. ** But may I suggest that you Romans would do well to keep female wantonness within bounds? And as for these jurymen, why, they are burdened beyond all sense and reason everyone else is at leisure, but only they are allowed no leisure." And when he had heard that there is no question here of crime, no question of brazen insolence, no question of illegal violence, that rather a youth of distinguished talents, an industrious young man who commands many friends, is being prosecuted by the son ** of one whom he himself is now arraigning and has arraigned before in the past, that furthermore a certain lady of great influence but no reputation is the source of the attack, our hypothetical friend would say: " Atratinus is not to blame he is doing what any good son would do. And suppose our stranger were told that the law in this case ** is one that takes no account of holidays, but absolutely required judicial investigation whenever seditious and criminal citizens have taken up arms and laid siege to the senate-house or offered violence to magistrates or attacked the republic: of such a law he could scarcely disapprove, but he would ask about the particular charge in this trial. L Gentlemen of the jury: Suppose that by some chance a stranger to our laws and law-courts and way of life were to come upon this scene and notice that this is the only court in session while the holidays and public games have caused all the other business in the forum to be suspended: doubtless he would wonder what atrocious crime was indicated in this case, and would surely conclude that the defendant was being accused of some deed of such enormity that the commonwealth would collapse if he were to go unapprehended. ![]() Austin (1960), with a deliberate emphasis on historical rather than linguistic matters the complete commentary can be found in the Internet Archive. These footnotes have been selected from the commentary on the speech by R.G. Click on the L symbols to go to the Latin text of each section.Ĭlick on ** to go to the footnotes.
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