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And now, Cicero! Exciting Cicero! This is where he makes a poor argument of probability, defends Caelius against the accusation of being (gasp! shock!) in debt, and quotes from a play we no longer have.
There are footnotes provided.
Chapter 16
In this matter, I'm inclined to think, since I have reached this point, that regarding bribery and these charges of shady associates and bribery agents, it should be responded to similarly. For Caelius was never so stupid that, if he had stained himself with this endless bribery, he would have accused another man of electoral bribery, nor prosecuted another man for suspicion of his deeds--a suspicion whose perpetual freedom he chose for himself--nor, if he thought himself to be in danger of prosecution for electoral bribery once, would he have brought to court another man again for the charge of electoral bribery. And although it is not made wisely with even me being unwilling, nevertheless it is ambition of his type that seems better to attack the innocence of another man than to think about itself nervously.
Chapter 17
Now as for the objection that he's in debt, his expenses criticized, his account books demanded... See how little I'll respond to those! A man under his father's power exhausts no account books. He never took out any loan at all. The objection is of expense, his rent: you say he rents for thirty thousand*. Not until now did I realize that Publius Clodius's** apartment complex is for sale, and Caelius lives in his apartment for, I suppose, ten thousand. However, you all wish now to please that man***, and you adapt your lie for his situation.
Chapter 18
You found fault with him because he supposedly abandoned his father, which indeed must be condemned least at this age. And when he had acquired a victory (indeed, one which was annoying to me, but nevertheless glorious for him) from the public cause, and was old enough to seek the office of magistrate, he left his father with that man not only allowing him to do so, but also urging him on; and when his father's family had been absent from the forum for a long time, he rented a house on the Palantine at no great price, so that he would be able to more easily visit our houses, and be attended to by his friends at his own place.
On this matter, I am able to quote the thing which the most illustrious man, Marcus Crassus, said a little before when he was complaining about the approach of King Ptolemy:
"Would that not, in the Pelian grove..."****
And indeed, would that I could continue this poem at greater length:
"For never an erring lady..."
It caused us this trouble:
"Medea, wounded by a suffering spirit, by a savage love..."
For thus, judges, you will discover what I shall show when I have come to this place: that this Medea of Palantine and this residential move of the young man were the cause of either all evils or of rather powerful gossip.
---
* Prices given are in sesterces. According to wikipedia, a bucket cost 2 sesterces, which I'm sure illuminates perfectly the monetary value of this unit of measurement.
** A completely different Publius Clodius from the one who's Cicero's enemy! Probably.
*** That is, the man trying to sell the block of apartments.
**** According to my notes, a quote from a lost play. At this point, a man is wishing that the ship carrying the Argonauts hadn't even been built; the ship was built of Pelian wood. And someone got compared to Jason (as a pretty-boy with curly hair) earlier. My notes do not really explain much about the further quotes, so, uh. Your guess is as good as mine.
---
And now I have to decide what to do next, because the prof asked us to just read chapters 19-23, and not prepare them for class or study them. Which means... I should do exactly that! Especially since I need to have chapters 24-26 translated for Friday, and I have a lot of Greek to study in between these points.
But it pains me to just glance at Latin and not translate it. Even if it is, as she claims, a rather boring and unimportant part of the speech.
Maybe I can do it over the weekend.
There are footnotes provided.
Chapter 16
In this matter, I'm inclined to think, since I have reached this point, that regarding bribery and these charges of shady associates and bribery agents, it should be responded to similarly. For Caelius was never so stupid that, if he had stained himself with this endless bribery, he would have accused another man of electoral bribery, nor prosecuted another man for suspicion of his deeds--a suspicion whose perpetual freedom he chose for himself--nor, if he thought himself to be in danger of prosecution for electoral bribery once, would he have brought to court another man again for the charge of electoral bribery. And although it is not made wisely with even me being unwilling, nevertheless it is ambition of his type that seems better to attack the innocence of another man than to think about itself nervously.
Chapter 17
Now as for the objection that he's in debt, his expenses criticized, his account books demanded... See how little I'll respond to those! A man under his father's power exhausts no account books. He never took out any loan at all. The objection is of expense, his rent: you say he rents for thirty thousand*. Not until now did I realize that Publius Clodius's** apartment complex is for sale, and Caelius lives in his apartment for, I suppose, ten thousand. However, you all wish now to please that man***, and you adapt your lie for his situation.
Chapter 18
You found fault with him because he supposedly abandoned his father, which indeed must be condemned least at this age. And when he had acquired a victory (indeed, one which was annoying to me, but nevertheless glorious for him) from the public cause, and was old enough to seek the office of magistrate, he left his father with that man not only allowing him to do so, but also urging him on; and when his father's family had been absent from the forum for a long time, he rented a house on the Palantine at no great price, so that he would be able to more easily visit our houses, and be attended to by his friends at his own place.
On this matter, I am able to quote the thing which the most illustrious man, Marcus Crassus, said a little before when he was complaining about the approach of King Ptolemy:
"Would that not, in the Pelian grove..."****
And indeed, would that I could continue this poem at greater length:
"For never an erring lady..."
It caused us this trouble:
"Medea, wounded by a suffering spirit, by a savage love..."
For thus, judges, you will discover what I shall show when I have come to this place: that this Medea of Palantine and this residential move of the young man were the cause of either all evils or of rather powerful gossip.
---
* Prices given are in sesterces. According to wikipedia, a bucket cost 2 sesterces, which I'm sure illuminates perfectly the monetary value of this unit of measurement.
** A completely different Publius Clodius from the one who's Cicero's enemy! Probably.
*** That is, the man trying to sell the block of apartments.
**** According to my notes, a quote from a lost play. At this point, a man is wishing that the ship carrying the Argonauts hadn't even been built; the ship was built of Pelian wood. And someone got compared to Jason (as a pretty-boy with curly hair) earlier. My notes do not really explain much about the further quotes, so, uh. Your guess is as good as mine.
---
And now I have to decide what to do next, because the prof asked us to just read chapters 19-23, and not prepare them for class or study them. Which means... I should do exactly that! Especially since I need to have chapters 24-26 translated for Friday, and I have a lot of Greek to study in between these points.
But it pains me to just glance at Latin and not translate it. Even if it is, as she claims, a rather boring and unimportant part of the speech.
Maybe I can do it over the weekend.