M. Tullius Cicero, Pro P. Quinctio, 11

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[11] And that you may the more easily do this, I will endeavour to make you understand how this matter has been managed and carried out. Caius Quinctius was the brother of this Publius Quinctius; in other respects a sufficiently prudent and attentive head of a family, but in one matter a little less wise, inasmuch as he formed a partnership with Sextus Naevius, a respectable man, but one who had not been brought up so as to be acquainted with the rights of partnership, or with the duties of a head of an established family. ¹ Not that he was wanting in abilities; for Sextus Naevius as a buffoon was never considered without wit, nor as a crier was he reckoned unmannerly. What followed? As nature had given him nothing better than a voice, and his father had left him nothing besides his freedom, he made gain of his voice, and used his freedom for the object of being loquacious with impunity.

Pro P. Quinctio. M. Tullius Cicero. London. 1903.

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Current edition Perseus

For Publius Quinctius (English) (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 1. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1903.)

Editions (1)

Pro P. Quinctio Perseus (Cicero. M. Tulli Ciceronis Orationes, Volume 4. Clark, Albert Curtis, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909.) — 11 focus

[11] 3 id quo facilius facere possitis, dabo operam ut a principio res quem ad modum gesta et contracta sit cognoscatis.

C. Quinctius fuit P. Quincti huius frater, sane ceterarum rerum pater familias et prudens et attentus, una in re paulo minus consideratus, qui societatem cum Sex. Naevio fecerit, viro bono, verum tamen non ita instituto ut iura societatis et officia certi patris familias nosse posset; non quo ei deesset ingenium; nam neque parum facetus scurra Sex. Naevius neque inhumanus praeco umquam est existimatus. quid ergo est? Cum ei natura nihil melius quam vocem dedisset, pater nihil praeter libertatem reliquisset, vocem in quaestum contulit, libertate usus est quo impunius dicax esset.

Notes on the current edition

For P. Quinctius

1. The office of praeco was so little reputable that before Cicero's death a law was passed to prevent all persons who had been praecones from becoming decuriones in the municipia. Under the emperors, however it became very profitable.

M. Tullius Cicero Pro P. Quinctio 11

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