erat optandum,
what was chiefly to be wished: not implying a protasis contrary to fact. See §
522
, a (311, c); B. 304, 3; G. 254, R.1; H. 583 (511, 1, N.8); H.-B. 582, 3, a.
quod . . .pertinebat,
the one thing which most tended (or,
was of chief importance).
invidiam . . . infamiamque,
odium and ill repute, from the partisan use of the courts by the Senators.
vestri ordinis
, i.e. the senatorial order. The word
ordo signified, loosely, any recognized body of citizens—as freedmen, publicans, clerks; but it was more especially used of the two powerful classes of the Roman aristocracy, the Senatorial and the Equestrian, which struggled with each other for power during the last century of the Republic. The Senators, from whom the jurors were at this time taken (see note on Rosc. Am., p. 2,1. l), formed a limited (300 to 600) order of nobility which virtually controlled the government. The
equites constituted a moneyed aristocracy. Naturally these two orders had opposing interests, as the Senators were excluded from trade and the
equites practically from political power. Their antagonism showed itself more especially in the matter of the provinces, which the Senators wished to oppress by official plunder and the
equites by commercial extortion.
summo . . . tempore
, most
critical time (more lit.
extreme crisis): the year of the consulship of Pompey and Crassus (
B.C. 70).
inveteravit
(emphatic position),
there has come to be deeply rooted (observe that the figure is quite different in the Latin).
opinio
,
notion or
idea (not so strong as our
opinion, which should be
sententia ).
exteras nationes:
the reference is, of course, to the peoples subject to Rome, who were aggrieved by the rapacity of the provincial governors.
his iudiciis
: in consequence of the situation described above (note on
ordinis
, l. 2) it became all important for one class or the other to control the courts, before which any misdoings of either party were likely to come for trial. For years these two orders had struggled for such control. At this particular time the courts were in the hands of the Senators, who were bound together by a common cause to shield any one of their number who might be charged with misconduct as a provincial governor.
neminem
(more emphatic than
nullum)
:
translate,
never.
