M. Tullius Cicero, Pro P. Sulla, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 78

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[78] quaestiones nobis servorum accusator et tormenta¹ minitatur. in quibus quamquam nihil periculi suspicamur, tamen illa tormenta gubernat dolor, moderatur natura cuiusque cum animi tum corporis, regit quaesitor², flectit libido, corrumpit spes, infirmat metus, ut in tot rerum angustiis nihil veritati loci relinquatur. vita P. Sullae torqueatur³, ex ea quaeratur num quae occultetur libido, num quod lateat facinus, num quae crudelitas, num quae audacia. nihil erroris erit in causa nec obscuritatis, iudices, si a vobis vitae perpetuae vox, ea quae verissima et gravissima⁴ debet esse, audietur.

Pro P. Sulla. M. Tullius Cicero. ed. Albert Curtis Clark. Oxonii. 1911.

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Funding provided by National Endowment For The Humanities (NEH).

Current edition Perseus

Pro P. Sulla (Latin) (Cicero. M. Tulli Ciceronis Orationes, Volume 6. Clark, Albert Curtis, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1911.)

Translations (1)

For P. Sulla Perseus (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 2. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1856.) — 78 focus

[78] Our prosecutor threatens us with the examinations and torture of our slaves; and though we do not suspect that any danger can arise to us from them, yet pain reigns in those tortures; much depends on the nature of every one's mind, and the fortitude of a person's body. The inquisitor manages everything; caprice regulates much, hope corrupts them, fear disables them, so that, in the straits in which they are placed, there is but little room left for truth.
Is the life of Publius Sulla, then, to be put to the torture? is it to be examined to see what lust is concealed beneath it? whether any crime is lurking under it, or any cruelty, or any audacity? There will be no mistake in our cause, O judges, no obscurity, if the voice of his whole life, which ought to be of the very greatest weight, is listened to by you.

Notes on the current edition

Pro P. Sulla

1. accus. et tormenta T: ac tormenta accus. cett.

2. quaesitor T: quaestor cett.

3. torqueatur T π: Torquate cett.

4. verissima et gravissima T: gravissima et verissima πa: gravissima cett.

M. Tullius Cicero Pro P. Sulla 78

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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