M. Tullius Cicero, Philippicae, 24

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

The tribune of the people was borne along in a chariot, lictors crowned with laurel preceded him; among whom, on an open litter, was carried an actress; whom honorable men, citizens of the different municipalities, coming out from their towns under compulsion to meet him, saluted not by the name by which she was well known on the stage, but by that of Volumnia.¹ A car followed full of pimps; then a lot of debauched companions; and then his mother, utterly neglected, followed the mistress of her profligate son, as if she had been her daughter-in-law. O the disastrous fecundity of that miserable woman! With the marks of such wickedness as this did that fellow stamp every municipality, and prefecture, and colony, and, in short, the whole of Italy . 59

To find fault with the rest of his actions, O conscript fathers, is difficult, and somewhat unsafe. He was occupied in war; he glutted himself with the slaughter of citizens who bore no resemblance to himself He was fortunate—if at least there can be any good fortune in wickedness. But since we wish to show a regard for the veterans, although the cause of the soldiers is very different from yours; they followed their chief; you went to seek for a leader; still (that I may not give you any pretense for stirring up odium against me among them), I will say nothing of the nature of the war.

When victorious, you returned with the legions from Thessaly to Brundusium . There you did not put me to death. It was a great kindness! For I confess that you could have done it. Although there was no one of those men who were with you at that time, who did not think that I ought to be spared. 60 For so great is men's affection for their country; that I was sacred even in the eyes of your legions, because they recollected that the country had been saved by me. However, grant that you did give me what you did not take away from me; and that I have my life as a present from you, since it was not taken from me by you; was it possible for me, after all your insults, to regard that kindness of yours as I regarded it at first, especially after you saw that you must hear this reply from me?

Philippicae. M. Tullius Cicero. London. 1903.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

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

Current edition Perseus

Philippics (English) (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Vol. 4. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1856.)

Editions (1)

Philippicae Perseus (Cicero. M. Tulli Ciceronis Orationes, Vol. 6. Clark, Albert Curtis, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1918.) — 24 focus

[24] quod idem contigerat superioribus bellis civilibus. nam mihi consuli supplicatio nullis armis sumptis non ob caedem hostium, sed ob conservationem civium novo et inaudito genere decreta est. quam ob rem aut supplicatio re publica pulcherrime gesta¹ postulantibus nostris imperatoribus deneganda est, quod praeter A. Gabinium² contigit nemini, aut supplicatione decernenda hostis eos de quibus decernitis iudicetis necesse est. 9 quod ergo ille re, id ego etiam verbo, cum imperatores eos appello: hoc ipso nomine et eos qui iam devicti sunt et eos qui supersunt hostis iudico³.

[24] quod idem contigerat superioribus bellis civilibus. nam mihi consuli supplicatio nullis armis sumptis non ob caedem hostium, sed ob conservationem civium novo et inaudito genere decreta est. quam ob rem aut supplicatio re publica pulcherrime gesta⁴ postulantibus nostris imperatoribus deneganda est, quod praeter A. Gabinium⁵ contigit nemini, aut supplicatione decernenda hostis eos de quibus decernitis iudicetis necesse est. 9 quod ergo ille re, id ego etiam verbo, cum imperatores eos appello: hoc ipso nomine et eos qui iam devicti sunt et eos qui supersunt hostis iudico⁶.

[24] quod idem contigerat superioribus bellis civilibus. nam mihi consuli supplicatio nullis armis sumptis non ob caedem hostium, sed ob conservationem civium novo et inaudito genere decreta est. quam ob rem aut supplicatio re publica pulcherrime gesta⁷ postulantibus nostris imperatoribus deneganda est, quod praeter A. Gabinium⁸ contigit nemini, aut supplicatione decernenda hostis eos de quibus decernitis iudicetis necesse est. 9 quod ergo ille re, id ego etiam verbo, cum imperatores eos appello: hoc ipso nomine et eos qui iam devicti sunt et eos qui supersunt hostis iudico⁹.

[24] quod idem contigerat superioribus bellis civilibus. nam mihi consuli supplicatio nullis armis sumptis non ob caedem hostium, sed ob conservationem civium novo et inaudito genere decreta est. quam ob rem aut supplicatio re publica pulcherrime gesta¹⁰ postulantibus nostris imperatoribus deneganda est, quod praeter A. Gabinium¹¹ contigit nemini, aut supplicatione decernenda hostis eos de quibus decernitis iudicetis necesse est. 9 quod ergo ille re, id ego etiam verbo, cum imperatores eos appello: hoc ipso nomine et eos qui iam devicti sunt et eos qui supersunt hostis iudico¹².

[24] quod idem contigerat superioribus bellis civilibus. nam mihi consuli supplicatio nullis armis sumptis non ob caedem hostium, sed ob conservationem civium novo et inaudito genere decreta est. quam ob rem aut supplicatio re publica pulcherrime gesta¹³ postulantibus nostris imperatoribus deneganda est, quod praeter A. Gabinium¹⁴ contigit nemini, aut supplicatione decernenda hostis eos de quibus decernitis iudicetis necesse est. 9 quod ergo ille re, id ego etiam verbo, cum imperatores eos appello: hoc ipso nomine et eos qui iam devicti sunt et eos qui supersunt hostis iudico¹⁵.

[24] quod idem contigerat superioribus bellis civilibus. nam mihi consuli supplicatio nullis armis sumptis non ob caedem hostium, sed ob conservationem civium novo et inaudito genere decreta est. quam ob rem aut supplicatio re publica pulcherrime gesta¹⁶ postulantibus nostris imperatoribus deneganda est, quod praeter A. Gabinium¹⁷ contigit nemini, aut supplicatione decernenda hostis eos de quibus decernitis iudicetis necesse est. 9 quod ergo ille re, id ego etiam verbo, cum imperatores eos appello: hoc ipso nomine et eos qui iam devicti sunt et eos qui supersunt hostis iudico¹⁸.

[24] quod idem contigerat superioribus bellis civilibus. nam mihi consuli supplicatio nullis armis sumptis non ob caedem hostium, sed ob conservationem civium novo et inaudito genere decreta est. quam ob rem aut supplicatio re publica pulcherrime gesta¹⁹ postulantibus nostris imperatoribus deneganda est, quod praeter A. Gabinium²⁰ contigit nemini, aut supplicatione decernenda hostis eos de quibus decernitis iudicetis necesse est. 9 quod ergo ille re, id ego etiam verbo, cum imperatores eos appello: hoc ipso nomine et eos qui iam devicti sunt et eos qui supersunt hostis iudico²¹.

[24] quod idem contigerat superioribus bellis civilibus. nam mihi consuli supplicatio nullis armis sumptis non ob caedem hostium, sed ob conservationem civium novo et inaudito genere decreta est. quam ob rem aut supplicatio re publica pulcherrime gesta²² postulantibus nostris imperatoribus deneganda est, quod praeter A. Gabinium²³ contigit nemini, aut supplicatione decernenda hostis eos de quibus decernitis iudicetis necesse est. 9 quod ergo ille re, id ego etiam verbo, cum imperatores eos appello: hoc ipso nomine et eos qui iam devicti sunt et eos qui supersunt hostis iudico²⁴.

[24] quod idem contigerat superioribus bellis civilibus. nam mihi consuli supplicatio nullis armis sumptis non ob caedem hostium, sed ob conservationem civium novo et inaudito genere decreta est. quam ob rem aut supplicatio re publica pulcherrime gesta²⁵ postulantibus nostris imperatoribus deneganda est, quod praeter A. Gabinium²⁶ contigit nemini, aut supplicatione decernenda hostis eos de quibus decernitis iudicetis necesse est. 9 quod ergo ille re, id ego etiam verbo, cum imperatores eos appello: hoc ipso nomine et eos qui iam devicti sunt et eos qui supersunt hostis iudico²⁷.

[24] quod idem contigerat superioribus bellis civilibus. nam mihi consuli supplicatio nullis armis sumptis non ob caedem hostium, sed ob conservationem civium novo et inaudito genere decreta est. quam ob rem aut supplicatio re publica pulcherrime gesta²⁸ postulantibus nostris imperatoribus deneganda est, quod praeter A. Gabinium²⁹ contigit nemini, aut supplicatione decernenda hostis eos de quibus decernitis iudicetis necesse est. 9 quod ergo ille re, id ego etiam verbo, cum imperatores eos appello: hoc ipso nomine et eos qui iam devicti sunt et eos qui supersunt hostis iudico³⁰.

[24] quod idem contigerat superioribus bellis civilibus. nam mihi consuli supplicatio nullis armis sumptis non ob caedem hostium, sed ob conservationem civium novo et inaudito genere decreta est. quam ob rem aut supplicatio re publica pulcherrime gesta³¹ postulantibus nostris imperatoribus deneganda est, quod praeter A. Gabinium³² contigit nemini, aut supplicatione decernenda hostis eos de quibus decernitis iudicetis necesse est. 9 quod ergo ille re, id ego etiam verbo, cum imperatores eos appello: hoc ipso nomine et eos qui iam devicti sunt et eos qui supersunt hostis iudico³³.

Notes on the current edition

Orations

1. She was a courtesan who had been enfranchised by her master Volumnius. The name of Volumnia was dear to the Romans as that of the wife of Coriolanus, to whose entreaties he had yielded when he drew off his army from the neighborhood of Rome .

M. Tullius Cicero Philippicae 24

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers