M. Tullius Cicero, Philippicae, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 23

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[23] ne victoris quidem litteris postulata est. civile bellum consul Sulla gessit, legionibus in urbem adductis quos voluit expulit, quos potuit occidit: supplicationis¹ mentio nulla. grave bellum Octavianum insecutum est: supplicatio Cinnae² nulla victori³. Cinnae victoriam imperator ultus est Sulla: nulla supplicatio decreta a senatu. ad te ipsum, P. Servili, num⁴ misit ullas conlega litteras de illa calamitosissima pugna Pharsalia? num te de supplicatione voluit referre? profecto noluit. at misit postea de Alexandrea, de Pharnace: Pharsaliae vero pugnae ne triumphum quidem egit. Eos enim civis pugna illa sustulerat quibus non modo vivis sed etiam victoribus incolumis et florens civitas esse posset.

Philippicae. M. Tullius Cicero. ed. Albert Curtis Clark. Oxford. 1918.

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

Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (1)

Philippics Perseus (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Vol. 4. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1856.) — 23 focus

He restored many men who had fallen under misfortune. Among them no mention was made of his uncle. If he was severe, why was he not so to every one? If he was merciful, why was he not merciful to his own relations? But I say nothing of the rest. He restored Licinius. Lenticula, a man who had been condemned for gambling, and who was a fellow-gamester of his own. As if he could not play with a condemned man; but in reality, in order to pay by a straining of the law in his favor, what he had lost by the dice. What reason did you allege to the Roman people why it was desirable that he should be restored? I suppose you said that he was absent when the prosecution was instituted against him; that the cause was decided without his having been heard in his defense; that there was not by a law any judicial proceeding established with reference to gambling; that he had been put down by violence or by arms; or lastly, as was said in the case of your uncle, that the tribunal had been bribed with money. Nothing of this sort was said. Then he was a good man, and one worthy of the republic. That, indeed, would have been nothing to the purpose, but still, since being condemned does not go for much, I would forgive you if that were the truth. Does not he restore to the full possession of his former privileges the most worthless man possible,—one who would not hesitate to play at dice even in the forum, and who had been convicted under the law which exists respecting gambling,—does not he declare in the most open manner his own propensities? 57

Then in this same tribuneship, when Caesar while on hi way into Spain had given him Italy to trample on, what journeys did he make in every direction! how did he visit the municipal towns! I know that I am only speaking of matters which have been discussed in every one's conversation, and that the things which I am saying and am going to say are better known to every one who was in Italy at that time, than to me, who was not. Still I mention the particulars of his conduct, although my speech can not possibly come up to your own personal knowledge. When was such wickedness ever heard of as existing upon earth? or shamelessness? or such open infamy?

Notes on the current edition

Philippicae

1. de ( om. s) supplicationibus os

2. Cinnae om. s: del. Madvig

3. victori t: victoris cett.

4. Servili num b, Ferrarius: Servili o: Servilium cett.

Commentary

Commentary on The Fourteenth Philippic (Select Orations of Cicero (Allen and Greenough's Edition). Greenough, James Bradstreet; Kittredge, George Lyman, editors. Boston, London: Ginn & Company, 1897.) focus

bellum Octavianum : see Cat. 3, sect. 24 ( p. 137, l. 26 ) and note. 250.3

Servili : see note on p. 244, l. 9 . 250.4

conlega , i.e. Julius Caesar. 250.6

de Alexandria : for a victory over the Egyptians;

de Pharnace, son of Mithridates, King of Pontus (both victories, B.C. 47).

M. Tullius Cicero Philippicae 23

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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