IV. Peroratio (§§ 37–38).
[37] Closing appeal to Caesar to show his customary clemency.
de homine nobilissimo
, i.e. Marcellus.
238.4
in curia
, before the Senate (see Introd. to Oration for Marcellus).
foro
: Ligarius had been accused; hence the form of trial in the Forum.
238.10
populare
,
popular, but in a strictly political sense.
238.14
ut possis
: a subst. clause of result (see note on p.237,l. 16), because an effect is implied in
habet.
238.16
postulet
: §
447
, a (311, a, N3); G. 459, R.; H. 552 (485); Cf. H-B. 517, I.
238.18
tantum
,
so much only (as often).
With the praise of Caesar in the Orations for Marcellus and Ligarius compare the celebrated portrait of him in Cicero's Second Philippic, published shortly after Caesar's death. This is interesting as the only extant testimony, publicly spoken at the time, of one who was at once contemporary, rival, and peer:
Fuit in illo ingenium, ratio, memoria, litterae, cura, cogitatio, diligentia. Res bello gesserat, quamvis rei publicae calamitosas, at tamen magnas. Multos annos regnare meditatus, magno labore, multis periculis, quod cogitarat effecerat. Muneribus, monimentis, congiariis, epulis multitudinem imperitam delenierat: suos praemiis, adversarios clementiae specie devinxerat. Quid multa? attulerat jam liberae civitati, partim metu partim patientia, consuetudinem serviendi. Sed ex plurimis malis, quae ab illo rei publicae sunt inusta, hoc tamen boni est, quod didicit jam populus Romanus quantum cuique crederet, quibus se committeret, a quibus caveret .
Commentary on Plea for Ligarius. James Bradstreet Greenough. ed. James Bradstreet Greenough, ed. George Lyman Kittredge. Boston. 1897.
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