own and your country's danger, but was that repelled, for mine alfo. This proof of your affection is grateful to me in forrow, and pleafing in diftrefs: but by the immortal gods I conjure you! lay it all afide; and without any regard to my fafety, think only of yourselves, and of your families. For fhould the condition of my confulfhip be fuch as to fubject me to all manner of pains, hardships, and fufferings; I will bear them not only refolute ly but chearfully, if by my labours I can fecure your dignity and fafety, with that of the people of Rome. Such, confcript fathers, has been the fortune of my confulfhip, that neither the forum, that centre of all equity, nor the field of Mars, confecrated by confular aufpices, nor the fenate-house, the principal refuge of all nations, nor domeftic walls, the common afylum of all men; nor the bed, deftined to repofe; nay, nor even this honourable feat, this chair of flate, have been free from perils and the fnares of death. Many things have I diffembled, many have I fuffered, many have I yielded to, and many ftruggled with in filence, for your quiet. But if the immortal gods would grant that iffue to my confulfhip, of faving you, confcript fathers, and the people of Rome, from a maffacre; your wives, your children, and the vestal virgins, from the bittereft perfecution; the temples and altars of the gods, with this our fair country, from facrilegious flames; and all Italy from war and defolation; let what fate foever attend me, I will be content with it. For if P. Lentulus, upon the report of foothfayers, thought his name portended the ruin of the ftate; why fhould not I rejoice, that my confulfhip has been as it were referved by fate for its prefervation.

Wherefore, confcript fathers, think of your own fafety, turn your whole care upon the ftate, fecure yourselves, your wives, your children, your fortunes; guard the lives and dignity of the people of Rome, and ceafe your concern and anxiety for me. For first, I have reafon to hope, that all the gods, the protectors of this city, will reward me according to my deferts. Then, fhould any thing extraordinary happen, I am prepared to die with an even and conftant mind. For death can never be dishonourable to the brave, nor premature to one who has reached the dignity of conful, nor afflicting to the wife. Not that I am so hardened against

all the impreffions of humanity, as to remain indifferent to the grief of a dear and affectionate brother here prefent, and the tears of all thofe by whom you see me furrounded. Nor can I forbear to own, that an afflicted wife, a daughter difpirited with fear, an infant fon, whom my country feems to embrace as the pledge of my coufulfhip, and a fon-in-law, whom I behold waiting with anxiety the iffue of this day, often recal my thoughts homewards. All these objects affect me, yet in fuch a manner, that I am chiefly concerned for their prefervation and yours, and fcruple not to expose myself to any hazard, rather than that they and all of us fhould be involved in one general ruin. Wherefore, confcript fathers, apply yourfelves wholly to the fafety of the ftate, guard against the ftorms that threaten us on every fide, and which it will require your utmost circumfpection to avert. It is not a Tiberius Gracchus, caballing for a fecond tribunefhip; nor a Caius Gracchus, ftirring up the people in favour of his Agrarian law; nor a Lucius Saturni nus, the murderer of Caius Memmius, who is now in judgment before you, and expofed to the feverity of the law; but traitors, who remained at Rome to fire the city, to maffacre the fenate, and to receive Cataline. Their letters, their feals, their hands; in fhort, their several confeffions, are in your cuftody; and clearly convict them of foliciting the Allobrogians, fpiriting up the flaves, and fending for Cataline. The fcheme propofed was, to put all, without exception, to the fword, that not a foul might remain to lament the fate of the commonwealth, and the overthrow of fo mighty an empire.

All this has been proved by witneffes, the criminals themselves have confeffed, and you have already condemned them by feveral previous acts. First, by returning thanks to me in the moft honourable terms, and declaring that by my virtue and vigi lance, a confpiracy of defperate men has been laid open. Next, by depofing Lentulus from the prætorfhip, and commiting him, with the rest of the confpirators, to cuftody. But chiefly, by decreeing a thanfgiving in my name, an honour which was never before conferred upon any man in the gown. Laftly, you yesterday voted ample rewards to the deputies of the Allobrogians, and Titus Vultureius; all which proceedings are of fuch a nature, as plainly

to

to make it appear, that you already without fcruple condemn thofe, whom you have by name ordered into custody. But I have refolved, confcript fathers, to propofe to you anew the question both of the fact and punishment, having first premised what I think proper to fay as conful. I have long obferved a fpirit of diforder working in the state, new projects devising, and pernicious fchemes fet on foot: but never could I imagine, that a confpiracy fo dreadful and destructive, had entered into the minds of citizens. Now whatever you do, or which ever way your thoughts and veices fhall incline, you must come to a refolution before night. You fee the heinous nature of the crime laid before you; and if you think that but few are concerned in it, you are greatly mistaken. The mischief is fpread wider than most people imagine, and has not only infected Italy, but croffed the Alps, and, imperceptibly creeping along, feized many provinces. You can never hope to fupprefs it by delay and irrefolution. Whatever courfe you take, you must proceed with vigour and expedition.

There are two opinions now before you; the first, of D. Silanus, who thinks the projectors of fo deftructive a confpiracy worthy of death; the second of C. Cæfar, who, excepting death, is for every other the most rigorous method of punishing. Each, agreeably to his dignity, and the importance of the caufe, is for treating them with the laft feverity. The one thinks, that thofe who have attempted to deprive us and the Roman people of life, to abolish this empire, and extinguish the very name of Rome, ought not to enjoy a moment's life, or breathe the vital air: and hath fhewed withal, that this punishment has often been inflicted by this flate en feditious citizens. The other maintains, that death was not defigned by the immortal gods as a punishment, but either as a neceffary law of our nature, or a ceffation of our toils and miferies: fo that the wife never fuffer it unwillingly, the brave often feek it voluntarily that bonds and imprisonment, efpecially if perpetual, are contrived for the punishment of deteftable crimes: that therefore the criminals fhould be diftributed among the municipal towns. In this propofal, there feems to be fome injustice, if you impose it upon the towns; or fome difficulty, if you only defire it. Yet decree fo, if you think fit. I will endeavour, and I hope I shall be able

to find thofe, who will not think it unsuitable to their dignity, to comply with whatever you thall judge neceflary for the common fafety. He adds a heavy penalty on the municipal towns, if any of the criminals fhould escape; he invests them with formidable guards; and, as the enormity of their guilt deferves, forbids, under fevere penalties, all application to the fenate or people, for a mitigation of their punishments. He even deprives them of hope, the only comfort of unhappy mortals. He orders their eftates alfo to be confifcated, and leaves them nothing but life; which, if he had taken away, he would by one momentary pang, have eased them of much anguish both of mind and body, and all the fufferings due to their crimes. For it was on this account that the ancients invented thofe infernal punishments of the dead; to keep the wicked under fome awe in this life, who without them would have no dread of death itself.

Now, confcript fathers, I fee how much my intereft is concerned in the present debate. If you follow the opinion of C. Cæfar, who has always purfued those meafures in the ftate, which favour most of popularity; I thall perhaps be lefs expoled to the arrows of public hatred, when he is known for the author and adviser of this vote. But if you fall in with the motion of D. Silanus, I know not what difficulties it may bring me under. However, let the fervice of the commonwealth fuperfede all confiderations of my danger. Cæfar, agreeable to his own dignity, and the merits of his illuftrious ancestors, has by this propofal given us a perpetual pledge of his affection to the ftate, and thewed the difference between the affected lenity of bufy declaimers, and a mind truly popular, which feeks nothing but the real good of the people. I obferve that one of thofe, who affects the character of popularity, has abfented himself from this day's debate, that he may not give a vote upon the life of a Roman citizen. Yet but the other day he concurred in fending the criminals to prifon, voted me a thankf giving, and yesterday decreed ample rewards to the informers. Now no one can doubt what his fentiments are on the merits of the caufe, who votes imprisonment to the accufed, thanks to the discoverer of the confpiracy, and rewards to the informers. But C. Cæfar urges the Sempronian law, forbidding to put Roman ciiizens to death. Yet here it ought to be

remem

remembered, that those who are adjudged enemies to the state, can no longer be confidered as citizens; and that the author of that law himself suffered death by the order of the people. Neither does Cæfar think that the profufe and prodigal Lentulus, who has concerted fo many cruel and bloody fchemes for the deftruction of the Roman people, and the ruin of the city, can be called a popular man. Accordingly this mild and merciful fenator makes no fcruple of condemning P. Lentulus to perpetual bonds and imprisonment; and provides that no one shall henceforward have it in his power to boast of having procured a mitigation of this punishment, or made himself popular by a step fo deftructive to the quiet of his fellowcitizens. He likewise adds the confifcation of their goods, that want and beggary may attend every torment of mind and body.

If therefore you decree according to this opinion, you will give me a partner and companion to the affembly, who is dear and agreeable to the Roman people. Or, if you prefer that of Silanus, it will be eafy ftill to defend both you and myself from any imputation of cruelty; nay, and to make appear, that it is much the gentler punishment of the two. And yet, confcript fathers, what cruelty can be committed in the punishment of fo enormous a crime? I speak according to my real fenfe of the matter. For may I never enjoy, in conjunction with you, the benefit of my country's fafety, if the eagerness which I fhew in this caufe proceeds from any feverity of temper, (for no man has lefs of it) but from pure humanity and clemency. For 1 feem to behold this city, the light of the univerfe, and the citadel of all nations, fuddenly involved in flames. I figure to myself my country in ruins, and the miferable bodies of flaughtered citizens, lying in heaps without burial. The image of Cethegus, furiously revelling in your blood, is now before my eyes. But when I reprefent to my imagination Lentulus on the throne, as he owns the fates encouraged him to hope; Gabinius cloathed in purple; and Cataline approaching with an army; then am I ftruck with horror at the fhrieks of mothers, the flight of children, and the violation of the veftal virgins. And because thefe calamities appear to me in the highest degree deplorable and dreadful, therefore am I fevere and unrelenting towards those who endeavoured

to bring them upon us. For let me afk fhould a mafter of a family, finding his children butchered, his wife murdered, and his houfe burnt by a slave, inflict upon the offender a punishment that fell short of the highest degree of vigour; would he be accounted mild and merciful, or inhu man and cruel? For my own part, I fhould look upon him as hard-hearted and infenfible, if he did not endeavour to allay his own anguish and torment, by the tor ment and anguish of the guilty caufe. It is the fame with us in refpect of those men who intended to murder us with our wives and children; who endeavoured to destroy our feveral dwellings, and this city, the general feat of the commonwealth: who confpired to fettle the Allobrogians upon the ruins of this state, and raise them from the ashes of our empire. If we punish them with the utmoft feverity, we shall be accounted compaffionate; but if we are remifs in the execution of justice, we may defervedly be charged with the greatest cruelty, in expofing the republic and our fellow citizens to ruin. Unless any one will pretend to fay, that L. Cæfar, a brave man, and zealous for the interest of his country, acted a cruel part the other day, when he declared, that the husband of his fifter, a lady of diftinguished merit, and that too in his own prefence and hearing, deferved to fuffer death; alledging the example of his grandfather, flain by order of the conful; who likewife commanded his fon, a mere youth, to be executed in prifon, for bringing him a message from his father. And yet, what was their crime compared with that now before us? had they formed any confpiracy to deftroy their country? A partition of lands was then indeed propofed, and a fpirit of faction began to prevail in the ftate: at which time the grandfather of this very Lentalus, an illuftrious patriot, attacked Gracchus in arms; and in defence of the honour and dignity of the commonwealth, received a cruel wound. This his unworthy defcendant, to overthrow the very foundations of the ftate, fends for the Gauls, ftirs up the flaves, invites Cataline, aligns the murdering of the fenators to Cethegus, the maffacre of the reft of the citizens to Gabinius, the care of fetting the city on fire to Caffius, and the devaftation and plunder of Italy to Cataline. Is it poffible you should be afraid of being thought too fevere in the punishment of fo unnatural and monitrous à treason? when

in reality you have much more caufe to dread the charge of cruelty to your country for your too great lenity, than the imputation of feverity for proceeding in an exemplary manner against fuch implacable

enemies.

But I cannot, confcript fathers, conceal what I hear. Reports are fpread through the city, and have reached my ears, tending to infinuate, that we have not a fufficient force to fupport and execute what you fhall this day decree. But be affured, confcript fathers, that every thing is concerted, regulated, and fettled, partly through my extreme care and diligence; but ftill more by the indefatigable zeal of the Roman people, to fupport themselves in the poffeffion of empire, and preferve their common fortunes. The whole body of the people is affembled for your defence: the forum, the temples round the forum, and all the avenues of the fenate are poffeffed by your friends. This, indeed, is the only caufe fince the building of Rome, in which all men have been unanimous, thofe only excepted, who, finding their own ruin unavoidable, chofe rather to perish in the general wreck of their country, than fall by themselves. These I willingly except, and feparate from the rest; for I confider them not fo much in the light of bad citizens, as of implacable enemies. But then as to the reft, immortal gods! in what crowds, with what zeal, and with what courage do they all unite in defence of the public welfare and digrity? What occafion is there to speak here of the Roman knights? who without difputing your precedency in rank, and the adminiftration of affairs, vie with you in their zeal for the republic; whom, after a diffenfion of many years, this day's caufe has entirely reconciled and united with you. And if this union, which my confathip has confirmed, be preferved and perpetuated, I am confident, that no civil or domeftic evil can ever again difturb this ftate. The like zeal for the common caufe appears among the tribunes of the exchequer, and the whole body of the fcribes: who happening to affemble this day at the treasury, have dropt all confideration of their private affairs, and turned their whole attention upon the public fafety. The whole body of free-born citizens, even the meaneft, offer us their affitance. For where is the man, to whom thefe temples, the face of the city, the poffern of liberty; in fhort, this very light,

and this parent foil, are not both dear and delightful.

And here, confcript fathers, let me recommend to your notice the zeal of those freedmen, who, having by their merit obtained the privilege of citizens, confider this as their real country: whereas fome born within the city, and born too of an illuftrious race, treat it not as a motherfoil, but as a hoftile city. But why do I fpeak of men, whom private intereft, whom the good of the public, whom, in fine, the love of liberty, that dearest of all human bleffings, have rouzed to the defence of their country? There is not a flave in any tolerable condition of life, who does not look with horror on this daring attempt of profligate citizens, who is not anxious for the prefervation of the flate; in fine, who does not contribute all in his power to promote the common fafety. If any of you, therefore, are fhocked by the report of Lentulus's agents running up and down the streets, and foliciting the needy and thoughtless to make fome effort for his refcue; the fact indeed is true, and the thing has been attempted: but not a man was found fo defperate in his fortune, so abandoned in his inclinations, who did not prefer the fhed in which he worked and earned his daily bread, his little hut and bed in which he flept, and the easy peaceful courfe of life he enjoyed, to all the proposals made by thefe enemies of the flate. For the greatest part of those who live in fhops, or to fpeak indeed more truly all of them, are of nothing fo fond as peace: for their whole ftock, their whole industry and fubfiftence, depends upon the peace and fulness of the city; and if their gain would be interrupted by fhutting up their fhops, how much more would it be fo, by burning them? Since then, confcript fathers, the Roman people are not wanting in their zeal and duty towards you, it is your part not to be wanting to the Roman people.

You have a conful fnatched from various fnares and dangers, and the jaws of death, not for the prefervation of his own life, but for your fecurity. All orders unite in opinion, inclination, zeal, courage, and a profeffed concern to fecure the commonwealth. Your common country, befet with the brands and weapons of an impious confpiracy, fretches out her fuppliant hands to you for relief, recommends herself to your care, and befeeches you to take under your protection the lives of the citi

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