Marc. 5.1Atque hoc C. Caesaris iūdicium, patrēs cōnscrīptī, quam lātē pateat attendite.And mark, conscript fathers, how widely this judgement of Gaius Caesar extends. Marc. 5.1Omnēs enim quī ad illa arma fātō sumus nesciō quō reī pūblicae miserō fūnestōque compulsī, etsī aliquā culpā tenēmur errōris hūmānī, ab scelere certē līberātī sumus.For all of us who were driven to those arms by some wretched and deadly destiny of the commonwealth, even if we are held guilty of some fault of human error, have certainly been cleared of crime. Marc. 5.1Nam cum M. Mārcellum dēprecantibus vōbīs reī pūblicae cōnservāvit, mē et mihi et item reī pūblicae, nūllō dēprecante, reliquōs amplissimōs virōs et sibi ipsōs et patriae reddidit, quōrum et frequentiam et dignitātem hōc ipsō in cōnsessū vidētis, nōn ille hostis indūxit in cūriam, sed iūdicāvit ā plērīsque ignōrātiōne potius et falsō atque inānī metū quam cupiditāte aut crūdēlitāte bellum esse susceptum.For when he preserved Marcus Marcellus for the commonwealth at your entreaty, and restored me to myself and likewise to the commonwealth with no one interceding, and the rest of these most distinguished men to themselves and to their country, whose number and dignity you see in this very assembly, he did not bring enemies into the senate house, but judged that the war had been undertaken by most men from ignorance and false and empty fear rather than from greed or cruelty.
Marc. 5.14Quō quidem in bellō semper dē pāce audiendum putāvī semperque doluī nōn modo pācem sed etiam ōrātiōnem cīvium pācem flāgitantium repudiārī.In that war I always thought that proposals for peace should be heard, and I always grieved that not only peace but even the words of citizens demanding peace were rejected. Marc. 5.14Neque enim ego illa nec ūlla umquam secūtus sum arma cīvīlia semperque mea cōnsilia pācis et togae socia, nōn bellī atque armōrum fuērunt.For neither did I ever follow those or any civil arms, and my counsels were always allied with peace and the toga, not with war and arms. Marc. 5.14Hominem sum secūtus prīvātō officiō, nōn pūblicō, tantumque apud mē grātī animī fidēlis memoria valuit ut nūllā nōn modo cupiditāte sed nē spē quidem prūdēns et sciēns tamquam ad interitum ruerem voluntārium.I followed a man out of private obligation, not public, and the faithful memory of a grateful heart counted for so much with me that, not only with no desire but without even any hope, I rushed knowingly and deliberately, as it were, to a self-chosen death. Marc. 5.15Quod quidem meum cōnsilium minimē obscūrum fuit.And this purpose of mine was by no means hidden.
Marc. 5.15Nam et in hōc ōrdine integrā rē multa dē pāce dīxī et in ipsō bellō eadem etiam cum capitis meī perīculō sēnsī.For both in this order, while matters were still undecided, I said much about peace, and in the war itself I held the same views even at the risk of my life. Marc. 5.15Ex quō nēmō erit tam iniūstus rērum exīstimātor quī dubitet quae Caesaris dē bellō voluntās fuerit, cum pācis auctōrēs cōnservandōs statim cēnsuerit, cēterīs fuerit īrātior.From this no one will be so unjust a judge of affairs as to doubt what Caesar's attitude to the war was, since he at once decided that the advocates of peace should be preserved, while he was angrier with the rest. Marc. 5.15Atque id minus mīrum fortasse tum cum esset incertus exitus et anceps fortūna bellī: quī vērō victor pācis auctōrēs dīligit, is profectō dēclārat māluisse sē nōn dīmicāre quam vincere.And that was perhaps less remarkable at the time, when the outcome was uncertain and the fortune of war in the balance: but he who as victor cherishes the advocates of peace surely declares that he would have preferred not to fight rather than to conquer.