Mil. 29.1Nōn timeō, iūdicēs, nē odiō meārum inimīcitiārum īnflammātus libentius haec in illum ēvomere videar quam vērius.I do not fear, judges, that, inflamed by the hatred of my personal enmity, I shall seem to spew these things out against him with more relish than truth. Mil. 29.1Etenim sī praecipuum esse dēbēbat, tamen ita commūnis erat omnium ille hostis ut in commūnī odiō paene aequāliter versārētur odium meum.For although my hatred ought to have been especially great, yet he was so much the common enemy of all that in the common hatred mine stood at almost the same level. Mil. 29.1Nōn potest dīcī satis, nē cōgitārī quidem, quantum in illō sceleris, quantum exitī fuerit.It cannot be said adequately, nor even imagined, how much crime, how much ruin there was in him. Mil. 29.79Quīn sīc attendite, iūdicēs.Indeed, consider it in this way, judges. Mil. 29.79Fingite animīs—līberae sunt enim nostrae cōgitātiōnēs et quae volunt sīc intuentur ut ea cernimus quae vidēmus—fingite igitur cōgitātiōne imāginem huius condiciōnis meae, sī possīmus efficere Milōnem ut absolvātis, sed ita sī P. Clōdius revīxerit—quid voltū extimuistis?Imagine in your minds — for our thoughts are free, and contemplate what they wish in such a way that we perceive what we see — imagine, then, in thought a picture of this proposal of mine: suppose I could bring it about that you acquit Milo, but only on condition that Publius Clodius comes back to life — why has fear shown in your faces?
Mil. 29.79quōnam modō ille vōs vīvus adficeret quōs mortuus inānī cōgitātiōne percussit?how would he affect you alive, when dead he has struck you with an empty thought? Mil. 29.79Quid?What then? Mil. 29.79sī ipse Cn. Pompeius, quī eā virtūte ac fortūnā est ut ea potuerit semper quae nēmō praeter illum, sī is, inquam, potuisset aut quaestiōnem dē morte P. Clōdī ferre aut ipsum ab īnferīs excitāre, utrum putātis potius factūrum fuisse?if Gnaeus Pompey himself, who has such courage and fortune that he has always been able to do what no one but he could, if he, I say, had been able either to propose an inquiry into the death of Publius Clodius or to raise the man himself from the dead, which do you think he would rather have done? Mil. 29.79Etiam sī propter amīcitiam vellet illum ab īnferīs ēvocāre, propter rem pūblicam nōn fēcisset.Even if out of friendship he had wished to call him up from the dead, for the sake of the state he would not have done it. Mil. 29.79Eius igitur mortis sedētis ultōrēs cuius vītam sī putētis per vōs restituī posse nōlītis, et dē eius nece lāta quaestiō est quī sī lēge eādem revīvīscere posset, ista lēx lāta numquam esset.So you sit as avengers of the death of a man whose life you would not want restored, if you thought it could be restored by you; and an inquiry has been set up into the killing of a man such that, if he could come back to life by that same law, that law would never have been passed.
Mil. 29.79Huius ergō interfector sī esset, in cōnfitendō ab eīsne poenam timēret quōs līberāvisset?If, then, Milo were his killer, would he fear punishment, in confessing it, from those very people whom he had set free? Mil. 29.80Graecī hominēs deōrum honōrēs tribuunt eīs virīs quī tyrannōs necāvērunt—quae ego vīdī Athēnīs, quae in aliīs urbibus Graeciae!Greeks give the honours of gods to those men who have killed tyrants — what I have seen at Athens, what in other cities of Greece! Mil. 29.80quās rēs dīvīnās tālibus īnstitūtās virīs, quōs cantūs, quae carmina!what religious rites established for such men, what songs, what hymns! Mil. 29.80prope ad immortālitātis et religiōnem et memoriam cōnsecrantur—vōs tantī cōnservātōrem populī, tantī sceleris ultōrem nōn modo honōribus nūllīs adficiētis sed etiam ad supplicium rapī patiēminī?they are consecrated almost to the worship and memory of immortals — and will you not only grant no honours to the preserver of so great a people, the avenger of so great a crime, but even allow him to be dragged off to punishment? Mil. 29.80Cōnfitērētur, cōnfitērētur, inquam, sī fēcisset, et magnō animō et libenter, sē fēcisse lībertātis omnium causā quod esset nōn cōnfitendum modo sed etiam vērē praedicandum.He would confess, he would confess, I say, if he had done it, boldly and gladly, that he had done for the sake of everyone's liberty what ought not only to be confessed but even truly proclaimed.