Mil. 4.1Atquī, sī tempus est ūllum iūre hominis necandī, quae multa sunt, certē illud est nōn modo iūstum vērum etiam necessārium, cum vī vīs inlāta dēfenditur.And yet, if there is any occasion for killing a man lawfully, and there are many, surely that one is not only just but even necessary, when violence offered is repelled by violence. Mil. 4.1Pudīcitiam cum ēriperet mīlitī tribūnus mīlitāris in exercitū C. Marī, propinquus eius imperātōris, interfectus ab eō est cui vim adferēbat;When a military tribune in the army of Gaius Marius, a relative of that general, was trying to rob a soldier of his chastity, he was killed by the man to whom he was offering violence; Mil. 4.1facere enim probus adulēscēns perīculōsē quam perpetī turpiter māluit.for the upright young man preferred to act dangerously rather than to submit shamefully. Mil. 4.1Atque hunc ille summus vir scelere solūtum perīculō līberāvit.And that great man acquitted him of crime and set him free from danger. Mil. 4.10Īnsidiātōrī vērō et latrōnī quae potest īnferrī iniūsta nex?But what death inflicted on a waylayer and a brigand can be unjust?
Mil. 4.10Quid comitātūs nostrī, quid gladiī volunt?What do our escorts mean, what do our swords? Mil. 4.10quōs habēre certē nōn licēret, sī ūtī illīs nūllō pactō licēret.We certainly would not be allowed to have them if we were in no way allowed to use them. Mil. 4.10Est igitur haec, iūdicēs, nōn scrīpta, sed nāta lēx, quam nōn didicimus, accēpimus, lēgimus, vērum ex nātūrā ipsā adripuimus, hausimus, expressimus, ad quam nōn doctī sed factī, nōn īnstitūtī sed imbūtī sumus, ut, sī vīta nostra in aliquās īnsidiās, sī in vim et in tēla aut latrōnum aut inimīcōrum incidisset, omnis honesta ratiō esset expediendae salūtis.This, therefore, judges, is a law not written but inborn, which we have not learned, received or read, but have seized, drawn and pressed out of nature herself, a law for which we were not taught but made, in which we were not trained but steeped: that if our life should fall into any ambush, or into the violence and weapons of brigands or of enemies, every means of securing our safety would be honourable. Mil. 4.11Silent enim lēgēs inter arma nec sē exspectārī iubent, cum eī quī exspectāre velit ante iniūsta poena luenda sit quam iūsta repetenda.For laws are silent amid arms, and do not bid us wait for them, since one who chose to wait would have to pay an unjust penalty before he could exact a just one.
Mil. 4.11Etsī persapienter et quōdam modō tacitē dat ipsa lēx potestātem dēfendendī, quae nōn hominem occīdī, sed esse cum tēlō hominis occīdendī causā vetat, ut, cum causa, nōn tēlum quaererētur, quī suī dēfendendī causā tēlō esset ūsus, nōn hominis occīdendī causā habuisse tēlum iūdicārētur.And yet very wisely and, in a way, tacitly the law itself grants the power of self-defence, since it forbids not the killing of a man but the carrying of a weapon for the purpose of killing a man, so that, since the motive and not the weapon was examined, one who had used a weapon to defend himself would be judged not to have carried it for the purpose of killing a man. Mil. 4.11Quāpropter hoc maneat in causā, iūdicēs;Let this point, therefore, stand firm in the case, judges; Mil. 4.11nōn enim dubitō quīn probātūrus sim vōbīs dēfēnsiōnem meam, sī id memineritis quod oblīvīscī nōn potestis īnsidiātōrem interficī iūre posse.for I do not doubt that I shall win your approval for my defence, if you remember what you cannot forget, that a waylayer may lawfully be killed.